Independent Learning Days

I know many a homeschooling family who use a non-traditional school schedule.  One does school for three weeks and takes a week off, year-round.  Another doesn't do school on Mondays and uses that day for field trips (which really is school, just not classroom work).  And I know many who don't do school on Fridays.

The great part of these days off is that it gives you a chance to get things done that you have no time for otherwise, like grocery shopping and other errands, special projects around the house, and paying bills.

But, my state requires a specific number of school days each year and schooling year-round isn't something my Hubby and I want to do.  So, until this year, I thought the alternative schedules were out of the question for us.

That is, until I had the idea of "Independent Learning Days."

My Afternoon Experiment

It always sounds, even to my ears, like nothing but excuses when I say that I have trouble doing my daily Bible reading.   But, in the mornings, my brain isn't even working and I forget everything I've ready and studied by noon.   In the evenings, I'm often at work or spending rare time with my hubby.   Then, in the afternoons, when my brain is fully functional, I have kids that I need to concentrate on and a house I have to clean.  For years, I've tried various times and places for my daily time with God.  But, I just couldn't find something that worked.  This often left me spiritually dry and in need of Him.

How I am finding time to spend in God's Word in the midst of my busy life...

However, I think I may finally have found a solution.  I'm calling it my "Afternoon Experiment" because, I can't honestly call it a success after so short a time.  Hopefully, it will soon become routine and will allow me to spend more time reading the Word of God and learning about Him.

This new routine involves two things: A time of concentrated cleaning and an afternoon quiet time.

Taking the "Work" Out of Workboxes

Workboxes in a rolling cart between the kids' desks.

When I first came across the idea of Sue Patrick's Workbox System, I was immediately intrigued.  The more I researched, the more I liked the concept.  Anything that helps this very disorganized momma get her act together is much appreciated!  So, I decided to incorporate it into our schooling.

Workboxes are a system developed to organize a homeschooler's day by separating their work into different boxes.  The boxes are worked in order.  This encourages kids to work on the more difficult, less enjoyable stuff, in order to get to the fun stuff in other workboxes.  It also allows kids to see what they need to work on next, helping them become more independent workers (no more asking, "What do I do next?").

I knew from the beginning that I was going to have to tweak it to fit our lives.  The most obvious way is that we just don't have room for one, much less two, shoe racks filled with plastic bins that Sue suggests using in our tiny school room.  I honestly don't know anyone who does!  But, there are plenty of examples of alternative workboxes online.  I finally decided on a rolling cart for us.  It didn't take up too much room, yet there was plenty of space for our books and supplies in the drawers.  I only got one since my kids are working at the same level.  I just put two of each worksheet/supply in the drawers
The other tweaks have been changes that I've made along the way as I've seen what works best for us.  If I've learned anything as a homeschooling mom, it's that it is important to be flexible!  Take what works and run with it.  But, if something doesn't work, don't be afraid to change it, try something different, or drop it completely.  Now, obviously I'm not talking about completely giving up on math.  But, rather the method or curriculum you are using.  Not all curricula and systems work for all kids and families.

A Homeschooling Mom's List of Must-Have School Supplies

I love back-to-school supply shopping.  Ever since I was a kid I have eagerly awaited the first sign of the special school-supply aisles at the local stores.  I would excitedly pick out my new crayons and a Lisa Frank folder, pack them up in my New Kids on the Block backpack and anticipate the start of a new school year.

My kids have no idea who Lisa Frank is and would think I was talking about a family a few doors down if I mentioned the New Kids (Mental note:  This must be remedied!  Teach the kids all about NKOTB and practice the Step by Step dance with Sis.).  And, as homeschool kids, they don't have much need for backpacks.  But, they do still love getting new school supplies and the anticipation it brings.  Crayons, markers, binders, and rulers still excite them.

But, as I've gotten older, my school-supply palette has matured.  A box of crayons is nice, but a waxy stick of Electric Lime just doesn't compare to my arsenal of grown-up school supplies.  What are these amazing tools of the homeschool trade?  Glad you asked!

Here are a list of my top 10 school supplies.  Some are obvious.  Some are not.  But, they all play a special part in my job as a teacher/mom.

My Top 10 Must-Have Homeschooling Mom Supplies

#10 - Reward stickers
My kids love stickers. They try so hard to do their papers correctly so they can get a sticker.  I make sure to never run out.  I know this phase of life won't last for long.  But, for now, I enjoy the look they get when they earn a sticker.

#9 - A Self-Inking Date Stamp

This one might see silly.  But, when you are as bad about keeping up with paperwork as I am, having dates on everything is REALLY important.  Instead of having the kids waste time writing the date every time, I just have them use a date stamp. 

It not only saves time, but, because it is fun, the kids actually remember to do it!

#8 - Command Hooks 
These little hooks are great!  I use them for so many different things.  Since they can be removed cleanly, I don't have to worry about changing my mind about where to put them.  It also helps with my limited wall space.  I always keep my bulletin board with our calendar on it on the wall.  But, I can easily hand and remove our white board right over top of it using Command Hooks. 


#7 - Poster Tack 
Speaking of changing your mind about where you hang things...poster tack allows me to hang posters, and visual organizers for my kids without making it permanent.  This way, as they grow, they won't be stuck with the same kindergarten posters because Mommy stuck them up permenantly.
  

#6 - My computer and printer.
I use these every day!  I make worksheets or find them online and print them off.   The kids also use the computer for typing lessons.   Since my printer is also a scanner/copier, it is great for copying from reproducible workbooks, too.  I can't imagine how much more I would spend - in money and time - on homeschooling if I didn't have the internet.

#5 -  A Laminator 
LOVE my laminator.  The pouches can be a bit pricey if you buy them at a local office supply store, but you can find pretty good deals at Amazon or other online discount stores.

So, what do I laminate?  So far just this school year I have laminated pieces of my calendar board, check-lists, home-made flash cards, and a few games.  I've gotten more use out of this than I ever imagined I would!

#4 - A Paper Slicer  
This tool goes right along with my laminator.  There are lots of things that, once I have them laminated, need to be cut up.  As long as we are dealing with straight lines, there is no faster way to get the job done than the "paper guillotine."

Line it up, and one quick slice later, you are done.  If I had to sit and cut things out with scissors, my hand would get really tired!


#3 - Binders
We are trying something different this year to help me with my lack of organizational skills.  We have several different binders for each child to keep all their work in.

First, we have a large 3" binder that contains math, copywork, calendar worksheets, grammar worksheets, writing, and other miscellaneous work.  When they finish a worksheet or other paper, I immediately check it to see that it is done neatly and the answers are correct.  If an answer is incorrect, I circle the number and have them try it again (my goal is for them to learn the material thoroughly and correcting their work helps with this.)  Then, it immediately goes into their binder under the correct tab.  If it is a graded paper, the grade gets written on a sheet at the front of the correct section.  This means no more random papers waiting to be graded and put away!  It also allows the kids to see their progress throughout the year.

Second, we have a science/nature binder.  This is a small 1" binder.  We do a lot of notebooking in this binder and keep it organized by the field of science we are studying.  We also have a section for important scientists.

Third is our Five in a Row binder.  We do not row a book every week (for example, we are currently doing a science unit instead)  But, we do love the program and use it as the basis of our curriculum.  Last year we made lapbooks, but this year we will be notebooking instead.  We will keep our notebooking pages in a 3" binder organized by the books we rowed.

And finally, we have another 1" binder that we keep out "time line" in.  We are using the Book of Centuries Notebook Pages over at Harmony Art Mom.

#2 - A Blanket
One of my favorite things to do is to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket and do our Bible or FIAR lessons.  We also love to cuddle and read.  I am cherishing the cuddle time while I can!

#1 - My Bible
I really try to teach from a perspective of raising godly children. The Bible encourages us to increase in knowledge and understanding. This is the reason I homeschool!

So, what are your must-haves as a homeschool mom?


Disclaimer: The Amazon links above are a part of my Amazon Associates account.

Why We Homeschool

When people find out we homeschool, their first questions are often about why we chose this. Normally, it is with genuine curiosity. Most people don’t know anyone who homeschools and want to know more. Occasionally, it can be a bit judgmental or people look at me like I’m crazy. But, overall, my experience with talking to people about homeschool has been pretty positive.

The question itself – “Why do you homeschool?” – isn’t an easy question for me to answer. There are many different reasons. And it seems that, each year, the list of reasons grows. But, there is one reason that first made me think that homeschooling might be a good option.

I love learning. As a kid I devoured books. Historical fiction was my favorite. I loved all the details of history and life in the past that you can learn from such books. But, I also loved learning in school. I eagerly took notes, I engaged in classroom discussions, I asked questions, and I loved mastering skills and concepts.

At the same time, though, I really disliked school. I was very often bored (interesting discussions only took up about 1/4 of class time throughout the year – if that). From the beginning, I tended to be ahead of my classmates. I finished my work before the others, I understood the lessons more quickly, and I was ready to move on long before the rest of the class. As a kid, this resulted in getting in trouble for talking (or even reading). As a high schooler, this translated into never studying and rarely doing my homework. Why put in all that effort when I could pass my classes with a B average just on my test scores alone?

By the time I got to college, I was a lazy student! I had no study skills and very little personal discipline where my schoolwork was concerned. Needless to say, what let me get by with a B in high school wasn’t sufficient for college!

When my kids were three, we decided that I would teach them preschool at home. We didn’t see the need to spend money on something I could do myself. This decision led to two things happening at the same time.

First, I started searching for lessons and games for my babies. I quickly realized that the fastest way to find the best materials was to search for “homeschool preschool.” The more I visited these sites, the more I learned about homeschooling. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. The idea fascinated me!

As I was learning more about homeschooling, my kids were quickly progressing with their schoolwork. It wasn’t long before I had to search for “homeschool kindergarten” instead of preschool. That is when I realized that they were already ahead of their peers. When they started school, they were already going to know the lessons. And, in a public school, their teacher was not going to continue to work with them at their level. It just wouldn’t be possible. They have an entire classroom of kids that they have to think about. Instead, Bub and Sis were going to have to wait for the rest of the kids to catch up before they could continue on and learn new things.

The possibility of them skipping a grade did not appeal to me at all. They were already going to be the youngest in their class. Since their birthday is just ten days before Kentucky’s cut-off, they would still be four years-old when they started kindergarten. They would likely be a year or more younger than many kids in their grade. If they skipped a grade, they would be two whole years (or more) younger than their classmates. The age difference might not be a huge deal in early elementary, but by the time they were 10 and their classmates were 12 or 13, that would be a huge gap!

So, this is when the idea of homeschooling became more than just a fascinating idea. This is when it started to seem like it might be a good option for us. The more information I gathered and the more I prayed for direction, the more I became sure that this was what was best for our family.

That conviction hasn’t changed in the 3 years since. In fact, it has grown stronger with each year. What started as a simple desire for my kids to be able to work at their own pace and not be held back, became so much more.

I learned more about the academic benefits, the social benefits, and the spiritual benefits that homeschooling can provide.

You can read more about the academic end of things at the website of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) where they have an independently conducted study of homeschool test stores which you can view.  Below are a few more links you can check out that contain links to studies of homeschoolers.

CBS News
HSLDA
Huffington Post

Also, with homeschooling, we have more control over who influences our kids. While we don’t intend to keep them in a bubble, we do want to protect them from many things during their formative years. This way, we can present information when they are ready to handle it and in a way they are equipped to deal with it. We can prepare them for facing things like sex and drugs before they are thrown to the wolves. We know that we won’t be able to keep them from these things forever. We are simply seeking to first teach them to handle these situations in a godly way before they have to face them.

Along with this, homeschooling provides us an opportunity to teach from a Biblical perspective. They can learn about the wonderful world that God has created and how it works. They can see His character in the beauty of nature, His orderliness in the concepts of math, His perfect plan throughout history, and His love, grace, and mercy through it all. These are not things they would have the opportunity to learn every day if they attended public school.

These are the biggest reasons that we chose to homeschool our kids.  But, there are plenty of other reason, too. For me, personally, I love that I get to combine two of my greatest loves - teaching and my children!

Dancing Oobleck

We had a blast on our first day of school learning about sound waves with "Dancing Oobleck."

Our first attempts to make this experiment work didn't turn out too well.  But, Daddy was persistent and we eventually got the result we were looking for!    Plus, by having to be patient, keep trying, and be flexible enough to make adjustments, the kids got a bonus lesson that wasn't even planned.  How's that for keeping a positive outlook? ;)

Here is the video of our "Dancing Oobleck."



Much of this information is in the video, but just in case you didn't catch it, here is how it works.  First, you will need the following supplies:

• Cornstarch
• Water
• A metal cake pan or cookie sheet.  You want it to have a pretty smooth surface.
• A speaker that can be hooked to a computer
• A sound wave generator program for the computer (Type "sound wave generator" into a search engine to find one to download.  There are several free one's out there.)

The cornstarch and water will be used to make oobleck.  If you remember, we made oobleck for our science experiment last year.   This experiment uses it again.  Here is the recipe:

Oobleck Recipe

1. Mix 1 part water with 1 1/2 to 2 parts cornstarch. You might want to start with 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 of cornstarch.  You can then work in more cornstarch for a more "solid' oobleck. It will take a bit of mixing to get it to the right consistency
2. Mix in a few drops of food coloring if you want colored oobleck.  (I chose not to do this because I didn't want everyone to have colored hands.  It was just as much fun without it.)

Place the oobleck in the cake pan/cookie sheet.  You can actually mix it directly on the pan.  Place the pan on the speaker.  Turn on the sound wave generator.  You will want to try out different tones, but 120 hz is a good place to start.

If it doesn't work right away, don't give up!  It took a lot of trial and error before we made this video! The instructions I found online weren't very detailed, so hopefully this tutorial will save you from making some of the same mistakes we did!

Tips:

1. Lay the speaker so that it is facing up and is level.  If it is slanted at all, the oobleck will tend to slowly move in one direction.  We had to shove something under one end to get the speaker completely level.
2. Remove anything blocking the woofer (the actual speaker part).  We used my husbands PA speaker that has a grate on the front to protect it.   We eventually figured out that too much of the vibration was escaping in the space between the woofer and our pan.  We removed the grate and set the pan directly on the woofer and immediately got better results.  A smaller speaker might have worked better.  But, we used what we had.
3. You may need to hold the pan still while conducting the demonstration.  If you look closely at the video, you can see that I am holding the pan with one hand.  Otherwise, it just vibrated right off!
4. You may need to experiment with different consistencies for the oobleck.  If it doesn't work at first, you may need to add water so it will be thinner or add cornstarch to make it thicker.
5. If the oobleck starts to spread out, away from the center of the woofer, you may need to move it back.  You see me doing this several times in the video.  
6. I noticed that when I did move the oobleck, it helped start the movement, too.  So, if nothing seems to be happening, you might want to push the oobleck around a bit.

If you try this out, I would love to hear how it goes!  Hopefully you find my tips helpful and you have as much fun as we did!

A Successful First Day!

Despite my procrastination over the summer and my lack of time the past few weeks, our first day of school was a success!  A lot of that success had to do with prayer and a wonderful husband who happily goes along with my silly plans and is willing to jump in when I need him.

We started out the day with our annual first-day pictures.  Unlike many first-day pictures, my kids don't have backpacks or notebooks.  Instead of heading to school, we are headed out for our "not-back-to-school" breakfast!

Smiling for the first day of school

Shyly grinning for the first day of the school.

This is the look you get when you ask Bub to hug his sister for the camera.  He can be a bit camera-shy.

"Decimal Street" from Math-u-See

After breakfast, we came back home and did some work.  We started with calendar time, followed by Bible.  Then,we broke out decimal street and our blocks for math using Math-u-See.  Sis was still in the playroom/schoolroom playing with the blocks even after we were done with school!

After math, they did a little copy work.  This is something we do every day to work on handwriting, grammar, spelling, and reading.  I started them out easy with three simple sentences.  By the end of the year, one of my goals is for them to be copying whole pages.

Bubby working on copy work

Sissy concentrating hard.  Poor Lefty has to work twice as hard!

The kids are hard at work while their nutty mom takes pictures

Our very last task for the day was our science lesson!  We always finish off our first day with a bang by doing a fun experiment, demonstration, or project.  This year, we did "Dancing Oobleck!"  This is a fun experiment with sound waves.  I promise I'll be back tonight or tomorrow to post all about it.  I even have a video that I'm very excited about!  I just have to finish editing it.  Be sure to check back!

I'd love to hear more about your kids' first day of school.  Whether they are homeschooled or attend a public or private school, the first day of school is always exciting!  I'd also love to know how I can pray for you and your kids this school year and I would love your prayers, too.

As promised, here is the link to our "Dancing Oobleck" experiment!

School Starts When?!

How did the summer go by so fast?  I just can’t believe that our first day of school is in just one week!  Yikes!

There is still so much that I have to do to prepare.  I haven’t even made the pieces of our new calendar yet, much less actually put it up.  I also still have to clean out our workboxes from the end of last year.  I honestly haven’t touched them since we ended school in June.  I have copies to make and lesson plans to write.  I’m even still waiting on our math curriculum for this year to arrive.

Basically I am a disorganized mess.  But, I have one week to get it all together and have things ready for school to start.  Pray for me as I plow my way through it all.  Ready…set…go!

Going Back to (Home) School with a Bang!

When our kids started kindergarten, we wanted a way to make the first day memorable.  Since we were homeschooling, they wouldn't be getting the experience of a new place and new people.  But, with some planning, we were able to make it a special day that they will always remember.

Some of the things we did have grown into traditions.  The kids (and us) look forward to them every year. 

Pictures

Like many other parents, we always take pictures on the first day of school.  We get up and wear nice clothes and the kids get picture ready.  I have pictures from the first day of preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade.  The preschool pictures aren't as nice as the others.  But, at that time, the idea of doing preschool at home was just that we'd play and they'd learn their ABC's.  I didn't realize that I'd be starting a tradition or that these were their first real school pictures.

Bubby and Sissy on their first day of preschool (2009)

Bubby and Sissy on their first day of kindergarten (2010)

It is amazing to see how much they have grown!  I'm already looking forward to this year's picture and planning what they will wear.  By the way, can you tell which of my kids is a ham?

Sis's first day of 1st grade (2011)

Bub's first day of 1st grade (2011)

 

Breakfast

We always start school on a Wednesday, because Wednesdays are my husband's day off work.  This way he gets to have fun with us and enjoy the memories.  He also gets to enjoy the breakfast!  

After pictures, we all climb in the car and head for a local Frisch's Big Boy for the breakfast buffet.  Over breakfast, we laugh and talk about what our hopes are for the school year.  I tell the kids a little about some of the things I have planned and we enjoy some quality time.  We call it our "not back-to-school breakfast."  For me, it is a little bit of a celebration that I don't have to be sending my kids to school, but instead get to head home with them in tow.  I love teaching my kids!

 

Science!

This is my kids' favorite part!  For the past two years, we've started our school year with an exciting science experiment.  This is not only fun, it gets the kids excited about learning.

The first year, we did the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment.  Basically, you just drop a Mentos candy (it has to be the mint kind) into a 2-liter of Diet Coke (it must be Coke brand and it must be diet) and 

GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Diet Coke and Mentos experiment

I think my husband liked this experiment as much as the kids!  Make sure you have a large area that you don't mind getting messy - because it WILL!  Also, for a bigger "bang," you can drop in several Mentos at once.

We tied this in to a lesson about geysers and Old Faithful.  We watched a video of Old Faithful and also talked about God's faithfulness.

The next year, we made Oobleck.  Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid that has qualities of both a liquid and a solid and is extremely fun to play with!  If you squeeze it, it acts like a solid, but when you open up your hand, it will start to run off it like a liquid. 

It was a great way to talk to the kids about the different properties of liquids and solids.  We also tied it in to a lesson about the Trinity (just like oobleck is both a liquid and a solid at the same time, God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).  It helped with explaining a concept on their level that even the best Biblical scholars in the world can't fully grasp with their limited human minds. 

The kids and Daddy playing with the oobleck

Oobleck Recipe

1. Mix 1 part water with 1 1/2 to 2 parts cornstarch. You might want to start with 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 of cornstarch.  You can then work in more cornstarch for a more "solid' oobleck. It will take a bit of mixing to get it to the right consistency
2. Mix in a few drops of food coloring if you want colored oobleck.  (I chose not to do this because I didn't want everyone to have colored hands.  It was just as much fun without it.)

 

Everything Else

For the rest of our subjects, I start off slowly.  We generally don't get into the full swing of things until the next week.  This gives the kids (and me) a chance to adjust to our schedule and not become overwhelmed.  I also make sure to have plenty of fun stuff to do the first few days.

This Year

I haven't made a final decision about what we will do for a science experiment this year.  I want it to be fun, but the kids have to learn something at the same time.  I have it narrowed down to a few different ideas, though.  I will probably run them past my husband and see which one he thinks we should do.  After all, he's just a big kid himself!  (Just kidding!)

I'd love to hear about traditions that other families have for the first day of school.  Whether you homeschool or your kids go to a traditional brick and mortar school, feel free to share your traditions with me!

Mental and Homeschool Life

The title of this post made me chuckle.  Mental and homeschool in the same sentence?  Am I mental for trying to homeschool my kids?  Sometimes it feels like it!

These are the last of my weekly goal categories.  If anyone out there has actually borne with me through them all, THANK YOU!

Mental Life

 

Where I was

I have always loved reading.  I'm always in the middle of a book.  As a result of this love, I majored in English education in college.  I learned a lot in college and, until I started having symptoms of sleep apnea, I actually enjoyed my classes.  I've always enjoyed learning new things.

Where I am and Where I Hope to Be

Currently, reading on my own, listening to sermons and podcasts, and studying for what I'm going to teach the kids is the only learning I do.  But, I'm not being stagnant.  You'd be surprised how much you can learn when studying to teach kids!

Eventually, when the kids are older, I'd like to take some classes.  Not necessarily college classes for credit.  But, my church does offer college Bible classes and I've always wanted to learn to really sew.  Until then, books offer a lot.

Homeschool Life

Where I Was

If you had asked me when my kid were born if I would consider homeschooling, I might have laughed in your face (how rude of me).  I had never even dreamed of it!  Then, the kids got to preschool age.  Not only did we not have the money to send them to a preschool, we didn't think it was necessary.    Growing up, no one went to preschool.  What was the point?  Especially since I was perfectly capable of teaching my kids their ABC's and 123's.

So, I did.  I used a lot of information from the internet.  I quickly learned that the fastest way to search for these things was by searching for "homeschool preschool."  The more I did these searches and visited these sites, the more I read about homeschooling.  The more I read about homeschooling, the more I began thinking it was a good idea.

The first thing that struck me was that my kids could learn at their own pace.  You see, I was already having to sometimes do searches for "homeschool kindergarten" instead of preschool.  My kids were ahead.  And I've been there.  I remembered how bored I was in school and how I'd get in trouble for talking when I finished my work early.  I remembered how, by high school, I had completely stopped doing homework.  After all, I was able to be B's and C's by just acing the tests, so why would I put in the extra effort?  And forget study skills.  I never had to study, so I never had reason to develop those skills.  All of this came back to bite me when I got to college.  The idea that my kids could learn at their own pace - always being challenged and, in the end, being ahead of their peers instead of learning the same things as everyone else - thrilled me.  

Then, I read the statistics.  Homeschool kids actually develop independent learning skills.  They do better in college.  They LOVE to LEARN!  That is what I wanted for my kids.  Desperately!

Our "Schoolroom"

Finally, I realized that I could teach them from a Biblical perspective.  I have no illusions that I can protect my kids from the world completely.  But, I can , while they are young, protect them from things they can't handle, yet.  I can help them build their spiritual muscles before they will have to lift the heavy weights. 

There are many other reasons that I wanted to homeschool.  But, these are the things that first convinced me we should give it a try.  And that is what we did.  My husband had a hard time seeing past the stereotypes of awkward, weird homeschool kids.  But, he agreed to give it a year.  And then another.  He is now to the point where he sees how great they are doing.   He still has concerns about the social aspects, but he's coming around.

Where I Am and Where I Hope to Be

Decimal Street from Math-U-See

The kids are going into second grade next year.  We love homeschooling!  I get to combine my love of teaching with my love for my kids.  It doesn't get any better than that!

This year, I'm going to be trying some new things and sticking with some things that worked really well last year.  Here is our curriculum list:

• Five in a Row (I LOVE that it is literature based)
• Math-U-See Beta (This worked really well for us last year and the kids breezed through it while still learning what they need to know)
• Sequential Spelling (I'm a horrible speller.  Thank God for spell check.  But, this makes sense to  me and my kids are really getting it.)

I supplement with the internet and the library.   We also have museum and zoo passes that help a lot.

Science!

I'm hoping that my husband continues to see how much the kids are learning and realizes that they have lots of friends and are doing fine socially.  But, most of all, I pray that God will show me where he wants us each year - still at home or in a public school.  In my dreams, we continue homeschooling through high school.  But, I'm open to the possibility that this may not be God's plan.  So, we are taking it year by year to see where God leads.

Week in Review 7-1-12

I already posted earlier today, but I wanted to come back and review my weekly goals and see how I did.  After all, why set goals if I'm not going to check and make sure I achieved them, right?  I'm not expecting perfection, just progress.  I'll copy my list over from this past Sunday and add my results in blue.

Spiritual life

• Read my Bible each day and write something in my journal. I read my Bible most days, but not all.  I still need to find a better study time and that will probably be on my list of goals for next week. 
• Pray for the requests on my Prayer List.  I did pray for several of these requests and added a few new ones.  But, I didn't pray for them all.

Family life - DH is on vacation, so this is a big priority this week.

• Take the kids to a 4th of July community party.  Huey Lewis and the News will be preforming!  This was the very first group I ever saw in concert when I was 5 years-old.  Now, it will be the first group my own kids see in concert!  I am so excited!  Sadly, we decided at the last minute that it was just too hot to go stand around with a few tens of thousands of people.  It was 105 degrees out and DH was already feeling a little yucky.  But, there were lots of fireworks in our neighborhood and we watched a movie instead.
• Take the kids to see the new Spiderman movie.  DH is excited about this one. Saw it and it was great!  I actually liked it more than the Tobey Maguire (Yes, spellcheck.  Google says that IS how you spell his name) version.  DH said it was more accurate, too, which is important to him.  Most importantly, the kids loved it.
• Lots of swimming! We did go swimming several times, but once again the heat took its toll.  We are in the middle of a really bad heat wave and it has made our pool more like a hot tub.  DH looked at the thermometer tonight and the water was 101 degrees.  It sort of makes swimming less fun.
• Call my mom lots and invite her to dinner one night.  My dad is gone on a fishing trip for two weeks and she has a hard time being away from him.  It is really pretty sweet!  My mom wasn't able to come over when I invited her last night.  But, the kids and I did go shopping with her for several hours today.  Since my dad will still be gone next week, I'm going to ask her early in the week to come to dinner on Thursday or Friday.

Home life - This is all about the house!

• Keep the kitchen clean!  I actually cleaned it this past week (I even cleaned the fridge!) and I want it to stay that way.  This went pretty well.  I even got a few more things done!  But, the bathroom (our one and only) isn't looking too pretty.  In my defense, we did re-caulk the tub and toilet tonight and things can't go back where they belong until tomorrow.
• Go through one room of the house each day and find things to sell at the yard sale I am planning next Saturday.  Even the yard sale got delayed because of the heat.  But, I did go through several rooms and everything has price tags, is in boxes, and ready to be taken to my parents' house.
• Grocery shopping (I don't always go every week) Check!

Church life -  This is actually going to be blank this week.  Services were cancelled this evening because we had a big fellowship this afternoon.  And services are cancelled on Wednesday so people can spend 4th of July with their family.

Physical life

• I need to really start watching what I eat!  I am going to make a point to eat smaller portions.  I didn't always make good choices this week, but I was more conscious.  I think I need to make more concrete goals.

Exercise at least two days this week.  I am going to start out small.  This is more than I do now.  I did do a lot of physical work around the house and I did do a little exercise in the pool.  But, for the most part this was a fail this week.  I'm not going to let it get me down, though
 
Social life - With DH home, I won't be doing much socializing with friends.  But, I still need to make a point to do a couple of things.

• Call my best friend to chat a little. Check!
• Message another good friend.  Check!  Plus, I got to find out that she is expecting twin boys!  I knew she was having twins (her second set!), but she just found out they are both boys this week.  How exciting!

Financial life - DH and I are doing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

• Yard sale on Saturday.  Put extra money earned toward rebuilding our $1000 emergency fund (we had to spend some when DH had a car accident a couple months ago) Like I said, this was canceled because of the heat.  Good thing, too.  It was a boiling 110 today!  I'll have it in a few weeks when it cools down.  Maybe the first week of August.
• Pay bills  Check!  We even made a little more money than we planned this last pay period and were able to finish up our baby emergency fund and have an extra $200 to put toward our debt snowball!
• Work on worksheets for Teacher's Pay Teacher's store I have with my best friend. With DH home, this got pushed to the back burner this week.  But, I'm back on it next week.

Mental life

• Visit library and check out a couple books Oops!  Our library books are now a couple of days overdue.  I really need to do this next week.  I admit that I just has a bit of a stress out moment.  I want to do this ASAP, but I work Monday evening and I really need to go to the grocery store.  I could go to the store tomorrow, but it is supposed to storm.  I probably just need to suck it up and go to the store.  That means I'll have to plan my menu and make my list tonight.  *Sigh*  There goes watching an episode of Bones.

Homeschool life

• Go through stuff on our school shelves and get rid of stuff we no longer use.  Sell what I can at the yard sale.  Check! 
• Make a list of needed supplies. Check!  Plus, we also had some extra money (I'll have to explain that some other time.  It is something interesting I am learning this month) that went toward school supplies.  This allowed me to purchase another small bookcase for our schoolroom.  Yay!

 
Overall, I'm pretty happy with my progress this week.  There is still a lot to work on, but I felt like I had a pretty good week.  I got a lot accomplished and got to spend some great time with my DH and the kids!