This week has been one of those weeks that I just couldn't keep up with it and had too many fun things thrown at me. Between my being sick and Missa's broken foot, I've been lucky to get some chores and math lessons done daily. So, we are going to just do math and journals tomorrow and call it a week I think. I'm going to tweak a few things to fit our family better over the long weekend and start back to it on Monday refreshed. Maybe I'll take some time and sneak off to a coffee shop with my Kindle and my phone (and maybe the laptop if I can get it to turn on, it is really moody) and enjoy a bit of quiet for an hour or so with a latte and no kids (yes, that includes the baby if I can keep it under an hour and a half that I'm gone and I remember to feed him real good before I sneak off).
Hopefully next week is a bit smoother. I just downloaded a free unit study and notebooking set from Hands Of A Child, and then bought the book for my Kindle that goes with it. I didn't plan initially to do a unit on "Island of the Blue Dolphins" but I think it will be a fun change from our normal stuff before we really dig back into it again. If I can't complete this unit study with the kids, I have issues beyond just having had a rough week.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
isn't the hospital fun?
The last couple days we've had some interesting things happen here. First, on Sunday I ended up at the local Urgent Care clinic as soon as they opened. I was diagnosed with the flu and bronchitis, and given medications to take care of that (tomorrow is my last day of antibiotics). So obviously, on Monday I didn't feel much like doing anything but I did anyway, and it turned out to be our most productive day of homeschool yet (and this includes the 4 years we homeschooled before the oldest 3 kids went to school part of this year).
Then on Tuesday we had our normal day, and just after finishing lessons for the night (we're late afternoon schoolers here, it works better for our lifestyle) Missa decided to get on the floor to wrestle with PJ. He likes to climb on anyone on the floor, smacking them and bouncing on them while laughing and squealing. Missa loves to wrestle with him, and he gets hysterical goofy when it is Missa who is doing the wrestling (I think she may be his favorite sister). Anyway, Liddy and Kimmy decided that it looked fun, so they joined PJ in wrestling Missa. One of them came down just right on her foot, and about 9 hours later the doctor at the emergency room told us that she had fractured a growth plate in her foot and put her into a shoe splint and referred us to an amazing orthopedist. By the time I got home with her (and PJ along for the ride) it was 2:30am so she crashed on a sofa for the night after taking some Advil.
This morning was her first follow-up with the ortho, and he changed it from a shoe splint thing to a full boot (also known as a type of walking cast). She's to wear it until her appointment in March, and rest and elevate it as much as she can (no running, jumping, stuff like that and NO sleeping on the top bunk). He hopefully will clear her to not wear it at that appointment after the repeat x-rays to check how it is healing.
Which brings me to our fun picture of the day. This is Missa showing that even with injury and not getting to bed at a decent hour, she can still do her schoolwork at home.
And this is what her foot looks like under that boot, I took it while we were waiting for the orthopedist to come look at it and tell us what to do. Notice those fat little toes there and the discoloration? My cell phone may not take the greatest pictures, but it does well enough to show off some of the swelling and bruising.
She obviously doesn't feel too hot, especially with just Tylenol for the pain. But she's a trooper, and got a 100% on today's math test (Math-U-See Gamma lesson 4 test, tomorrow she'll do lesson 5's test)
And all of the family agrees, we all hope that Scott doesn't have to work too late tonight so that I can go to bed early to make up for the lack of sleep (we may have gotten in at 2:30 but I didn't fall asleep until after 4 from the adrenaline). If this momma doesn't get enough sleep, she is a cranky pants and yells a lot.
Hopefully the rest of this week is uneventful, I don't think I could take much more excitement right now.
Then on Tuesday we had our normal day, and just after finishing lessons for the night (we're late afternoon schoolers here, it works better for our lifestyle) Missa decided to get on the floor to wrestle with PJ. He likes to climb on anyone on the floor, smacking them and bouncing on them while laughing and squealing. Missa loves to wrestle with him, and he gets hysterical goofy when it is Missa who is doing the wrestling (I think she may be his favorite sister). Anyway, Liddy and Kimmy decided that it looked fun, so they joined PJ in wrestling Missa. One of them came down just right on her foot, and about 9 hours later the doctor at the emergency room told us that she had fractured a growth plate in her foot and put her into a shoe splint and referred us to an amazing orthopedist. By the time I got home with her (and PJ along for the ride) it was 2:30am so she crashed on a sofa for the night after taking some Advil.
This morning was her first follow-up with the ortho, and he changed it from a shoe splint thing to a full boot (also known as a type of walking cast). She's to wear it until her appointment in March, and rest and elevate it as much as she can (no running, jumping, stuff like that and NO sleeping on the top bunk). He hopefully will clear her to not wear it at that appointment after the repeat x-rays to check how it is healing.
Which brings me to our fun picture of the day. This is Missa showing that even with injury and not getting to bed at a decent hour, she can still do her schoolwork at home.
And this is what her foot looks like under that boot, I took it while we were waiting for the orthopedist to come look at it and tell us what to do. Notice those fat little toes there and the discoloration? My cell phone may not take the greatest pictures, but it does well enough to show off some of the swelling and bruising.
And all of the family agrees, we all hope that Scott doesn't have to work too late tonight so that I can go to bed early to make up for the lack of sleep (we may have gotten in at 2:30 but I didn't fall asleep until after 4 from the adrenaline). If this momma doesn't get enough sleep, she is a cranky pants and yells a lot.
Hopefully the rest of this week is uneventful, I don't think I could take much more excitement right now.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
homeschooling funny
Homeschooling can be physically painful at times. Seriously, it can. This actually happened to me during lessons today.
I had Missa doing a math test, Liddy doing some drill practice with an app on my phone, and Kimmy doing her daily computer time so I figured that it would be a great time to sit and work with Jojo on skip counting. She's having trouble with counting by 5's, so we got out the laminated hundred chart and I marked the 5's for her so she could see them as we counted together. We got comfy on the floor together, and then I made the mistake of laying down.
Until I laid down, PJ was happily playing nearby with a toy. He likes to wrestle, and when he saw me lay down he immediately got up and walked over to me, then before I could react he had both hands firmly planted in my hair and had climbed up on my head. Just try to picture me laying there at an odd angle, unable to reach the baby sitting on my head with both hands tightly grabbing my hair as he bounces up and down and squeals and laughs hysterically while I yell for Missa to PLEASE stop taking her math test for a minute and come get her brother off my head.
The joys of having a little boy..... and older children that I'm trying to teach while said little boy refuses to take his nap. The girls all collapsed with laughter, PJ finally fell off my head (Missa was laughing too hard to rescue me), and I ended up having to go to my bedroom for a brief time out to cry and compose myself.
I had Missa doing a math test, Liddy doing some drill practice with an app on my phone, and Kimmy doing her daily computer time so I figured that it would be a great time to sit and work with Jojo on skip counting. She's having trouble with counting by 5's, so we got out the laminated hundred chart and I marked the 5's for her so she could see them as we counted together. We got comfy on the floor together, and then I made the mistake of laying down.
Until I laid down, PJ was happily playing nearby with a toy. He likes to wrestle, and when he saw me lay down he immediately got up and walked over to me, then before I could react he had both hands firmly planted in my hair and had climbed up on my head. Just try to picture me laying there at an odd angle, unable to reach the baby sitting on my head with both hands tightly grabbing my hair as he bounces up and down and squeals and laughs hysterically while I yell for Missa to PLEASE stop taking her math test for a minute and come get her brother off my head.
The joys of having a little boy..... and older children that I'm trying to teach while said little boy refuses to take his nap. The girls all collapsed with laughter, PJ finally fell off my head (Missa was laughing too hard to rescue me), and I ended up having to go to my bedroom for a brief time out to cry and compose myself.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
back to homeschool, life as usual
Well this week is so far going better than I expected. We decided this week to just do grammar, math, and literature lessons and then add in history and science and all the other stuff they want to learn (I agreed to lessons in Spanish, crochet, calligraphy, sewing, cooking, and origami also) as we adjust to schooling at home. We are having a lot of fun at home and working well, but there is a lot of fighting right now that i could do without. Today would be a great example. So far today, Liddy has been sent to her room for throwing toys at a sister in anger (trying to injure her with them), Missa has slapped Kimmy in the face because Kimmy didn't want her to join her in her play, and a LOT of screaming and yelling. I think they are getting on each others' nerves right now so I need to come up with some ways to keep them occupied and working together.
In math Kimmy is going through Alpha to buy me a little time before I have to get her a Beta book, and Liddy is reviewing material in her Beta book that she needs more practice on before I move her up to Gamma. She's having a little trouble with regrouping, so this was a perfect choice for her. Missa, she is straight into Gamma and right now we are doing the tests first to find her spot, if she gets 100% on the test we move to the next lesson but if she doesn't we review the material. She's liking the pace of it this way, and is really proud of being able to just test out of lessons like they are nothing to her.
Grammar has been a bit of a struggle, but more on my end than anything else. See, I've never had much success with learning proper grammar (as I'm sure you may have noticed in my blog, I know I make some simple mistakes in writing although I am a natural writer in general so I have been able to kind of muddle through without getting any of it). However, I feel that grammar is something that my children need to learn so that they can be successful later in college, and it is doubly important for my dyslexic student. So I took the time to find a good solid program that will hold my hand through teaching grammar properly with little knowledge on my part, and Easy Grammar fit the bill on this one. I'm learning right alongside my girls, right now we are studying prepositions and I'm finally getting what a preposition is. Yes, at almost 31 I am finally learning grammar. The hurdle I have encountered is related to my lack of printer ink at the moment. Without ink, I have to hand-write the worksheets for the oldest girls to do. I do not like creating worksheets by hand, but I did it today. Scott said that we can get some more ink when he gets paid Friday so that I don't have to keep dealing with the hassle of hand-writing practice sheets. I just have to get through tomorrow's lessons, and then we will have the money for me to go to the store Friday for printer ink.
I really should read to the kids now that we have finished almost all the girls' seatwork for the day, but I'm enjoying sitting down and relaxing before I head off to the kitchen to do some prep for dinner and make the pie for dessert. I have had a few moments this week where I asked myself what I was thinking to pull them out of school, but overall so far it has been going well.
In math Kimmy is going through Alpha to buy me a little time before I have to get her a Beta book, and Liddy is reviewing material in her Beta book that she needs more practice on before I move her up to Gamma. She's having a little trouble with regrouping, so this was a perfect choice for her. Missa, she is straight into Gamma and right now we are doing the tests first to find her spot, if she gets 100% on the test we move to the next lesson but if she doesn't we review the material. She's liking the pace of it this way, and is really proud of being able to just test out of lessons like they are nothing to her.
Grammar has been a bit of a struggle, but more on my end than anything else. See, I've never had much success with learning proper grammar (as I'm sure you may have noticed in my blog, I know I make some simple mistakes in writing although I am a natural writer in general so I have been able to kind of muddle through without getting any of it). However, I feel that grammar is something that my children need to learn so that they can be successful later in college, and it is doubly important for my dyslexic student. So I took the time to find a good solid program that will hold my hand through teaching grammar properly with little knowledge on my part, and Easy Grammar fit the bill on this one. I'm learning right alongside my girls, right now we are studying prepositions and I'm finally getting what a preposition is. Yes, at almost 31 I am finally learning grammar. The hurdle I have encountered is related to my lack of printer ink at the moment. Without ink, I have to hand-write the worksheets for the oldest girls to do. I do not like creating worksheets by hand, but I did it today. Scott said that we can get some more ink when he gets paid Friday so that I don't have to keep dealing with the hassle of hand-writing practice sheets. I just have to get through tomorrow's lessons, and then we will have the money for me to go to the store Friday for printer ink.
I really should read to the kids now that we have finished almost all the girls' seatwork for the day, but I'm enjoying sitting down and relaxing before I head off to the kitchen to do some prep for dinner and make the pie for dessert. I have had a few moments this week where I asked myself what I was thinking to pull them out of school, but overall so far it has been going well.
Friday, January 18, 2013
homeschool week 1 tentative plans
We have a 4 day week for our first week of homeschool, due to a field trip I have planned Monday to the zoo. So I am trying to decide where we are starting and what to do.
I wanted to spend this first week working with the girls on reading a map and the different symbols and such on maps before we start Cantering the Country. I need to find my road atlas so that I have a nice big map to use for this. Our vocabulary this week will be directional and geographic words that we would find on a map, with a quiz at the end of the week to see how well they got the vocabulary.
In science, I thought it would be fun to do the Animal Classification lapbook at Homeschool Share with the girls before we start digging into the science part of our US studies. I can't print off the material for that until next weekend though, so we are going to do that in week 2 I guess and not do any science this first week.
For language arts, I plan to get the girls each a book to read and they will do a mini book report for me. We also will begin Easy Grammar, which the first unit is prepositions so I am going to start working with them on memorizing the list of prepositions that they need to learn this year (there is a total of 40 that they must memorize to be successful in the program this year). Easy Grammar is for the oldest two girls, Kimmy will work on nouns and verbs as well as ending punctuation for sentences (but she is welcome to join her big sisters in grammar if she wants, and may end up doing it with them totally if she seems to be catching on completely).
In math, the older girls will practice multiplication facts memorization and do some drill quizzes like I remember doing in school. I'll make a chart to show what facts groups they memorized and we will focus on one fact group at a time in daily drills. First up will be x0, x1, and x2 facts as a big group because I know they pretty much have those mastered then we'll do x3 daily until they get them, and keep moving forward from there. I can do each girl separately at the same time this way and then just go from there. Kimmy will review basic addition and subtraction facts and then we'll start Beta with her.
Our copywork this week will be a bible verse that I have yet to pick out, and it will be related to a character trait I've not decided on either. This is a new thing in our homeschool, as I have never really incorporated Scripture or character traits into our lessons. I think we will do a notebook for traits so that they can record it as we do lessons. I'm still working out the kinks in this plan, and may not start it until week 2 or 3 depending on how much time I have this weekend to spend thinking on it.
And of course, lots of playing, crafting, and reading together. I think this week I'll read "Detectives in Togas" to the girls and get them doing a journal page after each chapter. I have a BUNCH of books hanging around from our days with Sonlight that I can use for literature time. I'll just grab one off the shelf and read a chapter a day (or a couple times a day, depending on how the girls like the book) to cover that until we start our US studies since I have lots of literature included in that study.
I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with this one!
I wanted to spend this first week working with the girls on reading a map and the different symbols and such on maps before we start Cantering the Country. I need to find my road atlas so that I have a nice big map to use for this. Our vocabulary this week will be directional and geographic words that we would find on a map, with a quiz at the end of the week to see how well they got the vocabulary.
In science, I thought it would be fun to do the Animal Classification lapbook at Homeschool Share with the girls before we start digging into the science part of our US studies. I can't print off the material for that until next weekend though, so we are going to do that in week 2 I guess and not do any science this first week.
For language arts, I plan to get the girls each a book to read and they will do a mini book report for me. We also will begin Easy Grammar, which the first unit is prepositions so I am going to start working with them on memorizing the list of prepositions that they need to learn this year (there is a total of 40 that they must memorize to be successful in the program this year). Easy Grammar is for the oldest two girls, Kimmy will work on nouns and verbs as well as ending punctuation for sentences (but she is welcome to join her big sisters in grammar if she wants, and may end up doing it with them totally if she seems to be catching on completely).
In math, the older girls will practice multiplication facts memorization and do some drill quizzes like I remember doing in school. I'll make a chart to show what facts groups they memorized and we will focus on one fact group at a time in daily drills. First up will be x0, x1, and x2 facts as a big group because I know they pretty much have those mastered then we'll do x3 daily until they get them, and keep moving forward from there. I can do each girl separately at the same time this way and then just go from there. Kimmy will review basic addition and subtraction facts and then we'll start Beta with her.
Our copywork this week will be a bible verse that I have yet to pick out, and it will be related to a character trait I've not decided on either. This is a new thing in our homeschool, as I have never really incorporated Scripture or character traits into our lessons. I think we will do a notebook for traits so that they can record it as we do lessons. I'm still working out the kinks in this plan, and may not start it until week 2 or 3 depending on how much time I have this weekend to spend thinking on it.
And of course, lots of playing, crafting, and reading together. I think this week I'll read "Detectives in Togas" to the girls and get them doing a journal page after each chapter. I have a BUNCH of books hanging around from our days with Sonlight that I can use for literature time. I'll just grab one off the shelf and read a chapter a day (or a couple times a day, depending on how the girls like the book) to cover that until we start our US studies since I have lots of literature included in that study.
I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with this one!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
the last day
Today was the last day of school for the big 3 girls. The school had a scheduled late start day, so they had a hot pancake breakfast before they got on the bus this morning. I didn't know what to expect to happen today, but it went really well. They all came home with their supplies and a couple had math workbooks in their backpacks, and we are all excited to get started with schoolwork at home next week. I'm going to let them enjoy tomorrow as a weekend day like the school had scheduled for today, and we will take Monday to go to the Columbus Zoo I think since they have free admission (just pay parking that day, plus the cost of the gas I'll need to get there and back). Tuesday, we will get started on lessons at home like we didn't miss a beat. I know exactly where each kid needs to be placed in math, and after a trip to the library this weekend for some books I should be ready to go.
We all feel as if a weight has been lifted from our shoulders in making this change. The school the girls went to is a great school and they did very well and we all had a wonderful experience, but now it is time for us to get back to life as it is meant to be in our home. I am looking forward to the start of this chapter in our lives, the chapter of sending them to school was a great experience and we learned a lot but it is time to get back to normal.
We all feel as if a weight has been lifted from our shoulders in making this change. The school the girls went to is a great school and they did very well and we all had a wonderful experience, but now it is time for us to get back to life as it is meant to be in our home. I am looking forward to the start of this chapter in our lives, the chapter of sending them to school was a great experience and we learned a lot but it is time to get back to normal.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Our last week with public school
This is an interesting day for me. It started off like any typical Monday, but smoother than normal. There was no arguing and fighting from the girls when I woke them up to get ready for school, and only one fit when it was time to go out to catch the bus. The girls are as excited as I am right now about this week ending I think, and are sticking it out to get things done so we can get back to our REAL life again here starting Thursday afternoon when they get home.
There is no school on Friday this week, and Thursday the girls have late start so this is a short week to live through. It also is the last week of the semester, so they will have gone for half of the year. We've had a lot of great experiences with the school they attended this half year, and I don't regret sending them at all. It was truly needed for us to have this opportunity. However, I have done a lot of soul searching in this time and rediscovered things about myself that I had forgotten, and now it is time for us to pick up again with learning at home.
I plan to go easy on the girls the first week or two, as we find our footing again and develop a good working routine for everything. We will do math and language arts for sure daily, but are going to wait on the rest until I get the printer Scott said we should be able to buy me (he agreed that I need a laser printer with teaching them at home, I burn through too much ink to make an inkjet worthwhile for regular use). Here's what I have in mind for the remainder of this year and all of next school year (maybe beyond, depending on how long we take to work through this unit study series).
Cantering the Country (multi-subject unit study for grades 1-6 on US Geography)
Easy Grammar
Math-U-See
See, keeping it simple and keeping it together. The girls will all work together to learn cursive, and then in pairs (Missa and Liddy; Kimmy and Jojo) for math and language arts. Jojo will finish this year with Ohio Virtual Academy, so our first history focus for the other kids will be to learn to read different kinds of maps and I'll include them in some of her history lessons for second semester with it being some basic US history topics.
As you can tell, I have a plan in place for us to jump right back in, and I will adjust and add to it as time goes along to fit our needs better. The unit study will include as many subjects as possible, so while we are in each state we will learn about the state bird, tree, flower, any artists and/or musicians, and a couple major historical things about the state. If there is no artist or musician to study, then we will look for landmarks, monuments, memorials, or even study the state seal and the design on that state's quarter to cover the arts. I'm hoping to spend 1-2 weeks in each state, but may stretch some longer depending on what is available for that state. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
There is no school on Friday this week, and Thursday the girls have late start so this is a short week to live through. It also is the last week of the semester, so they will have gone for half of the year. We've had a lot of great experiences with the school they attended this half year, and I don't regret sending them at all. It was truly needed for us to have this opportunity. However, I have done a lot of soul searching in this time and rediscovered things about myself that I had forgotten, and now it is time for us to pick up again with learning at home.
I plan to go easy on the girls the first week or two, as we find our footing again and develop a good working routine for everything. We will do math and language arts for sure daily, but are going to wait on the rest until I get the printer Scott said we should be able to buy me (he agreed that I need a laser printer with teaching them at home, I burn through too much ink to make an inkjet worthwhile for regular use). Here's what I have in mind for the remainder of this year and all of next school year (maybe beyond, depending on how long we take to work through this unit study series).
Cantering the Country (multi-subject unit study for grades 1-6 on US Geography)
Easy Grammar
Math-U-See
See, keeping it simple and keeping it together. The girls will all work together to learn cursive, and then in pairs (Missa and Liddy; Kimmy and Jojo) for math and language arts. Jojo will finish this year with Ohio Virtual Academy, so our first history focus for the other kids will be to learn to read different kinds of maps and I'll include them in some of her history lessons for second semester with it being some basic US history topics.
As you can tell, I have a plan in place for us to jump right back in, and I will adjust and add to it as time goes along to fit our needs better. The unit study will include as many subjects as possible, so while we are in each state we will learn about the state bird, tree, flower, any artists and/or musicians, and a couple major historical things about the state. If there is no artist or musician to study, then we will look for landmarks, monuments, memorials, or even study the state seal and the design on that state's quarter to cover the arts. I'm hoping to spend 1-2 weeks in each state, but may stretch some longer depending on what is available for that state. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
change of plans
This week has been emotional for me. 2 days ago my last living grandparent died, and I won't be able to attend the service because it is in Florida and we live in Ohio (can't afford Scott to take off work to stay with the kids and can't afford for me to fly OR drive down). I've been kind of in a daze yesterday and today as it fully sinks in. Then today happened.
This afternoon I got a call from the kids' school. They sent out an automated call to all families to notify us that the school was under lockdown. It turned out to be nothing, but still I was worried about my two girls at school (Missa was home with a low grade fever and other symptoms) until they got home from school 3 hours later. On top of that, there was a shooting in California and another school there is under lockdown as well while they hunt for a suspect in a crime (I'm not sure they are related or not).
As a result, I will be filing my notice of intent as soon as I can get a hold of the form. I am hoping that their last day will be the same as the end of the semester at their school, which is next Thursday. I need to get hold of that form and get it all done and sent in ASAP. I was going to slowly do this, one kid at a time using OHVA, but instead I am going to just straight up homeschool.
This afternoon I got a call from the kids' school. They sent out an automated call to all families to notify us that the school was under lockdown. It turned out to be nothing, but still I was worried about my two girls at school (Missa was home with a low grade fever and other symptoms) until they got home from school 3 hours later. On top of that, there was a shooting in California and another school there is under lockdown as well while they hunt for a suspect in a crime (I'm not sure they are related or not).
As a result, I will be filing my notice of intent as soon as I can get a hold of the form. I am hoping that their last day will be the same as the end of the semester at their school, which is next Thursday. I need to get hold of that form and get it all done and sent in ASAP. I was going to slowly do this, one kid at a time using OHVA, but instead I am going to just straight up homeschool.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
January 2013 starting off with a bang
Well, here it is 6am on Sunday morning. It is just me and Missa awake, as she is a total morning person and does not sleep past 6am even on weekends and holidays. She is doing some multiplication practice games on the other computer, and PJ is settling back to sleep in my lap (ah the joys of a nursing baby). So I thought I'd share a bit of what we have going on here already this year to look forward to.
Yesterday I completed the first step of the process to enroll Missa in Ohio Virtual Academy with Jojo for the remainder of this school year. Scott and I had discussed it a while now, and he knows that I'm dead serious about this so he's hesitantly supportive. He isn't entirely certain that it is the right move at this time, but he's waiting to see how it goes. Missa is thrilled and can't wait until the process is completed so that she can come back to lessons at home with me. I, on the other hand, am feeling a bit apprehensive at this since it is adding a lot to my day (although a good portion of my role is going to be supportive and assisting her in the process, as I understand that the kids become more independent starting in 3rd grade).
As for the other girls, when Liddy and Kimmy finish this school year we'll discuss things to figure out what to do from there. For now, the best choice for each child is to have Missa and Jojo at home with OHVA and then have Liddy and Kimmy at the charter school. Liddy doesn't listen to me or respect my authority as a parent anyway, so I doubt she'd respect my authority as her educator if she came back home. She needs to prove to me that she's going to show some respect and follow instructions from me before I'll consider it, and I've made this perfectly clear to her. Kimmy, well she loves the charter school and is pulling straight A's (with most of them being 100% grades) so I'm not going to mess with a good thing right now.
I expect that I'll get some resistance from those two once Missa's transfer is done and she starts OHVA, but they will get over it.
Yesterday I completed the first step of the process to enroll Missa in Ohio Virtual Academy with Jojo for the remainder of this school year. Scott and I had discussed it a while now, and he knows that I'm dead serious about this so he's hesitantly supportive. He isn't entirely certain that it is the right move at this time, but he's waiting to see how it goes. Missa is thrilled and can't wait until the process is completed so that she can come back to lessons at home with me. I, on the other hand, am feeling a bit apprehensive at this since it is adding a lot to my day (although a good portion of my role is going to be supportive and assisting her in the process, as I understand that the kids become more independent starting in 3rd grade).
As for the other girls, when Liddy and Kimmy finish this school year we'll discuss things to figure out what to do from there. For now, the best choice for each child is to have Missa and Jojo at home with OHVA and then have Liddy and Kimmy at the charter school. Liddy doesn't listen to me or respect my authority as a parent anyway, so I doubt she'd respect my authority as her educator if she came back home. She needs to prove to me that she's going to show some respect and follow instructions from me before I'll consider it, and I've made this perfectly clear to her. Kimmy, well she loves the charter school and is pulling straight A's (with most of them being 100% grades) so I'm not going to mess with a good thing right now.
I expect that I'll get some resistance from those two once Missa's transfer is done and she starts OHVA, but they will get over it.
Friday, January 04, 2013
the end of Christmas break
Today is the last weekday of our Christmas break here. The oldest 3 girls go back to school on Monday (much to Jojo's delight!) and I settle back into our schooling routine at home here with Jojo. It has been a nice break here, having all the kids at home. Even with the fighting that inevitably happens when siblings are together it has been a fairly smooth two weeks vacation. I am not really looking forward to Monday, having to send the girls off on the bus again. I miss having them all here with me, and am looking forward to the end of May even more than ever now.
This 2 weeks we have watched tv, played in the snow (a LOT), went on a short trip to another part of the state to visit friends, and battled the flu. We laughed together, cleaned house together, and complained over the trash truck not coming to our street this week together (talk about a disaster for us! we need the trash picked up weekly).
I just wish that Scott would agree to me pulling the girls out now, or starting to at least.
This 2 weeks we have watched tv, played in the snow (a LOT), went on a short trip to another part of the state to visit friends, and battled the flu. We laughed together, cleaned house together, and complained over the trash truck not coming to our street this week together (talk about a disaster for us! we need the trash picked up weekly).
I just wish that Scott would agree to me pulling the girls out now, or starting to at least.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Looking forward to 2013
Well, the Mayans were wrong (or did someone just interpret the calendar wrong? only time will tell) and we are still here. So, that means looking ahead to a new year coming up and making plans for it.
This school year has gone really well so far amazingly. The oldest 3 girls have made great strides and learned a lot of things attending a public charter school this school year while Jojo did schoolwork at home with me. It has given us all a chance to grow as individuals and explore things that we never would have otherwise. The girls have a new appreciation for our life as a homeschool family, and I've discovered the joy of being a domestic housewife with only having to teach 1 child and care for a baby during the day. I have learned many things about myself in the process, and what I feel strongly about. It has been a good opportunity, but I am ready for 2013 to come.
This first half of the new year, I am going to be working on my own personal shortcomings. I am going to develop healthy habits for myself, including exercise, healthier eating, and getting the right meds and dosage for my anxiety issues. This is a very important step, and one I must complete before school lets out for summer vacation at the end of May.
Starting in June, we will have a very different life. I plan to take June and let the kids enjoy life and decompress before we pick up and start homeschooling in July. Yes, I said homeschooling. They will NOT be returning to the charter school next year, and I am looking forward to it. I am working now slowly on creating an idea of what we will do in lessons and a schedule for our days. It is going to be an adjustment, but I am looking forward to getting back to our real life and learning as a family. I've had a few people who don't agree with our decision, but Scott and I know that this is the right decision for our family and we will do what we need to do for this to happen. I realize that I have a child with severe dyslexia and a child with ADD and motor delays, and am prepared for this. I have tutoring lined up to assist with my dyslexic, new curriculum chosen based on their needs, and my husband's support.
This is what God has led us to, and any naysayers can kiss my backside. Society and popular practices do not choose what we do with our family, God has the say in things. For those who feel that we should not let God dictate our lives, well now this is why it is OUR family and OUR life. I am not forcing everyone to do as we do because God wants it, I am simply making choices for my own family with the support and backing of my husband. Don't try to force your lack of religion on my family because my family having such faith scares you, let it be.
And that ends my last post of 2012 unless something major comes up tomorrow.
This school year has gone really well so far amazingly. The oldest 3 girls have made great strides and learned a lot of things attending a public charter school this school year while Jojo did schoolwork at home with me. It has given us all a chance to grow as individuals and explore things that we never would have otherwise. The girls have a new appreciation for our life as a homeschool family, and I've discovered the joy of being a domestic housewife with only having to teach 1 child and care for a baby during the day. I have learned many things about myself in the process, and what I feel strongly about. It has been a good opportunity, but I am ready for 2013 to come.
This first half of the new year, I am going to be working on my own personal shortcomings. I am going to develop healthy habits for myself, including exercise, healthier eating, and getting the right meds and dosage for my anxiety issues. This is a very important step, and one I must complete before school lets out for summer vacation at the end of May.
Starting in June, we will have a very different life. I plan to take June and let the kids enjoy life and decompress before we pick up and start homeschooling in July. Yes, I said homeschooling. They will NOT be returning to the charter school next year, and I am looking forward to it. I am working now slowly on creating an idea of what we will do in lessons and a schedule for our days. It is going to be an adjustment, but I am looking forward to getting back to our real life and learning as a family. I've had a few people who don't agree with our decision, but Scott and I know that this is the right decision for our family and we will do what we need to do for this to happen. I realize that I have a child with severe dyslexia and a child with ADD and motor delays, and am prepared for this. I have tutoring lined up to assist with my dyslexic, new curriculum chosen based on their needs, and my husband's support.
This is what God has led us to, and any naysayers can kiss my backside. Society and popular practices do not choose what we do with our family, God has the say in things. For those who feel that we should not let God dictate our lives, well now this is why it is OUR family and OUR life. I am not forcing everyone to do as we do because God wants it, I am simply making choices for my own family with the support and backing of my husband. Don't try to force your lack of religion on my family because my family having such faith scares you, let it be.
And that ends my last post of 2012 unless something major comes up tomorrow.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Isn't illness fun?
I really hoped that we would be spared this year from the annual rounds of illness that usually happen here. Unfortunately, that did not happen as all 5 children have the flu and I believe I may be coming down with it as well. The one being hit hardest would happen to be my sweet Kimmy, who will be 7 next month.
Obviously this virus is causing her some issues with her asthma. But that's why we have a nebulizer, she's always had these troubles when she gets sick. I also have a second nebulizer and tubing with a mask for PJ, as he has the same trouble Kimmy has with breathing while sick. Hopefully we can keep it all under control and the girls can all recover over the weekend so they don't have to miss school again on Monday (they all came down with this one between getting off the bus yesterday and waking up this morning, with me and PJ starting it this afternoon). Scott is pumping himself full of vitamin C to try and keep from getting it, and I'm forcing myself to keep going with life until he gets home from work tonight so I can go to bed and die.
Obviously this virus is causing her some issues with her asthma. But that's why we have a nebulizer, she's always had these troubles when she gets sick. I also have a second nebulizer and tubing with a mask for PJ, as he has the same trouble Kimmy has with breathing while sick. Hopefully we can keep it all under control and the girls can all recover over the weekend so they don't have to miss school again on Monday (they all came down with this one between getting off the bus yesterday and waking up this morning, with me and PJ starting it this afternoon). Scott is pumping himself full of vitamin C to try and keep from getting it, and I'm forcing myself to keep going with life until he gets home from work tonight so I can go to bed and die.
Monday, December 10, 2012
4 weeks left of the semester
Over the weekend, I took a few minutes to figure out where we are in Jojo's lessons and to see how many days are left in the semester. Well, there are 19 days left of the first semester (this is including today) and we aren't too far off course in lessons for her. I wrote out how many lessons we have left in each subject to get to 50%, so I have a goal but I'm not going to get upset if I fall short in any subject. Here's the list so I can keep accountable, then I'll give a few notes on this so you can see what the big picture is.
Phonics- 25 lessons
Language Skills- 29 lessons
Literature & Comprehension- 54 lessons
History- 24 lessons
And then there is 10 lessons left in social studies to reach 100% completion.
At first I kind of freaked over the number of lessons compared to days, but I'm not worried for a reason. Phonics, the next 15 lessons we're doing are all reviewing and mastering short vowel sounds, so I should be able to condense those into 5-8 days instead of taking 15 to do it. Lit. & comp. is scheduled to spend 3 days at a time reading a story and doing activities, but typically we read the story and then pick from the 3 days of activities to do the ones we are most interested in and do some review questions from all 3 days because Jojo will NOT stand for me re-reading a story 3 days in a row. So we do 3 or 4 lessons a day in this subject typically (there are "your choice" days included randomly that allow you to play catch-up if you need it on a story). History, even if we don't hit all 24 lessons left to make 50% it is only 2 days a week so I can just pick up a third day weekly if we want or need to (or even more days, for that matter). Language skills is similar to Li. & comp. where we will do multiple lessons at a time because it just annoys the two of us too much to spend more than 1 day at a time right now on a poem or the stuff it covers (who needs to spend 3 days working on a page in the "All About Me" book anyway? honestly!)
We're doing pretty good on logged attendance hours too, only about 4 hours "behind" at this point with all the sickness I've had to deal with last month (before it started she was a good bit ahead, with having done almost all of her math K)
Math is the one subject you probably noticed that I didn't mention at all yet. Well, there is a reason for that. Jojo has FINISHED math+ blue (that's the grade K math) and her math+ green (1st grade mat) will be delivered this morning. In fact it will likely be here in the next 1-2 hours with how UPS runs deliveries to me (I get a lot of UPS stuff sometimes with a big family and my taking college classes online here and there). I plan to get her doing Study Island or Reading Eggs this morning once UPS comes so that I can spend an hour or two snuggling this adorable sleeping baby boy and looking through the new curriculum to get familiar with it. She will then start it this afternoon once I've gotten a good feel for it. Nope, not worried about her math progress, as she had already hit 100% in her math and is now working on the next grade level up.
Oh, and later if I get a chance and I remember, I'll have to put up the pictures I took of the girls ice skating on Friday. OHVA sponsored a skating event at the local ice arena so I decided to pick them up early from school so they could join us. Missa discovered that she loves to ice skate and her sisters decided they aren't too keen on it. I'm hoping that we can swing paying for Missa to take lessons as her Christmas gift, but I have to see what we have left after we buy the other kids' 2 gifts each and the rest of the big group gift.
Phonics- 25 lessons
Language Skills- 29 lessons
Literature & Comprehension- 54 lessons
History- 24 lessons
And then there is 10 lessons left in social studies to reach 100% completion.
At first I kind of freaked over the number of lessons compared to days, but I'm not worried for a reason. Phonics, the next 15 lessons we're doing are all reviewing and mastering short vowel sounds, so I should be able to condense those into 5-8 days instead of taking 15 to do it. Lit. & comp. is scheduled to spend 3 days at a time reading a story and doing activities, but typically we read the story and then pick from the 3 days of activities to do the ones we are most interested in and do some review questions from all 3 days because Jojo will NOT stand for me re-reading a story 3 days in a row. So we do 3 or 4 lessons a day in this subject typically (there are "your choice" days included randomly that allow you to play catch-up if you need it on a story). History, even if we don't hit all 24 lessons left to make 50% it is only 2 days a week so I can just pick up a third day weekly if we want or need to (or even more days, for that matter). Language skills is similar to Li. & comp. where we will do multiple lessons at a time because it just annoys the two of us too much to spend more than 1 day at a time right now on a poem or the stuff it covers (who needs to spend 3 days working on a page in the "All About Me" book anyway? honestly!)
We're doing pretty good on logged attendance hours too, only about 4 hours "behind" at this point with all the sickness I've had to deal with last month (before it started she was a good bit ahead, with having done almost all of her math K)
Math is the one subject you probably noticed that I didn't mention at all yet. Well, there is a reason for that. Jojo has FINISHED math+ blue (that's the grade K math) and her math+ green (1st grade mat) will be delivered this morning. In fact it will likely be here in the next 1-2 hours with how UPS runs deliveries to me (I get a lot of UPS stuff sometimes with a big family and my taking college classes online here and there). I plan to get her doing Study Island or Reading Eggs this morning once UPS comes so that I can spend an hour or two snuggling this adorable sleeping baby boy and looking through the new curriculum to get familiar with it. She will then start it this afternoon once I've gotten a good feel for it. Nope, not worried about her math progress, as she had already hit 100% in her math and is now working on the next grade level up.
Oh, and later if I get a chance and I remember, I'll have to put up the pictures I took of the girls ice skating on Friday. OHVA sponsored a skating event at the local ice arena so I decided to pick them up early from school so they could join us. Missa discovered that she loves to ice skate and her sisters decided they aren't too keen on it. I'm hoping that we can swing paying for Missa to take lessons as her Christmas gift, but I have to see what we have left after we buy the other kids' 2 gifts each and the rest of the big group gift.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
fun in November
A friend of mine on Facebook posted this little cartoon today and I just had to share it here. I have encountered that very question many times, and I have answered similarly to that. Now, on to what I wanted to share.....
Not much has really happened here in my home. We have just plugged along with life here, doing what we need to do each day. Jojo is doing well with her homeschool lessons, her big sisters are doing well in school, and PJ is being a little tag-along pest who follows me all over the place and hangs on my leg if I'm not holding him (ok that part is new, he gets super clingy when he's working on a big developmental milestone).
We had some disruptions to Jojo's lessons with PJ getting sick, we ended up at the hospital emergency room a couple weeks ago because he was struggling to breathe. Turns out he has a reactive airway, which means that whenever he gets sick the coughing fits can cause his lungs and airways to spasm and he cannot breathe. Yes, this means I now have two children who use the nebulizer when they are sick to control their breathing. He will likely not outgrow this quirk, but that is ok because Kimmy and I both have it as well and I'm pretty familiar with how to handle it. It is truly amazing how something as simple as a cold can cause such big problems, isn't it?
Jojo is currently visiting Europe in her history/geography lessons. We are a bit behind in this subject, so I am planning to do extra lessons for the next couple weeks with her and get caught up again and possibly even ahead.
We still haven't gotten her 1st grade math, as we have been dragging our feet with the little bit she needs to review before moving on. PJ's illness and then the Thanksgiving holiday break threw us off in a big way. She is working on weight and measurement, and I'm going to try having her take the test today just to see where she's at in it. Once she passes this one last test I can have OHVA send us 1st grade materials.
Missa and Liddy had testing done last month at their school for services, and both qualified for an IEP. Liddy, as suspected, needs therapy for her motor development and Missa is most definitely dyslexic and needing a lot of accommodations for that. I signed that paperwork and got them started with services, and already there is a noticeable improvement in their work.
Kimmy is doing great, and has become "teacher's pet" so to speak. She's the most popular kid in her class, has good grades, and is overall very polite and a pleasure to be around according to her teacher.
The 3 girls are all trying out for parts in a school play here in a couple weeks, and are really excited about that. Missa also brought home an invitation to a birthday party next weekend, her first ever invitation.
PJ is now 9 months old, and making huge developmental leaps. Right now he is working on learning to walk. He can take 3-5 steps completely unassisted before he falls down, and with the push toy we have he runs all over the house. He also eats crazy amounts of food. He has graduated from baby food to table food cut up into bite-size pieces, and can easily eat 2-3 pancakes, an entire banana, or even 2 scrambled eggs with toast at a single meal. According to our pediatrician at yesterday's checkup, he is 23lbs and 30 inches tall. I knew he was tall for his age, but I had no clue he would be above the 90th percentile. I guess I'm feeding him right to be growing like that, he is bigger than all his sisters were at this age (and bigger than 2 of them were at 2 years old!).
I told you that November has been pretty slow here. Now we are gearing up for Christmas, and all the festivities that come with it. This year we decided to tell the kids the truth about Santa since we have added expenses from some home repairs and aren't going to be able to do as much for Christmas as we have in the past, but also we have decided to introduce a variation of Elf on the Shelf for fun. I am going Saturday to pick up our elf, and then we will have fun with it in our own crazy way.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Weekly wrap-up
This has been a fun week for us here. We've had the added job of taking care of Tinkerbell as she recovered from her vet visit, went out to play with some new friends, and did our normal lessons. However, I am going to mainly talk about the academics.
This week we wrapped up our visit to Australia in history. Jojo had fun and we decided to dig into it pretty well, taking a few weeks to learn about the animals, plants, and culture in general. We wrapped up Australia by making a shadowbox of Australian ocean life using a few household supplies we had on hand and some creativity. It is nothing spectacular, as we are out of scotch tape so I had to be creative in how we attached some pieces (particularly the "floating" ones, I used a safety pin to attach the yarn to the animals and then punched holes in the box and tied the string that way instead of a couple pieces of tape holding it all on) but she had a good time.
Ignore the face she's making, she has hit THAT stage. *sigh* As you can see, it isn't fancy at all and you can definitely tell a 5 year old made it with minimal help from mommy.
In math, she FINISHED her math K materials and we are now waiting for approval, ordering, and delivery of 1st grade math. It should be all taken care of in the next 2 weeks I'm guessing, so until then she and I will work together in a Spectrum math workbook that was given to us by a friend and I shall introduce her to my friends also known as the addition and subtraction flash cards.
She is resisting phonics and language arts still, but we are making progress there. She did 2 units in language arts this week after I discovered that she will listen to stories and poetry if I sit down and start reading it to her little brother. She's done that whole "no I am NOT listening to you read" pout when I say that I'm going to read, and then when I tell her fine I'll read to Bub then sit with him on the floor and read her school stories to him she'll slowly make her way over and be next to me looking at the pictures and listening (and interrupting with commentary about the story and questions as needed) by the end of the second paragraph I'm reading out loud. So I'm taking advantage of this discovery and working at an accelerated pace through the material to "catch up" in the curriculum (not hard to do, the material has us doing a story for 3 days straight and covers skills that she's already familiar with so I have no issues condensing the work to a story or 2 each day). She's making excellent progress in her penmanship as well, and I anticipate that she'll finish her workbook by the new year and move on to just working on copying words and sentences daily.
Health right now is being covered by involving her in caring for her brother, cooking, and taking care of the dog. She really likes this, and is easily doing daily health lessons through this method.
She also has finally figured out how to pedal her bike that she got for her birthday last month, which you already know I'm logging for physical education. She also is starting yoga and stretching every morning to start the day.
That my dear friends is what our week has looked like here. We've had a LOT of fun and learned a lot of things. I didn't think she'd do this well in schoolwork, but she's pulling it off nicely.
This week we wrapped up our visit to Australia in history. Jojo had fun and we decided to dig into it pretty well, taking a few weeks to learn about the animals, plants, and culture in general. We wrapped up Australia by making a shadowbox of Australian ocean life using a few household supplies we had on hand and some creativity. It is nothing spectacular, as we are out of scotch tape so I had to be creative in how we attached some pieces (particularly the "floating" ones, I used a safety pin to attach the yarn to the animals and then punched holes in the box and tied the string that way instead of a couple pieces of tape holding it all on) but she had a good time.
In math, she FINISHED her math K materials and we are now waiting for approval, ordering, and delivery of 1st grade math. It should be all taken care of in the next 2 weeks I'm guessing, so until then she and I will work together in a Spectrum math workbook that was given to us by a friend and I shall introduce her to my friends also known as the addition and subtraction flash cards.
She is resisting phonics and language arts still, but we are making progress there. She did 2 units in language arts this week after I discovered that she will listen to stories and poetry if I sit down and start reading it to her little brother. She's done that whole "no I am NOT listening to you read" pout when I say that I'm going to read, and then when I tell her fine I'll read to Bub then sit with him on the floor and read her school stories to him she'll slowly make her way over and be next to me looking at the pictures and listening (and interrupting with commentary about the story and questions as needed) by the end of the second paragraph I'm reading out loud. So I'm taking advantage of this discovery and working at an accelerated pace through the material to "catch up" in the curriculum (not hard to do, the material has us doing a story for 3 days straight and covers skills that she's already familiar with so I have no issues condensing the work to a story or 2 each day). She's making excellent progress in her penmanship as well, and I anticipate that she'll finish her workbook by the new year and move on to just working on copying words and sentences daily.
Health right now is being covered by involving her in caring for her brother, cooking, and taking care of the dog. She really likes this, and is easily doing daily health lessons through this method.
She also has finally figured out how to pedal her bike that she got for her birthday last month, which you already know I'm logging for physical education. She also is starting yoga and stretching every morning to start the day.
That my dear friends is what our week has looked like here. We've had a LOT of fun and learned a lot of things. I didn't think she'd do this well in schoolwork, but she's pulling it off nicely.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Fun times here
So we got a dog last month, as you know from my last post. A 10 month old Yorkie-poodle mix we named Tinkerbell. She has definitely made life different here.
She doesn't like her dog food too much, but is getting used to it. She isn't terribly fond of PJ, after he tugged on her ears and tail a couple times (totally expected that he'd be curious and tug, and totally expected that she isn't too fond of him now because of it but we're teaching him to be be gentle and her to tolerate him). She is very protective of our bedroom and growls at the girls when they dare to enter until she's told to knock it off.
And then there is THIS week. Yesterday she went to get spayed and taken care of at the vet. You know the drill, dental, blood tests, fecal sample, the works to make sure she's healthy. All her boosters are done for the year, tests all came back perfect, she is now spayed. However, there were a few little glitches. She is NOT a puppy. She's about 7 years old, and was horribly neglected by her previous owner. The fact that she had lost several teeth and we had to have the vet pull several more made that pretty obvious. The vet also shaved her matted fur for us after seeing how I've been carefully removing the worst matting with my hair cutting scissors. Needless to say, she hates me right now for all she had done in the last 24 hours, and we spent a lot of money. But, it is worth it to know that she is healthy and taken care of properly.
As far as the kids, well that has been fun too. Missa is being harassed and bullied at school and says that the school doesn't believe her about it and are ignoring her complaints. Liddy is a drama queen as usual, screaming and yelling and lashing out physically whenever she doesn't get EXACTLY her way. Kimmy is loving school and bringing home good grades. Jojo is being VERY 5, and gives me a run for my money some days. And then there is PJ, pulling up and trying to walk all over the place. He will pull up and then let go and fall over. Then he will start screaming if he sees someone watching him LOL He also is eating as well as his sisters, and exactly what they eat sometimes. Yes, he is moving on to table foods now by his own choosing. He loves pancakes and waffles, and especially enjoys dropping them on the floor to watch the dog come running to eat them. He enjoys apple juice diluted in a sippy cup too.
Oh, and yesterday we went on a field trip with OHVA. Since Jojo is enrolled in OHVA for her K year, we are required to attend 4 face-to-face (F2F) events each school year. Her KRA-L test would have counted as the first one, however we had a baby with chicken pox (caught it from his oldest sister who picked it up at school, luckily none of the others got it) so we had to do that testing online instead. So, I have 4 field trips I need to do for Jojo to get her required 4 F2F events. Yesterday was the first one, and her big sisters didn't have school that day so they got to join us. We all went to the pumpkin patch.
Yes, I took 5 kids by myself to the pumpkin patch. I'm slightly out of practice since school started, I don't typically have to take more than just 2 kids anywhere (or 3 if someone is sick at home from school). I honestly dreaded this trip, and even moreso when the vet said that the only time they could get Tink in for her spay was on the same day as the trip to the pumpkin patch. *sigh* It went well though, I laid down the rules real early and made sure they flat out KNEW them. I assigned a buddy system for them to make it easier for me to keep track of them, and off we went. 2 hours they spent running through the corn maze, in the enchanted forest, and then hunting through the pumpkins to find their perfect ones to carve this weekend for Halloween. Here's a couple pictures from that trip. :)
She doesn't like her dog food too much, but is getting used to it. She isn't terribly fond of PJ, after he tugged on her ears and tail a couple times (totally expected that he'd be curious and tug, and totally expected that she isn't too fond of him now because of it but we're teaching him to be be gentle and her to tolerate him). She is very protective of our bedroom and growls at the girls when they dare to enter until she's told to knock it off.
And then there is THIS week. Yesterday she went to get spayed and taken care of at the vet. You know the drill, dental, blood tests, fecal sample, the works to make sure she's healthy. All her boosters are done for the year, tests all came back perfect, she is now spayed. However, there were a few little glitches. She is NOT a puppy. She's about 7 years old, and was horribly neglected by her previous owner. The fact that she had lost several teeth and we had to have the vet pull several more made that pretty obvious. The vet also shaved her matted fur for us after seeing how I've been carefully removing the worst matting with my hair cutting scissors. Needless to say, she hates me right now for all she had done in the last 24 hours, and we spent a lot of money. But, it is worth it to know that she is healthy and taken care of properly.
As far as the kids, well that has been fun too. Missa is being harassed and bullied at school and says that the school doesn't believe her about it and are ignoring her complaints. Liddy is a drama queen as usual, screaming and yelling and lashing out physically whenever she doesn't get EXACTLY her way. Kimmy is loving school and bringing home good grades. Jojo is being VERY 5, and gives me a run for my money some days. And then there is PJ, pulling up and trying to walk all over the place. He will pull up and then let go and fall over. Then he will start screaming if he sees someone watching him LOL He also is eating as well as his sisters, and exactly what they eat sometimes. Yes, he is moving on to table foods now by his own choosing. He loves pancakes and waffles, and especially enjoys dropping them on the floor to watch the dog come running to eat them. He enjoys apple juice diluted in a sippy cup too.
Oh, and yesterday we went on a field trip with OHVA. Since Jojo is enrolled in OHVA for her K year, we are required to attend 4 face-to-face (F2F) events each school year. Her KRA-L test would have counted as the first one, however we had a baby with chicken pox (caught it from his oldest sister who picked it up at school, luckily none of the others got it) so we had to do that testing online instead. So, I have 4 field trips I need to do for Jojo to get her required 4 F2F events. Yesterday was the first one, and her big sisters didn't have school that day so they got to join us. We all went to the pumpkin patch.
Yes, I took 5 kids by myself to the pumpkin patch. I'm slightly out of practice since school started, I don't typically have to take more than just 2 kids anywhere (or 3 if someone is sick at home from school). I honestly dreaded this trip, and even moreso when the vet said that the only time they could get Tink in for her spay was on the same day as the trip to the pumpkin patch. *sigh* It went well though, I laid down the rules real early and made sure they flat out KNEW them. I assigned a buddy system for them to make it easier for me to keep track of them, and off we went. 2 hours they spent running through the corn maze, in the enchanted forest, and then hunting through the pumpkins to find their perfect ones to carve this weekend for Halloween. Here's a couple pictures from that trip. :)
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| I do not approve of this stroller mommy! |
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| From left to right- Jojo, Liddy, Kimmy, Missa |
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| At the mini maze, yes PJ lost his socks as usual |
Sunday, September 23, 2012
a new addition to our family
As if life isn't already busy enough with 5 kids, 3 going to school and one homeschooling with a baby in the mix, we added to the busy and chaos. Meet Tinkerbell, our new pup.
She is a 10 month old Yorkie-Poo that we found at the county animal shelter yesterday. Her previous owner was a sweet old woman who was no longer able to care for her, and her grandson brought her in to the shelter. They told him that if he was surrendering her that he needed to either take her next door to the humane society or fill out paperwork and pay a surrender fee. He didn't want to do either one, so he walked out the door, set her in the grass in front of the shelter, and drove off. She is still on hold for owner retrieval, but on Monday (that is tomorrow) she is released from the hold and we can pick her up at 1pm. I signed a hold contract and paid a deposit to ensure that we get her, and will pay the rest of the $100 adoption fee tomorrow (that includes shots, deworming, spay, and license for this year). Jojo is super excited to be able to go get her tomorrow afternoon, and her sisters are also thrilled that when they get home from school she'll be here as a part of our family. I just have to detangle her poor fur, it is all matted and she needs a good bath. She is so sweet though, we could tell when we were there that she was just terrified at being in a little cage there in the cat room and she just kept shaking. Scott was the one she warmed up to, she snuggled him happily and rubbed his legs when he set her down for the girls to see her.
I hope she adjusts quickly and happily to her new home with us. The girls are beyond ecstatic to have her coming to join our family.
She is a 10 month old Yorkie-Poo that we found at the county animal shelter yesterday. Her previous owner was a sweet old woman who was no longer able to care for her, and her grandson brought her in to the shelter. They told him that if he was surrendering her that he needed to either take her next door to the humane society or fill out paperwork and pay a surrender fee. He didn't want to do either one, so he walked out the door, set her in the grass in front of the shelter, and drove off. She is still on hold for owner retrieval, but on Monday (that is tomorrow) she is released from the hold and we can pick her up at 1pm. I signed a hold contract and paid a deposit to ensure that we get her, and will pay the rest of the $100 adoption fee tomorrow (that includes shots, deworming, spay, and license for this year). Jojo is super excited to be able to go get her tomorrow afternoon, and her sisters are also thrilled that when they get home from school she'll be here as a part of our family. I just have to detangle her poor fur, it is all matted and she needs a good bath. She is so sweet though, we could tell when we were there that she was just terrified at being in a little cage there in the cat room and she just kept shaking. Scott was the one she warmed up to, she snuggled him happily and rubbed his legs when he set her down for the girls to see her.
I hope she adjusts quickly and happily to her new home with us. The girls are beyond ecstatic to have her coming to join our family.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
The Little Things
There are so many things that we tend to take for granted. Electricity, garbage pick up, indoor plumbing, and stuff like that. Little things that we don't know how to live without. Well, for 3 months my family lived without one of those small things in life when our washing machine died.
I spent 3 months hand washing all our laundry in the bathtub while we saved up to repair our machine. However, sometimes it costs less to just buy a new one and get it over with. This turned out to be the case with our washer. So, Scott took the money we had saved up for the repair and he purchased a new one for me last weekend. It arrived this morning, and I already have it running with a load of laundry.
I never realized how much I depended on that machine until I had to do without it for an extended period of time. Now I have a new appreciation for the washing machine, and I plan to be easier on it than I was in the past.
I spent 3 months hand washing all our laundry in the bathtub while we saved up to repair our machine. However, sometimes it costs less to just buy a new one and get it over with. This turned out to be the case with our washer. So, Scott took the money we had saved up for the repair and he purchased a new one for me last weekend. It arrived this morning, and I already have it running with a load of laundry.
I never realized how much I depended on that machine until I had to do without it for an extended period of time. Now I have a new appreciation for the washing machine, and I plan to be easier on it than I was in the past.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Phonics with active kids
Jojo is one of my active kids. By active, I mean totally ADHD and unable to focus or sit still for more than a minute at the most, constantly getting into stuff, curious about everything, chattering nonstop, playing until she passes out asleep at night kind of active. I knew that teaching her myself would be a challenge when we decided to keep her home and do OHVA with her instead of sending her to the charter school with her sisters this year.
Now don't get me wrong. I love teaching her, and I do have a lot of experience with this kind of learner thanks to having Missa first and myself also being this kind of learner. It keeps life interesting, to say the least. I never know what she is going to do next in some situations. She is my child who, at the sweet innocent age of 2, made a beach in my kitchen with flour, salt, and sugar for the sand and then climbed on the counter to use the kitchen sprayer to make the water. She is the one that I had to call 911 a couple times in one summer because she got into chemicals that I had put in (I thought!) a safe place. She is my handful, that's for sure. So I knew I was in for it teaching her myself.
Anyway, she balks at phonics because it has her sitting and working with me quietly. So what am I supposed to do when the curriculum is the wrong style? I tweak it, of course! I tossed aside the letter tiles and workbook for now, and we are using my driveway and sidewalk chalk to practice and learn letter sounds, digraphs, and sight words. I write them on the driveway, and then I call out a sound or sight word and she jumps on it. When weather doesn't allow us to do this out in the yard, I have a LOT of printer paper that I can use inside for this.
Yes, sidewalk chalk is a necessary school supply in my home, precisely for the active learners I have.
Now don't get me wrong. I love teaching her, and I do have a lot of experience with this kind of learner thanks to having Missa first and myself also being this kind of learner. It keeps life interesting, to say the least. I never know what she is going to do next in some situations. She is my child who, at the sweet innocent age of 2, made a beach in my kitchen with flour, salt, and sugar for the sand and then climbed on the counter to use the kitchen sprayer to make the water. She is the one that I had to call 911 a couple times in one summer because she got into chemicals that I had put in (I thought!) a safe place. She is my handful, that's for sure. So I knew I was in for it teaching her myself.
Anyway, she balks at phonics because it has her sitting and working with me quietly. So what am I supposed to do when the curriculum is the wrong style? I tweak it, of course! I tossed aside the letter tiles and workbook for now, and we are using my driveway and sidewalk chalk to practice and learn letter sounds, digraphs, and sight words. I write them on the driveway, and then I call out a sound or sight word and she jumps on it. When weather doesn't allow us to do this out in the yard, I have a LOT of printer paper that I can use inside for this.
Yes, sidewalk chalk is a necessary school supply in my home, precisely for the active learners I have.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
getting adjusted to the school year
Getting adjusted to any big change in our lives is hard for me and a couple kids. I like routine and predictability in my days, and having a change causes me anxiety and makes me grumpy. So obviously, this school year with the oldest 3 girls going to school, a new baby, and Jojo starting homeschooling we had our share of temper tantrums.
Jordan's big adjustment is still happening here, as she's not used to sitting down daily and doing lessons with me that aren't mostly fun stuff. She's not that into reading times and certain types of activities, but she's learning quickly how to tolerate it and do what she needs to do. A big bag of tootsie rolls is helping with this one, I've been giving her one after each lesson we complete. I plan to keep that up for a while and then slowly drop the reward.
The older girls have a completely different adjustment. Lydia and Kimmy are NOT morning people, and they have to get on the bus at 6:45am since they are the first stop on the route. Missa is adjusting to having to bring home homework and having to focus and sit still. This is a hard one for her because of her ADHD. All 3 girls obviously are adjusting to the structure of the school schedule, some of the rules at school, and not being able to just get up and go to the bathroom or grab a snack whenever they want. It is happening though, and the girls are liking the school they are going to this year (this is always a good thing!)
As for me, I am a morning person but I personally don't like to get up early. I snap right up when it is time, and have little problem with being tired or grouchy under normal circumstances. The only time that I am grumpy when I get up is if I have to listen to a screeching tantrum from one of my kids who don't do mornings too well.
And now for the totally honest moment that I don't want to admit. I am finding with the older kids at school that I'm a better mom to all my children. I butt heads with one child because we are both very stubborn and have major independent streaks, and with another because she has a tendency to scream, whine, and can cause me one heck of a migraine in under 10 seconds flat when things aren't going her way or she's not the center of the universe. Then there is my devious child, who is so quiet and sweet while she plots her takeover of the universe. The three of them together is not a good thing for my sanity sometimes. Being able to put them on the bus to go to school on weekday mornings helps me to be able to do the things that I need to do without losing my mind in the process, and gives me the opportunity to be in that place I need to be mentally for handling them after school and on weekends/holidays. I spent 4 years teaching my children at home, and I knew that it wasn't something I can easily do long-term. With them going to school, I find that I am almost never yelling, I have more patience to diffuse explosive tantrums from my drama queen, and my house is getting cleaned up because I don't have them undoing my work as fast as I get it cleaned up.
Yes, we are adjusting nicely to the school year and all the changes that happened this year/
Jordan's big adjustment is still happening here, as she's not used to sitting down daily and doing lessons with me that aren't mostly fun stuff. She's not that into reading times and certain types of activities, but she's learning quickly how to tolerate it and do what she needs to do. A big bag of tootsie rolls is helping with this one, I've been giving her one after each lesson we complete. I plan to keep that up for a while and then slowly drop the reward.
The older girls have a completely different adjustment. Lydia and Kimmy are NOT morning people, and they have to get on the bus at 6:45am since they are the first stop on the route. Missa is adjusting to having to bring home homework and having to focus and sit still. This is a hard one for her because of her ADHD. All 3 girls obviously are adjusting to the structure of the school schedule, some of the rules at school, and not being able to just get up and go to the bathroom or grab a snack whenever they want. It is happening though, and the girls are liking the school they are going to this year (this is always a good thing!)
As for me, I am a morning person but I personally don't like to get up early. I snap right up when it is time, and have little problem with being tired or grouchy under normal circumstances. The only time that I am grumpy when I get up is if I have to listen to a screeching tantrum from one of my kids who don't do mornings too well.
And now for the totally honest moment that I don't want to admit. I am finding with the older kids at school that I'm a better mom to all my children. I butt heads with one child because we are both very stubborn and have major independent streaks, and with another because she has a tendency to scream, whine, and can cause me one heck of a migraine in under 10 seconds flat when things aren't going her way or she's not the center of the universe. Then there is my devious child, who is so quiet and sweet while she plots her takeover of the universe. The three of them together is not a good thing for my sanity sometimes. Being able to put them on the bus to go to school on weekday mornings helps me to be able to do the things that I need to do without losing my mind in the process, and gives me the opportunity to be in that place I need to be mentally for handling them after school and on weekends/holidays. I spent 4 years teaching my children at home, and I knew that it wasn't something I can easily do long-term. With them going to school, I find that I am almost never yelling, I have more patience to diffuse explosive tantrums from my drama queen, and my house is getting cleaned up because I don't have them undoing my work as fast as I get it cleaned up.
Yes, we are adjusting nicely to the school year and all the changes that happened this year/
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