January Freeze

As I drive to work early mornings it is sometimes hard for me to reflect on the Crispness of Winter and the Glory of the Four Seasons. I am more concerned with running late or waiting for windows to defrost and slipping on the ice. Hard to Love the cold when you have to unload a truck in Icey weather for two hours and take the rest of the day to thaw back out. :)

We are back to school now and doing what I would call good. Timothy is still what would be considered behind in his Math, Reading, and Grammar. We are working on it and I am practicing my patience every day. Today he will finish his Math book and advance to the next and something as simple as that means progress and helps me look back and see advancement which is often hard to see in a slow build up. We have to look back and remember where we were to see how we have grown.

Evangeline turned twelve this month. Twelve years a Mother and I still don't know what I am doing. She is beautiful and emotional. She is mostly independent with her work although I do several subjects with her and check all of her work afterwards. I enjoy seeing her read directions no matter how vague and be able to work out in her head how best to accomplish them. It is beautiful in it's own way.

Caleb is a ball of fire. He rushes to get his school done and can never get enough. he is finally reading Bob books and we are now breezing through Phonics Pathways. He is still doing simple math but has started doing a few extra pages a day now that he is excited about it. I am just trying to use this excitement as long as it lasts.

Haven is excited but not as excited as Caleb. His excitement seems to be born more from competition than Love of learning at this point. He just wants to do everything Big Brother does. He is also working on Phonics Pathway but is a little behind Caleb much to his dismay. He is on the same level in math.

I can't wait for Spring. I Love the new life we get to see. I am yearning for my yard and my fingers to thaw out. :)
Yet while it is Winter I am trying to Live in this moment and remember that every moment is a gift from God.

My Beautiful Birthday Girl

Weekly Wrap Up - September is nearing the end

Week 2 of school

Friday we did a science day with cousins- We did a little study on digestion and then we made our own stomach to see how acid breaks the food down. Here they are squeezing out the stomachs to see what the acid(vinegar) did to the food(bread)

Squeezing the stomachs(balloons) to break up the food with the acid. ewwwww

After one of Evangeline's Bible readings this week she was supposed to do a quick sketch of something in the story. I always do this with her and we use the white board. Look at our lovely art. :)

For science Evangeline was supposed to test beak types and try and catch popcorn. The boys enjoyed helping her with this. We decided that birds with big paper beaks can catch food the best.  (just joking)

Evangeline is finally more than halfway through her guide and doing very well at being mostly independent. Timothy is not as far along as her and still codependent. I have learned that by breaking math up throughout the day in between everything else it does not overwhelm him as much and things go far more smoothly. The little boys are loving math which is very simple at the moment and I will be starting more serious phonics with them this week.

If you wish to join in with your own weekly wrap up visit weird unsocialized homeschoolers

Nature Journal Making

We will be getting together with my Sister and Cousin once a week on Fridays for Nature/Science study. A little extra to give the kids a chance to get out and hang with there cousins and friends. :)
The kids are supposed to bring a Nature Journal so they can draw or journal whatever we happen to be studying that day. Our budget is super de duper tight right now so I decided we would just use paper on clipboards. So we did that last week, I even tied there pencils to the board with a string so they would not lose it.

Sadly they ended up being a tad too bulky and Mommy ended up carrying two of the boards by the end of the walk, plus the papers came out a bit to easy for rough little boys.

So week 2 and I decided to make some kind of homemade journal. So here is what I made.

The materials I used:
Cardboard pieces,
A drill to make the holes. :)
Paper and a paper cutter
Hole Punch
Glue Stick
Sugar and Cream cotton yarn (embroidery floss was too tight after it was tied and ripped the pages)
Duct Tape
Stickers

This was all items I already owned and I think they turned out really cute. Lets hope they hold up to some rough kidlets for some nature and science exploration.

Falling

I can feel the taste of Autumn in the air and in myself. I Love this season.

 So full of color and renewing. Everything sheds last years newness and settles into just being what God made it to be somehow.

 I feel myself taking things slower taking care of those little things that since January I have been putting off. I finally notice the unfinished mending, the cluttered laundry room floor and not only do I notice but take a few minutes to actually do something about it.

The house is still a turmoil, my mind still tells me it is far too imperfect to reflect God to others, myself still feels that bit of shame when someone stops by, but there is more Hope within me that I am who God made me to be and He Loves me.

 Why a new season is needed to remind me of that I will never know, but I am happy it always comes and renews me because I weary far too easily.

Today I rejoice

 Nature Friday with some cousins.

 The first day of school

The Long Break

In January my life was overfull and busy and I stopped writing. It seemed very much as if no one would wish to hear my thoughts at that moment. :) Pretty sure I was trying to avoid them myself. Life is still full and still busy and we keep moving forward and God keeps us on our feet when we sometimes feel like laying down.

We had to reroof the house this year or lose our insurance. We were so amazingly blessed to have family and friends come and donate time and sweat to help us. Our home is once more protected from the rains just as the Lord has quieted and protected my heart this year. Now we wait for the insurance to okay us once more.

Now we start the process of painting the house a little at a time and attempting to figure out a Household budget. The budget has been hard to build since we have had so many financial changes this year. It is time for us to get serious and somewhat drastic and that will take some serious prayer and trust in the Lord. It can be so hard when you have to say no to simple things and other people just do not always understand.

The kidlets need to start school soon, very soon. Am I prepared? How did I get a 6th grader? How will I teach 4 at the same time who are different levels? How will I work it into our work schedules? Once more I trust in the Lord and know that he will carry me through.

So I am back to writing, what that means? I do not know.

Weekly Wrap Up 10/13/2011

God answered a prayer this week and I will be starting a Seasonal Position at Michaels Craft Store on Monday. During my shifts Justin will be covering the school hours until I get home. When God gives Justin a job we will have to see what happens schedule wise.

The past few weeks of school have gone well. Not perfectly but very well. We cut Evangeline down to half time because her days were simply taking too long. This seems to really be helping although we are still working through some perfectionism issues. She is doing so well with her scripture memorization and it seems to be one of her favorite things.

This week we had a meal on the ground like the Hebrew Shepherds. Whenever an activity involves food we all get involved. :)

Timothy is really improving in reading ability. He has now finished 5 of the emergent readers and I can see huge improvement. He even says he will read a book with a girl as the main character next. (Big step for him)
He is loving cursive and breezing through math. Everything else in Bigger seems to be a perfect challenge for him and his attitude is improving daily.

Caleb and Haven are still loving Little Hearts, we really are doing this at about half time. We prob do 3 - 4 days a week right now.  They are remembering the letters they learn and even have read some small words I wrote using just the 4 letters they have learned so far.

Here is the wall of Art from the year so far. Soon we will have to make some more room. hehehe

Beach fun with the family

This last weekend we were blessed to be able to join my entire family (Parents, siblings, and there children) over on the Oregon Coast. All of the cousins were together for 3 days straight, what a great chance for them to really get to know each other and just have a lot of fun. It was a beautiful weekend at the coast and the Love showered on us by my parents and the entire family was just one more reminder of just how much our God in heaven must love and care for us his children.

We are now home again and for all those who have helped us out financially or with prayer and friendship I can never express how it has blessed us. God is so great, so great that it is beyond human reasoning. Just getting to see the entire body of Christ working together the way it is meant to work is breathtaking.
Justin is still looking for work, yet we know that we are in Gods great hands and we ask for your prayers that we can see clearly his will for us.

The kids will start school next week. Prayers for smooth days and cheerful hearts would be fabulous. I will be teaching all 4 officially this year so a new adventure and growing experience awaits us all.

Where?

Joining Second Star to the Right again this week for her blog hop. This week we are supposed to share the Where of our home school.

The first stop on the tour is the front bookcase. This is the case that holds the day to day curriculum. So we are using these shelves everyday.

Here is the living room area, Math U See is done while on the couch or the floor and once a week they will be watching a dvd before they do it. This is also where a lot of read aloud time takes place.

Kitchen table is the main station for sit down work at the moment. I hope to get a desk or table area in another spot for my oldest son before school next year as we will be starting the 2 youngest on more sit down work and the table may become there zone. :) Oh and the computer is here directly to the right so it is easy access for when we do any type of online games, drills, printing ect...

This is my daughters desk in her room. She goes here for reading time, writing time, and anything else independent she wants quiet for. :) Sometimes she sits on her bed which is to the right as well. None of the boys go to there rooms for work as they do not have the concentration yet to do anything when they are out of eyesight of momma.

That is basically it, we pretty much school all over the house and it is a bit chaotic most of the time.

Join us at

When?

Joining my sister again! Second Star to the Right

Today we are supposed to discuss the when of our Yearly schedule.


Just the term Yearly schedule seems to imply a much more organized and tidy individual than I find myself to be. :)

Intending to or not, we seem to be year round schoolers. We take a break for Christmas which is always at least 2 weeks, a break for Easter of about a week, a break for Thanksgiving of about a week, and we go slower in summer usually just doing math, grammar, reading and extras. We also break for birthdays if they are midweek, vacations (if we have one), and when we are just cranky. hehehe Then again we school some Saturdays if daddy works. So it all works out in the end.

Join us over at

What!

Joining my sister at Second Star to the Right again for her Who! What! When! Where! How! Why! Blog hop.

This week we get to blog chat about the what of our home school curriculum.

My oldest Evangeline will be using the Creation to Christ Curriculum from Heart of Dakota this year. She is in love with it even though we have not started. The idea of having a lot more independent work is really a big deal for her. We are still on the lookout for a few of the books but we ave a great start and should be ready to start by June or July

She is already started on the Drawn into the Heart of Reading curriculum you see here on the right. So far we are loving it and really finding it to be an enjoyable yet flexible reading program.

 My oldest son Timothy will be using the Bigger Hearts for his Glory curriculum this year. I have everything he needs minus one last book. :) On the right you see his emergent readers we are still working our way through and I hope we can be finished with them by June/July so he can move into the same reading program as his sister at the lowest level.

 The two youngest boys will be going through Little Hands to Heaven together.

We use Math U See for as our Main math with Math Mammoth as a printable supplement. We will have our 10 year old in Delta at the beginning of the year, 8 year old will be finishing up Alpha, and 5 year old will start Primer. My 4 year old will not be starting just yet.

We will be using Song School Greek for the 3 boys and Greek for Children with Evangeline.

We will use Rod and Staff English for the 2 oldest and add daily grams to that for Evangeline.

I think that seems to be the core of our curriculum but I am sure we will do a few extras or additions here and there. I pretty much go with the flow around here. :) I am so excited to be trying out Heart of Dakota and really praying it is the perfect fit for me and the kids. I need the schedule as that is the one thing I really see lacking this last year and I love how the Bible is so integrated into the entire curriculum.

Join us or check out other What! Posters here -

Who?

Evangeline is 10 and will be going into the 5th grade this coming school year. She is Caring, Protective, Thoughtful of others, Organized, Independent
Favorites -
School Subject: Reading
Color: Purple
Book: Little Woman
Sport: Skating
Activity: Wii games
Game: Chinese Checkers
T.V. Show: Amazing Race
Movie: Tangled

Timothy is 8 and will be going into the 3rd grade this coming school year. He is Quiet, Gentle, Artistic, Happy, Inventive
Favorites -
School Subject: Science
Color: Blue
Book: Sir Small and the Dragonfly
Sport: Softball
Activity: Drawing
Game: Uno
T.V. Show: Rescue Rangers
Movie: Curious George

Caleb will be 5 in July and will be going into Kindergarten this coming school year. He is Loud, Energetic, Outgoing, Friendly, Determined
Favorites -
School Subject: Watch Leap frog videos
Color: Orange
Book: There's a Monster Eating my house
Sport: Racing
Activity: Playing outside
Game: Donkey Kong
T.V. Show: Superman
Movie: Star Wars

Haven will be 4 in December and he will be going into Preschool this coming school year. He is Affectionate, Shy, Playful, Helpful, Inquisitive

Favorites -
School Subject: Woody
Color: Green
Book: Woody easy reader

Sport: Pencils
Activity: Lacing Beads

Game: Cootie bugs

T.V. Show: Diego
Movie: Toy Story

To check out other Home Schoolers Who? posts or to join in visit:

Safari Adventure

Safari Picture Overload coming up!

We had such a great day yesterday with Sheila and a bunch of cousins. It really was a blast even in the lovely Oregon rain and I am so glad we got this opportunity while Shae and the kids were in town. It will long be talked of by my kids and I am sure the others as well. :)

Feeding the Giraffe

The kids were just amazed by the Giraffe, his neck, his tongue. Just cool!

My little man and I!

Driving out to feed the Giraffe

Another giraffe, that we did not feed.

They were pretty sure this guy is a robot because he didn't move. :)

Riding on the train, Haven insisted on a picture because his feet now touch the ground. hehehe

Our personal train ride. :)

These little guys stole our childrens' hearts.

Being gentle

The Elephant Car Wash, pretty amazing to hear the kids laughing in wonder and excitement.

This girl really knew how to put on a good show for the kids.

The best I could get when it comes to a group pic. They were way too excited.

Throwing apples to the 3 bears.

These guys are amazingly cute. Glad they were behind a fence though. :)

In the van ready to start the day