Homeschool Mom's Journal

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In my life this week… The temperatures are strangely warm for our area for March, so we're slowly starting Spring Clean Up in the yard and planning our re-designing of this hugely over grown yard that had at least a year of not being taken care of before we moved in.

In our homeschool this week… The girls are going to be a big part in the yard re-design this year, learning all the things they need to know about planning a garden space, re-seeding a lawn, laying a patio, ect... Right now the girls are excited to be part of the planning, I imagine it'll be a little less exciting once the hard work starts lol

My favorite thing this week was… seeing the girls excitement over the bugs at the invertebrates workshop that we went to as opposed to the typical girls "ewww bugs" reaction.

Questions/thoughts I have… I was quite excited for the math curriculum I got for Brianna. It's Jump at Home and I thought it would be great for her cause it's super broken down in each step to learn new math. Unfortunately the beginning of the workbook is SUPER simple to the point that even Brianna's asking "I thought this was Gr. 4!". Thankfully it soon leaves simple adding and subtracting and goes into multiplication. 

Things I’m working on… Finding a good full free printable English curriculum for Tanya with emphasis on grammar instead of phonics *sigh*

I’m cooking… up a storm for mine and my sister's St. Patrick's Day party today!

Homeschool Mom's Journal

In my life this week… I'm finally feeling better after having the UTI from hell. It just wouldn't go away! The second round of antibiotics worked. Let me tell you, being someone who's used to guzzling at least a half gallon of water a day, I am thrilled!

In our homeschool this week… We had a pretty slow week this week. Wednesday was Leap Day and we had a fun day, then Thursday was my sister's birthday so no school (per our "official homeschool rules" we don't have school for family birthdays ;) )

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… If something's important to you, make it happen. Don't slack off just because you don't want to be seen as even more rigorous than public school. Important life lessons are exactly that, important!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Well it's not actually happening until tomorrow, but it's the big birthday weekend! Mine and my sister's birthdays are 4 days apart (well, this year it's 5) and we're having a big party tomorrow. Full turkey dinner with cheesecake birthday cake... yum!

Things I’m working on… I NEED to get the rest of our school stuff organized! We're using the otherwise not needed double closets in the laundry room for school storage and yet almost half of the school stuff is still in random boxes from when we moved *cough* 4 mths ago *cough*

A photo to share…

Olivia working on her pre-writing

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Homeschool Mother's Journal

Haven't done one of these in a while....

       In my life this week…  I finally got some ink and have been just printing up a storm!   Now I've got to put aside some time to get laminating Olivia's Tot School stuff.
 

In our homeschool this week… This week was blazingly hot, hitting over 100F.

Brianna lived in the pool from about 9am til supper. We did school after Olivia went to bed once it was cooler.

My favorite thing this week was… Watching the garden grow

 

What’s working/not working for us… Our new schedule is definitely working for us. I print up all of Brianna's work over the weekend and she has the week to finish it. She's been doing really well with this.

 

Questions/thoughts I have… For those who school year round... do you have a lighter schedule? Or do you just plug on through? *Because* we school year round I know we have a lighter schedule than most on a daily basis. We'll be going a touch lighter over the summer, but still continuing all of our subjects.

Things I’m working on… I made up garden tracking sheets. Brianna and I are going to closely follow our veggie garden and track anything interesting. Brianna loves the garden, so will hopefully like this too.

 

I’m cooking… I'm trying to stick with a meal plan (see the sidebar). For the most part, it's working. I already have a quite low grocery bill, but with Lee laid off still, I'd like it to be lower.

 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

My new kitchen helper

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Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week… Money sucks. With Lee laid off and all the bills coming in at once, money just plain sucks. But we'll get through, we always do!
 
In our homeschool this week… We had a shorter week with Brianna's father coming into town, but still got to get a lot of work done and Brianna got to show off her work to him.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… with it being Easter, we saw LOADS of family on both sides.

My favorite thing this week was… seeing Brianna (who is SPD/ADHD and only 8) behave a heck of a lot better than the several years older children we were with in church for my nephew's communion service.

What’s working/not working for us… Spell By Color. Or at least it seems to be working! We just started it last week, but Brianna's enjoying it!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… How far ahead do you collect HS material? I've been picking up pre-school stuff for my not even 2 yr old and DH looks at me like I'm nuts. Same with Brianna, she's roughly 3rd/4th grade level and I have stuff for a few grades ahead.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Our color changing celery that Brianna's all excited about

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Homeschool Mother's Journal

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In my life this week... Busy, busy, busy! I've been sorting through a bunch of new (to us) school books I've bought over the last month, getting ready for a consignment sale and taking care of a bunch of sick people *knock on wood, I haven't got it yet*


In our homeschool this week… A very short week. Both kids were sick, Brianna the worst Tues through Thurs. We did get Monday and Friday in though! On Monday we started our new science unit and on Friday started Gr. 2 math. Hopefully we'll get through Gr. 2 as fast as we did Gr. 1 and we'll be back to where she should be if the public school taught her what she was supposed to be learning!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… On Sunday Brianna had her last curling day of the season. She's sad, but looking forward to next season already!

My favorite thing this week was… Seeing Brianna's excitement over dissecting lima beans for science,

What’s working/not working for us… We're too early into the science and math books to know whether they'll work for us or not, but so far so good!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… When did you start formally teaching your children about puberty and such. I don't mean just answering their questions as they ask them, but teaching/telling/reading to them about the stuff they didn't ask about. Brianna has always been a very accepting child in matters like this. She was 7 when I was pregnant with Olivia and never once thought to ask how she got there, how she came out, nothing. She was even with me until about 30 mins before I gave birth and still no questions. So I'm starting from square one. She'll be 9 this summer. My family typically starts periods around 12, but I want her to know the important things well in advance.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Brianna's diagram of a lima bean

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In my life this week... This week I started the C25K program. Pretty excited to get back to running. Not that I was ever really a runner. Just a sprinter, but still. Moving towards a goal is awesome! Especially one that revolves around me for once!

In our homeschool this week... We had a strangely good week! Usually I get a good day here or there, but for the most part out day revolves a lot around me prying Brianna's eyes off the ceiling and back to her work. This week had 2 fan-freaking-tastic days that I would love to repeat on a regular basis.

Places we're going and people we're seeing... Another week of not really doing anything. We did have a little get-together at my sister's last night that allowed the kids to stay up til 11pm, so Brianna would say it was a great places we're going and people we're seeing type of thing

My favorite thing this week was... Tuesday and Friday's easy school days. Hand over the work, set the clock, it's done, next!

What's working/not working for us... Using a time limit is beyond belief working for us. Her French is not. We're starting to run into problems with me not knowing French. And I really have no idea if she knows this word or that so I have no clue if it's a matter of her pissing around or truly not knowing it. Thankfully we're done that book in a few short lessons and are moving to a bilingual series that's a little lower in the level and hopefully gets her back moving.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... Going to a homeschool used book sale tomorrow. Super excited and super nervous. What if these people see me coming from a mile away and charge me more than retail simply cause I have no idea what the stuff is worth? What if I fork out a fortune for stuff that ends up sucking? What if we do a 3 hour round trip and end up not finding anything I want to try?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share... "Just cause you have the right to do something, doesn't mean it's right to do" No reason for this quote, I've just always liked it.

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Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week... Well, really the last 2 weeks since I slacked off last week. I have been looking through ideas for the Gr. 4 level. We don't really follow grades per year, but her level. Her level is anywhere from Gr. 1-6. But most of it is in the Gr. 3 area. I have pretty well everything we need for right now (other than Gr. 2 math and French), so now to discover the world of Gr. 4!

In our homeschool this week... We had an emergency human body study (see here). We also started Nature Studies (which Brianna loves), which prompted me to start my own linky for Nature studies (see here).

Places we're going and people we're seeing... Well, other than seeing drs, we were pretty well homebodies this week. Lee and Brianna did a bit of fun history though when they went skating today at one of the oldest rinks in town that's being closed. They did this big closing ceremony with the mayor and everything.

My favorite thing this week was... having multiple happy days. It's been so long since that's happened.

What's working/not working for us... educational DVDs from the library and going back to timing Brianna's work. She is looooving the "school movies" and I can barely keep up with taking them out/returning them. Timing her work has made life so much happier for both of us. It's like she *needs* the pressure of the timer. She's getting her work done with next to no problems and little dawdling.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... I'd like to get more into following sets of books/series for subjects. This year was a LOT of a book from here, a workbook from there, this site, that page, just all scrambled up. While supplementing with a little of this or that is great, I think it'll be easier to keep track of it all if I cut down the 56,468 areas I'm getting work from.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

Practicing one of her favorite spelling games

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In my life this week... My life revolved around being sick this week. Totally sucked. I had lots of household plans (cleaning, organizing, ect...) that didn't get done cause I couldn't pry my butt of the chair. Feeling much better today though so hopefully this next week will be more productive!

In our homeschool this week... We`re in the process of figuring out what can work for us in regards to school stuff, schedule, breaks, ect...

Places we're going and people we're seeing... Since I was sick, we pretty well stayed home this week other than running errands on payday.

My favorite thing this week was... Hearing Brianna ask for another school movie. She seems to really like them.

What's working/not working for us... The school movies are really working. When I brought back the old ones and picked up some new ones from the library Brianna was really excited about them. I wish I could get more than 3 at a time from the library though!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... Looking into Brianna having Sensory Processing Disorder is opening my eyes to a lot. I`m seeing some answers for why Brianna does the things she does, what new things we can try, what things I would have never thought of.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
Just because you have the right to do something, doesn`t mean it`s right to do.

Blog Hopping

Reading through my comments I realized I start following new blogs all the time (58 of them at current count!), but never remember where I found them. I've found several through my Weekly Wrap-Up, a few through my new Homeschool Mother's Journal, a couple from here and there and everywhere. I saw a comment today that someone found me through the Journal hop and oops! I never even tell the people I'm following where I found them! I'll try to be better about that *blush*

Homeschool Mother's Journal

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In my life this week... This week was tax time for us. I finally got a long awaited new oven and computer. Very excited about both!

In our homeschool this week... we had an ok week. No really horrible days, but no really good days.

Places we're going and people we're seeing... We did a lot of shopping last week due to tax time. We also had a field trip on Sat to learn about the local geological history.

My favorite thing this week was... honestly, getting the new oven and computer lol

What's working/not working for us... our new schedule seems to be working so far. Having a lighter core schedule and more non-core stuff seems to cause less frustrations for both of us. Since we HS year round, it won't be a problem.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... HSing is such an ever evolving thing. Even if something works GREAT right now, I have to remember, it may not next month or next year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

My pretty new oven :)

Homeschool Mother's Journal

I found another weekly type of post to hook up with! The Homeschool Mother's Journal over at The Homeschool Chick. Since I have my Weekly Wrap-Up on Friday's, I'll post this on Saturdays or Sundays.




In my life this week... It was my birthday on Friday. Brianna made me a special treasure box and Lee bought me flowers and took me out to dinner. Bad for the diet, but oh so yummy!

In our homeschool this week... We had a lighter week than normal with Family Day being on Monday, a no sleep day on Wednesday and a finishing up the secret birthday present on Friday. I've been spending all day planning out our Health and Nutrition course.

Places we're going and people we're seeing... On Monday we went to Ottawa to see Sens Skills and go skating on the Rideau Canal. And we had soccer with our homeschool group on Friday.

My favorite thing this week was... Family Day. It's been a while since we had a day to go out with the family.

What's working/not working for us... Our schedule in general has not been working for us. There's been a lot of slacking on both mine and Brianna's part and it's taking too long to get the simplest things done. I've been focusing so much on core subjects that we've had next to no time for fun stuff and it's wearing on us. Boot Camp for both of us starts tomorrow.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... I'm wondering if I should be looking more into typical "homeschool" curriculum or if the teacher-store bought workbooks and a mix of books and websites is good enough. I mean, I know Brianna's learning and I enjoy looking for resources for us to use, but I keep seeing people posting a zillion acronyms for this product or that site and wonder if I should use more main stream homeschool products.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share... 

I love that my children play chess for fun