You made it through the week... nebies and old bies ...

What did you find this week?
I found that School can go one without problems and you can delight your son with a video game in school time!
i FOUND that my dd can do her school work and not even listen to the radio! ( Sos has its own sounds to listen to)
I found that the house was quiet when school was on.. and I could actually get some work done on laundry and dishes! WOW!


I need to work on:

I need to work on making sure I stick to the plan!
The kids called me on Chapel this morning!
I need to work on checking thier work ... its friday that means I should be doing that now!

 

I found that my son can actually do work without complaining! He finally reached that maturity level! yay!
I found that he finally has an interest in books (even if they are the nastiest grosses boys books around)!
I found that my daughter misses Kindergarten (lol...and would you! you go from coloring and dot to dot pics to count to actual work...)

I need to work on:
-Sticking with the schedule and determination to keep on keeping on regardless of life (which throws some doozies frequently my way!)
-Remembering to keep it fun, it shouldn't be all books and noses stuck in the work.
-Bringing back those spontaneous field trips, fun science movies and hands on projects...just for the fun of it!

 

I learned that math works best for us first thing in the morning. We'd been doing it after lunch and it was a big mistake. I also learned that it's okay to take breaks until we are settled into the routine.

 

It's OK to take breaks even after you have a routine

What have we learned this week.....hmmm......the kids would say that we learned about hurricane preparedness since we spent several hours this week running around getting what was needed before now-Tropical Storm Hanna makes her appearance at our house tomorrow AM.

We've completed about 25 school days so far this year so this wasn't our first week back

 

I've learned how to stick to my 6 week plan and mean it. Even when we get off by mising two days, I learned how to pick up the parts and do what is mst important to get us back where we are supposed to be, or had planned to be.

I learned that this season at least, that cartoons before classwork, does not work for us.

I learned that if mommy gets up at least one hour before the children, life falls into place.

I learned that I can tell my DH that I will let him sleep in an extra 4 hours while we do school work, if he lets me go to bed a hour early for ME time... WORKS!

I learned that the moment DH sets down with the critters to "Do Science Stuff" the door bell WILL ring.

 

I'm quick to forget to check work, too, and Jeannie's evaluator caught it!! He didn't pull me up, what he did was point out to Jeannie that she got some problems wrong here and there. I wanted to crawl under the table and just slither out to the car!

 

Well my 1st week begins Monday, I always start a week after our schools so Monday it is. We did so some this week but not to much...
Lisa

 

I learned that the kids 8 months in public school last year was an unexpected blessing because they "never want to go back again." I learned that homeschool "is better because the work is harder." (my 7 year old ds told his public school friend this when they were playing).
I also learned that stopping and making "johnny cakes" in the middle of the day after reading about Noah Webster's favorite breakfast is an example of the fun parts of homeschooling.

 

So cool! I loved the comment by the 7 yr old - it reminded me of riding in the van to the lake at kids camp. A discussion was going on and of course I was eves dropping as these were 11 and 12 yr old girls!
One of them said " ... you dont do as much work homeschooling.... another girl chimed in " You do more work! Lots more!" she turned out to have been homeschooled up to that year. I had noticed something different about her but coudn't put my finger on it. after we stopped I told teh whole group " Yes homeschooling is more work you see my dd is doing work two years ahead of her just because she kept working. That is how it is better for her."
They were all excited after that and started asking the girl about homeschooling and looking for dd who was in another car lol.

I also loved the johnny cake! We have made it twice now as we studied two different times, once with LIfe paks and once last year with us history.

 

I learned this week that I dont really like SOS and may have to switch to something else. I had thought my son would like it since its on the computer, but he dont like it either. I will give it a little while longer and if we still hate it, out it goes, and we will have to get something else for LA.

I also learned that I love MOH, so far its totally awesome! I did one chapter in SOTW and it was OK too. Actually I learned that I like everything we got for this year except SOS.

The boys are really doing well this year. I am SO glad we switched curriculum's this year. Even though we have a very heavy workload the boys are doing really good. Not nearly the amount of complaints from my YS as we had last year. I am beginning to think anything from AOP just is not for our family.

 

I learned that this is really going to work. My 16 yr old who was failing every class in ps last year is doing awesome at home.

 

I learned that my whiteboard needs to be replaced!:|

 

My oldest had a major breakthrough last week. I have tried several way to get him started with reading and he just didn't want to try. He would freeze up every time I would ask him to sound out a word, even though I was sure he had the skills to do it. I finally bought Explode the Code hoping that it would work. The book work is okay so far. But what really worked for us weas making word cards, I think the teacher's manual suggested using them as flashcards, but we just play with them. I make a silly sentence like "the rat sat on the cat" and have my son read it and then he can use the word cards to make up other senteces. He has been having fun with this and even asks his Daddy to play it with him in the evening. Finally something that he likes and seems to be working to help him read

 

Ange- Make up a "Fish a Word" game. You fish in a bowl for words and put them in a sentence.. they make reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly funny ones

 

Oh, I love that idea! I will definately try that.

I am going to make a bingo board today with the words he knows. I think he will like that too.

 

that is a super idea too!
I may do that with new vocab words this year! That would be fun!

 

That is a great idea!

 

Now that is a BLESSING!! I love hearing that.

 

That is awesome! We are learning more this year that dd and I have a problem with my teaching her... she would rather teach herself because she learns different than I teach... she really is doing great in Math this year and the past two years she has struggled with Alg1.

 

I learned that Grace is a really smart kid and loves to learn.

I learned too like JenniferErix that cartoons before school isn't going to work this year.

I learned that even though I love to sleep in I need to get up early to make my day go the way I want it too.

I learned I need a new history spine

I learned that Grace is going to begin 1st grade work very soon