Homeschool Memoirs #11

 
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THEME:

“This week I’d like to invite you to share your favourite field-trip that you’ve been able to go on since you’ve started homeschool. I’d encourage you to include photos, but you don’t have to.”

I guess our favorite field trip has been the Natural History Museum a few towns over from us.  It has a lot of  different things to see and learn about.  Not exactly Creation based but we still have a good time going.  When we go on field trips Chord likes to bring his sketch book so he can draw the different things he see's.  He just loves to draw :).  We have gone there a few times and I know we all look forward to going again.  They also have a planetarium that is so cool to see too!! We all could spend all day there LOL!  Here are some pics from one of the times we went.  I hope you enjoy.

Homeschool Memoirs #10 10Timely Facts

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THEME

"The time will be changing again. I think on Sunday but not sure. Anyhow this is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you! Include facts about you as a woman, a wife, a mommy, a homeschooler, a homekeeper, a taxi-driver, a cook, etc . I only put 10 facts because I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but you’re welcome to do more! I just posted 101 Facts about myself on my blog, which you can take a look at if you should like."

1. I like people who are quirky (Like me).
2. I have never been a follower or leader. I just did my own thing.
3. I had really low self-esteem when I was a teenager.
4. I am the total opposite of who I used to be.
5. I love being a mom. Yes it can be hard and sometimes I want to run away LOL but I love being a mom!
6. I love to sing even though I know I sound horrible!
7. When doing the dishes I have to do them in a certain order: Cups/glasses, plates and bowls, silverware and other utensils, and last pots and pans.
8. Hubby actually came to me about homeschooling the boys.
9. I love paper products! When in a store I love to go to the paper and school supplies section!! I don't care if it's books or pens and paper I just love it all LOL!
10. Just before we were married (three weeks) we ended up with custody of hubby's three teenage brothers for a year. (We were 22 years old).
11. I love my BIL's like my own brothers. Faults and all :).
12. I grew-up an army brat.
13. While growing-up we lived in Germany three different times and I still only know a little bit of German LOL.
14. I don't like living in one house/apartment for too long. We have lived in this house(we rent) for over four years now and I am antsy to move (though we can't afford it right now LOL).
15. I have to have the TV on at night to go to sleep. My mind won't shut off unless it has something else to distract it. So I put the timer on the TV. (even though I don't watch much TV during the day)
16. I wake-up at 6 a.m. Mon-Friday and Sunday so I can wake -up and do my exercises.
17. As soon as I wake-up my mind starts wondering again.
18. I helped hubby's family take care of my MIL when she was dying of breast cancer that spread to her brain.
19. I really did love my MIL! She was like another mom to me. (How lucky was I to have two awesome mom's?)
20. As babies (found this out many years later) hubby and I shared a crib because my mom and his mom were friends!
21. Didn't meet hubby again really till I was 16 almost 17 and we have been together every since.
22. I like having my hair cut but I hate going to get it cut.
23. I can cool down faster than I can warm up.
24. I am Secretary of (Voluntarily) the local MOMS Club®
25. I am not a very organized person.

I hope I haven't board you too much LOL. Can't wait to see what other's have said.

Homeschool Memoirs Favorite Things

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Since I’ve been making you work really hard on the previous Memoir themes I decided to take a little break, and do something fun! This week I want to invite you to share a few of your favourite things.

Some of my favorite things.

1. 1.  Getting up early in the morning and spending time with God watching the Sun rise.
2. 2.  Spending time with my family.  Wether that's going to the zoo or sitting home just talking together.  I just love spending time with them.
   3.  Watching the boys learn something new.  I love that little glint in their eye when they finally understand something that before they didn't before. 
3. 4.  I love learning.  Which is funny because when I was younger I had no appreciation for it.  Now I love learning new things.  The boys and I are learning Sign Language together through books and our neighbor who knows Sign Language.  It's really a joy to be learning this.
4. 5.  Reading.  I love to just sit and read a good book. I think if I could I would just read all day long.  I hope and pray my boys have this same desire as they grow up.
5. 6.  Ok this one is going to sound funny LOL.  But I love paper.  Paper products I just love them.  I have had this love of paper since I was a kid.  I love all kinds of paper things, books, writing paper, drawing paper, stationary.  I love the things that go with them too, pencils, erasers, pens, paper clips, any office supplies, school supplies, etc...
6. 7.  Listening to the boys play together.  Hearing their imagination as they play together is just so much fun.  Makes me want to be just like them :).  I just love hearing the many adventures they go on.  It's usually Star Wars or Indiana Jones related LOL.
7. 8. Spending time with my hubby.  Now that the boys are a little older hubby and I can have a lot more time together. Even without babysitters.  We can go in our room and just talk about nothing.  I love that our boys respect our relationship and that we can spend some quiet time together.  During these times we learn more and more about each other.  Even though we have now been married for ten years we are still finding out more about each other.  I love this time together!
8. 9.  Watching old black and white movies.  I never thought much about them before till hubby started watching them.  I watch them and it's like be transported to another time.  Can you believe one day there was a silent movie on TV and the boys quit playing whatever they were playing and watched the whole thing?  Who would have thought an old black and white silent movie would catch the eyes of children.  They really loved it. 
9. 10.  The MOMS Club® that I am in.  I have met some wonderful friends through the club and my boys have met a lot of friends too.  It's been a great experience and now I am taking part in the club itself by being the Secretary of the Club.  Love it!!!

These are just a few of my favorite things :). 

Homeschool Memoirs: #3 Routines

First I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes. I am not feeling 100% yet but am doing much better. Summer colds are just no fun ugh. Ok on with business :)...

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THEME

"I hope last week’s theme helped you get a bigger view and maybe
some ideas about different ways to homeschool or curriculum. There is so much to
share and so I hope this helped, especially the new homeschoolers, narrow things
down a bit. I am sure some of you are still getting into your homeschool
routines. I know some people are very routine oriented while others may be more
“day-by-day”, and it all depends on your family and what works best for your
life-style. This week please post what your planned homeschool routine is. The
theme banner should give you some ideas on how to do that. I had fun making that
and adding in real info (except for the times! lol).

When you’re done
posting your routines please share your prayers for this school year, and then
sign the linky so others can visit."

I am a much more routine person than I am a scheduled person. Mostly because with a routine if it gets set back a bit it's ok. With a schedule I feel more tied down and stressed LOL. So here is our routine. Nothing really major really.

6:00 a.m. I wake up, drink my coffee and when I am not feeling ill (like I am now) I go outside and watch the sun come up a bit. After a while I come back inside check my email and get stuff around for school, and get my exercise in.

7:00 a.m. I will wake-up the boys and feed them breakfast. After breakfast they brush their teeth, get dressed. Then they have some time to wake-up and play while I finish getting everything around.

8:00 a.m. We start our school day. We start with Bible and then I let the boys decide which subjects they want to do next. Usually they want to do Sign-Language. We learn that from a Library book but we also have a neighbor that knows Sign-Language really well and helps us with signs we don't know :). The boys and I love it!!

If they aren't done with their school work before lunch (usually they are) we stop for lunch at 11:00 a.m. and then finish up what's left afterwards.

Oh and we do Science three days a week instead of everyday because that's what is recommended in the Science book they have :).

After all that they can go outside and burn off some steam by riding their bikes (which they love to do) or just playing around. During the Winter though here in Michigan their are a lot of days that are just too cold for outside play. Thank the Lord for the MOMS Club® we are in so they have other ways to burn off some energy :).

4:00 or 5:00 p.m. we usually have dinner. This depends on when we all decide when we are hungry :).

6:30 p.m. Boys have to come in the house (if they are still outside) and start getting ready for bed (IE: Taking a shower, brush teeth, put on P.J.'s). This is also about the time we have Bible Study as a family and also read a story or two.

8:00 p.m. Boys go to their room, say their prayers and then it's lights out and sleepy time. This is also about the time I take a shower.

10:00 p.m. I am off to bed myself to start it all over again the next day.


Most of the time that is our routine but on Wednesday's we have Church and the boy's don't get to sleep till later and I let them sleep in the next day. Also sometimes this stuff gets moved around because we have a MOMS Club® event or something going on so things are later than usual. But that's pretty much our routine.

Homeschool Memoirs: Homeschool Agendas

This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests. So this week I hope you will share what you’re doing this year for your homeschool agenda. Share the different curriculum you’re using. You can also include what age/grade you’re using it for, how long you’ve been using it, and why you like it.
Please share a Bible verse that has encouraged you or inspired you during this planning-process, and how.

Hmm our Agenda. I guess we are more of a relaxed homeschool family. While I do have curriculum for the boys and we do follow them it's also easy for us to either drop what we are doing if something else interests and come back to it later or drop it all together or skip things here and there if we are just not interested in it or if it's something we have already been through previously. Here is the Curriculum we have...

1. Bible - we have BJU Following Christ. I use this for both boys. I don't really have Jarod do the written work but we discuss things all together that is in it and what we can learn from it. This way they are both getting benefits from it.

2. Phonic - This is for Jarod not Chord since Chord can read and read well. Jarod is only in first grade so he is still learning to read. We are doing Saxon Phonics 1. I used it with Chord and now I am using it with Jarod. He is really loving to learn to read. He took his first test today in it and he got them all right!!!

3. English - This is For Chord. He does BJU English 3 Writing and Grammar. He is doing well in this.

4. Math - They are both doing Horizons math. Jarod 1 and Chord 3. I am thinking I really need to go through the math book for Chord because he does really well in math. I probably should go a grade higher for him. I just don't want to skip anything that he may not get. See in Third grade they are just getting into learning multiplication and he's already known how to multiply small numbers since first grade. Even before he knew how to carry over and borrow in addition and subtractions. I just don't want to skip over something and then have him confused I guess. For Jarod he's getting much better in this area! He still needs some work but he's finally getting what addition and subtraction is :). We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel :).

5. Reading - I have Chord read books silently and I also have him read some of his Bible (he can choose what he wants to read) out loud and we discuss what it means and what it's talking about (reading comprehension). With Jarod I have him read to me what he can and I help with words he doesn't know yet.

6. Spelling - For Jarod it's in his Phonic so I don't have to worry. For Chord I just have him look up words in his dictionary and learn to spell words that way.

7. Science - God's Design for Life, The Human Body is what I have for both boys. We do this three times a week. It's a lot of fun for the boys. There are some things we can do and other things we read about. It's for 1st-6th graders so it's good for both boys :).

8. History - I had gotten a History curriculum but I didn't like it so we are just getting books from the Library and reading about History. Last year we learned about Ancient Egypt. This year we are learning about Rome. We will probably do like last year and do what follows their interest. Last year too Chord learned about some of our Presidents.

9.Writing - I print some handwriting sheets from http://www.edhelper.com/ and have the practice their writing. Chord is learning to write cursive better (he started it last year) and Jarod is just practicing more of his writing. I so want them both to have better handwriting than me LOL.

10.Music - I just have this for Chord right now because it's learning how to read music. This is cool too since I don't know how to read music either so we are learning together LOL. It's called Theory for Young Musicians (ages 8-12) and it comes with 3 small workbooks to go through.

I had an art program for them but I think it took all the fun out of art and the boys thought so too. I think I will have Harlow teach them more since he is the artist of the family LOL. I am lucky to draw a straight line if anything at all LOL. Harlow draws wonderfully. If only I had as much talent as he does in his pinkie LOL. Oh well I guess that will be his job now LOL.

The Bible verse that keeps me going I guess would be like it says on my blog...

Dt 6:6-9
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, When you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

For me that means no matter where my children go to school hubby and I are still responsible to teach our children about God, Jesus and what He has done for us!! Reminding me again that we can do nothing without God. :)

Please click on pic above to find out more and how you can participate.

Homeschool Memoirs: All About Me

I saw this Meme and thought I would join in on it. It's the first week of Homeschool Memoirs. This is the first assignment:"This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!"

I know I have why I started to homeschool my boys some where on here. But I will just type it up again. This will be our fourth year of homeschooling. Initially my husband approached me about homeschooling the summer before my oldest son, Chord, was to enter Kindergarten. We had talked about back when he was just a baby but it was only in passing and I honestly hadn't thought of it since then. I then got everything I could get my hands on about homeschooling and the homeschooling laws here in Michigan. From Library books to anything I could read online. After much research and lots of praying :) I agreed with hubby and haven't looked back since.

It has worked out well because I have two very different boys. My oldest learns quickly and needs more challenges all the time which I don't think a public school could provide him with. I was afraid he would get board of school and learn to hate learning. With my youngest he is a very active boy. He can't sit still for long and needs to burn energy. He can pay attention but he has to have almost a constant motion of one kind or another. He is also a very kinesthetic (hands on) learner. He has to touch and feel things to understand them. He is a visual learner too but he has to have both before he really can understand things. Again I don't think sending him to school would have helped him and I feared he would end not liking to learn too.

I think every year we find something new to keep homeschooling. It's ever changing for us. As we go along I have become more relaxed in our school approach and I have seen lots of improvement in both boys and they truly love to learn. I love to learn right a long with them :).

When I am not homeschooling them I love to read a good book, listen to music, day dream and spending time with my family :). I am also part of an International MOMS Club®. It's not a homeschool group but I enjoy being a part of it as do my boys. I am now (voluntarily) a Secretary of the club for the year. I love doing things with the boys through them and also learning new things for myself and meeting other moms :).

If you want to know more about it please go to http://homeschoolblogawards.com/2008/08/homeschool-memoirs-2008-09/ .