Our New Adventure!

Well, we have began a new adventure here in our little home in TN. My son TT has officially become a Boy Scout. I know, I know these kind of things just lead to more commitments. And some may say more time away from family time. But the whole family is really excited about it.

We have been talking for 2 years about taking the time to go camping and hiking, something I love, but have never taken the steps to do it. We have also wanted TT to be able to make friends and be around other boys and men who could be good role models. Plus, my husband wanted something that he and TT could share. Boy Scouts offers us the chance to meet all our needs. TT loves it. He met his troop Sat. and was on cloud nine when he found the other Scouts were war buffs like him. They talked about everything from WWII to Vietnam. What was really nice was these boys were a lot like the boys in our homeschool group. They were well mannered, fun and at ease talking with everyone from Poogie to the elderly. TT hasn't been this fired up since he got his first dirt bike.

Of course we will have to juggle this along with soccer until the end of Oct. but it will be worth it. This year soccer has really opened my eyes to how those in our county view sportsmanship. For example, the coach of the team we played last week was showing his players during half time and time outs how to hurt and hit our kids without getting called for a foul. We had a front roll seat to the "pep talk" we were sitting right next to their bench.That really teaches a kid how to be a good person. Ha! I know not all coaches are like that, TT has really great easy going coaches. And guess what we win just as many games as the mean team. It is just the principle of the thing.

The greatest part of the soccer season has been watching Poogie play. Pre K and K play on one team. They are hilarious. She is just there for the fun. She loves her coach and her team. It has been a lot of fun.

I will post a pic of my handsome little Boy Scout in uniform this week along with Poogie's schedule which I finally completed.

Have a great week everyone!

This week we are Nomads!

This week has been full of interesting topics. As part of our Story of the World lessons we have been learning about early people, including Nomads. Today we wound up our lessons by painting cave paintings. The kids have really enjoyed it. As a treat during lunch and recess (we can't go outside the mosquitoes are so bad) they got to watch Ice Age to go along with the unit.

I have also extended my son's interest in birding by doing some lessons on the classification and anatomy of birds. Plus, we have added a song bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder outside. It is amazing how much more enthusiastic he is about doing his bird lessons than math or English;)

I have also modified his English lessons to include copy work. We have been working on writing using the basic writing lessons in language arts books, but it doesn't seem to be getting through to him. So I decided to take the approach of offering various examples of good writing through copy work. He enjoys it and works on his cursive writing in the process.

We are reading Caddie Woodlawn aloud as a group. And Poogie and I are reading the original collection of Winne the Pooh by Milne. TT is working through Redwall by Brian Jacques during silent reading. I have just started the Golden Compass.

I have also finally found a weekly schedule that works for us. So here is TT's weekly schedule:

Mon.-Reading (SSR and read aloud) *Every day includes SSR and read aloud time
English (Rod & Staff textbook)
Math (Math U See Delta)
History (Selected reading)
Spelling/Vocab. (Natural Speller/Rod & Staff Vocab.)
Guitar practice 30 minutes

Tues.-Reading (Rod & Staff reading story)
English (Copy work)
Math (Math U See Delta)
History (Maps and Geography)
Typing (Spong Bob Typing) 20 minutes

Wed.-Reading (Rod & Staff reading workbook)
English (Rod & Staff workbook)
Math (Computer and board games)
Science (Selective reading and research from Real Science 4 Kids
The Complete Book of Science Grades 5-6, or unit study)
Spelling/Vocab. (Spelling activity/Rod & Staff Vocab.)
Guitar practice 30 minutes

Thurs.-Reading (SSR and read aloud)
English (Copy work)
Math (Math U See Delta)
History (Activity)
Typing (Spong Bob Typing) 20 minutes

Fri.- Reading (SSR, read aloud and discussion)
English (Creative writing)
Math (Computer and board games)
Science (Experiments)
Spelling (Test)
Guitar practice 30 minutes
Field Trips if possible or needed

I am still working on Poogie's schedule but I will post it as soon as I finalize everything. TTFN

I'm Back!

Sorry I have been MIA! The last few weeks have been crazy. School is in full swing. Soccer is keeping us busy. I have two players with two different practices and game times. I have to say two is much more work than one when it comes soccer.

My dear Poogie had the chance of a lifetime last weekend. Her aunt took her to see the Lion King musical in Memphis. She absolutely loved it. I just wished I could have went too.

I will write more tomorrow! It's good to be back!

I can't believe the weekend is over!

It seems like long weekends go by much faster than your normal two day weekend. At least to me it seems like it. We have been busy during our "short" weekend.

First, we finally finished our mud room. It has been waiting for paint and trim since last year. And now that its done I keep walking through there thinking how wonderful it looks.

Plus, my hubby bought me 4 new pieces of furniture for the kitchen and the mud room for storage. Now all my homeschool stuff is nicely tucked away in cabinets so at least everything appears to be in order.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies and just spending time together. I rented the movie Disturbia on a whim. I had read about the great performance in it by Shia LaBeouf, a great young actor. I had seen him in Holes and was impressed, but in Disturbia Iwas blown away. He really is talented. So this lead to us going back to the video store to rent some more of his movies. And all I have to say is he is awesome. Then to top off our obsession we drove 60 miles Monday to see Transformers. This was the closest we could find the movie still playing. We hadn't seen it yet because I just figured it would be another big computer generated action fest. But it ended up being really good. My husband even loved it. Again Shia was the star and we were impressed yet again!

Now we are back to school and soccer. As far as school goes the only problem I am having is getting back into a good routine. TT is really struggling with long division. I am trying different approaches to the subject, but he is still having a hard time. I guess you could say we are in a 4th week slump. Long weekends used to do this to my students in school. It's like you loose your rhythm.

This weekend will be our first soccer games. The kids are excited. It will be something just to see my little Poogie out there on the field. TT is playing with 5th through 8th graders. That is making him a little nervous. There is a big difference in size between a 5th grader and an 8th grader. I guess we will see how everything turns out.