A time of reflection

I am beginning to think about next school year and the choices I will make. It is part of my teaching that I take stock of what we have learned, assess if it has been effective and decide what to do from here. I do this constantly, however as I think about next year I feel very conflicted.

I would really like to use the Charlotte Mason approach to educate my children. I have been reading several books on the subject and I like the method and I know my daughter would love it. The problem lies with my son. I tried last year and this year to do more literature based and relaxed approach and it did not work for him. He is not comfortable with reading and gathering his own information about a subject. He would rather me give him assignments. It is also a struggle to get him to read hardly anything. We have been mostly doing read a louds. He is on a high reading level, but doesn't have the passion for reading that I would like.

I just don't know what to do. If I do choose to use a curriculum I know I want to get most of it from one publisher so that I don't have to spend so much time planning lessons and such. I would like to do some of his lessons on the computer so that I can devote more time to my dd who will be in first grade. He does monopolize my time. I guess I will ponder this more and see what comes. Your views, opinion or advice would be greatly appreciated.

What's for dinner?

That is one question I have been trying to be prepared for as of late. I am trying to be a better shopper so that I can spend more money on better produce and meat and less on junk that never gets eaten. So here are some of my menus for the next week or so.

Breakfast:
-Muffins (Raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, triple berry, and pumpkin) I just bake up a batch of
one kind and we eat them till their gone.
-Waffles
-Cinnamon toast
-Oatmeal
-Cereal

Lunch:
-Mac and Cheese
-Bean Burritos
-Soup
-Quesadillas
-Taquillos
-PB&J
-Left overs

Dinners: (All are homemade unless noted)
-Beef & Noodles, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas and rolls
-Chicken Pot Pie, stuffing, and rolls
-Roast (Crock pot) with potatoes and carrots
-Lemon Pepper Shrimp (Frozen) with Rice Pilaf and steamed green beans
-Chicken Parmesan with a green salad and bread
-Meatloaf Meatballs with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, veggie and rolls
-Veggie Chili

Most of these meals allow me to cook enough for leftovers so I hope to get two days out of all meals but the shrimp. I know lots of meat and potatoes, but I try to throw in healthy stuff too. I tend to eat a lot of salads and steamed veggies instead of fried stuff so that helps. All my meat is boiled, baked or cooked in the crock pot. I've been trying a lot of new recipes to shake things up a bit and the kids have really enjoyed it.

I hope by planning these meals like I have seen so many of the other moms have shared on their blogs that I can take over control of my pantry. We'll see.

I'm still in shock!

My hubby called me this afternoon and told me to turn on the tv, he said that actor Heath Ledger died. I couldn't believe it. We both liked him as an actor. I always felt that he put his heart into each character he played. I know he portrayed some controversial characters but I will always remember him in my favorite role as Gabriel Martin in The Patriot. My thoughts are with his family, Michelle and his daughter Matilda tonight.

Chemical Reactions

I admit we had let science fall by the wayside last semester. And that is hard to believe since science is my all time favorite subject. So this week we got back into our Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry and wow did we have fun.

We did the experiment for chemical reactions. Poogie joined in on the fun and it turned out to be one of our favorite lessons. Here is a pic of TT making a mad concoction.

You know its funny, we got back into school doing lots more than we did in the fall and it has been going so much more smoothly. I have our lessons planned and we are able to accomplish most everything each day. Maybe organization and a more relaxed outlook is the key? Aye!

American Revolutionary War Unit

We began our unit last week. This is a summary of the unit and what we are planning so far.

Week 1
We began by completing a map of the first 13 colonies. I got a free printable outline map from http://www.eduplace.com/ .

TT's Books-
Exploring American History-CLP Chapter 13 and 14
Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson (Read Aloud)
Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne (Silent Reading)

Poogie's Books-
The American People & Nation by Michael J McHugh-CLP Chapter 5
Paul Revere and the Minutemen (Poem) by Carole Charles
Paul Revere by Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson

Activities-
TT will complete a George Washington Tab book from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ it is filled with facts and info about the life of GW.

TT and Poogie will do a " Stain Glass" American flag using white glue and chalk.
They will be making a colonial flag. Then they will complete a small book on the history of the American flag found on http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ .

Week 2
This week we will begin to focus on the causes of the war. TT will focus on researching for an oral report on George Washington. We had to go to the library to choose some more books for his report.

TT's Books-
Exploring American History -CLP Chapter 15
Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson (Read Aloud)
When Washington Crossed the Delaware by Lynne Cheney

Movies-
The Patriot
The Crossing

Activities-
TT-Work on costume and props for an oral presentation about the life of George Washington.

Poogie-we will recreate some of the meals shared by the soldiers.

Web Sites-
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/history/vstory.html Good history of Valley Forge
http://www.multied.com/revolt/ Causes of war http://www.americanrevolution.com/index.htm Excellent for all aspects of war study
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/index.html Great timeline of events George Washington in portraits

I found an excellent timeline to print out of the Revolutionary War prior, during and after. However, I cannot find the web site. I will post is as soon as I can.

Week 3
I plan to study several of the major battles of the war and their location.

Week 4
This week we look towards the formation of a new country. The focus will be on the writing of the Constitution.

Week 5
We hope to study the formation of the national and state governments.

I will edit and post more as I get to the planning stage of each unit. We are having a great time with our unit.

Just Breathe!

I have to remind myself to do that quite often lately. I have been feeling so overwhelmed with everything. I have to take stock and decide what is important to me and my family, and the rest must fall by the wayside.

School and my children's education took a fall during the holidays. It got over taken by the demands of holidays, outside activities and family obligations. Therefore, I have focused my attention on making sure that I feel their education is foremost in my priorities right now.

To do that I have become more organized and focused upon the subjects I deem important. I have a homeschool planner that contains everything I need in one 3 ring binder. It was well worth the time putting it together. I plan on adding sections as needed to suit my needs.

I also need to determine which extra curricular activities are actually beneficial to our needs and discontinue the rest. Right now our commitments are just a few but one has become very taxing on my time, patience and energy.

TT's only commitment is Boy Scouts. In the beginning this seemed like the perfect outlet for him to explore the outdoors and other activities. However, it has not turned out to be as we hoped. Not much learning occurs in these meeting and outings. I and my son have been disappointed in the educational part of Boy Scouting. TT being homeschooled has not helped matters. He does not share the same attitudes of many of the public schooled boys in the group. I am also on the committee of the troup. My feelings on this are ones I do not feel like sharing at this time. Yet, I will just say it has not been anything like I thought it would be.

Poogie's commitments are not very taxing. The only one I will discontinue next year will be Daisy Scouts. Unless, we find a homeschool troop of Brownies we will not continue. I would like her to spend time with other children who share the homeschool lifestyle. And that goes ditto for me. I have nothing in common with the other moms in her group.

My hubby and I have just about decided to spend our money allowing the children to explore their passions. TT would rather take art and guitar lessons than Boys Scouts and Poogie wants to continue her ballet lessons and add voice. She loves, loves, loves to sing. She has even began to "write" her own songs. So next school year this is where our focus will lie.

Finally, I hope to also find time to take care of myself. Since beginning this homeschool journey my needs have been tossed aside. That was fine for a while. I now know that my short temper and feelings of anger at times are linked my need for self pampering. I want to work more on my physical health and mental well being. How, I will accomplish this is an ongoing search.

Friday Night Lights!

While in Odessa we found that this was the town that the football movie Friday Night Lights was filmed in. It was about the Odessa Panthers and the town is very proud of their team. We took some pics of the school where it was filmed and talked to a few of the boys who were extras in the film.

Finally, across the road from our hotel was a branch of the University of Texas. They had an excellent copy of Stonehenge. We didn't get out and look at it because the wind was way too cold, but the kids found it quite interesting.

Well, now back to real life of school, laundry, dishes, errands, and everything else. I will miss Texas. The whole time I was down there my sinus didn't act up, no headaches. Although the smell of the gas and oil was a little overwhelming, I have to say we enjoyed the hospitality and beauty of West Texas.

My Baby turned 6!

Yes, my sweet Poogie turned 6 years old while we were in Texas. But that didn't stop us from having fun.


For her birthday we went ice skating at the mall in Odessa. Here is a photo of Poogie, TT and my hubby skating. They were a little unsure of it being their first time ever. I on the other hand spent my childhood skating and it came back pretty quick.



The boys that worked at the rink were so friendly. They took time to talk with all of us. By the end of the night everyone including Poogie was skating quite well.


We ended the night eating out and enjoying our time in Odessa. When we returned home she received her birthday gifts and tomorrow night we will celebrate with a cake.


I will blog more tomorrow about our travels. It is late and I am weary from our long drive.

Look at these West Texas Skies!

I took this in the late evening. It was so beautiful how blue the sky was. I have to say the land down here is flat as a pancake but holds its own beauty.

Today while hubby worked be took a short drive into New Mexico. It was okay, the town we visited was very old and did have much to offer, but at least we can say we've been to New Mexico.

Our trip to Carlsbad isn't going to happen. Hubby's job went on longer than planned and we will have to head home tomorrow so that he can get back to work Monday. I'm ready to go home too. I miss having my own space. It would have been a better trip if we could have had our own vehicle (hubby had to take ours to the work site). His job booked his room 60+ miles from the job site so it was too far to take him everyday. But it has still been a good experience.

Howdy, from Texas!

That's right I am in Odessa, Texas to be exact. My hubby had a job in this area and wanted to know if the kids and I would like to come along. So we packed up our school stuff and here we are. That is after a very, very long drive.

I wanted to travel more with my hubby this year and this job just happen to come up first. It has thrown our schedule for a loop, but that's whats great about homeschooling.

We hope to take a small trip over to New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns. Plus, we are right across the road from President Bush's childhood home. Right down the road is a meteorite crater and we can even ice skate at the mall (a first for my hubby and the kids).

What else is great is that I just received from our Which Way USA? from Highlights book and map on Texas. TT loves these books. They are filled with puzzles and interesting facts about the state.

The only thing I can note about this part of Texas, because we drove in the dark and couldn't see the landscape, is that the strong smell of gas in the air is a little alarming. I guess folks here just get used to it, but it was really strong.

I will log more from our Texas adventure later.

New Year's Resolutions?

I did not actually make a New Year's Resolution. I haven't been great about keeping them over the years so I decided to do something different. I made notes of things I want to accomplish, like a to do list for the upcoming year. I know it sounds like a resolution, but to me it is just normal. I am very good at completing to do lists, not so good at resolutions, go figure.

I really wanted to focus on organizing our school stuff better. Things like lesson plans, grades, and paper work. I create a homeschool planner with a 3 ring binder. I just laid it out like I did all those numerous notebooks I made in college for my education classes. I printed off some great forms to use from some web site www.donnayoung.org/forms. I will publish some photos of my planner when I get a mo to take some.

I am also trying to change my eating and exercising habits. I am slowly working on drinking more water and less soda, making wise choices about what I eat and snack on, and trying to exercise as much as I can. Today was beautiful out side so I went out to run and play with the kids for a while. I want to start walking and build up to running a 5k. (That is one of my long term plans)

As far as homeschooling goes I am looking at it as I would have my job as a teacher. I had become quite lazy by the end of the last quarter and I didn't like it one bit. So by being more organized I hope to become more productive also.

I started a new program with TT. He gets up really early, so to make the time between when he rises and the rest of us do I have created morning work. I used this in my classroom for students as they come into the classroom, so I thought it might work for him. For TT I made up a chart of daily work. He is given a journal writing prompt each morning to write on and one review lesson from a subject. We are starting this week reviewing math using his Rod and Staff textbook. I had changed back to Math U See because he was struggling so hard with the Rod and Staff long division. But I have decided to try to do a little of both while he is in the easy early lessons of Math U See. I guess I will see how it goes. My hope with the journal writing is that it will improve his ability to take his thoughts and get them down on paper.

For Poogie we are going to be more aggressive in the areas of phonics, reading and math. When we had busy days I didn't always get to all her lessons. Now it will be a priority.

I am waiting on some materials I ordered from CLP to start my Revolutionary War unit, so we are going to do some small lessons from Story of the World until they get here.

Reading aloud for fun is also going to be a focus. We will be reading Johnny Tremain for our Revolutionary War unit, but I want to read something for fun too. I am thinking of reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to them. TT wants to know what happens after Order of the Phoenix and he really doesn't like to read books that long.

Science is also going to get some much needed attention. We will start out doing some lessons from our Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry and then in February we will begin a unit on Astronomy. We will focus on the moon and constellations. TT will be doing this for a Boy Scout badge also. Poogie wants to do a unit on butterflies this spring so we will be hatching some of our own.

Whew, even typing all this makes me tired. But I know that these are some changes I need to make to ensure our personal feeling of success in our homeschool. I am wanting to move more towards the Charlotte Mason Style of teaching, however this more structured form suits my son better at this time and that is what I am going to do, at least for this year. Have a great week.

Lesson plans, painting, redecorating, Oh My!

I have been quite lazy the last few weeks when it comes to working around the house or doing school prep. I made up for all my laziness in one day.

First, I must note that our second bathroom has been in a transition phase for over a year. It was decorated in a cute jungle theme for the kids, but now we are ready to make it look a little more grown up. So we tore down the wall paper and the walls looked horrible. After staring at that for a few months, I couldn't take it any more. Today, I started texturizing the walls with joint putty and water mixed. I wanted an old world feel to the walls. Several of my friends had done this to there walls and I really like the effect.

I have to say as of right now I do too. We will paint it tomorrow and I guess I will see then. I wanted to glaze the walls and make them look stained but due to monetary issues we had to go with paint. It will look great any way. I will try to post a before and after of the room. It is so small I don't know if I can get it on film.

Second, I began making my lesson plans for this next quarter. I made me a homeschool planner with a 2 inch binder last week and printed several forms off the Internet to use. I think this will fit my needs better than my old public school teacher organizer. I ordered a few new history books so that we can study America beginning with the Revolutionary war. I do hope they work out.

Finally, I used my new crock pot today! It is such a great invention. I made Pasta E. Fagioli Soup. My hubby got some at Olive Garden when we went on our date last week and we loved it. It is like an Italian chili. I found a great copycat recipe on http://www.recipezaar.com/ . It turned out great. I chopped all my veggies last night, and cooked my ground beef so all I had to do this morning was combine all ingredients and turn it on. I didn't even think about it for hours. This just proves that my crock pot and I are going to be great friends.

Of course, I will have to watch the consumption of all this good food next week. I am starting a healthy eating program and hopefully some exercise. I am using http://sparkpeople.com/ as a motivational tool. It is a lot like weight watchers.com only it is FREE! Take a look! I will also be blogging about my journey on the weight loss trial.

It's been a full day and I definitely need my beauty sleep. TTFN