As I said in my last post I am in a rut. I am taking steps to dig myself out. The first step was taken yesterday. One of my fellow homeschool moms told me about a co-op at a local YMCA for the kids, so we decided to check it out.
It was just what we needed. The kids get PE, exercise, swimming lessons, Spanish and art. The price is great and it gives them some much needed time with other homeschool kids and me time to just be. We will start in a week and a half, the kids can't wait.
We have tried several activities with ps kids and almost all have turned out not for us. My kids and I just don't have that much in common with most of the ps kids. I especially have a hard time with them spending too much time with children who have no respect for adults, especially their parents. And don't get me wrong, I know that not all homeschool children are perfect. It has just been our experience that the home school children that we spend time with are very respectful and my kids have more positive experiences when they are with them.
Since this is our first full year of home I am constantly tweaking our curriculum and learning experiences to fit my children's needs. That is one of the reasons I love homeschool so much.
TT is thriving in math thanks to Math U See. I do worry when I look at the standards and see what the state says he should be doing. They think a child should master so much at one time. But I will keep doing what I am because I know it is what is best for TT.
He is also enjoying English with Rod and Staff. I may change my curriculum next year. I would like to focus on review of the parts of speech and more writing, but we will wait until next year to change.
The morning work that I assign him each morning has been very effective. He does handwriting, math, and journal writing every morning. I also add some Language Arts when I feel like it. The books I use are from the local book stores and discount stores. They are great to review basic skills.
The bug jar incentive program I started after Christmas has been very effective also with TT. I believe he needs to work towards a goal. Maybe it is from being in ps too long. I use those simple sticker pages with 20 blanks that have rooms for stickers. I used the bug jars because I had some left over from my classroom. I allow the kids to choose their reward to work towards. I write it on the page and then they earn bugs by getting good grades on assignments, completing chores, etc. TT decided he wanted to go out to lunch with me to our favorite Sushi place. Poogie wants to go out to lunch at TGI Friday's. It has been a lot of fun watching their jars fill up.
Poogie doesn't really need any incentive to learn she just loves doing it. I am so glad I started homeschooling her so early.
Any who, I've got to run to the library.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Help, I've fallen in a rut and can't get out!
That pretty much sums up our homeschool right now. The weather has not been very nice to say the least and we have all had the crud and therefore been locked up in this house way too long.
I have been planning and doing my lessons like always but I just haven't been finding any joy in teaching nor learning with the kids. We really enjoy the Charlotte Mason type learning we have been doing, but I can't commit fully to it.
You see when I decided to homeschool I planned on doing it for the long run. My hubby and I decided at that time that there wasn't anything that could make us put our children back into the pubic school system in our area. I felt relaxed. It was nice to know that I didn't have to shove skills down my children's throats that they weren't ready to learn just because the state says they are.
Now that relaxed feeling is gone. In its place is the worry of having to put them back in school and go back to work. It tends to be the answer in our family when things get a little tough. It's not that I am against working. I do miss teaching sometimes. However, my real concern in my children, not a classroom full of students. It was a nightmare when they were in school and I don't want to relive it.
Plus, I found out from my homeschool group that a bill in the House right now that would require homeschoolers to have to take the state assessment tests. These are one of the reasons I disliked teaching so much. This bill would make homeschoolers have to teach to the state and national standards like the public schools. Thus, the stress would return.
I do review the state standards for both of my children and make sure that we are touching upon them, but I do not fret if I try and they are not ready for a particular skill at that time. I just make a note to try again at another time. I just want to teach my children in a way in which they are not just memorizing facts but actually learning about the world and how to apply what they learn in it. Public schools do not promote this. Ug! I could go on and on.
What I am really trying to say is that I want to use a more relaxed method like Charlotte Mason, but I cannot do that when I am constantly faced with the idea that I may have to place my kids back in school. My son is my greatest worry because he struggles so much with math and even though he is making great progress with Math U See, public schools use Saxon and he cannot handle it. I fear what would happen to him at this time if he had to return to public school. He had such a horrible time before, and it has took a year to get him back on track.
I just hope and pray that we are able to keep homeschooling, it is what works for us.
I have been planning and doing my lessons like always but I just haven't been finding any joy in teaching nor learning with the kids. We really enjoy the Charlotte Mason type learning we have been doing, but I can't commit fully to it.
You see when I decided to homeschool I planned on doing it for the long run. My hubby and I decided at that time that there wasn't anything that could make us put our children back into the pubic school system in our area. I felt relaxed. It was nice to know that I didn't have to shove skills down my children's throats that they weren't ready to learn just because the state says they are.
Now that relaxed feeling is gone. In its place is the worry of having to put them back in school and go back to work. It tends to be the answer in our family when things get a little tough. It's not that I am against working. I do miss teaching sometimes. However, my real concern in my children, not a classroom full of students. It was a nightmare when they were in school and I don't want to relive it.
Plus, I found out from my homeschool group that a bill in the House right now that would require homeschoolers to have to take the state assessment tests. These are one of the reasons I disliked teaching so much. This bill would make homeschoolers have to teach to the state and national standards like the public schools. Thus, the stress would return.
I do review the state standards for both of my children and make sure that we are touching upon them, but I do not fret if I try and they are not ready for a particular skill at that time. I just make a note to try again at another time. I just want to teach my children in a way in which they are not just memorizing facts but actually learning about the world and how to apply what they learn in it. Public schools do not promote this. Ug! I could go on and on.
What I am really trying to say is that I want to use a more relaxed method like Charlotte Mason, but I cannot do that when I am constantly faced with the idea that I may have to place my kids back in school. My son is my greatest worry because he struggles so much with math and even though he is making great progress with Math U See, public schools use Saxon and he cannot handle it. I fear what would happen to him at this time if he had to return to public school. He had such a horrible time before, and it has took a year to get him back on track.
I just hope and pray that we are able to keep homeschooling, it is what works for us.
Friday, February 15, 2008
I ROCK!
At least that is how I feel when I play my kids PS2 game Sing Star. Poogie got the game for Christmas and I hadn't really gave it alot of thought. We got it out the other night just to play around with and I got hooked.
The greatest part about the game is that I have always been told that I can't sing. But according to the game I can sing quite well. It judges you on your ability to hit the notes correctly and according to the game I can SING! Now whether thats true or not I'm not sure, but it sure is fun.
My hubby and I have battled it out to some of our favorite tunes. In fact the whole family has spent hours laughing and having fun with this game. Maybe I am too hard on TT about all the time he spends on the video game?? Nah.
The greatest part about the game is that I have always been told that I can't sing. But according to the game I can sing quite well. It judges you on your ability to hit the notes correctly and according to the game I can SING! Now whether thats true or not I'm not sure, but it sure is fun.
My hubby and I have battled it out to some of our favorite tunes. In fact the whole family has spent hours laughing and having fun with this game. Maybe I am too hard on TT about all the time he spends on the video game?? Nah.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Protecting the Bullies
IMO that is what the public school system in our area is doing. We dealt with bullying when our son was in school from kindergarten until the day he left. What bothers me about this whole issue is that the schools promote this zero tollerance of bullies yet 99% of the time they either get away with it or not much is done to them.
During my son's last year in ps a close friend of his was attacked on the playground by a group of boys. The boys were throwing footballs at the boys face while holding him up against a tree. My son tried to get him away. The result of the situation was that the bullies, and my son and his friend were all punished the same. The teacher seemed to think it an appropriate punishment. I did not. Neither did the other boys parents who took him out to homeschool him.
In kindergarten my son was constantly beat up on by a much larger boy and the teacher would not do anything about it. We met with her several times and all she could say was that she didn't see it happen so she couldn't do anything. After months of dealing with this we finally told our son to protect himself. He did and ended up in suspension. We told the principal that he would serve the time but we were glad he finally stood up to the bully. He and the boy ended up being good friends.
Now my mind returns to these issues because just in the last few months I have had two different groups of parents come to my husband and I wanting to homeschool their children due to constant bullying in school. In both instances nothing was done to the bullies when the children told on their attackers because as the teachers say "I didn't see it happen, so what can I do." That is an easy cop out for the teacher but it causes constant stress for those being bullied.
In one instance the student fought back and was still suspended even thought they were attacked 3 on one. This type of system is failing the students in public schools. I am a former teacher and I detested bullying, but my administration did not want to deal with it.
This leads to my point. In sight of all this I am surprised that there aren't more children taking matters into their own hands. Children, like adults, can only handle so much and they reach the breaking point. I believe that this is one of the reasons for the major outbreak in violence in schools, especially in our area.
And I know that children should be taught at home not to bully, but that leads to a discussion on the lack of morals taught at home. This too has been turned over to the school system. But that is a soap box for another day.
Just my opinion, had to share. (Excuse spelling errors, spellcheck would not work)
During my son's last year in ps a close friend of his was attacked on the playground by a group of boys. The boys were throwing footballs at the boys face while holding him up against a tree. My son tried to get him away. The result of the situation was that the bullies, and my son and his friend were all punished the same. The teacher seemed to think it an appropriate punishment. I did not. Neither did the other boys parents who took him out to homeschool him.
In kindergarten my son was constantly beat up on by a much larger boy and the teacher would not do anything about it. We met with her several times and all she could say was that she didn't see it happen so she couldn't do anything. After months of dealing with this we finally told our son to protect himself. He did and ended up in suspension. We told the principal that he would serve the time but we were glad he finally stood up to the bully. He and the boy ended up being good friends.
Now my mind returns to these issues because just in the last few months I have had two different groups of parents come to my husband and I wanting to homeschool their children due to constant bullying in school. In both instances nothing was done to the bullies when the children told on their attackers because as the teachers say "I didn't see it happen, so what can I do." That is an easy cop out for the teacher but it causes constant stress for those being bullied.
In one instance the student fought back and was still suspended even thought they were attacked 3 on one. This type of system is failing the students in public schools. I am a former teacher and I detested bullying, but my administration did not want to deal with it.
This leads to my point. In sight of all this I am surprised that there aren't more children taking matters into their own hands. Children, like adults, can only handle so much and they reach the breaking point. I believe that this is one of the reasons for the major outbreak in violence in schools, especially in our area.
And I know that children should be taught at home not to bully, but that leads to a discussion on the lack of morals taught at home. This too has been turned over to the school system. But that is a soap box for another day.
Just my opinion, had to share. (Excuse spelling errors, spellcheck would not work)
Happy Valentine's Day!
Yes, it is the day for love, but here it has been the day for school and regular life. My hubby and I are going to celebrate this weekend with a nice dinner out, but during the week it is just to hectic for that.
Poogie completed her first true narration yesterday. I am easing the kids into the Charlotte Mason learning style. I read Poogie the book The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Then she narrated to me what the book was about and I wrote it down on her sheet. She then drew a pic of the caterpillar (after he ate everything) and a butterfly. We enjoyed the exercise tremendously.
I am working on ways to work in written narration with TT. The fact that he is in 5th grade tells me we need to work on expressing ourselves in writing. I am thinking of having him keep a reading journal for Johnny Tremain? I will have to see.
Poogie completed her first true narration yesterday. I am easing the kids into the Charlotte Mason learning style. I read Poogie the book The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Then she narrated to me what the book was about and I wrote it down on her sheet. She then drew a pic of the caterpillar (after he ate everything) and a butterfly. We enjoyed the exercise tremendously.
I am working on ways to work in written narration with TT. The fact that he is in 5th grade tells me we need to work on expressing ourselves in writing. I am thinking of having him keep a reading journal for Johnny Tremain? I will have to see.
Monday, February 11, 2008
I'm Blue.
What a week. We made it through the tornados in West Tennessee fine. The rest of the week was spent recovering from the stress of it all and the lack of sleep. Then just when I was feeling like things were back to normal....BAM! My hubby's family decides to bring on the drama.
Let's just say that my hubby comes from a very, very disfunctional family and we tend to be the "normal" ones out of the bunch. They just have the problem with putting their nose in our business and then sharing it with everyone. It just causes alot of stress on all of us. After a weekend of being totally stressed out I feel like I have the flu. My whole body aches. It's like I was so stressed and tense that my body feels beat up. I just have to say that in our case blood is not thicker than water. Family is suppose to be there to support you, not tear you to shreds. I could go on for days, but I just needed to share why I have choosen to change the look of my blog to express my blue feeling.
As far as school goes everything is going great. TT is moving on with his study of the Revoultionary War. We are looking at the various battles of the war and maping them out on a chart. I will post a photo of it when we complete it. He is also completing his biographies of famous people, with Cornwallis, Gen. Gage and Thomas Jefferson.
We began a reading unit on Johnny Tremain. I am using a Teacher Created Resoures book for activities and discussion. I got a great idea to do a index card vocabulary book from my friend at Freedom Academy . Then he looks up the words on the internet at Merriam-Webster's Children's Dictionary site. It is great. The two dictionaries we own have not been very helpful, but so far each word from our Johnny Tremain unit has been on the site. Thanks to Freedom Academy for that site too!
He does 4 vocabulary words each day and we are reading a chapter a day. That just suits his attention span better.
In English we are back to Rod and Staff. We have been doing verb tense and outlining. TT is doing well in both. We also done a mini lesson last week on writing a newspaper story. He will be writing a story about the Boston Massacre for his notebook.
The journal writing is going well. It really shows me his weekness and strengths when it comes to writing.
Math is great, Math U See is a God send.
Our new CLP Geography is fun. TT really enjoys the workbook.
And, finally, he loves, loves, loves to do his German Language lessons on the Mango Languages Site. He has been wanting to learn German for a while and this site is just right for him and it's free (Thanks again to Freedom Academy for the great site).
Poogie has also been working hard.
We are cruzin along in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She enjoys the lessons even more now that she is really reading. She wanted to start doing her Rod and Staff Reading and Phonics also. I was worried it would confuse her but she is doing great. We work as she likes and I don't push.
Last week she found that she liked to play with the Boogle Jr. game I purchased a few months ago. It is great for spelling, phonics and reading.
Math is moving slower than I would like. We are only on number 11. She can count to 50 orally but still doesn't know all those numbers yet. Plus, we are reviewing shapes, colors and months of the year.
She learns along with us in History. She will be doing a mini lesson on the history of the American Flag later this week.
For science she has been working with TT, but I am planning some units about her interests, butterflies, ladybugs and such.
I will post pics as I take them this week. We were suppose to go on a field trip tomorrow with our homeschool group but my stomach is dealing me fits due to the stress so we may sit this one out. Ah, the flexibility of homeschooling. I love it.
Let's just say that my hubby comes from a very, very disfunctional family and we tend to be the "normal" ones out of the bunch. They just have the problem with putting their nose in our business and then sharing it with everyone. It just causes alot of stress on all of us. After a weekend of being totally stressed out I feel like I have the flu. My whole body aches. It's like I was so stressed and tense that my body feels beat up. I just have to say that in our case blood is not thicker than water. Family is suppose to be there to support you, not tear you to shreds. I could go on for days, but I just needed to share why I have choosen to change the look of my blog to express my blue feeling.
As far as school goes everything is going great. TT is moving on with his study of the Revoultionary War. We are looking at the various battles of the war and maping them out on a chart. I will post a photo of it when we complete it. He is also completing his biographies of famous people, with Cornwallis, Gen. Gage and Thomas Jefferson.
We began a reading unit on Johnny Tremain. I am using a Teacher Created Resoures book for activities and discussion. I got a great idea to do a index card vocabulary book from my friend at Freedom Academy . Then he looks up the words on the internet at Merriam-Webster's Children's Dictionary site. It is great. The two dictionaries we own have not been very helpful, but so far each word from our Johnny Tremain unit has been on the site. Thanks to Freedom Academy for that site too!
He does 4 vocabulary words each day and we are reading a chapter a day. That just suits his attention span better.
In English we are back to Rod and Staff. We have been doing verb tense and outlining. TT is doing well in both. We also done a mini lesson last week on writing a newspaper story. He will be writing a story about the Boston Massacre for his notebook.
The journal writing is going well. It really shows me his weekness and strengths when it comes to writing.
Math is great, Math U See is a God send.
Our new CLP Geography is fun. TT really enjoys the workbook.
And, finally, he loves, loves, loves to do his German Language lessons on the Mango Languages Site. He has been wanting to learn German for a while and this site is just right for him and it's free (Thanks again to Freedom Academy for the great site).
Poogie has also been working hard.
We are cruzin along in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She enjoys the lessons even more now that she is really reading. She wanted to start doing her Rod and Staff Reading and Phonics also. I was worried it would confuse her but she is doing great. We work as she likes and I don't push.
Last week she found that she liked to play with the Boogle Jr. game I purchased a few months ago. It is great for spelling, phonics and reading.
Math is moving slower than I would like. We are only on number 11. She can count to 50 orally but still doesn't know all those numbers yet. Plus, we are reviewing shapes, colors and months of the year.
She learns along with us in History. She will be doing a mini lesson on the history of the American Flag later this week.
For science she has been working with TT, but I am planning some units about her interests, butterflies, ladybugs and such.
I will post pics as I take them this week. We were suppose to go on a field trip tomorrow with our homeschool group but my stomach is dealing me fits due to the stress so we may sit this one out. Ah, the flexibility of homeschooling. I love it.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Isn't it funny what can make a woman happy?
No, its not diamonds, gorgeous clothes or fancy vacations (Don't get me wrong those things make me happy too!). What makes me really happy is getting those simple things around the house. For example, my hubby and I decided to spend some extra money on somethings that our dear home has been needing. Our entertainment center had seen better days. It is going on 11 years old and had done it's duty well. We took last Saturday to search for the perfect replacement. It needed to be well built, black if possible with good storage. Seemed like it wouldn't be too hard to find one with these requirements. Ha, was I in for a shock. We looked all day and finally at our last stop at a furniture warehouse we found it.
As I entered the store I spotted the piece from across the room and I knew that it was the one. That was until I seen the price tag. I knew it was way beyond our budget. My hubby however decided out of despiration or exhaustion that we were going home with this one if at all possible. He talked it over with the sales lady and low and behold we got the piece at over 50% off the sticker. WOW! So here it sits in our living room all glorious.
Then we gave the kitchen a face lift with a new faucet. I didn't even take a photo of the before, it was awful. I even have a sprayer now!
Isn't it gorgeous!!
As for my old entertainment center I didn't want to waste a decent piece of furniture so I recycled it into my new scrapbook storage unit. It is a work in progress but I am quite happy with the results.
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