Crazy Day

We are doing well and I know I don't have to feel guilty for not getting it all done...but the girls are doing great! We have managed to get a few hours of school in today. My sisters are helping me some so that I can spend time with my mom in her last days.

My sister was out of school today (she is a 2nd grade teacher) as was my other sister. We have started trying to go through things in the house to sort out so we can get it on the market. It makes for a lot of disorganization and lots of "Mommies" in the house. The girls are doing well though. We miss our normal family unit that we are used to...smile!

Things are going well and the things that I thought would be of utter importance in the beginning are being readjusted. I have got to get out of the school mentality into the life long learner process. It is hard to readjust for all of us.

Sometimes I just want to through my hands up...smile!

We went today to tell our Mom that it was okay to go....that we would all be okay and that we are taking care of Granny. That was a very difficult thing to do. I wanted to do the right thing for her benefit...but the memories of her in my life come flooding over me when I try to let her go. I try to imagine my life without her in it...and it is impossible.

Anyhow...we continue this journey...knowing we are blessed with one day at a time...

My Girls

We'll today must have been a typical homeschool day in many homes...smile! I am such a control freak that days like today really turn me upside down. I like routine and I don't so much like to detour from it. You would never know that by seeing how I act on the outside. However, internally it drives me crazy not to have a routine.

Today, we started school at 4:30. I hated that. We didn't finish til about 8:30 with a small dinner intermission. We are just trying to cover the basics right now but I still feel like I am missing something when I do that.

I missed the co-op tonight and I was so sad. I want to be involved and I am missing out. I know God has a reason for me being here though.

The girls wanted to have their own blog so I started one for them. I don't know if they will use it but it is there if they want to now. At first, I hesitated to set one up for them...but then I thought what a great way to encourage them to journal their thoughts or even do some journalism with school work.

I had to meet with the doctors today at Community Hospice. That is reason we started school so late today. That took most of my morning. We found out that my mom will have to be moved to a long term facility "nursing home" by Friday. She doesn't need the care the Hospice facility is giving her. So this afternoon we had to go out searching for a place that was better for her. This is all so nerve wracking....

I know God has us go through things for a reason and I am not even going to try to figure this out...I know He will eventually show me. I am extremely tired and homesick. I miss my hubby and my house something awful.

I'm glad I found this spot even if it wasn't for this purpose...it is serving a purpose for me for now.

Our new location

Well, we are homeschooling in a new location for a while. We are at my mom's house in Florida for now. She is very ill and isn't expected to live much longer. We decided it was best to come on down here to be with her and take care of my grandmother. There is a lot to juggle down here besides just school. I am having a hard time focusing but we seem to be getting through and doing what we need to get through. I figure if we read, write and do math the other stuff we can catch up on. I am limiting their computer and TV time so that they will find other ways to educate themselves...smile!

I miss home terribly.

Ice Cream Ants!

We made ice cream ants after studying ants in our Galloping the Globe study. Right now we are studying insects. Fun!

www.ReACHE.org

Check out www.ReACHE.org

This is my homeschool group!

Our Curriculum

This year I am teaching my 1st and 2nd graders with many different things.

1. We are starting the day doing our Soapy Notebooks. This is something our church is doing. We read a scripture each day and then journal about what we have read. We "S" write the scripture, "O" observe what we read, "A" apply what we have read to our lives, "P" pray about how we can use God's word to serve Him. "Y" is for why will I be different because of what I have read today?
   
2. I just added (10-1-08) a new writing curriculum that goes along with the First Language Lessons. The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease: Strong Fundamentals. We will be using the workbooks along with them. I want to give them a great baseline to be able to be good writers. Expressing yourself with the beautiful language we have is so very important in our world.
   
   
3. Next, we alternate doing Math and Spelling so that one of them works independently while the other one works with me. We are using Making Math Meaningful this year as well as doing some side activities like drills and critical thinking worksheets. For spelling we are using Building Spelling Skills. This seems to be a great book so far. We also use spellingcity.com to practice our spelling skills.
4. For Handwriting we are using A Reason for Handwriting.
5. We are using The Ordinary Parent's guide to Teaching Reading with my first grader for phonics. It is a classical type program.
   
6. We are using First Language Lessons for their grammar. It is by the same author as the phonics program. I chose to put both of them in the same level to really hammer out the basics of grammar.
   
7. For foreign language, I am teaching them American Sign Language using the Signing Time CD's. I grew up signing and have been an interpreter for eleven years. We are learning one song each week and that usually has about 12 words that they learn in sign.
8. In the afternoon, we do our Geography, History, and Literature curriculum. We are using a unit study called Galloping the Globe. I am very excited about it. We will be learning about the world around us. We will be studying each continent and many countries within each continent. While we are in each country we will be learning about their flag, famous people, authors, celebrations, customs,music, art, food and so on. Right now we are in the introduction learning about the globe and maps and how that will help us know where we are as well as other places. We will be doing many projects with Galloping the Globe and using notebooking to keep our journeys on track and memorable. I bought a ton of books with this book to make sure we covered our bases. I put off buying The Big Book of Books and Activities. However, I decided that it would be worth it to get it.
   
9. The science curriculum will go along with Galloping the Globe. We will be studying the 106 Days of Creation. I bought this from the Simply Charlotte Mason site.
10. For our reading program we will be using Sonlight Language Arts 2 with easy readers and Sonlight Language Arts 2 with chapter books. This will also supplement some of the grammar with extra practice and an introduction to more in depth grammar rules.
11. We will hopefully being doing Art once a week. Although, we may interchange it with classical music every other week. We will be using Art Adventures at Home for our art curriculum. I also have another book called Discovering Great Artist: 150 Art Ideas for learning.
12. We will be doing a co-op every month 3 times a month. The first week will be a lesson, the next will be a field trip related to the lesson and the third week will be just a fun play day for the kids.
13. We will also be doing a group physical education class once a month with our homeschool group. As well as, being involved in some sort of group sport like Upwards, softball, soccer or cheerleading. In addition, we will have many playdays at the park and days of walks and riding scooters and bikes.
14. For Music, the girls will also be taking piano lessons from a friend of mine. I am going to be teaching her daughter ASL while mine are learning piano.
15. I became a member of EnchantedLearning.com and Edhelper.com. This has a plytheria of worksheets and craft ideas.

Most of my curriculum was purchased from RainbowResource.com, Amazon, Ebay, Homeschoolclassifieds.com.

I am hoping our schedule will be 4 days a week for about 4 hours total each day. Of course, these won't be 4 straight hours and I will be twining life lessons within the day even when they don't know they are learning...smile! I want to read aloud to them as much as possible in hopes to hook them on to the love of reading and learning!

In the Beginning!

This is the beginning of our home school journey. I am very excited but know that I have a huge responsibility on me and much work ahead of me. I am excited about teaching my kids and pray that I can remember this is a journey to enjoy not a journey to a specific destination.

My kids are awesome! They have been in the public school for 2 years now. I have bought all my curriculum and still wonder if I got the right things. I know this year will be an adjustment...I just want everything to be a bright spot for them and for me.

We are starting this journey with sadness though. We are facing the death of my Mom so it will be a rocky start for sure but without home school we would not have the flexibility to see her when we need to go.

I hope you enjoy the ride with us!