Almost Summer!

 

I can't believe we are almost done with another school year!! Phew! That was a busy one!! I, for one, am so glad that some activities are ending for the summer, so we can rest a little more and not be out every night of the week! There have been lots of changes lately!!

The kids are doing well, finishing up the school year, and growing so much!! Madelynn is finishing up her second grade year, and just finished up her second year of Classical Conversations!! She has been having fun playing outside, enjoys watching Judah and Ruth and helping with them, and has learned so much this year! She is my big helper! She has even started making some of her own food, including scrambled eggs with peppers and sausage, by herself! Tad has been teaching her how to skateboard, and they have been going on long bike rides together. She is getting so big!

Judah is doing preschool this year, and he has done really well. He enjoys sitting at the table and having his own school to do alongside Maddy! He is left-handed, and has learned how to write pretty well this year! He did a few sessions of swim lessons and loved it, especially when Tad got in the water with him on the last day of swim lessons!! He would be beaming the whole time!! Tad has also been teaching him how to skateboard, and he loves that! He is a joy!

Ruth is getting so big! She is now speaking in sentences, and can definitely get her opinions across! She is tiny but loud! She is my sweet cuddler and likes to encourage and make people happy! This week she told me, "I like your ponytail" and "you did good on your workout." She makes my day!!

Within the last few months, I have become a new Team Beachbody Coach. It is so fun to help people on their journey towards health and fitness, as I am on my own journey as well! I just finished up my T25 workouts, and started the 21 Day Fix, which is a workout program that comes with different sized containers, and it tells you how many you can eat of each a day (the different food groups) and also comes with workout DVDs. You get to eat so much food, are not starving, and the weight easily falls off. People have had such great success with it! It was on backorder for a month because it was so popular, but it is now back in stock! Let me know if you want more details, or details about a Fitness Challenge group!

About a week after I signed on as a Coach, I was asked to be the Director of the Classical Conversations in our area! So a lot is going on right now! I am so thrilled for the opportunity, and excited to embark on a new area of work with CC! I have enjoyed tutoring the past 2 years with CC, and this will be a fun endeavor as well, and an awesome ministry opportunity!

We have been busy at our church as well. Tad and I both sing on the worship team, Tad leads the worship team, and we enjoy doing other things there as well. We have been blessed with a vibrant congregation and a Pastor that preaches the Word diligently! What a blessing!
So, as we get ready for summer, and look forward to a family wedding/vacation this summer, we are feeling blessed. Tad is still enjoying his job as a mailman, and has lost a ton of weight running around the neighborhoods delivering mail! He loves being outside, so it is the perfect job for him! Hopefully we can see many of our Ohio friends and family this summer, and enjoy some time off of school! Happy (almost) Summer!

The Homeschool Slide

When I first thought of possibly homeschooling, and believe me, it wasn't my idea, I didn't know how I was going to replicate "real school" at home. I wanted to make sure that Maddy was getting the full "experience" and one of my main concerns was that I couldn't give her all of that, because I am only one person, only good at certain things, not all of them. I think when we first started, and even up until recently, I was still holding onto that "homeschool mom guilt." I think we all do it. We wonder what we are missing, what we haven't taught, what we forgot, what the "other kids" are doing. Ok, I still do it. I wonder, "Is she reading as well or better than other kids her age? Will she know everything she would learn in music class at school? Will she excel in art without having "art class" like they do in school? Will she get that kid-interaction and learn how to deal with other kids?" I know she is getting some of these things through Classical Conversations, and for that, I am so glad. She is learning the tin whistle, art, doing science experiments, learning about artists and orchestra, and doing weekly presentations. She is learning to sit in a classroom, when to be quiet, lining up in a line, and making friends in her small class. But as far as what we do at home. I always wonder if we are doing enough. I think sometimes I pile too much into each day, just trying to "fill in the holes." I have an "other" category that includes the things I think of or stumble upon, and realize she should be learning, or should already know by now.
So what is the homeschool slide, you may ask? Well, I think it means that it's where we, as homeschool moms, can take a load off and not worry so much. It's not where we get lazy and stop teaching things. It's not where we drop the ball and watch TV instead of school our children. It's just where we stop the anxiety, and comparing ourselves to other moms who homeschool, or don't, and concentrate on all the wonderful blessings we have in being a homeschool mom. I have realized that it is such a privilege and joy to have my kids home with me all day. I get to teach them about life, and let them experience things with me that they wouldn't get if they were gone all day. They learn more things about how to run a house, how to take care of the baby, how to entertain themselves when mom has things to do, how to work independently on school, how to play when mom sends them off to play "together," and are interested in helping me cook when they see me start to get ingredients out.
Now this is not to say that that's all we do for school. My homeschooling philosophy is very academic, and their studies are very important to me. My mother-in-law is a wonderful example and counsel for me of a homeschooling mom who is strict with her kids studies and has had kids who have graduated highschool and gone on to colleges where their teachers have commented that their mom did a great job. They have been at the top of their classes and have done well in college. So I look to her for advice so that I can help my kids succeed as well.
Not everyone has the same philosophies in homeschooling as I do, and that's okay, but for me, academics is very important. But I guess my point is that we have to give ourselves a break sometimes. So many veteran homeschooling moms talk about how they wished they weren't so strict and hard on their kids in the early years. How there were tears and frustration, and how they didn't need to be so hard on them. I have Judah doing preschool this year, and I am pretty lax with him. I have realized that there will be no permanent damage done if we skip a week of his school, or have a lighter week, or if we don't do our "curriculum" one week but do other stuff instead. And with Maddy, I have to make myself take a day off once in awhile if it's absolutely necessary, and try to not feel guilty about it. We can take those breaks, we homeschool for crying out loud!!
So I guess in conclusion, I have realized that homeschooling is not ever going to look just like "regular school," and that's okay. In fact, it's more than okay, that's the point!! We can give our kids different experiences, a closer bonding with their siblings, and greater responsibility around the house, more hands-on, one-on-one intereaction, and a deeper studying of God's Word that they might not get at school. As in everything in life, our perspective is everything. If we focus on where we are lacking and what we are not doing and how we are failing, then we will be miserable homeschooling moms. But if we focus on our precious time with our kids, the responsibilities they are learning, the unique teaching times we have, and how we get to see their eyes opened to the world around them as they learn, then we will be joyful and content in our homeschooling journey that God has called us to. I know it's not for everyone, but if God has called you and your family to it, then be grateful that you have the opportunity to stay home and teach your precious children!! And embrace the homeschooling chaos!!

It's Been Awhile!!

My friends! It has been so long since I have put out a blog post! Our computer died, and so we spent the summer without a computer, but since we have gotten one, we have been so busy with school (and Judah is doing preschool at home this year!), Classical Conversations, swim lessons, church, and life with 3 kids! I'm sure some of you wondered if I fell off the planet or something! I have missed putting up my favorite recipes, blogging about homemaking, tips I have learned, life, and stuff that makes my life interesting! I have so many things to share as I get back to blogging. In April, I got into a weight loss group on Facebook and have lost about 15 pounds (give or take what day it is!) I would love to share about that! Also, I am in my second year of tutoring (teaching) Maddy's class at Classical Conversations. So I have the children that are mostly in 2nd grade. This year is going great!

Another cool thing is that God has been doing some awesome things in my heart, and I have finished a book that I want to share about that was really awesome! There were 2 things that I realized at the beginning of this school year that have really helped me in my everyday life. The first thing is that I realized I needed to get up earlier than my kids in the morning. I used to do this before I got pregnant with Ruth, inspired by the blog "Inspired to Action" where there is a whole "movement" to Maximize Your Mornings (link on the right hand side of the blog). When you are not in the habit of getting up early, it may seem like an impossible feat. But once you start, and you realize the amazing quiet before the kids get up, and that quiet time you can spend with God, you will get addicted to it! The other thing I realized, with my quiet times seeming boring and not drawing me closer to God, was that I really needed to spend quiet time with God. Not just time before my kids got up, but time where I wasn't doing anything else. Where I could just listen to worship music. Or just sit in the quiet. Or where I could "be still, and know that He is God." (Psalm 46:1) And then, randomnly, I picked a book off our bookshelf (I don't know where we got it, or how long we have had it), and decided to use it during my devotion time. It is an oldie, by A.W. Tozer, called "The Pursuit of God." And boy did God drop that in my lap at the right time. It was about the very thing I had been missing in my walk with God. That sweet fellowship and intimacy that comes from pursuing God and seeking that quiet time of drawing near to God that we all too often miss out on. And when we just read the Bible (check), pray (check), and do all our church duties (check, check), it can start to feel dull. And we can start to get resentful. And feel like we are wasting our time. But when we can turn off the distractions, and actually let God do the talking, when we can just listen, and be thankful, and draw near to Him, He will change our hearst. And it starts to feel different. And new. And amazing. And you will be fed. And as mommies of little children who need us for a million different things all day long, we need to be fed or we will burn out. And we can just feel overwhelmed with a million different to-do lists that seem like they have no purpose. Things that get undone 10 minutes after we do them. And the other reason I felt like it was so important to get up before the kids, was so I could also plan my day right after my time with God. Know what I want to accomplish for the day, check the account and be on top of the finances daily (something I was slacking on), know what we are having for dinner and how much prep time I will need, look at the calendar, and just be prepared for the day.

Before I got up early, I would wake up with kids who needed something, I would be groggy as my husband left for work with minimal breakfast, I had no idea what was for dinner, how much was in the account, or what I was doing that day. And that's when my life was feeling overwhelming and I felt like it was out of control. But with my new plan in place, I was getting fed by God first thing in the morning, having relaxing, quiet time with God to start off my day, and knew what my chores were for the day, and what the plan for the day would be. These 2 things have really helped me a lot during this crazy, hectic season of homeschooling 2 kids, preparing for CC each week, and a load of other responsibilities.

I hope everyone is well. I hope to hear from some of my regular readers from before, and hope to encourage some new moms as well who are in the thick of it, busy but satisfied staying home with little ones. Maybe we have homeschooling in common, our relationship with God, Classical Conversations, being a stay-at-home mom, or a love for cooking, but whatever it may be, I hope this blog will encourage you and give you some new ideas for how to make your life easier, more fun, or at least make your house smell yummy with some new recipes to try! Happy Fall!!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Weeks 20-21

Well, I have gotten quite behind in my CC blog posts. We have been out of town so much in the last 2 months, so I have gotten all my prep and teaching done, but I haven't been on here to update the blog for each week! I like to add each week so my parents can see what we did for that week, other tutors can get fresh ideas from what I prepared (let's face it, we can all use some new ideas!!), so I can document this year so I can look back on it for next year, and for when Cycle 1 comes around again! So, even though most campuses have already covered these weeks, I will get these two weeks in, and finish up blogging for this CC year! Again, I'm sorry I haven't been up to date!

Week 20

Timeline: learned new hand motions and sang song
History Sentence: Hand motions (CC connected) and sang the song
Geography: Used dry erase maps to color in/circle the areas, passports with passport stamps
Latin: Used the mix and match game with the grid (love this!!)
Math: Circumference of a circle: Used the song to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus off of CC connected
Science: Printed off a Parts of the Atmosphere Mix and Match where they practiced labelling the parts and saw if they got them right (CC connected)
English: Played Duck, Duck Goose with the 3 Helping Verbs

Grammar Review:
The games I had planned were:
Burst: Tutor asks a question and the kids squat on the ground. If they know the answer they burst up and the first one gets to try to answer the question.
Tutor May I: We didn't play this one, but you can have the kids line up and ask to go a certain distance or whatever, and then they have to answer a question.

We also had some great Mexican coloring pages for them to do at the end!!

Week 21

Timeline: learned new hand motions and sang song
History Sentence: Hand motions (CC connected) and sang the song
Geography: Used dry erase maps to color in/circle the areas, passports with passport stamps
Latin: Used the mix and match grid game! Boys vs. Girls for fastest time!
Math: Associative Laws: printed out some puzzles for the kids to put together
Science: Major Circles of Latitude: Cut and glue worksheet (Kept them busy!)
English: Made up a sing-songy way to remember the definition of a linking verb, like I have for all the English definitions: A linking verb (pinkies locked together) makes an assertion (both hands firm down by sides) (pause) by joining (one fist to the side) two (other fist to the other side) words (two fists join together.) Trust me, these little things make a huge difference! They always remember the definitions!!

Grammar Review:
 Event Obstacle Course (I will be presenting this in Week 24. I was going to play this game, but we ran out of time since the Mineral Identification went so long, so I decided to play this awesome game as the last end-of-year review game.

They can also mix up the timeline cards and 2 teams (or more) can put them in order the fastest.

Every other week they get to pick out of the treasure box if they were obedient and they also have sticker books that I made with their names on it. They always get to pick a sticker during snack time and sometimes I hide something on the board and the first one to find it gets an extra sticker.

At the end, they are assigned clean-up chores and they all run around getting the room cleaned up!!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 19

Well, if you are wondering why we had a couple of weeks off, we had a normal day off for President's Day and then we had a snow day. Our town was pretty buried with snow and a lot of the town lost power! But maybe it was a good thing we had that snow day. It allowed me to be extra prepared for the week we just had since we were out of town for 5 days and came back late the night before CC!
We had lots of fun stuff planned for Week 19! And I had lots of helpful parents in my class this week! God bless them! It really helps the class go smooth when you have active, willing parents who jump right in there! I'm thankful for them!
So, here's what we did for week 19:

Week 19

Timeline: Learned new hand motions and sand with the Timeline song

History Sentence: Learned new hand motions to go along with sentence, sang with the song

Geography: Used passports with passport stamps, colored in areas of the 13 colonies

Science Project: (We made Borax crystals this week for our Science Project, so while they were gluing their passport stamps, we started a solution of hot water (1 cup) with Borax (3 Tablespoons, I believe) so they could look at it about an hour later at Science time. We also had one that had been forming crystals for about 1 day so they could compare the two.

Science: Found some great CC printables on this website and the kids cut out the different ocean zone sections, glued them onto construction paper, glued their labels on, and then if they had time they drew some oceanlife into the different zones. I also printed out the submarine and put it on some cardboard with a craft stick so they could pretend the submarine was going lower and lower.

Latin: Printed a worksheet of noun endings for 3rd declension and put them into page protectors. They traced the noun endings while listening to the song and then we sang the song while they pointed to each noun ending.

Math: We sang a song to the tune of "the wheels on the bus" for "the area of a circle equals pie R squared, pie R squared, pie R squared, the area of a circle equals pie R squared, for all circles."

English: Had them repeat the 3 new helping verbs over and over, then one at a time they each said the 3 of them. Wrote them on a whiteboard and erased one at a time, but they all knew them anyways. Reviewed some of the other weeks as well.

Presentations: Impromptu (put different topics onto little strips of paper and had them pull one out)

First week of Tin Whistle!! It went well! We flipped our Orchestra and Tin Whistle since our Orchestra tutor was moving away mid-semester.

Grammar Review: Brought 2 nerf guns and drew a kind of dart board on the dry-erase board. They had to shoot it and hit a subject and that's the question they got. The nerf guns didn't work very well, so it made that game kind of difficult.
-Divided the class into 2 teams and timed them to see which could put the Timeline cards from this week in order the fastest.
-We reviewed the Timeline song for weeks 1-6 since our class is doing it for the end-of-year presentations.
-We had some time left, so I had the class divided into 2 teams and had them on either side of the room. They had to run and whoever's hand I felt first (as I held my arms straight out), their team got a chance to answer a question. If they got it wrong, the other team could answer. The winning team got an extra sticker on their sticker chart. It worked out since one team won the Timeline race, and the other team won the questions race.

See ya'll back here for week 19!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 18

I can't believe I am even blogging about the last week of the third quarter already! This year has seriously flown by! We did some fun stuff this week, but I will say this was one of my "burn-out" weeks where I was running out of ideas for different subjects, and we repeated a grammar review game (the horror!). The kids had fun, though, and we even threw in a little Valentine's Day party during snack/break time. Our campus had the older kids deliver cookie grahams to different classrooms and parents bought them for students, tutors, or whoever they wanted! Sadly, since my oldest who is in my class is allergic to wheat, I got her her own valentine from her dad and I and a chocolate marshmallow heart that she could have! We all had fun, though!
Let me share what we did!

Week 18

Timeline: learned new hand motions and sang along with Timeline song #4

History Sentence: learned hand motions to go along with the song on the CC cd

Latin: My printer ran out of ink and I was going to print off a Latin chart for each of them. Since I only had one chart (I think from CC connected), I showed it to them and that they already knew the whole chart with all 5 declensions, and that we were just reviewing it. I pointed to each column as we sang the songs (just the first 2 declensions, since that is what we were doing for week 18). It was kind of boring but I wanted them to get the idea and visual for what they had just learned the first half of the year and point so that they saw that they went with each of the noun cases.

Geography: Did the same as usual, colored in/traced the new geography, reviewed some of the old geography, glued passport stamps into passports

Math: I couldn't find a worksheet on CC connected for the area of a triangle, so my husband had the idea to just give them a sheet of paper and have them draw a triangle, and then they wrote the abbreviated formula underneath it: A=1/2BxH.

Science:  I found some fun motions to go along with the four types of ocean floor: continental shelf (make a little shelf with one hand resting on another hand down by your knees), abyssal plains (palms down and hands flat at your waist), mountains (put finger tips together in the shape of an upside-down V by your chest), ridges (knuckles from both hands together up by your head)

English: more helping verbs (may, must, might), we said them faster and faster and tried to get them "out" by putting my finger over my mouth and they had to stop quickly, also they handed a ball and each said a helping verb and then passed it to the next person.

Grammar Review: We just did a repeat of a game and did BINGO since the kids really enjoyed that one, and we didn't have much time to play it last time.

 In some of our extra free time, we played musical chairs to the 2 songs for the Presidents, and had the boys against girls to put timeline cards in order from different weeks.

I'm hoping to get this last 6 weeks planned all at once so I'm not last minute trying to come up with ideas. Again this website had a lot of great games, worksheets, links, and grammar review games! Check it out if you are a tutor!!! See you back here for the last quarter!!

If you are a tutor, I would love to hear how your year has gone, games and ideas you have used, or suggestions for links or other things! Let's all share and help each other! God Bless!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 17

We are nearing the end of the third quarter already! Where did the time go? I can't believe it. We had a fantastic class yesterday. It was one of those days where I felt unprepared, largely didn't know what I was going to do as of Monday, and didn't know how it was gonna go. But it ended up going great! I learned from my previous mistake and planned 2 review games to make the time go by faster, and I can't wait to share a great blog that I found with TONS of fabulous ideas for tutoring! If you have found my blog then you have probably already found her blog from Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood, but if you haven't, you will thank me for the link! I was feeling quite uninspired this week, and her blog gave me quite the lift! Plenty of resources, links, ideas for review games, printables, and ways to get those kids to learn their stuff! Thanks to her we had CC Bingo printouts and a great idea for a paper airplane game that the kids LOVED!!!

Week 17

Timeline: Learned new hand motions and used the Timeline cd

History Sentence: Printed out pictures representing the Aztecs, pyramids, Hernan Cortez, and wrote out 1519 (just on Google images). Had different kids hold the pics up as we sang them while the other kids learned the hand motions for the song. Then they switched. I really like having a visual for the history sentence. The hand motions were from CC connected.

Geography: Printed off a map of Africa, and they colored the different countries that are part of South Africa. They also glued their passport stamps to their passports. There was also a really fun worksheet on CC connected that explains the places in South Africa, like "they visited Bob in Zimbabwe" and had a picture of Bob the Tomato. The kids liked that.

Latin: Just played the old favorite "musical chairs" but this week it was a "musical worm." Chairs in a wiggly worm, try to get a seat and finish the Latin song when the music stops. All kids are back in each round so no one has to sit out. I have mostly 6 year olds!

Science: Showed them a picture of a volcano in a science book, pointed out the different parts of a volcano, then used hand motions for the different parts, magma - palms facing down by waist and wiggle fingers, vents - elbows bent and arms straight together, crater - arms make a v with elbows touching, lava - hands together down by waist and come up and out like spewing lava, gases - fingers wiggling by head in the "air"

English: Gave the kids a handout from CC connected that has all the helping verbs sorted out by week. Since there were 5 this week, I separated them into was and were, and be, being, been. I would say 2 and they would echo with the other 3, and vice versa. I also wrote them on a small whiteboard and erased them and had them say them.

Math: Printed off a worksheet from CC connected that showed the area of a square. Had them write the equation once on their paper and repeated the equation a few times. Tried to explain what it meant, but it was over their heads.

Review games: Remember, from last week's experience when I ended up with a lot of extra time and kids who didn't want to play the same review game for 35 minutes, I realized that I needed to plan 2 review games at the end. Especially because the science experiments don't take 30 minutes and their presentation was a joke, and that didn't take 30 minutes either. So this week, I planned 2 fun review games, which I got from Heidi's blog via Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood.

CC Bingo. I printed off these CC Bingo charts (which can be used again and again) and had each child roll a big fat dice from our Hello Kitty Bingo. Each letter of BINGO plus the face of Hello Kitty represented a subject for CC. They had to answer the question and then everyone put a little coin on the square. There are multiple squares for each subject so that kept them all getting Bingo at the same time. It was really fun and they loved it!

Heidi's CC Blog - please visit!!

Paper Airplanes. They all made and decorated a paper airplane. Luckily my husband was there to help them make really cool ones that flew long distances. They got an extra sticker for decorating it with something related to CC. Then they all stood on one wall, and waited for their question. After they answered it, they all flew their airplanes, and of course were trying to see whose went the furthest. Then they would all go to the other wall, and just kept going. The boys especially loved this game.

Towards the end, I asked them if they wanted to keep doing airplanes or play Bingo again, and since the class was split, my husband led Bingo and I led them in airplanes. It definitely was a way better week for Review!! And all thanks to
Heidi's CC Blog!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 16

Tomorrow is week 17 already and I'm just now getting this blog post out about week 16! Sorry about that! I really like to have them out sooner in the week so parents can help their kids with the material and tutors have a chance to look at it before they teach it (if they are a week or more behind us in their CC schedule.) So again, sorry for that. Some weeks are just crazier than others, or I just don't get around to getting the blog post out soon enough!
This past week I ended up with a lot of extra time in our class, and honestly, my 6 year olds seem to get bored playing the same review game for 20/30 minutes at the end. So for this week, I think I'm gonna plan 2 review games, so we can switch it up at the end and not end up with a lot of extra time. I think our science experiments and presentations have been less that 30 minutes and that is what has been giving us extra time at the end. We even stop 10 minutes before 12 so we can do stickers, treasure box, and clean-up chores and we still ended up with a good amount of time at the end! But I had a tutor visiting my class, and she helped me fill the time with some review games!
So anyways, here's what we did for week 16:

Timeline: learned new hand motions and sang Timeline song, #4 on cd

History Sentence: learned the hand motions (including over the head YMCA-type motions for the Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs) and sang with the cd. 

Geography: used the big laminated maps. Used plastic fish/dinosaurs to find geography, traced/colored new areas and repeated the names. Glued passport stamps in passports.

Latin: played Ring Around the Rosie and sang Latin with the cd, when I stopped the music, they would fall down and finish where the song left off, usually answering which declension and whether it was singular or plural.

Math: area of a rectangle, printed off a ws from CC connected, they filled in another worksheet with A=LxW and filled in the blanks.

Science: Said the different types of volcanoes in a sing/song way to remember them.

English: helping verbs: am, are, is. Said them several times and then had them say them one at a time. If they missed, they were out, and went on until we had a winner.

Grammar Review: Had 2 teams. Had 1 chair across the room from each team. One person from each team had to run across the room, pick a subject card off the chair, have their parent/helper read their question and ring the bell first. Then they had to answer their question for a point. We ended up eliminating the "points" because it got kind of confusing with the bell. But it was fun!

I feel like each week, I learn something new about how to improve the class, interact better with the kids, or make it more fun. This weeks learning tip (for my class, anyways) is to have 2 review games planned, to keep them moving and doing something different. Have a great week!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 15

I am so sad I had to miss this week! I had pretty much everything ready and prepped and I was planning on going to CC. My oldest, Maddy, who is 6, hadn't been feeling good all day, but when you are a tutor, it's kind of hard to miss since you have so much material that is prepped, and you've learned it all week. My younger two were battling colds, but I was really thinking we could make it. Well, Monday night, Maddy started her usual diarrhea and vomiting which has become somewhat routine for the past 2 or 3 months. I knew then that I couldn't even go and teach and have her lay down in the back. We think she has a gluten allergy even though her blood test came up negative for it. We have gone back and forth on the issue, sometimes thinking she is okay with it, and then changing our minds when she is so sick, but it doesn't seem to be the flu.
So anyways, I called one of my faithful parents who is there every week, usually with her husband, since she was the most familiar with how I teach. She willingly accepted, and I'm just glad I had everything laid out for her so hopefully it wasn't too difficult! So, here's what she did this week!

Week 15

Timeline: learned new hand motions and practiced with the Timeline song

History Sentence: did hand motions and sang the song with the motions (on the subject cd)

Latin: played duck, duck goose. The "ducker," as they patted each child on the head, would say each Latin sound for each child, and when the got to the end, the child they patted last had to say "singular, first declension" and then would get to run and become the new ducker. I wish I could have been there for this one! I will have to use it again!

Geography: used plastic fish/dinosaur to find new geography, traced/colored with dry erase marker, reviewed old geography, glued stamp in passport for the week (I just print off passport stamps from google images and try to get them to coincide with the location for the week we are learning)

Math: (metric measurements), printed off worksheets from CC connected, reviewed by having them put a finger on each thing as we said it.

Science: went over the worksheet for mountains on each continent, put the kids in pairs with a ball and for the first pair, the first child would say "everest" and throw the ball to the second child who would say "in Asia" several times so the two go together in your head, and so forth.

English: has, have had: (we did this last week and the kids loved it), we just said them over and over as a class faster and faster until I put my one finger over my mouth and the kids would too and would have to stop saying them, I was trying to "catch" any of them still saying them.

Grammar Review: They sat in a circle and threw the ball to each other to music, when the music stopped the person with the ball had to choose a CC question out of the bag and answer the question.

At the end we do stickers on their reward charts (and whoever I just couldn't get to pay attention or obey doesn't get a sticker. I have had to take stickers away on occasion, but it's good incentive because if they miss a sticker, they don't get to pick out of the treasure box, which we do every other week.) Then we do cleanup chores and sitting with backpacks in their chairs. If we have extra time, sometimes we will read a book at the end or play a game. Or review presidents.

Classical Conversations - Week 14

Well, we are just cruising through the second semester! We had such a good week for week 14! I had a dad who came and really helped to keep some of my more rambunctious kids focused! That always helps a tutor out! There is so much material to get through each week and the parents can be such a big help with keeping the kids paying attention so the tutor can focus on presenting the material and helping the kids play games to memorize their week's material! Yay for parent involvement! I will have to say, at first I was nervous about having to teach in front of parents, but now I see the value of having parents in the room and helping with things (especially with my baby who has had to be in there a lot!). I am so grateful for the parents I have had this year!
My class seemed a little more subdued this week and less hyper so they participated better in class! We had some fun games and it seemed like the kids were really learning their stuff! And everyone got a sticker on their reward chart and got to pick out of the treasure box this week!
So, let me share what we did this week!

Week 14

Timeline: learned new motions and sang the Timeline song

History Sentence: learned hand motions and sang with the song

Geography: plastic fish/dinosaurs to find new geography on big maps, tracing with dry erase marker, gluing stamps to their passports

Latin: played Marco Polo again since the kids enjoyed it so much last week; one kid is blindfolded and says "nominative" while 2 other kids "hide" in the room and echo "subject" while the first kid tries to find them (and of course I help the blindfolded one so they don't run into things!)

English: first three helping verbs (do, does, did). Said it faster and faster and then I would put my finger over my mouth (which is what we do to get quiet) and the kids all would do it really fast. We would say do, does, did faster and faster again and then I would try to "catch" kids by putting my finger over my mouth and seeing if anyone kept saying them. They loved this!

Science: 3 kinds of rocks, used a book, explained what they were and had them repeat after me several times

Math: Linear Equivalents, handed out a worksheet from CC connected, brought in a ruler for a reference point, said the equivalents and had them repeat, also used my foot as a reference point (just to help them remember it)

When we had some extra time, I had the kids in two teams and when I said "go" each team had to put timeline cards in order (one team had last week's cards, one team had this week's cards) and the first team to do that had to run and hit the bell.

Grammar Review: The kids were in two teams sitting on opposite sides of the room with a bell on a chair in the middle. Each team would have one kid's turn at a time, and I would ask the question and they had to run and ring the bell first to answer the question. If they rang the bell and didn't answer correctly, the other team had a chance to answer for 2 points instead of one. I was trying to prevent this young age from just running the fastest to ring the bell but not really knowing the answer. It was fun and got their energy out, and they also didn't seem bored like with other review games. 

So, that was our week 14! And as always, leave comments if you have questions, suggestions, or anything else on your mind!!

Classical Conversations Week 13

Well, it has certainly been busy around here and I didn't even get around to doing a blog post about week 12! I can't even remember that far back so I think we will just skip that one and get right to week 13, shall we?
It was so nice to have those 2 months off from CC, as we needed to breath a little, celebrate the holidays, and just rest with family. After all the celebrating was done, of course!! But now, we are back to the grind again, and we are on the way towards the finish line! We are now more than halfway done!
This past week was kind of a crazy week. The kids were all pumped up about being back. I know Maddy was so excited and couldn't wait to go back. This created some craziness in the classroom, but hopefully they had fun while learning the concepts from week 13! And each week, there are highs and lows, things that worked and things that didn't, and with this being my first year, it is all a learning process for me. This week I learned that games that are individual (meaning that each child has their own turn, and they go in order) do not really work. The kids get bored waiting for their turn, and when my attention is on the person whose turn it is, it is hard to keep the others paying attention and waiting for their turn. I get that. And I definitely learned that after this week's review game. So when you get to that part, remember my mistake! If I had some older kids it might have gone better, but for the young ones, it is hard to keep them still and quiet waiting for their turn!
So this is what we did this week:

Timeline: went over new motions, sang the Timeline song on the cd
History Sentence: did hand motions to go along with the song on the cd
Latin: played "Marco Polo" with the noun cases, one person was blindfolded and would say, "Nominative" while two others hid somewhere (easily accessible) and would say "Subject" and I would lead the blindfolded one until they found them, and so on.
Geography: used plastic car or dinosaur to find Western Africa, traced new geography, glued a stamp in their passports
English: Hands on knees and kind of bounced while saying "A Helping verb helps another verb assert action (made an action pose), being (both hands out, face up), or existence (stand pencil straight.)
Math: Liquid Equivalents: Printed out a sheet for each child with the info on it, and brought in examples of a cup, a pint, a quart, and a gallon.
Science: Used a printed sheet showing the 6 parts of the earth to be memorized, said and repeated them. Tried to get them to memorize core, mantle, and crust together, and then hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere and explained what those meant.

Science Experiment: Just used what was provided for the experiment.
Fine Arts: Giotto, printed off some of his artwork from CC connected.

Presentations: Impromptu. I made up different subjects so I could hear about everyone's Christmas break, but the kids all pretty much wanted to talk about their favorite present that they got, so I let them! 

Grammar Review:
Brought in huge hopscotch squares and let each child roll the dice. Each number represented a subject (except Timeline, since we kind of review that when we sing the song), and after they answered the question they just did the hopscotch. It wasn't my best grammar review game by any means!!

Hope this helps you for Week 13!!

Classical Conversations - Weeks 10 and 11

Well, I am playing a bit of catchup! Again, I got busy this week (and sick) and didn't get a blog post out for week 10 so I will do a double post this week for weeks 10 and 11! Forgive me! I cannot believe we are nearing the end of the semester of CC! We are almost halfway through Cycle 1! It seems like just a few weeks ago that it was summer and I was anticipating the start of the year! Where did the time go?
Well, we have had some fun, creative grammar review games in the last couple of weeks, and I really like mixing it up so the kids are always doing something new. I'm excited to share those with you! I am now preparing for week 12, and then we have our long holiday break. I am planning our holiday party during snack time and I'm excited to send my kids home with some little take home goodies and a craft that they can do at home over the break! I just wanted to throw something fun in there and I'm sad that I won't see them close to Christmas, so I wanted to send them home with a little gift from their CC tutor! So here is what we did for weeks 10 and 11:

Timeline: learned new cards and hand motions
History Sentence: Heian Empire and Byzantine Empire: used hand motions to go along with the songs.
Geography: Used their big maps to find the new geography and color, underline, or trace it with a dry erase marker, they always get to glue their passport stamp onto their own passport for that empire.
Latin: For review of 4th Declension, they played musical "worm" which is essentially musical chairs just set up in a worm formation. I never take a chair out so they can all play each time. But there is one chair missing initially. For the intro to the 5th declension, I always use the clip art sheets off CC connected that has pictures representing each sound. Then they can take these home for practice.
English: learn new hand motions, practice the whole preposition song to the tune of Yankee Doodle, which is what our campus is doing.
Math: I always find worksheets off CC connected and we turn the song on and they point with their finger and follow along on their sheet. (squares and cubes)
Science: Leaves and leaf parts: I was using a binder from another tutor, and she had pictures of each leaf printed out, so we used those and I made up simple hand motions from looking at each picture to remember them. Parts of a flower: showed them the acronym (which is how I remember it, but they might be too little) and then we used a picture off CC connected with labeled parts and I had them circle each part we were learning, and then below that they could draw a picture of a flower and try to draw the specific parts we just learned, which were in the picture above.

Grammar Review: Human Tic-Tac-To, used tape to make the board on our floor, they were divided into 2 teams, each person from each team had a chance to answer a question, and they would stand on the board holding papers with X's or O's.
Candyland: I have heard so many tutors say they use this game! I used the review cards that are printed by CC, and divided up the kids by 2's and there were 2 kids to 1 game piece. Whatever color they landed on there was a corresponding color of review matching cards and we would either review it or they would have to tell me about it. It worked quite well! 

And as always, they have sticker books that they get to put stickers in periodically in class if they are good, and they have sticker charts, and if they are good throughout that class, they get a sticker on their chart, and every other week we have a treasure box for whoever gets both stickers. I have had to take some people's stickers away, but not without ample warnings, and they usually were much better the next week!

Any questions, comments, suggestions, please comment below! I have learned much from you!

Life Around Here

 Well, life has been pretty crazy around here. We have been extremely busy! I must say, this is the busiest I have been as a mommy! We are doing Classical Conversation once a week (a classical, Christian homeschool education) and I am a tutor (which is the teacher of the class, they like to reserve the title "teacher" for the parent who directs their child's education), Maddy is taking ballet/tap/jazz class once a week, we have church, worship team, and many other things that fill up our schedule! And of course, we are enjoying being close to family who we can share all our adventures with!

Tad, Judah and Ruth hanging out at the park!

 Our weather is like the Ohio summers I am used to, so there are still lots of days we spend our afternoons outside or take evening walks on the path behind our house. We usually do that when Tad is working a double and we need to get out of the house!

 This is Ruth with her Aunt Lydia! She works at a salon and a bakery and goes to school, but in her "free time" she comes over and visits us, and we love it! I think they love Aunt Lydia more than they love me! And sometimes she brings the kids yummy stuff from the bakery! I seriously don't know what we will do without her next year when she goes off to college!

 It is fun being near family, and sometimes we get to go a little bit outside of our town and see extended family. On this particular day, we were invited to Tad's uncle's house to help build onto their house, and for a birthday party! It was so much fun to see family and the kids had a blast!

 Pops (Tad's dad) got a Spyder motorcycle and the kids were playing around on it. He even let Tad and I take it for a spin around the neighborhood; it was pretty fun! I can't wait until Tad can get his motorcycle fixed! We still have plenty of warm days left!

Ruthie is eating solid food 3 times a day now. Hmmmm. She must not like this one. But she is adorable! And she does like a lot of the baby food we feed her! She is probably my least picky baby eater out of the three!

Cute as a button! She looks like a little "who!" Her hair always seems to be in a mo-hawk. I can't figure out if her hair naturally does that, or if someone (AKA Tad) always puts her hair like that. Anyways...
Just a little bit of what we are doing around here! We have Classical Conversations for 2 more weeks and then we are off until around mid-January! So that will be a nice break and hopefully I can get some more things done and not feel as crazy busy as I am right now! I'm looking forward to the holidays, and we are excited to get our Thankful Tree going like we did last year! Hope this finds you all well!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 9

Well, there are good weeks and better weeks with CC and this past week was pretty good! It was picture day so we skipped the nature walk for the science project. I didn't know when we were gonna have to go outside for pictures, so that was a little bit of a distraction since we were all anticipating when we were gonna get called. It ended up being at the very end, so it interrupted our review game a little, but that was okay, we were ready for a break!
We have a few more weeks of CC before our long Thanksgiving break, which will be nice. I'm hoping to do a little party our last week since we won't be meeting over the holiday times!  I'm not sure what that's going to look like, since we still have all of our material to cover, but hopefully we can do something fun!

This is what week 9 looked like in our classroom:

Timeline: New cards and motions
History Sentence:  We used the song and a printed our picture from CC connected to point to for cues.
Geography: The usual, found the new and old geography on the maps, used the plastic fish/dinosaur/cars to go to different locations, used dry erase markers to color in/underline new geography
Latin: Used the clip art pictures off CC connected to learn new 4th declension, handed them out to kids, listened to the song
English: New prepositions and motions
Math: Used a sheet off of CC connected saying 15 times 1 = and so forth.
Science: Different parts of a plant: Leaves (stand straight up and pretend hands are the leaves), Stem (stand pencil straight), and Roots (Squat on the ground with hands out like roots).

Grammar Review:  I got small plant containers (about 9 of them) and labeled each one with the different subjects and had 3 blank ones. The kids would stand about 2 or 3 feet away and toss some plastic golf balls until they landed into one or knocked one over. Then they either got a question for that subject or if they got a blank one they got to pick which subject they got a question from.

We had a fun week! I have had fun coming up with different review games because by the end they always have energy to burn and it's fun to see how much they know! I am always amazed at how well they are doing!

Hope this helps, and as always, if you are a parent or tutor feel free to add suggestions, things that worked in your classroom, ideas you use at home, or anything helpful! Thanks!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 8

Well, after the "off" week I felt like I had on week 8, we had a really good week for week 9! I was so pleased with how things went, and I was so glad that I had a review game that was different and kept the kids moving! We had visitors this past week, one of my students was back after her family adopted 2 kids from Ethiopia, and we had a lot of material to cover! So it was a crazy week! But the kids had so much fun and I was glad to do some different things with them that kept their attention and got some of their energy out!

Week 9

Timeline: introduce new cards and learn hand motions
History Sentence: for the Age of Imperialism, I printed off pages that said Imperialism, 1858, 1877, 1948, a picture of Mohandas Gandhi, and a picture of fireworks (for independence). I had the kids stand in a circle and hold each of these and hold them up when we said them in the song, and the 2 that didn't have cards would pretend to sip tea when we said British, and pretend to place a crown on their head when we said Queen. They loved it! And they loved being Mohandas Gandhi!
Geography: Used maps to find new geography and review old geography, kids glued their "stamps" for China onto their passports, they always get a plastic car, fish, dinosaur, or airplane to find their geography
English: We always use the preposition motions and do our preps to the tune of Yankee Doodle per our campus.
Latin: Since it was a review week, they played musical chairs but they had to sing the Latin tunes or they were out automatically. I let the "out" kid back in every time, so we didn't remove any extra chairs. They had a blast!
Science: We said monocot, dicot, conifer, oh my! Like the Wizard of Oz, and held up 1 finger, 2 fingers, and made a triangle for conifer.
Math: I printed off a math sheet from CC connected that had all the numbers printed with bugs and so they put their finger on the numbers as we sang the song.

Grammar Review: We did review stations (as suggested by one tutor in my comments section! Thanks!) where 2 parents and myself ran them. We had 3 kids to each station, and each parent would quiz them on 2 subjects and then they would get a sticker on their shirt, and switch stations. When they had reviewed in all 3 stations, they got a medal necklace ($1 for a package of 8 at the dollar store!! )

Treasure Box: Every week, they get to put a sticker on their sticker chart if they were good, and every other week if they have both stickers, they get to pick one thing out of the treasure box. I remind them of this every week as motivation to be good! I have had to take away a sticker from a couple of kids, and as sad as it was, I think it was a good reminder to be good and shape up! They seemed better after that!

Hope these ideas help, and as always, please share your ideas in the comments section for me and other tutors who visit this site!! They are very helpful! Especially when you are planning and you get "tutor's block!"

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 7

 Well, if you are wondering why it's been so long since I have done a CC post, it is because we had a week off! So we are about to head into week 8 already! Time flies! I have enjoyed hearing from different tutors who have read this blog, and have really enjoyed the input and suggestions other creative tutors have offered! Let's help each other!
I was really at a loss for a grammar review game this week. We ended up reviewing a lot of songs, and the different ways we learned the different subjects. It wasn't really a game, and I was less than impressed with myself for not being more creative! I thought all week about how to do a review game, and I was just coming up with nothing! But I recently went and planned through week 12 and came up with several new and exciting review games, so I'm excited!
In our training sessions, I remember the leader of our session saying that some weeks it was all she could do to get to CC with her kids, and it was difficult. I think I had one of those weeks this past week. There has been a lot going on in our church, with sickness and hardships, and I just felt very heavy during the week. I think that's why I couldn't come up with a review game! But you know, that's life. I don't think we can all be spot on every week. But God gives us grace to get there, get our kids there, and to keep going with what we have! What would we do without His strength?
So, here's what we did for week 7!

Timeline: Learn new cards with hand motions
History Sentence: Printed the words Hinduism and Buddhism on different pieces of cardstock with their symbols behind them and held them up whenever we said those words with the song.
Geography: Used big maps to find old/new geography, used individual passports I made them and they pick a "stamp" each week and glue it on and I write the name of the new Empire for the week inside.
English: Learned new hand motions for the new prepositions, sang the whole song of the prepositions to the tune of Yankee Doodle (up until what we know), which is what our campus is doing
Latin: Used the clip art page off of CC Connected to introduce the 3rd declension with the song
Science: For "how do animals reproduce?" we did hand motions: live birth (cupped hands at stomach opening up), eggs (hands cupped together like an egg) and fragmentation (I had the kids all hold hands and I lightly karate chopped their hands as I said frag-men-ta-tion, they loved it!)
Math: skip counting the 13's, sang the song and followed along on the board where it was written

Science Project: We are using the nature books that we printed off of CC Connected, we looked at the parts of a flower and they all had individual flowers to look at, then they drew and colored a flower (I didn't have them write and individually label all the parts)

Orchestra! We are doing orchestra this quarter because our orchestra leader is leaving in December! So we flip flopped our tin whistle and orchestra, which will push our tin whistle to the final quarter!

Presentations: The kids sit on individual carpet squares and the presenter stands in the center of a bulletin board that has a calendar in the center of it, so they know where to stand. I remind them of proper ways to do a presentation, what to avoid doing, and remind the class of good audience manners!

And that's it for week 7! Come join us next week for week 8!

Classical Conversations Weeks 5 and 6

I am so sorry I didn't get a CC blog post out last week! It has been a crazy week! So I will include ideas for both weeks in this blog post! I can't believe that we just finished week 6 yesterday! It seems like just yesterday that I was preparing for the first week and wondering how it would all go! And now we are already done with Fine Arts/Drawing! Our location is actually swapping Orchestra and Tin Whistle since our Orchestra teacher will be leaving in December since they are moving. So for those of you who will be doing Tin Whistle next, I won't have any ideas for you until January!
Also, I need some fresh, new ideas for classroom management. I have tried some different things that have worked, and some that haven't. I am realizing more and more that 3 hours of intense classroom time with one break and a lot of memorization for littles can be a challenge! But granted, I am so impressed with these little kid's characters, manners, respect, their obvious work on the material at home, and how quick they usually are to get back on track if I have to call them out on behavior issues!
From the first week, I printed off just a printer paper with their name on it, and made a little book out of it. Each week they get several stickers to put on it when they are all being good. The first several weeks, I would do it during class time, but they were taking too long to pick out stickers and missing the new grammar, so I moved it to snack time or times that certain ones were finishing up (drawing or something else) so that no one was missing anything important.
They also each have a sticker chart and each week if they are good throughout class, they get a sticker and every other week they get to pick out of the treasure box if they have gotten stickers for those 2 weeks. So that is good motivation for them too.
I need some new ideas for some "ice breakers" or times to get their wiggles out and take a couple minute break. It is a long time to sit and work on memory work! If I get some new ideas, I will share them here! Or other tutors/parents can share them here! It would be much appreciated!
So, here are some ideas for week 5 and 6...

Timeline: Say and use hand motions
History Sentence: Split of the Roman Empire: I found this great worksheet on CC connected where the long sentence is in pictures and really helped the kids to learn it. Fall of Rome: I found pictures on Google Image of taxes, slavery, unemployment, and diseases and the song certainly helped! I always use the songs for history!
Geography: I printed out individual passports for each child, and each week they get to glue a stamp on their passport and I just write the name of the new empire we are learning. Then we use our plastic fish/dinosaur/racing car to find our old/new geography and they color them in with dry erase markers on their laminated maps.
Math: Last week we used a worksheet off of CC connected where they just wrote in the numbers under the number that was already printed for them, then they could bring it home and practice. This week, I printed off number charts for them and put them in page protectors and they used dry erase markers to circle the 11's and 12's and it was fun because they could see a pattern as they circled them, and then we all said them together. I just play the math song during this time on repeat.
Science: For invertebrates, we did hand motions for each one and pictures for each one and they really helped them remember it! For vertebrates, we just looked at pictures of each one and said them. I also showed them the acronym FARMB to help remember them.
Latin: Used the clip art charts from CC connected (I think? I am using a book my director put together and I think she got them from there) that shows pictures that go along with each ending. We use the song, sometimes I sing the song and stop and ask which one comes next.
English: We use hand motions for all the prepositions. But we sing ours to the tune of Yankee Doodle, which is what our campus uses. One of our tutors sent it out so we all have the song. It's slower than the CC song!

Grammar Review:
For review, I have been trying not to single out any kids to ask them questions, because it just seems like some kids really know their memory work, and it is more of a struggle for others. So I don't want some kids to get left behind if they don't know past work perfectly! Also, I know that some of my kids might not be able to read, so it is a struggle to find games for new grammar and review without doing any reading!
Last week, we did a human board game. I put the kids into 2 teams with a parent as facilitator on each team. I made squares from 1-10 for each team, and we went back and forth and I had them answer questions, and then they got to "move" on their squares. They could work as a team, with moms helping to cue them and help them come up with the answers.
This week, I put them in teams again, and had them sit in chairs facing each other, in teams. I went back and forth, for example, the first team said the first commandment, the second team said the second commandment, etc. Or I would do the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, and they would go back and forth. It went really well!

I always save time at the end for a book or a devotion, cleanup chores (which they are all assigned to on the board, and they love!), and the treasure chest if we have it that week. Yesterday, we ended up being done really early and one of our helpers led the kids in some quiet games. I really need to have some games in my back pocket for when we have extra time like that! Or more ways we can review!

And as always, feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, or things you have found helpful in your teaching, parenting, or coaching your child along in their memory work!

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 4

I can't believe we just finished week four of Classical Conversations!! Each week is a unique with different challenges, ups and downs, and creative ways to present the material. I hope my parents are being patient with me as a first year tutor! I'm still working through the kinks of classroom management, taking care of Ruth and Judah (sometimes Judah has been in our class if he's sick or really sad without Mommy, and some moms have really stepped up in helping with Ruth!), coming up with creative ways to present the material, and coming up with ways to get the kids to start to memorize that week's memory work. It is all a challenge! I was spoiled this past week because my husband, Tad, was off and will be next Tuesday as well, so he gets to come help take care of Ruthie and watch our classroom! Extra bonus!
I am noticing that the time is long without much of a break for that age of kids. I might need to break up the subjects or come up with some ways to help them get a little energy out. They definitely are starting to get more of the wiggles in class, which is understandable! Tad just kept saying that that was a long time for that age to be in class without more breaks. But that is the way CC is set up, and there is a lot of material to get through in a "short" amount of time! But they are doing great! I am really impressed with the kids, and I can tell they are working on their memory work at home! It's not easy material! It takes all week for me to memorize all of it to present it to the class!
If any of the moms from my class, tutors, other tutors out there or anyone else ever has suggestions for how to creatively present material, please comment below! I have gotten kind of repetitive with a lot of the material since we build with hand motions and songs, and I want to try to do some different stuff next week, especially with the review time!
I have yet to get on CC connected, and once I get on there, I think I will have a lot more resources that will help me in my planning!
So, without further adieu, here is this week's schedule:

Timeline: Say and learn the hand motions
History Sentence: Say and learn hand motions with the song
Geography: Use fish/dinosaur to travel around to our previously learned locations, learn new location and color/trace on map with a dry erase marker (used acronym HATAC to remember the areas of the Hittite Empire)
Science: Used a diagram of the parts of a plant cell, tried to get the kids to remember that there are 6 parts of a animal cell, and 8 parts of a plant cell and to distinctly remember the 2 that are added to the plant cell
English: Used these hand motions, but at our location we are using a song that one of our tutor moms sings to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Since it goes pretty fast, I just sing it slower with them as we do our hand motions, instead of playing it in class. The parents have access to the song if they want to use it.
Latin: Review of singular and plural declension noun endings, used the clip art pages and sang the song, also sang and stopped at some points to see if they could tell me the next sound.
Math: Skip counting the 7's and 8's, sang the song and passed a ball to each other like a "hot potato" while slowly singing the numbers.





Presentations: Tell me something about the Ten Commandments

Next week: Tell me about your favorite toy

Drawing/Fine Arts: Abstract Art

Science Experiment: Pollution


Grammar Review: Had them pick pieces out of a bag with names of subjects we would review


Timeline: Used the timeline song and did hand motions
History Sentence: Used previous songs/hand motions
Geography: Named previous empires if drawn out of bag, we always review our past geography during Geography
Science: Just stated the questions we have learned and how we learned them
English: Reviewed the whole Preposition song (to the tune of Yankee Doodle) with the motions we know
Latin: Review
Math: Reviewed the previous songs if they drew that card out of the bag

Bogged Down

image credit

 Well, it happens to me every once in awhile. I feel overwhelmed. I have so many new things on my plate, and with CC just starting, and in full swing with 1st grade, I feel exhausted at all my responsibilities. I keep saying I remember the days when I was a new stay-at-home-mom and I actually felt bored and lonely. I didn't know what to do with myself! Ha! I kinda miss those days.
I'm not the best at keeping up with everything. Honestly, I'm the worst with finances. And paper clutter. I feel like I have paper coming out my ears. Mail. Flyers. Calendars. Scratch paper. School papers. Coloring pages. Instruction manuals. Papers for baby, kids, CC, events, receipts, articles from magazines, recipes, artwork from the kids, and on and on. I don't know what to do with it all! I keep coming up with these "systems" to keep everything in it's place. But it seems like as soon as I go through a stack or box of papers and organize them, there is another stack! It's constantly growing! In my head, my systems work, but in the busyness of life, it just gets out of hand and the system gets lost in the shuffle.
CC takes a lot of prep work. I feel a little behind on Maddy's 1st grade stuff, but she is getting a lot of school in besides CC! And she is doing great! Everything kind of fell on me at once! Responsibilities at church, the beginning of the school year, and with all these responsibilities I have had less sleep (partly my fault for going to bed too late, and partly because Ruth started waking up and staying up more in the night) and Tad has been working doubles constantly so I feel like I have been going at it alone. He doesn't have the time or energy to really help me with my load of responsibilities.
So I guess at this point I really need to ask myself what my top priorities are. I can't do it all. And at the end of the day, I don't have that much energy to start 5 tasks before I go to bed. That's my relaxing, chill time. And my only time with Tad minus the kids.
I have been working at a bunch of schedules for chores, school, planning CC, morning tasks, afternoon tasks, evening tasks, and a reading schedule so that life can flow a little more smoothly and I can get things done throughout the week.
And also, life isn't perfect. I'm never gonna have a perfectly cleaned house, all the laundry done and folded, all my tasks done, etc. and the most important thing in my life right now needs to be my relationships. I can't be so busy that my marriage or relationship/time with my kids suffers. There will always be tasks to be done. But this precious time with my kids who are growing up so fast is fleeting. I want to enjoy this time, and not just try to "get through it."

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1