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!!

Happy New Year!

Well, it's another new year; Happy 2014!! It's that time of year...packing up the Christmas decorations, cleaning up the house (after the Christmas explosion and kids being off school), and planning to get back to school and other "normal" routines. I actually like the progression of things; I am always ready for a break from CC and school, and excited for Christmas, but afterwards I am ready to declutter the house of the decorations and get back to the regular schedule. I will miss the extra time I have to get things done, but I have been getting a lot of deep cleaning done that I usually don't have time to do, so hopefully that will make up for the rest of the school year where I don't really have time to do that kind of thing!!

Christmas Eve service

A Lushes with Brushes birthday party: so fun!!

The kids have had fun being on break, but they also get bored and end up fighting, so I will be glad to get back to a more normal routine with schoolwork and normal chores, to keep them busy with constructive things. A little too much TV, computer games, and phone games around here! It's also a good time to think through things that could change; routines, schedules, working out, school ideas, extra-curricular activities. The break just gives me a little bit more time to think straight without so much to do all the time. Though I did feel pretty overwhelmed with Christmas duties, so I am trying to relax a little more this week, but that's hard to do! A mother's work is never done!
I am reading a book called Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge and I am really enjoying it. I thought I would have more time to read it while on break, but I feel like I have actually had less time to read!! But it is a great book so I need to carve out some more time to get into it.
So what are you all excited to get back to after break, or are you excited at all? I have a new workout partner and we have been meeting at the Y before 6 am to workout, so that is good motivation for me. It feels good to get my workout done so early, before anything can ruin it and prevent it from happening. I did a workout at home this morning while the kids were awake, and it is ridiculous trying to referee and keep them occupied and get almost an hour long workout done. Ridiculous!! It just reminded me how going to the Y earlier is so much more practical. So that is what I will do tomorrow!!

Date night!!

Well, I guess this was just a rambling post with no real point or purpose. Just what is going on with me, with us. And I want to know what is going on with you!! So if you have read this post, let me know how you are planning on improving in January. Improving your marriage, schooling, taking care of your home, losing that "holiday" weight, or making your time with God a priority. Let's spur one another on towards love and good deeds!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Day!!

Some Simple Homemaking Tips (for Homeschooling Moms)

I have found that the stay-at-home mom with young children who also homeschools is a pretty rare find. Especially in my situation where I also teach Classical Conversations once a week. Our lives are pretty busy. I thought I had a lot to keep up with when I was a stay-at-home mom, but when we added homeschooling, I felt overwhelmed because I replaced my morning chore time with schooling. And then when I added weekly teaching to the mix, it became even crazier because then my evenings were often busy with prepping for that. And now that Judah is doing preschool...well, you get the idea. It is busy. And keeping up with housework isn't as easy as it used to be. People might think that since I am home all the time, I must have so much time to keep up with things around the house. But when your day is full with homeschooling 2 kids and the kids are home all day to keep making messes, it is hard to keep up.
Believe me, it is a huge blessing that I get to stay home with my kids. That I get to be the one to teach them to read, about historical events, do bible time with them and get into important, deep conversations about God that matter and often end up with me sharing what God is doing in my own life. And I love staying home. And I love all things domestic. Well, maybe not all things, but a lot of things!! And over the years, I have learned a few tips, though I would in no way consider myself an expert in the domestic department. Other blogs and moms and people with far more experience than myself have better systems and ideas, but I'm just sharing some things I have learned in my own journey, and things that I have found that work for me. Some things I have shared before, and some things you may have heard before, so just take what you can from my experiences!!
1. Make a weekly chore chart. If I can focus on 1 main chore for the day, with schooling and everything else I need to do, that is enough for me. Of course I have other responsibilities during the day, but I usually have just one main thing I need to get done for the day.
Mondays - Laundry/Prep CC for Tuesday
Tuesday - off/Teach CC
Wednesday- Laundry, Office Day (Finances, Account)
Thursday - Bathrooms, mirrors, mopping (if this gets done, it's a miracle!)
Friday - Laundry
Saturday- Clean out Car, Outside chores, Kitchen Day/Cooking Day, Lessons Plans for kids for following week
Sunday - Relax with Hubby/Family, Prep CC
2. Get up earlier than your kids. I have written about this a lot. And I am not always good at this. But I have found that when I get up early, I can get a lot accomplished before my kids wake up, and I know what is on the agenda for the day. If I can spend quiet time seeking the Lord, make my to-do list, look at/balance my checking account, check if I need to pay any bills, check the calendar and know what I am making for dinner that night, then I feel like I have started my day off right. I don't feel so overwhelmed when the kids wake up because I already know what my day looks like. I have found that when I get up when my kids get up, I am grumpy because they are demanding different breakfasts and I am flustered because I want to read and relax with my coffee and my quiet time, and I do not get much of that once they are awake.

3. Exercise in the morning: for homeschooling/exercising moms: I have found this new discovery lately. I would always do school in the morning and exercise during the kids nap time. But lately, Ruth started waking up about an hour into her naptime, and I was afraid that my workout was waking her up. So I started having Maddy "watch" the little ones and play while I worked out in the morning and then I would start school with Maddy after that, and finish up during nap time if necessary. Then, my nap time was free to do other things quietly, which wouldn't wake up Ruth (though she has just been taking short naps anyways) and it has become a true rest time for me. And my workout got done in the morning when I had more energy!! This has been a huge, amazing change for me!
4. Work quickly!! I read this on another blog once, and though it seems trivial, it makes a lot of difference if you apply it!! When you get a little block of time, or a lot, just do those mundane tasks quickly! Fold laundry quickly! Scrub dishes quickly! Wash mirrors quickly!! And save yourself some time!
5. Enjoy your daily mundane tasks. Let them be your "break." When you are alone scrubbing dishes at night, take a deep breath, and enjoy the time. Listen to music. Pray. Think of others you could bless. It doesn't have to be a "waste of time" and something that we must do over and over and keeps needing done. It can feel like that. But if we offer up even the smallest of tasks to the Lord, or enjoy them, then we can have joy in them and even worship at the same time!
6. Pick up every night. Now, the house doesn't have to be spotless every night, but I have found that I like to wake up to a clean house. If you wake up to piles of junk all over the floor and can barely walk around, it doesn't exactly start your day off right. So take those extra few minutes every night and pick up the toys, the dirty laundry, the clean laundry, and trash, and just get the main areas clear. It doesn't have to have that "people are coming over" look, but just a general picking up can make a huge difference.

7. Have different "clean up" times with the kids. For me, I like to have a clean up time before naps (cleaning up from the morning play), before Daddy gets home from work (so he isn't trudging through piles and is blessed when he gets home), and before bed. This is good for Mommy's sanity, is a good time to teach little ones about cleaning up after themselves (Mommy shouldn't have to clean up after their messes all the time, especially if they are old enough to clean up after themselves), and is good to do throughout the day so that it doesn't all pile up for a huge mess at the end of the day. Make it fun! Sing songs, make it a race with a reward at the end, or make a chore chart for the kids with a prize at the end of the week. Make it fun for them so they don't grow up resenting clean up time because it always involved Mom yelling and them getting punished. I have found they do much better and have much better attitudes when we make it fun in a fun atmosphere!!
8. Give your kids age-appropriate jobs to help around the house. This is a big perk with homeschooling. They learn what it looks like to take care of a home, how much work it really is, and how to help. They are home all the time, so they can help with many different aspects of what needs done around the house, and maybe appreciate how much Mom does!! Maddy is 7 and she unloads the dishwasher (and Judah has started to help by handing her things and she puts them away), makes her bed, picks up her room and other rooms (kid messes), feeds the dogs, folds washcloths, helps take care of Ruth, and then helps with other stuff when I ask her. Judah is almost 4 and he has started making his bed, can put silverware away, helps put his own stuff away, and is learning to help with baking. Have them help you, and teach them the value of hard work, and taking care of their own things and messes.
9. Do what you can ahead of time. Do freezer cooking when you can, try to make double batches of dinners often, make food ahead of time when entertaining, use your crockpot, do some cleaning at night when the kids aren't awake, get school prep done all before that week starts (make the lesson plan, make copies, write out handwriting, get everything in order), and think ahead 1-2 weeks at a time when you are making grocery/store lists so you don't have to go back to the store because you forgot about birthday parties, potluck, entertaining, or a cookie exchange.

10. Have relaxing time for you. I think this is so important for the homeschooling mom. We are home a lot. We are with our kids a lot. And we need breaks!! Take those opportunities to go to bible study, out to coffee with a friend, to a workout class, to take a bath, read a book at night, go to a coffee shop alone, go shopping at night alone (I have been going shopping after the kids go to bed so I can whip through those stores without kids interruptions), and plan date nights with your hubby!! Make it a priority for yourself to get up early and quietly seek the Lord. All these things are so important so we can keep our sanity and be the best mothers we can be for our children! We are not defined by our role as a mother. We are God's children. We are individuals. And this time of craziness with young children will not last forever. In our weakness, we need to rely on the strength that comes from the Lord, and remember we are not in this alone. We are not superwoman!! We cannot do it all, sign up for every group and lesson, go to every event, and still remain sane. Learn when to say no, and when your family needs a break!!
And just remember that during this season, your house will never be perfect. That is one reality that I probably still need to accept. And that is ok. If we are teaching our kids to clean up after themselves, and the responsibility that what they get out, they will put away, and we are involving them in the clean-up process, then one day, we won't have so much cleaning to do. We will have little helpers who have learned to clean up what they have gotten out (hopefully)! I hope some of these tips have been helpful, and please if you have any more, leave them in the comments section below!!

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!!

A Broken Arm, a New Job, and Field Trips

The kids outside Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Uncle Joel hijacked the picture!!

 It's been a busy, crazy, and exciting couple of weeks. I know I have been totally MIA from my blog lately. We are trying to get school done before our trip to Ohio in June, we finished CC for the year, we had 2 field trips last week alone, and have exciting news to share. Tad got a new job with the post office! He starts May 18 and we are so excited! It will be a pay increase, better benefits, and unfortunately, more hours. But God is providing for us, and we are so thankful!

In his splint before he got his hard cast

About to get his hard cast on!

The glow-in-the-dark cast is fun!!

About a week and a half ago our little Judah broke his arm, poor thing! We went to watch his Aunt Naomi and Aunt Charity (who are 10 and 12) do their gymnastics show. When we came home Judah was trying to do gymnastics moves and said "watch, Mom, this is what the gymnastics people do" and proceeded to do a cartwheel type of thing. All he did was run and do a little hop-hop thing that was close to the ground and he must have landed wrong and was instantly crying like he was in a lot of pain. After about 30-40 minutes of nonstop crying, we finally took him to the ER where they confirmed that he fractured his humerus bone right above the elbow. And because it is around 6 growth plates, they usually have to rush right in and do surgery, but he was so lucky (no, it was God!!) that his bones were in alignment when he went in for x-rays 5 days later. So no surgery! They just put a hard cast on it and will x-ray it weekly until he gets his cast off. He picked a glow-in-the-dark cast!!

He is figuring out how to do things even with his arm in a cast! Good thing he is right-handed!!

 We also went on 2 field trips, one to see a bunch of different insects. It was very hands on, and they could hold some, touch some, and just look at others. Not my favorite thing but the kids loved it! Of course Judah was walking around with a little glass jar filled with ticks (in a solution) and dropped it and broke it. Of course!!
 

 
 



Later that same week we went with our homeschool group to a Wildlife Park in Kansas called Tanganyika Wildlife Park that was very hands-on! The kids got to feed birds, giraffes, lemurs, goats, and alpacas!! They loved it! It was such a fun day!

 

Well I can't believe we finished up our first year of CC and it was such a blessing! It was very challenging at times, I'm not gonna lie, but it was also so rewarding! And the things that Maddy learned and experienced this year were totally worth the stress and time commitment!
We are trying to wrap up our school year since we have been out of town so much! The weather is getting so nice, so it's hard to have all this schoolwork! I have realized that Oklahoma's spring is like the summers I am used to up north. Green grass, beautiful temperatures, sunshine everyday. The summers here are the pits! Too hot to do anything but stay inside a lot of the time! So we are trying to get out and enjoy this weather! We went on a compass walk last night as part of our school. We attempted to look at clouds too, but there wasn't really a cloud in the sky!!

Happy Spring Everyone!! 

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!

Mornings

image credit

 I love mornings...to an extent. I never used to be a morning person. Waking up for school/college was a drag and I hated being up that early. In my "older" years, I have come to realize the beauty and stillness of the morning. I love that morning light streaming through the windows. Listening to the sound of brewing coffee. Eating breakfast by the window and watching runners and walkers on the trail behind our house. Eating breakfast as a family. These are some of the things I love, but it doesn't always look like that in the mornings.
A lot of mornings are just running around trying to get everyone fed, things picked up, making the bed, getting dressed (if I'm lucky), cleaning up breakfast, and starting school. But I treasure those little moments even in the craziness. I still get to make the coffee. We always see people out on the trail no matter what the weather. I still get to sit somewhere and eat my breakfast. And I also love to light a candle in the morning. Kind of a little slice of peace in my hectic morning!
And I do cherish those precious Saturday mornings. The only morning in the week that doesn't involve school or church and we can just lounge around in our pajamas and do as we please. We don't make our beds that day, or get dressed right away in the morning. We sometime have a special breakfast, and the new Pioneer Woman cooking show is on. I love those mornings. Especially when Tad is off from work.
Ahhh, mornings. Someday I will get up earlier than my kids like I used to and really savor the quietness, the time with God before they wake, and my coffee before the craziness starts! But for now, I'll just take them when I can get them!

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.

Sleepy, Grumpy Mommy

 
I think when you become a parent you truly begin to realize the value of sleep. Oh, in college you get a taste of the sleepless nights. But you can always make up for it the next night, or that weekend, and it doesn't go on for weeks and months at a time. When I had Maddy (my first), I lost sleep for sure. But it wasn't too bad. The rule is "when they are sleeping, you should be sleeping." But that rule really only applies when you have one child, right? You can't just take a nap on the couch when you have other ones awake and playing. And the more kids you have, the more chances you have of being woken up at night.
Maddy is a pretty good sleeper now. She used to have night terrors until she was about 3 or 4, but now she is old enough that she doesn't get them and she doesn't really wake up at night. She just wakes up super early in the morning. And she has always been an early riser. But ever since she was about 3 or 4, she could come out of her room at 6 or 7 and turn on the tv and color. So that helped me get a little more sleep once I knew I could trust her to come out at a certain time.
Judah has always been a really good sleeper. He takes long naps and for the most part, has slept in. But lately he has been getting up early in the morning, and sometimes getting up at night since he is in a toddler bed and he can. We recently took away his pacifier, so that helps that he isn't waking me up to find it in his bed, which he did frequently.
Ruth is a pretty good sleeper. She has her different streaks, and they depend on teething, sickness, or if she is well and happy, she sleeps pretty good and wakes up one to two times at night to nurse, and takes one to two naps during the day, depending on when she wakes up. She actually sleeps until around 9 most days, so that is a nice time for me to have in the morning before she gets up.

I was having a hard time when Ruth was teething and sick and waking up in the middle of the night and staying up for awhile, sometimes 2 plus hours at a time. During that time, Judah would wake up and need put back to sleep. And then Judah or Ruth would wake up around 6 in the morning. I was so tired, that when Maddy and Judah were up that early, and Ruth was still sleeping, I would get them breakfast and put them in front of the TV with their little table and try to sleep on the couch. I was desperate for sleep. And grumpy. And didn't feel like starting my day that early. I didn't have enough energy to get everything done that I needed to. I felt like a failure as a mom because I have so much on my plate but I did not have the energy to accomplish stuff, especially stuff in the morning before school. I would just lay on the couch until 8 or 830 since Ruth was still sleeping, and it felt disgusting! Depression was starting to set in, and I couldn't handle my emotions or anything around me.
I do feel like I'm starting to come out of it. The kids have been sleeping better at night; I just have to plan on them getting up at or around 6. Which means I need to go to bed earlier. I am not good at this, but I have been so exhausted that it has been more motivating to go to bed earlier. I feel a little bit fresher, a little bit more alive, and a little bit more like I can handle my emotions. This is the start of a new week, and a new plan. I am cutting out sugar, wheat (as much as I can), sugary drinks, eating after 7, and will begin working out 6 days this week. I plan on being up in the morning with the kids and not sleeping on the couch. I don't want to go to bed late, and I need to get more done this week, including drinking more water, taking vitamins, eating healthier and getting out of my pajamas every morning and into normal clothes! I just had a big "binge" weekend of eating at different events, and I'm ready to shed those pounds, and choose things to help me feel better all around. I'm hoping that the extra water, healthy food, exercise, sleep, and good choices will help me feel better.
So, here's to a new week. Being a stay at home mom and a homeschooling mom at that, isn't always easy. There are good days and bad days. Days where you get a lot done and feel like you accomplished much. And then there are days when it seems like you are just trying to survive and make it to the end of the day with kids who are fed, dressed, and happy. It's all part of the process, and God is there with us through both kinds of days. Here's to a better week!

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!!