So our lives have been crazy the last few weeks and we are now in the midst of isolation. Why, you might say? Well, because it appears that my daughter brought home the lovely flu bug from preschool.
The timeline of the last few days...
-Thursday midday - pick up Abby from preschool and discover that she has a fever (when she didn't have one when I dropped her off)
-Th pm - took her to the doctor's for check since she reacts badly to the flu because of her asthma - unable to fill the tamiflu script because none of the pharmacies in our area had any to give me
-Fri am - Abby woke up wheezing, not a good sign
-Fri noon - Abby's chest starts to cave in a little as she's breathing, a worse sign that she's not liking the flu
-Fri 3pm - Abby has a coughing fit which turns her lips blue - since the 2 albuterol nebulizer treatments have obviously done nothing, we rush her off to the ER. We need the big guns.
-Fri 7pm - we're headed home with a little girl who's feeling so much better (thanks to wonderful steroids!) She's officially diagnosed with Influenza Type A (which H1N1 is a subgroup of) and croupe.
-Sat am - Ben and Ellie are exhibiting minimal signs that they might be fighting it too.
So we are officially stuck in the house for the rest of the weekend. I feel bad because I know all the neighbor friends have been exposed, so I'm praying that no one else gets it. Turns out that at least 50% of Abby's preschool class is sick. At least we're getting it done and over with and now I won't have to worry about it.
Ben likes the fact that we haven't had much school in the last few days, I'm thankful that my husband worked from home yesterday and was able to do the ER thing with me and we are all thankful that the Lord has blessed us by allowing us to live in an area that has the medication we need.
Now if only he would bless me with a new laptop since mine decided to get the C1J1 - cranberry juice flu, as I call it. A year ago, Ellie spilled a whole glass of juice into my laptop. I cried. Truly cried when I picked it up and juice poured out of it. But my awesome husband got it working again. Until this week when it decided to be cranky and shut off for good. At 10pm, my awesome husband was saving all those important homeschooling documents and files for me onto the desktop. Now I'm stuck in the office to do anything, which is not good. I hadn't realized how much I like being able to move around the house. We are now debating whether to get a new laptop for me or try to refit an old one of his from work.
I am so hoping that next week we can get back to normal...well, whatever normal is for that week!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tired....
So how come no one warns you when you start homeschooling that you are going to be tired? Not physically tired, but mentally tired. We have finished another week and things are going well. But I hit friday and it's like my brain is working in very, very slow mode.
I have the answer. I just need to stop thinking for a while. My brain hasn't had to do this much thinking for 13 years. After having the three kids, there isn't as much brain power as there used to be. So I'll just give it a break for a while, let it rest up a bit.
So when my brain restarts itself, it will hopefully be monday :)
I have the answer. I just need to stop thinking for a while. My brain hasn't had to do this much thinking for 13 years. After having the three kids, there isn't as much brain power as there used to be. So I'll just give it a break for a while, let it rest up a bit.
So when my brain restarts itself, it will hopefully be monday :)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
In the Beginning
What a great afternoon we had! After doing a little bit of school work while Abby was in preschool, we grabbed lunch at McD's (I would love to find something else that is fast because I really do not like eating there but we were crunched for time) and drove to meet Manny at the theatre. We love that we live near a theatre that is dedicated to producing Broadway caliber shows that have a message of Christ.
And they gave a special to local homeschooling families of extremely reduced tickets for an afternoon show. Gotta love that! And it was even better because Manny was home for a meeting and got to join us.
This is the last season for their "In the Beginning" and yep. It's the story of Creation and Adam and Eve. They obviously take a lot of liberty in creating dialogue and events since not many specifics are given in the first four chapters of Genesis. But the kids (and us too, I do freely admit!!) loved the animals (live and animatronic) and the story. The best part is when you're watching the stage and suddenly live sheep and other animals will come flying down the isles right next to you. Awesome! It was great too that they gave an invitation at the end. What a great afternoon :) I wish I could've taken pictures, but you know, it's nice to sit and enjoy the show too without worrying about getting the right shot.
Abby actually managed to do okay, though she was very fidgity and sat on Daddy's lap. She inadvertently kept kicking the chair in front of them, where a sweet older nun sat. At the end, just as we were set to apologize, she leaned over and said what well behaved children we had. I like to hear that! We apologized for Abby kicking her chair and she said "Oh, don't worry about that. It kept me from drifting off during the show!". What a great attitude! I know that I probably would not have been so kind if I'd been the one sitting there.
We hit our first milestone!
It's official. We have done 100+ hours of school!!! Yeah!
That means we are 1/9 done for the year. I never thought that I'd be one obsessing over how many hours we put in, thinking we'd just count days (we get to choose in PA whether to do 180 days or 900 hours). Other homeschoolers say that it's easier to count days. it probably is, but my Homeschool Tracker has a nifty little tally that happens all by itself as I check off our schedule. I love it. I love being able to see it change and yesterday our total hours went over 100.
That means we are 1/9 done for the year. I never thought that I'd be one obsessing over how many hours we put in, thinking we'd just count days (we get to choose in PA whether to do 180 days or 900 hours). Other homeschoolers say that it's easier to count days. it probably is, but my Homeschool Tracker has a nifty little tally that happens all by itself as I check off our schedule. I love it. I love being able to see it change and yesterday our total hours went over 100.
I know that it's blurry, but you can just make out the time spent. :)
Sigh. What a great sense of accomplishment, that we've made it thru this far with little issues. Oh, I don't count the math tantrums and the grammar groaning. Those are normal, aren't they? We are in a routine and though I need to shake it up a notch to get some more excitement into learning, we're doing great.
You know what, it's time for a field trip! I didn't know that we would've hit this milestone when we made our original plans, but today's field trip is going to be fun. The kids are excited, I'm excited and Daddy's actually home to join us :) Life is good.
Now if only the rain would stop, it'd be a great day!
You know what, it's time for a field trip! I didn't know that we would've hit this milestone when we made our original plans, but today's field trip is going to be fun. The kids are excited, I'm excited and Daddy's actually home to join us :) Life is good.
Now if only the rain would stop, it'd be a great day!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Adjusting my way of thinking
When we decided to start homeschooling, I jumped in with both feet. I read all the articles I could, I joined some online groups to get information each week, and I researched curriculum. We started a month ago and I felt like I was doing great teaching the kids. They were getting their assignments done and with only a few quirks, things seemed to be going well.
And then we hit yesterday. Jacksonian Democracy. It is almost impossible to make JD interesting. I think Ellie stared at me with a blank look on her face while I read the history readings. Ben kept groaning and asking when we would be done. Abby went off and played - she was the lucky one. Now I actually found it interesting what we were reading. The kids thought the only cool thing was the story about how Jackson' supporters literally ransacked the White House on the day of his inauguration.
What am I doing? Just reading boring history lessons? Something has got to change. I need to create a way to actually reach these kids or else I'm going to be talking to a wall each week.
My mom is the one who pointed it out to me. I am normally a very creative person. I can come with a craft at the drop of a hat. It's served me very well over the years at church. And yet, here I am, pushing my gifts to the side. All in the name of getting the subjects done. I've lost my creativity in the midst of planning.
As soon as my mom told me that, the creativity started flowing again. Now there's not much I can do with Jacksonian Democracy, but I did find some clipart that corresponded with things that happened in Jackson's life. I made each into a card and the kids had to match the picture with the statement. It actually worked. And the kids had a smiles on their faces while they took turns picking the right card. Yeah!
And the best part - they must have been listening yesterday, because they actually knew the answers :)
Now if only I had the time to get really creative!
And then we hit yesterday. Jacksonian Democracy. It is almost impossible to make JD interesting. I think Ellie stared at me with a blank look on her face while I read the history readings. Ben kept groaning and asking when we would be done. Abby went off and played - she was the lucky one. Now I actually found it interesting what we were reading. The kids thought the only cool thing was the story about how Jackson' supporters literally ransacked the White House on the day of his inauguration.
What am I doing? Just reading boring history lessons? Something has got to change. I need to create a way to actually reach these kids or else I'm going to be talking to a wall each week.
My mom is the one who pointed it out to me. I am normally a very creative person. I can come with a craft at the drop of a hat. It's served me very well over the years at church. And yet, here I am, pushing my gifts to the side. All in the name of getting the subjects done. I've lost my creativity in the midst of planning.
As soon as my mom told me that, the creativity started flowing again. Now there's not much I can do with Jacksonian Democracy, but I did find some clipart that corresponded with things that happened in Jackson's life. I made each into a card and the kids had to match the picture with the statement. It actually worked. And the kids had a smiles on their faces while they took turns picking the right card. Yeah!
And the best part - they must have been listening yesterday, because they actually knew the answers :)
Now if only I had the time to get really creative!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A Conversation in The Car
Ellie : Mom, do you fly in heaven?
Me : Maybe, we don't really know. What we do know is that we will be praising God!
Ellie : I guess we'll be able to eat anything we want. Well, except junk food.
Abby : God and Jesus are invisible! And they are right next to me. (piping in with her words of wisdom, and not to be left out)
There are some days when it's the little things that make me smile and realize that God is sitting there smiling with me too.
Me : Maybe, we don't really know. What we do know is that we will be praising God!
Ellie : I guess we'll be able to eat anything we want. Well, except junk food.
Abby : God and Jesus are invisible! And they are right next to me. (piping in with her words of wisdom, and not to be left out)
There are some days when it's the little things that make me smile and realize that God is sitting there smiling with me too.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Our Curriculum
A friend who is starting to look at homeschool curriculum just asked what we are using. So I thought I'd post my reply to her. There are so many things that we plan to do, and I know that I won't even get to most of it. My plan is to have a field trip every few weeks. I like learning hands-on, so I love field trips. We live in such a great place to where we are only hours from DC, Philly, NYC, etc. I love that! Now if I only had unlimited funds, we'd be having a grand time!
We are an ecclectic family. I knew that before we even decided to homeschool, but it carried over into our approach to homeschooling too:)
I don't have anything against box curriculum/online schools, yet I knew that they would not provide me with the opportunity to vary studies according to interests and schedules. One of my concerns was keeping the subjects interesting enough to keep Ben's attention specifically. Since 6th grade is his first time in HS, it was an issue that I had to address. For those who start from day 1 (which I'm assuming is you!), you probably won't have that issue.
So here's what we are using:
Horizons Math - I'm very happy with it. The biggest problem is actually my daughter's attention span, so it's not the curriculum. Ben is moving thru it very quickly also, but that should get more challenging to him once we're past the review sections.
A Reason For Spelling - I'm not sure if I needed this for Ben, but he'll do a year anyway for reinforcement. It's been great for Ellie since she was behind in reading/comprehension. I love the fact that it has short stories that have a moral dilemma to deal with for each lesson and that it incorporates the Bible into the lessons too. That's all new to me coming from the public school system. Ben and Ellie end up listening to each other's stories and we've gotten into some great moral discussions.
Shurley English (Grammar and Composition) - This has been a challenge to me in trying to figure out how to work the lessons and such. It's not as easy for me to just assign pages since there's really not a workbook to use daily. I'm doing a little better, but I did not do enough planning to start with. Ben likes the lessons so far, or at least that's what he said. They are short lessons, so he doesn't feel like I'm talking non-stop to him. Some of the jingles that go along with the parts of grammar are cute, others are annoying. But I guess if you learn them either way, you'll still now the information, right! Friends of ours who have homeschooled for years began using this curriculum a few years ago and she also struggled in the beginning in teaching it. Now she's very happy with it and the kids are developing a strong basis in grammar. When I started looking at curriculum, I didn't want to have to research every subject. I didn't have the time to do that. Since our friends have a similar philiosphy/approach, we decided to use the same curriculum, for math and language arts. I'll finish out the year and see if we will continue in the same path.
American History 1815-Present (Veritas Press) - this is a challenging subject for me, not necessarily because of the curriculum, but because of the amount of material that I could teach to cover 200 years of viewing Amer History. It's set out in a set of 32 cards. I'm hoping to do one card per week, though I have a feeling we might get sidelined at times. This is one of the subjects where I let Ben pick what he wanted to study. So far we haven't done too much that is very exciting in terms of hands-on acitivities so that's something that I need to work on. It's very much a classical approach and has a lot of writing and reading, which can be good and bad. I'm finding that Ellie isn't retaining a lot of the information so I need to find a solution to that.
Oceanography for Science - when I asked Ben what he wanted to study for science, he said "I want to dissect a shark". Definitely a boy statement! I laughed because I didn't get to do that until I was in college. The shark then became a study of the ocean. Science curriculum would be one area that I feel is not a strong selection in homeschooling. There is very little available for elementary ages that I liked. I ended up using Exploring Creation:Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. It's written well and covers all the topics. The only problem is that it's basically a 13 chapter book and you have to divide it to fit the needs of your family. We're actually doing science with another family once a week to do the experiments and games (wed am while Abby is in preschool) and I assign the kids reading and filling in an outline (that I have to create) for the rest of the week. I create a quiz each week too so that I can see whether they are actually doing their work. I'm also having each kid complete a research project on a sea creature of their choice that they will finish by May. A lot, but when it gets to the dissecting part, the boys will be thrilled. I think the girls will be too, but I wonder if they'll actually want to do any of the touching :)
Art, music and Gym - these seem to be a little of this and a little of that. I don't have too much planned as of yet simply because I'm still trying to get into a groove with everything else. I did buy a Great Composers series that covers 12 musicians since the 1600's. It's on the boring side though, so I have to bump that up a notch too. I tried today with finding different clips on YouTube to watch and that helped, though I'm not sure if the kids were just tired after a long week or not. Ellie and Abby seem more into the music side of things, while Ben really doesn't like classical music. The girls love dancing to any music while Ben runs away to hide :) He'd rather be out on his rollerblades - gym class!
Starting next week my mom is going to be doing some basic spanish with the kids while I'm at the women's bible study. I am so thankful for that since I know that I will need that time to rejuvenate my soul. Being home with the kids all day after the years of them being in school has been a challenge to me. A challenge in how I approach the day and my interaction with them. Ellie has challenged me to have patience and control as she throws a temper tantrum. Today was a good day with no tears, so hopefully we're past the whole 'deschooling' aspect of our first year.
So all that to say, this is what we are doing this year! I know it's a lot, but I'm jumping in with a sixth grader, a second grader and a preschooler. We do science and history together, among some of the smaller things.
Have fun researching all the curriculum. I found that there's a ton of great things out there and just not enough time to get it all done :)
We are an ecclectic family. I knew that before we even decided to homeschool, but it carried over into our approach to homeschooling too:)
I don't have anything against box curriculum/online schools, yet I knew that they would not provide me with the opportunity to vary studies according to interests and schedules. One of my concerns was keeping the subjects interesting enough to keep Ben's attention specifically. Since 6th grade is his first time in HS, it was an issue that I had to address. For those who start from day 1 (which I'm assuming is you!), you probably won't have that issue.
So here's what we are using:
Horizons Math - I'm very happy with it. The biggest problem is actually my daughter's attention span, so it's not the curriculum. Ben is moving thru it very quickly also, but that should get more challenging to him once we're past the review sections.
A Reason For Spelling - I'm not sure if I needed this for Ben, but he'll do a year anyway for reinforcement. It's been great for Ellie since she was behind in reading/comprehension. I love the fact that it has short stories that have a moral dilemma to deal with for each lesson and that it incorporates the Bible into the lessons too. That's all new to me coming from the public school system. Ben and Ellie end up listening to each other's stories and we've gotten into some great moral discussions.
Shurley English (Grammar and Composition) - This has been a challenge to me in trying to figure out how to work the lessons and such. It's not as easy for me to just assign pages since there's really not a workbook to use daily. I'm doing a little better, but I did not do enough planning to start with. Ben likes the lessons so far, or at least that's what he said. They are short lessons, so he doesn't feel like I'm talking non-stop to him. Some of the jingles that go along with the parts of grammar are cute, others are annoying. But I guess if you learn them either way, you'll still now the information, right! Friends of ours who have homeschooled for years began using this curriculum a few years ago and she also struggled in the beginning in teaching it. Now she's very happy with it and the kids are developing a strong basis in grammar. When I started looking at curriculum, I didn't want to have to research every subject. I didn't have the time to do that. Since our friends have a similar philiosphy/approach, we decided to use the same curriculum, for math and language arts. I'll finish out the year and see if we will continue in the same path.
American History 1815-Present (Veritas Press) - this is a challenging subject for me, not necessarily because of the curriculum, but because of the amount of material that I could teach to cover 200 years of viewing Amer History. It's set out in a set of 32 cards. I'm hoping to do one card per week, though I have a feeling we might get sidelined at times. This is one of the subjects where I let Ben pick what he wanted to study. So far we haven't done too much that is very exciting in terms of hands-on acitivities so that's something that I need to work on. It's very much a classical approach and has a lot of writing and reading, which can be good and bad. I'm finding that Ellie isn't retaining a lot of the information so I need to find a solution to that.
Oceanography for Science - when I asked Ben what he wanted to study for science, he said "I want to dissect a shark". Definitely a boy statement! I laughed because I didn't get to do that until I was in college. The shark then became a study of the ocean. Science curriculum would be one area that I feel is not a strong selection in homeschooling. There is very little available for elementary ages that I liked. I ended up using Exploring Creation:Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. It's written well and covers all the topics. The only problem is that it's basically a 13 chapter book and you have to divide it to fit the needs of your family. We're actually doing science with another family once a week to do the experiments and games (wed am while Abby is in preschool) and I assign the kids reading and filling in an outline (that I have to create) for the rest of the week. I create a quiz each week too so that I can see whether they are actually doing their work. I'm also having each kid complete a research project on a sea creature of their choice that they will finish by May. A lot, but when it gets to the dissecting part, the boys will be thrilled. I think the girls will be too, but I wonder if they'll actually want to do any of the touching :)
Art, music and Gym - these seem to be a little of this and a little of that. I don't have too much planned as of yet simply because I'm still trying to get into a groove with everything else. I did buy a Great Composers series that covers 12 musicians since the 1600's. It's on the boring side though, so I have to bump that up a notch too. I tried today with finding different clips on YouTube to watch and that helped, though I'm not sure if the kids were just tired after a long week or not. Ellie and Abby seem more into the music side of things, while Ben really doesn't like classical music. The girls love dancing to any music while Ben runs away to hide :) He'd rather be out on his rollerblades - gym class!
Starting next week my mom is going to be doing some basic spanish with the kids while I'm at the women's bible study. I am so thankful for that since I know that I will need that time to rejuvenate my soul. Being home with the kids all day after the years of them being in school has been a challenge to me. A challenge in how I approach the day and my interaction with them. Ellie has challenged me to have patience and control as she throws a temper tantrum. Today was a good day with no tears, so hopefully we're past the whole 'deschooling' aspect of our first year.
So all that to say, this is what we are doing this year! I know it's a lot, but I'm jumping in with a sixth grader, a second grader and a preschooler. We do science and history together, among some of the smaller things.
Have fun researching all the curriculum. I found that there's a ton of great things out there and just not enough time to get it all done :)
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