Surviving

Barely! I know I haven't been posting over here very often and I am sorry about that. I guess it's because I feel like I am failing at homeschooling right now. Makiah is easily distracted, unmotivated and I feel like I have hit a wall. Organization is not coming together like I wanted and just feel all unwound.

We are truly looking forward to the Christmas break. I will be organizing and adjusting our schedule, adding some new and more exciting things and implementing reward programs. I really feel like this semester just fell apart. I mean she getting her work done, she's not behind, I just think it needs to be better. I need to get more organized, definitely.

So I am on a mission to gather as much info as I can as to how other mothers, who seem much more put together than I, get all there stuff together and keep it that way. We are using the PACE system and don't have a lot of extra room. Help a mother out??

Thanks! OH and to see just a little of what we are doing with devotions, I posted it here.

Up to My Ears In Paperwork

Records, records, records. . . I am swimming in paperwork. Let's just say that I got behind in my paperwork and so today I am catching up. I also *ahem* got behind on my blogging over here. I am going to to better with this blogging, oh and the paperwork!

Our school year is going fine. I always think it could be going better, but I'm probably over thinking it. Our first quarter is over and Makiah is doing great. She is rocking third grade. Her test scores are really high and her reading is going very well. Only thing is MATH. The dreaded Math. We aren't progressing as fast in Math as I would like. We are doing multiplication and the process is proving difficult. She doesn't like math so she goes into it dreading it and therefore kind of zones out on me. Any ideas for making multiplication more fun?? I have ideas, but I would love to hear from you all.

We are going to be doing several fall crafts next week and I finally got a new camera, so brace yourselves for pics!! What crafts are you doing for fall?

Have a happy and blessed weekend!

Second Week Coming to an End~~A Mixed Bag

I am happy to say that Makiah took her first three tests of third grade today. She nailed them all, 100% on each!! I am so proud of her.

Yesterday I ventured over to Borders, a very dangerous place for me to go. I walked out with a bag full of books and my debit card wasn't screaming. First of all, if you don't know, as a homeschool educator you can get the educator's discount card--you need one. So I went strolling through the bargain books and I scored big time. I got seven books and my total was 19 bucks! I was thrilled. I got a couple of books for Daniel, a couple for Sam and a book of science experiments for Makiah. I also got two reusable sticker books about emotions for Sam and Makiah. I feel like books are an investment, but when I can get them on discount, even better. Our library is growing. I need another book shelf or a room for a library!

If you haven't read of our recent decision to make please check it out, leave a comment and then take the poll. Hubs and I are praying and talking about it, but I would like to hear what you all would do. Thanks!

Over at here I posted a great new recipe~~one pot, yummy, easy and very filling. Go check it out!! Be back next week!!

Pass the Play-Doh Please

My kids love play-doh. I mean love it. They could spend hours creating, squeezing, cutting, rolling and for Makiah, sculpting. Typically we use the play-doh at Makiah's break time.

Art time here at Principle Things consists of all different types of activities. Drawing and coloring are good sources, but for art time I like to do some different things. I like to have actual projects that require more thought and tactile abilities. Makiah is quite the artist. She draws amazingly well, she paints (on canvas) and she likes to actually sculpt things, actual things with play-doh. Here is a bird Makiah made yesterday. I was impressed. I know I am a little biased, but still she did a really good job. So good that I had to share.





So I have decided to get clay and let her make some projects. Here are a few of the projects I have lined up for them to do as part of art:

~~Shapes Collage (Sam)
~~Apple Pie Paintings--paint with apple slices
~~Leaf Collage
~~Fall Flower Collage (Makiah)
~~Clay Sculpting (some will be Christmas gifts for family and friends)
~~Sponge Painting
~~Columbus Day activities (here are a few)

These are just a few of things on the agenda. What art projects are you doing? Don't home school? You can still weigh in with what projects you are doing with your kiddos!

What's Your Opinion

I know, another post that poses a question. We in the Lovelock home have a dilemma and I thought I'd ask all of you lovely readers what your opinion is.

Makiah has been offered a scholarship to a really fantastic Christian school in our area. They have a wonderful academic and art program and Makiah is really wanting to go to school. It is a Lutheran school and we are Apostolic Pentecostal, but doctrine isn't taught until 7th grade, although they do have devotions every morning that consists of a memory verse and a Bible story.

In my side bar you will find a poll entitled Options, Options, please weigh in and let me know what you think. I have one for home schooling families and one for families of children that attend a school.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you would do if this opportunity came to you.

Tomorrow I will have a post of, you know, actually school type stuff. ~~Smile~~

A Question or Twenty

Makiah asks continuous questions. She starts her day with "what are we going to do today", and ends it with "what are we going to do tomorrow mama". Those are just the beginning and end, but the day is filled with questions. Some questions are school related, some are inquisitive like, "why do I have curly hair" and some questions are just the nosiness that goes with being eight. I have to admit that she comes by this honestly {confession time}, I am a certified question asker. That scripture about reaping what you sow, yeah, it's true, I'm living it. I didn't have any siblings, so I talked all the time to my mother, babysitter, Nanny (grandma) or anyone else that would listen and I asked many, many questions. Am I surprised by the question asking? No. Does it sometimes make me want to drive a pencil in my ears? Yes.

So now that I have properly warned you of my question asking ability, you should not be surprised by the fact that this post is an inquisitive post, an information hunt, if you will. ~~Smile~~

I love homeschooling, but since it is truly a process of honing the process, I love to hear what other families are doing. I am one of those mama's that is always looking for better or different ways of doing things. I think that we learn from each other's successes and failures. So I am going to rapid fire some questions and I would like you to give me some feedback.

1. Do you have a set routine and hold to it firmly? Do you go through your day with routine in mind, but keep it flexible? Or are you routine free and just go with the flow?

2. How do you incorporate crafts into your lesson plan? Do you have art time everyday, once a week or just whenever the mood strikes you? Do you even have a specific art time or do they get their art in their free play?

3. What do you do for physical education?

4. Do you have Bible teaching as part of your curriculum?

5. What curriculum do you use? Have your tried other curriculums? Which is your favorite?

6. If you have older children, when did you incorporate chapter books?

7. Do you have a school room? Or does the kitchen table double as their work area?

8. Do your kids have to sit at the table to do their work or do you let them work on the floor, their bed or anywhere else?

I told you she gets her question asking talent honestly. I will be posting what we do for most of these things over time, but I am interested in knowing how you run your school and your tips on making it better.

I'll start with number eight for today~~we use School of Tomorrow PACES for curriculum and that's all we have ever used. When she was in preschool she went for a year to a local Christian preschool (I was in college) and they used A Beka. I like both curriculum's, but since Kindergarten we have only used SOT PACES, I can't really say which I like best. We are always interested in trying out new things, so if anyone has a sample of curriculum you'd like for a third grader or preschooler to try out and review, let me know. ~~Smile~~

So now please weigh in. I'd love to hear about your school, pick a question or questions and give me some feed back. Please??

For cloth diapering fun, I posted over here too!

Here's a Peek Into Our Day

So we are officially rolling in this school year! Makiah started her new 3rd grade PACES yesterday and Sam loves doing worksheets! I am so proud of both of them and like I said in the previous post, I am excited for what this year holds.


Reading her Social Studies book.


A numbers worksheet. (Sorry for it's poor quality, its a phone pic, I lost our camera)


Check out those A's, he rocks!!

And once you have put in all that hard work and making A's and B's is hard work, you can always just go build an airplane out of the boxes mom emptied. Check out my engineer:


He built the plane, which also doubled as his car and fire truck. I see big things ahead for him.

All in all it was a good day.

You really should check out Owlhaven and Fiddledeedee's posts today (in the side bar). Owlhaven gives some great ideas for preschoolers and homeschooling and Fiddledeedee is looking for good reads and offers up a few laughs too.

Now we are heading outside before it gets too hot and to let them run some energy off!!

Excitement

I am so excited to have a second blog, dedicated to home schooling!! I can't wait to post of our adventures, our successes and our trials associated with home schooling.

I am looking forward to this school year and all the potential is holds. In this inaugural post let me tell you about us!

The 2009-2010 school year will be our fourth year home schooling. I have to say that it has truly been a process where we all learn. We chose homeschooling because we feel it's the best thing for our family and we love it! I can't say it's been without challenges, but what in life comes with out challenges?!?! Every year has been a little different as Makiah and I developed into a routine of what works best. This year will be no different because now I'll be schooling two! Sam is officially in preschool now and that will come with a whole new set of challenges and joys!

Makiah is eight years old and beginning the third grade. She is beautiful (which academically makes no difference), talented in music and art and is very smart. I look forward to seeing what all she will accomplish this year. Since beginning school she has always been on the A honor roll, her overall percentage of scores never falling below 97%. So thankful that she is doing well. She is doing her first book report next week and she will also be learning multiplication!! Woo Hoo!! We use the School of Tomorrow curriculum for her.

Sam, is a very high energy three (almost four) year old that has never met a stranger or a challenge! He is a very busy boy and if left without structure gets into some pretty big messes!! So I am having to really work on a structured day for him. He already knows all his colors, all the shapes, counts to 20 and recognizes numbers 0-9. I am hoping to start phonics in January!! Exciting!! Sam's curriculum consists of various workbooks, flash cards and resources printed from the web.

Daniel is our precious one year old who has to endure us all!! I work with him on various things such as language development and signing. He has some developmental delays and so he gets one on one attention too.

Whew! I am tired just thinking about it!! Like I said before, this year is bursting with potential and I look forward to the challenge of working with each child and watching them learn and seeing them "get it".

I welcome your comments and ideas!!

Many Blessings,
Mamalovelock

~~I am setting up a blog roll of home schooling families. I read them, I love them, some make me laugh and others make me think. They are a great mixture of home schooling, family and whatever else that blogger chooses, but each of them home school. If you go to their site in search of home schooling only posts, most of them have a label for home schooling. Also my list of resources is a work in progress and if you have a suggestion for it, please comment and tell me!~~