NETSYS week....three at home

This week, Jacob and Emily are away at church camp. It is Emily's first time away from home. I think she will do well. I am doing well...better than I thought I would. But she has grown a lot in the past 3 months and I feel she will do very well and have fun. I cannot wait to have them both home so we can talk and talk and talk!


But this week means I have just three young ones at home. We have stayed busy and done ZERO schooling! So far we have napped, gone swimming, gone to eat at Chick-Fil-A with cousins, seen Madagascar with cousins, gone to a spraygound with friends, done some shopping, gone to dance camp...and still to come we are going skating and probably swimming again and probably one more shopping trip! we have read and camped in the living room and slept all over the place and walked the dogs and rode bikes...It has been fun!

As the photos show, we went to a party at some friends house and Kim loved the kittens, Jordan played with lightsabers, we painted our bedroom, and the rest are spraygound shots.

Summer is here!

Recital with timbrel School of Dance was AMAZING as always, but also tiring. Still, I just love it. The kids love it. And we miss seeing our friends when it is over. But that doesn't last for long. That place has such a family atmosphere that we all like to get together!

So the week after recital we decided to just do three math lessons and call it a week. We also went to Dakota's house twice to film Sandblade, and took kids to the Smith's to hang out one afternoon. We swam twice and went out to eat for the June birthdays. We had a piano recital for Emily and decided that she would take time off and let Jacob take her piano slot in August. We planned for summer camps and dance camps and birthdays that are coming up, and went to a baby shower and made gifts for a cousin.

It has been nice, but this week we are back at 100% schooling each day, with dancing and bowling and swimming thrown int. Next week our oldest two will be at church camp so we will be going to the movies, biking, swimming, and many other fun things (and no schooling). Then we will have another 100% school week with some filming, dancing and swimming, and maybe skating and parties, ending with the start of VBS week where we will have no school. But will dance, film, etc.

July might be less hectic, but it doesn't feel hectic, now. It is just a matter of scheduling life and friends for 5 kids. They are quite social creatures. I suppose we are just used to it. Plus, we love the kids friends and families....

Anyway, that was just a quick update. All photos ended up on FB. Hope you have a blessed summer!

So this week has been kind of different. We have had rehearsals at the GMA all week, in the evenings instead of regular classes. I have to admit it is really fun to do the rehearsals and have the fellowship of our studio. But it is also tiring for the kids. We have accomplished much in schoolwork and done another switch in math curriculums. We also got caught up on some history and science, but lagged in drawing. Something has to give I guess.
Summer officially begins for us on Monday even though we will school thru the summer. We are going to make allowances for fun times with friends. And next week will include the beginnings of filming Sandblade. That will be great since we are going to be in letdown mode from recital. The endings are always sad times.
But the summer is a new beginning and prayers have been answered for some great things. Camps are coming up, visits, VBS, and more! I just love our church family and homeschooling community!
So this was just a quick update. I really hope I get some photos up this weekend of recital.

Winding Down???

For many PS kids, the school year, as they call it, is about to end. Not so for most homeschoolers. Since we have such flexibility, many of us school through summer. Kids tend to lose less learning, they work better within structured days, and what else will you do when it is 104 outside anyway??? So even though we have a technical 2 weeks left, learning will continue into June and July. In large part because we haven't finished our books. We have several weeks of language arts, and math to go for most. And some of my kids are on a Jan-Dec schedule, so a long break is not reasonable. But we will not school during camps, VBS and holidays. Summer also has more filming and get togethers and swimming and bowling and skating and a ton of birthdays so that will be necessary interference.

But, I am proud to say that we have "graduated" a kindergartener and an eighth grader this year.....never really celebrated those things before and won't this year, but just thought I'd make the announcement.

So, I am off to start another day with my precious kids and to savor the moments before they slip thru my fingers and leave me with only memories.

Praises!!!!

Well, this week has been extremely busy with appointments and such, so school has been modified to fit life. But the most wonerful thing happened. Our oldest son was baptized into Christ and his sins are now forgiven! He is a Christian and is now saved! Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:21...God is good.
In other family news, our oldest daughter got her full lower braces, and our middle daughter has been learning to cook. Our youngest is learning to have more self control and our youngest son has been growing in kindness.
All these add up to a great mother's day gift for me (which is Sunday). I need nothing more for life is truly blessed.

What is our life like?

With homeschooling, our days are constantly changing as the kids grow and the curriculum changes to fit them. So today I decided to share our day...not particularly typical.
First, our menu of the week:\
Breakfasts: cereal with peanut butter, turkey bacon sandwiches, baked oatmeal, eggs and toast, pancakes
Lunches: fish sticks with macaroni, meatballs with potatoes, sandwiches with pretzels and hummus, tortilla roll sandwiches with fruit and dip, cream cheese dip with crackers and fruit and pretzels
Dinners: church food, beans and fries, chicken fried steak with potatoes and veggie, egg rolls and rice, ravioli casserole with bread and salad

So here is a sort of typical day.....is there such a thing???
we wake at around 7:15 and make coffee and watch spongebob. Around 8am we walk the dogs and then eat breakfast around 8:25, then make beds and brush teeth and be ready for devotional time by 8:50. After devo we get the days announcements and the two oldest go work on their assignments at their pace, while I work with the youngest three. I have to keep some separated for focus reasons. They do math and language arts and bible with breaks between each subject. Around noon we all eat lunch and the kids usually help with lunch prep. Then we just take a break until almost 1pm. About 1pm we read a story and start chores and cleaning. That is done around 1:45, then we go out for PE and exercises until 2:30. After that we do science, history, art, spanish, music stuff and depending on what day of the week it is and what extracurricular dance or piano classes we have, the youngest two must nap by 3 or 4pm for at least an hour. We have: Monday- library at 4:30 and dance at 5:15 and sometimes MNFTM at 6, Tuesday-dance from 5-7:30, Wednesday-every other week piano at 2, Friday-co-op 8 weeks per semester from 9-12 and dance from 5-6.
Dinner on dance nights is something quick, crockpot, or delay bake in oven and breadmachine. I check the older kids work to make sure it is done correctly and grade tests. If work isnt done well, they redo and miss activity. Motivation.... We hang out as a fmaily inevenings, frequently walking and visiting with neighbors or riding bikes. Then we try to get in bed by 10....
Typical day at our house.
As for schooling, the K/1 kid uses LLATL blue, saxon math 1, HW without tears,....the 2nd grader uses HW without tears, LLATL red, saxon math 2, spelling workout, DrawWrite Now ......the 4th grader uses LLATL orange, teaching textbooks 4, HW without tears and spelling workout and writing strands...the 6th grader uses LLATL tan, teaching textbooks 7, writing strands and sonlight reading list...the 8th grader uses LLATL grey, Life of Fred and Saxon math, sonlight history and lit and bible supplement and Apologia science.
The youngest 4 use SOTW history, Apologia and other science including Inquisikids, Mathtacular dvds, atelier art and art adventures at home. The oldest two use rosetta stone spanish and youngest three use La Classe Divertida. We do online keyboarding skills and other internet supplements.
Of course, we are about at the end of this "school year" though that means little to us, so things will be different come August for some.

But that, in a nutshell is a glimpse of our days. They looked so different just a few short years ago...time changes things...but the journey continues!

Long Time SInce and Update

So life has been moving at lightning speed. Such is life this time of the year. Around our house we are learning, planning for summer (5 going to camp this year---ouch!), planning for dance camps, dance recitals, piano recital, filming, graduations and get togethers, field trips, birthdays, VBS and ortho appointments. Never a dull moment, but as mentioned in the previous posts, we have had some behavior kinks. After prayer and research and strategy changes, we are getting better control through this phase of life.
I still have some planning sketches for summer, to complete and a fairly large school order to place, but since it involves dissection samples, i am going to hold off until the last possible moment. The summer will also contain homeschooling. No, we do not take summer break in the traditional sense. We keep going until we complete our work and then move to the next thing. That is a necessity since we have 5 kids at 5 different places in their work. Long breaks tend to cause too much memory loss.
So for now that is all. i have someone wanting to listen, yet again, to The Saga Begins, on youtube.
Oh, went to my first midnight movie premiere last night with Jacob. We saw Avengers. Loved it!