One week down.....

Our day ended yesterday with our "Subject of the Day", which was science. We watched a fun video from the library called: "My First Science Video: A Kids' Guide to Science Experiments". It was great; give it a try! It had about 20 different, easy science experiments and they showed you how to do each one. We stopped the video a few times to do some! Most you could have done with stuff you have in your house already.


Addie making music....

Seth REALLY like this! So cute!

Playing their flutes made from straws cute at different lengths! Ah, it was a good day................

But, we did have a rough day in the mix:

I had been thinking we would start school after Labor Day but the kids kept asking to start, plus they have been showing signs of being ready......ie: fighting, fighting and more fighting. So, we started this week. Audrey had a doctor's appointment on Monday, so we decided to just start on Tuesday. Pretty good day. Then came Wednesday. What happened? Not sure. A student huffily pushed their book across the counter in protest. The same student threw a piece of their eraser in my general direction. That student had a time-out. So did I. Another student drug their feet all afternoon and we finally finished hours after we could have. Did I cry that day to my husband the minute he walked in the door? Oh ya. "Am I NUTS???? It would be so much easier to just send them to school!". Yes, I did say that. But I am not going to do that. Will, the master lecture-giver, sat them all down before dinner and we had a CHAT. No more pushing your books across the counter. No more throwing your eraser at you mom. No more messing around and not focusing. We went over the book I bought "21 Rules of This House" which I highly, highly recommend. It is amazing. LOVE it. Anyway, the kids said they would do better. And they DID! Yesterday was a dream. We started at 9am and they each earned their "Dime on Time"; they get a dime each day for being on time. (Oh, well one missed out, but will do better next time, I just know it!!!) Bed made, hair done, breakfast eaten, chores done. They moved through their assignments and got done with all that was written in their daily planner. Happy Day! I felt so much better. We made tall cupcakes with my new pan to celebrate!! (Did you know that one cake mix only makes 6 of them!!?? So funny!!!) Oh, and I was giddy beyond words to pull out a frozen meal to have for dinner. LOVED that!

I was reading a post on the Davis County Homeschool boards and someone was describing her day and it sounded JUST LIKE MINE! What a relief that we all have not-so-ideal homeschool days. It made me smile and feel so much better. I feel that what I am doing is right for my family. It will not be easy, but nothing of worth is, is it? I talked to a mother this week that is so upset because her gradeschool daughter is being "bullied". She can't join a "club" at school because she "stinks" or because of the jeans she is wearing. I know you can't shield your children from everything, but I won't be sending my precious children into that enviroment while they are still so young and impressionable and not ready to deal with it. I will keep them here with me, love them, nuture them, teach them the way I feel is right and then they will be ready to go out and face the world. They will learn how to treat others from me as I rely on the Lord to help me teach them. Oh, how happy I am I live in a country that I can do this. :)

Oh, and here is something interesting: Will and I both encountered two people that have been thinking about homeschooling: Audrey's doctor said they have thought about it, and then a chiropractor that Will went to lunch with this week said he and his wife have been concidering it. :) Kinda cool. Wish more would! :)

Today we are making salsa, so that is our school for today. I like Friday's to be spent doing things like that. Makes a nice end to our week! Off we go! :)

"That made you.....um...grouchy!"

That is what my dear sweet, and totally RIGHT hubby said to me last night after I had just spend the better part of two days making freezer meals. It is hard to cook a bunch of meals and take care of 4 kids and one dog. UGH! I hope it was worth it cuz I wore myself OUT. And wanna know what? I didn't even make enough to last a whole month like the book told me to do. I shudder to think what I would be like if I had. I kinda did a two week supply, or close to it! I made a few of the same meals but don't plan on eating them every week. But, since I was making one pan, I thought I should just make two, KWIM? The book did say I could try that instead of going all out and doing the whole month. Here is what I made:

• Two batches of split pea and ham soup. Just used my own recipe and froze it in freezer bags. We probably won't eat this until the weather cools off a bit. I don't like eating soup when it's hot outside, but that's just me.....


• Two pans of lasagna. Don't tell the kids I put chopped up zucchini in there.


• Two pans of chicken enchiladas. Again my own recipe.


• Two meals worth of Chicken Curry to be served over rice. New recipe. It called for cup up apples. Hmmmmm, it did smell good. I hope we like it!


• Enough pancakes to last at least several weeks or maybe a month. I made a bunch, put them on cookie sheets, froze them and then put them in freezer bags. You just pop them into your toaster, NOT the microwave. That way they will be crunchy not soggy.


• Cooked up 5 pounds of hamburger to be used for whatever I want. Tacos, spaghetti and so on.


• Cooked so much chicken I lost count of the pounds! I cubed it and put it in the freezer to be used for whatever! I also saved the water I boiled the chicken in to be used as stock or chicken broth. Good idea I found in my trusty "$3 a meal" cookbook I got from the library.

I think that is all. I wanted to make a bunch of beef and bean burritos and freeze them individually but I ran out of time and steam. Plus I didn't have my pinto beans soak overnight, so I was not prepared. Maybe next week. I ended up buying some disposable 9 by 12 pans at Sam's for just under $7 and it came with like 20. I also bought a HUGE can of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes at Sam's for under $3 each and just froze what I didn't use this time in quart sized freezer bags. Way cheaper than using the smaller cans. I also bought my tortillas at Sam's for under $4 and it had 30 of the bigger sized ones in it. I think buying in bulk for this type of cooking is the way to go. So, I hope this helps me at dinnertime. :) I will let you know.

p.s.

I finally tried Bountiful Baskets and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. I can't wait for next week!

p.p.s

I forgot to mention that I also borrowed the canner and canned ALL our powdered milk (53 cans) and ALL our noodles (24 cans) over the last few days. (I was planning on doing my potato flakes, and oatmeal as well, but they didn't calculate how many cans I needed to buy from them and I didn't get enough or else I woulda done that too!!) Good grief, no wonder I am grouchy! LOL!

Getting Ready: Part 2

Ok, here we go:

I am so excited this year! I found a homeschool blog that I LOVE and she has a homeschool store that I LOVE. I bought her handbook, Love to Learn, and found many good ideas I will be using this year! Very helpful book and worth the price. She breaks down each grade and has recommended books for each subject. Some programs she has written herself! She is a veteran homeschooler; been at it for like 20+ years, so I trust her judgement and wisdom. I called her store and asked what would be a good book for my kids' ages for US history and bought what she recommended. I love it. (far left in picture below). I also bought and LOVE the book 21 Rules of This House. It is just what I have been looking for. Things like "when someone is sad, we comfort them", "We do not make uneccessary messes for others" and so on. It comes with illustrations for each rule for the kids to color and a master list of all the rules to hang up. I can't wait to start this! Next, I have wanted a book JUST for Seth, my only son. It is easy for me to do girly crafty stuff, but my poor son needs something just for HIM. I have seen this book before and finally bought it. This is filled with "boy stuff". We are also going to be using the "Wee Sing America" cd for music day, which will happen once a week or more.

Math: Saxon for Seth and Sasha. I ended up finding someone with the 1st grade Saxon program they were trying to sell, (didn't work for them) and I also got the manipulatives from her, all for a great price. We will be reading from the Book Of Mormon readers, but Sasha is ready to move on the regular scriptures. She will be doing Rod and Staff for grammar, just like last year.
I am doing Explode the Code for both Seth and Addie for phonics since it goes along so nicely with the Happy Phonics program I just bought.

I also bought a journal program for each child. They write in it each day and illustrate it. If they misspelled any words, they go on a spelling list that they work on all week. It is just very organized and I NEED that this year. The journal program was also written by Diane Hopkins, whom I have mentioned like 100 times in this post! :) I might want her autograph someday.....she is quite the lady!

I decided to get Diane's Student Planner Program for Sasha. It basically maps out her daily, monthly and yearly goals academically and spiritually. I have been feeling like I need to push Sasha harder and think this will help me with that! :)

This is my new phonics program I bought from the mom I mentioned above. Her program was mentioned in a list of top phonics programs. Which is saying a lot since she is just an ordinary homeschooling momma from Utah! Very neat!! Anyways, it has a lot of games as you can see and I am so excited to use it! It took me a long time to cut it all out, but it is done and ready to go. All my kids can play the games, which is a bonus. I will report back after we have used it for awhile. It looks so fun and way better than the program I used last year with Seth. Sorry, Buddy. This year will be a lot funner!

Well that is all for now, I do believe! I have one more thing I am doing that I will post. I need to get them laminated first!!!!!

Getting ready: Part 1

Audrey is a big fan of what we have been doing to get ready for school this year................

My dad brought us two HUGE cork boards like this and I wanted to hang it somewhere the kids could use it to hang up their artwork. I had visions of how I would paint it; to liven it up, ya know?! The day I was outside painting, Addie came over, eager to paint. Sooooooo, I let her go for it. She said it was her "Universe". Sweet. I came back after she was done, and kinda tried to um, "fix" it a little. We all like it. It is hanging in the hall just outside the school\craft room.

I have been wanting to paint another section of wall with chalkboard paint like I did in our old house and finally got 'er done. I wanted it big this time. Lots of room for us all to write.
I think it is fun for kids to have somewhere different to write.....the sidewalk.....the windows with dry erase markers......it is good to change things up a bit, huh?! It only cost me $9 in paint to do this. I did it myself one night when Audrey was in bed and Will had taken the kids to a movie.

I think it is big enough......I also added the alphabet around the room to help us when we forget which way a "p" goes. :)

I am waiting to get the last of my curriculum and I will post what I am doing this year. I am excited and am trying a few new things. Yippeeeeee!

Cooking up a storm....

Anyone ever done the whole "cook for a day, eat for a month" thingy? I was at a homeschoolers play group this week and some gals there do this and I so wanna try it. I am feeling like I need to simplify my day since #1 I am adding a new student this year (Addie, the kindergartener) and #2 Our class mascot (Audrey Anne, the pink bundle) might make school time a little more challenging than last year or the year before. Soooooo, I am thinking about doing this. I ordered the book Frozen Assets and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival! It was recommended by a friend who tried it and is a "frozen-meal believer". Ah, another adventure for me to try......wanna come make dinners with me?

All better!!!!

Look at his face! So dang cute! I love this little boy so much and am so glad I have him. He is stubborn and particular and determined and also so sweet, such a good big brother to Audrey is melts my heart. He got up at 6:30 and burst up the stairs to show me and Daddy that he got $7!!! The Tooth Fairy even left a little something for his two sisters since they were so nice to him yesterday. So......

off to Walmart we went at 7:00am and he picked this out. Legos make everything ALL better! So glad yesterday is OVER and we are off to a great start today already.

Oh, and here is Audrey in her Bumbo I got off KSL for a steal! I have always wanted one, but was NOT gonna pay full-price for something I knew she would only use for a short time. She loves it! She loves sitting on the counter when we are all in there doing our thing. LOVE this baby girl! Happy day!

More FUN at the dentist's............

Before......


After................

Today was HARD. For him and me! His baby teeth have been super stubborn and he has already been in once to have one pulled to make room for his permanent ones. Well he had three on the bottom that needed to come out today. They were NOT even loose. At all. Then his two front teeth were hanging on by a thread and they looked kinda funny. Like buck-teeth or something. So cute, in a funny sort of way. Anyway, he did not love getting numbed up. Me either. He did not like getting them pulled out. Me either. He layed there, looking up at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his, crying, reaching for me and saying over and over, "Momma, Momma!". It was horrible. I totally started to cry. They asked me to please leave the room. So, I did. I stood out in the hall, crying like a big baby listening to my son crying himself. UGH. I did not expect today to be like that. At all. I used to be on the other side of the table. When I worked as a medical assistant, I would calmly tell mothers that they needed to remain calm so their child, who is getting stitches or something, will remain calm, too. Ya, easier said than done. I thought I knew so much. NOT. I am a mom now and I HATE seeing my kids in pain and being unable to help them. I think the Tooth Fairy is going to leave him like $20 cause he sure earned it. This is NOT supposed to be the way you loose teeth. Poor kid. Oh, and I have let him play the Wii all day long.