The 30 Day Mark

We have had 30days of school and it has gone pretty well.  Everyone is getting through their stuff and learning something too!  Honestly, by this time in the school year, yes just 30 days in, I have usually lost my joy.  Things just seem to get hard, I can't seem to keep up with grading papers and doing lesson plans, or we just aren't motivated.  Whatever the reason has been I am really working hard and changing that cycle. 

I have stopped doing lesson plans for a long period of time.  If you don't get everything accomplished you usually feel like a failure.  So, I only do lesson plans for about a week at a time maybe two. It has worked really well.  As for grading, the kids are grading most of their own work which they seem to like to do and their math is graded on the computer. We are staying very motivated and I can contribute that to God.  Batheing our school and family in prayer every night, morning and through out the day has helped us all stay on the right track! 

With things going pretty good right now I need to be armed with the things that will help me stay motivated once we get to day 40, 60, 80.....mark.  So last Thursday I went to the HFHG LIVE meeting and listened to Todd Wilson, The Familyman speak about homeschooling, marriage, family, and life.  It was inspiring.  I left with such a renewed sense of excitement and three new books.  Two for me and one for Steve.   

 

I have started reading both of my and they are great...I am getting so much out of them.  Steve is reading his and really seems to like it too.  It is really nice working to get us both on the same page and not running over him when he tries to help out with school.

Then last Monday night I went to my monthly homschool mom's "meeting" and we enjoyed the teachings of Voddie Baucham  He is awesome I suggest that if you have never heard him you get his DVD on educationing your children.  Children of Caesar  You can watch some of it on Youtube.  He is so passionate about home educating our children and taking them out of the hands of the government.  I ordered two books today that he has written or recommends.  I will update you on those once I have read them. 

I am just thankful that we are able to have a great school year so far.  Praying for continued productivity.





The Adventure Begins.....

Our school year has gotten underway and is going pretty well. I think everyone is in the groove and working really hard!! I will admit I am STILL a little stressed out about Tyler being a freshman.

Tyler is working pretty hard, but he is only doing three classes right now: English PACE's School of Tomorrow,  Saxon Algebra 1 with, DIVE CD  and Biology, Apologia Biology  at CEC . He begins Notgrass World History and Literature , ABEKA Spanish 1 and Apologetics Who Is God and Can I Really Know Him? Biblical Worldview of God and Truth in a week at co-op. He seems to be doing really well, just not always following my directions. Unfortunately he has some of my qualities and the worst one is; laziness. He only wants to do the minimum amount of work. This year will show him how hard he needs to work.

Samantha is in 7th grade and is a hard worker. I just have to give her a list of what she needs to do and she will sit down and gets it done! She is doing English PACE'S School of Tomorrow , 7th Grade Math and Science PACES School of Tomorrow right now. We start Literature reading: Island of the Blue Dolphins next week and she will start Mystery of History Volume 1 , Intro to Spanish and Apologetics at co-op.

Caroline is in 4th grade and is struggling a little bit with her self-esteem. She usually doubts her abilities so she struggles more then she really needs to. She is working on English PACES School of Tomorrow, Creative Writing and Literature PACES School of Tomorrow,  4th grade math , Sequential Spelling, and  Critical Thinking Activities . She will start History, Apologia Swimming Creatures Science and Art Appreciation at Co-op. We will be doing Galloping the Globe Geography with friends in the next couple of weeks too. We will have to work really hard this year building up her self-esteem.

Jack is 2nd grade and doing really well. We have only done a couple weeks of school so far and he isn’t whining too much!! I do take silly bands for whining, I do have a few of his in my jar!! He is working on Phonics Explode the Code , Sequential Spelling ,  Rod and Staff reading , Rod and Staff English ,  3rd Grade Math  and his reading and math boxes. He will be doing some science, history, geography and BASIC SEWING (yep, sewing) at co-op. He will be following along with Caroline in her science book and working with Geography.

Looking forward to getting going even more then we already have.....

Joshua Schoolhouse!!!!

Joshua’s Schoolhouse has officially started the 2010-2011 school year.

• We have no buses, so no one gets lost
• you can read your Bible whenever you want, we actually encourage it
• Praying is exactly what we want you to do, first thing in the morning
• uniform days are pajamas, actual clothes are optional
• you are required to tell the teacher you love her!!!

This is the 7th year of homeschooling. We are moving slowly, just a few subjects a day for the first week then adding more. This year we have a freshmen, 7th grader, 4th grader, 2nd grader and a preschooler. This will make me a little busy! Everyone says they are going to work really hard this year…. 

This is my most enthusiastic student!!!

He loves "homeschool" too, but doesn't like to wait!!!

Changes for the 2010-2011 School Year

I have decided to start early on our next school year!  I have gotten  most of the curriculum or at least know what I want.  We will be educating a Ninth grader (yikes!!), Seventh Grader, Fourth Grader, Second Grader and off and on a Preschooler.  We will be utilizing the WorkBoxes this year in different versions: The drawers for Caroline, Jack and Evan and the file folders for Sam and Tyler.  I am looking forward to having a plan every day. 

I think we are going to start this through the summer.  They need to work on something during the summer or their brains turn to muss!  Our summer work will be:  They won't be working all day, but hoping they can get something done everyday and reading EVERY day.


Tyler-working on Algrea-through worksheets, a unit study of his choice and reading at least three different books.
Sam-math (7th grade), a unit study of her choice and reading at least three different books.
Caroline-English;  fun math-money, clocks, measure; her state notebook (covers all 50 states) and reading LOTS of books.
Jack-fun math-money, clocks, measure; lapbooks of his choice and 1st grade Rod and Staff Reading with workbooks.
Evan-his letter books, number books and some fun preschool lapbooks.

All of this will go in their Workboxes (I will post more about this once we get them set up).  Hoping to go buy them tomorrow.