Fall Lovin'

We are loving this fall weather- its so beautiful out and has been for the past couple weeks- we are gonna have a 60 degree Thanksgiving!!  The kids have still been outside playing a lot and tracking all kinds of leaves and dirt in the house. Fun.  But I wouldn't have it any other way! I love that my kids love playing outside, do you? I have to admit though, that there are times where it is beautiful out and the kids don't want to go out and I threaten them that Im gonna kick them out and lock the door ;) No, but I do sometimes make my kids go out and get in the fresh air even if they don't feel like it.  Its good for them and great for my sanity :) Here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids on the fall.

This one of Jude is probably one of my favorites of him of all time! I love it!

Love these kiddos- hope you enjoy your week and the weather is beautiful where you are! 

Have a great weekend!

This is a picture from the first day of school- they are so happy! We are feeling that way today too because its the weekend!!!  Next week we only have two days of school and then thanksgiving break!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your rest and your family!

living literally

I read lots of blogs.  Usually I read blog's of other stay-at-home-moms, of course, because I can relate.  I love finding new ones and reading through their archives and "getting to know them."  This one has really encouraged me this past week, as far as being deliberate with being a mother and living the term stay at home mom literally.  We often, especially as moms, and as women in general feel an overwhelming pressure to be able to "do it all."  And I am really really being proactive about shunning that pressure to be supermom.  There really is no reality in being great at everything- we can try, but something will always be lacking, something always gets the leftover energy and time.  I want to do these few things, these things that have come to define me, as well as i possibly can.  I want be the best woman of God I can be, that takes my time and energy and God's grace, but its something I have committed to doing, and its not just for my benefit, but I notice when I really take the time to spend with the Lord, my whole day is better, my patience is greater, my love given more freely.  I want to please God.  Next, I want to be the best wife I can be.  Sometimes with everything else going on, this is the relationship that takes a back burner a lot ( especially when you have small children that take a lot of your attention.)  After our covenant with the Lord, this is the most important covenant we have, the one with our spouse.  If things are going on in your marriage, that effects everyone else in the family- your kids will notice.  Work hard to protect your marriage! Make time for your marriage! Time doesn't just present itself in this day and age- you have to make it and make it work for you and your spouse- it is vital to the family!  Next, I want to be the best mom I can be.  I LOVE being a mom- does that mean Im perfect at it? Absolutely not! I have small children, so I am still learning everyday.  One thing that I have done, and I really enjoy doing is talking to other moms- gleaning advice and encouragement has helped me so much.  Asking for advice and help is somethings we should never be ashamed to do- we all fail sometimes, we all are clueless about things, or just need that extra little encouraging here or there.  Soak in the wisdom that so many people are willing to share if you only ask!  If there is one thing I hear from parents of grown children, it is that us women and mothers ( parents in general)need to shrug off that burden of having to be amazing at multitasking- especially with our kids- enjoy them, and enjoy that precious time that goes way too fast!!  No more supermom syndrome!!  Enjoy your days and see what a blessing your life is!!

new school year, new schedule

This is our schedule from the very first day of school.  We still use the same basic routine, with little changes here and there.  I have gotten a little lax with writing down our schedule EVERY day, I write it down once for the week and only add daily things if it is different from the everyday schedule ( does that make any sense??)  I also use iCal a lot for everything that our family is involved in so i can get to it easily while Im at the computer during the day.  Alright, Im going to go ahead and show you what our schedule looks like right now.  

8:00 am- I try to get the kids up around this time, but if they have had a late night, or aren't feeling very good then I will just let them sleep.  We eat breakfast and brush our teeth and get dressed before we start ( the kids do anyways, Im usually still in sweatpants)  

9am- try to get started with school around this time, but again, it depends on what time we get up and get done with breakfast

We usually start with handwriting and the kids do that while I read the Bible.  We have been using the Reese Chronological Bible ( you can find it here)  We did order the KJV.  Im not a stickler for KJV, but I thought the language would be good for the kids to hear and get used to. We discuss what we've read then we pray together.

After Bible we do our presidents song.  I tried last year and the beginning of this year to just do straight memorization with no help. Just didn't work for us.  I now use this song ( you can find it here) and its been making it a lot easier for us ( yes, us, I need to learn them in order too!)

If its a Monday, we will do the pledge

Language Arts is next.  Their K12 curriculum is pretty basic for Elsie, just read a story and recall what happened and answer questions- she loves it and most of the books are really cute and enjoyable for her. Jude's is more in depth as far as beginning writing and learning the parts of a sentence and how to really structure one on his own.  He has been learning subject and predicate and also, how to write and invitation.  We also started the Little House on the Prairie series and we are to book 4 now On the Banks of Plum Creek.  I do this as extra reading and we have all loved this series! 

Next we usually do the extra or enrichment subjects.  Jude has History ( he is learning about ancient history-we did ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and now he is to Judaism)  He also has social Studies ( learning about money- supply and demand, needs vs.wants)  He has Art ( he learning about landscapes and landscape artists)  And last, he has Music ( learning stick notation)  and Science ( we have been keeping a weather log and keeping track of rainfall starting today)  Elsie has Language Skills ( right now she is learning kitchen words- this subject to me is extremely below her skill level and so i just let her enjoy doing the online activities and don't really spend a whole lot of time on this)  She also has History ( learning world geography and about different cultures) and Social Studies ( learning about families and working together as a community) These are the courses that have the most online activities for the kids and they really enjoy them.

11 am- we usually have lunch around this time, sometimes later if we are still working, but for the most part its always around 11.

12- Thatcher goes down for his nap, so the kids get about 30-60 minutes to play and have free time, but around 12:30-1:00, we start back with school

12:30- I usually have the kids do the opposite subject of each other, one will do Phonics, while the other does Math, that way one can be on the computer doing their activity while I'm working with the other one.  Jude has been learning letter blends for Phonics and has improved so much from last year- Im so excited and proud of him!!!  Elsie is learning the double oo sound and is a natural reader ( typical girl).  Jude is doing addition past 20 right now and is very good at math and enjoys it, but just has a hard time keeping his focus- Im going to try and few different things for him to kind of switch it up and not let it get monotonous to him.  

Last we do journaling every other day, so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  This is just extra practice that I make them do, its not part of their curriculum.  And last we usually do sight word practice- takes a little while for Elsie b/c I have her learning the same words that Jude is learning, but she is doing remarkably!  

K12 has a program called Reading Eggs and my kids LOVE it- they are required to do 5 lessons a week and this is what the kids usually do while I clean and get ready for dinner.  

On Mondays Jude has Karate so we leave the house around 5:30-6:00 and get home around 8-8:30

Tuesdays are our free night as a family until next week, b/c Thad is starting back to school.  

Wednesdays, I drop the kids off at 5:30 for piano and then they go straight to church from there so I don't see them again until around 9pm.

Thursdays, Thad and I have FBI youth service and the kids stay with their Papaw :)

Fridays is pizza and family night- we order pizza and just hang out- this is when the kids usually get to watch a video :)

The kids bedtime is around 8- or whenever we get home and get them to bed ;) Thad has also been reading The Hobbit to the kids and we are so excited to see the movie!  

Shew!!! Well, I hope this was helpful for someone and if you have any questions, please comment!!! Blogging feels very one sided a lot of the time! Hope you have a great rest of the week!

homeschool- new year

Well, we have been rolling along ( more like bumping along.) Its been hard figuring out homeschooling with two students this year- alot more challenging than I thought it would be.  We have changed our schedule two times already this year so far and we're not even to Christmas break yet!  I have been trying to work out the kinks and get it all figured out and its been a kind of "try this and see if it works approach."
I so very much enjoy homeschooling my kids and figuring out their learning styles. Sometimes we have really great days, where everything runs smoothly and we are all in good moods.  Those are the days where I am so glad we tried this approach or that approach and see that its really working well for us.  Then there are those days where it seems like nothing is going right and we are all getting frustrated with each other and just plain ready to quit- those days are hard. Really hard.  Those days I think, "My life would be so much easier if they just went to 'real school'" ( thats what we call brick and mortar school) I think of all the things I could get done throughout the day, how much more organized I would be, how much cleaner my house would be and fantasize about all the free time I would have.  But then one of them will have something on those days that just clicks and they really understand what they are learning, or Jude will have a rough time focusing and I can sit down with him and help him get through a math worksheet and thats when I think " THIS is why I love having my kids at home learning and schooling with me."  I cannot think of anything better than having these sweet babies here with me and helping them learn in their own individual learning styles and giving them the one on one attention that they wouldn't get anywhere else.  And to be honest( I may have blogged about this before? who knows?) I have a really hard time trusting ANYONE with my kids.  I know that no one can love my kids like I do and will put up with my kids like I do.  No one knows their personalities like I do and what really motivates them or really shuts them down like I do.
This has been a more challenging year than I had anticipated so far, but like most things in life that are hard, its SO worth it!

( crazy kiddos:))