2nd week...check!

We just finished up our second week of school!  I have been busy trying to work out a few kinks.  I am not a big fan of the schedule that I created.  Since I created it...I don't have to follow it...correct?:)   I just keep what I want to accomplish in my head and then we get as much done as we can during the day.  Sometimes we are done right before lunch....rarely though.  Most of the time we take a break around the lunch hour and resume around 1pm-2:30pm or so...sometimes later.  Our days just vary:)

I am not going to summarize every week...even though I have a few friends that tell me to keep posting ideas...they need as much help as they can get.  I will try my best...but our time seems to be more limited nowadays.

Here are a few things that we did over this past week!

 I quizzed the girls with questions referring to time.  They each had to hold out a color cube with their answer.  I put 5 questions on the board and then had them show me random times on their clocks.

 The girls have almost finished memorizing the books of the Old Testament in the Bible...5 more books to go!  We are all having fun with this activity!

 Katelyn spelling our her spelling words with letter blocks.  One word she had was "spize".  You know what that is?  I have no clue.  Actually she was in the process of turning the Z to make an N.  Spine...was the word.

 On another day I read her sentences and she filled in the blanks with her words...and stamped them out.

 Jocelyn working on contraction matching.

 The kids were really confused by this activity...I put a whole bunch of scrap paper and handed them a bottle of glue and a white piece of paper.  I told them they couldn't use scissors or any writing utensils.  They had to create a scene of some sort.  They were confused...but in the end...they got it.

 Easton just did sticker art!

 We then made butterflies...kind of out of season...but the kids loved it!

 And we made some very yummy banana bread!!! The recipe is here...so worth trying out!!!

Hope your kids had a good week at school!!!

Summer racing!

This past spring I decided that I would start running.  I have never been a runner.  I have never been able to run a mile without stopping.  I was always one of the last one's in when doing the timed mile in PE class.  Running just isn't my thing.  My goal was to run 1 mile straight in 10 minutes without stopping by the end of the summer.  Well I am happy to say that I can run 1 mile straight.  The 10 minutes...not so much...still 1 minute off of that.  I can actually run 2 miles straight!!  I want to see if I can go further, but haven't been able to really test that out yet.  I need to get away from this hilly village we live in and get on some trails someday!  Evenings are tough because my husband doesn't get home until close to 7pm.  By the time I feed him dinner and the get the kids ready for bed it is dark.  I might try for a morning....just have to force myself to get up before 6am, so I can get back in time for my husband to get to work.  Excuses...excuses...I know!  So maybe one of these days.

I participated in 3 organized runs this past summer.  They were sooooo much fun!  The first one was the Havelock charity run.  It was only a 3K and I ran the entire thing.  I was so proud of myself and I beat my goal time by 3 minutes.  I was still slow compared to others, but I had a lot of fun!

The next was the Color 5k Run in Omaha.  I had in my head that I would run the entire thing...but wasn't able to.  The million degree weather and the hills...oh my gosh the hills.  So I walked/ran with a few friends.  It was still a ton of fun!!

My last for the year was the Lincoln 5k Mud Run.  I also did it with a few friends.  I was all pumped up to go and then I saw pictures of the course on facebook and got just a wee bit scared.  But all in all it was a really fun course and I was able to do all of the obstacles.  The hardest part for me was going down the waterslide...at the end my tailbone hit some type of brick or something...ouch!! I believe I may have been the only one with a waterproof camera...stopping to take pictures along the way??:)

Nancy, Megan, and I!

The family...waiting to cheer me on!

Megan trying to get a crowd shot...with me in it!

One of the many hills!

This is from the newspaper...if you look closely at the top...you can see my body!:)

One of the many mud pits!

After the first climbing wall!

Waiting to do the second climbing wall...I decided to do 20 pushups instead!

On the trail!

Over the barrels!

Nancy and I finishing...with all of the stops along the way...I think our time was 48 minutes.

Nancy and I post race!

Wendy & I post race!

These races were all really fun!  I can't wait to see what next year holds!!!

Snacks!!.....what we do.

In 2 1/2 weeks we will be in grandma-ville.  You know the world where your kids just don't listen because grandma will give them whatever they want.  We will be in grandma-ville for approximately 12 days.  In an RV.  With 4 kids.  3 adults.  For at least 40 hours (driving).  Doesn't that sound really exciting?  I am trying to have a positive attitude.  Help me out people with some words of encouragement!!  My hubby will not be coming with us...I do not understand why.  8 people in an RV...that would be fun!  I AM excited about the adventures once we are at various destinations...just a little nervous about a few other things.  One thing being snacks and food. 

Snacks....food.  When we are at home, we are on a schedule...my kids' bodies must be used to it...because they know they get breakfast.  Snack at 10am.  Lunch.  Snack around 3pm.  Dinner.  Snack at 7pm.  There are rarely any in betweens.  Rarely.  They don't get to have a free for all in the kitchen.  They are not allowed to just open up the fridge/cabinets to just help themselves.  Maybe when they are older...but they are not allowed yet.  They get one snack...not 3-4.  Their portions are controlled.  Our snacks are boring.  I try to spice things up at night...but boring throughout the day. 

So in a few weeks...we enter grandma-ville.  At grandma-ville there is an unlimited supply of food.  You can eat whenever and pretty much whatever you want...at any given time.  (Granted most things that grandma have are healthy choices.) You say you are hungry for a second, third, and oh yes...fourth snack...sure have some more.  We can't possibly leave a child STARVING!  This is where I become nervous....this is where I have laid my foot down.  I have told grandma (we will see if she will follow my 1 rule) I am in charge of snacks.  She can feed them their bedtime snacks...but I am going to be packing 50 + snacks for the kiddos. So to practice at home, I thought I would get a jump start to see how this would work. 

Before school started back up I bought a variety of different (boring) snacks.  Ok...some are fun...I threw in a package of fruit snacks and pop tarts!...so give me some credit.  I prepacked the snacks into little baggies, containers, or just left them in their packaging.  Each child gets to have one of each of these snacks as the days progress...they may not have a second on any...if I gave Jocelyn a choice she would eat all 4 pop tarts and the other kids would never get any.  I will replace the snacks when they are all gone. I do throw in a few surprises now and then like fruit, yogurt, and things from the fridge. 

On our little RV adventure I will have a check list to keep track of my sneaky little kids snack intakes.  I think it will work...if I can get grandma on board:)  So far it is working at our house.  No more staring at the snack cabinet trying to decide where the snacks are and what their choices are.  No more packing snacks right before we go somewhere...I can just grab and go.  No more kids asking if they can have mom & dad's M&M's or rice krispy treats.  So far...so good!

Little recap of our first week of school!

Last week was our first week of school!  I was really excited...the kids were only a teeny bit excited.  I knew once we started they would be fine...and sure enough...they were!  We had a really good week.  I feel like we got a lot done...even though I didn't throw in any electives quiet yet.  I have a schedule that we kind of follow. I am really not a "follow a written down schedule" type of person...but at least I have it posted for a guide in case we get lost.  :) I am still trying to find time for ME during the day.  Didn't seem to happen at all last week.  My goal this week:  to find that time!:)  I guess that is part of homeschooling since there are no breaks from the kiddos, so I will take that!

Here is a little picture recap of how our week went!!

It says Preschool on top...bad lighting!

Just my little tot...he did such a good job at coloring...didn't he?:)

Jocelyn starting 2nd grade:)

Katelyn starting kindergarten...bad lighting again!

 

We started off our first day of school with a big breakfast...eggs, sausage, juice, and this delight....strawberry lemon bread thingy.  It was really good!  Recipe is:  HERE!

The three older kids watching their first episode of What's in the Bible.  It discussed what the Bible is and talked about the different parts and books in the Bible.  Want to earn a 20% discount on the DVD's that my kiddos are watching this year?  Click: HERE!

The girls played a little review game.  I gave them cards with different random answers...they each got all of the answers correct!

The girls are learning the books of the Bible.  This is a picture of them trying to find the sticks that match up to Genesis-Lamentations.  They love this little activity and are having fun memorizing the books' names!

The kids painted a picture of what they think they look like...pretty cute!  We hung them on one of the walls in our school room!

 

 The boys are expected to sit on a mat and play with toys, activities, or busy bags.  I have had to swap them out a little more than I would have liked, but they are doing pretty well.  In this picture Easton is playing with magnet people and Weston is matching up a foam puzzle.

One of the noodle busy bags!

Weston on my iPad!

Weston using his bucket for a hat!

and just plain bored with his legos I guess!

Jocelyn reading a library book

Jocelyn's new math program: Teaching Textbooks grade 3.  She really likes it...and so do I!

Jocelyn taking her spelling pretest on my iPad.  I recorded myself saying each of her spelling words and she listens at her own pace.

Jocelyn snapped a picture of Katelyn reading a story to me from her Hooked on Phonics book.  She learned the long A and I words this week!

I was quizzing Katelyn on her spelling words using magnets!

Katelyn using cubes for her Math lesson.

Easton working on his mommy & daddy letters (uppercase).  He learned his lowercase last year, so this year we are going to work on his uppercase letters and review the sounds.  I use our dry erase board for this. Pencil and paper don't seem to interest him too much.

Easton playing a matching game.

and that is all that I have.  I missed a lot of fun moments.  We took 3 bike rides during our P.E. time.  It was such a beautiful week.  We sewed.  We read a lot.  We prayed a lot.  We made a dining room set for the girls' American girl dolls.  Such a busy week...but glad to be back into the swing of things!!

See what other homeschoolers are doing here: