Time to Get Serious!

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Toward the end of each school year, I write a long list of assignments they must complete to be finished for the year.  They have the option to complete all of these in a week or so (if they work pretty hard), or take the recommended three weeks to complete it.  They also, could take longer if they desire, moving their school year into the hot, perfect for swimming months of June and July.  I give them this choice for them to work on their level of self-motivation. During the rest of the year, we go through most of the work together, so I know where they are and what they are reading and learning.  But at this special time, they have the option to finish early and savor the first sweet hints of summer.  This is not about speeding through and not digesting what they’ve read.  They have to be able to narrate the story to me.  Many times, I read the books too, because they are very entertaining and I always learn something.

What do you do to finish the year strong? Post a comment!

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Take a Deep Breath Woman!

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We are SO behind after being in Florida for a week!  But here’s the deal, we are closing in on the end of May (school’s out for summer, can’t you just hear Alice Cooper?).  It’s coming whether we want it to or not.  And believe me, we DO!  So, at times like these, I have to remove my list-checking hat and take a deep breath.  I find it easier at the end of the year to be less firm on projects, because I remember as a substitute teacher in the school system, the kids are kinda done!  We don’t do testing in homeschool, like they do, but there is something in the air during springtime that says, “I JUST wanna be outside; I’ve fulfilled my requirements for the year!”  So, if you find yourself getting nowhere fast trying to shove the last bits of something down, take a deep breath and relax.  Take a mental health day, or a field trip.  Yeah, you’ll be even further behind, (he he) but when you return to the desk, it’ll be with renewed interest and vigor. We’ll soon be swimming, I promise….

5 Ways to Finish the Homeschool Year Strong

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Camping with friends during Spring Break. Photo credit – Deanna Blue. Thanks Deanna!

4-2014

The final push from the end of Spring Break to the first days of summer can feel a little like the movie “Groundhog Day”.  There’s nothing to break up the monotony; it’s just all about pushing through and completing another day.  Here are 5 ways that you, a homeschooling momma can bust out of that monotony and into the summer with energy to spare!

 

1) Plan a fun field trip

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In Florida last week – everyone else in Texas was doing state testing. Not trying to rub it in. Yes I am.

If your kids were ever in public school, you may remember that this is the time of year that they would plan a field trip to cut a path through all the boring test prep.  For homeschool, this also works! Take a trip to the zoo, or an uncrowded amusement park, make a picnic lunch and take a frisbee and the dog. This is the time to take advantage of the fact that everyone is still in school!

 

 

2) Have a mental health day

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My children are the first and third mannequins in this pic…

When my kids were in public school, each year, I’d pick a day and surprise them by picking them up from school.  My lucky daughter of the day would get to decide where we ate lunch and (out of a few carefully chosen options) what we did for the day.  We called it mental health day.  Everyone needs a day like this every so often.  It could even be a veg day, where you catch up on stuff you’ve both been wanting to see on tv, or have a carpet picnic (can you tell I like picnics?).

 

3) Teacher for the day

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Sydney, as Science Teacher

A couple of times, to bust up the boring nature of this time of year, I’ve instituted “teacher for the day”.  The kid I choose gets to be the teacher and I am one of the students, along with their sibling.  They LOVE doing this, and I think they actually learn more when teaching the material.

 

 

4) Do school in a weird place

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Another day in a hotel – school to occur as soon as free breakfast hours are over!

 

We’ve done school in coffee shops, hotels, cars, on the trampoline, outside in the sun, in the pool, in one of their beds, and in my bed.  When they come to sit down for school in the morning, surprise them by moving them to another location.  Perspective changes.  It’s good.
 

5) Add a movie, YouTube or Schoolhouse Rock to your day

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Check out Amazon, Netflix, Brainpop and others for something relative to your history lesson for the day.  Kids retain more when they see the Civil War acted out on the computer or tv. Sometimes a random 80’s song pops into my head.  I will play it on YouTube just to illustrate my point.  The kids think I’m weird. It’s all part of my plan….

So, just when you think that there’s no way you can possibly make it to the end of May, try out one of these little gems.  The change will not only add fun to your Spring, but give all of you the strength to carry on through to the infamous “Week 36”.

 

Somebody’s got a Senior in the House!

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4-2013

Ok, so we are a family of weirdoes.  We all think it’s fun.  Imagine our excitement when we realized that Caycee needed a senior picture done and we all got to participate?  Also, in my love for combining things, I knew we also needed another family picture done!  Since Sydney and Sophie were 3 and 1 when we had our last pics taken and Caycee has come to live with us over the last year, we were a little deprived in that department.

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So, here is the almost graduated girl in her cowgirl boots.  Of course, we took these in the stockyards….where else??

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Going for a walk at night!

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It’s a rule: you must wear funny hats while working on Latin!

In the Weeds

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Sophie-girl with a shovel in the back 40

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So pretty. Getting ready to have a birthday!

2-2012

Well, we have moved, gotten all settled in, figured out how to take care of the pool, the well, and the septic system, and now spring has sprung!  Well, at least the weeds of spring….they are popping up all over my 1.1 acre, and that’s A LOT of ground to cover with weed killer!!  Makes me think of God trying to weed stuff out of my life.  As I am squirting the weeds down, I am being ever so careful to not hit actual plants.  I notice also that good stuff and bad stuff can grow out of the same place.  Hmmmm..

Ok, so we are thinking that next year we will consider putting the kids into a 2 day a week co-op type program.  I am thinking about one that is just down the road, that I have never heard of, and where Sydney would be the highest grade they have.  I am also considering one that I have heard of that has lots of experienced people teaching and is a bit further away.  And so here are the complexities that come along with homeschooling….knowing when to give away some of the reins to someone else, and how to do it.  Praying to see God’s best for my children in all of this…..

Koda Swims

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1-2012

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Here is our dog, Koda.  Koda is a girl dog, though most people mistake her for a boy.  She’s a lil sensitive to that fact….she has always aspired to be a girlie girl dog, but alas….

She is part yellow lab (loves water) and part Shar-pei (hates, hates water), so she truly has an internal fight going on when it comes to water.  Recently, we moved to a house with a pool.  She hasn’t even looked at it.  She acts like it’s not even there.  Enter one beautiful sunny gorgeous day.  We were all out back after a bike ride, enjoying the sun and the view of the pool.  We don’t dare get in; it’s about 60 degrees in the water.  But Koda decided to!  She stepped off onto the large step and swam a couple strokes and turned back around to face me.  I was happy to see her get in till I saw the look of distress on her face!  She was trying to get up onto the side of the pool, and knowing she’d try that, I talked her (with a potato chip) into coming back toward the large step.  Didn’t have my camera until it was all over, but you do get to enjoy the “after” pictures…..

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“A little bit of sun and I’ll be ready for the backstroke…..”

Now, back to school, of which we have done about half the day.

Gettin’ Air

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1-2012

Yesterday, I took the kids to Urban Air in Southlake for a little midday jump.  It was fun…and jumpy!  Everything smelled a bit like gym socks afterward…..buuuut, they were happy and tired when we left.  This is one of the beautiful things about homeschool; we can go at 2pm on a school day and burn off some energy.  We can go someplace in the middle of the day just to get a change of scenery!  Love the lifestyle…..

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The kids got hot and sweaty pretty quickly….and tired….

Cannonballlll!

Cannonballlll!

Waiting in line for her turn

Waiting in line for her turn

It’s Been Forever and a Day…

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This seems like the perfect shot of our wacky summer!

This seems like the perfect shot of our wacky summer!

 

5-2011

Since I last posted, lots has been happening.   The girls and I completed our first year of homeschool.  I feel a sense of accomplishment, yes, but I mostly feel closer to my kids than I did at this time last year.  We have laughed so hard at funny names and situations in history, we have cried so hard (mostly about math).  And through everything, we’ve learned to accept each other more.  That has been the greatest lesson.

Now, I am beginning to pull together books and other items I will need for next year.  I am excited and really want to begin now!  We are planning to continue math, devo and reading through the summer.  Besides that we plan to geocache, hike, relax, camp, and travel.

I will update you with our adventures as we have them!

Math Mistake

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1-2011

This is Syd and when we started to homeschool, we did not know what kind of math to do for me, so we got something on the internet called adaptive ciriculum and the 1st lesson was super easy. then, after a few weeks, it got really stressful and hard. then mom noticed that i was doing 7th and 8th grade math and im in 6th grade. but now im on a very cool math program called math u see and i love it.