Quick Takes Homeschooling Style

1.  We will finish up our second week of school tomorrow.  It's been going really well.  I think the kids were ready to get back to the routine and transitioned really well into the routine of school.  We are back to starting our day with Bible time, we didn't do that last year and I really missed it.  This year we are reading a devotional from Our Daily Bread and then reading the Bible verse that goes with it.  Then we read a chapter from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible.  I thought my kids knew the Bible stories backwards and forwards but recent conversations with Joe have revealed that he doesn't know as much as I thought.  I figured it wouldn't hurt any of them to hear the Bible in story form from beginning to end.  I've had the book on my shelf and never used it so we are this year.  I am also reading a book to them during this time as well.  We are starting with YWAM's C. S. Lewis.  I love those biographies, we've read about 6 or 7 of them over the years.  We have been starting Bible time by 8 and ending by 8:30 and then everyone gets to work on their own stuff.

2.  Another new thing this year is that the girls put their phones and iPods in my room from 8 to 11 every day.  This has been GREAT and even they agree.  They have said that they like the undistracted time and that they are more productive.

3. The changes I have ended up making with Joe have worked out really well and I am soooo happy.  Here's what he is doing--FLVS Science, Math-U-See Epsilon (fractions), and reading every day.  So far, I have mostly read to him but reading has never been an issue for him so that's fine with me.  We are reading all of the Sunshine State books for middle school this year and we started with Lions of Little Rock.  It was really good--set in the late 1950s in Little Rock and dealt with segregation and integration.  Excellent historical fiction book.  In addition to doing science and math every day--I have been making him a list of 10 things and he gets to choose 5.  The lists vary day to day, I am pulling from a master list of about 20 things.  Some of his options include--art, bike ride, Wordly Wise (vocabulary workbook...he chooses this every day that it is an option), Word Roots workbook, Spelling workbook, learn the countries of Europe--what they are, how to spell them, and where they are (his option for the day would include either copying them or filling in a map), once he knows Europe we will move onto Africa, Asia, South America and so on, Cursive copywork, choose a topic and go to the library and check out 3 books about that topic, read an extra 15 minutes, play a math game (hasn't chosen this one yet), watch a history documentary, watch 30 min. of Schoolhouse Rock, and more.  Most days he has happily chosen 5 things and happily done them which is REALLY nice and a welcome change from the stress that was school last year.

4.  About FLVS Science and Math--he just started both this week so we could be in a honeymoon period but I hope not.  He is really enjoying FLVS and on his own today, sat down and went through a whole lesson on the scientific method, even took a page of notes (he chose to do this while I was at the grocery store...it's a dog days of summer miracle) and then made a 92 on the quiz.  Over dinner tonight he explained in detail the steps of the scientific method and seemed very proud of himself.  Tomorrow's lesson is about the Metric System.  I've tried explaining this to him in the past and it has not gone well...I'm hopeful that FLVS can take care of this one!  We started Math on Monday and we are taking it s-l-o-w-l-y.  We went through so much trauma over math last year that I just want to re-train his brain this year to not get so upset over math.  If he learns and masters fractions that is a bonus.  We watched the DVD lesson for the first lesson and each day this week we have done a page of the same type of problems.  In M-U-S, you watch a lesson and then have 1A, 1B, 1C and then 1D, 1E, and 1F are review and then you move on to Lesson 2 and repeat.  He has responded well so far and I am hopeful that M-U-S will be the answer to our math issues.

5.  Grace is taking 3 virtual school classes--8th grade Language Arts, 8th grade Science, and Guitar.  She is doing well in all three so far and is really enjoying the guitar class.  She has even learned to play Happy Birthday on the guitar.  In addition to FLVS she is doing Saxon Algebra 1, Story of the World Volume 4--Modern Times, reading every day for half an hour (a book that I have chosen...I passed Lions of Little Rock on to her when we finished), Wordly Wise, and journaling in addition to a quiet time with her Bible every day.  She has decided that she prefers to teach herself math and then just ask me any questions that she has.  I am grading it every day and addressing any problems she is having.  So far she is doing great.  That is exactly how I have always learned math.  I would much rather figure it out by reading a lesson than being taught by someone.

6.  Hannah has the heaviest load right now--she is taking 5 virtual school classes--Honors Biology, Honors Geometry, Honors 10th grade English, Psychology, and HOPE (health and fitness class).  In addition to those classes she is doing PSAT prep and Notgrass American History and Literature.  Aside from a little drama over Geometry, she is handling her load well.  I have sat with her and supplemented the virtual school lesson for Geometry and that is helping.  She had do do a water lab today where she had to come up with a question and hypothesis, design an experiment, and do a lab report.  She was stressed about it but then figured it out once she watched the help video.  Hannah is a big fan of all the extra help stuff that virtual school offers.  She watches help videos, exam review videos, uses the worksheets and all of that.

7.  I think that about wraps it up...we have a very full school year around here and I am staying busy with homeschooling and tutoring a lot.  I am loving the independence of virtual school learning!

Madeline Island pictures

 Here's a view of the living area at breakfast one morning...

 We spent most of our days outside and the following pictures are snapshots of various times on various days and all of the different things people were doing.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to enjoy being outside.

 We had wonderful dinners every night cooked by different family members.

 These next few pictures were taken at a local state park where we went to hike and do some swimming.  There are more pictures from that day further down as well.

 Gabi took pictures of everything and is also working on a "mockumentary" with family interviews and funny footage.  Below was an impromptu time of prayer and worship.   So nice to have musicians in the family to lead us!

 Above, Hannah walks a slack line which is supposed to be great for building core body strength and below...jump roping.

 These pics were from a family photo scavenger hunt that we did.

 Below--the girls watch Hannah drive away for her first driving lesson.

 These pictures were from the family talent show which is always a highlight of the week.  We got to watch Sophie and Geneva bounce, Kea and Sammy play violin, Kea and Corrie play the ukelele and sing, Ollie and I did karaoke, Hannah, Grace, and Melody made silly faces, and Gabi did a silly cooking show.  Fun times!

 Grace and I rented bikes on our last day there and toured the island and saw a deer!

Daybook Style...

Outside my window...it's already almost 85 degrees and it isn't even 9 am yet.  It's going to be a hot one...

On my mind...so much, too much...the world is a scary place right now and I am relying on my faith in a good God and faithful God more than ever.  When the fear of the unknown strikes, I just pray and am reminded that this is not my home and that my future is secure in heaven.  I just finished reading The Inferno by Dan Brown.  It is a great book and it is set in Florence and Venice and having just been there I recognized most of the places the scenes took place which was pretty cool.  The story line is disturbing...all about overpopulation and how our world can't possibly survive with so many people and we are headed to destruction.  It's about viruses and plagues and pandemics and it was initially very disturbing.  I finally brought myself out of the fear that was brewing by reminding myself that God is in charge and nothing can separate us from His love and His plan and no matter what, we will spend eternity in heaven regardless of what happens on this earth.

Speaking of heaven...I saw the most disturbing comment on FB yesterday.  Someone had posted a Genie picture in memory of Robin Williams and in the comments put, "Now you're free."  The next person commented, "No freedom in hell" with a smiley face on the end.  We don't know where Robin Williams is for one thing and if he is in hell...that is NOTHING to smile about.  There is nothing funny about hell and it shouldn't be thrown around so lightly.  That is just the kind of christian that I have NO tolerance for.  Where is the love?

Speaking of FB...wow, it is so addictive.  I have been limiting my time on FB (again....) and even decided to stay off of it completely in order to be more productive and start making a real dent in my never ending to do list.  I do fine until I get an e-mail that I have been tagged on FB or someone mentioned me in a comment.  Then, I HAVE to go check....and while I'm there....ugh.  I am not opposed to FB for any reason other than it is a time sucker and when it comes down to it, there are better things I would like to do with my time.  I have so much that needs to be done and even more that I want to do.

Speaking of what I need to do....school, school, school!  I have turned in evaluations, boxed up last year's schoolwork, and recorded credits and grades for Hannah's 9th grade school year.  Now, finally, I am ready to face this year--  Hannah's school is almost all virtual school except for History so there is not much to get ready for her.  I have a little more prep work for Grace and Joe and I'm working on that today.  I am still not completely sure what Joe's school days will look like.  Right now my plan is to do Math-U-See Epsilon with him which is all fractions and then give him some freedom to choose his other subjects.  I have a lot of workbook options, a textbook or two, and some lapbook type things.  I have a long list of people, places, events, and science topics that I plan to categorize and type up and then just let him choose what he is interested in learning about.  I will also be signing him up on Clever Dragons again--a learning website with games and stuff.  Each day I will give him a list of 10 things that he can do for school and he will need to choose 5 or so.  I am hoping that we will do a lot of reading together and that with me by his side and a loose curriculum, that he and I will find the joy in homeschooling again.  Prayers are appreciated.

Speaking of what I WANT to do...photo booking and scrapbooking!  I was already behind on photo books before the summer even started and now I have loads and loads of new pictures.  I also keep a theatre scrapbook and I am 2 or 3 shows behind and I have a book for each kid that I do a two page spread once a year.  I think I am two years behind on that one.  The scrapbooking itself doesn't take long but sortign through and choosing pictures takes some time.  Another reason to spend less time on FB...if I used my FB time to sort through pictures and make photo books I could probably get them done a lot sooner.

A new hobby....that I also don't really have time for...Gabi introduced me to Zentangling while on our vacay last week.  It's essentially taking a piece of paper and dividing it into sections either with a specific picture or just a random dividing.  Then, you do a different repetitive design in each of the sections.  It's very relaxing and mind clearing and you can creates some pretty cool pictures too.  Gabi sent me the special pens and a book of letters yesterday and I was so excited.  I will definitely be making time for this!

What I'm reading...I already mentioned The Inferno.  On my nightstand now is the last book in The Walk series by Richard Paul Evans, a Lisa Gardner book, The Time Traveler's Wife (Hannah checked that one out but I am going to preview it before letting her read it...), and that's it for now.  I am not reading as much as usual because of my endless to do list but I love having a good book to turn to when I need a break and at bedtime!

Time to head off into my day...planning to check lots of things off of the list.  I already cleaned two bathrooms and I have the kids dusting and vacuuming the living areas so we're off to a good start!

Madeline Island Part One

 Last Friday we packed up once again and flew to Minneapolis for our every other year family reunion on Madeline Island.  We got into Minneapolis in the late afternoon and took some time to walk around the city a bit.  We got to visit the Sculpture Garden that we went to about 4 years ago.  The kids remembered most of it and it was fun to re-visit this fun place.  The picture above is actually taken in this maze--Ollie and I are actually on the other side of a glass wall.  It turned out pretty cool!

 Saturday morning we got up and were on our way by mid-morning to meet up with the rest of the family.  We all met up at a raspberry/blueberry farm and picked tons of berries before heading over to the island.  I think I left my phone in the car because I have no pictures of berry picking which is a bummer!  Above and below are the kids on the ferry over to the island.

 This is the same house we have rented every other year for the last 6 years I think...this is our fourth time being there.  It has a huge front yard with the lake right across the street.  There were 19 of us and the house slept us all comfortably with the Tim and Lisa family sleeping in their pop up camper.

 Lots of play time happened in the front yard and on these swings. Some of the activities included running around being spies, picking flowers and making flower head bands, playing frisbee, flying a huge kite, climbing the swings, walking a slack line between two trees, jump roping, writing on the driveway with chalk, painting, coloring, playing cards, sitting around the fire, making s'mores, hair braiding, art,  and more.

 This is the walkway down to the beach that is right across the street.  The weather was a little cold for swimming but that didn't stop the kids and most of the adults as well.  Or Jagger the dog.  We had two dogs with us this time, Jagger (you can see him below) and Stanley.

 I even tried my hand at Zentangle...this is art I can sort of do!

The above picture is of a game called Ticket to Ride that was a big hit.  This picture was taken at the dining room table in the kitchen.  I have lots more pictures to share now that we're home, I'll get to them soon!