Day in the Life

I said I wasn't participating in "day in the life" week on the blog hop, but the idea truly fascinated me. So...I decided to do it today. No pre-planning or glorifying what we did. Nothing was changed... :)

I am pretty embarrassed to say that we usually don't get up until 8 or later. My husband doesn't go to work until 10am, so the kids are usually the first ones up. I just can't survive...well..I don't do well with very little sleep.
At around 8am I heard the kids up. I rebelled and rolled back over since there were no fire alarms going off. ha.
When I did get up at 8:30 and walk into the living room, they were playing Little Big Planet. Together. Success! I think this was a great homeschool lesson on life, getting along, and the game itself requires teamwork and pretty complicated problem solving skills. Yeah, I planned their morning to be so stimulating!

(Ideal schedule insert: My ideal is to get my morning Bible/quiet time done first thing before hitting the floor, hopefully that will improve with the Good Morning Girls project. Also, one day earlier in the week all three of us did a workout video before starting school work. Well, I did it and they popped in and out for parts that were age appropriate. That is my ideal start to the day and one we hope to improve on!)

8:45: Put eggs on to boil for second breakfast.

And get out vitamins for the day. A big thing for us.

8:50: we all sat down for first course breakfast of cereal and milk. I perused my Operation Christmas Child materials that came in the mail earlier this week. It's almost time!

While I waited for the eggs to be ready, I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher.

And the kids watched Phineas and Ferb while I....

prepared the eggs. Katie gets two "deviled" and Noah gets two plain yolks. I eat deviled with Katie.

At 9:40 I put a load of clothes in to wash and go to print out the spelling tests. When I come back the kids do some weight lifting to get their brains moving for the day.

10:00 we finally begin "official" school for the day. First thing, character education and prayer. We have a Bible verse that goes along with this also.

Then poetry memorization time. They are doing great learning Wynken Blynken and Nod, after we put it to the tune of a made up song!

Daily Oral Language. This is a little book I got from someone for free...it's Abeka. It basically just has you repeating "correctly written and phrased" sentences to hear them said correctly. Older aged kids correct sentences on paper. More or less I just like how it makes my kids listen in detail to a long sentence that I have said and repeat it back to me. Works their listening and future note taking skills I think.

10:25: Math review. This was short today. We usually test on what we learned for the week but due to vacation last week and learning some pretty big things this week, we just did more review. We will add it to what we learn next week for testing.


Then time for a little spelling cram work right before testing today.

At 10:30, dad calls to talk to the kids.

Time for read alouds from the library! 10:50am

11:05am, snack time...yogurt and cookies.
While they snack I change out the laundry and fold and put away towels.
Gather up more laundry and cringe at the messes around the house.

Then it's time for spelling and phonics tests. 11:20am

They take turns doing their reading books individually while I test the other one.

12:07 and we're finished with sit down school for the day. Just a two hour day...easy on Fridays...tests, review, etc. Most days take longer with phonics lessons, Math dvd lessons, etc.
I start regrouping for the next week and tackle this mess of a rolling cart.

While I am working on organizing next week's lessons and cleaning off the cart, the kids work on art. We studied about "forms" as in things that are not flat in art. They made 3D paper horses earlier in the week. Today I let them go to the table and use the construction paper, scissors, and tape to just create. They work on it for a while, then Noah decides to get up and play Wii baseball.

1:17pm

Katie, however, continues to work on her project. She makes forms of me and Corey though she does point out that they really art just flat.
I want to be more prepared for next week than I was this week, so I go to print out the spelling activities from spelling city. While I am at the computer I read a few blogs, and send some emails about the good morning girls group I am joining/creating for the fall.

I come back and finish cleaning off the cart. You might not see a difference, but I sure do! ha!
Thanks for the three drawer organizer Karen!

Can you believe I didn't take a photo of lunch??
1:37 finished prep for next week and trade out laundry, then make lunch.
During lunch I create a template for our new menu plans. Noah is very pleased.

He loves knowing what we are going to have for dinner. I think this has lifted a great big worry off his shoulders! ha!
No photos between lunch and dinner

2:00: eat lunch, check a few blogs, create template

2:40: put away towels the kids folded after lunch. HA! Mentally congratulate myself on not refolding them before putting them in the closet, then smile when I have to refold them before they will fit in the closet. ha ha.

The rest of the afternoon the kids play together, and play educational games on the computer. I intend to take a short nap but it does not happen. I decide to start a section in my school organizer binder for keeping a list of wanted supplies for next school year. Then I decide to look up prices online, then I get distracted looking at history curriculum (something I have failed in teaching so far, but didn't want to start too early....looking at next year), then get into a conversation on facebook with a friend on chat about her history curriculum.

No major meltdowns or fights, the kids play well together.

4:20: finished wild tangent.

4:40: played War with Noah

5:05: finished full game of War with Noah. Katie was playing in her room. Straightened up living room, searched for phone charger as phone is about to die. Almost literally die myself from the mortifying sight of what lives under our couch cushions! EEk...left that for another day!

5:25: put pizza dough out on counter to warm to room temperature. Sweep floors, clean toilets and sinks and mirrors in the bathrooms while the kids do a quick room blitz cleaning.

5:50pm: make pizzas, put in oven. Send email to a couple of contacts about American Heritage Girls troop for Katie.

6:20pm: pizza done. eat dinner....


I hang up and put away the last of the clothes while the kids finish eating. They take two forevers to eat a meal! ha!

6:45: Corey called
6:50: Bethany called
7:00: Call Corey back, he talks to the kids before bed.

7:20pm: played a game of Uno with the kids. They brush their teeth and change into clean pajamas! (love it!)

7:49: Watch one mini episode of Phineas and Ferb before bed.

8:10pm: tuck Katie in after devotional and prayer.

8:15pm: tuck Noah in after devotional and prayer.

I take a relaxing hot bath, then go turn their lights off at 8:49pm.
Then it's time to blog about our day! :)

I was very nervous about writing down everything we did in a day. Especially on a Friday when schoolwork is a minimum. We didn't do any history lessons or science experiments. But, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I am sure there are people who do a lot less. And, I know there are a ton of families who get a lot more done in a day. Especially other homeschool moms. But this is just one day out of many. And I was home with my children...guiding their learning...enjoying their thoughts and ideas.... There were also plenty of tiny things that didn't get recorded...like the cleaning up after snack, and lunch, and dinner...ha. And the little spats here and there that got intercepted and diffused.
We had an early night because we have to be up very early in the morning at church for dress rehearsal for the musical at church this weekend.

This makes me want to do this again sometime...and compare how I think our time spent was better or not as well spent. Hope you enjoyed!

Student Photo Week (Not) Back to School Blog Hop

It's student photo week on the (not) back to school blog hop at Heart of the Matter Online. This took me on a trip back through our short years of homeschooling. It also emphasized to me how very grateful I am to have spent these past few years at home with my children. I had spent the year previous to this one at home, but with Katie in a 3 yr old preschool two days a week. The two years before that I worked using my degree as a first grade public school teacher.

Then...we became homeschoolers!

2007-2008 was our first year.
Noah was 3, and Katie was 4. This was September.
She got her glasses that December.

School Year 2008-2009!
Picture taken in September before our first day of our one day a week, 1/2 day co-op program.
Noah was preschool, Katie was officially Kindergarten.
Yes, she is an older student (Oct. birthday) , AND takes after her 6'6" father! ha ha. The growth really hit her that year!
WHAT A CHANGE from that fall to this one!

School year 2009-2010,
pic taken in September.
My kindergarten boy and first grade girl


And for this year..2010-2011

Well...it's not September yet, ha ha. This is all I've got. Noah, the first grader...

and Katie, the second grader.

I am in awe right now of this growth right before my eyes. We've completed six weeks of school already, and as this posts, we are taking our first week off of school to go on a short family trip to Chicago. I am thankful. And I am so proud of them. This first six weeks of school has been full of learning...big strides in what they know, big concepts...and tons of learning.
What a huge blessing!!!!

Waste Not, Want Not, Wednesday!

My friend, Bethany, recently started a Wednesday meme titled: "Waste Not, Want Not, Wednesday." Bethany is a wonderful friend of the environment, and loves to take care of the earth in keeping with the commandment in Genesis for man to tend the earth and take care. My contribution for today is not as long term as her reused cereal box idea, but we did have some fun reusing this trash for play before it gets put to the curb!

We used the box that the charcoal grill came in, with some other "trash" boxes and containers, to create a spaceship! Not only did the kids have a ton of fun, it made for some great family time that did not include electronics!

Katie created a computer for the spaceship out of a shoebox.

Wings made of an egg carton, and adding on some important electronic components with the markers. Some visuals of outer space, and windows.

We laid the spaceship down and had them on the floor for a vertical "blast off."

Then they spent about an hour playing space ship, taking space walks around the house, and even leaving each other on other planets for fun.

We may not have taken the time to actually do this without the inspiration of waste not want not Wednesday...so thank you Bethany!

And...just for fun...here is another shot of them "creating" this week as part of their art curriculum. Noah wanted to wear an artist's hat, so Katie found one too. (No one tell him yet that boys aren't supposed to wear animal print...k? ha ha)
They were creating a still-life of the bowl of fruit.

(Not) Back to School Blog Hop: School Room Week

It is "classroom week" on the Heart of the Matter (Not) Back to School Blog Hop. The picture above is of the area in our bedroom where I store all our supplies.
The rolling cart houses all our "using at the moment" and weekly assignments.

And it gets rolled into the living room for school time each day. It actually stays in the living room or kitchen area most of the time, unless I am making room for company to visit or something like that. For instructional time, I sit in the middle, with a child on each side, or they can work on their individual work elsewhere (I let them choose their room, or another chair or at the table or floor) while I sit with the other one.

The rug is a popular spot for doing school work.
Katie is putting her spelling words in alphabetical order and writing them down.

And the kitchen table is a great spot for science and other things that require the space. Noah is writing with a quill pen we made a few weeks ago.

In both of the photos above they are wearing their school uniforms...pajamas.
We don't get dressed unless we're going somewhere. That's our contribution to cutting down on our waste. ha.

Can't wait to see all the lovely classrooms on the tour. And, just to share... THIS is a link to a post with pictures of the classroom we used our past few years homeschooling. :)
It was great and was needed at the time. I am so thankful to have had it, but it is now serving other purposes and come winter time we are grateful to stay upstairs out of the cold, ha ha.

Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Heart of the Matter Online is hosting a "not Back to School Blog Hop" and this week's topic is curriculum. I know I have shared this on my blog before for this year, but there are a couple of add-ons, so here we go!



I am sticking with Abeka this year again for Reading and Language Arts. It has been very good to us so far...my kids read so very well and I like the language arts content.
We are using Handwriting without Tears for our penmanship practice instead of the traditional Abeka handwriting.
OH, and I will be using a great website for helping with our spelling practice and for vocabulary later in the year. It is Spelling City. If you create an account you can either search other people's spelling lists, or create your own saved lists, then play games online, print games and activities, or actually be tested on the word lists. Great fun spelling practice!

Math U See for math. We switched from Abeka Math last February and I think we have finally settled in for good on this program! Noah (6) is halfway through Alpha, and Katie (7) is in Beta. This program has enough worksheets for two kids in each student kit, so it is cost effective as well!


For science, we are going light this year one more time before we delve into something heavy. Three units to use throughout the year...magnets, birds, and astronomy. Fun and easy from Homeschool Science Adventures!

I have purchased this but it has not arrived yet, but I can't wait to get it and get started. I looked into Writing Strands at the Atlanta Expo this weekend and came home to immediately find a used copy to get. Abeka is great with grammar and sentence structure, but not so much with the creative writing aspects. This seems like a fun and easy guide to get us motivated!

We haven't started piano lessons yet, but as soon as we pick up our books we will get going on it! We plan to use Alfred's Piano Course.

Art will be rotated out with science, and this is the book we are using from Artistic Pursuits. It is another very easy but enriching and fun curriculum.

Well, that's it for us this year at PEACE Academy. Can't wait to hop around on the other blogs and see what everyone else is doing! Happy Homeschooling!