Quick Update on where we stand

We are steadily working on our schoolwork, almost finished with our phonics workbook. Still reviewing sight words and word famillies. It is a great deal of work to teach even a mildly dyslexic son how to read. He has improved so much this year but we still struggle. Hopefullly next year we will see some true reading on his own.

We made it back to the zoo to see the things we missed the first time. We also took the kids to the Natural History Musuem to see the Feathered Dinosaur exhibit. They really loved going there. I was thinking about hitting the Great Lakes Science Center and seeing the BodyWorks 2 but they are leaking something and I'm not sure I want to go that route at the moment.

I'm hoping to add in a field trip every month depending on our finances throughout this next school year. Noah is signed up for swimming lessons starting 6/13 every week day for two weeks, one week off and then two more sessions. I really want him to take all three sessions this year. Especially while we are living in the apartment and have access to a pool for him to practice his strokes.

It is unbearably hot here the last two days and with waiting for the baby to come I'm melting. We are waiting impatiently for the birth of this baby.

I have a few projects I want to do with Noah but they are too hard right now while I'm so hugely pregnant and can barely walk. Hopefully soon we can get a few of them done. I want to make our own sand blocks and make a pyramid, perhaps make a miniture Nile river. You know fun things that make real learning happen.

I have planned out his books for the upcoming year. While I'm on bedrest recovering from the birth I plan to make a tentative schedule and get a move on with our schooling. I think I'm going to finish up his first grade stuff by Thanksgiving and then take a long winter break with us just reading out loud and enjoying the holidays, maybe a unit study on the Advent season.

Then when my older kids go back to school in january I will start his second grade stuff to school through until that mid-november time again. With a break here and there as needed.
I just need to check out a calendar and mark the days off that we need to school so I know what needs to be done. I really like the thought of schooling Jan~Mid/Nov. I love to bake and decorate and make candy for the holidays. We are active in our church and there is a choir program and sometimes a sunday school program. It is just so much fun that we will be able to do holiday things without feeling guilty that we are ignoring our schooling.

Well that is the current plan, as soon as this baby is born I can have the time to put it into action.

School is going smoothly lately. We still have trouble with Noah and reading but we are catching up more and more. If things keep on this way we will catch up and be able to take off from Thanksgiving to the New Year. Which is the goal.

Tomorrow I hope to call the rec dept. and find out about swimming lessons. They better not be too much. The cross patterning will really help him with his reading.

We got a roll of film developed it was from last summer in July. It wasn't the roll I thought it was. I thought it was our pictures of all the kids individually and we are trying to start a family timeline/portfolio thing. Now I will have to try to find the other roll and get it developed. So I can move on in history. There were a few shots of school nature walk stuff on it though.

We have most of Noah's schoolbooks for the fall. I still want a book on visual perception so that he can practice looking at things that are alike and different.

Not as bad as I thought

Well, after reviewing Noah's work and actually doing some we are not as far behind as I thought except in phonics, but with his dyslexia I'm not going to push him just to "catch up". I would rather he be able to read instead of not being able.

Noah can do the monkey bars at the park now, even the swinging ones. I'm glad because it will help his left/right brain connections. I hope to have him take swimming lessons this summer for the same reason.

Most of his school books will be here tomorrow. Some are coming next week. I still want to order a visual perceptual book to help his eyes learn how to process better.

We did some of the zoo last week and it was really nice and then we did a cookout at the park. It has been on the chilly side since then and the kids have really bad coughs while the Princess(our 2 yr. old) has run a fever for the last two nights.

Noah and Adrien have been building quite extensively with their duplo legos. I took a picture of a building today.

We finished reading about Sumeria yesterday but I don't want to start Egypt until some of our new books get here. So we will work on a fmaily tree thing but I need to get the pictures developed in order to finish that project. I also want to review Abraham and Sarah from the bible since they were from UR. I really want the kids to be able to correlate ancient history with the bible. I know I was never taught any of that.

The boys are army crawling which is another great cross patterning skill to help Noah with his reading.



This was at the zoo, with my little boys

Chaos is reigning here!!!!!!!!

We moved into our new apartment and of course we don't have enough room for everything. : (
We have only done school sporadically with the move, Kendra's First Communion and Easter.
The boys are riding their bikes today so that counts for phys. ed.

Noah is able to read Bob Books!!!!!!!!!! We thought that he would never get there since he is mildly dyslexic. But it is finally starting to click. It took a great deal of prayer and patience, sometimes prayer for the patience : )

Why is it that my darn photos never work right???????

We have been working on our school stuff slowly but steadily. Noah really loves history and science. He is definitely my son. Today after his schoolwork, he was watching ZOOM, so we wetn to the zoom website and played a virtual science experiment game about acids, bases and neutrals. It took him all of three experiments to get the idea and then he was accurately guessing what was what and if they would make CO2 and set off a bottle rocket. We will try this on our own after we move and get settled in our new apartment. Probably the first really warm day we have in the spring.

We also had three deer in our backyard, we took a photo and hope it comes out. Tomorrow I will have Tommy( dad) take the boys out to take a picture of the deer tracks and see exactly where they walked.

Later he will have to practice reading and draw me a picture of the 5 groups of animals we will study this year in science. I am trying to keep a mix of learning styles so that Noah learns the most but also doesn't get bored with school.

Well, tomorrow is another day of hopefully great school discoveries.

Great schooling day

we took off most of the week becasue of things that had to get done. ie: taxes, visit to the midwife, visit to a friend who miscarried, sick older kids, you name it we did it.

But today we did math, phonics, reading out loud, calendar, bible and science. What do you think about that? We are slowly catching up and at least we will start on monday at the beginning of a week of work with everything on the same week.

I'm planning out next year's school stuff, and it will be easier and cheaper until we start 3 rd grade. But since funds are really tight right now that is a good thing. This means we can use next years tax refund to buy the stuff we will need. I'm so glad I split up Sonlight Core 1 last fall to be spread over two years. It is a life saver with all the problems we have had to deal with.

We will finish core 1 for history, read alouds, readers and bible, adding in a few supplemental books and projects. FLL for grammar, Horizons math 2 and the advanced readers for reading. If we need to I will add in ETC after I figure out what leve. we need to start at. So I'm relieved to have the bulk of that planned out. I'm guessing $100-$120 for 2nd grade.

So that is the update from the miserably pregnant homeschooling mom of many children.

Best laid plans of mice and men

We are only working on reading, grammar, phonics and math at the moment as I am on bedrest for a serious infection that can be life threatening to both me and the baby. Since we homeschool all year round we will have plenty of time to catch up on history and science.

We are also packing things up to move in about 3 weeks or so. But I wont pack up our school books until the very last. And unpacking many things will have to wait until I have the time and the energy. As long as we have the basics unpacked that is all I care about.

This year has been most challenging for us, but it will all work out in the long run. my son speeds through history, bible and science concepts. So as long as we cover the basics he will be fine.