13 Wonderful Things That Are Happening at Our Homeschool

I put this list together throughout this past week. Would you believe we only have 5 WEEKS of home schooling left for this year!!?  Have you ever had a new job that just took all you had and then some? Well, that was my first year of teaching, and I cannot wait for summer!!!

A lot of good things are happening right now, though. I need to keep that in mind when I’m feeling beat down! I made a little list:

1. I hear my three oldest boys outside having a BLAST on their trampoline.

It’s technically time for lunch period to be over, but how do you call in three brothers that are getting along so well together? The giggling is pure music to my ears. Of course, if I wait too long, someone will inevitably fall on someone else. Then they will wrestle, and soon someone will get angry from that. Wrestling pretty much always leads to fighting.

So I will go and drag them in, while they are still happy. It’s time for me to read to them.

2. “Teacher Reading”

We have always loved that time of day that I read to the kids, and being their teacher has allowed me more time to do this. Here are a few of the titles we have been reading lately:

Our American Heritage may be the only textbook that we actually finished this year!!  Keeping the history geek gene alive and well! 😉 They even enjoyed the story about Louisa May Alcott.

Do any of you (grandparents) have a copy of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn? I think those would be a huge hit here.

Then at night Alan is reading this to them:

Joshua read it back in December, but he never gets tired of Greg Heffley. I think Alan is enjoying this book as much as the boys are. There was this part where the dad bought a boat and the home owner’s association called and told him to put it in the backyard……haaaa!  Been there!!!

3. CC Mom’s Night!!!

This has been such a blessing to me! I can’t tell you how much I have learned from these women!!! I learn so much more from other moms than I do from books! And you know I love books!

My favorite tip from CC Mom’s Night:

This Science Curriculum:

I haven’t decided yet what to order for the geology portion. Ideas, anyone?

Pre-School Time with A Beka games!

4. A Beka Preschool Games

Daniel, JD, and I have been learning the sounds that the letters make, using A Beka games. These have been a hit with all of my boys. These are all the same materials I used to teach Joshua and Caleb!!

JD’s participation is unsolicited and unappreciated by the Dan man.

“No, JD! No, JD! NO!”

“Mom, him have my cow!!”

But it can’t be helped. JD insists on joining, and it is really cute to hear him occasionally say the sounds with us. “Uuuuuuu”

I don’t make Daniel do any worksheets, but seeing his brothers work makes Daniel want to work. Therefore, Daniel does a ton of “work.” By work, I do mean coloring and tracing letters. He’s learning to write his letters in cursive, like his brothers, which is weird to me. I’ve never done it this way before, but we’re just going to roll with it.

Daniel whipped through all of the K3 workbooks in 5 months, so he is now on “Lesson 23” of the K4 workbooks, which he isn’t technically supposed to be in until August. That’s all Daniel.

5. Poppies!!!

Orange poppies bloom around our house in abundance, and Caleb and Daniel keep my window well supplied. I love this.

6. Big boy!

What a difference a few months makes! JD learned the word “no.” This week. He mostly uses it when I got to put him down for a nap.

“Nooooo!”

🙂 But once I lay JD in his bed, he always kicks back happily. He puts both hands behind his head, and he’s asleep in no time. While he is still master of the scowl, we are very pleased with JD. You can tell him to “stay with mama,” and nine times out of ten, he will actually do it.

We get wonderful reviews on him from childcare workers.

“Oh, he is just precious. I so enjoy your boys.” This is medicine to my soul.

7. Trying to eat healthier! 

We are truly making a team effort here on the healthy foods, but it can be very difficult, especially with breakfast. Eggs are a hit with some boys, but not others. Eating sugary cereals or pancakes sabotages their school morning. You wouldn’t believe how much better they behave when we replace their sugar breakfast with a protein one.

Unfortunately, Joshua has informed me that eggs are bothering his throat again. *GRoAN!* I’m running out of ideas on how to feed this *always hungry*but *allergic to everything* boy!!!

8. Playdoh!

9. Word searches

10. CARS!!

If you want to keep JD busy for an hour, give him 10 cars, a ramp, and this Mac Carrier. He is in love.

If you want to see a really good JD/Daniel FIGHT, let them “share” Lightning McQueen, the King, Chick Hicks, and Leak Less. *shudder* Apparently, I now need two sets.

11. Geography

I struck gold when I finally discovered the Classical Conversations iPad app. The iPad now gets used every single day here. For geography, I pull up what I want them to label on the iPad, and they can copy straight to their marker map. The best part: I don’t have to stand over them and say, “This is the Great Plains. This is the Eastern Woodlands……” Anything that takes work off of my plate is a GIFT!!

Caleb loves the regions map so much, he does it for fun sometimes. I don’t know if he learned all of the names for the regions, but he surely enjoyed coloring them! 😉

12. Little Kids are FUN!

I took it down when Chris and Meredith were coming over, so then he drew on the wall. Did I ever mention that Daniel is an awful lot like Caleb? They are happy, fun-loving boys, and when they are tired, they can do some damage!

I have a little good news for you. JD is a lot less happy-go-lucky, BUT he’s also less mischievous. Every kid is so different.

Together, they make the house an exciting place. 🙂 It was funny. A couple of weeks ago, we had Chris and Meredith over. Our two families combined makes 7 children! And yet, it was perfectly quiet in the house! The big boys were out jumping on the trampoline. Their little girl sat nicely at the table with us, and the little boys (Daniel and his best bud) were playing costumes and cars and just having a wonderful time.

I’ll tell you a little bit more about Dan and his best bud on my next post, in which the boys go camping with their friends and the dads. A ball was had by all. 🙂

One last thought…..

13. Marriage Class!

Alan and I just began attending a marriage class at a local church, not our church. We are plumb giddy about this! We were invited by a couple that we met through CC, basketball, and our neighborhood. When you keep running into a family, it’s a good sign that you should be friends!

This family has five children, has been living our same transient, patriotic lifestyle for even longer than we have, and they are leading a marriage class on Sunday nights. Childcare is even provided! We went for the first time tonight, and even the kids had fun!

First, we drop off the kids, while we attend a 30 minute class. The kids are all in one big group together, so that went a long way to ease JD’s seperation anxiety! Then they dismiss us to go on our own 2 hour DATE!

I know!!! It is that awesome.

I had a sad week. It doesn’t really matter why.

Date night was something I have literally been praying for. God is always so faithful to answer our prayers. Things are looking way up, and I’m going to bed hopeful tonight.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Just think, summer is almost here!

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”   Hebrews 10:24

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  2 Corinthians 13:14