the best of intentions... I will brief you on my very busy fall thus far.

Sports what I have been up to. Taxi is my new name. I am a mom taxi.

 I have spent more time in the local high school parking lot than anyone I know. Dropping off and picking u up, waiting and waiting. Like right now,  I am waiting for one child to finish up practice.  And if the other wasn't so sick they'd be getting droped off for their practice.

I know I know. Some of you don't like the sports thing or maybe just don't do it due to various reasons. And I get it. Believe me. I do. I never thought this would be our path. But let me tell ya, my husband was a sports guy-not a jock- just naturally athletc and involved in any sport available.  And guess which side my kids take after in this department?

They've learned so much. Grown so much. They needed to learn from someone other than me.  And they love it

Its ok. I get it, but seriiusly the back and forth multiple times a day and throw in church,  piano and the occasional dash to the corner market for milk , and I am so do g tired by the end of the day.
I know someone out there gets it, right?!

Keeping it real

So I'm just keeping it real today. I am tired Repeat. I. AM. Tired.

The lovely wild ones and they're furry pets kept me up last night. It all started after Dad went to work and all the kids wanted to sleep with me. Sure. Why not? Because who doesn't want to share their bed with a gaggle of wiggly monsters?

After about an hour and a half of putting up with one of my daughters wiggling I finally kicked her out of bed. Oh wait! First she had a bad dream that's right. It's all coming back to me now.

Bad dream.
 She comes in Mom's bed. I start to fall asleep.
Wiggle wiggle, wiggle.
Repeat.

 Now it's past midnight and I finally kick her out and just have the baby with me. Finally, some sleep.

 About an hour later give or take, the new puppy starts howling downstairs. Did I mention he is a bloodhound? So when I say howl I mean HOWL!

Since he doesn't stop. I assume he's in distress. I trudge downstairs in the dark, look at him in his kennel and observe nothing is wrong. He must be seranading me while i sleep. How thoughtful!  I let him out anyways. The puppy and the big dog go outside in the dark to do their business while I stand there wondering if I should just leave them outside for the night or if I should wait.. What time is it anyways I wanderd to the clock. And is 3 AM people, 3 a.m. and I have slept maybe an hour. I go outside to call and beg the puppy to come in. The big dog is already inside and curled up on his pillow.  The puppy is running wildly around the pool. I can't see him very well. I see him come arounnd the corner and scamper off again. I time it just right the next go round and grab him as he comes around again. Good gravy dog, its 3 am and you have the energy of a jackrabbit.

Dogs come in, I go upstairs. I fall to sleep for the third, fourth time I don't even know anymore.

 The baby,that's right she still in bed with me, wakes up and has wet the bed. My bed! I give up! She scampers off to the bathroom to change, & I throw a towel over the damp sheet because at this point I am just too tired to care. Don't judge!

Finally, sleep. For maybe an hour or two until my alarm goes off and its time to get ready for another day. And that folks is why I am tired.

 Today I woke up and there were ants all over my kitchen counters. I can't even tell you how grossed ou I was! The creepy, crawly little critters even falling from the ceiling. They were everywhere!

And I started to wonder what kind of ants I have in my life. Jealousy, bitterness, anger. All these things that crawl into my life, take over my feelings and bring out the worst in me.. things that fall over me when I'm stressed or worried or feeling overdone from pouring it out out into everyone else every single day.

See I told you my inner thoughts were turning into a blog post! As I was cleaning up the dead black little bodies  scattered all over my counters I took a moment to actually pray.

For joy. For peace. For calm in the midst of the storm of the mundane everyday pouring out and filling a little buckets of the little people who depend on me every single day. I can't let the little ants take over my heart. My soul. My feelings. I don't have time for little ants to creep in and fill up my thoughts with negativity or take over my mind and lead me down the wrong path. I need more joy I need more peace. And the only way to be filled with that is to go to the  Source.

Jesus.

He's the source d. My lifeline in those crazy, chaotic stretching days that makes me wish for more coffee or chocolate.

It's been years.....YEARS since I've blogged. Life has been so busy....I'm sure everyone's has.

Still four kids....so there's that reason

Still homeschooling...and that.

And I now have a teenager, two tweens and a preschooler...so there.

So I may not be consistent, but it seems like my inner mono log is always in blogger mode. So maybe. Maybe I will try again.

I never thought I'd be that mom. You know the one driving every one to every thing, every day (not really, but it feels like it some weeks). Spending all afternoon in the SUV (or mini van, or whatever..) Throwing Goldfish to the littles in the 'way-back' seat to keep them happy, and turning up the radio when U2 starts playing.

 And did I mention it's SUMMER?!?!!  I thought things were supposed to slow down in the summertime? We have had more lessons and practices and volunteer time and VBS and day camps in the last month than we had all school year! On more than one occasion, I have driven 30 miles one way, twice in one day, for certain children's sports equipment and practices.  Certain children who think it's my duty to drive them here and there with nerry a thought as to my own plans of reading a few more chapters, or attempting something that resembles yard work in the pitiful weed pile we call a backyard.  Certain children who are the reason I stash chocolate in the fridge behind the butter, and greedily sneak it when they are in the pool. (Shhhhhh....) It's been good,. Busy but good. And it's going to keep up at this pace til school starts.  COME ON SEPTEMBER!

But isn't that what I signed up for? Isn't that part of being a mom? I guess it is. If you have kids, life gets busy. Life gets messy, unorganized and chaotic. And that's ok. As long as I can get to my chocolate stash in time before the meltdown begins.  My melt down, not the preschooler's!

A wise pinterest pin says, "All I need is chocolate and a whole lot of Jesus" And that's the truth.

Country Report Night-Australia

Our Co-op had a fun 'Country Report Night' we participated in.  At first our kids picked the Czeck Republic because of a suggestion from Daddy. His ancestors way...WAY back are from there and he thought it would be cool to learn about his roots.  So we looked it up.  After not being able to pronounce most of the names and places and seeing how the history of that country would be really difficult to understand; the kids all threw up their hands and said 'Australia' !!!  

What a fun country to learn about.  We briefly covered the history of Australia and how the Europeans began settling there.  It is a bit of a sad history-much like America in how it treated the native cultures.  We also studied the things that make Australia unique to the rest of the world. It was an exciting study and all of our children really enjoyed it. 

 The covers of two lapbooks

 Most of the information is the same in each book. We made a map, covered the flag, the difference in our time zones, the boomerang--a really cool study in itself--and of course some of the unique parts of Australian culture. 

 Here is their coat of arms and a fun little 'treasure map' activity and a compass.

Here is one of the mini-books open (and sideways) 

Another little craft our 1st grader did--a mamma kangaroo and her baby joey.

 Some cool Aborigine art work too.

Their favorite part of the study by far was the animals.  We made some cool animal cards and read about each one and copied information on the back. 

Then at the end o f our study we had our Report night with our co-op. Each family did a report on their chosen country and presented it in front of the group. Our kids were the last ones to do theirs. Finally when their turn arrived, they presented their report and showed off their lapbooks to everyone.  Each family also brought a dish and dessert to share and we had a multi-cultural potluck.  We made Shearers Pie which is basically a combination of scalloped potatoes and shepherds pie. It was super yummy. Lammingtons was our dessert. You can't go wrong with cake dipped in chocolate and then rolled in coconut. WOW, that was G.O.O.D.!!  

Most of the components for our lapbook is from Teacher Book Bag that I purchased on currclick.com  Some are from homeschoolshare.com.  

Volcano!

Every kids wants to do it, right?  We finally made our very first Volcano! After studying volcanoes for our science project this year, we gathered our materials to create our personalized version of these monstrous beasts.  Depending on which child you ask it is a different volcano.  One says it's Mt. St. Helens, the other says it is Olympus Mans on Mars--which we studied in our Apologia astronomy studies this year too.  Either way, it worked.

First we mixed the two substances (baking soda and vinegar) in a soda bottle and closed it off with a cork made of a chunk of a potato.  Weird? Yes! But the idea was to be able to watch the build up of gasses and bubbles and see the cork blow off, much like some volcanoes have a sort of plug covering their tops.  Did you know that? I didn't!! One more reason I love homeschooling--I learn right along with them too.  So yes, the cork popped and we tried several different combinations of soda/vinegar to get more of an 'explosion'.

Finally we made our paper mache volcano.  FUN, FUN!! We have never done paper mache, so this was a fabulous sticky, glue-y mess. The kids loved it! We let it dry, added  more layers, dry some more...Then we let 'er rip! The kids set it up outside in our yard and carefully poured the ingredients in. We all stood back and watched it spew out fizzy, red bubbles. This was a hit! They did it over and over, until the paper started to disintegrate, and the poor volcano we worked on started to look a little worse for the wear.

I wish we had done this type of thing sooner, but I'm so glad we did and it WORKED!! Now all they want to do is make a pinata ;)

We're learning all about Australia this week for our homeschool group's 'Country Report Night.'  So what better way to keep all the great information we learned than in a lapbook?!!

 Here are their covers:

 Inside Hulk's lapbook. His favorite topic was the boomerang and how the Aboriginies used them.

How can you study Australia without delving into the amazing animals that live there?  Here are a few of their animal cards. We wrote all kinds of interesting facts on the back of each card.



Aborigine cave drawings



 Inside Sparkle's lapbook is her map and diagram of what comes from Australia.

 And her cute kangaroo with a little joey that slides in her pouch.

My oldest did a more official report rather than a lapbook, but that didn't stop her from jumping in and getting creative with dot art.

It was a fun week learning about the land Down Under.  There is so much about  this amazing country/continent. A week on the Great Barrier Reef alone would be cool to study.

*Most of the printables seen here are from a package called 'Continental Little  Hoppers:Australia' From Teacher Book Bag.  I bought mine at currclick.com.  The other printables are free at homeschoolshare.com.

go with the flow

Last night as I read stories to my children before tucking them into bed, they had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. We were reading Cranberry Thanksgiving. It's a lovely book with a fun and surprising ending. My son loves the character Mr. Whiskers and the fact that he is gruff and wants to sing pirate songs instead of hymns.  I think that resonates with his very boyish heart. 

 "Hey, mom,"  my son said.

**Total side note:  Most of my kids' conversations start with either 'Hey, Mom' or the longer version: 'Hey, Mom, guess what?'  Do your kids do that too?  Funny isn't it?**

Back to last night...."Hey, Mom, can we just quit school and do Five in a Row again?"   I was taken aback a bit. I love the phrase "QUIT school'.  I had to smile at them.  'Yeah, mom, can we?' his sisters begged.  Within seconds they had it all planned. Lapbooks, coloring, projects and baking cranberry bread.  'All we really have to do is math and reading for school-school.' 

For you newbies or non-homeschoolers, apparently 'school-school' is the nitty-gritty hard stuff that you do even when you are doing other things.  It's a very official term apparently.

How can I resist?

  But it has been rolling around in my heart that we were not on the right track. You see school this year has not been what I expected, or planned or hoped for.  Financially, we couldn't buy 'the usual' curriculum, so I've made some cheap and almost free deals on most of our books this year. Praise the Lord!! Plus the fact that I don't have to invest in teacher manuals for every grade now goes a long way in saving money. And not allowing our kids to write in their MathUSee workbooks, but in a notebook instead is a HUGE saver!  But it wasn't what I wanted, or even what the kids wanted. We've just had to buckle down and make do. And I get that some years are like that. I really do.  And I'm ok with it...somewhere in my heart I am, really.  Sometimes you can't  have all the bells and whistles, some years you have to focus on academics or character training.  And that is ok too.  They will always be learning something. 

But I have been missing something.  Missing our slow mornings reading stories on the couch, missing their younger years when we made projects and crafts.  Every.Single.Day.  We've been in a just-get-it-done-so-we can-be-done mode all year and it's exhausting.  No fun, no spontenaity, no frills, just nose to the plow, finish your math before dad gets home, boring, boring, boring.  I think because it's so dry, even the fun school work has been drowned out by the rest of it. 

So the fact that they asked to do this isn't all that surprising.  It just made my heart smile.  REALLY BIG. 

So after putting them to bed, I printed off three copies of homeschoolshare.com's lapbook for Cranberry Thanksgiving, dug out my Five in a Row teacher manual, and you can guess what their first question after they woke up this morning was.

"Hey, Mom, are we going to read that book and make a lapbook?" 

"You betcha, sweetie!"

Ah, bliss. This is how we are suppossed to school in our home. 

Those little old ladies in church and your mother and your aunt are so totally right. They grow up right before your eyes and sooner than you expect.  And sometimes, they learn much faster than you think. 

More Virtues and 25% off!!



Patience, Diligence, Honesty....ever wonder how to teach these things to your children?  We all struggle as parents with the *HOW* sometimes.

Or maybe it's just me. I know the end result I want out of my children--I want them to be Honest.  But how do I teach them how to BE honest from the get-go.  Besides 'Lying is wrong' or there's the ol' soap-in-the-mouth stream of thought.  How can I actively teach and engage them into living out Honesty every day? 

VIRTUES!!! 

I was BEYOND blessed last week by two amazing women.  And look what they did:

And you'll never guess what was inside!!!  The Homeschool Kit!!!   Posters, Charts, the FLASHCARDS!!!  I oogled over the teacher manual for a couple hours,--yep, I'm a nerd!-- and couldn't wait to show them to my children.

 Actually I take that back, I didn't really want to show the kids just yet.  I'm anxiously waiting for the Teacher Cards to arrive so I can officially begin instilling character traits that last in our Bible time every day.   

From one mom to another, this curriculum is fantastic.  Heather poured her heart into creating an all encompassing curriculum, from the color backgrounds and hidden pictures to how to implement it into your teaching and family life.  She gives real life examples and her genuineness shines through.   It is so thoughtful and well put together, I just can't say enough good things about it. 

My kids love that the visuals are colorful and not too 'babyish' as my SIX  year old put it.  She's so grown up, at the ripe old age of half-a-dozen!  They love the short catchphrase that explains the virtue. I love this too. It gives my older kids a little more to think about  *HOW* they can demonstrate the virtue, and it gives my younger child a better picture of what is expected of her.  Win-win!! 

Since my kids are really visual, they also like their very own Personal Virtue Chart.  As we will work on a virute, I will give them a stamp or a sticker every time I catch them using their virtue.  After they complete a certain amount, they will get some kind of award or treat.

**I usually don't like behavior modification/ reward type discipline, but now that my kids are older they understand that it's not about the 'treat' but it's about changing your heart.  Don't get me wrong, they love to get a prize whether it's a piece of candy or a date night with mom or dad, but we teach them to focus on the journey, not the prize.**

I am so thankful to Heather for using her God-given talents to help families and for creating an inspiring way to teach Virtues to our children. 

And right now through September you can get 25% OFF the new Teacher Cards for Families and the Homeschool Kit!!!  This is an amazing deal!! And if you click through my blog on the links a tiny portion goes to support my little family as well. 

First Day

Our school year began today! I'll be honest with you, I've put off planning this year til the bitter end. Not sure why....maybe because I haven't slept decently in oh...about 8 months and most days I feel like a walking zombie.  Hmmm....But that's ok. Who needs sleep when you have a cuddly, snuggly baby to keep you up between 2 and 5 am? 

Really, I'm not complaining, I knew what I was getting into; none of my babies were good sleepers. Mentally, I am prepared for this stage, and I know it won't last forever.  But the lack of sleep does make me a bit zonkers at times. So if you see me in the grocery store staring intently at a bag of tater tots or something, you'll know why!

...back to our first day at school.....

We started our day off with our verse of the week: Phillipians 2:3  "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others above yourself."   UM...YEAH, that is our verse of the week for a very good reason. We are working on alot of CHARACTER issues in our home.  It seems to me the heart of most of our sin is selfishness and a 'me first' attitude. I'm really working hard to teach these duckies of mine to be thinking of others before themselves.  Especially each other. 

Wait, you mean I have to be nice to my brother or sister and put them first??
 And of courseI hear--Well, they should be thinking of me first if they want to obey what the Bible says.  Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, cuz that's what you're doing right now, sweet heart?!!!!!!!!!

*sigh*

It's a work in progress.

Then we worked on our Virtue from We Choose Virtues. I Am Attentive. I thought that was a great one to start with since we are starting school.  The kids loved the flashcard and the cute picture on the front.  I can tell these are going to be a hit in our home! 

Meet the students:



This year, we have a first grader--Sparkle--She is full of life and spunk! She's my little Sparkle!  Super excited and full of energy . After a great year doing MFW Kindergarten and some Abeka phonics, she is already reading  in her first grade readers.  



Next up is our third grader--Hulk--All BOY all the time. He is my little man around the house.  Funny, bright and athlete extraordinair in his own right.



And then is our oldest--Sunny--The artist, the dreamer, she's full of creativity and always has an idea to share.  She's going into fifth grade officially but we're still polishing up some skills we began working on last year. 



Finally, the newest member of our nest--Baby Smiley--ok, that  nickname might change.  She's just hanging out with us for the fun of it. As she gets a little older, I'll have to get some tot school activities for her, but for now, I'm enjoying her baby days while they last. 





Each of the  kids got to fill in their own 'Back to School' booklet I bought on currclick.com. .  In it they wrote what kind of subjects they liked and about their families and some words to describe themselves.  They each did a couple of subjects. Sparkle really wanted to dive into her phonics book and Superman did his first math lesson.  Sunny worked on both math and reading comp.  I decided to let them pick their subjects for the first few days and since we're starting on a Wednesday, that will work out just dandy. Next week, we'll add more in to make a smooth transition into school. 

All in all, it was a smooth easy day. Juggling three different grades is going to be tricky--no doubt about it.  I'll post more about our core subjects in my next post.  But it's going to be a fun year together. 

So how about you? What's on your agenda for this new school year? 

We Choose Virtues

I'm really excited to share some news with you. A lovely new company called We Choose Virtues has invited little ol' me to join in their affiliate program!  This company was started by a local family in my new hometown. They have a fabulous Character curriculum for families, schools, and homeschool families as well. I've seen their posters in our church and at friends' houses and kept asking 'What is this Virtues stuff?" 

It wasn't long before I found out how great their products really are. I heard testimonials from friends about how these character training resources helped their children in whatever areas they were struggling. Now, I'm a mom of four amazing children, but we all know no child is perfect--well  at least mine aren't all the time--ahem!  And there are times when we are working with one child or another on specific qualities or character traits. Sometimes knowing exactly what to say or how to convey what we want them to do is tough.  Isn't it great when God provides exactly what we need?!!

Coming this month are some freebies on their site--Free coloring pages. Your kids can color and decorate these cool pages to help them remember the virtue they are learning.  Hurry on over and get yours.  They're Free only from Sept. 5-9th!!!
If you're looking for some great character curriculum check out We Choose Virtues. 

New URL

Same blog, just a new URL. Someone asked my what my association was with 'Tree of Life'. Here in the Pacific NW, we have a Christian bookstore called by that name. At the time I started my blog, I hadn't heard of the store, and couldn't think of anything especially inspiring for my blog. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had this picture of homeschooling as a mighty oak tree and an environment of lifestyle learning. Hence 'Tree of Life homeschooling'. 

Then the store came along...cute place, great deals. Ahem... So Rhema Academy is the name of our homeschool. I think I even did a post on it way back when.  So the shoe fits, we've got a new URL and there ya go.  Hope it doesn't cause too much confusion for ya'll. Yeah, all three of you who read this blog!!  I heart you all!!

End of the year already?

So another school year is closing in on me again. As usual, it comes way too quickly and this year, an added bonus of the dreaded word= TESTING.

This is the first year any of our children have to test, so it has been a year of constant review, minor freak outs and endless questions. Questions to all my other homeschooling friends who have tested, from my child to us about the BIG test, questioning myself if I've done enough...you get the idea.

Just to be on the safe side, I picked the VERY last day our tester was available, and we ordered a practice test to...well practice with, of course! In my heart, I'm not too worried, because I know she knows her stuff. but the process of taking a test, being judged by someone else,worrying she won't fill in those tiny bubbles correctly has me up at night sometimes. 

Looking towards next year has me wondering what  might need tweaking. I know there is no 'perfect' curriculum out there, but I'm seeing some gaps that need filling in with what we're using. So I'm on the lookout for whatever it is I think I'm searching for that will make it all better.  And if I can find it for a decent price so much the better.  One thing I have learned this year is that even though I can use a little of this and that, or leave some things out that aren't as important, I shouldn't skimp on the things that will make everything flow together.  I ended up getting a few things halfway through our year that I really should have bought at the beginning. NOT happening again! So this summer, in order to start fresh and (hopefully) on the right foot, I'm carefully considering what we will be using as our spine and gathering what we need to make it all complete. 

Here is door number one: 

My Father's World-Creation to the Greeks

It's a complete, Bible based history and science curriculum. We've done MFW for the past two years and loved it.  Even though we don't do every activity or read every single book recommended, it's been a great foundation for our kids to learn history from a Godly and Biblical perspective. It's expensive, yes. But worth it?  Oh yeah!

Door number two:

The Mystery of History.  Simlar to MFW, and I've read great reviews. It looks a little less expensive, but I've heard the projects are alot more intense.  Still, I'm hoping to get a hands on look at it at our state homeschool convention to be able to compare the two.

And finally door number three:

Make up my own Bible based history/science lessons.  I have a Diana Waring cd set from her Ancinet Civilization curriculum, and I'm looking into adding in some hands on books from places like CBD, currclick.com or Rainbow Resources. How crazy am I for even thinking that? 

So what are you planning for next year?

Well Planned Day Give-Away

Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler is hosting a great give away. She is giving away to one lucky reader a copy of a Well Planned Day Planner. Check out her blog for more info!  I love this planner, besides being so, SO pretty, it looks really practical too. I've seen a few sample pages on their website. WOW, lots of great stuff. So go to Erica's blog and enter to win!

Mommy mantra of the Week

What a week!  Ever have one of those? Can't-wait-til-it's-over; where-is-the-weekend? why-is-this- happening-to-me? weeks?  Not that anything very bad happened, or that my life fell apart, it was just alot of things compiled into one that by the time it was over I felt like there was not much of me left.  OY!  Rather than list the details, there is one question that keeps coming back to me through all of the chaos.  "Where did *I* go?"  As a mom, wife, and especially a homeschool parent, it sometimes is all too easy to get lost in expectations or even in the day-to-day. Before you know it the woman you were before Mt. Washmore, sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and the never ending quest for the perfect curriculum has all but disappeared. 

As I wrote an article I had a deadline for, I wrote in a style that is not my own.  WHY? Because I had thought the editors wanted something grown-up, something professional, someting...boring. Turned out that I was completely wrong and they went with something very similar to what I would have written if I wasn't so concerned about what I thought they would be interested in.  Lesson learned: trying to be someone you're not is never the way to go. So you can bet that won't happen again. But it got me to thinking, where is that girl who used to be bold and not care (too much) what people think? Sure you have to take other people's feelings into consideration and we can't always speak our mind at every moment. I do, however, wish some of that fearlessness would rise back up in me. So, this week's mommy mantra is to never let go of who you really are.  Keep those good things that make you YOU. You never know when you'll need them.

Resurrection Week

This is Holy Week, so we took a break from school and focused on Jesus and the true meaning of Easter.  We do this every year, and I love our collection of games and lapbooks and other items we make for this week.  We did a little Passover study too (no pics of that) and we made a paper Sedar plate and added items from the Passover meal. 

Then we worked on our Resurrection lapbook. We did a couple of mini-books each day and some crafts to go along.  Here is our oldest's lapbook:

 And our second grader's

 Here is what we used for our main study:

On the left: A Resurrection coloring book, their lapbooks

In the Center: Abeka Bible story cards. My mom gave me hers from when she taught us and I can't tell you what a treasure they are to me. The pictures are like paintings, and they tell the stories from Scripture so beautifully.  I love them.   We also have our Resurrection eggs we made with our homeschool group a couple of years ago. My kids love getting these out and opening them up to see what is inside.  Then a few books we've collected over the years. We have more, but these are the ones we used most this week. One of them came with a cute dvd that has a cartoon of the story. Very cute!

On the right are our games all from Valerie's site  christianpreschoolprintables.com. and filefolderfun.com Can I tell you what a blessing she is?!! She makes all kinds of games and printables for kids. I (heart) her!!  We played the games several times, and my kindergartener loved them the most. She's so proud that she can do it herself and can read the instructions and game cards....Oh wait did I say read?!! Yep, she's reading now!  That's a whole 'nother post ;o)

So that's our week in a nutshell.  He is Risen! Hallelujah!!

Baby on Board

Ah the joys of a little one. She's so snuggly, so cute when she smiles, so precious when she sleeps...IF she sleeps. Ah, the joys of colic. Yep, right now my life is spelled C.O.L.I.C. and it sucks. 

Imagine if you will, the three older children sitting at the table, books out, pencils ready. They're all fresh, fed and ready for the school day to begin....And me in the living room holding a screaming baby saying:

"OK, Get out your math and do your next lesson." 

"But, Mom, I don't want to take a bath!"

"No, dear MATH" 

OY! Or how about, "Alright, today we're covering (cue baby crying...mamma rocking and patting baby)Germany, (more baby cries and general fussiness) let's get out our notebooks( Patting, burping fussy baby)and find Germany (Oops, she spit up all over your paper, sweetie, I'm sorry, here's a towel. Big Sister will get you another paper) on the map. Ok, Big Sister, read this page while I go change the baby.

Exit mamma and baby to change a diaper.

Do you think they read the assigned page?!!  Not likely! 

And so goes our day...Much interrupted, many stops and pauses, and still trying to get the basics done because this mamma is only slightly freaking out that my oldest has to test this year--so we HAVE to keep going!

But the baby IS the lesson.  We play with her, change her, feed her. She laughs, coo's and smiles! She really is a little cutie pie.  Every day she changes a tiny bit and I think to myself, she'll never be this little again. *sigh* So tiny, so darling. I can't imagine life without her--or any of my children. But when they're so brand new, you just want to enjoy every second of it before they grow up.

Playing Catch Up

Whew! Where has the time gone? No I didn't fall of the face of the earth.  Oh, yes, I had a baby the day after New Years!  Things have both slowed down and sped up at the same time.  Having a baby sure does crazy things to your schedule!  New baby Girl--aka Sunshine--is doing well; growing, sleeping (sometimes), eating. All the things babies should be doing.  We are truely blessed! Our older kids love her to pieces and are amazing helpers.  So mostly our days are filled with getting as much school done as we can while she snoozes in the morning.  Some days that works and others....well, not so much! But we try!

One thing I have switched up for school are these:

Workboxes!

(This image is from: The Duckings which is so funny, because that's what I call my kiddos too! )

 Have you heard of them? Have you tried them? WoW! I am so excited about these.  While I don't have the space or the money to have the shelf with 12 shoebox size boxes for tree children, I did see and read about using file folder boxes as a great substitute. 

For each kid I bought one file folder box and I split up a box of 25 hanging file folers.  (I bought the colored ones--they're so much more fun, and we know I'm all about making school FUN, right?!)

Then I printed off some labels for the front of the box from here. I had to create one for my son using a guitar theme, so his is custom made, and it turned out pretty cool. I contact papered one to the front of each box. I put velcro dots on each numbered square and a velcro dot on each file folder. Then I made small numbered squares, one for each folder. The idea is that each kid do their activities in order and when they are done, take the numbered square from the file folder and stick it onto their chart on the front of their box. That way I know what they've done and how much they have left to do.  Clear as mud, right? Pictures coming soon!

Right now, my older two --a forth grader and second grader--have 8 folders each and my kindergartener has 6 in her box.  Every morning, I switch up what is in each of the kids' boxes. I'm creating a list of ideas for them based on what we already have on hand and using some ideas gleaned from other bloggy moms on the net.  Thank God for moms who blog about their homeschooling adventures, ideas and curriculum!!

So far I've got:

File Folder games

Brain Quest books

Geography worksheets from MFW

Science workbook from MFW

Silent reading

Spelling words

Eye Spy books

Reading comprehension books

Their Awana books and CD's

Math U See skip counting cd

Books on Tape

For Kindergarten:

dot-to dot pages

write on wipe off books

A Snip and Glue book

Math counters

Eye Spy bottles

Puzzles

Lapbook components

Books on Tape

 Right now it's a learning process for me and the kids. They already know they HAVE to do their math, reading and grammar every day, so I don't put those books in their workboxes. But these boxes have been a HUGE help when I'm busy with Sunshine. I can just tell them to get out their next workbox activity and they can pull it out and get something done on their own without too much help from mom.  YAY!!!

Keep the good ideas coming!

MFW K Tt is for Turtle

We're doing MFW Kindergarten this year. We just finished up Tt is for Turtle. Here's a little lapbook we found at homeschoolshare.com We didn't end up doing every booklet, but I tailored it to what we learned and her favorite turtle facts.