First Week of School

We just completed our first week of homeschooling and it was really awesome!! Charlie was excited to the majority of his lessons, really I think he had fun doing all of them except for the last phonics review this morning. He even asked to do school on Tuesday ;)

This week was a little haphazard with our school schedule due to some doctors appointments and a playdate, but that is one of things I like about what we are doing....flexibility. We didn't do any school on Thursday but easily made up the work earlier in the week as well as today. We are actually a few lessons ahead of the game which is nice to have a cushion! I hope to get a week or two ahead of the game for when the baby comes.

Monday was certainly a day of learning :) I thought that I was prepared but there were several materials missing. Not a huge deal, just a bit of looking for the crayons, a certain book etc. At first I started to get frustrated, but I didn't want my frustration to ruin the day. So, I said a little prayer for help and just rolled with the bumps. I am so glad that I didn't let my need for everything to be "just right" to put a damper on our lessons! See, I am learning too :)
Charlie and I are also really enjoying the K12 curriculum that we choose. He LOVES working on "his" computer and doing all the games and educational activities. He even got a chance to meet the rest of his "classmates" and his "teacher" in a virtual school room. We both thought that was pretty neat!

Even though I like the basis of the program I do think it is a little dry and not very imaginative. So I have already started looking through our lessons and planning extra activities of us to do. I am going to incorporate some more crafts and different science projects into our lessons. I am grateful to have the program though and "know" exactly what Charlie needs to know and have most of the curriculum planned and provided free of charge. Thank you State of Ohio!

It is also evident, but not surprising, that Charlie already has quiet of few of the concepts already down. He is already able to do small math problems in his head, so starting off with identifying shapes etc for math is a bit of review for him. I think that review is good, but I am also going to keep on eye on things and make sure that he isn't getting bored. I know that he can skip through lessons if he needs too.

Here is what Charlie has to say about our first week:
Charlie how do you think your first week of school went? "Good"
What was your favorite part of school? "coloring the trains and making my robot" (There were a few worksheets that he had to color the train cars different colors, practicing beginning, middle and end. And the robot was a shapes game that he played on the computer. Tommy even loved this game!)
Something you didn't like? "Saying the words" (The phonics lesson we did today where I told him 3 words and he had to tell me which 2 of the words had the same ending. This is something he did fine all week, but was DONE when the review came around. Next time we will take a break and come back to it :)

I am so grateful to be given this opportunity to teach our children at home. I never would have dreamed that this would be the path that our family, let alone myself, would be traveling down, but I am so happy with our decision! I feel so blessed to have a husband that is so supportive as well as friends and family members who are encouraging and interested in what we are doing.

Last year as we contemplated keeping Charlie home from PreK I was full of anxiety, fear and uncertainty of what we should do. I felt led to keep him home and be his teacher. My heart told me this was what we needed to do, what we were being called to do. I prayed about it over and over again and always got the same answer. I knew what we needed to do. However, homeschooling is certainly not the norm and to choose to actually do it felt very uncomfortable as far as what other people might think of us.

Then I read this: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12-2

We had a great week! I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!!

Getting Ready for School

We are gearing up for the start of our newest adventure, home schooling. We dabbled in it a bit last year doing a loose PreK curriculum with Charlie. I discovered a little bit of what works for us and what does not.

What really worked for us this past year was our work boxes, school in the morning and lots of fun and play added into our school time. Having something set up for Tommy to do when Charlie was doing school was also VERY helpful to keep him occupied. We all enjoyed doing science projects and crafts together, so Tommy will be joining in on a lot of the fun again this year.

Trent and I decide to enroll Charlie into a virtual public school. It is basically a state funded charter school that supplies all the curriculum, computer and printer. We also like that this program is essentially a public school and therefore he is "enrolled" in a school, hence we need not jump through all the hoops to "prove" that we are schooling at home and what exactly we are doing. And since the boys will most likely go to a traditional school down the road, I like the idea of them being right on track (if not ahead) of what they will be expected to know in a public school. That way it will make the transition easier for them, at least from an educational standpoint.

The materials have arrived and I have been busy reading through all the Teacher Guides, looking over workbooks and making a list of school supplies that we will need. It is overwhelming, but oh SOOO exciting and I can't wait to get setup and started!

I have also been putting together a preschool curriculum for Tommy. This time around I found several wonderful websites that offer free curriculum that are right up our alley. They are geared towards Tommy's age group, but I know that Charlie will also benefit from the lessons, so we will be incorporating Raising Rock Stars Preschool into our daily schedule as well.

Raising Rock Stars Preschool is a Biblical curriculum where the children learn about God's Word, scripture verses, Bible stories, songs, character building, weekly emphasis on sight words, color and numbers. It is a great preschool program and I am excited to see how the boys will enjoy it. Carisa over at 1+1+1=1 is so generous to share all the lesson plans for free. I also opted to join her members only section for a one time fee of ONLY $10 which has a whole slew of fun computer stuff for the boys to do that goes a long with the weekly lesson. Now, we only have to purchase Word/Excel for our computer to be able to take advantage of it!

I have been a busy bee, cutting out all of our Crafty ABC projects. Charlie knows all of his letters, but I plan on doing these educational ABC crafts with all the kids, including Miss. S. I saw most of them on No Time For Flash Cards and Totally Tots. Just a fun way for Tommy to learn all his letters and for Charlie to reinforce what he already knows.


As a family we will also be following Carisa's Raising Rock Stars family Bible time. I have printed off all the weekly lessons, have ordered most of the books from the library that go along with them, and am busy putting together the fun crafts for each week. We did some of these lessons around Christmas time and they were so fun to do together. It was neat to see all of us working together, learning about God. This is also a great way for Trent to be involved in the teaching of the kids, spending good quality family time and worshiping God all together.

I have been told my other moms who are teaching the virtual K program that it is very possible to complete the weekly lessons in 3-4 days, about 2 hours a day. Not only do I have to record attendance and Charlie is "quizzed" daily on his progress as to assure that he understands what he is being taught but that we are also moving along in the curriculum. Since Charlie is enrolled in a public school, he also has a teacher that keeps a close eye on how he is doing and if he completing the work that he needs to be doing. The nice part is that we can determine how much we want to do in one day, when we want to take vacations, if we do school in the morning or at night, during the week or on the weekends, and on the road or at home.

I have looked through the curriculum and so far I know that Charlie is already ahead in many subjects. I think he will pick up the Phonics very quickly as we have already been doing a lot and he is eager to read. He is far ahead in math, already doing simple addition and subtraction in his head without having to count on his fingers etc. I have plenty of material to supplement his curriculum and it is nice to know that if we need to take a few weeks off when the baby is born, that he is already ahead of the game.

To add to the academics of Charlie and Tommy's learning, we have also enrolled them into a Home School Co-Op that meets once a week. Tommy will be in a preschool setting and Charlie will take 3 classes a session. The classes are taught by other moms on a variety of subjects that I sign him up for ahead of time. I hope they offer the Math Lego building class this time around because I KNOW that he would just love it! The Co-Op is set up just like a traditional school, with lunch, gym etc. They also have field trips, recitals and achievement nights at the end of each session.

I am so looking forward to this year. I can't wait to get the basement set up as our new school room. To organize all the materials and go school shopping. I am so excited for him to pick out his new book bag and folders. I am thrilled beyond belief to know that our boys will be home with me again this year and that I get to be their teacher. That I get to teach Charlie how to read, to see all those first "ah ha" moments. I am so grateful to be given this opportunity and to have the complete support of Trent. I couldn't do it without his assurance and love!

School starts August 26th and we can't wait!!!

Kids Day 2010

Kids Day 2010 was a thumbs up!

Tommy at the movie theater (and NO I was not the only Mommy taking pictures!)

Charlie at the movie theater playing games

First on our agenda was taking the boys to their first ever movie at the theater. We HAD to go see Toy Story 3 since Buzz and Woody are our latest obsessions. We knew that Charlie would be glued to the screen and we were not sure how Thomas would do. They both did great! The movie was a little intense at moments, like when the toys were headed to the incinerator....nice way to terrorize our kids...thanks Disney! And both Trent and I thought it was sad, but overall a good movie and one Charlie would like to add to our collection.

Presents after naps, R2D2 for Charlie

Tommy and Charlie
And a Buzz Lightyear costume for Thomas

Week of the Big Blue Sea

Last week was a good week. We had so much planned that our lessons actually spilled into this week as well. We finished up our Ocean theme today.


We did a little kids yoga. Tommy loved it and Charlie enjoyed it as long as he could do the positions like the lady on the show was doing them. If he couldn't then he melted. He actually got sent to his room for an attitude adjustment during this portion of our day. Being banished to him, with a talking to afterward, seems to be helping curve the whining that we have been experiencing.


Charlie's triangle fish. He drew a pirate ship that had sunk to the bottom as well as a diver.

Tommy and Charlie made octopus. They really enjoyed painting these and using circle sticker as the suction cups underneath their legs. We had fun pretending to stick on one another like an octopus might stick to something.


We did a few float and sink experiments. We made a boat out of playdough and put it in the water. It didn't sink. Then we made the clay into a ball and observed that it sunk in that form.

We also saw that an egg will sink in regular water. However, it will float when you add salt to the water.

Neither Tommy or Charlie cared for the salt water....can't blame them!


Tommy "painted" the fort...with water. This was a HUGE hit for all the kids!

Charlie drew many seascapes and then had his whale, sharks and dolphins swim around.

I made a fun snack from graham crackers, goldfish, crushed vanilla waffers for sand and green M&Ms for seaweed.

We filled clear bottles with water and baby oil, put in some glitter, sea shells and a small plastic toy dolphin. It is fun to shake them up and or make waves. They all LOVED this and I only wish I knew how to keep the tops from coming off so they could play with them more.

Charlie did some pattern work with circle stickers. I made a few patterns and then he had to put the same stickers down. He is really into patterns recently.

Tommy worked on colors and shapes.

Putting straws into a small opening. This was a big hit too!

Another favorite is our dig dig box. I had small toys, letters etc and he finds them. Then has free play. Love the new construction site vest!!

Charlie worked on his word puzzle cards and put the correct letter on the card to spell the word. We are still working on sounding out words.

Impromptu tea party

Indoor excercise

Charlie having some water play time in the kitchen sink.

Shell matching game

Charlie learning to use a ruler. He really likes to use the ruler to make his lines really straight now.

Free paint.

Charlie making his Octopus word folder while Tommy does some writing.

We read some books about the ocean and found some cool kids magazines at the library about ocean life and dolphins.

Tommy started workboxes this week. He has 3 and can do them if he shows interest since he is always wanting to do school with Charlie. My only requirement is that he finishes the box if he starts it and puts it away.

We are all really enjoying using our version of the workboxes. I have them numbered and Charlie knows that when he finishes one then he is to put everything back into it, put it back on the shelf and then get his next box. It is also helpful for me because it keeps everything organized and I am not having to store or find items for projects or different subjects. Sometimes I will also let Charlie pick which box he would like to do. I do this to make it different, a little more fun for the morning and so that he can have more control in the process.

As far as subjects that we are studying go, Charlie has been telling me different topics that he would like to learn more about and I plan accordingly. I have been having a hard time find books at the library to go with our themes. We typically go to a small brach close to our house and I think that is the problem. This weekend I went to Beachwood library (same library Dad use to take us to on Wednesday nights) and I fell in love with that library all over again!! People were staring at me and my mountain of books I was checking out!!

School year is going great. We are falling into a routine and I am in the process of picking Charlie's new curriculum for Kindergarten.

Random sickie week

A short week, tummy bug, pink eye and two days of doctors appointments. But we still managed to squeeze in some fun activities.

We made a color wheel from cookies and mixed our primary colors together to make other colors. Both boys really loved doing this and not just because they were having fun with cookies and icing!
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I had Tommy just put the red, yellow and blue icing on his cookies as I knew he would be off and running in about 5.2 seconds. I was right :)
Charlie had so much fun making his on colors. He decided to mix them all together and then asked me to take a picture of his masterpiece
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We also made a graph with M&Ms. Of course Charlie thought this was fun and even did some simple addition and subtraction problems with the candy.

I had Tommy sort the M&Ms by color. He did great!

We borrowed another cool toy from the toy lending library at our local library. It is a magnetic game and you a special pen to move the magnets to make pictures.
Charlie made a train of course, among other things. He also had fun making different patterns, he is very into patterns these days.



Tommy sorted the colors all on his own.

We also made Valentines bracelets.

Tommy got easily frustrated but managed to put a half a dozen beads on. This was difficult though since the string was SO thin. He did a great job!

Tommy also practiced drawing with a pen on the dry erase board. He colored each object and counted them as he did so
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We had some great play time fun with Daddy and the new fort that we just got. Gotta love a man that can dumpster dive!! The fort was getting thrown out from a business that rented space where he works, but it wasn't in the dumpster...just along side of it! Regardless, it is awesome and the kids love playing "jail" and making it into a school room!


And a week would not be complete without some cutting practice. He can't get enough of it!