In Full Swing & A Shout of Thanks…week 4

Okay, so I’m not going to beat around the bush here…this week was challenging.  Big Bro’s courses are in full swing which means mucho work and lots of hours of work.  In addition to the work load, we still have other things on our schedule collectively that needs to be done.  Big Bro  goes to swim four days throughout the week in the afternoon…I tutor from 3-6 three days a week…we have church from 6-10 on Friday nights.  So trying to get it all in each week is definitely taking some planning and balancing. 

And now for a round of applause:  Thank goodness for Papa who saves the day each week by tag teaming with me to get Big Bro to and from swim, giving Little Bro playtime when he’s done with “official” school time and pretty much anything else that needs to be done.   And although Nana can’t be with us during the daytime hours, she definitely supports our hs efforts.  As I type this right now, she is sitting beside me addressing and stamping postcards (and bought them, might I add!)  for a project we are doing.  She’s always offering good advice, new ideas (like putting Big Bro’s FLVS work in his workboxes) and supplies us with various items we need…buttons, hangers, nylons, you name-she has it!  Of course, Daddy helps support our homeschooling by working super hard so that I can stay home to do this.  He’s also the math/science brains behind some of the more complex explanations and the science experiments.  Thanks to each of you!!!

Okay, so onto some fun photos from the week:

So a little extra material for Big Bro’s unit on Mesopotamia in World Cultures…DVD and books

 

A life skill lesson in cooking french toast…yummy!

 

 

Our new thing is that we are participating in is a nationwide postcard swap…each week we receive one or two postcards from a different state complete with cool facts about each.  This was our first week…we received it from Iowa.  It’s a great way to memorize state capitals, locations and just some interesting things about our states.  We learned about Snake Alley in Iowa which is the world’s crookedest street.  (It’s a group of 51 families, each assigned a week to send out a postcard to the other families.   Ours will be mailed out the week of October 8…thanks Nana for buying all the postcards, stamping and addressing all 51!)  It’s exciting checking the mail now for the kids!

                                         

Funny little emails from a couple FLVS teachers…he gets these often from them…fun!

               

Still working on letter “B”…

Counting with butterflies and doing a button collage

Some morning math work

Reading Goldilocks and The Three Bears and a cutting/sorting exercise

“B” puzzle                                                 Building with blocks                      Franklin’s Blanket on tape

                      

Working on some map work and creating a Sumerian alphabet for an assignment

Sorting A and B items            Our friend, “B”, playing a butterfly counting game with dice

The boys working on finding pictures that begin B and cutting them out…fine motor skills.

Big Bro’s math class has a portion called “Math Virtually Everywhere”…this assignment (on decimals) required that he estimate the cost of 10 items, round the total cost and then compare that to the actual cost at the grocery store.  I was surprised to learn that he was rather fantastic at estimating the cost of each item.  He guessed the Gusher’s to be $2.20 when the actual price was $2.29! 

Bad guy fighting time!                   One of Big Bro’s homeschool shirts and now Little Bro’s shirt

                          

  Yeah!  Our 2d postcard came in from MN this week.  We also received our Book It! program info in the mail.  So the boys were super excited to learn they would earn a free pizza coupon each month for reading.  That should be NO problem in our house!

                                                                 

Our first “Talkin’ Tater Night”…this idea came from a teen parenting class we have been taking for the past 6 weeks…Lil Bro was asleep and so it was just the three of us talking about “teen” issues and “stuff.”  The Five Guys Fries helped to offset some of the uncomfortable topics we touched on…lol!

                                                      

Celebrating Grandparents Day… a couple weeks late due to time conflicts…Nana got a new Bible and a pedicure given to her personally (meaning we did it) from Lil Bro and I.  Papa got a cool homeschool grandparents funny t-shirt and a trip to the golf range with Big Bro.  Meanwhile, Daddy made a great meal for them, too!

 

  

Lil Bro’s first team sport…Pee Wee Baseball…how cute is he??? 

Check him out!                              Yes, he connected!!              Umm, is the ball ever gonna get here?

   

What a wonderful blessing it has been this past month to connect with the boys in a way I never have!  I can’t imagine not homeschooling now even though getting it to “work” takes plenty of time.  I look forward to what the future holds for us.  I know it won’t all be rainbows and sunshine but hopefully the memories from those times will carry us through the dark and stormy daysl…

Until next time,

Crystal

 

 

 

 

3 weeks down!

Okay, this week was definitely a test of our schedule.  Combined with some difficult school topics, Little Bro’s birthday and party and then me leaving town Thursday and Friday…I’d say it was a miracle we got most of it done!  We will be working hard, very hard this coming week to make up for some missed work from this week, though. 

Here’s a glance into our wild and crazy week:

Big Bro worked extremely hard for two full days on his math and science this week.  He was truly wiped out by the end of the afternoon. 

Smiling at the start of the day                               Needing a change mid-morning

       

Ala is always there for moral support!             His new headphones to drown out our voices

        

Monday was the beginning of letter “Bb” for Little Bro…loves to read his new board and practice some pre-writing skills, too.

Starting off with the official “B” Book        We  began calendar and weather today, too

                

Puzzle time with Mrs. Spider               Looking for items that begin with B for our Bag book

Good fine motor skill practice

A fun new game about things that go together…love the thinking that goes into the pairs!

               

Big Bro was working on dividing decimals and the online lesson showed the use of Base 10 units and I was thrilled to have found some at a curriculum sale in the spring so pulled them out for him to  get some hands-on learning, too.

Little Bro’s art lesson for “Bb”…making birds using circles and triangles…oh, and following directions as I stated the steps in order.  He did awesome and really loved the challenge!

                           

 

Tuesday “B” was with us so Little Bro and he had a blast getting extra play time together as I was very busy with Big Bro working on science and math.  Here they are with a make shift fort in the breakfast room.  They had flashlights and books (oh, and of course, cars) underneath! Later in the day, Papa took the twins swimming while Big Bro did his swim practice.

Here’s Big Bro conferring with his science teacher about some questions he had and she patiently walked him through it step by step.  She worked with him on the phone for about a half-hour. 

Wednesday is co-op day and the boys were super excited to go.  In addition, it was Little Bro’s 4th birthday!!!  So we planned to have a mini-celebration there with cake and singing.  Even Daddy and Papa were able to join us!  The morning began with a gift…see the happy smile?

                                                         Daddy helping him in P.E. at co-op

 

Big Bro and his friend “R” playing with Little Bro’s new present unbeknownst to him.  Cake #1…shortly after everyone began to sing, he squeezed behind me in tears.  We felt awful!  He was fine when they stopped, though.

 

Big Bro’s video game design class                              

                  

     Little Bro color mixing after hearing Mouse Paint with his class

                 

Sitting with his new present in between classes

Thursday…the day of his birthday party at Jump Zone…early morning festivities. 

Hot Wheels Battleforce 5…he’s been car-crazy since his first birthday!  Seriously!  If you need a particular Hot Wheel, we probably own it. 

                   

Some party goers :)                                                             Nana and Big Bro

                

Little Bro and best pal, “B”          Yummy cake!                                        My party!

               

After the fun and festivities, it was time to head home to get Nana and Papa’s gifts and boy did they get them!  Little Bro got an amazing gift from his N & P…but coming from a very techy household, I guess it makes perfect sense!  I must say that since he received the iTouch, Little Bro has played with it the least…it keeps getting picked up by Big Bro but mostly by Daddy.

His new iTouch                                Showing Nana how to work it                Ala joining in the fun!

Then that afternoon, Nana and I headed out for a church retreat in Clearwater and Daddy and Papa stayed with the boys.  So since Daddy was on vacation Friday, there was no school for the boys.   Love the flexibility of homeschooling so that we could do these things and just catch up on other days.  We even did some work this weekend, Big Bro and I, to catch up.  More on that next week.

Until then,

Crystal