"Holiday Hallway" Project

Hello Friends!
Just zipping past with a quick craft for the 'no big holiday' months of January and February. I have this lovely little hallway at the front of my house and I've claimed it as the 'holiday hallway' since hubster doesn't care for my 'clutter', I mean decorating attempts. So since we've arrived last spring, it's been adorned with our Summer Reading Challenge posters, spent a while dressed up for fall, and most recently was a wintry blizzard full of snowflakes. I had intended to leave the snow up all winter, but a certain someone declared with CHRISTMAS decorations and helpfully took them down for me. *ahem, thank you* So I now have a bare hallway that is NEEDING some attention. I've got two long pieces of twine strung along the walls and plenty of mini-clothes pins to hang things on, so it's just a matter of picking a topic. After perusing my calendar for upcoming holidays, I decided that I'd do a multi-holiday theme for the rest of the winter. Those holidays include more snowflakes, hearts for Valentine's Day, President silhouettes and quotes plus national and state flags for President's Day, and "I have a dream" Dream Clouds for Martin Luther King Day where they will fill in their dreams for the world. To some it might be a bit jumbled looking, but I'm excited about it.
I've got a house full today with Jodi's 2 boys here to join my 3, so once nap time is over for the littles, we will be gathering around the craft table with scissors, glue and crayons to enjoy some creative time together.
If you are interested, I printed things from these pages.
Flags~ http://www.free-printable-flags.com/ and http://www.freeprintablecoloringpages.net/category/State_Flags
Hearts~ http://homeschooled-kids.com/valentinesdayhearttemplate.html
Clouds~ http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-cloud-i22857.html
President Silhouttes~ http://kidscraftzone.com/category/Presidents-Day-Crafts.aspx

Thanks for joining us. I'll be adding a few more pics once we are finished with our craft.

Truth in the Tinsel~ Christmas/Advent ideas

I recently found this cute little book called Truth in the Tinsel. It's an e-book for the younger set of kiddos that shares a verse and a craft for each day of Advent to bring the focus back to the birth of the Savior instead of on MORE MORE MORE...gifts, treats, Santa. I purchased it and can not wait for the right time to start. I like that she offers either a list of supplies to make all the crafts so you can be sure to have them on hand, or a printable version of the craft for each day so even the busiest of families (or those with MANY small hands) can enjoy the book. Check it out over at http://truthinthetinsel.com/buy-the-book/   Enjoy!
     Blessings, ~K~

Just Some Goings On Around Here

Not much exciting happening the past few weeks. Trying to fit in the 3Rs around Dan's comings and goings. We LOVE having Dan home during the days, but it's hard to keep with our 'normal' routine with him in and out all the time. SO, we've focused on reading LOTS of great books, keeping up with our math and language studies and watching an educational video here and there. It's frustrating to me since I am list/goal oriented and I can see the days passing with no "boxes" being checked off, but in reality, I know that it's more important for the boys to be spending time with Dan while they can. I know that the lessons they learn about family are more lasting than a lecture plus a worksheet about decimals. I just worry about trying to explain that to 'the powers that be' should they ever demand an account of what I'm doing with the boys at home. In my heart, I know I'm doing the right things and my priorities are in the right order, but what I think and what the state thinks may be 2 very different things. Anywho, I've given that to God and am resolving to not obsess over it. They are learning, they are growing, they are happy and healthy. That is more important to me than if they can recite the Presidents in chronological order or alphabetical order, be the next Einstein, or write the great American Novel. So, we'll just keep doing what we've been doing and that's enough for right now. Pat did request a certain copy work book the other day and I am waiting anxiously to get that for him. David is still really enjoying the MFW curriculum although I don't think it's challenging enough for him. I'll need to start adding some of the 'extra projects' to keep him engaged for the rest of the year...but I'm fine with that. He needs to start REACHING for things in school instead of waiting for them to be handed to him. It's time to teach him how to do Internet research for school projects, how to master the outlining process and how to write a 'proper' essay. More things to put on my to do list, I suppose. As of tomorrow, we are back to our original schedule for school, now that Dan is working once again (thank you JESUS) so these things will hopefully fall back into place. The 3Rs and MFW are on the agenda for tomorrow, plus some quiet reading. Chores will be done BEFORE school so we can focus, plus no TV before school either, as an enticing reward after school is done. I need to print out the Free St Patrick's Day activities ( http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=28526(1)1&it=1 ) so I don't forget about them until too late, like I always do....LOL!
I am just re-reading this...sorry if it seems a bit random and all over the place. : ) Guess I just needed to work out some of my thoughts on paper. Time to dig out my lesson planner and my homemakers binder, I suppose. And with that thought...I'm off to find them! Thanks for listening, ladies!!
Blessings,
~K~

The Wonders of Homeschooling!

Right now I am reading "The Five Love Languages for Children" by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell and it's reminding me of why I tough out the hard days at home with my boys. This morning went HORRIBLY! I wanted to be in the classroom working happily by 9 am. At 10:15 when we finally got to the classroom, I assure you the mood was NOT great. Both D and P were angry with me, upset about doing school since it was interrupting what they wanted to do and I was discouraged and irritated at their lack of cooperation after all of my obvious sacrifices to home school them...LOL! So, I started thinking about WHY it is that we do what we do...and here's a few of my conclusions and decisions stemming from those ponderings.
~*~My Patrick especially is NOT cut out for public school....not because they are evil and terrible, but because they are centered around visually oriented (textbook/workbook) kids and he is just NOT one of those. He is a 'hanging upside down from his desk, running around the classroom, doodling, whispering, waving his arms kind of kid' and spent PLENTY of time in trouble during his public school days. And being scolded for not following the rules is perfectly appropriate, except that if he never hears anything but scolding, he can't feel very good about himself, can he? At the very least, at home he knows that he is loved and that's way more important than knowing how to do long division in his head, speak 3 languages or sit still in a desk for 7 hours a day. So, instead of fighting with him to work on math this afternoon, we spent quite a while working on a poster to remind him that he IS a good boy and that we do appreciate his efforts to control his behavior. So now it's hanging on the fridge to remind him every time he walks through the kitchen that he is a NICE BOY and knows how to do NICE THINGS. So call me an unschooling wacko (who thought THAT day would ever come) but it was more important that diagramming sentences today. My main goal for homeschooling is to spend as much time with, and be as big of an influence as I can in my boys' lives...and if that means they always need to carry a calculator and use spell check, I'm OK with that. It's more important that they know the Lord, have kind hearts and helping hands. I am realigning my priorities this school year to get Patrick's esteem back to where it should be, he's having a rough year. He's starting to get worn down by constant failure at his attempts to be something he's not.
~*~I need to rearrange my schedule to get school done as early in the day as possible. The boys are all early risers and if I allow them to watch TV or start video games, the day just goes downhill in a hurry when I announce that it's time to start school after I've started laundry, spent an hour on the computer, tidied a bit here and there, etc. SO, I will be getting out my 'Managers of Their Homes' book and making a new schedule for our home. It will be a loose schedule, because there are MANY variables around here, but Pat needs the structure and I need the accountability.
~*~David is getting lazy on me since Pat is taking up so much of my teaching time. It's time for him to start working more independently. I may start making him a list of what needs to get done at the beginning of the week and have him start to self-manage a bit more, or teach Derek a bit more. More thoughts on this later.
~*~Derek needs and wants more lessons...he's the one really getting lost in the shuffle right now. He often ends up watching a video so that I can get school done with D and P...not that watching a well appointed video is the end of the world, but if that's all I ever do with him, then shame on me. So back to our letter lap books we go! This one is easy since I have them all prepared to go, it's just a matter of making the time to make it happen.
There...that's enough self exploration for today : ) Glad I can speak freely and without fear of ridicule. Thanks for your support ladies...none one ever said homeschooling was easy, just worth it! Happy homeschooling everyone! Always remember WHY you do it!
~Kristy~

My curriculum ~Kristy

In case anyone was wondering what we use for school books, I thought I'd list my favorites so that you could check them out.
David, Patrick and James (my nephew who schools with us) all use the same 2 curriculum programs.

1. ABeka...as far as I'm concerned THE BEST arithmetic and language arts programs out there. All Bible based, even math is taught from the position that God created order and by extension, math. www.abeka.com
2. My Father's World....for everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) else. Science, history, music, art, Bible and geography. Again, all Bible based, and the Bible is woven into every subject. The wonderful part about MFW is that it's designed with the purpose of multi age teaching. It's a 5 year cycle...year 1 is a year of geography and getting acquainted with the world and the people in it. The next 4 years are years of historical succession. Quite reasonably priced, especially if you have multiple children and will go the 5 year cycle more than once. www.mfwbooks.com

When D and P were in the younger grades, Pre-K through 5th we used all ABeka, all the time. (except for those 2 public school years, of course) Nothing else was used. As we've changed our style of teaching over the years, and got to know our kids better and their learning styles and personalities have emerged and changed...we've made some curriculum changes as well. Like adding MFW. Like using unit studies, lap booking, 'life lessons' day, etc..to further our knowledge, not just in textbooks, but in real life. Which leads to my next point and link.

For Derek, I'm using Bible based alphabet lap books that I got off of my fave site called currclick. It's a great site for homeschooling materials. They have things for every type of homeschooler...unit studies, lap booking, note booking, Charlotte Mason method, copywork, character studies, preschool all the way through highschool levels, and they've even started hosting live classes online. If you join their e-mail newsletter, you get a FREE resource every week. Not all will apply to your schooling needs of course, but FREE is always the best price, right? And they have TONS that can be downloaded for a very small price. They even have a wishlist section so you can direct others to the site if they want to give a gift to the school. They can be found at www.currclick.com

Hope you've enjoyed this little bit of information about our school curriculum choices. Check out the sites and see what you think

Blessings,

Kristy