If the Friends were Homeschooled

A friend of mine sent this to me on FB and I thought it was to funny not to share.. :)

Any homeschooler past, present or future can relate to some of these and have a good laugh!

If the Friends were Homeschooled


Some of my favorites were the early reader, the pencils at the table, and the craft one!

I had such a good laugh at those because they were almost to accurate! haha

December

 I realized about 2 years ago that to try and keep up with a regular school schedule during the month of December was asking for nothing but extra gray hairs and a lot of unnecessary prayers for more patience! :)

 So I poked around a few other homeschool blogs/sites to see what everyone else did around this time of year and jotted down (or pinned) different ones that sounded fun and do-able.

Usually toward the end of November I'll pull out my binder and jot down a few ideas that I have found so that we can do them during the month of December.  :)

So here is what I had planned for this year...

I know it's hard to read anything that I have written, but some things we have done this month are
*finger knitting  {The girls made the garland to go around the tree this year}
* Baking {Cookies & Breads}
*Painting/Crafts
* Cross Stitching

The Pink post it on the paper was just a list of items that I would jot down while I was thinking of things to do this month so that I could just grab my already made up list on my way to the craft store. ;)
*I've also learned {the hard way} that if I'm going to actually plan something, then it works out better for me to be sure I have everything I need here! :))

Books that we read aloud have been:
* Winter Days in the Big Woods
*The Legend of the Candy Cane
*The Candy Makers Gift

We also did a small Unit Study to go with the Laura Ingalls "Winter Days in the Big Woods"
You can find that Here
It was a lot of fun! We made some bread and butter. As well as some paper dolls. You can grab some free ones that we used Here
I just printed them out on cardstock and helped the ones that needed some help to cut them out.  :)
Some of the girls grabbed a few boxes out of the recycle bin and made little houses to keep them in.
Here is where I copied and saved a cut out of Super Mario Bro. for my son since I knew he wouldn't enjoy the fancy little dress up girl ones. :)

On Cyber Monday I just happened to stumble across a post that someone put up onto FB about an Ebook that was marked down titled "My Christmas Prayer Journal"
So I grabbed it for a steal at $1.50 {It's only $2.99 regular} and have been doing that with the kids as well. It's such a neat journal and so much fun!  I printed one for each of the older 4 and then took them to Office Depot to have them spiral bound. You can read more about it and buy one for your family if you're interested at this site Here

                       One more fun thing we've been doing this year is the "You've Been RACKED"
                                               *Random Act of Christian Kindness

The kids made up and decorated some of our own little cards to hand out to people that we may do random acts of kindness for. As well as some that they can have here to leave for someone that they show kindness to. :)
It's been neat to see their little minds at work trying to think of things that they can do.
To make it more interesting, we let the older 5 draw names among each other {sort of like secret santa} Which ever name they drew they are to pray for that person, "secretly" surprise them by doing random acts of kindness for them, make them things {using crafts, knitting, painting, ect} and lastly...of course this is what they're most excited about..they get to buy their "secret person" a gift to put under the tree.  :)

So we're having a good time this December! It's been fun, busy, yet somehow pretty relaxing!! 
That makes for a Very Merry Christmas to Mom & Dad!! :)

There are a few other ideas that I have pinned that are mostly free or very cheap. You can follow me on pintrest on my "Christmas School Ideas" Here

I would love to know what neat traditions or ideas you and your family have during the month of December!  :)

I've been spending this summer trying to prepare for this coming school year. I learned a lot last year..lots and lots of learning! Hopefully the kids learned a little amongst it all too. ;)

 

Last year was quite the learning curve for me. I was feeling pretty lost and in-over-my-head one to many times during the school year.  What confused me the most was that I could not figure out why. I mean, having "those" days was, and is not unusual for us around here, but this was more than just that.  I had not really changed anything from the years prior and was not trying some extravagant, new, cirriculiam that I was getting swallowed up in.  I was at a loss!!

We had a basic idea of how our days went. Nothing was ever written out, but I would try and have things together and somewhat planned the night before {ok, like 1am :-) } Everyone was usually up and starting breakfast anytime between 7-8 and the " known" chores were done before I would start to call the children to grab their pencils and books and sit down.  The problem I was having this time was that by the time I called them all to sit down I was scrambling..scrambling for books, lesson plans, something for one or all to do while I worked with another child.  Inside my head was complete chaos and confusion and it was coming out of me every time I tried to teach.  Of course, on top of that were the younger 3 who were constantly interrupting, or distracting.

* Hey! Where'd they come from???!!!! ;)

 So I was frustrated, overwhelmed, and desperate for help..for guidance..advice..anything! Ok, really I would've been happy for someone to just tell me what to do and how to do it, but all those wise women who have gone before us never seem to want to do that!  ;)  Just kidding!!

 With some help from God (He really deserves the credit), my husband (he's so encouraging) and a wonderful book I found called Saving Daylight by Hiedi St.John. I learned change was necessary! Change.is.normal.

 I also started to learn something interesting about myself.

I think I can have quite a type A personality. I like things a certain way, I'm not very spontaneous, and I like to feel prepared. {haha..this is not the newfound wisdom I gained here}

*Although seeing it written out like that makes me think I could work on it some!  ;)

I started to realize the reason I am not real great about using schedules, in fact they could stress me out a bit, was only because I would let them run me!! Instead of using them as a guideline for our day, I would let them run my day. Kind of make-me-or-break-me sort of deal.  

 With 7 children 10 years and younger, that was not working out real well! Yikes, not real well at all!

* diaper changes, spilled cups, nursing, math, diaper changes, toddler curiosities{I.e. toilets, makeup, trash cans,ect}, spelling, arguing, nursing, sicknesses, toddler trying to climb the table, phonics, did I mention the absurd amount of diaper changes that takes place here, nursing, language, toddler dumping all the crayons on the floor..my favorite.."who's hair is this laying next to the left out scissors??" 

Wait a minute, I didn't schedule any of that into my day!!! ;)

So this school year 2013/2014 I'm feeling excited!  I'm feeling refreshed!  I'm feeling prepared..almost! ;)

Praying this school year (homeschool or public school) is blessed and peaceful for each of you and your families too!

Just for fun I plan to share some of the new things that we're trying this year:

* our schedule ( guideline) ;)

* chore chart

* note booking/ journaling

* school binders

Science Center

 I found this great deal on groupon for a family membership to our local science museum for a full year for only $25. I was pretty excited and look for ward to taking advantage of this pass quite often through the hot summer months. A plus..it's right close to a yogurt shop and a park {Score}!! ;)

 

I SEE you! :)

 

Daddy &Lex

Connor with his cousin Anna. I believe they were admiring the bearded dragon :) 

Lauren {she loves science}

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He loved, loved this airplane that he could fly!

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To funny! The hurricane tube..

They were cracking us up..

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Ella could've sat here all day long playing with the "play"food

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We're still alive over here!! :)

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've posted anything on here. 

School year is starting to ease up a little. We will keep doing some math and phonics review all summer long to keep it fresh in our minds, but otherwise I'm looking forward to some relaxed days without a "strict"school schedule. :)

 We have the girls evaluations coming up, so I need to gather all their stuff and organize it before then. 

You know how it is..it's kind of like running around crazy to clean your house up nice before your guests arrive! :)

 So here are a few fun posts to recap a few things for our school year... Happy summertime to all the busy homeschooling moms!! :)

Confessions of A Homeschooler