Monday, December 27, 2010

Happy Homemaker Monday





The weather in my neck of the woods:

Cloudy and cold. It is 26 degrees right now...A definite change from a year ago when it was sunny and in the upper 60's.


Things that make me happy:
Snow. A husband that gives practical gifts. :D


Book I'm reading:
BROKE by Glenn Beck; Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs; The Rising (prequel to Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye



What's on my TV today:
nothing


On the menu for dinner:
I have no idea yet


On my To Do List:

Clean the house up, do laundry, get the Christmas stuff put away


New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
None


In the craft basket:
Nothing necessarily in the basket. I need to clean up from the last minute Christmas gift frenzy.


Looking forward to this week:
Getting my house back in order and making some goals for 2011


Tips and Tricks:
Don't let your laundry pile up!!! I am not looking forward to getting in there and getting busy on the laundry...



My favorite blog post this week:
A homeschool blog...I can't remember which blog it was...but she was talking about how we each kind of play a part in 'The Christmas Carol' around Christmas. I realized I was being rather Scrooge-ish, so I tried to change real quick before Christmas.


Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
Don't Waste Your Homemaking


No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):
I've got no pictures uploaded right now...


Lesson learned the past few days:

That I really need to get organized and get some sort of schedule going for homeschooling. I cannot deal with chaotic running around. I just don't function well like that, and the kids NEED a routine.


On my mind:
Too much to share right now


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Sunday, December 26, 2010

changes.

I have been away from here for two long months. Not a very good blogger, am I...

However, I do have a good excuse for being incommunicado for so long. There have been many, many small changes in our household in the last couple of months. There has also been one huge, life altering (for us as well as our children) change that has affected every aspect of our lives since mid-November.

Starting November 15th, we pulled Bones out of the Public School system. We are now homeschooling through an online school, Ohio Virtual Academy which uses the K12 curriculum. We looked into homeschooling before we even put Bones into Kindergarten back in San Antonio, but The Hubs talked me into letting him do one year of public school first so we could see how it worked for our boy. Well let me tell you, it was terrible! Once we got to Ohio this summer, we decided to enroll him in the school here, thinking maybe the problem was just the system in Texas. Again, we were wrong. I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty behind our reasoning right now, but I feel (as do many, many others) that we are doing the right thing for our children.

Come spring we will be heading to the Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati to pick out our curriculum for the 2011/2012 school year. We've had Bones academically tested now that he's out of public school. The school system refuses to test students until 3rd grade now (same in TX as OH), but his teacher said it's not law, it's just that there is no funding. Anyway, we had him tested and in Language Arts and Math, he is on an upper 3rd grade level. In Reading/Phonics he's at a mid-upper 5th grade level. So proud of that kid! He LOVES Music and Art as well, and is really enjoying History. His absolute favorite though, is Science. The Hubs likes to help with that.

Kayla had her developmental assessment at 30 months. The lady that does them was blown away by her. I won't get into all the details, but cognitively/developmentally Kayla could go into Kindergarten now and be academically equal to the 5 and 6 year olds. So we've been working on some homeschool stuff with her as well. If at 2.5 she is ready for school, I cannot put her in Kindergarten in 3 years and expect things to go well! haha She just soaks up everything I teach her, and Bones really enjoys teaching her things too.

So homeschooling is definitely not for the faint of heart. We've not established a real clear and good routine yet, which makes it even more challenging. I have 2 weeks of laundry waiting on me right now, the floors desperately need cleaning, I've not had a chance to read anything other than teacher's manuals in awhile, the dust bunnies are invading...it is definitely chaotic. I asked friends on Facebook how they do the schooling and the cleaning, and one friend who also homeschools replied "we're supposed to do BOTH?!?". I'm beginning to wonder if my house will ever be clean, or if I'll ever wear anything but yoga pants ever again. Time will tell...

I hope to establish a good, working schedule in the next few weeks. Hopefully that means my house will get clean and I'll have a little time for reading and blogging!!!

God Bless you and yours!