Monday, February 28, 2011

Maggie Monday


My name is Maggie.  I like to watch TV.  I like to play with my neighbor.  I like to help Daddy plant.  I like to play Legos with my brother.  That's mostly all.

M

The Simple Woman's Daybook



FOR TODAY Monday February 28, 2011

Outside my window... the sun is shining and it looks like a beautiful day

I am thinking... about our first homeschool enrichment co-op that I am hosting tomorrow

I am thankful for... dinner with our new friends last night

From the learning rooms... today is a planned "make-up" day for us.  We are catching up on a few items from last week and trying to read a lot.  We will also be watching the first Harry Potter movie since Tyler and I finished the book last week.

From the kitchen... Ham steaks and grilled zucchini

I am wearing... my pajamas

I am creating... another plan to motivate myself to clean more

I am going... to the eye doctor 

I am reading... Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (I started reading this to encourage Tyler to read a book chapter by chapter. I will say, it is actually interesting and much clearer than the movies.)

I am hoping... that all the kids mesh well tomorrow at Co-Op

I am hearing... the kids playing Wii Fit

Around the house... I need to finish cleaning in anticipation of visitors tomorrow

One of my favorite things... my new plan to have the kids clean every time they pick on one another

A few plans for the rest of the week... the usual: Daisy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Park Day and on Tuesday I am starting an Elementary Co-Op at my house (don't faint N), an airport run to pick my Mom up and lunch with N

Here is picture I am sharing...
Maggie and Miranda Cosgrove (I Carly) at the Nick Hotel




Baby Calla Lilly


I bought these calla lillies last year and they grew quite well except they didn't flower. The bulbs were extracted after summer ended and were dried over the Winter. I replanted them in a location that gets less sun then the previous location. Let's hope they fare better this year.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

A Work in Progress

I learned something new today. I learned how to make tabs on my blog. I can't tell you how excited I am. I have been wanting to improve my blog for awhile, but I really have no desire to learn HTML. I want the easy way out and I found it. I found it thanks to some nice people on the web who help the unknowledgeable like me.

So pardon the mess while I finish figuring out the details. I know some links don't currently work, but I will figure it out eventually.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: 2/26/11


Monday: We were invited to a birthday party today, so we did a few quick school lessons this morning and then headed off to the park. We ended up staying later than anticipated but the kids were having a great time and it is always nice to have some PE time. I also signed up for the "Heart of the Matter" conference this week. It is a 3 day online Christian Homeschooling conference. I was excited about a couple of the speakers, including one talk on "Reluctant Writers" I didn't get a chance to listen to any of the speakers today, but I will catch the MP3s later.

Tuesday: This was just a normal Tuesday for us: schoolwork, chores, etc. I did school with the kids in between listening to the online HS conference. This week I have been writing the daily chores on the white board and telling the kids to go do them. This has been working out pretty well. They are pretty good about doing their chores, but only under direction. I want them to be a little more independent which is why I recently ordered these:


Wednesday: I had a rough morning and decided to declare an "unschooling" day. Well actually I gave the kids a choice "unschool and no Wii/TV" or "do schoolwork and Wii later." Frankly, I was very surprised they choose the unschooling without hesitation. That was a good sign since some days they both seem too involved in the electronics. I was also trying to finish up my last day of the online HS conference and wanted to focus on that for the day. So the kids spent their time making puppets, putting on a puppet show for me, watching a library video, and reading. Not a bad day. I would post the video from the puppet show but I can't figure out how to get it off my phone.

Thursday: It is a good day when the kids don't even make a comment when I say "let's start school." I have a complainer and it is starting to rub off on his sister. But today was a good day. I actually just had them double up and we completed most of the assignments from yesterday and today. T is obsessed with Harry Potter right now so he also spent alot of his day rereading the first book.

Friday: Today we ventured out to Disney for a DisneySchooling Day coordinated by a local homeschooling group. We had a fun time, but we did not know anyone else in the group. We met up with them for one group ride and the group photo. Otherwise the kids and I rode a few rides by ourselves and went home early. We only spent about 4 hours in the park, but I over-packed my backpack and I was in a lot of pain by the time we decided to go home. I talked to another family that stayed until 10pm. One time, on our first visit, we actually spent the whole day at Disney. Since then I can barely make it 4 hours. But luckily for us, the kids are actually ready to go home by then also. That is the nice part about having passes this year.

Saturday: Mommy is taking the day off from activities and catching up on some of the administrative duties around the house. Currently I am working on my budget and listening to a MP3 by Andrew Pudewa. It is very interesting take on "thinking" and "education." I am one of those people who really like conventions and speakers. The right one always invigorates my homeschooling journey.

Friday, February 18, 2011

It's a Good Day when you figure your kids out


I had a good Homeschooling Mom moment today. I have been reviewing multi-digit subtraction with T and for the past 2 weeks he has consistently been getting those wrong. He wasn't having a problem with his Horizons, but when we finished his book we started reviewing using another curriculum. I could not figure out why he was suddenly giving me such crazy answers.

Today while correcting his math worksheet I had an epiphany.... the kid was "borrowing" when no borrowing was necessary. And, I figured out why. In an effort to streamline his math problems he starts by going down the whole page and doing the "borrowing" part of the problem before he even starts the problem.

So he then gets a problem like "15-12" which does not require you to borrow from the 10s column and immediately everything is messed up. Yeah I am so happy I figured this out. I was concerned that he wasn't understanding the whole concept and now I know it is just an attention/detail issue and that is not a new problem.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Simple Woman's Daybook




FOR TODAY Monday February 1, 2011

Outside my window... a warm, sunny day

I am thinking... that I really want more coffee

I am thankful for... Jeff's bonus

From the learning rooms... it took us all day, but we made some progress today and completed all our schoolwork. I also just bought a couple new items from damaged sale I found today: geography and Spectrum test practice

From the kitchen... I am trying to purge from eating too much this weekend, so I will probably go with 6 medifast meals and cook the kids some raviolli

I am wearing... sweats, Tshirt, and a sweater because it is colder in my house than outside

I am creating... I'm with my friend N.... I am not creative so I never know what to write either

I am going... to hopefully get my hair cut sometime this week

I am reading... Mennonite in a little Black Dress

I am hoping... for inspiration

I am hearing... the icemaker

Around the house... I have had the kids cleaning all day, but we still have some messes to take care of.

One of my favorite things... Jeff's chrome notebook that I have taken over

A few plans for the rest of the week... the usual: Daisy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Enrichment Classes. Then next weekend some surprise plans for my 40th birthday.

Here is picture I am sharing...