Our adventure at home

Monday was the little man's last art class. He was sorely disappointed to see it come to an end. While he was in class the older two and I went to the library. My oldest was complaining as he did not want to go. Once we got there, he actually found the most books! And found some more he wants to check out next week

Wednesday, we knew a storm was coming, so while the older two finished their art lessons, the little man and I went to pick up supplies in case we were stuck for a few days. Good thing we did.

Thursday we awoke to a raging storm, the wind howled and snow blew. Sprintime in Montana! We had just started our schoolwork and the power went out. The kids finished as much as they could on the computer battery power, but that does go down quickly.

I was able to get the radio running and found there were power outages all over yhe area. I called to let the power company know we were out and they told me it may be a while, we had a transformer station down, as well as broken poles and a fire on 2 poles that lead to our house. We got to practice homesteading and self sufficiency.

We kicked up the fireplace, which the kids love when we do that, I called DH and asked him to pick up some water as we loose our water supply when power goes out.

The kids and I did chores as best as we could, then we read for while. Mostly fun stuff, poetry and short stories. Lunch was leftover fried chicken. I did get a giggle as each of the 3 children headed to the microwave to heat up their lunch and the realization that it does not work without power. To funny!

We gathered buckets to melt snow for the toilet, which they found fun. The oldest saw we were going to run short on firewood, so he took the inititive to go outside in the snow/rain and mud to get more to dry out so we could burn it for heat. He provided enough until well after Papa got home.

When hubby got home, he stocked the house with firewood, brought in 30 gallons of water in jugs, and took over the managing of the fireplace.

Dinner was soup, as I can use our gas stove, but not our oven when we have no power. We also ran some hot soup and Tea down to my mom's house (we hoped she would join us but she did not).

After dinner we broke out games. Popped popcorn on the stove and made hot chocolate.
When it was time for the younger two to go to bed, there was still enough light, but soon we had to light the oil lamps and candles. The oldest got a kick out of writing a journal entry by oil lamp and remember that is how Abraham Lincoln learned.








By the time I went to bed, the bedroom was cold, I snuggled under the blankets praying that the Lord would guard us through the night. Hubby slept by the fireplace to keep that running all night.

Friday we woke to still now power. The kids were impressed with the fact that dishes can be done by hand, after warming water on the stove. They were not so thrilled at the "spit bath" idea, but those were done quickly and into clothes that had been warmed by the fire. We continued with our chores and played some more games. The kids were disappointed when the power came back on. I was relieved, concerned that we would loose all the food in the fridge and freezers.

It is now Saturday morning, we have electric now, but still no water (damage done to a specific line, we are waiting on the power company to come fix this.) I MISS RUNNING WATER. Hubby has taken the empty jugs to refill them as we have no idea at which point the lines will be repaired. The power company has their hands full with this storm.

A good lesson as we are learning what we need to do for future outages (like water storage!), things that worked well and things that did not. HMMMM how do I put this in their schoolwork? life lessons?

What looked like a regular week at the start, quickly turned into an adventure!

April 23 - weekly wrapup

Our "schoolwork" started on Saturday...I had purchased some grape vines to try to grow around my front deck. The kids were thrilled to help. I had 8 vines so enough for everyone.

We dug up an area around the deck, where the boys soon found treasures in God's earth...worms. Kids are so amazing, each worm (and there were many) was treated like a treasure, we looked at the different sizes, we looked at how some were active and others weren't, each one new to them. We found pill bugs, and spiders (eeewww) and a few other creatures I would rather stay outside.

As we planted the vines, I showed each child the roots. I reminded them that our learning about God and his word are like the roots of the plant, offering stability, food, nourishment we need to grow our lives in HIM. Without nourishment, the plants would die, just like us, and we need to be sure to feed our souls.

We moved some Iris's tubers around as I had to many in one area, we examined the root system on these to compare against the vines and how different they were.

Monday, we bought some "new" laptops for the kids. This way I am not trying to coordinate 3 kids to do their computer time. I have strictly set their internet capablities, but already this is proving to be such a blessing to our day.

Little man had art on Monday afternoon, so after we dropped him off the older two and I headed to the Library, with the oldest groaning the whole way that he did not want to go. Of course, the princess was eager as she is loving being able to read.

The oldest has to write a report on one of the apollo missions, he chose Apollo 11. He still needed some info, so we found a couple of books and a DVD called "When we left earth". His excitement increased as he found a book on racoons, the legos...he checked out 3 lego books. Little Miss checked out another owl book and 5 others, her favorite being a book about "Tinkerbell".

Tuesday, the oldest started watching the DVD set.I told him he only had to watch the Apollo mission, but he ended up watching about Mercury missions and Gemini Missions as well. His report is only suppose to be one paragraph, think I will give him "extra credit" for the additional research.

Tuesday the kids were all anxious to get on their own computers. Schoolwork was a breeze!!!

Wednesday, again to the new computers (I hope the newness doesn't ever wear off!) Right into their lessons, I had to remind them breakfast comes first! Even tho' the youngest is not able to do the SOS yet (it starts in 3rd grade) I did load the teacher side of it and manually put in what his lessons are and showed him how to report to me with it. He loves being included.

The two older kids had their art class so the little one and I headed first to a thrift shop where I found two laptop cases (at .90 each, we can afford that!) Then we headed to the Library. The little one was looking for some books about "Biscuit" He loves being able to read them, but we looked and looked and were unable to find them. Just before we left, I found where they were and he came home with 6 of them! He was so thrilled, and read one of them on the way home.

Little Miss cooked dinner solo for the first time once we got home...grilled cheese and tomatoe soup.

Thursday, we took the day to practice Home ec...catching up on laundry and doing odd jobs that kept getting overlooked.

Each day we check on Molly and McGee, tracking what they are eating, and the size. The kids were concerned when Molly started leaving the nest for the day, I reminded them this is what owls do. With this, we also were watching Owliver and and Owlivia, yesterday one Owlivia's babies died, we learned this morning another one died. There is a lot of speculation as to the "why's" but I remind the little ones that this is part of life on earth.

A sad ending to the week. Today Schoolwork as normal...we tend to keep it light on Fridays.

Overall, a very wonderful week!

Week in Review

http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/search/label/Weekly%20Wrap-up

The 3r's were accomplished this week under the groans of less enthusiastic "students", our goals however have been accomplished.

The oldest is researching his first paper, on one of the space missions, no suprise he chose Apollo 11. He is actually enjoying it, his growth in getting work done and not complaining (as much) has been wonderful over the past few months. Nice to see.

Sunday we went to a children's museum after church, the kids had a ball playing house, dressing up, running from one exhibit to the other. They were also having a book sale so of course I could not pass it up. All 3 picked out a book. Princess's book was actually 4 books in one and I figured she would take a week or so to read it...she read it all once we got home.

We have been checking in on Molly and McGee all week. I don't know who is enjoying it more, me or the kids. Watching the owlets grow is amazing and a full reminder of God's wonderful creatures. Princess is not so anxious to watch feeding time, but the boys think it is cool. We have done some reading on Barn Owls and Birds of Prey, and we did a virtual disection of an owl pellet that the kids had a ball with. We will probably be wrapping up the research part of this next week, but will still follow the babies until they fledge and are on their way.

The art classes, the little guy loves his, he loves his teacher, the older two are not as excited to go, their teacher makes them sit at the table quietly until I come to get them....not something we do at home since we use most of the house for schoolwork and don't sit much. I did not realize this until this art class, but we move from one room to the other, on the floor, cuddled on the couch, stretched out on the table, guess we are all ADD! I explained to the kids they must follow the rules of the classroom, and explained that this is to control the kids in the classroom. Princess asked me if that is what PS is like...she doesn't want to go to PS now or ever....

All in all...a very good week!

Molly

We have been working through Apologia's Fifth day of Creation and was thrilled to find this site on Homeschoollounge.com.

The kids check on Molly and the crew daily and have actually listened to some of the Q&A sessions offered by Carlos, the man who has the box in his back yard.

On You tube, (look under Sircarlosr) there are snippets of various things that have happened including the hatching of the owlett named Wesley.

All 3 have been watching the growth of the owls, the little princess was the first to notice that Max (the oldest) has started growing the heart shaped face of an owl already.

The male (McGee) has been a great provider, and we listen for signs that he is on the way, (only the oldest and I) as McGee usually shows up after the little two have gone to bed. Be we do get a "head count" of what McGee has brought home the night before.

We are looking forward to see the growth and development of the babies.

Weekly Wrapup

This week, school was week, but the learning was not.

We got the 3 "r's" done, and from the Shiver Acadamy, we have been using their Book of Vitures Project as a guide for Character Studies as well as the bible studies from Christian Liberty Press.

The oldest was definately challenged this week, starting with math, doing equivelant fractions. Then for Language Arts, he had to Start a project Essay as well as a couple of other small writing projects, he is so afraid of getting it wrong, he gives up before he starts. He did okay once he got rolling.

Little Miss, still struggles getting her addition down, I wonder if it is her doubting herself and wanting to double check or if she is still having a problem with them. She worked on a couple of crafty projects.

My little man, pushes himself over and over,he continues to try to work on his mulitiplication tables with his older brother (The Timez Attack game is proving to be worth the money spent). He loves doing Italian, especially since it also is computer based and he has figured out that he can hear himself and get feedback.

We are going through a remodel of the house. We have been spending time painting and finishing the new bedroom for the boys. The are tickled as we have new beds for them in the garage awaiting the ground work, and I was able to find some old gym lockers for their room.

The Book of Virtues project, I bought the kids each a composition book for notes and pictures and where we can put the lapbooking components. All three really enjoy the work, it is putting the lessons into practice they are not so thrilled with. Right now we are working on Self-discipline (like I am the one to teach that).

Our Math and Language Arts Curriculum are both through computer based, and I wished I would have used these sooner. I love both subjects but am learning that I do not teach them well. This relieves a lot of the pressure from me on "am I doing it okay", because I can supplement as needed.

Now we start looking forward to next week....

Just let him go!!!

When the youngest was about 4 (barely) I would settle down the older two to start some work and the youngest would we his pants. He would stand there, look at me and wet.....Sometimes I am not the brightest lightbulb in the box, as this went on for about 3 weeks.

SO at his young age I picked him up a kindergarten curriculum, we started with the abc's and numbers, and the wetting stopped. He wanted "real" work like the older two.

Fast forward to today. He is now 6, I decided to buy his 2nd grade curriculum with our tax return so we would have it when he was ready...he looked through the first units of both Language Arts and Math and proudly proclaimed "this is easy stuff"...so we agreed that we would try it...

He is whipping through these no problem...this child scares me, will I be able to keep up with him?

We were at Ross' a while back and they had some "Talk now" disks for the computer...Italian and French. For just a couple of bucks I figured I would give them a shot. I put them in the little book we have for disks for school and forgot about them. My little man/child found them and proclaimed he wanted to do them. He has now learned colors in Italian and is going through the numbers...

My oldest was doing his Timez Attack (he cant seem to get passed the 4's)...my youngest starts telling him the answers...by the time his sister goes through this, he will have no need as he will have them all down. Today he wanted to know how they worked, so I showed him. A little while later, he came to me and showed me that he had figured out the 5's....

This child is amazing with what he is learning...he is knocking my socks off!!!! Thank God I homeschool this child, for he would be bored and frustrated in ps.

Last weeks wrap up

This past week we focused our attention in different areas. The oldest was "freaking" over his spelling and needs to get his multiplication tables down.

I purchased the timez attack upgrade...now the problem is getting him off of it! YEAH!. We worked on his spelling list, doing just a couple of regular language arts and he aced his test! A real confidence booster for him.

For the princess, we worked on her reading a bit. Seems she missed some of the lessons and was struggling so I sat and read with her, we also worked on addition and subtraction facts.

The little man...Aint no stopping this boy. He still was working his lifepacs..he just about finished unit one. (I thing these are suppose to take longer than 2 weeks arent they?)...But he is getting it...he has to be the best "student" because he asks until he is sure he understands, not skipping anything with him. The language arts is not as fast, he enjoys it, but at only 6, his reading is a little behind the work, so we have to do the reading portions a couple of times.

Today..my keyboard on the computer froze...so we took the day off of schoolwork time. After dinner, I was thumbing through a book I had...the little one climbed into my lap to see what I was looking at...an old book (actually one of a set) THE BOOK OF LIFE. I was thumbing through volume one...he started reading to me. He read and read until bedtime. How awesome.

On Saturday, I was "window shopping" on the computer, and found a refurbished laptop for under $200...talked to DH and he said to order it...so I have a laptop on the way that I will be able to dedicate to schoolwork...YEAH...Coordinating computer time for the kids is getting to be a challenge, as I have 2 on SOS, one on Timez Attack, and all 3 love spelling city. The youngest loves starfall.com and the princess loves addition games. This should ease up "waiting" time. Thank you Lord. My dream is in time each child have their own.

We had been using "THE NARROW WAY" curriculum, but I think we may need to set it aside as the kids arent seeing the correlations. I think we will work on The Book of Virtues first.

Oh how I love the flexibility of homeschool!