Keeping it Organized- Our 2016 Homeschool Schedule

Well, here we are! Deep into week two of our year. How's it going? Well... after a first day coffee mishap, a smidgen of humility, and a reality check, I decided to postpone our actual first day.

Apparently things have changed a little more than I thought over the last year and half since we stopped homeschooling. I felt like I really needed a little more time to prepare myself and organize my surroundings and lessons before we jumped back in. I'm glad that I took that time. Things are already better.

We now have a semi organized homeschool office and a pretty good schedule to get us started. This week we're practicing "school days" with the littles. We're working with them on obedience and sitting still for more than 5 minutes. Taylor is reading a ridiculous amount of difficult books. Mary is reviewing her math skills and working on some fun writing assignments. Our theme is still "all about me" and we switched our character study to "obedience" for obvious reasons. Next week we'll move on to our "family" theme and try to stick to our original theme plans from there (as soon as I relocate the missing theme plans, that is).

Anyway...a good schedule is a must for me. We have a very busy and different year ahead of us. With three girls taking classes with The Center for Homeschool Enrichment and Tutorial (Chet), all four girls enrolled in ballet/dance classes, and my husband starting a new job, I need be extremely organized and efficient. There are still plenty of variables and monthly activities that will interfere with the schedule, but at least we have a good solid foundation.

I didn't spend a lot of time on the schedule, I just revised the one from a few years ago. It wasn't possible to include each child's specific routine so I did the best I could. For example, Taylor will spend most of her time at home studying, reading, practicing piano, and completing her assignments. She won't necessarily work in any special order. She's independent and diligent. Mary on the other hand needs constant structure, guidance, and lots of follow-up.

 

I tried to include a few reminders for myself about cooking and cleaning so I won't be flaky. And that's about it.

 

I'm hopeful that Monday will be our official first day and that I'll be able to report back to you all that everything is going great :)  

Sharing Our Plans...... Read All About It!

 

Hi friends!! Since we're all bursting with excitement about the upcoming school year, I thought this would be the perfect time to plan and organize and share.

 

In the past, many of our friends and family have been curious about what the girls were busy doing all day, so I'm going to be sharing our plans each month in a little newsletter like the one below. I'll also try to share what curriculum and classes we've selected for the year, special activities and projects, and how it all ends up working for us. I know that I always enjoy seeing what other families are using and trying. Seeing what works and doesn't work for others has really been helpful to me in planning for my family.

 

I hope that sharing this will be a blessing to those who are planning for their family and also to those who are just interested in how we educate our girls.

 

So here is August's Newsletter :) 



 

Happy Hump Day!!  

Hello August, School, and a Birthday!

For everyone who's waiting on Part 2 of Our Detour, this is not it. This is an "oh my goodness, I can't believe the girls are going to school!" post. Oh my goodness. Not only can I not believe that I've put them in school, I can not believe that their first day is already here!

 

We did the half day/registration day last week and everything went well. Registration day pictures :)

 

 

 

Mary's classroom and teacher are awesome. She was excited to meet new friends and is looking forward to the third grade adventure! Her classroom theme is The Third Grade Explorers. Mary was definitely born to explore!

 

 Taylor said that she felt very welcomed by her new classmates and teachers. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. We were sent home with a mountain of papers and forms and the usual beginning of the year fundraiser stuff. I'm sure some parents are annoyed with the mountain but I'm not. I get it. After being the PTO president at Taylor's elementary school years ago, followed by 5 years of homeschooling, I can totally understand the amount of time, money, effort, and papers! it takes to run a successful school. 

 

 

We made a quick (not-so-quick) run to fill up on school supplies and we were READY! Except that three of our notebooks were wrong, we forgot the antibacterial wipes, and we couldn't decide if the mixed media paper would work for canvas paper. But eventually we got it all worked out, after two more trips to the store ;)

 

So... on to the birthday part of the first day of school. Yes, the first day of third grade was also Mary's 8th birthday! Craziness!! So what do you do when your child is super nervous about her first day/birthday? You bake something fun, I guess.

 

Here's my version of unhealthy birthday cookie sandwiches.

 

1 box of funfetti cake mix

1/2 cup butter

8 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

Lots of sprinkles

Mini m&ms

Mini chocolate chips

 

Mix all of that together and chill for about 10 minutes.

 

 

Roll into balls and roll in powdered sugar. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

 

 

Cool.

 

 

Admire the awesomeness (forgive my phone pics)

 

 

Bandage a boo-boo and wash hands.

 

 

Spread on some vanilla marshmallow frosting (store bought) and smush together. Roll edges in sprinkles.

 

*As I admired these lovely cookie sandwiches I realized something. Sending these extremely gooey sugar sandwiches in, for third graders to attempt to eat at lunch on the first day of school may not be the best idea.

 

So.... back to the drawing board (or kitchen).

 

 

Truffles!

 

 

I made truffles for the class to enjoy at lunch. The gooey cookie sandwiches were sent home with each kid as a treat. Double the fun, right!

 

 

 

It took some time to organize and then reorganize but I think we got everything where it needed to be.

 

 

Since Mary's teacher Mrs. B's theme for the year is The Third Grade Explorers, I decided that I just had to make her a canvas for her classroom! I hope she loves it!

 

Happy Back to School Kiddies!

"I Love You Because...." Valentines

I know there are millions of people out there that despise Valentine's Day but I am not one of them. I love it! What better than a whole day devoted entirely to love?! Nothing :)

So this year we did this very awesome activity with the girls. Each person decorated there own Valentine's Day box with their name on it. Then starting on February 1st, we each had to write one reason why we love each person in our family and put it in their box.

The first 3 or 4 days were easy, but after the obvious reasons were done, we had to do a little more thinking. Why did we love each person? What is so special about them?

Then after we gave the kids our gifts from us, we all dumped out our boxes and read aloud each little note we were given. We started by saying "I love you because....." and then finished with the note. I was AMAZED at some of the things we came up with. The girls thought of things about their sister that I would have never guessed. Some reasons were funny and some were emotional. But when it was over (and it took like an hour) everyone was happy. The kids begged to do it again next year. It was free and it was special. Isn't that what were all looking for?!

 

For dinner we enjoyed heart shaped pizza and a heart cake. Simple but exciting for the little ones.

 

Valentine's Day- Love and Pretty {Journey's Decorating- Nashville TN}

 

I don't know how many families celebrate Valentine's Day as a kids holiday or a holiday for Mom and Dad, but we like to involve the kids in our Valentine's Day fun. Our anniversary is on February 11th so we usually have a special date day to celebrate our marriage on that day. Then for Valentine's Day, we celebrate with the girls.

 

I thought I'd share some of our Valentine's Day fun from last year as well as our plan for this year.

 

Decorating is a huge part of the fun. We always start with the center of our family room, the mantel! I love a beautifully decorated mantel. I started on ours this week. Here's a picture. As we get a little closer to February, I'll start changing things around and adding more fun decorations.

 

 

We like to "adopt" a special Valentine friend every year.

Someone we can do something nice for. Last year we picked one of my daughter's friends who has been battling cancer for two years now. She is a sweet, adorable little girl. We made her this gift bag and delivered it when she wasn't home. The girls love doing good deeds and serving others. This year our lucky "friend" is going to be Ray (our preacher). We love him dearly and he just may need a cheering up on his first Valentine's Day without his wife.

 

 

Something new, we're starting on February 1st we're calling "I love you because...". Each person in our family will have a box on the counter, which they will decorate and every day we will all write down one reason that we love each person and put it in their box. I feel like we spend so much time correcting the littles and pointing out all of the things they do wrong, so I though it would be a good idea to share with them all of the wonderful things that make each one of us unique and valued. What a fun way to do it! Then on Valentine's Day we can dump out our boxes and see why we're loved so much.

 

I'll share pictures and posts on how it works out.

 

When February 14th finally arrives, I like to surprise the kids with a fun breakfast of some sort. I found this on Pinterest last year. It's literally canned cinnamon rolls shaped like a heart with sprinkles. They were so happy about them, you would have thought I had slaved in the kitchen all morning. It's the little things, the attention to detail that makes life special. Add cute straws, some pretty napkins, and a candle and BAM- It's a Valentine's Day candlelit breakfast for a queen (or four).

 

 

 

When Daddy gets home, the real fun begins!!! We usually surprise the girls with goodies and gifts. But seriously, we only buy them things that they will be needing anyway. The picture below is from last year. Looks like we went all out right? That's the point! But we didn't. I just think it's more fun to give them a new outfit in a special way. I should also mention that my kids rarely get new clothing. We pass down everything we can, so new clothes are special to them. And sometimes, every girl just needs a new outfit.

 

 

 

 This year, I've bought the three little girls coordinating bathing suits with flip flops and mating accessories (I had Gymbucks so I got it all at a great price). The 2 babies also got pajamas and some chocolate. The 2 big girls got a box of chocolates. Mary (7) got a stuffed owl and Taylor (14) I have no idea what else to get her but I'll figure something out. 

 

I hope you'll embrace this little holiday this year and make it extra special for your family too. This is the stuff they'll remember forever :)

 

 

 

Sweet Nectar On Las Olas

The highlight of our vacation was a beautiful perfect lunch date. Like most parents with little children, it's not always easy to make special time for each other. But while we were in Florida, we managed to get out and enjoy a couple of hours on Las Olas Blvd in Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

We decided to have lunch at a little restaurant called Sweet Nectar. We chose to sit outside on the patio, which was right on the street. It was certainly unlike any restaurants in Tennessee, although everything there was cooked on a charcoal grill.

 

 

When I eat out at a unique restaurant like this or in another part of the country, I really enjoy ordering items off the menu EXACTLY the way the chef prepares it. It is so much more fun to experience the full flavor of the dish, the way it was created.

 

So we went with something creative and something simple and shared them.

 

Meal #1

Florida Grilled Snapper Sandwich

with avocado, mango cabbage slaw tomato pesto aioli

 & a side salad with kimchee vinaigrette
 



Meal #2

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

with maple mayo, watercress smoked bacon on ciabatta

& Calamari fries with smoked tomato ketchup









 

They were both unbelievable!!!

 

After lunch we browsed some of the art work displayed in a few galleries and then we hit the candy store for $20 worth of goodies for the girls :)

 

It's so important to make time for your marriage. With all the craziness of life, it's always a good idea to remember the feelings that brought you together. When we're alone, I can look at him and see all of the unique characteristics that attracted me to him in the first place. We can enjoy each other much more when life's distractions are held off for a couple of hours.