Homeschooling check-in

[HeatherlovesCDs]

Forgot....

Welcome Momof3boysinNC!

[cedavid2011]

We didn't do any school today. Two of the girls had well checks with the pediatrician and we all met up with DH after he was done with work for our monthly chiropractor appointment. DH and the four oldest kids are playing NFL-opoly right now, so I'm counting that as math for today. We usually try to get all of our school stuff done M-TH so we have Fri. open for field trips, appointments, etc. No school on weekends here. But sometimes on Monday I wish we did school every day because it's so hard to get back on track after the weekend. Hope all you mamas and your families have great ones! Looking forward to next week's check-in!

[angel nee nee]

Hi everyone. how was your day? I hope you had a fun day.

It's encouraging to read what other homeschooling families' days went even if you post we skipped today/this week, because we do skip days too. I'm often too heavy/in pain/uncomfortable to teach becuase of pregnancy, but most days, I am pushing myself to get schoooling materials and teach. Just getting those heavy books out is hard for me nowdays. lol But I do it. I just wish I could be more energetic for my children.

Today, I taught mostly as I planned, but my children were distracted, because Nick Jr. was on TV for a change this morning. So I skipped the seatwork part for my son to give him a break.

I did more teaching for my daughter than usual and taught her shapes, greater than, less than, capital and lower letter match, etc. She did well with everything so there was not much to teach, just minor things to remind her like difference between d and b, p and q.

My 3 year old has been busy throwing tentrums, so she hasn't been learning a whole lot, just sorting colors, and other easy things when she is in the mood, but just like my 5 year old daughter was at her age, my 3 year old daughter is too busy pretending to be a puppy or kitty or a monkey to be doing a real studying. lol

[a_marines_wife03]

I thought id share our day. We did basically no school work today we went grocery shopping instead. DD 1 did do her calender book and feed the fish but that was the extent of it. I did how ever score 15 giant posters from the Ranger Station about plants and animals. I went in and told them we are a home schooling family and I wanted to get some activity books and he goes well I have a bunch of great posted back hear if you would like to go through them and pick some out. So I got one of every one he had and the girls are so excited about it. Butterflys snakes frogs animal prints different types of trees flowers. snakes you name it we probably have it.

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by HeatherlovesCDs Hi Everyone! Jen - I didn't use the 2nd edition of MFW K. So, this seems fine to me, actually easier than the old K manual. But, I've heard of some people making notes about what else they need to do, particularly about math right under the days. That way it's all together. I do think they are planning to revise this portion of 1st like they did with K. (Believe me, K was worse. It was a LOT of flipping with Bible/science being in one section, math being in another and phonics in another.) But, the 2nd edition isn't scheduled to come out till next year sometime (if that). They haven't given a real time frame yet. As for the MFW 1st math, we tried doing theirs. I have no doubt that it would be just fine. But, I need more hand holding. I just need it completely spelled out. I don't have enough experience or enough confidence to do math without it. We use Singapore. We used Essentials K last year with MFW K. It's all we have used. I've seen in a lot of places about it being a very strong curriculum and since MFW recommends it starting in 2nd, that's the route I went. We haven't started it for this year, but I wouldn't say I had very strong feelings one way or the other last year. It was fine. If I were to try something else, it would probably be Saxon because I used that in school and really liked it. I stuck with Singapore for this year because I just wanted to stay consistent. He did learn from it. Corrie - Sorry to hear you all were sick yesterday. Hopefully the kids are feeling better and you got more sleep last night. Schooling on weekends - We do sometimes. My husband works a lot of Saturdays. When he does, we often do school on Saturday. My kids don't mind and don't notice. I do it mostly as a make up day. If we did school all 5 days during the week, I will sometimes not bother even if my husband is working. However, I also use it as a way to get a little head too. So, sometimes I do it even if we did get school in all 5 days that week. I guess it mostly depends on my mood. AFM - Had my OB appt today. Everything is fine. No protein and BP was good. I'm contracting a lot today though. We'll see if I make it through the weekend. I was wanting to make it to at least Oct 1st. I still sort of want to, but I'm kind of just done too. But, Sept 30 is the cut off for K here. It makes a difference in testing that is required. It would put this baby on the young side of his grade and I prefer him to be on the older side, or at least have that option. I've dealt with this with my oldest whose b-day is in a couple weeks. Anyway, we didn't do anymore school yesterday. I'm going to try to finish the phonics that was supposed to be done yesterday sometime today or this weekend and then I think we need to hold off till after the baby. I just have too many appts and such to be trying to fit school in. But, we'll see. I felt so much more productive yesterday just getting in a little. So, I may try. Totally playing it by ear. (where did that saying even come from?? )

Just curious, do you not get the option to hold your child back a year? In MO our cutoff is August 1st, but I know several people that have kiddos with July birthdays and they hold off a year to send them to school.

well I have apick some out. So I got one of every one he had and the girls are so excited about it. Butterflys snakes frogs animal prints different types of trees flowers. snakes you name it we probably have it.[/QUOTE]

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by a_marines_wife03 I thought id share our day. We did basically no school work today we went grocery shopping instead. DD 1 did do her calender book and feed the fish but that was the extent of it. I did how ever score 15 giant posters from the Ranger Station about plants and animals. I went in and told them we are a home schooling family and I wanted to get some activity books and he goes well I have a bunch of great posted back hear if you would like to go through them and pick some out. So I got one of every one he had and the girls are so excited about it. Butterflys snakes frogs animal prints different types of trees flowers. snakes you name it we probably have it.

Awesome!!

[HeatherlovesCDs]

Originally Posted by 2queens&1princenmyhouse Just curious, do you not get the option to hold your child back a year? In MO our cutoff is August 1st, but I know several people that have kiddos with July birthdays and they hold off a year to send them to school. well I have apick some out. So I got one of every one he had and the girls are so excited about it. Butterflys snakes frogs animal prints different types of trees flowers. snakes you name it we probably have it.

[/QUOTE]

You sort of can. If you think your child isn't ready for school, you can write a letter stating that and they will decide if it's okay to hold them back. However, for purposes of HS'ing, you have to start reporting (testing) to the state for any child who is 6 by Sept 30. There is no letter writing to push it back a year. If I wanted him to wait a year to start K, I would still have to write the letter even if we are HS'ing, but I would also have to start testing him after his K year, not first because the letter does not push that back. So, it just makes a lot more hoops to jump through and I really don't like hoops. I'm still deciding if I should take the religious exemption in our state and not have to do any of it. But, that has other ramifications too. Like, my oldest needs speech therapy right now. We aren't planning to do it through the school system, but we might change our minds and use the schools because it's looking like our medical ins. isn't going to pay for it and it's expensive. We don't get those services if we take the religious exemption. Anyway, it would just make my life easier if this baby was born after Sept 30. Today is the 29th, so.....it's looking good for that.

No school today even though we do it sometimes on Saturday. We have having a little "party" for my almost 7 year old's b-day. His b-day isn't till Oct 19th, but I don't want to have a newborn and be trying to do something for his b-day or have to cancel it because the baby waits till then to be born (please, no!!). This morning, I have to make a cake and get my house cleaned. I'm making a cake with snakes on it. He LOVES animals, especially snakes. The catch is....they have to be realistic, no gummy worm snakes. We'll see how my skills hold up. Then, clean the house and get a little bit of food ready for later. Then, we will go bowling this afternoon and home for burgers and cake and a few presents from other people. Hopefully, the day will go smoothly. First though....I have to get off the computer!

[angel nee nee]

Hi everyone.

Today, my mother in law told my son he does not have to study on weekends, so he does not want to study.

My daughter asked to give her something to study with. I tried to entice her to do cut and paste follow the direction activity, but she says

"Daddy might tell me to clean up the mess so I don't want to do it."

And does not want to do activities that will end up with paper clutter.

I'm discouraged this morning.

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by angel nee nee Hi everyone. Today, my mother in law told my son he does not have to study on weekends, so he does not want to study. My daughter asked to give her something to study with. I tried to entice her to do cut and paste follow the direction activity, but she says "Daddy might tell me to clean up the mess so I don't want to do it." And does not want to do activities that will end up with paper clutter. I'm discouraged this morning.

I'm sorry you are feeling down.
Is your relationship good enough that you can have a conversation about how that undermines what you are trying to do? My relationship is iffy with my MIL, but if were blatantly saying things like that to my kids, I probably couldn't keep my mouth shut.

We're taking a road trip this afternoon to play at a park with cousins and celebrate 3 birthdays. I'm taking the kids books and planning the next week. I've already put a hold on several library books that go with the history lessons for the week. I'll pick those up tomorrow on the way home from church. I'm also going to take a little more active stance on planning for DS. He's only 4 and we do one page from The Reading Lesson each day, but I'm going to line out a few math activities to have ready when he's willing to work more than 10 minutes. He goes to preschool for 3 hours each morning (part of the deal with DH to hs the girls was that DS had to get out of the house b/c he's too dependent on me :/ ), so he's getting plenty of instruction-just not exactly the instruction I want.

[jen_batten]

Originally Posted by angel nee nee Hi everyone. Today, my mother in law told my son he does not have to study on weekends, so he does not want to study. My daughter asked to give her something to study with. I tried to entice her to do cut and paste follow the direction activity, but she says "Daddy might tell me to clean up the mess so I don't want to do it." And does not want to do activities that will end up with paper clutter. I'm discouraged this morning.

Sorry, that does sound like a pooper of a day. I'm with who-ever else said it though, and would talk to MIL. I know that can be a pain and lead to disaster, but she shouldn't try to undermine you and she should respect your choices even if she does not agree with them. Maybe you could get your DH to talk to her for you?

Originally Posted by a_marines_wife03 I thought id share our day. We did basically no school work today we went grocery shopping instead. DD 1 did do her calender book and feed the fish but that was the extent of it. I did how ever score 15 giant posters from the Ranger Station about plants and animals. I went in and told them we are a home schooling family and I wanted to get some activity books and he goes well I have a bunch of great posted back hear if you would like to go through them and pick some out. So I got one of every one he had and the girls are so excited about it. Butterflys snakes frogs animal prints different types of trees flowers. snakes you name it we probably have it.

I saw that you were in MO like me and thought you might be interested in this. http://mdc.mo.gov/education That's a link to the MO department of conservation website...if you go there and fill out a request form they will send you a huge kit of stuff--it's more-or-less a whole science curriculum. You can pick that the age that you need and they will ship it to your house for free! Just fill out the form and tell them you are homeschoolers. Personally, I don't like the snake posters. They give me the heebie-jeebies.

As far as weekends we will sometimes do stuff on Saturday. It depends on what we have gotten done throughout the week and how our sanity is holding up. DH works most Saturdays, and has Thursdays off so sometimes we don't homeschool on Thursdays and then we do it on Saturdays. We never homeschool on Sunday though.

We enjoyed our break and I didn't look over our 1st grade curriculum as much as I would have liked yet. I am trying to get things ready to go for tomorrow and I'm interested to see how it goes.

Heather--if you can at all for you younger ones, I recommend updating to the MFW K new edition. I think it's $45 for the updated teacher's manual and I like the set up SOOOO much better. The one thing you do have to still flip for is the library recommendations--I wish they would put those in with the weekly stuff too.