I've Been Schooled in how to do Schooling!

A friend of mine sent me this hilarious video on what it means to be a homeschooler versus being homeschooled. Just a funny video, I think!

Let the Learning Begin!

Turbo...officially Homeschooling...last day of preschool...first day of Homeschooling...

IT HAS BEEN A SUCCESSFUL DAY!

This morning Tank has been a bit off, but Turbo has been outstanding! I am reading a new book called, Taming the Spirited Child, by Dr. Michael Popkin, which we all know that Turbo is, and it has helped the heart of this little boy tremendously and also the act of homeschooling! My approaches have been different and my methods have been altered. In doing this, his reactions are much, much, much different!

We started the morning out in reviewing his vocab words from the last couple of days: pup, car, big, dog, snowman, small, mom, dad, circle, blue, green.

Then we made Jell-O. In doing this we learned how to measure in cups and what hot water looks like. We also added the words: Jell-O and cup to his list of words.

Next up: some action math. We bought him a learning game that hooks up to the TV for Christmas. There is a pad that he jumps on to play educational games on the TV. We worked on math: adding and subtracting. He really does have a mathematical mind: Great! Just my luck!

Afterwards, we worked on uppercase and lowercase letter recognition. Followed by book reading and just playing together.

During this entire time, Tank was a mess. He is just really not into taking naps...only power naps. Which, incidentally, doesn't work too well when trying to do Homeschooling. GRRRR!

This weekend proved to be a lifesaver in the form of spelling! SNOW! I emptied out an old squirt bottle and filled it with water and added blue food coloring: also one of his vocab words - BLUE. I showed him how he can color the snow with it by squirting it onto the clean, white snow. We had a ball! We even spelled out his name and "Mom"; another vocab word.





Then, right before nap time, Turbo said, "I had a Great day at Homeschool, mommy! You're the best teacher!" Ahhhhh....warms my heart!

Now there is only, what: 2256 more days to go until he graduates!

Friday Cancel

It is snowy outside, noses are running, and patience is thin. It is Friday, and the hopes of having some quality mommy time have been dashed with sick kiddos and not to mention a sick mommy (ME!)

I guess this is the true test of a Homeschooling Mommy! I have no intention of tossing school out the window today; although, I am all for it right about now!

But this day seems to call for soup, cookies, books and a fire! I have enlisted a few friends and family to become pen pals with Turbo. Maybe we'll start some letter writing today too! Probably just a few short words. But hey, gotta start somewhere!

Oh My Resource!!!!!!!!!!!!

A great big GIANT thanks to all my friends who have so graciously given me advice and information on all the resources that are out there for homeschooling! There is so much out there, that a gal could be overwhelmed!

So for my sanity sake, I thought I would compile them in one place so that when I needed to, I can take a look back to see what I have been directed to.

If you anyone reading this, has any other suggestions, I would be ever so thankful!

Here Goes:
http://www.apples4theteacher.com
http://www.starfall.com
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
http://fiveinarow.com
http://www.meddybemps.com
http://www.time4learning.com
http://touchoffire.com
http://www.chec.org
http://www.commongroundhomeschoolers.com
http://www.mfwbooks.com
http://www.homeschoolshare.com
http://www.cbd.com

I also want to get a list going of some curriculum that is out there that people have used and what they thought of them. Any suggestions?

Alpha Omega Lifepacs
Hooked on Phonics
ZooPhonics
ACE
Abeka
Sonlight
Math-U-See
Apologia
Saxon Math
Core Knowledge Series

Any suggestions on devotions and memory verses???

Alright, enough right now. I'm sure this post will be updated the most! Feel free to chime in!

And here it is...

This is it! It is here! My last day of having a wee little one in preschool. Today is Turbo's last day of school. Beginning Monday, I am officially, and intentionally starting to Homeschool him. I was talking with a friend last night about how us teachers have all of this information and know-how, but when it comes to our kids, we are at a loss. But by being intentional, I think we just might have a chance! WHOO HOO! There is hope!

I have gone out and bought little "workbooks", new pencils, and even a plan book for me. Nothing fancy, just a notebook where I can jot down notes and ideas for Turbo. I have made a portfolio for him so as to document his progress until the fall. My goal: for him to be Kindergarten-ready by fall. Not that I am going to start Kindergarten in the fall, which I could, but it is for me to know that he and I are moving forward in some aspect of his education.

One thing that has really helped him communicate better is his new "COLOR OF THE DAY" notebook. Each night at dinner, he chooses colors and documents his day. For example, the other day, he had a really, really good day, so he chose blue. Then he scribbled on the pages circles. I guess a really good day makes him feel like blue circles. Then I noted quips of what he said as he described his day. Maybe I should keep a color journal too. Hopefully I won't color RED every day with scribbles to show craziness! HA!

I am a bit discouraged on the Co-Op part. Although my partner in crime is in it for the long haul, which I am grateful, I do wish that there were more mommies. I guess God will bring those who he wants. I just have to be patient!

So, for my last day of freedom, what shall I do? Maybe I'll treat myself to a nice, quiet cup of Joe. Seeing how, this might be my last chance to have one, peacefully, for a time.

Countdown until official start date!

The count is on. Next Monday is the official start date!

You should see my notebook of ideas that I want to implement, but I tell ya, I am overwhelmed by where to start. I have given myself a goal. I have until the first part of September to get Turbo "ready" for Kindergarten. His birthday isn't until October 5th, so technically, he wouldn't start Kindergarten until 2011. If he isn't ready, then he isn't ready, and I'm good with that. But I think I need to find something to measure his progress by so I know that the things we are doing shows that he is making progress.

Here are some ideas:
Color month
Shape month
Letter of the week
Theme week that coincides with the Letter of the Week
Number of the day
Animal of the Month

That way we have something to tie his learning to whenever we are at the library, on a walk, etc.

If you have any thoughts or ideas, let me know! I am way open to anything at this point!

Yellow Hat

You know the Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George? I want to be him. He is my hero when it comes to curious monkeys, or in my case, curious kids. Have you ever sat and listened to him respond to George? I was folding laundry this morning while Turbo was watching Curious George, and it was the episode where they are on a mission to look for a particular penguin. When they find the penguin, they are to take pictures for the scientist that brought them. Each went their separate way and when George found the penguin, he did what he was suppose to do; take a picture. But of course, being CURIOUS George, he was curious about something and the camera ended up falling into the water and began to float out to sea. Of course George was excited about his discovery that he forgot to radio the Man in the Yellow Hat. When he finally did, the man came and was excited as well. Then he asked George if he took a picture. Proudly, George responded with a resounding "AHHH HAAAA!" Then calmly, the man asked where the camera was. Suddenly, George remembered that it had fallen into the water. He sheepishly pointed in the direction of the said object. This was the man's response: "Oh Boy."

OH BOY?! OH BOY?! That is how you respond when your little one drops an expensive item such as a camera into the WATER? Not to mention that the camera probably wasn't even theirs! OH BOY!? Are you kidding me? I would have probably gone into a rant and rave show! You could have popped popcorn to watch the show! A dinner and a show! Can't get nothing better! OH BOY!? How could one stay so calm? That is entirely foreign to me.

When it comes to Homeschooling, I really, really, REALLY need to find my yellow hat and remember that Turbo is a curious monkey...okay, child. When I react with an overly dramatic display of emotions, I am only making things worse. Now, not only do I have to deal with the problem, but I have the task of scraping my child off the ceiling because I freaked him out!

So, if anyone out there finds a yellow hat, think of me! I really need to get myself one.

Oh boy!...who says that?...

VAL-EN-YIKES!

"D-I-N-G-O, D-I-N-G-O, D-I-N-G-O and NEMO was his name-o!"...yeah...that's how the morning started. Chalk one up to spelling!

SweetPea and her mama came over for a Valentine's Party. What started out to be an innocent day, turned into a storm of markers. SweetPea gave Turbo two wonderful books that he still cannot put down, he just loves them! Here is their picture:

Cute lil' chillin's...ain't they?

Afterwards, I thought that before we got technical and stuff, I'd help them to get their wiggles out by putting on a dancing video. I was hoping that they would get some practice in following directions or follow the leader...well...that didn't happen. You see, our Spirited Children ARE THE LEADERS!..."and there ain't nothin' anyone can do 'bout it...ya see?" OI VEY! They were dancing around...err...running around in circles, chasing each other and laughing histerically! Mamma and I couldn't help but have pround smiles on our faces! ;)

Turbo's "cow-lick" screams oneriness, huh?!

Now, what would Valentine's Day be without sugar, sugar and more sugar? Why it wouldn't be a party if there weren't any! Now, I am going to be upfront with anyone who is reading this...and a reminder to my future self when I look back when Tank is ready for school; USING BOXED cakemix is OKAY! I fretted quite a bit that I wasn't showing SweetPea and Turbo how to make a cake, or in this case, cupcakes, from scratch. You know what, with any kid, or especialy with our kids, using only 3 ingredients is a good thing!

What I had thought would turn out to be the worst, most horrific part of the party earlier in the morning was NOTHING compared to what happened later! Even spooning the "bladder" (a.k.a. batter) into the heart-shaped cupcake tins, icing them, and even decorating them with a shaker full of sugar crystals on each cupcake was nothing!






Which, by the way, Tank watched the whole time and still to this day is in complete utter shock at the amounts of sugar that was placed on each cupcake.

After a lunch of fishsticks and peas, PICKANICK-style, the kids went to Turbo's room to play while mommy and I had a heart-to-heart talk. Of course, the room was destroyed and messes were made, which was to be expected. But when Turbo came out of the bedroom looking ever so guilty, I knew that things had gone too far. Both he and SweetPea had gotten ahold of the markers and colored their feet! Art class is now in session!

After a lesson on how makers were made for paper and not skin, they went back to the room to play some more. It wasn't until Turbo walked about again, this time, with a little bit more marker on him, did I realized that I had not picked up ALL the markers in the room! This is what we saw:


Are you kidding me????? There were smudges all over the carpet, on their clothes, everywhere! Mama had to leave for work in 30 minutes! She went home to get SweetPea some more clothes while I had the task of cleaning them! Into the tub they went! Thankfully, the markers were washable markers-yeah, thankful! When I put them into the tub, the COLORED THE WATER! I had to empty the tub to put clean water in to wash them!
For privacy purposes, I won't post those pics, but come on! They had so much marker on them that they tainted the bath water BLUE!!!! Bright blue at that!

The day ended with Mama taking leftover lunch to work for dinner, the kids in clean clothes, but stained bodies, and a whole lot of "what were we thinking" going on. I guess this is what we signed up for! I would like for everyone to know there was parent supervision going here, just not good judgement!

Valentines Party!

So this morning, SweetPea and Turbo are going to make Valentine cupcakes and necklaces. I have the morning envisioned in my mind's eye to go smoothly and with excitement the kiddos get to see their creations come to life! HA! Mind's eye...20/20...you know where I'm going with this. I might as well skip to the future and shake my finger at my past self saying, "What did you think was going to happen? Turbo and SweetPea in the same kitchen together with INGREDIENTS!" Well, I'm sure pictures will follow...stay tuned...

February 08, 2010

"Time for school, Turbo!" "Okay! Let me get my 'pack-pack' on!" HMM? Pack-pack? "Alright, I'm ready!" Turbo, still in his jam-jams came out of his room ready for school in his cowboy boots and Transformer backpack. As I sit at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, an empty bowl of oatmeal, school books and my journal to jot down notes, Turbo climbs into the chair and smiles, "READY!" Oh my gracious!

This morning we worked on identifying letters and numbers from a workbook. We worked for 15 minutes! Very, very good considering sitting is not a characteristic that is used regularly when describing Turbo. Next, I was under very much stress when it came to Turbo's toys. So I decided to teach sorting and identifying objects. We found a Hot Wheel logo, Disney Movie "Car" clip art, a Monster Truck clip art, and an airplane clip art online. We printed them in color and then Turbo practiced cutting with scissors as he cut them out for me. Then we taped them onto 4 plastic bins. Next, we sorted all of his toys into those 4 categories. Mind you, he has many more toys than this, but these toys were the source of my stress! That took us about 30 minutes! This is awesome!

Afterwards, he had had enough of this sitting gig. He wanted to M-O-V-E! So I dug out an old "Mommy and Me" video and we danced away the morning with each other.

It was Tank's turn to have some mommy time. While I nursed Tank, Turbo and I read from a big book of Dr. Seuss stories. I forgot how much fun those stories are.

Finally, to finish the morning off, we played with is newly sorted Monster Trucks and Fire Ramp...which...to my dismay...are still sitting in the living room as I type this...ahhh well! At least they have a home now!

Play Date Round DEUX

Alright, so this morning, Turbo and Tank went with me to a play date. The idea is to have SweetPea, a spirited 3-1/2 year old girl, and Turbo to get to know each other in hope that a homeschooling co-op of some sort emerges.

Whew! When both mommies are OCD and both kids are NOT! it is a recipe for ticks to begin to develop and nerves to be shot. Overall, it was a great morning. Mommy and I got to talk and chat. Tank slept through EVERYTHING, which by some degree is a blessing, especially if you know Turbo and SweetPea.

The morning started out as the two chillin's playing dinosaurs. Yeah...ROAR to you too! Next up, jumping on the bed. OH! and while you're at it, throw every stuffed animal on the floor. Next up! CLOTHES! "Mommy, you need to come and look at this huge mess we made!" cries SweetPea! Please note, that before both mommies said, try not to make a huge mess...only a medium-sized mess, please. Well...I guess you can say that our chillin's definitely have learned sizes: Small, Medium, Large...however our children are advanced as they made an Extra Large mess. Top that you private school mommies! ;)

Well, the morning wouldn't be complete until Turbo climbed too high. High enough where he couldn't get down and sent SweetPea for help! Oi! Well, we just asked them to shut the door and play. All the while our OCD capacity was shattering the ceiling!

The next thing we know, things are quiet, and we notice that both kids are quiet. RED FLAG, anyone? We realized that they are in mommy's room and we cautiously walk in hoping that they haven't...well...use your imagination! SweetPea and her mommy live on the second story of an apartment building. Wouldn't you know it, Turbo has enough strength to open the window and "suddenly the screen fell out!" So our kids are on their hands and knees looking out an open, un-screened window, I'm sure contemplating the height, velocity and angles as to how far and fast they would fall should they happen to jump out! Well, Physics class was completed for the day! SHEESH!

After that, we lost all hope of having a medium sized mess, and just hoped that the next size up wouldn't be gigantic! Little did we know, that they thought the same thing and realized that there wasn't anymore room in SweetPea's room to play, so they decided to take EVERYTHING on the floor in her room and pile it up in the hallway blocking the doorway! Class dismissed: Problem Solving mastered!

Alright! The morning ended with Physical Education as lunch was served and the furniture served as a jungle gym...I'm sure it is a shocker to everyone that Turbo lead the way on this one! Not to mention Roxy the cat, served as the Energizer Bunny...she kept going and going and going...AWAY from our dear, precious Turbo and SweetPea.

The morning ended with smiles, toy pick up, which by the way both children can count to 30, which is the amount of toys they each had to pick up in a 30 count time limit! I forgot to mention that they played with oversized balls. Which consisted of tummy slides and "gerbiling"...which is ankle biter talk for "dribbling". We will work on PRONUNCIATION later in the year.

Overall, I think this homeschooling will go pretty well! We mastered many subjects in a short amount of time. At this rate our precious little lambs will be geniuses attending Ivy League schools by the age of 9.

....Pray for us....

Prayer

This morning, Turbo and I were talking in the car on the way to preschool. We had a great conversation about all the fun things we can do together when I am his teacher.

Usually, when we are about 2 minutes from school, I ask Turbo if I can pray for him and his day at school. However, today, it was different. We were only in the car for a couple of minutes when he asked, "Mom, can you pray for me?" You bet! So after my prayer, he caught my eye in the review mirror, and said, "That was a GREAT prayer!"

Ahhhh...gettin' excited!

DAY 2: Intentional

Alright, so this morning wasn't a complete disaster in the realm of schooling. For some odd reason, Turbo has been engaged in his blocks he got from Nana and Papa for Christmas and has been making these impressive gadgets and gizmo's, dinosaurs, robots, etc.

Finally it was time for Tank to take a nap so I asked Turbo to sit down and to pull himself away from the block for just a few minutes. We practiced writing numbers 1 through 3, both in letters and in numbers. He did quite well. We did some sight words as well. Then off to read a book! This book was about space, astronauts and of course, ROCKETS! So we decided to build a rocket from a cardboard box. Right...cardboard box...where the heck was I suppose to find that at the last minute? AH! I just bought Tank some diapers we'll use that box! "But M-O-M! it's not big enough!" ME: "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" Grrr....

I took the box apart and turned it inside out to re-glue it together so that Turbo would have a clean area to design his rocket! HOWEVER! Now that the box was turned inside out...what an AWESOME ramp it would make for his cars! OYE!

So for the next 30 minutes cars were whizzing past my head, followed closely by squeals of delight, "DID YOU SEE THAT?" Ugh...must let go of control, must follow his cues...Ugh...

Finally, I had had enough of cars, ramps, and rocket charged Hot Wheels. I bundled us up and walked to the office to drop off our rent check. Okay...it looks nice from the inside, but to a 3 month old, not so much on the outside. We hurried back inside, when Turbo finally said, NOW CAN WE MAKE OUR ROCKET?

YES! Thank you! Shortly thereafter and about 8 hot glue gun sticks later, we had a small, yet quaint rocket ship for Turbo to play in. Guess what? It now sits underneath our dining room table, discarded like a piece of trash! All that hard work? Kidding, it wasn't the greatest rocket ship, but it was fun while we made it together.

Next up, pizza picnic while watching Martha, the talking dog on PBS kids. How come we didn't have these kinds of shows when I was a kid? Sesame Street was about it! Oscar still kind of creeps me out.

Overall, it wasn't such a bad INTENTIONAL day of homeschooling. Turbo even asked if we could "decorate" our house like a classroom! Yes, baby, I would like to too, but we need to ask God for a new house! Let's pray!

Ahhh...can't get that in public school! :)