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I'm a Christian Mom answering the call to educate our children at home. You can also follow me at www.facebook.com/littleschoolofthewest and on Twitter @schoolofthewest

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Changes for the New Year

A couple of weeks before we were going to break for Christmas, Josh's school work had become torture.

Torture!

I realized we had fallen into the black hole of worksheets again and Josh was suddenly hating every minute of our school day that didn't involve our "living" books that he loves so much.

It's true what they say, you can take the girl out of school but you can't take the school out of the girl.  I unknowingly was making our day look more and more like a typical school day again instead of focusing on learning as a part of life.

I began searching through a few of my favorite blogs for some fun printables and came across these Lego math activities.  

I also did a search on pinterest and Teachers pay Teachers for some Christmas activities that we could do together. 

We had a MUCH better week after that and once again we started to enjoy that time together.

While we've been on break I've done some analyzing of our curriculum and decided he needs a change in the phonics department (we were using Horizons Phonics and Reading).  We've hit this slump before.  Last year when this happened I purchased All About Reading level one for him.  For the most part I love this program for him, there's no writing required and it involves a lot of reading games that he enjoys.  We've continued using it this year at a slower pace as reading practice.  The only thing Josh does not like about the program is the reading review pages at the end of each lesson, some of them are 3 pages long so I spread it out over the course of two or three days.  I also try to make it more fun by stamping (either on regular paper or play dough) the words or using the chalk board/ white board. 

After weighing my options I decided to have him try Explode the Code.  It's a bit of slower pace than what we've been using and I'm hoping it will give him more confidence before moving on.  The first book (which is what I ordered) will be review but I have a feeling it will be good for him.  

He's only in Kindergarten, after all, and I want him to enjoy the learning process!!  More than anything, I want all of our boys to become life long learners.  

We are continuing with Horizons Math since Josh is doing wonderful with that program and our Sonlight books for History/ Geography, Bible and Science which the boys LOVE!  

Wishing you all a blessed New Year!


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Our "School" Room

I can't believe it, it's already been a year since we made the decision to homeschool our boys!

What a crazy, fun, busy year it's been.

When I think back on how we came to this decision I'm still blown away at how God led us here and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.

I have been planning on blogging about how I set up a "classroom" for the boys for... a long time now but kept putting it off (and, side note, neither one of the older two boys nap in the afternoons anymore and since David is into EVERYTHING we get a lot done during his nap... so I don't really have a down time until they're all in bed for the night now).

So here it is, how I created a "school" space for us.

While doing my hours and hours of research online after we made our decision I found that many families had a space or separate room for their school work and I was anxious to figure out how we could do something similar in our house so we wouldn't have to use our kitchen table for everything.

With a tape measure and the Ikea website I made it work (with a lot of help from my VERY supportive, amazing husband! :)


As you can see, this corner of the room is their bedroom.  (They were elated when they heard they were going to have bunk beds!!!)

 I loved the idea from pinterest to use an oil drip pan as a magnetic board for our letters and numbers :)





 Haha, as I said, I took these pictures awhile ago :)  In fact, those alphabet cards below the calendar are no longer there, David quickly discovered that he enjoyed ripping those off the wall!  (I knew it would happen eventually but it was nice for a time.)

As you can see, the teacher in me really came out once we made this decision and I couldn't be happier with our work space!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween 2013

We have been so busy lately that we haven't had time to do many crafts.  Yesterday we decided to change that, and with Halloween upon us I wanted to use a couple of ideas I've seen around lately, one of which on pinterest.  They turned out really cute!





This morning we took a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  The kids had a great time!

David even got in on the fun! (He liked it, I promise!)











Looking forward to making more memories tomorrow!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

2013-2014 School Year

We started our current school year about 3 weeks ago already and the boys have been doing great.  Over the summer Nathan has matured a little and is now able to sit for longer periods and LOVES doing his worksheets!  (I often have to get out another one for him while I finish working with Josh since he goes through them so quickly.)  Josh picked right up where he left off with reading and Math and still finds our read-aloud times to be his favorite times of the day.

To kick off each new year our co-op has a back to school beach day and we had a really good time!



A really cute idea I've seen on several blogs is back to school interview questions that the kids answer at the beginning of each school year so I thought we'd start that tradition this year and these were the boy's answers:




Back to Homeschool Interview:

My name is: Nathan

I am __3___ years old.

My favorite food is: mac and cheese

I really, really do not like to eat: broccoli

My favorite show to watch is: Curious George

My favorite movie is: Despicable Me

My favorite books are: "How do Dinosaurs say Goodnight"

The best thing about school is: Math

The worst thing about school is: I like all my school stuff

The coolest person on Earth is: God

I am really good at: puzzles

My favorite color is: orange and red

The best place in the world to be is: Sea World

When I grow up I want to: work with Daddy at his company

If I could do one thing all day long it would be: play games

My best friend is: Noah

Jesus is: God

When I was little I used to: crawl

3 words that describe me: (with a little help from Mommy) sweet, energetic, pest :)

This year I hope to learn: my letters




Back to Homeschool Interview:

My name is: Josh

I am __6___ years old.

My favorite food is: chocolate sprinkle sandwich

I really, really do not like to eat: healthy foods

My favorite show to watch is: Phineas and Ferb

My favorite movie is: Toy Story 3

My favorite books are: Dr. Seuss

The best thing about school is: crafts

The worst thing about school is: worksheets

The coolest person on Earth is: Mom and Dad

I am really good at: baseball

My favorite color is: Green

The best place in the world to be is: Disneyland 

When I grow up I want to: be a scientist 

If I could do one thing all day long it would be: play outside

My best friend is: James

Jesus is: God

When I was little I used to: crawl

3 words that describe me: talkative, kind, energetic

This year I hope to learn: to read better

Looking forward to a good year!


Monday, September 2, 2013

Summer 2013

What a fun, BUSY summer!

We definitely kept ourselves occupied with plenty of activities over the past few months.  At the end of May we took a family vacation to Mammoth (our first trip there, we had a lot of fun!).





June brought family from out of town whom we hadn't seen in quite some time.  We had a great time swimming and were also able to visit LEGOLAND (the boys were ecstatic since we'd never been, they'd been asking to go for awhile).




At the end of the week we visited the beach (a big treat for the boys since Mommy is NOT a big beach fan!)





We were also treated to fabulous seats at an Angels game :)


Lots of fun memories made that week!

July included Vacation Bible School for the boys and myself.  Nathan was old enough to be involved in a class this year, the class that I was asked to teach :)  What a great week!

July also marked our Joshua's 6th year!!  (SERIOUSLY, where has the time gone?!?!)




From mid-June to mid-August the boys took swimming and karate lessons.






Mid-August both of my sisters came into town and we went on our annual lake trip with my family.


While we were there our baby turned one!


Finally, after we got home from the lake, my sister Michelle wanted to go to Disneyland before she headed home (besides the heat it was a fun, but exhausting, day!).



PHEW!  That last picture really sums it all up :)  What a great few months!  So much fun, in fact, the boys decided one morning a few weeks ago that we needed to get back to our school work.  We are currently two weeks into our new school year and they are doing GREAT!  (We completed one week before we left for the lake trip and picked it back up after we got home.)  Looking forward to the rest of this year!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

On My Heart

They had been dating for awhile.

She suddenly found herself hungry and tired all the time.

16 and in high school she knew in her heart what it all meant, she was pregnant.

Knowing that she needed to take care of herself and her unborn baby she went to see a doctor.  The doctor examined her and told her that she was, indeed, pregnant.

Then he said, "You know, you have options."

She looked at him in disbelief, "No doctor" she said, "That isn't an option for me."

4 short months later, and only 21 days after her 17th birthday, she noticed she was starting to show as she slipped on her wedding dress.

That was 30 years ago this month.

That woman was my mother and that baby was me.

As I sit here and read articles about abortionists who murder innocent babies every day, my heart throbs.  Innocent lives are being taken every day all in the name of "a woman's choice".

As I read through this recent trial against Kermit Gosnell my head spins.  How can this be possible?!  I cry every time I think about those poor innocent babies being ripped from their safe haven and brutally murdered.  

How can so many people believe that these precious babies aren't actual human beings forming in their safe, warm womb?  The mere idea boggles my mind!

I am passionate about this topic because, if my mom had decided she wanted to wait a few more years to have children and decided to abort me so she could finish high school and go to college, I wouldn't be here today.

I would be passionate about this subject even if my mom had been in her twenties and married when she became pregnant and gave birth to me.  Abortion is murder, period.

How can anyone not be outraged by this scenario?!  Why isn't this story all over the news and on the front page of newspapers?!

Is this any better than the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust?  I don't think so!  These precious children can't even try to defend themselves.

I am so outraged and hot headed about this topic that I, a white Christian girl who attended a private Christian school all the way through high school, chose this as my topic to debate in my speech class my freshman year at a very liberal city college.  Oh yes, nerve wracking to say the least but I did my research so well that I debated the issue with my opponent until he was out of answers.

I can still remember doing the research for that debate.  I found images and videos that I still can't get out of my mind.  Why aren't more people being shown these same images?

Images of an unborn baby's heart beating only a few weeks after conception.

Video of a baby of only 12 weeks gestation trying to swim away from the murder weapons that "doctors" use to complete this "procedure".

Along with this disturbing report I also read a story about a woman who used to work for Planned Parenthood.  One who saw these images first hand and is now Pro-Life.

If more people were required to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before they made this decision we would have less abortions.  Most women make an appointment to have this procedure done without even considering the other options they have open to them, such as adoption.

Please join me in prayer as the court comes to a decision on the fate of this abortionist.  

Thursday, April 11, 2013

School vs. Homeschool

I just have to share this with you all.  Mr. Joshua had a hard time yesterday, not wanting to complete any of the (what should have been quick since he is so good at them) worksheets I wanted him to complete.

Mind you, these are not long handwriting worksheets (he hates those the most and since this is not something he struggles with by an means I minimize that work).

These are his new All About Reading worksheets that are pretty much all reading games.  (More on that later... I decided to switch things up after much thought over spring break.)

Anyway, we were having a good day yesterday and only had a couple more things to do so I let them take a break and then planned on finishing things up.  (Granted, this could all easily fit into one hour but I break it up into 15-20 increments.)

When it was time to finish he had a melt down.  He started telling me how he didn't have to do these things at his school...

So, I put everything on hold and we had a discussion.  I asked him if he liked homeschooling (because up until yesterday he has had nothing but good things to say about me being his teacher at home, park days, CBS, trips to Disneyland, etc.) he said that he did like it but he didn't like doing all the "work".  He went on to explain that he got to play all day at his school.  I said, "well, you're right, you did get to play at that school because it was preschool and that's pretty much all you do in preschool but now you're starting to work on kindergarten stuff, remember?"  (A short two weeks ago the kid looked at me and said, "mom, I think I'm ready for kindergarten stuff."  I said, "well that's good since you've been doing some kindergarten stuff."  to which I received a very large, warm smile :)

It was at this point that I decided to tell him how regular school is different, how their days are scheduled.  **Side note here: my goal is not to make school sound bad because they may eventually have to attend a school for one reason or another and I'm sure they'd do just fine.**  I went on to explain what a typical kindergarten day at school was like, complete with worksheets and coloring, recess, lunch and more worksheets.  I then explained that teachers send worksheets to do at home with their Moms and Dads in the evening.  He looked at me very seriously and said, "that's horrible!"

I have to remember that the picture he has in his head when he thinks of school includes playing with friends, having a snack and doing crafts.  He's never been in a classroom full of students listening to lessons and working on their assignments.

This is something that I need to remind myself of pretty regularly because, although we are all enjoying so many aspects of this new lifestyle and I still feel that this is exactly the path God led me toward, I doubt our decision sometimes.

I have read several blogs over the past five or six months and so many of these moms have shared how they had questioned these same things in the beginning of their journeys.  I know I'm not alone and I know that my husband is more than behind me in all of this; any time I voice doubt he tells me over and over how happy the kids are and how well they're doing :)  (I am a BLESSED woman!)

As with any decision we make as parents I know I'll face times of doubt.  Just as we doubt our decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate (or have an alternate vaccination schedule for that matter), or what daily vitamins to give them, or if they're eating a balanced diet.  If we were sending them to a school, any school, I would question if it was the right one or if they have the right teacher.  From the moment we know we're expecting these little blessings we worry; it never ends!

Just as I do with all of these other concerns, I will lay this down at the feet of my Savior.  At least I know he has everything under control!

 


Saturday, March 30, 2013

Spring Break 2013

For the past couple of months Craig and I have been planning a road trip to visit family and friends.  Unfortunately, last week Craig found out he has to go on a business trip the week we were planning to be out of town.  After reviewing his schedule (with this new information) he found that this week was the only time he could take some time off so we decided to have a staycation.

Josh then proceeded to contract a stomach bug... surprised?  Nope!

So, the first couple of days turned into Craig and I taking turns going out and having some time to ourselves.  He went golfing, I got a pedicure and massage :)

Wednesday Josh was feeling better so we took the boys to a local park and had lunch and fished a bit.



 I still can't get over the look on David's face in this picture... HILARIOUS! 

Thursday we decided to visit the aquarium.

 Getting to view a squid up close :)



We then found ourselves stuck at home again on Friday when the bug Josh caught decided it wasn't done torturing the poor boy.  Thankfully it seems to finally be leaving his little body and we might actually be able to attend our church's Easter service and our family dinner/egg hunt!

Overall it was a nice relaxing week with a lot of time spent with Daddy :)