Our First week of 2016-2017 School year

August 8th-

Our first day back went great. We started at 9am and was done by 12pm.

We read our Bible and some of In His Steps.

We did our first Morning Basket. Learned a new word, read about Leonardo Da Vinci, read about our microscope and read a poem.

Followed by Math, Language Arts, Read The Time Machine and The Borrowers Afloat, learned about longitude and latitude in Geography, Music, French, Science, Free Reading and Guitar practice. 

August 9th-

We started at 9:23am

Day two and we did not want to get out of bed!

The morning started off kinda rough. Lots of  I don't want to and can't I skip this today?

But we pushed through, and ended up doning everything except reading out loud. 

We got through Bible and read some of In His Steps even though we were so tired and just wanted to go back to bed.

Morning basket was better, we were a little more awake.

We did school up stairs today because mom was expecting a package.

Math was done on the couch, and we pretended not to know how to do simple addition,ugh! I remind you we are in 7th grade and know very well how to do addition, someone just didn't want to. But we pressed on and what do you know he did remember how to add.

Language  Arts wasn't so bad, we wrote a poem.

Computer, French, History and Science were a breeze.

Free Reading and Guitar are also complete.

And we were done by 1pm 

And mom is so glad this school day is over! Whew I made it!

August 10-

Started school at 9:15 am

 David was awake at 7:50 this morning which meant he got 10 minutes to lay in bed and watch youtube video's. He was a happy boy.

By the time we got to morning basket he was so tired and just wanted to go back to bed. (I bet if I let him watch more videos he would have been just fine) 

He did not want to do math, he was just to tired! But we pushed through and he actually did really well and even seemed to enjoy it a little.

Language Arts was working on poetry again, and I didn't have to help him at all. History, Art and Science was enjoyable enough, but when we got to French he had enough, and was frustrated.Instead of me getting upset right along with him I calmly told him I was here to help, and that it was ok learning a new language was hard. I helped him a little and he did most of the lesson himself ( I seriously feel like I just scored a mom win over here!) He is finishing up Free reading and practicing his Guitar and will be done by 1. 

Today's attitude could have been a big problem, but instead of me reacting to it, I responded to it. And let me tell you it made all  the difference. So today I am calling a win, tomorrow well, we will see.

August 11-

Started today at 9:15

David got up at 7:00 am today on his own! Which meant he had an hour to relax and watch videos. I had no trouble getting him to start school.

We began with morning basket and moved on to Language Arts, playing a thinking game on the computer, History and finished with Science.

I always forget to add we read our bible and are reading through the book In His Steps at breakfast.

We were done early so we invited my daughter-in-love and grand baby over to spend the rest of the day with us. I love homeschooling because of this. We can have days that we finish early and spend time with family and friends. My oldest came over after he got off work and ate dinner with us. We all ended up watching a family movie. My husband finally got of work and came home to play with the baby. So it was a awesome day today. We were done with school by 10:30.

August 12 FRIDAY!!!- 

Started school at 9:00

David woke himself up at 7:30 this morning. I have to say I have been pretty proud of Dave waking up on his own and getting ready and doing his chores without me even telling him to! School has gone really well this week. I know that some days and weeks won't go this good, but I sure am glad that this week did. 

Today we read In His Steps at breakfast, worked on math, and handwriting. And we took a trip to the library.Then dad came  home early and took us to swim at Aunt Pam's house, so that covered  P,E. :) It was a lot of fun and relaxing to! 

So as you can see not everyday is the same, and life always happens. Some days are longer than others and not everything gets done everyday. Interruptions happen and that is okay. I hope you liked looking into our homeschool week.

   

2016-2017 Curriculum 7th Grade

So this year we are going to really give Easy Peasy All in one Homeschool a try. We have used bits and pieces here and there, but never really committed to it.

We are using the Language Arts , Reading, Bible, History and Science. I have looked through these subjects and I like them. I think David and I are going to enjoy these subjects this year.

www.allinonehomeschool.com

Along with Easy Peasy we are reviewing math skills, reading a lot of great books, writing as much as we can, working on our penmanship and typing skills, and learning french.

We will also work in Art, music and health/ P.E., and cooking.

We will not do all these subjects everyday, we will rotate them through out the year. I am really looking forward to this year. I am excited to see how David grows and learns, and I feel privileged to get to teach and guide him trough it all.

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Getting Excited

Well now that I have sat down and planned out our first week, I can say I am really getting excited about our up coming year. 

I have a trial schedule in place.

I have written it in pencil so I can change whatever might need to be changed. 

There are a few things I have not put yet, because I have to see where they will fit in. 

We are an eclectic  homeschool, meaning I pull from all sorts of curriculum and resources for our homeschool. 

I have used box curriculum, online resources, the library and shop used and new bookstores, to find stuff for our homeschool.

I will post what we are using for this year soon.

Hope you have a blessed day.

School Starts in One Week!! WHAT!!!

The Griffiths Academy officially opens August 8,2016. That's one week people! ONE WEEK!!! And let me just say I am not ready. I have not bought any curriculum, or school supplies. But that's ok because I still have one weeks, Right?!?!

I do however have a plan.

1. I have looked over Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool, and I like what I see so we are going to try it out this year.

2. I have ordered what we need and should be on its way soon.

3. If all else fails we have library cards and already have a few things we can start with.

So really moms and dads lets all breathe, lets not stress. Lets enjoy our last week or however long your summer vacation still has. And lets not stress to much, because in the end everything will work out.

By the Grace of God I believe everything will work out 😳😀😉

Our Curriculum Choices for the 2015-2016 school year 6th Grade

6th grade! wow we sure have come along way. We are counting this year as our first year of "Middle School". And so far we are doing great. So I bet you are wondering what we are using for our curriculum this year, well wait no longer here it is.....

We are doing 6 major subjects this year:
Bible
Math
Language Arts (reading, grammar, literature,poetry,spelling and writing)
Science
History/Geography
Spanish


Math-
We are continuing with Lifepac math and also using worksheets for practice.

www.aop.com


Language Arts-
Reading we are reading The Story of Inventions and a free reading book of his choice.
Grammar Rod and Staff
Literature classic books
Various poets
Spelling-Spelling Workout by MCP
Writing- worksheets, journal, Rod and Staff


Science-
Exploring creation with Chemistry and Physics- Apologia
www.apologia.com

History-
Story of The Middle Ages- (CLP)
homeschoolingbooks.com

We also have a castle to build and Eyewitness books to look at.


Bible-

We are finishing up our Lifepacs from last year. We had only gotten through half of them last year.

We are also doing our devotional daily.

Spanish-
Easy Peasy  6th Level Spanish


Art and Music we are loosely using Easy Peasy  
And he takes Guitar Lessons at a music shop near us.


allinonehomeschool.com

We are reading a good assortment of books too. That's it so far for this year.

Exciting New Edition

Well we have had an exciting couple of weeks with the arrival of Lil T, that's right he arrived August 26 and is the cutest, sweetest little guy. We just love him ❤️ 

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Sweet little baby T 

I am so happy and excited for all the fun times yet to come. We already love spending time with him. 

New nick names😃

So after some thought I have decided to change my boys blog nicknames. 

Trucker will now be referred to as TJ 

Jag will stay Jag

Gamer will be Guy

Sweetie is still Sweetie ( TJ's wife)

And Daddo is still Daddo ( my Hubby)

I felt like I was labeling my boys with their nicknames and my oldest keeps switching jobs 😃 So there we have it.

From left to right Jag , Guy, TJ my boys

TJ and Sweetie and my soon to be born grand son Lil' T 

Daddo and I 😃

Wrapping Up Our 2nd week of School

As we wrap up our 2nd week of school, I can look back and say wow we have got a good start! 

Playing basketball for P.E. 

We are loving Science

And we are loving Wednesday's as our extras day. Gamer has picked Spanish for an elective this year and so far it's been great. 

We have had our ups and our downs, I can see where I need to do some tweaking and can see where it works as is. We have had mostly great days, and a couple of not so good days. That's ok because I know each day is a new start! And I wouldn't change it for anything! 

I have my planner filled out until October and we are going to try and follow it. We really need the structure right now, coming off of summer break. 

Well hope you have had a good start if you have started school, and if you haven't then I hope you have a good start when you do start back. 

Gearing up For the 2015-2016 Homeschooling year

So for us summer is coming to an end. We start school on August 3. So what has this mama been doing? Planning, planning, planning😃 Before School ended last year I was lucky enough to be able to order our books for this school year. So I was able to plan for the next school year before our fifth-grade year was over. I was excited and planned my little heart away ,I had a new planner book and just stuffed our days full. Now as I am looking over it, I see I forgotten to plan for a few things. Like we like to do hymn study, art and art study, typing, Journal, and this year I really want to incorporate nature study with Gamer. So I decided to take one day and make it a day full of enrichment activities like these.

Before

After

I chose Wednesdays for this day. 

We can't wait to try out our new schedule. ( ok I am probably a little more excited than Gamer is😉)

Of course we will incorporate some TV days, and a field trip or two if we can.

Staycation Fun

Hello hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July🇺🇸 We sure have 😃 My husband took off most of the week and we have had lots of fun on our staycation. We have went to antique shops, an Artist Colony that had tons of cool shops, we have went swimming, and worked together as a family. We have watched movies and just hung out. It has been great to spend time with my family. For the forth we went to Trucker and Sweeties house for a cook out , volleyball and ladder ball and of course shoot off fireworks. 

Sweetie, Gamer and Daddo watching Fireworks

Trucker lighting off fireworks

God bless you always😃❤️

Reading at The Griffiths Academy

Reading, Literature and Poetry are all part of our homeschooling too. But I didn't really have a set curriculum for them.

I have found a ton of great books at thrift stores, Half Price books and have even bought some online. So for reading I have assigned reading, were I pick a book for him to read. Usually a chapter book that I know he will enjoy reading. He has read The Hardy Boys, Star Wars, The Bridge to Terabitha (although he really did not like it so we switched to something else) and he has free reading where he gets to pick out his own book to read. These have been Diary of a Wimpy kid, Lego stories etc. Right now he is reading a Biography on Albert Einstein for assigned reading and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda for his free read.

For Literature we read together. We have read Peter Pan, Swiss Family Robertson, A Christmas Carol, Chronicles of Narnia, Shakespeare and more. We are currently reading Little Pilgrims Progress. We enjoy our reading time together. And I plan on doing this until he no longer wants me to or he graduates.

For poetry we read poetry together and talk about it briefly.

We have recently started using Easy Peasy all in one Homeschool for extra reading and are enjoying it. So far we are reading through poetry and answering questions about it. We are using level 5 Reading. I don't know if we will use it all year but we just might!

http://allinonehomeschool.com/     - Easy Peasy

Sometimes things don't go as planned!

I had every intention of getting up this morning and getting a lot done. Little did I know I would wake up with a sinus headache. I was in so much pain that I thought I was going to lose my cookies!

This was my list for today that I had planned yesterday:

All my normal daily chores
A full day of school for Gamer along with games and fun crafts
Clean out litter boxes
Laundry
Clean turtle tank and fish tank
Start dinner
Wrap a couple presents

So far I have not got any of this done. It has took all morning just to get rid of my headache. And I just don't feel very good. It is 12pm here and I still don't even have my shower done! On the up side the animals are fed, Gamer has gotten Reading and music done ( and that is probably going to be all the school we do for today), Gamer is dressed and has his chores done. It is still early and that is one of the perks of homeschooling, you can have light days. Because on a normal day we do a lot of school work.

Here is my new revised plan for today:

Lunch
Shower
Litter boxes
Laundry
Dinner
And hopefully Turtles and fish


If I can accomplish this new list then great. If not then there is always tomorrow! Sometimes things just don't go as planned and that is ok. Just do what you can and don't beat yourself up over the rest.

 

Today I defiantly need his strength !!!!!

Our First Year with Rod and Staff (Grammar and Spelling)

This is our first year ever using Rod and Staff, and we are loving it.

Grammar- I like how it is set up. The lessons just seem to flow nicely. They are a bit much if you try to do a lesson a day so we break it up and do a lesson in two days. and this helps review what we are learning. I have heard a lot of people say Rod and Staff is to much or to hard, I think it is because they are trying to do too much at one time.
 We are also a little Charlotte Mason, meaning we like shorter lessons because we learn more from them. So we try to only work on grammar for around 30 minutes at a time.

This is us working on grammar together. The Teacher book is bigger and has the student book plus answers and lessons in it. I know exactly what we are doing for each lesson.

We like that it has us diagramming sentences. It really has helped us understand sentence structure.

 Spelling- We like that it has all kinds of activities to help with spelling. Gamer likes to do spelling, crazy kid! He is pretty good at spelling and enjoys it. Sometimes we have tests , and sometimes we don't.

Gamer is doing his written practice by himself.


The grammar has an oral portion which you do together, and then written practice for him to do himself. And sometimes it will have review and practice that he does by himself and sometimes we do it together. It also has writing lessons which have been wonderful for Gamer and has helped him greatly.


The spelling has three different parts A,B,C and then I also have him write his words in cursive and print in his spelling notebook.

That about sums it up we like it so far and I can see us using it for the rest of his school years.

You can get Rod and Staff curriculum at ( affiliate link)
http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/

Gearing up for Christmas

I love Christmas!!! It is truly a magical time of year. I love the lights smells and sounds of the season. But most importantly I love the spotlight being shined on our savoir Jesus. I love that people are thinking about Him. I love the feeling of giving and all the extra time spent with family. And yes I decorate my yard and house, yes I have The Nativity scene and Santa's , reindeer , and Frosty! I have lights everywhere. We make cookies, cakes and pies. We drive around to look at Christmas lights. We love to sing Christmas carols and watch all the Christmas movies as we can. We love to read about Jesus and his birth and other Christmas stories.

 

 

 

I have not gotten my shopping done yet and I am not sweating it! It will get done, before Christmas and it will be wrapped and under the tree in time. This year I am determined not to let people or things rob me of my joy for Christmas. Christ lives in my heart and that is where my joy for Christmas is also , in my HEART!

 

The joy of this season makes me happy, and in this dark world, I need the light of Jesus and seasons that just make me feel good. So here's to you. Wishing you a Merry Christmas I hope you can see the light of Jesus and fell the warmth of the season too!

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


Can I get am Amen!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-sugar-cookies/ - Sugar Cookie recipe

Updates :) And Thankgiving !

Ok so I forgot my password and was to lazy to look for it or reset it so yes its been awhile since I have posted. Sorry. I totally have a vision for this blog its just taking me awhile to get it going! Enough with the excuses already, right! Get on with the post! :)

We are doing great, Gamers leg is healing well, I have been doing fine, Have not heard from Jag for while he has been really busy, Trucker got a new job, Yeah! And so did Sweetie, Yeah again! So life is continuing. Husband is wonderful as always (most of the time (wink, wink).

We are currently on Thanksgiving Break, and getting ready for dinner with the family. This year Jag will not be able to make it home for the holidays. This is killing me! I have always wanted my kids home on the Holidays. But I am proud that he is selflessly serving his country.

Our Thanksgiving Menu:

Turkey (of course)
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes and gravy
Greenbean Cassarole
Rolls
Corn
Deviled eggs
Sweet Potatoes
Mac& Cheese
Cheese Ball and Crackers
Peanut Butter Pie
Pumpkin Pie

And what ever everyone else brings :)

This is our normal Thanksgiving dinner, would love to hear what you all make.

My Boys about 6 Thanksgivings ago One of my Favorite pictures of them <3

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yummy-Sweet-Potato-Casserole/



I made this last year and it was awesome!

Psalm 9:1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

We have had a couple of Storms Blow In!

God never promised that it would always be easy or that it would always be stormy. What he did promise is to always love you and be there with you.










As you may already know  my son Jag broke his hand while he was in Texas (Army Man) he had to have surgery and we could no go to him and make sure he was ok.(AHHHH). But he was fine made it through surgery and has almost full control of his hand again. On July 5th my youngest son Gamer broke his leg trying to rollerblade, and our summer was pretty much over! Poor guy! But again he is doing fine. The bone is healing wonderfully ( God is amazing!!!)  he is learning to walk on it again and trying to build up his leg muscles ( he didn't use them for 9 weeks). And in the middle of all this the people leasing our house stopped paying and we had to make them leave. But yet again God will provide away! My oldest son Trucker got in to a small ( thank you Jesus!) accident in his semi (nobody was hurt, again thank you Jesus!)  and lost his job. You know us Mama's never stop worrying about their babies no matter how big they get or how far away they go.


 In the middle of all of this I got really, really sick. Like I couldn't get out of bed sick. I could do nothing kind of sick! I am going to spare you all the gory details (trust me it is embarrassing for me and you really don't want to know). I ended up in the ER and was admitted for 5 long days. Thankfully though the hospital was what I needed to get better.



Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak


I thank the Lord that he pushed my husband to get me to the hospital. I had lost a lot of body fluids and was not doing so well. They replaced my fluids and I had lots of tests done. To find out I have an autoimmune disease called Ulcerative Colitis. For some reason my body is attacking my large intestine. There is no cure, you take medicine to try and go into remission so you can live a normal life. There is also surgery to take out the area under attack but that is really a last resort. There is very little known on this disease. Doctors have no clue as to why it happens and really just guess at the medicine they give you.


Right now I am on steroids (yuck!) but I feel a whole lot better, it has taken a long time to get to this point and I am happy to be here. UC is something that really you don't want to talk about, and not a lot of people know what it really is, it is debilitating your life revolves around your symptoms when you have a flare up. I am putting my trust in the Lord, because I know he has this. And I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. I also believe that something good to glorify God will come of this. Do I know what that is ? No and I am ok with it.


    

Math

We use Alpha Omega's Lifepacs for math. We have used 2nd, 4th, Algebra 1, Algebra 2 (Trucker) and Geometry. We are currently using 5th this year. We used MPC for 3rd and Teaching Textbooks for Algebra 2(Jag).
We really like Lifepacs. Gamer really responds well to them. I did switch for 3rd and he did fine, but asked to comeback to Lifepacs. Now remember when I said that every child, family and situation is different, well this comes into play here. While this works great for my child it could very well for yours too, or it could not. I just want you to keep that in mind. (this post has affiliate links)












I am not getting paid by these publishers or have I been asked to review these for them. This is just one homeschooling mommas opinion about what we have used and what works for us. Lifepac is an independent learning curriculum. It is made for your child to be able to do with minimal help from parents. Now does that mean you hand it to your child and walk away? No not in the early grades. I would say Kn-3rd they need lots of interaction from parents, they have lots of questions and need lots of guidance.











 In 4th Gamer did a lot more on his own, but he still needed my help some. Now he is in 5th and is pretty much picking up his worktext and doing it. If he needs help or has questions of course I am there for him, but it is nice that it has trained him to get going by himself.

I am always amazed from one year to the next how much he learned and retained. So what do I like about Lifepac? I love the portability, the fact that he loves to pick it up and do it, the amount of information he retains.

How did I find it? I prayed about it and God lead me to it! Really ask and you shall receive!

Were can you find it? https://www.aophomeschooling.com/

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2014-2015

I am going to share our picks for our 2014-2015 school year. Then in the next few days I will let you know why we choose them, what we like about them, how we found them and were you can find them. Every child is different, every family is different and every situation is different. What works for my family my not work for yours and you know what, that is perfectly fine! I just personally like to see what other people are using. I like to gleam ideals off other people, it has helped me in our journey and has been fun too.

So lets get on with it already right!

Bible - Alpha Omega Lifepacs 5th Grade
Math - Alpha Omega Lifepacs 5th Grade
Grammar - Rod & Staff Following The Plan 5th Grade
Spelling - Rod & Staff
Literature- We are reading classics together
Poetry- Reading Poetry and discussing it
Reading- I have picked out lots of good books for him to read
Science- Earth Science on the Easy Peasy website
History-  Reading On the Shores of the Great Sea
Geography- Reading A Book Of Discovery

For Extras we:
Music- Take guitar lessons once a week and practice 4 days a week
Art- Artpac 5 from Rod & Staff
Sign Language- I use flash cards I bought along time ago for my other boys
Computer- Easy Peasy website
Typing- Sense-Lang.org Found on Easy Peasy

And he also has free reading were he gets to pick what he wants to read

Wow after looking at this I think I will add our schedule so you can see how it all comes together.

David's 5th grade Schedule

9:00-9:45 Prayer, Pledge, Character, and then Lifepac Bible
9:45-10 Sign Language (Monday, Tuesday)
             Computer (Wednesday)
             Typing (Thursday, Friday)
10:00-10:30 Grammar (Mon-Thur)
                     Journal (Friday)
10:30-10:50 Spelling (Mon-Thur)
                     Art (Friday)
10:50-11:20 Literature (Mon-Wed)
                     Poetry (Thur-Fri)
11:20-12:00 Geography (Mon-Tue)
                       History ( Wed-Fri)
12:00-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-1:30 Math
1:30-2:00 Science
2:00-2:30 Reading
2:30-2:50 Guitar

Free read is his choice he can read before or after school 


So there it is, so far this is working out great for us. Of course we are only a week into it, but it has a great flow to it for us. 




 

Observer Or Activie Paticipant?

In today's quiet time reading for me this was the verse I read,

Romans 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

That is when I realized that 1. God wants to be a part of my life (after all He did create me!) and 2 He wants me to be an active participant in His. Not an observer! There are to many people watching and waiting and not many actively participating. So we have to make up our minds; are we going to sit at the edge of the pool dipping our feet in the water, maybe thinking about how much fun all the other  people are having? Or are we going to jump in and actively join in? We don't have to be loud and obnoxious. I am a more quite person myself. So how do I join in? I teach Sunday School and volunteer to help, there never seems to be enough volunteers. Help out a neighbor and something you can do in your own home or anywhere really, PRAY!

Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.