Heading to the finished line!

The girls are starting to finish up their school year ;) The 2 older girls are a little panicked realizing that things they have been avoiding, are now needing to be done! I allowed them a little freedom to decide what they were working on, and they decided to avoid some things LOL.... guess what? It needs to be done. So they have to really focus. It is totally doable, not excessive, just no slacking.

Guess I need to not let them have so much free reign next year.

What a find!

I've been staring with dread at my one book shelf. I don't like it, it's cluttered, it's overfull, we can't find anything on it.

As a result, the kids don't want to put things away, it's too difficult so the desk was becoming a catch all. It was driving dh and I C-R-A-Z-Y!

I was looking at buying a new shelf. Up for consideration was the Expedit shelves from Ikea. They recently lowered the price. But still, it was $80 I didn't really want to spend. Then Zellers advertised a similar style shelf for $40. Much better, but still, not really in the budget.  I was going to see if I could skim off the grocery budget for a few weeks and get the cash for it.

It's driving me CRAZY!

The school year is coming close to an end :) New curricula has started arriving and we'll soon be moving into the 'next year'.

However, I need to address some issues :(  My bookshelf drives me INSANE! Our family desk is overrun with paper.  Although I use my binder all the time, I still have issues with too many loose papers.  I don't have the right type of system yet. I'm closer than I was :) but not there yet.

I'm going to be searching for a solution. If anyone has a similar blogpost, I'd love to see it!

We don't have a school room. We use the dining area, we eat in the kitchen. I have 1 shelf, and really no room for another.  And we need to tackle this. It drives dh and I crazy!

A Fringe Benefit of Homeschooling

My second youngest is now 12!

I brought her and her 2 sisters plus 7 of her friends to her the pool today, and treated them to Dairy Queen afterward.

Two will be sleeping over, currently they are running around in the sunshine, YES, we finally have some sunshine! There is still mountains of snow, but it's beautiful out.

Tracking or grading the kids work.

 Whether we have to report to the gov't with grades or not, I feel it is important to track what we are doing.

I use a large number of ebooks for our curriculum. The amount of paper can be deceiving as to how far we are progressing, so I like to have a chart handy. I like to know where we have to go, and where we've been. I don't grade everything. Religious studies, history, science for dd7 is simply being checked off.  Math, spelling, LA IS being graded as it gives me perspective on what she is retaining, where we need work.

Spring is coming!!!

I cleaned up our front yard planters yesterday. Along the house there is minimal snow, so I took off the winter decor I had still on them.  The earth in those planters is thawed, I'll soon be able to put flowers in! I'm so excited to see new life breathed into our yard after a long winter.

Won't that be a sight? 3 to 4 feet of snow and planters over flowing with blooms?

Preparing for spring got me thinking.

Finding more inventive uses for my binder!

I've been happily binding away. Binding math, binding workbooks, binding books, binding ... just about everything.

A couple days ago, Angela from Satorismiles posted about receiving her proclick binder. Nice slick machine :) A little envious here. I'm happy with my comb binder, and really, they work about the same.

She asked what people were binding over at the Well Trained Mind forums. There were some great ideas shared!
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Yes! I found it!

Today, I decided that dd7 should have a timeline too. I was inspired by one I'd seen either on a blog or homeschool store.  I modified it and created a version that works for me.

I created it as an 11x17 :)  I can't print that size at home, so I had it done by Staples. I requested it printed double sided and on cardstock. It will be durable for the pasting, coloring and writing.

I also found the binders I was looking for!

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Starting to find a rhythm

I'll admit openly that homemaking is NOT my forte. I am not adept for many things domestic, it doesn't come naturally. Yet, for the last 14 years, I've been a stay at home mom. Even one, or maybe 100 steps further, I've been the breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering stay at home mom of 4. And recently, we've added homeschooling. Who'd have thought?
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Sometimes, the solutions are way simpler than we originally thought!

As I sit here watching my bread rise minimally, many random thoughts flit through my mind.  Then waiting for the oven to heat, steam to rise, bread to bake. So many thoughts.

DS17 wanting to homeschool for a few courses since he can't  get them all in next year with his school programming.

DD14(well still 13, b'day is Saturday) not wanting to use the current curriculum, wanting fresh and new.

How to teach writing to a kid who cries when ever you try to help her improve...

New curricula, old curricula, what to do!

Timelines.... this is where my thoughts pondered the most.
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I made a great find!

I was pondering things, and realize that we didn't have much for reference materials. Yes, there is the internet, we have a few Usborne Encyclopedias, but those are very topic specific, and it is adding up.
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Positive changes

I've been noticing, over the course of the year, changes in attitudes. We'd  hit a bad patch in December, but it has passed.

What I am noticing now is random fits of giggles from the girls, inside jokes I guess.  I came home from errands last night and dd13 was playing princess bingo with dd7, following dd7's rules.  The girls are coming up and randomly hugging me. Just because, no ulterior motive, or sucking up, simply to express affection. This is multiple times a day. Where before hugs were for babies, get away mom!
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We're in grade 7!

... and mom is in a panic.

DD11 did virtual schooling through the school board this year. She finally had an open conversation about the year. She started by asking if I'd ordered her grade 7 courses yet(she's done for grade6 already).   I had said I did ( but i contacted the facilitator over the weekend to cancel it if possible, it was after talking with dd).  She asked if she could use a few alternate curriculum, like we did last spring when she came home(which is humorous as she claimed she hated it last year). That is fine :) So I asked her what did she want to do with the school, what with something new.
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The best investments....

I'm sure everyone has gone and purchased something that was supposed to be a "can't live without", only to find that it really wasn't "all that".

Well, I have invested in a couple things lately, that I don't know how I managed without!

The first was purchased nearly a year ago, and we use it in someway daily.
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Record Keeping

This year has been a good year, and we're learning well, within the curriculum. The girls are progressing well. There is also learning to be done beyond that. Organization, time management, new orders of operation for the house.  Those are things that are a constant learning field for myself.

This week, I tackled record keeping. For the littlest, she has sticker charts with all the lessons, so we(more for her) know how she is progressing, but I wasn't keeping track of her tests and quizzes. I have her do both, at some point she will need to write one, and SAT, college, something. So it may as well start now while it's not so crucial, in a year or two, we'll start timed tests, as ALL post-secondary are timed.  I don't often grade her every day work, as we work through most of it together at this point.  But she does tests, spelling, math, LA. I don't test much in other areas, as these are the 2 most important, IMO.
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A proud moment... and what makes it all worthwhile

Ever look over at your child and see them working away, quietly, contented, maybe even humming a little tune to themselves? Then you think to yourself, what are they dreaming about what are they really doing? So you quietly sneak over to see if they are actually doing school work. As you get closer, the humming was actually soft chanting,  "8+3 is 11, 9+5 is 14, 5+7 is 12....." And at that moment, you get a warm glow within, knowing for sure that this was the best thing for her. 
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All-Week Schooling?

We have fallen a little behind in a few subjects for our youngest. Initially it was because mom got very sick, where we did only the very minimum. Then it was hard to get back into routine. Despite all that, we *should* fine in terms of completing what we need for meeting the 'grade level' in most areas. But some areas we still haven't caught up. Some of these areas are dull and boring, but due to requirements must be done. And some are just behind because they are time consuming to set up.

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What on earth are our schools doing?(our 1 year update...well almost 1 year)

Yesterday, one of dd7 little friends came over. Her mom said she was bringing some homework, andasked if I could I maybe see if I could help her a little, as she wasn't getting it. Ok, fine. I'm no guru, I've only been homeschooling a year,  but maybe I'd have an explanation that clicked, so I said yes.

I'm in such shock! Her mom has been saying how well the child has been doing, that the school has her up to 'grade level'.

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Dealing with unsavory friendships

My littlest is 7 yo. She is a sweet child. Most times if she's gone on a playdate, the parents will tell me what a good girl I have, how polite and considerate she is. She makes me proud.

However, one of her friends brings out the worst in her.  In the last month, I've found out that at sleepovers she's watched movies that were totally in appropriate, The Mummy, Twilight saga, and others. Now I have no issues had this been a teenager, BUT SHE'S SEVEN.  I have spoken to the family before, that we don't let her watch these types of movies.  But it has happened again and again. So I said no more sleepovers or playdates over there.
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Budgeting for next year.

I'm assessing all we've spent and looking ahead to predict what we might need for next year. This was our first full year homeschooling. So there was extra spent, some trial and error. I now have a good sense of how it will go.



As I mentioned in my previous post, I went over by about $100. Next year I don't want to do that!

I'd love to have the girls participate in a homeschool co-op but the only one here we're looking at $800/child, PLUS 15 volunteer days. I run a home daycare and it would be excessive days off. I could pay out those days.... but it would be way too costly. It would cost me $2400 plus payout for volunteer days. Not going to happen.

We'll be content with the workshops and what not that are offered through the school board($10 per workshop per child), and through the various others venues. It would be nice to have them out and about for a day a week, meeting other kids, but not at the cost they are offering it. This is the only co-op that is in this city.

For next year, we will be getting the curricula for dd14 and dd12 from the school board, it will cost $500 including registration. For dd7, I don't use the school curricula, but handpick what I want to use, it would be much cheaper to go through the school($120), but I don't care for it. I have most of what I need already. We purchased 2 grade levels at once this year, we've already progressed into the next books in some areas, and do plan to work through the summer, but slowly. So for the fall, we're not in need of much at all. Her registration is $50. Thankfully it isn't out of pocket in August, they hold off until the government sends out the first disbursement of funding. It is deducted directly.

I've started setting aside $50/mo for next year. It won't amount to all that much, but it will create a working budget for me to use, so it doesn't sit on my credit card until I'm refunded. So come September I'll have $300 to work with for class registrations, consumables. In October I submit receipts, and continue building my school fund. Once November hits, I'll have gotten my refund, and added another $100 to the fund. So when January comes and I need to order items for the second semester, I'll have a good working fund again, approx $500. I intend to build this up as a $1000. Then I can leave it as a cushion. I think now, we're pretty much set and don't require much more for reference books. I have most of what I need for other curricula too. I have AAS to the 6th book(from older dd), so dd7 doesn't need anything more now. As well as Math Mammoth, we have all to grade 5 now. So only one more in a few years if we don't get it for dd12. So there is some wiggle room. The costs for her go down as we re-use some of the curricula we had for the older ones.

NEEDED:
DD14 - One Year Novel, Bible study

DD12 - Bible Study, possibly next Math Mammoth,

DD7 - McRuffy Science 3(I think)
SOTW 2 activity guide(pdf)

So we're in pretty good shape for the fall in terms of curricula. My spending budget will cover all of that This will allow for some really creative things for next year, and I'm excited about that. We'll be exploring what is out there for workshops and field trips for next year. I may register the kids for cross country ski lessons next year. Apparently the kids that did it this year had a riot! I am determined not to go over the budget next year. But by the looks of it now that I've written all down.... looks good to me!

We came in just over budget and thoughts on the year so far.

Here, in AB, we get government funding for homeschooling.  I'm more than happy to provide work samples to show learning, so that I can homeschool. Our household budget is stretched thin with six of us, even without having to get curriculum. So the funding is a true blessing, and it even allows for the kids to do things we never would have been able to before.
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I can't wait until next year!

I can't wait for a fresh start. Only because I can apply all we learned this year to next.

This year was our first full year of homeschooling. We pulled our 2 youngest children out of a Catholic school last March and finished their year at home. This fall, our eldest daughter also came home.  It's been chaotic, to say the least. There is a pretty major learning curve.
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CLE LA...love it

Last week we received our new LA program from Christian Light Publishing.  We started it the next day. We are loving it! We did the first quiz on Friday. She achieved 100% on it :) She is so excited to get started on LA each day. It's a blessing.

My daughter didn't read or write in English until April of last year.  She wasn't reading or writing in French, either,  despite being in a French school. She'd learned a little vocabulary, but she was shy, quiet and non-disruptive, and she was left to wither in the background.  We didn't start homeschooling for her, but she has benefited so much from it. We started her at the beginning of grade 1 last April 2010. She was missing so many basic foundations.  She's considered grade level now(2), in everything, or surpassed it in some areas. She is making leaps and bound progress. She reads above grade level, we're just getting her to par for writing, but it could be my expectation is too high. She's doing fantastic. We're so proud of her.
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Fun with French.

After fussing for most of the year, trying to find a French program that will work. I've resigned myself that there is no perfect curriculum. I'm cobbling together my own.

We are using a few different things, workbooks for basic vocabulary, dvd - both learning and movie, to expose to spoken language, cd with work pages to learn the written language, match the oral word to the written word.

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Receiving a parcel is like being given a gift!

Today we received 3 packages! It was like a surprise birthday party!

One was the replacement cd we've been battling with the company about for over 3 months. It finally came. Done, I'll not be ordering from there again.

I also received a French program through The Book Depository. I LOVE the Book Depository. EVERY thing is free shipping, and most of the books beat what I can get locally.



 And....
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Science Workshop

My dd7, K,  had a science workshop on Friday. She had a blast. 

She got to get up close and personal with:

The tarantula

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I am so looking forward to this movie!

But I just found out a movie I've been waiting for, will likely not play in Canada!!!  It looks SO good. Something I'd love to take my older kids to.
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Planning grade 3...already

I know it's a little early, but K is nearing the end of some grade 2 curriculum. With there being still 4-5 months of school left, I can't let her sit and do nothing.

Here is what I have so far:

Math - Math Mammoth 3(love it ) daily - 20 to  45 minutes depending on the concept... sometimes it just takes longer.
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I was inspired today.

After posting yesterday morning about my school space. I was really 'needing' to do something about it.

I looked at blogs, and drooled, well, not literally, but envy isn't a pretty thing. So instead, I decided to suck it up! I looked at possibilities. I looked on the classifieds for desks, then at Ikea. I had a few ideas. And decided to work with what we have. I'd rather spend the money on school books than on furniture ;)

So I used the room planner from the Brick and plotted our space.
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Looking at a weekly plan

I'm pretty free flow right now. I have a basic system that is working not bad..... but I do tend to 'forget' about science, social and other things.

I do lots and lots of LA, Math, I started using the bible for narration, which works fabulous for dd7 because she loves the bible stories we are studying. So much for history..lol. It works.

So, I'm thinking ahead to the fall.....
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Thinking I need to rethink our school space.

There was a thread on a message board about school 'rooms', I use that term loosely, as not every one has a room, but a space, or spaces.


So I'm sitting looking at where we are working, and it needs some changes! We have an 8ft table that houses 3 computers.  And alot of clutter. A bookshelf, a file cabinet(household) and dd13 workbox cart. We have dd7 cart and a cart for extra supplies.
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Feeling successful!!!

Where we live, it is mandatory to be registered with a school board. We have the option of registering 3 ways, fully aligned with provincial curriculum, traditional, or blend. We opted for almost completely aligned. We have a facilitator that we submit assignments or samples of work to. We have home visit at the beginning and end of the year, and a mid year 'conference', aka phone call. I had that phone call yesterday.

DD13 is doing great, no issues with her. She is fully aligned, but considered blended as we are doing french which is not something the board offers.  She's a champ!
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Getting with the program

We are still a novice homeschooling family. I am approaching 1 full year soon. So we are still learning as we go.

I have struggled hard this year keeping on track. Getting sick for over 2 months didn't help. Then having difficult children on occasion also didn't help.

I started last year with the workbox idea. Great idea, not practical for me. This fall I found the filesystem thread on the Well Trained Minds Forum and LOVED it! I went hard organizing our files. But in the end it didn't work for me either. I was going to blend it with the Workbox system.
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Found it!

Hehehe... I'd lost my blog! Sad to say.


January finds us in a totally different place that I was 4 months ago. I've learned a lot about how I best teach, how my kids learn. There have been trials, but we're coming out on top regardless.

I'll post more next week when i have time! I'm just happy to find my blog again!