Daily Records

Shew!  It's almost 5 pm and school is finally complete for today.  My emails are all sent/replied to concerning gymnastics.  Dinner is... not even in the process but I feel as if we just ate lunch.  I am going to take a few moments for myself.

I was chatting with a couple great gals the other day about homeschooling: our scheduling, curriculum, stress, etc.  I mentioned to them that I stopped writing out all of my lesson plans ahead of time.  I now write down everything that gets accomplished during the day AFTER it is done.  It makes us accountable to this little piece of paper.  If a subject is not done, the space stays empty, staring aback at me as a blank, incomplete hole in our day... which sometimes turns into a week.  I should stop babbling and show you what I am talking about.

Name _____________________________ Date _______________________________

Subject	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Bible
Piano
Math
English
Science
History/ Geography
Reading/ Literature
Spelling/ Vocabulary
P.E.
Extra

*I have absolutely no idea how to add a pdf document on here so I had to just copy and paste.  Sorry!*
I print out one of these per week for my children.  I write everything down on here that gets done.  Today, I look back and can see that Rebecca didn't do spelling or vocab but she did do 2 lessons in English, and that both girls are waiting until bedtime to read. 

I still write out lesson plans for history and science and those are written out, broken up by days and we fit in what we can during the time period I have set aside for those subjects. This can be stressful or fun, depending on how you look at it.  I am using the states SOL scope and sequence for the girls history and geography as a backbone, but am truly making it up as I go along!  (insert panicked face)  Rebecca does Apologia Gen. science with a friend so they work together making the lesson plans for me virtually nil.  Emily's science... well, let's just say that I will be up late tonight pulling it all together for the next month.  She finished A beka's health 4 today and I do not know what she will be using for the rest of the year.  ( She really doesn't like A Beka so I will probably come up with my own curriculum using that book as the spine.  Think Charlotte Mason :o)
The girls are both using Saxon Math, and those are divided into daily lessons making it essentially lesson plan-free for me.  The same goes for Emily's English.  Rebecca's English book is not broken out into lessons so I took the suggested teaching schedule in the back of the teacher book and use that.  I write each lesson # in the bottom of every page so she knows what to do each day without question.
The girls spelling and vocab books are a go at your own pace sorta book so that is just what they are doing. 
Don't think that I am getting completely lax.  The girls are getting more school in during a day that they have in a long time.  And with our new schedule, I am finding more time to get the things that I need to do (but not those things that I prefer to do like napping cleaning).

If my lesson planner isn't what you are looking for, try some here on donnayoung.org. I love her website!

Typical Silly Emily

I finally got my hands on some old pics from my first computer- mainly from 2008.

I am sowly going through them and uploading them to a thumb drive since I am technologically challenged and cannot manage to burn them to a CD.

Anyways...

This is Emily at Cookie's Bar-B-Que on Oct 28, 2008.

Castaway Cay, Bahamas

She was 6 years old at the time.

I love it!

Artist Day with our local co-op

The girls participated in their first co-op project day. 

 We have always bowed out of these kind of things in the past, but this year, I signed them up for Artists Day.  I chose Van Gogh for the girls and decided that they needed to work on their team project skills, so they had to work together.  It was challenging at moments, but they pulled through and did a great job.  (Maybe I am a bit biased.)  I love that they learned a great deal about Van Gogh and other artists in the process.

There was a large amount of people is a small space.

other neato projects

Gymnastics: My Unsocialized Homeschoolers





just hanging around

playing mother may I?



I don't know how many times I have taken
 this same picture of her climbing the rope




punishment?



Socially Awkward

Rebecca's piano teacher introduced her to this youtube video.  She loves to crack on the camo and culottes comments in the video.
She came down the stairs dressed like this and said that she is socially awkward. Maybe it was one of those moments that you just have to be there, but it was quite humorous.

Her tennis shoes are in the other room.

Cayman Island

Check out the post from Nov. 2008 when we first visited the Grand Cayman Islands by clicking here.  Look at how much the girls have grown!



our ship from the tender boat



Check out the post proceding this one on Sting Ray City

candid shot of Em at Sting Ray City



That barb is just a bit too close to my baby's leg for my liking!



Sting Ray City, Grand Cayman Islands

Did you think I forgot to finish posting my vacation pics?  Nah, just sidetracked :o)

kissy kissy

back rub...nice

There is still hope for my little homemakers yet!

I thought we had a pretty productive day until I talked to my grandma on the phone this afternoon.

School included Bible, piano, Math, English, Science, History, and home ec.

I did the typical Monday chores- laundry, changed sheets, mopped, straightened up from the weekend.  I even cleaned out the coat closet which houses all of my sewing notions and material.  That must have been what prompted us to have a home ec. type of afternoon.

When I talked to my grandma this afternoon, she said that she was worried what kind of education the girls were really getting.  She was concerned about how much math and Chemistry they were getting.  When I pretty much laughed it off, she commented that she's just not sure how long I can do it and then whatever'ed me!

I love my almost 89 yo grandma, but do not take any homeschool remarks from her seriously!



look at that concentration



She needs to work on straight lines.

the front side of the blanket



Felicity enjoying her two toned blanket.



Rebecca's first pillow. 
She did great considering it was her first time and she did it ALL on her own.

the solid backside

*Emily made Felictity a matching pillow, but I didn't photograph that.*

Bonfire, Man Hunt, Guns and Smores with Friends in the Country

It was downright hilarious when Timothy walked out
wearing the same camo pants as Rebecca.
She had a blast shooying dart guns and cap guns with him.

For her birthday, she really wanted to have a bonfire and play man hunt. 
Our friends in the country made her wishes come true.

Look at that thing go.  This picture does not show how huge the bonfire actually was.

Emily wanted to roast marshmellows- not eat s'mores or the marshmellows- just roast them.

They took a break from their manhunt game to warm up and make some s'mores.

look at that fire