Fall --> Halloween

A few weeks ago our church (Verge) held it's annual fall festival.  Ms. Vicki -who loaned us her cabin for our women's retreat- graciously loaned her house for the fall festival.  She has a beautiful house with a large front yard and a large back yard.  There was so much to do and with such a wonderful group of people there was never a dull moment!

Football made the front yard a danger zone for little ones but they eventually gravitated to children's games in the backyard.  Gradually everyone gathered their camping chairs around the fire pit where we roasted hot dogs.  The garage was hopping with plenty to do (and eat!) -the chili cook off, a dessert contest (I entered my Spice Cake but didn't win :-/ ), a caramel apple bar and a hot chocolate bar/apple cider.  As darkness descended upon our party, there was also a hay ride.

My kids immediately ran off to play with their friends and I didn't see them until it was time to eat and then when it was time for the hay ride.  They were sad that the festival ended but it was late and everyone was cold and sleepy.

* * * * * *

Our AWANA group also had a Fall Festival last Wednesday evening.  Sadly we missed it because strep took out the older three kids.  Tuesday afternoon Sammy & Hannah both started to complain of chills, headaches and upset tummies.  I checked and they both had fevers of 102.  Right before bed time they both ended up sick to their stomachs.  Around 1am, Amos woke up with a fever, headache and upset tummy.  A visit to the doctor confirmed it was strep.  They got started on their antibiotics but had to stay home and rest (and keep their germs to themselves!)  Friday morning, strep struck Shiloh.  A visit to the doctor confirmed he had strep and an ear infection!  Poor guy.  He hardly slept at all Friday night and while I was at the ASU game with the oldest three, Bobby discovered that Shiloh also had sores on the roof of his mouth.  All afternoon he kept coming up to me and pointing in his mouth.  He normally does that when he's got a hair in his mouth so I kept checking for hairs.  I never once thought to check for sores.  

Thankfully everyone was recovered and super excited for Trick or Treating.  The kids love that we have an actual neighborhood to walk around.  It took us about an hour to cover half of it!  By the end, Amos was hot (due to the 80* weather!) and tired so we headed home.  We have plenty of candy to last us for a while.  Especially since the only thing Shiloh likes to eat are Smarties.

Ashley and Sarah are super fun!

Amos attempts the Witch's Hat Ring Toss.

I didn't think Sammy was ever going to get an apple.

 

Open it please Mama!!

All of my kids love Mariah.  She's their babysitter when Bobby & I go on dates.  Amos is constantly asking if he can go to Mariah's house.

Amos attempted apple bobbing but gave up after two tries.

-- HALLOWEEN--

 Shiloh would hold up his bucket, then look to see what he was given, then say "Thank you!"  It was too sweet.

Just Checking In...

I just wanted to check in and say we're still here!  Though we're currently being held hostage by basketball practices, crochet class and AWANA.  All things we enjoy of course but all things that consume a large portion of our time.

Sammy has basketball practices two times a week (Monday and Thursday), two hours each practice.  I've taken him to the last few practices and those boys work the entire time.  They get a few breaks for water and to cool off but their coach has them working the whole time.  Sammy's games begin next month and I'm praying all of their hard work pays off.  We're glad that we decided to go with the homeschool basketball team rather than the City Stars again.  We'll see how much Sammy likes it at the end of the season.

On Thursday evening (while Bobby & the boys are at Sammy's basketball practice), Hannah and I are learning to crochet.  Our church does small home groups and one of the groups we joined was crocheting.  I've got the basics but I've been attempting to make a scarf and it's not working out to good.  I can't keep my rows even.  Regardless, it's a run time of fellowship with some of the other ladies from our church.

On Wednesdays the kids have AWANA.  Thankfully the church is only 3 minutes away so it's nice that we don't have far to go.  And all four kids won Clubber of the month for their classes for the month of August.  I was so proud that I almost started crying right in the middle of assembly time!  While we're at Cathedral Baptist for AWANA, Bobby is at Verge for band practice.  He's on the worship team and will play different instruments depending on where he's needed (everything but drums.)

We still keep Friday nights open for our family night.  We have snacks and watch a movie or play a board game.  It's a restful ending to our busy week :-)

This past week has been particularly rough because all four kids came down with strep.  Hannah & Samuel had a really rough time with it - really high fever, headache, throwing up and eventually, a sore throat.  Amos just had a high fever with a headache and a stomach ache.  Shiloh had a fever and no other symptoms.  When I took him to the doctor I was shocked to discover he not only had strep, but an ear infection as well.  Thankfully everyone should be well enough to enjoy trick or treating on Monday.

The kids had their first dentist visit since we moved to Jonesboro.  I want to go to their dentist - the offer cake flavored toothpaste and you can watch tv while they're cleaning your teeth!

Shiloh loves his little friend Maddie...

My Clubbers of the month!

Amos and I visited the ASU Farmer's Market and had a great time.  Pumpkins were $2 each, honey sticks were four for a $1 (we bought 8!), raw honey was $7 a jar and Amos's hat was $15 (not that he needed one, I'm just a pushover.)

My sick kiddos at the doctors office.  Each room is painted a different theme and front the moment Amos glimpsed the Toy Story room he's been wanting to be put into it.  Today he got his wish, I had to take Shiloh and this was the room we were given.

2016 Women's Retreat

Verge Church has the best group of women and last weekend I got the great joy of spending two days with nine of them.  Ms. Vicki owns a cabin on Lake Norfork and it is the best place to go for Verge's annual Women's Retreat.

Ms. Vicki, Tracy, Jaime and I headed up to Lake Norfork early Friday morning.  We arrived around lunch time, unpacked our bags, had a quick lunch then headed to the lake.  We spent the whole afternoon riding around in Ms. Vicki's boat and swimming.   We talked, looked for shells and just enjoyed the quietness of the lake.  Around five we headed back to the cabin to shower and start cooking supper.  The other ladies started arriving around 6 and after.  After a delicious supper of grilled burgers, we decided to play some games.  Our favorite was ,hands down, Werewolf.  It's super fun and easy to learn, so by the end of the evening (read 2am) all of the "I'll just watch" friends were begging to play one more round.  We took a small break to sit around the bonfire and make some s'mores but then we trickled back inside for more Werewolf.  I will say that there is nothing like a game of Werewolf to really get to know a person.  ;-)

 Saturday we ate breakfast around 8am, then packed coolers and snacks so we could eat lunch on the lake.  We spent the whole day swimming and some ladies jumped off some of the higher rocks around the lake.  But my favorite part was that I got to drive one of Ms. Vicki's jet skis.  Her sister-in-law gave me a lesson and then let me drive around the island that's in the middle of the lake.  It was a very restful, fun day and we all hated to pack up late in the afternoon.  

We laughed so much and it was great getting to know all of those sweet ladies a little better.  I've been part of a Bible Study with a few of them but there were others I barely know.  I was sad to leave but excited to see Bobby & the kids at the same time.  It was a much needed getaway before the start of our 2016-2017 home school year.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Ms. Vicki's cabin is named Bearadise.  This is just one of many bears around her cabin.

All of the bedrooms have different themes.  Jaime and I stayed in the Deer Room.  Jaime brought an air mattress so I got the bed all to myself!

Lake Norfork is so beautiful!

 Sweet Jaime is a bit shy and has a little social anxiety (really just a tad bit) but she decided to come on the retreat.  I'm so glad she did because she and I had so much fun together!!

Mariah and Tracy climb up to jump off the rocks.

Michelle, Megan, Mariah, Tracy and Samantha

The kids just love Mariah.  She's their baby sitter when Bobby & I go on dates and Amos is always begging to go home with her.

This is my favorite picture I took all weekend.  I love Mariah's sassy facial expression.

Craighead Forest Playground

Craighead Forest actually has several playgrounds but we've been sticking to the one with the splash pad.  This past Sunday we accompanied Bobby to the park, and while he ran the kids and I played on the playground.  It was such a nice day so the park was super crowded.  That didn't deter my kids though.  Shiloh spent the majority of his time on the swings while Hannah & Sammy played on the "Ninja Warrior" obstacle course.  Amos was just all over the place.  Sammy occasionally came over to play with Shiloh. 

As we started to head toward another playground, Amos saw a cute little puppy that he wanted to pet.   The owner gave him permission so he plopped himself on the ground and played forever with the cutest little black puppy, who clearly adored the attention.  We played for a short time on another playground then decided to head back to the car.  Amos found another dog to love on.  Now the kids have puppy fever!

2016-2017 School Year

I've been enjoying everybody's classroom pictures and back to school pics on Facebook so I thought I'd write a post about what we're planning this year.

I've spent the summer searching the web for school organization tips and teaching ideas.  I want to branch out this year and not be so by-the-book.  We're still using My Father's World and this year it's From Rome to the Reformation.  I'm using the teacher's manual as a guideline but I don't want to be so strict as I have been in years past.

For science we're studying the human body in depth.  That should take a good part of our year.  I'm the most excited about science.  I feel like I've not done the best job in this area in the past and I'm determined this year will be different.  There will be some fun experiments and I'm going to by the Explore It Human Body with Squishy Insides so we can have some good hands on, visual lessons.

History will focus on just a small chunk of history and I'm really excited about using The Story of the World.  Hannah does really well with history but Sammy tends to get bored easily so this is going to be a day by day process of eliminating the boring sections (I'm looking at you Streams of Civilizations!)

In our Language Arts we'll continue with Primary/Intermediate Language Lessons, Spelling Power and Writing Strands.  Nothing new from last year.  As we were getting ready to move a friend gave me a ton of home school books and I wish I could have kept them all, but sadly, I gave most of them away.  I kept a few that I thought we would come in handy and just remembered them the other day.  I found Charlotte Masons Simple Language Lessons that has 15 lessons which should be a good simple review.  We're doing that to ease into the year before jumping back into the Primary & Intermediate Language Lesson books.  Pray for peace and patience - lots and lots of patience!- as Sammy starts Writing Strands this year.  Writing is not his thing and there were many tears shed last year over simply copying sentences.  I can't imagine what I'll get when he, gasp!, has to write creatively!

Math will be Singapore Math with a mixture of practical math and flash card practice.  Practical math is cooking (making cookies, helping with supper, etc.) and money (savings accounts, balancing a check book, etc.)

Here's a look inside my lesson planner as well as some extra things that we're trying this year...my pictures are weird because the lighting in our house is frustrating to work with.  

I made photo copies of the lesson plan pages so I could highlight and mark out what we are or are not doing.  

A rough daily & weekly schedule - not set in stone but to keep us from doing too much & getting overwhelmed.

One new idea I had this year, and that I feel will keep me organized, is a Month at a Glance page in my calendar section.  It has sections for Goals, Supplies, Activities, Reading List, Field trips and the Artist of the month.  I was inspired by one of Alicia Hutchinson's planning pages from Investing Love.  She has a down load & print Lesson Planner for only $7 but I've always printed my own.

Each child has their own section in my lesson planner and each section has a  blank lesson planner that I fill in as we complete work, their Latin or Greek word list and their Spelling Power list.  At the beginning of each child's section is a Goal worksheet for the year.  We sat down together, talked about strengths and weaknesses and decided on three personal goals for the year.  Then we each signed it.  

This is Sammy's Greek word list, the top is the list of words and where to find them his book.  The second list is the definitions so that I have  a quick reference when helping him study or making quizzes.

I found it easier to photo copy the pages from Spelling Power since I have two kids in two different sections and I didn't want to mark up my entire book.  I highlight the words that they missed and when they get them right I record the date so I'll know to move on to new words.

Here are just a few pictures of the actual lesson planner pages.  I still aim for 180 days even though Arkansas doesn't have a set number of days or weeks.  I made these on the Mac and printed them.

This year the kids have individual reading logs that they are responsible for keeping track of.  There are enough pages for them to record 20 books and once they've completed their 20 books they get to go out for Andy's Ice Cream (a local favorite) with the parent of their choice.  This log also teaches them the difference between fiction/non-fiction as well as different genres.  We can also look back at the end of the year and see how long it takes them to read a book, how many chapters, pages, etc.

The kids are required to read at least three books on their 2016-2017 book list.  

Another helpful idea I found was an assignment book for each kid.  It's a simple spiral notebook that I will daily record what they need to accomplish for that day.  Once they've checked off everything they are free to play their Kindles, watch tv, etc.  This seems like a lot of work but it took me maybe 20-25 minutes to write a weeks worth of assignments for each kid.  When Amos joins us in "real" school it will obviously take a little longer.
But this way Hannah & Samuel will know what to do for their independent work without me having to sit and tell them.  If it's a lesson I want to work with them on, I mark 'With Mama' so they know to come and find me.

And lastly, a look at our home school "organization."  All of the kids school books are on a bookshelf in the boys room for easy access.  Each kid has two work boxes (so to speak) with their personal school books.  They have their spiral notebooks, math workbooks, Writing Strands and Language Arts books.  Then there's the history & science books that we will use together.  And clearly there are a few random toys that need to make their way home where they belong.

We have another bookshelf in our bedroom and I just keep my planner book and a few others for easy access (and because there's really no room on the other shelf.)

I have a few more ideas that I'm working on -like a Writing Basket filled with stickers, markers, stamps, etc. to make writing more creative and fun for the kids.  Once I get those things done I'll write another post.  This blog is basically my journal & photo book rolled into one.  It should be neat to look back in years to come and see what things I've changed and what I kept because it worked.  I need a second brain to help me remember!