School Helpers

Since there is only one of me and five children being homeschooled I can't always get to everyone right away. On days when I need to spend a little extra time explaining a subject to one of my older children I call on someone to help with reading for my little readers. I enjoy teaching my little ones to read so this is not something I do everyday, but I have found it is good every now and then to share this joy. It builds relationships between my little reader and one of their siblings.

Christiana helping Jonathan

I had a picture of Josiah helping Micah with the map of the US and locating states but unfortunately those two pics have disappeared. :(

Although homeschooling multiple children is challenging, there are ways of making it work. After all, part of the reason I chose to homeschool was to build relationships.

School Work Around the Table

As those of you who have been keeping up with us for a while know, we are renting a small 2 BR house with an office. The reason is because we want to build someday and don't want to get too comfortable and end up staying where we are. With that said we do have to work around limited space in this house.

Below are pictures of one of our school days this week when everyone was in the dining room working on written work. Most of the time there are not this many kids at the table at once but for some reason they were all working on written work at the same time this particular day. Usually our oldest daughter is upstairs on the computer working on her SOS curriculum, and at least one of the younger kids is in the living room cuddling with me on the couch reading. My two younger kids were upstairs playing in the boy's bedroom nicely (as seen from the pics yesterday) awaiting an older child to come join them.

The kids in the dining room

Jonathan and Micah

Josiah and Jonathan

Kaitlyn and Christiana who decided for some

reason not to sit at the table.

I'll continue to post pics of different days so you can see a more typical arrangement of our school day, but sometimes it does vary. I don't mind a little variety and the kids like moving around from time to time. As long as they can complete their work, it's fine with me. They enjoy going out on the front porch or sitting in the yard on blankets when the weather is fitting.

So that's how we work around our house. Do you have set areas or are you flexible?

Back to School

Today is our first day back to school for the 2010-2011 school year. I must say that I really like getting back to a schedule where everyone has assignments and everyone knows what they are suppose to be doing. Don't get me wrong, summer break is fun, but even though my day is fuller it just seems to go more smoothly during school.

I didn't get a picture this morning of everyone working but thought I would grab my camera and take a couple of pictures this afternoon of a couple of my guys finishing up their assignments.

Micah working on his Spelling.

Josiah finishing up his Math.

Hopefully my plan works and we are getting a jump start on school in order to have extra time when the baby arrives to hang out with our little one without worrying about school getting accomplished. We shall see...

Getting Ready

So it's been a busy week or two around here. I'm planning on starting back to school on Monday so we will be a little ahead of the game when the baby arrives. I usually start back the week of Labor Day but decided to start back early this year.

The past two weeks have been made up of going through clothes that need to be sorted and given away or packed away. Cleaning and rearranging the boys room. Pulling out old school books and bringing out the new ones and taking an inventory of what I need. Rearranging the dining room (also known as our school/work area). Trying to get the house in general more organized and easier to manage. Meeting my new midwife and on top of all that accomplishing regular everyday tasks such as taking care of the kids and keeping house.

It's been crazy busy and I've missed my naps quite a few times, but it's worth it now that I am getting it done. I'm still not finished though. Gotta finish the dining room, and start working upstairs in the hallway and around my sewing table. Would also like to start working on the boys quilts and a quilt for our master bedroom soon. Oh, and I have two Christmas stockings to make this year, one for my niece that was born in January and one for my little guy who didn't get one last year because I had another niece whose stocking had to be made before Christmas (think I should start early on these).

So, that's what I've been up to lately. Not very exciting, but that's the reality sometimes. Be blessed.

School Time

So it is about that time again, and it's time to pull out all the curriculum I have from previous years and find out what I have in my inventory. I usually start back to school with the kids the day after Labor Day, but with a baby coming in January I think I'll start back mid August just to give us a little more time to get school in before baby comes.

I love homeschooling my children and like every year I'm trying to think of ways to make it more fun and interesting. I had planned on switching gears a little this year by doing more of a unit type study with my kids, but unfortunately I will have to wait until later. So I will be doing what we've always done, which is textbook style learning, but looking for ways to spice things up a bit with lapbook lessons and other fun ways to learn.

How about you? Are you ready to start your school year? Are you using the same or switching curriculum? How do you make school fun for your kids? I love hearing what you are doing so feel free to share. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a blessed weekend.

Back on Track?

We are trying to get back to our daily routine after getting over the stomach bug, and it's slow going. It appears that some of the kids are still feeling yucky and moving very slowly. We're starting our day later than usual. I look around the house and see laundry, messy boys room, bathrooms that need to be scrubbed (again) and all the stuff that got neglected while we were sick. But, I'm determined to get something accomplished today. We will try to get some school work done for those who are able and to get my house put back in order. It's amazing how just one day of sickness can seem to put me so far behind, especially considering the house was put together before we got sick.

It's days like these last few that I am so thankful that I serve a risen Lord. He is my strength when I am weak, and help in my time of need. I would just like to thank the Lord for being there for me.

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness." Romans 8:26

First Day Back to School

Today is our first day back to school since Christmas break. I finally got the house back in order and ready for school and I spent last night excited to get back to our daily routine and trying to find a fun lapbook lesson for the kids. After getting everything ready and feeling prepared for the day I headed to bed, sure that the next day would be great.

I wake up around seven, go get our youngest son for his feeding and come back downstairs to find Matthew, our 3 year old, in our bed (a habit he's gotten into the last week or so). I finish nursing Joshua and head to the kitchen to start breakfast when I hear shuffling in my bedroom. I go in there to find my husband, Jim, and Matthew in the bathroom while Matthew is throwing up. "Oh no," I thought, "poor guy." You see yesterday our youngest son, Joshua 11 mos., was sick. So now it appears Matthew has gotten the bug.

So, I head back in the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast then upstairs to wake the kids. After coming back down I'm informed by my other children that Micah, our 7 year old, doesn't feel well. I inform them to let him stay in bed and everyone else to get ready.

Breakfast comes and afterwards Josiah, our 11 year old tells me he doesn't feel well. As school starts, Kaitlyn, our 9 year old, says she doesn't feel well. So now here I am making everyone comfortable and cleaning out bowls while the kids watch Veggie Tales instead of doing school. (I wonder if they planned this)

Fortunately, this bug seems to only last a few short hours, or at least that's the way it was with Joshua. Oh well, there's always tomorrow for the first day back to school :)