Math Madness!

Today and many other days are frustrating for me when it comes to the subject of math. I am so blessed that God provided me with a husband that is not only great at math but loves it because I sure don’t! God knew ahead of time that I was going to homeschool and that this would be an area that I would struggle in so he so lovingly gave me a husband that would provide strengths where my weaknesses are.

Psalm 139 

You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me

I have one child that has a hard time when it comes to math. It has taken him literally two years to finally get long division understood and it still is not to where I would like it. It takes him a long time to finish one work sheet and sometimes he even gets moody. It can be very frustrating to me as a homeschooling mom. One online game that I have found fun for the kids to memorize their multiplication facts is Timez Attack. You can learn more about it here. I am looking for a few more great ones for the kids to work on over the summer, so if you know of any, please let me know.

The blog with the new dog~

Meet Soleia (so-la-ya), the newest member of the family. We got her from a rescue. She is a 3 month old boxer and chihuahau mix. I didn’t get my dream of getting a Golden Retriever because the kids fell in love with this one and wanted her immediately. But……. I know someone in the area who breads Retrievers and her girl is in heat right now. If all goes according to plan, she will have puppies in June sometime. They will then be ready to go in August. I can’t wait. I often catch myself imagining the little pup retriever running around the house. I know I have to wait a few months, but it is so worth it! Soleia will have a friend to play with then.

Soleia is enjoying the family. Matthew bought a clicker yesterday and has already taught her how to sit and stay. He is also working on lay as well. The kids are having fun with her. Everytime we give her a small bone, she wants to go outside and hide it. It is so cute. The kids are having a hard time focusing on school because they want to play with her all day long. That is making it harder for me because things are getting behind but this is real life learning for them that they can’t get out of books. Mikayla wants to work on getting her pet badge for AHG now. Speaking of AHG, she has a father-daughter dance coming up. She is really excited for this and can’t wait. Her and dad have never done this before so it is something really special.

I am getting excited for the upcoming garden. I am thinking about maybe doing raised beds this year. I am definitely planting tomatoes so that I can make sauce again but I want to try canning pickles this year as well. Here is a list of what I want to grow.

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini (1 or 2 plants)
• Beets
• Radishes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Some herbs
• Bell peppers
• Hot peppers
• Brussel sprouts

I also want to grow lettuce but I think I am going to do this out of pots on my back deck so the rabbits don’t get to them. I have never done it before so I don’t know how it is going to turn out but I hear it is pretty easy to do. My aunt is also giving me some blackberry and raspberry bushes to put in the back yard so I need to find a place for those. You know what I will be busy doing in the next few weeks when it is warm and not raining. Right now I am just in the thinking process of it all, making my lists and trying to educate myself. I am always learning something new.

This past weekend I have been thinking of school for next year and trying to figure out what we need to accomplish yet this year before summer break gets here. I am trying to figure out what I need and what I already have that I can use so that I can save some money by not having to buy so much curriculum. I have so much stuff lying around that the only thing I will need to purchase is math and English. I can’t believe Dylan only has one more year before he will be in high school. The years go by way to fast!!

This is going to be a busy week. Tomorrow at lunch time, Mikayla is having her first horse back riding lesson. She is super excited!! Later on in the afternoon, I have an appointment with some individuals from Cody’s school to go over his IEP. Tuesday I have a lady coming from the Social Services for a homestudy for Cody. This coming up weekend is the boys first softball tournament of the season and the father/daughter dance I was talking about. I will definitely be posting pictures soon.

To do or not to do lists, that is the question

I don’t know how many times I have taken out a piece of paper and written down a list of things {to do} only to find the list lying around days later with nothing crossed off on it. I drive myself nuts with this because I feel like I have so many things to do but not enough time in the day to do them all. I also feel like I have just waisted precious time writing out the list and not completing anything on it. I want to be organized and get things accomplished [really]. I guess I just sometimes don’t have the motivation to do them. Or maybe it all about habit. I don’t know…. I am still trying to figure this out. In my attempt to endeavor the {to do} list again, I have found a nice list I want to use. Not only am I going to put some things on my list, but I hope to cross them off also. We will see. I found it here at Upside Down Homeschooling.

My Summer Bucket List

As I was eating a granola bar (ruining my appetite) while cooking supper tonight, it occurred to me how many times I said I was going to make my own homemade granola bars. I do this a lot actually. I say I am going to do something, have great intentions of doing so, but not accomplish it. This is something I really hate about myself. You should see my Pinterest boards. There are so many great ideas for cards, crafts, crochet projects, food recipes I want to try and so much more! I want to do it all but just don’t have the time. So while eating this granola bar of mine, I told myself I am going to make a summer bucket list. These are some of the things I would like to have accomplished by the end of August before school begins again. Here is my list…..

1. Make homemade granola bars (of course).
2. Lose at least 40 pounds.
3. Start exercising.
4. Find some uses for my essential oils that I haven’t opened yet.
5. Make a big batch of homemade powdered laundry soap.
6. Learn more about editing photos with photoshop.
7. Learn how to crochet a rag rug ( I have lots of sheets).
8. Learn how to grow herbs inside.
9. Make more strawberry freezer jam.
10. Get involved with a Bible study again.
11. Get a Golden Retriever puppy (my dream).
12. Get some scrapbooking caught up on.
13. Have a family picture taken.
14. Plan next years homeschool for the entire year.
15. Go to the Milwaukee Zoo.
16. Make homemade bar soap (looks fun).
17. Learn how to make Kombacha tea.
18. Plant garlic in my garden.
19. Plant some flowers in my yard.
20. Can some pickles this summer.
21. Attack some of the books sitting on shelves waiting to be read.
22. Make it to the farmers market a couple of times.
23. Go strawberry picking.
24. Take Mikayla horseback riding (she has asking for so long).

Well, this is a long list and if I can accomplish even half of it, I will be happy. What are some things you hope to accomplish this summer?

Disciplining a foster child

I think when we decided to bring a foster child into our home, I had this thought that everything was going to go smoothly. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect and that there would be adjustments for everyone, but you just don’t know what to expect until you are in the situation. Cody is the sweetest little boy ever but like any five year old, has his days when he needs to be disciplined. The first couple of days of him being with us were the worst. I kept telling myself it was because of the transition. That has to be hard on everyone especially the child being shuffled around. He had some melt downs and needed to be put in time out until he could calm down. I was in communication with the former foster parents because I just needed some guidance and someone else to talk to about it. That really helped to calm me a bit. I was praying that this wasn’t how it was always going to be because I didn’t want my husband and other children to be upset at the situation as well. I just wanted everything to be calm and peaceful for everyone. I came to the conclusion that he was testing his boundaries. He wants and continues to see how far he can go. He needs rules and routine and someone to give him a great big hug and love him but set boundaries for him. He is finding his place in this household as well and this is a learning experience for him and the rest of the family.

I wasn’t sure what the discipline was going to look like. I knew we couldn’t physically punish a foster child by spanking so what was I going to do that would work for him? I know each child is different and discipline is different for each child. I soon found out that putting him in the corner would not work because he is a fighter when he is really upset. I learned that I had to put him in his room until he could calm down. This was his safe place. As soon as he was calm and could apologize, he would come out. I then tried to talk with him and give him a hug. I also have learned that taking electronics and tv time works for him. He loves to watch his cartoons and play games on the computer. He is learning that if you want these things, you have to be a good boy for them.

Over all, things are slowly getting better. Each day gets better with tweeks in between but we just deal with them. He is learning the rules and what is expected of him. It will take some time for everyone to adjust. My other children were excited for him to be here at first but the honeymoon phase is over and now they are treating him like they do each other with their sibling rivalry. I have to constantly remind them that he is here to stay and teaching them about not being selfish. I discuss with them that we are all doing God’s work here. Cody is a child of God’s and we are just helping God by helping and loving Cody. The lights seem to go on then only to be shut off later when Cody’s toys are on Matt’s side of the room. We are still early in the game. God has a plan and I can’t wait to see it played out.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! It has been so long since I have posted anything other than reviews. Things have been super crazy around here and I am glad that they are going to start to settle down. We had an Easter dinner here at our new home this evening with some family members and it went well. Our foster boy got to meet some family that he hasn’t met yet. He had a lot of fun playing with all of the kids that were around his age.

Everyone has off of school this week for Spring break. I am going to use this time to do lesson plans and hopefully go through some of my school stuff and get rid of things. I noticed when I moved into this place that I still have way to much! There are piles downstairs just taking up space and not being used. I think all of the boxes are unpacked finally! Now we need to work on organizing the garage. It is suppose to be super warm this coming up week so I am excited about that. I need to get prepared for gardening soon. Where am I going to put the garden in this new place and what do I want to plant this year? I saw a lot of great gardening tips on Pinterest. I just love that site.

Softball will be starting up soon so the kids are getting ready for practice. They are happy that dad gets to be their coach this year. That should be fun for them. We had somewhat of a warm day out today so after all the family members left, they went outside with dad and threw some balls around for a bit. I’m sure with this warm week we are suppose to be getting, they will be out doing a lot of that.

I stepped foot into a public school for the first time in like 7 years! It was really weird. I went to register our foster boy. He had two days of school so far. Now he is off for a week for Spring break. The first thing I noticed that I didn’t like was a mom(I’m assuming) walking into the school with a shirt on that says ” I am a bi—. what is your excuse”? Really? Does she not know that these children can read? And some of us moms, would like to keep our children as innocent for as long as possible with morals intact! I just don’t get the lack of common sense. This is one of the reasons I homeschool in the first place. I am hoping these next two months go by fast and then we can have a good summer. I plan on working with our foster boy on some areas during the summer because he is behind and also has a speech problem. I think if he can actually stay in one home for long enough and gets settled, everything will start to fall into place and he will catch up fast. Please be in prayer for us with this situation. I truly believe God has a plan for this little ones life.

 

 

Lone Star Learning Review

I love flash cards! One thing I stock up on during back to school time are index cards. And a lot of them! I have a little plastic container that I put all the flash cards we are working on in. I use them for the kids to memorize their math facts and I put all the vocabulary words from the books we are working on. When Dylan is reading a chapter in his Apologia science book, I will have him write all the vocabulary words on the flash cards or sometimes I do it for him. I will then quiz him a couple of times a week so that he will be ready for the quizzes and tests.  I was glad when I got to review Lone Star Learning flash cards. I think these flash cards are great! I obviously have heard of math fact flash cards and flash cards with the states and presidents but I have never seen any with science and math terms on them. I think this is an excellent idea! The kids quizzed each other on these and I really believe it has helped to retain them to memory. We will continue to do these daily aside our math curriculum until they are all memorized.

The math flash cards can come in two sizes of small or large. They are colorful and coated although I think it would be great if they were laminated better so they would last longer. I think I might laminate them myself so we can use them long-term for review. There are 50-56 cards in each set and they cost $29.99 per set.

Science Vocabulary Pictures contain 40 cards per set and are available in 5.5″ x 8.5″ full color, coated cards that show the word and its meaning in picture form. These just come in one size of the large. They are $29.99 as well.

There are also other flash cards other than math and science.  Other topics they have are homophones, antonyms, greek and latin roots, language arts, spanish etc. They can benefit grades K-8th grade in my opinion. Even if the child cannot read yet, the parent or another sibling can hold the flash card up and read it to them. The child will then eventually learn to retain that word and definition to their memory.

If you are a flash card junkie like I am or just think that your homeschool or school could benefit from them you can order them here at Lone Star Learning. If you would like to request a catalog, click here.