We slept in past 9

Can you believe that! We slept in past 9 on a school morning! Did I mention there are many beautiful things about homeschooling? We apparently all needed extra rest and that's okay!  Everyone woke up very refreshed and ready for the day! No matter what time we wake up, our routine is still the same. My life is dedicated to being a Mom and a teacher, therefore we carry on regardless of what is going on around us!

We ate breakfast, got dressed and headed to school {aka the kitchen table}!  Did I mention that we are never late for school? :)

Today, we did an alligator craft that I had seen on pinterest that was so adorable! I'm so thankful that my oldest child is a girl, a girl who really loves to craft. No craft or activity is too young for her, shes so eager to get her hands in glue or paint and use scissors that she never turns away a craft! I'm thankful because the alphabet crafts are geared more towards the younger ones but she is more than happy to do them along with them!

I am so proud of Camden!  He has come such a long way in just a few short years! He is working so hard and is so excited to learn! Today, we read our first book together (as a kindergartener) and he was excited to read the words that he was learning (you, and)! 

He is doing such a great job with his handwriting! I am so impressed! The first letters are Mommy's and his name is Mommy's but the letters next to it are his handwriting! No assistance and no tracing! To me, that is so, so awesome! He doesn't even have to trace any of his letters! This teacher is very, very proud!

Kaylee read to the boys today, I love it when she reads to them! She read "Does a Kangaroo have a Mother, too" By Eric Carle

Continuing our 'A' theme this week, this book was full of animals!

 

We went to the library this afternoon and picked out many books with 'A' in the title! Books about Acorns, Astronauts and tonight we ready one about "Axle Ally"!

After the library we went to the park! It was time to burn off some energy!

The second day of school was great, yet again! We are off to such an amazing start!

First day of School 2013-2014

TOTAL SUCCESS!  As yesterday approached I was completely nervous! I really had no idea what to expect, 3 children to school? How was I going to make this happen without pulling my hair out? Well, the reality of it is that it was easier than just one!  Yes, I really did just say that!  In the years past, Kaylee has been schooling and the boys were not quite there yet!  We did do some preschool with Camden but not a full curriculum.  So, I would have to find something to keep them busy while we schooled.  Asking for something every few minutes or getting into something that would distract me from focusing on schooling Kaylee! Ah, yesterday was complete bliss! We all sat at the table together!  Every one of them was so engaged and excited about learning! It was wonderful!  My prayer for this school year is that they keep their drive for learning and the excitement doesn't fade!  In our kitchen, we have the verse "Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not men." Colossians 3:23 This is my burning desire for my children, I pray that they give school 100% at all times. Yes, we all know that this isn't going to be the reality but why strive for less?


So, what did we do?

Before school, we headed outside for back to school photos! Just because you're not hopping on a bus or being dropped off at the school house doesn't mean that you can't get pretty and take first day photos! We sure do! :)

We start our morning with the Bible, EVERY morning. Opening God's work and praying for our school day!  This year, I have researched and compiled Bible verses that correlate with the ABC theme I like to use!  The first week A, second week B, so on and so on!  This week our Bible verse is: "A gentle answer turns away anger." Proverbs 15:1 - All three of the children learn this verse and we talk about it every day!  You see why I chose it, "answer" and "anger" ~ "A"  Now, once we are finished discussing it, they each have an activity to do with the verse, not every day but just a couple of days during the week.  Yesterday, Kaylee wrote the verse {Second Grade} Camden wrote the words using A {Kindergarten} and Kinston practiced his A's.  So, since we are doing all subjects together I am just learning how to have different activities at their levels for each of them!

After Bible we dove right into our textbooks! First we chose reading. I have learned that Kaylee's favorite subject is math, so saving Math for last is the best thing for us!  Reading hasn't been her favorite thing to do in the past, so getting that finished early always helps her stay focused!  I'm praying for her love of reading though!   So, Kaylee opened her Reading book as well as Camden, of course they aren't using the same books so I just helped both of them at the same time!  Kinston used this time to practice his ABC's on his flash cards!

After reading, time for math!  All three of them have a Math textbook!  So they were all working diligently, together, simultaneously ~ at this point I had honestly thought there had been a miracle in my children over the summer. It was so awesome to see them all working so great, at the same time! Moms with three or more children know exactly what I'm saying here.....no need to explain!

 Never underestimate the little person in the family! Kinston turned 3 in April and he is so excited about learning! I'm so proud of him, too!

After we were finished with Math, we took a break! The kids could do whatever they'd like! They chose Disney infinity on the Xbox!   I gave them about 30 minutes to take a break!

After their break, we came back to the table and I read them a book. We spent a lot of time with the book, for children just reading through the book isn't enough!  It's time to explore! Take time to talk about the cover, details in the pages, look for colors, letters and words that they know!  At the end, talk about it have the children tell their most favorite part!  Yesterday, our story was about animals - it was a great story that kept them engaged about animals having a fashion show!  The title was "Animal Fashion Parade" by Christine Barrett.  Guess where I bought it? The Dollar Tree! Have I mentioned how much I love that place? Spending a little bit of time in there can cause you to find awesome things! Many of Camden and Kinston's text books came from there! 

Continuing with our A theme, the next activity we did was art! We talked about apples and the letter it starts with and then I split the apple with a knife. We talked about the inside, the seeds, where it grows, etc.  Then, I got the paint and paper out! They weren't quite sure what we were going to do with all of it, but when I showed them they thought it was so cool! Yay!

After painting was over, we took time to do "About Me" sheets! This is such an exciting activity every year! It's an adorable keepsake too! What they want to be when they grow up, what would they buy with a million dollars, etc!

Next step, lunch time!  Gee & Papa brought them a first day of school lunch from ChicFilaA!  They were very excited!

Family Rules

I absolutely love this. Enough that I thought you should know the expectations of our family. From top to bottom it is everything our family is.  I love it and hope that as we all grow older together, these things stay the focus of our family.  <3 br="br">

School Has begun!

Today was our first day of school!  Kaylee is in first grade, Camden is in preschool (4 years old) and Kinston isn't in school yet!  However, he LOVES to work with us and does a great job. They did a great job today.  We all jumped right in the swing of things and the day went very smooth!

We recently redecorated our homeschool spot :) You'll see the newly painted school on the wall, blackboard and the shelving organization!  It makes the kids feel very "at school" while "at home" ~ I like to make it as fun as possible for my little kiddos!

We decorated for fall today, Camden and Kaylee colored the trunk of the tree and then Kaylee enjoyed hanging all of the leaves. We plan to decorate for the seasons and holidays! It will be very fun to decorate for Christmas in a few months! 

Our homeschool week will be Monday through Friday!  Our goal is to be finished by lunch. On Fridays we are planning to have school in the morning and then science in the afternoon! Time for experiments and projects along with field trips!  In October we are going to learn a lot about the election. Seems important, even though they are so young. The next election will occur when Kaylee is in 5th grade! Boy, does that put time into perspective!

Check back often, I'm going to try and do better about blogging!  I didn't make it here during the summer! Seems we were so incredibly busy!

Hope you had a great summer, full of memories and great time with family and friends!  We are looking forward to the holidays!

Summer has began!

Yesterday, Kaylee finished testing for Kindergarten.  The county doesn't actually require that I test her, but I'm excited to see her progress from her test scores. She was very comfortable with testing and eager to test each day.  We tested for 3 days, 2 sections a day.  She is such a great student and loves to be challenged.  I cannot wait until first grade, I know that she will do so well!

She is very excited that we get a small break from school, however we will spend the summer continuing to read and review! I bought her a few new fish today as a reward and she got to go and have a slumber party with some of her best friends tonight!  Its a great start to the summer!

 Finishing up with testing!

Going to Mrs Christy's house to have a girls night with Peyton and Sydney!! So fun!

Happy Birthday to my boys

I realized today, that I didn't blog about Kinstons birthday to I figured I would do that now along with Camden's birthday blog!

My April birthday boy, Kinston turned 2!  I can't believe it, I refuse to leave the baby stage and often cradle him and rock him and treat him as if he was a newborn. He allows me and looks so sweetly into Mommys eyes. I almost melt!  But.....in reality he is 32 lbs and a growing little boy!  He doesn't look much like the baby anymore but he always will be!

He is so smart! He talks all of the time!  He says lots of words and sings songs. He knows all of his body parts, he can count 1,2,3 and is learning his colors. He eats GREAT! He is my fruit and veggie boy!  He is not picky, one bit like his brother and sister!!

He LOVES Mickey mouse, lightening McQueen and Thomas (or any train for that matter) ~ He learned from his bubba exactly how much to love trains.  He's really funny, he gathers up as many trains as we can in his arms and carries them around the house.  He's learned to be protective of his things, haha! With an older brother and sister, he has to do that!

 

Camden has talked about his birthday for months....he has waited and waited. He doesn't really think its very fun to be last in the family to have birthday.  But, boy was he excited when it finally came!!  He woke up to a table full of new trains and tracks and was very excited!  We had "angry bird" pancakes for breakfast -- he really loves to play angry birds. 

Another smart boy he is!  He can count to 20, knows all of his colors, shapes and alphabet.  He loves, loves, loves to sing and I love to listen to him. He knows all kinds of songs - but I must say that the songs that are the sweetest are about Jesus. He sings while he plays and it is so adorable, in his sweet little voice!  He loves to play with his legos and build trains or cars.  He also really loves batman, transformers and anything super hero!

He loves to play with the ipad or the iphone!  Two of his most favorite things! (As most anyone knows if they know anything about him!!!)  He can navigate the phone and do most anything he'd like!  He weighs 44 lbs :)

3 weeks, 4 days

Whew, its been a long road and we haven't quite gotten to the first curve....but I absolutely love that we are on this side of the healing process!  Today, we went to the Dr. and he was fairly pleased with Joey's progress this far...he is only taking pain meds at night and is becoming active again around the house.  Of course, he can't bend, twist or lift but at least he can sit with the kids at the dinner table or walk outside and watch them play!  The biggest answer he was waiting for today was being released to ride in the car and get out to go to church or small trips to the store or to a friends house. That was a big disappointment when the Dr. said no today, it was a bummer for both of us. So, 6 more weeks home bound. We are making the most of it and spending time together as a family could never be a bad thing! We are so thankful that God is healing his body!  The xrays today showed that everything was in place perfectly....take a look!

 Side view of the screws, rods and cage!

They did the x-ray before the staples were removed, so you can still see all of them on this, staples on the front and back. He is now a titanium man! :)

I am so proud of him!  He is my hero, he doesn' t get upset or bitter about all of this....just takes it one day at a time and never changes. I'm so thankful that God gave me him, even in the hardship. I knew when I was 12 that it would be for better or for worse!!!

Kaylee has been very intrigued by this whole thing, for the past few years she wasn't old enough to understand but this time she is very curious and asks lots of questions. She knew today was the day Daddy was going to get his staples out and was excited to look when he got home. This evening she said "Daddy, I bet you wish you never had to wear that back brace, dont you" It was so sweet, her mind is always turning and she just loves her Daddy and wants him to feel better soon!