Well another week has come and gone!

What's that saying my mom always said when I was wishing for things as a kid? "If wishing were horses we'd all have a ride.." Well I am wishing for a week, NOT like the last couple!! Household fixing up that NEVER ends, car in the shop, having to ask about school work for the millionth time,running the boys around( for classes,appointments& volunteering) and oh yea NOT sleeping worth a darn made for a week from HELL! This week again is slotted to be another busy one but hoping for a relaxing weekend with my mama this coming weekend:)
Things on the "to do" list include finding an online writing program for Alex, getting ready for an exciting online book release party on my other site(more on this soon!) , getting starting on the next literature book for Anthony, getting the car back from the shop, hopefully getting the home improvements DONE (for a while) and starting to relax a bit as we head into the holiday season. Its going to be a hard one this year especially Thanksgiving, because last year my beloved Grandma Simmons was here to still chat about how she makes this and that, all the kiddos that are coming to her house, and stories of her childhood holidays. But the "show" must go on.....



PHOTO recap of SOME of the things we did this past weeks, I am so terrible about taking pics especially when I am busy:(

Me painting 18 ft walls

Alex's new permit

Anthony and me at go cart track

NEW snake wreath I made

Just lovely~ my boys in all black and deathly

Alex BB lesson

Alex's owl report

Noah's Landing Volunteer

Alex's new friend "Cody"

4 Out of 5 Days

Well this week is scheduled to be almost as busy as last week!Our normal weekly activities of Spanish,music  co-op classes and Alex's fav Nite Life Cafe (teen hangout night), are just a few things that we are doing! On top of the other activities we have some new or almost new things planned, which include flag football, our new 4H homeschooling group, and our favorite CHS event the annual Halloween party. Then Saturday, we have two Halloween parties at the same time (not sure how that is gonna work!) while driving a total of 4 hours so that Alex can volunteer at Noah's Landing Halloween event! Maybe I will just stay in bed this week and peek out next week? OK maybe not!

I have already started searching for some samples of  standardized tests for homeschoolers for my 9th grader, why you ask?? I have decided since this is such a huge step for us, high school that is, I need to give him a test in another month to see how he(we) are doing. That way if I find something like his spelling skills are lacking (again) we can ramp up even more on it. I know that some other homeschoolers I hang out with say that they don't care about spelling as much as they should and I should relax some... But I just can't seem to let it go!! By spelling I also mean his vocabulary, I want him to have a broader base for the writing he is doing for his co-op literature class this year. One way I have researched last week is to have him start a blog, I am thinking on animals, so that he can practice writing about cool facts he finds as well as sites he likes. I have a blog writing online course ready to go when I get all my ducks in a row:)

So that's my plans for this week, what are you planning to get done with this week?

OH what a week!!

Anthony singing Metallica songs with T an T-oh a proud moment:)

Bambi telling us he didn't like our side door!

Driver's Permit test passed!

When you start a week with cute boys singing Metallica, you think the week is going to be OK, right? We went from that to having Bambi hit us! Poor deer ran right into the side of the door, thankfully we are all fine, well maybe except for Bambi:( On Monday we had a bday  and passed the learner driver's permit. Oh and the fun didn't stop there! From that day on we haven't stopped...car estimate (why does it take so long?), music lessons, meeting with my boss,doctor appt for Anthony, getting leak in roof fixed, meeting with a bazillon tile and granite peeps( did I tell you that we are trying to get the house ready to sell??) Spanish lessons, gameday, co-op classes and OH YEA having my son drive me around any and everywhere EVEN ON THE HIGHWAY!! To top off a lovely week, our weekend has been filled with renting 16ft (a frame ) ladder, paint sprayer , taping the hell out of the first floor (prep just sucks) then painting the ceiling, removing tape,paper and plastic. Today fun is filled with taping off trim (where we need to) and painting 18 ft walls in the living room and entry! Paint ball for Alex and hubby from 12-4ish, while Anthony and I stay here and try to get some painting done. Well while I try to get some painting done..... so that we have at least the living room back and my school room has a path thru it again!

I was very happy with all the school related things that we managed to get done this week! Owl unit study is done (OMG FINALLY, topic for another post!), almost done with our MBTP unit 1( I know I know but its a new curriculum for us and we are trying to do everything!),research about a blogging course for Alex to take (thinking of him having a blog on animals), managed to find some more books about homeschoolers for my site, finally getting into the groove for our days, and managing to stay somewhat sane during the process!! Well I did say somewhat!!:)

 This week is chalked full of appts,classes, repairs, painting and oh yea schooling, how about yours?

The Day is Almost Here!!

 Everything that I have done up until now from finding out if there were any special education 
requirements to homeschool the boys. Or discovering the best way to teach the writing process, have not prepared me for our next adventure. Can you guess what it is?? If you have been reading my posts OR friends of mine on Facebook you probably already know, the pic above gives another good hint:) NO not a new girlfriend even though that's another adventure on the horizon I am sure!!

Tomorrow morning Alex and I are heading up to the DMV to get (hopefully) his learner's permit!! I am both nervous and very proud of him, he has been taking samples tests and been doing well on them. He has a lot more growing up to do and I am thinking that this just might help. No not a mom who can't wait for the stage in life for her boys, just wanting them to be happy in the now!! We have also talked a lot about what the future holds for him, trying to get him to help himself and me too, figure out what direction to take his high school years education. I think that it is one of the hardest things in life to figure "What makes me happy??" Every parent wants their kids to be happy but also to be able to make it on their own. We won't be around forever, and as much as I don't want to think about that day in the hopefully far away future, is as certain as the sun rising. I am just feeling very emotional today because after tomorrow the state of NC just might be handing my oldest a permit that gives him permission to drive! Crossing my fingers that all goes well and you know that I will be talking about the results VERY SOON:)

What's GROSS and INTERESTING?

 And the answer is..... OWL PELLETS!! As you can see (well kinda of!) from the pictures above, he documented the size of the pellets. Then much to my grossing out factor, he gently dissected the pellet by pulling the fur and bones apart.  Yes, I am grossing out just thinking about it, but I just couldn't walk away!! He only did one of the pellets and Anthony did one of the others, both boys had to figure what it was that this owl ate (which in this case was a Barn Owl) The poor victims here were rodents.  As our unit study on owls is wrapping up, Alex has been studying owls a little longer than expected. He has had some field trips that involved seeing owls and then other things that have come up, like driver's ed driving,vacation, having a sick mama for over a week, you name it it came up:)  This week we will finish up the owls and move on to the next animal that he is wanting to learn more about. But to finish up this unit study, has to get together all his findings and put the information into a visual aids such as a lapbook or power point presentation. Also he has a report that is due by the end of the week which he will be reading to all of us next weekend. As always, we are working on his paragraph writing and increasing his vocabulary, at least I could make his vocabulary a little more exciting with online vocabulary games from one of my favorite sites~ Vocabulary/SpellingCity.

This whole unit study was a great learning experience for both of us for his first lessons as a 9th grader. As we move forward to the next animal, I have learned of some things to take out or worksheets that were redundant.  It makes this homeschooling through high school an ever involving adventure that I can't wait to hear the ending!!

Starting to get my blog out there!!

Thanks to my friend Yoda, I am starting to get my blog out there!! I recently registered with http://technoratimedia.com/ to have my blog added to their search engines:) When you register with them and put in the details to claim your blog they give you a code like this one 4XPJYBGUFZ7F, so that they can verify that you are the author of the blog. Pretty cool!!!


For more info on Technorati Authority: Technorati Authority FAQ - Technorati

A little play on words

This week while doing our MBTP lessons, we did some fun crafts, that actaully went with the bee class we took a couple of weeks ago. Anthony made a fun bee topper for his pencil and flowers for it to pollinate! We went over the how the bee gathers the pollen to make yummy honey. It was fun afternoon of making things and sampling some honey:)

Then on to our grammar and writing, which is always a challenge to get excited about in our house. I decided to see if he could distinguish between multiple meaning words and went to my favorite site for any related to words Spelling City! They had these fun play on words sentences.....

Never desert your friends in the desert.
Close the window before the bee gets too close.
Lead poisoning can lead to health issues.
Does the deer see the does?
The dove dove down to its nest.
Shut your mouth or a fly might fly into it.

These were part of the sentence writing and I was even surprised when they had things like capitalization of different words like... may (as in May I help you?) and May (the month). Usually, I let him do these types of lessons/games on his own but this time even I stuck around so that we could play together. It's hard to always make the days fun when there is sooo much to do, so I enjoy days like this one just as much as he did!