Mama's project... ALMOST DONE

Yes, I love my new hobby!! I mean even though I am homeschooling my boys its not like I have to continually be searching for a new secular online curriculum or another online game for having fun with math problems! Sometimes the day just takes care of itself... love those days! OMG did you know there are like 5 or 6 different levels of sandpaper!! I DID but I didn't think normal people ever used them all, LOL. My shelf is smooth as a baby's butt, I tell you what... NOW to decide on the stain should it be the same as the kitchen cabinets?? I think that is the hardest part deciding where to put it and what color to stain it!

I have to say it was so much fun getting out of the house and doing something like this! Past hobbies, like stained glass, was a lot of fun too. Stupid hands couldn't take all the chemicals to do with that hobby for long though, but like this hobby it is pretty relaxing. Well all except for the sanding.. now where are those sanding elves when you need them!!

I am interested in knowing what hobbies you all have? And do you include your kiddos? I am thinking once I get a couple more projects under my belt I want to start a class with the boys to let them try their hand at woodworking. If not just to get them familiar with all the power and hand tools.... just have to resist the urge to help them TOO much!

OH man...

Well another week and another way to disrupt our day! We were gone at a class and came back to this! Neighbors told me that 30-40 geese flew over the house and ONE flew into the window, thank goodness for double pane glass.  I am seriously getting to think the animals are against me, LOL!!

This week we are working on getting a better schedule going to help with our spelling ( yes our never ending struggle), found some cool prefix games to help Anthony;) Also bought a Vocabulary Builder DVD to help Alex start getting ready for the SATs and fun SAT games.  Like always, we are seeing if we can make some improvements before we take our end of the year tests. (For us that is in May, even though we go year round)  It is always the most stressful for me then for the boys, I think of it as a report card for how I am doing. Even though, the vets in my homeschooling group always tell me that it is not! It is so hard for me to think that way, I went to public school (and yes it failed me in a number of ways) and the boys went for at least a short time. Testing was always a way to see what you know right? Well sure if you just want to know what you learn about the night before,haha.  I am happy if I can teach my boys in a way that they will remember it for a life time not just for some test. That alone is the hardest thing for me, realizing that it is not ABOUT THE TEST!! So how do you feel about testing?? Do you test because you have to OR because you want to know how your kiddos are doing?

Reflecting on the my decision...Part 2

  Some days it feels like this when the kids come up to you:) Right??


After the last blog post, I had a ton of emails from newbies to homeschooling, even some of you had been doing this for a while like me. All were telling me that they felt the same way! There are so many different ways to homeschool, and it all depends on your kiddos learning style. I am no expert, in fact, I am a student of sorts I am always in the learning mode when it comes to finding new ways to do homeschool math or our science for that day, etc. It can be so overwhelming to those of us who threw ourselves into this late in the game. You don't know how many days where I have been scrambling last minute to get everything ready for that day or even skipping things because I just couldn't get to it! You know,for me, this all started as the life preserver for my boys education... I really feel that my oldest would be in a much different place in terms of his education if he had went thru the system.

I know at times I feel like I am the only one with doubts about if I am doing everything right for my boys. Or even that I can do enough for them! For those times, I go to a friend or forum that I can vent and let others who have been there help me thru these times. How many times have I emailed a friend or posted on my favorite secular forum (sorry shameless plug for my fav site, but those peeps are awesome) to get some words of wisdom from those who have been down the road before me. Even if it was only a mile ahead, they still help me in ways I can't put into words.
One of my favorite quotes that I have found lately is..

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today”
- Anonymous

So go out there and be active in your kids lives, the rest will fall into place:)

Reflecting on the my decision...

Friends we made our first year and still going strong!

     Well this week flew by!! I didn't even have a chance to post on here until now, ya know when the house is quiet and all the noises are just me typing!! You know that feeling?! I actually had a day where I could reflect on my life and how it has changed since I became an accidental homeschooler. If you would have told me I would be doing this 10 years ago, I would have kindly asked you to take your crazy thoughts and ideas some place else! Not that I didn't love my boys BUT (and yes a big BUT) I didn't think I could teach my boys better than a certified teacher could. Fast forward, five years ago when I saw the light go out in Alex's eyes every time  I said anything about school. That's when it hit me, I missed my boys being around me, I missed those moments of teaching them things; watching those once in a lifetime moments that only a parent would cherish. It is so amazing to see them succeed and actually want to learn (well most of the time), finding new ways to teach something that I could never understand in school.
      I was one of those kids who wanted to please the teacher and my parents, yes a middle child, LOL. I always tried very hard in school, I was like Alex it took me forever to do any of my homework in English. I had never been taught phonics or my ADD brain never let those lessons soak in enough for me to be good at reading and spelling.  All of this changed my freshman year of high school, my life changed in so many ways, parents divorced, grandmother passed away, things that had happened to my older sister and me as children coming out, and feeling like I was all alone in the world even with people right by me. I didn't want that for my boys, not that their lives are ANYTHING like mine or my husband's for that matter. So this thing called homeschooling, is scary at first (especially if you didn't do so well in school!) but with enough determination, being able to ask perfect strangers questions, willing to go out on a limb for your kids YOU CAN DO IT!!  The added bonus is knowing more about my boys then most people do... yes I am not privy to everything my boys think or do but I am there if they need me.
    When writing this post, I was thinking of all the newbies out there that decided that they had enough of the system and it is not right for their kids over Xmas break. The forums are chalked full of people coming on and asking questions, I always direct them to a free guide called Welcome to Homeschooling.  So if you are just beginning your journey just remember a couple of things.....
1) Take it slow
2) Do your research
3) Enjoy your kids and teaching them
4) YOU ARE NOT IN SCHOOL so don't try and teach like you are
5) Reach out to other homeschoolers  (locally and online)
6) Just remember this when you are stressed out! IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER SO ENJOY IT NOW!(this one is hanging on my computer, LOL)

New Year's Resolution's "Do you make them?"

     Now if these guys were around NO ONE would over eat!! Just think of it... Xmas Party and a little too much egg nog with a third helping of cherry cobbler. Driving home and darn if the car doesn't stall, what to do?You don't want to be out "walking" with these guys around!! LOL Just one more reason to hope they never figure out how to make "Jurassic Park" REAL!
     I have been exercising and watching what I eat for two years now, at first I really, really hated it and everyone around me. But I also kept it to myself for the most part, hubby knew cuz he was doing it with me and friends knew cuz they would see me. All in all I didn't want to toot my own horn... still don't! I am still working on my not so beautiful belly that my boys help make into a jiggly mess and wanting to get those last 10 pounds off before I turn 40  in 2012! Nope not dreading it... you know life does really get better with age. I have a awesome,supportive, hot hubby! Two boys who are loving and helpful to me (most of the time!) and others (all the time, funny how that works!)
     Just sitting around (ya right, if you know me then you know I just can't sit still and vegggggg out!) trying to get together our school schedule, work schedule and trying to run the house without going nuts. If trying to sell the house has taught me anything it is that I really do like the house clutter free and not too many nick-nacks. (as my grandma Simmons used to say) Also realizing just how much STUFF we have and the books, I have told you that I am a curriculum junkie right? ANYTHING that promises to help the boys I try, now going thru and getting them out; deciding if they are keepers or to be sold, donated whatever. Also going thru my bookmarks on the computer, really I really only use one site for spelling and vocabulary games, a couple different online math game sites and really, really wanting to downsize the amount of "things" I have to look at! When I am in this kind of mood the boys and hubby keep me out of their rooms, hide their "junk" I mean collectibles and go into the fetal position until it passes!
     So bring in the new year with a refreshed outlook on the upcoming year, and enjoy your family while they are with you. The boys will grow up and someday move out of the house, ((GULP)) not something I am looking forward to at all. Just ask hubby, he is already a little frightened to see what I do when I have more time on my hands!!

     Have a restful (if possible) rest of 2011, and start planning now for the BEST year ever for you and your family!

Love this photo

    OK I love this photo!! SO cute and my new saying over the holidays when the desserts are just calling my name!

    Well we are officially on Xmas break as of yesterday, well I should say the boys are! I still have some reading to catch up on for my homeschool literature site, and varies other little tweaks to make in our schedule for the new year! On top of all of that I am still moving forward on staging the house to sell within a couple of months. ALL the boys in the house are groaning about that one! It means good-bye to endless Lego battles that are all over the floor in the playroom and back to the bare minimum on "things" out at one time! BUT those are worries for after the holiday, I am going to try and relax today..... well maybe try and organize the bookshelves one more time. Just so when the realtors come thru to tell me what needs to be done I can say ummmm all the books that I can do without is up!! LOL and that still leaves us with 6 bookcases filled! Just wanted to say Merry Christmas, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays to all the ones  I forgot or can't spell. LOL

Well 2011 is almost over... PANIC

Well the year is almost over and we are starting our break in a couple of days (the boys both have a list of things to complete before they can be off!) but my work is get beginning! I am in panic mode right now, not having a clear plan on how to complete Alex's 9th grade year. We might be well into the summer before we finish, and that's OK. What we need is to know EXACTLY what is left to complete before I start the challenges of finding the curriculum for next year.
Oh for the days of just looking for a phonics curriculum or even learning basic math facts! This phase is so overwhelming and usually my own ADD tendencies get the best of me. So while I am trying to get ourselves more organized and with a plan or planner that works for more than a month! So I searched for "organizing my homeschool" in Google and came up with more links that I can possibly process in a week. However, I did go thru and find some helpful examples of what others are doing (being a visual kind of girl). I found a great thread on how secular homeschoolers organize which is important to me. When searching for ideas on organizing, I found that most of them are from Christian homeschoolers, so just keep that in mind (you can, like I do, just omit what doesn't fit with your life style).
More this year than ever, I have to find something that fits me, and our family to organize not only homeschooling, but work, co-op classes, practices, volunteering and other things that we are involved in for this coming year.  The main reason for this determination to make it work for us THIS year, is we are going to be "hopefully" selling our house. Yea right in this market right? But that is what is driving my desire to make this work, because I need to have a schedule organized (however loosely) so that we can still accomplish our school work even with interruptions.

So what is your plan? Do you have one? COME ON share it!!