Krazy Kuehner Days: Homeschool Mothers Journal

In My life this Week....

It was busy, even though we had the week off. We had two big field trips. The girls and I went to Sauder Village, a local historical village and then Friday we went to the Columbus Zoo with a huge homeschool group. Joe took the day off for that one and it was a nice family trip. It was so much fun!!!

Caty had her first speech evaluation with the new therapist. She really liked her all the new toys that Miss Julie had!! So she starts weekly this next week. It's one more fun thing to fit in on the week, but we all have to find time for those important things! But I do like this therapist so far, unlike the last one. She didn't push school or question our decision to homeschool. In fact her exact words were, "Schools do not and are not able to offer what kids really need. If a kid needs extra help, parents usually need to seek out that extra help because the funding isn't there for public schools to provide the one-on-one that most students need. So many kids miss out on what they truly do need because parents don't realize this."

In our Homeschool this Week....

We took the week off, but still went to World Travelers Club on Thursday. Four years ago, a local mom started a public speaking group for our homeschool club. Each month we study a different country, and the kiddos do a 2 minute talk about what they learned about the country or something they liked about the country. Lydia chose to talk about the Red-eye Tree Frog and Caty did a project on Sea Turtles. This was Caty's first time doing World Travelers....she couldn't do it. She wasn't able to get up in front of the group, even with mommy helping her. Maybe next month.

My kiddos favorite thing this week....

I think it was having the week off from schoolwork. But they do have 13 weeks under their belt...so it was time for a break. Hopefully it won't bite me tomorrow when it's time to start back again. There will be a lot of van schooling this week because of clubs starting, piano lessons, speech therapy, and med checks.

Things I'm working on.....

I am trying to schedule some blog posts, but didn't have much success there. I actually didn't get to do a lot on my list. Go figure. I did get the comprehension guide written up for the American Girl Nicki Book 1. Just need to get it typed up now. I wrote up lesson plans for Caty for the next 4 weeks, but not the others. I am hanging a little loose with the others. Brayden is using Time 4 Learning and another couple odds and ends. Joey and Lydia are using mostly Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool...but I supplement with other materials. So they are basically written out right now, with some modifications each week.

I'm praying for....

I am praying for lots of patience. Joey hasn't done great not having a schoolwork schedule written out. He had some issues with that this week. I need that patience a lot right now as he has been very manicky since Friday.

Also asking for guidance in making adjustments to our budget. The extra expense from some new things such as speech therapy and piano will need to be juggled in. And since the cost of gas isn't going down...ugh!!

I'm cooking....

We had yummy salads a couple times this week, and on a sad note I ran out of goat Feta cheese. Need to go to the farm soon! I made some homemade mac and cheese (gluten/dairy/soy/egg-free). We had spaghetti too. I made peach cobbler and pumpkin pie cake....yummy. And also found a super yummy chocolate cookie recipe that is gluten/egg/dairy/soy-free. They are too good, and kind of hard to stop eating. I had to hide them in the van on the way home from Columbus because all I wanted to do was snack on those cookies.

I'm reading....

Nothing that doesn't involve school right now :(

I rewarded my kids this week....

Thursday we were all at each others throats. The kids were fighting and driving us crazy, which was causing Joe to get upset at everything. So I made them all get on their shoes, the ones that wanted to ride their bikes did and Caty and I walked down to the little library in our town. I don't usually go there.....they don't have a huge selection. But I did find out that they expanded and I can now get more titles than I could before. I swear there are books there that I checked out when I was little....the exact copies because the checkout date slips are still in the books!!! But it was nice to get them out and moving. I treated them with a slush/ice cream at the dairy bar then. Think we will be doing this more often!

Question from my expert readers....

So Lydia is 8 and still only reading at a Kindergarten level. I work with her, but she has minimal interest in reading. Somedays the interest is higher than others. I am still encouraging her favorite online program, but I found some better early readers for her. I know she gets frustrated trying to read, and continually runs into words she doesn't know yet. The library here in town has several that I got for her to use this week. I also am going to have her start working with the visual perception software the boys were encouraged to work with when we suspected dyslexia. The eye doctor said he could see her showing the same symptoms as the boys. With an 8 year old, would you be seeking a tutor yet? Any advice would be appreciated. You can leave it in the comments or email me at renita@krazykuehnerdays.com.

Thanks in Advance!!

A few pics from our week.....

Trying a splint out at the Doctor's office at Sauder Village.

Lydia said it felt like her splint she had to wear last winter.

Learning about Turn of the century Schools

Playing in the Little Homestead village.

Our bike ride/walk to the library.

Our trip to Columbus Zoo with Daddy...

The kids had sheets to fill out. They had to find animals to fill in a scavenger hunt and find animals that were herbivore, carnivore or omnivore in various classifications. I wasn't sure how they would like this...but Joey actually enjoyed it and so did Lydia.