Special Needs Homeschooling, Traveling and Running a full-time business. Everyday brings a new hurdle, tears and laughter. Follow our homeschool adventures throughout the United States.
We had many ups and downs in 2012....it was quite a roller coaster.
We tried lots and lots of new things this year. New foods, new schedules, new curriculum, and we spent a total of 7 weeks traveling around the Eastern half of the United States!!! I just added up in my mind how long we spent traveling with Joe this year.
Looking back through old Blog posts, I found where I so tried to follow the 31 Days to Clean Challenge...oh and failed horribly at it!!! I may try that one again this January.
We are going to start breaking back into a busy schedule again....(I am making a sad face....)
We have a field trip on Thursday to a Planetarium to see a video on Weather. Co-op starts back up this week.
Joey
Math - some time practice and adding double and triple columns
Grammar - Rod and Staff, I think it's capitalization
Spelling - Review
Spanish - Speekee
Handwriting - Cursive g and h
Adventure Club - He's going to finish his Ben Franklin book this week
Science - Wild Weather.....snow storms thunderstorms
Ohio as America - Ohio Geography and it's natural Resources
January writing prompts
Brayden
Math - same as Joey
Grammar - Rod and Staff
Spelling
Science - Continents and Oceans, Landforms
Ohio as America - Ohio Geography and it's Natural Resources
January writing prompts
Lydia
Math - using a number line, adding double digits w/out regrouping
Grammar - First Language Lessons - Identifying nouns (she can do this really well...but they keep practicing it.)
New site words
Phonics - Headsprout
Scholastic News - Jobs of the president (talks about the inauguration)
American Girl club - Caroline Book 2, learning about Lake Michigan
Handwriting - January writing prompts
Science - sharks
Artist - John Singer Sargent
Geography - Direction words....North,South,East, West
Caty
Number - 4
Letter - D
It's goldfish week.....lol
Playdough mats to go with Letter and number of the week.
Dressing skills - zipping and putting socks on.
Make homemade goldfish crackers
Scholastic News - Meet the President
Mickey Mouse Fishing Game
Goldfish suncatcher
Character of the week - Forgiveness
That's how our week is going to be. A little bit here and there to get done...lol.
I was so proud of myself.....we almost followed our meal plan 100%. There was one day we had tacos, instead of something else. And I was tired, so I made quick cheese quesadillas and some of them ate pizza tacos. The only thing we really didn't follow was the snack category. I didn't bake much this week, not as much as I would've liked or had planned.
But this is the plan for this next week.....
Sunday
Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Steak and potatoes
Snack - Popcorn
Dinner - Meatballs and dumplings
Tuesday
Breakfast - Cereal or toast
Lunch - (Grandpa and Grandma are visiting) hm Chicken Enchiladas and Spanish rice
Snack - choco chip cookies
Dinner - Korean Chicken wraps
Wednesday
Breakfast - Pumpkin muffins
Lunch - leftovers or grilled cheese
Snack - pretzels and dip
Dinner - Chicken pot pie
So I have been surfing on Pinterest way too much. And I saw some super yummy Pigs in the Blanket. But they were made with an almond flour dough, so I needed change them up...nothing can be easy. I made these and everyone enjoyed them.
GF/DF/Soy/Egg-free Pigs in the Blanket
1 package Bob Red Mills Pizza Crust
4 TBS baking powder
3 TBS coconut oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp flax seed meal
1-2 packages of Chicken Hot Dogs (All - Natural chicken apple is what we use)
small amount of flour for dusting
***Prepare pizza crust according to package. I substitute the flax seed for egg in my mix and also add some extra baking powder and salt.
I let the dough rest for about 20 minutes and then take a small handful and roll it out on wax paper. I then wrap it around hot dog. I do this until I run out of dough and/or hot dogs...lol.
These bake about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
You can serve them with a variety of dipping sauces. I think next time I will add a little more coconut oil because they were a touch dry. But they were still yummy. And I was happy to have something that I have not been able to have for a long....long....long time!!!
One of my goals for the remainder of our school year is to encourage writing for Lydia. She knows how to form letters, so she doesn't need a standard handwriting curriculum. Our big hold up is reading. She still has not discovered the joys of reading....so I really think she is trying to "not" learn to read. So besides reading to her and constant trips to the library, I have been trying to come up with ways to "sneak" reading into her daily schedule.
She loves to keep a diary. Her diary/journal is really a bunch of drawings and she writes words that she does know. Like cat, her name, her sister's name, etc. I have tried writing prompts for daily journaling with the boys, but because of their writing issues...I got very frustrated...they got frustrated. I gave up. But thinking back, maybe this might work for Lydia.
Come to think of it, the boys really need improvement in their typing. They both have inactive blogs, so why not give them daily prompts to type in their "journals" or blogs. This could improve their spelling, sentence structure, etc.....and typing skills.
There are no right or wrong answers with a journal entry. Whatever their feelings are, that is what they put down. We can still use their blogs to express their feelings...if they want to keep them private. We do not have to publish those posts. Very simple.
For Lydia, my plan is to allow her to use her new One Direction spiral notebooks with the prompts that I came up with. She will be using regular notebook paper then. And hopefully this will encourage her letter height also. She also has her mega sparkly gel pen set to make her entries pretty. I'll help her with her words. And eventually this will then help with her punctuation and sentence structure.
I want to share the January prompts that I created to use with our kiddos. I used a fun events calendar to allow them to think outside the box!!
Sample of the Writing Prompt Page
I am very excited to share this list with you. Feel free to share this free download. If you blog about it, don't forget to give credit back to our blog!
I planned on reading this week....just sitting and reading books and watching movies with the family. Haha...didn't finish one single book. I did read a lot of great homeschool blogs and spent too much time on Pinterest though pinning activities for the kids.
I struggled keeping things cleaned and then felt overwhelmed.....needed to take some deep breathes. There is always too much to do, and not enough time. It's the story in everyone's life. I have one big project planned for this weekend.....finally cleaning out Joe's office and our bedroom. It needs done in the worst way. The shelf my clothes are on is breaking, and something must get done ASAP....
In our homeschool this week.....
Lots and lots of movie marathons. We watched Batman movies (the Christian Bale ones). We watched Magic School Bus. We watched Shirley Temple...and we watched Goosebumps. We are only doing a light amount of schoolwork one day this week. And 3 days next week. We did play some games too.
Projects I am working on....
Planning ahead blog posts is a big thing for me. I am trying to blog more of our recipes that we adjust to feed our family. Due to our food allergies, I am always "remaking" something.
I moved all the board games from the antique sideboard. They were stacked so high, it was dangerous. I tried to get a game down to play with Lydia and couldn't. It was awful. I still need to finish putting the ones away in the storage room...those we don't play that often. So they are easily assessable, but not in the way. I also made sure to keep the "educational" ones more handy...so I can use them to fill in gaps on busy or tiring days.
I need to clean the office area this weekend....it's definitely going to be a two day project.
I am also working on several homeschool projects...field trips, club projects, and just planning out a couple week's lessons. I made an outline for the remainder of the year, but we have already changed a couple things. So getting the weekly activities written up.
Things I am reading....
I just couldn't settle on one book. I read a couple romance or started to read them. I read on a couple homeschool titles...and I will be finishing those this week.
Things I am cooking....
I made gluten/corn/soy/dairy-free chicken enchiladas this week.....and WOW were they good!!! I have wish the pan would keep refilling itself.
The girls and I made gluten/corn/soy/dairy/egg-free chocolate chip cookies too. My parents loved them and so did the kiddos. I didn't get a picture of those. I think the girls had more fun eating the raw cookie dough than the baked ones though..lol.
I made a peanut chicken tonight that was pretty yummy with cilantro rice. Also another recipe I tried was stovetop stuffing....allergen friendly. I sauteed chicken thighs in coconut oil with celery, shredded carrots, and thyme/salt/pepper. When almost cooked I added about 3 cups cubed tapioca bread. After the bread started crisping some, added just about 1 cup of water to the mixture and covered for about 5 minutes. Turned it off then and added 1 cup of dried cranberries. The only thing that would've made it better was maybe adding some pecan pieces. It was really good!
Helpful advice to share....
We spend all this time planning out lessons and shopping for the perfect curriculum. But is it what the kids want? I'm not saying let the kids go wild and rule everything they learn or are exposed to....but maybe let them help choose the topics they want to study. I had every intention of continuing our Plants unit in Science with Lydia. We stopped at the library to get books and she decided out of the blue that she wanted to study sharks. I was emptying our library bag and before I was able to get even to the kids section she met me with a handful of shark books. So what to do....I guess we'll be studying sharks next week...lol. She even sat down and started watching Shark Week Discovery channel videos tonight, no complaints. Less whining...means less stress for me :)
Oh and this....
When life gets you down...
Pick yourself back up...Find a new way to conquer that hill
And slide right down :)
***Our first snow of the season was disappointing...about an inch. The kids were sledding down my parents driveway incline, which is really nothing at all. It was cute!
Photos from this week.... Our first snow of the year...the kids were sledding down my parents driveway....
Ours didn't turn out as pretty. We only had one egg completely crystalize. We'll have to try it again.
The guys worked on building a K'nex Roller Coaster.....it's still in construction.
You would think with this nasty look, we were getting a massive storm. We were under a Winter Storm Warning....we got about an inch. The kiddos were so disappointed. To go from a possible 8 inches to 1.....yeah. It made sledding a bit difficult.
Brayden discovered my stash of Michael's wooden model kits. He loves...loves...loves these.
He taught Caty how to do them.
We had a decent week....we were not rushed or stressed too much. But now it's time to start getting back into the swing of things.
She was born into a wealthy family, and is considered an American Artist even though at the age of 7 her family moved to Europe. Her parents wanted the children to be exposed to Art. Which Mary thought was wonderful.
She was an Impressionist artist, but what made her unique and stand apart from her fellow artists was the subjects of her pictures. Most Impressionist painted landscape, but Mary loved to draw Mothers and their children doing everyday life.
Her paintings expressed the special bond between mother and child. This type of pictures of was unknown at this time period, because most people did not speak of these relationships.
This type of portrait would still cause controversy today. (Nursing her Baby, 1908)
For our project, I really decided against wooden block print. It seemed a bit of a daunting task for a 7 year old. And I don't trust myself with sharp tool anymore. I sliced my hand open with a box knife a couple weeks ago trying to make a hammock for American Girl Club. So for her project, Lydia used our pastels to draw a mother and her child.
Her favorite subjects, our friend April and her son Vinny. Vinny has food on his face and April is cleaning it off.
It was fun to see that art can show everyday life as beautiful. Our next artist will be John Singer Sargen...Painter of the Wealthy.
