Every week we read some sections of the character book we are doing to start out our school time.  There is a new word every week, and this week the word was diligence.

Friday morning I asked Jackson what our word was for the week, as it was one that was harder to remember.  He looked at me and said ‘due diligence.’

Do you think we’ve been in this house hunting process long enough?

I am going to call over there and make sure that they plan to have enough in stock to account for the crowds of people that will be there, find out what happens if they run out, and if it’s possible to just reserve some.  If it’s not worth me fighting the crowds with 3 kids and a pregnant belly, then I won’t go.  But I’m hoping to come home with some great beef to use for the next few months!

• Monday
  • apple baked oatmeal
  • sandwiches, fruit, pretzels
  • spaghetti, veggies, bread
• Tuesday
  • muffins
  • quesadillas and veggies
  • black beans and rice, chips
• Wednesday
  • yogurt and granola
  • apples, banana with peanut butter
  • eat out with kids (busy afternoon/evening)
• Thursday
  • english muffins
  • cheese and crackers, fruit
  • ravioli, veggies
• Friday
  • leftover waffles (in freezer)
  • park day: sandwiches, fruit, granola bars
  • beef nachos
• Saturday
  • oatmeal scones
  • grilled cheese
  • BBQ pork sandwiches, potatoes, fried okra
• Sunday
  • eggs, toast, bacon
  • Moes for lunch
  • sichuan green beans, eggrolls, potstickers

Publix:

• Spent: 34.66
• Full item value: 53.60
• Saved: 18.94 (35%)

Remaining for the month (to be spent at Costco): 60.08

I got the idea for my numbers and velcro pages from this blog (yes, the same one I mentioned in the post below about all the great printables for Morgan).  I downloaded, printed, and laminated for each of the kids, and got their workboxes set up.  Here’s what they look like:

Usually Jackson has no more than 8 or 9, while Morgan often has all 10 filled because her activities are shorter.  I made a weekly schedule for each of them so before each week it’s pretty easy to go in and just change the specifics of each subject/activity to the focus of that week.  So I’m either just changing the lessons we are going to do in math or reading, or changing the letter we are focusing on for Morgan, swapping out file folders and books, things like that.  The format is pretty much the same, doing similar things every Monday, every Tuesday, etc.  It keeps a nice variety for the kids, but makes my planning easier.

As the kids complete a drawer, they take the number off and put it on the chart on the fridge (that is, if Mackenzie hasn’t already taken the number off and disappeared somewhere with it.)  I fill Jackson’s with all his core subjects, and then fill in with fun puzzles, coloring pages, computer time, and other things to break up the morning.  Morgan’s is filled with coloring pages, manipulatives, math and letter games, books, things like that.  We pretty much work from about 9-12 every day, and I usually have to make Jackson put his stuff away so I can put lunch on the table - otherwise I think he would work all afternoon!  Our rule for him, since his boxes are more “academic” than Morgan’s, is that after he has finished his workboxes, he is welcome to play with the things in Morgan’s cart.

One of the best things about this for me is that this system solves our issue of a lack of a dedicated schooling area.  Last year I had some books in the kitchen, some in the living room, others in the office, and was always needing something that was in the wrong room.  With this system I keep *everything in the office, and load up the drawers each day with all the supplies we need for the following day.  It takes me about 10 minutes a day.  But when we are having school it is SO worth it because I know I don’t need to run around looking for a glue stick or scissors, any supplies for an art project, my notes to find which pages we are doing for math or reading (I just mark them with a sticky paper), etc.  Everything I have is right there.  And it no longer takes up space anywhere except the office.  Ok, so here is a picture of the school part of the office:

Sort of an organized mess. :)  Our workboxes are stored in here as well, so in the mornings the kids roll them out to the living room, we do our work there and in the kitchen, then they roll them back when we are done.  It is all contained in one room, and I can easily sit down and swap things out for the next day.

This took some planning and work to get set up.  I take about 30-45 minutes each Friday and plan the whole schedule for the next week. Then it’s just a few minutes a day to swap out the drawers to what I have planned.  Like I said above, it’s pretty standard now that we have our routine, but I plan out every detail because then it makes our mornings run so smoothly and easily.  The kids are able to work through independently at times (although they still need my help for most things), but they never have to ask how much more they have to do, or what is coming up next.

This system works really great for us for a lot of reasons, and I’m so happy with these purchases.  If we are ever able to have a dedicated schooling area in our house, then these would just have permanent homes instead of being rolled around.  But until then, I love solutions like these that make my life so much easier!

Now that I have things pretty set, I’ll list out what curriculum I am using for each of the kids.  So far they have enjoyed the variety and what they are learning.

Together we do our calendar, the weather, and a weather graph (charting the weather each month).  Printables downloaded from here.  Here’s what we have hanging on the wall:

JACKSON (Kindergarten):

• We read each day from the Ergermeier’s Bible Story Book and from the Child’s Book of Character Building, Vol 1. I felt it was time he graduated from his children’s Bible, and the one here is a good next step.  Morgan can’t follow quite as much, but she still listens to them both. (daily)
• Sing Spell Read and Write, Level 1. (after seeing the price there, I’m sure glad I got it on sale last year!)  This right now is his least favorite subject.  Mostly because it does have quite a bit of writing (I don’t make him do it all), and even though he reads beyond where we are at right now, it’s important for him to learn spelling and reading comprehension and all that before we skip ahead.  Overall the program is great - there are songs, games, etc that go with it, it just happens that we are in the middle of a couple weeks of doing the same thing, which he is tired of. (M-Th)
• A Reason for Handwriting, Book A.  He has a small amount Mon-Wed to write, then on Thursday he takes the words and writes out a Bible verse on some nicer paper that comes with the book, and he gives it to someone.  It’s a good handwriting program for kids who don’t like to write a whole lot. (M-Th)
• Math U See.  We are currently one lesson away from finishing the Primer which we started last year.  I have the Alpha book that we will move right into next.  Jackson LOVES this math. (M-Th)
• Story of the World, Vol 1.  The first of 4 books in the series - designed to go through 3 times as the child goes through school, doing more in depth things each time.  I didn’t get the activity book to go with this, as I wanted it more for exposure than anything, but a friend clued me in on this amazing lapbook that you can make as you go through.  It’s perfect for us - just enough for him to have an activity to go with each chapter we read, but not too much for him or me to handle. (1-2 times/week)
• Apologia Astronomy.   This is our science this year. (1-2 times/week)  Jackson loves space, and I went ahead and got the notebooking journal for him as well.  I often summarize what I’m reading because otherwise it can be a bit much, but so far we really like it.  Here’s the project we did today after finishing chapter 1.  It’s the solar system on his ceiling with relative sizes for the planets (our original sun was bigger, but it ended up popping when one of the kids threw something at it, so we had to replace with a smaller sun because I was out of huge balloons.  And now looking at this picture, I think we need to fix Uranus.  It seems to have shrunk!):
• Spanish.  I don’t even know the name of our program, we do it once a week with another family, and just started this past Tuesday.
• Reading - I read a book or a chapter of a book to him every day, and he reads me a book or a chapter every day.
• Puzzles and other activities.  I downloaded some neat activities from Tin Man Press, I have a ton of File Folder Games I have made over the past year, I have found some color by number (and color by math problem) printables online, and a lot of times Jackson just wants to color a picture or something like that.
• Computer time.  I have found a handful of websites that have good learning games, so Jackson will get 15 minutes on the computer to play games that go along with what he’s learning. (2-3 times/week)
• Letter writing.  He has a pen pal named Elijah, who lives in Washington.  His mom and I are friends, and they have exchanged one letter each so far. (Fridays)

MORGAN (age 3, preschool):

• Along with listening in on the Bible readings I mentioned above, all 3 of us are learning a new verse each week from My ABC Bible Verses.  I’ve been super impressed with how much Morgan is remembering, although she needs a bit of prompting to get started.  I began this book with Jackson last year, but we only got through letter E or something, so we started over together.
• Most of my time the past month in school planning has been prepping the materials I’m using for Morgan.  I found this great blog, Confessions of a Homeschooler, and I have been printing out things like crazy to do the Letter of the Week (and a number/shape of the week).  She makes these amazing printables for each letter, and provides them all for free!  Most of them I am laminating, so that when Mackenzie and this next little one hit this age, my work is already done.  We just finished week 3, the letter C.  Here is our wall thus far (sorry for the terrible picture quality):
• Little Hands to Heaven.  Someone in my homeschool group was selling this used, so I bought it from her.  It has a few cute ideas, but ultimately now I don’t really need it.  I use maybe one or 2 things from it each week, and if I don’t use more, I’ll sell it next year.  Otherwise it is a nice program to go through.
• My Father’s World Toddler Package.  I actually got this last year so we have gotten a lot of use out of it already.  But Morgan will often do one of these manipulatives each day to work on numbers and shapes and all that.  Jackson even has fun with these as well.
• Morgan also has File Folder Games, and she does a lot of drawing and coloring, which she really enjoys.  I read a book to her every day as well.

MACKENZIE (1.5 years):

• Empties out things of little pieces all over the floor.
• Comes into the kitchen to show me she has shredded the toilet paper.
• Looks like she’s drawing at the table, but really is eating the crayons, which I later find out what colors she ate by what is in her diaper.
• Toddles around, trying to get whatever Jackson and Morgan have.
• And occasionally actually entertains herself in a non-destructive, non-verbal manner.  But only very occasionally.

I think they are all learning a lot.

Our sweet boy loves to ask questions, and has an amazing memory for the answers we give him.  He is still very interested in space, and has enjoyed the astronomy that we are doing for our science this year.  He is very musically inclined, and as soon as we are able, I’m hoping to start him on some piano lessons.  He has been wanting to play for a while, and last year my mom gave him a small piano book that had keys on it, and each page gave the notes to a different song.  After having it only a few hours, he was able to play Twinkle Twinkle perfectly with the book closed, not looking at the notes.  We pulled out my old guitar yesterday, and he has loved strumming it, remembering what all the strings are.  We may just have a musician in our family!

Jackson also really enjoys math and especially the practical application of it.  He is doing really well at reading, now reading Level 2 readers to me fairly easily.  He doesn’t enjoy handwriting so much, but what 5 year old boy does?  He loves puzzles and coloring and, like Morgan, anything involving tiny pieces.

He learned to ride a bike really well last week.  Here are some pictures:

We have an empty parking lot back behind our house that is perfect for him to learn.  It took him a bit to get used to turning without training wheels, but once he got it, he’s been doing great.  It’s so neat to see him reach such a classic milestone, and it will be fun for he and Gavin to take their bikes down to a trail at the nature center sometime and just ride.

Jackson continues to be extremely lovable, often giving us kisses and hugs just because.  He is most definitely a quality time kid, wanting us to play with him often.  He recently started listening to audio books during his room time (daily from 1:30-3:00), and has enjoyed them quite a bit.

Our boy will soon be the big brother to 3 younger sisters.  He is especially excited about the new baby.  I love having him home with me, and love that our relationship is growing closer, and that I get to be his teacher.  So fun.  I look forward to what the rest of the year holds for him!

She is still our temperamental one, going back and forth between having an attitude as big as her, to throwing a screaming fit, to smiling and laughing away, being as adorable as ever.  Some days are quite the emotional rollercoaster ride!  She loves being with her family, and is still very reserved around other people, even friends she has known for a long time.  She would much rather play by herself than with friends, and large groups totally overwhelm her.

It’s been fun to start school with her this year, and really see how much she knows.  While often time plain common sense is a bit lacking , she then surprises me with knowledge I didn’t know that she had!  She, like her brother, is very good at fine motor skills - one church worker commented to me one day that Morgan was the only 3 year old in her class who didn’t need any help stringing pasta onto a necklace.  That didn’t surprise me one bit!

I have her enrolled in a gymnastics class this fall that she will start mid-September.  The class was a birthday gift from my parents that we are finally using.  She has a couple other friends in the class, so we’ll see how she does, but I hope that she enjoys it.

She continues to idolize her big brother and wants to do whatever he does (which is often the cause of their fights).  She has become very interested whenever I am working in the kitchen, pulling up a step stool to watch, and telling me she will cook dinner all by herself one day.  Yes she will, I can guarantee that!

Morgan is a real sweetheart, and I love watching her develop and grow.  She is a beautiful girl, and such a joy in our family.

• Monday:
  • cereal
  • apples/bananas with peanut butter, fruit, crackers
  • ravioli
• Tuesday:
  • pumpkin muffins
  • lunch at friends
  • teriyaki chicken, rice, broccoli
• Wednesday:
  • strawberry scones
  • mac and cheese
  • burgers, corn, cherry tomato salad
• Thursday:
  • yogurt and granola,
  • cheese and crackers, smoothies
  • Chick fil A
• Friday:
  • waffles
  • sandwiches/picnic (park day)
  • sausage and pepper calzones, salad
• Saturday:
  • eggs, bacon, toast
  • pasta salad
  • dinner at church event
• Sunday:
  • apple baked oatmeal
  • lunch out?
  • chicken tortilla casserole, refried beans, chips and queso

I got almost all produce and meat this week, and ending up spending a bit more than I planned.  I have a long Costco list, and am trying to save for a big trip there next week.  But with the summer winding down (although you wouldn’t think so by the heat), I am wanting to get as much of the great produce as possible, before we are restricted to apples, bananas, and oranges.

Publix:  NO coupons today, can you believe it??  I got their Greenwise ground beef as well as their chicken sausages.  The rest was milk and produce.

• Spent: 42.09
• Full item value: 47.05
• Saved: 4.96 (11%) - boo!

Kroger: only produce - corn, tomatoes, cucumbers

• Spent: 9.91
• Full item value: 10.74
• Saved: .83 (8%)

Target: all produce except for 5 boxes of the Annies organic mac and cheese, which were on sale.

• Spent: 17.38
• Full item value: 21.53
• Saved: 4.15 (19%)

Total spent this week: 69.38.  Remaining for the month (1 week left): 95.74.  My current Costco list is about $100 worth, but $40 of that is getting organic chicken for next month, so I suppose I could borrow ahead.  I’m having to be very disciplined on my Costco runs/purchases, as it’s a really easy place to spend a lot more than planned!

Well this girl isn’t really so little anymore.  She will be 19 months in just a few days, yet she is most definitely convinced that she is 3 or 5, depending on who she is playing with.  She is quite the clever one too - her go-to item in our house is the step stool, which she carries around with her so that she can climb up onto just about anything without any help!

She *finally started doing her sign language, which is helpful for sure, although she tends to be quite vocal.  No words really yet, except for the ‘thank you’ that she has been saying for a few months now.  She dropped her morning nap about a month or so ago, but really didn’t lengthen her afternoon nap, so she is sleeping about 2 hours during the day.

Her personality is absolutely hilarious.  She still loves people and will go to anyone, asking complete strangers to pick her up by putting her arms up.  She claps for people and cheers them on.  When someone in our house is crying, she sits next to them and pats them gently on the head.  Yet when something doesn’t go her way or one of the other kids takes something away from her, she screams her head off.  This girl knows what she wants, that’s for sure.

Like our other 2, she has amazing finger dexterity and fine motor control.  She can handle the lite brite pegs or any other tiny object as well as the rest of them, and thankfully doesn’t put most things in her mouth anymore (yes, I said ‘most’).  She still loves to snuggle on our shoulders, and every time Gavin comes into view she yells out ‘Dadeeeee’.

She is just adorable, makes us laugh, yet as most kids this age, tests her boundaries constantly.  She is a wanderer (versus the other 2 who always stay close) and will toddle off quite far away if I let her, unconcerned she is by herself.  Her blue eyes still woo most everyone, and especially us.  Mackenzie is quite the delightful child, and I think will make a really sweet big sister.