Nails

Called around and to get the pig's nails cut was going to cost me $14 and I had to make an appointment at the vet clinic.  So not going to happen.  $3.00 small dog nail clippers and a lot of guts got the job done.

Volcanoes in a box

Almost ready for tomorrows presentation.  This will blow the kids away!  Ha ha.  Waiting for to add the natural food dye in the morning (we don't have the real stuff and decided on this as our presentation on the way home from church) and we are ready for school tomorrow.

This might be why

My Sunday evening.  Making dinner and cleaning up the mess.  Cutting Matt's hair and cleaning up the mess.  Making volcanoes in a box for the girls science presentation tomorrow, and cleaning up the mess. Sweep and mop the floors, clean the kitchen, walk the dog.  Packing Matt for his man's overnight trip to Dallas tomorrow for the football game.  Thank you caffeine for getting me through the day.

It's going to be explosive

For tomorrow's presentation the girls are going to speak about making volcanoes in our ABQ back yard.  Our visual aid will be a volcanoe.  Should be fun.

Another Saturday morning

Busy Saturday around here.
The girls and Matt (Spock will be "helping" as well) will be vacuuming Matt's car, mowing the lawns, edging the front yard with our new hand held grass trimmer, and washing my car.
Then this afternoon is errands and Ruth has a birthday party to attend.
Tonight is our first monthly Bible Study.
Busy, full and fun day.

Homework

I think this is why I am feeling we can get nothing done during the week.  This is our first year of homework and we are all getting used to the extra work it brings our home school days.  On the agenda for me to figure out, lesson planning, how to better schedule our week to get home work done, more breaks for Mary (she is feeling overwhelmed with her hearing and processing specialness) and some me time so I can keep up the feverish pace 4th and 5th grade brings.

Oh what a day today will be

I was awoken at 4:30am this morning to Ruth being sick.

(Spock wants to play with Ruth)

Yesterday was rough (still not sure exactly why) and today is kicking my butt.
I am trying so hard to have a good week like last week, it is just not going to happen.
Home schooling is not for the faint of heart and mothering is not for the weak of stomach.
Hoping we can make it through the day!

Stinker girl

Someone grew an inch or two over night.

Rough morning update

After cleaning up the kitchen I let the kids play in the sprinkler in our back yard.
Looks like fun, maybe I made the right choice.

Rough morning

Advise needed please.  I need help getting the kids motivated to daily take care of their chores.  This is something I have heard every home school Mom struggle with, myself included.  Wednesday we seem to loose all energy and it is hard to get our work and school done.  I came home from my walk with the dog 10 minutes after we were suppose to be ready for school and this is how my kitchen looked.  To add to that, the girls wanted to play in the sprinkler with their bathing suits.

What to do?  They are doing so well in school.  With extra curricular activities breaking up the day Monday through Thursday we school 8am-5pm and most of the day Friday.  They do not have neighborhood kids to play with in the afternoon or evenings and everyone needs to have some fun.

Maybe I am being lazy, maybe I need a break during the day.  What should I do?

Last night

After a morning of school, an afternoon of co-op where I watched babies for three hours and then cleaned the church for nearly another hour, we came home with a friend of Ruth's and jumped into making dinner for seven and a baby.  It was great fun and I was left with a great mess.  Spock had his first look at a real baby and was in love, Mary got to mother said baby and was in love, Ruth got to play with her dearest TX friend and was happy, and Matt and I got to host a fun family at our house, something we have always wanted to do more of.
The girls and I are adjusting more this week to our new schedule, I feel less tired than last week and that is a blessing.
Another blessing was that my sweet hubby got me coffee and banana bread from Starbucks early this morning before he left for work.  It was just the pick me up I needed.  Thanks babe, I love you!

Home school homework

This is how as a home school family we get home work done.
This year has brought tremendous blessing and work to our school lives.
The girls now have daily homework for Classical Conversations  Spanish and  Bible Quizzing.
Whatever it takes to get it done I am good with.

Love is spelled S-P-O-C-K

I realized I have been light on the posts since getting text service on my phone last week.
I'll work on getting everyone up to date on our school happenings soon.
Until then here is yet another picture of Spock.
Matt loves this dog so much, and when he is home Spock has eyes for no one else but him.

Tired Mom

If the one word you would use to describe yourself is exhausted you could be a home school Mom.
We had the best school week ever last week and I was beat all weekend.
Well worth it though, the girls are doing great!

Lost tooth

Ruth's loose teeth normally come out easily.  This one gave us fits for two days and Matt had to pull it out while Ruth was screaming in the shower because it was bent back and she could not move it forward.  I'm out $5.00, good deal!

For the most beautiful

We made Zeus's golden apple this weekend.  Spray paint would have worked better, but it was fun to paint them with metallic acrylic paint instead.  Matt's going to write "For the most beautiful" on them and they are ready to go.

Abstract Art

Ruth's abstract art from Classical Conversations last week.

Greek God Family Tree

Here is our project from Friday, a lesson on the Greek God's.

Science Today

 We studied the brain today and used our memories to see how many of these 15 items we could remember.

 The girls did well, they remembered about half the items.

Spock looking so sad!  How he wished he could be a real little boy.

Lean Mean Reading Machine

Here is Mary with her new Monster High book.  This book is a large step up from the Magic Tree House books she was reading the past few months.  She stayed up late two nights ago reading in bed, read 12 pages yesterday and another 10 today.  This is a major accomplishment for Mary and we cannot be prouder.

Eyes

Spock has been eating poorly since we picked him up from the sitter last weekend.  I wondered if it was because he wasn't able to see his food so I gave his brows a trim.  Much better.

Sunday comics

 The girls are making notebooks using their favorite Sunday comics.

Mary still does not like having her picture taken!

Greek Vases

 Ruth's vase was painted with trees.

Mary painted her vase with flowers and a tree.

Read with me Spock

Spock was enjoying the book until he figured out Ruth was not going to read aloud to him.

Book Store finds

Ruth is trying out Molly Moon's and loving it.  Mom was right and Ruth was wrong (I have been trying to get her to read these books for a while now).
And Mary is stepping it up from Magic Tree House to this Monster High find.

Saturday Morning

 Enjoying the Texas fall weather.  Mary mowed the front lawn while Matt and Ruth started to change the oil on my car.

 Matt and Ruth then started cleaning the grill while Mary and I washed Matt's car.

 Ruth helping Dad and learning how to finish changing the oil in my car.  We got smart and tethered Spock in the front yard so he can be a part of the fun.

 Mary finishing the grill clean up.  We had to replace a part this week so a good cleaning of the grill was in order.

Spock smiling and I hope happy to be a part of our family.

Turtle Bread

Once Ruth is done making her wind chime out of colored glass in her 3-D art class she will make a recipe tablet.  Using our alphabet Bakery cook book (from which Ruth got her Kart wheel recipe) we made turtle bread this afternoon.  Yum, Yum!

Love is spelled S-P-O-C-K

Just in time to leave for Gymnastics, we are done and organized

 Before.  This was not a hot mess, rather just a frustrating mess.  Time to make it work.

 We got these crates half off thanks to it no longer being back to school.  Unexpected blessing, I am so grateful!  The girls have one crate each for workbook pages and spiral notebooks.  One crate is our school books, one crate for crafts and the final crate for misc books.

My ingenious thought.  Instead of daily hunting for a pencil, pen, ruler etc they are all here ready for the school day.

Break in the routine

I need to find a better way to stay on top of things.
I once again failed to make copies for school so we are now off to Staples to make copies.
Argh!
I also need to get better organized.
We are taking care of that this morning as well.
Pictures to come.
Wish me luck!

Break in the routine

I need to find a better way to stay on top of things.
I once again failed to make copies for school so we are now off to Staples to make copies.
Argh!
I also need to get better organized.
We are taking care of that this morning as well.
Pictures to come.
Wish me luck!

Too funny

Taken from this website http://homeschoolingryangosling.tumblr.com/.
I just love these so much!