Quiet Time...

I decided a couple weeks ago that I wanted to put together a study group with friends and sisters in Christ to explore the Good Morning Girls Summer Session--Proverbs 31: One Virtue at a Time. I had a fantastic response and we are now finishing out week #1 with a group of about 30 women and girls. I just wanted to share where I go for my quiet time--every morning from 7am-8am before my boys get up.

I like to sit at the kitchen table to that I have room to spread out with my "stuff". I use my laptop for my commentaries and word history...but I love my New King James wide margin Bible because of all the notes I have in the margins. I use it to go on rabbit trails so I can make notes for connecting topics and scriptures.

And I have altered another notebook for my study notes. You can see the one I used for my Ephesians study HERE. For me, there is just something special about having a special thing to record all your thoughts in. Here is what it looks like:

I love untying that bow every morning...It's like a study diary. When I was altering this notebook (it's just a plain old black composition notebook) I knew what stamp I was going to feature on the front...

One from Proverbs 31 of course! My goal is that by the end of the study I will be closer to fulfilling this verse!

Thanks for popping by today...my parents will be here tomorrow, so I'm hoping to have some good pictures of the boys to share with you next week! We started our summer break tomorrow afternoon!

Look for the beauty...

Some pictures from my beloved flower beds...with some inspiration for the day!

My Zinnia...reaching for the sun

(WORDart by Karen)

My beautiful delicate purple Columbine...

(WORDart by Karen)

And one of my beautiful roses...

(WORDart by Karen)

Now go find the beauty in YOUR life!

Blessings,

Checking in...

Hello! I'm sorry I've not been on very much lately, but I'm enjoying the beautiful weather and lighter school day by spending more time outside in the garden! The boys and I have been planting all sorts of things and they have been enjoying digging in the dirt with me.

Our school days have been very eclectic...some days with a reading focus, others with a math focus (multiplication of groups), and others with an art focus. Then of course our science time in the garden.

Little Britches was shocked to discover that gardening was science...he declared it "too fun to be school!" LOL! Hmmm...what does that say about his thoughts on school?!

His reading fluency is improving daily as I have him read his favorite books (the Biscuit puppy ones) to Baby Britches. It was hilarious today when Baby Britches added the sound effects ("Boof! Boof!") upon request whenever Biscuit (the bog) had to bark in the book. He really felt like he was reading with Big Brother, I could tell.

We started our FIAR on Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say this week. I was a bit worried that Little Britches would find it boring, but he is enjoying learning about Japan. Especially since Japan has been in the news a lot lately with the earthquake and then tsunami. He was intrigued by the idea that Japan is made up of a lot of islands. I am documenting our row, so I will post that once we are done.

We still have to work on some letter formation...'y' is a struggle as he likes to put it backwards. But he's doing better with little 'b' and 'd' which is an improvement.

We will be going onto an abbreviated summer vacation starting with Memorial Day weekend as my parents will be here visiting for the week! We are greatly looking forward to that time and I know they want to maximize the time with the boys. We might go visit a few things while they are here. Maybe a museum or two. Maybe the zoo. We will see!

I am also getting ready to the start the Good Morning Girls Summer session which focuses on Proverbs 31. I volunteered myself as a leader to a study group for some of the ladies in my faith and they are all itching to get started. We decided we will start on May 21st. Our group right now has 25 ladies in it of all ages--some teenage, most mom's with small children, and some grandmas! It is going to be an amazing experience!

So that's what's on my plate right now...I will try to upload some pictures soon...we've taken some good gardening ones I can share.

Love to all!

In limbo...

Well, I had planned that we would start our 1st grade curriculum this week...however, that is on hold. Not because of MY planning, but because my husband just told me the other night that he didn't want to start Little Britches in 1st grade yet because he's afraid he'll get too ahead too fast and doesn't want him to graduate from high school when he's 15.

okay. Well. Wow. That just really came out of left field and thru me for a loop. I thought he and I both agreed on a modified year round schedule...so this was a bit...frustrating?

So until I have another heart-to-heart with my hubby...I'm in limbo.

I need to ask him why thinks we have to hold Little Britches back...he's definitely READY for 1st grade. Yes he IS advanced. But isn't that what homeschooling is about? Letting your child go at his or her own speed? I do NOT think he'll be advanced in all subjects. And we don't have to rush through the 1st grade program. I had planned on doing half days during the summer to allow maximum play time. We will take breaks for vacations and field trips and our camping trips.

I totally understand where my husband is coming from...but at the same time, I think he's also getting a little ahead of things! There is a big gap between 6 years old and 15 years old!

So what are we doing in the meantime?

Well, Little Britches learned how to tie his shoes which was a huge thing and cause for MUCH celebration when he tied his own church shoes this past Saturday!

We are continuing to practice our reading skills with books of all kind, but especially his favorites--the Biscuit series about the little yellow puppy. We owned two of them and then I found a pack of 6 more at Costco and then on Ebay, I found a 10-in-1 collection of MORE Biscuit stories...he doesn't know about any of this yet...I'm saving it. He LOVES to read them and because of that I want to make sure he has them to enjoy.

We will bring back Five-in-a-Row to fill in the time...that is a curriculum in itself and he'll be learning a lot. I have Grandfather's Journey, Clown of God, and A Glorious Flight lined up for us.

We are doing the Singapore Primary Mathematics 1B Textbook. I got it for free on Paperbackswap.com and it just happens to cover the EXACT thing we needed to work on. So even though we don't have the workbook, we are going thru it using the whiteboard and talking thru the answers. He's learning a LOT. It also helps me to see if I want to go the Singapore route after 1st grade when I split up our curriculum.

We are continuing to work on our handwriting with book reports and copywork. I like to use lines from the books we are reading for his copywork because he knows it.

And we are continuing to read our chapter books. We finally finished reading Black Beauty last night...now we are going to put together the amazing Black Beauty lapbook that Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler created. I was so excited to see that it was one of her units in her Classical Literature. I have a whole stack of books to do next...I'll share those in a few days with my first grade curriculum post.

And last but none the least...we started piano lessons. It is different for me to teach my own child--but enjoyable. I just have to remember to place practicing as a responsibility he has. But we set up a practice schedule for him and he's enjoying it...so far! LOL! Here is a picture of him hard at work practicing...

It's great because with Little Britches starting, that gives me THREE boy students--a personal record! LOL! I don't get boys very often, but the three I have now WANT to learn so that makes all the difference!

So that is what we are doing right now as I continue to work out the kinks...and really it is enough!