The monster who steals supplies!

I cannot imagine a teacher with 28 students how many supplies they go through! Parents must get so frustrated to buy 20 boxes of crayons, as well as 10 more half way through the year! I can relate. I only homeschool 2 children and yet we are constantly missing supplies! Where did the extra glue stick go or how is the blue marker missing? I have no idea. I think there is a monster and he eats them. Thats the only explanation I can come up with. Perhaps the dust bunnies are friends with him and they have a feast?
It doesnt seem to matter if we only have 1 box of supplies or a china cabinet full (which we have), there is something missing. I do what most parents do though, I buy more in hopes of fixing the problem. Then that stubborn monster pops up again and I have to keep buying more. Its never the same thing either. He never eats 2 blue markers in a row. Sometimes he tricks me and completely eats the container but most times hes very selective. Most recently its 2 blocks of our 10 bases for Math. Now why he'd choose those and not something more appealing I dont know. I think he wants the girls to count to 98 rather than 100. Maybe 98 is a better number?

Until this magic monster is found (who by the way is WANTED) I will just have to keep buying supplies. Who ever said its cheaper when Homeschooling must not have this guy at his house.

What are your gifts?

I was at Chick Fil A recently and while eating my food I overheard 2 mothers talking about their children. They were commenting how their children were "gifted" and one made the comment how schools are cutting those programs but they dont cut the "Special Needs" programs and thats not fair. I wanted to jump in and say something but I didnt.

While they have a point, they also dont see the picture. Special Needs children need more help. They need one on one, smaller classrooms, extra materials, etc. Gifted children excel, they dont need the extra help. They need attention but not help. Cutting Gifted may not be fair but it does not deny the child help as it does with Special Needs. SN would possibly have to go to another school if one cut it out or the school might have to leave the child in a normal setting but with a helper.

What exactly makes someone gifted anyway? These mothers said their preschoolers were doing 1st and 2nd grade work. A friend of mine has a grandchild who is in 2nd grade but reading at 6th grade. Myself, I have a 6yr old doing 2nd grade......are any of our children truly gifted then? Are we just on parr and we feel by society they are gifted? Does it even matter in the end?

There was a man in my graduating class. Jared. He has NEVER missed a day of school. He was in Enrichment classes, even in grade school. Everyone wanted to be on his team when we grouped up and everyone wanted to cheat off his homework. He was valedictorian. He went on to the Military. Now where is this gifted man? He is still in the Military. Nope, not a CEO. Not a famous novelist or scientist.

Being SN or Gifted doesnt make you who you are. 

Write me a letter and read me a word

We started Cursive writing. It was rough, very rough at first. We took a break and started back up. It is much better now but slow. Slower than a snail but moving along. I want Candice to make sure she does each letter correctly before we move on to the next. Right now she seems to get the circle down for A but then misses the tail or vice versa.

I have also noticed Candice is reading better. She can now read words (short) randomly. If only we could get there with counting! We were out at Lances eye appointment and she read LAB. Im very proud of her.

We have been under way with Scouts. Cookie sales just ended and Candice sold just about 50 boxes. She is very excited. We also started Ballet again. We even went to see the Cincinnati Ballet down by Music Hall. Ill have to post the pictures I have. I thought it was informative and nice but Candice wasnt a huge fan, which surprised me.

Testing 1,2,3.

Candice got a 47/48 on her Reading test and 10/12 on her Spelling test. She also got 100% on her Math test. Im very proud of her. The mistakes that she did make were simple ones (IE: forgot an extra L or didnt read the correct word). Seeing that she remembers what we do is whats important and Im glad she is remembering! She has stayed consistent with these scores, which is even better.

On another note yesterday I was fighting what I think was the flu so we skipped lessons. The girls watched TV (i know, i know, NOT educational or good). Candice came out after Dinosaur Train and said " Mommy, Did you know we just watched lessons?" and I asked how (i knew but i wanted to see what shed say). She said that they learn about Dinosaurs and thats lessons. :) Ever my smart girl.
Also, Lance broke his hand so Candice has been full of questions about that. How it fixes itself and what the XRay shows. Yet i was worried about not having a Health Curriculum. ;)

Its not Burger King, Its School.

Im sorry Candice, it is not Burger King. You can not have it your way. It is school and you sometimes have to kick and scream but do it my way.

What would school be like if we could " have it your way"? Personally, i know I would of been in Art all day long and never left. I would of never touched a computer class and I would of had Pap Johns Pizza and Mt Dew for lunch most days. I know for Candice that means taking her time, doing ONLY Bible and Math every day and having IHOP every day. We really wouldnt have very good educations but we sure would be experts in being selfish and limited on skills. I know I dont want to raise my children this way.

There are days when school take all day it seems like here and I really have to step away from Candice. There are times when school takes a short time and everyone is happy. I will tell you though, I am a mom and teacher. I am not a Burger King employee. You will do it my way first and then after you can have it your way but show me.

Today this came from math. Candice had to write a number sentence 2+4=6. She wanted to write 6. While I already knew she knew it was 6, that was not what the directions nor I were asking her to do. She wanted to do it her way and the quick way. I needed her to show me HOW she got 6. I told her to listen to the directions and write the sentence and if she did it correctly THEN she can write it however she wanted. Guess what? She did it.

Print it!

I got a printer at the food pantry yesterday. Weve been through a few printers. Either they are too bulky or they dont work right. Hopefully this one works for us! It needs new ink but thats ok.

Lessons today included (no pics)
Bible we talked about Jesus loving the children (Luke 18:16) and she colored a picture.
Reading she did short U.
We skipped writing.
Spelling we reviewed the words and how to spell them.
Math we reviewed how to write # 11-20, then worked on addition.
History we did a Nomad project, so candice had to learn about what Nomads ate.
Science we talked about the Sun and looked at pictures from the library books.
We skipped art today.

Typical Candice

In Candices perfect world, the school day would consist of Bible and Math but nothing else. Why? " Its boring". I have to hand it to her, Bible is pretty easy- its coloring. Im surprised, even still, that she loves Math but she does. Its easy for her too. (She gets that from Lance ;))

Library Day

Today the girls and I decided to go to the library. I needed to get some research books for Science and History anyway. Sadly, they didnt have anything for History, but i did find a few for Science. The girls played with a little girl, who took her first steps today! How exciting is that?! They also played with a little boy and a boy about their age. They played with the kitchen and colored. Candice checked out chapter books and Lana some beginner readers.

Into the groove

Today we dove in and it went well. We did everything but Spelling, Math and Music. I need to re-string Candices guitar. Lance took over History. She seemed to remember most, given our long break.

no pics but Bible we talked about how Jesus went out to find his disciples. Reading we read the story of Zack and did short I and short a sounds. Writing was a bible verse and we are actually almost finished with the book! History we went over the Nomads and she watched a video. BTW- I need an online encyclopedia- any suggestions? Science, we reviewed Astronomy and started reading about the sun.

Art was actually really fun, Candice got to use watercolor crayons, which i have never used and she had to paint an "Imaginative Piece". She did her birthday at my moms house.

We are back!

After a long and much needed break, we are back. Some changes but we are back. I will be putting Lana on hold and focusing on Candice. I am also not going to read to Candice anymore. I dont think im doing her any good by constantly reading to her.

Day 1 is tomorrow and we are going in full force.