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Showing posts with label Adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventures. Show all posts

Friday, August 19, 2016

Still Surviving School..But We Are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!

Monday we start Day 22 of school.  I am already ready for Christmas break;-)  We have successfully survived two weeks at co-op and starting back piano lessons. 

This year has been crazy busy, I keep hoping it calms down soon but I don't see it happening.  I won't lie with the boys moving up a grade level getting all their work done is proving to be just as challenging to me as it is them.  They are hanging in there (so am I) but they have no problem letting me know this year is HARD!! We have done some fun things so far like; going inside Norris Dam for a tour, gardening downtown with friends, etc.

We don't usually do school on Friday but they have so far played a super cute math game called math marks the spot and they have begged to do reading eggs and math seeds since they woke up so I finally caved. 

We are also attending a fun field trip later this afternoon:-)  Can't wait to visit the muse for the planetarium show called "Knoxville Skies". 

I hope everyone else is hanging in there and enjoying their year so far!!! I will do better about blogging...maybe...I have my hands full right now lol.





Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Shark Week 2016!!!

I can't believe we are this far into shark week and my crew has done nothing!! We LOVE shark week!!  I decided this morning I needed to get a game plan so I thought I would share that game plan with you;-)

I am going to start by sharing some activities we have done in the past!!

Shark Finger Painting Project!!












Chalk/Oil Pastel Shark Art Project










How to Draw and Paint a Shark...









Shark Diorama









And last but not least Shark JAWS!!!






My kids still remember and love all of the activities I listed above:-)  Next I am going to share some super neat ideas I found on Pinterest that I am going to attempt with my crew over the next few days!!  Lego Sharks, I mean my kids love Legos everyday so why not let them enjoy them during shark week?  These FREE printable shark facts  are great for older kids and I know my boys will be fascinated!!  This next craft is super cute and affordable plus I think even the littles will have fun with it Newspaper Shark Craft!!  The last thing I found is probably the one we are going to do first it looks like so much fun and turns out beautiful...Coffee filter shark suncatchers!!
 
Okay and then shark week won't be complete without some books, right???  My kids have so many shark books.  Here are some of our favorites!!

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I hope you have fun exploring the World of sharks this week!!!





Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Spring Break Family Fun!!

This past week was our Spring Break vacation or as our adorable 5 year old says "Spring Break 2016 BABY!!".  We had such a good week exploring Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Then we wrapped up the week by celebrating Easter at home with family.  I love spending quality time with my crew...it is never boring with all my guys:-)











Tuesday, February 16, 2016

How Do You Find the Time to Homeschool? Start Early and Wing It!!!

I had a friend ask the other day how we fit everything into our schedule. Specifically she wanted to know how we fit our official school time in. Now most of you may think that should be easy and think that because we homeschool we should have plenty of time. But anyone who homeschools knows that is not true. Between co-op classes, field trips, music lessons, and well life in general it can be a challenge to find four hours a day to sit down and do school. My answer to her consisted of mainly we get up early and I go to bed late and we wing it. Yep I don't really have a magic schedule or anything I just do not sleep a lot. When I first started homeschooling my favorite part was that we didn't have to start early. We would start our day out slow and do school around 11. Those days are long gone, we simply have too much other stuff going on. So most mornings I am up by 6 and we start school no later then 8:00. Sometimes if the kids are up at 6 we will go ahead and get started then.

Here is a general run down of our week (I am not going to write out all the basic stuff like meals, grocery shopping, household chores, etc because those just get down when they can). I also have a really fun part time job that I work at a few hours a day around 3 days a week.

Sunday- This is my planning day. I spend a couple of hours each Sunday getting all of our school stuff ready for the week. Everything gets printed, our days get sort of planned, I update their attendance and grades on the computer, all of that fun stuff!!

Monday- This is our “serious” day, if we do not get started off right on Monday then our whole week is shot. We work hard the first few days of the week because the end of the week tends to get kind of crazy lol. Yesterday I was sick (I have been sick for a few days) which means we didn't do school, I didn't even do my planning on Sunday. Combine that with the fact that the oldest is out of school for snow days and we can pretty much just go ahead and call this school week a bust. We will do school but it will not be the amount we normally do and that is okay.

Tuesday- Another serious day. We focus on school work the majority of the day.

Wednesday- Serous again lol….time to get that school work done. The boys also have church on Wednesday evenings.

Thursday- “Hell day”, Thursdays are insane, we have to start school super early to fit it in. We usually do not accomplish as much school this day as we do Monday-Wednesday. At noon Keaton has piano, at 4 the middles have guitar and at 6:30 they all have gymnastics. Thursday is usually the day I schedule the miscellaneous extra stuff also. For example last Thursday Keaton had a eye appointment and this Thursday Axton has a well check. Plus Big Bang Theory comes on at 8 and since our whole family is obsessed that has to be part of the schedule:-)

Friday- Field trip day, I try to schedule the majority of our field trips on Friday. We used to never do school on Fridays but now that I have added more stuff into our week we try to get some school in on Fridays.

Saturdays- Family day, work day and make up day:-)

Now through the month we will of course have stuff that messes with our weekly schedule. The first Monday and Thursday and the last Wednesday of each month we have our homeschool co-op. I teach afternoon art classes at my job about 3 times a week. We will have some field trips and extra events like school holiday parties that pop up on days besides Friday. How do I handle all of that?? I wing it. I am not an organized person. So I wing it a lot;-) I usually spend my early mornings catching up on my blog, field trip planning, working on a couple of at home businesses I have (Young LivingEssential Oils, Cakes by A, and Arbonne). If I don't get to all of that in the mornings then I will do it at 2 a.m., like I said just wing it. 


 

Friday, January 1, 2016

1st Day of the Year Hike...2016!!

This is our 2nd year doing this hike and I am happy it is becoming one of our traditions!! It was a little chilly today but we bundled up and went anyways.  I even drug the teenagers along and they ended up enjoying themselves also.  I love that my little love being outside and I love that thanks to countless days fly fishing by the river with his Dad my oldest is like a walking Science lesson.  He gave the boys way more information about the surrounding area, water temp, fish, etc then I would of been able to.  In the end we explored a few areas but all of them are in or adjacent to Norris Dam State Park!!:-)  Enjoy the pictures and be sure to join us next year!!! 

And feel free to look back at our 2015 1st Day of the Year Hike