16 Week Checkup!

Ok, this may turn into  a baby blog. :)

I just got home from my 16 week checkup and everything is GREAT! The girls got to come into the room and hear the baby's heartbeat. They didn't seem too excited, but it was still pretty neat! The poor baby was kicking so much that my midwife kept losing the heartbeat on her monitor. I think her exact words were, "My, you've got a wild one in there!" I know! I can already feel he/ she kicking and moving!  I guess active is good!! The baby's heartbeat was 152, and my midwife still thinks it is a girl!

She also brought in a little plastic baby the size of what our baby currently is and showed it to the girls. She also let them feel my belly and showed them where the baby was growing.  I gained my first six pounds too and have definitely popped! I need to figure out some new clothes and soon!

My midwife and I talked about a few things and then scheduled my 20 week ultrasound appointment! I can't believe we are almost halfway done! It goes by super fast when you don't tell anybody for 14 weeks!!

I think we will be counting down around here until we figure out if the baby is a boy or a girl. It is a daily discussion around here!! The kids are even trying to name the baby, which is a lot of fun! I am glad they are excited to welcome a new little human being into our house. (Hopefully things won't change when the baby actually gets here!)

Last Minute Decision!

Yikes! I had everything planned out for school this morning and things did not go as planned!  I knew in order to get through everything, we would need to start right away in the morning and work until about 3 in the afternoon.

I really should have known better.  Nobody got to bed last night until about 10 and therefore, nobody was ready to get up this morning, not even myself!! We got a late start and after a few phone calls, we were not all ready for the day until 9:45! I usually try to start at 9! (Ok, I admit, it is hard to stay motivated when every other school is out for the summer and the sun is shining!)

After this all happened and I looked at the schedule for the next two weeks, I made a decision that we were going to stop where we are with our Sonlight materials. We are just go forward with math, spelling, and English for the next two weeks.  There is soo much to Sonlight! I feel that if I started today, I would need to finish the week's worth of lesson plans. The more I looked at my schedule, the more I figured that it was NOT going to happen!

I sat down with each girl and talked about this and tried to get their thoughts.  Of course, they agreed with me! Who wouldn't want to get out of schoolwork??  They know we have to finish up our assignments from last week and maybe finish a few books, but other than that, they were good with the plan! They know we need to finish math, English, and spelling before they can "officially" pass into the next grade.

Wow, that relieves some stress! Now onto planning Christian's party and finding some maternity clothes. :)

Videos on Birds

We are still plugging away at school this week.  In science, we are in the middle of a unit on birds and their behavior. Tomorrow we are going to be talking about how they show off in order to find a mate. 

We are going to start with the ever-interesting bowerbirds. We studied these guys last year, but are going to study them again!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqILy4WNV_iAAGRP7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEyYm83b3FmBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzQ-?p=bowerbirds&vid=daf3c82259f8b4642427f0408547b292&l=2%3A07&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.1BodHIBF4udqWpGtMoO6RA%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.nationalgeographic.com%2Fvideo%2Fweirdest-bowerbird&tit=World%26%2339%3Bs+Weirdest%3A+Bowerbird+Woos+Female+with+Ring&c=3&sigr=11spe0f6k&sigt=11lsdjsqr&sigi=11vi1b0fn&age=1340842587&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=slv1-yie9&tt=b

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqILy4WNV_iAAIBP7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEzaThodjlsBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzEx?p=bowerbirds&vid=ee72df4638bb79b08dae58ac358ab818&l=4%3A13&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.Ro0oB%252b6ZSnIWJVr3dluVdQ%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGPbWJPsBPdA&tit=David+Attenborough+-+Animal+behaviour+of+the+Australian+bowerbird+-+BBC+wildlife&c=10&sigr=11b2mgbn8&sigt=12gi6hv6b&sigi=1215tafn8&age=1171034571&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=slv1-yie9&tt=b

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqILy4WNV_iAAGBP7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNzdzbGJsBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzM-?p=bowerbirds&vid=5ff534083fa63ca8dcbd9360afc38f68&l=2%3A09&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.NuMA8Vvtg4uFl4MIn9e6eA%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DkmvaLtNHyp0&tit=LIFE+-+Vogelkop+Bowerbirds+Display+Treasures+%7C+Birds&c=2&sigr=11brieuvj&sigt=11km6rfdu&sigi=11vtfrqvj&age=1269359202&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=slv1-yie9&tt=b

We are also going to talk about birds of paradise and their vivid feathers and dances!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIIE42NVcWkAId77w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNHNxYmtnBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzU-?p=birds+of+paradise&vid=167fd5273d14c7ecccd33922db255fb7&l=1%3A01&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.AM80jrmPuFY%252btn9HEzRdjQ%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7dx2CUMtZ-0&tit=The+Mating+Dance+-+A+must+see%21%21%21%21&c=4&sigr=11buq47jj&sigt=111i6skdq&sigi=1213jr0mt&age=1241466488&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=slv1-yie9&tt=b

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIOn42NV.gYAerD7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEzc2lkNDNhBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzE5?p=birds+of+paradise&vid=21f7db55acfb67479a167c7c156fb117&l=4%3A01&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.Ysz0alsoh0XiSrk4TtzgwA%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcEh-zclVo44&tit=Beautiful+Plumed+Bird+of+Paradise+-+David+Attenborough+-+BBC+wildlife&c=18&sigr=11blmg0cl&sigt=1255v6bu2&sigi=11v9q3otl&age=1171034782&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=slv1-yie9&tt=b

Is it fair...or not?

Last week, every school district in Omaha got out except for Millard.  I know a quite a few of our homeschooling friends who finished up school too.  Are we done yet? Nope! And not even close! (I have also technically told them that since they would technically go to a Millard school, they wouldn't be out until next Thursday!) Honestly, they aren't really complaining much and I am thankful. I am just itching to be done and get summer started!!

Should I just finish the kids up where they are or finish their books and get them ready for next year? I am more of the latter mindset! Did any of these other kids in public school get to take TWO vacations this school year? NOPE! We went to Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana last September for about 2 1/2 weeks and then just a month ago, we spent a 1 1/2 weeks travelling to the Grand Canyon and back.  We do not take any school books along on these trips, so that only set us behind further.

Here is where we stand on our main subjects:
Megan:
Math- 40 lessons left until we finish the book
Spelling- Three weeks left until a good stopping point
English- 11 lessons left until we finish the book

Courtney:
Math- 22 lessons left until we finish the book
Spelling- Three weeks left until the end.
English- We are at the end of a chapter and are ready to take a test. I would like to do the next section, but it's another 25 lessons. (There are two sections left and we are not going to finish this book, which I am ok with.)

I definitely want to finish math, spelling, and English (Megan) between the two girls. My rule is that they need to have the current level finished before starting the next level. For example, I would like Megan done with her 5th grade English book before moving onto the 6th grade book.

For all our other material, we use Sonlight curriculum. This includes history, geography, read-alouds, language arts (reading, writing), and science. We are currently going to start week 6 out of 36 weeks of lesson plans.  We are definitely not going to finish this!! I just need to get to a good stopping point between all the books, which is pretty impossible! We may just need to stop where we are and pick things back up in the fall! I think it will be impossible to keep doing this summer with our various activities that I have planned.  We are going to have a baby in the fall, which means there will be a break from school for awhile. I think we just get done what we can get done and if that means we do this all next year and even into the following year, it might just have to be what happens!

So in the end, I think we will gradually finish our subjects until all we have left to do on a daily basis is math! I think we can handle that!!

Bedroom Discussions!

Everyday we have a discussion about bedrooms.  We will have four children and three bedrooms- who is going to share and which room??

For the last couple of days, the kids thought they had it figured out.
1.  If the baby was a boy, then we could put him in with Christian.  He is super excited about sharing his bedroom with the baby!

2.  If the baby was a girl, then Courtney would move into the playroom and the baby would go in Megan's room with Megan.  She has the biggest bedroom in the house, so this sounds like a good plan.

In theory, it seems like this plan would work. Actually, I don't think it will!!

Matt really thinks that the baby will need his/ her own room.  The kids are always going in and out of their bedrooms all day and there is no way the baby would have any peace and quiet with our children!

After thinking about it too, I would rather not have the baby in Megan's bedroom or in the playroom. I would honestly want the baby in Christian's room, which is right at the top of the steps.  How many times will I need to go upstairs to change a diaper? O get something for the baby? Both girls' bedrooms are all the way at the other end of the hallway!

Matt's conclusion is that we put the baby in Christian's room (whether boy or girl), we move Christian to the playroom, and the girls stay where they are.

Courtney does NOT like this idea at all. She loves her playroom. She REALLY loves her table right in front of the big window and does not want to give it up.  I told her she doesn't need the whole bedroom just for a table to do work at. We can surely find a solution where she can have her table in front of a window!

Now we need to convince Christian to give up his room...it might no be an easy task! Maybe if we tell him we will paint the playroom red, which is his favorite color, he may be willing to move!!

Helplessness!

Matt and I have had quite a few discussions lately on the topic of "helplessness."  He watched a video on YouTube that sparked the topic and this video even said that our public schools are teaching our kids to be helpless.  They do this by spoon-feeding the kids everything they need to know. The problem with this is when they get out on their own, they are unable to think by themselves and do things independently.

On the other hand, this is one goal we have with homeschooling our children.  You are not helpless. If you need help, yes, I will help you, but I will not do it for you. Sometimes I catch myself doing this because it is easier, but in the long run, I am not training them for the future. Kids need to be able to do things on their own and solve their own problems.

I saw this picture today and it made me think of these discussions!

Blog Address and Changes Yet to Come!

I saw my blog address the other day and realized that it is not accurate anymore!

5ruwes.blogspot.com

Yep, I started this blog when I was pregnant with Christian!  I don't think I can change it now, but now we are going to be the 6ruwes!

This last week, we have had many discussions about the baby.  Luckily, nobody has asked "Where do babies come from?" yet!!!  Everybody now knows why we have belly buttons and that only girls have the parts to have a baby (for their knowledge, anyway!).  Christian likes to ask just making sure, "Does daddy have parts to have a baby? Does Courtney have parts to have a baby?"  He is just learning!!!

I also tell the kids that I get the leftovers because I am eating for two!! The kids have also asked me if the baby likes what I am eating, I just say, "Sure, he/she doesn't have a choice!" 

We have also talked about the many things that will change around here.

The bedroom situation is always a topic of conversation  We have three bedrooms and will have four children. Somebody will have to share!  We think that if it is a boy, we will put him in with Christian, who has already volunteered to share his bed with the baby! I told him he doesn't need to share his bed, just his room. He is super-excited just the same!  The girls say that if it is a girl, we can put her in with them and have three girls in one room. The have also thought of the great idea of getting bunk beds, which may be a possibility! This way, Courtney can keep her playroom!

I say no matter what, we need to clean the playroom out top to bottom anyway!  I would like the baby to have his/ her own room for awhile, especially if he/she insists on NOT sleeping through the night. I don't want the other kids up! Of course, he/ she will be in my bedroom for 2-3 months to start.  The playroom is getting a new window in July, so I think that will be a great summer project.  Matt also said that maybe he should finish the basement, so we can move the bookshelves down there and maybe get rid of some other stuff. I think it is a great idea!! (Matt only started on the basement BEFORE Christian was born and he hasn't worked on it in the last two years!)

We have also talked about how we will need a new truck to pull the camper.  Our current truck only holds five people (two up front and three in the back). We absolutely cannot fit anymore people.  There are a few limited options when it comes to a vehicles that will fit six people and yet pull a 7,000 lb camper. It has to be at least a 3/4 ton frame.  Matt has already started looking and seeing what is out there!

We know that the camper is big enough because we purposely bought one with four bunks a couple years ago. :)

Courtney and Megan have also noticed that we will need an extra chair around the kitchen table.  Matt and I bought our kitchen table when we first got married and it only came with four wooden chairs.  When Christian came along, we just added a folding chair, so that is still there.  I told Matt that we should just get a nice, new set with six matching chairs! Honestly, we have traded out the table too, so we have a table, 4 chairs that don't match the table, plus a folding chair! But honestly, do I want a nice, new table where we have school everyday and do art projects all the time?? probably not...

I am glad the kids are excited for this upcoming baby. We are due on the 8th of November and Megan has even said she doesn't care if we have the baby on her birthday, which is the 10th.  I said I don't really want that to happen, but it just might. I am planning on going more overdue than just two days!! Maybe we will hit Matt's birthday, which is the 20th. But honestly, I don't think my midwife will let me go twelve days overdue, so I am guessing about the 14th-15th on this one! Megan was fourteen days overdue, Courtney was eight days over, and Christian was six days over, maybe it will be even less this time! I can only hope!!

Some Little Children are Excited for a Sibling!!

 

The secret is out!!! We are expecting #4 in November. :)

Some Little Boy is Anxious for His Birthday!

Everyday I get this question from Christian, "How long until my birthday?" When I say 30 days, it doesn't really register with a 4 year old. He's trying to count down, but he just doesn't understand yet!  I may try to find something fun that we can use to count down until birthday!

He even came into my room at 3 this morning and said something about his birthday, so he is thinking about this day and night!

(I think he's missing the point that it is our 15 year anniversary this year too, might as well count down to that too since it is the same day!!!)

Friday and the playroom mess!

We have been hitting the school books hard this week! Our outside activities have slowed down a little bit, so I am trying to play catch up.  I LOVE our new A and B day schedule and it seems like the girls do too. It has let them know exactly what we do each day and what I expect to be done, it also let's me only plan what I need to teach for the next day. And the extra time with Christian has been nice too. He only wants to play trains or cars, but he's four and if that's what he wants to do together, then it is just fine with me! I ask him everyday if he wants to work on his letters or read a book and the answer is always no. (This is why I don't think he would be ready to go to kindergarten in the fall!)

I was looking at our schedule for today and I kind of wondered what to do.  Megan has two tests in Spelling and Math, so that frees up quite a bit of time today.  Our science lesson is really short, so that also frees up some time.  I thought to myself, "Do I go ahead and start on B day stuff with Courtney or do I give them the afternoon free?"  If I have time I can spend on schoolwork, I want to use it! But then I thought, wow, that playroom is a disaster! I also looked ahead at the calendar and saw that we are having a few families over next Sunday and we really don't have much time to clean that until then.  (Usually the playroom takes at least a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to get back into order.)

Guess what we are doing this afternoon instead of schoolwork? Courtney is cleaning the playroom!! She was NOT thrilled when I told her this plan last night, she was almost in tears. "Can we PLEASE do school work?? Please, please?" I said, "No, this would be a great time to get this done." Plus if I went ahead and started her "B" day work, I would need to get it ALL in or it would mess up my system. I just didn't see that happening on a Friday afternoon! 

We will do our "A" day work like planned and when we are done, we will try to find the floor of the playroom. I keep telling Courtney that if she wouldn't make it such a big mess she wouldn't have to spend so much time cleaning it!!

Baby Animals

http://www.decodedstuff.com/parenting-in-the-animal-kingdom-my-baby-and-me/

Science websites

We are learning more about mammals tomorrow and their symbiotic relationships with other organisms.

Here is an animal I have never heard of before, but looks very interesting.

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/grosshue_crai/interactions.htm

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pangolins&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=DB665737CDD0E0618BF1DB665737CDD0E0618BF1

We are also going to learn about the Mandril Monkey.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIA_L0hV93AA2i77w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNHNxYmtnBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDVklEUUJDSwRncG9zAzU-?p=mandrill+monkey&vid=072bc6a2202238784ab7a55d5d2ee317&l=2%3A16&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DWN.%252fIfitPhvwhrorMcAGlV%252fOQ%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DD-CewyHQJxw&tit=Information+about+Mandrill&c=4&sigr=11bqokuo0&sigt=10q4p56lh&sigi=123f11s3s&age=1374508012&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&b=31&tt=b

New School Plan!

While we were on our spring break, I had some time to think about school.  I am now doing two Sonlight cores a day, which is a lot of reading, plus language arts for both girls plus the daily math, English, and spelling.  I needed a system to get through all this material, but yet not go crazy!

Before our break, I would just kind of get done what we had time for and try to keep it all lined up according to days.  I would try to finish all of "day one" material before moving onto "day two," but sometimes this didn't work out too well.

Because it wasn't working out too well AND I need some time to spend with Christian each day, I came up with an "A" day and a "B" day.  When I student taught at Omaha North, we were on a block schedule and had "A" and "B" days.  It gave the students 90 minutes in each class and alternated days for different classes.  I thought this might work!

I sat down one night and divided up my Sonlight material.  No matter what, we need to have math, English, and spelling everyday, but I am not in a rush to get through our other stuff.  I decided that Megan's stuff will constitute most of "A" day.  We will read her read-aloud in the morning and do her language arts that same day.  We will then do science after lunch.  As for "B" day, it is mostly Courtney's material.  In the morning, we will read Megan's history reading (no time on "A" day) and then do Courtney's language arts in the morning.  After lunch, we will do Courtney's read aloud and history.  This spreads things out, but now I know what I need to get done every day! This also clears some of my day up so I can have some time with Christian!

We have been doing this for two days now and it seems to be working.  I know exactly what I have to teach the next day and am not doing extra preparations when I don't have to! I know when I need to get things ready and when I don't! It also gives the girls an extra day to get some of their assignments done, which I am sure they appreciate!

It may spread our curriculum out longer than I planned, but like I always say, I would rather slow down and learn it well, then rush through it and not get anything out of it!