We finally had a weekend where we had NOTHING planned!
We thought we would take advantage of it and get things done around the house, and boy did we get things done!!
We had two main things to get done- trim the trees in the backyard and clean the basement!
Matt had gotten a trailer from his dad earlier in the week, so he was outside about 9 am with his saw and was trimming branches. Our trees had taken over our backyard! Some of them were hanging down to the ground, some were hanging over the slide, some were in the way of the swings, and the biggest problem was that the grass underneath the trees was dying because it couldn't get any sun! Matt trimmed ALL the trees so he could stand underneath them again and not get hit by branches!
By the time he was done, it looked like a huge wind storm had come through because we had huge tree branches all over our yard!
Megan and I helped Matt haul them to the front of the house where he cut the branches up even further and put them in the trailer. He ended up making two trips out to the local dump (costing $17 each time!) to dump the branches.
Our back yard looks so much better!!!!
Our other goal this weekend was to clean the basement. Courtney and her slime habit had taken over down there, and it was a disaster!! Our basement is not fully finished either, and Matt said he cannot work on it anymore until it gets cleaned up. About 2 pm, Matt, Courtney, and I headed downstairs to work. It was amazing how much slime we found everywhere. It was stuck to the cement floor in many places, stuck on her table, in the kitchen area, and just in places it shouldn't be!!
We had two HUGE sacks of garbage and everything (various craft supplies, tools, etc.) back in its place by about 5 pm. Matt had even taken the initiative and put up some woodwork! I was thrilled!! He only needs to finish the woodwork and then we can put down some flooring. It has been stuck like this for at least the last five years! I would love to make it into a usable space, especially this winter when I will have two boys bouncing off the walls!
We just need another weekend down there, and we could probably finish the cleaning. I am not sure what Matt wants to put down for flooring. I just want it done, so we can use it...and maybe turn it into a school room??
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Friday, July 27, 2018
We are almost done and new beginnings!
My poor kids won't get much of a break from school.
We have been working all summer on math! Megan and Courtney each have about 10 lessons left and Christian has about 40! How did I get so far behind with him?? We have been doing two lessons a day lately just to finish. He has been a pretty good sport about it!
Anyway, one of my homeschooling rules is that I like to be done with our "grade level" curriculum before we start the new year in the fall. I think we will make it! This is usually math and English. I feel I can just roll over the other subjects, and it doesn't matter!
Another reason I need to get our work done is that I need to get Megan ready for high school this year! I told her we need to start all her subjects new this fall, and she needs to finish them or get close to the end this coming year. We cannot keep going with them in the fall. We need to start counting credits this year! I can hardly believe she is in high school!
Since it is almost August and school goes back in two weeks, I have been working here at home to finalize our curriculum for the coming school year. I am actually changing a few things and starting a few new curriculums. I hope it won't be too much of a change!
I am also one to pick and chose my books from a variety of curriculum companies. Many people pick one company and do all their subjects; I have never found that to work for me! I usually like one subjects and not the others. For example, I have LOVED Rod and Staff math and English, but I didn't care for the other subjects. I am not sure if I would be labeled an "eclectic" homeschooler because I pick and chose!
Here is what I have lined up for Megan:
Bob Jones Fundamentals of Literature
Writing with Skill Book 1
(NO GRAMMAR OR VOCABULARY THIS YEAR!!!)
Mystery of History Book 2 along with the historical fiction literature from Sonight Core G
Bob Jones Algebra 1
Apologia Physical Science (which she did 1 chapter in last spring)
We are also looking at letting her taking Latin up at the local high school this year. This would be for her foreign langauge credit.
I am also going to give her a half credit for PE/ Health. I went to a high school seminar last spring,and they said colleges like to see this on the transcript. It shows that the students aren't lazy. :)
She also has been teaching herself piano, so I am going to throw a half credit of piano on her transcript too.
Along with her studies, she will be participating in Homeschool Teen Serve and serving at the Homeschool Learning Center. These will count towards volunteer hours, which I am going to require of her. :)
She also will attend youth group at church.
This should keep her plenty busy!
Actually she is kind of worried that she will be too busy! I said you are in high school now- you are going to have to step it up and just maybe do homework in the evening!
We have been working all summer on math! Megan and Courtney each have about 10 lessons left and Christian has about 40! How did I get so far behind with him?? We have been doing two lessons a day lately just to finish. He has been a pretty good sport about it!
Anyway, one of my homeschooling rules is that I like to be done with our "grade level" curriculum before we start the new year in the fall. I think we will make it! This is usually math and English. I feel I can just roll over the other subjects, and it doesn't matter!
Another reason I need to get our work done is that I need to get Megan ready for high school this year! I told her we need to start all her subjects new this fall, and she needs to finish them or get close to the end this coming year. We cannot keep going with them in the fall. We need to start counting credits this year! I can hardly believe she is in high school!
Since it is almost August and school goes back in two weeks, I have been working here at home to finalize our curriculum for the coming school year. I am actually changing a few things and starting a few new curriculums. I hope it won't be too much of a change!
I am also one to pick and chose my books from a variety of curriculum companies. Many people pick one company and do all their subjects; I have never found that to work for me! I usually like one subjects and not the others. For example, I have LOVED Rod and Staff math and English, but I didn't care for the other subjects. I am not sure if I would be labeled an "eclectic" homeschooler because I pick and chose!
Here is what I have lined up for Megan:
Bob Jones Fundamentals of Literature
Writing with Skill Book 1
(NO GRAMMAR OR VOCABULARY THIS YEAR!!!)
Mystery of History Book 2 along with the historical fiction literature from Sonight Core G
Bob Jones Algebra 1
Apologia Physical Science (which she did 1 chapter in last spring)
We are also looking at letting her taking Latin up at the local high school this year. This would be for her foreign langauge credit.
I am also going to give her a half credit for PE/ Health. I went to a high school seminar last spring,and they said colleges like to see this on the transcript. It shows that the students aren't lazy. :)
She also has been teaching herself piano, so I am going to throw a half credit of piano on her transcript too.
Along with her studies, she will be participating in Homeschool Teen Serve and serving at the Homeschool Learning Center. These will count towards volunteer hours, which I am going to require of her. :)
She also will attend youth group at church.
This should keep her plenty busy!
Actually she is kind of worried that she will be too busy! I said you are in high school now- you are going to have to step it up and just maybe do homework in the evening!
Saturday, July 21, 2018
100%!
Micah has been wearing underwear 100% of the time lately. He wears them during the night and day and EVEN when we go out!
Honestly, I ran out of pullups and didn't want to buy anymore. Plus he always did great when we were out and about and never peed in them anyway!
Being out and about was almost easier than being at home. Since he is always with me, I can always tell when he has to go potty, and I can take him right away. At home, I just let him do his own thing and don't watch him very closely. This is when he has accidents.
At home the last few days, I just take him every few hours, and we haven't had any accidents!
On Thursday, we were at the airport and as we were getting into the car, he started dancing. I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes. I was kind of stuck thought because I didn't want to haul him plus the other three back into the airport! I buckled him into his carseat and he held it all the way home!! Yay!!
This may have taken almost a month, but I think we are finally getting it!!!
Honestly, I ran out of pullups and didn't want to buy anymore. Plus he always did great when we were out and about and never peed in them anyway!
Being out and about was almost easier than being at home. Since he is always with me, I can always tell when he has to go potty, and I can take him right away. At home, I just let him do his own thing and don't watch him very closely. This is when he has accidents.
At home the last few days, I just take him every few hours, and we haven't had any accidents!
On Thursday, we were at the airport and as we were getting into the car, he started dancing. I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes. I was kind of stuck thought because I didn't want to haul him plus the other three back into the airport! I buckled him into his carseat and he held it all the way home!! Yay!!
This may have taken almost a month, but I think we are finally getting it!!!
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Amazing!
Micah is still working on this potty-training thing.
Whenever I ask him if he needs to go potty, the answer is always, "NO!!!"
But yet whenever I take him, he always goes. Hmmmm.
This boy refuses to tell me when he has to go. If I do not take him at home, he will go in his underwear and say, "Mom, I peed on your floor!" or "Mom, I peed in my pants!" This happens every.single.time. Obviously he knows when he goes potty! He always wears underwear at home, so he always has to change his clothes.
If I set the time at home for every 2 hours or so and take him, he is great! I literally have to drag him to the bathroom kicking and screaming sometimes, but he goes! It is those in-between times when he just goes in his underwear. :(
As for when we are outside of the house, he is great because I take him every so often. I do not know the last time he had an accident outside of the house.
He is great at bedtime too! I don't think he has woke up wet in the last 2-3 weeks. Last night, I put underwear on him for bedtime, and he woke up dry! He has been waking up in the middle of the night, so I usually take him potty and put him back to bed. This seems to be working!
Good bye diapers!!!
I also only have 1-2 pullups left; I don't think I am going to buy anymore. I think we will just be in underwear 100% of the time!
Whenever I ask him if he needs to go potty, the answer is always, "NO!!!"
But yet whenever I take him, he always goes. Hmmmm.
This boy refuses to tell me when he has to go. If I do not take him at home, he will go in his underwear and say, "Mom, I peed on your floor!" or "Mom, I peed in my pants!" This happens every.single.time. Obviously he knows when he goes potty! He always wears underwear at home, so he always has to change his clothes.
If I set the time at home for every 2 hours or so and take him, he is great! I literally have to drag him to the bathroom kicking and screaming sometimes, but he goes! It is those in-between times when he just goes in his underwear. :(
As for when we are outside of the house, he is great because I take him every so often. I do not know the last time he had an accident outside of the house.
He is great at bedtime too! I don't think he has woke up wet in the last 2-3 weeks. Last night, I put underwear on him for bedtime, and he woke up dry! He has been waking up in the middle of the night, so I usually take him potty and put him back to bed. This seems to be working!
Good bye diapers!!!
I also only have 1-2 pullups left; I don't think I am going to buy anymore. I think we will just be in underwear 100% of the time!
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Side effect of having their own rooms!
I have learned a new side effect of the girls having their own rooms.
They now have room to have friends over for sleep overs!!! I know this is kind of minor, but before, there was no floor space to have any friends over, plus I wanted to wait until the girls were older.
Now, they are having sleepovers almost every week.
We have become pretty close to another family from our church and they have two girls the same age as Megan and Courtney.
Last night, we were at ANOTHER family's house (along with this family from church) and as we were going out the door, the two girls who are always over started begging for a sleepover, since they hadn't had one this week yet!! It was 10 pm!!
My girls came to me and said, "Dad said it was up to you." I just shrugged my shoulders- why can't these girls plan it any earlier?? Courtney took my shoulder shrug and ran off to tell everybody I said yes, which I didn't technically say! They all got excited because they had talked us into it yet AGAIN!
In the meantime, there was this other family who also has 4 older girls (they have 9 kids in all), and they were all standing there. They have also become friends, so I said, "You can't invite one family and not the other family!" I extended the invite to them too.
Guess how many extra girls we brought home last night? 5!!!!
My girls thought it was great because Matt and I both had cars there, so we had extra room.
The 2nd group of girls ran off to get their stuff, and everybody piled into the cars! I asked them where everybody was going to sleep, and they said they would figure it out! I now had 7 girls sleeping at my house (5 friends and 2 of my own!)
I just laugh about it because if I was 11 and 14, this would have been super fun!!
I told the other moms that they will not be in bed before 1:30 am, and they were both fine with it.
I heard them come upstairs around 1:40 am last night! I am not sure what they were doing downstairs, but they were quiet! How can 7 girls be so quiet that I couldn't even hear them upstairs??
Anyway, they are all still sleeping now and will probably sleep until 10 am!!
There are three girls in Megan's room and four girls in Courtney's room. They paired off by age.
How fun!!!
They now have room to have friends over for sleep overs!!! I know this is kind of minor, but before, there was no floor space to have any friends over, plus I wanted to wait until the girls were older.
Now, they are having sleepovers almost every week.
We have become pretty close to another family from our church and they have two girls the same age as Megan and Courtney.
Last night, we were at ANOTHER family's house (along with this family from church) and as we were going out the door, the two girls who are always over started begging for a sleepover, since they hadn't had one this week yet!! It was 10 pm!!
My girls came to me and said, "Dad said it was up to you." I just shrugged my shoulders- why can't these girls plan it any earlier?? Courtney took my shoulder shrug and ran off to tell everybody I said yes, which I didn't technically say! They all got excited because they had talked us into it yet AGAIN!
In the meantime, there was this other family who also has 4 older girls (they have 9 kids in all), and they were all standing there. They have also become friends, so I said, "You can't invite one family and not the other family!" I extended the invite to them too.
Guess how many extra girls we brought home last night? 5!!!!
My girls thought it was great because Matt and I both had cars there, so we had extra room.
The 2nd group of girls ran off to get their stuff, and everybody piled into the cars! I asked them where everybody was going to sleep, and they said they would figure it out! I now had 7 girls sleeping at my house (5 friends and 2 of my own!)
I just laugh about it because if I was 11 and 14, this would have been super fun!!
I told the other moms that they will not be in bed before 1:30 am, and they were both fine with it.
I heard them come upstairs around 1:40 am last night! I am not sure what they were doing downstairs, but they were quiet! How can 7 girls be so quiet that I couldn't even hear them upstairs??
Anyway, they are all still sleeping now and will probably sleep until 10 am!!
There are three girls in Megan's room and four girls in Courtney's room. They paired off by age.
How fun!!!
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