Skip to main content

Life Lately


See, I told you that would happen. I would blog for a few days and then get busy. And now it's been a month since I last posted.

So what have we been doing around here?

Brynne finished her 7th grade year in public school. She walked away with Straight A's all year except for one semester grade of an A- the first semester in Science. She had a successful year in sports playing volleyball and basketball and is now two-thirds of the way through her summer softball season.

Eli finished his 8th grade year in our homeschool and had a very productive year. Although it was hard on both of us with him being home alone the majority of the time doing his work, it was also good for him as he learned what he is capable of doing on his own. One of the biggest things he learned was time management. And we can all benefit from a healthy dose of that.

This year I have really concentrated on teaching the kids some life skills, not only because they need to know how to do these things but because I needed some help. With working, I just did not have the time to get everything done at home by myself. And I shouldn't have to anyway. We are a family and should work together. Eli started being responsible for taking out the trash and recycling, and Brynne's job became unloading the dishwasher. They learned how to do their own laundry and are now responsible for doing it each week. They have to choose one day of the weekend and completely clean their own rooms, vacuuming and dusting and straightening, etc., and have to keep their own sink clean in the bathroom. These things are in addition to just picking up after themselves, which they have always been pretty good at doing anyway. This past week I taught them how to mow the yard, so they each have a portion they mow each time it needs to be done. They will thank me someday for all of these lessons. Next up is to each learn how to cook two dinners so that we can start sharing some of the responsibility for evening meals. What chores do your kids do?

I have been working from home for about a month now, and I love it! I have settled into a pretty good routine where I get up early to workout and have some quiet time, and then I jump right into my workload. I pretty much work all day, taking a break here and there to eat or step outside for some fresh air. It's a pretty good gig.

Although I have Eli's next school year pretty much mapped out, he and I have been discussing some of the specifics of his course load. He has also expressed an interest in joining some kind of coop so we are looking into a couple of options for fall.

Our summer is going to be crazy busy, as usual. We have softball games, medical appointments, library activities, a trip to Chicago for National Stuttering Association conference, Dawson's graduation from tech school, my niece's wedding, Dawson and Alyssa's wedding, Dawson's leave here at home and their move to South Carolina, a lake trip with friends, volleyball camps, and birthdays. The days are just flying by.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

A Thomas Jefferson Education "This Week in History" ~ Schoolhouse Review

Talk about a GOLD MINE! A Thomas Jefferson Education's This Week in History by Rachel DeMille is her "labor of love" ... and I absolutely LOVE it! " This Week in History is a daily resource that brings your home school or classroom to life." For just $9.99 per month, you can log onto TJEd.com and click the "This Week in History" link to obtain many, many, many resources tied to specific events that occurred in the upcoming week in history. Or even better, you can receive the summaries and links to ALL resources right in your email Inbox each week! It doesn't get any easier than that! What does this really look like in real life? Each week, I receive an email from Rachel DeMille that sets out each date of the coming week. Under the date, there are listed anywhere from one to several events that occurred in history on that date. THEN there are ALL kinds of things to do related to that event, such as books to read, websites to visit, ac

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.