October In Review

Although we had a very busy month in October, we don't have many pictures to share. We had a lot going on this month and taking pictures each day just kind of got away from me. We had my daughters baby shower that I hand made decorations for (WOW that was a LOT of work), and now my grandson is also doing a bit of tot school each day (about 5 to 10 minutes out of the whole day), which you wouldn't think would take up a lot of time, but to prepare for, and then clean up the activity, that adds a lot of time to my day. I do promise to get back into picture taking routine for November, however, don't plan on that lasting long as we are expecting grandbaby #2 ANY time between now and December 1st (she is wanting to come early), and when she comes we will be taking some time off of school to adjust to having her here daily as well.

Anyway......we are still LOVING Time4Learning. We miss the stories from the L.A. Extensions that we had in the second grade level, but we are slowly adjusting the the 3rd grade L.A. Extensions level, and as we add in our own supplements it becomes more fun every day. We do not do the science and social studies that Time4Learning provides as the boys found it a little dry and boring, so we supplement there as well. The program as a whole though works GREAT for our family and we couldn't be more happy with it. It is definitely worth every penny. 

Here are a couple of pictures that we did manage to get in this month! 

Grandbaby Ricky enjoys a few minutes of all the attention on himself. He loves learning along with the boys. This month he practiced the color Red, the letter A, and learned the word Apple. 

This month we added a BIG trampoline to our yard for P.E/Break Time. This will go great with the slightly larger pool they are getting for Christmas...Shhhh.....that is a secret! It is still a small pool as we do not have a yard large enough for a large pool AND a big trampoline, but it will be big enough for them to swim around in! 

Of course we took a day off to visit the Pumpkin Patch! Why go on the weekend when it is packed? Let's go on a weekday when it is empty! 

Collecting Postcards for our Virtual Roadtrip. You can find the lesson for this by clicking the Road Trip Binder.

We have a few postcards so far. We will add these to our portfolio and to our bulletin board in our home classroom! 

And a fun Art Project/Writing Prompt about Pumpkins!

We fount the idea for these here (Image Linked):

Well we hope you enjoyed our Month of October in Review! And in case you are wondering what kind of SUPER COOL costumes we will be rocking for Halloween this year, we will be:

Steve and Creeper from Minecraft! 

Happy Halloween! 

September in Review

Wow. I cannot believe I am already looking back at the month of September. Seriously, did I sleep through the whole month? It went by in a flash! We did so many fun things this month, and we are making lots of transitions!

This second year of homeschooling is SO much different from the first, in a GOOD way. We are ALL so much more relaxed and we are truly enjoying our time together, even on the rough days. I don't want to paint a picture that it is all smiles and roses however, because we DO indeed have some very bad days. We are actually quite used to bumps in our day because with Jacob's Autism and Mood Disorder diagnosis, come unstable moods. This sometimes leads to moments of frustration, but those soon end, and we get back on track and get back to work.

Sometimes when those days pop up we have to step back, take it easy, and scale back for the day. We take breaks when we need them. We work hard when we have the energy and focus. Sometimes we take a fun day and do things like go to the state fair!

I cannot say enough how proud I am of my boys. They have worked incredibly hard this month and have put forth a ton of effort into their work. I can see them starting to take pride in what they are doing rather than just trying to get it done as quickly as possible which tells me that they are beginning to actually enjoy the learning experience! We are doing it RIGHT! HOORAY! 

When we first began homeschooling, I feared that we would somehow fail our children, that somehow I was not "smart" enough to teach them. What I did not realize was that I did not need to be a professor to teach my children, I am their Mother, and it is my instinct to teach them. They also naturally want to learn. Between my motherly instinct to teach, and their instinct to learn, how could I have ever thought I could fail? LOL Don't get me wrong, I still have days that I wonder if I have made the right choice, as I am sure most homeschool families do, but at the end of the day, when it is quiet, and I go over the days events, I am always 100% sure that I am absolutely doing the right thing! 

Anyway, enough of me going on and on! Here are some highlights from September! 

Exploding volcanoes with Dad is SUPER fun. (Notice Brandon's face protection LOL) 

A donation of used books from a dear friend was MUCH appreciated!

How my children eat lunch. Jacob chooses to eat under the table, (Related to his Autism) while Brandon watches some YouTube! On today's menu, McDonald's! Yummy. 

Working with word parts.

We took a day off to clean up damage from a big wind storm! Brandon was a BIG helper!

With LOTS of practice, AND patience, Jacob can do his writing assignments with SMILES most days! He works hard to add details to his work and he takes pride in neatness, something he did not care at all about just a year ago! I am SO impressed! 

The twins made themselves some hot cocoa cups for the cooler weather that we have been having, and grandbaby made and "I Love Mom" coffee cup for his Mommy. (My kids are never dressed hence the batman shield over my sons chest WHICH I did not noticed matched his twin brother's hat until AFTER I posted this blog! Hahaha)

We had so much fun making Toilet Paper Roll Monsters!

The boys LOVE the library despite the pained look on Jacob's face (he hates when I interrupt for pictures LOL)

Jacob is SO proud that he is able to read and comprehend much more easily these days!

Lots, and Lots, and Lots of school work! 

And LOTS of books!

We had a REALLY good month in September, and we are looking forward to another good month in October! We are definitely settled into this years routine and are loving it so far! We hope you will come back next month to see what we have been up to! 

Coming Soon............

Coming Soon......September In Review! I promise it is on my To-Do List, we have been busy, busy, busy! I am going to try my very hardest to squeeze it in tomorrow!

August in Review

August was a really great month. We have transitioned from "Summer School" to our "Full Time" school year schedule now that public schools are back to school for the year. The boys are still catching up from our LONG move over the summer, and we are currently working on finishing up the last of the 2nd grade Language Arts and Language Arts Extensions before we transition into the 3rd Grade Curriculum. We are in no hurry, as long as we are making steady progress, that is really all that matters. It will take us a little while longer to transition to the third grade math, but that's ok too, as the Time4Learning curriculum is a little more advance than what the boys were learning in the traditional schools. 

Here are some of our highlights from the month of August! 

We went to the local museum and seen the Lustron House....

We also seen the Iron Lung machine.....

 And some other fun things from the past! We had a great time

learning and exploring. 

 Lots of worksheet practice

 Play at the park! 

 Bible Study of course! 

 Art Fun!

 More fun at the park!

 Learning with real money instead of worksheets is SO much easier. 

 Water Balloon Target Practice for P.E.

 Social Studies/Art Lesson Vikings! 

 And some Story Sequencing. 

It has been a really great month. We are looking forward to September, cooler weather, and hopefully more time outdoors! Autumn is my favorite time of year, I am really excited for the next couple of months!

Tot School in Action

Ricky is ready to start "learning". He has been increasingly interested in what we are doing while we are working on schoolwork. Just a few short months ago, he couldn't care less what we were doing, and he just wanted to play (of course), but now when the bigger boys are working on school, Ricky wants to be involved. Time to hit pintrest for some Early Learning activities! As I have said before in my blog, it is NEVER too early to start learning, and Ricky is certainly showing interest.
On this day while we did school, Ricky worked on some "pre writing". He wrote a very sweet "letter" to his Mommy and Daddy while visiting at Grandma's house for the afternoon. I think it is pretty amazing that this is the first time he has ever picked up a crayon, and he actually held them in his hands to "write". What a smart grandbaby I have on my hands. :)

"Pre Writing"

This actually kept him busy for quite some time. I had to teach him the rules of crayons...."Crayons are for drawing, not throwing Ricky", "Ricky, crayons taste yucky, how about we eat a snack instead", "Ricky we draw on paper, not Nana's book shelves", but he did mostly stick to the paper. I was proud. 

When he was all done writing (about 10 minutes later) he went on to play again. I was surprised the "writing" held his attention as long as it did. Good Job buddy! 

"Play Time"

July In Review

As we end the month of July, I would like to take a minute and look back at the fun we had this month!

As was mentioned in an earlier post, we started this month mid way through due to an unexpected move. We are quite settled into our new home and our new routine, and despite a few days of unwanted migraines, we have been able to work our summer schedule!

In July the boys have begun beginning multiplication, and beginning division. They continue to work on learning how to count money and tell time. We are going to keep focusing on basic handwriting skills before we go on to learn cursive in 4th grade. I believe the extra time will make the transition to cursive easier. Jacob's reading skills are improving every day despite his learning delays. We take extra time at the end of each evening to practice reading in addition to the reading he does during the school day.

Even with all of this learning going on, we squeeze in time for fun too! We hope now that we are finally settled in, we will have even MORE fun in the month of August! We missed a lot of the summer due to our move, but we plan to make up for lost time in the upcoming month!

Jacob works extra hard! 

Brandon works very hard too! Although he acts a bit more silly! 

Fun Time in the Pool and at the Park!

We hope you will keep an eye on our blog for more fun! 

Time4Learning Review

Time4Learning Review

Hi, my name is Shawna and I am a mother of 4. My two oldest children are now adults, and my two youngest are 8 year old twins who are currently being home-schooled using Time4Learning as a main source of curriculum.

This is our second year of schooling at home. Our children started out in the public school system in Pre-K, and remained within that school system until first grade. At the end of first grade we decided that our children needed a more individualized education. During summer break at the end of first grade, we researched our options for schooling our children at home. After finding and trying (unsuccessfully) an online public school, we came across Time4Learning and we decided to give it a try.

Since I have twin boys who learn at significantly different speeds (One of the boys has a diagnosis of Autism and Developmental Delay), I needed a program that would allow me to address each child’s needs separately while at the same time using the same program for both boys. Time4Learning allows me to advance a grade, or go back a grade for each individual subject and for each individual child. This is especially helpful to keep my advanced student from growing bored with his work, while allowing my delayed student to work at his own pace. I think my favorite part of the Time4Learning program is the level of flexibility it has to offer!
The lessons within the Time4Learning program keep both of my boys entertained and engaged. Each child has their own favorite lessons, and they each love to see their preferred lessons on the weekly lesson plan. It gives them something to look forward to each week. I love to see the boys having FUN while learning and I honestly believe the fun mixed in with the learning is what leads to the level of success my boys have had with this program.

The program also contains a “Parents Tools” and a “My Students” section that makes my job as a “teacher” super easy! The Parents Tools section includes Many How-To videos that were quite helpful when we were new to the program. I still refer back to the videos now and again, and I always learn something new! Within the Parents Tools section are also Resources to use along with the lessons. All in one place for easy access. The My Students Section allows me to View Reports, Print Membership Letters, and more!

If I could change one thing about Time4Learning it would be to add more to the Science and Social Studies Curriculum. I have found though that I am able to supplement the Science and Social Studies Units with free online materials through various websites though, which adds to the curriculum already in place.

I can say without a doubt that we made the right choice when we chose Time4Learning. I hope that this review has been helpful to you in making YOUR decision easier. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!

Are you ready to get started with Time4Learning? Go to Time4Learning NOW!

As a bonus I have included a video of my son Brandon doing his favorite Time4Learning lesson! You can watch that by clicking HERE to go to You Tube..

shawnarenee39@yahoo.com
https://www.facebook.com/OurHomeSchoolJourney2015andBeyond

Please Note:
As a member of Time4Learning, I have been asked to review their online education program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. Write your own curriculum review or learn how to use their curriculum for homeschool, after school study or summer learning.
Thank you. 

Back to (home)School!!!

We are back to school today, and it went better than expected. Jacob was of course not ready to jump back into the school routine, so I am glad that I had made a short, fun lesson plan for the day. Brandon however was over the moon excited to be back to school, and if it were up to him we would have sat at the computer and writing table all day! Twins.....so different!

We did a back to school discussion session, followed by a back to school coloring sheet/writing prompt. After that we jumped into Language Arts and Language Arts Extensions. We stopped there, to have a quick lunch before finishing our day with a one hour swim for P.E. We stopped there. We will be easing back into the schedule slowly but surely! Here are some pictures from our first day, and a link to a video of Brandon doing one of his favorite lessons!

Enjoy!

You can watch Brandon's video by clicking HERE.

We can't wait to see how this next year comes along, we hope you will enjoy watching our boys grow through this year! 

Another Long Delay Finished Up

Our "Summer School" was briefly interrupted by an unplanned move. Due to a lousy landlord, and some really "shifty" neighbors, and a house that may have had black mold, we needed to move ASAP. We put school on hold for a month, and got into a newly renovated house. We had to wait for renovations to be finished, so we stayed on the In-Laws land in an RV while we waited for our house. That was quite an experience, and I am glad it is over. LOL

(Pictures from the RV)

Life is back to normal now that we are in our new house. We JUST got our school room set up tonight (about a week and a half after moving in)! There are still PLENTY of touches that need put on it, and we will eventually trading out old furniture we scraped up from the old house with nicer more functional furniture for the school room, but for now it serves it's purpose! 

(Main School Area)

(Mom's Desk)

 (Arts and Crafts/Games Area with additional storage behind door)

I have to say it is quite nice to have a dedicated school room as opposed to sharing my living room and kitchen with all of the school supplies! We look forward to our first day tomorrow, and we can't wait to start learning in our new school room! 

Wish us luck in our new school year!