ABC's of Homeschooling -- W

This weeks letter is W. Of course how can you have ABC's of Homeschooling with out the WORD or WORDS!

Those simple abc's lead to all those complex WORDS, that we read daily. Some of words are easy to read and other are harder. There are Dolch-Sight Words, compound words, vocabulary words, word searches, words you need to learn for the SAT test.

Words to be able to tell your loved one how much you love them. Words to write poems. Words to tell stories you have created.

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling - U

This weeks letter is "U."

While thinking of this letter and how it goes with homeschooling I think of the prefix "Un" I know not a whole word. But think about it, these words really fit my world sometimes...

Untidy

Unclean

Unsocialized

Unconcerned

Unstructured

Untidy - usually means that my kids have left newspapers all over the floor after using them to create authentic swords from King Author's time. Or they have left the blankets all over the living room after they built that castle to go with those swords.

Unclean - usually means paint up to elbows and rice all over the floor after rice play. Or a dirt ring around the diaper waist before getting in the tub and leaving that dirt ring in the tub.

Unsocialized - usually mean not mixing with other children or even adults that I don't approve of. This is very easy to do being we are homeschooled and have the ability to put ourselves and our children in the presence of people we feel are appropriate and are not.

Unstructured - usually means that we are laid back on how we get our school work done. Using context games to get ideas across in an unusual way. Unstructured mean going along the kids interest in learning basics. Using things like word searches and hangman to have even more fun.

Unconcerned - usually means unconcerned about what other people think about our choice to homeschool. Unconcerned about what people thing about us wearing dresses/skirts 90% of the time. Unconcerned about how we may not let our children be involved in sports due to it does not fit with our families way of life.

That is my U post for the week.  Can't wait to read ya'lls. Head on over to The Momma Knows and sign up to share.

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling - T

This weeks letter is "T" and as a homeschooler the first "T" word I thought of was

or 

As a homeschool Mom this is something that we are doing all the time. NONE-stop sometimes it seems.  We are always trying to teach our kid when they are not looking. I know that sounds funny but I can't tell how many times I have asked my son to add something up for me at the grocery store or read a sign out loud to me as I am driving. *Wink Wink* teaching all the time! Even when they are not looking. Using online games is a easy way to teach our children while they are playing. Dawn at The Momma Knows mentioned Timez Attack, that is a great example of teaching our kids when they are not looking. LOVE IT! 

Then there is when we actually sit down to teach our kids. You know the normal math, english, science and social studies. As a homeschool Mom I am always open to any ideas on how to teach my children. We are big on using curriculum online, we might even look into homeschool writing course soon. We have used art curriculum on line in the past my son really enjoyed it. 

Then there is teaching that is different but instead it is common sense teaching. Every parent teaches this from birth. We teach our children to sit up, how to put their hands down first when the fall, how to walk. Oh don't forget we teach potty training, too. This is a subject that we really need to work on in our house right now. We teach our children not to walk out into the street. We teach our children to make good choices. 

Teaching is not just for homeschoolers but for parents or even for adults that have children in their lives. 

Who have you taught lately? 

Be sure to stop by The Momma Knows and share your ABC's of Homeschooling - "T"

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling -- (R) -- S

How did I do this again I don't know but I missed "R" last week on the ABC's of Homeschooling. So this week will be both "R" and "S".

"R" is for Relax.  Our whole way of schooling is very relaxed. I go with the flow to get it all done. Yes I set goals to get things done each day. But I don't stress out when things get missed or when our day needs to be adjusted due to an opportunity comes our way. I remember when I was not so relaxed, that lead to a very stressful day not only for me but for my son.

"S" is for Statistics, homeschool statistics to be exact. I was amazed when I saw this information on homeschool statistics.

Example:
The government says that 1.5 million students were homeschooled in 2007, a 36% increase since the last study in 2003.


Can you imagine what it is now in 2012? There are so many different learning styles and teaching styles that it is amazing. I am blown away by homeschool statistics. When I first started homeschooling in 2003 I barely new anyone who homeschooled. Now I run into homeschoolers everywhere.

The homeschooling trend is growing very fast!

Be sure to stop by         

 

and see what others chose for their letter of the week!

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling - Q

This weeks letter is "Q." This week I was not sure what to write about until I sat and made a list of "Q" words. I thought of

Quality

Quickly

Qualify

How can I do a post on just one "Q" word. So I am going to write about all 3.

Quality - Do I give my kids quality time and education? Some days the quality might not be as good as another day. But when you put them all together they are full of quality. We use quality curriculum like time4learning.com and Draw to Learn Psalms .

Quickly - Babies and children grow up very fast.  To quickly if you ask me. It seems like just yesterday I was holding Biggun (12 years old now) or teaching him his letters. Even when things are not going the best, you know the screaming tantrums that littles have it all still goes by to quickly.

Qualify - This is one question I get often.  What makes me qualified to teach my children. The answer I give to that is GOD! God qualified me to be their parent. I am to "Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart." (Proverbs 22:6) What better way then to homeschool them myself. God has provided a lot of help in this department. With all the curriculum out there and even  online computer games for review like SAT games, for when we get to that stage in our life.

So what "Q" word would you use to describe your homeschool.  Stop by The Momma Knows and share your word.

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling -- O & P

I missed last week for "O" so I will do both "O" and "P" this week.

O is for Online homeschooling. There are so many different things you can do online. From online math to online writing classes. We have used time4learning.com as in our school in some way or another over the past many years. Right now we are using it for online science. Biggun really loves it. We will be using it for learning to read w/ Honey next year.

P is for Patience.  That is what my children have needed to have with me the past year or so.  Usually it is the other way around, right? The mom needs to have patience with their child.  But this past year my children have had to deal with me and my migraines. Needing to go lay down and being grumpy with  them among other things. Patience is a very hard for children. But some how they have done a pretty good job at it. Biggun my oldest has been wonderful with helping with the littles.

That is my O and P this week. Thanks for stopping by. Join me and share what your ABC's of Homeschooling are over at The Momma Knows.

 

Be sure to stop by the 50 Followers Giveaway! 
The time has been extended another week due to low entry! 

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling -- N

This weeks letter is "N" 

 "N" is for Noise. 

My house is always NOISY.  Between the littles playing and well fighting, too. Moose screams like a girl and Honey whines very loudly.  Biggun on the computer doing his school work, playing math games or playing mindcraft. Oh, then there is when Biggun is practicing his bass guitar. 

The TV is always on in our house even if it is on the news channel or on PBS it seems it is always on.

Did I mention the NOISE the dogs make, too. Yes I said dogs as in plural! We have 2 dogs. When one barks the other barks too. 

Add the phone ringing and the fax machine going off for my husbands work.  It is always NOISY in my house.  People wonder why I stay up so late at night, after the kids go to bed. It is because that is the only time that this house is NOT NOISY! 

But wait as I sit here writing this blog I realize it is not really my house that is NOISY but my family is NOISY.  We can't go on a walk with the littles in their jogging strollers with out them making NOISES (I don't mean talking I mean NOISES like barking and squealing) 

This is also the reason why my son, Biggun, gets up early before everyone else and does his school work. For the quiet. Sometimes we can do roadschooling and still deal with the NOISE it just depends on where we are going. 

Stop by TheMommaKnows.com to find out what others say about the letter N. 

Lil Momma Strouse

ABC's of Homeschooling -- M

How many different names do your children call you?

Mom

Momma

Mommy

Mommeeee

Ma

or how about 

MOTHER 

This sweet looking little girl calls me MOTHER.

"Honey"

Not Mom, not Mommy, not Momma but Mother.  I am not sure what caused her to start doing that but that is what she calls me and it is a little strange to me.

My oldest Biggun calls me Mom and my youngest calls me Mommeee, (lots of e's in his Mommy.)

She will still call me Momma when she is not thinking about it. But when she is being told to do something she will respond with "Yes Mother" or "Mother can I have..."  I have been tutoring her to go back to Mom or Momma. You know coaxing her to say the other, we will see in time.  No matter what this will be a great story for her children when she grows up.

I know I should not be shocked because as I grew up I called my mom, Woman.  Okay before you start leaving nasty comments. Let me explain.  When you are in a crowed store and you say Mom, everyone looks except MY mom. When you call her by her whole real name, she never looked. But when you called her Woman, she would turn her head every time.  She did not count it as being rude it just always has been.  My Mom calls my Granny, Lady.  This might be where I get my Woman from who knows. But it works for our family.  Oh and the word Woman was used in the bible for a name also. It was a term of endearment not being rude.

"Woman"

I could be using word abbreviations for my mom.  I once heard someone call their mom, Mrs. That was it just Mrs., like it was formal. It took me a while to realize that they where not going to say more with the name, just Mrs. I am not talking about a husband, either (You know how a husband might call his wife, the Mrs.'s. But a child calling their mom, Mrs.

 What do your children call you?



This post was shared on ABC's of Homeschooling over at

 

Be sure to stop by and add your own blog post this weeks letter is "M"

ABC's of Homeschooling -- L

Ever feel like you are Loosing it? Well I do all the time! 


When all the kids are going in different directions and no one is listening to a think I say or ask them to do. 
When the sink you just emptied is FULL again. 
Oh what about that laundry that just grows w/o any sun or rain. 
Then there is the end to the day when you BURN dinner or it just did not turn out right and NO one wants to eat it. 


When that happens all on the same day and some times at the same time, I feel like I could just LOOSE it.
In fact if you ask my kids they will tell you I do loose it.  No really ask them.  They will tell you that I am loose it on a daily basis. 


Come on I know I am not the only Mom out there that feels like she is loosing it! 


When I am ready to totally loose it I try to remember verses like these...

Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word turns up anger.


Ecclesiastics 7:9
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.


Life can be hard sometimes and I need to slow down and turn to God instead of Loosing it. 


Do you have any ideas you want to share of what you do instead of loosing it? Any bible verse that help you through? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear them. 

ABC's of Homeschooling -- K

KIDS, KIDS, and more KIDS

Well when you think of the letter "K" and homeschooling you sorta think of KIDS! Right?  I do. I have 3 great kids. Don't let me kid you they are normal kids that drive me batty on a regular basis, almost daily. But each of one of my kids are special in their own way.

Kid 1 - Biggun - 12 years old.

He is my oldest and in the pre-teen years. In between still wanting to play the younger toys like sword fighting and lego's to wanting to hang with the older kids in youth cause you know they are cool.  He is very good w/ his 8 month old puppy. But not so good at his other chores. He will do the minimum it takes to get his school work done and will not even think of doing any extra.  He is not a big reader, but will LISTEN for hours to a book on CD or MP3, specially if they are books by homeschoolers.

Kid 2 - Honey - 4 years old

She is my only girl. My middle child. My princess/diva in training. She has a very strong opinion on what she likes or does not to wear.  She loves vegetables like tomatoes, carrots and most salads.  She has not shown much interest in schooling yet. Other then play schooling. We are still trying to figure out all the aspects on how she will be learning to read. She gets attached to one toy and plays with it for a few weeks before moving on to a new toy.

Kid 3 - Moose - 3 years old

He is my baby! He is my independent but still wants mommy close by boy. Has no interest and I mean NO interest in potty training.  He would rather be playing in a pile of dirt. He loves to watch lawn mowers or any lawn equipment for that matter from a distance but is scared of the sound of them up close. He will watch them for long stretches of time, too. He likes Iron Man and Spider Man but not a fan of Superman or Batman. He is my meat eater and will not even look at a veggie.

So those are my KIDS! One of the best words I can come up for the letter K. Now it is your turn. Stop on over to themommaknows.com and share what K means to you.

ABC's of Homeschooling --- "J"

It is that time again. 

The Momma Knows ABC's of Homeschooling.

 This weeks letter is "J" 

For me right now J is for JUNK! You read right, JUNK. I have so much JUNK in our house.  I feel like we are being attacked by all the junk.  My husband and I have started to work on the JUNK piles in our house. We still have a lot of JUNK to get through. Our laundry,books storage, craft storage, clothing closet junk room is the worse in the house. 

Big Daddy and I have been working w/ Biggun to get his room cleaned. We keep telling him to clear the JUNK out of his room. Get rid of what you don't use or play with anymore. 

OUCH, that hurt to even look at my own JUNK piles and realize that I am so not setting the example.  Then of course you see those tv commercials where they are from the baby or toddlers eyes. How you look to them when you loose your temper. That just points it out even more. 

If I want his room cleaned out of JUNK, then I need to clean this house of the JUNK.
Live by example.

Boy it is hard to be a parent sometimes and do what I say!

I pray that JESUS the best J word around can help me to be better at getting rid of my own JUNK and living by an example as he did for me.

ABC's of Homeschooling - I

This weeks letter for the
ABC's of Homeschooling is "I". 

I thought of a few different ways to write this blog, but my friend Ms. D. "Inspired" to really look at  homeschooling.  You really can't think of "I" when you are homeschooling and instead as a homeschool mom/dad you have to be unselfish and focus of your children in every way.

When you are lead to homeschool it is usually not for yourself. It can be through a calling from God, the child is having issues in the classroom,  you feel your child will learn more under your teaching, the list goes on and on and on. But you will notice even in the few that I just gave as examples none of them are where about "Me, Myself or I"

Our children come first from the moment they are born, that goes for homeschooling too.

OK now for some fun with a few hink pink that will make you laugh...

Riddle-- A really cool dad ? 

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Answer: Rad Dad

Riddle -- Intelligent Organ?

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Smart Heart

Riddle -- Reasonable request of God?
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Fair Prayer

I just love hink pinks. I could do them all day. They are so much fun. Enough with the fun stuff. 

What do you feel "I" means to you and your homeschooling? Stop by "The Momma Knows" and let her know. 

ABC's of Homeschooling - H

H is for Homeschooling, but really is homeschooling really is it ever always done at HOME?

Ever heard of vacation schooling, roadschooling, what about carschooling?

All of these are valid ways to school.  For my own family carschooling is very popular. It is common to find a history cd or math facts cd in our cd player in the car or even both (we have a 5 disk player.)

Printed worksheets from time4learning.com on a clipboard is always a possible find too.

You will usually find books of all kinds in our van.

Magnadoodle is one of my favorite car toys. We need to get another one because Daisy May our puppy chewed the magnet off of the one that usually is in the car. :^(

I even ran into a mom at the dentist who was doing school in the waiting room with her other children while one was there for a check up.  It should be just called Schooling! Cause we are very seldom do it only at home.

Do you do vacationschooling, carschooling or roadschooling?

Be sure to join me over at Dawn's "The Momma Knows" blog to see what "H" is for other Homeschool Mom's.

ABC's of Homeschooling - G

As I sit here thinking of what G stands for in our homeschool, I think of a few words. Like God, Gifts, Giving and Grandparents to name a few.

God lead us to homeschool our children.

Gifts that God has given us each day that we spend with our children.

Giving more to our family and to others in the way we live our lives.

But right now G for Grandparents seem to stand out the most. Between Nana living with us for a few months and my father, Pa who takes time to show our children all the details of a fixing something.

This is a picture that Biggun took of Pa when he got his camera. 

Recently, my son Biggun, called me and said "Mom I can't get the lawn mower started." I respond with leave it and either your Dad or I will look at it when we get home. (Biggun was home w/ Nana, we don't let him mow w/o an adult home.) He then called me back and said "Mom I got it started!" I asked him what did you do? He responded with, " The last time time it did not start Pa was here and he did this, this and this. So I did what Pa did last time, and it worked."  He sounded so happy and surprised.

Mostly G stands for GRATEFUL! Grateful for all of the above.

ABC's of Homeschooling - F

Oh what will F be for this week. I know.....

 F is for Florida!

See we live in Florida. I have lived here since 8th grade and Big Daddy since I think 3rd grade. Basically since we where little we have lived in Florida.  Our whole married life has been in Florida except when we lived in PA for 9 months then we came back to Florida.

We own our own home in Florida. Believe it or not I am NOT a fan of heat and yet I live in Florida. This is where God put my family.  I would be open to moving out of Florida if God ever showed us a CLEAR way.  I love cooler low to no humidity weather. Don't mind snow (dealt with snow when we where in PA for a short time) So moving north would be nice.

All our kids where born in Florida, not sure how they would do moving. But that is not to worry about cause that is not on our plate right now.

We live near the beach and very seldom go to the beach. Typical of Floridians, if you like the beach you usually live very close, like walking distance. If you don't care for it or care at all about ever going to the sand filled place you live w/ in a 5 or 10 minute driving distance and you NEVER go.

Our family falls into the second category we never go to the beach. I am so not a fan of sand!

Florida is a beautiful place to visit and great to live if you like the heat. But you know what it really does not matter about the heat what matters is my family is here! That is the important thing!

ABC's of Homeschooling - Letter E

E is for Eraser.

As I was typing up this blog, I asked my son (12) what did E stand for to him. He came up with Eraser.  An Eraser is any students best friend. Almost as much as the back button or delete button is on the computer.  We go through erasers in our house very fast. Not saying we are full of mistakes but well we are full of mistakes.  Without mistakes we would not learn.  You know that old saying

"Learn from our Mistakes"

Today our two main mistakes where in math and writing.  I guess in math I need to do review problems with my son because for some reason he kept getting

270

x1.7

wrong.  He kept arguing w/ me on moving the the numbers over when you multiplied.

270

x1.7

1890

2700 

459.0

He would not add that second 0 to 2700.  that moved the 270 over a spot.  Like I said he erased and erased and erased.  We will be doing some extra review on this type of math problem, maybe even throw in some math games.  Cause the further we get into our pre-algebra the more he needs to NOT forget this stuff.

The second reason for the eraser today was compound words.  He kept trying to write words separate instead of together in a compound word the way they are supposed to go.  Silly boy we erased over and over today.

In talking about an eraser with my 12 year old son today he reminded me that Jesus is like an eraser too.  He died on the cross to erase our sins.  Love that boy!!! 

Join me at 

 

ABC's of Homeschooling -- Letter D

This week is the letter D. Please keep Dawn over at themommaknows.com  in your prayers as her D is for Death this week.  She has had a death in the family.  My prayers are with her and her family.

For us D is for DOING!
Doing what needs to be done to get things done.  Sounds funny right. It has been crazy in our world the past few months. It seems like we have had something major going on in our world none stop.  No down time.  My mother in law moved in w/ us, my headaches got worse, and school was underway.

Well we have been doing what needed to be done to get things done and now my mother in law is in her own place. (prayers answered), my headaches are not totally better but they are improving and our school seems to have a good groove.

My mother in law found a great little apartment perfect for her.  This is a big change for her as she has always lived in trailers that she has owned. She has never done the apartment living thing.  Her place is nice.  She has access to a pool, clubhouse, a pond for fishing or just sitting and enjoying the breeze, a thrift store and lots of other things.  All this is in a senior living apartment perfect for her!

My headaches well that is a major roller coaster ride for me.  I start new med's and they seem to go away for a week then it is back.  I will have a headache for 2 to 3 days. I am still looking positive that there is an answer out there. I don't know what it is but I know my Lord will show it to me.

As for school, it took us through sickness and then an unexpected family vacation but we still have our groove. Sometimes I wish we had an umbrella school to follow what they say we have to do. But then I remember what our homeschool learning style is and that what we are doing works for us.

So this week D is for DOING! Doing what needs to be done!

ABC's the Letter C

Dawn over at The Momma Knows, which used to be 5 Kids and a Dog, is having her ABC's of Homeschooling post again.  I missed A and B, but I am jumping in on C. I will do my best to keep up w/ all the ABC's of Homeschooling. If you want to join in stop by and link up w/ Dawn.

So for me this week C is for CraZy .

That is a common word and feel in our house.  There is always something crazy going on in our world. Between homeschooling, raising kids and mother in laws.  Our world is always crazy. Sometimes the crazy is good and other times the crazy is not so good.