Been a whiles since I have been on my blog. Where has the time gone. Quick update on our world and why I have not been around.

If you have read this blog before you know my father passed away on May 31, 2013. Sad to say my mother in law has passed away on Sept 8, 2015. A week or so later my best friend, Owlbee, passed away Sept 25. It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions around here.


The kids...

Bigger (16) is still playing the bass at church, doing okay in school and has a girlfriend and has been spending a lot of time with her family.

 

Super D (16) is still with us and is more of our family every day. He is taking classes at St. Petersburg College duel enrollment program.

(no picture, he does not like me posting them online, sad mom face)

Honey (8) is her typical girly self. She is struggling with school.  We have added a tutor once a week for reading and I am looking into a new curriculum for math.

Moose (6 about to be 7) is an active boy. He has such an imagination and can turn any items into a playing field. (Who needs toys, right) His is great at math and is moving along slowly with reading.

The hubby...

Big Daddy is dealing with the death of his mom in his own way. We got him a puppy, his name is Duke. He is still playing the drums at church and shows me every day how much he loves me.

As for Me, Lil Momma,

I have been dealing with migraines/headaches for a while now and they are finally getting to the point I can not function. I am see neurologist. I have really thrown myself into daily doodling and drawing to help my stress level. You can follow me on Instagram at #lilmommab. Dealing with so much loss, mother in law and best friend, Owlbee. It has been even more stressful.


I think that is the update for us.

PS. The school pictures are proof pics from the best photographer! Mor


Lil Momma Strouse

The Documented Life Project - Week 21 - 24

Playing catch up again! 

May 17, 2014 - Week 21 Challenge - 

Add embroidery or embroidery floss to your page - no floss? use thread.

I love the crossword, it is a great way to build reading vocabulary with my kids but it fit so great into my stitch art for this week. 

May 24, 2014 - Week 22 Challenge - 

Draw, paint or sketch a house.

I messed up on this house. I wish I had put Strouse House on the top. But o'well it still looks cute. 

May 31, 2014 - Week 23 Challenge - 

Practice gratitude - write what you are grateful for each day this week.

So many things to be grateful for!

June 7, 2014 - Week 24 Challenge - 

Use book text

I used a page from an old dictionary to write on. We celebrated my oldest 15th birthday.

Lil Momma Strouse

Biggun turns 15 years old.

How is it my little baby that took me 30 hours of labor, 20 of which had hard contractions. (Epidural did not work on me for more then 3 hours at a time.) be turning 15 years old!!! How is this possible?

He has gone from this…

to this …

from this…

to this…

Happy Birthday, Biggun!

Lil Momma Strouse

Finally Sparked

Biggun, my oldest son has always been a non reader.  Finding literature for homeschoolers or any type of student who does not care to read can be a struggle.

But with in the last few weeks I have given him a challenge of reading the first 4 books of the Dragons in Our Mist series. A set of books we had purchased a few years ago in hopes to spark his interest. After years of trying to get him to read, he is finally enjoying these books. He is almost done with book 1. He will have a nice big reward if he reads all 4 with in a certain time period we have set. It just makes my heart smile when I open his bedroom door to find him reading.

Lil Momma Strouse

TBBP

With all the throw back Thursday pictures on facebook, I thought I would do a TBBP, Throw Back Blog Post!!!!

In 2008, Biggun did a unit on weather.

Here are some great pictures of a science experiment we did on the properties of matter and the way the liquid turned into gases, humidity/dew.

Ice in a pot.

Feeling the steam from the melting ice.

Add a pan on top to get the condensation that simulates humidity/dew.

What a great time we had with this hands on learning. 

Lil Momma Strouse

What about...

When people find out that we are homeschooling high school, they ask what about socialization. Things like homecoming dances, prom, spirit days, other activities with high school students.

My answer to that is, dances and activities are not in the homeschooling requirements.

BUT….

We have access to all of that and then some.

We belong to the Pinellas Parent Educators Association which is our local homeschool group.  They put together all kinds of great activities.  From "Spirit Day" (outdoor games fun), homecoming and even prom.

In fact Biggun went to homecoming Friday night.

How silly can that boy be? 

Lil Momma Strouse

Persuasive Argument Writing

I am not a fan of teaching writing and Biggun has all kinds of writing assignments. Not just for me but sometimes for co-op, too. He needs all the writing homework help he can get.

In co-op he has to write something on a General from World War II.  He is excited about this as he loves history, he wants to learn more about General Patton and says it should be a breeze.

But his curriculum also has another assignment that is a little more challenging. His other writing assignment is to write a pervasive argument paragraph on something he feels strongly about. That should not be hard as he is a teenager and feels strongly about a lot of things that he does not want to do.

In brain storming here are some of the ideas he has come up with are...

"Why my cell phone should not be taken away from me"
"The reason for NOT wanting to clean my room."
"Why do I have to mow the yard when the grass is not that tall."

I am not sure what his subject is going to be yet but it should be interesting.




Lil Momma Strouse

Teenagers

Teenagers, Teenagers, Teenagers... Will I live through all three of my kids being teenagers? How did my parents do it? I have NO idea.

Normally I have can only say good things about my oldest son, the only teenager in my home right now. He is sweet, kind, helps out a lot, hard working when he wants to be, the list goes on.

But lately he has been getting to big for his britches, figuratively speaking.  He has learned a little  figurative language that might not help to see his next birthday.

An example of this language is "Go hug a tree!"

I did not think anything of it when he used it for the first time. He was joking with us. But when he YELLED it from his room when he was angry, yeah that was another story!!!!

When I gave him a little special education of what the figurative version of that saying was, he was a little shocked! He really did not understand what he had actually said or at least he played it off that way.

Needless to say those words are not used in my house anymore and we have discussed using sayings that are just another way of saying bad words.

Do your children or teenagers say anything like this that threw you for a loop this did me?

Lil Momma Strouse

Animals in Our Life

I have caught our family animal wildlife in the cutest settings in the last few weeks. Animals are part of the family and these animals are very much a part of our family and our work.

Daisy May is the BEST DOG we have ever had. She is so pretty and so well behaved.

She is very spoiled. This was a day that my son was listening to his history and Daisy May laid down next to him and napped. 

Later after history we all left the room and found her sound asleep under the blankets on a pillow. That is spoiled....

Levi loves to lay with Daisy May, too. Snuggle buddies!

But then Levi likes to sleep anywhere. 

I promise he does do more then JUST SLEEP!

See I finally got a picture of him awake!!!!

Then there is my work paper weight, Tinker Bell. She gets on my desk and eats my paper, pulls all the push pins off the bulletin board, goes after my pencil while I write. Yep she is always trying to "HELP" 

This is the other cat at work Tigger.  He slept on this type writer for days. I finally just had to take this picture. He is always finding a way to "Help" too. 

Lil Momma Strouse

2013-2014 School Year

It is that time of year again when everyone is writing about what they are doing for the next school year and their first day of school.

We have been schooling for about 2 weeks now. I know I am a bad mom I did not take those pictures where my kids hold up a sign that says the grade they are in. O'well so is life.

This year I have a 9th grader, 1st grader and PreK5. Wow what a stretch between the 9th and 1st grader. I am not sure how this is going to work with all that earth and space between them, but we will do it that is why I love homeschooling.

For my 9th grader we are using the following....

• Notgrass Exploring America - this covers English, Bible, History and for us Writing
• Keys to Algebra 
• God's Design for Life - science/biology
• Spellingcity.com for vocabulary/spelling list

We might add a class from Time4Learning.com High School. This is new this year!!

For my 1st grader we are using the following...

• Time4Learning.com K/1st grade curriculum
• All About Reading Level 1
• Complete Math workbook grade 1
• "Today is" notebook
• Lots of Dry Erase practice sheets
• Hands on games
• Read, Read, Read, Read, Read and did I say read out loud?

For my PreKer we are using...

• Time4Learning.com K grade curriculum
• All About Reading Level 1 (relaxed)
• Complete Math workbook grade Pre-K
• "Today is" notebook
• Lots of Dry Erase Practice Sheets
• Hands on games 
• Read, Read, Read, Read out loud!

9th grader! "Biggun"

1st grader! "Honey"

PreK 5 "Moose"

Lil Momma Strouse

Man-Boy

Love this boy.

Lil Momma Strouse

What curriculum should I use?

Everyone is asking what curriculum to use next year. From second grade curriculum to high school homeschool curriculum. We are still finishing our school year.  We have taken a laid back approach to kindergarden almost unschooling. Letting Honey move at her own pace. This has been nice until now. Why now you might ask? This is when everyone is starting to compare children and what they have learned for the year. I HATE when people compare children. Each child is unique and learns in their own way.

With Biggun I pushed to early and to fast. He has been paying for it ever since. Struggling with his reading and spelling. With Honey I chose not to move fast to let her go at her own pace. This proved to be the correct way to go when I started to push even a little and she totally SHUT DOWN.  Not wanting to work on school at all, just "play" school with her dolls.  Our school time became a headache and she was not remembering anything. When I noticed she was not remembering things it was time to take action and change and STOP pushing. We started to move at her speed. Some may say that I am letting my daughter get her way. But as a mom who has seen what pushing a child to fast can do I am willing to let others think what they want.

Honey can comprehend anything you give her. You read her a story she will tell you the story back to you. You can show her how 3 cookies added with 4 cookies will equal 7 cookies but if you ask her what letter a word starts with she was struggling or when you asked her what the physical number 7 looks like (not counting to it) then she would struggle. This would turn into a guessing game. That was when I chose to take the laid back almost unschooling approach. This let her move at her own speed. So what if we take 3 weeks working on the letters A, a, B, b. We homeschool, one more reason to LOVE homeschooling.

In taking this laid back approach yes she is not at the same level as others her age that go to public school, but then again she might not be even if she was in public school. She might be struggling even more. She is young and has plenty of time to catch up. Look at Biggun, he is doing great and about to start 9th grade! (Highschool oh my!)

We found the All About Reading program that she loves and is improving daily with. We use our time4learning.com and take that slow. Sometimes repeating things because her memory is not mature enough on some items.  But we keep moving.

I pray that she is not judged by others the way Biggun was. Not held back from her age activities because she is not on the same "reading" level as other kids in group settings. Just like Biggun she might not be at what the world thinks the level she should be at in reading, but she can comprehend equal or better then the average child her age.

So when you ask me about curriculum for your child. I say go with what works for your CHILD! Don't let the "world" lead you in the wrong direction and make your child struggle. Learning is fun but can also be hard work.

Lil Momma Strouse

A Boy Scout and His Dog

Lil Momma Strouse

What is year round schooling?

We are half way through the summer, how much has your child forgotten?

Have you asked yourself that question? It does not matter if you are in public school, private or homeschooling this can be a common question of any parent. When your children are out of school for a for an extended period of time, they seem to loose all that they learned the year before. Okay that is how it seems in my world.

This is one reason we usually school year round. Schooling year round helps my kids to not forget everything that they learn if they take a few days off here and there.

What does it mean to school year round you might ask? To school year round means you don't take the traditional school schedule. Starting in August/September, take a week off at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks off at Christmas time, 1 week during the spring then 2/3 months during the Summer. (There is also the traditional 6 weeks of in house or online summer school programs some children end up taking.)  I have seen a few different ways people do a year round schedule. Here are a few different schedules that I have seen.

1. 6 weeks on 2 weeks off
2. 9 weeks on 3 weeks off
3. Jan to July off in July, then August to the Nov 15th and off till Jan. (give or take a few days)
4. Take time off when needed for sickness or wanted for family vacation/holidays. Being sure to get all 180 days of schooling in during a given school year. 

#4 is what we usually go by in our home. We have had this philosophy our whole homeschool career. This came about when my oldest was in Kindergarden and took his final evaluation for the school year and declared that after his birthday in June he was going to start his first grade curriculum. I jumped on his new happy school attitude and we have kept the same year round schedule since. 

Lil Momma Strouse

Look what the littles did!!!

Last week I blogged about stress. Each of our family is dealing with lots of stress right now as we are preparing for the going home of my father.

I was at the hospice center sitting with Daddy.  I get a call from Biggun, 13yr, and he tells me he has a bad headache and the littles spilt something and it smelled. He asked me to come home and clean it up as his head hurt so bad he could not. I figured with all the stress that Biggun might really need help.
Boy was I right. When I got home I found a HUGE mess.

You guessed it my two littles, 6yr and 4yr, decided that while their big brother was laying down with a headache instead of watching TV like they told him they where doing chose to "Make" something to eat for themselves and the dogs. A few of the items you see in these pictures are, olive oil, cumin, vinegar, instant vanilla coffee, rice, dog food, pepper and lots of other things. Boy that could really build a child's reading vocabulary if we choose to turn this into an vocabulary words. Wow! Was I shocked! 

My friends at Orange Rhino would be very proud of me. That even with all the stress of what is going on with my Daddy I did NOT yell! Instead I walked in the house and told my littles to go to their room and I got to work cleaning it up, crying the whole time, but I did not yell I cleaned. I then told them they where grounded from TV and left them with their Nana and went back to my Daddies bedside. 

I know they are just trying to get attention. We are all dealing with this stress in our own way. 

Lil Momma Strouse

Stress and How You Deal With It.

Our family has a lot of stress in our life right now. Not just our immediate 5 but our extended family, too.  As I sit here writing this blog, I am thinking about how each of us are dealing with this stress.

As much as the adults in the family are trying to keep the kids from feeling or being a part of this stress everyone is showing their own way of dealing with stress.

Big Daddy deals by keeping busy and helping everyone he can. Even if keeping busy and helping others can get under others nerves this is how he deals.  I, Lil Momma, deal with stress by having a quick fuss, crying, and shutting down from everyone.

I am seeing my children all have their own way of dealing with stress, too.

Biggun is similar to me in the fact he does not shut down but withdraws into his own world. Thinking way to much. Even being withdrawn he will still find a quiet moment to pull me or his dad aside and ask a million questions in hope of understanding the cause of the stress.

Honey, she turns her life into animal games. Meaning she starts to sneak around. She pushes the limits making wrong choices hoping she will get away with just one more thing she is not supposed to, before she gets into trouble. Is it for attention or just testing waters? I don't know. She does all she can to make the balance of nature seem off in our world when stress is upon us.

Moose, he falls into his roll of baby of the family by acting more like one. He cries over everything, blames everyone else for his wrong choices and wants "luvins" more then usual.

Everyone is different in how they deal with stress. Have you sat back and looked to see how each of your family members deal with stress. It is a very enlightening observation.


Lil Momma Strouse

Essays

I am not a big fan of write an essay.  Teaching a child to write an essay is not a picnic for me either. My son, Biggun, has tried over the past two years or so to really improve on this.  In the fall he took a writing course at the co-op we went to.  I was so relieved to have someone else try to teach him how to write an essay.  Mrs. Betty did a great job. She got better results from him in 11 weeks then I had in the past few years. It could also have been having someone else is expecting greatness from my son instead of just plain ole mom. Then a few weeks ago Mrs. Betty assigned another paper for my son.  This time he had to go research things out. The assignment was to write a 2 page paper. (front and back)

• Laws on damaging public property
• Consequences for damaging public property
• What does God think about this
• What has he learned

He had one week to write this paper. He did not wait till the last minute. He got right to it. He (with a little, very little me) found the laws and consequences online for our area. The next day he looked all through the Bible for what God thinks about this. I was so impressed he found a great verse. (I did not help at all) and he shared what he had learned by doing this paper. All of it was done in very neat hand writing and 2 pages (front and back).  Even Mrs. Betty said it was the best paper he had ever written for her. I am so proud of him. I think I might ask Mrs. Betty to assign him a writing assignment once a month. I know that sounds mean. But if I can get him to write, I don't care who he writes for. Or maybe get him a writing tutor. 

(This assignment writing assignment was just that a writing assignment and NOT due to anything my son did.)


Lil Momma Strouse

The Orange Rhino Challenge.

Ever heard of the Orange Rhino Challenge?

If not, this is a NO Yelling Challenge! I was introduced to this by Suzanne at The Joyful Chaos.  I have been very inspired by Suzanne. If you have not checked her out yet you really should. Okay back to the Orange Rhino Challenge.

The Orange Rhino Challenge is actually 365 days of no yelling. BUT I am starting with 30 days. Really 7 days then work my way up to 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and so on.

I started this morning and well... with in 37 minutes of actually outwardly stating I was going to do this challenge, I yelled. (hanging head in shame) I could not make it even an hour. (tears)

I don't think I yell that much. I asked my oldest if he felt I yelled a lot. His response was "Not as much as other people"  He then came back later and said I was a 7 on a scale of 1-10.  WHAT???? I had to have him explain his scale.  He said....

1 - crazy lets everyone walk all over them
3 - push over but still willing to stand up if needed.
5 - just right, everyone should be right here.
7- yells a little but is still able to control it.
10 -yells to much.

That was his explanation. So being a 7 is not to bad, right?

After I decided I would not let my day be ruined by one yell. I would start over and try again. I WILL NOT GIVE UP!!!

Today's type is...

Stars for each part of your day. That way you have a physical image of your progress. You get a star for no yelling from wake up to lunch, lunch to dinner, dinner to bedtime. If you make it all day you should have 3 stars. If you put this in an open place and you can see it through out your day it will help.

I can see it now the kids will want a star chart, too. Maybe I will do one for Biggun for matching vocabulary correctly each week. Honey could get one for her math flashcards.  Moose for his numbers and letters. Yeah I think I can do that. We will all have a nice calendar of what we have accomplished.

Lil Momma Strouse

Biggun on Bass

We had a family dinner and Biggun finished the dinner with some music he has been learning.

Lil Momma Strouse

Fun Stuff!!

We have been doing all kinds of fun stuff this week.  In our area this is Spring Break week for the public schools. Since the youth group Biggun goes to had a great mission trip planned for the first three days of the week. We chose to go ahead and take the week off and let him help out with that. You know we homeschoolers never get to "socialize" (Said with a evil smile on my face.)

The Pipeline (youth group) did a great job locally. They helped a family rehab a house that was needed the help, they did work around the church - washed windows and things like that then finished their time off with helping a church members family member move. They did a lot of "Jesus work." I am very proud of all 35 students.

As for the littles, we used this week to have fun doing Easter projects. Speaking of Easter, we have never been a family to do the Easter Bunny, Santa, tooth fairy and so on. My kids think of it all as being just cartoon characters. We watched the movie The Guardians. If you are not familiar with this movie, the guardians are all the cartoon versions of the holidays, such as Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and the Sand Man.  They all guard over the children and keep them happy. The Boogie Man is also called Pitch, is back and wants to take all the kids happiness and give them nightmares. Then there is Jack Frost that kids do not know about or understand but he keeps giving kids snow days. You see all the cartoon characters in this movie. We watched this movie and after the movie my two littles (age 4 and 6) could not stop talking about Easter. But not what you are thinking. They could not stop talking and asking questions about Jesus on the cross, in the tomb, and how can he be in our hearts and in heaven.  It is amazing to see how they took "Holiday" talk and remembered that it was not about the cartoon version but about our Jesus. Makes this Lil Momma's heart just beam.


What else did we do.....

Oh we made stain glass crosses and stain glass butterflies out of tissue paper, wax paper and liquid starch.

Since we had the liquid starch out we also attempted to make slime. It did not work correctly but the kids still had a blast playing in it.

We sang educational songs and played educational games on the computer. What a great week! Can't wait to see what next week has in store for us.


Lil Momma Strouse