Working with long and short vowels

This month we are focusing on long and short vowel reading.  Isaac is not a confident reader.  I am working hard to make him more confident so we are learning some fun rhymes and doing some games to hopefully make some of these phonics rules a little less scary for him. I went on Teacher's Pay teachers and found a great little unit on "when two vowels go walking...." And we will work our way through That and then do some bossy "e" work.  Also we have been working on categorizing words into short or long vowels. I am hoping that making these things that he thinks are hard a lot easier for him, he will start to enjoy reading more. 

I am using these two resources the latter is by Emily's elementary resources.  The posters I found at the dollar tree! 

First day at iLead 360

Isaac began his classes at iLead last week.  He actually loves them and it is nice having a little time to focus on my two littlest boys.  I now only do school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Isaac and I only have to focus on ELA and Math.  I still feel a little bit like I'm in the wind.  I'm hoping once I have gotten through my first month here I'll feel more grounded. I have finally ordered a math curriculum and have been putting together my ELA curriculum.  I know, I am behind but hey this summer was a little crazy, especially August! So now we are working to catch up a little. 

When life gets crazy!

Sometimes when life gets crazy it is just that, crazy,  and there is no way around it and you just have to make it through.  This was the past 10 months of my life.  We got pregnant it was an emotionally and physically strenuous pregnancy for me.  We made it through and have a beautiful baby to show for it.  He is healthy which was everything we had prayed for and he is a miracle which is what we needed.  I made it through the year with the Bigs in their 5 day a week public charter school and I homeschooled the kindergartner and tot-schooled the 3 year old.  I also took on a job as a nanny for 5 months to a newborn baby girl (that was a little crazy, but I loved it ).  But here we are on the other side with a brand new baby and the Bigs are back in school and the littles are waiting for mom to recover.  I get another week.  We decided to try a homeschooling charter this year with our now 1st grader and he will be attending classes twice a week all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I will only be teaching Math and ELA while the other subjects will be covered at school aside from projects he will be doing at home for the classes.  My preschooler will also be at preschool twice a week for his obligatory 1 year away from the mama to learn how to be friendly, sit quietly, stand in a line and listen to someone else.  He will then be homeschooled for Kindergarten next year. I have decided to keep up with my blogs this year because I fear I will not remember this year if I fail to document it while it is happening.  I am embarking on life with 5 boys, 3 will be playing sports this year and four will be in "school".  I am excited and worried, maybe terrified a little but, I'm up for the challenge! So, if you follow my blog let me know and hold me accountable to update it!  I'll need all the cheering on I can get! 

Fun School In October

This month has been a whole lot of fun! I have gotten to use lots of my fun resources that I have collected.  Some from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com and some from  www.totschooling.net   

We went to a couple of classes at the OC Zoo and got to get up close and personal with with some fun animals like beavers, tarantulas, and snakes!  Also we did a ton of crafts while we were there :) 

We also got to meet up with some friends and go to the pumpkin patch! 

We did some patterns!!

We had some classes at CHEP which were really fun! 

We hung out a little at Knotts Berry Farm! 

We did some gardening at Goal's academy and ran into a big brother!! 

We worked hard on matching up our upper and lower case letters!! 

We had a field trip the the Aquarium which was super fun!  And got to meet some new friends and spend the day with them. 

We also a had a field trip to Legoland we took the big boys with us and then ended the day at a Ducks Game! 

And have been doing some Halloween and fall fun activities too!  

This week is going to be fun too!  We have lots of fun school stuff planned and one of my favorite field trips to Riley's Farms is this week too! I am loving hanging out with these two cuties!  They are learning so much and bonding with each other as well which I love to see! 

When The Teacher Is Sick

Last week just about did me in.  I came down with a sinus infection that made me feel like I needed an IV and a hospital bed.  Needless to say, the house went to shambles but luckily my sub, a very handsome young man and my best friend stepped in and rescued us all.  He kept up with housework and even followed my lesson plans and did school with little man.  As the kids started to be sent home from school with fevers and chicken pox, he was here to get them from school and set them up on the couch with their favorite movies.  Yes that's right pretty much everyone in our house was sick come Friday morning.  Everyone except the Dad and number 3. Sadly by Saturday night Dad too fell ill, then there was one.  Today is Monday and the big boys are back at school and although we had to cancel a birthday party this weekend, we are seemingly on the road to recovery!!!

Why Tot Schooling is saving my sanity

Homeschooling a kindergartener is fun!  They are excited about learning and have enough patience to sit for at least a little while.  They don't play in the litter box or the toilet or paint the kitchen floor with tooth paste/lotion/soap/sharpies, but 2/3 year olds DO! I found out very early (my first week of homeschooling 3 years ago) that the hardest part of home schooling might be the toddler!  Over the years I have accumulated lots of games, hand eye coordination, concentration, or just time consuming activities for toddlers to do while I discuss the difference between communative and distributive properties to the older boys.  Tot school (Google that) has endless possibilities and it is a great way to keep those busy little hands and minds going without destroying my house!  I found that the more planning I put into the toddler curriculum/play the more I can actually concentrate on teaching the other kiddos.  I am so grateful for websites like totschool.net and confessions of a homeschooler and countless other bloggers/teachers that have endless ideas that are fun and creative.  I find Pinterest and Teachers pay teachers are both great places to start when looking for fun ideas! 

It's A New School Year

Well this year I almost didn't homeschool!  I sent my kindergarten, third and fourth graders off to a brand new charter school in our area.  But within one week I knew I had goofed on the kindergartener.  Please refer back to my first post to know why I had goofed!  I forgot why I had homeschooled the older boys and all the sudden I was struck with guilt knowing I wasn't giving my precious third born the same care and attention to his education that I had vowed to do for my older two boys...so in a quick gesture I pulled him out on day 5 of school after already annoying the teacher by picking him up at half day instead of leaving him all day. (we had a choice) It turned out, though, I was the only parent that had chosen half day out of two full classes of TK/K classes.  Anyway, it was for the best and I felt so relieved when I did it!! Surprisingly Isaac was also very excited to be heading towards homeschooling and back to CHeP.  We started school last week and the boys Isaac in kinder and Owen 3 (tot schooling) are loving their school time and they are enjoying their play time too.  These two are getting to bond in a way they couldn't with their older brothers around.  Isaac is getting to be the big brother for a change and getting some much needed responsibility and Owen is loving the attention he is getting from his roommate and closest in age bro! So we are back in the homeschool world with two boys in a public charter and two boys at home!