And the Winner of the CSN Gift Card Is….

…the random number generator picked comment #12 ~ congrats to Our Homeschool Reviews :).  I have already sent an email to the winner.

Thank you all for participating in my very first giveaway!  And thank you for helping me reach 100 followers too :)

Are We There Yet?

Halfway through our school year that is…I’ve seen many people announcing that they’ve finally reached the halfway point and I am wondering “are we there yet?”

Since we’re using a bunch of different resources and I stagger our start for different subjects, it is hard to determine if we have reached the halfway point yet.  We may be halfway through spelling and writing but not yet halfway through history and science. 

So I sat down one afternoon last week {while poor ds9 was on the couch/sickbed and dd6 and ds4 were playing} and figured out where we are in each of our resources and here’s what I came up with…

Ds9 {3rd grade}

• Writing ~ currently in week 21 {of 36}
• Spelling ~ currently working on lesson 17 {of 34}
• First Language Lessons ~ currently working on lesson 49 {of 89, plus 21 optional lessons}
• Reading List ~ has finished 15 of 25 scheduled books
• Math ~ has 4 light units left in current grade level {out of 10 light units}

Dd6 {1st grade}

• Reading & Spelling ~ this resource is not really a grade level, we just continue on to the next book once this one is finished
• Math ~ almost finished with 3rd light unit {out of 10}
• First Language Lessons ~ currently working on lesson 49 {out of 100}

Family Subjects

History ~ working on week 19 {out of 36}

Read Alouds ~

• completed 6 {out of the 16 that I plan to read this year} from Core 2
• completed 5 additional read-alouds from Core K
• completed 3 additional missionary related read-alouds and are currently working on a 4th one

Science ~ currently on lesson 6 {out of 14}

Bible ~ this resource does not have a grade level, we just continue to the next unit once this one is completed

So I guess that means that except for dd6’s math curriculum, ds’s FLL resource, and our read alouds {although a few of these read alouds are optional in my mind}…we are officially over halfway through our school year…yay!

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ Entry #3

In my life this week…

I finally got rid of that nasty sore throat and weird sounding voice that I had all last week…and poor ds9 woke up with it on Monday :(. 

In our homeschool this week…

Since my voice was working again this week, we doubled up on all of our read-alouds, we finished up The Tales of Robin Hood, knocked out a couple of chapters in A Child’s History of the World, and I even read a couple of picture books to the kiddos.  I did give poor ds9 a break early this week due to his sickness…but he did complete most of the spelling, writing and math that I had planned.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

On Wednesday night I went to my book club {a small group from our church is reading John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life}.  This is the first book club I have ever been involved in and I am really enjoying it.  The book is very thought-provoking and quite convicting ~ and knowing that I have a book club meeting keeps me motivated to keep reading :)

This weekend is a big one for dd6 ~ she is going to a birthday tea party to celebrate a friend’s birthday on Saturday and returning home just in time to head out to a Daddy-Daughter dance with her daddy…that is if the weather does not interfere {they’re calling for freezing rain}.

My favorite thing this week was…

The big pot of bean soup that I cooked up in the crockpot on Thursday.  I love me some bean soup {even though no one else in my family does}.  I also baked a couple loaves of homemade bread…so they didn’t starve :)

What’s working/not working for us…

I absolutely LOVE the Well-Planned Day planners!  I have been using the homeschool planner for myself for the past couple of years, and this year I also purchased the Middle School Planner for my ds9.  He’s is not in middle school {not even close}, but it still works well for him. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I am in the midst of making lists for curriculum to look over for next year.  I have heard a lot of wonderful comments about Institute for Excellence in Writing and I am considering adding it next year.  We love Writing With Ease also {that’s what we’re currently using}…I wonder if it would be too much to do both…hmmm….

A photo to share…

Dd6 posing for a picture before heading out to the Daddy Daughter Dance :)

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Sickness, Snow and All That Jazz

I have to admit, I am having a hard time keeping up with weekly wrap-ups…so this time I decided to take a lesson from a fellow blogger and just wrap up the whole month of January :)

January’s accomplishments:

Ds9 {3rd grade}

• finished up another math light unit
• over halfway through his 3rd grade reading list {crossed off Frindle and Medallion}
• blew out nine candles on his birthday cake :)
• had a blast practicing math facts with Math Rider {review coming in late February}
• learned about {and practiced diagramming} predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives in his FLL3 curriculum
• is more than halfway through his Writing With Ease and spelling books
• earned a bunch of money shoveling the driveway
• suffered through a cold

 

Dd6 {1st grade}

• finished her first All About Spelling reader {The Runt Pig} and began reading her second AAS Reader {Cobweb the Cat}
• memorized “Days of the Week” and “The Months” {poetry memorization from her First Language Lessons Level 1 Book
• had a couple of photo sessions, one with her American Girl doll {Emily} and another with her collection of horses
• discovered some books at the library that she can read all by herself ! {hooray for Biscuit books!}
• lost her 6th tooth!

 

Ds4 {Preschool}

• painted about 1001 pictures with his do-a-dot markers {well, that number may be a bit exaggerated, but boy does he love making pictures with those things :)}
• used a lot of paper for cutting, pasting, and paper airplane making {this boy LOVES paper, glue, tape and scissors}
• read lots of books with mommy  

Family

• finished reading The Door in the Wall
• began our new read-aloud The Tales of Robin Hood
• had a blast learning Spanish with Speekee
• had lots of fun on roller skates
• finally made it back to the library
• finished up our study of the Middle Ages…now we’re moving on to explorers
• learned about the moon in our science curriculum
• survived mom’s week with a strange-sounding voice
• dealt with unplanned sick days and snow days…

This post is being linked to Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

CSN Stores $55 Gift Card Giveaway!

I received an email from CSN Stores a couple days ago asking if I’d like to host a giveaway…of course I jumped at the chance :).  I have never, ever hosted a giveaway on my blog before…so this is a pretty exciting first for me!

CSN Stores has tons of merchandise to choose from…from modern bar stools to baby cribs and almost everything in between.

So what can you win?  It’s a $55 gift certificate from CSN that can be used on anything from any of their stores {cannot be used on shipping and handling}.

Are you ready to enter?  Just follow the link above and check out CSN’s modern bar stool selection then come back and leave a comment on this post telling me if you found anything that interests you.  But remember, if you win you can spend your $55 gift certificate on anything from any of the CSN stores.

You can get a second entry if you are a follower of my blog, or if you become a follower of my blog ~ just leave a 2nd comment letting me know :)

I’ll be closing this giveaway and choosing a random winner {using random.org} on Wednesday, February 9th {U.S. entries only}. 

Please make sure that you provide a way for me to reach you {email address in your comment or through your profile}…if I can’t reach you within 48 hours I’ll have to choose another winner :(.

Disclosure ~ I am not receiving any compensation for this post.

God Loves Me More Than That ~ Book Review

 

I have to admit…I am a pushover for children’s picture books with rhyming text…I am :).  So needless to say, I was very excited to get the opportunity to review God Loves Me More Than That, a lovely hardcover picture book written by Dandi Daley Mackall and illustrated by David Hohn.

 

Who hasn’t asked themselves “How much does God love me?”  This book tries to answer that often heard question through sweet, simple rhyming text…

How much love does God have for me?  More than the letters between A and Z.

God’s love is so deep, and so high, so loud, and so wide…

Wider than the prairies where the cowboys ride.  God loves me wider than that!

The simple rhyming text and delightful illustrations in God Loves Me More Than That will definitely appeal to young children, but I think they will also provide a sweet reminder to the adults who read it to their favorite kiddos…a reminder that God loves us so much more than we can even imagine :)

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

January in Pictures

I love the 365 project…you know, the one where bloggers post one picture a day each day of the year.  I love the idea, but posting a picture a day is not something I can add to my “to do list” right now. 

So instead, I’m going to try to do a “month in pictures” post at the end of each month.  It may contain four pictures, it may contain six…hopefully it will contain at least one :)

Here is January’s post…

Our New Year’s Eve tradition ~ make your own pizza and game night.

You gotta love a free Amazon Prime membership, especially when the old vacuum dies and we need a new one ASAP :)

January was a snowy month around here…great for sledding fun

and building a snowman…

 

but I was able to find a bit of color amongst our winter white landscape.

This month we also celebrated ds’s 9th birthday…where oh where does the time go?

Around here we celebrate birthdays with a day of family fun, chosen by the birthday kiddo…ds9 chose roller skating.  The only reason ds4 was able to stay on his feet {or skates} was because of this cool contraption {which was basically a walker on wheels} :).

We ended the month with ds9’s birthday party which we celebrated at a nearby college’s indoor gym…ds4 is getting ready to run “super fast” and he needs to get ready with his best “super fast” face :)

Happy Birthday to my sweet oldest son!

Well, that wraps up January.  Can’t wait to see what memories February will bring us :)