Christmas Morning

Christmas morning and the big boys were anxious to get going. I went in to get the sleepy baby and this conversation ensued...

Mommy: Wake up! It's Christmas!

Matthew: Pwesents!

Mommy (not wanting his first thought of Christmas to be presents): Jesus!

Matthew (nodding solemnly): Yeah, I gonna open Jesus.

Saturday

I made it the library this morning... and it's been less than two weeks since we were there!! So, all of our library books were returned on time!! Yay me!! I did, however, have to renew the videos on-line and I was a day late doing that so I can't say we didn't accrue any fines. Videos only have a one week check-out.... because there's lots of people on the waiting list for 10 year old movies. But the fines were minimal and I don't have to pay them until they reach $5.

But the best news is my amazing video find. Someone must have donated a bunch of vhs tapes b/c there was a cart with 25c videos at the library. There wasn't much there that I thought was worthy of cluttering up my house but I looked through them all b/c that's what I do... and the kids had been left home with Daddy and I was blessedly alone. at the library. which never happens! And what did I find (pretend you didn't see the picture)?? A video that I've been considering paying $10 to have!! We're studying astronomy and I love flying school buses and there it was, The Magic School Bus Space Adventure!! for a quarter!!! Great find for me!

Christmas Vacation

We haven't done much this week. I should have just called it Christmas vacation; thereby avoiding the feeling of guilt I get from skipping school! We didn't totally skip it. Let's see...

• We did our Bible lesson every day. We did put aside our regularly scheduled Bible curriculum so we could study the birth of our savior.
• We finished reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Great book! You should definitely read it.
• Wow! We learned about interjections... although the boys already learned everything I had to teach them by watching School House Rock.
• Adam finished the first beginner piano book. He's only taken six lessons! Can you say, "Prodigy?"
• We baked cookies... but Matthew is the only one who helped me so I don't guess that counts.

Okay, I admit we didn't get much book work done. But we did go Christmas shopping. The boys budgeted and spent their own money to buy gifts for their brothers. They wrapped them too.... tape and scissors, that's about as close as we've come to art all year! LOL I got all my shopping and wrapping done, too!

Jeff worked his last day of the year today so we're ready for Christmas! He's off until January 2nd! Yippee! We'll be hanging around here 'till Christmas and then it's off to Dayton on Wednesday. Merry Christmas!!

Evan's Newest Cast

That hand is just Adam being his usual obnoxious self.

Efficiency

Have you ever seen a more efficient colorer?

(I don't care if spell check says "colorer" is not a word. It must be!)

Switching colors is a waste of time!

The whole crew was pretty efficient today. We waited until Matthew was taking his nap before we started any schoolwork. Then we did Bible, Spelling, Language, and Math. It took just over an hour and I still had time to take a shower! Actually, I still had time to read my email and post these pictures. Now, I'm hoping I'll have time for a shower before Matthew awakens!




Crystal has a short video of the boys' band concert up at Backyard Academy. You can see Ryan; he's the only drummer. Adam is playing trumpet. While you can't see him, you can hear what an awesome job the trumpets did! Crystal's son plays trumpet, too. :)

It's a Contest!

Just Some Stuff is hosting a contest for us homeschoolers. One of us is going to win a $50 gift certificate to homeschool eStore! Just need to answer a few questions... I'm sure it'll be hard to get a bunch of bloggers to talk about themselves. LOL

How many children do you have / homeschool? four beautiful boys
How long have you been homeschooling? FIVE years!! Wow, did not realize it has been that long!
Have they always been homeschooled, or did they ever go to public/private school? My oldest son went to public school for k-garten and 1st grade. It obviously didn't work for us.
Do you plan on homeschooling until graduation? We're still taking it one year at a time, but yes, I do plan on homeschooling until graduation
Do you belong to a co-op? Yes. I love our co-op.
Do you school all year long, or use some other schedule? no, and um, no... we don't school year round and we don't have a schedule either. LOL We just follow the road where ever it leads.
Do you use textbooks only, or do you like to supplement with other materials? We use textbooks but I think most learning, at the least the stuff that sticks, comes from life
Are field trips included in your school plans, or are they just family time? Can't they be both?
Do you and your kids do crafty stuff together for school time? occasionally - the mummified apple has been hanging here for way past 40 days and still isn't a mummy yet
Would you consider everyday household life stuff ‘home ec’? most definitely. I use that excuse all the time. ;)
Do you have any advice for new homeschoolers? Just do it! It's not as hard as you think it's going to be.
Do you have advice for homeschoolers with little ones under foot? be flexible; take advantage of nap time; find the humor

Week in Review

Upon Crystal's recommendation (and loan of the book), we started reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The boys are loving it. They love funny books and this one has lots of humor but still has a very entertaining and touching story.

We're having an easy week. With band on Monday, Co-op on Tuesday, Awana on Wednesday, a piano lesson on Thursday, and a basketball game on Friday, it's been a busy week! But we haven't accomplished much in the book work department. We've just done spelling and language every day and math most days, too.

We finished up the Jupiter chapter in Apologia Astronomy. I don't know if it's the topic or the book, but the boys love studying outer space and they remember practically everything we read. If you're interested in Astronomy, or have kids that are, you should take a look at Mars this month. It won't be this close to Earth again until 2016.

Miscellaneous Mumbo Jumbo

The boys have been practicing all weekend for their band concert. It was really worrying me. If two kids can sound this bad, how horrible will all the kids sound? But, they pulled it off! The beginner band played three songs and the intermediate band played three songs. They were all recognizable and even enjoyable!! We followed up with a dessert reception where my boys ate their weight in cookies and I just nibbled daintily. Don't laugh.

Today was our final co-op of the semester. I must admit I'm relieved to be done with it for a while. I love, love, love co-op. I'm just very bad about waiting until midnight the night before to plan my lesson. That means, if I don't have the stuff I need on hand, I have to stop at Wal-Mart on the way to co-op. It's hard enough for us to get anywhere in the mornings without throwing a shopping trip into the mix!

My lesson today was on The Kentucky Derby. We made this horse and raced them on ribbons. I don't know how much they learned about "the greatest two minutes in sports" but they all had fun.

We came out of co-op to discover the sun! Matthew actually cried at the bright light. LOL I can't believe it's this warm in December. The boys rushed home and changed into shorts. I found that to be a bit unnecessary but they're outside playing (and leaving me alone) so they can wear whatever they want.

Evan's doing great with his cast. He's not in any pain and it's only mildly inconvenient to be casted from fingertips to armpits. I think he overplays it a bit at times. He's been enjoying having Rye fasten his seatbelt for him but I don't know if Rye's going to be that generous for the whole month.

The Saga Continues

Jeff took off work and took Evan to the orthopedist on Monday. But they wouldn't cast his arm there, either. The doctor said it would be too painful to set the bone without anethesia which they don't in the office. On to day 4.... I took Evan to the surgery center to be put under and have his arm set and casted. That went fine and here we are. If it weren't for the big black cast on his arm, you'd never know he'd been hurt. He's back to playing like normal (with the exception of bunk bed climbing).

Needless to say, we haven't gotten all our schoolwork done this week. Adam and Ryan did get a full day in on Monday while J had Evan at the doctor. But for the rest of the week, we've just done reading, spelling, and language.

Just two weeks 'til Christmas vacation. :)

It's Broken... Again

Ever since Even broke his elbow earlier this year, he's avoided flying on Daddy's feet. But last night, he decided it would be a good idea to fly off the top bunk. Okay, he jumped, and he landed on his feet. But he fell forward and caught himself with his hands, thereby causing a greenstick fracture. That means half his bone is broken and the other half is bent, like when you bend a green stick (hence the name).

Of course, we thought he was overreacting again so we, once again, gave him some Motrin and sent him to bed. It didn't swell much this time but I knew when he was still crying this morning, that something was definitely wrong. So, Jeff and Evan spent the morning in the ER watching Nickelodean... but not getting a cast. Grrr! They don't do that there - at the hospital - with the doctors. So I have to call tomorrow and make an appointment with his orthopedist. What six year old has an orthopedist? LOL