April :: A Month in Review

April was a light blogging month.  I did share 5 of my best homeschooling tips.  I know - 14+ years of homeschooling and only 5 tips.  Hah!  I also shared about our casual way of learning in the early years.  Sharks took front and center for a few weeks.  Peter now knows that shark books have a call number of 597.3 at the library.  He's checked out every one of them and I've read just about every one of them.

Without further ado, here's a chronological photo dump from April with captions.

One of the favorite, yet more stressful, spring events is Creative Arts Day.  CAD is a county wide 4-H event which gives youth the opportunity to develop, perform, and be judged on their favorite creative arts.  Trophies and ribbons are awarded to the top placed finishers.  This year Sam performed a violin solo and was awarded a blue ribbon for his BMX safety gear demonstration.  Our 4-H club performed a 1-act play; both Amber and Sam participated.

Amber drew from her homeschool chemistry labs and did a demonstration on extracting DNA from saliva.  Although she was incredibly nervous, she was awarded a blue ribbon.  The most anticipated part of Creative Arts Day is the 1-act plays.  Amber received the 3rd place high school actress trophy.

Blurry auditorium photo.

Once CAD was over we settled into a more normal spring filled with cooking and sibling competitions, trailer painting and fishing.

Country sausage gravy over biscuits is favorite.  I tried a new one pan method, which results in a super flavorful, creamy gravy.  And there's only ONE giant pan to wash instead of two.

Always some kind of competition going on outside my kitchen window.  The tires were from last weeks tire flipping competition.

Emily's college and work schedule keep her gone for lunch and coming in right at the end of supper so she hasn't been cooking much this year.  With her impending move, she decided to use her spring break to brush up on her cooking skills.  She made us these delicious homemade cheese fries to go along with our Friday fish fry.

Amber and Emily (and us) bought a pretty run down trailer for super cheap.  Amber's been giving it A LOT of TLC.  It's on its way to looking pretty sharp.

We've been having an Easter egg hunt and homemade pinata bash for years.  It's a most anticipated family event.  I took over 100 pictures, but this is by far a favorite.

Amber pushes Joseph aside when Warren yells, "GO!"  You're never too old for an Easter Egg Hunt and never too young to be pushed around by your older sister.

Again, my camera card has over 75 pinata pictures, but I'm just sharing one.  We make our pinata with a 12 inch latex balloon, newspaper strips, and Liquid Starch.  This year we covered the balloon with 7 layers.  Each layer has to dry completely, about 1 day.  We started a week in advance.  It's super easy to do, cheap, and holds up fairly well even through teenagers.

I've been taking the kids' Easter picture on this step since Emily and Nick were toddlers.  It's getting pretty crowded, but they still squeeze in upon my request/begging.

A beautiful Easter basket cake my friend Karrie made for our Easter dinner, complete with a delicious lemon filling.  I might have had a piece or four.

And still more fishing.

April isn't all fun and games.  There's plenty of work going on.  Warren pressured up the irrigation engines and prepared for his yearly newborn baby, i.e. frost watch.  Only it's worse - a baby can be tended to in the warmth of your bedroom, but frost watch?  He has to slip into clothes and head outside and frost watch nights are the coldest nights of the spring.  Try getting back to sleep after you just got a cold sprinkler in the face.

Anyway, frost watch comes with the job, and he tends to it like a trooper, rarely complaining, unlike me with newborn babies.  I think I complained.  I'm sure I complained.

Our first walk on the marsh of the spring.  We actually had a warmish Wisconsin day so we had to take advantage of it.

Moving water again.  Here's an old post about checking and moving water on the cranberry marsh.

When you're on a walk and your brother keeps trying to run ahead of you.  People, it's not all sunshine and rainbows around here.

And still more fishing.

I hadn't sat down at the sewing machine in months.  Piles of jeans with ripped pockets and blown out knees, a torn flannel shirt, a blanket intended to be Maria's extra winter blanket, and church pants needing hemming all waited for me in a heap.  With a prom dress waiting to be altered, I had to tackle the pile or stuff it all in a garbage bag and forget about it.  I chose to actually tackle the pile.  It was made easier by binge listening to The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast (see the computer laying on the floor).  Maria blessed me with her singing, too.  As I type this nothing awaits mending, even the prom dress was finished on time.  (Note:  Emily just entered stage right wondering if I could help her fix her swimsuit.....and so another pile begins).

BMX season is back in full swing.  Sam's in the white.

So far Nick's the only successful turkey hunter in the family.  Sam still has a couple days of season left.

Although not out of the ordinary, snow on April 27 is still annoying.

But it did make the fish bite.

April wasn't quite full enough so Amber decided it was time for an appendicitis.  Just 5 nights before prom.  She's young and super healthy so she healed up enough to still attend prom and dance the night away from what I heard.

Well that should do it.  May is right around the corner and one peek at the calendar has me hyperventilating thinking about all that's to come - our 2nd high school graduate, our oldest moving away for her summer internship, year end conferences, curriculum planning for next year already, preparing the garden.  I'll stop now; it'll all get done - it always does.

What was the highlight of your April?  What are you most looking forward to in May?  Share in the comments.

Pinnable Image

How to Keep Your Homeschool Kids on Track Every Day

As a mother of many, one question I get all the time is: "How do you do it all?"  Of course, I don't do it all.  There's always something left undone.  More times than not there are a lot of somethings left undone.  But as I look around, the house is acceptably clean, someone is always eating, birthdays are never missed, laundry gets done on a regular enough schedule, and the kids are (in my opinion) well educated.  I'm typically pretty happy about how things are chuggin' along.

One thing I've learned since our early days of homeschooling is the day goes so much better if the kids can stay on track with their school work.  If mom can turn her back without chaos breaking out between the kids then she can get her work done while the kids get their work done.  

There are 2 components to keeping your homeschool kids on track.

#1 - Train you children in obedience.  And when they don't comply issue a swift and effective consequence.  In our house homeschooling happens first thing and, like most kids, our kids have a full list of things they'd rather be doing.  The best consequence for not staying on task is a double school timeout.  

What is a double school timeout?  It's a timeout based on your age and then doubled.  If you're nine and daydreaming or hiding out in your room or shaking the table while your sister is trying to write then you stand on a 18 minute timeout.  

The timeout starts when the child is quiet, standing straight with their hands at their sides, facing the hallway wall.  I set a timer and they are expected to remain in position until the timer beeps.  If they talk, wiggle, pick paint off the wall, play with pocket knives, knock the Jesus with children art off the wall, then the timer is reset.  I have one child (who might be graduating this year) who once stood for over 40 minutes because he just wouldn't stop mumbling under his breath about the "stupid timeout".

Once the kids realize I mean business (yes, I should've been a drill sergeant) it doesn't take long for this method to be effective.  Because, let's face it, they'd rather get their work done and get on with their own plans than stand for endless minutes on a timeout.

#2 - Figure out the best planning method for each child.  Over the years I've used many types of planners for the kids.  I used Catholic Student Planners for a couple years with my middle grade kids.  I've used wall charts, checklists, homemade planners, work boxes....you name it we've probably used it.

This year I'm using a variety of methods because each child is unique with different planning needs.

I did share our planners live on Facebook.  You can view that here.  I'm not going to share those details here, just a quick picture.

When the kids know exactly what they need to do, they can plan their day accordingly and it's easy as the mom to check their lists to make sure they are staying on track.

I would like to share a little about setting monthly goals for the non-reader.  Non-readers and early readers need a lot of direction from Mom and my method for setting monthly goals instead of a daily to do list works best for me.  For our younger children, I divide a sheet of paper into 9 sections, label each with a month from Sept. - May, then number it 1-6.  I then list the goals I have for each month.

Possible Goals that Might Make the List

# of reading lessons
# of math lessons or pages in workbook
large motor skills
fine motor skills
# of art projects
saints to read about
field trip idea
# of books to read
living skills to learn
cultural event to read about (Thanksgiving, Groundhog Day, etc.)
.....and so many more.

Normally the month starts out strong, then life happens, then week 3 I look over the goals and pick up the pace a little.  By week 4 we are cranking out books and lessons because I like to end the month with a ✔ next to each goal.

In the end, keeping your homeschool kids on track every day requires effort from both the homeschooling parent and child.  Teaching children to be obedient and then giving them a workable plan and checking it twice will allow you, the mom (or dad) to get your work done along side your child making homeschooling and family life more enjoyable.

I hope you all have a crantastic day!

Weekly Wrap-Up {the one with a Grove shipment and a birch log with eyelashes}

Time to edit photos and compose a coherent sentence worthy of typing has been limited lately.  I wake up and review my tidy daily plan and within minutes I find myself off course.  Something or someone (not on my list) needs my attention.  NOW!  And so begins the day.  A day of constant moving, constant doing, but never checking anything off that tidy little daily plan.  Blogging?  Making connections with readers?  It has to take a back seat to my family.

This morning, though, I woke up and knew I just had to edit and type and think and form thoughts.  It's good to look back at the week - the pictures tell a story.  A story of our family working and learning and playing together, and apparently getting things done.  Yeah for pictures.😊

Where are all the people who constantly take me off course?  Birthday parties, snowmobiling, ice fishing, listening to an audiobook - everywhere, but right here.  So I blog away happily.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Last weekend we enjoyed a few days up North ice fishing.  There was indeed ice, but there was also slush and 6 inches of water and rain.  Luckily our favorite rental cabin is just feet from the lake so we put out our tip-ups and then hang out in the cabin watching for flags.

Trying anything to keep the little one's feet dry(ish), I lined their boots with garbage bags reminiscent of the bread bag days of my youth.  There was so much water even this age old trick couldn't keep their feet dry.

We did bring home 4 northern pike, which made a great lunch last Tuesday.

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Grove Collaborative is new company to me.  They specialize in delivering affordable natural cleaning and beauty supplies right to your door.  They had a Mrs. Meyer's special last week, and I do love Mrs. Meyer's products.  I picked up 2 kitchen sprays, 1 dish soap, 2 hand soaps, 1 hand lotion, 3 walnut shell kitchen scrubbies, 1 coconut bar soap, and 1 coconut lip balm for a grand total of $20.75.  Not bad and I didn't even have to leave the house.  Here's my haul.

I chose honeysuckle scented Mrs. Meyer's products, except for the 1 lemon verbena dish soap.  The honeysuckle scent reminds me of a warm spring day, something every Wisconsinite needs a reminder of in January.  Excuse me while I take a minute to moisturize.  Mmmm!

I love ALL things coconut, and this Yes to lip balm delivers in a big way.  It's creamy and smells oh so good.  Peter and Maria have been sneaking it every chance they get.

Why am I telling you about Grove Collaborative?  Because if you click over through this link you will receive $10 off your first order. (referral link)

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In homeschooling news, Joseph's been making progress with his writing.  I mostly use Handwriting Without Tears, but just ran across this homemade workbook from his last year's Virtual Learning Friday teacher.  It got buried under this year's curriculum until Monday when I was doing a little organizing.  When I set it on the table, Joe said, "Ms. Teresa coming?"  I had to remind him that Ms. Teresa's in heaven, but we could still work on writing skills.  So, anyway, he was learning the letter "i".  

Last year I had to use special pencil grips, but this year his hand is bigger and stronger so he typically doesn't use them anymore.  Progress - it's a good thing!

On the top line, I hand over hand a couple of times, then guide him by saying the description:  down, dot; down, dot; down, dot.  He uses a pencil on the top line.

Poses for a quick silly picture.  Keeping this boy on task can be exhausting.  Keeping him in a shirt - impossible!

On the 2nd line of i's I let him choose a marker for writing.  Markers really glide and put down a lot of color without much pressure.  Joe doesn't like to press when he writes so as a reward for pressing with the pencil, I let him do the 2nd line of writing with a marker.  He's so much happier the second time around.

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We're having some beautiful January weather including a true January thaw a couple weeks ago.  This day was so perfect we just had to get outside.  After baking cookies we bagged up a few to take out to dad, who was cutting firewood.  But first, we filled the bird feeders.

And then we decided to join in on making firewood.  It was late in the day, but we did what we could.

Joseph, of course, found a stump, sat down and shot all the deer he could.

Hide and seek is a good way to pass the time while dad dumps the load of wood.

In case you're dying to duplicate the above fashion statement, it's easy.  Pull neck gator over head and then stop long before it reaches your neck.  Sometimes we call it a chimney.  Sometimes we call it ridiculous.  But, this fashion statement has been going on since I first sewed that rectangle of fleece into a tube.  And if I'm not mistaken, a certain oldest son does the same thing.

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And here you have it, the birch log with eyelashes.  Nature never disappoints.

Linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers for the Weekly Wrap-Up.

In case you haven't done so yet, please Like Camp Homeschool over at FB to keep updated on new posts and other Camp Homeschool news.  Thanks.