Bear's Motivation

They say find what motivates your kids and use it to your advantage. The kids can not do x until they complete Y... can you tell that I am up to here is Algebra this year! It was so easy to find what motivated the Princess, dance and time with her friends! The Bear on the other hand has had me puzzled for awhile now. Her motivators seem to change like the seasons! If I tell her we can not go to the park or another outing, she is like ok. I'll just stay home. She loves being at home and could easily just be here all the time! LOL!

Well today, I think that I figured it out TV, movies, and music! She is such a visual/ auditory learner. Today while we were working on some things about Frogs. I started to tell her about the life cycle...well instead she told me all about it. You know what she was right. I asked her how she knew all this? Bear's response well on "Curious George" they went to the pound and George caught tadpoles. Then she proceeded to tell me all about the brightly colored frogs in the forests that are poisonous and she apparently learned that from some "Planet Earth" video. So I am trying to figure out why am I teaching? Would it wrong of me to schedule her day around the PBS guide?

On Strike!

So it seems that I have been ignoring my blog a bit here. Fall is in full swing. That means 6 days of dance classes not including extra rehearsals, art classes, piano lessons, girl scouts, pe class, craft days, swim lessons, and I am sure something else. This is all on top of homeschooling the girls and me having to do lesson plans and prepare curriculum. Somewhere in all that I have to find time to teach. Oh' did I mention the pile of laundry, housecleaning,....someone has got to cook dinner? Or do I really need to feed the kids?

So I decided that I need a break....today I am officially on strike!! It is a beautiful fall day outside and we are going to enjoy it. Off to the park for a nice walk and some fun!

The white envelope

Well yesterday, a white envelope came home from the Princess ballet teacher...now being a home school mom I am not used to notes from teachers. I opened the envelope with the princess because she was too nervous to do so herself. There was a formal letter, letting the Princess know that she had gotten the part that she had been invited to audition for. I am so proud of her and all her hard work! I am excited to see her grow as we take the turn to the next level of her ballet. Well, I guess it her starting to take the next step on her own...But I am here as always to help and support.

The Princess has been dancing for ten years now! She is still so young, and it seems weird to say that she has done something for that long. I can remember when she did her first recital at age 2 and somersaulted off the stage, then ran back on to waive HI to everyone! My has she grown since then! Remember Princes your dad and I are your biggest fans!! Break a leg!!

Carnival of Homeschooling

Read today post here.

http://www.thehomespunlife.com/2009/09/homeschool-carnival-virtual-blog.html

Is Your Daddy Home???

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick one day. Needing to have an urgent problem with one of the main computers resolved, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper. ' Hello ? '

'Is your daddy home?' he asked.

' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.

May I talk with him?'

The child whispered, ' No .'

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mummy there?' ' Yes '


'May I talk with her?' Again the small voice whispered, ' No '

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'

' Yes , ' whispered the child, ' a policeman . '

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'

' No, he's busy , ' whispered the child.

'Busy doing what?'

' Talking to Daddy and Mummy and the Fireman , ' came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'

' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.

'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive. Again, whispering, the child answered,

' The search team just landed a helicopter '

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...

' ME . '

Africa

The Bear insisted upon learning about animals this year. So I went with it. We are studying the geography of the continents, the people, along with the animals that live there and their habitats. I decided to do Africa first because well, I like the Savanna.

For the past five weeks we have been reading out of the African Savanna book. We also have been reading about different animals that live in the grasslands using an Encyclopedia of Animals, and the kids national geographic site . To be honest, I really was not sure how much of this the Bear was retaining. She and I were enjoying our time together and that is what was important!

For the last week of our study we have been making a model of the African Savanna. Well this is when I found out how much my little bear was really listening and absorbing things. She was oh' so specific that we had to include the termite mounds in our model---after all it was so cool that the bugs made the mounds out of their spit! She also insisted that we had to make our trees flat like the acacia trees and we could not put two of them next to each other. It is so amazing the things kids pick up on!

Here is some pictures of our competed African Savanna.



Notice the huge sand/ glue mixture...that would be those termite mounds that can get up to 5 feet tall.

Be Happy!

I have been under a huge amount of stress lately and just not feeling well. Many that know me in real life know that my grandmother suffers from alzheimer's. It is just a horrible disease, there are no other words for it. For the last month or so I have been having to call her every couple of hours to help calm her down and get her to eat something. She gets very nasty when she does not eat ----well I think that we all do sick or not! Anyways, I heard some news this week that my grandfather will be going in for some testing. He may have some health issues of his own, lung or possible brain cancer. Well it is no wonder both of them are in their upper 80's. They have lived a long, great, full life. It is sometimes hard to deal with being so far away from home and not being able to help more. I mean these are the people that raised my they are biologically my grandparents but are really my parents!

I listen to other people complain about the everyday things. How to get everything done. That their kids did not get the part in a play that they wanted but another part. Just sort of rambling or getting fixated on one specific thing. Then as I was driving yesterday afternoon, and crying. I got a moment alone in the car, when I could let everything hit me. I had a revelation "JUST BE HAPPY!" "JUST BE HAPPY TO BE ALIVE!" BE HAPPY TO HAVE YOUR FAMILY!"

So that is my new outlook. I am going to try to not fixate on the little details and just go with the flow of things. Trust in God to work things out.....and
JUST BE HAPPY!

Tuesday Rant

I just get so fustrated with people somethimes! For instance today, I had to spend 30 minutes on the phone with someone explaining to them how to print something off of their computer. It intrupted my school day with my kids! UGGG! Why did I answer the phone?? I understand that as adults we all have different understanding of how the computer words, but printing a document? Really you needed my help for that??

Ok, I feel better now! Thanks for the rant.

Dinosaurs!!

The Bear is fascinated with Dinosaurs! She picks up every book she can dealing with them. I usually try to screen them first, but sometimes things get missed. When Mom says yes, to a book that is only $0.25!

So this morning we were reading a book. I did not catch the young earth parts before my 6 year old started reading them. I could not just take the book away after all she had just read all the questionable parts! I was so worried like great she is so young how am I going to get this out of her head....Mom starring upwards at the ceiling. When the Bear shouts

"what are they talking about dinosaurs were squished by a big meteor! Don't
these people know anything?"

She then proceed to laugh and told me that was a funny story. I just let it all go.....later dad got home and she was excited to show him the new fairy tale book Mom had given her. She told him all about it and how these people must live in a parallel dimension.

Thanks to the science channel that her sister is in love with I don't have to explain how the dinosaurs did die.......I guess she was paying attention after all. But parallel dimensions...I think we'll just let that one go for now!

Carnival of Homeschooling

Today, I submitted an entry to the carnival of homeschooling. It is the first time ever that I have done something like that. It is lots of fun to read everyone's posts and get some great ideas for schooling.

To read today's post click here

http://www.homeschoolbytes.com/homeschool-curriculum/carnival-of-homeschooling-weve-got-style/


Next week the carnival will be held at HomeGrownMommy.com and submissions are due Monday, Aug. 31st at 6 pm. Visit here to submit your post.

School Room Maekover

Remember my whole post on my flooring issue. Well we have decided to wait and do the whole house at once. I hate the kitchen cabinets, my husband hates the counter tops, we both just think the floor is ok. We can not agree upon anything. We did agree that if we are going to redo all the floors it would make sense to change some other things we dislike first. I think that I just received permission to redo the kitchen and bathrooms!

In the meantime, I have to make due with the carpet that we have. How to do that! The answer dig the beautiful rug that we own out of the attic. I got the king (no, that bloggy name does not work, I don't live with Elvis!). I got my husband to get it out and he even cleaned it for me! We spent the whole weekend fixing up the school room. I love the way it turned out. It looks like a whole new room...and I did not even have to spend anything.

Here are some pictures of the way it used to look.





Here are some of the improvements..





Of course a school room would not be complete without a place for the dog! She has to learn too! :)

Simple Math

Fun Ride

I feel that I am in for a very fun ride this year with school! The Princess, is being left 100% on her own schedule for this year. We have set times that we are to get together and discuss her subjects. Each meeting time has a specific topic that we are going to talk about. She is required to come to me with all previous work done and prepared to discuss/ debate what she has learned etc.

So today's, topic was for Religion. We were discussing the authority of the church, the church government etc. It was all going great until we got onto the topic of the Pope and his role. We were talking about the infallibility of the Pope,what he is expected to do and the role he plays in our faith. Great, we were doing good! I was explaining how the Pope also has to uphold a certain image. The Princess was like "ya I understand, I mean He can not be all like a hottie and suff"

Excuse me did I hear right did the Princess just say that! Why yes, she did! I had to laugh and the tween talking--she just reduced the Pope to the boy next door. Red -checked she realized and said no that is not what I mean. I knew what she meant, but had to give her a hard time. The discussion continued and she had a deeper understanding of what she meant and a great grasp of it and just put it into words that she can relate too. She was meaning that the Pope had to be better than the average person, that he has to uphold certain standards. That he can not just walk around like most men and boys on the street. So in the words of the Princess, the Pope can not be a "hottie".

Carnival of Homeschooling

I found the carnival of homeschooling from Aimee It looks like it could be lots of fun. I am always looking for new ideas for homeschooling!

To read this is this weeks submission click here:

http://jugglingpaynes.blogspot.com/2009/08/carnival-of-homeschooling-juggling.html


I submitted an entry for next week, so we will see how this goes!

Flooring

I was so excited for this weekend! We WERE going to start my new floors. Notice the WERE, that means no I did not get to move furniture and get all dirty. Not that I was looking forward to the moving furniture --You should see all the things in the Princess's room --I did not want to pack that up! I did want my new floors! We were all set to get them. We got up extra early to go purchase the flooring.... and they sold out of the one I wanted!! NO, NO! Even worse they can not order it, it has been discontinued!!! I am so sad because it matched my flooring downstairs! So instead of putting in my new flooring, I spent my weekend trying to find something else! :(

Now we are trying to figure out if we should just do the whole house!! Which of course means more $$... all I hear from my dear husband ....you need to wait! Unless I can do the whole house for the price we were going to pay for the upstairs! Anyone hints on cheap flooring???

Music Room

The other day, I showed you picture wall that I repainted. I completely forgot to show everyone the greatest improvement in the room. While the girls and I were on vacation. My husband (got to think of a funny bloggy name for him) got me a new piano. Now, I don't play the piano at all, but my girls do. We had this piano that the kids loved but I hated the colors. There is no words to describe it ....here is a picture



It is a great piano....but the colors were just so bright. The piano was right by my front door! The rainbow colors just had to go. I kept thinking that I would paint the piano but that just seemed like so much work! Lucky, for me my wish was granted. I came home from vacation to find this in the room.





It is not the baby grand that I was dreaming of....that would not fit in my house anyways. It is wonderful...and best of all it is not rainbow colors!! The girls and I thank you so much honey for the new piano!!!

I Can Be Frugal.....

I have this wall in the music room. Well, it is supposed to be a formal dinning room but we have no use for that. Anyways, the wall had tons of family photos on it. The frames were all different. The intent was to go out and buy new frames that all matched. Well, I could not take it anymore and it was not in the budget to purchase the frames today. However, a $3.50 can of spray paint was in the budget. Here is my new wall after I painted all the frames!



Here is a picture of the wall before...well not exactly. I realized after I took some of the pictures down and took a quick picture but you can get the idea.

Bear's Geography

This year the Bear and I are doing a unit on geography around the world. My goal for the Bear is to learn her continents and oceans with a little culture at the same time. For an introduction, we read "How to Make and Apple Pie and see the World". The Bear read the book to me and over the week we made parts of a lapbook. We finished it off with making an apple pie from scratch (even the crusts!)



That is the Bear working on parts of her lapbook while we made the pie! Now for pictures of the pie. I am in trouble --the whole family realized that I can make homemade pie's from scratch, a small secret that I have been hiding well until now.






Here is the Bear's finished lapbook!

The Bear's Birthday

Yesterday was the Bear's Birthday. Wow, I can not believe that she is 6 years old! She is getting to be such a big girl. Yesterday, we did everything that she wanted. Daddy made a big breakfast of her favorite, chocolate chip wheat pancakes. We opened presents and she played all day. We had Which Wich sandwiches for lunch with a chocolate chip cookie cake. Then we watched a movie. I made her favorite dinner, spinach pasta with grilled chicken, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and a pesto sauce with a chocolate cake for desert. Do you see a chocolate theme here??? This girls loves chocolate!! She did not want a part or to go anywhere on her day just to stay home and hang out! So that is what we did.

Happy Birthday, Little Bear!!

Vacation Photos

It seems like life has been so busy! So here are some updates to catch everyone up on life. The Bear got her first official haircut! By that I mean someone other than Mom doing it. I took her while we were on vacation, to the same place that I always took the Princess too. I love it there, they always do these special braids in the girls hair. Here is the back to get a better idea.



Oh' here is a photo of our beloved King, whom we always bring a big bone to when we go visit. He is truly the sweetest dog. The whole family wishes that he could have come with us when we moved. But he is a spoiled boy at Grandma's house and keeps them company!



Here is a picture of the girls on the HB pier! It was such an overcast day that morning. We were all freezing, it was only 65 degrees!! That is cold!




A trip home would not be one without going to Pinks! They have the best hot dogs ever! They are simply a heart attack waiting to happen! Oh' my they are worth it, so Yummy!!


We can not leave without saying Hello to the Indian!


And last but not least the Princess left us for a few days to go hang out with one of her best buddies, who just so happens to also be called the Bear!