The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Basically for the entire month of November and most of December

In my life "these months"

I have been a normal busy mom of many.  As any mom is.  Basically, I am soaking in each and every minute I can with my kids.  We are spending an incredible amount of time reading together, and even singing together.  Who knew!  We have begun to "try" building a habit of singing hymns and worship songs each night before say our family prayers and it has proved to be quite wonderful.  The kids and parents both are loving it and the kids each enjoy choosing a song or two or three.  I am amazed to find the calming effect the singing has had on us all and how spirit filled our prayers are afterwards. Our first birthday in our series of birthdays between December and January is Mary and she is very much enjoying her ice cream on her birthday dinner out!  In the next 3 weeks we will celebrate Mary, Robyn, Aubryn, Heather, Emma, Kaydee, and Gemma. It's a wonderful life for sure. 

In our homeschool "these months"

Hours and hours of reading together and journaling in our learning notebooks.  Looking ahead already in January for when our new year begins.  Why? Because we will be jumping back into Sonlight and I have 6 very excited children.  We've done Sonlight in the past and enjoyed it! Not to mention how excited mom is to have her daily school schedule already planned out.  Our plan is to do 3 cores between 6 kids.  Condensed World History, World History Year One, and American History In Depth.  Mary keeps busy learning her math by using my favorite hands on math tools.  I've used these for teaching basic math skills for 11 years! She is working through Series one book two this year and nearly finished!  I love these little books for the younger kids and Mary is our 7th child to use them.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share

Well, I've been thinking about this one for a bit and all I can really say is enjoy your days with your children and have lots of cuddling and learning together.

I am inspired by

My two boys at home, Aaron and Gregg.  They are the best.  I won't go into detail as they are standing over me right now and this is all I have permission to say without embarrassing them!!!! ((smile)) Let me just say that Gregg literally carried a bottle of vitamin E in his pocket the whole time Mary's cut and scraped face was healing.  Every couple of hours he would call her to him so he could rub some on it to ensure she didn't scar. 

Places we are going and people we are seeing

Delivering Christmas goodies to friends and neighbors

My favorite thing "in these months"

Hearing about and seeing our happy daughters who just this year married their eternal and forever husbands.  I love hearing all about their lives as new wives.  They both are wonderful bread bakers and I hear their husbands are feeling much blessed by this!  The crafty creations are beautiful additions to their homes and I am having the most fun following their new duties.

  

What's working/not working for our family

According to my daughter, THIS hair style is not working.  She did it all by herself and was proud to tell us, "I found this hair do on Pinterest but I can't make it work!

Questions/thoughts I have

An odd thought, but fitting in my opinion....Can we as a society begin to put our focus on LESS gun control and MORE mental control?  

Things I'm working on

Decluttering and organizing every room in my home.  It's a job but a few minutes a day certainly pays off.

I'm reading

Or should I say we are reading The Von Trapp Family Singers, The Glorious Impossible, and anything Christmas we can get our hands on!  For schooling we are reading A Child's Geography of the World, Greek Myths for Children, and A Story of the World.  I personally am not really immersed into any particular book right now but most certainly loving the learning I am getting while reading to the kids.

I'm cooking/baking

It's Christmas, what NOT am I baking?

I'm grateful for

(okay I know it's shallow but on a cold winter night this warm milk spiced with pumpkin flavor and nutmeg is a winner.)

I'm praying for

Most deeply for the trials of our fellow human beings in Conn.

Photos to share

 I never tire of seeing my sleeping children huddled together

This child could spend all day having me read to her.  She definitely loves to learn and soaks in every word that comes out of her books.

What more can I say.  The watch though, I'm not even sure where that came from or who even owns it!

Our last warm day of November

THIS is what most of our days look like!