Hey, It's Jade! and family

Friday, September 20, 2013

Homeschool Recap, Weeks 1 and 2...

Alright, in previous years I have managed to post a detailed, weekly recap.  Well, I have a feeling that's not gonna happen this year.  So, maybe, just maybe I can shoot for every two weeks, and go easy on the details as well.  Plus, our themes are about two weeks long, so it kinda makes sense anyway.  We have finished our first two weeks of school for the year.  Woo hoo!  It went smoothly.  Just a few whines, grumbles (from Preston) and shenanigans (from Callen). 

Callen (Preschool):  Callen is doing a laid-back version of Before Five in a Row and tagging along with us through some parts of MFW ECC.  Our first book to row has been Molly Bang's Yellow Ball.  The first time I read it to Callen, I wasn't sure he'd be interested in reading it more than once, but I was wrong.  He asks for it by name and gets excited when it's time to read it again.  There are only a handful of words in the book, and he seems determined to memorize them.  He points to the word "What's this say?"  So far we have played catch, throw and roll the ball, used punch balls, done a few of the lapbook type activities I found online emphasizing 'y' and yellow, above/below/high/low, and Callen stamped some yellow balls in the big, blue sea using a bottle cap and toilet paper roll printing.  He also colored a bunch of worksheets of the continents since that's what we're going over with Preston.

Callen's handprint
Coloring Yellow Balls
Playing Topple with me.



Preston (3rd Grade): Preston officially started My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures.  We are learning about maps and continents these first two weeks.  Plus, some of the main religious groups in the world.  We had a worm niche to observe how they churn up the ground for a week, ewww!  He is doing great at getting the concept of multiplication down using Math Mammoth.  His Spelling Power work is going well, we started on the last few groups in Level B. 

Observing a section of our backyard habitat.
Learning about animals, like frogs.  Eww!
Worm niche.  Eww, again!
Lots of reading time!
Working on a detailed map.
Map from our house to church.




One of the fun things about homeschooling is getting to school wherever we want.  We had a house showing from 10-11am on Thursday, plus a homeschool group lunch/playtime at 1130, so we needed to be out of the house for a while.  We were going to go to the library to do school, but I forgot they didn't open till 1pm.  We ended up Starbucks and got our schoolwork done there!

Taking school on the road.
Preston concentrating on spelling, Callen enjoying a treat.
All in all, I have to say that the first two weeks went well!  As well as I could hope with the distractions of a 3-yr-old and having to be in and out of our house because of the showings and other activities.

Preston got a bug/spider bite this week that got infected, just like mine.  Took him to the doctor and had her drain it and get him on antibiotics.  Poor guy, it's right on the back of his leg so when he sits, it rubs and hurts.  Dunno what's getting us, but it ain't nice!  Hoping his heals a lot faster and easier than mine since we caught it earlier.  Mine is still in the process of healing.  Blech. 

Also, we have a contract on our house again, so we will be launching into hunting mode this weekend, gotta find US a house now, pronto!  But first, Preston and Callen are going to spend the night with my folks and Michael and I are having a date night.  We're going to see Five Iron Frenzy, House of Heroes and Mike Herrera in concert.  What?!  I know, right?  So excited for tonight!

Friday, September 13, 2013

The Frustrations of Trying to Sell Your House (regarding showings and keeping it staged)...

Our house has been on the market for about 110 days now.  That's 110 days of trying to live in this de-cluttered, staged home.  I have two young, wild and rowdy boys who are home with me 24/7.  That pretty much sums it up, but just for memory's sake...
  • As I clean, those children follow in my wake leaving a path of destruction. (I vacuumed the bedroom carpet, and not 2 minutes later Callen crushed goldfish crackers into the carpet.)
  • Realtors don't always lock the door when they leave.  Um... not cool, y'all.
  • Some potential buyers apparently don't care that they track in sticky stuff or mud.
  • Making my bed.
  • Realtors who schedule a showing for 8:30 in the morning, I get my boys up and out (no small task around here, especially that early), we stay gone doing pointless stuff for the hour we're supposed to and come back, then that realtor rings the door bell half an hour later, stands there with their clients and says "Oh no, we rescheduled, didn't they tell you?"  I'm not a natural curser, but that wanted me to exclaim some profanity real bad. 
  • A realtor who schedules a showing for 8:30 in the morning, period.
  • Potential buyers whose feed back simply states "too small."  Um, read the freaking description and dimensions, y'all.  You are wasting my precious time.
  • Having to make my stupid bed.  And Preston's stupid bed.  And Callen's stupid bed. And then mine AGAIN because the boys have played in it.
  • Investors who put a contract on the house, but bails out on the last day of the option period leaving you back at square one.
  • People who submit ridiculously low bids to see how desperate you are.  We're not that desperate.
  • Having your closets and garage packed full of stuff that you occasionally need to get to but can't.
  • Leaving the lights on and the A/C down, using more electricity than normal and running up our bill (especially in the summer).
  • Having to pack up and put away homeschool stuff constantly instead of having it in a convenient place.
  • Have I mentioned how much I hate making my bed?  Well, I do.
  • Having strangers milling around my house.  It's creepy.
  • Realtors who ask for 2 hours of showing time, but only spend 3 minutes actually in my house.
  • Potential buyers who complain about the door in the back bedroom.  That is clearly noted AND pictured in the listing.  Don't be stupid.
  • Needing to sell this house at the price we're asking and not being able to budge just to get it done.  That sucks.
I'm sure I'll continue to add to this list.  But I hope I don't have to.  I would like to be done with this now.

Monday, September 9, 2013

First Day of School 2013

Today was the official kick off for our 2013-2014 school year!  Last night we took a few photos because the boys were still in their "nice" clothes from church.
Preston, 3rd Grade, 7 years old
Callen, Preschool, 3 years old
Teacher with her students.  Haha.
Yep, they are a hand full.

As far as today, it went quite smoothly!  I woke up, grabbed a quick shower and breakfast so that I would be ahead of them.  I had their school stuff ready and waiting:
Mobile school since our house is still 'staged.'
Preston was the first to wake up, so he ate his dry cereal as we got started (taking advantage of Callen not being a distraction, lol).  We started off with his beginning of the year questionnaire we have done for the last several years.  
Use your best handwriting!
It asks things like favorite food, favorite tv show, what do you want to be when you grow up, etc.  It's funny looking back at these over the years to see how answers have changed... or not changed.  Then we quickly jumped into the various tasks ahead of us and got A LOT accomplished in that hour that Callen slept in (he never does that, it was awesome!).  We used a bunch of the My Father's World ECC books so that Preston would be familiar with them from here on out.  Callen woke up and demanded breakfast and then did some coloring while we finished up the work.  I didn't start with his stuff today, just wanted to ease into a routine this week.  

We needed to run some errands (bank, post office, take movies back to the video store) so I gave the boys their Travel Notebooks.  
Looks like fun, Mom!
These are for when we are running around, they can write or draw about what they see on the way.  It worked for a while as we out and about, then Callen threw his notebook and pencil at Preston and that was the end of that.  Sigh.  I should know better.  Anyway, after our errand we came home and had lunch and then the boys were getting rowdy, so I sent them in the backyard to play in the sprinkler.
Sprinkler fun in the backyard.
After that, they played inside a while, then we had quiet time.  It was SUPPOSED to be nap time, but SOMEONE (ahem, Callen) wouldn't nap for anything.  Ok, it was PROBABLY because he slept in so much this morning.  Oops.  Oh well.  While he played, not so quietly, in his room, Preston took his Chapter 1 Math Mammoth test over the lessons we just finished up.  He got an 88%... mostly because he just didn't read the directions or pay attention to the signs (both of which I reminded him of before he started, lol).  The boys played, built forts and things with the couch cushions, then played outside some more in the front and the back after dinner because they were just crazy bundles of energy.  They were TV-free till 8pm, and Callen only even asked ONCE if he could watch TV and didn't put up a fuss when I said no... but I had a training call to do, so I let them watch some cartoons for a while.  Let's hope they got all that energy out and fall asleep easily tonight and that tomorrow's school is just as smooth!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

August 2013 Tweets & Instagrams to Remember...

Aug 6th - gift from his parents... ancestry DNA testing kit to see who he's directly defended from.…


Aug 15th - Praising God for the weather, and chance to have a picnic lunch in the middle of August! http://bit.ly/17haQ6O

Aug 15th - Beware the "sharp" chairs out there. Though, it also looks like those sharp articles are ganging up on that poor chair. #RodAndStaff is often hilarious. #homeschool  http://bit.ly/1djBnaz

Aug 18th - They can get along on occasion at least. I asked if they dressed alike on purpose, Preston says, "No! Well, Callen did pick out my clothes for me. Hey!"  http://bit.ly/17hb8uo

Aug 19th - Its an unofficial back-to-school day today. Starting up Math & Spelling with Preston (3rd) and ...…  

Aug 20th - All my boys, coloring. #love  http://bit.ly/1djBJhw

Aug 27th - Oh, u know... Just finally having our first swim of the . Found the key card for the community…

Aug 30th - 105degrees today? Bring it on. I'm armed with a Iced Spice Latte and, for later,…  

Aug 31st - Yep, its a . :)  

Aug 31st - Can u tell someone is happy to have Daddy home today?