What do you DO all day??

It is not the norm to be a SAHM (stay at home mom) anymore. June Cleaver is a thing of the past. The economy is such that many ladies feel the need to work to make ends meet. If you are one of those ladies, who has to work and then come home to juggle the rest, I congratulate you! We have more single moms than ever before. Just in those times I’ve had my husband out of town, I have felt the challenges…know that I’m in the stands rooting for you, too!! I am grateful I can do what I do. We do without a lot of stuff to make it happen, but I suspect when it’s all said and done, years from now none of us will care much.

Because what I do is uncommon, it is often misunderstood. SAHM’s are viewed as unambitious sometimes. Lazy, maybe. Living a luxurious lifestyle as we eat bonbons and watch soaps. That is not what my life looks like. Here is what my day looks like:

About 7am: Make bed. Do meds. Do exercises. Put tea on to brew. Grab my daily cup of “go juice” and try to scoot through my Bible study time (typically daily reading sent to me via email from ESV, also Valley of Vision, and The Quiet Place, before the youngest gets up (she’s an early riser). Maybe…hopefully… get dressed? No, I don’t wear my pearls to wash dishes or my Sunday shoes to stock the linen closet. I’m not June Cleaver. lol
8-9am: Grab some muffins and tea. Check if anyone needs help on my Facebook homeschooling group (I pop on throughout the day to keep my sanity–I am online for most of our main school stuff anyway– since that is usually the only adult conversation I have most days, my husband being gone working most of the time), and post the freebies and deals for the day. Open Cozi calendar and check what each child has scheduled for school. Open Time 4 Learning and check that yesterday’s progress was accomplished for the oldest two, and see if any papers need to be printed for today’s lessons. Open Easy Peasy and see if anything needs to be printed for the youngest, and/or gather supplies that are needed. Get Katie’s desk set up and papers laid out for the day.
9-10am: Get kids through chores (collectively, they take care of making their beds and keeping their rooms picked up, trash, cat box, bathroom, dishwasher and the oldest does her own laundry), fed, ready for school day. Do devotions with Katie and review her ABC memory verses thus far. Older kids get started on their school day.
10-12 noon: (not necessarily in this order): Guide Katie through all of her subjects, plus handwriting her signature in cursive and memory verse in printing. Throw laundry in. Clean up kitchen from breakfast. Help Michael along with any subjects in which he needs help. Discipleship (see Deut. 6:6,7). Throw laundry in dryer. Referee (our situation allows our kids to know each other pretty well…which is a blessing, and a curse. 😉 ). Answer the phone (my husband is a pastor, so the phone is very busy). Plan supper. Read with Katie and do review of phonics and sight word cards. Referee again. Throw more laundry in. Check on our oldest to see if she needs help (she keeps her own schedule, and must turn in things by 10pm). Sweep kitchen. Tidy, pick up, tidy some more (having everyone home 24/7 means your home is never officially “tidy”…lol).
Noon-3pm-ish: Lunch, PE (which can mean anything from going to the park, walking, biking, Wii Fit, trampoline, or even this), check spelling words, have the oldest demonstrate her weekly ASL skills, assign engineering project for middle kiddo, finish up any remaining school work. More discipleship. Check records in Time 4 Learning to be sure lessons are completed and check grades. Experiments and art projects. Try to remember the rest of the laundry! Select elective activities for each day’s lesson plans for next week (Basic Cooking, Biblical Counseling, American Sign Language, Engineering). Tidy some more. Make shopping list for Friday. Answer the phone some more. Referee some more. Sweep the floor again. lol
3-5pm: Check the homeschool group for needs. Fix supper. Plan and gather resources for tomorrow’s school day. Begin to plan the lesson for Jr. Church, decide the snack, print any necessary resources. Make mental notes for Sunday’s bulletin. Tidy…again. 😉
6-7pm: Supper
7-9ish: Relax with the family. Work on personal writing projects.
9-10: Bed time. Mentally go through the day, realize that although you felt busier than a one-armed paper hanger, you still didn’t get everything done…and once more there are crayons, shoes, toys, socks, scattered hither and yon. Tuck everyone in. This is when we have some of our most meaningful conversations.
10pm: Fall into bed, fairly used up, but grateful.

Lather, rinse, repeat. What does your day look like, SAHM? 🙂

Time 4 Learning Review

The picture says it all. This is, by far, the best choice I’ve made in homeschooling thus far. The picture shows our son, who has battled with reading disability in the past. Today, his first day of Time4Learning, he asked if he could do extra vocabulary. Extra. Vocabulary. This is unheard of in our home. Anything word-oriented was like pulling teeth for him. In his words, “Mom, I think this is the first time I’ve really liked school!”

Cost

If you sign up as a new member of Time4Learning, you can get your initial month for only $9.99! That is for each student…but an unlimited number of students. This is a great opportunity to test drive the program. There is also a 14-day money back guarantee. If you decide it’s just not your cup of tea, you can get a refund. I’m thinkin’ that’s not gonna happen here! 😉 After your initial month, the cost reverts to the original price of $19.95 per month for your first student, and $14.95 for each additional one . There are no contracts, no hidden costs. You can cancel any time.

Convenience

The site is very easy to navigate, even for our 1st grader. The tutorials and online forums fill in any gaps you may have regarding getting started and using the program. Attendance and record keeping is all done for you. As a parent, I can log in anytime to make sure my kids are completing their lessons, and I can check their progress and grades as they go. School can happen anywhere our laptop can go, and any time we choose, 24/7.

Content

Time4Learning is basic core content, primarily math and language arts, also including social studies and science for most grade levels. There are brief placement tests to determine what level you need for your child. Also, if you find the content is either too difficult or too easy, you have the wiggle room of moving up or down a grade level for any or all subjects. Everything I did was easily understandable for even our 1st grader, and explanations and review are offered for everything. There is a “playground” available (lots of games and education sites and applications to choose from), and you can set the time (which appears in the upper right corner) for how long you’d like your student to work before having access to “recess”. You also determine how long they can remain at the playground, and the timer shuts things down when it reaches 0.

I am adding some reading and writing to do apart from what our kids are doing through this site, but am very happy with it so far! I’d encourage you to try it, if you feel it is time to change things up, or even just use it for review. With the money-back guarantee, nothing is lost if you try it and don’t like it.

If you have further questions, ask away! 🙂 If you’d like a personal invitation from Time4Learning, (and help me out in the process by helping me get credit toward our own schooling) just ask, and I’ll refer you!

**Update**

Here are a few extra tidbits, in answer to some questions folks asked when I posted this on Facebook:

For kids who are not computer savvy, it might be a little more of a challenge; but both of our kids can navigate well. You can mouse over almost all of the buttons and have a verbal directive, which I like, since Katie is reading well, but perhaps not all the words they may use. Some like to use this for summer, or as an additional supplement. The math and language arts are all by general state standards.
You can use it only for the school year, or all year. You can put your account “dormant” for a period determined by you, for a small fee per month…and this retains all of your grades and records. Or, you can start over fresh each year.
I started out with Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool (and still highly recommend it!) but with health challenges, this is so much more doable for us right now. I know there are many dealing with various struggles that sap energy, and this makes Time4Learning even more appealing. The beauties of homeschooling…we can morph as much as we want!

Disclosure Statement: As a member of Time4Learning, I have been asked to review their online education program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. Write your own curriculum review or learn how to use their curriculum for homeschool, after school study or summer learning.

K B Teachers

As I’ve consolidated my blogs into one, I’ve added more homeschooling information here. Today, while searching for freebies for my Facebook page, “Schoolin’ Swag,” I came across a great site for homeschool teachers. The name is K B Teachers, and if you visit, you won’t be disappointed! Some wonderful freebies there! Be sure to sign up for their free newsletter to get a heads up on new offers.

The One-Armed Paper Hanger Lives!

school2 — The only things I needed to buy for school this year…and it came to less than $30! 🙂

Oh yes…I’m still here. 🙂 Things have been a whirlwind here lately, so I’m having to juggle some priorities.

As you may know, in the space of a few weeks, we candidated at a church, which called my husband as their pastor, we packed, cleaned, and moved all our stuff (with the gracious help of friends). We then had VBS at our church (the Lord blessed with a wonderful turn out for both the children’s morning program and the teen’s evening activities). I was corralling kids from 9 until noon, unpacking like a crazy woman all afternoon, and then back to the church for the teens from 6:30-9:30. Very busy days!

Now, we have only a few boxes remaining in the house, and things are feeling more like home. This past week, I put my nose to the grindstone and got (at least) the first month of lesson plans done for school…which we’ve bumped to the first week in September, all things considered. Wow, so grateful for amazing internet tools! I began combing through resources several months ago to set up lessons for all three kids (1st, 7th and 10th grades). The Lord helped me to find wonderful things (every bit of it free) as well as a superabundance of things I did not need, but simply could not allow to disappear back into the abyss of I’ll-never-find-it-again-unless-I-bookmark-it-but-how-many-things-does-a-person-really-need-in-their-favorites. So I started “Schoolin’ Swag.”

If you are on Facebook, and have an interest in homeschooling, come join the group! We have 300+ members now, with new friends being added every day. Each day there are new freebies, tips and deals from all over the web. I figured it was one way to help others who were in the same boat as I was…feeling overwhelmed, combing through scads of URL’s (some dead, some great, some not so much).

I’ll just share two tools here that I have really enjoyed. The first is from GoalForIt. This site offers free chore charts, with lots of templates and options. There are very cute ones, and some that are more streamlined for tweens and teens. Here is a screen shot of our Katie’s, for example:

The kids get to choose what buttons they want for checking off their responsibilities, and they can earn “moolah” if you wish (which translates into minutes for computer time in our house).

Another tool I am grateful for is Home School, Inc. At this free site, I have set up all my lesson plans for all three students, and the various options allow me to print attendance records, report cards, etc. I can keep track of each student’s progress daily, and it gives them one easy place (for older students) to independently move through their day, checking off their work as they go. I just entered instructions for each course, and URL’s for where they need to go to find their work for the day. It required a few hours of my time, but it will help things to go much more smoothly when school has begun. Here is a screen shot of my main page for all of our courses:

Here is a “School Today” page for our 10th grader:

inc erin — This view shows here how many courses she has each day. If she clicks on “View Week,” it gives her the week’s assignments at a glance. She also has the option of clicking the down arrow on any given day to see that day’s work. The small boxes next to each date indicate if that day’s work has been complete.

So this gives you a pretty good idea about where I’ve been. Looking forward to a great year. Once the dust settles, I’ll share more postings with you here. TTFN! 🙂

Simplify

“Simplify” has been a byword for me recently. I’ve had to consolidate, prioritize, dovetail…in order to keep all the “plates spinning” in my life. Part of this process has been bringing posts from my two other blogs into the world of “Strength for Today.” What that means for my readers is that you’ll find more info on the topics of health, fitness and dieting as well as homeschooling and education now in this one spot. It is much easier for me to manage this way, and more efficient as well. So, enjoy all the new stuff just added to the archives! If you were reading at the “Smee Minus Fifty” blog, or “The Old Chalkdust Trail”…these will soon be eliminated as their content is merged into its new home here.

Enjoy! 🙂

The Old Chalkdust Trail–Writing Challenges

I don’t really feel motivated at this point in my life to begin another blog, but with starting up the “Schoolin’ Swag“* Facebook page, the creative educational juices have been flowing. So, for now, I’ll post a few things in the category, “The Old Chalkdust Trail”. 🙂

Today, I want to share something that I have begun trying with our son, Michael. Michael has some reading disability issues, and some ways that it translates into his writing (with backwards b, p, d, q, 2, 5, 6,9). He has hated writing. It requires an incredible amount of focus for him.

About a year ago, I noticed that Michael liked reading a whole lot better when it was “compartmentalized”…like in a comic book format. I checked out all kinds of comic books from the library (he really loved Missile Mouse, so we bought him a couple for Christmas). Then, just recently, I began wondering if the same thing might help his writing.

Michael is very creative in his story-making skills. Here is an excerpt from a how-to essay he put together a couple months ago, entitled, “How to Make a Galactic Grilled Cheese”:

It’s lunch time, space cadet. You are hungry. You can’t even boil water! How will you make lunch? Oh no! I am here to save the day! I am Grilled Cheese Man!

Your first mission is to retrieve cyber bread and space butter. Your second mission is to find a flying frying pan. Of course, your prime target is moon cheese.

Here are the steps to deploy your galactic grilled cheese sandwich:

First, energize your flying frying pan. Setting number 6.

Second, get the cyber bread and space butter out. Install space butter on one side of one piece of cyber bread. Then put the cyber bread on the flying frying pan, space butter side facing south.

Third, put two pieces of moon cheese on the cyber bread that is on the flying frying pan.

Fourth, take another piece of cyber bread, put space butter on one side, and put it on top of the moon cheese that is melting in the flying frying pan. Confirm that space butter side is facing north.

Fifth, take space dispatula and rotate entire sandwich continuously until it turns solar golden on both north and south surfaces.

Last, remove galactic sandwich with dispatula, place on food saucer and wait for de-heatification. Then dispose through your food portal.

Clever thinking isn’t the problem…it is the execution (and believe me, he feels it in the truest sense of that word) of writing it down. I have found that he does better when he skips the handwritten draft and sits down at the keyboard. It sort of bypasses the vortex machine in his brain and, because he knows the keyboard by rote, it flows a whole lot more smoothly this way for him. However, I don’t want him to bail totally on the actual pencil-in-hand process. So…

This semester I asked Michael if he’d like to try making his own comic strip. He jumped at it, and I was overjoyed! He began with very simple ones. Here is a cute sample:

I make him do them in pencil, so we can edit and learn grammar/spelling. This has been a great project. Perhaps, if you are encountering some similar challenges, it may be something you’d like to try as well! We are gradually getting longer installments of this project. He is saving them all in a notebook. He excitedly tells his siblings about his creations…so I think we’re on the right track! I thank the Lord for opening my eyes to this opportunity to help my son succeed. Grace.

*If you are on Facebook, join the “Schoolin’ Swag” page…lots of freebies and resources and helpful chat! Over 100 links so far! It’s an open group, just click on the linked words. 🙂

Schoolin' Swag–Win a Copy of "If" by Amy Carmichael

I haven’t blogged much about homeschooling because for the past two years we’ve been doing a virtual academy. This next school year, however, due to an overdose of standardized testing, our son’s special needs, and some other factors, we’ve decided to hit the “old chalk dust trail” once more.

So, in my quest for good, solid, cheap (or even better…FREE) curriculum, I began to accumulate quite a list of goodies. I just couldn’t keep it to myself, so I started a group on Facebook called “Schoolin’ Swag”. If you are on Facebook and are interested, just search the name and request to be added. It is an open group. We’ve been having a lot of fun, and already have in excess of 80 great links for helps, printables, curriculum and more!

Something else going on in the group is a contest to name our homeschool. Currently, it is “Heeney Homeschool” (I know… *yawn*). Join the group, offer some suggestions for our school (if we name it, we’ll get attached to it, right? 😉 ), and you may win a copy of “If” by Amy Carmichael.

Come join us!

Free Ebook: 20 Homeschool Grads Tip Their Hats to Homeschool Parents

Ever feel overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of homeschooling? You might be asking, “Will my kids turn out okay?” What if you could hear from homeschool graduates who have been there? In this e-book, 20 graduates share how thankful they are for the opportunity they had to be homeschooled, and they want to pass on their gratitude to you. Each chapter is full of motivational stories that will encourage you to continue with the journey of home education. This inspiring e-book is a must for every homeschooling parent!

Join the Homeschool Freebies list by going here.

Homeschool Freebies–Keep Your Kids Busy With Good, Clean Summer Fun!

Some great freebies this week from Homeschoolfreebieoftheday! On Monday and Tuesday we have:

The American Boy’s Handy Book: PART ONE (PDF ebook)

Part One of this wonderful, classic collection of projects from yesteryear for adventurous boys (and girls) to make and do all year long. Just a few are: building kites, unique ways to fish, building an aquarium, knots, water telescopes, boat building, wooden toys, hunting, even taxidermy! Fully illustrated.

This seems along the same lines as one of my son’s favorites from the library, “The Dangerous Book for Boys.” Looking forward to checking this out, with summer approaching quickly!

And on Wednesday and Thursday…

The American GIRL’S Handy Book: PART ONE (PDF ebook)

In this great companion book to the Boys book, subtitled How to Amuse Yourself & Others”, we again have a huge collection of a bit more genteel projects, activities and fun stuff for girls (and boys) to make and enjoy. Includes: finding & preserving wildflowers, corn husk & flower dollmaking, and much more! Fully illustrated, A true classic glimpse of childhood in days gone by.

Thursday’s installment includes

nature art projects, parties for all seasons, games, plaster casting, home gymnastics, needlework, candymaking, holiday amusements, and lots more fun stuff from yesteryear.

Not quite “The Daring Book for Girls,” (which my 13 yo has enjoyed) but still sounds like fun!

Click here to join the list (free of course) so you can receive notifications of great stuff like this via email. There’s more, but I’m not gonna tell ya what it is…go take a peek for yourself!

Homeschool Freebie: BANNED Chemistry Book Now Available!

My son will be hyperventilating when (and if) I tell him about this! Here’s the summary of this free PDF download, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day.com:

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments (PDF ebook)

Here’s a classic Chemistry experiments book from the 1960s that was actually BANNED and removed from libraries across the country for being too “dangerous” for young experimenters. Much beloved and enjoyed by young baby boomer experimenters,
apparently some of the activities in this Golden Book volume were aimed just a bit above the heads of its intended audience as it included some advanced experiments considered hazardous by teachers and librarians. Even though most of the 200+ activities and experiments in this Golden Book are quite safe and highly entertaining & educational, a few will need parental supervision should you decide to pursue them.

Highly recommended… with parental supervision, of course!
Glean and enjoy!