Homeschool Life

Blending Sounds

2012-10-30T10:31:00.001-04:00

(Picture for this post is on Homeschool Life's Facebook page, blogger is not letting me upload it here for some reason.)

In Kindergarten for the girls we've now covered all the vowels and are working our way through the consonants. That means time to start blending sounds together and reading small words.

For each consonant they have learned so far we have blend flashcards and a blend "ladder" flashcard combining the consonant with each of the vowels. The blend ladders work great for reviewing how to blend, it is a 4x6(ish) inch card that has a ladder with five rungs and above each rung is one blend for whatever consonant the card is for. For example the T blend ladder has tă, tĕ, tĭ, tŏ, and tŭ; one on each rung and they can sound their way up and down the ladder. Then I use the flashcards to mix it up and play games without the blends being in any type of order.

By adding another consonant to the end of the blend they can read simple 3-4 letter words like bat, hat, ten, bib, mitt, and tell. And they are very proud of themselves when they get it right.

The have their good and bad days, but they are getting the hang of it. Some days they just don't want to put the effort in so we'll take a break or cut back a little on what was scheduled for the day.

Bread!

2012-10-23T10:08:00.002-04:00

I have started making my own bread using a yeast starter and it is wonderful. The starter took me a few tries to get going, but now that it is all set I've made three loafs of homemade sourdough bread. I've been tweaking the recipe a bit got get it just right and each loaf has been a little bit better.

It takes some work, but I really am enjoying the process and am going to keep going with it and start making homemade noodles later on this week. Yesterday was my first day going shopping and not buying any bread, just some more flour : ) and out of a bag of flour that costs as much as one loaf of store bought bread I can make four or more loafs of my own- going to do the math on it this time around.

This is one of the first steps I'm taking at cooking, eating, and living healthier. My sister and I are both going to be adding in more homemade, organic foods and homemade, no-chemical cleaning items into our lives.

Besides being healthier for our families overall, doing things like this yourself is so rewarding emotionally. To be able to look at something and know that you made it, and that it is better for you than what you were previously doing feels great.

I'll be posting the recipe for the starter and bread in a few days once I get it all written out.

Giving up Pop

2012-10-21T15:31:00.000-04:00

Today I have officially gone a whole week without having any pop, and that is an accomplishment for me because...I really like pop-Coke, Pepsi, Mt Dew, and I would drink a LOT of it. But it is not good for your body, your teeth, and has a lot of empty calories. So after a bad dentist appointment(the pregnancies messed with my teeth so they are no longer as resistant to the acid as they used to be), and having a discussion with Kyla(she asks so many questions) about how it is bad for my teeth and I shouldn't drink it anymore I decided it was time to cut it out completely.

I've tried cutting back on how much I consumed before, but never wanted to give it up completely and that led to falling off the wagon. The first few days were hard because I was addicted to the caffiene so cutting it out gave me some nasty headaches. Now though I'm not craving it as much and it's worked itself out of my system so the caffiene headaches have stopped... I think I'll make it this time.

This is one of the first steps in living healthier, and I do feel better having done it. Drinking so many calories has not helped in my efforts to get to my goal weight, and combining this with eating healthier and working out again should make losing the weight go much better.

P90x Day 4

2012-08-17T19:29:00.001-04:00

Yoga today, and it's the only workout that I have not finished. I had other things to do this morning so I put it off till the afternoon, and although Raye was napping Kyla was still awake. She did a little bit of it with me which was very cute, but the workout is one and a half hours long and she lost interest quickly. I made it about half way through before getting to tired to finish, and tired of fending Kyla off. I've started this workout before, but haven't been able to finish. I think about fifty minutes is the farthest I've made it before being completely exhausted. I never would have expected going into it that the yoga workout would give me the most trouble.

P90x Day 3

2012-08-17T19:21:00.001-04:00

Day three of the schedule ended up being split between Wed and Thurs. For some unknown reason my alarm on my cell phone didn't go off either day, I did not get up in time to workout in the morning. The third workout is Shoulders & Arms, and Ab Ripper on the same day, so I ended up doing the Ab Ripper late Wed night and the Shoulders & Arms last evening.

I chose to do the Ab Ripper on Wed because it was really late by time I was able to do it and the workout is only twenty minutes long compared to the forty-five min plus of all the others. For only twenty minutes it is reallly tough. Strictly ab exercises and 25 reps or more each, ends up being three hundred and something(I wasn't paying close attention) exercises. I had a hard time sitting up after that.

The Shoulders & Arms workout is a nice break since it doesn't get you breathing to hard and is just focusing on the muscle groups. I did it this week without the weights and could still feel the burn. Some of the exercises I did faster or with more reps since I am not working toward muscle gain at all, but will probably not be able to do that once I add some weight to it. Planning on using the 2lb weights next week.

Grumpy Weather

2012-08-16T21:41:00.000-04:00

We have had cloudy, rainy, dreary weather for three days now and it's making my girls very grumpy. My mood had always been affected by the weather and it appears that it does to them as well. Kyla is being very whiny and sensitive about everything, and Raye has thrown a few big tantrums. I've had to reminding Kyla a lot that she'll have to go in a time-out if she won't stop whining and talk it out(usually with Lyssa). And Raye has had a few time-out of her own for refusing to apologize(usually after hitting Ayan).

Looking at the forecast for the weekend is not encouraging, partly cloudy Fri and Sat, and then back to rain and thunderstorms on Sun. The summer is almost over and I would really like it to be nicer for a few more weeks at least. I'm really hoping that the winter isn't to bad on their moods, but we'll have to see.

Diaper Battles

2012-08-14T18:11:00.000-04:00

All four kids are playing in the bedroom, when suddenly the oldest three come running out and down the hallway screaming. "Aahhhh, look at Raye!", "Look at what Raye did.", and the most helpful one "Raye took off her diaper!!". And then there comes Raye: naked, arms above her head, reaching for, and roaring at the other kids. It's the naked baby monster!

Pulling off the diaper is new for us with Raye and Ayan, the older girls didn't do it but these two do/did it all the time. Ayan is getting better, but Raye still seems to take it off every chance she gets. And it keeps getting harder to keep her in them. At first all we had to do was have her in a onesie or a sleeper, but then Aidan started helping her out of the sleepers when they were together during the day and she figured out how to do it on her own. So, since it was summer we just started putting her to bed in onesies, but now she has figured those out as well....again, thanks to Aidan.

What to do next? We ended up sewing her into the sleepers(on cold days) or onesies, by sewing through the zipper on the sleepers and at the bottom buttons on the onsies. But she found a loophole with the onesies, discovering that she could take the diaper off even though the onesie was shut at the bottom. (sigh) Out came the tape. Putting the tape over the tabs of the diaper and around her waist fixed that problem.

She is getting a little better finally, I can just tape the diaper under a onesie and she usually leaves that alone. The sleepers though still need to be sewn or she'll have them off as soon as she's not being watched. I will be so glad to get her potty trained, lol.

P90X Day Two

2012-08-14T17:37:00.000-04:00

I am slightly sore from yesterdays workout, mostly ab muscles that protest the sitting or standing action, but got up bright and early to do the Cardio anyways. Well it was early anyways, overall it is not a very bright day. The cardio involved lots of running, jumping, and kenpo kicks/punches. It does a great job of getting the heart rate up. I like the cardio since it's not too much high impact and as long as you keep moving your doing good.

P90x Day One

2012-08-13T09:45:00.001-04:00

The alarm went off at 5am this morning and I managed to drag myself out of bed to work out in the living room. Today was Core Synergistics and it was Rough! Push-ups, planks, running, rolls, lunges, stretches....and more. The hardest ones for me are the push-ups, and as a former gymnast who used to be able to do them easily it is embarrassing how bad I am at them now. It hurts to admit that I am forced to resort to knee push-ups in order to get them done, but better to do them that way starting out.

This week and probably the next one as well I'll be doing most of the exercises weight free. Even after that I'll only be using 2-5lb weights depending on the exercises since my goal is weight loss and toning. Eventually when I am actually able to keep up with the videos I might add reps and/or speed to the core and arm workouts.

So far today I feel alright, but I know that tomorrow or the day after is when the effects of working out again are going to hit me. Not looking forward to that but as they say "No pain, no gain." and in the long run this will be worth the pain.

Getting Organized....Again

2012-08-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

Fall and the new school year is almost here, time to get the house and life at least somewhat organized. The summer flew by and we had a lot of fun. It is so nice to play outside with the kids and not have to worry about them eating dirt, bugs, or who knows what(still have to watch Raye a bit, I swear the child puts everything in her mouth).

Going to be ordering Kindergarten books this week. Cutting it a little close this time, we should have ordered earlier to get more time to look the books and schedule over but it'll be ok. My sister Rae is converting a room at her house into a school room so it looks like I'll be packing the kids up almost everyday this year to go over there for school. It's coming along really well and the girls are looking forward to it.

I've been working on getting the entire house clean- it's going slow -but the goal is that once an area is clean we keep it clean from then on. We had some baby gates up for quite awhile and I finally took them down so the kids have access to almost all of the house. Partly because they are old enough I don't have to worry as much about what they'll get into, but also as a motivation to keep things clean. If there's nothing for them to get into then they can't get into trouble...well, too much trouble anyways.

My own personal goal is to finish the 90 days of P90x workouts. I have 30lbs to lose to reach my goal weight and I want to reach it before I turn thirty next year. I started today with the Stretch dvd to ease into it and will be starting the 90 day schedule tomorrow. There will be days where I can't fit in the 40-60 min workout scheduled for that day or I'm to tired/sore, and on those days I'll substitute the Stretch dvd or Ab Ripper(only 20 mins) depending on the situation. I won't be counting those as part of the 90 day schedule, but I'm determined to do something every day and finish the schedule even if it takes a little more than 90 actual days.

In addition to the exercise Rae and I want to move toward healthier eating habits. I hope to someday eliminate all of the "fake foods" from my families diets and only eat things that we have prepared ourselves. It will be a gradual process, but a goal that I think is definitely worth working towards.

Star Wars Kinect

2012-04-07T08:43:00.000-04:00

I ordered the Star Wars Kinect game a few weeks ago and it arrived yesterday. I didn't have high hopes for the game, but thought it would be a fun easy play. Since releasing it has received a lot of bad reviews, and I was curious to see how "bad" it was.

We (me and my husband, my sister and her husband, and my mom and dad) had a lot of fun playing the mini games that come along with the story mode. You can run around and destroy things as a rancor, do podracing, have a dance-off, or duel a computer opponent. Surprisingly the part that reviewers seemed to hate the most was our favorite part- the dance off. Of course it's ridiculous to see Han Solo and Boba Fett dancing, but it's also a lot of fun! There's one dance that goes with a song titled "Empire Today" that is a version of "YMCA"....~It's fun to be in the Empire Today~ and the dance is very disco.

Least favorite part of the game is definitely the dueling. It's very restricted in what you can do. There's a phase where you block attacks from top, bottom, left, or right and it builds up an attack bar. Once the attack bar is full you enter an attack phase where the saber is not very responsive. Then when the attack bar runs down it's back to blocking. : ( Would have much rather been able to duel other players and have it be more responsive.

Overall though, it is a fun game and we got quite the workout from all the dancing we did.

Sick for too long.

2012-03-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

I am finally starting to feel like myself again after being sick for a grand total of 13 days! I have never been sick for that long and hope to never experience it again. Now to start putting life back together. All the progress I had made for staying on a schedule and keeping house went out the window, so I am starting over.

I hadn't even turned on my tablet for about 4 days and the to do list was a mess since I hadn't been checking anything off. Erased it all and started filling it back out again today. Checklists are a must for me to stay on top of things anymore. After having the girls my memory is shot and I have always been a procrastinator, so I have to be able to "see" what needs to be done and when.

3yr Old's View of Pregnancy

2012-02-19T19:39:00.000-05:00

We've talked with Kyla before about how Raye was in mommy's tummy, and for some reason she brought it up again today and it was a funny little conversation.

Kyla: Momma, when Raye was littler she was in your tummy.
Me: Yes, that's right.
Kyla: And you were sick.
Me: No, mommy wasn't sick. I was just pregnant.
Kyla: Pregant?
Me: Yes, when mommies have a baby in there tummy it's called being pregnant.
Kyla: Well....how did you get that way??
Me: um, How did I get pregnant?
Kyla: Yes, how did you get pregant?
Me: Well.....(thinking)...mommy and daddy decided we wanted another baby, so mommy got pregnant.
Kyla: Oh, you mean me?
Me: We already had you, and we wanted another baby, so we had Raye.
Kyla: Oh, right (giggle) you wanted Raye.

And that was the end of it....for now, lol. She is so curious about how everything works!

Talking soon

2012-02-01T00:11:00.000-05:00

For nap time this afternoon we put the two little ones in the bedroom to sleep and had the big girls sitting on the couch with a movie. Kyla was pretty grumpy this morning and wanted me to hold her so I ended up nodding off on the couch with her for about an hour. Apparently Raye woke up before Ayan so my sis went and got her. I woke up to Rae asking if I was awake and turned to see her with Raye. She told me that "somebody is poopie" and then Raye goes "I went poopoo" clear as day,lol. We both looked at each other and looked back at her. Then one of us asked "what did you say?" and she replied again "I went poopoo". She doesn't say much that is very clear yet-I know she will be soon, she babbles all day long- but that was the most distinct phrase she has said so far. The other words/phrases I've recognized are "drink", "all done", "I stuck", "Ayyaa"(my parents dog), and "Kyyaa"(Kyla). She has said "mama" and "dee"(her version of daddy) for a long time. Hearing her scream "DEEEEEE" accompanied by excited pointing and dancing when Dave gets home from work is adorable. I'm sure there is more that I'm just not picking up on mixed in with the babble and she will be talking nonstop very soon.

Schedule:day 1

2012-01-30T23:42:00.001-05:00

Did pretty good following my schedule today. Got up before 7, did school with the girls, did chores, cleaned the kitchen, did some stretches : ) didn't manage to fit in a workout but, oh well, at least I stuck to my diet. Having my schedule all written out for the day and a checklist for the things I needed to get done helped a lot. The biggest thing I have to remember is just because I might miss one or two things is no reason to throw out the entire day. I am a perfectionist so if I do something I am "going to do it right", and if one thing gets thrown out of whack I end up feeling like "well that's it! there's no point in finishing now" and I know that is the wrong response. So I'm focusing on all of the things I am getting done, and the things I did follow the schedule for. Going to try and keep that attitude from now on.

Back on Track- Again

2012-01-29T20:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, I haven't been doing much of anything lately and that is going to change. I am going on a diet, getting back on top of chores, and making myself a schedule that I AM going to stick to. Part of that will include blogging again, as I do enjoy it and I am not even sure why I haven't been doing it. So, time to give in to some OCD tendancies as go with it.

I got a Lenovo tablet last wk-like an I pad or Kindle- and put some great apps on it : ) A calendar, to-do list. shopping list, and access to Google Docs. Not to mention I can check my mail, facebook, other sites; play some games on it; and get Kindle books as well. So in addition to prepping this wks school stuff for the girls I am also filling out my to-do checklist and the calendar on my tablet for all the things I need and want to do.

School bttw, is going good. We are up to the number eight for visual recognition and in addition to their vowels they know five consonants (they know all of the letters by sight, but we're following the schedule for working on sounds).

Resolutions

2012-01-02T09:18:00.000-05:00

I don't normally make New Years resolutions. I usually feel like if I decide to make a change I will just do it anytime. But this past year it has been very hard for me to stick with thing, so I plan on starting 2012 out with a few resolutions and keeping them. Not anything special, your standard get organized(and stay organized), eat better/healthier, and lose weight. With four kids at the house regularly I need to keep it clean and organized and get all of us on a schedule. I'm tired of the house getting messy so quickly. The eating better/healthier and losing weight are separate but also together. I want to start eating more fruits/veggies, and eat less junk/fake food. That will help with losing the baby weight but I also need to eat less and work out more. Plus working out does wonders for my attitude. All the adrenaline helps me be much happier and more motivated. So good luck to everyone with your resolutions and stick with it : )

SWTOR!

2011-12-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

I am a Jedi!....and a Smuggler, and a Trooper....I also plan on being a several Dark side characters as well. I love this game, Bioware has done an amazing job making an MMO that is story driven. The quests are never boring, I can't wait to complete each one and see what happens, and then move on to the next part of the story. I often don't notice when I lvl up, and have ended up behind on training my char several times, lol.

I haven't been doing much gaming while waiting for SWTOR to come out, nothing was able to hold my interest with Star Wars on my mind, and part of me was worried that it wouldn't live up to expectations. But it has and it's hard to drag myself away from the game to go to sleep at night, missing those days when I was physically capable of pulling an all night gaming marathon, lol. But after midnight my brain starts to shut down.

I knew from the start I would love my Jedi Knight, but I was unsure about the other classes. After playing them I love them all equally for different reasons. Plus being in an RP guild I have made backgrounds and stories for the characters and like each of their personalities as well. I plan on doing the same thing when I make Empire characters but don't know how well the roleplaying will go...I have a really hard time making the "bad" choices in the game, lol, to out of line with my personality.

No need for Santa

2011-12-28T07:54:00.000-05:00

My hubby and I decided long before we had kids that we weren't going to do Santa with them, actually we kind of decided it separately and then agreed on it. He says he doesn't remember believing in Santa, that he played along with his parents when they talked about it but he thought it was weird. I on the other hand remember believing in Santa(and the Easter Bunny) and being devastated when I found out my parents and Everyone had been lying to me all that time.

So we are not telling our kids "yes, there really is a Santa" because there isn't. We don't want to lie to our kids for no reason. And we want them to be thankful and appreciate the gifts they get, from us. Growing up the "big, fun, awesome" presents were from Santa, and my parents didn't get the credit for it that they should have. I appreciate now that they bought all of those things for us, but I don't understand wanting to let "Santa" be the hero, I want my kids to know I paid attention to their likes and dislikes and got them the one thing they really wanted, for whatever occasion it is that I give it to them.

I've heard that not doing "Santa" takes the fun out of Christmas and that isn't true. My 3yr old had a great time with my husband's side of the family, thanked everyone for the gifts they gave her, and has been enjoying the toys she got from her family members. I do not regret our decision in any way.

Potty Trained, Finally!

2011-12-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

We have been having a hard time getting Kyla potty trained. She has never cared if she had a wet or dirty diaper, so that didn't work as motivation. When she turned three I decided to try just going diaper free and making her use the potty. Didn't work. She had so many "accidents" those three days and did not care at all so I gave up on that. Next my sister suggested telling her she couldn't do big girl things if she didn't go, like playing with play dough, sitting without a booster, playing on the computer. That worked for a few days, but then she started only going on the potty right before asking if she could do a big girl thing. Even though she wasn't getting to do the things she wanted she still wouldn't go on the potty all the time and even started pooping in her diapers again(which she hadn't done for alomst a yr). When I would ask her why she didn't tell me she had to go potty she'd say "I didn't want to." That was when I had enough, we were going to put her in underwear again and stick with it. Starting one morning I put her in underwear and explained that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore, that she was a big girl and had to use the potty or she wouldn't get to do big girl things. I made sure to ask her all the time if she had to go potty that day and she only had two accidents, and she was sorry when she had them. I kept asking her frequently if she had to go potty for a few days and she was having fewer accidents and started telling me when she had to go. One day she did poop in her underwear, which she got in trouble for, and she told her daddy that "I won't go poopoo in my underwear again" and she hasn't! We have now been accident free for three days, I haven't had to remind her at all, and she wants to do it all by herself. So now she is even going into the bathroom by herself when she has to to : ) I am so proud of her and make sure to let her know it every time lets me know whe needs to use the bathroom.

Bedtime-not going as planned

2011-11-30T14:37:00.000-05:00

I am not sure what is up with the girls lately but they have not been going to sleep as well as they normally do. Kyla doesn't want to go to sleep, "I don't want to do this", "No , I don't want the light off." And if she doesn't lay down then Raye keeps running in circles around the room. Kyla can now reach the light switches so after we leave she'll get up and turn the light on. I've talked with her about it a couple times and from what I've gathered she's been having some bad dream : ( Being chased by bears or monsters from what she will tell me about them. So we started praying that God would help her to sleep and not have bad dreams. I also reminded her on the "God is bigger than the Boogie Man" Veggitales and that seemed to help her calm down a lot. The last two nights have been better so maybe that will work for us. She did join us in bed last night, had another bad dream, but she went right back to sleep. This is one of those times I wish I could read her mind and know exactly what is bothering her. I don't normally ask her about her dreams until she's been awake for awhile in the morning-I don't want to ask in the middle of the night and upset her more- but I'm not really sure how much of her dream she actually remembers, especially later in the day.

Random Statements

2011-11-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

It always amazes me the things kids decide to talk about. While we were eating breakfast this morning Kyla looks at me and asks, "Mommy, did you know flowers can grow?" To which I respond, "Yes, they do don't they." Then she continues, "And did you know that people grow?" Me again, "That's right people grow to." "And hair too," while patting her head,"Hair can grow, did you know that mommy?" "Yes, I did." Then she declares, "Hair can be cut too, we have cut hair." I nod,"Yes hair can be cut, but your hair has never been cut." She then points at Raye and I say, "No Raye hasn't had her hair cut either, it's not long enough yet." She stops and thinks for a moment, "But yours has" pointing at me and smiling. "That's right, I have had my hair cut." Then she smiles and laughs...and goes back to eating her cereal.

Numbers and counting

2011-11-26T14:42:00.000-05:00

Since both of the girls could already count to ten before we started doing school they are still doing great in that area. We've worked our way up to seven know for recognizing the written number and they catch on to each new one quickly. The one thing we are spending more time working on is putting the numbers in the correct order. Asking "what comes after three?" had them a little confused for awhile but they are getting alot better at counting that out to themselves and figuring it out. Laying out our number cards and having them put the numbers in the correct order is also a little challenging. They end up "1,2,4,3,5,7,6" and it takes awhile to get the correct adjustments made. But they do better each time and focusing more on it will help them catch on quicker.

SWTOR Beta

2011-11-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

I was finally able to play the SWTOR beta today and loved it. Besides having amazing(Amazing!!) graphics the gameplay is great. I'm playing a bounty hunter on the Sith side for beta, but will be going on the Republic first when early access starts, and I am enjoying the story very much. It is so much better than WoW in that you don't feel like your just a lvl 1 character doing menial tasks. All of your actions contribute to the storyline and have consequences. You can chose to follow through on the bounty and kill the person, or you might be able to say you killed them and actually help them get away. You can make choices in what path your character takes and how they respond to situations; it is very story driven as Bioware said it would be. I made it to lvl 7 today- played for about 5hrs total- and have my first companion character. *sigh* too bad I lose this toon after the wkend : ( But early access will be starting very soon and I will be making my trooper and Jedi Knight, YAY! And with two more days of Beta it is going to be a very good wkend.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:32:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, although at this point I am not sure I am happy anymore. As usual I ate waayyy to much, but with so much good food how do you stop? This is one of the few meals the adults in our family appreciated more than the kids. For some reason none of the children finished their dinner, and it was things that the would normally eat. So, now after turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and more, followed by pie and ice cream; I don't want to move for a few days and have eaters remorse. At least with buyers remorse you can return the purchase and get your money back; with eaters remorse there are no returns and you know that a few pounds are going to appear on the scale. All in all a good time spent with family. The children played well long enough for us to play a game together and have some adult time.

For those of you crazy enough to go shopping tonight/tomorrow have a good time...I will be sleeping.