Term 1 & 2 At a Glance

As most students around the country, both home and public schooled, are gearing up to return to school, we just finished our second "term" of the year. We are trying our hand at year round homeschooling and have broken our year up into 3-4 week "terms" with a week break in between.  Here's what we've been up to the last couple of months.

In Our Homeschool

Term 1 - Finding our Groove

We went through three or four complete transformations in our schedule as we tried to figure out our new normal. By the end of the term we had finally figured out what seems to be working for now. I'm sure this will change again at some point as the children grow.
Term 2 - On a Roll
These past 3 weeks have been much easier for us.  We've figured out a good routine, and are slowly learning that everything doesn't have to go exactly as planned for it to be a good week.  The kids are surprising me with their inquisitiveness and we are spending far longer on certain lessons because they really want to go into detail.  The only negative is that our math curriculum doesn't seem to be working out for us very well (RightStart Math) so I am looking into changing to MEP soon.  Other than that, I'm really starting to enjoy this homeschool thing!

In our Life

My husband is a teacher and was thankfully able to be home for most of our first term. It was nice having him at the beginning as I was figuring everything out. He returned to work as we started our second turn and thankfully our schedule worked just fine, even without him home to help with the baby!

I've also spent the last couple of months joining various homeschool groups and trying to figure out which will work best for our family. I am an EXTREMELY social creature, as are the children, so I know a good homeschool group will be a huge bonus for all of us.

Around Town

Even though we started in July, our schedule still allowed us to enjoy plenty of summer fun!  Trips to the splash pad, 4th of July parade & picnic, field trips to the nature center and biopark, storytimes, and a week of VBS kept us plenty busy!  In August, we've been enjoying spending time with our MOMS Club friends at various playdates, and getting to know some new friends through a Catholic moms group I joined.  We're looking forward to starting a couple of co-ops this month too!

My Kitchen

This is probably my biggest struggle of the day. By the end of the day, instead of cooking dinner, I just want to sit down and zone out. I've been getting through by trying to make simple, easy meals. They are not always the most nutritious though, so that is definitely something we'll have to work on!

I'm Grateful For

The ability and the freedom to stay home with my kids and be their teacher.

I'm Praying For

Patience!  Some days are wonderful, but I have had my fair share of mommy tantrums.  I am praying that I can keep calm through the rough days and show my children the face of Jesus instead of the anger that so easily comes to me.

Things I'm Working On

This week we have off from school, so I have LOTS of projects I am working on right now, including a pen-pal template for my beginning writers (which I plan to share as a free printable!).  I'm also pulling together a preschool-1st grade level science class for one of my co-ops that starts this week.

Sharing is Caring

Here are some awesome posts that I found recently.  I hope you will find inspiration or humor in some of them as well.
The Homeschooling Mom's Prayer at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler
The Forgotten Mom at Hip Homeschool Moms
When You Think Your Love Story is Boring at Lisa-Jo Baker
Raspberry Cheesecake Jars at Weelicious

I'm Linking Up

 

Thanks for reading!