Hello friends!
I thought I would get on here and try to jump in to this blogging thing again.
(I appreciate everyone who has reached out and tried to encourage me to get back at it.)
I titled this "I'll start on Monday" because that's what I would tell myself every time I thought about posting over here again(because it is always great to start something on Monday right?)
I took some time away from all this...just because!
But, I want to get back in the hang of it, so I thought I would post today and give you an update on where we are and what we are doing now!
*Oliver turned 6 in November
*This February 15th is mine and Travs 10 year anniversary!
*Abbey will be 11 in March
*We got a dog! A Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix, she is about 16 weeks old now.
*We are about to go in to a renovation on our house and redo some flooring.
*We are still homeschooling...and still loving it!
*I made a YouTube channel and I am hoping to figure it all out so I can share some "Vlogs" with y'all :-)
I would like to get back on track with blogging recipes, meal plans, grocery hauls, homeschool things, and anything else y'all would like me to.
Life-
Life is always hectic around here. I would love for it to slow down a bit but, this is the season that we are in, in our life right now, and I just have to embrace/accept it and move on. So in order to help a bit, I have started using a large Dry Erase board to schedule out our day(I said I would never do this but, we have seen that it helps tremendously with getting everything done, being accountable, saving sanity...) I actually go through and right out a detailed schedule for the entire day from 7:30 a.m.-10.pm. What dinner is and who is cooking it, what chores need to be done, who has what activities which days,etc..
So today's schedule looks like this, not much actual book work for school today because we have a Valentines Party and Abbey has Basketball practice tonight.
We have started limiting the time the kids have for T.V. and Kindles so in order to get "Tech Time" they have to have their chores done. But they can also lose Tech Time for bad behavior.
(Excuse the messy handwriting)
Recipes-
I don't have any recipes to share today but we try new ones about every week, so look for some new ones soon. :-)
Meal Plans-
Meal Plan for this next week;
Monday:
Pigs N Blanket
Snack Foods before party
Biscuits,Gravy,Eggs and Sausage
Tuesday:
Eggs and Toast
Soup
Red Beans and Rice with Kielbasa in Crockot
Wednesday:
Banana Muffins with Smoothie
L.O.
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches(Crockpot) with Baked Beans and Chips
Thursday:
Oatmeal with Fruit
L.O, OR Salad/Hummus plate
Chicken Stir Fry with Rice
Friday:
Eggs and Toast
L.O. or Dipping plate(Veggies with Hummus, Fruit with yogurt)
Hamburger Steak and Gravy with Taters and Peas(Big Daddy request)
Saturday:
FREE DAY...KIDS WITH YAYA :-)
Groceries-
We went on our big once a month grocery trip this past week and I had fun spending the day shopping with the kids. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this trip.(It was just me and the kids and it was a bit hectic.) I was able to hit up a Grocery Outlet,Walmart,Aldi, and Kroger Marketplace, and found some great prices and things to stock up on.
So we will just have short trips in the next few weeks for mainly produce.
Homeschool-
We have been homeschooling for almost 2 years now, and I feel more relaxed and settled in then when we first started. I am still learning new things every day though. We hope to stick with it from here on out!
Abbeys 5th Grade Curriculum-
*Math Teaching Textbook 5
*Handwriting without Tears + Keyboarding without Tears
*Spectrum Science + Skit Kits
*Spectrum Spelling
*Spectrum Writing
*Spectrum Reading + Reading List with comprehension questions
*Spectrum Geography
*Social Studies text book
*She also has Art books, Craft books(Like Origami, etc...) We have Sign Language flash cards that we work with. Lots of odds and end like Brain Quest cards,Kindle games, and lots of books on lots of subjects :-)
Abbey and I just got done reading Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry and we watched the movie. We are going to start the other 2 books that go along with that this week.
Olivers Kindergarten Curriculum-
I am pretty laid back with Olivers schooling. Right now we are mainly working on numbers, and reading, and just the basics.
We have workbooks(for letters,numbers,handwriting,math,reading,etc...),Handwriting Without Tears + Keyboarding without Tears, ABCmouse.com, StarFall.com, we watch Youtube videos (on letters, numbers, counting,reading,etc..)We have the Bernstein Bears Big Book Of Science,We use Bob Books and we are going to start Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read this week! We do scissor activities, play-dough, outside play, Brain Quest cards,games, read lots of books, etc...
Both kids also do Field Trips, and Craft Times, etc with local Homeschool groups.
I have figured out that we like to take June off, and then start back up in July so we can take extra days off in October when the weather is beautiful outside, It also gives us extra time off in December when there is so much going on.
Here is a snow video that I was playing around with, while learning the ropes of Youtube. This is from a storm that we got in January. We are currently expecting snow the next 3 days, not sure on accumulation but hoping for enough that the kids can play in it!
Snow in the Smoky Mountains
So that's it, y'all should be caught up with what we are doing and have been up to since I last blogged. We'll see if I can keep up with it.
Thanks for coming over and please let me know if there is anything you would like me to blog about.
