I DID IT! Week one is conquered!

We are back people!!!

We had a busy week, and it will only get busier. My kids are in:

The Play "Wizard of Oz"
Martial Arts
Art Classes
Robotics Club
My Science Club
Cub Scouts
And maybe Gymnastics

Yikes. A teacher in gymnastics just moved and so classes are getting cancelled. Do I count this as a blessing, or do I sign them up for a different time? Still undecided.

I kind of feel like since I homeschool them, I have the time for extracurricular activities. Half of these are just for this semester anyway.

Not all of these started this week but I did start my science club! It went pretty good, but I'm worried about the size of my class. Five boys didn't come, and it was overflowing as is. Hummm....

I began the class with a demonstration that was supposed to get them all excited about chemistry. I didn't add enough of this expensive chemical that I had bummed off of the High School chemistry teacher, so what was supposed to look like this:

or this

Ended up looking like this:

I got so frustrated, that after class I spent another $75 on Amazon on Science supplies so I could do this experiment right! (Thank goodness for funding.) Stay tuned, because when we learn about exothermic reactions, even Steve Spangler will be impressed.

After that depressing fizzle, we talked about the Atom! I started with a Brainpop video. I plan on Brainpop being a habit. And then we did our normal experiments which included talking about how static electricity is electrons moving from one atom to the next.

History this year is going to ROCK!  I'm motivated to do it because my sister-in-law is living in our basement apartment and her kids come up for history.

This week we talked about the creation. I love being able to talk to them about my own beliefs of how God is a god of order and science. I am not a "young earth Christian" but I am not an "science and evolution INSTEAD of God" person either. I believe the bible simplified things for our benefit. And I am blessed enough to be able to teach history in my own way.

We made creation collages to celebrate. We had everything from baggies of water, to plastic farm animals.  Look at Daniel's, who wrote I <3 U God....SO CUTE!

 And even Hyrum go into it. I never know when he'll like doing a craft, but he was really cute with this one and has it taped to his wall above his bed even now.

We also started learning about dinosaurs. My kids love this....shocker.  We made "dinosaur tracks" in "mud" which we "preserved" with plaster. Daniel insisted on doing a face mold.

This week I actually did all my reading writing and arithmetic with my kids. It takes four hours folks. That's because of interruptions and crying and poop, but 9am to 1pm is really what I need open for them.

William goes crazy as I take his older brothers one on one without him in the spotlight. I got sick of him on my lap (his favourite spot ALL of last year) so I bought some colouring books, blocks, and other toddler learning toys that I only get out for this time.

He loves it, but his older brothers get distracted by William now....go figure. And now Abraham is on my lap.

One on One time has been paying off for Daniel. He's loving his new reading and spelling abilities. I still think he's my first NON dyslexic boy. He even had his "b"s and "d"s figured out. But he DOES have trouble with "Y." Since it's called "why" it should make the sound "wh" right? Or at least that's Daniel's Logic.

He was so cute. He got so excited when he realized how much of "Hop on Pop" he could read (it's been his favourite book for a while now) that he made his own Hop on Pop book:

And he actually sounded out most of those words instead of copying them from the book.

Hyrum has been last in One on One this week. This is not good. Both of our patience is gone by then....more on Hyrum's blog about this.  But I did go to a Mom's night (LOVE these!) and I shared some problems and they suggested I try doing a "complete the task" chart for him, and I think it's going to help.

The cut out cartoons are given to him and he gets to velcro one on top of each picture when he's done with the task.

And Maxwell is going to start Barton book 5 next week! Which means I need to train myself and I had to get at least the first set of sight word cards ready.

I've committed to waking up at a decent hour, because if I do, I actually have time to be a teacher. My friend Alisha said "If I treat homeschool like a job, then I get so much accomplished." And that's what I need to do. I start at a certain time and no dilly dally until I've accomplished what I wanted to.

This means we have changed to morning scripture study with Papa, which is beautiful. Check out my cutie William:

When he prays he says "name, Jesus Cries, amen"

Can I just say that I have an awesome husband? Cause I do! For family home evening this week he gave everyone--including One year old Abraham, who would not be left out--Father's blessings. William was blessed to be safe (which is a blessing he needs with how crazy he is) and Maxwell was blessed to be an example, Daniel to be loving, and Hyrum's was really special about thow he is going to be brilliant! We are one blessed family!