I was born to Dance

Hailey is loving dance so much. This is her words "I was born to dance". Her teacher is also very happy with her.  Hailey has dancing during the week then she has recital practice for the Tri-Lakes Nutcracker. Hailey comes home and dances all around the house. And wants to show up early to dance hoping she can get on the floor before class starts. I am so happy that she has found something she loves so much. Music has always been in her from when I was pregnant with her. She came out finding that beat in any song that was playing.

So if you are looking for a place to dance DanceArt Academy is the place. The teachers are wonderful and they are always adding new classes.

https://www.facebook.com/DanceArtAcademyLlc

Monster

Monster is in 5th grade and doing great. He is in the top of his class. He is in Tag & loves it. His teacher is amazing. Their class is the wolf pack. Perfect for Seth. I am looking forward to starting to volunteer in there. He tested very high on his scan tron. I am so proud of him. He will be in chess club. He still wants to be in sports but with his ankle and 3 sprains already he has to be careful.

1st Grade!

Well my Bumble Bee is in first grade. It has been a little tough getting going as we added gymnastics, a full day at the homeschool academy (which I love!!) & ballet.

She is still doing the Time4Learning. And doing really well. We also have a math log which we do calendar, weather, tally marks, a sheet for daily numbers with adding, subtracting, 1's, 10's, 10's chart, clock, coins, writing our date 3 different ways. We have also made a math lapbook which she loves for referencing. We have a siteword chart we created and she is flying through those as well. She is also writing daily with a memory work. We read daily and will be adding more reading each day as she is becoming slowly more comfortable with reading herself.

She gets to attend the Homeschool Academy. We love the program. She is getting PE, Music, Art, Lib., Science & Social Studies, Club (first quarter she picked Tea Edicate) She also gets field trips. She loves it she only goes one day a week and we really like the teachers. And she gets to learn a foreign language, she picked Japanese.The program is Rosetta Stone. We really love this program and we do it at home together. (So I am also learning Japanese as well)

She is taking Gymnastics at the HCEC. She loves this as well. Where she was able to attend for free as I volunteer in a different class this was a blessing.

And she started Ballet at DanceArt Academy this summer for a camp she loved it and started class. She loves it!! She also will be in the Nutcracker this coming Dec. practice starts for that in Oct. as well as regular class. She is so excited she will be a Snow Flurry & A Flower Bud. She told me today she was born to dance. She loves it and catches on very fast. We are both working on our posture its great we remind each other to stand pretty.

I will be keeping up more regularly again now that we are starting to settle in to our routine. I am very blessed to be having this chance to teach my daughter.

End of Year is Coming

So the end of the year is coming and she is fighting every day. We have been so busy. She is missing her brother so much and I really don't know what to do. I try to add breaks. I know next year will be so much better with adding out of home classes. And we are also going to find a new church that she can connect to again. She misses that so much. Of course that is still at least 2 wks out. She needs friends again. Her few that she has never are able to visit. But in the mean time her grades & testing are amazing. I just need to get her to hang in there until we are done. I really need to spend this summer reading & writing with her. Hoping brother will help with that with his passion to read. And then plan out next school year this summer the the option of things to change but I think with me steal learning what I am doing & teaching & her seeing me not just as mom but as teacher too. So we are really learning together.

Art & Music are her two favorite places to be. And space, planes & science . So trying to work around those things making her love other things.

Daily Readings for Daughters!

We found this book and it is part of our daily reading. Young girls need to be guided daily to live in the light of God. We should present ourselves in His light. As we look around at the clothes in stores and then look at what we should be doing well thats tough. I love that this book is teaching Hailey that these are the directions she should look to see herself as pretty and not that the other things out there are what make her pretty. She loves it and feels good by hearing this each day.

I love that my daughter is growing up looking to God to guide her. This is not a direction I had growing up.

You can find Sheila Walsh at this website...
http://sheilawalsh.com

The other Daily Reading is a little butterfly told me by the brave girls. Reading these to her every morning make my heart warm. They are amazing, enlightening and guide her to love herself and feel good about everything she is. When Hailey went to public school kids were kids, Hailey felt like she had no friends. Even the one girl she called her good friend treated her bad. Was mean and hurtful daily to her. As a momma bear I was not happy. But when I found this blog I knew this was great!! Since she is now home-schooled she is not having the hurtful days but as we all know life has a way of showing these hurtful things randomly so I want her prepared for them. So check it out and share these with your little girls! It will mean the world to them as they grow up.

you can find this blog at
http://bravegirlsclub.com/

And the last is http://operationbeautiful.com/
I have wrote on Hailey's bathroom mirror and then her dad & I also made a dry erase board with all these saying for Hailey & I to read everyday. Some of the sayings say.

You are so totally worth it!

Don't let the world change you, your beautiful!!

You are such a beautiful blessing!


So just remember to share with your girls today how much God & you love them!!! Its worth everything!!!!

In Need of Writing Ideas!

So this last few weeks Hailey has decided she no longer wants to write. I have tried copywork, I have tried create a sentence, write a story with sentence starters. I am ready to pull my hair out. She will cry, throw a fit and just sit there refusing to write. I finally found a Story Scrambler and tonight after going through the fit & refusing she finally started writing. So hoping we will get back on track. If any of you have any other ideas I would love them!

Time 4 Learning

Well Hailey has been working with Time 4 Learning for a month now. She loves it. She refers to the animals as her friends. She tells me about what she is learning. She still likes ABC learning more then Math. I think it will take us longer to find a love for math again if we ever do but she likes Time for Learning lots better then standard math. So I am happy with that.

She loves the fact to that after she has done her lessons for the day she gets to go to the play ground and that is where she can use internet games for more learning. Lets not tell her its still learning time ;-). But she loves it. Wakes up many days asking if she can do her work. If you ask me this is a darn good learning system if the child is asking to do their work.

I am so happy as a mom new to home schooling to have found this option. And its not just for homeschooling, I could use it with my son for just extra learning or review during the summer months. How great is that! It also has quizzes & test. It logs time spent on each subject and time spent on the section in each subject. It keeps a daily long. This way I can go back review what she needs more help with or what she has done well with.

Right now as she is doing her math its great as she is talking to her friends on the computer to answer them. Warms my heart that she is learning with fun!

We will be continuing this program for sure. We hope that you find this program as helpful. If you do join please share my name as to I get a credit for sharing.

Art Show!!

So this week Hailey was entered into an Art Show for Home Schooled students. She was so excited. It will be on display at the East Libarary for all of April. Then there will be an Art Reception for all her family & friends to attend April 29th.

She loves her Art.

Space, Stars, & Spring Break!!

So this weekend I found a great app for my phone. Galaxy Sky Map. It is so fun- it shows the stars, constellations, the planets all from the current point you are at. Hailey has a huge desire to know the stars just as I did as a child. So this is something great her & I will be able to share together. I am very excited.

As we have been started Spring Break this week we have not really done much as for our normal school work. But we still learn in the simplest of was in every day life. I love this part so much. Hailey is so super happy that her brother is home. He has read to her and just shared with her. They build things together. And today they have spent 90% of the day outside in the sandbox.

Happy Momma!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

This is one of my favorite holidays for so many reasons. I love green, I love irish food & it has always made me think of my grandma Weeden as she was Irish. I miss her to pieces.

So this morning, Hailey woke up to a scavenger hunt for a pot of gold. She laughed & had so much fun with the fun messages the Little Leprechaun left for her. Then she had Lucky Charms for breakfast actually 2 bowls. Then we just made clover shaped pretzels for lunch. So much fun to be had today. We had our dinner last night of corn beef & cabbage with red potatoes. As our Sat Nights are busy.  =D

Then today another great thing was that when Hailey was in public school she had started to dislike math a lot. But this morning after she found her pot of gold she turned & looked at me & asked if she could do her math. I was like wow really ok sure. This is the program Time4Learning. I am so happy. She is doing so well & having fun learning again.

I am a happy momma!

Have a wonderful Green Day!

I won!

Ok so I never win. Thats something my mom & Dan can do with ease, call the radio and win anything. I have tried & tried with no luck. lol So I was on a blog "Whimsical Homeschooling" to enter a contest and didn't give it a thought until yesterday when I got an email saying I won. It was not what I had entered to win. But it ended up being a wonderful blessing. It was a membership to abcteach.com and I have fallen in love with this place. Then lessons I have found, the crafts, every subject including sign language. YEAH! I am just so happy. It has been super fun researching and finding activities for Hailey to do these last two days. I have even found stuff that I can do with Donnie and Hailey at work. And they have fun!

~Blessings in Disguise~

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Spectrum Sight Words

Since before homeschooling we looked into fun was for Hailey to learn her Sight Words. We found that flash cards just were not getting the job filled completely. With Spectrum Hailey is using the sight words in sentences. She also works with writing and word hunts and reading. It is a wonderful way for Hailey to learn her site words and how to use them.

I really would love to share Spectrum Sight Words with anyone looking to Homeschool or to even just help in these areas.

Sign Language

One of things Hailey & I love about Homeschooling is we are learning Sign Language together. The library & you tube have been great sources for our learning. She is having a blast. I have always loved Sign Language since I was in 3rd grade. I really look back and the time I should have studied more. But now its very exiting to be learning with her.

=)

First Week with Time 4 Learning

Hailey really likes this math program. She is doing great with it also. She is still figuring out the Reading program but doing good.

She also found the playground which has many educational games for her to play & learn & the same time.

But I also found she gets a lot done in a shorter amount of time. We both like this a lot.

Looking forward to continue this program. =) Will keep you updated each week.

Can't wait to play this. hehe

Hug Freeze Tag

God loves each and every one of us very much. He gives us His love, and we

can also give it away to others.

A simple way we can show love to our friends and family members is by giving hugs. To begin, designate a safe place to play tag, either inside your home or in an open space outside. Choose one person in your family to be “it.” Her role will be to tag the other members of your family. Once she tags somebody, that person is now frozen. Once a person is frozen, he must remain that way until another unfrozen member of the family finds him and gives him a hug.

The game ends once the “it” person has frozen the entire family, or you feel it is time to select another “it” person.

Hailey's Art

Hailey is a vivid artist. She sees it and puts it to use. I love everything she creates. She has had no formal training. We just give her the tools and she does it all on her own. We will be giving her more mediums to work with. Like pastels, chalk, paint, and will be attending art events at any chances we can.

She also so is in choir and is growing with leaps and bounds, she has her first concert Sunday March 11 at 6:30 pm. So excited and she has been working hard to learn all her songs. As soon as all her class work is done she sings her songs, she goes to sleep singing her songs. I am so proud of her.

We will also be adding cooking to this creativity. She is very excited about this!

We are also looking for more outlets for her like Dance and maybe swimming. Just working out financial parts of these.

Time4Learning

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

4 Weeks into Homeschooling

Hello All as we are 4 weeks into homeschooling we are loving it! chalk is working on all her subjects she loves Social Studies & Science the most. And Art & Music of course. We just went & got her an easel to do her art. It has the chalk board, dry erase & paper. We will start working with pastels, chalk, colored pencils and painting. Social Studies has intrigued her interest of our presidents so we are going to be studying each one. Science is the earth science that she is most interested in we will start our small potted garden soon. We are reading American Girl & Little House on the Prairie and will be working with them in Lap Books. We will also be working with the Bear Snores On, Bear Feels Sick, and the other books. Math is still not fun so I am finding ways to teach her math that will be fun. Like Lego Math. =) I will be trying different curriculums until we find her match.

Our only wall we are really hitting is being around other kids. So working on finding homeschool groups to meet. But we are also doing Lib. trips, museum trips,  looking into dance classes, And roller skating saturdays. We are also very involved in Girl Scouts as she is a Juliette we are doing the city wide events instead of Troop events. But do hope when we move we can find a group in that area she can join.

I will be posting regularly. I'm excited to take this adventure with my bumble bee!

Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Chili With Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 28-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 15.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 1 15.5-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 medium sweet potato (about 8 ounces), peeled and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces
• sour cream, sliced scallions, sliced radishes, and tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, cocoa, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Add the tomatoes (and their liquid), beans, sweet potato, and 1 cup water.
2. Cover and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chili has thickened, on low for 7 to 8 hours  or on high for 4 to 5 hours (this will shorten total recipe time).
3. Serve the chili with the sour cream, scallions, radishes, and tortilla chips.