Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Week 8

In my life this week...I have been worrying. Worried that we don't have enough food storage and emergency supplies, worried about the pain my sister has been having this week, worried about the safety of the neighborhood (an 80 year-old woman was shot and killed in her home just a few blocks from my house), ok...I have just been worried this week!

In our homeschool this week...I have been planning for next year. We are almost finished with our current year and we don't take many breaks...we will start our new year just a few weeks after this one ends!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...the girls are going to see "Fiddler on the Roof" the musical with hubby, Grandma and Papa on Saturday!

My favorite thing this week was...spending TONS of time outdoors with my children. The weather has been amazing this week. Spring doesn't last long in this part of AZ so we are taking advantage of it while we can...SUMMER will be here in a few weeks (if not days...we are supposed to hit 100 this weekend)!

What's working/not working for us...everything is working fine. Ok...other than that elusive schedule/routine!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...Do you do a quiet time? If so, how long does it last and what activities are your children allowed to do during that time?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...first a link (about the woman murdered down the street) and then so we don't end on a bad note a link to something fun: 


Link to new report about woman shot in her home.


Fun Link

Week in Review ~ Week 28

~Family Accomplishments~

~Continued unit on Unity
~Continued reviewing Articles of Faith 1-5
~Continued memorizing "The Living Christ" (First 12 sentences complete)
~Continued using Time4Learning (See my REVIEW here).

~Planted our Garden!

~Spent a lot of time outside (both for school and play)

~Completed our 130th day

~Unicorn's Accomplishments~

~Completed Discover the Scriptures lesson on George Albert Smith

~Completed Unit 1 in Rosetta Stone Latin (94% overall)

~Completed Notebooking Pages for New York

~Drew a picture of a Quail in Nature Journal

~Continued Reading Caddie Woodlawn

~Started Reading Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret
~Continued Time4Learning for Math, Language Arts (19 lessons - 89% ave., 3 quizzes - 100% ave., 1 test - 97%)

~Math: Fractions, 2-digit Division, Division by 10 & 100, Long Division

~Language Arts: Author's Purpose, Compare/Contrast, Fact/Opinion, Writing Proposal Letter and Persuasive Essay

~Ladybug's Accomplishments~

~Completed Time4Learning Kindergarten for Math, Language Arts (17 lessons - 98% ave., 3 quiz - 100% ave., and 2 tests - 100% ave.)

~Math: Graphs, measurement, fractions
~Language Arts: Read another decodable book (all by herself), isolated more phonemes, learned high frequency words (this, had, was)

~Continued Unit on "Birds and Nests" from Mother Goose Time

~Drew a picture of a Quail in Nature Journal

~Monkey's Accomplishments~

~Continued to have an attitude but watched Leap Frog movies and Thomas the Train in addition to Dora!

~Counted to 14 all by himself

~Can identify 15-20 letters and sounds!

Our 2011 Garden ~ Day 1

Today we planted our garden. Neither hubby nor I have a green thumb so this should be interesting! We let the kids choose some and hubby choose the herbs and the hot peppers. We are going to try to grow tomatoes, basil, oregano, green onions, sweet peppers, carrots, hot peppers, beans and pumpkins. Here are some photos of our garden and planting today as well as a "map" of what was planted.

Hopefully our garden will look something like this in a few months! :)

Wish us luck!!!

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Week 7

In my life this week...I have been trying to go to bed earlier and failing!

In our homeschool this week...we have been having school outside. The weather is perfect and hubby got the porch cleaned off for us!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...Saturday the girls and I will be attending a "Lemonade Luncheon" celebrating the Relief Society "birthday."

My favorite thing this week was...getting a delivery from UPS with our Nature Journals inside!

What's working/not working for us...still working on our schedule/routine. Hopefully I will get it figured out before we start our next school year.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...How do you document your child's work/accomplishments? I live in a state that doesn't require anything except to fill out a form stating that you are homeschooling and that you will teach reading, writing, math, science and social studies. I document on this blog but am wondering if I should do some sort of portfolio too?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...Unicorn's finished bed!

Week in Review ~ Week 27

~Family Accomplishments~

~Continued unit on Unity
~Continued reviewing Articles of Faith 1-5
~Continued memorizing "The Living Christ" (First 10 sentences complete)
~Continued using Time4Learning (See my REVIEW here).

~Mama continued using Rosetta Stone Latin and Completed Unit 1!

~Spent a LOT of time rearranging things in the house and working on Unicorn's new bed...sorry no pictures this week!
~Completed our 125th day

~Unicorn's Accomplishments~

~Completed Discover the Scriptures lesson on Heber J. Grant

~Completed 5 mini-lessons in Rosetta Stone Latin (94% overall)

~Completed a lesson on Daylight Savings Time

~Completed a lesson on Butterflies
~Completed a lesson on Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

~Completed a lesson for Sid Fleischman

~Completed a lesson for St. Patrick's Day

~Continued Reading Caddie Woodlawn

~Started Reading Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret
~Continued Time4Learning for Math, Language Arts (27 lessons - 89% ave. and 4 quizzes - 88% ave.

~Math: Multiples, Arrays, 2-digit Multiplication, Division

~Language Arts: Author's Purpose, Inferring, Compare/Contrast

~Ladybug's Accomplishments~

~Continued Time4Learning Kindergarten for Math, Language Arts (13 lessons - 98% ave. and 1 quiz - 100%)

~Math: coin identification, simple measurements, estimating measurements, reading a ruler
~Language Arts: Read another decodable book (all by herself), isolated more phonemes, learned high frequency words (look, for, am)

~Continued Unit on "Birds and Nests" from Mother Goose Time

~Monkey's Accomplishments~

~Continued to have an attitude but watched Leap Frog movies and Thomas the Train in addition to Dora!

~Counted to 14 all by himself

~Started to point to letters and identify their names and sounds

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Week 6

In my life this week...
We have been busy. Hubby is a teacher and was on spring break this week. He has been in the garage most of the week building a bed for Unicorn. When he wasn't in the garage he was helping me rearrange our living room/learning area. 

In our homeschool this week...
We did not take the week off. We homeschool year-round. We take breaks for Holidays and Vacations...whenever they occur. We didn't have anything planned for this week so we kept on learning.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...
Hopefully we will be getting our van back today (hubby was in an accident 2 weeks ago). We are also going to go to Denny's for breakfast this morning. This is a special treat. We don't eat out very often and even when we do it is a drive-thru and it is rarely breakfast!

My favorite thing this week was...
a toss-up between the construction guys building the wall around our property (now the kids can safely play outside) and hubby building a bed for Unicorn.

What's working/not working for us...
Rearranging our living room to include all the computers and desks/work areas. Prior to this 1 computer was in our bedroom and Unicorn had a desk in her room (that she rarely sat at). Now we can all be in the same room and work together. This has helped with the schedule issue I was/am having. I am hopeful that this arrangement will help me develop a workable schedule/routine for our learning.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
Still wondering if anyone has used The Mystery of History and what they thought of it.


A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

Unicorn and her new bed (as it looked Wednesday...it will be finished this weekend)!

Week in Review ~ Week 26

~Family Accomplishments~

~Continued unit on Unity
~Continued reviewing Articles of Faith 1-5
~Continued memorizing "The Living Christ" (First 8 sentences complete)
~Continued using Time4Learning (See my REVIEW here).

~Mama continued using Rosetta Stone Latin and Completed 2 mini-lessons
~Completed our 120th day

~Unicorn's Accomplishments~

~Completed Discover the Scriptures lesson on Joseph F. Smith

~Completed 4 mini-lessons in Rosetta Stone Latin (94% overall)
~Completed a lesson on Peanuts for National Peanut Month
~Completed a lesson on Names for Celebrate Your Name Week

~Completed a lesson for Genealogy Day

~Continued Reading Caddie Woodlawn
~Finished Reading Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

~Started Reading Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret
~Continued Time4Learning for Math, Language Arts, Social Studies and Science

~Math: Subtraction w/regrouping, Estimation, Multiplication

~Language Arts: Main Idea, Fact & Opinion, Charts/Graphs, Cause & Effect

~Science: Electrons, Electricity, Volts, Ohm's Law, Watts

~Social Studies: Zhou Dynasty, Confucianism/Daoism/Legalism

~Drew a picture of the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

~Practiced time and money flashcards (without being asked)!

~Watched the construction guys survey, measure, dig a trench, lay rebar, and pour concrete for our block wall

~Sewed two pillows

~Ladybug's Accomplishments~

~Continued Time4Learning Kindergarten for Math, Language Arts

~Math: Calendar (Days, Months, Date), Time to the hour, Sequencing and Temperature
~Language Arts: Read her first decodable book (all by herself), isolated phonemes, learned high frequency words (and, in, the, has, can, her)

~Continued Unit on "Birds and Nests" from Mother Goose Time

~Drew a picture of the endangered Arizona Hedgehog Cactus

~Watched the construction guys survey, measure, dig a trench, lay rebar, and pour concrete for our block wall

~Monkey's Accomplishments~

~Continued to have an attitude but watched Leap Frog movies in addition to Dora!

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Week 5

In my life this week...


I have a lot to be grateful for. Last Friday hubby was in a car crash. I am grateful no one was hurt. I am grateful that it was the other person's fault (no increase in our insurance). I am grateful the other insurance company agreed it was their clients fault so we won't have any out of pocket costs. I am also grateful that our landlord has begun building a block wall around the property...the weather is getting nice and I want to be able to let them play outside without worrying about them running out it the street!

In our homeschool this week...


I moved Ladybug up to 1st grade Language Arts in Time4Learning. She kind of scares me...she is not even 5 yet and is almost ready for 1st grade math and just read her first decodable book!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...


Friday is the beginning of our Spring Break (we won't really be taking time off of school but since daddy is a teacher he will be home with us all week) so we are going to meet Grandma and Papa at Home Depot to buy wood so daddy can build the kiddos beds!

My favorite thing this week was...


sleeping in until 6 am each morning. Monkey was going through a phase where he would wake up anywhere between 3 and 5 am. As long as it was before 5 am I was able to get him to go back to sleep but after 5 am he was up for the day!

What's working/not working for us...


Time4Learning is working for Math and Language Arts. I want to do something different for the rest of the subjects. Today I stumbled upon The Mystery of History and think this is where we are heading. I want to teach History chronologically and include Bible events. This curriculum does this. We will use History to decide what to do in Science and Art. As we come across inventions and discoveries in History we will learn more about them in Science. Same with Art.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...


Have any of you used The Mystery of History? What are your thoughts?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...Ladybug reading a decodable reader for the first time all by herself!

Week in Review ~ Week 25

~Family Accomplishments~

~Finished unit on Love
~Started unit on Unity
~Continued reviewing Articles of Faith 1-5
~Continued memorizing "The Living Christ" (First 7 sentences complete)
~Continued using Time4Learning (See my REVIEW here).

~Mama continued using Rosetta Stone Latin and Completed 4 mini-lessons
~Completed our 115th day

~Took Monday off for Unicorn's Birthday

~Unicorn's Accomplishments~

~Completed Discover the Scriptures lesson on Lorenzo Snow

~Completed 3 mini-lessons in Rosetta Stone Latin (94% overall)
~Completed a lesson on Grand Canyon Day (Feb. 26)
~Completed a lesson for Polar Bear Day (Feb. 27)

~Completed a lesson for Iwo Jima Day (Feb. 23)

~Learned about Dr. Seuss (Mar. 2)

~Learned about Patricia MacLachlan (Mar. 3)

~Completed a lesson for National Anthem Day (Mar. 3)

~Completed a lesson for Mt. Rushmore Day (Mar. 3)

~Completed a lesson for the Iditarod (Starts Mar. 5)

~Continued Reading Caddie Woodlawn
~Continued Reading Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
~Continued Time4Learning for Math

~Due to World Math and World Spelling Days she didn't do any Language Arts, Social Studies or Science
~Math: Rounding, Addition and Subtraction
~Participated in World Math Day (Mar.1) She completed 3 out of 5 levels. Each level has 20 rounds.

~Participated in World Spelling Day (Mar. 3) She completed all 5 levels. Each level has 20 rounds.

~Ladybug's Accomplishments~

~Continued Time4Learning Kindergarten for Math, Language Arts

~Math: Comparing Numbers, Graphing and the number "0"
~Language Arts: Letter "A"
~Continued a Unit on Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose Time
~Completed "Twinkle, Little Star"and "Little Miss Muffet" activities

~Started new Unit on "Birds and Nests" from Mother Goose Time
~Completed some fun activities for Dr. Suess' Birthday (including measuring things with her feet)!

~Monkey's Accomplishments~

~Continued to have an attitude but watched Leap Frog movies in addition to Dora!

Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Week 4

In my life this week...

I have been very tired. It is a combination of being too busy for too many days, Monkey waking up at 5am, and my fibromyalgia. I am looking forward to warmer Arizona days and a slower week.
In our homeschool this week...

We have had a little fun straying from the usual schedule. Unicorn spent 2 days involved in a couple worldwide challenges. On March 1st she was involved in World Math Day and on March 3rd she was involved in World Spelling Day. For the Math one she completed 3 of 5 levels and for the Spelling she completed all 5 levels! We are very proud of her! 
Also, we did some fun activities on March 2nd to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday!
Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Thankfully, this weekend I don't have to go anywhere! I am still recovering from last weekend's outings. Unicorn, on the other hand, will be going to visit her dad.
My favorite thing this week was...

being able to participate in World Math Day, World Spelling Day and celebrating Dr. Seuss!
What's working/not working for us...

Still trying to work out a schedule that allows Unicorn and Ladybug to get their work done in the morning. 
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

This week I am grateful for the flexibility homeschooling allows. Had Unicorn been in public school she would not have been able to participate in all these extra, fun activities this week. 
A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
Unicorn participating in World Spelling Day:

~Time4Learning~A Review

I have been checking out Time4Learning for a couple months. I wanted to try it but wasn't sure how it would work for my kiddos so I jumped at the chance to do a review.

I have 3 children. Unicorn just turned 11 and is in the 5th grade, Ladybug is 4 1/2 and just started Kindergarten and Monkey is 2 1/2 and is in preschool. For the review I signed up all three children. I will break my review down based on the experiences of each child.

Unicorn is a smart girl who STRUGGLES with Math and loves Reading and using the computer. I started her off using the 5th grade curriculum in Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. For Math she started in 4th grade. She is doing great in Language Arts, Science and Social Studies but I did have to request her to be allowed access to 3rd grade Math. This was very easily done through the parent administration page. I asked her opinion after one week and she said she liked Time4Learning better than the other math programs we have been trying. After a month...she is still loving it.

Ladybug is very smart. I signed her up for the Kindergarten Level in Language Arts and Math. At this level there is not a curriculum for Social Studies or Science, but they have access to 1st Grade Science. She is flying through the curriculum. She has already completed the 1st grade Science and is flying through Language Arts and Math. I probably could have started her with the 1st grade curriculum but I want her to have a strong foundation. Ladybug loves Time4Learning.

Monkey isn't very into "school" yet. I signed him up for the Preschool curriculum and he had fun exploring and learning. He likes using the computer but he has more off days than on.

So, what do I think?

Well, I am pleased that both Unicorn and Ladybug like this program. They are doing very well and I have just signed up to pay for the next month. I am not signing Monkey up yet. I don't think he will use the program enough to make it worth the expense. I also like that, for the most part, Ladybug can use the program with minimal help. Each lesson is read to the student and a sample problem is done for them.

My favorite part is the reports. I check in each night and see how each child is doing. Then at the end of the week I am able to look back over all that they have done for the week and update my blog with their accomplishments. Lastly, at the month I print out a monthly report to keep for their records.



*This review was written by me for Time4Learning in exchange for one month free trial. All opinions are my own.*