Sleep interrupted...

I'm Up!!

I don't know why I'm up so early on a Sunday morning.  But I'm up.  Well, wait I do know why I am up...the last few weeks have been so crazy and busy that my sleep schedule is off.  Way Off!  Yes, it sometimes makes for a grouchy mommy, but I think I have done good so far.  (don't know if my kids will agree with that or not!)

The reason my sleeping is so off can be traced to a night a few weeks back when I was snoozing away in a hotel in South Carolina.  You see, my sister in law just had a new baby and it turned out that my husband happened to have to go and work that same week in the city where my SIL and my brother live!  Yep, that's right!  We took a road trip to meet the new guy!  He is so cute!  He was all teeny tiny and smelled like a new baby...anyway, back to the hotel!  Some crazy person decided to start a fire in the hotel fireplace without opening the flue.  What happens, just in case your are wondering, if you do not open the flue on a hotel room fireplace is that your room fills with smoke causing the fire alarm to begin blaring in the middle of the night.  Which in turn causes every alarm in the hotel to go off, which then causes everyone to have to go outside including the family on the third floor who has to carry two sleeping children down 3 flights of stairs.  Freezing your buns off in the parking lot holding your half asleep 8 year old is not fun!  All ended up well (just a lot of smoke) and we were able to go back to our room after about 15 minutes.  We made it home the next day with all of our things smelling of smoke and headaches from the blaring alarm.  I hope the couple in the room on the first floor learned a lesson:  if your feeling romantic on a Wednesday night at a Residence Inn and decide you need a fire...OPEN THE CHIMNEY FLUE!

Now this may surprise you, but even in the midst of loving on a new baby and fire alarms, we were able to have a great school week that week.  I love how my kids will get to their school work in a hotel so they can finish it and we can do fun stuff.  We learned about the War of the Pacific and the a little about the Atacama Desert.  We also got to talk about the different branches of the military and what role they each play in protecting out country and fighting in a war.

We got to head to Atlanta to a dance convention for #1 daughter.  She had a great time with her friends.  Mark and #1 son headed to Alabama to spend the weekend at my in laws house.  When the conference was over, the girl and I headed to Alabama ourselves.  My mother in law had to have a double mastectomy and we wanted to be there.  Her surgery went great and she is on the mend.  She is an amazing women! -sidebar: ladies if you haven't done it get your mammogram!

We were able to finally finish the butterfly life cycle movie we were making.  I can't share it yet because the camera I recorded it with on records in a format that is not supported by my movie editing software.  I have to do a little more research and figure out how to convert it or something like that.  The individual clips turned out very cute.  I am hoping to figure out how to edit it this week.

Since I am up and everyone else is still sleeping I am going to check in with some of my favorite blogs like Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and the hip homeschool moms.  Heck, after that I might even go find a book to get lost in for a few hours. 

April

The Week with the movie well, almost...

What a great school week here in East Tennessee!  The kids jumped right back in after the break and we were able to get almost everything done that was planned for each day. (which is awesome!)

We jumped right back in with some great History stories about the Irish Potato Famine, and then we moved on to South American.

Preposition was the word of the week in English.  Not only did we diagram some sentences we are learning a jingle that lists prepositions to make it easier to spot them in sentences. 

In Science we learned all about the Butterfly Life Cycle!  Truly ALL about the butterfly.  I went a little crazy at the library and checked out like 10 books to go a long with our science book.  The girl finally got tired of reading about it and told me "Mom, I don't need to read anymore books, I know the butterfly life cycle."  I guess we will see when they actually get to finished their project for the week.

And I say "get to finish" because we hit a weather snag with our science project for the week.  The kids are making a movie showing the butterfly life cycle.  Super fun, right?  Yeah well, except when you get a light dusting of snow on the ground!  Snow and a butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis just don't really go together.  So instead of making a butterfly movie on Friday morning this is what we did:

 








Oh well...we will get back to work on the movie Monday!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Thanks to weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com for the weekly link up!

Holiday Vacation Is Over

Goodbye Holiday break!  Happy 2012!!

So there it went...

Over already...

Man, I am going to miss sleeping in!  But it is ok!  I am ready to get started and get back to the regular routine craziness that is our life.

I have readied the lesson plans.  Hopefully the kiddos will think that the stuff we have coming up is as cool as I think it is! 

April

Art Class and Science Projects

Is it really the week before Christmas?  I can't believe it!  I am ready for the Holidays though, not because I have completed my shopping list. Far from it! (yep that means I haven't even started!) I am just ready to visit and catch up with family!

The kids worked on science projects this week.  We have been studying protists and so I gave the kids an assignment to make a protist for me.  I let them each choose how they wanted to make it.  The boy, who likes to draw, pulled out the construction paper and poster board and got to work drawing and cutting out a didinium eating its dinner.  The girl pulled out some styrofoam balls and colored clay and began building a podophrya.  I love how you can see their personalities and learning styles come out even in the smallest thing like a science project.  Both projects are looking great so far. 

We also did something new.  The kids went to an art class on Wednesday.  It is the first time it has worked out in our schedule for them to go.  So off we went to the library to meet the art lady.  The kids had fun and made some cute pictures.  they enjoyed it and want to go back next week.  We will see if we can fit it in before we head off out of town for the Holidays. (I hope we can so we can decided if it is something we want to add as a regular to the schedule starting in January.)

Speaking of Holidays...it is time for a Holiday break right?  I think we are all ready for a break.  I really want to have some "do nothing" days.  Of course, I don't think that we will have any of those until we get home from Holiday travels.  But that is okay, I can wait because just stepping back and doing some fun Holiday things like decorating cookies and a gingerbread house will make for a relaxing break too.

April

The week with the Recital

It was a great week here in the Nicholson house!  Lots of learning and some fun mixed in too! 

We had:  Two point paragraphs, and decimals too, don't forget the adverbs (how?, when?, where?), or adjectives (what kind? which one? how many?) definitely don't leave out the articles adjectives because they have the cutest jingle!  We are the articles adjectives, teeny, tiny adjectives A, AN, THE, A, AN, THE!  (sorry, it gets stuck in my head!)

We also got to play with a microscope this week!  A neighbor has one and we were able to borrow it.  We played with it for about 1.5 hours.  (I know you don't really "play" with a microscope.  Saying "play" just makes it sound fun and gets the kids attention.)

We started something new this week.  We are incorporating copywork into our daily work.  I thought that the kids would really grumble and moan about it (which is why we are just now starting instead of when I first read about it a few months back), but they are doing great with it.  They have even looked through some books to pick something they want to copy!

We had something big happen this week.  We had our first piano recital!  I am so proud of my kids!  They did great!  They were so nervous, but they did it.  After practicing their songs all day long on Tuesday we headed to the recital where they continued to practice on the big beautiful grand piano.  Nothing like seeing your kids sitting at a 150 year old piano that has real ivory keys and actually playing a song!

I also set up the Jesus Tree, and we have begun opening presents to hang on it.  I love that the kids enjoy doing it and they remind me that we need open something under it each night.  I love having a tradition to do every year that is worth so much more than making lists and opening presents.   

I am off to catch up on some of my other favorite blogs like Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and the Hip Homeschool Moms.  I so love being able to see what other families are doing.  I always learn some great tips!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Field Trip, Thanksgiving

What is the world is wrong with my neck? Oh yeah, I know!  It is the whiplash I have from how fast time is passing by.  Crazy to think that Christmas is just few short weeks away. 

Things are going well for us.  We seemed to have found a groove and everything is running pretty smoothly. 
If only it would stay that way! 

It probably wont though because these people I live with keep wearing different clothes when I tell them to just wear the same thing they wore yesterday.  Hey it's already dirty right?  OK, OK!  I was just trying to cut down on the piles of laundry! 

After a couple of weeks of having a husband out of town for work, we decided to mix it up and go with him the week before Thanksgiving! Definitely one of the perks of homeschooling!  It was a great trip!  I was pleased with how well the kids did with getting school work done.

It was cold and rainy, so I had to rethink my field trip plans for the trip.  We ended up going to the American Printing House for The Bind.  They have a neat little museum and they will give you a tour of the facility.  IT WAS AWESOME!  Not only were able to see the machines they use to make braille books but we learned some of the history behind the education of the blind.  It was a great experience.  I think everyone should go and check it out!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  My parents came up from FL and we had a blast.  I really enjoyed have a break from school! (Did I say that out loud!)  I am looking forward to having a break for Christmas too! 

What?  Did I say Christmas? 
Yep!  I think I did! 

Find something to hang on to and hold on tight!  This is life baby!  And...

IT IS GREAT!       (make sure to keep some Thera-Gesic around for your neck though!)

April

Domestic Goddess

I am a Domestic Goddess
By: April Nicholson

I am a Domestic Goddess!
My home is never in a mess
In perfect order, everything
Into your day, sunshine I bring
A smile forever on my face
Frustration there's not a trace.

No crumbs on my kitchen table,
My pantry shelves all have labels.
The kitchen floor is spic and span,
There's no dust on the ceiling fan.

I clean the baseboards every week,
The bathroom mirrors have no streaks.
I vacuum the floors everyday,
Dust on the blinds is wiped away.

Storm Door hand prints can not be found
No outside toys left on the ground.
My puppy always goes outside,
There are no carpet stains to hide.

No laundry piled up on the floor,
Clothes are neat in dresser drawers.
Clean bedrooms you will always find,
Kids do their chores and always mind.

A menu plan I have in hand
While in the grocery line I stand.
I make nutritious tasty meals
All while wearing pearls and heels.

Children never jump on the couch
I always smile and never grouch!
Big bad coughs and runny noses?
By the bed I will put roses.

I am a Domestic Goddess!
My house is never in a mess
In perfect order, everything.
Into your day sunshine I bring.
A smile forever on my face
Frustration there is not a trace...Well
that's because I just woke up!
It was just a dream! CRAP what bad luck!

Have a great day everyone. I hope my ramblings brought a little smile to your day.

April