Zoo day

I love Spring! Of course here in Florida it feels more like Summer (Yep! It's Hot) So, before are temps decide to stay in the high 90's permanently, I decided I would enjoy the balmy 80-90ish degree weather that is still accompany by some breeze and take my kiddies to the Zoo.

 It was such a blast! :) It had been soooooo long since we had went, about 2 years ((blush)) My favorite animals are the elephant and giraffes.
This zoo we went to, had it where for a couple of dollars you could actually feed a giraffe!

I think these animals are so unique and beautiful. My son loved the monkeys



 where as my daughter was more into all the reptiles eekkkk!!! Snakes are not my favorite :(

Thankfully the zoo was pretty close by, so we were able to get there pretty early before the heat started to really set in. Still it got pretty hot, so we only stayed for a few hours.
When we got home, I thought that I would take advantage and incorporate the zoo into some learning. I mean the kids had already learned so much by visiting and getting to see and learn about all these animals, so why not add to that, right? So the next day, I decided to have them play some animal games online and for our art curriculum, I had them paint their favorite animal( I bet you can guess  what they each painted ;)   ). For my oldest, I also had her write a small report on the animal: what they eat, where they live, etc. For my son, I just had him tell me all he could remember from our day at the zoo.
In end it was a fun family fun day. Yes! we will be going back, but not until the cool weather of winter hits though lol ;)

Math... Ugh!

I am a bit sad tonight. I just found out that I will be having to retake my Algebra class ( I am in College for all who may not know ) I am just so frustrated with myself! I am getting A's in all my other classes, but Math is for some reason hard for me :( 
All I can say is THANK GOD that when my kids reach homeschool middle school / highschool that I can just buy an online Algebra Curriculum to help teach them, because to be honest I am not sure I will be able to, or want to revisit this very unpleasant area of education again.
I just wish you did not need Algebra to get a degree. I mean for some professions I can understand needing to learn College level Math, but why is it if you choose a career path that will never use it on the job, why do you need to learn it?
I'll be honest with all of you, I used to wonder why people didn't go to college. I mean with grants and school loans out there to help you get an education which would earn you a better income and future, why do people just take min. wage jobs. Well, now I know! If you are not good in Math or lets say English, than it can be very hard to get through the general education classes so you can be able to go to school for said career. And let's be honest, sometimes it is not just hard for people, it is mentally impossible. Some people just can not learn Algebra and some people just can not put an Essay together. For instants I have a Friend, He is Super smart in Math ( wish he could share some of that with me lol ). He has all his classes done Math etc., but he can not pass his Eng. comp class. So he can not get his degree. Just so sad that he is stuck making min.wage, unable to finish his education because of his inability to pass one class. He is obviously bright or he would not be able to pass any of his other classes. I am afraid I may be in the same boat. I am having no problem passing all my other classes, but Math is just hard for me and I am not sure if I will ever be able to pass it. Even if I do I can honestly tell you that nothing will retain once I no longer need it. I am the kind of person that can will only remember if it interests me. If I do not like something or if it is boring it will not retain very long.

Anyways, Thanks for letting me vent :) I really needed it! And if you can, wish me luck! As this summer I  will be tackling this Algebra class again and like I said before I need all the help I can get.

School work Sunday

Today was defiantly a busy school day for us. My self and my kids! Still we all managed to get all our work done and had some fun too ;-)

For myself, my spring semester is drawing to an end. This of course means many, many, many finals and last minute projects to do. Whew! so much to do and so little time lol. Math homework is done, some last minute tweaks on my journal for speech class is done, online quizzes for English almost done and one of my last essays for English almost done.

Now for my kiddos, they were pretty busy too! I made some neat alphabet flashcards with my flashcard maker for my lil man and printed out tons of printable games for my mini me :)  Lately, I have also have been having my daughter do some review ( I think it is important to go back and have them redo work that they have already learned, it helps reinforce and give confidence IMO )
So she practiced her addition and subtraction and enjoyed some computer time on Time4Learning as did my son.

Until next time...

Easter Time!

Sorry it has been a bit since I have been able to get on here and share my life with all of y'all. The past few days we have all been ill at our house, at least my son and I have :( For him it was a tummy bug, but for me it was allergies ugh! Spring is here in the South and I am loving the warm breezy weather, but my Allergy's are kicked into over drive. I just hope that I am feeling back to my old self by this Sunday, Easter!
It is so hard to believe that it is already Easter, feels like just yesterday it was Christmas. Time sure is flying by faster and faster the older I get. We are planning to travel to my parents this Sunday for a nice Big dinner and egg hunt for all of the kids. My kids still believe in the Easter Bunny so they are Super excited about it all.

I have been trying to make their school lesson for holiday-ish fun for them today. When there is a holiday it is always more fun for me to do their school stuff, kid in me I guess. I kinda put my own Easter themed unit study together, with Bunny coloring pages, what bunnies eat, how many babies they can have, etc. I also created some fill in the blank work sheet pages "Easter themed" of course and had them do some matching vocabulary online. Even though we are all recovering in our home, since it was more fun then work, my kids didn't mind doing it ;)


Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter !

Scary and Crazy! Read to find out why...

From Preschool games to SAT writing, kids grow up so fast!  I still remember being in school myself, and now I am all grown up with not just one, but two children school age. My daughter is 10 years and my son 5 years. Recently, I have been reminded how thankful I am for the choices I have made as far as their education. I know some people think that to home-school only effects education, but they would be wrong, it can effect many other things. Like keeping our children a little safer IMO.

A few weeks ago my daughter was in the truck telling me about how some of her public school team mates (she plays softball) were talking about a boy, their classmate, that had gotten in trouble for bringing Cocaine, Yes! I said Cocaine!!!! to school. These are 10 year old children. My husband and I just looked at each other and I know we were thinking the same thing. How thankful we both were that our children was not be exposed to such dangers.

As scary as that is, I have an even scarier problem that is happening to our kids and making the idea of public school seem even more dangerous. Last week a friend of my mom's had to put her daughter in jail for battery. She said her daughter just litterly lost it! When they searched her room they found a knife and powder. They assumed it was Cocaine as well, but after the police came, they found out it was bath salts. Apparently the new trend to get high is to snort smashed up bath salts! Her daughter was just 15 years old.

I am of course praying for these family's, but I am so thankful to not have to worry that my children are going to have to deal with such dangerous nonsense. Growing up, I of course  had my share of peer pressure situations, but nothing like this.

Anyways, I just wanted to share this with all of you. If you have bath salts, you may want to check to see if they are the ones you can snort, and make sure you children know how dangerous this new trend to get high really is.

From Cocaine to snorting bath salts, Let's hope are kids will be able to grow up :(

My Friday Ramblings

"Homeschooling means freedom – freedom to choose what, when, and how your children learn"

This statement above is one of the reasons why I chose, still choose and will encourage my children to continue on to homeschool my grand-children.

I came across this statement one day while browsing homeschool blogs. The author talked about what surprised her about homeschooling and about the many,many different homeschool trends, the author did also go into her own personal homeschool journey. Listening to her story, really made think about my own story. Cannot believe how far I have come since I had first begun all those years ago. I still remember the countless hours I spent worrying, having to explain why, and figuring out what, how, when, where, etc...  would work best for my family. I think that for most of us, this stems from society making us feel that what we are planning to do is not normal or good parenting. Looking back I wish I could just tell myself, not to worry or care what others think, that it will all work out and to just relax. As much as I wish it would have been easier for me back then, I am pleased to see how much more accepted and how many more people seem to be jumping on to the homeschool train, so to speak.

It also has me now wondering what things may be like when my children are all grown up. What it will be like for them when they are deciding whether or not to also homeschool their children...

Out of routine

Well, this past week has been slower for me, not just me getting around with my hurt knee, but school work too. O' and yes my knee is still not better :(  ~>So, back to what I was saying... My mom and dad took a long over due vacation this past Sunday, r(returned home today), they went to Mississippi and enjoyed the Casino's! They didn't come out ahead, but they didn't lose that much either ;)
Anyways, I ended up at their house, house sitting their animals and my younger sister. Needless to say school work took a back seat for the week. Of course taking a break every now and then can be a good thing. :)

It was a nice break away from my daily routine, and since we do not have any animals our selves the kids really I enjoyed taking care and playing with my mom's dogs and cats. Still I am happy to be home, being back in MY house and relaxing in my own bed, I am glad to be back!

In a few days we will start back with our studies, bright and early Monday morning. Computer work, education games and root word games are the focus next week.
Well, its been a long day So... G'night!