First Quarter

Well we are about 2 weeks away from the end of the first quarter of school. Looking back, things have gone pretty well. We have our GREAT days, and our not so good days where we struggle a bit to get all the work completed.
I read several books before we signed up for the homeschooling, I did NOT go into this unprepared  or not knowing there would be difficult days. The last book I read was Catholic home schooling by Mary Kay Clark. She is the director of Seton Home Study, the curriculum we use. In there she says you need to be some what flexible. She also says "Do not have to long of a school day. Homeschooling is far more intensive learning than in a classroom, so do not go past five or six hours total." I very much agree with this, it seems what would normally take 45 minutes or longer in a traditional class room setting, takes us about 20 minutes max. She also says "After a certain amount of formal class time, children simply cannot absorb any more, so continuing becomes pointless." Which again I have witnessed and agree with.

My point in all of this is, this first quarter has been a learning and adjusting experience for both Brian and I, and also the kids. All in all, we have far more GREAT days vs the not so good days. On those GREAT days we push through, and even work a head a bit, if time allows. On the days we struggle, we make sure to get the core subjects done, and afterwords we call it a day. It doesn't take much to "catch up" the other stuff. Just as an example, Justin is over a week ahead in his English book. The only reason it's only a week ahead, was because I made him stop...LOL.

As it is, at this point, we are scheduled to finish school up by the end of April, that INCLUDES a few days off for Thanksgiving, Christmas break, and Easter break. I am scheduling a few field trips as we can, and allowing for a few random days off here, and there just like there would be in a traditional school (with teachers in service and such). We also only work a half day on Friday's because that is the day we do all our grocery shopping and errands.

The thing that I think I like most is, the kids are working and learning at their pace, and seem to be doing rather well. I was looking at my grade book, and for instance Libby's lowest grade so far is a solid "C". Which compared to last year is a HUGE improvement. She has a "B" in Spelling  which is major for her, because spelling just isn't her thing.

We are making some more changes in the next week. One of the things the books suggests is to let children who are trustworthy to grade some of their own daily work. "....encourage your children to grade their own papers immediately after they have done their assignment. The advantage to this is that children can recall their thought processes when they answered their questions or problems, and thus can learn from their grading." " In addition, self grading develops honesty and usually accuracy." The other thing we are going to change (of course I'm not sure how long this one will last, but it's worth a try), will be getting up when Brian gets up to get ready for work. This will allow us to have breakfast together as a family, and we will start school right after. This means getting the kids up at 6 am, and we will be starting school around 7 am. The reason I want to try this is, Brian gets up at 4:30 most mornings. With the long hours he has been working, most nights the kids are in bed (bed time is at 9pm) before he gets home from work. Granted right now is a extremely busy time of the year for him at his job, and it should only last a few more weeks. This would allow me to get the kids in bed by say 8pm, and Brian and I can head off to bed by 9:30 at the latest. I really LOVE the flexibility of home schooling! Another thing I love, when Patrick is in our classroom with us, if he gets fussy and I am working with someone, Libby or Justin will pick him up, and continue on with their school work while holding him on their lap. What a wonderful bonding and learning experience for all of our kids!

Well there you have it, that's what has been going on in our world.....hope you have a great rest of the week.

(Please excuse any typos, or misspellings, Patrick is on my lap "helping" me type)

Batt Book

So, last week I posted about introducing the "Batt Buck" program. I've been thinking about it all week, and I was trying to come up with a way to make this a little more educational, as well as a rewards program for our kids.....then it hit me!!!

Our kids, probably like a lot of yours don't understand the concept of money, as far as, you can't just got to the bank and get more, if more isn't there!

I also have been trying to come up with a better holder of our Batt money, we have been using envelopes, but they get torn and ratty looking SO very fast.........WHAM! Another idea hit me.....(I'm starting to get bruises! LOL)

Why not take all of these ideas and combine them into one????

And voila! Here you have it! May I introduce our Batt Book:

You see it is just a plain old check book cover that I got from a local bank, of course I got 3 different colors (which is all they had) for 3 kids. This will make keeping track of which book belongs to who much easier!

I did take a small piece of packing tape to close the bottom section of the check book cover, so that their hard earned bucks don't fall out. As you can see, the portion of the checkbook cover that would normally hold the check book, is now converted so it can hold their bucks.

So now we not only have a reward system, we have a learning tool as well! Now the kids can "deposit" money into their Batt Book, and as they use their Batt Bucks, they can keep track of them as well.

So we have Rewards program +Home economic lesson + math practice!!! I'm thrilled!

Here is the link where I found the play money templates for our Batt Bucks:
http://www.kidsmoneyfarm.com

 They have several different templates you can choose from, this is the one I chose:

 
 This is what our Batt Bucks look like. I do have one in the twenty "dollar" bill as well, that has Libby's picture in it, but for some reason I couldn't get it to print. As you can see, I put Patrick on the one (since he just turned one), Faith on the five (she will be five), and Justin on the ten (well....you get it). My printer was running out of ink, but you get the idea, of what they look like. I love that I was able to put the kids pictures in them =)

As far as the check book covers and registers go, I went to our local bank and explained to them I am home schooling our children, and I want to teach them about money, banks, and check books. They were more then happy to give me 3 check book covers, along with the registers. The bank teller/manager thought this was a GREAT idea, and a wonderful way to start teaching our kids about money, banks, and checking accounts. By the end of the year, my kids SHOULD know how to keep a check book, and balance it, PLUS they can see all the bucks they have earned through out the year, and how they spent them. I am so very excited to start this with the kids this week....CAN YOU TELL???



Well, there you have it, my great plan to incorporate an ongoing lesson, and rewards program for our kids....
What do you think?

Week 3

This week and the past weekend we are all suffering horribly from allergies, so no one is sleeping well, and I sure can tell from the amount of bickering that is going on between my kids!

September 10 - Justin started out the day writing five things he likes about Faith. This was punishment for him yelling at her during breakfast. Faith had to come tell me five things she really liked about Justin (since she doesn't read yet). The day was a bit of a challenge, the kids were bickering and short with each other and me. I think this really has to do with them not feeling very good thanks to fall allergies.

September 11 -  Started out much better, I switched things up a bit, and we did all our chores and cleaning in the morning after breakfast. We started school around 9:30 and everyone seemed to settle in much better and got right to work with out complaining or whining at all. Later in the afternoon the kids will have religion class with Grandma via Skype.

September 12 - They had a pretty good day, got through their work with out any major problems.....all in all a pretty good day!

September 13 - Today is Patrick's 1st birthday! I made a deal with the kids, if they got to work and did a good job today, I would end school after the kids Skype with Grandma Battson. There were a few things, they needed to finish, so we got done pretty close to when I said we would end. Tonight is the first Little Flower girls meeting, and the girls are really looking forward to it.

September 14 - Patrick had a bit a of a rough night, not feeling good, and running a bit of a fever, which I really think it is his teeth. So we decided we would take a day off today, since he was so clingy all day. It's currently 5:00, and he just in the last half hour has gotten down off of me for the first time today, and is playing and laughing........


Well, like you can see, our life is very much an adventure. It's a fun one, with some really good roller coaster hills in it, but that's what keeps it exciting....never know what's gonna happen next!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Batt Buck

This week we are introducing the "Batt Buck" program. What is it? Well, as you know the kids have been rushing through some of their work and not paying attention to some of the instructions, so to help settle this down Brian and I came up with an incentive program....called the "Batt Buck".
How it works:
For each of the following grades they get on their daily work, they will either receive a Batt Buck or owe one.

A - 2 Batt Bucks Earned
B - 1 Batt Buck Earned
C - Nothing
D - 1 Batt Buck owed to Mom/Dad
F - 2 Batt Bucks owed to Mom/Dad

So as you see, they have potential to earn quiet a few "Batt Bucks" if they pay attention to their work, if not, they will have to pay us back. The Batt Buck can be saved to earn things, like an ice cream cone, or a trip to maze craze. We will have some things that don't cost so much, an others they need to save for.

Brian and I thought about the different reward programs we could use, such as the treasure box filled with little trinkets, the more we thought about it, the less we liked it, because it meant adding more junk that isn't needed. Also, by giving them the chance to go "do" something, it gets all three of them excited. This incentive program also allows them to get the positive reinforcement they need for a job well done, or the consequence for little effort. I'll keep you up to date on how this works out for us.

2nd week of school

This is how our second week of home schooling went:

September 3rd - NO SCHOOL - LABOR DAY!!! The kids thought it was pretty cool that we took Labor day off just like a "regular" school would. (why shouldn't we?)

   We are really starting to get into a routine when it comes to school. (I'm pretty happy about this). Faith started school this week, and it went very smooth, she was really excited to start her school work, and just like Libby and Justin, she sat down and got right to it. All the kids completed their work in a very timely manner, with no problems at all!

Lets go kid by kid ok?

Faith: Loves her school books, now granted with her being in pre-school, she doesn't have a lot to do, and a good portion of it is coloring. However, I will say I really like the way the school has everything set up. We don't go according to the number of the pages (ie 1, 2, 3...), instead they go along with the theme. Like this week the theme was "Jesus loves the little children" so, all her work was based on this theme, she read the story in her children's Bible about Jesus and the children, she had coloring pages that matched, and in her Saint coloring book she learned about St. Peter Claver. Now she does have "handwriting" but it seems somewhat easy for her, so I have been giving her extra handwriting sheet so she can practice a little more.
 When she finishes her school work she has a couple different options she can do 1) play quietly at her desk with play dough. 2) Color quietly at her desk. 3) go downstairs and play with Patrick and Grandma (and yes she is allowed to watch some TV with Patrick). I will say that Grandma has been wonderful in coming up and watching the baby for me as we get into a good school routine! Thanks Mom!!!

Justin: Well, Justin is Justin, smart as a whip and boy does he know it! He flies through his work with few mistakes, and when I point them out, he happily goes back to correct them. I was really impressed with Justin on Wednesday. The girls had completed their work, and it was about 3pm (we got a late start that day), Patrick was getting fussy because he wanted me (he wanted to nurse), so I went downstairs, the girls did their chores (mostly) and were sitting around coloring as I was working on the next days lesson plans. I looked around and noticed Justin hadn't come down stairs yet. At 4:30 I hollered up the stairs (yes I know I was being lazy) and asked what he was doing. He was still working on his school work!!! He didn't stop until he was done. He didn't get done with all his work until 5:30 that night! How awesome was it that he stayed with it until he was done???! Soooo very proud of my son!!!

Libby: Libby is doing great, still making some mistakes because she is rushing through some things.But we are working on that. She is doing REALLY well in math and spelling, which is amazing, because she seemed to really struggle with those 2 subjects last year. I think it has to do with the format when it comes to spelling. The lesson is broken down into 4 parts, the first day they write their spelling word in what ever order it says in the book (sometimes it is by sound, alphabetical order, etc....) The second day it is fill in the blanks on the words, there are sentences, and the kids fill in the correct word. It continues that way through Friday when they have their spelling test.

My Thoughts on this week: You know, I have really enjoyed this week, the kids have been great, with little to no problems at all. Libby did have some work she was supposed to do, that she didn't get done, so yesterday (Thursday) I told if she didn't have it into me by the end of the day she was going to get all of those questions marked as wrong (which they are if they aren't answered). Guess what? It was on my desk last night! I'm going to give them one more week of being nice, and allowing them to go back and correct their mistakes (mostly from rushing through and not reading the directions completely), after that, what ever they get is their grade for that day. I will say with me being on them about making sure to read the instructions CAREFULLY, I have seen a lot less mistakes this week. All in all, I am VERY happy with the progress they have made this week, and the effort they are putting out. Next week I will start really getting on them about their chores (making sure they are done).

OH! I forgot to mention, about yesterday (Thursday)- The kids are having "Religion Class" with Grandma Battson twice a week, yesterday was their first class with her. Grandma teaches CCD in Ohio to second graders. We talked about it, and came up with the idea that I would make sure they are doing their daily work, and twice a week they are going to video chat with Grandma and she is going to "check up" on what they are learning. We felt this was going to be a great experience for the kids AND Grandma. If we had them in SOR they would be doing this with a teacher anyways, so why not let Grandma have this special time with the kids. Well just from the little bit the kids and Grandma told me, it went very well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it :)

Sorry this was such a long blog, but that is a LOT to get through. =0) 

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

1st Week of school

As most of you know, we chose to home school our children this year. It is yet another adventure in the Battson family!

We are using Seton Home Study this year, and while the suggested schedule doesn't start until after Labor day, the kids have been very excited to get started. So Brian and I talked about it, and we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and get started a week early, while the kids are excited.

August 27th -  I will say this first day has been nice. I thought since we are starting a week "early" I would let the kids do "1/2 days" this week, and see what we can get accomplished. I started school at 9:30 this morning, and the kids only have a few more subjects to go. I can see us easily being done, with a full day of Curriculum by 1pm. Which is much further then I thought we would get.  Granted that is on the kids side of things, I will still have the grading the work, and such this evening, the nice thing is, Brian is going to work with the kids on Math and History. He also is going to help me with the grading of their work in the evening hours.

We thought it wise to start out slow, and make sure we get into a good routine from the start, we'll try it this way for a few weeks and make adjustments as needed. So far we are doing pretty good.

August 28th - Today went just as smoothly as yesterday. I worked with Faith for a little bit, but that proved to be a bit of a challenge, as she is not feeling good and the cough isn't getting any better, and she isn't sleeping well. I think I will hold off on starting her until next week. Hopefully she will be over what ever this is she has, and will be more into doing her work.


August 29th - Well.....Today was more of a challenge. The kids are rushing through their work, and not reading the instructions all the way through, I've had to have the kids go back and redo a few of their assignments. No major struggles today though, Faith still isn't feeling well, and is very clingy and crying a lot. If she doesn't get better soon, we may need to go see our Doctor again.

August 30th - Ok, so today has been well............CRAZY! The kids have attitudes, and are having a hard time concentrating on their school work. Faith was up a lot again last night coughing, which kept most of us up. Every time she woke up crying and coughing it woke up Patrick, so he had to nurse, and the combination of all that, and the kids being up WAY to late, has made for a very bad combination today!! Add to it, I needed to take the Malibu in to get some repairs done to it,only to find out there was a BUNCH of stuff that needed to be repaired. Thankfully the majority of it is covered by our warranty, but there are still some things there that will need to be taken care of in the near future.

So far today the kids have found themselves grounded from TV, and some pretty heft homework assigned. The way Brian and I figure, if they can't due their work during "class time", they will still have to do it as homework. That is how it is in a traditional school, so why should the rules be different here at home?

August 31st- Friday went much smoother. It helped out at lot, that is was a pretty light day as far as assignments went. The kids did a great job staying on track and completing their work in a timely manner. We are looking forward to the long weekend.


My thoughts: As I look back this week. For a first week of school it didn't go to bad, the kids made some bad choices and suffered the consequences because of it. However, I think they now know mom means business, and home school isn't going to be as easy as they thought it would be. The other thing they learned this week, was Dad will back me up on any punishment I hand out, and he may even add to it! So best just to get to work, and get it done, OH and pay attention to the work we are doing, so we don't have to go back and redo a bunch of work as homework! All in all a pretty good first week of school, we managed to get a full weeks worth of work done, in what I had planned on doing just half days. Next week we will add Faith and her school work :)

Summer....where is it going?

I was helping the kids pick up their messes just a little while ago, and it occurred to me. It's almost the end of July. Soon Libby will be 12 (what??), and we will be starting school. While we are still working on getting the "school room" set up, we are making progress on it everyday.

So far this summer, this is what we have accomplished as a family:

Working on getting rid of some bad habits, and putting good habits in their places:
We have started working with the kids, on being kind to each other. I don't think they always realize how they are speaking to each other, and how hurtful words can be. So we are working on asking for forgiveness, and giving it as well. Both can be very hard to do.

Getting into a routine of sorts, with the chores and such.
Chores are a new thing in our house, as I have mentioned before, we never really made the kids have/do chores, because we felt guilty with spending so much time at work. When we came home we were selfish, and wanted to spend all the time we could with our kids. So this has been a bit of a challenge, but I will say the kids are really coming around to the idea of chores. They have figured out, if they do "chores" during the week and pick up after themselves, we don't have to spend all weekend trying to "catch up" on house cleaning. We can actually go do fun things together as a family! What a concept!

The room upstairs is going to be divided. 1/2 the girls room,  the other 1/2 will be the school room.
Most of you know, and I guess now the rest of you will know. We have decided to home-school our children this school year. We feel after spending lots of time in prayer and seeking the council of our priest, family,and friends, this is the best thing for our family this year. We are going to take homeschooling one year at a time, and re-evaluate each year. "What is best for our family? What helps us to grow in faith, and spirituality as a family, and follow God's plan for us, as his (mostly) obedient children?" (this is something we have to work on everyday).

Getting organized and removing some of the clutter that has accumulated in the last 12 years of living in our house.
Some of you know the challenges that arise in living in a nearly 100 year old farm house. One of the challenges is the lack of storage (only 2 closets) and small rooms. However we are thankful for having a roof over our heads that keeps us warm or cool(depending on the season) and dry. So we are trying to go through all the stuff we have accumulated over the years, and weed out what we don't need or use. If any of you have ever done this, you know that it takes time and patience (which is not something I have a lot of! Darn Irish heritage....LOL)


Well there you have it. That is our summer so far. Now don't get me wrong, we have had lots of fun as well. Such as taking the kids, and one of their friends to see the free summer movies at the local theater. Going to a drive-in movie for the first time, and getting some swimming in there as well. It's been a crazy, busy, fun summer. I am looking forward to the adventures of the rest of this summer, and continuing into this fall.