Ever had ONE of those weeks?

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you question homeschooling, thinking about running out of the house screaming, maybe pulling your hair out?  It has been one of those weeks at our house. 
I don’t know if is the change to school in the mornings, I doubt it or this new “NO” phase my 7 year old is going through but what a week.  Our week started out with handwriting and I asked him to write his ABCs both lower and upper case.  He told me he did not remember his ABCs, I know he knows his ABCs.  Let us just say requiring him to write his letters created all kinds of tears and drama.   He cried saying, “but Mom even 7 year olds forget things”  (I tried really hard not to laugh at that).  Our whole week was like this, it was one of those weeks.
In order for me not to pull my hair our I made a few changes to our day to see if you couldn’t get a better week going.  First thing I did was get out my kitchen timer.  There is no reason at all to spend an hour doing one handwriting page or math worksheet.  He was not happy when I set up the timer and told him he had to get his page done before the buzzer went off.  He fussed and complained loudly saying,  he couldn’t get it done it time etc.  After a while though he got into the game of it, I wonder if I can finish before the timer, I am going to finish before it gets to 5 minutes left etc.  As long as it got done correctly I was fine with it, anything to get him moving and working.
Next thing I have done it break the day up.  We usually work straight through get our school work done and are finished with book work for the day.  I am working on one or two subjects and then letting him take a small 10 or 15 min. break to play, run around, or get a snack.  It is taking us so much longer to get school work done but it seems to be helping with the complaining, and the dawdling.  Did I mention dawdling drives me crazy, can not stand it. 
He generally good about school work but the last few weeks have been a test in my patience.  I hope the changes I have made will help get us back on track. I am sure I am not the only homeschooler who has had days or weeks like this.  While I love homeschooling some days are harder than others. 
Have a good week! 

Wordless Wednesday - Science is Fun

3 in 30 Week 2 Update

 

This week has not gone so well but I am still trying.

 

 

1.  Stop drinking soda, of any kind. I still have not had any soda this week but I have wanted one!  It has been almost 3 weeks now, you think I would be getting used to it.  I almost had a sweet tea from McDonalds but I was afraid it was a slippery slope to Coke, Dr. Pepper or even worse a cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic, LOL.

2. Start school before lunch.  Don’t even get me started, this has not been a good homeschool week.  First off kiddo has been a handful and by that I mean I was asking my husband, “ we decided to homeschool, why?”  Kiddo says he has forgotten his ABCs, I know who knows them.  So, for practice and a reminder he has been writing out the ABCs for handwriting to help “remember” them. This has lead to crying and drama, etc.  Monday was one of those pull your hair out days. I hope we will see an improvement soon.

3. Start Project 365  I was so excited to start this project and now I feel like it is work instead of something fun.  I need to change my thoughts on having a “good” photo, I don’t need a good photo, I just one that will remind of the day.  I am working on it.

Wordless Wednesday – Snow Day

 

3 in 30 Week 1 Update

It is the end on week 1 for the 3 in 30 goals for January and here is my update.  Is it just me or did the week fly by?

1.  Stop drinking soda, of any kind.  I have not had a sip of any soda since Dec. 25th.  My dentist was thrilled with me giving up soda. 
2. Start school before lunch.  This has been working so so,  I had dental work done on Tuesday and felt miserable on Wednesday.   We have at least started school everyday before lunch, I would like to get more done before lunch.  I will keep working on it.
3. Start Project 365  This goal is more work and harder than I thought it would be.  I don’t know if I am over thinking a photo a day or stressing over the quality of my photos.  I have taken a picture everyday since the 1st and I joined a Project 365 group on Flickr for inspiration and accountability.  I can not wait to make a photo book with my 365 photos at the end of the year.

Nintendo DS Spelling Game Review

I have had a few questions about the new spelling DS game, we were using in homeschool this week.  It was brand new and we had not tried it yet, now that we have played it for a few days I have enough information for a review. 
This review is based on my 7 year old who is just starting with spelling but can read on a 5th grade level.
 
The spelling bee portion, which can be played with multiple players and on several levels from easy to ultimate was harder than I was expecting.  On easy it was too hard for him, there were words such as: obvious, attack, massage, frolic, etc.  These words are too difficult for my kiddo to do.  I think this portion would be great for middle school age or a child who excels at spelling.


The mini games are GREAT for all ages!  They are fun and a great way to practice spelling. The mini games are perfect for him, it gives him a fun way to work on spelling.  This of course does not replace our spelling workbook.  His favorite is the Blast Speller, the game gives you a word to spell and you have to blast the letters in order to win.  The Connector game is also fun you have to connect the letters in order to spell a word. The Mystery Game, is like Wheel of Fortune, there are missing letters you have to fill in to finish the word.  Tumbling Letters is like the game Tetris but with letters, you have to move the letters to the correct row in order to spell the word correctly.  Kiddo did not care for this game as much he said, “it moves slow.”  The other games are what you expect from a memory and search word games.

He likes the game and doesn’t mind playing it when I call it “school time”. I can see this game being used for several years with the different levels available. 
We also have Personal Trainer Math and Learn Geography for the DS, both are excellent games which are also learning games.  I will keep adding more learning games to our DS collection.

I keep the games in the case with all his other games, and he does get them out to play on his own, especially the math game.   I use the games for school time when we are having a rough day learning and need a break from school work for a bit.  I also use them as a reward type system, for example get this done and for math today we will play the Nintendo math game.  They also come in handy if Mom is feeling under the weather and needs a small break:)  
While they in no way replace our curriculum the games are a fun way to learn and reinforce what he has already learned.

Wordless Wednesday

Working on math at McDonald's with Dad, while Mom was at the dentist having a root canal.