My Full Heart: blogging from a to z

Showing posts with label blogging from a to z. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Blogging From A to Z: Names

I figured I would share the meaning behind each of my children's names this week! There are no elaborate stories behind any of them, but I always find it interesting to see why people name their children what they do.

Mikaela LeeAnn

Mikaela was a name that I heard when I was in high school, and I thought it was the prettiest name I had ever heard. I told myself I would name my first daughter Mikaela, and when I found out she was a girl I knew I wanted her name to be Mikaela. LeeAnn was the name of Rod's sister. She passed away in a car wreck when I was still pregnant with Mikaela. She was my age at the time - 17. We named Mikaela after her to remember her.

Elijah Paul

We went back and forth with Eli's name when I was pregnant. We considered the name Enoch Elijah since they were the only two men in the Bible who never died - God took them to heaven alive. We eventually decided that we liked Elijah as a first name, but were torn on Peter and Paul as middle names. They were two of our favorite Biblical characters. The day we left the hospital we finally decided on Elijah Paul! Funny story - we called him Eli almost all the time, except when he would be in trouble I would call out "Eli - jah!" We were discussing middle names when he was around 7 or 8, and he said, "I have a weird middle name - Jah." I had to explain that Jah was not his middle name!

Mercie Renee

I don't remember how we decided on the name Mercie, but I remember that it didn't feel natural to me until after she was born! I liked the spelling with an -ie at the end because that's how my sister Ashlie spells her name. Renee is my middle name and my mom's middle name, so I wanted to pass that on to my daughter as well.

Silas Bruce

Silas is another Bible name that we loved, and Bruce is Rod's dad's name and Rod's middle name. We found out that Silas and Bruce mean "man of the woods" and "from the forest", which was pretty neat! Silas does love the woods and hunting, so his name is fitting.

Titus Rodgers

Again, Titus is just a Biblical name that we loved! Rodgers is my dad and his dad's middle name as well. Their names are Jimmie Rodgers Sr. and Jimmie Rodgers Jr. Jimmy Rodgers was a famous country singer years and years ago I'm told! I also like that Rodgers is spelling with "Rod" in it, so it feels like he is also named after Rod. My dad doesn't have any sons, so I did feel good naming one of mine after him.

Rodrick Ezekiel

We loved the name Zeke, but I wanted to continue the Bible name tradition for our sons so we went with Ezekiel, calling him Zeke. Rodrick is Rod's first name, and I wanted Zeke named after him as well since Silas and Titus had part of his name in their names. Zeke will not say his full name though - he says, "I'm just Zeke!"

Zoey May

Zoey isn't born yet - she has about a month to go! But I still want to share her name. When I was pregnant with Zeke, I wanted twins so badly. I wanted a boy and a girl - Zeke and Zoey. I thought those names went together really well. Zeke was a singleton, so I didn't get my Zoey. I wasn't planning to have any more children, and Zoey was a surprise! When we found out she was a girl, there was no question as to what her name would be - Zoey. May is a name we have always loved as a middle name. Rod's grandmother was Johnnie Mae, and the kids all called her "MaeMae". Now Daniel calls me "MayMay" (I spelled it differently) and I wanted Zoey to have the name May as her middle name.

I'd love to hear the stories behind your children's names! Link up any "N" posts below!

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Blogging From A to Z: Middle School Thoughts on Monday

Middle school can be a difficult time for homeschoolers. Your child is not in elementary school anymore and doesn't need as much handholding, but they are not in high school yet and are not ready to be totally independent in their learning. They want to do things independently, yet they still need some scaffolding in their daily work. They can also be a bit grumpy at times since this age group is typically going through puberty, with all of the hormones and mood swings that accompany it!

Silas in the middle

Middle school can also be a wonderful time for homeschoolers. You have this extra time with your pre-teen and teenager that you would miss out on if they were in public school. You can offer them the help they may need, the one-on-one time that is invaluable for kids of all ages. You can cater to your child's interests and feed their curiosity about different topics.

7th grade workload

One of the things I always try to remind myself of is that my middle-schoolers are in a big transition stage, not just in school but in life. They are outgrowing many of their childish behaviors and hobbies and at the same time trying to see where they fit in the world of teenagers. They may still have the desire to play with toys or watch shows that are geared toward younger kids while at the same time have no desire to play with their younger siblings or do things with younger friends. They could be asking for their own phones or social media - something you may not be ready to give them.

I try to spend time with him in his environment

Middle school can be tough - both for you and your child! Having plenty of patience and offering grace to your child (even when we think they don't deserve it) will help you both cope. Take the time to listen to your child, putting away your phone and any other distractions. Allow your child to have small "tantrums", trying to get to the root of the problem. Discuss ways to handle the larger workload in their school and try to give them as much independence as they can bear without burdening them.

He loves to grill!

Make sure your middle-schooler is getting plenty of sleep! It's tempting to stay awake late, playing video games or watching a movie. It's recommended that children ages 6-12 get 9-12 hours of sleep a night, while children ages 13-18 need 8-10. Turning off screens an hour before sleeping also helps your child fall asleep and stay asleep.

Most of all, enjoy this time with your middle-schooler! Play games together, go on fun fieldtrips, and laugh with (and at!) each other often.

What’s your favorite thing about middle school?

This post is part of my series of Middle School Monday!

Link up your "M" posts this week!

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Blogging From A to Z: Learning Journal for Preschoolers

Today I'm going to plug for my own product - but at the bottom of this post, I'm giving you a great deal on this!

Zeke is going to be using The Gentle + Classical Preschool this year, but I wanted to add in a worksheet a day to his curriculum. He loves worksheets, and I like having a record of how much he is learning. I designed this Page-A-Day Preschool Journal for him to use in conjunction with his curriculum, but I also made it where it can be a free-standing preschool journal for any preschooler! This would be an excellent supplement to any preschool curriculum, and it would also be great to use on its own for a quick lesson time with your child. You could also use it as a great jumping-off point and add in books, crafts, and other activities if you wish.

There are four worksheets for each week. The first three focus on a letter-a-week, and the fourth worksheet is a math worksheet. These math worksheets touch on different early math topics and skills such as counting, number recognition, shapes, colors, and patterns.

The first three worksheets for each week focus on a letter and follow a predictable pattern. The first worksheet has the letter to trace and a picture to embellish.

The second worksheet has uppercase and lowercase dot recogniton and pictures to color that begin with that letter. This is great for speech and vocabulary building!

The third worksheet has a large letter outline with an idea for filling the letter and tracing lines at the bottom.

Zeke's curriculum will not go through the alphabet in order, so I made these worksheets where they don't have to be used in order. This Page-A-Day Preschool Learning Journal is 104 pages and prints in black and white. I have it for $10.00 in my Etsy shop (link in sidebar!), but I have it for 70% right now! It's only $3.00. Check it out!!

Link up your "L" posts this week!

Monday, August 8, 2022

Blogging from A to Z: Kicking off a New School Year!

We officially start homeschooling for the 2022/2023 school year next Monday! This is my last week for preparations and organizing. I'm trying to get everything together and ready to go.

I'm expecting a baby the end of September, plus I have a preschooler, so I really felt the need this year to have the boys be mostly independent in their work. We chose curriculum with this in mind. As I've been looking through their books and getting familiar with everything, I've kept that concept in the forefront of my thoughts - independence.

Here are a few things I'm doing to prepare to kick off our school year.

The thing I've been doing that I think will be one of the biggest helps this year is getting the boys a box for their science supplies. This subject calls for the most supplies for both of them. I know that if I don't have what we need on-hand, it will be pushed aside and not done. Both of their science books have three different sections for the year. I went through the first section in both of their books and made very extensive lists of the supplies they need. I've been buying and collecting the things they will need and storing them in one of our empty bins on our school shelf. This way, when they have an experiment (which is several times a week each), they will have everything they need right there. Other than perishable items and craft items, everything will be in this box. After they are finished with their first section, I will do this for the second section as well.

I may need to put these supplies in two bins rather than one because it's getting heavy!

I've also been organizing our school shelf. The boys each have their own shelf for their books, and the bins contain loose items that we need. I made sure their books are accessible to them and placed where they won't get lost. They will grab the books they need for one subject at a time and put them back on the shelf when they are finished, grabbing the next subject. Last year, we had bins for all of their books, and it got messy and disorganized. The bins their books were stored in also tore, bent, and even broke. By having their books upright and visible, I think this will curtail some of the mess and disorganization.

Silas has his on the top and Titus right below.

I purchased more pencils, markers, colored pencils, crayons, and glue sticks. I went through our pencil caddy and threw away small and broken pencils, dried out markers, and broken crayons. I went through the boy's pencil boxes from last year and decided not to give them a pencil box this year. I put the markers, pencils, crayons, and so forth in the caddies we have to be used by all of us this year.

We share this caddy for pencils, markers (thin and fat), and pens.

We also have caddies for colored pencils, scissors, and glue sticks.

I've ordered the picture books Zeke will need for his preschool and restocked some of our art supplies - jewels, googly eyes, paper, and glue sticks. I'm starting to print out worksheets to supplement his curriculum and keep him busy when he begs for more schoolwork like his brothers.

I keep all of Zeke's preschool work on this shelf. I think I'm going to have a small caddy for his scissors, glue, crayons, and markers as well.

Mercie will be attending a small, private school this year, so we purchased the supplies she needed. They're in her backpack, ready to go on the 22nd of this month! We still have to buy paper towels, toilet paper, and a few things like that.

Mercie's backpack full of her supplies!

I set up Silas's account with Nicole the Math Lady. He will be using her videos along with Saxon Math 7/6. It's ready to go, and we may do a few lessons this week to show him how it works!

Monday, I plan to have a fun kick-off morning with a big breakfast and some gifts. I haven't totally decided what I'm doing this year, but I always want the first day to be special, something to look forward to.

We plan to get six or so weeks under our belt before Zoey gets here, so we're hoping we get a good routine going by then. That way the boys can continue with homeschooling while I'm recovering!

Our main school shelf.

What do you do to kick-off a new homeschool year? Link up your "K" posts this week!

Monday, August 1, 2022

Blogging From A to Z: June and July 2022

July went by just as quickly as June did! The summer break is almost over, and our new school year will be starting in a few weeks. For the letter "J" this week, I am going to do a recap in pictures with a few words of how June and July went for us! These are in no particular order, by the way.