Week in Review: Rodeo, Doctor Visits, and Projects

We have had a busy few weeks with doctor's appointments, church, and Eli's senior activities. This week was busy as well, and I'm not looking at slowing down until mid-June!

Monday

I had to take Mercie to the doctor Monday morning because she got into poison oak over the weekend. Monday she woke up with really swollen eyes and a terrible rash all over her arms. She got a shot and some steroids to take with steroid cream. She is still fighting the rash on her arms, but her face and eyes are back to normal. The boys skipped math today and instead worked outside in the garden and around the farm.

Isn't our driveway beautiful?

I also finished a punch-needle embroidery kit my sister got me for my birthday. This was so incredibly fun and easy! 

Tuesday

Zeke woke up with fever and a really sore throat. Eli and Titus both had strep throat last week, so I figured that's what it was. Back to the doctor! Sure enough, he had a terrible case of strep. He got a shot and some antibiotics prescribed. He's feeling much better thankfully. 

When Zeke naps, you know he doesn't fell well.

Titus had a baseball game but I couldn't take Zeke since he was not only contagious but feeling pretty rough. My mother-in-law took him for me and we stayed home and rested. 

Wednesday

We stayed home to let Zeke rest and get better. We didn't even go to church for Team Kid (which I'm the director of) and I had another lady cook for the kids. I worked on my cross-stitch project for a little bit. Having a baby makes my cross-stitch projects take forever but I'm determined to finish this one up in May!

It's going to say "Bless this Home." My purple s is a little wonky, but it's going to be outlined so I think it will look okay.

Thursday

We went to Mikaela's house Thursday morning to help her put together a TV stand she bought. We had a few errands in town to run as well. I came home and worked on Eli's high school scrapbook for a little while. I made one for Mikaela when she graduated, and now I'm locked in to make one for each of my kids! It's fun to work on, but again, with a baby it complicates how and when I can. I simply add pictures, stickers, washi tape, and words to colored cardstock, then stick them in page protectors in a three-ring binder. Super easy! I've got about four or five pages for each year beginning with 7th grade.

I keep it simple, but it's so much fun to work on.

Friday

I started working on Mikenna's (that's the baby girl Mikaela is having in October) Bucilla Christmas stocking today. This is my first one! My mom made these for my sisters and I and then for our kids. Now that I'm having grandkids, my mom is passing the tradition on to me. It's very overwhelming at first, but now that I've gotten a nice little start, I'm enjoying it. I don't like having too many projects going at once, so I'm a little stressed with the cross-stitch, stocking, and scrapbook projects being unfinished. 

I didn't realize how much time this was going to take.

The first night of the annual Outlaw Rodeo was tonight. Mercie is on the Flag Team this year, and they performed their routine to the song "Mr. Red, White, and Blue." They did a fantastic job! She was so excited she got a spot on the team this year. She is the second youngest member.

She also ran the barrels and made her best run yet in our hometown arena. She ran an 18.2 and placed sixth for the night. She loves barrel racing, and it's so fun to see her run them! We didn't get home until after 10:00. I have no idea how Zoey stayed awake for the entire rodeo, but she did. 

Saturday

I worked on the stocking some more this morning and tried to keep the house clean. With the kids and Rod going in and out, the floors stay pretty dirty. I think I swept and mopped three times before I decided to wait until tonight to clean them again!

Zeke, Zoey, and I went on a buggy ride with Rod to check cows and look at the pond we had dug this week. They haven't finished it yet, but the majority of it is completed. I can't wait until it's full of water and we stock it with fish! I'm also getting a pedal boat for the kids and me to pedal around the pond in. 

The second night of the rodeo is tonight, but I'm staying home with the little two. Rod is working the gate, and a few of my kids are working in the concession stand. Mercie isn't running the barrels tonight, but they're doing the flag routine again. It's so hot and humid today, I'm dreading summer already.

I'm also looking into homeschool curriculum and making some decisions on that. We're part of a new co-op that is starting up about 50 miles from our house, so I've also been working on a class syllabus. I'll be teaching a geography class using the book Global Art as a base. We had this book from our year with My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. I'm going to have 10 minutes for geography overview of each country, including map work, and 30 minutes for the art project each week.

How was your week? As busy as mine?

Life Update

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm really wanting to get back into blogging regularly. How many times have I said that? I do miss blogging about our homeschool adventures. So many things have happened lately that I wanted to share a life update!

Our Christmas Card photo for 2022

Zoey Mae

Zoey was born September 23, 2022 weighing 7 pounds 11 ounces. She has been such a sweet baby, easy-going most of the time and so happy! She is 7 months old now, just got her first tooth in, and is trying to figure out how to crawl! She adds a little excitement to our homeschool days, and I'm reading to start Baby School with her (sensory bins, board books, Bible songs). 

Eli's Graduating!

It's so hard to believe that I have a second child graduating this year. Eli plans to attend Louisiana Tech in the fall, majoring in agribusiness. He had his Honors Banquest last week, a Senior Banquet next week, and an Athletic Banquet the day after Graduation. Graduation is May 19. We are also having a party for him at church on the 17th. We surprised him with a brand-new truck for his graduation gift! He has driven my old Yukon XL the past two years without complaining (much), and he needed a reliable vehicle to get him back and forth to college (it's nearly two hours away). We are really proud of him.

Mikaela's Having another Baby!

Mikaela is due October 13 with a baby girl, my second grandchild! Her name is going to be Mikenna. It is so exciting to be a grandmother, or "MaeMae" as Daniel calls me. They just moved back to be closer to family. She is going to be doing online classes the next three years and major in education. We do need teachers here!

Mercie's Homeschooling Again!

Mercie had a year in public school this year and decided she would much rather homeschool! She had lots of friends, played basketball, and kept good grades, but she really misses all the time she had when she was homeschooling. She had much more time with her horses! She's been in a few rodeos lately, and our town's annual Rodeo is this weekend. She is riding Friday night! We look forward to this rodeo all year. 

She won second place in the annual Queen's Contest at our Rodeo Arena this year.

Homeschool Highlights

I've posted our End of Year Curriculum Thoughts for Silas and Titus. We really had a fantastic year this year, considering all of the distractions and interruptions! I'm looking forward to having all my school-age kids homeschool next year. Here are a few of the contests the boys entered for 4H and the homeschool group we were a part of:

Titus made a Yoda Valentine Box for the Homeschool Group's Valentine Party! It says "Yoda Best Valentine!"

Silas made this massive alligator for the Valentine Party, and won first place! He won a $20 WalMart gift card. 

4H Dairy Billboard Contest - 1st in his division

4H Dairy Billboard Contest - 1st in his division

4H Beef Poster Contest - 1st in his division (Silas)

4H Beef Poster Contest - 2nd in his division

Random Life Pictures:

Easter Picture

Titus is playing baseball this year, and he led the team in prayer a few times.

Lunch date with my almost teenager.

Hopefully I will blog regularly now. How has your year been?

End of Year Curriculum Thoughts - 5th Grade

I'm putting down my thoughts on our curriculum from this past school year as we are bringing it to a close. I wrote about Silas's 7th grade curriculum last week, and today I'm going to write about Titus's 5th grade curriculum. 

Titus - 5th grade

MATH: Math Lessons for a Living Education 5 by Master Books

Titus has used this series from Book 1, and it's been a great fit for him. The lessons are short yet thorough with plenty of review thrown in here and there. The series starts off pretty slow, but the speed picks up around Book 3. This was perfect for Titus, as he didn't need any rigorous math until then. Titus enjoyed using this except for the copywork! (For the record, I liked the copywork because I feel like it helps to cement the rules in your memory.) He also didn't read the stories at the beginning of each unit because he thought they were boring.

That said, we have decided to forgo Book 6 and jump straight into Saxon Math with Nicole the Math Lady. Silas had such a good experience that I feel like Titus needs to go ahead and start with Saxon 6/5 next year. He has also been asking to go ahead and use "the Math Lady"!

Verdict: 9/10

I will continue to use Math Lessons for a Living Education with Zeke and Zoey when they get old enough. I like the gentle introduction to math and the short lessons, and the series has proven to be effective since I've used this with several of my children. 

LITERATURE: Progeny Press Literature Guides

As I said with Silas, we love these literature guides from Progeny Press! Titus used Charlotte's Web and The Sword in the Tree this year. I like everything about these guides, although we don't always do the extra activities. If something catches Titus's eye, he will do it, but otherwise we stick to the main sections. The guides give vocabulary lessons, critical thinking, reading comprehension, and "Dig Deeper" questions that go into Biblical lessons. They really cover so much and do it well.

Verdict: 10/10

I'm excited to choose two more books and guides for Titus to use next year! I plan to do two literature guides with the kids each year through high school.

GRAMMAR: Language Lessons for a Living Education 5 by Master Books

This was a pretty solid language arts curriculum that followed a predictable routine each week. Monday was reading comprehension and writing skills, Tuesday and Wednesday were grammar practice, Thursday was reading a Bible story with copywork and drawing, and Friday was spelling. At first, we did all lessons each week, but then I started just doing Tuesday through Thursday, skipping Monday and Friday lessons. I felt like they weren't beneficial to Titus, although he did enjoy reading the Bible stories.

Verdict: 6/10

We won't be using this again next year. I don't like it enough to continue the series.

GRAMMAR: Language Smarts E by Critical Thinking Co.

This was a book we used for a review, and I continued using it with Titus because it's a fantastic book. The activities are fun and engaging, and it covers such a wide variety of topics. He's finished more than half of the book, and we will continue using it over the summer to finish it up. For around $40, it's a great bargain!

Verdict: 10/10

We're going to continue with this book until he completes it.

SCIENCE: God's Design for Heaven and Earth by Master Books

These textbooks are great, full of beautiful, full-color pictures and tons of information. Most of the activities Titus really enjoyed doing. He wanted to do them all! The worksheets that go along with it are not that great. I think I could use these books and create my own worksheets and it would be a much more engaging experience. I'm not sure what we are doing for science next year, but I don't see us using this series. Although we started off loving it, we would up skipping the last few chapters.

Verdict: 7/10

The textbook is really nice, but the worksheets are lacking.

HISTORY: America's Story Volume 1 by Master Books

Again, the textbook is pretty nice, but the worksheets are boring. The activities are silly sometimes, and most of the writing exercises included writing letters or diary entries. Titus tired of those quickly. Some of the reading was boring, but most of it was interesting. He did enjoy finding the locations on maps and globes. Titus remembered a few things, but not as much as I hoped he would. We didn't finish this curriculum, but we got over 3/4 completed!

Verdict: 6/10

Exactly how I feel about the science. We will be going with something different next year.

I really feel like Titus had a great 5th grade year overall, considering I had a new baby in September and a four year old tagging along with us. I feel like he had a lot of growth in his handwriting, math skills, reading, and learning to work independently. I haven't decided what we are going to be using next year, but I'm deep in the "research" mindset right now!

End of Year Curriculum Thoughts - 7th grade

It's so hard to believe that our school year is coming to a close! Silas is finishing up 7th grade, Titus is finishing 5th, and Zeke had a great preschool year. I always like to put down my thoughts on the curriculum that we used and how it worked for us. I'll start with Silas.

Silas - 7th grade 

MATH: Saxon 7/6 with Nicole the Math Lady subscription

I am so thankful we found Nicole the Math Lady! She "teaches" math for me and does such an excellent job! Silas has learned so much this year, and he says that the Nicole the Math Lady videos have really helped him to understand the math concepts this year. It has taken a load off of my shoulders, especially with a new baby in the house. 

I also really like Saxon Math. There are plenty of review problems each lesson so he doesn't get rusty on math concepts. I don't always make him do all 30 problems since it takes him a few hours to do math each day. I will assign him odds or evens, and he loves when I do that! He also inputs all of his answers online and it immediately tells him if it's right or wrong. He gets six attempts for most problems, and the 'grading' gives me the percentage he got right on first attempt and the percentage he got right using all six attempts. 

Verdict: 10/10

We are absolutely using Saxon Math with Nicole the Math Lady videos for all three of my older kids next year!

LITERATURE: Progeny Press Literature Guides

  

This is something we have used year after year because they're really great literature guides! This year Silas used Number the Stars and Where the Red Fern Grows. He enjoys using them and I love how thorough they are! They're also very easy for the boys to use on their own. This is a product that I recommend to others!

Verdict: 10/10

I will assign the boys each two more literature guides next year! It's always fun getting to choose which books to use.

HISTORY: The World's Story by Master Books

There are things I liked about this and things I didn't like. I think what we didn't like the most was the worksheets. The questions were pretty silly sometimes and hard to answer - not because the answer was hard but because they made you imagine you were in certain places or time periods and write a letter or diary entry or story about it. Silas wasn't into all of those question for history. He wanted more questions with concrete answers. He didn't retain as much as I would have liked. We actually dropped history a few weeks ago without finishing the last few chapters. 

Verdict: 4/10

The book was not bad. I should have written my own worksheets and activities and we would have enjoyed it more. 

SCIENCE: God's Design for the Physical World by Master Books

Again, there are things we liked and things we didn't like. For the most part, we enjoyed reading the lessons. Sometimes there was a lot of information presented at a time. At first Silas loved doing the experiments daily, but that got to be too much. We just picked a few a week to do after that. The worksheets were boring and again, I just wish that I would have made my own worksheets for Silas to use. If we use this science again (and we may!) I will create my own worksheets and activities, picking and choosing which experiments to do based on how beneficial and fun they will be. 

Verdict: 8/10

The main problem for us was the worksheets and the abundance of experiments. I would also not let his be done independently as I feel like he would retain much more if we read it together.

GRAMMAR: Even-Moor Language Fundamentals

I really liked this book for Silas! He did one or two pages a day just to keep himself familiar with grammar, punctuation, and usage rules. It took him less than ten minutes to complete. He still has some pages left, so he will probably finish it up over the summer. It was $30, but well worth it. 

Verdict: 10/10

I will order one for Titus to use next year! That's how much I liked it. The short lessons were very thorough and covered so many different topics. It was just the right amount each day!

It's so hard to believe that I will be researching and ordering curriculum again soon. We already know which math and literature we will be using, so science and history are the only things I'm really trying to figure out. I'm also considering if I want to combine them for a subject, since we haven't done Family Style Learning in a few years. I miss doing it that way! 

Have you used any of these before? 

Otter B Free: Christian Picture Books! TOS Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I am very careful with the media that is presented to my almost-four-year-old son, Zeke. These days, you not only have to be careful with the TV shows and movies geared toward this age group, but also the books. There are so many books, even picture books targeting the preschool age, with messages that are contrary to my family's core Christian beliefs. This is one reason I was excited to receive Otter B Free from Focus on the Family to read to Zeke.

Otter B is a series of children's picture books that present biblical values and character traits using a fun story and adorable characters. In Otter B Free, Otter B and his friends are gearing up for a fun Fourth of July Field Day - and the big, shiny trophy the winner received! Otter B doesn't think he has a chance of winning because his friend Felicia is the best at every event. When Otter B hears that Felicia has broken her foot and can't compete, he starts practicing every day in hopes that he will win the big trophy! However, seeing Felicia sitting all alone at Field Day makes Otter B realize there are more important things that winning, like friendship. All of the friends, including Felicia, work together to win - and share - the gold trophy! 

This hard cover book is such a cute, fun read for young children. The pictures are cartoonish and adorable, the pages are thick and glossy, and the storyline includes biblical values that I want to instill in my children. At the end of the book, there is a little poem and a scripture that reinforces the topic of the book. This series is definitely preschooler-friendly!

There are ten books in the Otter B series, including Otter B Kind, Otter B Thankful, and Otter B Brave. These would make great Christmas gifts for the young children in your life! Check out what other reviewers thought of this book by clicking the banner below!