I finally took some time to re-evaluate the rest of our year, making a few changes. I examined where we are and our new daily lives and created a new weekly school schedule for us... 

I am excited about this new schedule that includes all three of my "scholars" into the mix giving me a better picture of each week. I plan 2 weeks in advance the first time and then take some time to re-evaluate and plan for next 2nd week. We followed it this week and it was perfect.
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Our New Weekly Schedule
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Returning Soon
I am currently re-evaluating our 2nd Trimester of our 2008/2009 school year. I will be returning renewed and revived in a few days with more thoughts!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
GMW joins the Journey!!
Oh... wow, I am finding rather hard to keep up with my weekly reports!! I just can not find the time to get them up each week and I also find it hard to get in here each week. So after thinking about it for awhile I have decided to shut down this blog... but not completely, I am going to just simply joined it with my Main blog. So if anyone really did read GMW just follow me over to Embracing the Journey, that is where you can find me sharing things that we are doing!
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Our Year at a Glance
I have been wanting to share our Year at a Glance for some time but have run into computer problems when attempting and time issues :0). Here is the plan that I have set out for us but as usuall it is not set in stone just a guide to make things easier for me and to pull me along. We are behind in somethings and ahead in others.
I can not tell you how much this helps me out when I am evaluating our progress. I love having it there. We will be moving at some point and I thought it was going to be in December but now has moved to January... so changes will need to be made there. I did not put Nature Study on here and some other things. I am posting this for accountability...
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mushroom Madness
We are enjoying our study on fungus!! Imagine that... today we watched some pretty cool videos on mushrooms:
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Recovering
Wow, what an amazing 2 days we had at Six Flags and the Texas State Fair :0), the Lord blessed us greatly at both. We are taking today OFF to recover from our 2 very busy and exhausting days. I have so many things that I need to do here at the house. The original plan was to push hard through today, tomorrow and Friday but I am just not feeling it and I know that if we forced our lessons for today they would come up dry and unfruitful. We will get as much done tomorrow and Friday as we can for this week!
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Our Adventures: Week 5
Starting us out as usual is...
Math: Where we should be: Lesson 25
Where we are: but we actually just finished lesson 20 along with the test. I am not sure how that happened? I thought we were on schedule with our math... This week I made some pretty big adjustments to our lessons. I bought a timer and did not allow any lessons go over 20 minutes. It did not matter whether or not we were "finished" or not. I told him that we only had 20 minutes to do each lesson and that I demanded his full attention in that short time. I was suprised at how well he accepted this and how much more we actually acheived in that amount of time rather than the usual drawn out 45 minutes :0).
Grammar: Where we should be: Lesson 7
Where we are: we finished lesson 6 this week so we are OFF but that is okay (no pressure :0) I have been so relaxed with this and just enjoying each lesson really trying not to put on any pressure with each new idea. What I am really trying to do with our grammar is read up on the lessons and then approach each one as a casual conversation... I am learning that we both respond with restful and giving spirits to the excercises when they are just "apart of our day".
Spelling: Where we should be: Exercise 5
Where we are: We finished Ex. 5 "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Luke 10:7. This is so simple but for me that can become my worst enemy, letting it slip between the cracks of math and science. This week was nice because I had a plan. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are SW(Spelling Wisdom)day. Tuesdays we simple observe the exercise until we are confident of each word then spell each out loud several times. Wednesday's it is copied several times while examining each word and then spelled out loud and then on Thursday we dictate it. If it is still not his then we go into to Friday for a little more examination. I have each exercise typed out and put on an index card for easy use and then put on a metal picture holder where he can see it daily.
History: Where we should be: Lesson 5 The Medievel Indian Empire
WWA: We are there and this week was a little hard to concentrate on but I am very proud of his growing concentration and articulation in retelling me each chapter. Again like in the grammar I want each History lesson to be as natural as possible so we listen to the story together and then just discuss it together like any other story, NO pressure! We didn't do any projects :0(.
Science: WWSB: Flowers...
WWA: We passed flowers and are went through Food. We all enjoyed talking about and reading book about what foods we eat that come from seeds. We are continueing to observe our bean that has "gone crazy" as Superman puts it. He draws and colors his observations, he is just amazed at it.
Our bean gone "crazy" and it has only gotten crazier since this picture.
T-Rex captivated by ALL the seeds in a pumpkin!
Superman reading a beautifly illustrated and written children's book on Wildflowers.
Explode the Code: WWSB: Lesson 5
WWA: We finished lesson 4. I love these books and the great thing is that so does he! There is no fuss when I pull them out, from either one of us :0). He just glides right through each page in his little workbook and loves how they describe the rules of decoding... magical "e"s and making new words from old words!
Nature Study: This was fun, we went on a Mushroom hunt after reading the book Mushroom Hunt. We only found some very small ones but it was still fun. We have also been on the look out for any fungus we can see and I just love how excited my boy gets about a piece of old bark that has green fungus on it! :0)
Artist and Music Appreciation: We are nearing the end of Vincent and Mozart. We have njoyed them both so much. This week Superman created his own painting using the same technique as Van Gogh, Impasto. He had fun and I just love his creation. I have all of his paintings that we have hanging on the walls of our home. It is our own little Vincent Van Gogh exibit. It is fun when company comes over wondering why his paintings are placed all through out our house :0).
Extras: He decided last week to write a book. I honestly didn't think he would follow through with this but he did and he wrote about 5 pages. I was amazed and so pround. I am hoping to help him edit it and illustrate it and then turn it into a "book" :0).
I am praying that this next half week will be much more enthusiastic, disciplined, joyful and complete. It is a "half" week because we are taking 2 days completely off. One day to go to Six Flags and the other the Texas State fair. Mon. and Tues. are the only 2 days we can fit them in for sure. I hope that the Lord will grant me strength to push hard but joyfully the rest of the 3 days left in the week to complete all of our weeks lessons... but if not we press on and leave it all in His hands.
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A Pitiful Week 4 Report

Math: We just took it really easy with our math lessons. I have been trying to shorten his workpages and then just work with him on concepts and facts that he struggles with.
Grammar: Taking it slow... he is beginning to come around in what I will call "creative thinking" in forming sentences. It was really hard at first for him to think of any sentence at all and if any they were very short and dry. He is getting much better and I am impressed :0).
Spelling: I have not been force feeding him in this area. I have us scheduled for 2 lessons a week but know that each week will be different with the different sentences given. So far it has been very smooth.
Cursive: He is still just loving this, he really enjoys connecting the letters to form words and is constantly practicing on any piece of paper he can get his hands on.
History: We enjoyed learning about Emperor Justinian and Emperoress Theodora although he didn't seem to interested in the dress up dolls in the activity pages. Go figure :0).
Science: We are continueing to observe our bean and just going with the flow in our flower study.
I realize that this is a pitiful excuse for a Weely Report... this week just kind of slipped through my fingers and time to actually "report" about it has been hard to find. But for somewhat of a record... here it is. :0(.
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Boys, Books and Bikes
Reading... I love the fact that my boys love books and for the most part love to read but I also love how much they love to just enjoy and experience being alive. They can engulf themselves contently one minute in a mass of books and then jump on their bikes the next and ride off onto the sidewalk. It amazes me how AWESOME they are and I can't help it but to watch in fascination as they simply be themselves.
I have boys, boys who love books and bikes and if they could do both at the same time I know they would!
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Monday, September 29, 2008
Seasonal Encouragement
I love my children and I love homeschooling but there are moments when I tell myself, "This is to much, you can not handle this." and tonight I am so thankful for the blessing of those veteran homeschooling moms who are letting me know that I am not alone and encouraging me to gain perspective, look to the Father and press on...
Sally Clarkson is a name and woman you need to know as soon as possible if you don't already. Her book Seasons of a Mother's Heart is a must read for all homeschooling moms, it is full of honesty grouped with inspiration to not only endure this calling but to embrace it and thoroughly enjoy every single blessed step.
I was so blessed tonight to find her Youtube clips from on her book Seasons of a Mother's Heart... enjoy...
There are more to come and I am anxiously awaiting them.
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Our Adventures: Week 3

Okay, I just realized that I never updated on last weeks report. We were not able to get some of the other things I had wanted to do for that week that were going to be in the update, so I guess I just figured I would'nt do a part 2 to last week... we did do the doubled edged axes but I didn't get any pictures.
Well, this week was ROUGH. We all really struggled to keep focused and engaged. Our "principle" also known as head of the house suddenly left for Galveston on Monday night and did not return until late Thursday evening. I am somewhat of a worrier so my mind was torn. We did however make it through the week with smiles and some real joyful learning experiences.
Each subject shared a certain level of difficulty this week and a certain amount of joy. We really just focused on 20 minute lessons and not allowing things to get to stressful. I am to tired to do my usual examination of each subject and will just say that we are where we should be. Here are some pictures:
Honestly I really struggled with giving 100% this week and found myself doing other things along side of our lessons. I want to and must be 100% devoted to them during all of our lessons, anything else can wait. In order for us to get everything done and go beyond that into the extra exciting more hands on learning I absolutely must be wholly devoted to our time together. With a lot of prayer this week will be different.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Schedule Revised
...exploration time for 45 minutes outside before we begin school
...20 minutes of our attention will be devoted to each subject
...encouragement, understanding and grace will cover us as we face challenges
...30 minutes in the early afternoon will be set apart for a special baby/toddler time of singing and joyfilled learning.
...some little moments will be captured here and there with T-Rex and Butterfly while Superman is caught in a 20 minute idependent subject
...we will begin using a math journal and rely less on our worksheets
...JOY will prevail!
...commitments will be made to assure each subject is taught in a deligthful and engaging way
Here is our new schedule with changes in bold:
Before Breakfast: 7:45
• Room
• Dressed
• Trash and Table Chores(empty & set)
Before Exploration Time: 8:00
• Kitchen Chores (clear, wipe and sweep)
• Teeth and Hair (brush & fix)
• Quick clean up
• Couch Time: Family Meditation (in the word) and Dedication (in prayer)
Outside Exploration Time: 8:00-9:00
School: 9:00-12:00ish (only 20 minutes for each and we will have alternate subjects daily)
• Math (worksheet, games, drill and journals)
• E&K-Art on Mondays
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Break: FREE play(together) Art on Wednesdays
• History
• Break: short fun read aloud
• Science
• Nature Mission: Tuesdays and Thursdays• Independent Reading (different days different subjects) while I fix lunch if not helping
*We will try to do as much outside in the beginning fall months as possible and I will not allow us to go over 20 minutes on any subject but will allow any time later in the day for further exploration of any subject. :0) happily.
After Lunch Studies: 12:00-1:00
• Kitchen Chores and Daily Chores
• Free Play (closet door OPEN): encourage outside or extra exploration of subjects
Before REST: 1:30
• Quiet Time… 30 minutes as a family- I am loving this!!
• Play
REST: 1:30-3:30ish
• Alternate Dessert Time with “Composer Name” and Table Time with “Artist Name”(picture study, read aloud or other)
• Bible and prayer time with Eli
• Computer Block
• And reading Block
Before 5:30 Dinner
• Latin Studies with Daddy
• Clean up from the day rooms and fingers!
• Table Chores (set the table)
Before 8:00 Bedtime
• Kitchen Chores
• Bath* and PJs
• Family Time: communion, worship (with Hymn study) and prayer
• Boys Read Aloud: currently: The Runaway Mouse
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Little Effort...
It has been a rough first half of the week for us here at GMW... the lack of effort is weighing heavy on my heart. I really struggle with knowing how to handle this idleness of mind with my 7 almost 8 year old. Encouragement doens't seem to work, being silly neither and punishment... I won't go there. I feel like I am incapable to bring out his thoughts with out much probing and I just long for him to spew them out all over me, I want to know what is in his amazing little brain because I know it is full of fascinating information and thoughts.
Friday, September 19, 2008
100 Species Challenge
Did you know..."Most people... cannot recognize even a hundred plant species within a mile of their home."
Can you recognize a hundred plant species that are living within a mile of your home?
I know that I can not name probably more than 2, very sad I know. I am hoping with the motivation the kids and I can become more aware of our surroundings and the specimens that live here among us. I am very excited about this challenge...
Think this looks like something you would enjoy with your kids, here are the rules:
The 100-Species Challenge
1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge. I will make a sidebar list of anyone who notifies me that they are participating in the Challenge.
2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant's home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.
3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears. My format will be as follows: the numbered list, with plants making their first appearance on the list in bold; each plant making its first appearance will then have a photograph taken by me, where possible, a list of information I already knew about the plant, and a list of information I learned subsequent to starting this challenge, and a list of information I'd like to know. (See below for an example.) This format is not obligatory, however, and participants can adapt this portion of the challenge to their needs and desires.
4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.
5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.
6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two--"camillia" if not).
7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge. You can make it as quick or as detailed a project as you like. I'm planning to blog a minimum of two plants per week, complete with pictures and descriptions as below, which could take me up to a year. But you can do it in whatever level of detail you like.
Our Adventures: Week 2

Praise the Lord for another awesome week! He has been so good to us in His unconditional love and graciousness in bestowing strength to me. There were a little more struggles within week 2 of our homeschool adventure but we have been in a season of change around here, not physical but mostly mental and emotional and it was evident as we turn pages in books and schedules.
I am still working on T-Rex and getting him more engaged in learning... he is very opposed but I am very determined. I will set in times to get on the floor with him to read, play and learn through time with momma. I believe that is the only way to reach him. Butterfly is just our little wanderer and is doing much better now that I have a table just for her.
I will probably have a follow up to this week to share our nature walk and double edged war axe!! So stay tuned :0).
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The ART of Narration: CM Carnival
I just checked my email and found that the Simply Charlotte Mason blog hosted the CM Carnival this month on... guess what.... the Art of Narration, how providential. I can't wait to spend some time over my afternoon coffee soaking up some ideas in these articles, written by CM style homeschooling educators! Enjoy
Monday, September 15, 2008
Learning from Superman
Superman and I are wrestling with what could be a beautiful art of telling back what one has learned through reading or listening to a piece of literature. I find it amusing that he can tell me all sorts of information about certain things, things that have completely taken hold of his interest and imagination while other things he is an empty vessel. I understand that he is more likely to be captured by and own certain pieces of the stories he reads if they grab his attention but I long for him to pull all pieces of the story together to give him the BIG picture so that it is not in a bunch of interesting but seperate pieces that don't really fit together making it all a little obscure for him. I read Jeannie Fulbright's article for some encouragement on Narration, here is some thing I pulled out from it to use today and I am seeing the fruit as we speak or I type:
Monday Prayer
Friday, September 12, 2008
Week 1
(Isn't he handsome!)
Math: Superman completed all 5 lessons from his Horizon 2 workbook and each day we played a simple but fun math game to follow our lesson. I was very proud of how quickly and eagerly he took to his math lessons. I have his workbook by his desk so that he can reach it and pull out the daily worksheet and then he completes it pretty much on his own. If he struggles with anything I assist him and explain on our white board. I am loving our daily math game, it is a nice way to lighten up our lesson and have some fun practicing our lessons.
*A funny math quote from Eli this week: "65... is embarrassing me." No idea, just thought it was cute and funny.
Grammar: We didn't go as fast as I thought we would with our grammar lessons, it seems that Superman has a lazy brain when it comes to thinking about verbs and sentences. I know that over time he will begin to run a little faster, I am not rushing him but it is hard, this is one of those areas where His grace is poured all over my head as I sit there and just know what he is capable of but realize he is holding back.
Spelling: Super simpe and awesome! I don't really have a year or even weekly plan for this, we are just going to "go with the flow" of it because it is all about learning through sight and dictation. This week he focused on CM's children's motto: "I can; I am; I ought; I will." Ought was the focus word, he got it!
Cursive: Oh my goodness does this boy LOVE his cursive, he would do it all day if I would let him. I am so suprised at how well he is doing and how diligent he is about not only doing it but learning it correctly.
History: It started off a little rocky when Superman couldn't anwser any of the review question but as the week went on he did better. I decided to try out head phones for him to listen to the chapter and that worked a lot better, no distractions. I will have to listen to the chapter the morning or night before so I know what is going on. We did our coloring sheets and carpet craft and today we will do one of the activities. I am determined this year to follow through with my plans to do one craft a week + an activity if one is given. I want History to be alive, to jump off the pages of the book and live in his imagination.
*Note: we were using the revised edition of the book but not the Activity Book and when I looked through it at the store yesterday I was amazed at the illustration differences in the two and purchased the revised edition. They are amazingly better!
Science: Ya know we are just truly enjoying ourselves here and it is only going to get better, I have A LOT up my sleeve. 2 days ago I took a little trip to the library to assist us in our Plant study and Nature study. I will begin pulling alot out of my sleeve this weekend to begin doing. We studied a little bit about the seed, made a little booklit on it, read some books and planted some flowers. Just this afternoon I noticed they have already sprouted, we were all excited about their life.
Before lunch Superman has his independent reading time. I do not have this scheduled out, it really depends on the subject and availibilty of it. So far he has been able to dive into artist, history and science books while I cook lunch. Sometimes I had him read it to me and sometimes he read silently.
Artist and Music Appreciation: Amazing... we have had such a blast with each of these and I can not tell you how much I have personally enjoyed watching him growingly increase in enthusiasm and appreciation for them. I will say that I have allowed him to lead in this. He observed The Starry Night one day, read a book on Van Gogh and then decided to try his hand at recreating The Starry Night. For music we have simply enjoyed listening to Mozart's music and his life, I (the big student in the room) was very intrigued by Mozart's life. Superman already has a favorite of his works.
Latin: Ha! We have struggled with our latin lessons, we only made it to one this week. That is not good. We will extra hard to make it apart of our day next week and following, I really do not want it to fall between the cracks of the day.
Rest Time: Okay so rest time isn't a subject but it was a success this week! It is a giant chore to get T-Rex to actually sleep at rest time, he usually plays the whole time which is 2 hours usually. Well I thought up a plan. I told him that he wouldn't get his afternoon snack if he didn't sleep, I told him I would leave it on his night stand but only if he was asleep, it worked:
Butterfly has her own little "desk" that she climbs in and out of as she pleases working on her own little creations and education.
And here she is tormenting poor precious, who was trying to get some sleep:
It was a great week! I need to start getting up earlier to soak each day in prayer.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Our GMW Daily Adventure
This is our daily plan or adventure as I like to think of it, though it is in the process of transforming into a better fit for us... all times are simply a guide
Before Breakfast: 7:30
• Room
• Dressed
• Trash and Table Chores(empty & set)
Before School: 8:00
• Kitchen Chores (clear, wipe and sweep)
• Teeth and Hair (brush & fix)
• Quick clean up
• Couch Time: Family Meditation (in the word) and Dedication (in prayer)
School: 8:00-11:30
• Math 20-30m (Horizons)- I may put our Cursive here considering his eagerness
• Break with Game for E&K-Art on Wednesdays
• Grammar 10m (Simply Grammar)
• Spelling 5-10m (Spelling Wisdom)
• Break for FREE play (together) Art on Mondays
• History 20-45m (SOTW)
• Break with short fun read aloud
• Science 20-45m (106 Day/Condsidering God’s Creation)
• Nature Mission (daily seek&find or make&design)
• Independent Reading (different days different subjects) while I fix lunch if not helping
*We will try to do as much outside in the beginning fall months as possible and I will not allow us to go over 20 minutes on any subject if there is any resistance and we will take breaks when necessary.
After Lunch Studies: 11:30-12:30
• Kitchen Chores and Daily Chores
• Free Play (closet door OPEN): encourage outside
Before REST: 1:30
• Quiet Time… 30 minutes as a family- I am loving this!!
• Play
REST: 1:30-3:30ish
• Alternate Dessert Time with “Composer Name” and Table Time with “Artist Name”(picture study, read aloud or other)
• My Cleaning Block
• Bible and prayer time with Eli
• Computer Block
• And reading Block
Before 5:30 Dinner
• Latin Studies with Daddy
• Clean up from the day rooms and fingers!
• Table Chores (set the table)
Before 8:00 Bedtime
• Kitchen Chores
• Bath* and PJs
• Family Time: communion, worship (with Hymn study) and prayer
• Boys Read Aloud: currently: The Runaway Mouse
I will post what we are using soon...

