Spring Break and Spring Cleaning

In years past Spring Break has been taken when family was coming to visit.  That way we did not have to take an extra week and miss school.  I thought this was a good plan, kids would have preferred the extra week off, lol.  This year we have no family visiting in Spring, but rather they are coming in the Summer.  Summer is a rough time to visit Florida, so we will see how it goes, but we will be done with school.  Basically, anyways, both kids will do Math, our Geography game, and DJ wants to learn to make a video game. 


This week we are Spring cleaning.  I love Spring cleaning, sure I do.  I have some homeschool books I need to find, for another homeschooler to borrow, and I need to weed out books I will not be using.  This weekend I finally got to sit down and grade papers, plus check out the new books I bought for next year.  I told DJ I think he is going to like Math U See, he just laughed.  The Apologia Marine Biology, looks really awesome, and some of the experiments we have actually done before, so replicating them shouldn't be hard. 

I have been thinking about Caitlin, and her progress.  She has made great progress, but I still feel she is not where she needs to be for Math and Writing.  History, Science and Reading are all very good.  With that in mind, for fifth grade, she will be doing only Math, Reading and Writing.  She did not want a blog, like her brother, but I think I am going to give her one anyways.  I also have decided, that she will start Easy Peasy day 102, fourth grade, to better get her organized where I need her to be.  Also, we will be doing more on CWIST, one of my favorite websites of all, but that I have to work into our lessons.  I am always tweaking and evaluating what we do, and where we are.  Caitlin learns completely different than DJ, and they both love Science,  and neither likes Math, so I have to adapt to both of them.  I have to say fourth grade, into fifth grade, was an exceptionally hard transition time for DJ as well, so the fact Caitlin is having a hard time is no surprise to me. 

We have our Earth Kids meeting on Wednesday, and I can not wait to share the fun Science experiment and art project we will be doing. 

Happy St Patrick's Day too! 

Cold, Cold and more Cold!

Ugh, I hate the cold!  We are still on Winter Break, and I get so much done during this time.  After all the holidays, and activities are over, I can clean the house, declutter and organize stuff.  I got all of the school papers corrected and ready for review with the kids.  DJ has almost completed, A Separate Peace.  He does not care for it all that much, but I am finding it quite interesting.  I actually think I read it in high school, but that was a very long time ago.  After he finishes it, he will have some review work, and then watch the movie which might help bring it all together for him.

Next week, we are doing half days of school all week.  We were supposed to be off, but I have decided on half days instead.  Caitlin will be reviewing her papers that were graded today, and writing her next friendly letter, to her friend Samantha.  DJ will finish reading, A Separate Peace, and he needs to start working on his 4H Demonstration.  He will be doing a practice run at our next Earth Kids meeting on the 17th.  County Events is on Feb 1st,  We are taking his good friend to Bush Gardens with us, on Jan 20th, for his friend's Christmas gift.  Caitlin and I will do the Safari while the boys are riding the rollercoasters.


We have one warmish day tomorrow and Sunday, then bitter cold again next week.  We are supposed to hike on Tues, but I hate exercising in the cold.  My old muscles just don't like it and I hate pain.  So, we will have to wait and see how the other moms feel about it.