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! 

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

Our visiting family has gone back to NY, and Spring Break is officially over. Now I get things back in order, back to work and back to school. One of the places we visited was Saint Augustine, FL. There we took a trolley train around town, and visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. This is one of my son and husband's favorite shows, so they were exceptionally excited about visiting. I do recommend it if you can get there. It is a lovely little town, rich with history, and so much to do. I have shared some of our favorite pics below. I have tons more of stuff to share, but for now we will start with these. It is always sad when family goes home, but we know they will be back. You can't resist visiting Florida.  Some of the images, in case you can't see the signs, Vampire killing Kit from 1840, Lego Lady Art, Pecan Art, The Lords Prayer engraved on a nail head, the largest hand in the world with mine held up to it, the blue faced man, the man who could swallow his nose, and painted potato chips.  I was especially fascinated with the blue faced man.  If you read the sign it says that there was a family in KY that developed a recessive gene that made them have blue skin on their faces.  Their name was the Fugates.  I have yet to look it up, but I will.  The potato chip art is pretty cool too.

Back To School From Spring Break

Today is our first day back to lessons, from Spring Break, and of course everyone is slow moving. We will be doing Head of the Class, of course, and DJ is doing a book review of the Percy Jackson series on his blog. DJ will also do math, and a book report for the last Percy Jackson book. Depending on how long those take him, I may assign more work. Caitlin actually managed to sneak undone work past me, before Spring Break, so she has some makeup work to do. This is one of my roses that are starting to bloom. DJ took this shot, and he is continuing to learn about photography. We are ready to get back to lessons, or at least I am, LOL! One semester left. I can not believe it already. Have a great Monday, all.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is a double anniversary day for me. My husband and I were married five years ago today, and it was like 100 degrees outside. It might have been the fastest outdoors wedding ceremony ever, LOL! I could not wait to get out of that dress. It is also this blogs third year anniversary. I have no idea why I picked this day to start blogging. Maybe so I could remember the anniversary date? Anyway we went out to eat one day last week, and will be taking the kids to Seaworld again the first week of April. Those of you who follow me on Facebook, know my husband gave me a puppy for my anniversary. I hate to sound like an ingrate but I did not want a puppy, they are a lot of work, and I don't need anymore work. She is cute and we are both adjusting, I think. I did make myself a new ring, of course, I just had to. I began this blog in the hopes of making tons of money, as you see others advertise you can. While I have made a little extra money, I in no way can quit my regular job. It has become more of a stress reliever, document keeper, and fun way to express myself more than anything else. I appreciate all my blogging friends, and maybe someday we can all actually meet in person. That would be fun.

Now for a little bit of education topics. DJ has finished his Health curriculum for the year, with the exception of the online first aid program I want him to take. I am going to leave that for closer to the end of the year. He will be doing two chapters in his math book, and Science experiments now on Thursdays. I will share the one we do today, tomorrow and you can try it too. Tomorrow ends the 3rd grading period, which means only one semester until school is out for summer vacation. We are on Spring Break the next two weeks, but don't worry I will still blog.

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Tyler Perry's The Family That Prays

Last night was movie night, for my husband, and I. I got The Family That Prays, from Netflix, completely thinking it was a comedy. This was definitely not a comedy, but a wonderful, touching story about friendship, love, and life. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed this movie. If you have not seen it, you might want to add it to your list.




This week is Spring Break, at Melissas Homeschool. Spring Break, is really not a break at all, but more in lines of spring cleaning. We will be going through my children's inventory of way too many toys, and preparing them for sale on Melissas Garage Sale. I really am going to work hard, online, to make a little extra money this next week. We have had some unexpected expenses, plus Easter, Mothers Day, and Caitlin's birthday next month. So I will be a busy little beaver, this week. Have a great Sunday, everyone.