Homeschool writing

My kiddoes, especially the boys are not fond of writing. It is torture.

But then we found these free lego writing prompts.

The kids had so much fun.

(yes, we wear pj's all day on cold winter days)

Elizabeth made a limo.

Each child made a lego structure in secret.

 David made a giant cabin.

They wrote 4 sentence clues, using capital letters and proper punctuation.
They had to present their item and description to the group. 

Lee made a really cool houseboat.

Their siblings had to guess what their project was supposed to be.

Fayth made a giant pool. 

After the item was guessed correctly, they had to write a paragraph on who guessed their project. 

It was a simple, basic writing exercise that they enjoyed. Did you catch that? They enjoyed it!! Writing... They enjoyed it! 

Did you hear the angels singing?!!? 

The Farm

Ben the bull, now a steer,  came to us at 2 days old.  I had been praying about raising our own beef. We live on 3 acres with a huge pasture. We have the room and the grass to feed animals!

 We found out that our neighbor raises calves for beef each year. We asked if he could get one for us too.

 We waited for several weeks until we finally got the call, a calf had been born, do we want it? Yes we do!!

The barn was ready, the cow pen mucked out, fresh straw put in.  

Ben was brought to us in a trailer on the back of Mr. C's  riding mower.  (yes, we live in neighborhood where lawn mowers are a mode of transportation)

David and Elizabeth were given the responsibility of  feeding and caring for Ben. They have done a wonderful job. We bottle fed him 3x a day for 2 months. They were very dedicated. They were careful to watch for any health issues/concerns. They made sure his pen was dry and clean.

When Ben was approximately 3 months old, our friend Miss B came over and did a quick "surgery" on him. Miss B is great with kids and knows I love for everything to be "educational". So the big kids got to watch and got a good explanation on the procedure.

Ben has been a good experience for the kids in so many ways. They have fed him, kept him warm, dry and safe. He is growing quite big.

 They are working on teaching him to lead and other tricks. I have tried to explain the importance of not getting attached to our future hamburgers. They don't seem to grasp this concept. I am afraid that by this fall, all my children will be vegetarians.  They were quite disgusted when I suggested names such as meatloaf, hamburger, and steak instead of Ben.

Weekly Homeschooling Routine...

Routine is incredibly important for my kiddoes. They need to know what is coming next, what will happen tomorrow. What to expect etc... Some of my kids even benefit from having me walk them through different steps of coping skills to deal with unexpected and unwanted interruptions so that they don't erupt.


The benefit of routine has been huge since our last family addition...

We have morning routines, meal time routines, school routines, afternoon routines, evening routines. Meals are always served between 7-9 am, 11-1 pm and 5-6 pm.

I write out routines and schedules. The daily routines, like getting up, meals, clean up and school work are posted on the fridge. The weekly routine for appointments and social activities are made up every Saturday, then the daily activities are adjusted as needed to fit those.

Some weeks, we double up on school, other weeks we do the bare minimum. I do my best to schedule all appointments between 1 and 2 pm. This allows me to finish school, do all my morning routines, get to appointments and be back home in time to get Nesiah off the bus and dinner on the table.

I just revamped our schedule to adjust  to the kids activities and our new helpers.

We have choir  practice and running club on Mondays. Miss D, our mother's helper comes to the house and cleans for me, while I take the kids to their activities. (this is the ideal, which has not happened in 3 weeks and I am fighting tooth and nail to get back on track!) We do math and count the choir (music) and running club (P.E) hours for school.


We babysit on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 2 lil boys, delightful, but energetic. They do really well at adapting to our "big" school days. It also motivates my kiddoes to hurry along so they can play.

Thursdays has become the day for random appointments. As a foster parent we have lots of therapists, caseworkers, and therapists, in addition to Dr appointments, regular and specialists.

Friday has become my CYS day. Miss J, my new helper will be watching the big kids. I hope to run to market for fresh produce on Fridays, taking one kiddoe each week, as a "momma date".  Miss J will help the kiddoes  with school and make  weekly freezer meals for us.

Saturday is kickback day... we like to sleep in, eat pancakes, listen to Ranger Bill and Odyssey.
Saturday is also hair day... 3 african american girls = lots of tears and sweat! #lovemygirlsdreadcombingthem

Sunday is church, we love our little church. The kids are motivated to get moving on Sunday mornings and it is rarely a time we are late. They hate being late! Sundays are a day of rest, literally. I need my Sunday afternoon nap, like an addict needs his next fix.




Coming up next... more schedules and routines. I am OCD. I make no apologies.