1st Grade - It's In the Books!

Our Baby Girl's 1st Grade year is IN THE BOOKS! 

Figuratively and literally - IN THE BOOKS! I guess we were kind of expecting that. We knew that 1st grade is just one year and we use a literature based method for homeschooling :) And what a success it has been!! Baby Girl loves to read, loves to hear a good story and has become even more passionate about animals this year, especially birds.

We continued following the Charlotte Mason method, mainly using Ambleside Online Year 1 as our guide. What exactly does that mean?  As with any curriculum, it is best to use it as a guide, standard, criterion and not as the end all to be all!!  A curriculum should be a servant to the user, not a slave driver :)  Throughout the school year, we tweak, adjust, add and subtract things that may or may not be working for us.

****Updated 7/29/2017**** Homeschool Helper is no longer available.****

The Homeschool Helper team is retired from app development.

When we started creating apps in 2011 as a husband and wife team, apps and the platforms were much simpler. Over the years, the complexity and pace of change with apps has been a struggle to keep up with. Quite frankly it has outpaced our technical abilities, therefore we have retired from app development.

Our newest addition was a homeschool planning app for the iPad called Homeschool Helper.  It's listed as one of the 10 Best Homeschooling Apps and I couldn't agree more! After spending an exorbitant amount (ok, maybe more than I normally do) on a much touted planner, I found out it did NOT work for us.  A friend of mine suggested the Homeschool Helper.  It is an inexpensive app (read - much less than the planner I had purchased), can be used with multiple students and has batch entry and gradebook tools!  MMBoy and Baby Girl also enjoyed keeping track of their own attendance and checking off their tasks each day. Oh, and the fact that it's a one time purchase means I don't need to go out looking for the "perfect planner" again this year.

Homeschool Helper

So, what did work for us this year?  Pretty much everything!! For those of you who have homeschooled boys and then have homeschooled girls, were you amazed by how differently they learn?? In Baby Girl's case, she has always been pretty much ready to go, excited to learn new things and has kept me on my toes by wanting more to do than the regular schedule.  We found this particularly true with the spacing out of many of the living books we used.  Ambleside Online has a great week by week schedule.  They have many book where only 1 chapter is read each week.  This was almost torture for Baby Girl.  I have found it helps to slow the learning process down some and allows for greater absorption and retention of the material.

Our 1st Grade Schedule:

Morning Time!!  I have previously mentioned and discussed Morning Time and how much it has added to our schooling and gotten us off to a great start each day.  We had a few minor tweaks for this year.

Monday

Prayer 

Bible - Devotional Books by Sally Michael

Memory Work - Verse (we continued working on these verses from Ann Voskamp) & Co-op Verse

Poetry - Children's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson/When We Were Young by A. A. Milne

Prepositions

Read Aloud - Shakespeare (We read through 3 different stories this year: The Winter's Tale, The Merchant of Venice, Othello)

Copywork

Tuesday

Prayer

Bible-Psalms & Proverbs

Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse

Math Time Sheets - Addition for Baby Girl, Multiplication; Division for MMBoy

Read Aloud - Life of Fred, Math series

Copywork

Thursday

Prayer

Bible -Devotional Books by Sally Michael

Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse

Poetry - Children's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson/When We Were Young by A. A. Milne

Parts of Speech (printables found here)

Read Aloud - Life of Fred, Language Arts series

Copywork

Friday

Prayer

Bible - Psalms & Proverbs

Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse

Read Aloud - Fiction

Copywork

I also broke down our daily routine by days of the week.  

Daily Tasks  

Math (Math-U-See Alpha) 

Reading, Writing, Spelling & Phonics (McRuffy Press 1st Grade Phonics Reading)

Copywork - Handwriting Without Tears (My Printing Book),

Here is what we added to each day:

Monday

Nature Study - Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess (1 chapter/bird each week with a bird coloring page to go with it)

Tuesday

Literature - Aesops Fables by Milo Winter (2 each week)

Science - Apologia Flying Creatures  Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures

History - (1 story each week) 50 Famous Stories by James Baldwin; Viking Tales by Jennie Hall; biographies by Ingri D'Aulaire:  Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Buffalo Bill (spaced each biography over 12 weeks).

Wednesday
Co-op

Thursday
Science - Apologia Flying Creatures 
Geography -Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling (Every other week with occasional map work)
Literature- (I spaced these out each semester so we only did 1 each week, but some weeks we didn't do any);Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling,The Blue Fairy Book

Friday
Literature - James Herriot's Treasury for Children

We added in play time, free time, field trips, helping take care of an infant 1/week and she even started piano lessons.  It's been a great year and now we are off to enjoy summer!!

Rita

Homeschooling 2016-17

  

Back to Home-School!

We had a great summer, but now it's "Back to School" time here for our family.  Well, actually, we've been "back to school" since the end of August.  This year, we have one son who recently graduated and will be heading out to the Marine Corp. this fall, Drummer Boy is in 10th grade this year at our local public high school, MMBoy - 6th/7th grade, and Baby Girl -1st grade will continue their education at home with me!

As there is a somewhat large age/grade gap with my homeschooling children, there are only a few things we do together and then they have their individual studies.  That is one of the pluses of homeschooling - to be able to include siblings in certains subjects and simply adjust the depth, workload and expectations to the appropriate grade level.

Last year, one of our favorite additions was Morning Time which I discussed here.  We are continuing our Morning Time with only a few minor alterations to the schedule.

Monday:
Prayer, Bible - reading through Proverbs &  God's Promise/God's Names/God's Providence by Sally Michael, Memory Work, Poetry - A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson & Now We are Six, When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne, Parts of speech, Shakespeare (see Literature below), Copywork

Tuesday:
Prayer, Bible - Old Testament & Proverbs, Memory Work, Math Songs/Drill, Life of Fred math series, Copywork

Thursday:
Prayer, Bible - reading through Proverbs &  God's Promise/God's Names/God's Providence, Memory Work, Poetry, Prepositions, Life of Fred language arts series, Copywork

Friday:
Prayer, Bible - Old Testament & Proverbs, Memory Work, Art Study, Read aloud fiction, Copywork

Other than our morning time, the only other joint learning is Apologia Science.  We are using the Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures.  This is a great series for multi-age schooling.  There are even journaling notebooks available to enhance the curriculum. Some days we use them and some days we don't!

So, what does 1st and 7th Grade look like for us this year:

Baby Girl - 1st Grade

Math
Math-U-See Alpha

Reading, Writing & Phonics
McRuffy Press 1st Grade Phonics & Reading
Copywork - Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book

Science
Apologia Flying Creatures
Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

History
50 Famous Stories by James Baldwin
Viking Tales by Jennie Hall
These 3 Biographies by Ingri D'Auliare:  Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Buffalo Bill

Literature
Aesops Fables by Milo Winter
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
The Blue Fairy Book
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

I mainly use the Ambleside Online curriculum, Year 1 list.  As this is my 3rd child using this, I do tweak it here and there based on what we did or did not like in the past, what each child is interested in and what is working for us this year.  They have a great week by week schedule that I plug into a planner and edit based on our school year.

The only complaint so far from Baby Girl is that she wants to do everything, every day!!

MMBoy - 6th/7th Grade

As you can see, I think grade placement is of great importance - ha!  I am starting with Ambleside Onlice curriculum, Year 6 - but, again, I have adjusted the curriculum to fit MMBoy's needs this year. However, for church and co-op activities, he is placed among 7th graders.  I did let him know that if he'd like to be considered a 7th grader, he needed to step up and take on more of the work independently and I am happy to say that, so far, he has been doing a great job!

Math
Math-U-See - Delta & Epsilon (we didn't quite finish Delta last year, so are beginning with that and plan on getting through Epsilon too!)

Writing & Grammar
Handwriting Without Tears - Cursive Handwriting
Easy Grammar
Wordsmith Series - Apprentice (we had started this last year and are continuing to make our way through the book)
Spelling Plus by Susan C. Anthony

Science
Apologia Flying Creatures
Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik
Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick
Galileo and the Magic Numbers by Sidney Rosen

History
Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster
Story of the Greeks by H.A. Guerber
Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber

Literature
Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch (found a great illustrated copy at B&N!)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (This book study was offered at our co-op this year! What a fun way to get a required reading in)
The Iliad

Language
English From the Roots Up by Joegi Lundquist

Both of my students have additional "free reading" - books I pick up for them, books they pick out from our local library or a book we are all reading together.  I try and keep track of these intentional and accidental reads.

I still have yet to finalize our Read-aloud list, but will post that when I get it done.

Happy "Back to School"!

Rita

Our Kindergarten Year

I've officially finished homeschooling my last kindergartener . . . while it's exciting to move forward, part of me is also sad.  I've taught all my kids how to read, all of them even used the same book!  Kindergarten seems to mark the beginning of the learning journey, and while it never really ends, this year was the last beginning.

Baby Girl all done with her reading book!

That said, I've mentioned in a couple of other posts that I would be looking back at our Kindergarten year and sharing how we do Kindergarten here at The Gorbics Academy.

We have basically followed the Charlotte Mason method with all the kids- you can read about what that is here.  There are many good sites out there for implementing this method.  My favorite and most used is Ambleside Online.  It is a great resource for understanding the Charlotte Mason method and for free schedules, book lists and many links to curriculum. Kindergarten or Year 0 on Ambleside Online isn't really a structured school year.  I do use their great book list which I shared here.  We worked through this book list during the Kindergarten year, reading one book each day of the week for an entire week.  

In addition to our book list, Baby Girl participated in our Morning Time.  I have loosely done Morning Time in the past, but after reading this post about using a Morning Time Binder, I made my own binder, filled it with good things and made it a priority each school day.  Well, almost every day - we participate in a Co-op on Wednesdays, so to be realistic, I did not include anything for Wednesday!  

I have LOVED this addition to our day.  It proved to be a great time for all of us to start the day together, because we were focusing on what was really important - Him and each other.  And on days that this is all we were able to accomplish - and there were many of those - I could still call it a win!

Here is a quick breakdown of what our Morning Time looked like:

Monday
Prayer (We always start with what we are thankful for and then use Prayer Calendars from Cheri Gamble)
Bible - New Testament and Psalm
Memory Work - Verse (we are working through these verses from Ann Voskamp) and Co-op Verse
Poetry - A Child's Book of Poems by Gyo Kujifawa
Read Aloud - Fiction
Copywork

Tuesday
Prayer
Bible New Testament and Psalm
Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse
Math Songs
Read Aloud - Life of Fred, Math series
Copywork

Thursday
Prayer
Bible - New Testament and Psalm
Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse
Parts of Speech (printables found here)
Read Aloud - Life of Fred, Language Arts series
Copywork

Friday
Prayer
Bible - New Testament and Psalm
Memory Work - Verse and Co-op Verse
Art Study
Read Aloud - Fiction
Copywork

After our Morning Time, our Kindergarten schedule was pretty simple and we usually finished fairly quickly. We included Math (Math U See Primer), Reading (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons), the Handwriting without Tears curriculum, Character Training and our read-alouds. Most of these we did once a day, with the exception of our Character Training which we focused on once a week.  

That didn't mean that our learning was done for the day!  Baby Girl still participated in many of the other learning experiences going on in our home.  Plus we had co-op, field trips, cooking days, educational shows, playdates and most importantly, lots of PLAY!  

Hopefully this is helpful to you if you are beginning your homeschool journey or just trying to reevaluate your homeschool year.  As always, please do not let my suggestions add to your list of "things I should be doing" or "yet another thing I need to do".  Use these resources as ideas to lighten your load, not add to it!!

Rita

How we use A Child's Book of Character Building in our Homeschool

I recently posted our Year End Review: Our Read Alouds and enjoyed looking back so much that I've decided to look back on Baby Girl's Kindergarten year.  We've used many different resources over the past years, but one I've used with all my kids is A Child's Book of Character Building. So, how did I use this book?

I decided to not only go through this book with Baby Girl, but add some picture books and copywork to go along with it.  The majority of the copywork was done the last half of the year as we were still working through our letters during the first half. But it ended up being a great review of each trait for her and I!

A Child's Book of Character Building is broken up into 12 character traits.  Each character trait is first defined in simple,but clear terms and has a Bible verse to go with it.  Then, each character trait has four simple, single page stories that relates that trait to the Bible, home, school and play.  At the end of each trait are a few simple questions/discussion prompts, called Character Development Challenges, to talk about.

Since our school year has 36 weeks in it, I chose to focus on one character trait for 3 weeks each.  The first week we read the definition and verse of the character trait and the Bible story included an example of the trait.  The following week, we would reread the definition and then read some or all of the 2-3 stories relating to home, school and/or play. When we finished the last story, we would discuss the character trait using the Character Development Challenges. Once we finished up the stories in each section, I would have a library book picked out for us to read that, again, related to the character trait we were discussing.  This was a great opportunity to ask Baby Girl how she saw the trait in the story and discuss it further.

I did some research to find books that would be applicable for each character trait.  Just a little note - I love the definitions this book uses for each trait, so I am including them!

Attentive - "Listening with the ears, eyes, and heart" 

The Morning Sam went to Mars by Nancy Carlson

Faith - "Believing God will do what He says"

Let the Whole Earth Sing Praise by Tomie DePaola

Creative - "Doing something in a new way"

  

Ish and or The Dot by Marcia Brown

Diligence - "Working hard to accomplish a task"

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell

Patience - "Waiting with a Happy Spirit" 

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael P Kaplan 

Contentment - "Happy with what I have"

The Whingdingdilly by Bill Peet

Obedience - "Doing what you are told with a happy, submissive spirit"

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems

Wisdom - "Thinking God's way"

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco

Tenderhearted - "Strong enough to feel the joys and hurts of others"

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Thankfulness - "Being grateful and saying so"

I'm Thankful Each Day by PK Hallinan

Honesty - "Truthful words and ways"

The Boy Who Cried Wolf  (there are many good versions of this one!)

Joyfulness - "Being happy inside and out"

Have you Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud 

What a fun list and a whole lot of sweet moments to look back on!  Some of these books, I probably wouldn't have picked out on my own, but are now some of our favorites. 

Once we finished all the character traits and the copywork - I had Baby Girl write the trait and the definition provided - we punched some holes in them all, added a cover page and back page and we made our own book of character traits that Baby Girl can read through.

I hope this list inspires you to sit down and do a little bit of fun, and meaningful, reading with your child!

Rita

Year End Review: Our Read-Alouds this Year 2016

As a homeschooling momma, read-alouds are a big part of every school day.  At the beginning of this year, I made a couple of lists and scheduled out our read-alouds.  I made a Kindergarten list for Baby Girl and a combined read aloud list for Baby Girl and MMBoy. That proved the most difficult . . . I needed to read to a 6 year old daughter and an 11 year old son. Hmmmm . . .

At the end of last year, we had really fallen for Roald Dahl books.  They were great to read to both of the kids, the chapters were of a reasonable length so momma didn't get tired of reading or of hearing her own voice and many his books have been made into movies.  Now, we all know that the movie is never as good as the book, but it was a fun way to end Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.  This year, I decided to start out with another Roald Dahl book, The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

From there, I perused reading lists I had printed from amblesideonline.org and Higher Up and Further In (How sad I was when I went to find this link and I found this blog is not longer kept up.  She was one of my favorite blogs to read when I began homeschooling and provided me with many great lists, ideas, schedules, printables, etc.)

Without further ado, here are our lists!

Kindergarten read alouds (Read one book every day for each week):

• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
• The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
• The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
• Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
• The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
• One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
• Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
• Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
• The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston
• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
• Winter in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Christmas in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
• The Foolish Tortoise by Eric Carle
• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
• The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
• The Little Red Hen
• The Gingerbread Man 
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• The 3 Billy Goats Gruff
• Chanticleer and the Fox by Geoffrey Chaucer, Barbara Cooney
• I Can't Said the Ant by Polly Cameron
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
• I'm a Little Teapot (I like this one)
• Country Mouse, City Mouse
• The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fisher Wright
• Poems and Prayers for the Very Young by Martha G. Alexander

Combined read alouds (Read during our Morning Time on Monday & Friday):

• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
• Little Women (Book 1) by Louisa May Alcott
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate Dicamillo
• Animal Farm by George Orwell*
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz*

*these books were included because I read them aloud to my senior son and I'm pretty sure the others were listening just as he listened in on many of their stories - It does my momma heart good to know that he still likes to hear me read :)

Failed to read aloud:

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Treasure Island

Seriously?!  I am not sure how we never read How the Grinch Stole Christmas?!  I think maybe it was because we were reading Little Women and it was taking waaaaay longer than I expected.  Ha!  We were going to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after MMBoy had read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . . . and that, too, took longer than anticipated. I'll forgive him as he's made up for with some mad reading skills and has completely finished reading the entire Harry Potter series this spring.

As we wrap up this homeschool year, what a great list to look back on!  Not only did we read some great books together, we learned the importance of family, our world and each person on it. We created some fun memories along the way; memories of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, memories of momma crying through the end of Because of Winn-Dixie (someday they will understand) and memories of snuggling up by the fire and opening up a good book into an adventure.

Rita

5 Tips for Surviving and Thriving at a Homeschool Convention

It's that time of year for a homeschooling mom.  The time of year when we are already planning the next year, even before we've finished this year.  Maybe it's because we've started spring cleaning and are downsizing our book shelves or maybe it's because we are ready to be done with this year and move on.  And part of moving on is looking forward to what is to come, right?

It may also be because we are beginning to run on empty.  In Northern Indiana, a long winter and slow to get going Spring only adds to that feeling.  We are trying to finish strong . . . or just finish!  Enter  - the homeschool convention.

Each state usually hosts their own homeschool convention. In Indiana, the IAHE (Indiana Assoc. of Home Educators) hosts their convention in Indianapolis.  This convention funds most of it's work here in our state.  Besides the state homeschool convention, there are secular and religious conventions, unschooling and any other sort of educational theory conventions.

This year I chose to attend the Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati.  I had heard about this convention from other homeschool moms, all with positive reviews, and made my plans to go.

Why go?  This is a great opportunity to get some encouragement, look at all sorts of curriculum, hear a variety of speakers on subjects such as parenting, homeschool laws, worldview, specific homeschool needs, homeschool methods, etc.  And there is something to be said for being surrounded by people who are like-minded and have made the decision to educate their children at home and share many of the same joys and struggles.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of it:

1.  Go with someone!  This can be a sister, a homeschooling friend or two, or, even better, your spouse.  You will be presented with a LOT of information.  It is not only great to have someone to hang out with, but someone with whom you can discuss and process all the information you hear.  You can also split up some of the topics/speakers you want to hear and compare notes.  This is also a great time to just be YOU (not mom or teacher) - whether with a friend or spouse, getting out of your normal routine is always rejuvenating.

My sister and fellow homeschooling mom - can you tell she's happy to be here?!

2.  Make a list! Do you already know what writing program you want? Are you trying to decide if you want to use Math-U-See or Saxon?  Are you in need of a planner?  Writing down a specific list will help you keep focused when you walk in the vendor hall.  There are a lot of resources out there . . . some are for you and some are not.  When you have a list of needs, curriculum to look at (nothing like actually holding it in your hand and looking through it) and items you could use, it will help you stay focused.

3.  Pick a variety of speakers and topics!  These conventions offer a vast array of topics and speakers for about every viewpoint, need or want as a parent and homeschooler.  The best advice I got was to choose some encouraging speakers (So You Want to Quit Homeschooling?) along with ones that may meet a direct need (The Struggling Reader).  Looking through the speakers and topics ahead of time will help you weed out what you don't need and focus on what you do.  And don't be afraid to slip out (tip 3b . . always sit on the end of the aisle in case you want/need to leave) if the talk is not what you thought it was going to be.

Just a few of the speakers - Jason Beardsley, Steve Demme, Ann Voskamp

4.  If you like a speaker - show it! Go to more of their talks, go talk the them afterwards, buy their book, sign-up for their email lists.  I found out I was enthralled by how the brains of boys and girls work differently (Michael Gurian), so I looked up his next talk and went to that.  Most of the speakers are there at a vendor booths also and love to interact, answer questions and talk about the information they've given you.  This is a great chance for you, yourself, to learn more - take it!  Take notes, photos of their slides, etc.

I'll be checking these books out soon!

5.  Purchase the curriculum you know you need!  I went in knowing I needed some consumables (workbooks for math, writing books).  I could pick these up and save some money by not paying shipping.  Even if the vendor didn't have a copy on hand, some offer free shipping if the order is placed at the conventions (Math-U-See and Rainbow Resources were two suppliers I ordered from and could choose this option).  You can always look for wants later, but get the stuff you need now. (tip 5b . . . bring a rolling cart or suitcase. This saves your back and arms when lugging that curriculum around!)

That's it!  Not only is a homeschool convention a great place to go to expand your own learning and help you as an at-home teacher, but it is a great place to browse and purchase curriculum and get some much need encouragement on this journey of educating your children.

Happy Homeschooling!

Rita

Fitting It All In

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” 

Socrates

This quote in on the wall of the gym where the kids and I go each Friday morning for our workout (Not the first quote from my gym I've used here). I began my journey to see the beauty and strength of which my body was/is capable of about a year and a half ago at Rockstar Gym.  Rockstar is now just one part of my fitness routine.

Why do I like Rockstar Gym and why do I take my kids there?  The answers to these go hand in hand. Rockstar focuses on Functional Training . . . "Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life "(Wikipedia).  So, me, only better.  Each workout, whether group or individual, is like a personal training session.  The trainers are always offering suggestions to modify the exercises to make it simpler or more challenging depending on where you, as an individual, are.  They are there to instruct you on proper form and want to make sure that your form is correct before any increase in weight/difficulty.  Functional training isn't necessarily just about losing weight or bulking up either!  This is the part that I feel is important for me to pass onto my children and that many gyms miss the mark on.  Being healthy and fit isn't about how you look - it's about how you feel and that you are able to be an active participant in life!  

After working out at Rockstar, I decided to ask about classes for my kids.  As a homeschool mom, if I find something I love, I want to share it with my kids and others.  Rockstar was willing to host a homeschool class on Friday mornings!  I love that my 6 year old, 11 year old, 18 year old and I can all go and participate in a workout together - we are not only getting fit together, but are also having fun together! 

Originally, when I started exercising, I wanted to just zone out and get it in (running, walking).  However, due to my personality and the lack of my ability shut down my mind, I need something that engages my mind during the workout.  If my mind is focused on the movements and exercises I have to perform, then I can't think about all the other things going on in my life!  Functional Training at Rockstar means that I don't get bored!  I came away from my first workout mentally and physically energized.  Each workout is different, moving from one exercise to another, changing intensity and focus.  And honestly, that is one thing that makes working out so much easier for me.  

Since we work out at Rockstar only on Friday's, I wanted to add something to the rest of my week. It needed to be mentally and physically challenging to me - see "bored" above.  The choice - Yoga!  Yoga offers me the mental challenge of focusing on breathing, relaxing into each pose and the physical challenge of attempting each different pose.  Enter - Yoga Studio:

There are so many reasons I love this app:

• I can do yoga in the comfort of my own home! More specifically, in my bedroom, with the door shut, so I am alone. I can even turn on my diffuser or apply a drop of doTERRA Peppermint oil before the workout to enhance focus and breathing
• I get to choose how much time I want it to take! There are 10, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minute classes. Just pick a class, download it and you are ready to go.
• I get to choose the difficulty! There are beginner, intermediate and advanced classes.
• I can schedule them in! There is a calendar feature (that will sync with your phone calendar) to schedule out the day/time/class.
• I can mix up my yoga classes! As I mentioned before, I get bored easily.  This app allows me to select from over 65 pre-made classes. Or I can put together my own.
• I can select what I want to focus on!  Strength, flexibility, balance, relaxation or a combo.
• I can go to the "Pose Library" for a demo of any specific yoga pose!
• Lastly, it only cost me $3.99!

I started out scheduling a 15 minute, beginner yoga class 4 mornings a week.  I thought, "I can do 15 minutes, right?"  Ok, it was more like "Will my kids be able to leave me alone for 15 consecutive minutes??"  Now I am ready to move to 30 minutes of intermediate.  Wish me luck - the kids are doing great ;)

With these tools, I am learning the beauty and strength my body possesses, I am training my kids to do the same and I am able to engage and function better in every area of my life. I hope this gives you some ideas of how to fit in the "fit" part of your life.

How I - Inadvertently - Tamed the Laundry Monster

It's cold here in Indiana!  Not much to do except sit next to the fire, put a warm laptop on and write a blog post - about laundry.

 I know, it's not your favorite subject, nor is it mine, but it is something we all must deal with.  As my recently ill husband said when I mentioned I would have to wait to wash the sheets when he was out of them . . . "Yes, just like clothes, it's much easier to wash them when you're not in them"!

As a family of six, we have a lot of laundry, clothes, running/work out clothes, towels, sheets, delicate's, hand wash . . . the list goes on!  Thankfully, quite a few years back we had an old house issue that inadvertently led to a laundry solution.

Have you ever heard of a "dry well"?  WELL, I hadn't!  ;) I guess it's something that may come along with an old home such as ours. Our dry well was right next to our driveway and front step and apparently, it was full.  Yes, our dry well was full . . . of laundry water . . . As I type this, I realize how little sense this may make, so if anyone out there can explain it to me, please do.

Until we were able reroute our laundry water, we couldn't wash more than one load at a time or the water filling up the dry well would seep up out onto our driveway, walkway and yard.  And since this was in the middle of winter, freeze.  "Welcome to our home, watch out for the small, ice covered pond on your way in!"  

So, I started washing one load a day . . . and then I assigned each member of the family  a laundry day  . . . and then I started to teach my kids how to do their own laundry!  Aaahh, yes, you can see where this is going!!! Freedom!!!  Ok, maybe not freedom, but freedom from the Laundry Monster!  No longer did I have 4-5 loads to do at a time.  No longer did I become extremely b-o-r-e-d washing, drying, folding and putting away laundry.  No longer was this another chore for mom to do.  This became an opportunity to instill a life skill to my children, to lessen my load as a mom and to give up some areas of control.  My boys (Baby Girl-6, is still learning) can now wash, dry and put away their own laundry!  Granted, they may not fold them, but if they are ok wearing wrinkled clothes, good for them! They can also help out if I need a load of sheets put in the dryer or a load of towels put on to wash.  

These days, we sometimes have to do more than one load a day and we can, since we have rerouted our laundry drainage. But I still stick to a load a day for each family member.  There have been 2 other changes since then that have helped lessen our laundry - the most recent, Norwex Towels - the other, we know what clothes we need and what clothes we don't!  With my kids washing their clothes once a week, they need enough pants/shorts, underwear/socks, and shirts to get them through a week.  If they are only using the top half of a shirt drawer, we get rid of some!  If they stay in their pj's because they have no clean pants (and not because they are homeschooled), we need to go shopping.  

Now if I could only find a way to get my whites WHITE as Snow!

Field Tripping

We are all getting ready for Spring up here in Northern Indiana.  What does that look like?  Taking any and every opportunity to get out of the house!  Sometimes, that is easier said than done.  One great option here are the Potawatomi Conservatories. Admission is only $3 for adults, $2 for kids ages 3-14.  It was wonderful to see fruit on trees, flowers in bloom and so much green!  Our favorite room every time is the Desert Dome.  Not only is it war, but has such an array of plants that we don't see around here.  We even brought home our own Aloe Vera plant.

Next up was a field trip with our home school co-op to Oxbow Park for Maple Syrup tapping! We learned which maple trees are the best for tapping, how to tap and taste-tested syrup straight from the tap. With a gate fee of only $2, we will back to explore the many trails and check out the newly rebuilt Ox Bow Tower.