Homeschooling Isn't Always Easy!

The last three weeks have seen many ups and downs. Personal trials, heartache and trials all have to be overcome.

The first issue was Kevin's return home. It is hard to believe how attached you can get to someone in five short weeks. Kevin was our Korean exchange student whose real name was Junwoo. He lived with us for five weeks and fit into our family exceptionally well. The kids already miss him as do the rest of us.

Having Kevin in our home changed our own schedule and habits for the better. Sunday night dinner and games nights came back and the kidslearned many new things like how to eat with chopsticks. We get a new student in a few weeks but none will ever be like our first one.

Issue number two has been me being ill for a few weeks. We aren't sure what's going on here yet but we'll figure it out. We just do school in bed more than at the table! I havebeen really tired but I am dealing with it well and the kids are doing great. It is amazing how independant they are becoming.

Overall we have had some challenges as of late but we are doing ok!

Busy, Busy, Busy: The Life Of A Homeschooler Never Slows Down

Don't Forget to Check Out My New Homeschooling Website, www.singleparenthomeschooling.com.

WOW, the last few weeks have been really really nuts. Last weekend we found ourselves in Borden for the Compete for The Cure Gymnastics Meet. Jesslynn did amazingly well for her first meet and brought home 5 medals. She placed 1st on beam, 2nd on floor and vault and 3rd on bars. She also placed 3rd overall. She was amazed as were we! All of the girls from Apollo Gymnastics did very well bringing home a total of 37 medals.

Unfortunatly the hotel we stayed at was not the best and we spent most of two nights wide awake due to loud drinking teenagers in the hallways. It was horrible and needless to stay with the attitude I got from the manager at the Holiday Inn in Barrie I will never EVER stay there again.

This week we are back to normal, whatever that is. Jesslynn is back to the gym, the boys to their guitar lessons and trampoline as well as Karate. I am back to work unfortunatly at my day job...why can't I just get this number one best seller that is locked away in my brain out so that I can quit?

Kevin (our Korean exchange student) is doing really well. He has tried everything Canadian. He has gone skiing and skating, tobbogganing etc. We are going to miss him when he leaves! I hope he will keep in touch for a long time.

The kids and I are going to be volunteering at the train museum this year just for something different to do. It should be fun we are going to test drive some programming, do some archiving and maybe even so some repairs... Colton is looking forward to this!

Anyways I should sign off for now but I will be posting some lesson plans on this blog in the next week or two so keep your eyes posted :)

Blessings!

Our Family is Growing

And no I am not pregnant!

If all goes well by the end of next week we will have a Korean exchange student coming to live with us until March 3. He is 21 years old and has been in Canada with another family for a few months already and we are looking forward to having him share our home with us.

Colton will have to share his room with Kevin but he seems to like the idea and I think having an older male in the house closer to the age of a big brother will be a huge bonus for him. The company we are hosting through requires that I teach Kevin English a few hours a day which is not any issue at all.

Some friends of mine have had exchange students through this organization before and I had the pleasure of meeting one of them this summer at camp. I am really looking forward to the experience and enjoyment that comes from sharing our culture with this student and vice-versa!



On another note the kids and I have begun cross country skiing with the homeschoolers. What an experience it was a blast but I have not been on Cross country ski's in 12 years, infact I was pregannt with Colton when I did last ski. We forgot to take the camera out on the trails with us last time but we did snap a few photos back at the chalet.

Poor Little Jesslynn

Jesslynn is my youngest child and at nine she has the ability to wrap anyone around her little finger, anyone except me. She is your typical petite little gymnast with huge blue eyes and long blond hair and she knows how to use her eyes to win over situations. Come to think about it I am going to have to keep that in close check as she gets older.

This all said Jesslynn had an unbelieveable day yesterday. Getting breakfast the other day the poor child bent down and hit her nose on the cupboard door. So she now has a bruise across the bridge of her nose which is not cool for a primadonna. After this we went skating with the homeschoolers and the poor child fell and bruised both knees and was worried she wouldn't be able to go to the gym that night.



Well she did go to the gym only to be cheered at by another child when she fell on a vault. There has been some ongoing issues between the two girls more based on maturity than anything else. Jesslynn is very serious about her gym whereas the other little one is not as serious and slacks off during training. Being in the competitive program is a big responsibility for the kids and they know it. They compete at other clubs in the hopes of eventually competing on a provincial level. I worry that this issue with the other little girl is holding Jesslynn back.

I guess we go back to once a week private lesson with our favorite coach Jen (with one N)in order to get caught up in time for the Competition in Barrie Feb. 14.

I hope she gets it for her. I don't want her to get discouraged.

Till next time!

Karrie

Long Division, Fractions and Math Oh My!

We began new work in math this week. My daughter is learning long division and my son is reworkinghis way through the grade six testing! While Cole seems to be progessing quite well on the grade 6 testing Jesslynn is very frustrated with her math. This shouldn't suprise me in the least since her competitive coach at the gym had nothing but praise for her on her report card EXCEPT that her frustration with not getting new skills seems to get in the way. I'm not quite sure how to help her work through it.
We are going skating with the homeschoolers today which is very cool since we have not been able to do much with the group. Our schedule is so hectic that it often does not fit with the groups activities. I usually work on Thursday nights but this week I have gotten lucky enough to be off for the night so I plan on taking some much needed mom time tonight. I have some chainmaille I need to get done and a website or two to get active. They are sitting in various stages of design.
You can have a look at some of my jewellery if you are interested at www.dreamweaver1908.etsy.com!
Well I am off to work on some websites while the kids work on math and handwriting!

Havea great day!!!

Whirlwind

Wow! What a whirlwind the first half of this school year has been. I can't believe it is 2009 already. It used to seem 2010 was so far away and now here it is only a year away.

Our new year began with such a bang it has been very challenging. The kids had a hard time settling back into their routine this morning so much so we now have a new posted schedule and school rules sheet complete with consequences.

I am finding it significantly more difficult to homeschool both of the kids this year but I am confident they will settle in and it is of the utmost benefit to them.

I love spending the time with my kids and they seen to enjoy the homeschooling experience. They got games and books for Christmas this year and didn't seem to mind a bit that they weren't getting all the high priced toys like the Nintendo WII. Jesslynn did get a Gameboy DS but that was the only high priced non-educational toy and they both got Brain-Age so really we can't complain. I think her favorite gift was a silly card game called "59 Seconds". Colton's favorite gift next to his Art Markers was his games "Artifacts" and "Carsonnone".

Well I must go and get the kids dinner before Karate. Praying tomorrow is a better day there are always a few rough ones after a vacation.

God Bless Everyone!