November :) Woohoo!!!

First off, let me mention that these blog entries are really quite boring :)  Sorry if you were looking for something fascinating and witty...  Not here!
What a fun month!!  Soccer ended so we had a lot of free time, though we managed to stay plenty busy.  The first weekend we had planned a fun weekend up in Cleveland since Wyatt had a soccer tournament, which unfortunately got cancelled because of snow (while I sit here with windows open in the beginning of December!).  Brian still took Friday off and we spent the day at the Great Lakes Science Center.  I barely kept from laughing in the women's face when she informed me we lived 86 miles from the center and they have a rule that you have to be 90 miles away to use our pass.  She said she'd let it slide that time...  Really? over 4 miles???  LOL

The boys and Brian built the arch.

We spent $5 per kid and let them build a robot frog.  They took them apart and they were worthless by the time we made it home...

The next week we started our classes back up at the YMCA Gym and Swim.  They had a different person every week for the gym class and the boys were not always thrilled with them...  We also had an art class at the Mansfield Art Center.  And then we did a nice Thanksgiving get together with our Hilltop friends :)

The boys with their 'Crows in a Wheat Field' paintings.

The dogs watching the boys eat hoping they'd share :)

- Austin enjoyed a Boy Scout campout learning how to lash things together with rope.
- We spent a fun day at The Works with good friends.
- Our Scout group helped at a community Thanksgiving dinner.
- Spent Thanksgiving Day with Brian's family and the Sunday after with my family.
- At our Pack meeting we made cards to send to deployed soldiers for Christmas.  We had a friend visit who was deployed in Iraq and is now a recruiter.  All the boys had a great time asking questions.
- And of course, music lessons, AWANAS, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and church.  Oy.
- We took a week off school and it was much needed...

Books read for the month: We finished Across Five Aprils, Turn Homeward Hannalee (not a favorite), Bell and the Science of the Telephone, and Shades of Gray (not the adult version!!  LOL)

Hours for the month: Austin- 107 hours, Wyatt- 101 hours.  Total for the year- Austin- 614 hours, Wyatt- 635.  Hours wise we're doing great, but curriculum wise I'm disappointed.  Most of our stuff is 36 weeks and we're only 12 weeks through!!  I wanted to be much farther than this at this point!!!  We never accomplish a ton during December, so if we're lucky we'll be at week 14 :(  Yuck...

October in review

October was a rough month...  The school days got monotonous, boring, and long.  Every day was the same thing and we were starting to get short and grumpy with each other which made the days longer...  Ugh!!  The 4th week we took math out since that was causing the most trouble and the next week was supposed to be a short week anyways so we only did math and music...  We all relaxed and I started the full week of November with some changes (but I'll tell you all about it next month, if it works!!  lol)  Soccer finished up this month...  Both boys had their end of season tournaments and both won!!  Woohoo!!  Unfortunately Wyatt's last tournament with both teams got cancelled so that was it...  We are sad to be done with soccer, though it's nice to have evenings free.  We definitely think State League for Wyatt was a great idea.  He loved his team and learned many new soccer skills!!  We all loved it...  Other fun things?  Wyatt went on his first ever Cub Scout fall camp out!!  LOL  He's always had a soccer game and this is the first year he could go :)  Austin, however, had a soccer game!  HAHA  We did some fun fall things, like going to Garden Gate with friends, carving pumpkins, and a fun painting evening.  And of course we had to celebrate AUSTIN'S 11th BIRTHDAY!!!!  We took him out for a steak dinner and then carved pumpkins and had cake another evening.  I can't believe he is that old, it just seems crazy!!

The boys used their hand prints for this.  I know it's normally done by smaller kids, so I got a big canvas!!

I love that we all read our books during lunch...

Wyatt swinging at Garden Gate and showing the pumpkin he decorated there...

Austin swinging and showing us his pumpkin.

The boys with their trophies after winning the AYSA tournaments (Wyatt U10 and Austin U11)

Austin sitting on the saddle at Texas Roadhouse while we all sang him Happy Birthday!!

With their carved pumpkins...

Hours for the month- Austin at 159 (bringing his total to 417) and Wyatt at 165 (bringing his total to 428).  Books read: The Perilous Road, Lincoln: A Photo Biography, The Great Turkey Walk and Usborne's Electricity and Magnetism for Sonlight.  They read some fun fluffy books from the library and we listened to 39 Clues books 7-10.

I guess for a month that I felt was worthless we got quite a bit done!!  That's why I love typing this all out.  It helps me keep record but it also shows me we are accomplishing something!!

September in review

September was a busy and fun month for the Strong's!!  Soccer has been in full force and there were only a couple days with no games or practices.  Austin has done so wonderful with his team.  He is proof prayer works!!  After being bullied at school for a year he is pretty nervous around kids he doesn't know now but his team has just pulled him right in and his coach is wonderful for him!!  His team plays very well and is undefeated!!  Wyatt's CF team is doing great and is undefeated and his FSC team still needs to work on teamwork and needs to develop a drive and desire to win!!  Wyatt (and us) love his coach and team mates though and we love the club.  Awanas also started back up this month and the boys love being with their friends again.  School wise we really have a routine figured out.  It took us a few weeks to figure out how to do math since they are using the same book but we've got it now.  I was also unimpressed with the English and have ordered First Language Lessons to use (which is what we used last year).  I will be happy when that comes in, though we will have to push to get caught up since we're already on week 6 of school.

Highlights of the month:

- A couple Columbus Crew games, including a homeschool Tech Day at the stadium and The Ohio Village and Historical Society.

- The Tomato Show parade with Cub Scouts followed by the Cub Mobile races.

- The disappointing Renaissance Festival with Auntie Jill

- A day at the Works with a good friend
- Meet You At The Pole prayer time with our homeschool friends at Berean Baptist.

- A fun evening up at Grace Church seeing Tim Hawkins.

Hours for the month are Wyatt: 124 and Austin: 122 bringing the total to Austin: 258 and Wyatt: 263
Books read for the month Diary of an Early American Boy (AWESOME!!), Freedom Train and some fun books.  We have also listened to 39 Clues books 4-6.  We would have listened to more but I couldn't get to the library one week to pick up new ones...

End of August

Well, I'm a little off (no comments please), so here's the end of August...
We got 2 weeks of school in before the end of the month and learned quite a bit!!  The days are much longer now that we're using just Sonlight.  The science and LA are every day instead of 2 or 3 days like last year and we've added in the extra vocab and grammar so if we start at 930 we're still not done til 230-330!!  Long days for us!!  The boys started their music lessons back up and are getting back into that groove.  I have to admit, we didn't do much practicing over the summer, but they've caught back up :)
Fun things we did in the last 2 weeks of August-

A Crew game!!  It was the rescheduled game so our friends the Leach's and Moody's were with us.

With a dentist appointment and a LOT of soccer practice we didn't have time for anything else!!  Wyatt did have his first state games with FSC and lost both but played very well and his first tournament with CF and dominated the field both games :)  Austin is doing so well in practices, I'm very proud of him!!

Books we've read so far- William Wilberforce.  The boys just read some fun books and We've listened to the first 3 39 Clues books as we drive around...

Austin has 136 hours so far and Wyatt has 139 (the extra soccer...)

You spin me right round, baby, right round!!

Well, camps are over!!  And we started school today :)  I'll recap the summer for you, since you care...
-1st we went on a mini vacation with our good friends the Oswalts.  Unfortunately the place we were going to had no power so we had to scramble to find someplace else to go.  The place we found was very small and kinda creepy and we were pretty bummed...  We made the best of it though, visiting Big Muskie's bucket (a big excavator bucket) and a local beach (that we only found an hour before it closed).  On the way home we stopped at Roscoe Village though, which was a lot of fun (though SUPER EXPENSIVE!!)

Big Muskie 

The beach we found :)

-2nd was the Cub Scout Twilight Camp I helped run.  I was the Program Director, so I put all the crafts, games and schedules together.
-3rd was Cub Scout Webelos Resident Camp.  Camping in a Boy Scout tent is NOT my idea of a good time...

 Wyatt sliding down the slide on the obstacle course at the Outdoor Challenge

Austin shooting a paintball gun :)

-4th The boys went to Cub Scout Adventure Camp and I went to Florida for a couple days with my mom and my sister.

-5th A week of UK soccer camp.  9-12 and 5-8 in Ontario...  A LOT of driving!!  The boys had a blast and learned bunches...

-6th Cub Scout Day Camp in Coshocton.  I WAS SO SICK OF DRIVING!!!!!

So camps are over, but soccer season is in full swing and we are out of control!!  After trying out for 2 teams we decided to let Wyatt play recreation and State League soccer, so he has practice every day.  And Austin started playing soccer this year, so he has practice 2 nights a week as well!!  And scouts start in 2 weeks...  Austin on Monday evenings and Wyatt is supposed to be on Tuesdays, but since I'm his leader I said NO WAY JOSE!!  We met for 4 hours last week on Weds to make up for not meeting in September and October.  A wise choice...

So, school.  We are using Sonlight with some other stuff thrown in and Saxon Math.  Both boys are doing 5th grade this year though Wyatt is still officially a 4th grader (I totally disagree with saying "My child is advanced so he's a 9th grader" when socially he's a first grader and age wise a 3rd grader...).  It's a juggle since they're using all the same books, but it works well.  We started today and even with me under the weather we had a great day!!  I love the choice we made and am looking forward to the year :)

 Austin starting 5th grade

 Wyatt starting 4th grade

The 2 of them together...  Getting first day of school pictures this year was a struggle!!  LOL

Hours as of now are about a 100 for each boy.  That's a pretty good start!!

Oops, April and May...

So, obviously I kind of forgot to post for a couple months...
We're all done with school, had our assessment and it went GREAT!  Not to toot my own horn but Dr Holiga said she rarely met a first time homeschooler as organized as me!  Yay!!  Can't take that much credit, I have such amazing friends who homeschool that are only phone calls away to help!!  If it wasn't for Jen, Ellen, Chrissie, Annie and Sheena I don't think I would have made it through the year :)  Thanks girls!!
I'm set for next year, my stuff should be in next week!!  YAY!!  I can't wait for our first Sonlight box day!! 

So, anyways, nothing fun...  Blech.

And there goes March...

What a strange month!!  It was a beautiful spring month most of the month, which took us outside a bunch!!  We stuck with our running and I was up to alternating 2 minutes walking and 30 seconds running :)  We figured out how easy it is to walk through out neighbors yard and walk on Gregg Rd, which has been nice since gas prices are so high!!  Part of me wonders why it took me ten years to figure out we could do this- but I know it was a lame excuse to stay lazy, plus it's easier now that the boys are older :)  I did pull a muscle in my knee though, and have laid off running this week- but I've been walking and some workout videos and we even went for a nice bike ride today!!
School wise we are SOO ready to be done!!  I'm glad we had a couple really good months because this nice weather is killing us!!  We're also nearing the end and that's making us antsy to finish...  Only 3 more chapters of Science, 4 more weeks of English and we have 40 math lessons left but we're doubling up from now til we're done...  Much of the math lessons is repetitive so I take 2 lessons and whittle it down to a large lesson.  The boys are good with this because they're ready to finish!!  We are finished with history for the year, because if we stopped right where we were in Sonlight then we were about where they start the 2nd year when you do American History in 2 years.  Since there was no way we were going to finish the one year condensed and because I felt the following year was a bit too advanced for them we decided to stop and just enjoy the 2nd half all next year :)  I'm excited to get our Sonlight stuff ordered so we can start playing with it!!  Fun stuff we've done this month:
- We went to the Maple Syrup Days at Malabar Farm.  It was nice but VERY cold and snowy that day.  We were disappointed that the maple syrup was beyond our price range, but blessed beyond belief when that day our neighbor sent us a jar of their home made syrup!!  God provides even the silly stuff for us :)
- Wyatt started up CF spring soccer this month.  We've had no breathing problems still, though if he gets up early he doesn't have as much energy. 
- The boys started their 'Gym and Swim' classes at the Mansfield YMCA.  They get an hour swim lesson and then an hour gym class.  This quickly became a favorite thing to do and I think we'll continue to do it.
- The boys participated in 2 Cub Scout build it days for their pinewood cars and then the 3rd Saturday raced them.  Even though Austin didn't win any races he made it to district because there were only 4 Webelos (he's SOOOO excited!!!).  Wyatt also made it to district :)  That will be tomorrow (the 31st).  We're so thankful it's only in Centerburg!!
- I had to spend a weekend away at a scout training to learn how to lead summer day camps so the boys had fun with Daddy.  They went and saw The Lorax with Daddy and Po one of those evenings...
- We went to Fredericktown High School and saw the drama group perform The Suessical Musical.  Ramey Turner did amazing as the boy!!
-The boys enjoyed learning ways to be green at the Bird Sanctuary.
- We went down to the Columbus Art Museum and had fun walking around and doing a craft.  We will have to go down again and just walk around...  Maybe a day we can go to COSI and the Art Museum.  We were supposed to go another day as well but I didn't want to drive down again...
- Austin went on his first Boy Scout campout without Brian and hiked around Fredericktown looking at Indian Mounds.  They gave him the nickname 'Pebbles' since there were 3 Austins- Big Rock, Little Rock and he was Pebbles because he was the smallest.  Wyatt spent the night with a friend and had fun building a fort and catching an opossum.  Brian and I were at a Marriage Conference that weekend...  It was hard to remember where everyone was supposed to go!!

Our hours for the month were 140 bringing us to a total of 830.  We'll have no problem reaching 900 hours and our goal is to be finished in early May!!
Books we've read this month- Lewis and Clark Expedition, The Great Horn Spoon and we're working on Moccasin Trail.  Now that we're done with Sonlight the boys have been reading for fun- Wyatt has finished the 3rd and 4th Harry Potter and the 1st Percy Jackson book.  He is now reading the 5th Harry Potter book.  Austin finished the 2nd Harry Potter book, read a boys survival book and is now reading Indian in the Cupboard. 

Wyatt working on his Pinewood car

The boys and I at Malabar Farms

The boys swimming at their Gym and Swim class

The boys' cars- Wyatt's Rocket Ship and Austin's Arrow of Light

This is supposed to be Austin working on his car...

February in review

February was a good month.  We found a good rhythm in January and continued with it this month.  We had a couple days of sickness this month but we didn't need to take much school off...  And with the beautiful days we rushed through school to go outside.  As a family we started doing the Couch to 5K program, though I had to find an even slower program for me!!  It's been nice to be outside running as a family!!  One nice day we even went hiking with some friends!! 
Some highlights of February-
- Austin and Brian got to go on a Boy Scouts trip to Snow Trails and go skiing!!  Austin LOVED it!!
- Wyatt continued to play indoor soccer and his team has gotten much better the longer they play together.  They even won a game!!
- We participated in Scout Sunday at Fredericktown Methodist Church.  The boys ended up both doing the scripture readings and did an excellent job!  Rev Bohley asked them questions after their readings and they understood enough to answer properly!!  I was very proud of them!!
- On Valentine's Day we went to Hill Top Church and had fun with friends at a homeschool Valentine's Day party!!  The boys had fun making their boxes and playing with friends.
- Valentine's Day night was our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  The boys each did well in their skits or songs and Austin earned his Webelos Badge and Wyatt earned his Whittling Chip (EEEK!!)  It was a good night!!  We also raised enough money to meet our goal!  Thanks to Po, Nana and Auntie Jill for coming!!
- We went to the Bird Sanctuary and did a neat craft and made a bird feeder
- We spent a GREAT day at The Ohio Historical Society with good friends!!  We learned a lot about Ohio and had a fun day with friends!!
- Books read this month- What's the Big Idea Ben Franklin, Phoebe the Spy, Paul Revere's Famous Ride, Sign of the Beaver, If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution.  At night they read for fun the Harry Potter books.  Wyatt's much more into them and is already on the 3rd.  Austin read the 1st one last year and is kind of working on the 2nd...

Hours- Austin had 128 hours this month with a total of 690 hours for the year.  Wyatt had 123 hours in February with a total of 691 for the year. 

The boys with their Valentine's Day boxes

Them with their friends at the homeschool party

All 4 of us in our uniforms at the Blue and Gold Banquet

The Strong's and a sampling of Leach's at the Ohio Museum

This train was so cute!!

January in review

I'm a day early, but that's ok :)  January was by far the best month of homeschooling we've had.  I have found my rhythm!!  I have finally figured out to mark the week in my curriculum books in my planner so I don't get confused and it helps me keep track of how much we have left to do.  I have finally figured out a good weekly routine and we get more done in a week but it doesn't seem like we're doing more!!  Some highlights of the month (since I know you all care...)
- I am only babysitting for one family one day a week.  This is manageable and we just make Mondays a lighter day.
- We started our Horizon's Health curriculum and it is wonderful!!  Exactly what we needed in our home right now!!  The plan had always been to start it in January and do half saving the other half for next year.  The first entire unit is about how God made us unique and special.  My boys KNOW that but there are some neat activities that the boys have enjoyed doing.  My favorite- the boys had to write each other a note about why they love each other...  Those will be scanned and kept FOREVER!!!!!!!!!
- Austin got to go on a Boy Scout camp out and LOVED it!!  What an ego boost for him to be able to go and be included as 'one of the guys' with these older boys!!
- Wyatt started indoor soccer practices and games.  Some of the boys on the team have never even played soccer before!!  Their second game is better, so I think they'll keep getting better as they get to know one another and Wyatt is able to keep exercising his lungs.
- We had a blast painting pottery with Auntie Jill at Color Your World (though I had to sell my kids to pay for it)
- We had so much fun at The Works in Newark that we bought a membership!!  The nice thing is we can get into COSI with it too!!  SCORE!!!
- Books we've read- the boys finished Pocahontas and Witch at Blackbird Pond, read the Matchbox Gun, What's the Deal Ben Franklin and The Cabin Faced West.  We've started Johnny Tremain and Phoebe the Spy.

Hours wise Wyatt's at 568 and Austin's at 562.  I knew once Boy Scout activities started Austin would catch up :)

Austin and Wyatt with their friends at The Works in Newark.

A blurry picture of Wyatt being awesome at soccer.

Austin at the Klondike campout.

The stuff we painted at Color Your World.  They'll look brighter and shinier when they are kilned.  Mine wasn't done when I took the picture...



Little bits...

So there's alot to be said about planning ahead and working in a clean house!!  We have ENJOYED the last week and a half, we have stayed on schedule and we have had a FUN week! 
One of the things we were staying dreadfully behind on is the read alouds with our history/reading and with my new Kindle Fire I realized I could put audio books on it so we've been spending meals with it in the middle of the table listening to The Witch of BlackBird Pond :)  That's been fun and I don't feel so overwhelmed with that feeling of always being behind.
Another thing we did this week was finish a book about Pocahontas.  This is going to sound really dumb but I always thought she married John Smith!!  LOL  Nope...
Also, we learned that the "peaceful Quakers" were the cost of more blood spilled in early Pennsylvania than any other group.  Then, they were alot of the 'witches' in the salem with trials...  Hmm...
I'm loving learning all this stuff with the boys :)  It's so fun and interesting!! 
The other interesting thing these couple weeks has been doing school with Austin.  Austin has taken Concerta for ADD for about a year.  One of the glorious side effects of that is lack of appetite.  After having his tonsils out and then getting the flu he looked like he was death, sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks.  So, we took him off for the holidays.  After the first few days when he was PSYCHO he leveled out and wasn't that bad.  We didn't let him have any pop and limited the sweets and it was dealable.  He's done OK this past couple weeks though math takes longer (like forever).  He doesn't need the meds so we're keeping him off!!  One more advantage to homeschooling!!

Our science this week has us building a volcano like Olympus Mohns on Mars.  Lucky for us the boys got a volcano set for Christmas from their grandma and all we had to do was fill in the mold!!  We'll be setting it off tomorrow.  After I go buy club soda since I forgot to get it :D