How to keep calm and stay on task during the homeschool day!

I haven't blogged in awhile.
 Life has been busy



Some days aren't easy. I suppose if homeschooling was super easy everyone would do it. Most days are great. We have fun. We explore. We try new things. Some days are stressful. Some days with my girls they just don't want to do their work or they are too hyper to do their work.

I have read some articles about "What to do during a hard school day" when nothing is soaking in and you want to call it quits

. Most things I've read say stop for the day and start fresh tomorrow ... but what if you have two hard days in a row? We can't just drop everything and not do school work.

So what to do if you are having a hard day... or a hard couple of days?

Things that have worked for us...

Yoga

I googled and found this great youtube channel for kids. Here is the link .
The girls love the videos and they are fun to watch.
Afterwards they feel much calmer and ready to do some work.

Prayer is also a good way to *keep calm* during and the school day. I have found that days we have forgotten to start the day with a prayer are more stressful than days when we have prayed.

I pray...

 Dear Heavenly Father.. 

Let us have a peaceful home-school day..

Let us absorb the knowledge that we hear, read, or see...

Let us not fight or bicker ....

Let us do well ...

Let us remember what we have learned...

Let us stay on task and finish in a timely manor..

Let us not stress and keep calm...

Help us be positive...

Protect us in our home and watch over us

and our family and friends.

In Christs name we pray.

Amen

Music ...

one thing I have found that works with my lil Diva as well as Bana Bana is
listening to music. We find a quiet place and turn on some native american music
or some Celtic music and just take a moment to relax.


Read your 
Bible ... it seema like the right verse can just center you and enlighten you

Chicken pizza no crust low calorie dinner

Pizza Chicken!

I used...

3 strips per adult 1 strip per child

1 tablespoon of ragu per chicken strip

pizza shredded cheese

3 pieces of pepperoni per chicken strip

How..

In a pan lay your strips down

top with ragu

pep

& cheese

Bake 350 for 45 minutes

Total Calories are actually a little less than this.. I used less than 1/4 cup of ragu & I used less than 1/4 of cheese so Total Calories were probably more like 465 calories 

(based on 3 strips each)

PHOTO FROM MY FITNESS PAL!!

Children's History Videos

I found this great channel on YouTube!

Liberty Kids - You Tube Channel

Links and Videos - Virginia History

Virginia History Links & Videos

Videos

History of Va

JamesTown

Native Americans of Va

Colonial Chesapeake and The Powhatan Indians

Powhatan Village

http://youtu.be/-SljpqQhOHU

Powhatan & James Town

JamesTown

More to be added during the 2013-2014 school year

Links

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/virginia/

http://www.virginia.edu/uvakids/history/

https://sites.google.com/a/solteacher.com/olteacher-com/home/4th-grade/social-studies-4th-grade

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:free+virginia+history/Price-Range/Free
http://www.history.com/topics/virginia

I found this book for 3.99! At a used homeschool book store!
We love it and it goes over everything about Virginia
We use it with a notebook

More to be added during the 13/14 school year

Another classroom / home makeover

Well as much as I love the school room and as much money I have put into it 

one of the best things about home school is the ability to homeschool 

ANYWHERE in the HOME!

All of these cold winter days are making me want to curl up under a cover and sip on some coffee in the mornings!

So I did a lil makeover on our school room and I will tell you what I am doing to make school more comfy!

The Girls love their desks and use them a lot but I felt like we would get better use out of them if they were in our family room 

I put them over away from the TV etc and we are using this for testing and independent activities 

Some photos of the school room...

This is a little roll cart I have put their daily books in.. I can take it from room to room and

park it in here out of the way!

Art table

The kids are always at this table 

during school

during their spare time!

 

 

another view of the school room

my friend gave me this painted pallet to use as a shelf.. I just got it so its pretty much empty so far

On days we do use our school room 

here is our desk

Our closet and one of our shelves

another view of our roll cart in the family room 

our family room is located beside the school room 

most days we will do school in there with the lap boards 

every one has plenty of space and its right beside the school room

*

Lil Miss on the lap top upstairs in the living room 

So is having a school room worth it?

I say YES

it gives me and the girls a place to store all of the school things tests, books, etc

A place to do art 

a room to do school when we want to do it in there... most days here thats about 1 time a week

but

A school room shouldn't bound you in one room IMO 

Shepherds Pie & Sweet Carrots

Sweet Carrots

1 - Jar of Carrots

(I prefer the ones in the glass jar)

drained

1/4 cup of  Pure Maple Syrup

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

3-4 tablespoons full of water

Simmer until done!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sheppards Pie

1 1.2 lbs of Ground Beef

1/2 can of cream of mushroom soup

mashed potatoes 

(5-6 potatoes OR 2 packs of instant)

3oz (or so) Shredded Cheese-Cheddar

Frozen Corn

(1 reg size sweet corn package)

Brown HB

drain and mix in Soup

layer in pan HB mix

(heat corn I buy the steam Walmart bags)

corn

(make mashed potatoes)

mashed potatoes

and top with cheese

bake until cheese is bubbly 

No longer have a public schooler

After putting up with thing after thing from the local school my daughter attended I am happy to say I took her out. Both of my children are now homeschooled and I think its going to be really good! Its going to take some time to get use to our new schedule and teaching 2 kids instead of 1. I think we will like it. It was a big step for us but I have prayed about it and I think its the best thing for our family and our daughters.