January Recap

 I feel lke January went pretty well. We got in a decent amount of family time and lessons with Lela. I read six good books, we got in a dance competition and started baseball with a new team. Eaden placed 3rd overall for her solo at Streetz (1st in contemporary) and Taven loves his new baseball team. Lela has kind of started reading. I will be pushing it a little more now that she is seven. I think she might be slightly dyslexic but nothing major. The oldest three want to start working out at Planet Fitness. Taven went to DST and loved it but it is definitely not in the budget. Mirek was crying because he wanted to go to the gym as well but he is too young. At the beginning of January we went to the farm to process six deer that Justin gave us. We also went to the beach house with Naia's Girl Scout friends. We finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We read a biography of Shakespeare and Jane Goodall.

I would like them to do some writing but they're pretty resistant. I think reading is most important and I feel we are doing well with that. Perhaps we will do some 10 minute free writes and then I will break out my Brave Writer curriculum again.

Taven is loving his new team The Wildcatters.

We had a fun flood.

We went to our second Rockets game! The team kind of sucks so they have been giving tickets away for free. The kids love it!

Beach house with the old Girl Scouts.

After a lot of cold rainy weather, it became nice outside. Lela has been bugging me to go on a hike and to a playground with monkey bars. So we did.

Then we went to a different park with monkey bars the next day too! She started to get some blisters.

Then we went on a hike with Grandma for her birthday. There was another park with monkey bars and Lela's blister opened. She cried. No more monkey bars for a while.

I'm going to try to keep up here. Nothing fancy. I just want somewhere for my photos to go in case something happens to Google photos. I don't think you can download videos posted here but I will add some of those too. This will just be a blog for me and the family. To remember. I am sad I missed so much but I don't have the time to go back and post all of the old stuff. 

September in Review

     We had a good month! Homeschooling went well. I still have some energy left lol. I mostly kept up with my cleaning schedule. Eaden has been super busy with dance. She had a video shoot, a photo shoot, and the Down South Show. She has another video shoot next month in Austin and is in a production called The Glow Show. She will also be learning her new solo choreography. 

     Naia has been going to craft class, Student Council, and had her 50's social. Her birthday is in October! 

    Lela has been hanging out with me and her dad. I have been working on her attention span in homeschool and I think the routine and rhythm helps her because she just gets up and knows what to do. It's almost like when I need a break I am scared to disrupt the kids' routine because they are doing so well. She also cleans every day when we are done and asks to do it. She even washed all of the dishes.

    On Eaden's hair day (no wash but a rebrush), we watched 4 documentaries. One, Food for Change, had a lot of French so that was cool. We also watched Minimalism and an animal babies documentary on Netflix. An alligator ate a sea turtle though and Lela made us change it. Then we watched Inside the Mind of a Cat. Some movies we watched as a family this month were Armageddon, Hocus Pocus 2, Problem Child, and Curly Sue.

    The most heart breaking thing that happened was Mirek failed his brown belt test. They are very strict on the demo team kids and one mess up means you fail. So he did all eight forms back to back and looked great. Then, at the end, he was one of the kids that didn't pass. Apparently, he left out one block. He didn't even know. He was completely devastated and heartbroken and it was hard to watch. They used to let them retest within two weeks, but they said the demo team kids have to wait all the way until the next belt test. He clearly knows his forms and has proven that in class. As his mother, I think it's good to experience and learn how to deal with failure but it's hard because I don't think he failed. I think he worked his butt off, knew the forms, did them with power and precision, and missed one block. If you told him do it again, he could do it 50 times. 

    Edited to add: Mirek got in trouble at Taekwondo the week after his test. Master Kim had told me he talks too much and needs to focus so I told him that. He went to class, joked around with his friend about liking a girl, his friend punched him, and they both got kicked out of class. So, really, I'm glad he didn't get his belt. He also had to miss a friend's birthday party and will not be going to his tournament in Dallas. 

    Taven had his first tournament with his new team. He can now finally start throwing again so that's exciting! He was set to come back from his elbow injury and strained his quad so now he is out again. It's quite frustrating.

    For October, I am really really looking forward to a cool front and some hiking. We did receive a minor front, but I'm looking for more!

East Coast Trip and New Homeschool Planning

 We are home from our trip and it feels good! I immediately got out my bullet journal and started taking notes. I'm excited to wipe down the fridge and go grocery shopping tomorrow. I am going to binge on fruits and vegetables. Road trip eating is the worst. We all need a good cleanse. I am also excited to start some homeschool planning. I ordered my new Well Planned Day planner. I am excited for slow mornings with my fake fireplace and coffee. No baseball for August is also a huge plus. Taven can give his arm a rest and get back to his workouts. I can save some gas.

Starting after Labor Day (I'm using August to locate and acquire resources) the kids will start studying their chosen subjects in addition to math and one online course. Lela and Mirek will still mostly be with me.

These are my notes so far. I will have a more detailed plan soon...

Eaden: Dance, Geography, French, Astronomy, Cooking (make lunch for all), drivers ed

Rise Out: Big History 1 

Naia: Baking (Tuesday Teatime), Pottery, Geography, Jr. Ranger, Astronomy, French

CHC Arts & Crafts, Student Council

Rise Out: Big History 1

Taven: Baseball, Marine Life, Fishing, Hunting

Outschool - Choose one course

Mirek: Taekwondo, Minecraft, Astronomy, Lego, Fortnite, Geography, Weather, Global Warming

Outschool - Choose one course

With Mom: AAR/AAS/Saxon Math/Handwriting/Cursive/Read Aloud/Math facts games/Mystery Science/Teatime/Freedom Journal/Core Knowledge

Lela: Letter Pop It/Play dough math and letters/Magna Tile letters/All About Today/I Spy Letters/Story activities like Sew Buttons for Corduroy/ AAR/Horizons Math/Handwriting/Read Aloud & Story Time/Handwork/Mystery Science/Teatime/Freedom Journal/Core Knowledge/old torchlight science?

Other activities: engineering/STEM challenge, science kits, board games, interactive science websites, geography corner with maps, globes, atlas, maps to color, books, map pencils and pens, tracing paper, country cards, board games, trivia, Ticket to Ride, Carmen San Diego, etc.

Naia and Eaden will be cooking lunch/dinner and baking for Tuesday Teatime. They will be reading Everlasting Meal, watching cooking shows, and keeping a recipe book.

Kids keep Pinterest boards and tell me supplies they will need (within reason) for baking/cooking/art/projects ahead of time.

Usborne books to maybe buy- Internet Linked World Religions

Lift the Flap Fractions and Decimals

4-6 week units (topics to study?)

Saturday - groceries

Weekend - hair

look at schedule each week and plan intentional family time

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Here are photos from our trip. I am sad that for the last few years I have only been taking photos on my crappy Android and posting them to IG. Not only do the photos suck, but I can never find anything when I am looking for it. Blogs are easily searchable with dates and tags. I am going to look for a camera again!

These were quickly uploaded from my Google Photos. They are kind of in order but not always. At least one of the kids phones is connected to my Google so I uploaded some of their photos too and it gets things out of order. At least for New York City.

Shenendoah National Park. The campsites we had were nice and the hike we went on was nice. We also had good weather. Besides the behavior of a few kids at the Ranger Program, all went well.

Philadelphia. We made a pretty quick stop here on our way to NYC. We took a tour of Independence Hall and saw the Liberty Bell.

New York City. This is the PATH train from Jersey City near our hotel into NYC. Our first day went really well. We stopped first at the 9-11 Memorial and then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. We had lunch in Brooklyn and then took the ferry back to Manhattan. We then walked a little way and rode the Staten Island Ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty. Then we made our way back to the PATH train to Jersey. It was actually a pretty perfect day.

Our hotel rooms were always chaotic and stressful. We were constantly yelling at the kids to shut up so we don't get kicked out.

Photos from first day out of order.

Our second day was a little rough (for me). At least it started out that way. It was hotter and the sun was out. We took the PATH into the city again and then had a long hot walk to the NYC Library. Lela was complaining the entire way. We went to Grand Central Station next and all of the kids were complaining that they were hungry. Of course the food was expensive so I was stressing out about that. Also, they all wanted something different and I wasn't waiting in different lines. So I just gave them all my money and told them go get what you want and help your younger siblings. Then I sat on the ground.

Once we ate and got to the Lego store things started to get better.

We also went to FAO Schwartz and the kids played in the fountains at Rockefeller Center.

Next we took the NYC Subway to Central Park. All of the kids have their hands in their mouths to ensure we contract Covid.

From Central Park, we took the Subway to Times Square.

Here are some Central Park photos out of order. The kids told me they really liked Central Park and wished we would have stayed longer.

Back in Times Square. The kids were complaining they were hungry and I thought Krispy Kreme was the cheapest option :)

M&M Store.

Back in Central Park lol. The kids loved exercising with this man. He was very nice and helpful. He was also very impressed with their strength.

We loved watching the rats run around while we ate ice cream and the little kids were at the playground.

Washington D.C.

I enjoyed Washington D.C. more than I thought I would. The city was much nicer than I expected and I loved the architecture. I loved the parks throughout the city and the houses/neighborhoods as well. I just wish parking wasn't so hard and expensive. 

Once again, our fist day was much better than our second day. We went to the Smithsonian Zoo, the Arlington National Cemetery and then saw the monuments at night. The cemetery and monuments were my favorite. Definitely go at night! We also took a driving tour of D.C. looking for a place to eat that had an actual parking lot. We didn't find one but did see a lot of the city :)

Our second day was supposed to be our White House and museum day. We made it to the White House and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The kids were tired after a hot walk and were master complainers at the museum. So we called it quits and went back to the hotel to drink beer.

The next day we drove to Pigeon Forge and dropped the kids off with Grandma, Grandpa, and Ade at their cabin. Jamie and I went to Smoky Mountain National Park to set up camp.

Jamie and I woke up early and hiked to the top of Mt. LeCompte. I REALLY loved this hike without kids. It was 11 miles and took us almost 8 hours but it was so enjoyable without kids whining and asking to stop every 5 seconds for food and water.

My sister had a bit of a sore throat but tested negative for Covid the day before. However, the next day her daughter Abby woke up not feeling well. She took her to Urgent Care where she also tested negative for Covid. At this time, my sister took another test and it came up positive. Unfortunately, they had to pack up all of their stuff (and a lot of ours) and head back to Texas. It was all very sad and we were all very nervous we would get Covid as well. We never did and neither did my parents. My niece Isen did come down with cold symptoms a few days later and would test positive after we got home. Anyway,... here are some more photos from Pigeon Forge and Smoky Mountain National Park. The Covid issue did mess up our camping plans as I did not have room in my car for all of our camping supplies so she had to take them home. Therefore, we spent the remainder of the week at my parents' cabin.

We went to Dollywood. My phone died quickly there so I didn't get many photos.

Back at the pool near our cabin.

Taven hung out with his friends on his own a lot (to save me money). Here he is with teammates at the night coaster.

We spent the day in the National Park and went by our campsite to get our tent.

Taven's team made it to the championship in the Ripken Experience tournament and won it all!

We stopped in Little Rock on the way home and went by the Central High School for a quick history lesson on The Little Rock Nine.

That's it!!!