Shifting gears...

SHIFTING GEARS...with the way things have been going I'm amazed I haven't been stripping gears! What a whirl wind it's been. All good mind you, but a whirl wind none the less. I think it's about time to "grab the bull by the horns" so to speak and get my act together.

I think we're done with visitors, so now I can get my curriculum organized and begin some lesson planning. I think my hands will be more full this year since I feel like I have to actually school three children. I mean my little guys have been "learning" all along, however they will need more traditional schooling this year to get their reading and writing well in hand. For those of you out there who have been schooling multiple kids at a time for years, my hat is off to you. It is definitely not an easy job! However, I think my job might be a little easier if I wasn't shifting between high school and grade school. This year I will be teaching 11th grade and 1st/2nd grades. Talking about shifting gears...What's nice is my oldest is pretty much an independent learner, so that is a huge help!

I'm hoping to have more crafts to show you this week and activities we'll be getting into. I'm also excited to begin our Learning Technologies reading curriculum. If you're new to my blog, a few posts back I wrote about a webniar I attended called "Turning Guessers into Readers". After attending the webinar I decided to give their Touchtile Reading program a try and will be sharing our progress in future posts. So there will be lots coming up.

I love to hear your comments. So please feel free to share your thoughts and what you're up to! I try to respond to all the comments I receive. Hope you are enjoying these last few weeks of summer! God bless your day!

What a Week!

HAVE YOU EVER just had one of those weeks where there just wasn't enough time. Maybe that's every week for you. I've definitely gone through my fits and spurts of the that for sure!! This week we just had so many appointments and outings that I'm kind of looking forward to a slower Saturday.

This was the week to prepare for the Washington Homeschoolers Conference. I especially love attending because it's such a fun time and so encouraging. Going to the conference I get so inspired by new things and seeing faces I've not seen for a while. I hoped to have lots of photos to share, but my phone died. Sorry about that! I need a new battery!!

My hubby and my oldest are coordinating a booth for the FRC Robot they had for this year's competitions. Great fun for them and a wonderful way to spread the word about FRC.

There were lots of fabulous vendors and I saw some new curriculum out there I need to pick up. Starting over with my little ones will be a new adventure. I am really looking forward to it. I think I'm going to go with The Elegant Essay Writing Lessons: Building Blocks for Analytical Writing for my oldest. I have to say I LOVE Institute for Excellence in Writing! Their programs are wonderful and have worked WONDERS for my son!!! Then for my younger guys I think I'm going to try PAL Writing Package from IEW. Maybe if I get these guys on the right track from the start we can get writing in hand before high school!! I have my reading stuff for my younger ones that I purchased through Learning Technologies. I am excited to get going on that. Then I'll have to dig out some old stuff to do again with little guys. Love recycling that curriculum! I have almost everything we need for our next school year, so then we can just enjoy our summer!! Over all it was a wonderful conference. Another boost to get me through until next year!! Enjoy your weekend.