Well, like many of you, we have had one of those very strange weeks.  I am the last person to get sick in my house so when I do, you know things are getting ugly.  My husband injured his ankle with an axe- that meant a few hours in the ER–once he got passed the pain, we laughed it off and the ER was totally empty.  It was a complete housekeeping accident, he’ll be fine once his stiches are heeled. Both my older kids have had a perpetual cold due to the seasonal allergies, my dad is visiting from the Dominican Republic, he’s a diabetic so I have to be careful what I feed him–you know I can’t get away with pizza and Mac N Cheese, plus I totally expected him to get sick as well.  He did not so far–Thank God!  He did however get a small stomach virus which lasted a day.  He’s also fine.  The baby did not get sick but he’s teething, which means I’m not sleeping.  Natalie has a bad cold which caused her to stay home from school today.  She’s better now but was up three times last night with either a headache, a fever or needing water.

OK so basically, I did not sleep last night and kids for some reason, get better during the day, while mom’s are still trying to recover from lack of sleep.  I asked Natalie to go online and do her lessons so that I could rest while the baby takes his nap.  She was so sweet. She said, “if I do all my lessons, can I have an extra halloween treat?”  I said, “I will give it to you in advance if you let me take a 1/2 h our nap.”  Negotiation at work here.

Natalie did a few lessons, read some of her stories, practiced her words and was so, so good for me today.  I did not nap, but I was able to have a mental break.  Once the time was up, because she was not about to forget when time was up, she showed me all the work she had done.  She’s very excited working on the first grade material now.  She is looking forward to doing the same in math, however, she has a little bit of work to do there first.

So after all this chaos in my house, it was not only my positive attitude that kept me from cracking under pressure, but having time4learning to keep my little Natalie busy while I took a recovery break.  You guys are the best…I agree with that!!

Thanks.

Terie

Good Morning Everyone,

I have very exciting news! My little Natalie currently in Kindergarten attending public school has moved from her Kindergaten Language Arts to First Grade Language Arts Curriculum. She was so excited when she did the last review and realized that she knew everything.

I noticed over the last couple of weeks that she avoided the Kindergaten Language Arts lessons. Finally I said, why don’t you just do the review so we can see how much you know. She went through all three reviews in about 15 minutes with flying colors. I told her that she will be able to work on 1st grade lessons from now on which is good because they are working on some of these lessons in school as well. That was music to her ears. She was so excited and asked if she could tell all her friends and maybe have a sleepover–Ha Ha!! Anything to get her way. She will have a play date with some of her friends later this month- she earned it.

The reason, I believe, she did she well is because we started over the summer and although she may not do lessons everyday, she does well and really enjoys the online programs as well as the playground activities provided. She can recognize many of her site words and is doing really well recognizing words in her first reader books. I give her different books just to be sure she’s not memorizing but actually reading.

I just wanted to share this with everyone– this has been a great week for Natalie!!

Terie

I am posting this blog because recently I’ve been reading or hearing in the news the statistics about children with adult diseases. I am not surprised to hear the latest statistics on diabetes and high blood pressure in kids.  It is sad but so much can be done to prevent such problems from occurring to our kids.  I visited my daughter’s school last week to attend a PTA meeting after which I decided to have lunch with her and some of her friends.  The girls, all in 8th grade, had little or no concept of nutrition or what they were putting in their mouth.  Cafeteria food may not be the most balanced meal out there, in my opinion, but still kids can have a decent meal if they choose to or they can bring their own.

However, I don’t blame the cafeteria food or the fast food industry for the problems these kids face.  To my point, it all starts at home.  I honestly don’t rely on PE in school to keep my kids in shape and really teach them the importance of nutrition, reading labels, and most important portion control.  I truly believe in teaching children by example.  My plea to everyone out there…homeschoolers and traditional education alike, make physical fitness and nutrition a part of your child’s curriculum.  You don’t need special equipment or books to be a good role model for your kids.  I’m a fitness instructor and personal trainer certified by AFAA but I work mostly with adults and seniors.  I love working with kids because they tend to have more energy, like me.   One of my favorite websites is kidshealth.org.  This site puts the information in a language kids and parents can understand.  Here you will find information about everything and anything about kids health, including a section about fitness and nutrition.

It’s obvious to me that we all want the best for our kids, otherwise we wouldn’t be on this blog getting excited over every little achievement.  In fact, use what they learn in their Time4Learning lessons in reading, math, and science to teach them about the nutrition label, bones, muscles, digestive, respiratory and cardiovascular systems, etc..  It’s never too early to make them aware of what part of the body does what and why it’s important to live a healthy lifestyle.

Natalie and I used one of the Kindergarten Math lessons to learn about nutrition:  In the lesson she was asked on which day of the week a certain meal was served in the cafeteria…etc.  Basically, she had to learn to read a calendar.  She was pretty excited when she was able to find her birthday on the calendar–anyway, after the lesson we created our own calendar for the current month and then she asked if we could write in what we were going to eat on each day.  Of course I jumped on that idea.  I told her that we had to make sure each meal had one from each food group: Grains, Veggi or fruit, Protein, Dairy, etc.  We had a great time working on this project, which has become a weekly activity.  We only do one week at a time as it is a time consuming project.  Ever Sunday we cut cupons and make a menu for the following week.  It’s really a lot of fun and great bonding time for us as a family– my older kids have joined in the fun too.

Many of you probably already do this…Kudos to you!

I was not surprised to see Kat’s post on how the internet has changed their lives.  It sounds so familiar.  I remember our first computer, 15 years ago.  Our first born, Josh sat in front of it, we popped in a Reader Rabbit CD and without much instruction he went to work and learn.  He loved it.  But he was limited to what the CD had to offer and nothing else. He became bored fairly quickly and those CDs were pretty pricey back then.  In fact, they still are.

Fast forward to today.  We have 4 kids–refresher course here– 16, 13, 5, and almost 1 years old.  We, as a family unit, benefit from the advancements in technology.  Josh and Emily (16, 13 respectively) can’t seem to do homework without using the computer.  They are able to log on to sites that connects them with the text book they use in class.  Here they can get more information on what they are learning as well as links to other sites with homework help, the school’s sites and their own teacher’s websites.  They also log onto sites with PSAT and SAT practice tests, SOL practice tests, purplemath.com is an awesome sight as is cliffnotes.com.  My kids happen to have really awesome teachers who communicate frequently with all their students via e-mail.

As most here know, Natalie’s benefits come mostly from her lessons on Time4Learning, the playground and some of her other fun sites, such as noggin.com, pbskids.org, sesamestreet.com and occasionally pollypocket.com.  It amazes me how a 5 year old kid can get on a computer and before they learn to read or ride a bike they can navigate the information superhighway without blinking an eye.

For my husband and I, the internet has been an excellent asset to communicate our family calendar, the kids progress reports at school or simply just to communicate when we’re not at home.   When my husband was in Iraq last year, it was the internet that helped me make it through his absence as he was able to send us a daily email and occasional pictures.  We sent many pictures and emails to help boost his morale.  Personally speaking, I maintain my sanity by communicating frequently with all my friends around the world, and I really mean around the world.  It’s like having a support system that never goes away.    I am enrolled at the University of Maryland University College to get a degree in Social Studies concentrating on Gerontology, and minor in Humanities.  The benefits for the baby — I never have to leave him anywhere due to school or work.   I thank God everyday for giving me the opportunity to stay home with my kids.  However, I am also extremely energetic and must be active in learning, exercise, love to cook and read, etc.

The internet is a great asset to have but like Kat, we do hands on, old fashion learning as well.  Board games, reading a real book, the newspaper, using a real dictionary/thesaurus and even going to the library…live! 

One other thing–outdoor recreational activities are a must in my family.

I suppose this question should be directed at Terie, hope that’s ok. )

Terie,  if you don’t mind, I would love to hear how you feel Time4Learning compares to the curriculum that is being used for Natalie in public school.  I rarely have an opportunity to talk to many public schoolers about the curriculum they use, and never to public schoolers that use Time4Learning. )

Do you feel like Time4Learning covers everything that her teachers are covering?  Do you have an opinion of whether or not T4L excels in the core subjects, or do you feel like areas are lacking?  Do you think that T4L meets the same standards that are set forth on the school system? Just so you know…I am not looking for vindication in my decision to homeschool, nor am I looking to “down” public schools.  I am not a general public school basher. )  Unfortunately I do have very strong, negative opinions regarding my own very rural school system, but I realize that there are excellent school districts in this country and for some kids, public school could really be the best option.

Again, I hope that you don’t mind me asking you these things directly.  I am truly interested in hearing from you, as a mom that has a child in public school.  As a homeschooler, I generally only talk about “school” with other homeschoolers.  I think it’s wonderful to hear how Natalie is progressing both in school and at home with you and Time4Learning. )

Thanks!  )

Oh – I am not yet familiar with everyone posting on this blog…if there are other parents who have children in public school and are using Time4Learning, it would be fantastic to hear from you as well!  )