Sick, Tired and Missing

by heidijo on October 4, 2011

Well, it has been quite a crazy 2 months. We started our 9th year of homeschooling. I went on a wonderful trip to Minnesota with my girls and my parents for a family wedding. We hit the Mall of America, enjoyed family, explored the Science Museum, relaxed at the Cabin and got stuck because of a hurricane at home. It was an exciting trip to say the least. My husband and the boys weathered the hurricane at home and we were blessed with little damage. Hurricanes scare me and I am glad I missed it, but hated being away from my men (big and little).

 

I arrived home, after a 5 day hurricane delay in MN, to a week to organize my life before our 2 week working vacation to Florida. This did not go according to plan though. By the Sunday before our trip I was not feeling just right. By the next day I was so dizzy and in pain (back and head) to move. Still planning on going, I tried to rest. My condition progressively worsen. We then figured out that I had Dengue Fever. I couldn’t even stand on the day we were to be flying. My family left without me. I was too sick to care. My parents were in town and stayed at my house to care for me.  It was by far the worst thing I have ever been through. I am still feeling the effects of this horrible disease. I was told it would be at least a month till I was back to normal. This is my last week in the month and I have to say I am finally feeling like I can do “almost” everything I usually do. I still have to rest every afternoon. It is very difficult to adjust to not being able to much everyday. My husband and kids have been and amazing help in getting things done and keeping the house and school flowing.

 

So, we have cut much from the school schedule (mostly time wasting workbooks that just doubled up a subject), add lots of reading (in bed), and used educational media to keep everyone busy while I rest.  I have to say, I LOVE IT. We are getting everything we need done each week, and my kids are so stinking creative that they are exploring and making things that has expanded their learning by leaps and bounds. I think I just might be sticking to this schedule.

 

Sorry for being MIA for so long, but hope you understand. I hope to be back and blogging from now on (but ya never know).

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Island Homeschool Binder 2011

by heidijo on August 22, 2011

I love homeschool planning. I love my homeschool binder.

What is a homeschool binder you might ask?

Well, let me TELL you-

This is the place where I put ALL of my homeschool planning information I need to access DAILY.  It includes my schedule, goals, lesson plans, grade sheet, attendance records, workbox lists, calendar, book lists, curriculum lists, course outlines and it even has a place for my menus (so I know what to get going for dinner), shopping lists (so when my amazing island hubby calls I can tell him to run for my grocery list I have it) and weekend schedule (so have something to look forward too). It is beautiful, it is portable, it is organized and it is one of the things I will be grabbing if my house catches on fire (after my kids of course LOL)

Now let me SHOW you-

I have used a regular teacher planner (the kind you can get at any office store) for a while now. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. WELL! I found a new homeschool teacher planner that I fell in love with, and had to have.

The Well Planned Day Planner

I am so glad I splurged and got this set. The zipper 3-ring binder is a great addition and helps me keep everything in one place.

This is what you see when you Open up the Folder

All my Goodies for writing, grading, tagging and such on the left and the packed lesson planner and all my extras on the right.

This is the week we just finished. I LOVE handwriting (with a pencil) all of  the boys lesson plans. I leave space at the bottom to write in what I need to do with the girls too(tests, papers, review, projects etc)

behind the lesson planner are all my great lists, schedules and curriculum stuff (yes stuff seems like a good word…) I use a color code for everything. Each child has a different color and so do I. This makes finding the right schedule, book list, grading sheet and such SO MUCH EASIER!

more “stuff” color coded.

I love to be organized.

I love to have everything in one place.

I love all my filled out forms.

I love my homeschool planner.

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Island School Mission Statement

by heidijo on August 16, 2011

Spiritual

To come to a full knowledge of God and follow Him where ever He leads.

To Glorify God in everything they think, say and do.

To put others before themselves

To learn key Bible study skills so that they may Study to show themselves approved.

Know how to lead someone to Christ.

Academic

To love Learning and become a self-directed learner

To have great oral and writing skills

To have a God view of History and how His plan flows through it all

Understand how we fit in this world and what our purpose is

To understand God’s creation and how to preserve and take care of it

LifeSkills

To develop the girls skills as wives and mothers. So that they will be a helpmeet to their husbands and lovingly care for and nurture their children.

To develop the boys skills as husbands and fathers. So that they will provide for them and love their wives completely and disciple their children in the Lord.

 

I have this written out in my homeschool folder. (I will be posting pictures of that very soon) I might add a few things through the years, but I have really stuck to these for all 9 years I have been homeschooling.

I have a great set of forms that I have created for this purpose HERE It includes Goal forms, plus many more helpful homeschooling forms.

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