Meet our Dogs!

This is Oliver.  He is our 2 year old Chusky (chow/husky mix)  We got Oliver when he was 8 or 9 weeks old.  He has been a fun and energetic addition to our family.  We feel that having pets can help our kids learn responsibility and they are wonderful companions.  He can also serve as a distraction during our daily routines.  As you can see from the picture above he is in the middle of our school room.  I was teaching a math lesson when he nudged me for attention.  Not that he does not have plenty.  He just "needs" extra during school sometimes.  He loves to jog with our 18yo, playing tug of war, and fetch.  He is always up for a car ride, and really loves it if we go to Petco.  He enjoys going to the farmers market.  He views us very much as his pack, but he knows who the "pack" leaders are.  It is so funny to see his reaction every night when Marshall comes home.  At about 4:30pm if my husband is not home yet he sits in the front bedroom window looking for him.  When he pulls into the driveway he has this cute little wine he does only for my husband.  He rushes into our classroom (located in what should be our living room), and 'dances'.  During most of the day he is my shadow, and is upset when we leave to go any were.  He sits in his window and looks out for us.

This is Bonnie.  She is our 6 or 7 year old Cairn Terrier.  We rescued Bonnie almost 5 years ago.  we were told by the shelter she was 1 or 2 years old.  She is my little spit fire.  She loves everyone she meets and thinks they all belong to her.  She is not always happy with the fact that about 2 years ago we brought home Oliver.  She enjoys walks and visiting with the people of the neighborhood.  Not so much the other dogs, she has a couple she likes to play with, but most she rather tell what to do.  She also enjoys trips to Petco and the farmers market.  She is really vocal when she wants attention.  She loves to spend time with our daughter.  She has been my daughters and my dog since day one.

I hope that you enjoyed learning a little bit about our 4 legged family members.

Weekly Clean Schedule

     So I have said before that I used to have a good cleaning schedule.  I also shared that I have slacked off with that schedule.  So one goal for me this year is to get back on my schedule.  I learned growing up that a cleaning schedule is best if done with a routine.  My grandma always had the same day for different chores. She had a set day for laundry, dusting, cleaning the bathroom, etc.  So for our family, we have different laundry days because it takes more than one day to do all the laundry.

Photo Credit http://thestoryofeve.weebly.com/1950s-housewife.html

This is our Laundry Schedule:
Monday: my two oldest that are at home
Tuesday: My mom and my Aunt that live with us and also bathroom/ kitchen towels
Wednesday: My two youngest at home
Thursday: My Father in law that lives with us and also bathroom towels.
Friday: My Husbands and Mine
Saturday: Any miss. laundry we might have
Sunday: NO LAUNDRY

Photo Credit http://www.littlethings.com/1950s-good-housewife-guide-vcom/

Our Cleaning Schedule has most rooms being done twice a week and some things done daily.

This is our Cleaning Schedule:
Monday: Kitchen and Dinning Room deep cleaning
Tuesday: Bathrooms, Kids Bedrooms, and Classroom
Wednesday: Kitchen, Dinning Room, deep cleaning
Thursday: Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Classroom
Friday: Kitchen Dinning Room, and Laundry Room
Saturday: Yard Work, Front Porch, Music/Family Room
Side note: we do dishes and counter tops daily in the kitchen.

You might notice I did not put living room on this list.  That is because the room that would be our living room right now is our classroom.  We do have a family room/ music room.  Our 17y/o plays guitar, our 14 y/o plays drums, our 12y/o tries to play keyboard, and our 9 y/o is trying her hand at guitar also. So we needed the music room which is also our family room.

Were has the Past 18 Years Gone?

     Today is a day that 18 years ago I thought was so far away.  I did not raise my oldest son, my aunt and uncle did.  I was young when I had my now 21year old.  So my now 18 year old, has been my oldest in many ways.  So back to 18 years ago on this day (January 9, 2000) I was blessed with this amazing boy.  I was a single mom but had so many people supporting me and this little boy.  I remember how little he was.  I remember thinking wow I have all this time to see him grow up and his 18th birthday and his senior year seemed so far off.    
     Now here it is his 18th birthday.  I can't believe it is here, part of me does not want to believe that it is here.  He has grown to be such an amazing young man.  He is a great brother, friend, son, and so much more.  His love for the Lord and passion for sharing the gospel is an inspiration to me. Not just because I am his mom, but as a follower of Christ myself.  His love and passion for the Lord makes my momma heart over joyed.  This fall him and my 21 year old baptized my 14 year old, after they played an instrumental role in him coming to the Lord.

     He is still trying to decide if he wants to go into the military or to collage.  I don't know what God has in his plans for him but I do know that no matter what God has a hold of him.

Until Next Time,
Pitters

The Way We Homschool

     We are staring back to school for the second semester of the year on Monday January 8, 2018.  Let me start off by saying we really don't do school all day.  This is because the kids work at their own pace and many times are done with school by lunch time.  This is one advantage to homeschooling, the kids get done with school and are then able to take time at explore things they are interested in.  But that is for another blog, this one is about how we homeschool.

We typically start school at 9 am.  The kids are allowed to study each subject in the order they wish.  My two high schoolers are 100% on their own.  They are allowed to ask me for help if needed, but we use switched on schoolhouse for high school.  This is a computer based program and I love it because it does most of my grading for me.  My seventh grader is mostly on his own, he still needs help with English when it comes to writing papers.  We usually talk about what he is reading in science and history.  My 4th grader I still teacher her all her subjects, of course.  After their school work is done the kids get one hour for playing a computer game or video game.  I give them this time right after they are done so they can unwind some.  Then we try and do one hour of free reading time or they can also read and journal from the Bible.  They do a quiet time every morning, but sometimes they like to read more or reread what they read in the morning.  Most afternoons are spent doing chores and the kids playing board games, Legos, or doing something of interest to them.  Many afternoons are spent with the kids outside playing. 

     My kids love field trip days.  Okay, so what kids don't like field trip days?  Were we live is a great place to homeschool if you are looking for field trips.  We have history museums, art museums, a great zoo, a lot of historical landmarks,  and so much more.  We are the home of the collage world series, and even though that is not officially during school time.  It is still a fun field trip.  

      I main thing that we love about homeschooling is the fact that we get to homeschool the way we want too.  Our homeschool does not have to look like anyone else. Truth be told it should not, we are not all the same, every families' need are different. 

Until Next Time,
Pitters

A New Year!

     

     Happy New Year everyone.  I hope your holidays have been filled with family, friends, and memories to last a life time.  As the new year begins I am hoping that I can bring so much to all of you with my blog.  I am working on a new posting schedule, a plan to show you my weekly and daily routines for homeschool and housework.  I am wanting to do book reviews for all as well.  I am going to still share recipes with you.  This first part of the year I will blog on graduating my first homeschool senior and how to plan for that.  We are hoping to travel and camp more this year and take you along with us on any adventures we might take.

     As I look ahead to getting back into the routine of school after our Christmas break I am feeling refreshed and revitalized.  We will be starting back to homeschool the week of January 8, 2018.  Wow 2018 how can that be?  I will be sharing photos of our homeschool classroom with you all and share some of our must haves in our class.