Random and overdue update

Well, I am officially the world’s worst blogger.  Wait, scratch that.  I am not a “blogger.”  I am a person who has a blog.  And updates it….sometimes.  So here you go.  A random update about life in general in the Stauffer household.

We’ve been in our “new” house for nearly 9 months now.  WOW! I can’t believe it’s been that long.  I should have realized it, though, because a few days ago Ethan started asking me about when we were going to go to our new house.  Yes, we’ve moved that frequently during his lifetime.  And this is about that time of year where we’d start looking for a new place to rent and packing our stuff up.  Sorry, bubs, we’re in this one for the long haul.  The bank wouldn’t take our packing up and moving too kindly.

Speaking of the house, we’ve been slowly, but surely making it “ours.”  I love decorating and over the last several years have not really had a chance to do so.  We were either too broke or too renting.  Now we have some funds and our very own place.  It’s. Very. Hard. To. Restrain. Myself.  Thankfully, my business really took off over the last few years, so I’m staying way too busy to get into too much trouble.  So I troll Pinterest and pretend that I’m going to get to all of those projects.

Between the biz and homeschooling, there’s not much time for anything else.

Ethan has really taken to homeschooling.  What kid wouldn’t?  We’re done in about an hour and a half and then he gets to play.  Winning.  Of course, we have extracurricular activities most days like My Gym, swimming lessons, music class, etc.  And oh my the reading.  He’s just voracious in his desire to read.  He reads everything he sees. Now if we could just get him to be as excited about Math…

I really am going to try to be better at this blog thing.  I have plans for this blog,  you see.

Until the next….

Missy

Homeschooling ROCKS

Well, I haven’t updated in forever and I’m sorry!    Life has been completely insane around here!  We’re starting to get into a groove, but still sort of unburying myself.  If you don’t know, I’m attempting to maintain my VA and Web Dev business while homeschooling.    Good times, good times.  Thankfully, I have a new contractor working for the biz and she’s been tremendously helpful!!  Oh and we hired a housekeeper to come clean once a week (thanks, Mom!).  Those two things have made a HUGE difference in our household.  I’m also trying to budget my time every week and I’ve been a calendar and list–making fool!  We’ll get it figured out.  Happy chaos, happy chaos.

So lots of updates, but I’ll just show some pictures and a few details for those who are interested and asked. 

So after the public school fiasco, we gave Ethan (and me!!) a week long break to unwind (his therapist’s wonderful suggestion).  We also talked alot that week about homeschooling and Ethan got to go help me pick up some supplies at the store.  Then we started that first week with very little curriculum (didn’t know what we wanted to use yet) except for a couple of awesome websites that Mary Camarata suggested: www.raz-kids.com and www.ixl.com.  That first week was mostly just for fun and for me to see what all he would do for me (as opposed to a teacher at school – yes, I had my doubts!).  Well, he works SO HARD for me!  I am so stinking proud.  And it’s great because I know how to read him so well (hello, I’m his mom) and I know when he’s just being lazy or if he’s truly overwhelmed.  I learned alot that first week!  I especially learned that I needed to get some curriculum fast, so I wouldn’t get overhwelmed. 

We’re using an adaptation of Sue Patrick’s Workbox System.  I say adaptation, because we are nowhere NEAR as strict as she is in her ebook.  It’s an awesome concept, though, and Ethan has really taken to it.  Whenever he completes the work in a box, he gets a star, which goes on his chart.  When he gets all of his stars, he gets a bribe surprise.

Sue Patrick's Workbox System

Here’s where we’ve landed with curriculum thus far, for those who are interested:

Reading/Spelling
All About Spelling – this is a really fantastic program.  We just got started on it (just came in the mail on Friday), but I’m already loving it.  It’s a super simple and easy-to-use system for phonics and spelling.  It’s “multi-sensory” which is perfect for Ethan.  Lots of hands on work and manipulatives.

Math
We’re using a combination of things – www.ixl.com, “dino-math” which I created haha, and Singapore Math – this is another sensorial-type program that  uses lots of colorful pictures and manipulatives.  We just ordered it last week and it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I’ll let you know how we like it.

Dino-Math

Science/Geography
TBD – we want to do something with this, but I’m still looking for something with the right format for Ethan.  He’s super interested in science, so it’s next on my priority list!

Just started our first lapbook today

Music
He LOVES music and we found a music class at a homeschool enrichment center, so he’ll get to do music class with other kids!!  SUPER AWESOME.  That starts tomorrow.

Art
I’m going to be ordering Child Size Masterpieces to get started and see how it goes.  I have a hunch that he’s super artistic, but he’s SO SHY about drawing and painting, that it’s hard to tell.  He definitely has the vision, though.  I know he’ll love learning about art.

Fine Motor Skills
He’s a little lagging on fine motor (typical for kids with speech delays), so we’re working on that, too.  We’re using Handwriting Without Tears, which I highly recommend.  We love it!  We’re also doing lots of fun crafts to help him with his scissor work.  He loves the crafts.  I’m trying to find more resources with ideas because I want to incorporate them more with other subjects since he likes doing them so much.  Ideas, anyone?

Craft Time!

Handwriting Without Tears - Awesome!

PE
Swimming lessons year round – hooray! 

Bible
Nothing yet, but I am thinking about joining a local MOPS-type thing that’s for ladies with older children.  That would be once a week and I know Ethan would LOVE it.  So would I. 

Ethan's work area

He calls this the "Computer Lab"

So that’s it in a nutshell.  Ethan’s really taking to homeschooling, which is a delightful surprise for us.  He is loving the freedom and he’s working really hard for me.  And he hasn’t even gotten to do the fun stuff yet!  (Music class, etc.)

I’ll be back with more later….