The Geek and the Chic (Sheek): August 2010

Wow, I realize I have always been one of those people that puts a LOT on themselves. I'm not an idle person. I'm a mover, a thinker, a creator...a mother, and I'm very active in all of those things. So....most people thought I was a little bit crazy when I decided to open my own accessory line, Punk n Posh about three months after my last child was born. Then, pretty much everybody thought I was crazy when I partnered with my good friend, Cindy and opened up yet another business about six months later. So yes, in the first year of my fourth child's birth, I successfully launched two new businesses that keep me very busy. Now...for those of you that still held on to the notion that I might not be crazy-I have decided to homeschool my older three children this year. Yup, I'm certifiably crazy, I know. But thank goodness for it, cause we are LOVING it! While I know I haven't been the best blogger on the block, I decided this may give me another reason to post. I've been pretty busy posting pics and blurbs to my Photography Business Blog, but have seriously been neglecting this one, I know. So the random postings are about to return (I will try to post weekly, not a daily kind of person, sorry!) I will try to post more about what we are doing, what the kids are learning, new photography tips and of course whenever I can get them from the hubs...geek tips as well!

We just got through our first week of homeschool and we really enjoyed it! At this point we are eclectic homeschoolers as I like to be able to pick and choose the best spelling programs, websites, etc. for my kids and so on for each subject. We will be practicing Waldorf teaching styles and methods into our daily learning.

So we started out our week setting up our classroom space, schedule, introduced curriculum, etc. My husband brought up a large table for our classroom (I heard it was pretty important to have your own quiet space for class so the focus can be just that, class!) so I re-vamped what should be our formal dining room into a classroom. Who needs a formal dining room anyway? What a waste of good daily space that can be used so much more effectively! :-)

DAY 1: Desk & Laptops

Day 2: I woke up with the kids already up and waiting on the couch eagerly with their laptops on their laps! I think they were pretty geared up from our first day and couldn't wait to get started! I thought it was cute so i had to snap a few pics...even the baby was into it!! ;-D

We added our own in-boxes and hall passes (the kids insisted on the hall passes, go figure!) they made these during art/craft time with cereal boxes, wrapping paper, glitter, paint and any other art supplies they could get their hands on!

They definitely added some color and organization of our folders and notebooks to our classroom desk/space. :-)

So it turns out Gabe really likes spelling. Okay, maybe he really likes www.spellingcity.com and it's super fun spelling games that help him with his spelling words for the week! Love that little guy. :-)

Another fun thing we learned about homeschooling is we can make lunch time learning time as well! We decided to have a little challenge with our A-Z Spaghettio's to see how many spelling words they could spell with them. Okay, it was a little messy, but everybody got their spelling words right on their test! Hands on learning is the way to go!

Okay, so Gabe chose the easiest word on his list first..."GOT"...but he "GOT" better, I promise! Logan's words were based on his Math unit that he started with, which was "Taxes"...so he had some pretty difficult words to be digging out of his Spaghettio bowl! LOL. Look, I made them "Eat their words" hahaha....Ah, what FUN! :-)

The last day of the week I saved a pretty fun art project for them...SAND ART! Oh, did I forget to say "messy sand art??" ah, well, the joys I tell ya! ;-) They had way too much fun for me to complain. Here are some shots of their creations.

Just in case you were wondering what my adorable little muchkin, Tori is doing when we are deep into instruction time?.........

FINGER PAINTING...WHAT ELSE?!?!? (With Chocolate Pudding, what could be better than that?)

And we ended the week with a celebratory trip to the Neighborhood Pool. Pretty Darn good week. I'll post something next week about how week 2 went! Thanks for dialing in! :-)