I decided to sit down and actually document our last years happenings.
2014
August
- started homeschooling in Oklahoma
- in Oklahoma for Rylan's job
September
- Oklahoma classes cancelled, so back to Nebraska
- homeschooling on the road and figuring out the new routine of homeschooling again
October
- back to Oklahoma for Rylan's work
- again the homeschooling on the road and figuring out the new routine of homeschooling
November
- still in Oklahoma
- Barnes thanksgiving
December
- back to Nebraska only to pack up for Hawaii
- packing for another Oklahoma class that we would leave for 2 days after kids and I return from Hawaii
December/January 2015
- Christmas and New Years in hawaii. Rylan got to spend 3 weeks with us.
- Kids and I get an extended trip in Hawaii because Rylan gets a random scheduled class in Oklahoma that over laps with our return. My parents were sooo sad we had to stay longer... NOT!
- Found out we were expecting another baby... enter the love/hate of morning sickness. Hawaii isn't the best place for me to have a super sensitive nose, but I managed. Plus my mom had me nap nearly everyday.
February
- Oklahoma class cancelled... SUCH a huge blessing because I was struggling with the 1st trimester exhaustion.
- Stomach flu.... Alohi first.... Po'o next... Then me... Its not good when preggo mom goes down with the stomach flu. Praise God Rylan never got it.
- Flu type B... Po'o goes down and everyone is on tamiflu... YUCK!
March - April
- head back to Oklahoma for night school... Now when Rylan works nights it's such a huge struggle. We don't see him, I go into single mom mode, kids test every boundary possible. I think we went 4 straight days without seeing him awake, until we changed how life was going to be. Setting family first, homeschooling next and everything else last.
- Trip to see my Soul Sistas in Texas
- Trip to back to Nebraska to see my parents visiting my little big brother Mana, Ericka and Laim.
- Trip to Disney for Kids and I... SO much Fun!! Want to go back already.
- Homeschooling Convention in Oklahoma
May
- got to see our baby for the first time... not that you couldn't tell with my growing belly. Even got to see baby in 3d
- finished up homeschooling for the year. Decided that we would continue on the homeschooling journey and planning for the next year. Alohi in 1st grade, Po'o in Preschool, and a baby due Sept 4; right when school starts.
- red carpet bunco with my Nebraska girls
June
- let the house purging begin. Started in the basement, homeschool stuff stuff, kids bedroom and closet. I filled the van with stuff to donate to the church youth group garage sale. Sold some stuff, got rid of lots of toys, stuffed animals and random stuff you forget you have until you go through it.
- trip to Ohio to see grandma & grandpa, along with great grandmas. Kids were able to go to grandmas & grandpas church VBS.
- tornado in Ohio
- Our Nebraska church VBS help
- braxton hicks and contractions begin
July
- finishing up purging of house. Living room, pantry, currently working on master bedroom and closets.
- Homeschooling slowly starting up... planning, state paperwork, and when to officially begin.
- Alohi swimming lessons
- Alohi YMCA day camp
- Po'o and I have a week to ourselves
- learned our midwife is taking time off b/c an expected death of her son and will be helping his wife and grandchild... So now I get to see all the doctors because we will deliver with whoever is on-call; unless this baby waits until after Aug 28 (note I am due Sept 3rd and both kids before have been exactly 5 days early, also I am having braxton hicks already.)
More to come in July....
- Po'o swimming lessons
- hospital pre-visit/registration
- getting ready for a baby
- continue purging the house: hall closet, bathroom, kitchen. After this I will have officially gone through the entire house in two months. Its such a good feeling!!
That was our year in brief. If I look at all this, we have spent about every other month on the road traveling somewhere. Looking forward to what God has planned for the months to come!!
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Maybe... Just Maybe I will start this again
Well it's been nearly a year.... Maybe I will start this up again... Maybe
Friday, March 28, 2014
Wondering what your state requires of Home Schooling?
Wondering what is required of you if you decide to homeschool? This is a site that I have been directed to help, however it isn't the easiest to navigate. But it was my start. Here's is a direct link.
Something I never knew about how to get started... There are many many state organizations that you can join to help you through the homeschooling processes. From my understanding, it is like a chapter organization that will help you with legal matters if that were to come up. Here's the link I found for the state of Nebraska that has been helpful and much more affordable than the link above.
Nebraska Helpful Link
The most helpful tips I have received have been from friends & friends of friends. I emailed, Facebook messaged, called and asked many many questions. There was praying, discussion between Rylan and I, praying, denying that we were even thinking of this, more praying and then jumping in. Also, give yourself a lot of grace. Know that it isn't going to been "fun" everyday, but that's life. As we get this started, I'm praying that God lead us on this journey and that I surrender everything!
Happy deciding!
Something I never knew about how to get started... There are many many state organizations that you can join to help you through the homeschooling processes. From my understanding, it is like a chapter organization that will help you with legal matters if that were to come up. Here's the link I found for the state of Nebraska that has been helpful and much more affordable than the link above.
Nebraska Helpful Link
The most helpful tips I have received have been from friends & friends of friends. I emailed, Facebook messaged, called and asked many many questions. There was praying, discussion between Rylan and I, praying, denying that we were even thinking of this, more praying and then jumping in. Also, give yourself a lot of grace. Know that it isn't going to been "fun" everyday, but that's life. As we get this started, I'm praying that God lead us on this journey and that I surrender everything!
Happy deciding!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Other Home Schooling Activities
Yesterday I did reading up on different states require for you to Home School. I read up on every state but ours. I think after reading up on everyone else's requirements I am a little afraid to know what will be required of us "officially." I will be doing that today so I can better prepare for the "school year" ahead of us. Since I know that some states require more than others, I did decide to back log document what stuff we have been doing since I do want to have things documented. Also, I am learning of all the teachable moments you have with your kids. Here are a few:
- helped at garage sale at the check out. Alohi practice identifying coins, counting change, along with character traits like service and customer service.
- grocery shopping. making list, comparing prices, and more money practice
- playing at the park. color practice, counting steps, counting number of swings, looking for nature items, etc...
- Tulsa Workshop. There were kid programs. Puppet Shows, Science lessons, singing and arts/crafts.
- driving in the car. singing abs, days of the week and counting. there is so much you can do in the car!
- pet store. Alohi and Po'o watched two girls groom a dog. They spent 30 minutes watching, asking what they were doing, telling me things they were seeing. Also, looked at all the other animals they had there.
So these are just a few things that I have found that I need to document. "School Time" won't always look like paper work, but it will come with it. I am sure I will find more activities that I could count towards Home Schooling.
Another thing that I love about this opportunity is going on field trips. For example, the science museum, the zoo, history museums, art museums, and so much! I am looking forward to these time with the kids and experiencing new things. Also, while doing all our road trips I will be able to find educational stops to make along the way.
- helped at garage sale at the check out. Alohi practice identifying coins, counting change, along with character traits like service and customer service.
- grocery shopping. making list, comparing prices, and more money practice
- playing at the park. color practice, counting steps, counting number of swings, looking for nature items, etc...
- Tulsa Workshop. There were kid programs. Puppet Shows, Science lessons, singing and arts/crafts.
- driving in the car. singing abs, days of the week and counting. there is so much you can do in the car!
- pet store. Alohi and Po'o watched two girls groom a dog. They spent 30 minutes watching, asking what they were doing, telling me things they were seeing. Also, looked at all the other animals they had there.
So these are just a few things that I have found that I need to document. "School Time" won't always look like paper work, but it will come with it. I am sure I will find more activities that I could count towards Home Schooling.
Another thing that I love about this opportunity is going on field trips. For example, the science museum, the zoo, history museums, art museums, and so much! I am looking forward to these time with the kids and experiencing new things. Also, while doing all our road trips I will be able to find educational stops to make along the way.
Friday, March 21, 2014
New Beginnings-- HOME SCHOOLING
For the 2014 year, our family will be doing lots and lots of traveling. First of all, Rylan's job has us traveling for trainings and certifications. Secondly, I really would like to go to home for Christmas. Lastly, who knows what God has planned for us. In order for all this to flow and work, our new we as a family has decided that Home Schooling Alohi would be the right choice for us. Rylan asked me over a year ago if I would consider it. He didn't ask me to give him an answer because he knew my answer was "NO," but to consider it. After praying and seeing what is on our plate, I know Home Schooling is the right decision for us... for now. Don't know if this will continue into other "grade levels" but for now it is the right decision.
Thankfully there are a bunch of families in Scottsbluff that home school and I was able to ask questions. I reached out to friends that I knew home schooled to get some direction and was invited into many home school social groups. Let me tell you there are so MANY different ideas, methods, curriculums, etc. Research can be a good thing and a bad thing. After about a month or two of reading, internet searching and then authentic conversations with Rylan and Alohi. We decided to stick to a more "traditional" approach. I am sure I could do a full blog about the different approaches out there, but not going to do that.
Why? Well because we aren't sure if this is going to happen for just the year or continue for a couple of years. We can't answer that right now and with the possibility of Alohi potentially going to public school later on, we thought that a more traditional approach would be better. Personally, I am more of a unit study approach where materials over lap and learning is combined with all subject matters. However, I don't necessarily have the time to work with this type of curriculum, then add all the traveling I didn't think this would be a good start.
Now that we decided on a direction, then comes the fun part... NOT REALLY... Picking a curriculum. Thanks to some friends, we choose a program that is used in homes and in private Christian schools. ABEKA. 1- I know people that use it and can go to them for help if needed at any time. 2- Its laid out nicely; has progress checks, scripted, and it has everything needed in one stop. However, we have everything in this one curriculum but I am pretty sure I am going to end up using another math program. After Rylan gave Alohi a few math pre-test, we have found out that she is in the middle of a kindergarten math program. So with that, we may go through kindergarten math quickly and start 1st grade math. We will see were we end up with Math. I feel stronger in teaching Math than I do teaching reading. So I feel like branching out in that area would be the best place to explore a little bit more.
So here is what we have planned so far (this is subject to changing since the "school year" hasn't started:
1- phonics, reading, writing ABEKA program; with this program we will be introducing Alohi to cursive writing... why? She already knows her alphabet in print so why not try something different.
2- math ABEKA or Horizons (the reason why its an "or" was it was cheaper for me to buy the whole ABEKA "kit" than for me to buy this individually. Literally took me two hours to figure this all out)
3- social studies will be a combination of things. ABEKA book and a few things I have planned up since we will be doing all our traveling. I will be making a note book of all the 50 states in the US. We will map all the states we are traveling to, looking for state flag, flower and animal. (thinking it would be cool to have a 50 states passport) Then we will look at modes of transportations, along with maps.
4- science will be a combination of things as well. ABEKA book (you know since it is done and easy) and the following topics: weather, 5 senses, exploring nature and I know I have a book in my teacher materials that is 365 home experiments.
5- daily note book a mix of resources I have found. this is like a daily calendar, weather chart, etc. I am hoping to have something for Po'o to do here as well.
Speaking of how to get Po'o involved with all this, I am hoping to just get one of those big "workbooks" you find in Sams or walmart for him to do "school work" with sister. Along, fun things I can find that will go along with big sisters stuff that is on topic. Alohi does such a good job teaching him all the things she learns that I am really excited to see how this will all work together!!
If anyone is looking at starting homeschooling here's the first book I read on the matter and helped me figure out materials and curriculum.
Also, I was recommended to try this book with Alohi. We are working through it and we are both enjoying it. I am really proud of her! And me!
Here's some of the "school" fun we have been doing!
Thankfully there are a bunch of families in Scottsbluff that home school and I was able to ask questions. I reached out to friends that I knew home schooled to get some direction and was invited into many home school social groups. Let me tell you there are so MANY different ideas, methods, curriculums, etc. Research can be a good thing and a bad thing. After about a month or two of reading, internet searching and then authentic conversations with Rylan and Alohi. We decided to stick to a more "traditional" approach. I am sure I could do a full blog about the different approaches out there, but not going to do that.
Why? Well because we aren't sure if this is going to happen for just the year or continue for a couple of years. We can't answer that right now and with the possibility of Alohi potentially going to public school later on, we thought that a more traditional approach would be better. Personally, I am more of a unit study approach where materials over lap and learning is combined with all subject matters. However, I don't necessarily have the time to work with this type of curriculum, then add all the traveling I didn't think this would be a good start.
Now that we decided on a direction, then comes the fun part... NOT REALLY... Picking a curriculum. Thanks to some friends, we choose a program that is used in homes and in private Christian schools. ABEKA. 1- I know people that use it and can go to them for help if needed at any time. 2- Its laid out nicely; has progress checks, scripted, and it has everything needed in one stop. However, we have everything in this one curriculum but I am pretty sure I am going to end up using another math program. After Rylan gave Alohi a few math pre-test, we have found out that she is in the middle of a kindergarten math program. So with that, we may go through kindergarten math quickly and start 1st grade math. We will see were we end up with Math. I feel stronger in teaching Math than I do teaching reading. So I feel like branching out in that area would be the best place to explore a little bit more.
So here is what we have planned so far (this is subject to changing since the "school year" hasn't started:
1- phonics, reading, writing ABEKA program; with this program we will be introducing Alohi to cursive writing... why? She already knows her alphabet in print so why not try something different.
2- math ABEKA or Horizons (the reason why its an "or" was it was cheaper for me to buy the whole ABEKA "kit" than for me to buy this individually. Literally took me two hours to figure this all out)
3- social studies will be a combination of things. ABEKA book and a few things I have planned up since we will be doing all our traveling. I will be making a note book of all the 50 states in the US. We will map all the states we are traveling to, looking for state flag, flower and animal. (thinking it would be cool to have a 50 states passport) Then we will look at modes of transportations, along with maps.
4- science will be a combination of things as well. ABEKA book (you know since it is done and easy) and the following topics: weather, 5 senses, exploring nature and I know I have a book in my teacher materials that is 365 home experiments.
5- daily note book a mix of resources I have found. this is like a daily calendar, weather chart, etc. I am hoping to have something for Po'o to do here as well.
Speaking of how to get Po'o involved with all this, I am hoping to just get one of those big "workbooks" you find in Sams or walmart for him to do "school work" with sister. Along, fun things I can find that will go along with big sisters stuff that is on topic. Alohi does such a good job teaching him all the things she learns that I am really excited to see how this will all work together!!
If anyone is looking at starting homeschooling here's the first book I read on the matter and helped me figure out materials and curriculum.
Also, I was recommended to try this book with Alohi. We are working through it and we are both enjoying it. I am really proud of her! And me!
Here's some of the "school" fun we have been doing!
Monday, March 17, 2014
Back to Blogging
So its been forever! Why? Well there is no good reason why... So here's to starting again and seeing where God takes us!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Happenings while not blogging
In the last month(s) we have been super busy. The Vintage photos could have easily taken up a whole week when put together. Here's what we have been up to in no particular order....
Alohi loves crafts and she made this necklace with her daddy. Thanks to Christi Hays for providing the craft that she took from MOPS vintage photo daycare time.
Being silly and posing for a picture just because... I think they were in red because we were headed to a park play date and I wanted to be able to find them easily.
Park play dates with MOPS friends. That's Emily in the middle pushing Po'okela and Mattie (the first little girl he's held hands with... and when they see each other they always manage to gravitate together).
The library has had summer activities, along with a ton of summer prizes and free things. Plus, it is always fun to play with friends there too!
The story behind this picture is... I was making a corn and black bean dip for a baby shower. We had gone out earlier that day to get donuts for breakfast and then walk down town and then head to the library. Little did I forget that the library had a program going on so we stayed, then headed home for lunch and during naps I would get things done around the house. Cleaning, making dip and laundry. Well before I put the kids down for naps I pulled everything I needed to make the dip out on the the counter. My mom had called just as I was laying them down and started working on the dip. We talked and had a great time, until I needed to the lime juice. Looking everywhere... Fridge, counter tops, the bathroom (I did walk in there so I checked) and even dug through the trash can because I had clean out the fridge... I couldn't find it and my mom convinced me that it wasn't that important for the recipe. Fast forward 2 hours later, I go in to get Po'okela up.... Well I found the lime juice.... I guess he felt the need to take a nap with it and he probably thought it was a ball.
A plumber came to take care of the kitchen sink, tubs and any other drain we have in the house. My sink has been backing up a ton and driving me nuts.. Along with taking showers, and getting a small bath at the same time. So one morning we waited at home for plumber to do his thing. An hour to hour and half later sinks are better, but the house smells like sulfur and nasty sink/drain junk. So we decided to head to the kid friendly coffee shop for breakfast. Yogurt is the kids favorite... and we had the place to ourselves for a good 45 min since there is construction happening down town.
AYSO soccer sign up and new exercise clothing for Alohi (bottoms 3t and tops 4/5 x-small girls). I am super excited that she wants to play soccer and I am nervous about volunteering to be coach. The main thing is she is going to get to try something completely new and something I loved as a kid.
Accidents always happen when you are having fun. At a fun family get together, Po'okela decided it would be fun to take on the corner of a recliner (the wooden part). He has become very familiar with bonks and wants to have a kiss each time it happens.
Youth group garage sale help... Rylan helps/sponsors the Jr. High class, so we spent the day at the church helping (mainly hanging out) at the garage sale. The kids always have fun because the Gwynn's kids are always there (Alohi calls the girls her sisters, Alohi and Brody have had pretend weddings at church, and Po'o & Brady have a normal 2 year old friendship.
This week we are currently having fun at VBS... This is just a tease...
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