Smiling Family

We went to Stillwater Grill for the second time in a month to celebrate Scott's birthday this time.  Stillwater is yummy so it makes everyone smile!

Hair Cut!!

Motocross Boy/Man had been growing his hair out since early summer.  It was amazing how long and thick it was in just those few months but last week, he decided he'd had enough of the Justin Beiber look and came with me to have our old friend Beth buzz it off.  I like my handsome boy with short hair!

Homeschooling While Working Full Time

I have had a lot of people lately asking me how I manage to homeschool the kids and work full time.  I thought I'd spend a few minutes explaining it since this blog IS supposed to also be about homeschooling which is a HUGE part of our lives.

I'll be the first to admit it takes some time and dedication and I surely couldn't have done it well when the kids were little.  We were fortunate to begin our homeschooling journey when we were able to piece together a network of babysitters and ourselves being home during the day when they were pretty independent but not quite able to stay home alone for a couple of years.  Now they are both quite responsible and we just seem to make it work.

One of our big keys to making it all work is this chart:

This is actually Equestrian Girl's chart from last week.  Although I have the columns labeled Monday through Friday, neither of the kids ever follow it like that.  My only rule is that all the work has to be done by the end of the day and I really prefer that at least 1/5 gets done EACH day so it's not all piled up at the end of the week.  Giving due dates for assignments was an epic fail.  It was much easier to dictate how much needs to be done each week and then let them plan how to get it done.  That's probably a pretty good skill to learn anyway in managing time.

The other key to being able to homeschool while working is the software we use for most subjects.  I've written about Switched on Schoolhouse before.  This software allows a lot of independent learning and does almost all the grading for me!  It also tracks all the grades and provides a multitude of reports include a report card.  That used to take me a LOT of time.  Now grading takes just a few minutes every day (unless a long essay needs to be graded).

Basically the kids work on their school subjects during the day and when I get home from work, we review anything that was a problem.  That's not much different than what most parents do when they get home from work - they help with homework instead.  Sometimes I am able to work from home and we can tackle a problem as it comes up.  A few times, Motocross Boy has packed up his laptop and headed over to the next door neighbor's house where Jeff ends up giving him a lesson in something totally unrelated to what he's studying but a lesson in SOMEthing valuable!

So what does a typical day look like?  It's fairly different for each kid.  Motocross Boy is a late riser and it takes him a while to get motivated.  We're talking close to noon or later.  But once he gets going, he is all work and can crank out 1/5 of the week's work in just a couple of hours.  More often than not, he'll do 2/5's worth so he can take a day off later but this also means he might work well into the evening.  Since he didn't get up all that early, this isn't a problem since he's still wide awake and motivated.

Equestrian Girl tends to get a much earlier start.  She'll be up by 8:30 and eat a little breakfast before getting started.  But she tends to do one subject then take a little break.  Then another one and another little break.  She can spread those 6-7 subjects into 8 or 9 hours or more.  But that's her choice.  She can also buckle down and pump out the work if she finds she's fallen a little behind the 1/5 per day plan and needs to get it done on Friday.

We don't get to do as many field trips as some homeschoolers but no less than what they had in public school.  It's difficult to participate in homeschool co-ops unless they have a drop-off fee (meaning I don't have to teach or work in some way) and I absolutely need someone who can drive and pick up when I can't do it.  But the thing is, where there's a will there's a way and we find it.  I will match up my kid's education to anyone in our local public school any day and am confident when the time comes, they'll be ready to go to college or enter the work force as good, valuable citizens.

Horse Show Planning vs Motocross Race Planning

The difference in planning for horse shows vs motocross races kind of cracks me up.  For months Equestrian Girl and our friend Sheri have been scoping out last years attendance numbers in their respective divisions to see which shows give the best bang for the buck.  Big numbers mean potentially big points.  They scour the APHA website and map out how far for each show.  Last weekend, we got together to plan a big out of state show.  The only way we can all afford it is to go together to save on gas and camping and share the driving.  We started off with a big show in New Jersey in late April.  Hmmm, might be too early to have the horses in great shape.  How about New Jersey in late June?  Noooo, that's back to back with the IEA Nationals.  Missouri in late July?  Welllll, that would overlap with the last part of 4-H fair but...... So basically we have planned the whole show season out before the end of January.

Motocross?  I'm not even sure they have all the races listed anywhere yet and when they do...they boys will pretty much decide week by week if and where they might want to go.  ACK!  No list?  No plan?  No cost analysis?  ACK!!

Too cute!!!

Our friend Sheri got a baby mini donkey for her birthday a couple months ago.  This little guy is just too cute for words!

He thinks he's a dog and just goes and does what he pleases.

And he has the tiniest little feet!

And the ears.  You have to love the ears!

North American International Auto Show

Motocross Boy and I spent an afternoon at the Auto Show.  Some of the displays were over the top this year including this first one for Ford where he's standing on this platform that transforms into a video screen where he's IN the action.  I'm supposed to get a YouTube video of it later...

This is a Shelby Cobra - you can't quite see him in the drivers seat because of the lights.

A very cool concept car - no side view mirrors - it uses cameras instead!

Cadillac Escalade - take to make his sister jealous since that's her favorite car.

A very red, very shiny Dodge Truck decked out with Detroit Red Wings Logos.

And the best?  A white Porche that "fits me just perfect!"

Looking Smart!

Equestrian Girl is taking Algebra and Spanish at a homeschool co-op this year.  At first she didn't like it at all but it started to grow on her.  When she got a 4.0 for the first semester in Algebra, she was quite happy.  When the teacher was asking questions of the students today and EG was the only one answering, she asked another and said, "Can someone answer this beside EG today?"  That makes her smile too!  Spanish doesn't make her smile as much as Algebra but it's all good.