Homeschool

 We have been homeschooling for eight years. It seems the homeschool journey is ever changing.

 Homeschool seems to be more accepted now, but there are some who still judge. I think every child is unique and for some children the best option is public school, while others the best option may be homeschool. I think instead of looking down on anyone for their decisions, we should encourage and support one another. 

There are so many opinions on which curriculum is the best. Truth is the best curriculum is going to look different for each family. I knew I wanted a Christian based curriculum. The curriculum I chose thought Kindergarten should be more about learning through play than worksheets. I knew Maddy would not do well if I gave her a bunch of worksheets each day. That also felt too much like public school. I wanted her school experience to be as fun as possible. 

I feel like homeschool is a lot of trial and error. When we first started, I thought we had to use everything the curriculum suggested. It took me a year to realize that not everything within the curriculum was best for Maddy and we would need to mix and match curriculum. 

Another question I see a lot is if it is possible to homeschool as a single working mom. My answer to that is yes, it is absolutely possible depending on your schedule. I am a single working mom, but I work from home. If you work outside of the home, I would say it is still possible, but a lot more difficult. The older Maddy gets, the more she does on her own. Her curriculum has a lot of reading. I used to read those to her. Now she does all the readings. The only thing we do together is English, Spelling, and Bible. 

Her biggest struggle in school has been math. We have tried a total of three different math curriculums. She still hates math, but she has found Teaching Textbooks to be the best so far. Teaching Textbooks teaches the lesson and then they work through about 22 problems. This program has taken a lot off of me and I love the fact that it grades them. Each day I get an email that lets me know what lesson she completed and her grade. We chose to go with the 4.0 version, which is the app. We both love the flexibility of doing math anywhere. 

Her bible changes each year. This year she is working in the book of James and has an inductive bible study called Boy Have I Got Problems. I am enjoying this study as this year has been extremely hard for some reason. The book goes through problems, and they use the bible to help find the answers.

For spelling we use Spelling Power. We have tried a few spelling curriculums as well, but we came back to this one. Public school doesn't typically have spelling in sixth grade. I chose to continue spelling because she misspells words she shouldn't. I have learned she gets careless sometimes. She has always been good with spelling. Once she stops making careless mistakes, we will drop spelling. Spelling Power is not your typical spelling curriculum. Every day you give a test and only work on the words that are misspelled. The misspelled words are then retested the next day. At the beginning of the year a placement test is given. She tested a grade and a half above her actual grade level. 

English is part of our mix and match curriculum. We use BJU. BJU alternates between learning grammar and writing. We have a separate writing curriculum, so we usually skip those lessons. I think BJU does a great job of teaching the concepts, but I feel like they review a little too much of previous concepts. I may be looking to change curriculums in the near future. I am also thinking about online English classes. BJU offers this, but there is a significant price difference. 

For writing we use IEW. This is a 24-week writing curriculum. This curriculum comes with DVDs to teach the lesson. The video is broken up over two days, and then the student uses the rest of the week to write their paper. This curriculum also comes with Fix-It-Grammar, and they learn the grammar rules that are taught in the video. 

Her art curriculum is also different than what her main curriculum suggests. This year we purchased Artistic Pursuits. Maddy hated art. The art that came with her main curriculum was art history. It did teach some art concepts, but not what she wanted to learn. She has really enjoyed this year's art, so we will stick with it.

Maddy chose to learn Spanish when she first started school. I chose to use La Clase Divertida curriculum. This is another video-based curriculum. I have been trying to learn along with her, but I haven't been able to keep up. I highly recommend this curriculum.

My advice in picking curriculum is to watch reviews of the ones you are interested in. YouTube has been extremely helpful. Once I find a curriculum I'm interested in, I will go to YouTube to see if there are any flip throughs or reviews. There are also conventions you can go to that allow you to look through books. I went to one, but the curriculum I was interested in wasn't there. The convention is how I found her Spanish curriculum, and for that I am very thankful.

History, Science and Social Studies are included with her main curriculum. 

My Cleaning Schedule

 Cleaning has always been a struggle for me. I have tried a few different schedules. I used to only clean on Sunday. Over the years it proved to not work. I would barely make any headway. I then turned to FlyLady. Her method is to clean only for fifteen minutes at a time. It is a great method, but your house should already be straightened before using her methods. Mine was not and again I was not really getting anything clean. I then turned to Pinterest. I'm not really sure what method or who I followed, but I finally found a schedule that worked for me.

I know after work I will not feel like cleaning, so I decided to use my lunch and breaks to get the cleaning done. On Monday I vacuum the whole house and Maddy cleans the toilet.

Tuesday, I tackle the kitchen. I clean off the kitchen table and wipe down the counters and appliances. I am also supposed to clean the tub, but I have had a hard time doing this every week. Maddy is responsible for cleaning the bathroom sink and mirror. She is an expert mirror cleaner. 

On Wednesday I clean out the fridge and clean the kitchen garbage can. Maddy matches socks.

Thursday is laundry day as well as sweeping the kitchen floor. Maddy alternates between sweeping and mopping the bathroom floor. 

Friday, I mop the kitchen floor. Maddy gets her room cleaned and makes her bed. I am not someone who makes their bed and have never enforced Maddy to make her bed. We both love getting into a nice made bed, but not enough to do it every day. We decided we would make our beds once a week and thought Friday was the perfect day to it.

Maddy has the weekends off from chores. She is still responsible for cleaning up after herself, but that is all. 

The only chore I do every day are dishes. Due to the way our meal plan works, there is a day or two I don't have to wash dishes.

I have one more laundry day on Sunday. I only do one load of laundry on my scheduled laundry day. The only exception is when I am washing darks. On days I am washing darks I separate the jeans from the darks. Needless to say, I hate when it is time to wash darks. 

That is my basic cleaning schedule. I have been using this schedule for over a year. I tried other schedules, but the order did not make sense to me. 

On top of the basic cleaning schedule, I add in the FlyLady daily missions. The missions circulate between the different rooms in a house and are designed to help declutter. This is when I get dusting done as well. My house is not spotless as I do not dust every week. Everybody has days or weeks where they are struggling to get anything done. On those days or weeks, I just use my basic cleaning schedule. 

Planner Stickers

 A few years ago, I learned it was possible to make your own planner stickers. I used to spend way too much money on stickers. I love the look of a decorated planner, but I can't always afford it. I decided to invest in the Silhouette Cameo and try to cut down costs. 

I had no idea the learning curve that was involved in creating stickers, and to be honest I am still learning. I purchased some designs from the design store, but they were not good quality. I have since learned that a lot of people purchase designs off Creative Market or Etsy. 

In order to learn how to navigate the design studio, I followed along with Shay Budgets on YouTube. After making my first set of stickers, I put my machine away. I pulled it back out recently and had to relearn how to make stickers. It is a long process in the beginning, but just like everything else I can tell it will get easier over time. I spent an entire Saturday trying to make stickers. I ended up going basic and made a February monthly sheet.

There are some adjustments I want to make, but for my first sheet I was pretty proud. I still want to learn where the Happy Planner gets their designs. If I can figure that out, I think I can quit paying so much for sticker books. 

Maddy has requested Marvel sticker kits, but I am having an even harder time finding those designs. 

Be Mine

 Valentine's Day was a little abnormal for us. This is the first year Maddy did not get some kind of stuffed animal with a huge bag of candy. 

This was the extent of Valentine's Day. Maddy's main gift was Spider Man No Way Home DVD. We waited until after Christmas to see this movie, but it did not disappoint. It was everything we hoped it would be. 

I didn't realize at the time I preordered it that it would not be available until around March. Once I realized, I had to come up with a plan B. Plan B was to go see Uncharted. She did get candy, but she got to pick it out and she chose to get a big bag of the Reese's Hearts & Miniatures. She also picked out a Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolate box.

She handmade me a card and it definitely made me cry. I will keep the inside private but had to share her adorable dachshund drawing.

She also decided to do a little decorating.

I love hearts just about as much as I love dachshunds. 

I got a huge kick out of this. This is my work chair. She was a little disappointed we had work and school on Valentine's Day. I personally feel we should get all holidays off with pay, but that's just me.

My parents came by on Sunday to give us some treats. My mom makes us chocolate covered strawberries every year. I so look forward to them as well!

My dad always brings us a rose as well. I unfortunately failed at taking pictures this year, but I found one from last year.

We ended the night with pizza and My Girl. 

Marley & Me

 I wanted to write about our dog Marley for our memory's sake. 

It was extremely difficult when we lost Manny. Coming home from Disney to an empty house was gut wrenching. I was on a search to help fill the void we were feeling. I don't remember the exact date I found Marley on Facebook, but I think it was on a Wednesday, four days after we got home.

This was the picture that stole my heart. After getting in touch with the rescue group, we set up a meeting to meet him. I can't remember a lot of details, but I do remember telling Maddy I had a surprise for her. She was extremely confused when we pulled up to someone's house. Once she saw the puppies, I'm pretty sure she figured it out. Marley was so adorable, and I knew he was the one for us. My mom went with us, and she fell in love with Marley's brother and next thing we know we are walking out with two puppies.

This is how they rode in the car.

I didn't know at the time, but my heart was not ready to get attached to another dog. I was still grieving and refused to get attached to Marley.  Over time he worked his way into my heart and now I can't even imagine life without him. Being a dog mom is hard. They are with you for only a short time, and it breaks my heart saying goodbye.

Marley is extremely smart and was eager to learn as a puppy. He went through puppy school at PetSmart. He did fantastic, it was me that struggled lol.

Marley loves his toys. He is the first dog I've owned that loves to play. One of his favorite toys was a purple bone that squeaks when it is pushed. He walked around the house with it in his mouth just squeaking it over and over. Sadly, he put a hole in it, and we had to throw it away. The look on his face was devastation when his bone went in the garbage. I felt so bad for him that we went out to get him a new one. They did not have purple, so we had to get him a pink one. It took him a while to love it like his purple one, but he has since broken it in.

Marley's other favorite toy is his giggle ball. Had I known he would pick up the hard ball and ram it into things, I never would have bought it for him. He looks like he is going bowling when he runs with it. 

He loves bed! When I get off of work he immediately runs to bed. Apparently, I go to bed a lot after work lol.

He loves getting to go to the park.

He also loves to bury his nose and snuggle up in blankets.

He hates wearing clothes but will suffer through it if it means he gets to go.

He always sleeps with a toy. 

He steals our pillows so he can sleep on them. He even has his own pillow, bed, but he chooses ours.

He loves Christmas time. He has learned through Christmas to get excited over any and all packages. 

One of our favorite things about Marley is he actually smiles.

What I'm Watching

 I thought I would do something a little different and share any shows and movies we watched in January. I see so many people asking for recommendations on social media, so I thought I would share ours.

• Grey's Anatomy
• All Rise
• 9-1-1
• Big Sky
• This is Us
• Law & Order: SVU
• Secrets of Sulphur Springs
• Flash
• Bella and the Bulldogs
• Bunk'd
• Malibu Rescue the Next Wave
• Pets United
• Pants on Fire
• Family Reunion
• Greater
• Chicago Med
• New Girl
• Journey 2
• Fuller House
• The Unforgivable
• Red Notice
• LMN movies

I'm sure there are things I've missed. Our watch list is probably more than most because we are home a lot. I get through my workdays by alternating between music and tv. Once Maddy is done with school she relaxes by watching tv.

Happy Friday!

Washington, D.C.

 We went to D.C. on July 10, 2018. The trip took about ten hours from our house. The drive was pretty boring and seemed to take forever. 

Is it even a road trip without posting to social media along the way?

Driving in the city was very interesting. The lanes went from going straight to all of a sudden, it's now a turn lane. The drivers honk a lot, but they do at least let you over when you have your blinker on. Siri struggles just about as much as I do in getting us to our destination. Trying to get to our hotel took a good thirty minutes of us circling around the block. 

We stayed at Hotel Herrington. The reviews stated the rooms were outdated but overall, it was a nice hotel. I chose this hotel because funds were very limited, and I knew we would need to walk everywhere. The hotel is .8 of a mile from the White House. With exception of the zoo, the furthest we would have to walk is 1.8 miles. The hotel has a parking garage that is about two blocks from the hotel itself. The front desk staff were decent. The rooms were very outdated. I saw a recent suggestion state to bring an extension cord if you stay there, and I one hundred percent agree. My phone charger did not reach the bed. My main issue with this hotel is the housekeeping staff. On our check out day they tried to come in our room. That was my fault for not putting the do not disturb sign on the door. When I opened the door, she chewed me out for not putting the sign on the door and demanded I put it on the door. I told her ok, but she would not leave until I put the sign on the door. I felt like a little kid getting in trouble by my parents and was appalled that a staff member would talk to a guest in the manner she was. She later realized when we brought our suitcases out that we were actually checking out. She was nicer to us and asked if we were checking out and I just shook my head yes and kept walking. The location of the hotel is phenomenal. Had we not had the incident with housekeeping I would stay there again. If we ever make it back to D.C., we will make sure to have funds to stay at the nicer hotels within the area.

The hotel provided maps of the city, which were very helpful. 

We had very limited time, so once we got our bags to the room we immediately went exploring. The main reason we chose to go to D.C. is because Maddy had been learning a little about the United States in school. She learned about the Washington Monument and how the United States came to be. We viewed this as a field trip and were excited to see in person the things we learned about in books.

The one thing we were not prepared for was how hot it was. Tennessee gets hot and has bad humidity, but D.C. definitely beat it hands down.

Maddy was disappointed in the White House. She expected it to be white, not a cement color. I tried to get us tickets inside the White House before we left, but I was too late in requesting. I have no idea how far in advance you have to request them, but a month was not enough time.

After seeing the White House, we ventured to the Washington Monument. It was so hard to get a picture of us with the monument in the background. 

We were thrilled when we found we could stick our legs in the water. The water was cold, but as hot as it was it felt really good. I could have stayed there the rest of the day and been fine. It was so peaceful there. 

After cooling down a bit we were ready to venture on. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial where they were having some kind of event. 

Maddy was beyond ready for a drink, so after watching for a little bit we went on to find a drink stand. I'm sure I sound dramatic, but the lemonade was a lifesaver. 

On our way back towards the hotel I heard the announcer state the Vice President Joe Biden and his wife were there. I immediately stopped to try to see him. Again, it doesn't matter how you feel about the people in office, it is not every day you are in the company of a previous Vice President. We couldn't see him, but we did hear him speak. 

Funny story time, although it may not sound too funny. We were carrying our lemonade on the way back. While waiting on the crosswalk light in front of the White House to let us go, I felt a surge of something cold and wet. I gasped and looked down to see what happened. Maddy was dying laughing. Her cup slipped out of her hand and spilled all over me. As I looked around us people were also laughing at the incident. All I could get out was the fact that I had no extra shoes, and we were going to have to wait to eat until I dried off. To this day we still laugh about that incident. The heat helped dry my shoes off, so we were able to get food.

I don't remember the name of this pizza place, but I do remember it was really good. I think this was &pizza. 

This was the Museum of the Bible. It is a three-story building. They have a small kid's area where the kids can run around and play. We did go to the kid's area, but I didn't get any pictures or videos.

On check out day we were going to attempt to walk to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. It would have been about a thirty-minute walk one way. Maddy was getting too hot, and we hadn't made it very far. At that point we decided we were just ready to head home.

We loved visiting D.C. There are places we still want to visit there and would love to go back during the Fourth of July weekend. 

Even though we weren't planning to visit all fifty states at this point, we are adding it to our done list.