April 9, 2010

Friday's Homeschool Feature - Grading

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I am a working homeschool mom again. I recently took on a part-time job. This means less down time and I have to keep myself ahead of the kids. I don't have the luxury of playing catch-up.

One of the ways I stay on top of our work load, is grading all their school work the night before. For me this takes a lot of self discipline. The last thing I want to think about at the end of my day is school work. Usually, I grade over my morning coffee during my quiet time.

However, having it done the night before gives me time in the morning to plan or do other things. Sometimes I have to take Leon to work, or someone needs me to sew on a scout patch, or I might have to make several phone calls. My morning time is when I need to be more flexible. If I've left all my grading for the morning, then I might not have time to get to it all.

So I need to grade during a more concrete time of day for me. Just before bed is perfect.

Here I have all the school work laid out for the boys. They simply work through their stack and put it on their bookshelves as they go. Then at night, the Grading Fairy comes along and collects notebooks and workbooks and checks over their progress. Magically their school work is all laid out for them the next morning.
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April 8, 2010

Thursday Tips - Pollen Season

Coffee with Me Thursday Tips

The male pine trees are pollinating the females right now. The air with thick with lots of "tree love". When cars drive by the house I can see a cloud of yellow following in their wake.

This is my back deck 30 min after I cleaned it off. I took a friend's advice and used the water hose. The air is hot, sunny, dry, and dusty with this stuff.

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It's so super fine. You can see it floating in the air. This picture doesn't do justice to the color. It's a Crayola yellowish-green.
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My tip for this fine Thursday is to STAY INSIDE. If you can't stay inside, DON'T BREATHE. If you must breathe, wear what my friend Stephanie lovingly calls the "tree sperm condom". Finally, pray for rain.
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Your lungs and throat will thank you.

Want to read more helpful tips, or do you have a tip you would like to share? Click over to Melissa's blog, Coffee With Me.

April 4, 2010

Easter Sunday

The kids are getting a little older now. They dyed their Easter eggs all by themselves. In fact they did almost everything but fill the basket, on their own this weekend. It was one of those happy/sad moments for this mom.

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They aren't too old to look forward to our family Easter basket though!
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