For math we started with The Good and the Beautiful level K and weren’t doing too bad but I did not feel like he was getting any mastery from it.
After thinking that, I decided to check eBay for a used copy of right start math to hopefully add some mastery in. Now we are switching back and forth between the two curriculums to go back and review some instead of continuing on.
This curriculum is about our grade level for sure but I am using it as an introduction to geography and other cultures. Basically we just find the country on the map, watch a few YouTube videos, read a few books from the country and make a recipe from there and try and do a simple paper craft.
We do one country every few weeks. No rush for us to get through it.
This is another curriculum I use with both kids
This curriculum has
A seasonal song that we don’t do- the kids just weren’t feeling it
An emotional intelligence section that I really like. You never think about needing to teach kids to identify their feelings and the feelings of others.
Weekly inquiry – this is a short section on something in nature that they say you can feel free to explore further at the library. I try and find a few simple picture books each week on this at the library that we can read through
Literature, Literacy & Poetry- there is a weekly book to read with a question or two to ask in response to the book, an excerpt out of a seasonal poetry book ( i did the poetry at first but the kids weren’t into it so I stopped) and a letter to study from a book called doodling dragons but we already have a pre-reading curriculum we use so I didn’t get that book.
Art- some of the projects from the art book are really cool but they are a little advanced for my kids. I have the art book but don’t really use it. I do like a lot of the projects though so I think in a year or two we will start working our way through it as an extra fun thing to add into our weeks.
There is a math curriculum they suggest but we use a different one I’ll tell you about in another post
Science – they use the ‘look I’m a scientist’ and ‘look I’m a ln engineer’ books which I have but I only sort of like them. Some of the experiments are a bit older for my kids and some just seem like a waste of time.
Connections project – each week there is a little something to do to connect to the week’s theme and reading.
They also suggest some videos you might like and some supplemental reading on the main subject
One word: E. Coli
Well I guess that’s two words. The neighbor diagonal to our backyard has a pipe that likes to overflow. Apparently. It overflowed when we had a big storm surge and our backyard was flooded. The city took some tests and there was high E coli levels.
Once the sun hits the top layer of soil after a couple hours, the E coli will be killed off by the UV rays, but the underlayer can be contaminated for months! So that takes away half of our backyard for planting food.
Our side yard had no flooding and there’s nowhere near the contamination zone so our raised bed that we do tomatoes in should be fine. Also the little area where we do snap peas should be fine.
My neighbor has a row of grapes that come every year and she lets us eat as much as you want. So for the month of September the kids gorge themselves on grapes and those are still fine
Thankfully our raspberries are fine. They’re on the complete other side of the yard from the contamination
We have this area that’s already 3/4 of the way fenced off from the chickens but it’s solidly in the contaminated area. So what I think I’m going to do is get a couple above bed, just kind of garden planters. The cheapest ones I can find and some cheap trellises to do cucumbers and a few other vining plants, not 100% sure what yet.
Thankfully garlic doesn’t have super long roots so these ones planted in the above bed gardens should be okay.
My husband actually cleaned this area out about 2 years ago. Took all the dirt out and we never refilled it between being pregnant and having newborns and babies. But this year I think I will put more cardboard down and fill it for a raised bed garden again and that should be good to plant in.
We won’t be planting any root vegetables this year just to be extra extra safe.
We are also inquiring about getting a permit to tie into the city storm drain to stop the flooding in our yard but is prolific and happens every winter so hopefully that’s a process that will be happening this summer as well.
I will keep you updated.
Monday – 1/2 hour of bowling
Tuesday – arm workout
Wednesday – ran 2 miles (not an improvement on time but not much slower, I was tired.)
Thursday -3.25 double stroller miles
Friday – at least 7100 steps
Saturday – 1 mile run outside ALONE!! So nice lol did it for time 12:36! Working on that speed
Total miles this week: 6.25
I am constantly adding, subtracting and adjusting our schooling to work best for our family. I also pull from a lot of different sources and curriculums so each week I will tell you a little about what we are currently doing/using for our 2024 pre-k/super early preschool with my 3 yrs old and my 21 month old. Almost everything I do is with both kids because my youngest wants to be included in everything so I just bring her along.
This is a 36 week curriculum. Each week there is a section for Nature study, math and science (which is anything from counting blocks to talking about sunscreen safety and use.), art, music, community/kindness, literature/read together and kitchen classroom.
We usually at least touch on the nature ( we have other nature curriculums), the math and science are hit or miss for us sometimes we do it and sometimes we don’t (we have other math and science curriculums).
I love the art and music sections. This is broken down into 4 week chunks and in each chunk you learn about a different artist and musician.
Community/kindness is hit and miss for me. Most of them we don’t do. I enjoy the literature selections and we cook together anyways, I wish the kitchen classroom gave you suggestions.
Getting back to school and routine after the holiday chaos
This was our first full week back.
Monday
Tuesday
We did a pond study
Thursday – we studied spiderwebs
Friday
There was also gymnastics, a trip to the library, letter recognition, a little math and so much more thrown in.
The week went much smoother than I thought it would. We did have normal young kid tantrums and issues like that but the school part went great!
And somehow another year is coming to an end. So many great memories:
I ran 351.6 miles this year, my highest mileage ever. I am very proud of that. Marathon/half Marathon training was a BIG contributor to that so as much as I would love to say I want to strive for even more in 2024 I don’t know that that is realistic. We shall see. We will call that a thought to keep in my head rather than a goal.
Unfortunately with all that running I did not lose a single pound. I will take a saying from a podcast I have been listening to called ‘Homeschool Together’ when they talked about their fitness and weight loss journey is “you cannot outrun your fork” And I literally did not outrun my fork.
I have two major problems that are probably tied for first place. 1) portion size 2) eating out.
My biggest not resolution or even necessarily goal, but lifestyle change for 2024 and onward is to really tackle those two issues. My portion control and to stop eating out, especially fast food.
My 3-year-old has discovered he loves fried rice from Panda Express and both my kids like most children love nuggets and fries from McDonald’s. So they are constantly asking for this. Well, my three-year-old is constantly asking for this. I say no a lot but even once a week adds up very fast. There is hardly a week where we don’t drive through someplace at least once.
My two big tools to help with these changes are my daily step goal and calorie tracking.
It is amazing how many days I don’t get over three or four thousand steps a day even chasing after two kids. So it’s time for me to start being really intentional with my steps and my movement. I started this about a week ago and I missed one day which was yesterday when I felt like death. Because yes we are all sick AGAIN. And both kids have ear infections AGAIN!
I’m not sure anybody enjoys calorie counting. It can be tedious, but honestly calories in calories out is how you lose weight especially in the beginning. As my weight goes down, I may focus a little more on macros and the amount of protein I take in and things like that, but it’s time to just put on my big girl panties and countless calories. I’m not going to be incredibly tedious about counting my calories. Like every single bite that goes in my mouth will probably not be tracked perfectly. But big picture tracking is what I’m going for so that it’s sustainable and honest.
I do have fitness goals like most people. It’s not so much about the new year’s resolution, it’s just the next phase in my life. Currently I have Beachbody on demand. I’m going to be canceling that before it renews I think in April because it’s just not working for me right now. 30 minute workout videos are difficult for me to get through with the kids. They are running around jumping on me which is fun and funny but makes it difficult to get a true workout in and 30 minutes is a long time to ask them to let me be at this age unless I get up before them. But at least one of my kids is usually up by 6:30 in the morning so getting a workout in and showering before they get up is probably not sustainable. I am going to try and look for like a 15 minute weight workout that I can do. I think that’s a much more realistic time frame for me. And I’m going to continue running with kids and without them. My current goal is going to be to get my mile time down and then increase the amount of miles that I can do at that time frame.
Because my running has been so stop and start since the half marathon between coming home and resting a little bit and ALL the sickness that we have had my current mile time with the double stroller, because I’m doing run walk intervals, is 17 minutes and without the double stroller the last time I clocked a mile I think I was around 12:40. I would love to get down to at least a 10 minute mile and be able to sustain that for about 3 miles and then eventually continue to decrease that. If I can get down to like a 9 minute mile that would be freaking amazing but I have to be realistic with myself too and see how it goes.
I will NOT be staying up until midnight tonight to watch the ball drop so HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Sunday – dynamic recovery
This did not feel dynamic hahahah the kids were all over me and clingy.
Monday – 3 miles + 1.5 miles of walking after while they slept
Tuesday – 3.5 miles+ 1.5 miles walking while they slept
Wednesday – lower body
Thursday -upper body
Friday – full body burn
Saturday -2 miles (1 for time and 1 with some sprints)
I forgot to take a picture
Whew! It has been a long 2 weeks! Lots of traveling, lots of fun and lots of exhaustion. I’ll update you over the next few days.
First, if I didn’t tell you I decided to drop down to the half marathon because the full was just too hard on my body this soon after birth. (My youngest isn’t even 18 months) my hips and tendons would hurt so bad after my long runs it just wasn’t worth it.
I arranged for an Uber ahead of time to make sure I had one and relieve that stress…..boy was that expensive.
I got there an hour before my start time, I got to watch the bike race and marathon take off.
I forgot how many people are in huge races like this. They said over 18.000 between the marathon and half. It’s just too many people. This taught me I prefer the small races. Every port-a-potty I used was out of toilet paper! There were maybe 7 or 8 waves to accommodate all the runners leaving every 5 minutes so my 730 start turned to a 755 start.
And we were off!!!! I always tell myself over and over at the beginning of a race ‘run your own race’ to try and prevent myself from going out too hot.
The water stations were using hoses to fill from a big truck which didn’t really work because different tables would run out of water and be calling for the hose and it was not the most organized of water stations.
I enjoyed the first half of the race a lot. But then because we started at 7:30. it. got. hot. I’m a slow runner and I didn’t finish until just after 11:00 since I didn’t start until almost 8:00 and it was so hot. I was sweltering and people were dropping like flies.
All in all the Long Beach marathon is a great race, but it’s not for me.
Trailing the blonde 