Welcome to my homeschool blog! What you will find here is a glimpse into our "classroom" and our lives and in this post you will find what you can expect from this blog. I really hope you will visit often.

I get up with my sweet hubby and get him off to work. (though he tries to work from home a couple of days per week--I love it when he does.) After he is off and running I get on-line and have me time. At about 9:30 I knock on the kids doors and let them know that it is time to get up and have breakfast. (if it is Tues or Thurs then they have a hot breakfast waiting for them). After breakfast they clean off the table and at 10:00 reading time begins. During the 1/2 hour silent reading time I get my lessons ready and print off any worksheets and any quick cleaning. At 10:30 we begin our instructional subjects we do math followed by language arts, then based on our weekly schedule ( Mon - history & unit studies & spelling, Tues - handwriting & sewing & computer science, Wed - world history & foreign language & art, Thurs - country of the month study & health & music, Fri - science & testing of weekly knowledge & home economics and of course the kids favorite the "Random Subject Jar".)

The children cook and clean up after lunch on Wed, Thurs, and Fri. This means that we eat hot-dogs, mac&cheese, ramen, tuna, etc.--you know: meals kids can make. We have a selection of about 15-20 meals that they can make. My youngest is 8 and she can choose to make any meal on the pink list my next one is 10 and she can make from the pink list and the orange list and my oldest is 15 and can make a meal from the pink, orange, or blue list.

All three of them alternate in dish duty. The chores around our house are rotated on a regular basis so no one gets stuck. The house may not be as pristine as others houses but my children are proud of the job they do on their chores and to be honest I feel that I can live in a moderately clean house knowing that my children are learning how to contribute and make their home a place to be proud of.

I would also like to say that while our official time frame for school work is about 4-5 hours per day. When the kids are going strong I just let them keep going till interest is lost.

We school year round. I love this because we school for 3 weeks on 1 week off. It is so nice to "get my act together" every 3 weeks. LOL The kids also use the down time to finish up any projects and pursue their own activities/interests.

We spend about 2 hours on Sat. doing a thorough house cleaning. We make it fun all pick a room walk in it armed and dangerous and clean it top to bottom. (with 5 people even the messiest of rooms takes our team only 20-30 mins to clean) Then during the week if every one kept up with their chores we blow through the house in no time.

Just like my school days this blog will have some order to it but remember unpredictable is the world of the homeschooler so you never know what you will find here.

• Monday- Our goals of the week and our menu for the week

• Tuesday- Craft of the week, kids in the kitchen, and any homeschooling news

• Wednesday- website of the week and a little humor to get you through the end of week

• Thursday- recipe of the week, a book review (no telling what book or genre I will choose)

• Friday- Sum up of the week and Free educational site of the week! Hey we all love freebies. Right??

Well, I really hope you will find something you like here and come here often.

Time to wipe the chalk board and clap the erasers the bells about to ring..........