Homeschool 2011-2012, part 2

Our Schedule for the 2011 - 1012 School Year

One of the beauties of homeschooling is the scheduling flexibility. I have set out our schedule for the year with a week long break almost every month rather than 3 long summer months off. If Gabriel is sick or we need to take a day off of school, we can put that day back in on one of the weeks off. If Byron gets a week off of work and we decided to take vacation, I can just move our week off around to fit Byron's schedule.

So here are our tentative school breaks:

August 29 - Sept 2

October 10 - 14

November 21 - 25

December 19 - 30

February 6-10

March 19-23

April 9-13

May 28 - June 1

We will do 3 day weeks in the month of June and then completely take July off.

This will give us 187 scheduled school days. Public schools schedule 180 days.

We're looking forward to a fun year!

Homeschool 2011-2012, part 1

For those of you who don't know yet, after a lot of praying and researching, Byron and I have decided to homeschool our children! We took a long time to come to our decision and we feel like homeschooling fits our family and is the best decision for us. So, on August 1st we will officiall start our homeschooling journey! (We actually started homeschooling in January 2010, but I wasn't really calling it that since Gabriel wouldn't actually enter Kindergarten for another year.) I am so excited to be back to teaching and especially excited that I get the priveledge of teaching my own children!!!

I have had so many people wonder what homeschooling looks like for us, how we are going to do it, and what we will be using that I have decided to write a series of posts on our homeschool this week. Today I would like to focus on our daily schedule. I have a pretty intense schedule lined out for Gabriel - but I know he is up for it. The good thing about homeschooling is that if this schedule isn't working, I can always change it. So with that being said, here is our intended daily schedule for the year!

7:00 – 8:00          Get up, get breakfast, get dressed

8:00 – 8:30         Music practice (violin or piano)

8:30 – 9:00         Collect materials and Circle Time

9:00 – 9:30         Handwriting/Journal/Spelling

9:30 – 10:30         Saxon Math

10:30 – 11:00         Break

11:00 – 11:30          Grammar and Phonics

11:30 – 12:00         Reading

12:00 – 12:30        Lunch

12:30 – 12:45        Break

12:45 – 1:15           History (MWF) Science (TTh)

1:15  – 1:35            Read-Aloud

1:35 – 2:15            Screen time

2:15 – 2:45           Free Reading

2:45 – 3:45          Art on Monday

                           Spanish on Tuesday and Wednesday

       School is over at 2:45 on Thursday and Friday

Pretty full day, huh! If I don't answer my phone between 8:00 and 2:45, you now know what I am doing! (Just a warning - I probably WON'T answer my phone during school time - just leave a voice mail - I promise I'll call back.)

My next post will describe a few of these things a little more - which curriculum we are using for each subject - and what "Circle Time" is exactly. I'll also post our yearly schedule (I am very excited about that, too), what Selah and Miguel do during school time and the style of homeschool we are going to be doing (bet you didn't know there were different styles!). Stay tuned!

Meet our Fish!

Get ready for a long involved story of our new pets....

Two weeks ago Byron and I decided that it might be fun for the kids to go to PetsMart. We have been tossing around the idea of getting some fish for awhile and Gabe has really been wanting a pet (really he wanted a lizard - but any pet would do). So we ended up getting an aquarium and three glo-fish. Gabe and Selah were soooo excited! By the time we got home that evening we had just enough time to set up the aquarium and then put the kids to bed.

Well, even though we followed all of the directions on conditioning the water and getting the fish used to the temperature, the ammonia level in our water must have been toxic to those poor fish. They didn't even make it 30 minutes in the new aquarium. We spent the rest of the week taking water samples into PetsMart trying to get the levels right before bringing anymore fish home.

Finally our levels seemed good and we brought home two new fish - although we decided to get goldfish this time.

Introducing Dorsey (the one with the orange spot) and Rachel:

Funny story - On the way home from the pet store Gabriel said, "My fish must be a girl. It was the prettiest fish in the aquarium. I think I will name it Rachel - but without the 'Aunt'."! My sister was very flattered!!



I was so proud of how patient Gabe and Selah were about waiting until the water was just right for the fish. They have been helping feed and take care of them and have loved their new pets!

Cow Appreciation Day 2011

Last year a sweet friend of mine introduced us to Chick-fil-A's annual Cow Appreciation Day. We here at the Serna House LOVE Chick-fil-A. It is not really on Gabe's Gluten-Free diet, but every once in a while we let him splurge on their chicken nuggets. The thing about Gabe's "allergy" is that it is not really an allergy - it is a sensitivity and though we have seen major improvement in his asthma and eczema since starting the diet, an occasional break in his diet doesn't seem to bother him. We have read that there are different levels of sensitivity in people that are gluten sensitive and we are lucky that his sensitivity isn't dramatic. So this year we again dressed up as cows to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day!

Aren't my calves cute!!!

Our herd:

If you haven't heard of Cow Appreciation Day, here's the details. It is the first Friday in July every year and is a day to celebrate Chick-fil-A's customers. If you go to a participating restaurant dressed as a cow you get your ENTIRE order for FREE!!! Yes- very worth the slight humiliation you may feel dressing as a cow! We enjoy getting our costumes together every year and just being silly! Such fun!! 

Our 4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July Celebration this year! The kids wore their fun red, white and blue outfits from Ten-Ten (a super sweet family friend). We went swimming in the apartment pool (the first swim for Mr. Mig and he loved it!), then we had a light lunch and naps.  For dinner Byron BBQ'd some tasty ribs and I made some yummy gluten-free strawberry and blueberry shortcakes! If you are on a gluten-free diet and haven't tried out the Gluten-Free Bisquick - now is the time! It is delicious!!

After dinner we played with glow sticks while we waited for the firework show.

I also made some glow drinks! These were so fun! I found the idea on www.dollarstorecrafts.com. They have some great crafts ideas on the cheap.

And finally it was time for the Firework Show! This show took place somewhere right outside of our apartment, so we were able sit on our balcony and enjoy!



Hope ya'll  made some great 4th of July memories, too!

Miguel is 9 Months Old!

This week Miguel turned 9 months old! He weighs 20 pounds 11 ounces (at her three year check-up, Selah only out weighs him by 2 pounds!) and is 27 inches long. This month he learned how to wave good-bye, clap his hands and pull-up to standing. He is eating finger foods now and is a fun little guy! I can't believe he is already 9 months old!

1 month old:

3 months old:

6 months old:

7 months old:

8 months old:

9 months old:

Cousins

As promised here are pictures of the cousins together for the first time at Selah's 3rd Birthday!

The baby boys (Adrik and Miguel) both had tuxedo onesies to be the prince charmings at the princess party. The big boys (Gabriel and Xander) were dressed as knights - but the knight armor wasn't good for holding babies so Gabe's not wearing his garb here.

Gabe and Adrik:

Selah and screaming Adrik:

 The baby girls had tiaras on their headbands and Rachel made sweet tutus for them to wear - they were precious!

Princess Tali: (Daddy had her tiara on upside down - so she looked a little more like a flapper than a princess - but still adorable!)

Princess Charli Kate snuggling to Devon:

Charli Kate cuddling with Aunti M and cousin Miguel. Miguel was asleep on my lap but woke up and gently reached up and touched Charli Kate's hand. SWEET moment!! Look how HUGE Miguel looks compared to tiny CK!

All of the cousins together - boy was that shot tricky, but oh, such cuteness all in one picture!