Another Day in the Life

Things have definitely been busy around here. Having the grand kids really keeps us hopping. Dealing with Ross on school work and karate has been a nightmare. So, we have made some changes.
Ross now has to earn computer and game time. We are using a ticket system. He earns tickets from chores, doing school work in a timely manner and doing his karate workout/fitness. We started this last week and so far this is working better than anything else we have ever tried. With that said, he tested for his 5th stripe yesterday and we were all surprised how well he did. Mr.Reynolds said he didn't expect him to do as well as he did. Obviously working out at home every day is working. He didn't pass but was told that if he continued he would probably get his stripe in March and should get his black belt in June. He has to work hard though. He has been lazy for about 2 years now. We all have actually. Things are a changin'.

The grand kids are active little bundles who need something to do at all times. Working with them is taking some getting use to and I haven't gotten it all figured out yet but I will.

Our grocery bill is going through the roof. We are buying milk every other day and 4 to 5 loaves of bread a week. So, I have started baking bread every day. Isaiah is ok with it but Katie is not liking it very well. They will get use to it. They are just now getting to the point that they aren't hollering for Micky D's every time we leave the house. They are starting to eat foods they did not eat in the past. I will get them healthy yet.

As a whole we are working on getting healthier and changing our eating habits. Johnny got 3 months free at St. Mary's Fitness, next month we will be adding the fitness room at karate to our yearly karate. That gives Johnny and I a place to work out for cheap. It also includes a kick boxing class. NO I AM NOT DOING THAT. I would fall over dead the first class. I have to lose some weight first. This is not a new year resolution. Those just don't work. Three of us need to lose weight and the little ones need to eat healthier they are junk food junkies. I won't make them eat what they do not like but am making them try new things. Adding vegs to recipes that they will eat is a great way to get them to eat more. We are also trying to eat foods that aren't loaded with preservatives and additives. My aunt sent me an email about MSG being in almost all the foods that we buy. It is also addictive and causes obesity. That is very scary to me. We are doing a lot of cooking from scratch here. I am using up some boxed things that I had bought with coupons and I will still keep a few things like that here just for convenience.
I am working on the gardening. I have radish, lettuce, spinach and sweet basil already coming up. The eggplant and parsley are planted but not sprouting yet. The lettuce, spinach and radish are tests to see if I can grow them indoors. I will let you kno wthe results. Today is going to be a good day to get out and get some beds ready to plant in. I am heading out after lunch to get going on that. I have much more I want to share on this topic so I will try to get some pics and write another post today or tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a glorious and blessed day.

Anderson County Fair

This is how Ross did with his 4-H entries at the Anderson County fair. We have never done the fair before so this has all been a learning experience.

We also put our chickens in. I will put up a post on that next.

Homeschooling

We have been having real trouble homeschooling. Last year was so hard. We only did what needed to be done to get by. Ross did get behind. We have been trying to catch up and it has been a battle. I put my foot down this week and made some big changes. So far the last few days have been great. The hassle and stress has not been here. I think part of that is do to Ross knowing that we are serious about this and he has no choice.

These are the changes we made. The laws here says you need to school 4 hours a day. So we have set our schedule up this way.

Ross gets up and has breakfast.
We have not come up with a regualr time for getting up yet. This is something that I have started struggling with so mom has to work on this.

He starts his school work.
I have started having it all prepared and together. It is all written in a lesson plan book that he can mark off as he does it. He knows what he has to get done. We set a time that he has to be done.
We break for lunch. He is usually done between 3 and 4 o'clock.

I have never had it this structured so that is my fault. He is doing much better in just a few days. He is suppose to take an art class on Tuesdays but if I have to fight him to get the required work done then he does not get to do art.
We are pushing to get some serious catching up done and he is working harder now. So my goal is to have him at his grade level by fall. We will test in the spring of next year. I hope to have him ahead by then. I will keep posting how this is working.

School work

We are working through the summer this year with our homeschooling. This school year has been hard with all that we have had going on. So Ross didn't get as much done as he should have and it showed in his test scores. He is not that far behind but he is far enough in math that we are going to work on that all summer. He is doing great in reading but is not really good in spelling and his language art skills are off abit. But that is ok. I chose to test this year to see where we were. Of course, when I paid for the testing at the first of the school year I was not expecting to have all these road blocks. I will now work with him and will probably test again in 5th grade to see where we are before he starts middle school.

I am trying to make this next school year very cheap because we do not have the money to spend on curriculum that we usually do. I am looking for free resorces on the internet and there are some good ones out there. http://hillbillyhousewife.com is where I am getting some. If need some that is a good place.