Saturday, December 10, 2011

What we're up to!

so I don't blog much. Yeah, I know!
Every time I think of blogging a pot boils over, a kid falls, somebody needs to go somewhere. It seems to be inevitable. I do have to say, it is wonderful to be almost done with this semester. I was thinking, as I took my next to my last final this morning, I felt relief all over me. I was thinking during this semester, that it was totally insane to homeschool my children +one and work further towards my degree (which I highly recommend should be done before attempting to have children) all at the same time, however, this semester is almost done, the children are where I planned for them to be at this point, and we are all happy. Even with the doula births, WIC lactation work, and the birthing project little sisters life could not be even sweeter. Oh, I know I don't mention the man with the plan, Jimmy, much but, I'm glad he's so supportive through it all.
Anyway on to the updates:
Precious: is such the polite young woman. She is preparing to be a debutante this summer by having lots of classes in between. She despises Algebra but, actually is doing pretty well in it. She just finished reading The Scarlet Letter and is currently reading Great Expectations. She has a list of 150 SAT prep words that she plans to have learned by Christmas. She is quite the author and writes short stories very quickly but, is not a poet by any means. In a nutshell, Precious is precious.
Tre': is finally learning cursive and doing better writing that than writing in print. huh I should have taught it first. He is devouring books every week. He loves to read! Which I'm very proud of especially since he's a boy and they tend to despise reading. He is doing well in math (Saxon if you were wondering what we use). He likes vocabulary and wants to be in a spelling bee so I will have to work towards figuring out how we will do that. He is studying about astrology right now and is very fascinated with it. Oh he recently figured out that he could burn leaves with a magnifying glass and this has become his favorite pass time. He's so helpful with the children these days and has moved on from washing dishes to washing pots which he thought would be more fun than it is.
PJ: lost his two front teeth. Is becoming more of a reader each day. He is still doing a lot of decoding but, is getting to the point of being able to decode without much help from me. He loves math and is learning about astrology with his brother and enjoys that. He is very fascinated with government right now- yes at his age- weird I know but, he is. Oh he is the new dish washer in the house and also figured out it wasn't as fun as it looked. He lost his two front teeth recently and looks so much cuter! Which I thought was impossible-I'll post a pic when I get a chance.
Patience: last but, certainly not least is still the Hill family sweet heart. There is no telling what is going to come out of her mouth. She has an attitude that is..... indescribable. Her uncle says she is like sweet heat chips. I think that about sums it up. She is learning some sight words and doing some beginning reading at this point. The authority figure in me doesn't like her sassiness but, the feminist in me loves her spunk! Oh and yesterday, she cut her hair ha! because it was sticking out was her answer when I asked her why so now she looks like she has lost all of her ages from them being pulled too tight or something. You have to have a lot of patience with Patience.

Well there's the update on the kiddos. I would say that I will try to blog more but, every time I say that I don't so until the next post I hope you and yours are great!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Tacky Day 2011


So today was our tacky day. The kids have been asking for a day of not tucking shirts, not having to match, and having no wardrobe rules. So, like any parent would I said okay. For now on December 1st is our official tacky day. Precious won hands down! Can't wait to see what they do on opposite's day..

Toni

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Spartan XC

Precious went the National Homeschool Cross Country Meet in Missouri. I couldn't go with her because I am on call for a birth but, after she got back I was so happy to hear of her adventures!

Toni


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books, books, and more books

We had a book fair for the Northeast Mississippi Birthing Project. The kids spent the entire time reading book after book. They loved it.

Toni




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Doughnuts

We took a tour of the doughnut shop. It was awesome to see the steps included in making doughnuts. I have to say sampling the finished product was the best part!




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Friday, September 30, 2011

Week 3

Wow, I can't believe it! It's week three of school already. Wow how time flies when you're busy as all get out. Well, we have gotten in the routine. We are doing what we do the way we do it. This week we are studying about weather and natural disasters. We have had a busy week full of field trips-most of them impromptu, of course. We started the week off with a long school day with lots of information and ended up at the Gum Tree Museum of Art to view one of Precious' friends' exhibit in the Southern Lights Collaboration show. On Tuesday we did some geocaching at the Chickasaw Village along the Natchez Trace and ended up having a wildlife study on goldenrod and cedar trees before it was over. The rest of the week we spent time outside and completed our normal school work.

Toni

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

she likes art

Patience enjoying pictures at the Gum Tree Museum


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Finally a Reader

We have a new reader at our house and yes I love it! It has been a hard road for PJ but, finally he is actually on it. Yes, Dick and Jane is sight reading at it's best but we needed to do something to boost his confidence and it seemed that letting him delve into some Dick and Jane was the key! I'm so happy to report that at 7 yrs old Preston James Hill is a reader!

Toni

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

School Lunch

This is what school lunch looks like most days at our house. Of course we have our occasional pb&j days but, I have found it takes as much time to prepare this lunch as it does sandwiches if I plan. Plus we start school so early most days that by lunch time we are absolutely famished and a sandwich just does not do the trick. What is lunch like at your house?

Toni




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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Our house, almost

This week's art project for our art class at the C.H.O.I.C.E co-op was a house with paper bags. it was so much fun seeing the kids make their own creations. We had kids who even had snow on their lawns. I hated that I didn't get anymore pictures but, here is a sample of how we did it. I found the idea on pinterest, my newest addiction.




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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wordless Wednesday 9/21/11

Can you figure out which book we read today?

Hint: He's very hungry!




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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Week 2



Wow! week 2 went quick. Sort of like most weeks do I guess. We finished the first lesson in Mystery of History. I will put pictures up of the beginning of our timeline soon. Also the boys and Little P are exploring astronomy with Apologia. We also have some supplementary books that we have been reading on the subject as well. Preston's reading base is growing steadily and surprises me daily. Little P always surprises me with her willingness to learn. We delivered meals on wheels this week and Little P had her tutu on the entire time. School for me has been a challenge but, I am using my stuck-to-it-tiveness to get things done. I am busy working on our calendar for the year. I have only gotten through December and I know the months go by so fast. It seems like we are getting into our routine and getting off to a good start for this school year. The kids love their co-op classes at CHOICE and Patience was extremely happy
about her kindermusik class last week with Ms. Sandy and is looking forward to having fun tomorrow as well. Precious ran her first official meet on Saturday in Saltillo and did very well. She sprinted past ten people in the last stretch.

Well I guess that's about it. Lots of cross country practice, football practice, birthing project business, doula babies, my college homework, etc. etc. other than that we have not been too busy. Hope you and yours are doing great!
Toni

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Day 2


Usually day 2 goes horrible because the kids figure out school is in and it's such a sad day. Maybe that will be day 3 this year. We started the day pretty late because I had homework and I was selfish and let them sleep in. Can you believe no one complained? :) Any who, today we reviewed math facts, and added our grammar studies, did more Mystery of History, and the younger ones worked on phonics.
Preston, at seven years old, is just now doing some early reading. I am so happy! He is reading Away We Go, which is one of the books in the Dick and Jane series and is almost done with it. It will be his first book to complete that is not one of the printable type or Bob Books. I am so happy he is progressing finally. I listened to all of the other mothers who had boys who read at their own pace and drew from their experiences and stayed patient. We just continued to read lots of literature to him to increase his knowledge base while he learned on his own time.

Precious, our ninth grader, is reading the unabridged version of Huckleberry Finn and is very shocked by the language. Tre', our 5th grader, is enjoying a children's classic version of Ben Hur.
Patience, our 5 yr old, is not classified by a grade yet. She learns so much from her older siblings. I would place her at 1st grade or so. She is reading better and better by the day. I didn't teach her to write last year but, she has taken it upon herself to learn. She copies the names that are on everything into her drawings as she did in the one below.
If you look hard enough you can make out the words"Toshiba", from Daddy's laptop where Tre' did his Rosetta stone Spanish this morning. "Mississippi history" from Precious' History book, "pencil tablet" from her writing tablet, "crayon" from the box, and some other assorted words. Just in case you were wondering this picture is of her daddy driving in "BIG MAMA our conversion van. She said that is her at the table playing cards with her brother.

Tomorrow is the first day of our co-op, C.H.O.I.C.E. The kids are looking forward to their classes and spending time with their friends. I am teaching only two classes this year. One is a creative writing class for high schoolers, the other an art class for 4yr old-2nd graders. I always finish these classes wishing they weren't over. I'm looking forward to school tomorrow since we had such an awesome day today. I love homeschooling! Patience says Hill house school is the best.

Toni

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

2011/2012 school year has begun!




Today marks our first "official" day of school this term. We normally "school" all year around but, this summer we were so busy with camp and short trips, we never got around to doing much of anything other than reading. The pupils at Hill learning academy decided to do the Pledge of Allegiance (which we do every school day) outside. It was the first chilly day of the season and I was wondering why would they want to do that but, who am I to extinguish their right to pledge where they feel comfortable. We are still waiting on a lot of our books to arrive so we are starting the term off mainly with review. We completed lesson 1 in Mystery of History volume I. Precious and Tre' both got started on their reading for the month in hopes to get ahead so they can earn some time "off" in the near future. We missed xc practice today but, Precious did run at the park to make up for it. Overall it was a good day.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Homeschool Freedom day!




My friend Mary Jo, started a holiday with her kids a few years back called homeschool freedom day. It's basically celebrated on the first day of school for our public/private school counter parts. I thought it was a wonderful idea and celebrated the first time last year. This year we had planned to meet other homeschoolers at our local splash pad but, I also told the kids since it was their freedom day they could sleep in. Well lol they slept in well past the time we were supposed to meet the others and we ended up braving the 100+ heat index. After 30 or so minutes out in the heat, I was so wishing I had brought a change of clothes for myself. I let them pick whatever they each wanted for lunch since I never am a short order cook once we are schooling. Of course PJ wanted oatmeal (yes for lunch, it's his chocolate-could be worse) , Tre' wanted pb and j, Cookey Face wanted a hot ham and cheese and buttered noodles and Precious toasted some bread and made a peanut butter sandwich. I had a concoction plate of all of these - minus the oatmeal. I just can't eat that in the middle of the day. We went to McDonald's for ice cream afterwards for a cool off. Once daddy was home we had a late dinner and watched movies off of netflix until everyone fell asleep. We had fun! Isn't that what homeschool freedom day is all about? Now it's time to get in planning mode. nope I'm not done with that yet..
Toni

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Checking in!
Wow it's been a while since I have posted so I thought I would do so.  I have been having a great summer with the kids.  We have been to a lot of different camps this summer including Lutherridge in North Carolina, Affirm in Ga, multiple Vacation Bible Schools, Rocket camp, 4h camp and the list goes one.  Let's just say it's been a busy summer and now we have a month and three days to get ready for school.  So in other words it's crunch time.   Hope your summer is going well and that you are having loads of fun.   Toni
 
   

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Well Planned Day

I wish my day was going as planned. Maybe if I win the Well Planned day planner from Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler it might go a little better.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Toni

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Teacher's appreciation Day

Well it's teacher's appreciation day! For some reason I really don't feel appreciated. No one brought me an apple. Actually the apples I cut and cored for morning snack were eaten up without regard that the cutter had not had one. No matter, that's what my hidden granola bars are for. shh!! don't tell anybody. Anyway, I do appreciate having the opportunity to be a teacher regardless of the pay, late night planning sessions, whining, or the lack of sick days. The fact that free time consists of sitting down watching the same episode of veggie tales while folding yet another mountain of laundry doesn't bother me a bit. I truly love being able to school my little ones. At this point in my life, I seriously wouldn't trade it for the job I used to have by any means. Any who, I found an old link on the subject and felt like sharing.
Happy Teacher's day

Friday, April 29, 2011

5QF 5/29/11

I haven't done one of these in a while. I always thought they were fun but, haven't been blogging much so here is this weeks five question Friday. Oh and if you would like to join in just go on over there and join in.

1. If you could buy any car, money not an option, what would it be?
Okay, so I'm a mom and I always think of car seats, ease of getting in and out, and of course size does matter. I would love a 15 passenger van with tinted windows and all of the bells and whistle. I absolutely love the conversion we have now but, if the Hill family grows (which is likely) we will need more space.
Oh and can it have gas mileage like my honda accord?

2. What was your worst first date ever?
I am going to totally plead the fifth on this one since my husband reads my blog and it was with him.

3. How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?
13

4. When was the last time you reconciled your checkbook?
well I guess I can't plead the fifth twice in the same post can I?
Do people really have time to do that. The banks are probably making a killing off of us and we don't even now it..

5. If you were going to fashion a "Wanted" Ad for a best friend, how would you word it?

Wanted: Best Friend
Must have children-at least three. Must be a birth junkie, breastfeeding nazi, homeschooling, wish she had time for sewing, facebook loving, android app addicted, domestic goddess who never is actually at home.
Must be willing to understand that my voice mail box is always full so when she hears my message begin just hang up because I won't get your message for at least a month. Must be okay with texting and be able to put up with me totally forgetting everything some days. Oh and of course she must be willing to be a sister friend with our birthing project. May hit me up on facebook if interested. If you are the right person you probably have a facebook tab open while you read this.

Toni


My shares of the week

It is interesting the number of links I share in a given week. It is almost funny how much time I waste on facebook in the middle of the night while I can't sleep. Looking for a post that I shared only earlier this week led me to come up with the idea of sharing on my blog. This week has been full of mixed emotions. The storms that passed through our area have left a trail of devastation in its wake. I am so blessed that our family was spared this tragedy. We spent many hours this week in the hall while listening to continuous sirens over head. I am not sure how many tornado warnings we were under but, we didn't leave the house for two days because of the threat. Our extended family, who lives in Wren, MS -one of the places hit only had to deal with hail damage to vehicles and loss of power for a couple of days. Only a mile away many family friends lost their homes. I can't help but, remember the way I felt after Hurricane Katrina and my heart goes out to the victims of this disaster. So this week's links were mostly about the devastation that so many suffered in so many states.

This one about a homeschool father of 13 affected me the most. It really hit home about the protection that the father makes for his children. Our father in heaven as well as our earthly father. After hearing the speaking in the background of that blog someone shared this video of an 11 year old revealing Jesus throughout the Bible. I thought it was totally amazing to hear that from a child so passionately. I thought of all the verses we teach our kids that follow the alphabet and even some that relate to Bible stories and I thought this would be an amazing thing to do for a year long Bible study with the children. I found this link that is sort of a chart of all that child spoke about and I will make a plan of how it can be incorporated into our daily Bible/devotion time.

This one reported about the tornado in Cullman Alabama was important to me because of our last interim pastor at our church Pastor Bob. My children prayed without ceasing that his family was safe. He emailed us a day or so later informing us that he was serving someplace else but, that his home church there in Cullman, Christ Lutheran, was totally destroyed. We will keep them in our hearts and prayers along with all of the others who have been affected by these storms.

TONI

Friday, April 15, 2011

howdy and homemade washing soda





Well, I can't believe I haven't blogged in months. so just an update here. We have been doing great schooling like usual. Trying to get done in time for June. It's hard to contain them in for an entire day now with the nice weather. I have been reading lots of bloggers and spending way too much time on facebook these days. The birthing project has me really busy as well as all of my other activities. The kids just got done with a production of Oz with Pied Piper. They loved it! I'm exhausted! which is how these things usually go. I just ran across a blog today that showed how to make washing soda, which is one of the additives in homemade washing detergent which my family, along with countless others, makes. It works good in everything except for football uniforms and dad's work shirts, which require a little more. So that's my share today. I hope all's well with yall'


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