BIG Changes coming....

Can you believe that it is already March... and halfway through March I might add. We have been super busy. I am still working part time at my husbands office until the end of the week. I am so ready to be back with my Monster full time. I miss him. It is so hard to be away from him during the day after being home with him all this time (since he was 2!).

Homeschooling- We have taken a break at the moment. Monster was not enjoying the work. I was tired of fighting with him to do work every day. I tested him. He knew it. No wonder he hated it. He hates doing the same work over and over and over... and honestly I don't blame him. I learned I shouldn't be forcing my son to do work when he knows how to do it. Instead he likes to be challenged. He has been building with legos, using his mind to fix situations, going to church and awanas, going to co-op on Fridays. Playing learning games on his Kindle and I am honestly surprised at how well he is doing. He seems more relaxed and he is enjoying more of the learning than before. The other day I caught him doing 2nd grade Math on a learning game and getting all of the answers correct on stuff I haven't even taught him yet! He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him for actually wanting to play those games.

However, starting in April, we will begin Saxon Math for 2nd grade. I am hoping this will challenge him a bit more than Horizons did. I am hoping he will enjoy the hands on approach more than what Horizons was. Fingers crossed.

We are also going to be using Learning Language through Literature- the red book. It seems fun and would help Monster keep focused. It has four spelling words a week, however, I am looking into using Spelling U See on top of it to give him more spelling practice.

Geography has been decided on Little Passports. It seems fun and engaging which Monster needs!

Science of course will be The Magic School Bus Young Scientist Club.

I am hoping to get him into a Art class and a Writing class at his co-op for next year! They haven't released the classes yet so not sure if there will be one for him.

Home Life- WE ARE MOVING!!! Not far, but we are. We are moving to a great area with a lot to do! Plus it is so much closer to work for my husband which is a big deal! Right now he drives an hour each way without traffic. Now we will be literally 14 mins from his work door to our front door! We are very excited about this new change! We pick up the keys to our new place tomorrow. I can't wait to take pictures and post once we get the place in order!

In other news- I have been trying to get more reviews and giveaways for the blog. It has been hard. It seems companies only want bloggers who have high traffic numbers and have a high number of followers. Which I totally get. It is hard though for us smaller blogs who want to grow and want to get our name out there. We get turned down for reviews and giveaways but they actually help our numbers grow when given the chance to do one. When I had my other blog it was a bit bigger, so I got more chances. However, I wanted to separate myself from my craft blog to my homeschooling blog because that is what I wanted to focus on. So I created a new blog (this one) and because I am not high on numbers and stats I am getting turned down for reviews that I would love to do and share with my followers. I am working on it though. Our smaller blogs have to grow someway and I really want to grow my blog!

Once we move I will have more time to blog and post! So get ready! With all our new adventures we have planned I can't wait to share them with y'all!

Updating...

Life... it passes by faster than you think. This last month has gone by so fast, I am not even sure what all we did in those 28 days. Now we are already on our 3rd day of March. I can not believe how fast time is going this year. I mean what happened to the New Year!

This past month I have been helping at my husbands office. I posted that before, but just in case you missed it or you are new. I was letting Monster do his school work in the evenings when I got home and he did ok but in the end that was not working as well as I hoped. So, I started letting him do his work during the day since most of it was review and if he needed help with anything he could wait for me to get home and I would go over it with him. That was not working so well. I should also mention he was staying with Grandma during this time. He was not home alone. Just in case I forgot to mention this.

Since I am home again this week we are getting caught up. I was afraid after having let him take a two week break that we would need lots of time to catch up. This morning I sat him down with some basic work that is mostly review and I went through what we have left to do. To my surprise We have maybe a months left of work to do. WAHOO!!! I know he will be excited but I am more excited. I am so over using Horizon. I thought it was the perfect fit for us, but boy was I wrong. Monster needs more hands on learning and Horizon is just not it for us. I was going through our Math this morning and noticed the only new thing he has to learn is addition with carrying over. All the rest is review pretty much. No wonder he is bored. I am so ready for a new lesson!

Here is one struggle though. I need a more hands on Math for Monster. I am not a fan of Math U See so that is out.

Another struggle is Spelling. Worksheets are just not his thing. I know I have said it before. I was looking into All about Spelling but just not sure that is a fit as well. Today, I came across a program called Ultimate Spelling. Not much out there on it though. I have sent in an email asking a few questions about their program to see if it will be a good fit or not.

We are planning on doing school year round with a few breaks in between. It is just a better fit for us. That is the reason I am stressing over curriculum. Plus, we are moving in a month. I want Monster to be settled into his schedule when we move so that doing work is not an issue.

Another update. I started a photography page on Facebook. Spotted Moments Photography I am learning photography but this is where I put my pictures of friends and family I take. So far I have done a few new shots of Monster, my niece and a friend from high school. I did her maternity pictures and then Friday I got to do her daughters newborn photos. Again still learning the ropes!

Today I leave you with:

Him. He makes my world perfect!