Our Schedule

I get asked all the time what our schedule is like during the day.  So, I thought I would post a little bit about what our day looks like at the Sutton Ponderosa.  However, this can change on any given day at any given moment, depending on what is going on.  I have the authority to do that since I have the privilege of running this shindig :)  So here we go...

6:30 Mom rise and shine
6:45 Mom workout
7:45 Bible time for Mom
8:00 Boys up/Breakfast
9:00 Bible with boys
9:30 History with boys
10:30 Break
10:45 Little man Math on the computer
          Brother has Science
11:15 Little man Science with me
         Brother has Math on computer
11:45 Violin/Handwriting
12:00 Lunch/play time
1:00 Little man English with me
        Brother has English on computer
1:30 PE
2:00 Brother has Spanish on computer
2:30 (Tuesday's) Violin lessons

We follow this schedule Monday-Thursday with no school on Friday, unless they didn't finish something during the week.  Now on three Wednesday's a month, we have ELO (our Co-op).  The boys meet with their own grade from 8:30-12:30 and they have Science, PE, Art, Presidents, Geography, and Critical Thinking.  We also have field trips on some Fridays or various days during the month and we adjust our schedule accordingly.  However, this schedule looks great on paper but is not always followed to the "T"!  Some days we are done by lunch and somedays we may go until 3 or so.  Some days Mom may have various "discipline" on various children and may cause unnecessary delays in various assignments :) But all in all this pretty much wraps it up.

So there you have it!  A breakdown of our day.  Pretty simple.  I use the Well Planned Day planner to schedule out all assignments for the week and LOVE IT.  Watch for a follow up post to see which curriculum we use for each child and subject.

The Sawmill

It's here!  We thought it would never arrive!  We were so excited the day they called and said it would be out the next morning between 8 and 10 AM.  They finally got here a little before noon and low and behold, they only brought us part of the mill!!!  What a bummer!  Sexy Man had to drive 30 miles to pick up the rest and bring it home.  He happily did it though :)  He could not wait to start putting it together.  It took him approximately 7-8 hours to put it together and by that time it was 9 pm.  So you know what he HAD to do....CUT WOOD!

At 10:30, I finally had to stop him.  I told him the neighbors were going to call the cops on us!  It is VERY LOUD!  He was having a blast though!

That is one happy man, if I ever saw one!  Love the new look, honey :)

 Of course, his dad had to come along and help.  We are always little kids to our parents :)  Had to make sure he wouldn't get hurt...

 Look at all the logs still to go and more waiting in the woods!!!  Think he will be busy on his days off for a while.

 Ten years ago, we found this company call Logosol...

Today, one of our dreams became reality!

It is the coolest thing to be able to make your own lumber from trees off of your own property that your dad bought back in the 50's!  This is just a start after one log of pine and one maple. We are officially on our way to that log home we have been dreaming of!  God is so good!

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Great Way to Shop

I have found a new app for my phone that I LOVE!  It is called Shopkick.  You open up the app and walk into stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and the list goes on.  They give you "kicks" or points for walking in and you use those points to go toward gift cards for those stores!  How awesome is that?!  They also give you points for scanning certain items while you are in the stores.  You can also link your card and earn points for items you purchase.  I have had this app for a couple of weeks and have already earned enough points to get a Target gift card.  You can download it here and get started today!

I will get "kicks" each time one of you signs up and starts using the app.  You can then do the same and invite your friends.  I am really excited about this app and know it is going to come in quite handy :)  The boys love to help me in the store now and find the items we need to scan.  It keeps them busy as I shop!  Pretty cool if you ask me.  It is a free app.  Try it out!

Homeschool Book Fair

Well, I can't believe it is that time again.  The Homeschool Book Fair in Arlington registration is now open!  It is scheduled for May 10 and 11.  This is a GREAT place to get more information about homeschooling if you are throwing around the idea for your family or if you are a veteran homeschooler.

A great friend invited me to this two years ago when I was thinking about homeschooling and I decided to check it out.  I decided that I only needed to go one day instead of two and got up at 5 am on that Saturday and drove to Arlington and stayed until it closed!  Definitely not enough time to see everything!  It was overwhelming, but WONDERFUL!  They have TONS of booths setup with different curriculum to look at for all ages.  Even some of the people that wrote the curriculum are there for you to visit with and ask questions and see if their curriculum might be a fit for your child.  They also have brief seminars going on all day, both days, from  anything about thinking about homeschooling to how to teach your kids how to write!  I knew that day that the next time I would definitely go BOTH days!  Should have listened to my friend :)

I highly recommend this book fair!  When I left last year, I was already looking forward to going back this year.  We are even taking the boys this year so they will have some input on what they will be learning and how.  They are SUPER excited about it.

Although I did a TON of research before we started homeschooling, including but not limited to, books and various websites, the Book Fair was by far the most informative.  It definitely helped me make up my mind to homeschool.  It was very helpful seeing the 100's, if not more, people there that were homeschooling.  I found out I would not be in this alone and that all homeschoolers are not WEIRD :)

Please let me know if you are considering homeschooling your children.  I would LOVE to talk to you about it and give you some general direction.  Start with checking out the Homeschool Book Fair and giving it lots of PRAYER!  Homeschooling has drastically changed our lives and I am so thankful that we jumped in and listened to His calling for our family.  A true blessing in so many ways!

 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Log Surfing

Okay, so Texas may not have beautiful beaches filled with white sand or endless blue ocean to surf the waves but we do have lots of beautiful and exciting things here.  Sometimes it just takes a little imagination but the possibilities are endless!

We had a big storm here last week and it took out a LOT of trees on our place.  So what is a man to do with all that timber just laying around on the ground to rot?!  Well, the only LOGICAL thing in HIS mind, buy a sawmill!  Yep!  It will be arriving here next week!  So you know what that means...a lot of sawing, moving logs, using tractors and last but not least, LOTS OF MANLY MUSCLE!

I went along with it because I knew I would get to see a LOT of this and how much better can it get for us ladies than that?!  I could watch him work ALL DAY :)

In the midst of all of this work, Sexy Man (yep, that's what I call him, LOL), thinks of a GREAT way to have fun:  LOG SURFING!

What a great way to have some fun in the midst of all the work that is yet to be done.  Just hop right on as Grandaddy pulls you back to the house to unload the wood!  So, my oldest thought this was an awesome idea and decided he would be next to try it.

And he's going....

Going...

GONE! HA!

What a blast!

And even Grandaddy had fun!  His job was pulling everyone on the logs and watching them laugh and have a ball.  Hard to believe he is 81 and still working hard!  He LOVES his tractor.  I think he his ready for another storm :)

So, now that we have most of the trees to the house, the cutting will begin soon.  I wonder what kind of games we can make out of that??  Maybe, uuummm, try to keep all 10 fingers and toes??!!  That should be fun, LOL!!  What a great afternoon, beautiful weather, and some awesome LOG SURFING!

Only at the Sutton Ponderosa!!!