31 days to clean

i'm excited to share about a new e-book

it's called 31 days to clean

having a martha house the mary way

i'm jumping on the challenge starting may 1st along with many other bloggers to read this book daily and follow along with it's challenges. 

after each days reading, you will be given two challenges

the mary challenge -something you do that encourages/engages your hear

the martha challenge – specific cleaning tasks

i encourage everyone to check out this book, i've linked it above

and today only via it's facebook page if you tweet or blog to spread the word you can receive a free download.

xoxox

puzzle pieces

There has been no family unity between our kids for a while now. They have been slowly growing apart. Lots of fighting, bickering, refusal to help each other, ect... This all came to a head Sunday evening while we had a serious family talk. Our kids have always been really close, but we have been running around too much lately and not having enough family time. So...we grounded them, and ourselves :) No TV, no video games, no going to friends houses, no playing by ourselves....Only family time! So to start things off yesterday, the kids worked together on their chores, instead of just doing their own. Then they put a puzzle together....together :) After a really great day of team work we had a family night. We went to tacobell (uck, but its cheap...) Went and saw RIO in 3D. Then we turned dessert into a team building game :) we took the kiddos to fro-yo, but they had to share...one for the girls and one for the boys. They had to pick out a favor together, each pick out one topping and then eat it without fighting, or pigging out. They did great :) 

Hopefully tonight it will be nice enough to go on a walk after dinner, and we plan on playing uno or maybe dominoes.....and I picked them up another puzzle :)  

There were a few bad attitudes when they first got up yesterday (because we are such evil parents....) but they got better by lunch time. For the rest of the week they have to find ways to be kind to each other, and go out of their way to do something nice for someone else at least once a day. Play time is group actives only....board games, basketball,  puzzles.

They really do love each other

The good

Just after I posted yesterday, I read a post from one of my face homeschool blogs...the post was about combatting end of the year blues ;)hmmmm..... Face palm! Okay so here goes. One of the suggestions was to focus on what you DID accomplish.

T finished 2 grades of science
T finished 2 grades of history
T is completely caught up on math
T aced all 4 of her oaks tests (state standards, reading, math, science & social studies)
T went from 4th grade language arts to finishing up 6th grade
T will be skipping 6th grade & starting jr high in the fall
T learned to play guitar & piano

L finished 1st & 2ng grade math, she is half way thourgh 3rd grade
L has learned a large # of site words mostly on her own
L has a huge drive to learn to reading & is practicing daily on short vowels
L has learned cursive
L has learned to use a computer & the Internet
L has learned to follow simple recipes and bake
L is taking a jr high- high school art class & doing very well

C has finished 2nd grade math & is half way through 3rd grade
C could not read @ the beginning of the year, he now read around a 6th or 7th grade level & is reading his first novel
C can spell like a madman, currently working @ 7th grade level
C is doing 5th grade vocabulary
C will be skipping 3rd grade & going to 4th in the fall
C is taking a jr high-high school drawing class & doing very well
C enjoys reading to his younger siblings

S has finished 1 grade math & is half way through 2nd grade
S is learning sight words
S has mastered short vowel sounds and some long vowel sounds
S has learned to use a computer and educational websites
S no longer cries at the thought of doing school ;)
S has taken responsibility for her chores & school work

B has finished 1st grade math & is half way through 2nd grade
B could not read in september, he is now reading chapter books. About 3rd grade level
B has started a spelling program & is doing well
B has learned to use a computer & educational websites
B is very motivated, quick and efficient with his daily school work
B will be skipping 2rd grade & starting 3rd in the fall

a down day

Today seemed like a good day for the kids to have some "down" time. They are pretty cranky as we have had a long week and an even longer weekend, with a busy day ahead tomorrow. {C being awake at 3am laying on the bathroom floor complaining of cramps helped make the decision for me....he is fine tho} Its amazing how quickly they all finished their math assignments after learning it was the only required work today :)

The school year is almost over, kinda hard to believe. We accomplished way more than I ever imagined. And of course there are things I wish we would have got to...well maybe next year. I battled through the year, trying so hard to keep from using outside help with the girls and their learning. I have finally caved, and we are working on speech therapy for both of them. S completely bombed the hearing screening at the speech eval....ah, she is 8 and I never noticed that she couldn't hear me.... complete mom fail. I talked to her about it, yep she can't hear me... but kept it to herself because "I don't want a hearing aid". Well, want one or not, we are going to the audiologist. Hopefully its an easy fix, and hopefully it will  help her understanding of phonics some, when she can really hear them :) We have been through a lot of curriculum this year, hoping to find something that works for the girls. In fact I am currently waiting for the latest to show up....Hopefully this is the one. They have changed teachers, she has great experience working with their disabilities, so lets hope she picked out a book that will help. Poor L wants to read so badly, she tries so hard. This year has given me some great insights to the girls and their personalities. Before this year I really thought S was just being stubborn and rotten most of the time (well she is pretty stubborn) but now the reasons why she behaved this way during school make so much more sense. As the year comes to an end, I am sad that the kids didn't enjoy it as much as they could have. At the beginning of the year I did a much better job keep things fun for them. But the more we got going, and the more layers we peeled off the girls problems, the more over whelmed I became. I just had time to do the necessary stuff. I am going to try and plan some fun stuff to do before the year is over. Go out on a good note, hopefully.

Family Strategies

Give-a-way Alert! Head over to Raising Homemakers for a chance at this awesome giveaway!

This is a 20 week series from Vision Forum {worth $85}

Topics include:

1. How to Organize Your Home to Promote Family Unity
2. How to Cultivate a Love of Reading with Your Children
3. How to Make Mealtime Meaningful
4. How to Prepare for a Year of Home Education
5. How to Take Children Safely Through an Airport
6. How to Involve the Whole Family in Family Worship
7. How to Address the Plague of “Jive Talk” in Your Home
8. How to Encourage Masculinity in Sons
9. How to Encourage Femininity in Daughters
10. How to Handle a Social Worker Visit
11. How to Wage War on Sibling Rivalry
12. How to Use Household Decorations to Teach Character
13. How to Talk to Your Children about Miscarriage
14. How to Involve the Whole Family in Hospitality
15. How to Build an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Children
16. How to Watch a Movie As a Family
17. How to Cultivate a Love of Meaningful Poetry with Your Children, and Why Doing So Is Important
18. How to Prepare Your Children to Listen to a Symphony
19. How to Take a Road Trip with Your Family
20. How to Select the Best Locations for Family Vacations

Don't miss your chance to win this!

still here.....

It seems that life has got in the way of blogging. School has taken on a steeper slope....lots more work and much less "fun stuff". I have been focusing on moving the kids forward, and lacking in History and Science. I feel so stuck in the reading area with my two daughters. I know that they have made huge improvements, and are working hard to overcome their disabilities....but I always feel like I am just not trying hard enough and am failing them. I don't want them to hate learning, through all of the struggles. As Lizzie gets older it just breaks my heart to see other kids tease her about her reading, even close friends that shouldn't be treating her in such a way. I know that God has a plan for this, and we will get through it! Its hard to see the improvements made when working closely with them on a daily basis, I am very glad that my mom was able to see improvement in both girls.  The other 3 kids are moving forward quickly, PTL. I am so proud of all my kids and the work that they have done so far this year.

Some of their accomplishments:

L has started 3 grade math, finishing both 1st and 2nd grade since September
B is finishing 1st grade math in just over half a year and is ready to start 2nd
S is finishing 1st grade math in just over half a year and is ready to start 2nd
C is finishing 2nd grade math in just over half a year and is ready to start 3rd
T has almost finished 5th grade math, and is testing in a 6th grade math level
L and S both learned 20 sight words in a week, and could spell almost all of them
B couldn't read in September, he is now testing at almost 2nd grade level, and improving daily
C couldn't read in September and is testing now at 5th grade level....um wow!
C is also show a great aptitude for spelling
T started the school year at a 5th grade reading level and is now testing at 9th grade level :)
T is on course to finish both 5th and 6th grade this year, starting 7th grade in the fall
T is showing responsibility by rising at 5:30am to do her school work while the house is quite
B is on course to finish both 1st and 2nd grade this year, starting 3rd grade in the fall
C is on course to finish both 2nd and 3rd grade this year, starting 4th grade in the fall

I know that my kids should never be measured by their academic strides, but as their teacher some times I need to remind myself that we are indeed moving forward and that all their hard work is paying off!

give away!!!

Check out Raising Olives......they are giving away 2 copies of Large family logistics.

The main points of this book:

Problem Solving How-Tos Include:

• Fit it All in a Day
• Take Control of Clutter
• Conquer the Laundry Monster
• Homeschool a Large Family
• Manage Your Family's Expenses
• Train Older Children to Help Younger Children
• Achieve Good Physical Health
• And Much More!

Monkeys in Disguise...

BOLO..... escape monkeys on the loose!

lookie what I made

{pat on the back :) }
I figured out how to make a linked blog button, yay. So now we have our very own button for you to grab and display on your blog.

<img src="http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/matz_academy/pileup2-1.jpg" /> <br /> <textarea style="text-align:center" rows="4" cols="22"><a border="0" href="http://http://lifewith5monkeys.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/matz_academy/pileup2-1.jpg" /></a></textarea>

its on the side bar if you are so inclined to grab one for yourself. If you want to make a grab button for your blog you can find a great tutorial HERE

New Beginnings

Okay, so I decided to start a new blog. My other one is totally about scrapping and being crafty and I need a place to blog about LIFE.....mostly homeschooling, cooking, being a mom and well... living in a fishbowl.
School starts next week. This year is going to be a challenge, lots of new curriculum and learning styles, and learning to teach kids with audio processing disorders and dyslexia.
We will over come these entirely by Gods grace.
I hope to take some pics of the kids on their "first day" next week, but for now here some pics they took about a week ago.

Not my favorite "professional" pics ever, but pretty good for a last minute photo session for grandma :)

I love this bunch of monkeys, and I am so blessed to be able to stay home with them and school them.