Math Work Sheets

Ever wonder what the overachiever in school did on school break?  I can tell you as I was that kid who always had the answer or ruined the curve by scoring 98% on a test. As a kid I used to play school forcing my little sister to do math problems over the summer. I used to painstakingly write out worksheets for her to complete and then grade them.

My sister should be grateful that we grew up in a time without the Internet and access to websites with printable worksheets. The papers would have been flying!

I was introduced to a great math worksheet website.  www.DadsWorksheets.com
Unlike many printable websites EVERYTHING is FREE.

I am going to be spending a lot of time this summer on this website. No summer learning loss allowed here.  The average child 2.6 months of Math skills are lost during the summer. Only 2 to 3 hours a week in the summer are needed to prevent this summer skill loss. My family is going to use Dad Worksheets to prevent the loss and help us get ahead before the next school year.

Most websites are very focused on a specific learning age.  Dad Worksheets covers a vast set of math skills. There are worksheets from preschool to high school. My teenagers will not be safe from doing worksheets this summer along side their younger siblings.

We will be focusing on the foundation skills to strengthen their Math ability. With Dad Worksheets I will be spending less time looking for worksheets and more time working with my kids.

Busy Nutty Mom

Summer time used to mean relaxing and doing nothing.  Then I had kids.  Now it's just as bad as the rest of the year. With no school to do you would think the kids have ample time to clean up after themselves.  All the extra free time did was give them extra time to make even more creative messes.
I could provide the confetti for a parade with all the tiny scraps of paper they have created.
No one will admit how paint got on the couch pillow.  It's red paint so it looks like they were sacrificing things over summer break.  I'm ready to throw the pillow away after many attempts to clean it have failed, but then they would just move on to kill the remaining pillows.  Plus if you visit my house you will know I have kids or a tribe of feral savages. (depends on their moods)

Summer camp for the oldest two was only a week long but they are stereotypical girls so they packed for closer to two weeks.  We almost had the youngest fully potty trained while they were away. Then his sisters came back from camp and it's back to refusals and accidents. I'm almost ready to ship them off again so we can be done with diapers FINALLY.

My husband was out of work with a broken wrist. Only reason he was out of work was because his work does not allow him to do light duty for his job.  It's full work or nothing.  Luckily we were covered by AFLAC for the accident and he had plenty of sick leave and vacation time saved up. With our 5 kids and mini backyard zoo we never go on vacation anyway.  I spent the 5 weeks helping him with everything. A few times I got cranky at his helplessness. Any normal human would after watching him play video games for hours then say he couldn't make his own sandwich.  I ended up telling him he was starting to abuse the in sickness and in health portion of our vows. I didn't begrudge having to help him shower even though he always waited until I was ready to go to bed to choose to shower.  Even though there was times he drove me crazy with his extra chattiness while I tried to steal some quiet time to read, I miss him now that he is back at work.

I choose summer time to deep clean the house, because I'm nutty like that.  Old school books are packed up and shipped back. I have the kids clean out their closets and dressers to shed any clothing they don't fit into.  It seems insane while in the middle of it all, but once it's done it helps the school year start off easily.

Our chickens have kept me on my toes this summer. With heat waves threatening to kill them if they went broody, so I had to keep a small swimming pool ready for them to wade for cooling off.  The girls have all suddenly decided they are explorers and have taken to escaping their run and walking throughout the yard. They harvested a few of my tomatoes before I had a chance to get to them and before the summer heat scorched my whole garden.  

Recently one of our girls was discovered to have a hidden clutch of eggs.  We didn't even know she was laying yet.  My oldest found her hidden behind the duck house, sitting on 5 eggs! The little feathered stinker has been laying for almost a week with that big of a clutch hidden.  They were rotten as she wants nothing to do with our rooster.

Speaking of the Rooster.  The one we aren't technically supposed to have. (I hate legislation on my backyard due to jerks that pay to watch roosters fight)  Bubo recently learned how to crow.  Our guy seemed to think he was Chantecler from Rock-A-Doodle.  He was doing his best to crow up the sun every 5 minutes from 5am to 10am plus anytime the sun went behind a cloud.  He was quickly fitted with a homemade rooster collar to prevent his call from being so excessive. He can still eat and do all other rooster business, it just prevents him from crowing when fitted correctly.  The law around here state you can't have a crowing rooster, so technically he not a crowing rooster.  He's just a rooster.  This guy is much sweeter than our last one and so pretty with his white coloring. I'll try to get a picture of him. My husband is afraid to share his picture too much as he doesn't want any trouble for having him.

Summer is HERE!!

It's finally here. Summer time!! Ok not really that excited for it as that means my power bill is going to sky rocket from running our ancient a/c unit in the rental house we live in.  Plus my husband's schedule goes all crazy from school being out.  Why was I excited about summer?  Going to have to think about that one.

Oh yes! The teenagers that have invaded my home with snarky attitudes and bitchy hormones are going to summer camp.  YAY!! One whole week where their hormone roller coasters are someone else's problems.
Magnus is going to be sad when his Morgan leaves for a week, but will quickly figure out there is one less person telling him no around the house.  We jokingly refer to Morgan as Magnus' monkey handler. He picked her as his favorite person.  He calls her My Morgan.  He calls his oldest sister, Lauryn, Mean Morgan. No love lost there. One more good thing about a large family you don't have to like all your siblings. You have other options.

I am not looking forward to the triple digit heat that we have already gotten a few bitter tastes of already.  I am one of those people that prefer to be barefoot. Barefoot in a Vegas summer does not work. I end up scorching my feet a few times every year before I learn my lesson and wear shoes even while on my back patio.

Our poor chickens are not going to love the heat. Our egg production always suffers that first day of triple digit temperatures.  This year it was such a drastic change that we got not one single egg on that scorching day.  Our spoiled girls have access to a small swimming pool and tons of frozen treats.  I would love to add a mister but Las Vegas is in a drought.

Going on a Book Adventure

http://bookadventure.com

Where has the site been all my life?  Ok, ok.. I actually lived before there was Internet, home computers and push button phones.  ::creepy music plays::

When I tell my kids this they look at me like I grew up in a cave.  It's a look that's a mixture of horror, pity and morbid curiosity.  What happened when I wanted to know the answer to something. I had to go to a library or our trusty volumes of Encyclopedia's.  Paper cuts and all.

I had plans to use Book Adventure for our summer reading enrichment. Then to my great surprise their virtual school, NVVA, decided to use this program too and offer incentives as well. Mom wins!!

I hope you have a Book Adventure this summer as well. Foster a love for reading. Let your kids see you read often and they will discover their own love for it.  (Monkey See, Monkey Do) Unplug and unwind with a good book.
http://bookadventure.com

I finally cracked the code when it came to my oldest and a love for reading.  I just had to find the right book.  What book, you ask, was it that finally sparked her flame?  War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.  I have a Sci-Fi nut on my hands.   It started as a school lesson meant to be spread out over 2 weeks.  She finished the entire unit and book in 3-4 days.  I convinced her recently to give Tuck Everlasting a try.  The rate she is reading this book she will be done quickly as well.

Do you have a favorite book from your early teens?  It would be hard to pick just one for me, but the Dragonriders of Pern series would be at the top.

Free Printable Phonics Worksheets

To help prevent summer brain drain in my recent Kindergarten graduate I have been hunting up great sites for printable worksheets.  Although I prefer my kids to study on the computer to save paper and ink, it is not always possible.  At least until I get my own tablet.  Nadia really needs to practice her handwriting or else she may end up with my horribly illegible scrawl.
Free Printable Phonics Worksheets:

Hell Week ~ Motherhood version

This past week has been what could only be described as hell week the Motherhood version.  I feel like I unknowingly pledged to join some secret society and forced to pass some horrendous tasks.

With summer vacation coming to an end and the countdown to school starting my kids have, to put it in simple terms, lost their freaking minds.  They shredded my sanity in the process.

Little Mister is in a full-blown teething fit lately.  The teething tablet were lost. ::cry::  I tore the house apart looking for them since they are a $6 bottle of teething miracle.  The bottle was more than half way full, so I refused to buy another.  I stubbornly believed I would find that bottle.  After a 3 hour screaming jag on his part and a crying fit on mine did I buy a new bottle.  It was only after the last of my sanity slipped away I gave in and bought that new bottle. Why didn't I do this sooner?  I got an even bigger bottle, with almost twice the tablets for only 50 cents more.

My toddler tornado seems to believe that turning 4 means you double up the terrible twos.  She has been on a tantrum frenzy lately.  If she isn't having a meltdown she is having a pout fest.  With her older sister's back she spends a good part of her time doing everything in her power to annoy them.  Taking special things from their shelves. (she climbs on precarious self built structures to get to their precious collections)

She recently got extremely angry (picture a cute but very angry troll jumping up and down) because her older sister was holding little mister and wouldn't pass him to her.  She tried tattling that they weren't sharing brother. (like he is a toy) When that didn't work she screamed at her sister to go away she wanted her brother alone again.  The start of school can't come soon enough for the toddler tornado, then she will go back to crying when they go to class. (gotta love the drama that comes with 3 girls)

The tweens, Are experiencing nothing short of being possessed by some psychosis lately.  It leaves them bickering with each other over the smallest things. "That's my pet shop!" (out of the hundreds they own they fight over one.. worst part is it's one of the doubles.)  When they were toddlers they would tell anyone who listened that they were best friends.  Now, they spend more time as mortal enemies.

The tweens also recently got back from a month with their Nana who doesn't have the same type of household expectations as I do. Don't get me wrong I'm no clean freak or obsessive organizer. (I haven't arranged my movies in alphabetically order since having kids.) I do have some expectations though. I now get to spend my time turning them back into productive members of our household.  I get to re-teach them that their dirty clothes will not crawl their way to the laundry hamper themselves.  We limit TV times for a reason.  They should not sneak around and watch after being told to do a more enriching activity. (like practicing multiplication facts.)  Making your littlest sister cry is not an acceptable way to pass the time.

I ended up having a huge meltdown yesterday. Of course my brother shows up just in time to see it. ::embarrassed:: I was hormonal, tired, stressed and in desperate need of a break.    Four kids on summer break and no break in sight for mom makes for a very cranky mommy.  It's not that I don't ask for a break from the kids.  I do!  But for me to actually get one I have to go on strike or wait until everyone else is asleep to get some me time.  For a while now I have taken my me time in the early morning and using it to workout.  Unfortunately recently the kids have woken earlier and earlier leaving me for no personal time in the mornings to workout without an audience or kids badgering me about breakfast in the middle of my workout. Or even worse getting under foot.. (I hurt my leg due to a kid blanket that the kids left on the floor right behind me during a workout.)

I love my kids! Just because I vent about their meltdowns (ok so them causing my meltdowns) don't think I don't love them. Every parent needs a break.  More so for the ones that are the stay at home parent. My job's shift isn't over in 8 hours, I get no vacation time, no sick time, and no pay. (unless you count payment in hugs, but it's easy to forget those when the hug giver is standing in front of you in the midst of the biggest tantrum you have ever seen)

School will be starting again. Very soon I will be back in the middle homework battles, school projects and parent teacher conferences.  Before I know it I'll be looking forward to the first school break when we wont need to wake early or use a daily calendar for what to wear that day.  (No dresses for P.E. or favorite outfits worn on Art days)

Just don't get me started on what all these schedule changes are going to do to our parrots behavior.  It's like a having a bad toddler that doesn't handle change in their schedule AT ALL. Fun times.