Where kids can be a kid!

 I wanted to take time to share something on a positive note. We took our girls to Chuck E Cheese for all their great effort of doing their school work. The girls had a blast. They wanted to eat so we went ahead and got pizza well I ate salad bar.. Well I always forget to take camera out but we did remember to take the sketch pictures that is offered. So we wanted to share our sketch pictures sorry all no I am not vain I just wanted to have pictures with everyone. Believe it or not I hate my pictures but my family say they love having their picture taken with me. So here you go!

 I am also adding pictures in from when we went for Makenzee's birthday she had so much fun. Her birthday is July 2. So look how much the girls have changed! I hope you enjoy. Going and making memories for a couple of hours is worth spending the money. The kids really enjoy having tokens and being able to blow it how ever they want.  So cool to watch!

                                                Thank you stopping by and pondering with me,

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 4
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family”

 Anthony Brandt quotes

Hoping for a brighter future

Well nothing new has gone on at J and B Learning. We are striving to do our best. Unfortunately having a child that has mental issues then on top of that being a teenager is very trying. Specially when he takes off from house for no apparent reason. I am having lots of issues with my son. It is having a negative impact on my other children. At this point I am trying to focus on my daughters for there schooling. Because the teenager doesn't want to learn anything new. When he is home he seeking negative attention which in turn takes up all our time and day. It is very hard to ignore a child like this. 

I mean really we have tried everything. Unfortunately with other teenagers there is remorse with ours there is when it benefits him. I know I sound like a mother her doesn't care at this moment. but I do so care. That's why I home school him because I didn't want to send him to last chance school. See regular schools put up with stuff until they get tired and don't want to mess with it. See when my son was in school I was getting a call everyday for things he was doing and I needed to pick him up because he was being suspended. I never had a dull moment. As well as now there is never a dull moment in our home now. Well he also had been arrested a couple of times because they couldn't deal with his ADHD/Bi-Polar/ODD possible PDD behaviors. He would run or throw things as well as provoke children and staff. 

Well now I face the dilemma of him just walking out the door when ever he wants to and coming home when he does acting like he has done nothing wrong. Then not understanding why I am mad or why he is not getting rewards. Well unfortunately for him I am not a light bulb switch that turns off very easily. I love my children for they are all gifts from God. I am finding it very hard to understand my son. He feels at the ripe old age of 15 he is grown and doesn't have to listen or obey, but he feels I should not say anything or worry about it.  Here are things we have tried.

• We have taken things away
• positive reinforcement
• chore charts
• request,warn and consequence 
• spanking
• lectures
• writing sentences
• groundings
• bribes
• major chores
• ignoring
• etc.

Guess what nothing has worked. I feel like I failed but then I remember I have a 20 year old who is doing well in Florida. He has never been arrested, or fights,he listened sometimes with resentment but he did what he was told. When he did pull thing he was almost 18 so it is kinda expected.  I am proud I have done something right.

I have begged and pleaded for help and no one seems to be able to help. It is emotionally killing my other children and our family. Thank goodness he isn't committing crimes out side of our home. But he is being an incorrigible child at home. At this point his Counselor is looking into trying to help me out by getting him into a program that will help him. Keeping fingers crossed I want my son to succeed. The program is called AMI Kids they are supposed to help kids get back on track before they end up in prison. They help them get GED as well as character build and more.

"AMI Kids is a national non-profit organization, AMIkids is dedicated to providing our communities’ troubled youth a promising future. Since 1969, AMIkids has partnered with local communities to help our 100,000 misguided kids who have been adjudicated or have failed in conventional school settings develop into responsible and productive citizens. Upon graduation from AMIkids, our goal is to have every student either re-enroll in school, gain employment, or begin higher education course-work.

AMIkids programs are community-based with a governing board of local community leaders ensuring that the program is meeting the needs of the community as well as engaging the community in redirecting their troubled youth.

AMIkids builds safer, more productive communities through restorative justice, economic development, community service and positively impacting public safety. Students in our AMIkids programs learn accountability, consequences and how to redirect their lives in order to give back to the surrounding community through service projects. AMIkids hires locally, which positively impacts the local economy and puts tax dollars back into the state. Each program’s local board members raise funds to supplement the public dollars received."

Ami Kids has 8 states that is in. One thing good for this state it is here. Keeping fingers and toes crossed that he can get in. He needs this! I want him to be able to function in everyday life when he is of age and succeed in everything he does that is law a bidding.  I can say in all honesty I have never given up on him. That's why I am trying to seek further help. Yes this is very small part of whats going on in my life as a educator and mother with a child who has a mental illness.  But as a mother I have small children I have to protect them as well from there brother. I pray everyday and I hope this is the answer!

My daughters are strong and very sad to see their brother do the things he keeps doing. They don't want Jon-Jon to leave they love him even though he can be very mean. But we pray all through the day for all the Jon-Jon's in this small world we live in as well as their families. No one should have to deal with this. I just wish I could get our government to understand there has to be more we can do for our troubled youth with mental illness.

Through his name we will survive and Jon will be someone who wont be in a bad place. I truly believe this with all my heart.

                                           Thank you for pondering,

¹² Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ¹³ And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

 Mark 13:12-13 (New King James Version)

" It takes one moment to prove stupidity and one lifetime to prove wisdom."
Written in 2007 by Molly P., Age 15 --- Colorado 

Doodle 4 Google + Girl Scouts = Awesome

 

 

This is a very exciting thing for Girl Scouts! Click the Girl Scout link and read the Girl Scout Blog.

• …Become a doctor with my own TV show.
• …Invent rocket shoes that let you fly.
• …Open a zoo for the world’s endangered animals.

Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google’s homepage logo for millions to see. At Google, we believe that dreaming about future possibilities leads to tomorrow’s leaders and inventors, so this year we're inviting U.S. kids to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "What I’d like to do someday…"
Whether students want to find a cure for cancer or take a trip to the moon, it all starts with art supplies and some 8.5" x 11" paper. And, one lucky student artist will take home a $15,000 college scholarship and $25,000 technology grant for their school, among many other prizes.
Registration closes at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on March 2, 2011, and entries must be postmarked by March 16, 2011 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). The winning doodle will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 20, 2011.

---

New! Changes to Doodle 4 Google in 2011

• Parents Can Register Their Kids: This year, based on your feedback, we are expanding the contest. Now, in addition to schools, parents and legal guardians can directly register their K-12 students in the contest and submit their doodles. Check with your child’s school or After School Programs first to see if they are participating, since we only allow one entry per student. As always, public, private and home schools can register on behalf of their students.
• After School Programs: We are working with two After School Programs: Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Girl Scouts of the USA to register students.
• No Cap On Doodles Per School: There is no cap on how many doodles each school, After School Program, or family can send in. Just remember, only one doodle per child.
• A Variety Of Guest Judges: This year, a group of guest judges, including Whoopi Goldberg, Actress/Comedian/TV Talk Show Host, Jim Davis, Creator of "Garfield", and Evan Lysacek, Gold Medalist for Ice Skating, and several other well known cartoonists, animators and illustrators will help judge the contest and attend the final awards ceremony to personally congratulate our winners. 

What a week PLUS there's a give away!!!!

  HP office jet 6500 wireless all in one               

We did not have as much success with our schooling week. We did accomplish math and our daily scripture. Daddy was home all week so it messed up schooling as well as printer heads are not in yet. The printer heads should be in hopefully keeping my fingers crossed by TUESDAY!!! That will make getting lessons so much easier. Yep it is a techno world dang it...The world of COMPUTERS ARRRGGGHHHH..

Stepping into our house is so chaotic. I can not even tell you how much being off task can be destructive with everyday life. Well at least we got our basics covered. But boy we are missing all the extra classes we so enjoy learning the Artist, Musicians and so on. Some people wonder why we keep schooling even in summer. Oh my well if they could have been here this week they so would understand. My children get so board so easy. So they actually beg to have something to do. They look at school work as being fun not something that is a chore. I believe if I did not keep schooling together in summer my kids would be evil worse to be around. So as you can tell getting the printer head installed and worksheets printed it will be such sweet bliss!

Here's a 2 Deluxe CD Rom's - New Year Giveaway. I personally have never heard of this company. But after reviewing I really would like to try to incorperate it in our homeschooling! Hey the way I look at thing whatever it takes to get our kids educated who am I to stand in the way! So on and enter good luck to you! Here are the ways to do it.

2 Deluxe CD Rom Collections

Yes, two lucky winners will receive our entire collection of Montessori materials! The CD Roms will include all of the new product releases (Geography Flags, Art Cards, Tree Identification).

It includes:

• all PDF Files listed in our store
  • over 860 Montessori materials 
• 4 Primary Teaching Manuals in PDF File format
  
  • Practical Life
  • Sensorial
  • Language
  • Math
• Instructions on how to prepare and use:
  • Toddler Cards and Books
  • 3-Part Cards
  • Nomenclature Books and Cards
  • Match-Up and Memory
• FREE Xpresspost shipping
  
  • approx. 1-4 business days for delivery within Canada
  • approx. 2-5 business days for delivery within the United States
  • approx. 4-7 business days for International delivery

Details for entering the Giveaway

• You can live anywhere in the world - we're shipping world-wide.
• You have 4 opportunities to enter.

1. One entry will be given to each person who goes to our website at www.montessoriprintshop.com and then back to this post and leaves a comment saying what their educational goal is for 2011.
2. A Second entry will be given to each person who writes a blog post on this Deluxe CD Rom Giveaway. You must leave a separate comment on this post and provide the link to where the giveaway is posted on your blog in order to receive a second entry.
3. A Third Entry will be given to each person who includes our blog on their Blog Roll. You must leave a separate comment on this post and provide the link to your blog in order to receive a third entry.
4. A Fourth Entry will be given to each person who tweets about it on Twitter or writes about it on Facebook. You must leave a separate comment on this post and share what you did in order to receive a fourth entry.

                                        Good luck and thank you for stopping and PONDERING with me,

                                                                                  

Fences work and the walls work and separations work. They afford to any nation the delay of entry.
Duncan Hunter

Fences work and the walls work and separations work. They afford to any nation the delay of entry.
Duncan Hunter

A week of DOOM or not

We started schooling last week full of success and well this week is not so successful. Well the printer heads on my printer went out. So that means no printing assignments for our school week. But we are doing the our math, reading, Life skills, habit training, as well as their memory verse and poem.. You know repetitious keeps the brain moving. The new printer heads will be here 5 to 7 days they say. UUGGHHH the thought! All that progress from last week so upsetting. We will also play their board games they got for Christmas!  So stay tuned and wait for pictures and see our thoughts on the GAMES...
Here is the list of what they are:

• Candy Land
• Aunties Pasta's fraction game
• Money Bags
• Hi Hi cherrio
• Cranium Polar bear ABC

We already touched base on Untied States Junior!

• United States Junior

                                                          Thank you for Pondering,

                                                                       

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

Ephesians 3:20 NLT


All of life is a journey; which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there. From A Little Book of Happiness

First Week Down

Well we are wrapping up our first week back at schooling. I have to say it has gone smoother then I anticipated. We have had a couple bumps but nothing that wasn't expected. Such as life always have something trying to get in the way.

We started out Monday smooth flying we did our morning routine good morning song, dressed, dirty clothes to utility room, breakfast and brush teeth. We also start our school day with Prayer, Pledge, Days of the week song, months of the year song and alphabet song. Then we move on in to our CBH ministries talk about the story, we also added devotions for girls God and me they have different book for different ages. As for Jon we are working on "Arguing" I got the Character study from Confessions of a home schooler she has up six to print from her. They are great. The other Character studies are Obedience, Patience, Selflessness, Humility and peacemaking. I am sure your wondering why the girls are not doing them as well. Well see the book I have chosen that Makenzee begged to do has all of it and more. So over all this works out great. Then we move on to our memory verse, math, artist study or picture study, history, composer study or music study, science or geography, literature, language arts, poetry, nature study and foreign language. Now Yes it looks like a lot but I switch things different days so it really isn't to much.

Jon-Jon is actually doing pretty well. Now mind you for this being my Mood Disorder, Bi-Polar with ODD he has actually been trying to do his work. Yay is all I can say. He is my child who doesn't want to learn anything more. He doesn't want an education he says proudly I don't need it. Well all I can say is the things I have him doing he is most defiantly getting an education and he will be able to have a fruitful life outside of my home if he choose to. Yes that's my goal so I know he will be successful.

Makenzee has come a long way I am so proud of her. She is actually sounding out her words at least doing her best. She was actually trying to write her answers out as they had questions for some of there subjects. She is also making effort to write her personal best. I can say the flower is blooming she has a ways to go but she is actually starting to get it. When she gets something right her eyes beam with I did it and excited. She is going to ahead in no time.

Lileigh is a little more different. She strives to want to but she is at point she don't care or want to. She always has an excuse I'm tired, I'm hungry etc. But This mean oh mom don't let her get away with it. See when she does the little bit she has to do she gets so excited and says to me see mom I knew I could do it. She is so funny. I truly believe she just likes the attention and when I don't give it to her she does it. She is also saying Momma I want to read and write. My response is well sweetheart you have to start somewhere that's why I have you do the little you do. Then she smiles and says yeah momma I know. Just for it happen all over again the next day.

Abbigale is loving to color her papers as well as my walls, furniture, toys, cabinets and so on she is becoming quit the artist. Now if she would just keep it on her paper! Abbi also likes to glue and paste. She has also been able to use scissors in my eye sight. Mind you she tries to do everything by herself when she wants to like when I am not looking. Oh ya when you can not find her be very worried it isn't good usually. But over all she is starting to sit and be a little quite while we are doing our studies!

                                 Great game for helping learn the Sates

             Abbi just liked the timer and of coarse the cards to bug!

The kids got some really neat board games for Christmas from family. We played one this week it was Untied States Junior. It was a lot of fun watching the girls find the different states. The objective of game is to have the most cards at end of game that person wins. So it don't matter if you go around the board to finish first. As long as someone is on the board playing everyone gets chances to get more cards. You see win win which is good for my kids. We are working on poor sports man ship!!!Over all they loved it we are planning on playing mad money next!

I am praying God keeps blessing our household. That we be successful in all our areas of life! With all that said I am very blessed weather it is a good day or not. We keep trucking along.
                          
                                                    Thank you for Pondering,

                                                                      

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV)

Home schooled children frequently combine for many purposes - and they interact well. The growth of the home schooling movement means that more and more children are learning together, just not in a traditional classroom.
Ernest Istook

What is in for New Year

Well it is the New Year and we start school today! I have been reading other blogs and I feel so disorganized. I am trying to figure out how to use the Work Box system. I am so wanting to do this but kinda over whelmed. I have 4 children still living at home. 1 child who is 2 years old need I say more! My 15 year old is a child of Bi-Polar and ODD and does not want to learn anything new. So it does at time cause problems for other 3. I wish I had my good friend living by me she is in Florida (Blessings of Man) and she is home schooling 7 YES 7... She uses the work box system and truly lives buy it. I know if she can do this I can. AAARRRGGGHHH were do I begin.

I have joined the Yahoo group Work Box as well as Yahoo group work box attachments. The ladies are all so nice. I really don't ask much I guess that's where I go wrong. But where do I find time to read every single e-mail I receive from all the groups I have joined. Let me tell you if I don't check at least once a day I have so many that are very overwhelming. I am sure your asking why doesn't she get out of groups. Well if I do that I just may miss something I can contribute to my schooling for kiddos. Yes I know your probably saying 

" WHAT A MAROON " okay I am sure it is something else was on your mind!!!

I am planning on beginning the Terrific Tiger  today for the start of New Year. We won this as a free giveaway I had mentioned it on a post called A BIG THANK YOU! We are going to plan on stretching each day out! They have it set up for daily work day 1 through day 5. But there is so many cool things to learn to cram all in one day! So we are going to dig real deep and see what we can find out about TIGERS. The girls are so excited so makes it more rewarding! I actually never heard of  Download n Go before I went to a very nice blogger site Families again and he just happen to have a free drawing going on. So I thought what the HECK why not * NOW mind you I never win *  So I did everything I needed to be eligible. Which I have done several times on other blogger sights. Oh my when I got the email I had won you would have thought it was a MILLION buck. Just the thought of getting something free was amazing to me and it was something we could use for our children schooling was the best BONUS ever. I am so thankful to both of the sites for picking Johnson Tribe. Again Thank you.

Being I am still new to blogging OK I am not pro even though I have had my blog going since last February. I have learned so much and still learning. There is still more ways to learn. As we go on with this NEW wonderful year we will strive to learn more. I would love to be able to learn how to do the giveaways. That day will be so exciting for us hopefully in future. My children are in pre-preschool, Kindergarten, 2nd grade, 8th grade. I combine as many subjects as I can so we get more out of our day and I feel like they are growing there minds with learning to explore.See not stretched to thin that I feel out of control.

I am still trying to get our Weekly/Daily goals organized. Well at least trying. So far we are going to do for this term;

• All children = Daily Scripture CBH ministries - because my children really love the short stories and gives us time to reflect on our own lives how we can add or delete things in our daily walk with Jesus as Christians.
• All Children= Memory Verse- there will be one each week and it will be on habit training we will be using. We use the Scripture Memory System
• Jon & Makenzee = Math- we use SAXON - is repetitious and flows very nice with learning  Charlotte Mason Method
• Lileigh- printed sheets to help remember numbers
• All Children = History/Science-106 days of Creation Study 
• All Children = Science/Geography- Terrific Tigers
• Makenzee= Literature/Copy work-we will be dabbling in English for the thoughtful child as well as we will start working on cursive writting Makenzee keeps asking to learn.
• Jon- Literature/diction- Learning Language Arts through Literature 
• Lileigh- will be learning sounds to put words together.
• Abbigale will be coloring and singing and playing as well as trying to mimic her siblings.
• All Children=P.E.- The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Eduction game book
• All Children= Poetry- A Childs Garden of Verses By: Robert Louis Stevenson
• All Children= Memory Poem-Windy Nights From Child's Garden of Verses
• All Children= Foreign Language - are learning Sign Language and dabbling in Spanish it is not very easy we find.
• All Children= Art/Artist Appreciation- Each month will have new one we will start with MANUEL OSORIO DE ZUNIGA by Francisco Goya 1746-1828
• All Children= Musician/ music appreciation- Each month we will study a new one we will start out with Ludwig van Beethoven -1770-1827

Here is a back to school Survival Kit The kiddo's should have fun with these!!!
                                              Thank you for Pondering,

Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

Acts 16:30-33

Christians are supposed to not merely endure change, not even to
profit by it, but to cause it.     -- Henry Emerson Fosdick