Finally a post

If I was more patient I would have all new pictures to show you. Pictures that are uploading right now I hope. They are taking a long time so I'm not sure they will make it. :)
So, in honor of Lily's 10 months on this earth we will look at the first couple of months again.

We've been busy lately. We are back to following a lot of suggestions in The Well Trained Mind. Karly and Kelsie are working through CLE Math and LA and we are adding in for them Writing With Ease 1, First Language Lessons 3, and either All About Spelling or Spelling Workout. We will work quickly through WWE 1 as I just want to get them used to the type of copywork, narration, and dictation we will be using. FLL is to give them some supplemental work in areas they need more work in. I'm torn with spelling for them. I think AAS might be a better program but I think SWO would fit better with our family right now.

We are also going to work through Grammar stage Earth and Space Science as directed by TWTM. I decided to use Story of The World Volume 2 for everyone. Right now I am asking the questions in the AG and writing down every one's answers. Then, Karly and Kelsie copy what I wrote. Soon I will have Karly and Kelsie write the answers to the questions in complete sentences. We are making it work.

Around the house things are changing slowly but surely. My room was clean, but now it has accumulated stuff again. I don't really know what is up with this. I need to figure it out.

I am working on my closet this week. I will start by taking everything out. I am doing this because I had to make a late night run to Walmart last night to get pants for Jonathan's suit because his pants were missing.

I am making room to keep every ones dress clothes and shoes in my closet. I am so tired of missing Sunday shoes, tights, socks, slips, sweaters, ties... so now Sunday clothes will be in my closet and we will decide what to wear the night before.

Also for some reason there is a pile of clean clothes in the corner of my closet. Usually I hang everything up when it comes out of the dryer so... I'm not sure where this pile of clothes came from.

We were given 11 diaper boxes full of clothes from 6m to 24m for Lily. I sorted through all of them and now I have a stand alone closet full of clothes arranged in boxes by date. I also boxed up her clothes she's outgrown and I need to make room in the corner of my closet for these boxes. We really have no where else to store them and I do want to hold onto some of them.. just in case. :)

Last Sunday was our last Sunday at the church we have been at for the past 10 years. Well it's actually a split off from the church we went to right after we got married. This church has been around for about 5 years. But it's a lot of the same people. It was hard, but it was such a God thing. About 6m ago God really started showing us that we really needed to expose our kids to families who were more like us. The past few months have brought some things to our attention and we started really praying about a more family oriented church. Then a few weeks ago I noticed a church up the street was changing their name and it indicated it might be more family oriented. I went online and sure enough they worship together as a family. They do have age segregated Sunday School but they do not have a youth group. They are also reformed and the Preacher's preaching is more expository. All things I love. We listened to some of his sermons and were impressed. Some friends of mine go there and she answered a lot of my questions. Next Sunday we will visit there. I'm very excited. I am leaving a denomination I have been a part of since birth, but I totally agree with everything in their statement of faith.

It's a new adventure, but God has really been leading us in this direction. I can't wait to see what happens!!

I hope you all had a great Easter!!

LOVE!

How many times do I have to go through this?

"I'm done!" "I can't do this anymore!" "I'm just going to send them all back to school!"
The past few months have been filled with these phrases. It's been hard. You all know that. I have whined about it plenty. You also know I am heading out of the slump and into a new day. My love for homeschooling, homemaking, mothering, and all that goes with it is back.
Want to know what I am figuring out?

We ordered the CLE books at the level *I* wanted the children to be at.
Tomorrow we will do the diagnostic testing CLE recommends to figure out where you *should* place your children.
I LOVE CLE so far but I have to face it, my kids are really, really, really far behind where they should be. Did I mention it's been a rough 2 years?
Tomorrow I will take a deep breath and deal with it. That's step one to getting my kids education back on track.



The next step REALLY surprised me. You see, I have gone astray from my original homeschooling goals. I have wandered away from where I found my passion for homeschooling. I decided it was too hard and too much work to follow the plan.
Now, I am swimming upstream and kicking myself.
As I read through the Well Trained Mind boards I realized what I realized back in 2006 when I started this journey.
I LOVE the classical education model. I LOVE The Well Trained Mind. I really do. I love the way they do History. I love the way they do Science. I love the way they teach writing.
As this realization dawned on me I dusted off my copy of TWTM and started to read again.
Yes. YES. YES!! Now I remember!


I don't know what Classical Education and The Well Trained Mind and Teaching The Trivium will look like around here this go round.
I'm still working through that. I know it will include CLE for Math and Grammar. I know it will involve backing my 6th and 5th grader up in the writing department and working through the skills they need to be great writers and communicators. It will mean adding in a writing program for my 3rd graders. It will mean a lot more reading around here. It will mean a lot more writing around here.
It won't look like the first time around when I crashed and burned. I'm going to figure out how our family can be successful. I am not going to worry about content as much as skill.
I am excited to be excited about homeschooling again. I know I have a long road ahead to make up for the years I gave away.

Be Blessed!

P.S. My next post should be a homemaking post. :)

Excitement

I am using my daughter's notebook computer to type up this post and I don't have any pictures on it, so a picture free post. I do have some cute ones to share if I can ever talk my DH into giving me back my computer. ;)

I have had a feeling welling up inside of me for the past few days. I was not sure what it was until today. I am excited again. Excited about homeschooling, excited about being a mom, excited about being a homemaker... just excited.
I love winter so this is going to be hard for me to say, but I think I may be allergic to winter. Ever since the sunshine started showing her sweet face again and the flowers started to bloom I have felt so much better. I know there is a technical name for being allergic to winter, but it's just so S.A.D. ;0).
Maybe it has to do with getting our new curriculum. We are using Christian Light Publications LightUnits now.
I used to be totally against the "boxed curriculum" for my family, but with everything going on school was falling behind. This is my solution. It's saving all of our behinds. LOL

I am working on getting my house into shape again. This also means making this house work for me. Yes, we still have plans to move, but with the unemployment and the housing market I don't know when that will be. So, I am working smarter. Starting with getting rid of anything that will not fit into this house. I used to love decorating my house but when the house started getting cramped I removed a lot of my decorative stuff and began boxing it up to use again someday. Well, someday might be a long time from now. I took inventory of what I have and really I don't have anything I can't replace one day. So out it's going.
We are moving our school room and play room into the great room. The kids are the majority in this house so it would just make sense that we make that their main room. I am thinking even of really decluttering my kitchen to the barest essentials and making room for us to eat in there freeing up our dining room for something more.
Once the school room/playroom is finished I will take some pictures and post them.

A few weeks ago we went to a church 4 hours away to see Pastor Voddie Baucham. He is such an inspiration to me and I am thrilled to say that as much as my husband enjoyed his books hearing the man in person sealed the deal. For almost 3 weeks straight we have had family worship almost every day. He's leading it and initiating it. He's always believed it but I think it overwhelmed him. Pastor Baucham laid it out step by step and my husband took it and ran with it! AMAZING. Pastor Baucham even stopped to admire my sweet baby. Missing his own baby girl I am sure. :)

Well, after all the hum drum posts I have put up I just could not wait to put up a positive post! Thanks for hanging with me. I'm hoping this will last. :)
Be Blessed!

So much to say

I have a few quiet minutes and I have so much to cram into this time of blogging.

First I do want to follow through on the grocery post but we have not done a lot of grocery shopping the last couple of weeks. Just eating out of the freezer/pantry.

I will try to work through it and figure something out. :)

DH is still unemployed so we are doing all we can to make our money stretch. In March it will be 2 years. It's really taught us a lot about trusting God.


I am working through a Bible study book called Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst. It's been a real blessing in helping me to get back on track. One thing I read that just blew my socks off was that there is a battle going on for you and your affections everyday. Of course the devil does not want you to spend quiet/quality time with God so he will fight for your time. When I read this I thought, hmm, who do I want to see win? Do I want to see the devil have ANY victory? It has really helped me to be more committed to my time with God.

We are still in limbo with homeschooling. Finally I decided I had to switch some stuff up. I thought we were going with Math U See, and we still might, but in researching I found Christian Light Education. Someone from the Well Trained Mind message board said she used it for Math and Language Arts and I thought, YES! I have tried so hard to stay away from workbook type curriculum that it never occurred to me to use them for the necessary and not so fun subjects. It will really free me up to spend more time with the fun stuff like History and Science. Also CLE really fosters independence which I so very much need from my older kids right now.

I might even order the Science books so I can make sure they are getting science and then add in more living books and hands on stuff as I get the chance. As soon as we have a little more money I am going to order the next set of God's Design For Science. I really enjoy those books for Science. For history the younger kids are using Story of the World while my 6th grader is using Mystery of History.

For writing my 6th grader is using Writing Strands. My 5th grader is doing copy work and my 3rd graders are using A Reason For Handwriting the transition book.

Lily is growing so much. She is crawling and standing and even doing a bit of cruising. She is 8m old today. I was pushing a cart around the children's museum the other day and she was holding on to the back and taking a few steps. I can't believe that it's already been 8 months! I feel like I was just having her yesterday. Last night we found her very first tooth poking through. What am I going to do with this baby?

She only weighs about 14 pounds and she is so short that her 3-6m clothes all still fit her perfectly. It's a good thing because when I looked at the 6-9m box the other day it was a pretty empty. I have some clothes but it looks like a trip to the consignment store will be in order. I love it there so it's no hard thing for me. :) I can get the cutest outfits for $2 and $3. A little more pricey than the thrift store but I know the clothes are clean and intact.

Well my quiet time is coming to an end as I hear little people stirring. I had fun sharing what is going on with us. I do love to blog.

Be Blessed!

When your floundering

Before I start this post I just wanted to tell you that the pictures are of my little Jonathan. He just turned 5. He is growing up so much!!
I know I was supposed to come back last week with menus. I was hoping it would jump start me back into blogging. Not so much. Things kept coming up that kept me too busy to get back here. Mostly things that are opening my eyes up more and more to the need to get back to basics around here. When I started this journey so many years ago now, I had passion and vision. I believed in myself and God. I just knew that I could accomplish great things in my home. I knew where I was headed.

I still believe in God and slowly but surely I am clawing my way back to where I left Him. I don't know if that's the right wording. I still believe that God is totally in control and will provide all my needs! I have faith, but as I said before that faith is weak. I am climbing back to that place where I had passion and purpose and vision. I keep slipping and sliding backwards but I KNOW that I am headed in the right direction. I am climbing into His arms for a time of regrouping.

As I reflected this year on how much I wanted pure beauty in my life and in my home I realized I need to start with simplicity. I have to simplify my life more. I need to get rid of the clutter, physically and mentally, that is clogging up my life. Robbing me of being able to focus on the important things in life.

My vision of a rigorous Classical Education for my kids is being put aside for a simpler, gentle Charlotte Mason type education for my kids.

My vision of a great organized home is being replaced with a clean, efficient home. One that is simple and neat and peaceful.

My vision of the perfect family with obedient ,compliant children all the time is being replaced with a family that loves together, laughs together, and lives together. Not that I won't expect obedience but maybe a little less tightly controlled in some areas.

I'm letting go. I'm going to stop floundering and start floating.

Be Blessed!

Randomness

I have been lacking in motivation lately. Motivation to do anything. I don't know what it is. I am glad to say that we got a whole week of school done last week. We are almost to the third week in January. *Sigh* My house is... mediocre clean. Nothing to write home about. My kids have spent hours watching videos. Hours. It's quiet ridiculous. Even my Bible time has seemed to be lacking lately. I read through a chapter mumble some words of prayer and go on. I just want out of this rut.
I'm still waiting for that miraculous burst of energy that is supposed to come in the 2nd trimester. Anyone seen it? Could you send it my way?

Someone mentioned the other day that all the states had snow. Not in my part of the state. *Sigh* I would like snow. It was cold and rainy all day yesterday but the snow just went on it's merry way. We saw it on the weather map yesterday heading out to sea. Oh well. We had fun. A day at the museum. We were supposed to be cleaning the beach for our Give a Day/Get a Day Disney tickets, but the beach was not the ideal place to be yesterday. The museum, however, was. I hope the guy is able to reschedule us the kids were looking forward to it.

I have been busy planning Karly's sixth grade year to start in September. Yeah. My poor little guinea pig. I have no idea how it's going to work out, but we will jump in with both feet and see where we land.

I signed up for a Bradley Birthing class starting in April. I don't know. I'm super nervous. I will most likely be induced before 40 weeks. I have heard the horror stories of induced child birth. Does not sound like a ton of fun. Bradley, for those who don't know, is a natural childbirth method. Teaching you how to let your body do it's job and not fight the contractions. I have heard that contractions from induction are a lot worse then regular contractions. I am going to the Bradley classes to try to empower myself. We'll see.

Next week we go for another sonogram. There will also be a fetal echo cardiogram. So far her heart has sounded great at my weekly OB appts. I just hope that it looks great as well. They will also be checking her organs and other stuff. I pray everything is where it should be and working properly.

Well, that's my random update. I hope you all are doing well.

Be Blessed!

WWYD?

Recently, on a message board, the question was asked, "What would you do if homeschooling became illegal?" Many thought the question was completely hypothetical. Me? I'm not so sure. As I see our liberties sleeping away and see the American people turning to the government more and more, I see the government taking more and more. What better place to raise up a generation loyal to the ideals of our new government?
Why, oh why, would the government allow us to teach our children something contradictory to what they are trying to implement? That's one big argument I have heard from some hard liberals towards homeschooling. "Why leave this children to be raised in a hateful, bigoted environment with no regulation on what they are being taught?"
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I believe in living life on guard and planning for any possibility.

What did this question lead to? It led to someone else asking, why do you homeschool?
For us it's not even a choice. God has called us to this. Some days (especially lately) I have felt like the biggest failure being my kids teacher. This past year was full of rough starts and stops to our homeschool. I see the next few months being the same. But I have to trust God to make up for my slack. I know my kids are safe and are hearing truth and not lies. They have good Christian books and videos available to them. They see us struggling, but leaning on God. What more education could I want for them?
Yes, of course I want the basics and even more, but if they come out of our homeschool with a good foundation for trusting and serving God, then we have accomplished a ton!
An interesting point was made by one of the mom's on the message board about illegal homeschooling.
It was not that long ago that people risked fines and jail time to school their children at home.
I know a friend of mine from our homeschool group with a son in college, talks about how she NEVER left home with the kids during the day because it cause too many problems?
Can you imagine?? That was in the 90s! Are we so naive to think it could never happen again? Are we willing to throw away their sacrifice?
What would I do if homeschool was illegal? I don't think I'm going to talk about it here. Too risky. But I do have a plan. Do you?
Be Blessed!

Yes, I still have other children!

I guess I should talk about them occasionally. LOL They are doing great. We have actually had some pretty productive school days this week. Our first of 2010. We are behind, but if we work a little every day we should be caught up by mid February without overwhelming ourselves with too much work every day.

I realized the other day that in September by oldest will be in 6th grade. On a side note, totally baby related, do you know that she will be 13 when Lily is born? Talk about having another little mama around. :) We talked the other day about what a special position she has in this house as the oldest of all of these kids. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed with the responsibility, but then when we talk about how God must have thought she would be just the right person for the job, that helps. I love seeing how she is still so much of a child. Of course she is growing up too and I am trying to figure out how to nurture her in this new season. She needs a little more freedom and independence. I just have to figure out the boundaries there. She is moving past playing with toys and really needs some new things to do with her free time. Something else I am still working through. Any ideas?

I had to take Tamara back to first grade phonics. We just started Saxon Phonics 1. If this does not work I will have to have her tested. I don't know that I ever really properly taught her all of the sounds the letters make. I am definitely taking the blame for this. I should have just followed through with Saxon Phonics like I did with the other kids. I thought I had a different way to teach her and it did not work. So now she is 8 and still struggling.

Note to self: if it works keep using it!

Because of all the interruptions last year we never made it through the first grade math book. Something suggested was to finish that book by this summer. Go over basic 2nd grade concepts over the summer and start Tamara and Adrian in the third grade math book in September. Just as a trial. If they can't do it we will fall back to the 2nd grade book. Not a big deal. Saxon is just repetitive enough that I think we can make it work.

Adrian is doing FANTASTIC in school! I can't believe how quickly he picks stuff up. I think he and Karly are my natural learners. Kelsie and Tamara struggle with it but they have different strengths. Honestly, I think both would struggle a lot in school and I would hate to see that. At home they can go a little slower.

Jonathan started "school" this year as well. He wanted "bonics" or phonics and math so I got Saxon Math K and Saxon Phonics K. I thought he would struggle with Saxon Phonics K but so far he seems ok. Saxon Math I knew he would be ok with because it's mostly manipulative play. It was way too young for my K'ers so I thought it would be perfect for introducing math to a preschooler.

I am looking at starting IEW with Karly in September. I also want to look into another Latin program for Karly and Kelsie. I am going to get this Latin for Tamara, Jonathan, and Adrian. It's more introductory through singing and fun activities. I'm still trying to decide for Karly and Kelsie. I want something a little independent. I don't mind doing it with them, but it needs to be something I can spend a few minutes doing with them and then they can run with.

We have Prima Latina, and it's a great program, just really not working for us. We have tried to do it for three years now. I want them to learn some Latin, some Greek, Spanish, and one other language of their choosing.

Well, that's a lot of our homeschooling journey. I have switched some things up, added and subtracted. It seems like every July and December I do that.

Of course now I have my eye on the coming months and what I will be able to do and not
do. I am so thankful for a supportive husband who is sitting with me during lessons to see how we "do school" so he can help out.

Be Blessed!

New plan.

Ok, here's my new plan. I'm going to send my two older girls to the local Church of Scientology. I figure that there they can spread the love of Jesus to everyone they meet.
I'm going to let the boys eat whatever they want. Whenever they want. That will help them to learn to make good decisions.
My youngest daughter will be allowed to go out with boys. Whenever. I want to make sure she knows how to handle herself and the younger we start the better I say.


What do you think? I mean obviously I am stunting their individual personalities by not letting them do and be who they want to be. At the ages of 12, 9, 8, 6, and 3 I think I can trust them to make good choices. God will protect them even when they don't make the best choice.
I mean I'm not 100% sure what I am doing here besides cooking, cleaning, kissing boo-boos and carting them to various activities. Maybe that's what my job as a parent is supposed to look like.
I could teach them manners, cleanliness, godliness, but quiet frankly enough people have told me that when my kids leave home none of that will matter so I'm thinking I could save myself the trouble and just skip it and relax.


Or maybe, I will decide that God has given me these children for a reason. Given them to me to raise and be responsible for. Given them to me to teach them His word and His love and to love, honor and fear Him.
Maybe I will decide that they are not quiet old enough to carry the souls of the world on their shoulders so their evangelizing right now should be under our guidance and protection.
That because they have not been exposed to wisdom for more than a few years they are not so much ready to go out and be wise.
Maybe I will just keep them close by for a few more years. Teaching them God's truth. Teaching them the wisdom from the elders around them. Teaching them to put on the full armor of God and when the evil comes to stand.
Just maybe.

Be Blessed!

Why a homeschool group?

I have been wanting to do a post on this subject for the last two weeks, but things have been moving at a steady pace around here and this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and blog. I love blogging. It gets ideas out of my head. It gives me something to look back at and remember. I have met some pretty terrific people. But I know that my family is my top priority. So if my blogging seems a bit random, just know I'm thinking of ya'll while I enjoy my family. :)

I am in a homeschool group. My new advice to new homeschool moms is to find a good homeschool group. Why?

It's nice to have other moms to go to for homeschool advice. Most of my friends at church and I have been homeschooling for the same amount of time. I love being in a homeschool group with moms who have kids my age, kids, in highschool, and kids who graduated homeschool and are in college now. Do you know the amount of homeschooling wisdom packed into that one room at our monthly mom's meetings?

Some of these moms homeschooled in the Dark Ages of homeschooling. Where they dared not leave their house between the hours of 8am and 3pm.

My youngest daughter is eight and struggling to read. If I was not in a homeschool group I would be concerned. I mean aren't they supposed to read before they leave kindergarten?? No, more than one mom has reassured me that her child did not read until 8. 9, even 10 and within a short amount of time they were caught up or reading past their "grade level".

Who else but a mom who has graduated a child can tell you that "credits" are pretty much what you, the teacher, make them to be for the child?

I have a few friends who are not in a homeschool group and they struggle sometimes with whether they doing enough. They struggle with wrong information given to them by the school board and their peers whose children are in public school.

My homeschool group consisting of years of experience dispels the myths.

One of the pieces of advice I picked up at the last meeting: When talking to someone at the schoolboard/school/place that public school students frequent run by the government keep calling back until you get someone who knows what they are talking about.

This would have saved my friend some trouble when she tried to enroll her son in HS this year and they told her he was not eligible because he had not completed two semesters of eighth grade at his middle school. His parents pulled him out at Christmas break and could not get his second semester report card. The person she was talking to had no clue what he was talking about. He very well could have been in highschool because he'd completed eighth grade at home.

Between you and me though it's ok, because I think she is a great homeschooling mom and her son will be better off with her. (She does not read my blog but if she ever shows up here I want her to know that she is the best mom I know!!)

So, what do I tell new HS moms to look for in a group?

Someone who has the same belief system as you is a plus. Face it your kids are going to be hanging out with the kids in this group. Did you go through all the trouble to pull them out of public school only to put them in a group with kids who are going to be a bad influence on your child?
Moms you can connect with on a basic level. If you are going to come home from every get together and feel bad about how you are doing as a parent because everyone in your group is Polly Perfect then you need to find another group. These should be moms who are not afraid to tell you about the bad days as well as the good days.

A group who has a mom's meeting. I think this is important. We have ours the first Tuesday evening of every month. We come together and learn from and encourage one another. We plan our next months Kids days, Teen nights, Field trips, parties and other stuff. We discuss problems within the group. We ask questions about homeschooling, mom stuff, finances, and organization. We eat and laugh together. Where else can I find a group of ladies that will laugh when I tell them that the kids wanted to inspect the road kill cat out front for science. They laugh because they have all been there.

We have a co-op in our group. It meets every Wed morning for classes. I could take it or leave it, but my kids enjoy the time.

Kids get togethers are a good thing in a group. A time for your kids to see that your family is not the only on this journey.

These are just some of my thoughts on homeschool groups. I used to think you could take them or leave them, but this year I have decided it's a necessity.

Are you in a homeschool group? Why? What do you think is the most important thing a homeschool group should have? I really want to know.

Be Blessed!

The aftermath

This is what the end of my official first day looked like. Phew, I am wore out. LOL
How is your year going?

Be Blessed!

Making it more about Jesus

Lately Jesus and I have had some serious discussions about homeschooling. Mainly, that this world is temporary. Math, English, Spelling, it's all temporary. Do my kids need it? Sure. Is it life or death that they have it? No. Scary, huh? I spent, HOURS, coming up with new lesson plans and a new organization system back in June just to have it all ripped to shreds these past few months. I truly believe right now I am Heaven's court jester. I say that with the utmost reverence. I truly believe that God is delighted with me and that I amuse Him. In a good way. Like when your kids are being silly and kids and you think they are just wonderful. I have brought God much laughter over this homeschooling thing.

See, Jesus used Karly to show me that I could make this fun or difficult. We could spend the next few years of her life here arguing and fighting over school work or we can spend it bonding and learning to love and serve one another. Hmm.. yeah. Tough choice. So, I am now coming to a place where our homeschool truly is more about Jesus. The loving Savior Jesus who delighted in the children. Who blessed them and had them brought to Him. Whose laughter I can almost hear as he played with the children around Him. I truly believe that Jesus had fun with the children around Him. And I am to be more like Jesus, right?

We will have daily Bible reading. If nothing else gets done that day we will do that. We will go back to singing hymns and memorizing the catechism. We are getting back to memorizing Proverbs as well. I am going to work through How to Study the Bible for Kids by Kay Arthur with Karly and Kelsie. With all of them we are going to read through How to Pray for Kids by Stormie Omartian. We are going to keep a family prayer journal where throughout the day you write down any requests you have and at night we will pray together for bed. I also read something I would like to start. Every morning during circle time we will pray for the person sitting next to us. I'm also going to have the older girls keep a gratitude journal. I will ask them to write down five things every day they are thankful for.

I want our focus to be on God this year. If we get to the math, spelling, and writing portion of the day, great. If not well, we know all knowledge comes from God.

Be Blessed!

Third Annual No School For Homeschoolers Day

Every year on the first day of public school I like to take my kids out to do something fun. We celebrate the flexibility of homeschooling. My kids learn again to appreciate the fact that they are not stuck behind a desk all day long. Most of the time we have other homeschooling friends join us. It's a lot of fun.

This year we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I have been reluctant to go there. My memories of Chuck E. Cheese were of loud, chaotic, madness. It was so not that today. The music was a little loud and annoying, but the lights were nice and bright. I had a clear view of the door from our table. It was pretty empty (school being in session and all) and honestly compared to other places I have gone with the same atmosphere the prices (with coupon) were not all that outrageous.

We will probably do it again.

Altogether we had twelve kids, four moms, two dads and a GG (great grandma). Another dad joined us just for lunch before he had to go back to work.

Like a dolt I forgot my camera so you will just have to believe that we had a good time!

I'm looking forward to some more fun outings with these moms and kids.

Do you do anything special to celebrate homeschooling?

Be Blessed!

My life as of now..

I am on a new computer and have not transferred my pictures over here so I am stuck using art.com lately. Of course I love it because it gives me an excuse to drool over all the lovely pictures there. :)

I thought I would post a brief update on this thing I call life.

Dh is still unemployed. I can't say it's been all that bad. I love having him home. Today we are heading out to the beach to meet some friends.

He is going to be a part of a program with the unemployment office that will pay for him to be certified in a field of his choosing while receiving unemployment.

We are also working during this time to get our house fixed up so we can put it on the market. Our plan is to put it on market while he is doing this certification program so when he's done we can be ready to go, go, go.

Of course as we all know sometimes our plans are not the plans God has for us, so everything is very tentative. The kids have enjoyed this month of no school. I am planning to start up back up in the next couple of weeks. I have to order some books and finish my schedule. In a stroke of genius I decided to schedule us not using dates as much as days. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.. then I never feel like we are behind and I never push three days into one frustrating me and my children.

I am looking forward to some more structure in the day. The kids are all showing some serious behavior problems and I know it's just the lack of having certain things to do throughout the day.

I am excited to start Ambleside with the kids. I have decided since it's our first year that we will all work on Year 1. I think the books will be challenging enough not to bore the big kids while still easy enough that they can gain confidence in narration and paying attention. The little kids can learn from the big kids and I think that will help them as they get comfortable with narration.

So there you have it a glimpse into my life right now. Hope you all are doing well.

Be Blessed!

I'm going box...

First of all I should say that I absolutely love home education. I love being with my kids. I love knowing what they are learning. I love learning what they are learning.
I also really love the flexibility. If something is not working for my kid/kids I can switch it up. I can teach to their learning style.
That being said, I really hate the flexibility that home education offers. I hate finding out something is not working. I hate switching things up. I hate feeling like I am failing in some way.
Remember just a few short months ago when I wrote this post with the utmost of confidence. I'd made my decisions. This is how it's going to be done!
Enter Roy and I's annual field trip to the homesechool convention. Dreaded, dreaded words. WAIT! Before you get onto me for falling for all they hype and grandeur of the curriculum fair I want to say that what I walked away this year was invaluable. DH quickly agreed with my musings which makes me believe it was truly a God thing. Usually he wants to analyze everything to death.

What I walked away with this year was a serious need for my kids to start enjoying learning. To take out the stress that we call homeschooling and build a less stressful (not stress free, though I can strive towards it), more peaceful, fun, loving atmosphere of home education.
My 12 year old daughter is heading rapidly toward puberty. The battles are becoming longer and more drawn out. Ground is being claimed and the peace of our home is crumbling. In an effort not to label my child I will say briefly that she has obstacles to overcome that a lot of kids don't have. Puberty looks to be a time of regression for her in many ways. I have to learn to roll with that. I have to learn which ground to stand on and which to back down from. School is one I have decided to - compromise on- for lack of a better word.
She hates worksheets and having to sit and do a sheet until it's done. Saxon Math is one big battle between the two of us. She needs more interaction. She can't spend more than a little bit of time on a lesson before she quits trying, or becomes overwhelmed.




We are looking at Teaching Textbooks for Karly and possibly even Kelsie. I have to sit Kelsie down for a couple of sample lessons to see what she thinks. I would love Kelsie to be able to do it because it would free up more of my time to work with Tamara and Adrian on reading.
Another thing we are looking at is a more Charlotte Mason type education with Amblesideonline as a "curriculum".
We are not 100% sure yet that's the direction we want to go in, but I think the kids would find it more enjoyable. They enjoy our read aloud and discussion time that I fit in every now and then . I'm also thinking this would strengthen the comprehension skills that I see sorely lacking in all of my kids. I am still pouring over Amblesideonline and my Charlotte Mason Companion book.
I also have a ton of websites marked to look over some more.
One thing I thought I would do is read Aesop's Fables to the kids during the month of August and practice some simple narration. That way if we decided to move this direction in the fall we would have practice.



We are finally enjoying our Mystery of History Book 1 study and Considering God's Creation for Science so I think I will keep both of those and then just let the kids read other history time periods during their free reading suggested by Amblesideonline. We will also incorporate some of the Nature study into our diet as we are hoping to start some simple hiking this fall.

As far as art and composers we have started that and I think we have found a comfortable groove with the fun little books I have right now. We will finish those books in August and then replace them with the suggested studies from Amblesideonline.

I'm a little nervous about the change with my two oldest. I'm sure it will not hurt them, but it will take a lot for me to get out of the groove of having a lesson finished every day. I'm worried about portfolio evaluations most. I want to make sure I have enough work to show to my evaluator in May.

I think Charlotte Mason would be a good fit for all of us. While I'm not ready to commit to it 100% yet, I am definitely leaning more that way.

Of course I could always just switch to a nice, neat, tidy box curriculum. Ahh.. let me dream about it for awhile...

Guess I'll be sticking to a more traditional school year.. this year anyway! :)

Be Blessed!

Preachers I enjoy hearing

My preacher's wife told me sometime back that when her kids were growing up they listened to preacher's on the radio a lot. They are both grown now and both have relayed to her how much they learned from that.

I decided to make that a habit around here as well. First was the quest to find good solid preaching. WOW! There is a lot out there.

Sermonaudio is my favorite place on the web.

Especially since... this guy joined! WOOHOO!

Another favorite, when I am wanting to get hit between the eyes with a 2x4, which is often a lot more than you would think... LOL is this inspired man of God

I am sad to say that even as a Southern Baptist born and bred I was not very familiar with this man until my favorite preacher Voddie Baucham began to talk about him. Now, I am just thrilled with his sermons.

I like this man, and this man, and this man as well.

The great thing about sermonaudio is the awesome line up of preaching from classic preachers that they have.

George Whitfield

E.M. Bounds

C.H. Spurgeon

and so many more! We put someone on while we clean or for our quiet times in the morning. I like to listen some more at night while I am buttoning up the house. When it's quiet time in the afternoon I will often play a sermon or two.

So many ways to get in the good preaching. I hope you all can find some time to enjoy them as well.

Be Blessed!

I am working on our home education list for the rest of the year. I bought some books at the used curriculum sale last week and some more at CBD. I am reading through some more "how to books" and gaining lots of ideas. I like to school til about Thanksgiving and then "take time off" in November and December. I try to make sure we read a lot and watch some good educational videos during that time. I am trying to mesh up Charlotte Mason, Classical Education and the different learning styles of my children. I am working on some more "home ec" stuff. See my posts in the sidebar for Maiden Karly, Responsible Adrian, and Gracious Kelsie and Tamara. There are some new pics coming soon, I promise.
Jonathan is begging to "do school" so I have a little Bible craft and letter he colors. Also lots of reading. I want to incorporate more classical music and art history study this year. Karly is heading swiftly out of the grammar stage into the logic stage so I am looking into some logic stuff for her. On top of everything I am trying to make school more fun!

My head hurts! :)

I have prayed and prayed over our Math curriculum. I am comfortable with it and my kids do well with it... even though they hate Math. Sometimes I read that I should shove the Math curriculum because they hate it, sometimes I read that if it works we should stick with it. I would dread trying to start a new Math curriculum. When I weigh all the pros and cons I am thinking I will just stick with it. I think they hate it because it requires them to think.. I don't think another Math curriculum would fix that. LOL

For Grammar I wonder if I should switch, but I love the comprehensiveness of the Grammar program we are using. I tried a different one this year and it was just not it. I know with this one they are learning what they need and it's pretty low maintenance on my part. With five kids I treasure low maintenance. Then I read about all the fun Grammar programs. I think for now I will stick with what I have The kids don't mind it too much. The part they don't like is the writing, but that's Grammar..right?

Handwriting I will keep the same. They only do the Kindergarten, first grade, transition, and last book.

I love copywork so we will keep that.

We are not reading nearly enough. I have a Literature Pocket (Nursery Rhymes) coming for Tamara and Adrian. I am doing a Beatrix Potter study with Kelsie and a Literature Pocket (Fiction books) with Karly. On top of that I am checking out biographies, classic fairy tales, and other fun read aloud books from the library to read aloud during the day.

Our science and history was getting dull and boring. I have a new science project program and am adding something to our history program to spice it up a bit. On top of that we are going to read everything we can get our hands on for the science or history we are studying.

For Tamara and Adrian I am adding in a structured Phonics program. I was trying to get away with not doing it, but Tamara especially needs some more help. We are also reading a whole lot with them. A. Whole. Lot. They have a simple school day of one math worksheet, an addition fact sheet, three pages in Explode the Code, a handwriting sheet, and soon a Phonics sheet.

I picked up a new Spelling program I think I am going to try with Karly and Kelsie. It's very low pressure and seems to be really good. We will try it. My girls are HORRIBLE spellers. :)

I am sitting here blogging because I don't want to go play with lesson plans and schedules anymore. I need to because July is going to be when we start most of the new stuff.

July is kind of the start of the second half of our year. It seems weird, but I get pumped around this time. We have the used curriculum sale, the state convention (which I have yet to get to), and the regional convention (which I enjoy going to!). All of that works to get me back in the groove. Around Thanksgiving I really want a break, but then there's the new year and it's time to get pumped again. LOL

I love home education..even if it makes my head hurt! :)



Be Blessed!