Ok, it's 3:30am on Sunday morning and I've been awake for THREE hours ... finally decided that I'd just get up. Hopefully I can nap tomorrow. I've never had insomnia so this is a new experience, probably related to the appetite suppressant that I am taking. I'll see if I can get to sleep Sunday night before I decide what to do about the meds. Losing a few pounds is NOT worth losing sleep!

Of course, lying in bed awake for three hours has given me LOTS of time to think about a LOT of things ... not sure how long this post will turn out, but I don't often have time to just sit down and blog what's on my mind, so I'm going to do that now. I'll post pictures later, but yesterday was an exciting day in our home. My kids tested for the next belt level in karate. For Ian, this meant adding his FIRST green stripe to his white belt. For Jenna, this meant adding her third green stripe to her white belt. HOWEVER ... we were all surprised when Ian received TWO stripes and Jenna was allowed to change belt colors to green!! You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces - it was precious. They were so surprised and proud of themselves, too. The most special moment was when my daughter received the same green belt that HER father had worn. I was the official photographer for this event so I had to keep it together, but I shed a few tears at that moment (and so did my husband - he was so proud to give it to her!).

During the tea and belt ceremony, the people involved in training my kids for their tests were able to say a few words about what they saw in my children and BOTH kids were moved to tears as they listened to these adults compliment them on their dedication and focus in learning karate. I know it made them feel good to know that all of their hard work was being noticed by the higher belts. I am proud beyond words - there is just something about a child taking on a long-term task and seeing it through. The road to a black belt isn't easy and they have never complained or asked to quit karate. I know that they truly enjoy it and the rewards it is bringing them.

To switch topics, I've done a lot of thinking about next school year and think that I have it mostly planned out. Here's the outline:

History: Civil War to Present Day

- using Tapestry of Grace as a guide, reading through Hakim's History of US and lots of other great books

Science:

7th grade - Real Science 4 Kids plus lots of experiments (get a good review in before beginning Apologia Science)

5th grade - My World Science and Exploring Creation with Zoology

Nature Study/Art:

I will use Illustrating Nature to have the kids learn the art of drawing what they see. We will use our Backyard Wildlife Year to enhance our studies month-by-month. This is something that I've always tried to squeeze in, but I'm going to make it a priority for next year.

Math:

7th grade - Saxon Algebra 1

5th grade - Math U See Division

Language Arts - focus on writing

My kids have a great understanding of grammar, so I'm not going to focus much on that. The kids will complete one lesson weekly in Intermediate Cozy Grammar, Vol 2 and pick back up their Diagramming programs with one lesson weekly. The other 3 days will be focusing on writing and dictation. I've never done dictation for various reasons, but I know the kids are ready now to handle that. Dictation material will come from books on composers, artists and poetry - some of that material coming from The Home Educator's Tutor. This will be a good way for me to get that material covered without making it a separate assignment. I'm also going to make both kids write in cursive for practice (which I didn't worry about this year). Finally, I'm going to look into purchasing Easy Writing for instruction on making better sentence structures. We wil also continue using Spelling Power.

Logic:

7th Grade - The Thinking Toolbox and The Fallacy Detective

5th Grade - Orbiting with Logic workbooks

Latin/Greek Roots:

7th Grade - Vocabulary From the Classical Roots

5th Grade - Roots and Fruits

Foreign Language:

7th Grade - The Easy French

5th Grade - Spanish vocabulary if he's interested

Bible:

readings from The Home Educator's Tutor

That's about it. The kids will also practice typing, hopefully listen to some classical music along the way, stay involved with 4-H (mandatory!) and karate (also mandatory!).

Well, I think that is all of my thoughts this early in the morning. I wish that I could say I am now tired (it's 4am), but I'm not. Guess I'll get some work done for Gena!

... Kris ...