So far I have read Julie and the Wolves and it's sequel "Julies Wolves" as with many books the children loved these two. One thing I would advise is maybe do a mini study on Alaska. Many times the children and I would stop reading to find out what an animal or flower or even their clothes looked like. Very interesting.

We enjoyed learning about wolves. It was funny because when we went to South Dakota and Yellowstone  there were stores that sold furs. When we saw one was a wolf, we felt sorry for it. We had learned so much about then in the books and how they are very social animals, living in packs and caring for one another.

Another book we currently read was "The School Story". This has been sitting on my shelf for four years now. It came with one of my Sonlight cores. I didn't have time to read it that year. I kept seeing it on the shelf but it never made it to our read aloud shelf until now.

The children and I really enjoyed it. In fact I read ahead of the children. I tried reading a chapter a day but it was too good. One day I read for an hour.

Right now we are reading

• Snow Treasure  (almost done)
• The Battlefield of the Mind for Kids (Just started. On the first chapter)
• Making Brothers and Sister Best Friends (Just started. On the 2nd chapter.)

The children also listen to books on cd. Lately they have listened to Narnia, Little House, Swiss Family, Peter Pan and The Sign of the Beaver.

Speaking of reading; yesterday Caleb read a page his Pathway Reader with ease. He surprised me. I haven't had him start reading yet because I thought he would struggle with it. When I looked at it yesterday I thought it was going to be too hard but asked Caleb to take a look at it and see if he could at least sound out the words. Like I said I was surprised when he just read it to me.

My throat has been scratchy lately. It doesn't hurt. When I start to read it gets a bit irritated. It has been like that for over five months now or longer. I have a doctors appointment in Nov. so I'll ask about it.

Blessings,

Linda<><

It has been two months since we moved into our Apt. House. We like it. It's cozy. The children are fine with it, but I do miss more space. I have to admit that I'll be happy when it's time to move into the front house. The great thing about living here is we have no rent. The people in the upstairs unit and front house pay our rent for us. It's great.

We spent a good amount of money fixing this place so now our goal is to pay all that off. If we really discipline ourselves we can pay all our dept off in six months. Then we have the option to either stay in the front house, buy another home or purchase a duplex or another rental house.

That is where we are at right now. If it's in the Lords plan we would like to eventually find a house with at least one acre and lots of trees. My boys are half monkeys . The ideal thing would be to live in the front house since our renters will pay the mortgage. We would also like to give this place some curb appeal. The house in the front as well as this one needs a fresh coat of paint, the backyard need to be leveled, we would like to put sprinklers in and plant some grass. Right now there are lots of weeds and mud. We would also like to redo the carport because it leaks and lastly the driveway needs to be done. I'm surprised the kids haven't fallen with all the cracks that it has right now. As you can see we have lots of projects. Living here for at least a few years would be a good idea. Especially since Lupe plans to do most of them himself (with the boys help of course).

As you can see Lupe and I have lots of praying to do to figure what route would be the best for our family.

I would REALLY like to find a place that we will live in until the children go off to college. I want a place to call home. No more moving. Currently I don't think that is going to happen. I am happy to say that it's okay. I know Lupe, wants to flip a few houses so it may be years before we actually get to have a home where we stay put. I know that the children maybe almost grown before that happens. I have come to accept that. I want to be a good example to my children; showing them that we can be at peace and have the joy of the Lord by doing what God wants even when our flesh wants something else (like a place to call home )

Anyway to wrap up what I'm trying to say is be content with what you have and home is where your family is.  I recently purchased a sign that says, "Home Sweet Home" I plan to put that up in every house or apt. we move into. Who knows, maybe it will be up to stay

We don't normally go around telling about our financials or our life long plans. We pray that we can be an encouragement to others.

In Christ,
Linda<><

I'm so discouraged today. Lupe, brought more boxes from one of our storage units. Some homeschooling stuff like pattern blocks, Lauri stuff, binders etc. I don't know where to put them.

At the feet of Jesus,

Linda<><

Lupe, took all the boys to help him combine both storage units. We only want one for our furniture.

Annette, and I are going to have "our" time together. We are going to our favorite coffee shop down the street.

I should be cleaning the house but it's not everyday Annette, and I get to have a date.

We have completed another week of school. Hard to believe we have been back-to-homeschooling for a month now.

We haven't included every subject for every child yet. Every week I add more.There are certain subjects that I want each child to focus on.

• Joshua, spelling
• Annette, writing
• Caleb, Phonics
• Brent, phonics
• Ethan, phonics
• Lance getting along with Ethan ;)

My main concern is that the children get in reading, grammar, phonics, spelling & Bible. Social Studies/History and Science are scheduled. If the children need more time in other areas then then those are the two subjects that will have to wait. We can always catch those subjects up in the summer.

At lunch time I have been reading Caleb's third grade Social Studies book and instead of having him complete his LightUnit (workbook) I have him tell back what I read and ask any questions orally. I sometimes do the same with Brent's. Reading their Social Studies at lunch time gives us all a chance to participate and join in on the discussion. It also gives us a chance to have a mini Bible study because the text included Bible verses, so we talk about them too.

Brent & Caleb's reading is improving. I like that Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading introduces all the sounds of the vowels and of some of the consonants. Because the boys are 8yrs. & 9yrs. learning all these sounds at once is not overwhelming to them. I think if we would have attempting using this program last year that it would have been too hard and frustrating.

Joshua, is using Phonics Tutor Frequent Word. When I first purchased it I was bit concerned because it's computer based. Josh, does not like using the computer much. I picked this program because Josh, does not spell very well. I have been trying to figure out how to help him in this area. He wants to spell good so it's not that he is being lazy. I was surprised when yesterday he was excited about using PTFW. Even though it's not his favorite subject he was excited because he is understanding how to spell. He has had several "light' bulb moments with this program. He said he understands how words are put together. Now this is only his second week using PTFW. I pray that this program works for him.

Phonics Tutor Frequent Words is VERY strong in phonics and spelling patterns. You can read a review from The Old Schoolhouse and read more about it at Timberdoodle. The only negative thing I can think of is when the program has Joshua write a word, sometimes Joshua is trying to figure out how to write it but the program keeps repeating the word over and over. It gets on his nerves and actually hinders his thinking. Josh, does not like the dictation sentences at the end of the lesson. He has to type out a sentence. Not a negative thing, Joshua just doesn't like it.

All-in-all it's been a relaxed school week but busy at the same time. Relaxed because I'm not stressing about every child getting in EVERY subject. Busy in the sense that I am trying to have more one-on-one time with each child. For instance, with Josh & Annette regarding penmanship I use to show them how to make the letter and then have them take their penmanship book and do the rest on their own. They still do not write a lot in cursive and I'm wondering if it because I didn't take the time to sit with them.

Now with Brent & Caleb, I'll tape a piece of paper to the wall (haven't been able to find my whiteboard) and show them the strokes, look to see how they are doing, show them again and so forth. Hopefully it will help them write in cursive and have nice penmanship.

Quiet time is over and this is getting long. I didn't get a chance to write about Annette or Ethan. Ethan is doing well with Christ-Centered Phonics and Annette like always can't stand writing. Will have to write about that another day.

Blessings,

Linda<><

The children and I are off to our favorite coffee shop. Can't wait to have my Chocolate Covered Chery Latte, soy and low fat whip, with some sprinkles on top. Kiddos will have some no coffee drinks. Then off to the park for a little bit and we'll come back home to tackle school.

We like Fridays. Although Lance, is in a fowl mood. He is not  a morning person and if you wake him up he is a grump.

I am so happy for my meal plan. I have to admit we went months without it. When the children would ask, "What's for dinner, mom?" I never had an answer. Many times we would have Oatmeal or Pancakes. Breakfast for supper is great but there is something about a 'real' meal for supper. Things feel more organized.

This week we had or are having:

Monday well we had

• an Oatmeal dinner

Tuesday:

• Chicken Alfredo Pasta
• Crisp Salad
• Breadsticks (from a can)

Wednesday:

• White Chicken Chili (slow cooked)
• Garlic Bread

Thursday:

• Cheesy Baked Fish
• Long Grain Rice
• OKRA
• Cornbread Muffins

Friday:

• Spaghetti
• Sweet Potatoes

Saturday:

• Our Poor Mans Soup with hotdogs

And that my friend is what's cooking

I'm posting twice today to separate the subjects.

Today I read another negative article about using textbooks for homeschooling. As you all know this is our second year of using textbooks. It's a bit discouraging when every where you turn, textbooks are spoken of negatively. Especially when I'm using them with my children.

As I was reading the article I realized that most of the time they are talking about public school textbooks. IMHO that makes a big difference. We are currently using Christian Light. The textbooks that we use have God in them. You read scripture through-out the book. People who wrote them actually care about who God is and want the children reading the book to grow and understand our wonderful creator.

Another thing to remember is when your using textbooks at home, it's so different then using a textbook at school. At school you read and answer the questions. Most the time the teacher is not excited about what the students are learning (at least this was the case for me. I one time tested my teacher and answered almost all the questions wit "I don't know" and surprisingly I got my answers right. The teacher didn't even look at my answers).

At home you can go beyond what the textbooks teach (had a Lion King 1 1/2  moment there). Talk and ask what they read about. Have your at home library stocked with books of the time period they are reading in the textbook or visit the library. Make a timeline.

I know some articles are talking about the Christian publisher too but again, I still think it's different when your using them at home. Homeschooling is a way of life. It's weaved through your day. Homeschooling is not a set time of  8:00-3:00.

In Him,

Linda<><

I signed up again to receive my E-Mealz. I love that every week my meals are planned for me. All I have to do is print out the shopping list and shop!

The meals are pretty easy. For instance today was White Chicken Chili. Ingredients consisted of chicken, chicken broth, can of tomatoes, cans of great northern beans, Monterey jack cheese, some spices and a loaf of fresh garlic bread.

I kind of mix things up a little. This meal was for Monday but I'm cooking it today. Another thing I change is some of the brands of food. I signed up for the Kroger list but sometimes the Kroger brand of chicken broth has MSG in it so I'll opt for a different brand or even a little more expensive brand. If you like you can always cook your own beans if you don't care for the canned.

It's kind of like your favorite curriculum; you tweak it to make it your own . Sometimes a meal will use a box of long grain wild rice KRG brand. Most of them have lots of sodium or MSG so again I found one that is just rice and I can add salt or what I want to taste.

Other times a meal will call for KRG brand of cream of celery soup. I haven't been able to find a brand that doesn't have MSG so I just use these recipes sparingly. I try to keep our MSG intake as low as possible but I have to admit we do eat some foods with MSG.

To keep the cost low, I will use one week to last two weeks or only select four meals instead of using all seven. On the other nights we will have beans & rice or maybe even make Oatmeal for dinner if dad won't make it home in time.

As you can see I make the E-mealz work for us. I don't know what it is about me making supper but my children Josh, ecspically feel more loved when I do. And all I'm doing is opening up a can of beans, boiling some chicken and popping in a premade loaf of garlic bread in the oven. LOL.

A few years back I would feel so guilty because I was not making everything from scratch, now it's more power to ya .

I would still like to make our own bread and more from scratch but for know this works for us.

In Christ,

Linda<><

Today I was looking at the kids room and just staring at the mess. Clothes, toys, papers and more of those little army man toys on the floor. I so wanted to cry but instead I decided to tackle this mess! I started with Caleb. He is my pack rat. He keeps EVERYTHING. Lupe bought all the children a 'treasure box'. This is a container that fits under the bed and has all their personal items, like notebooks, papers, toys that are not community toys and such. Well, my Caleb not only has his 'treasure' container but also two more boxes of stuff.

I sat on the floor even though it hurt my bum because I am sitting on stuff. Caleb and I went through all his boxes of stuff. We got rid of all those little papers and any toys he hasn't played with in a while. When done he only had his treasure container. Yahoo! Then we organized his one shelf and one drawer.

Next I did the same thing with Brent. Once done we went through everything on the floor. Lots of toys that even I had a hard time with getting rid of went into the give-away box. Those farm animals and dinosaurs, some play cars and little people.

We try to keep only the basic toys which are legos, animals, cars etc. but even those are starting to be overwhelming, so off they go.

Tomorrow, Annette, is going to clean her shelf, Brent is going to clean off his bed, Ethan is going to organize his drawer and shelf and same with Lance. Hopefully we can get rid of a lot more stuff.

The house looks horrible but I have come to accept that this is our transition year. Lupe and I have been wanting to simplify our lives for a few years. We actually thought we were half way there. We are always getting rid of stuff but yet it's not like we are purchasing and buying new things. Books are an exception. We never stop buying books. LOL. We are not a big spender of things like toys and just plain stuff that we don't need.

I keep the bare minimum of pans in the kitchen, we don't have extra sheets for the beds, I don't have knick knacks. So how do we have so much stuff still?

Anyway, that's what is going on around here.

In Christ,

Linda<><

Yesterday was Lupe's birthday. He is the big 4-0! Can't believe we are half way through our life. Makes you really think about about a lot of things. Things that you don't think about when you turn 20 or 30.

Half our lives are gone. It's amazing what goes through your mind and I don't mean negative things like I'm getting old.

We are asking ourselves what have we done to further the kingdom of God and how can we continue. How can we impact our children to live their lives for God? Are we planing a godly seed so they can do the same and better with their own children? We only have one chance on this earth to win souls for Christ are we doing enough? Are we where God wants us to be?

We just want to make sure that we are living our lives according to God's will.

Yesterday my dad came over to the house so Lupe & I could go out for dinner. It was really nice to talk to my Sweets in private. We can talk about the children and know that their ears are not listening in. We split a nice steak dinner, went to Half Price Books and had a Latte.

Annette turned 10yrs. old last week. We haven't celebrated  her birthday yet. Caleb and Annette want to celebrate their birthday together. Caleb is going to be 9yrs. tomorrow.

I can't believe that three of my children are at their halfway mark. Half way to young adulthood, the big 18. So much to teach them and so little time. I'm so thankful that we are homeschooling them. I can't imagine them being away from home for over 7hrs. a day. By the time the school bus drops the neighborhood children off, it's past 4:30 sometimes.

I was going to post about Lance and his Pre-k but my computer is full. Can you believe that? I can't load any pictures.  I'm trying to get some pictures loaded to snapfish so off I go. It's going very slow.

This morning about 10:00 a.m. I did something I normally never do on a school day. I was sitting eating my yogurt when I surprised myself and said, "Get your shoes on we are going for a walk." I decided to take the children out for a cup of hot chocolate.

We went to Shoemaker & Hardt. A nice little coffee shop in Old Downtown Wylie. It's about a 10 minute walk from our house. The kiddos were so excited. I ordered and Almond Joy Latte. Mmmmm, it was so good. I got the children a hot chocolate. We sat at a table and the kiddos played some games that were available. We stayed for about 40 minutes looking around. They have so much to look at. Old typewriters, matches, books, cow hides, pictures, plates and the list can go on. Even in the bathroom they have lots to look at and Brent came out saying, "Everything is for sale, even in the bathroom." he made us all laugh. On our way out one of the ladies that worked there commented on how well behaved the children are. She mentioned that it's very rare to see children behave like ours did.

I told the children that they are letting their light for Jesus shine through. Almost everytime we leave the house I tell the children that they are salt & light of the world. They are the vines for Jesus.

I was going to blog about Lance and how his Pre-K year is going, but my camera is not uploading the pictures . Maybe if Lupe, has time, he can take a look and help me figure out why it's not taking my pictures.

I received my new planner. It's called The Well-Planned Day. I usually don't buy such nice planners because I can never keep up with them, but I had a little extra Paypal money and thought I would give it a try. I hope to keep it as a sort of diary of our year.

You can see samples at their site. It only holds up to four children though. I like how it has an area for me to put a picture of our family and you can put a picture of each child (up to four ) and write their name, age, strength, challenges etc.

Well, I'm off to look at my new planner !

Now that we are moved in (almost, still have a storage unit to go through) I thought I would post a few pictures.

Here is where I keep the kiddos daily school stuff. It still a work in progress.

Here is part of our living room where the computer is. You can see into the children's' room and see our library, um, I mean the little hallway  (I always wanted a library now I have one. LOL)

Here is the living room coming from the kitchen. You can see the front door and the door to the 'Master Suite" Hee, hee. Our bedroom is about the size of our closet from the previous house. LOL.

Here is a picture of our breakfast nook or dining room. Not sure what you call it. I took the picture from the other side of the kitchen.

Another kitchen picture. Me backed up to the kitchen sink to take it ;)

I know longer have a built in pantry, so I have to make use of ALL space. It's not pretty but it works. Especially after a trip to Costco.

The rest of the kitchen.

That's our tour of our Apt. House. We call it an Apt. House because nobody seems to know what to call our place. What we are living in use to be a garage. The people who first owned the place built a three bedroom house in the front of the property. In the back they built a garage with an apt. above it. Some where along the line of owners' they converted the garage to an apartment.

If you look at the 4th photo from the top you can see the concrete sticking out at the bottom of the wall. We painted it white so it sort of blends in and put the molding above it.

You should have seen this place before my Sweets re-did everything. It was horrible. My Sweets also surprised me with a dishwasher and my Uncles were so kind as to put some washer and dryer hook-ups in the back of the apartment. On the other side of the kitchen window (the one above the sink) is where my Front Loader Washer/Dryer are.

We are so blessed. So many things I took for granted I now am thankful for. Before I didn't think much about doing a load of laundry conveniently in the house next to my kitchen. Now I am so thankful that I even have a washer/dryer. I may have to go outside (currently walk through mud) to get to my washer but I am thankful it's there. I don't wash after dark though. Possums outside . I'm too chicken I might get attacked.

Well, today was our third week and third day of school. I didn't give them a full load this week. Pretty much the basics; Reading, Phonics, Writing, Grammar & Math, with some History & Science. This week for history and science they are only reading from their textbooks and not doing the Light Unit Questions. I'll have them start that next week.

I woke up late again (20 minutes) so our morning was an hour off and we got everything in. We just didn't do it at the time it was scheduled.

Annette, worked with Lance again today. I would post a picture of his work but I still need to figure out what is wrong with my Photobucket acct. Maybe I'll do that after I blog.

Ethan, is doing great with Christ-Centered Phonics. He understands rhyming better now. At first he would read hot and hut. Then I would say, "Which one rhymes with pot?" He couldn't figure it out. He thought I was asking him to find the same beginning sound. Now he understands and will look for the word with the same ending sound.

He is doing well with his reading. He can sound out three letter cvc word quickly. Hopefully he'll catch on pretty fast

I am combining a lot of Caleb & Brent's schooling. They are pretty much at the same level. Brent catches on pretty fast in Phonics. He seems more determined to figure it all out. Caleb, is more relaxed. He wants to read but I have to push and challenge him. He won't do it on his own (like some of my other dc)

Caleb reminds me of Josh, he doesn't always 'get' it. It takes a while. I'm like that too. I have to do it over and over and over for it to stick. It drives my Sweets batty sometimes .

I was talking to my SIL about my nephew who is having trouble learning how to read. It breaks my heart because he is in public school. I know how hard it is to struggle and be in the public school. I encouraged her to have him repeat 1st grade, but she is going to go ahead and put him in 2nd.

When my nephew first started Kindergarten he had just barely turned 5yrs. old. He reminds me how my Lance, is now. Immature for his age (not saying this in a negative way) Lance, is NOT ready for kindergarten. I think my nephew was not ready at such an early age either. He needed another year to mature.

When he started first grade, he was already behind and now going to 2nd grade he is still behind.

My SIL said that the school does not believe in retaking a class. That they will help him catch up. In my very humble opinion I see as he not only has to try to keep-up with the other kids but also try to learn what he didn't learn last year in 1st grade. It's like doing two grades at once. I'm sure they are going to give him extra work. Again in my very humble opinion that is going to add more pressure on the little guy.

Right now while he is still young would be a good time to hold him back. Once he is older then it becomes an embarrassing thing to repeat a grade. Maybe I'm wrong but all I can see is my little nephew trying to stay above water but can't. If he could go back (even if some of it is review) in a not rushed pace I think it will benefit him greatly.

If I lived closer to my SIL I would love to homeschool him for a year or tutor him.

I would really appreciate some prayer for my nephew.

Yesterday went well. Not how I envisioned it but that's okay :)  Today I woke up a half hour late. Yikes! We were a little off today  Last night I made us a schedule that we can loosely follow. The children like to look at the schedule to see what they need to do next.

I was going to post some pics of our new place but every time I upload them to Photobucket my picture disappears . I have to figure out what is going on with that.

Lance is doing well in school (Pre-K) he loves to trace. Annette, has been helping me with him. Today, she said, "Don't worry mom, I'll help with Lance, he'll get his schooling in."

Too cute. Today Annette left me a sticky note on my place-mat (that's my school desk area) It said, "Mom, you are doing a good job raising us. Keep up the good work."

I thought that was very sweet of Annette. She is an encourager.

In Christ,

Linda<><

Last night my stomach was actually queasy  I have never had that happen before. Hee, hee.

I think it's me thinking of keeping our apt. house clean, giving all the children attention etc. So it was more than school. If all I had to do was teach my children that would be too easy  .

Anyway I'm okay this morning. It's 10 till 8:00a.m. I'm going to drink my cup of coffee and have our one-on-ones.

Will hopefully be back later to report how it all went

Tomorrow will be our back-to-homeschool day. We are actually going on our third week of school, but since our first two weeks of school was on the road we haven't had our 'first' day yet.

I plan to have their new pencil boxes on the table, so when they walk into the kitchen it will get them excited (hopefully) ;) We'll have breakfast than I'll have my one-on-one time with each of them. I'll go over their schedules and books.

To tell you the truth I'm a bit nervous about starting school again. I prayed today about it. I prayed for our new school year, for each student and talked to God about the goals I have for them. I prayed that he will guide our school year. If there are goals that I have that need to be changed I pray I'll keep my spiritual ears open to hear.

Homeschooling is a way of life for us. Even though it's the hardest thing I have ever taken on it's our life and we will make it work. You may read about our tough days as well as the good ones. It's not always easy but that's okay. God is with us and will help us through if we will lean on him.

I am excited,  but nervous too :)

I got Lance, a set of books called Big Skills for Little Hands. The books in the series are; I Can Draw!, I Past!, I Can Fold!, I Can Color, I Can Trace.  They are similar to the Kumon books but are a little bit more expensive. You do get a lot of pages though and in the back they give you samples in full color of pages from their other books. I really think Lance is going to love his Pre-K year. I'll post pictures of the books later.

We had a wonderful time away. We spent three nights at Mt. Rushmore. The children were in awe with the mountain and so was Lupe & I ;) we also went to see the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial. Korczak Ziolkwski started sculpting Chief Crazy Horse when he was forty all by himself. You can see pictures here. And read about Korzak HERE. You can do a mini unit study on this .

The children panned for gold at Wade's Gold Mill. The children and I learned all about panning & mining for gold. This is a family owned business. We were the very last customers. The Wades' are selling their gold mill.

We then drove to Yellowstone Park. We had a BIG surprise for the children. Grandma and grandpa Lupe were going to meet us at the cabin. The children were so surprised and happy. It has been a little over a year since they seen the grandparents.

We learned so much at Yellowstone that I decided that school has already begun. Between visiting South Dakota and learning about Mt. Rushmore and the presidents, panning for gold & Chief Crazy Horse then at Yellowstone they learned about the animals (Bison, wolves, bears, Elk, native & non native fish at Yellowstone and more) , volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, how fires help the forest and about the history of Yellowstone. We had an amazing time.

The children have been doing math, some grammar and lots of reading during the summer and add in history, geography and science from our vacation, so I am happy to report that we will start week 3 on Monday . I'm also happy to write that we DID start school in Sept.  I don't know if you remember but I thought because of our vacation we wouldn't to start school until Oct. I'm so glad that we learned so much these past two weeks.

Guess what? I came back to find out that I was Blogger of the Week! I was really excited about that. Although it's on the previous page because I am posting it a week late.

Today, I haven't been on the computer too much. I checked my emails this morning and that's it up until right now.

I purchased Alpha Phonics Book on Cd-Rom to use as review with Ethan. I mentioned in another post that doing his 'pre-lesson' was taking too long. I thought that he could use Alpha Phonics on cd-rom as a daily review of his blends and so forth, that way when it was time for his Phonics lesson with me (we are using Christ-Centered Phonics) I could skip that portion and save some time.

Well, I received AP on cd-rom and you CAN'T use it for independent learning (or in my case review) as stated in Cathy Duffy Reviews. I thought I researched this thoroughly. Every place I read about this product 'to me' it sounded like the child could do this on their own (with mom near by). I was under the impression that if you used your mouse to click on the 'a' it would say /a/, then click on the 'm' you would hear the sound /m/, then hear /a-m/....am, but it doesn't do that. The screen is silent. I understand that you can't just put a child in front of the computer screen and expect it to teach your child. I am not attempting this but I was hoping that it would make a sound to reinforce what we have been learning and to use it as review. I'm so disappointed. If I would have known that it didn't make the sounds I would have preferred the book. At least you can sit on the couch or at the table.

I did contact the company and they promptly told me that it's very important for the parent to sit there and teach the lesson, which I understand. I kept trying to let them know that I AM teaching my children but I wanted to use this as review. Anyway they did say I could send it to them for a refund. I might just keep it since I have to pay for the shipping. I was a bit irritated with the call because the person kept acting like I was trying to find some magical, easy way out of teaching.

 Anyway, this isn't suppose to be a negative review regarding Alpha-Phonics. I was just disappointed in the silent cd-rom. From what I hear Alpha-Phonics is an excellent tool to help you teach your child to read.

Can't believe my oldest is half way though school. That's a scary thought. It seems just like yesterday we sat down in front of our white board and he was learning about the rainbow using our Sonlight K. Now my youngest is five years old

We are gearing up for another year of home education. Very exciting as well as overwhelming. I'm excited about getting ready for a new school year but you know those homeschooling mom thoughts "Are we doing the right thing." or "Maybe we should put them in school." or "Are they learning."

 Okay back to gearing up. Here is what I plan to use. I am getting better with sticking to our curriculum.

Joshua 6th grade year:

• Josh, enjoyed using R&S Bible last year but we decided to use Foundations in Romans. It seems every year he is always studying the Old Testaments.
• Since I still think his penmanship can improve he will use Presidential Penmanship DN Style. I like the fact that he will be copying quotes and speeches as well as famous documents from America.
• For math we settled on Math Mammoth. He will use the Light Blue Complete Math Curriculum. He is not at grade level so we are going to start him in 3B. Our goal is for him to complete 3B, 4A & 4B. Work through the summer and hopefully start start 5B for his 7th grade year.
• For Grammar, Josh, used Growing with Grammar last year and it worked well but I thought I would try a whole Language Art's program for him this year. I wanted to have grammar, writing & spelling combined. We chose Character Quality Language Arts Level A the Red series. I like how character quality is woven in with the lessons. QCLA has everything I'm looking for. It has copywork (something we have neglected). The writing is exactly what I was looking for. They have the child learn to work with A Key Word Outline. The spelling goes over all the rules (not too sure how this will work out with Joshua. You know how his brain goes into overload)
•   Our reading program; we will continue with Christian Light Education. He will finish level 5 and start level 6 hopefully sometime in January.
• He will use CLE for Science also.
• Social Studies again will be CLE God's World His-Story. When I purchase this last year it was actually for 6th grade. Since then they have have pushed it up the the 7th grade and now have a Latin America study for 6th.
• The Bridge to the Latin Road. I would really like to start this sometime this school year. I talked with the author Mrs. Beers and she recommended that Joshua first complete levels 1 & 2 of her Phonics Road series at an accelerated pace. He can do a weeks worth in one day. We were suppose to work on this over the summer but it didn't happen. Since this post I have decided to use Phonics Tutor's Frequent Words, along with The Phonics Road. Joshua, can review all the Phonetic sounds and rules without me. This really frees me up to help the four younger ones in this area.
•  I'm a bad mama, I still haven't figured out what to do for art & music. I REALLY would like Lupe to teach them how to play the guitar. I do have Rod & Staff music that I purchased several years ago. Maybe I'll find it and use it.

Edited to add After much thought I am not going to do Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading for Josh. I plan to have him only do Phonics Tutor Frequent Words. Once he completes PTFW then I might have him go through Phonics Road level 2 at a faster pace. Hopefully by the end of this year he can start The Bridge. My prayer is that PTFW will help Josh to be a better speller and at the same time get some phonics review. Phonics Tutor Frequent Word is for age 7-adult.

Annette 5th grade;

• Annette, REALLY needs to work on her penmanship. She also will use Presidential Penmanship but hers will be Bob Jones style.
• Spelling this year I chose to go with Spelling Wisdom Book 1. I'm more of a textbook homeschooler but I still would like to see some copywork.
• Grammar we chose Christian Light Language Arts 4. She will only use the grammar portion. I don't really care for the spelling part and I need more instruction on the writing portion of this program.
• Writing we will use two programs this year, Writing Tales Level 1 and Meaningful Composition 4. I thought we would start with Meaningful Composition and every few weeks do a lesson from Writing Tales. Both are wonderful writing programs. We don't have to finish both in one year. It's not like they are grade level specific.
• Annette, will also use Math Mammoth the Light Blue Series 3A/B.
• Bible she will use Christian Light Bible 4. She really doesn't care for it too much, so we'll see how it goes.
• The Bridge . Would like to have both Annette & Josh do this together. Hopefully we can start this in January. Before starting the Latin Road Annette, will also do Phonic Tutor's Frequent Words.

Edited to add:Since I want to keep Annette & Josh together regarding The Bridge to the Latin Road we'll wait until Joshua completes what I stated above. Not sure if she will do The Phonics Road level 1. I might just have her do PTFW to review the rules of spelling.

I am also debating between Christian Light Education or Time4Learning for Grammar instruction. I am really liking that T4L will grade everything and there is no paper trail. It's still up-in-the air right now but I'll decide when we get back from our vacation

Well, I ran out of time. I will have to add the rest of my dear children's' curriculum later

I'm back to finish with what we'll use (actually finished on Sat. but my computer froze)

Caleb 3rd Grade:

• Phonics, Reading, Grammar & Writing he will use The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading Level 1. I was going to have Caleb also use Character Quality Language Arts Pre A, but I think that will be too much. Since The Phonics Road seems to be a whole Language Arts program. If we need to add more than I can later. As the other children Caleb, will review with Phonics Tutor.
• Math; Christian Light Math 3
• Social Studies CLE
• Science CLE
• Presidential Penmanship BJ Style
• Bible will be AWANA and discussing things from his curriculum which is all centered around Christ.

Brent 2nd Grade;

• Brent, is also going to start The Phonics Road along with Caleb. I was going to have him use Christian Light Language Arts along with it but I'm not sure now. I already own CLE LA 2. Maybe I'll take a look at it again and see. Also use Phonics Tutor Frequent Words
• Math he will use Math Mammoth 2A and 2B. In my very humble opinion after all the math curricula I have tried I really think CLE & MM are the two best so it's hard deciding between the two for Brent. I don't want to combine but these two math programs sure is making it hard.
• Social Studies he will use CLE
• Science CLE
• Bible, same as the others AWANA and expanding what he learns from his other subjects.

Ethan 1st grade  (can't believe he is in the FIRST grade)

• Phonics, grammar, copywork, spelling, reading he will use Christ-Centered Curriculum,
• I know school is suppose to start soon and I should have everything in order, but I don't. Ethan, will finish Christ Centered Math A but I'm not sure if I'll have him to CCM B. I might have him switch to MM. Again I'm not sure.
• Sonlight P3/4. I know he is on the older side but I still think he will enjoy the books and I'm in nooo hurry.

Lance Sr. Pre-K:

• Christ Centered Phonics A:1 & A:2
• Christ Centered Math A
• Sonlight P3/4
• Kumon Workbooks for cutting, pasting & tracing.

With all of them I would like to start some poetry memorization. If we do add that in it probably won't be until winter.

For music we are pretty relaxed. We listen to a composer or memorize a hymn. Art, all we have really done is us books like Draw & Write and others similar

Edited to add that we are going to use The Lambs Book of Art 1 and the younger ones will use Little Annies' Art Book of Etiquette. All children and I will go through Manners Made Easy for the Family.

We have watched way too much T.V. this summer. When we were staying with our friends in the month of July (while waiting for our apartment-house to be ready) we watched on average 4-6 hours of television a day for 4 weeks!  It's the most television I have EVER let the children watch. I think we have seen every Hallmark movie ever made

Then we moved into our little apt.-house. The first three weeks we did great but this past week we have watched the Science & Animal Planet at least 4 hours a day. I keep reminding me that normally we don't watch this much, next week we will be at Yellowstone and when we get back I'll get us under control again.

Did I mention that I have been addicted to my computer. My Sweets can surely tell because he noticed our bank account is thinning.

I know once school starts I won't have time for the computer. Thank goodness. I'm out of control. I haven't read a Bible story to my children in a month (other than what's in their curriculum) I feel like such a bad example. They see me glued to this computer more than reading the Word of God.

I think I am going to get off the computer and ask for forgiveness now. I feel so ashamed that I let this become an idol in my life.

In Him,

Linda<><

It's late. Lupe, is not home yet. He is at one of the rentals trying to get it ready for it to be move-in ready by Saturday. Right now he is doing all the last minute stuff. Those last minute things are so time consuming. He is also cleaning it. Hopefully he will be home by midnight. He has to go to work tomorrow.

I am looking over our curriculum for next year. I am a bit nervous with a few of my choices and as I was looking at all our schooling I'm wondering how we are going to fit it all in. I do this every year though and every year we seem to get it done . It's just hard with four of my children still learning to read. Then with all my goals for the children and myself.

Did I mention that I did some last minute 'panic' shopping . I purchased Alpha-Phonics on cd-rom for Ethan and Lance. I am using Christ-Centered Curriculum (CCC) but lately the lessons have become longer. There is a lot of what I call 'Pre-lesson'. The child is going over blends by using a chart, a blend ladder and searching for the blends , then we need to go over the sight words, Bible lesson and once done then you do the workbook pages (my favorite part ). It's taking us about 30-40 minutes just for his phonics lesson. So I panicked and ordered Alpha-Phonics so he could at least do the blends on the computer. Then we can go over it quickly during our lesson time, go over his sight words and move onto the Bible & phonics lesson. We'll see how it goes.

I would also like for Brent & Caleb to use it as a refresher or review. I haven't seen Alpha-Phonics, so not sure if that will work out. Another we'll see

With Josh, I'm nervous about using Character Quality Language Arts. It looks great but I wonder how 'teacher intensive' it is. Not that I believe you should just hand things to your child and have him teach himself, but I do like for my older children to have some Independent and be able to do a lot on their own with me supervising their progress and being their when needed. With Josh I panicked and purchased Phonics Tutor Frequent Words cd-rom, workbook & reader. Only a little under $200.00. I planned on only using it as review now I might use it by itself for the first semester of our school year. Still not sure about this though because I don't have a separate writing program (his writing is part of CQLA) and I do want him to do writing from the start of the year. Not only did I panic regarding spending more money but now I'm not sure about what to use. If you use Phonics Tutor with the workbook it's considered a full grammar program. It teaches phonics, spelling and grammar. Maybe what I can do is have Joshua only do the writing portion of CQLA for the first semester along with PTFW and then hopefully by the second semester Josh and I will have more of a feel on how Phonics Tutor Frequent Words works and can will be able to do both. I think because he is older he can do PTFW at a faster pace. I really think PTFW will be worth it if it can help Joshua spell better. Josh, REALLY wants to improve his spelling, he told me this a few days ago. He said, "I can read good but can't spell very well. I want to write better." I think it's great that he is willing to work extra hard to improve his spelling.

And lastly Annette's been using Time4Learning. I originally thought Josh, would use this as his "Summer" School but come to find out he does not like to use the computer that much for school, so I had Annette use it. She loves using the computer for school because she doesn't have to physically write her answers down. She can press buttons instead . Anyway, she is liking it so much that I 'might' pay for a full year and have her use it for Language Art's and maybe math. It would really help me time wise. Time4Learning goes over the lesson and grades it. I check her quizzes and if she gets below 85% then she has to repeat the lessons and take the quiz again. She usually scored 93% or above. It even keeps track of their over all score. I was only going to use this over the summer but since Annette, enjoys it I might have her continue to use Time4Learning instead of Christian Light Language Arts. I am also going to have her try the math (it's included with the price already) for a month and if she likes it than we'll use that too. If not she can always continue with Math Mammoth.

Now you all know about my embarrassing 'Pre' school 'Panic" attack. Yes, I'm embarrassed especially because it's a bit expensive but thought it would be good to share anyway. I'm sure I'm not the only one that goes through these before-school-starts jitters.

Blessings,

Linda<><

After moving to a new city, Lupe, and I made the hard decision of leaving our current church of almost five years. It was not an easy decision. We really thought we would stick with Stonebriar. Two years ago we became members of Stonebriar. We don't take membership lightly. It's a huge commitment. Lupe, never even became a member in our last church and he was the youth pastor.

After much prayer and advice from Lupe's father we talked about it and decided to find a new church in our area. Lupe's father mentioned that we need to support our city and get connected closer to home.

The Lord does answer prayer. The church that we found is right down the street. It's a Bible church (Wylie Bible Church) AND it has AWANA from PreK through High School. I really wanted the children to continue with AWANA, so that was an answer to prayer.

It's a bit more formal than what we are use to. They only use the King James Bible, I'm the only woman wearing slacks  , the children stay with us during the service. They have Sunday School for the children but that's all. These are not bad things just different.

I do like that they don't have Sunday programs for Josh & Annette but it would be nice to have something for the younger ones. At least for 2nd grade and under. Then again Lupe & I like the simplicity. It's nice not having so many programs. Again this is an answer to prayer. I just have to work on my wiggle worm Lance, to sit still

The people are very friendly and most importantly they are teaching the Word of God. It's hard to find a good Bible Church. Lupe and I have been blessed to have found two. First Stonebriar and now Wylie Bible Church.

We do hope to visit Stonebriar every now-and-then. We made so many wonderful friends there. I was finally making some friends. A month before we moved Tiffany had a Girls' Night Out and I REALLY was looking forward to getting to know these ladies more.

Oh, I almost forgot, the children like our new church. Annette said, "I like this church. It reminds me of our church in California. The only thing I don't like is they pray a lot.?" Too funny.

Joshua, Annette, Caleb & Brent are hanging out with their dad today. He is getting a house ready to rent. Believe it or not Annette, Caleb & Brent took their math books. I didn't say anything. They just came up to me and asked for them. We'll see if they actually do a few pages.

Since the others took their math I asked Josh, if he wanted his. He looked at me and said, "No waaay! I have a book I'm reading."

At least he is reading.

I did some fun crafty school stuff with Lance & Ethan. Worked on some Kumon pages with Lance. He did another puzzle and a cutting page. Than he worked on a few pages were you have to circle which is smaller and so forth.

Ethan worked on some mazes. He said, they were "Way easy" his exact words. I was going to do some Phonics with him but we didn't get to it.

They played outside for a while. Came in for lunch and I read them a few books. Now they are having quiet time and I need to clean and do some laundry.

Ethan, has been doing well with Christ-Centered Phonics. For a while he was really bored and not wanting to do his work. As I was talking to God and asking for his help in this area, I suddenly realized what we needed to do.

Christ-Centered Phonics is saturated with the Word of God. A week ago I told Ethan, that we need to pray before each lesson. I told him that satan does not want him to learn about God, he wants us not to read the Bible. Now when we start, Ethan & I hold hands and I pray that God will open Ethan's heart to receive the message of His Word and we pray that his heart and brain will be open to learning for the Lord. That God will help him in his studies. I also pray for myself. That I will be kind, understanding and patient with Ethan, as he learns. That God will give me wisdom on how to teach Ethan.

Since we have been praying before each lesson things are going a lot smoother. Today he even wanted to do three pages in his Phonics book. Normally he would say, "Are we done yet?"

Last night I found the Kumon workbooks that my sister and I purchased for Lance. I was looking them over and pulled about a weeks worth of pages. I put them in some sheet protectors in a binder. Now I have them on hand and ready for Lance at a moments notice.

Today, Lance, was a bit on the fussy side. I was trying to finish with Ethan. Lance kept interrupting. I finally remembered his 'school' binder. I took out a puzzle that he was suppose to put together and paste onto a sheet of paper. He was SO happy. Later today he will practice cutting.

The other children all worked on some math today. Once done Josh read and others played with Legos.

Blessings,

Linda<><

I am going to start adding in the read alouds for this year on my sidebar. Not sure if I'll put a line through them once they are read. I am doing this more to keep a record of what we are reading this year.

I plan to use Sonlight P3/4 & P4/5 for Ethan & Lance so I won't add in all those books. Too many . I own most of them and have to update a little. I don't plan on following a the Instructors Guide to a "T" but I do like the IG to keep me on track.

Since I do have different grades some of the read aloud books I select might seem on the low side for Joshua and high for the others. Thankfully Joshua 11yr., Annette 10yr, Caleb 9yr & Brent 8yrs. are pretty close in age. That helps some. We do stop and talk about what is going on, and this helps the two younger ones to understand.

This year I am pulling read aloud books from our own little library. We are not concentrating on one era. I thought about reading the Ancients but there are so many good books that I decided to NOT go with particular part in history .

I am doing the same thing with Joshua & Annette's reading list. If left up to them they'll read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys all year. I am looking through my shelves to find at least nine books that they have to read.

Maybe as they read them I'll put the title under their name on my sidebar.

Lupe, hooked up my printer today , so I was able to print out some forms that I needed to get me on my way to an organized homeschool year.

I am so excited! I have my student binder all set. Well, almost. I still need to fill in all the blanks.

Here is what I did. I put a tab labeled Joshua, and put a Yearly Progress Report that I purchased at Christian Light. Even though this is suppose to be used for Light Units it's very adaptable for other programs too. The report has four terms (nine weeks per term). At the the top horizontally it has all the weeks. Under that  vertically it list each subject and you fill in their test scores and dates. Very easy for me to adapt to my non Light Unit programs.

Behind the Yearly Progress Report is a Monthly Progress Report. Again it's very adaptable, so you can use it. You can put their attendance  or other planned educational activities on this sheet as well as quiz & test scores. There is only twelve to a pack but isince I am not required to turn this in I can use the carbon copy as another month so now I have 24 of them.

I purchased Planning Your Charlotte Mason Printed Book & Dvd. Although I am not using the CM method this was VERY helpful. Sonya helps you look at the big picture (all twelve years) and through her five step process, breaks it down to your year, term, week and finally days. It's a wonderful resource. I was able to break down how many pages of his math to complete per term and than broke it down even further by weeks. Josh needs to complete 13 math pages a week. Same with how many lessons or chapters.

I highly recommend this dvd & book from Sonya.

Tomorrow I'll complete Annette's and work my way through each student. I also plan to put all their test in the binder. We don't keep all their workbooks. Way too many and I don't know were we would put them, so if we ever have to show proof that we are schooling our children I'll at least have their test.

As soon as I get a new camera I'll post some pictures.

Ethan is half way through his first book in the Christ-Centered Phonics B:1. He knows all the letter sounds but B:1 is still a challenge to him. He is practicing his blends ba, bi, bo, bu, be etc. He is learning find the rhyming words and lastly he spells cvc words. Most importantly he is learning about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week while studying the /f/ sound he also learned how God is refining us. He looked really bored though out the lesson but a week later he still remembers what he learned.

I haven't unpacked his Christ-Centered math book. I hope to find it soon so we can start it.

I am going to have Ethan also use Phonics Tutor Frequent Words. I think he would do better with using Phonics Tutor because it's more for the beginner and does a lot of blending but at $125.00 for the cd and Teacher Manual, well, I thought we would just try using what the older children are using. Especially since we are using it for review and not as our main phonics program. Although you can use Phonics Tutor as a stand-alone program. I don't want to give up CCC because I love how every lesson is centered around God.

Today Joshua, Annette, Caleb & Brent took their yearly online assessment test. We use Lets Go Learn. It assess High Frequency Words, Word Recognition, Word Analysis, Phonemic Awareness, Spelling, Vocabulary & Comprehension.

They all did very well. Josh, still need to continue practicing his reading but at least he is at grade level. His strength is reading comprehension, he tested at a high 8th grade level and word recognition which is at a high 6th low 7th grade. Everything else is at grade level. I do think he could have done better. He doesn't like doing any school on the computer and it does affect how he performs. Three times he hit the wrong button. He was trying to hit the repeat button and instead accidentally hit one of the answer button which of course was wrong (x3).

Caleb's strengths were Oral Vocabulary & Comprehension. He got high 3rd grade. He needs to work on his High Frequency Words & Word Recognition they were below his grade level but I think once he starts reading more it will help bring those scores up. His Phonics is at low 3rd. All-in-all he did okay

Annette, does very well with word recognition. I noticed that she breaks down words or another word will help her remember a pattern and she can guess the word. She scored at a twelve grade level. This doesn't mean she reads at that level but she does have the ability to recognize phonetically regular and irregular words. She also did very well with Oral Vocab. at a high 6th and comprehension at a low 6th. She got maximum on everything else except spelling.

 Brent's strengths were also Oral Vocabulary he scored high 6th & Comprehension mid 3rd. Everything else he is where he should be.

All of them scored below grade level with spelling. Looks like we need to concentrate on that. Hopefully The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading will help with that this year. I'll have to give a report next summer .

When we get back from our vacation I'll give them the math assessment

In Christ,

Linda<><