It has been a few weeks since I have blogged here. I miss my HSB but Blogger is so easy. I love pictures and it's so easy for me to upload from my computer.

I have been working on getting our chores in order. I rereading Managers of Their Chores.

Since we moved I have let our chores go. The children still help around the house but it hasn't been consistent.

I to need to get back on some sort of schedule. I want to go to bed earlier so I can get up at 6:30 a.m. Have my cup of coffee and be ready for school by 8:00 a.m.

I have been waking up at 7:20 or 30. Jumping in the shower at 8:00 and not starting school until past ten. As I type the children are playing risk on the computer. At least they are all dressed and teeth brushed

My goal for next week is to get up earlier. Start school at 8:00 a.m.

I'll be back to give a report.

I started a new blog Here. Not sure if I really want another blog. One of the reasons is I need a change. HSB is wonderful but it's so hard to navigate. To change things takes so much time. Blogger is more simple. It's still up in the air though. Lupe, was saying to keep this blog but more of just for curriculum talk and the other blog more of a family blog. Again I'm not sure.

Merry CHRISTmas,

Linda<><

Today Annette & Caleb will sing with the childrens choir in front of the church. They are so excited.

Usually it seems that the mom is the one getting the children ready to look nice and sharp for a Sunday especially a CHRISTmas Sunday. Well, here it is my dear, sweet husband. If it wasn't for him the children would go looking nice but this Sunday because of Lupe they look REALLY nice, wearing their ties and jackets. Annette, EVEN is wearing a dress and Lupe, bought her two more.

My boys look like little business men, at least that's what Brent is saying. He really likes his new clothes and said he would like to dress like this more often.

When I was first having babies, boy after boy  I always thought I would have them very well dressed for church, considering it's the Lords day. As time went by well, the ties and jackets were less and less. Oh, yes they still wore slacks and a nice dress shirt (most of the time) but I missed the whole dressing up thing. I always believed that we should look our best on Sunday.

Even I don't wear dresses every Sunday anymore .

Anyway, it's nice seeing my little men and my little lady dressed for church.

I'll try to edit this post with pictures later

Blessings,

Linda

I'm constantly dodging toys and stepping over things in this place. There are legos & playmobile pieces everywhere I turn I have killed a few good toy soldiers (poor guys didn't have a chance).

In the kids room um, you can't even see the floor.

We are constantly moving things from here to there .

Life in a 700sq.ft, apt. house

We are 4 months into our homeschooling year. Seems like yesterday was our first day.

I thought I would write a post on what we are keeping, dropping and adding.

With Joshua, we are dropping Phonics Tutor. Josh, is not a computer person. He doesn't like to do school on the computer. We are replacing it with Spell to Write & Read.  We will continue to use CQLA (minus the spelling portion), Christian Light science, reading and social studies and he will continue with Math Mammoth.

Annette, we added CLE LA. She enjoys T4L but I prefer a more workbook type LA program. She still uses Time4Learning about three times a week. We are also adding in CLE Math. She wants to give it a try. Since she is using CLE for science, social studies, reading and language arts she wanted to include math. We will continue with Meaningful Composition. She is not thrilled with MC but she doesn't like writing period!

Caleb, will continue CLE math and The Phonics Road to Reading. I love the PR. It includes phonics, spelling, writing,grammar, and reading. I'll give it a review once we complete level 1. I can't wait to purchase level 2 so I can look through it. For now I did drop CQLA. Since he is getting grammar and writing with PR.

Brent, will continue using Phonics Road, Math Mammoth/Schoolaid math. He is doing well. Both Brent & Caleb's reading and spelling as improved with PR.

Ethan, is starting SWR & Cursive First.

All the children are adding in Cursive First. Josh, my 6th grader is now using more cursive then manuscript. His cursive has improved too. Brent, is also starting to write more in cursive since we started Cursive First. Annette, can still use some improvement and Caleb's penmanship is looking better too.

I bought all the children a copy of The New England Primer

I am having the four older ones memorize the alphabet. In Adams fall we sinned all. Annette, Caleb & Brent have memorized up to the letter M. Josh memorized up to the letter F. I thought they wouldn't be interested in the book but they all love it. They even carry their own book around and practice on their own. I plan to have them memorize some poems and such this year. We'll see how much of the book they can memorize by the summer.

Lance is so sweet! Every time he goes down for a nap he gives me kisses. He starts by giving me one kiss on each cheek, then my nose and last my forehead. 

It's been a busy morning. I have done three spelling lessons. One with Annette using SWR, one with Caleb & Brent using Phonics Road and one with Ethan, he did his first SWR lesson.

Ethan did his first Spell to Write and Read lesson. Some words were hot, all, but, and etc. He had ten words. First I would say the word, use it in a sentence, finger spell it and let him write it in his Primary Learning Log (PL). He new most of the words so I had to slow him down so we could do all the steps. I new with 'all' he would get stuck. We did the finer spelling and I asked him what 'o' sound are we going to use for the first sound in 'all'. Of course his first thought was using an O I gave him a hint. I asked him what letter says /a/, A, /o/. After a while he figured it out but still wrote "oll" instead of "all". I asked him to help my pencil write out 'all' and when he compared my word to his he realized that he made an O instead of an A.

Ethan, wrote with some capital letters too. I am teaching him cursive but for now he is going to write manuscript in his PL until we finish learning how to write all the letters in cursive or almost all. He is still learning how to form the letter 'a'.

When I first introduce him to a letter we start using the 'salt box', trace the sandpaper letter or finger trace the enlarged clock. Then I have him practice tracing a stamp of the clock face using his SmartPal. I insert the paper and he using a dry erase market. Lastly I give him a copy of Cursive First for the letter we are practicing. We don't do all this in one day, so it has been taking us a while.

We are doing the clock face letters first; a, c, o, b, d etc. any letter that goes around the clock  I'll add pictures soon.

We started using Math Mammoth Complete Curriculum Light Blue Series this past June (2009).

Joshua used 3A and is almost finished with 3B. Annette is almost done with 3A and will start 3B in January. Brent is using 2A and Ethan 1A.

So far so good.The children aren't jumping for joy to do math but they do like Math Mammoth.

Pros:

• You can download and print as many copies as needed
• Inexpensive. You pay about $30.00 for a full grade/year. This includes the student text, answer keys, test and review pages.
• There is no need for a Teacher's Manual per say; everything is written in the student text.
• Step-by-step instructions for both mom/teacher & student (in student text)
• Starts a new concept using illustrations then moves away from until there is only problems with no pictures etc.
• There is an end of chapter review and then a test. You can file these away instead of keeping a whole workbook. You do have to print the test off separately (same download though)

Cons:

• The answer key is sometimes hard to follow. It takes me a few minutes to find the page in the answer key that I need, to quickly correct a students page.
• In the 3rd grade Answer key some of the pages are off. For instance to correct lets say page 92 of the student page it's not the same in the Answer key. Minor error and I have penciled in the correct pages.

Other then answer keys I haven't really found any cons for us. It would be nice if the answer key was set up with the problems and the answers, but I can see where that would be a lot of printing for the customer.

The Complete Light Blue package is a full years worth of math. There is also a Blue Series. You would use the Blue Series if you are using another math program but your child needs review or you want to supplement your current math.

Click HERE to see how the author of Math Mammoth compares MM to other math programs (MUS, Saxon, Singapore etc.)

I have bought many math programs, R&S, Right Start, Singapore, MUS, Miquon, Saxon, Rays and I'm sure a few more that I have forgotten . For me I have narrowed it down to two that I   have found works great for my children and I. I say "I" because it has to make sense to mom too . The two are Math Mammoth and Christian Light Math.

Caleb has used CLE Math 2 & 3. Brent 1 & 2. I'll post about Christian Light math another time.

I do want to add that I REALLY am trying NOT to combine math programs but it has happened again. Caleb is currently using CLE 3 but wants to do Math Mammoth also. What we are doing is one week he works with MM and the next week he does CLE. We work through the summer so we'll see if he can finish both in 12 months. Samething is happening with Brent. He is using MM and Schoolaid. I started Brent with Math Mammoth level 2 but he wants to complete his Schoolaid math too, so again he is combining also . Annette, I started her off with Math Mammoth (MM) she is almost done with 3A BUT she wants to use Christian Light Math. Aaack! She said she would prefer to use Christian Light math because almost all her other subjects are from Christian Light Education. So, we'll see how that goes. I ordered CLE math level 4.

Blessings,

Linda<><

First let me write that if you have a child near by don't let them read this with you

Almost every Friday we let one of the children pick out a movie and we have movie night. Sometimes Lupe, will pick one out for us to watch later. I saw that Julie & Julia advertised as we pulled up to Blockbuster. I mentioned it to Lupe. Julie & Julia is about Julia Childs the famous cook. I thought it would be interesting and fun to watch.

When Lupe, Josh & Annette got back to the car; I saw that Josh picked out National Treasure and Lupe, rented the Julia movie. Lupe, was really tired so we didn't get to watch our movie that night. After National Treasure I put the children to bed, surfed the net for a while then went to bed myself.

The next day we all sat down to watch Julie & Julia. I didn't bother checking the rating on the back because the movie was about Julia. Innocent. Right? Wrong! The movie had the s,b and sh word and there was a seen with the younger Julie and her husband. Not as bad as some movies but still they were in their under clothes. Even Julia and her husband, although they were under the covers and didn't show much. Also the camera didn't linger (thank goodness) but still it was enough NOT to make it child friendly.

Just thought I would worn you all. It's not a "G" movie. I never did check to see what it was rated. The movie was good but would be so much better if they could leave certain words out and scenes. Lupe and I usually preview movies but this one seemed so innocent by the title

Why do they have to ruin movies. Last week Lupe & I previewed Star Trek the one that came out recently. There was a scene with Kirk in bed with a green woman and too many references to you know what. Another movie that would be just fine IF they would keep all that junk out of the.

We will school this coming week then take two weeks off. YES! Although we will continue with math. Next week we hope to bake lots of cookies.

We have been so busy. Not only with school but Lupe with the apartments and work. My dad needs some financial help, so if you can keep us in prayer to make some good decisions. We are seeing the effects of the economy pretty close to home now. It's sad seeing people out of work and struggling. I think moving here was a good thing.

On a lighter note, Lupe bought some fun games for the children and us to play. He came home last week with "Sorry" and "Risk". The children love playing Risk on the computer and when they can't play it on the computer the use Legos and make territories. So cute! So, they were so EXCITED when Lupe, brought home a board game of Risk.

Well, the boys' play Risk, Annette and I play sorry.

As for homeschooling, I have been reading a lot about Spell to Write and Read. I'm also waiting for my book The Writing Road to Reading. I know you don't need both books but I would like to read more. Currently I'm using The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading and I would like to see which book would be best to recommend to those using Phonics Road. We are on week 15 with Phonics Road and I plan to continue using it with Caleb & Brent (will write about this more in another post ) but while reading Spell to Write & Read I am understanding more of the "think to spell" philosophy. SWR is helping me to better use Phonics Road.  Anyway, I would like to help others who are using Phonics Road so I need to educate myself .

I am also using Cursive First with all my children. The older ones are going over it too.

You can purchase Cursive First HERE. Shipping is a little high, so I would recommend adding the SmartPals too ;) You can use SmartPals to with any curriculum. I bought one for each child and the practice their cursive on it. SmartPals is made out of plastic. You can insert any worksheet have them write on the SmartPal and when done wipe off and save the worksheet for another child. Pretty neat!

Regarding cursive, I am having Joshua & Annette go double speed and the rest of the kiddos doing a page a day. Cursive First is reproducable so I don't have to buy 6 cursive books. I'll have to write more about how it's working later. Maybe after the new year.

Merry CHRISTmas,

Linda<><

We are a bit low on some staples here. I'm trying to figure out what to make them for lunch. I found six slices of bread, we have lots of peanut butter (no jelly) and three cans of peaches in the fridge.

I made three peanut butter sandwiches, cut them in half to make six ;) and we can have the canned peaches and some grahamcrackers to help fill up those tummies.

Tonight we will go to Braums to stock up on milk, bread & eggs. LOL.

We do have food but nothing that goes together. I could make Oatmeal but we like milk. Noodles but we have no sauce etc.

We kind of make it a little game. I also like to teach that not everyone has food in thier pantry, we need to be thankful for what we have.

Blessings,

Linda<><

It has been some time since I have blogged. Things have been pretty busy here. A good busy though.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Lupe, made the turkey and sweet potatoes. I made stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole and opened a can of cranberry sauce. Everything tasted delicious. Every year Lupe's turkey gets more and more tender. This year he brimed (think that's what you cal it) the turkey and it was the BEST. I have pictures of it but I'm still trying to figure out this new computer & camera.

Our previous computer was on it's last leg, so as soon as the new Windows 7 came out, Lupe, ordered a computer. Right away Annette, said, "Does that mean we have to stay here an extra month?"

My dad and brother came over for Thanksgiving. My brother didn't eat for a whole day, just so he could stuff himself. LOL.

We are trying our best to get into the CHRISTmas spirit. Sounds awful, I know. We can't find any of our CHRISTmas stuff and a tree won't fit in our apt. house. I know CHRISTmas isn't about decorations and trees but we really enjoy them.

I did get all the CHRISTmas shopping done.

As for school we are chugging along. It's been so cold that I don't want to do school :) but it has to get done. The children can't really play outside too much because it's been so chilly. Today we left the house and it was 23 degrees outside. The air is icy so that is the reason why I don't want the kiddos out. Four of my kiddos have asthma and the chill seems to bring out their symptoms.

The children are all doing fine. Ethan still has eczema around his eyes. He told me that a little girl at church in AWANA asked his teacher why his eyes are like that. I asked Ethan, if it bothered him that people noticed. He replied, "No, not really." I told him if people ask, to let them know it's allergies.

Speaking of church, we really like Wylie Bible Church. The people are very friendly. We have made some friends. Many of them homeschool and the pastor has some wonderful services as well as Sunday School messages. Annette & Caleb joined the choir. They are really excited about that.

Blessings,

Linda<><

I have been doing all my CHRISTmas shopping online. My eyes hurt from the computer. I'm mainly purchasing gift from Vision Forum, Christianbook & Timberdoodle. I'm not getting too many toys but more puzzle type stuff and lots of survival things. My two little guys will have lots of battles with their sword and shields

Well Lance wants to play a game!

Bye,

Linda<><

I was able to purchase MFW Exp1850. I'm so glad, now I can figure out what to do next year.

I am going to read Building a City on the Hill & Trial and Triumph with Josh.

An idea would be to have Josh read; The Last 500 Years, Exploring American History, In God We Trust & George Washington's World on his own. We have the audio cd for Story of the World so we can listen to that. He can also read the read aloud selection from MFW on his own too. I can read all the 2nd/3rd grade supplements along with the two books I mentioned above. About twice a week we can do all the timeline, notebooking, mapping etc. All of us would do Bible together.

We can start our morning with Bible and I  can read anything else that the teacher manual, like notes and such. Then we can all split up. Josh & Annette finish their studies on their own. I can do Phonics with the youngers.

I'm still studying MFW TM but I think I can make it work. Now I need to figure out when to do The Phonics Road, The Bridge & Spell to Write & Read :)

I have some ideas for those also.

• Josh & Annette: Spell to Write & Read do 20 minutes a day. Once the timer goes off, just stop :)
• Caleb & Brent: Phonics Road Level 2 is broken down into three sections; Spelling/Phonics, Grammar & Reading. Each section takes about 20 minutes. Again, I'll set a timer and stop. Whether done with a lesson or not. We can always pick-up where we left off the next day.
• Ethan & Lance: Phonics instruction 20 minutes a day.

If I can stick to the 'times' and not worry about completing a whole lesson I think I'll be okay.

Just recording my thoughts :)

So glad it's Friday (doing the happy dance) LOL. Before I write about our day I wanted you all to check out my sisters blog. She has lots of notebooking pages that she creates. She is way more organized then I  am and creative. Her blog is so nice, clean and organized. She is very talented.

As for our homeschooling day. Today I had Caleb & Brent do copy lesson two from Wheeler's Elementary Speller. Tomorrow I'll have the spell the words orally and write them from dictation.

They also did a lesson from The Phonics Road. We are on week 11. They are doing very well with this program.

Once Josh completes Phonics Tutor. I am looking into Spell to Write and Read for him and Annette.  I actually wanted to get SWR for this year but have always been intimidated by it, but now that I have used The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading I think I handle SWR  I would like to add Annette. She can read very well but I still feel like she needs to go over the spelling rules. Annette started reading in 1st grade and has always been above grade level. Because of this I didn't do a 2nd year of phonics with her. She spells okay and usually misses about one word or less from Spelling Wisdom. I still feel like she should be a bit more grounded in spelling patterns and such. I'm not sure if she came across a difficult word if she would be able to decode it. Also how do I make sure she continues to progress in her reading? I think SWR would help in both areas.

 Nap time is over. Gotta go.

Yesterday we didn't get home until past three o'clock from the doctors office. We were all whooped from shots. Lupe, decided that we should all get the regular flu shot, plus each of us had some other shot we needed. Mine was the flu & Hepatitis shot. Everybody has sore arms or legs today.

I found out I have allergies . I told the doctor that my throat gets a tingly, itchy feeling when I sing at church (hymns) or read to the children. He checked my nose and throat, sure enough I have allergies same as the kids. I took my medicine that he prescribed and it's all ready helping. Who would have thought I had allergies. Bummer!

Ethan, has allergies too. His skin is really dry and around his eyes it's VERY dry. Skin peeling. The doctor said those are all signs of allergies, he is on med too.

I told him I think that Brent might have allergies because he sneezes so much and has had a runny nose for weeks. Sure enough; allergies.

Annette & Caleb has had allergies and are asthma since they were toddlers, so nothing new there. I was surprised about the rest of us.

On the way home we stopped at the flying chicken A.k.a Chicken Express.Now that flying chicken doesn't look too appetizing but the food is actually good

For years I have been wanting to use a homemade shampoo consisting of Baking Soda & Water. I don't like using the shampoos from the store. All those chemicals. Because of the price of Organic and no chemical shampoos I would continue to use regular shampoo. I did buy the 'good' stuff here and there but again the price would drive me back to the chemical stuff. Sometimes the kids would not notice that the shampoo fell in the tub while they were bathing. By the time I found it half of my expensive shampoo would be gone.

I am finally taking the plunge!!! I haven't used store bought shampoo or conditioner for a month.

When we ran out of conditioner over a month ago, I decided to try using a vinegar rinse instead. I have tried before but never stuck with it for more than a few days. I mixed equal parts of vinegar and tap water. I used white vinegar because we didn't have Apple Cider Vinegar. I'm going to purchase ACV tonight and try it.

I also purchased a shampoo bar from www.virginiasoapsandscents.com The bar of soap is wonderful. I lather it up in my hands then wash my hair with it. Our bathroom is small and doesn't get much ventilation, so my shampoo bar is going faster then normal :( Next week when my bar is gone I'm going to use the Baking Soda & Water shampoo. I'm going with In A Shoe's recipe; 1quart water and 1/2 cup of baking soda. I don't have hard water but I'm still going to boil the water the water then add the baking soda. Let it cool and add to a container. Again I'm taking In A Shoes's idea and putting it in a liquid dish soap container.

With using the Shampoo bar (soon to be baking soda/water) and my vinegar rinse my hair looks so nice.

I have frizzy curly hair.I don't brush it during the day because, well, think afro. It gets very tangly. I have to take a shower everyday because once I brush my hair out it's just so frizzed.

 I have tried many products and spent lots of $$$ trying to control my frizz. I was even going to get it straightened at a salon. My scalp use to itch all the time. I would use Head & Shoulders (I know, major chemicals). Now my head doesn't itch. My scalp feels so healthy. My hair looks great, I even go to the mirror just to stare. I love my hair now. Almost all my life I couldn't stand my frizzy our of control curly hair.

Regarding the vinegar rinse. You have to stick with it. At first my hair felt tangly and yucky. I'm so use to the conditioners and how it detangled and felt silky. The first two weeks are the hardest.

My morning routine:

• Brush hair before jumping into the shower
• Wash with shampoo bar or soda water
• rinse with vinegar/water rinse. At first I  was using 1/4 cup of vinegar & water. I think that's a bit much but my hair didn't dry out. I would put it in a cup and gather my hair (med-long) pile it, pour some of the vinegar rinse, let hair down and pour the remaining vinegar rinse. Massage and rinse. Most people use a spray bottle but I don't have one thus using the cup. Again, most people don't use that much of the vinegar rinse but it's worked for me. Eventually I'm going to use honey bottle (the honey is almost gone)
• At the end of my shower I squeeze all water out of my hair and use Olive Oil as a leave in conditioner. I put about a quarter size in the palm of my hand, rub with other hand  and finger it through my hair. Wrap hair in a towel. Once I'm done dressing and such I let my hair out of the towel pin my hair back and I'm done.

Currently I am using Olive Oil but I have read that Coconut oil works well too and I ordered some to try.

Here are some links I found that may be helpful:

•  Simple Mom
• Natural Homemade Hair Conditioner
• Nature Moms
• How to Go No Poo
• Dandruff Remover (this is probably why I don't have an itchy scalp. 
• Another Poo Free site.
• Hair Conditoner-Honey you can click on the link but I'll put the instructions here too:

  Mix 1/2 cup honey with 1/4 cup olive oil. (Use 2 tablespoons of oil if you have normal to oily hair.) Using a small amount at a time, work mixture through hair until it is evenly coated. Cover hair with a shower cap; leave on 30 minutes. Remove shower cap; shampoo well and rinse. Dry and style as usual.

• Here is another Honey Conditioner this one uses buttermilk.

To add some shine mix TBS honey to 4 cups warm water. Work through damp hair. Do not rinse out.

Honey Deep Conditioning 1TBS honey & 1TBS Olive Oil, mix and warm in microwave to melt. Apply to hair. Leave in for 30 minutes then rinse out.

Next I'm looking into a face cleanser consisting of olive & caster oil

This morning Josh and I were able to-replace our spacers with wires. We both have braces on our upper teeth. He chose a nice blue and I went with a light pink. Wasn't too painful, thank goodness. Just feels like I have yucky, gunky stuff on my teeth. I'm sure I'll get use to it.

Joshua, is a trooper. He didn't want braces at all. He's doing great. No complaining or anything.

We didn't get too much of our school done. I did give everyone a lighter load then usual. This week is pretty busy. Today we got our braces on, tomorrow my Sweets & I go for blood test and Thursday we all have our yearly doctor appointment. Lupe, took Thursday off because by the time we are done with our doctor appointment half our day is gone. We are blessed to have a doctor who will see our whole family in one day. When we were first looking for a family doctor; not many would see us all. They would say the most we can schedule is three or four a day. Well, that doesn't work for us.

Since we moved our doctor is an hour away but worth it

My boys are so into the outdoors survival stuff. They enjoy anything army or Daniel Boonish :) Yesterday, Josh was practicing his knife throwing skills. Oh, my children are growing up.

I found some nice stuff to get the boys at Vision Forum. The only thing I don't like about ordering from VF is the 8% tax. I paid over $15.00 in tax. Oh, well, I did have a 20% off coupon and that helped. It's about the only time I buy from VF because of the tax thing. I know, cheap, cheap as my dad would say.

Our school year is going great. Everyone is happy with their curriculum. Not jumping for joy but happy.

Math Mammoth is working out great. I'll have give a review sometime. Character Quality Language Arts is working well with Caleb. My only problem is we take a little longer to finish a week. I try to sit with him everyday but sometimes things come up. Yesterday my dad came for a visit (he usually stays for 4hrs.) today Caleb has a headache and has been sleeping all day. There goes two days of CQLA.

This year I'm not stressing about our weeks. I'm taking one thing at a time. As long as we are making progress in our studies, I'm not going to lose sleep ;) With Social Studies/History & Science I figure if as long as we finish over 75% by the end of the year we'll be a-okay. I remember when I was in school, we hardly ever finished all our workbooks/textbooks. Actually, I don't remember finishing any of them. My SIL's kids are in PS and they never complete every page either. Besides my children have already been exposed to a lot more history then I ever was. Same with Science.

With math, reading, grammar and writing I'm a bit more strict. We continue some of this through the summer.

Blessings,

Linda<><

Today Caleb and I  worked on his first outline using CQLA. It was so fun to do this with him. I really enjoy my time teaching Caleb. We read a picture book on David & Goliath. We had to write the title, author and when it was published. He then had to give a short summary which I wrote down, we wrote the main characters and the plot. Next wee I think we will finish it.

Caleb doesn't like reading the same passage everyday of the week but hey, it's life. We read the passage. He had to highlight the main subjects. We used an orange highlighter. He really enjoys using highlighters. Makes it more fun than just underlining or circling .

On the Well Trained Mind forum someone mentioned that they use Elementary Speller by William Henry Wheeler, so I took a peek and loved what I saw . I thought I would add it to our homeschool. Today, Brent & Caleb copied the first half of the poem, underlined the vowels and illustrated it. I love how Caleb, put different layers of soil. He made top soil and other layers under it. Brent, made a picture of a seed sleeping deep in the soil. Next week we will finish copying the poem and illustrate how the seed will wake.

Here is the first half of the poem: In the heart of a seed,

                                                             Buried deep, so deep

                                                              A dear little plant

                                                              Lay fast asleep

Caleb & Brent also finished Week 10 of The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading. They still need to practice some words but I think they will be ready for week 11 on Monday. I keep their spelling list on the wall and through out the week I drill them (weekends too). The list hangs in the kitchen so it makes it easy to remember. I just call out, "Brent, how do you spell house?"

Something great is happening at the Beltran house. Caleb is a reader. He is reading books. Yesterday he said, "Mom, the reason I don't read very well, I think it's because I'm not desperate to read."

He has not been interested until now. He wants to work at Yellowstone National Park when he grows up . He knows if he is going to work there that he must know about the plants, animals and so forth. Now he is interested in reading about animals. Yahoo! He has been reading Christian Liberty Nature Reader.

I'm so much more relaxed than I  was with Josh. I look back and see how stressed out I  was with Joshua. Feeling he was 'behind'. I know I did a real disservice to him. I see how I was shoving so much curriculum down his throat trying to keep at 'grade' level with his peers. By doing so I think I hindered him more than anything.

 As we all know, each child is so different. We can read books like The Well Trained Mind or Never Too Early which promote early reading or Better Late Than Early or School Can Wait which is more for waiting until a chld is older. And to make it more confusing they all have their research to back-up their book. You get pulled in so many different directions. Unfortunately I found  books that were bent toward reading early. I panicked when Josh wasn't reading at an early age.

It seems my boys aren't in the 'early' category and I'm fine with that now. We still start phonics instruction in 1st grade but I don't expect them to 'get it' all at that age. I see with my boys that phonics and all the spelling rules is very overwhelming for then at that age. Even though I  would love to get phonics over with and be done with it after 2nd grade  that it's not happening here. My boys need to continue their spelling & phonics instruction. I'm so thankful that we found The Phonics Road. This seems to be what we need. It's not cartoonish or anything, so even though the program is technically for 1st grade, my 3rd grader doesn't feel that it's babyish. No cute little animals or title. The binder cover actually looks more for the mature and grown-up .

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Some of the things the children are up to these days.

1. Joshua, is making a rope from plastic bags.
2. Annette, is writing down all the states & capitals as well as the state birds.
3. Caleb, is reading and loving it!
4. Brent, loves to copy maps
5. Ethan, continues to catch lizards.
6. Lance, loves to act like he is reading.

Blessings,

Linda<><

So many things going on. Christ-Centered Phonics is going well with Ethan. A little bit slower than I hoped. There is so much to cover in this curriculum. We are going over suffixes, and some spelling rules.

Ethan is six years old but like the rest of my boys at this age, some of this just flies over his head. Since he will eventually use The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading I am not having him master everything. It is a lot. I'm mainly concentrating on the phonics portion  and of course  Bible.

We usually start with going over the flashcards, then practice some blends and go over our Bible lesson. We are suppose to do a lot more but if we did EVERYTHING that is in the teacher manual; it becomes to much and Ethan gets bored. Once we are done with what's in the TM then we do the workbook pages. He enjoys the workbook. It takes us about 30 minutes. If we did everything it would be longer and we would have to break up our day.

Other times, I'll do flashcards, blends and so forth one day and do the workbook pages another. It depends on our day and how much time we have.

Regarding MFW Exp1850; I mentioned that I am not going to combine, well that is not set in stone. I would like Annette to use MFW Exp1850 in 7th grade & 1850 to Modern times for 8th (like I have it planned for Josh) so if we combine than she would be done. I know I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be, but we are not your average MFW users. As you know for the last two years we have been using textbooks . Anyway, I'm fine if we combine or not. For today it looks like we won't combine. I might find something that will be around the same time period for, Annette.

To complicate things more, I might combine my three youngest with Josh, since it's kind of like they would start Adventures. I have all the books because we used this with Josh, Annette & Caleb three years ago.

Why am I even thinking about all this? It's only November. LOL. I think it's because I want to  pre read the books for MFW Exp1850, so it's got me thinking about the rest of the clan . Also Annette & Josh work well with workboods/textbooks but Caleb I'm not so sure. For some reason Ii can't see him sitting with his textbook. I think it's because he is still learning how to read. When we did MFW Adventures Caleb really enjoyed the States sheets. I am sure he would love to go through Adventures again.....

That's it for now ;)

Blessings,

Linda<><

Interesting. Something that many of us already see.

http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=9425

Josh & I got our spacers on today. Josh was not happy about it. He still does not want to get braces. I told him, 'tough Twinkies" he still getting them .

Two of my spacers already busted. I'm going to have to go back tomorrow. Bummer! I haven't had anything hard or sticky. Some noodle soup, cookie & scrambled egg.

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Regarding school; I think I have decided not to combine everyone with My Father's World Exploration to 1850. I have thought hard and long about this and would like to combine them for History, Science & Bible but I can't see when I can pull everyone together. I am going to do Bible together though. We can do that first thing in the morning like we do now.

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Today, my dad came by. He loves visiting he grandchildren. I usually have the children do a lighter load of schoolwork on Monday because most times my dad comes and he stays for four hours. As long as we get math and language arts done with some reading we call it a school day. 

The children still need to finish. once quiet time is over they'll finish their school.

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The children like Time4Learning. We use it basically for Language Arts only. The program is great but I don't like how much time the children are spending in front of the computer. Annette, Caleb & Brent each spend about  20-30 minutes on their lesson and 20 minutes at the playground. The playground is online games. Some are educational and others are just for fun. Normally this would be okay since the first half is learning. What I don't like is Lance & Ethan watch all three of them. If you add that up it's a lot of watching the computer. For me computer is equal to T.V. time. I feel like half of Lance & Ethan's morning time is in front of the computer watching their siblings. I am not sure but I might pull the plug on T4L.

Annette, is doing well with it and she is the one I  mainly wanted it for. I asked her if she would still like to continue with T4L. She said either way is fine. She prefers T4L because she does not have to write. She did complete all of Level 3 and has started level 4.

Caleb & Brent REALLY like it. I do like all the phonics review. Maybe we'll continue with if for this year or half the year

I don't have time to reread my post today, so I'll have to check for mistakes later.

Blessings,

Linda<><

I know I'm hopeless, it's only November and I'm getting ready for next year. I have been racking the brains of my sweet friends at My Father's World forum. I had it all figured out for Joshua's 7th grade year.

• My Father's World for Bible, History & Read Aloud
• Apologia Science (as recommended by MFW)
• The Bridge to the Latin Road
• Character Quality Language Arts for spelling, grammar review, writing. I will omit the editing, all optional exercises since he will be getting some heavy grammar using The Latin Road.
• Progeny Press Guides or Christian Light Education
• Math Mammoth

I was going to have Joshua, use MFW Exploration to 1850 on his own. I would order this early and pre read the books so I can discuss them with him. I could write out everything he needs to do in his student planner.

I have been chatting with the ladies on the MFW forum and they have suggested I combine all dc for Bible, History, Science, Read Aloud using MFW Exp1850.

BUT here is my dilemma; I plan to use The Phonics Road Levels 1 & 2 and The Bridge to the Latin Road. These are all mom intensive. They can not be done as independent work. It would take me about three hours to get through it all.

• The Bridge 40-60 minutes (Josh & Annette)
• Phonics Road Level 1 20-30 minutes   (Ethan & Lance. I might also wait another year, depending on Lance how mature he is and how far Ethan has gotten with Christ-Centered Phonics)
• Phonics Road Level 2. (Caleb & Brent) There are three parts or sections and each takes about 20-30 minutes 

If I combine when would I ever get to MFW?

I do want to continue with The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading. I already see improvement in Caleb's & Brent's reading & spelling. I think it is worth the time and effort.

The Bridge to Latin Road is also something I don't want to give up. I truly believe it will give Josh & Annette a strong start in grammar. It looks to be a very solid program. I also want to use The Latin Road for High School credits (can't believe I'm talking about high school credits)

I still have the rest of my children's subjects. Annette, can do a lot on her own. Not sure where Caleb & Brent will be regarding reading.

I'm thinking out loud here. We can all do MFW Bible together in the morning. Do The Bridge with Annette & Josh so they can be set loose to finish their other subjects after we are done.

After that I'm stumped . I think that once I have the Teacher Manual for MFW Exp1850, I can get a better handle on how to accomplish everything. I can figure out if it would be better for Josh to do MFW on his own or if we should combine.

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Today we went to Mr. Jim's Pizza for lunch. We actually picked it up and took it to the park. It was pretty windy. The leaves where falling everywhere. Pretty but some of them hit your face pretty hard.

The children had fun playing. I was busy looking at the Scope & Sequence of CQLA & The Bridge. trying to figure things out. We then came home and the kiddos are napping and here I am.

As for school I still need to correct papers but other than that we are done with week 9. Amazing.

I almost forgot. Joshua, is going shooting with Lupe, this weekend. Yesterday they took a class with some men from church regarding firearms. Josh, was so excited. My boy is growing up .

Blessings,

Linda<><

I was able to purchase a used Character Quality Language Art (CQLA) program for Caleb. It's not the same color as Joshua's, so they won't be on the same character quality. It was $37.00ppd new this would have been $79.00+shipping. Normally I would just purchase it new and support the company but I want to try it out with Caleb first. He is still learning to read and all so if it doesn't work, at least I didn't spend too much.

I was going to use Christian Light LA with him but it took too long. Christian Light's LA program is really good though. I have looked at 1st-4th grade and really like how thorough it is. The program is not overwhelming for the child either. I'm really bummed that we are not using it.

Today, Caleb, is on week two of CQLA Pre-A Green. Pre-A is 2nd-3rd grade. Didn't want you to think he is doing a 'Pre' school program. They color code the levels.

This morning Caleb, had to highlight four words per sentence, write the words down and then rewrite the sentence. He also worked on prepositions. He does get tired of reading the same passage all week but hey, that's life . I don't like folding but it has to be done .

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Last year I made a commitment that I am NOT going to curriculum hop anymore. I did pretty good last year, while trying to find our textbook groove. I did switch Joshua's grammar around some and Annette's reading. Last year we settled on Growing with Grammar & CLE Reading and used all Rod & Staff for history & science. It was great.

This year even though we had a rough start with The Phonics Road & Ethan, doesn't always want to do his Christ Centered Phonics; we are sticking with it. Now when the going gets tough, we aren't running to something new anymore. We are working through it.

It's great for the children because they see what they are accomplishing. Before we would start one program, switch to another, then another. I remember Josh, would feel like he never finished anything. Even though he was learning and moving forward it didn't 'look' like it to him. Last year he was happy to finish hiw workbooks.

When my Sweets and I  got engaged my ring was way too big for my then slender finger. One time I was drying my hands in a public bathroom and my ring flew off. After that we had sized.

Once my fourth child was born, my ring no longer fit me. Not only was my finger not slendor anymore but either was I. My wonderful husband had it sized again.

Then after Lance our last child was born my ring was suddenly too big. My husband again had it sized  because I missed wearing it.

Now unless it's cold outside my ring does not fit me . Guess it's time to lose some weight.

Lupe, took Annette, Caleb & Ethan with him to Dallas today. I have Josh, Brent & Lance. We are going to go to the coffee shop and then the park in about thirty minutes.

Last week we went to our Church's Family Fest and enjoyed some homemade chili. The children also enjoyed bringing home lots of candy. Yesterday Lupe, picked us up at 3:30p.m. They were having trick-or-treat time, where the parents can bring their kids. The children left with a good grocery bag full of candy. When we got home that evening I told them that they had to pick out 15 pieces of candy to give away. They were happy to find which ones to give. Than I told them that I would pay them .2 for every candy they got rid of after that. I ended up filling a Braum's paper bag half way . We are going to use it for the children that come knocking at our door tonight. Hopefully we will get a lot of children. I don't like throwing away food but the candy will have to go.

I still need to get our school shedules ready for Monday. Can't believe another week done!

Joshua has been asking for a pocket dictionary. He loves reading and sometimes comes across words he doesn't know. A few weeks ago I purchased one for him at Half Price Books. When I handed him the dictionary he said, "I feel so powerful."

Today Lance, wanted me to cut him an orange. I was helping Ethan, with his math so I told him to wait a until I finished helping his brother. While saying that I noticed that Josh, had peeled himself an orange. I don't usually let Lance, have a piece of a peeled orange because of the skin. I have had a few scares in the past with choking. Now I wait until they are older. As I noticed Joshua's orange I thought I should tell him not to let Lance have a piece but I went back to teaching Ethan. Sure enough I hear Lance, gagging and realized that Josh, gave him a piece of his orange. I stuck my finger in his mouth and pulled out the skin of the orange. Lance, looked at me and said, "I choked mom."

I'm starting something new. At 9:00-10:00 a.m. is phonics time. At 9 O'clock I'll do The Phonics Road with Caleb & Brent. At 9:30 with Ethan. It worked out great this week. Other than my dad visiting on Tuesday we got all our phonics in. Sometimes with Ethan, he gets pushed to doing night school ;) because I get too busy with the others.

Today I sat with Joshua and we worked through some of his geometry problems in math. I like sitting with them, showing and helping them figure things out.

With Annette, we sat and worked on her writing (Meaningful Composition). The first weeks are review in grammar. She was having trouble understanding Subordinate Clauses. We worked through it and she now understands. I'll ask her through out the day to reinforce and hopefully she won't forget by tomorrow

Caleb, took a math quiz. I haven't checked it yet. I still need to do CQLA with him. He is still on week one. We are working on his sentences.

I also need to finish dictation with Annette & Josh.

Lastly I gave Lance a haircut. Yikes! This was my first time giving him one. Lupe, purchased grooming kit or whatever you call it kit from Costco about a month ago. The boys hair is getting long. We are trying to save money by using this kit. We normally pay 12 per child at the barber shop.

After nap I'm going to cut the rest of the boys hair. Josh, said he would go last and I don't blame him

My Annette is just so cute! Yesterday she and the boys were helping Lupe, dig a narrow ditch, so all the water on our property will flow to the street. Well, she comes in and ask me where dad Dewalt flashlight is.

When we were in South Dakota she bought a raccoon skin cap. She so funny. She wears it all the time. Even to AWANA and the funny thing is, it's no big deal to her. Most kids her age would not be caught dead wearing a 'coon' skin cap. Not my Annette, she is who she is. I love it that she wears her hat and doesn't care what others think about it. She actually gets lots of compliments and questions.

She loves going with her dad to the apartments on Saturday. She learns a lot about repairing things.

My dad came over so the children didn't get too much school in today. We did the unschooling thing today I found Joshua, reading a book about the Civil War. He had a map out and was putting paper different color marking the two sides.

Ethan was putting his toy boats in the water outside to see which way his boat would float. Of course it floated toward the house. That's why we are a bit flooded here

Annette was mapping out Lewis & Clark's expedition on a map. All the children are listening to a Jonathan Park cd. So although we didn't do 'school' they did get some learning in on their own. It's fun to see then explore on their own.

After quiet time is over I am going to have them all do some math. Annette, did do her Social Studies today. She was working on that when grandpa came.

Yesterday we went to Fall Festival at our church. We had a good time fellowshipping. At Wylie Bible Church many of the members homeschool. Last night Lupe was talking to a mother of three teenagers (ds19, dd18 & ds16). He was asking questions; why they homeschool, if she could do things differently what would they be, what are they doing for high school etc. It was a real blessing.

There is another mom of 8 who will be graduating her 4th child and again it's a blessing because Lupe, can see that it's possible to homeschool through high school. As many of you know my Sweets is still not sure about the upper years and originally he planned to have the children in school by now. Every year I ask him if I can homeschool the next year and so far I have been able to. I pray that I'll be able to homeschool through high school.

I'm thankful that Lupe is not closed to the idea of homeschooling through high school. I know he just wants what's best for our children. Through the years he has educated himself (with the help of me ) regarding homeschooling. We'll see.

The children had fun at the Fall Fest. we had lots of good chili. Yummy! Ethan had about three cupcakes, cotton candy and some candy from the Pinata. They all had plenty of sweets yesterday.

Lance was playing with some of the folding chairs that were in the chair rack and got squished. He squeaked like a mouse, looked up at us and began to cry. I have to say he looked so cute! He has this big Curious George mouth. I'm not all mean, I scooped him up and held him on my lap for a while. He was fine.

Today it's raining. As I'm typing I can hear the rain falling and in the kids room I can hear them listening to a Jonathan Park cd. My children love these cd's.

As for school; I mentioned a few weeks ago that Caleb & Brent do not care too much for The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading. At the time I was having them watch the dvd's that are suppose to be for the teacher. The dvd's are like a teacher manual. Even though I would stand with the remote and stop the dvd, that was not they way Mrs. Beers intended the program to be used. The dvd's are very useful for the parent but for the child it can be boring because she is  talking to the parents. Her audience is a grown-up  not children.

Last weekend I made it a priority to remember to watch the dvd. I watched it and took notes in my teacher binder. Guess what! The children enjoyed it so much more. I did exactly what Mrs. Beers showed me on the dvd. If there was a song to sing I wrote that down in my binder. If I needed to stop and go over a Building Code than I noted that in my binder. It made a huge difference and things went much smoother. I was able to fit a lot into our 20 minutes of Phonics.

Our front pourch is halfway under water. It's not a big porch, maybe about three inches high. It rained pretty hard last night and  today it has been pretty steady. Our backyard is flooded in parts and the rest is all mud.

Since our porch is flooded we can't get to the washing machine unless you go barefoot. I really need some clothes washed so Joshua put on a homade raincoat and put a load of towels. If I can get at least one more load done we'll be okay. Actually it's not suppose to rain tomorrow so maybe it can wait.

Blessings,

Linda<><

I'm thinking out loud here  and this of course is if we continue to use The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading, The Bridge to the Latin Road and move onto The Latin Road to English Grammar.

Here is my plan and it's long so if your interested grab a cup of Java

Year 1 (09/10) This year

• Caleb 3rd & Brent 2nd are using The Phonics Road Level 1

Year 2 (10/11) Next year

• Joshua 7th & Annette 5th use The Bridge
• Caleb 4th & Brent 3rd use The Phonics Road Level 2
• Ethan 2nd & Lance Kindergarten but will have just turned 6yrs. old use Phonics Road Level 1

Year 3 (12/13)

• Joshua 8th & Annette 6th start The Latin Road to English Grammar Level 1
• Caleb 5th grade will skip the last two levels of The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading (since he started late) He will start The Bridge
• Brent 4th grade The Phonics Road Level 3
• Ethan 3rd & Lance 1st but will turn 7yrs. will either continue finishing up Level 1 depending how Lance is doing or start Level 2

Now what I'm wondering is by year 3 I will have four different levels going and am wondering if that will be possible, considering that each level does require mom to teach the lessons. The Phonics Road, The Bridge & The Latin Road are all pretty teacher intensive. Am I up for the challenge!? I am really impressed with Mrs. Beers programs and can only imagine how much we all will learn if we continue with it.