Posted in weekly class log

We are still loving My Father's World. 

This year Big J. is in 5th, studying Rome to the Reformation.  At homeschool co-op he is taking two hours of fencing, both sabre and foil, each Thursday afternoon.

R. is finally, officially in 1st and by holding her back last year, she's flying through it now at an amazing rate, averaging 2-3 days of curriculium per day and wanting to do even more, so it was definately good timing for her to wait and a joy to watch her so eager to learn!  She is taking gymnastics (no broken arm so far this year!), a fun crafy-hands-on American history class, and ballet at co-op.

Little J. kept paces with R. really well at the end of last year's K., but he's only 3 1/2 and doesn't have the fine motor skills for writing his letters yet, so we aren't really ready to make him an official Ker yet.  He knows all his letter sounds and can read some simple words, so this year we will just keep doing LeapFrog phonics stuff, letting him sit in with the older kids as he's interested, and keep reviewing our MFW letter flashcards and giving him simple worksheets as he's interested.

As you notice, I don't manage to post here too often, but I at least wanted to give a check in at the launch of a new year.  Off to a great start so far, even though I'm undergoing weekly IV infusions and my health has been hard on the whole family.  If you want to keep up with more regular updates, please follow me on my InfertilityMom blog where you will get a full slice of my life from reflections on infertility and miscarriage (and resources for ongoing support for those still facing these struggles), to living with chronic illness, homebased business, homeschooling, kiddo funnies, and writing.

Posted in links, resources and great finds

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is currently offering a free trial membership.  This is a wonderful organization and I feel well-worth our membership fees, but if you haven't heard of them or haven't tried them out because of cost, take a look at https://app.hslda.org/hslda/TrialApplication.aspx

By the way, if you are looking for more frequent updates from me, I'm now doing most of my blogging over at http://www.InfertilityMom.blogspot.com :)

Posted in weekly class log

Our 9-year old is a finalist in the http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com/html/winners.php under the "Flavor Science" catagory.  He's so excited and we are thrilled for him to see hard work paying off. :)

Posted in weekly class log

As we are studying Biblical history, we are taking a pit-stop between Noah's Ark / the Tower of Babel and the calling of Abraham and the Iraelities into Egypt.  We are studing early cultures including Sumer and ancinet Egypt.  One of the most interesting projects we are currently doing is mummifying a goose.  (Yes, most people do this with chickens, but my hunter-husband has our freezer stocked with waterfowl, so it seemed silly to go buy a chicken just to mummify it when we had other options on hand.) 

Big J and I have finally gotten the hang of Spelling Power and we are both enjoy daily spelling lessons - something I just couldn't get a handle on last year due to intimidation for the size of the teacher's book.  But now that we have it down, it really is simple and is making a lot of sence to both of us.  That's saying a lot coming from a spelling-hater, dyslexic Mommy!  And "Foil is way cooler than saber," is the verdic of this semester's fencing class. ;)

The switch seems to have clicked for R with basic reading skills this year too.  It's so fun to hear her sounding out words and putting together creative, but usually logical, spellings.  Her highlight right now (other than fascination over that salt-drying bird in the kitchen) is her "Words to Remember" book with badges representing every letter of the alphabet and what each can help us remember about our relationship with God.  Big J never got into that project, but being the crafty girl that she is, R can't get enough of the cutting, coloring and creating involved.  We'll have to find another project to replace badge-making with once we finish the alphabet!  We had to drop gymnastics at homeschool co-op because of the broken arm, but she's absolutely loving Richard Scary and her ballet classes.

Little J is making school days interesting right now.  Two days ago he dumped 4 full bottles of pain on the school room floor (and desk and...) as we were heading out the door to a doctor's appointment.  His hand's were brigh blue and he had blue, yellow and white pain squished between his toes when I found him.  His pants were streaked in white, yellow and red paints with red handprints all over his shirt.  The white desk had huge red splatters all up the face and the floor has yet to fully relinquish it's holdings, especially the red worked into crevices of the wood pattern.  Today he spent 2 hours at Nana's house while we attempted a more productive day!  Co-op "pee-school" and AWANA Cubbies are events he looks forward too all week.

I'll be having surgery mid-November and be out of commission for 2-6 weeks (2 weeks potentially down hard, 6 weeks to resume normal activies I'm told) so I'm trying to figure out how to work school schedule both in advance of this and for any expectation I might have while kids are with grandparents that first week or two.  We typically take off a nice chunck from about Thanksgiving through New Year's anyway, so maybe it won't throw us off too much. 

I told my kids this morning that today was the first day of Fall.  But apparently our 5-year-old didn't quite get it.  Instead she decided to take a fall and we spent 6 hours in and out of urgent care and x-rays.  She missed out on her first gymnastics class last week because she was sick again, but decided to try to do a cartwheel down our hallway anyway.  I guess she won't be starting gymnastics this Thursday either, instead she will be sporting her new cast that the orthopedic surgeon is scheduled to give her tomorrow.  She did a great job - a sprain, strain, deep bruise and break!

Posted in weekly class log

I ended up overdoing by getting up to early Saturday morning (to watch hot air balloons at 4:30) and was down in bed from Saturday afternoon through most of Tuesday.  God did provide the strength for me to still record the radio program for National Chronic Invisible Illness Awareness Week on Tuesday afternoon, but otherwise school was mostly on hold until Wednesday.  So we are finishing up the last of week two this week, getting ready for our homeschool co-op's fall kick off today, and should have one fairly normal school day tomorrow.

An interesting delemia came when our DVD player broke last week.  Both our math and music appreciation DVDs are stuck in there and we have no way to play the other DVD we checked out from the library.  Hubby's going to have to take it apart to retreive the missing teaching supplies and I guess we better find a way to budget for a new DVD player!

Posted in weekly class log

We have done most of "week 2" so far - not bad considereing Monday was a holiday and we were still playing catch up from last week's tummy flu.  I just had an amazing conversation with my 8-year-old about the "sons of God" and "daughters of men" (Gen. 6:1-4) this morning. We never did get to our Noah's ark notebook page, but we'll catch it tomorrow or Monday.

I've shared over and over just how thankful I am for My Father's World.  Looks like there's a possibility we might get to meet the founders/author next month.  Please pray with me that God will work out all the possibilities if this is something He has planned for us.  Two big hurdles (one being the cost of airline tickets from Nevada to Missouri) currently stand in our way.  I'm hopeful though...

Posted in links, resources and great finds

Press Release:

Christian Organization Unites the Millions Who Live with Invisible Illness

Contact: Lisa Copen, Rest Ministries, 858-486-4685, rest@restministries.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Nearly 1 in 2 people in the USA live with a chronic illness and about 96% of the illnesses are invisible.* Rest Ministries, Inc., the largest Christian organization that serves the chronically ill, an affiliate of Joni Eareckson Tada's International Disability Ministry, is encouraging those with illness, as well and family, caregivers, and churches through their annual outreach event, National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 8-14, 2008.

This year the week features 20 workshops with well-known guest speakers who will be presenting and answering questions via Blog Talk Radio, September 8-12.

Speakers include:
• Leslie Vernick, author of The Emotionally Destructive Relationship (Harvest House, 2007)
• Julie-Allyson Ieron, author of The Overwhelmed Woman's Guide to Caring for Aging Parents (Moody, 2008)
• Lisa Copen, author of Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend (Rest Publishers, 2008)
• Jennifer Saake, author of Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage and Adoption Loss (NavPress, 2005)  [Details on how to listen/join in this program are posted at Invisible Illness Week Conference Info.  Jenni's session on "Medications, Illness, Fertility and the Desire for Motherhood" will air Tuesday, Sept 9, 12 p.m. Pacific.]

Lisa Copen, 39, founder of Rest Ministries says, "Since we began in 1997 we've found that despite the strong foundation Christians may have, illness can rock it. Feeling like no one understands how much your life has changed since a diagnosis can be more spiritually detrimental than the illness itself. It can make one feel isolated, misunderstood and even bitter."

Copen, who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia since the age of twenty-four explains why Invisible Illness week matters. "Those with illness do have to accept that other people aren't going to 'get it.' Only God understands. But it's nice to encourage peers and find strength in validating the mixed emotions. You don't have to explain why walking twenty feet may be impossible some days."

Rest Ministries extends their outreach about illness awareness to churches, providing materials to start up HopeKeepers groups, books, cards, tracts, etc. About 96% of those with illness may appear perfectly healthy on Sunday mornings, but may struggle to get out of bed the remainder of the week.

Ken Chambers, Director of Church Relations at Joni and Friends International Disability Center, says, "It is vital that Christians understand the emotional and spiritual trials of those with invisible disabilities, as well as those with visible disabilities. Rest Ministries is dedicated to educating churches to not only serve the chronically ill, but to involve them in the church body. I encourage church leaders to take advantage of the wealth of resources at Rest Ministries and to participate in the National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week."

Get involved by joining the hundreds of people who will blog about invisible illness on September 8th, attend a seminar, or tell someone who has an illness about the event. Typically, people with illness are unable to attend a traditional conference, so a "virtual conference" is widely anticipated. All seminars will also be recorded and archived.

See www.invisibleillness.com. Rest Ministries is at www.restministries.org.

*Source: Chronic Care in America, U.S. Census Bureau

 
-------------------------
Press Release written by:
Lisa Copen
Rest Ministries, Director
HopeKeepers Magazine, Editor

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
Founder & Coordinator

 

“HOPE CAN GROW FROM THE SOIL OF ILLNESS!”
This is the theme of 2008’s National Invisible
Chronic Illness Awareness Week in September.
Drop by and find out ways to encourage a
friend, be encouraged yourself, and spread the word.
http://www.InvisibleIllness.com and our blog
http://www.InvisibleIllness.Wordpress.com

Posted in weekly class log

I am happy to report that all 3 kids are much improved and we never had to take that run to the doctor's office! :)

To conclude our first week of Creation to the Greeks, we are celebrating Shabbot (Sabath) today.  We started at sunset last night with a traditional Shabbot dinner.  R's (dd5) favorite part was drinking the "wine" (grape juice) out of fancy glasses.  The most touching part for me was watching my husband go around the table, placing his hands upon the head of each child, and saying a pray of blessing over each of them.

Posted in weekly class log

R (dd5) and Little J (ds2) both woke up still feverish, but cooler this morning.  Big J (ds8) was able to get quite a bit of school done, the started running a fever again too.  The little ones starting in with tummy trouble and higher fevers again and we pulled out the throw up pans, then Big J started crying (pretty unusual) because his head hurt so much and he is nausious tonight too.  All three slept for large chunks of the afternoon, but never more than one or two of them asleep at the same time.  Since we've been messing with pretty impressive and definately persistant fevers since early Monday morning, I'll probably be calling their ped in the morning to get them all in before we hit the weekend.  Probably won't be going out of town this weekend as we had hoped.

Big J has surprisingly managed to stay caught up with school this week.  We have changed a couple of written assignments to oral ones, but he's actually even done with a lot of tomorrow's school work too.  (I guess that's a good think if we spend part of the day at the doctor's tomorrow.)  If they are up to it, we need to get to the library by Friday to turn in their summer reading charts and we hope to celebrate our first "Sabbath supper" Friday evening.  I'm really excited about this school year even if we are getting off to a strange start.

Posted in weekly class log

Day two was surprisingly productive.  Big J has already read through half of the dinosaur book that was supposed to last most of the school year.  We also both had a blast starting to look at Greek and Latin roots with Language from the Roots Up - that book has probably been our biggest surprise for just how much fun it looks like it will be.  I think the whole family will also really appreciate the Jewish holidays we will be studying (and living out) this year!

R is doing a second year of K, or at least still doing K right now, possibly moving on into 1st about half way through the year.  She's been so excited to get started again and I feel sad that she's been so sick these first couple of days.  She is definately showing a readiness she wasn't showing even last spring so I think she will take to reading pretty quickly now.  Don't know how much we will stick to her weekly units because she often studies history and the rest right along with her big brother, so basically I'm just going to focus on helping her get letters, numbers and reading skills down and let her school right along with the 4th grade stuff Big J is doing.

Little J had a rough day, "I not feel good!" with lots of clinging and crying.  I'm giving his fever one more day unless he's obviously getting even worse tomorrow, and then I'm calling his doctor first thing Thursday morning if this thing continues.  He's just so miserable and my heart hurts to see him like this.  It was so wonderful to be able to snuggle down in bed and hold him while continuing to move the others along in their studies today.  Certainly not something that could be done in a traditional school setting.  Thanking the Lord, once again, for the joys and flexability of homeschooling!

Posted in weekly class log

...so week one is off to a slow start!  But we are still getting the school room organized, setting up notebooks and supply boxes, and doing our traditional day one box decorating (the boxes the each put their school papers in over the course of the year) and picture taking.  Will do a bit of reading together this afternoon in bed.

Posted in weekly class log

Homeschooling with a chronic illness means I don't blog nearly as often as I would like.  But a new school year calls for a new attempt at blogging.  I can't believe my oldest is starting 4th grade (Creation to the Greeks) Monday morning! We will be continuing on with K for our 5yo daughter. And with 2 1/2yo in toe, it should be an exciting year! Got all (I think!) of my photocopying done yesterday.

Would greatly appreciate prayers that I can stay on task and have my heart excited to learn with these kids all year - not just as we start, because I am excited right now, but as the year wears on and my physical limitations become mentally and emotionally draining. I tend to loose focus by the holidays and am just praying that the Lord will keep this fire ignighted for me all year, to make this a memorable and wonderful year for us all.

Posted in links, resources and great finds

Well, I guess they aren't really "my" kids, but my students from our homeschooling co-op.  You may remember my post in January asking for input for a "Writing for Publication" class I was preparing to teach for co-op.  We have 6 weeks left and I'm still rather feeling my way week-by-week, but I think it is going very well. 

I have a 10-year-old girl who doesn't much enjoy writing or reading, but I'm trying to encourage her along and let her know that I didn't like either until well into high school myself.   I have an 11-year-old girl who is full of life and fun and loves to write.  I have a 12/13-year-old boy who is a very impressive writer.  And I have a 16-year-old girl who is a prolific author and from whom I would expect to see some full length manuscripts start making their way to publication within the next few years.

As a class we entered the SillyBooks short story contest in February with their group story, Pirates, Popcorn and a Party.  We received notifcation this week that they were selected as the February winners, receiving a small cash prize and the professional sound-recording and annimation of their story as an online book.  They now have a 1 in 8 chance of winning the grand prize (and a much larger cash prize) this summer!  I am so excited for them.  We will be celebrating at co-op tomorrow!

Posted in links, resources and great finds

In light of recent concerns over the "legality" of homeschooling, especially in the state of California, I am delighted to share this recent proclaimation made by the govenor of the state of Nevada:

WHEREAS, the State of Nevada is committed to the education of our children and to upholding the values and goals that strengthen the family; and

WHEREAS, home-based schooling may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States (at 7% to 12% per year), home-based education is also growing around the world in many nations; and

WHEREAS, there are about 2 million home school students in the United States; there were an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children (in grades K to 12) home educated during 2005-2006 in the United States; and

WHEREAS, families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children's education; the finances associated with their home schooling likely represent over $16 billion that taxpayers do not have to spend since these children are not in public schools; and

WHEREAS, home school students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education of their family's household income;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM GIBBONS, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, do herby proclaim March 30-April 5, 2008, as HOME EDUCATION AWARENESS WEEK.

To print out the Proclamation go to
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=5007

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.
This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Posted in weekly class log

Our Exploring Countries and Cultures year has progressed more slowly than planned, but it is turning out to be a good year none the less.  We spent all fall on North America, all of January on South America and are now heading into Europe this week.  I would have to say that the missionary biographies have been the highlight of our studies, with Joshua taking to Cameron Townsend and Nate Saint with amazing interest.

Rick and I watched "At the End of the Spear" in December late one night after putting the kids to bed.  We hadn't planned to let any of them watch it, feeling that at not quite 8 even our mature little man was much too tender for such a visual encounter with missionary marterdom.  But by what we now see as God's ordinace, Big J. wandered into our bedroom late that night, about 20 minutes into the movie.  He couldn't sleep, something very unusual for him, and the two little ones were both sound asleep, also somewhat of a rare occurance at that hour for both to be out cold.  He ask if he could stay and watch, and with a quick silent prayer for wisdom, Rick and I exchanged glances and knew the answer should be yes, though up until that moment we would have never dreamed of allowing it.  He watched with intensity then fell asleep just before some of the most brutal sceens.  He slept soundly and had no emotional trauma, though the story has stuck with him in a profound and positive manner. 

When we began reading Nate Saint's biography we only got part way through before J. asked to stop, not wanting to relive the story again.  But after a couple more days to reflect, he came to me asking to watch the entire movie again, watched it, then was ready to finish the book.  I think both of us have been deeply challenged by this story and it made our studies of South America all the more profound.  As we start ci-op back up this week, he will be taking an international cooking class along with fencing and writing at co-op. I'm headed out in a few minutes to take him to his violin lesson. How can he already be 8 years old? Time just flies this side of infertility...

R. is also growing up. She's spent more of her 5 year old year away from us than with us so far, turning around from her time at my parents (see next two paragraphs), to go spend 5 more days with Rick's mom on their farm about an hour away. It is so wonderful having everyone back home together, though she had a delightful time haing one-on-one Grandma attention for tea parties and dress up and lots of great outside play! Our homeschool co-op starts up again this week and she doesn't know it yet, but will be taking ballet again. I can't wait to see how excited she is when she finds out on Thursday! :)

It's amazing to think our baby is already 2.  Little J's learning new words on a daily basis. The kids all stayed with my parents for about 5 days after Rick's surgery (next paragraph).  I was just too physically done in to be an effective parent.  I was shocked at how his vocabulary had jumped in those short days.

Rick's had a SLAP repair (muscle that connects upper part of arm to shoulder was ripped away) a week ago Thursday.  He was several hours delayed, not going into the ER until after 8pm (had IV and was read at 3) and heading home from the hospital after midnight.  But the surgery seems to be sucessful and his range of motion is impressing both his surgeon and PT. Little J will tell anyone who will listen, "Daddy Ow-nie!" and it is obviously of great concern to our littlest that Daddy hurts.

I'm hopefully going to be seeing Dr. Peterson (one of the world's leading experts in CFIDS) in the very near future. We've been working on this since last June and it is sounding more imminent now, so I'll try to keep you posted. I'll be teaching a class on writing for publication at our co-op and I'll be speaking on "Harvesting Hope from Heartache" at an informal ladies' tea for our church this Sunday. I'm also excited to have been named "Consultant of the Month" with Affordable Mineral Makeup for the month of January. Please drop by and visit my Inner Beauty Blog for affordable beauty tricks, healthy makeup tips, book and product reviews, inspirational articles, and give-aways all focused on letting your inner beauty shine!

I don't drink coffee (tea for me, please) but there is a cute website that even the least cafinated umong us might enjoy.  Mommie's Coffee Break is the offering of two homeschool moms who chat about everything from potty training to schooling tips to fashion to faith.  Pull up a chair and your favorite cup of hot liquid and enjoy your break today. :)

Posted in links, resources and great finds

Another My Father's World mom posted these really cute learning poems that I had to share:

Parts of Speech poems

I have been asked to teach a homeschool co-op class for 4-12th graders on writing for publication.  I need to have a class outline together by this Saturday!  It will be one hour each week for 12 weeks.  Anyone with ideas of books, programs, websites, contests that accept children under age 18, or any other resources???

I have a tiny start of resources I'm listing for Published Authors Under 18 but would greatly appreciate any other suggestions anyone can share!