Today...well...later on today during respectable hours!....we start the MFW Adventures Second Grade program with B. I love American History so am very excited about what we will be learning this year. The girls are on week 5 of MFW K and all three are working through HWT.  I am relieved to see that B's handwriting is finally getting better in his HWT workbook, and now wait for him to write that nicely in his regular assignments.

We missed a week of school and work with O getting sick. Poor girl had a instestinal bug, sinus infection and viral throat infection at once! And the pediatrican told me that Epilepsy does not qualify a child for needing a flu shot. UGGG! She catches colds that most people easily fight off, and I don't know if it is because of her medication since Epilepsy itself is simply a brain circut issue, but she was not like this prior to her diagnosis. B will get a flu shot since he has asthma and the rest of us will look out for the clinics around town. I am always frustrated when the ped's office has fewer flu shots than the drug store! I am praying for health for all of us!

We are in the second rainiest month of the year and B's t-ball game got rained out today. It comes down so hard and fast and then ends just as quickly here. It seems so strange! The kids have complained about cold temps when the weather got down to 70 degrees for two days and I told them I would not let them get thin Texas skin! I would NOT turn on the heater in the car! LOL! I can not believe it! I actually told them: "We are from Nevada, we can handle snow, this is not a big deal!" and since it is still humid here I ended up with the A/C on in the car anyways!

Life has been busy for us. Who knew that me teaching 2 days a week would add so much more complexity to our entire week? I enjoy teaching, however, and the girls enjoy their preschool experience. B is trying hard to be a helper in my class, though he often gets revved up with the other boys and their wild play and must be calmed down again.

The rainy weather we had a for a few days was a wonderful change from the heat. Still have the humidity, but at least during the rain the bugs are not out so badly.

B started Cub Scouts as a Tiger and Paul is the Cub Master for our local group. I agreed to be assistant den leader for B's pack and was able to then say no to being a den leader. We have so much going on, and I have such a hard time saying no! Funny how people who hardly know me can pick up on that so easily. So I am sure I will enjoy assisting and appreciate not having to handle a den on my own. Paul is looking forward to learning more about Scouts as he was not one as a boy.

B also started up another season of T-ball. We are only on week 2 of practice, but he is hitting the ball much better than last season. Still need to work on catching and paying attention, but that comes with time and experience...right?

The girls started ballet last night. They did beautifully! Both girls simply love ballet, along with any characters (like Angelina Ballerina or Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses) that do ballet. Both girls are a bit rusty since they have not done this since Reno, but both were able to easily follow directions and move their bodies accordingly. Too cute to watch! They were thrilled! After counting down the days to this first meeting, they were so excited that O made up her own ballet song to sing to us all in the car as we drove there! I am grateful for the opportunity this offers them.

We miss everyone very much and I took time today to update our blog here with lots of pictures so you can see what we have been up to the past two months. God's blessings!

Up to museum again, this time for a day of learning about Native Americans. The beating of the huge drum was incredible...it seemed to take over and comand our pulse to match it's rthyms! The ceremonial dances were lovely, loud and shared a variety of sounds as shells and beads upon the dancers regalia (clothing) made a music of their own.

We were priviledged to have Native Americans willing to spend some time with us explaining much and consenting to a photo. We greatly appreicate their time and patience with us as we sought to better understand their culture.

B will learn more about Indians during 2nd grade history and I look forward to reminding him of the Pow Wow and all that we saw and heard.

It is always such a curious stress I experience when planning for the school year. I trust the Lord to guide all our decisions, yet I still check out all the new curriculum's I hear about "just in case"! This year I am relieved to say that I decided to stay with My Father's World, and in this box came the girls' extra student packets for K and B's 2nd grade curriculum. This is such a neat company and I am thrilled to stay with them!

K was so excited to see a ballet book and began looking through it immediately! I look forward to experiencing all the great things this year's study on American History will offer and hope the girls get as much out of it as possible since this program will have them skip 2nd grade Adventures and  instead they pick up with B's year once they are in 2nd grade so the whole family is studying the same themes. Since on my dad's side we have a relative who signed the Declaration of Independence I want my kids to understand as much as possible about the importance of that document, what the men who signed it were up against and potentially lost (land, business, even life) once the ink was dry and King George notified. I am so grateful to live in a land that allows such freedoms. While we daily are reminded about war, terror, and more, I want my children to know that this country was founded on basic Christian principles and we must continue that tradition. I see so many around us with T-shirts that say, "It's all about me" or "I want it so I can have it" and I am sad to see all the joy left out of life when one focuses upon self. We all have unique talents and skills along with the capacity to work hard and help others. I want my children to always rememeber that our country was founded by men and women whose values were so strong they were willing to do anything to make the nation a better place for their children. They were not so caught up in themselves but able to see beyond their own lifespans to the legacy they left behind. I wonder what my own legacy will be and even farther down the road, what will be my children's legacy?

Preschool puts on special days each year for each parent. This was the day for the girls to share with their daddy:

At the Witte Museum they celebrate Davy Crockett's birthday each year. Not only was Crockett a key figure in the Alamo, and very important to American History, he also was an incredible fiddle player! The Witte has the fiddle on permanent display and for this birthday (220 years!) they brought out an historian from Williamsburg, VA to play the fiddle and share some folklore. It was a special treat to see the fiddle up close!

Outside was an incredible display of items from everyday life in the 19the century. We saw flint lock riffles shot, played with historical toys, saw the foods they ate and more!

Posing with Davy Crockett's fiddle! Notice fiddles/violins of the day did not have a chin rest, so the wood is much more worn there. It was simply a beautiful instrument to see. Inside is the tip of a rattle snake's tail! This was done both for good luck and for the extra sound made when the fiddle is played.

We may live 2,000 mi away from home, but that does mean life stopped by any means for those we miss so much! My sister is getting ready to welcome her first child, and this is the diaper cake I built and sent for her shower. I just could not figure out how to squeeze myself inside the box too...so hope she knows how much I love her even though I can't tell her in person!

Our local museum hosted a Pioneer Day in August. They churned butter, made cornbread, built cornhusk dolls (which proved to be much harder than Paul or I would have guessed!) and in all the heat and humidity really felt badly for those who lived prior to A/C!

(No, I don't remember what I am looking at over there in the pic, and I have tried to get the pic rotated to no avail1 Sorry!)

I started teaching two days a week at my church's preschool program. The girls will be in their own class (away from me!). I am nervous, but they are so excited!

Now, almost a month since the first day of school, they are enjoying their class and they have a wonderful teacher! So two days a week they have preschool and the other three days a week we do MFW K program and they are just learning so much!

Just in case some of you HS mommies need a few good books recommended, this is what my summer reading list was:

Memoirs of a Geisha was so interesting. I know little of the Japanese culture and appreciated an autobiography by another Geisha (did not jot down name of that book) to better understand the novel. Now I need to rent the movie!

The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks, and then watched the movie with hubby.

The Lighthouse Keeper by James Michael Pratt was a bittersweet tale of love and faith and light being shared individually and through the generations.

God's Handmaiden by Gilbert Morris was a favorite since I enjoy a good historical novel and I know so little about Florence Nightengale. A young girl becomes a nurse under Ms. Nightengale and learns to handle war and love and much more. This will be a book I want my girls to read in upper highschool.

Jordan's Star by Gilbert Morris is about a wagon train and then pioneer life. Love is found, lost, found again, and gets a bit contraversial but stays true with an appropriate ending.

The Spider Catcher by Gilbert Morris is pre and then during Revolutionary times both in London and America. Redemption and learning to live despite hardships see these characters to a sweet ending that we hope is happy.

Marvel Comics 1602 my brother is a huge fan of Batman and of graphic novels. So when I found this at my library I checked it out and was intrigued by the story line. The idea of Mavel Comic's super heros debuting in turbulent times in Europe and then escaping to America was wildly creative. I am sure in another ten years Brian will have his nose stuck in a book like this.

Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster. Set in the south and then Chicago in the Teen's and 20's of the 20th century, it brought to light the racism Afican American's faced. The workings of the KKK is disturbing and to have her compassionately present both sides of the story was done surprisingly well. My own grandmother's family had a cross burned on her lawn when she was little because they were Catholic. The idea that much worse happend to people over skin color is shocking to someone of modern times, but yet less than 100 years ago was viewed as common. I hope our children continue to appreciate everyone as a Child of God and stories like this remind that freedom is not to be taken for granted.

Jerusalem: City of God by Ellen Gunderson Traylor. I enjoy all of her books thus far and this was no exception! To actually have a city, let alone The City of David, be the main character was so fascinating! I was a fly on the wall, so to speak, from it's founding by Malchezedek all the way to the late 1940's when it was now part of the modern Israel! A commitment is required for the 600+ pages, but well worth the investment as I feel a great grasp of Biblical events and timing. It also got me to dig out Bible Atlas's and maps we have so I could see just what valley they were talking about, see drawings of temples and look upon photographs of wilderness and imagine that some parts of Israel just might look as they did thousands and thousands of years ago. I was humbled to realize, and spoke to my pastor about, how it took so much time to work the country up to the glorious reign of Solomon and the honor of building the Lord a temple, only to have the next generation arrive and destroy it all. We humans are so very fallible. Even with wisdom from on high, we still are so very human. That was a good lesson for me to understand, encouraging me to seek the Lord daily. This book is one I hope all my children read, and hubby to, at some point in their lives. As with all her books, Traylor's stories stick to Biblical facts and always get me hungry for more, turning me back to my Bible to read and further ponder the incredible stories.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. This book was so lovely and heartbreaking in it's portrayal of the Bible story of Hosea and Gomer, and I learned a lot of how God must feel when we too leave His care and return to our destructive ways. The love story is so honest, both characters confused and yet on a path that takes them back to each other, with each of them learning about God and themselves along the way. A story to recommend to any adult!

Little Earthquakes told about four women, three of whom have babies around the same time, and the lives they lead pre and post baby. I laughed out loud over some of the things they live through, recalling my own days with newborns and hubby and my trials in adjusting to parenting our babies. Other times I wanted to pull a character aside and give advice about their situation, convinced I had lived through some version of what they were going through. A very down to earth, real book.

That is it! As September is just around the corner, the book I am reading now won't be done in time to qualify as "Summer Reading" and with my ambitions of starting grad school come January I probably won't have another summer filled with books quite like this! Thanks to my girlfriend Debbie for be willing to mail back and forth some of her favorite books and to my kids for playing so nicely with their doll house, dress up clothes, etc. so I could sneak in ten or twenty minutes here and there during the day.

The girls simply love school and I have been excited to start them up on their K program! They already know all their letters and sounds, thank you to the Leap Frog Letter Factory video, ABC Go Fish, and Boggle Jr. games, and so this week the girls nailed the letter S. Yesterday was so nice! Since Brian is done with the OT part of MFW 1st grade we did not have a Bible reading from my teacher's manual. We did devotion time with Look and Point Bible, then read the Genesis account of the creation of the sun and light and from there read a two page layout of a Magic School Bus book on the solar system highlighting the sun. The girls then painted sun's with yellow and orange paint and a variety of paint brushes and I added a purple bingo bottle for them to make sun spots (the darker parts of the sun that are a slightly lower temp). They totally understood it all and had great fun. Next was their S page of cutting and gluing S's to the appropriate sections of a workbook page. It was one of those homeschool moments to remember for when the days are not quite so effortless. Somebody remind me of this if I get to posting about harder times in the future!

Brian has gotten stumped with our Singapore math program. Place value is still elusive to him and as he begins to add bigger numbers he is making more mistakes and not sure how to fix them. My Singapore Teacher's Text does not tell me how to teach him, just shows pictures that we talk through. Thus when us talking it through does not click I am at a loss. We are now investigating Math-U-See and my local rep was really helpful.

With great relief and a lot of trust in the Lord I ordered the next years (and some of this year's) supplies! After having my couch filled with the Rainbow Resource guide (which by the way is bigger than our local phone book!) and a variety of other catalogs, lists and lists of what I think I need vs. what I truly know I need, etc. So yesterday I stayed within my regular $500 budget for the year by ordering MFW Adventures (2nd grade) for Brian to start in January, resources from Rainbow Resource which includes a few birthday and Christmas presents of Jim Weiss story telling CD's (we have none but hear he is wonderful so ordered Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, OT Stories and American Tales) and $50 worth of HWT for all three kids. Brian's MUS will put me over budget, but that is just a one time purchase on the manipulatives so that softens the sticker shock. I am not sure what everyone else expects to spend on their children's education, but comparing our homeschool budget to a private school yearly cost, I think we are doing great! In looking ahead it seems $500 ought to cover most years, especially through elementary school. I was surprised how relieved I felt after getting everything purchased and I feel peace about our curriculum choices. Now I just need to offer the kids up daily in prayer so that our days run as smoothly as possible and they enjoy schooling!

I can not believe Brian has only five pages left in his MFW phonics book! Yay!!! He was kind of sad though because he has really enjoyed learning "new vowels" as he called the pages. This will give us a chance, when that book is done, to go back and write out some Proverb's pages that we skipped for two months. I found that having him write a Proverb out was such a struggle between him and I....he attitude against writing made him so obsinate and the work drag out as he sat at the table for an hour or more just not doing anything. Sending him to his room or the dining room to be isolated did not help much and then the whole day of school was blown. So we took two months off to allow for some maturity and now we are starting them up again.

Now to my hooraying for MFW! I called them Tuesday evening and left a message. They called back Wed and left a message for me. I then called them back (who knew they would call back so quick!) and spoke to David Hazell! I did not know this at the time however, he simply answered the phone and offered suggestions for Brian and the Proverb's page. David said that since Brian has no problem doing the other writing in the program, just break up the Proverb's page through out the day, having him do one or two lines at a time, do something else, then return to the page. Maybe Brian is simply overwhelmed at the amount of writing to do and will appreciate it broken into smaller chunks. Excellent, I think, and thank him.

Then Thursday I get another call, this time from Tim Hazell. He wanted to make sure someone had called me back and that answers were given. I told him of the previous day's call and he said, "That was probably my dad, he does not always give out his name." Wow! If I had known that I would have probably gushed about how much we love the program, so maybe it was better I did not know. So Tim got the gushing instead! Tim applauded his dad's suggestion and added having the Proverb written out in a sand tray or upon a marker board. Maybe a change in medium would encourage Brian. He also pondered whether Brian dragged his feet so much due to handwriting issues more than simply not liking writing. Tim said in Russia as students they had to rewrite a whole book to work on handwriting practice! It was taught that handwriting is like your "Ambassador" to the world...something people might see before they meet you and therefore needs to represent you properly. So I am going to go back to our HWT program to get Brian more comfortable with his own writing and see how that works with him.

I know when we first starting discussing homeschooling I told Paul I wanted to go with a company that provided support. That was why we first went with Sonlight. I did not know MFW exsisted yet. But with twin toddlers around Sonlight overwhelmed us, and their LA did not click with Brian and so we got discouraged. A dear friend of mine had used MFW K successfully and was starting out with 1st grade. It was wonderful to sit with her and see the curriculum up close and hear how another family used it. That was such an exciting day when the Lord confirmed our new curriculum choice for Brian! And while there are forums and yahoo groups to support MFW users, sometimes that overwhelms me with choices and I want to talk to the company and see what THEY had in mind when creating an assignment. The time and effort they spent on those two phone calls has proven to me they do care about the families and their individual needs very much and recognize we are raising up the next generation. The encouragement in their voices made every word seem charged with energy and enthusiasm that I can do this!

I post this both as a Thank You to MFW for being such a wonderful company, and as an invitation to anyone who looks at their curriculum and has questions about it...you are welcome to ask me! We look forward to staring up MFW Adventures with Brian in January and MFW K this fall with the girls!

If you are not familiar with their company, here is their site: http://www.mfwbooks.com/

We are scooting along with our schooling despite the time and energy me setting up a preschool classroom at church has required. I begin teaching a four year old class Aug. 17th, two days a week from 9-2. I miss teaching preschool and appreciate the chance to use some God-given talents outside our home. The children have been great going to church with me while teachers and I have cleaned, inventoried, ordered supplies, organized and so many other tasks in preparation for a new school year under a new director and a turn over of half the staff. As much as I love being a SAHM, homeschooling our kids and being the best wife I can be, this move to Texas and removal of outside opportunities to serve had me depressed. I needed to be giving to others outside my family and now that God gave me a way to do that, I understand anew how much I enjoy teaching and giving and sharing the world with others.

Brian has been dragging his feet on anything writing. I am hoping it is just a little boy thing that we have to work around, but it gets tiring! He will draw for hours at a time...and I mean HOURS, but writing assignments...and I mean any writing, even simple spelling words!....will slow him down and drag the day out until I send him to the dining room table (away from our activities at the kitchen table) to be alone and focus until the assignment is done. I try and stay calm through all this, but wonder where I might have gone wrong in not instilling in him the importance of the written word. I think we will focus on postcards to family and friends and other obviously fun projects to attempt to show him the joy writing can bring. Wish me luck, or share any suggestions!

We are making books each week with the girls as we go through Creation Kids lesson plans. For A we studied ants and the wisdom of preparing for the future.

There are three layers to this book, the title page with our ant craft glued down, then the inside of an ant hill that the girls created and finally our page of ant info and Bible verse.

For B we did a staggered book:

There are four pages to it, a page with stamped "balloon" finger prints, Bingo Bottle painting, butterfly print, Bingo Bottle Bee's and the last page has flower stickers with foam butterflies to fly around them and the lesson and Bible verse.

For C we studied catfish and talked about ocean creatures:

And made a pop up book:

And this week we are on D and made a wheel book:

We talked about delighting in the Lord and delightful dolphins and made a wheel book:

We love making books and find this to be great way to review!

Today we hit our 101st day in MFW 1st grade with Brian. I am thrilled we have gotten this far and know the last 80 days will go by quicker since his work load will shift from learning how to read to simply praciting reading.

We recently went to San Antonio and were able to enjoy some time at the Witte Museum, and then get in shopping trips to Costco, Lakeshore and the mall. The museum was a treat since they have a display right now about Egypt. Brian and the girls had a great time "building" a pyramid, looking at a real mummy under wraps and trying to put "pottery" pieces back together like an anthropologist. I was rewarded with Brian's enthusiam about history since we have studied so much about Egytian things in school.

I am working in getting the kids on a schedule for chores. Since I start working at the preschool in mid August I know I need to use this time to iron out the wrinkles in our home life. The house gets messed up so easily with their toys and imaginations both running wild, and it takes a lot of talking and helping on my part to get the simpliest of cleaning jobs done. I get too tired! So I realize that the next few weeks might be more intensive in helping and cheering on as we strive for consistency, but hopefully the reward is not having to tell them as often to pick up....I can dream, right?

In creating a curriculum for my preschool class (will be teaching 4's) I realize how relieved I am to be homeschooling. Talking with a Kindergarden teacher about the pressure upon kids to read at earlier and earlier ages and how research shows that can actually damage a child's eye if they are not ready for such strain, she gladly told me that did not matter, they had to learn to read before they left K. I am relieved that my kids and I can enjoy the learning process as we go and I don't have to force them to speed up, nor hold them back when they begin to excel. I hope to have the same approach with my students, though realize I am limited when I have 14 kids in my room.  

Paul and I recently reflected upon how fun it is to have both a son and daughters. Our girls are so much into Angelina Ballerina right now and anything ballet oriented! We laugh as they show off their poses with as much flourish as ignorance! And Brian will still spend hours building legos and drawing and constantly bounces around the house wishing he could swing like Spiderman or Karate kid like Robin or change animal shapes like Beast Boy. It is with great imagination that he can turn any situation into a superhero based experience (trying to fly through the air while putting dishes away in the kitchen). And the girls will play mommy to anyone and anything! Once again we are humbled that our kids came prewired with their own ideas,strengths and talents and we simply enjoy watching it all unfold and see where we are needed to help.