Jan. 28, 2008 - Stay put Toots!

At about 1:30 a.m. on January 20, Toots decided to try to make a run for it!  My water broke.  It was really a deja vu moment because it was exactly like with Bubba.  We took Bubba to my Mom and went to the hospital.  After much poking and prodding it was determined that yes, my water had broken.  We were transferred to another hospital about an hour away that had a NICU able to take care of a premature baby.  Once there, the doctors kept me in bed until early Monday.  We had a couple of contractions but nothing that would rock the boat.  We stayed in the hospital until Thursday when the doctors determined that I could go home and wait it out there.  Apparently, the rupture had healed.  I was just glad to get back in the care of my regular OB/GYN that I knew and trusted. 

Our biggest concern now is my sugar.  The steroids that they gave me to develop Toots' lungs also caused my sugar to go a bit high.  I was started on medication for my sugar as well as a diet to help control the sugar spikes.  Once home, I continued the diet as best I could and the medication.  Friday morning, my sugar dropped.  Evidently it dropped even farther than I realized because at the doctor's office when I was feeling better, it was still at 65.  On Saturday night, I went into a heavy sleep after taking the medication with dinner.  We are currently off the meds until we are able to monitor my blood sugar.  Tomorrow I go to the dietitian to learn what to eat and when.  I also learn how to check my sugar tomorrow. 

But the long and short of the story is that Toots is fine, she has plenty of fluid in her swimming pool, and we are hoping that she will take a couple of weeks to make her grand arrival.  Keep us in your prayers!

Hugs!
Kristi

• 7 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 4, 2008 - Long time no see!!

Well, it's been so long since I have blogged.  I know you think I've fallen off the face of the Earth.  No everything is just fine here, but I really need to update you...

A little background...after 3 years of fertility testing and treatments, the Lord gave us a miracle with our little Bubba.  We determined then and there that if the Lord wanted us to have more children, He would do it because we weren't helping it along again.  Last April I was diagnosed with PCOS and told that more children were probably not in my future.  We were fine with that.  If we wanted more children, we would adopt.  That was an idea that we had entertained several times in our marriage. 

Then in July, I started having those symptoms again.  I finally went for a pregnancy test.  It was negative.  But I was strangely not upset.  I remembered all those pregnancy tests from the past and this one didn't both me.  On the way home, I heard the song by Casting Crowns (my favorite) called The Voice of Truth.  It talks about having faith in the face of trials.  All the while the Devil is telling you that you are never going to win.  But the Lord calls out with the Voice of Truth and tells a different story.  It says not to be afraid or worry!  All the trials are all for His Glory!  All those negative pregnancy tests and even my PCOS diagnosis, all were a part of His plan!!  I was certain now that the Lord had a plan.  I just had to wait and see what it was.  All the trash-talking the Devil was doing would not amount to a hill of beans because the Lord had a plan!  So I thought maybe the Lord was saying to start looking at adoption.  And we did.  But the symptoms kept coming and stronger.  Finally a week later, Adam insisted that I go for a blood pregnancy test.  We don't have a lot of faith in those pee-on-a-stick tests. 

So I went in to my regular doctor to have blood drawn.  Jen said that she would have the results in about 10 minutes.  I told her that Bubba and I were going to lunch so she could call my cell phone.  After all I already knew what the results were going to be.  Right?





Wrong!!!  Jen called and calmly said, "Congratulations!"  I almost wrecked the car!  So that was the Lord's plan!!  I spent the afternoon laughing and crying.  It was an amazing feeling to be hit with a miracle.  And still is!  We told Bubba later that night and he decided he wasn't ever having blood drawn.  If you have blood drawn, POOF!  you are pregnant.  Watch out for that blood drawing thing!!


So I spent the next 2 months with a very pessimistic OB/GYN who was certain that this pregnancy wasn't going full term.  My levels didn't go up like they should, but I wasn't worried.  I knew that the Lord had a plan.  I just happened to be along for the ride.  Once I made it through the first trimester, the doctor was worried about down's syndrome or spina bifida.  We did more blood tests.  Of course, everything was fine.  I wasn't worried.  The Lord has a plan.  Nothing I do is going to change that.  If the Lord's plan is that I am to be a Mom to a special needs child, then he must think I'm more capable than I do, but we'll make it.  The tests all came back fine. They were afraid of preterm labor like with Bubba, so we are taking weekly progesterone shots.  Ouch!  Now the baby is on the high side of normal in size and I have a lot of fluid.  Something else for them to worry about, but not me.  I'm just sitting back and basking in the miracle. 

Right before Thanksgiving we went for THE ultrasound.  The one that tells us if we are having a boy bundle of joy or a girl bundle of joy.  I knew that He was going to give us what we needed.  If He thought a boy would fill our family, well, I can cuddle with 2 boys.  After all, he gave me this left arm for something didn't he?  It certainly isn't to write!!  If it is a girl bundle, well, I can play dolls and Barbies and think pink!!  I just waited to see His Plan work out.  Low and behold, it's a...












GIRL!!!


Can you believe it?  After 7 years of monster trucks and cars and boy stuff, I get to think about dolls and Princesses.  Do I know how to think girl?  I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out!

My doctor seems to think that Toots (like Tootsie Roll) will make her grand arrival on April 8.  I personally think she will have her hair and nails done long before that.  I'm betting on my grandmother's birthday which was March 3.  I guess we'll see who is right. 

Take care!  I'll check in again when Life with Bubba and Toots gives me time to get to the computer again. 

Hugs!

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Sep. 22, 2007 - I'm Still Here!

Hi everybody!  I'm still here!  Sorry it's been so long!!  We started school on Labor Day.  It has gone very well although we certainly have faced our share of obstacles - planned and unplanned.  The first week of school, my little Bubba got a flu bug and it was a nasty one.  Bless his little heart though, it didn't deter him from doing school!  We'd be working along and suddenly he would just say, "Gotta go!"  Then he would come back and we would pick up where we left off.  The next week we had a planned trip to visit Quota friends in North Carolina.  We had a wonderful "field trip" to the Greensboro Natural Science Museum (WOW!) and the Greensboro Children's Museum.  With all we learned at those places, I felt like we had done several days of school!!  This week, I've come down with a cold.  Unfortunately I'm not as good a trooper as Bubba and I've been on the couch most of the week.  We've managed to do school as Mom felt like it, but it's been a struggle (for me, not him).  Next week I think is going to be more normal, but who knows.  We are definitely teaching him to care for others and to roll with the flow of life!  I guess that is one of the most important things that I can teach him. 

Thanks for worrying everybody!  I may be a little more scarce with the school year in full swing.  Our Moving Beyond the Page curriculum is wonderful!!  We are studying communities, the people that make them up and the functions that they provide.  This week we have studied goods and services, and wants and needs.  It has provoked some interesting discussions.  We have also been making great strides in LLATL.  It provides him with lots of hands-on things to do and he is learning without even realizing it!  His handwriting was one of the things that most concerned me at the beginning of the year and it is improving drastically!  Alot of things are falling into place! 

Please keep Misty over at www.homeschoolblogger.com/3boyz in your prayers.  Her husband had one of those accidents that we construction wives always worry about.  She is such an impressive lady, but she is carrying alot on her shoulders right now. 

Take care everybody!

Hugs!
Kristi

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 27, 2007 - Thank you Secret Sister!!

My Dear Secret Sister,

I must apologize.  I received the most beautiful card from you as well as the gorgeous angel pin.  I have had some trying doctor's appointments lately and have worn this pin to remind me that you are praying for me.   It has helped me through some potentially dark times and they have all come out wonderfully!!  Everything is great!!  Thank you so much for being my Prayer Warrior.  I think you have a direct line to the Lord!!!  Things are going phenomenally well.  I'm not able to tell even you the details yet, but all is well!!  Thanks again!!!

Hugs!!
Kristi

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 27, 2007 - Wow!

It's been a good while since I posted.  Sorry!  There has been alot going on around here.  I'm not at liberty to tell you all the details yet, but the Lord is good!! 

School is going well.  We've been doing what I'm calling "School Lite".  We do the basics.  Next Monday we are adding in all the other stuff as well.  I'm so excited about starting our new curriculum!!  I have a field trip planned for the first week, but I need to get off my tail and do some calling around to get it all lined up! 

I was just referred to the neatest website.  It is a live cam of a pond in an animal reserve in Africa.  Check it out! 

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/

Take care everybody!!

Hugs!
Kristi

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Aug. 1, 2007 - Out of the mouths of babes...

At church on Sunday, Bubba went forward for the children's story.  There were only two kids including him this week, so I'm sure he felt compelled to talk more to make up for the lack of kids.  The preacher was doing a wonderful demonstration about all the things that we do in our days.  For each activity he was putting a packing peanut in a mason jar.  He started listing the things that we do each day...eat breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, etc.  Then he says, "And you go to school."  Bubba quickly pipes up, "I don't.  I'm homeschooled."  The preacher says, "Yes, but you still do school."  Bubba responds in a matter of fact tone, "Nope.  We just play all day."  How wonderful!!  I love that he feels that we are "playing" when we are really learning!!

Well, we're off to "play".  Have a great day!

• 13 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 31, 2007 - Homeschool Open House 2007

My friend Tiany over at Less of Me~More of Him is sponsoring a Homeschool Open House.  So here goes...

My name is Kristi and we are homeschooling our 6 year-old son, Jesse.  We live in a small town in northwestern Virginia where there aren't many homeschoolers.  Those that there are tend to be looked upon as strange.  We decided to homeschool Jesse when he was 4.  He wanted to learn to read.  Well, I couldn't turn down that request just because he wasn't old enough to go to public school.  What we found was a blessing in disguise!  We truly love homeschooling!! 

Last year was our "kindergarten" year.  We used Sonlight which provided us with some great read-alouds.  We learned to read with 100 Easy Lessons which truly were easy!!  And we started out our Math-U-See journey with the Primer and quickly advanced to Alpha level where we still are.  This year at the HEAV conference we found a wonderful curriculum that has been around for a couple of years (unfortunately I haven't found it before now) called Moving Beyond the Page.  It is geared toward age groups instead of levels.  It is so exciting!!  We are starting with the 6-7-8 year old level which provides some easy reading books and some terrific projects!!  We are going to lapbook our way through the curriculum.  My only worry is that it may take us forever to do everything we want to do!!  But we are just going to take our time and go day by day.  If you would like to check this curriculum out, go to www.movingbeyondthepage.com. 

With this curriculum, our goal for the year is to spend roughly 3 hours a day in school (that doesn't count read alouds at bedtime/naptime).  Jesse will get up by 8:00 a.m., get dressed (maybe, we tend to do school in our jammies!) and eat breakfast.  School starts at 9:00 with devotions.  We are going to be using Karen Henley's devotions this year.  We may add in Sword Fighting as the year goes along.  We are going to be doing a Bible curriculum from Answers in Genesis, but that probably will be a once a week thing on Mondays.  Then we will do our core stuff, LLATL and Math-U-See.  Handwriting will also be an every day thing.  Jesse really enjoys spelling so that will probably be an every day thing or at least every other day thing.  We also purchased a Spanish Curriculum (the Learnables) that Jesse just has to listen to and do on the computer.  We also have a music curriculum that will be a once a week thing, but I haven't decided which day of the week to do that.  Whew!  That sounds like a lot!!  Hopefully we will work on school work until around lunchtime, then we will eat and take our nap.  Yes, Jesse still naps.  It maintains both of our sanity!!

Where do we do school?  All over the place!!  We do devotions cuddled on the couch.  Schoolwork is done at his table in the living room and most of our read alouds are read at naptime and bedtime.  Jesse is definitely a cuddler so the more of school that we can do snuggled the better!!

My biggest problem with school is organization.  We live in a small house (880 square feet).  Jesse's bedroom is tiny, so most of his toys gravitate to the living room.  We have a spare room, but it is full of stuff.  I haven't figured out totally how to organize all of the books that we use regularly and the book that we will use occasionally AND the manipulatives of MUS.  I have rearranged the living room and there is a bookcase devoted solely to school books.  I'm also going to get Jesse and big plastic case of drawers to put under his table to hold things like crayons, rulers, paper, that sort of thing!  We are also going to lapbook our school work this year so that all those loose papers end up inside a lapbook instead of everywhere!!  I think that will be a major help!!

My best advice is to use things on the internet to "spice" up school.  Jesse loves Spelling Time and now they have introduced a math program, too.  Now these used to be free and they have been forced to charge for them.  But trust me, the results are well worth a little expense!  Jesse loves spelling because of this program and I am hoping that his math skills improve as well.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed your journey through our homeschool!!  Sorry this has gotten so long!!  Good luck on your coming year!!

Hugs!
Kristi

• 35 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 25, 2007 - Hope...

You know, my Momma told me years ago that you can ask the Lord for anything.  Sometimes He will say "Yes", sometimes He might say "No, and sometimes  He will say "Wait a while."  Always before I have dreaded that "Wait a while" answer.  It meant...

well...


waiting, and I HATE waiting!!  My impatience always would kick in and I would want an answer, any answer, NOW!!  But I have recently found that sometimes that "Wait a while" answer is good.  Somewhere between the asking and before the Final Answer (Thank you Regis), there is HOPE.  There is HOPE that the answer will be YES.  I like existing in this limbo-land of hope.  So I am happy "waiting a while"!

Hugs to you all!
Kristi

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 25, 2007 - My Dear Secret Sister,

I thought that I would just jot you a note!  Kinda turns the tables doesn't it??   I got your card and let me tell you, you must have a direct line to the Lord.  Your prayers work miracles!  Attitudes around our house have gotten much better lately.  I must say that that includes my own.    Thank you so much for your cards.  I'm like a little kid and when I get mail (that isn't bills!) it just makes my day!!  Keep the prayers coming and keep watching...you never know when I might jot YOU a note!!  Take care of you - can't have anything happen to my very own Prayer Warrior!! 

Hugs!
Kristi

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 23, 2007 - What Gemstone are You?

***Your Gemstone is Orange Saphire***


Courageous, optimistic, and successful.
Your confidence helps you handle the ups and downs of life


What Gemstone Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatgemstoneareyouquiz/

**Sorry I couldn't insert the pretty picture of the orange sapphire.  Maybe somebody can tell me how I do that?  Try the test and let me know what gemstone you are!!

Hugs to all!!
Kristi

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 18, 2007 - Homeschool Book Exchange!

Hi everybody!  I just checked out Marsha's blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewsfamilytx and she was talking about a Homeschool Book Exchange.  I checked it out and WOW!!  am I excited now!!  All you need to do is list your want to sell/trade/give aways or your want list.  As people join the ring, they check out what you have/want and let you know how they can help!!  Isn't that wonderful???  Check it out at:

http://janne.cc/blog/?page_id=167

I've gotta go.  Gotta find all those homeschool books I won't be using and get them listed!!  Talk to you later!!

Hugs!
Kristi

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 15, 2007 - Thank you...thank you...thank you!!

My dear Secret Sister,

I just walked to the mailbox and got the neatest surprise!!!  I have a card from you!!  Your card says "Lord, You brought someone special to mind.  I pray You will bless her, give her a day filled with Your goodness, touched by Your love..."  You will never know how much I need that right now!!!!  Keep praying...pray hard!!!

Love and Hugs to You!
Kristi

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 14, 2007 - Timing...again!

Did you ever feel like the Lord was hitting you over the head with a 2x4?  Now I have often told the Lord, "If you want me to do such-and-such, then you will have to hit me up beside the head with it because I won't hear little whispers."  After my last Bible Study (and I haven't done the next lesson yet - sorry!) I have been contemplating "time" and "timing".  Then yesterday I was reading through Belinda's blog at !!Blessed By Bunches!! (www.homeschollblogger.com/Belinda) and she is dicussing God's timing.  She uses the example of the Israelites.  God could have sent them down the short road, the easy road but, unbeknownst to them, it had Phillistines waiting to do battle.  So instead He sent them down the wilderness road.  Can you imagine the Israelites reaction to having to go into the wilderness (lions, tigers and bears, oh my! well maybe not but...) instead of going down the (apparently) easy road?  I know what my reaction would have been:  "Obviously I'm not hearing you correctly Lord.  I know there is no way that you would send ME into the wilderness.  It is going to be hard living out there.  We may not have food.  I must have misunderstood you." 

How many times in life has the Lord sent you down what appears to be the hard road instead of the easy road?  Looking back now on the hard times in my life I can see that the Lord has used them to His Glory and to teach me things.  Sometimes it is just to give me something wonderful!!  Think back now...think of those boyfriends that you just thought were wonderful, but they dumped you.  At the time, you thought the world would end.  But along comes your Knight in Shining Armor and suddenly you realize what the Lord had planned was much better than what you were going to work out on  your own!!!  He really does much better if I can just have the patience to WAIT!!

I look at the things going on in my life now:  infertility, losing Amy, owning our own business and I know the Lord is going to use those things for His Purpose!  Now if I can just avoid planning and making my own decisions before He tells me what His plan is!!  I know that what He has in mind is infinitely better than anything that I could possibly come up with on my own, but patience is not something that I was blessed with.  Maybe this is His way of teaching me patience!!  As the chorus goes:

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up on wings as Eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint.  Teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait.

Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.       Psalm 27:14.

Blessings to you today!
Kristi

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 12, 2007 - Faith in God's Timing

Our family suffered an unexpected loss yesterday. Amy Marie Zirkle went to be with the Lord yesterday leaving behind an adoring husband and a beautiful, 9 month old daughter.  Amy was a dear, sweet person who always saw the good in everybody and seemed to bring out the best in anybody around her.  I grieve for David’s loss of a soulmate, a little girl who will never know the mother who loved her and a friend that I didn't get to know nearly well enough.

I was quite upset when I heard the news, as you can imagine.  I explained to Jesse what had happened.  In his sage-beyond-his-years way, he said, “God said it was time, Mommy.”  I replied that sometimes it is hard to accept that the Lord has a plan because it doesn’t seem to make sense.  It provoked a great conversation on faith in God’s timing, not our timing.  What a wise little boy!  I hope someday to have his faith!!

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jul. 3, 2007 - What time is it?

I have gotten myself back on course and have started doing the I Am Bible Study again.  Today in reading through Lesson 1, I got a bit of a reality check. 

Lisa is discussing Moses and the "time" of his birth (Acts 7:17-20).  The word used for time isn't the one that indicates a succession of events like the begats that we normally read.  No, the word used is a word indicating a specific time, much like the seasons.  It is a time that was planned.  It was a time that was meant to come!  In the same way, each of us has our "time".  We were not just randomly placed around the Earth, we were each put in the place that the Lord wants us to be.  Even though there are times when we think the world is coming down around us, we are where the Lord wants us to be.  Adam and I have always found it amazing at the lengths that the Lord used to bring us together and all the many paths that would have led us away from ever meeting.  His parents changed churches when he was in college.  He was made to go to a college that was close to home, not the one in the mid-west that he wanted to go to.  I found a job in real estate law that kept me here, not a job in French translation that I had gone to college for that would have taken me into DC.  We are not even going to go into all the people that we dated that we determined were not right for us because of their lack of devotion to the Lord.  What a marvelous plan He has for us!

Keeping that in mind, I started to consider what purpose the Lord had in putting me here.  He obviously has plans for me.  He has kept me on this path and I think I am continuing to follow the way He wants me to go, not off on my own tangent.  So what am I to accomplish?  Maybe I'm just a link in the chain he is forging by being a Mom to Jesse.  There were lots of Moms in the links of Jesus' family chain that didn't bear mentioning, but they served the purpose the Lord had for them.  I'd like to think that my purpose is something super important like finding the cure for the common cold, but maybe that's Jesse's purpose and I'm just supposed to foster that amazing creativity of his.  Maybe I'm fulfilling my purpose by homeschooling Jesse.  Adam and I have always felt that we have been called by the Lord to do this.  It is not just a personal choice.  Maybe I made a difference in someone's life that I didn't even realize like in the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven.  Maybe by my involvement in Quota and all the services that we provide, I am fulfilling my purpose.  I don't know and maybe I never will.  I'll just keep on keeping on in the way that I think the Lord will have me to go.  If I get off the path He planned, maybe He'll give me a shortcut to get back to the right one or use me in the way that I am going.

As you go through your day today, keep in mind how the Lord is using you.  Is He whispering in your ear that you need to do something?  Listen.

Hugs!

Kristi

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jun. 21, 2007 - I Am Bible Study

I have found a wonderful new on-line Bible Study.  The author uses stories and references that we can all relate to.  She also uses a Bible that I have added to my wish list.  It is the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible.  I have said for the last while that I was going to learn Hebrew just so that I could understand that actual translation of the Bible.  Now maybe I won't have to learn a new language!!  Yay!!  The link to the Bible study is on down on this page.  Check it out and let me know what you think!!  I'll be updating you on my progress as I go through the study.

The introduction really touched my heart.  She tells the story of taking her son shopping with his Birthday money.  After perusing the aisles of toys, he turns to her and tells her that he wants to buy her a ring.  She does the typical Mom thing and tells him that he shouldn't spend money on her.  He is crushed.  She realizes how much he wants to do this and goes with him to pick out the ring.  Once at the counter, she finds that he has chosen the ring he wants to buy her.  As I am sure would be the case with my little guy, the ring he chooses isn't the same one that she would have chosen, but she accepts it with great pride.  So often the Lord offers us gifts that may not be in the form that we would have liked.  Instead of saying, "Thank you Father for your great and wonderful gift," we complain that it wasn't the one that we would have chosen.  Too often I find myself doing this with circumstances in my life.  Maybe my house isn't the house that I had dreamed of or maybe my child isn't the poster child that we all want, but they are mine and I love them dearly.  I'll try to remember this the next time that Bubba jumps up and down on my last nerve.  When I would normally raise my voice, instead I'll raise my prayers to Heaven and thank God for the greatest gift I've ever received!

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jun. 15, 2007 - Just for Fun...

I received this through one of my groups and thought it was just too fun!!  I had to put it in my blog!

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jun. 13, 2007 - Convention Blues...

I think I have the post-convention blues.  When you are at a homeschool convention, there are lots of Moms around who think like you do and have the same issues that you do.  Then you come home and the people around you don't think like you do and sometimes can't even understand why you think the way you do.  Suddenly you are thrown back into the world of "Why are you doing it?"  and "What about socialization?.  I am comfortable with what we are doing because I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be.  I was made for "such a time as this".  But there is a little part of me that wishes I knew someone else with a child close to my child's age who was also made for "such a time as this".  I can't imagine what it felt like to be one of the homeschool pioneers.  There was no one like them in their area of the world and there was no internet to connect them with someone like them in another area of the world.  Most people that they encountered thought they had lost their mind.  What a lonely life they must have led!  But I sure do appreciate all that they went through to get us to where we are today! 

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May. 30, 2007 - New Computer! Yay! I think...

My dear, sweet Adam has finally tired of hearing Bubba and I say those fateful words, "I don't think it will run on our computer."  While our old computer is still running well, it doesn't have the get-up-and-go that a new computer does.  It's a bit like me...my get-up-and-go got-up-and-went a long time ago!!  I have finally gotten everything moved to the new computer.  It has actually made me quite proud of myself to be able to figure out some of the intricacies of the computer.  That said, we are up and moving and fast!!

Bubba did school today primarily on the computer!  We found a wonderful website www.spellingtime.com  that we really love!!  It has a hangman and an arrange the letters game that the kids get to play with the spelling list each week.  By the way, the spelling lists are even provided for grades 1-5!  Mom can modify them if you like, but they are at least provided.  After playing a game, the kids have to write the words. Then they receive their reward of playing special games.  They only get to play one game each day so it doesn't get too lengthy!

After finding spelling time, I thought that maybe a math game would regenerate Bubba's interest in math.  For a while we couldn't get him to do anything but math.  Now that he has learned to read, he doesn't want to do anything but reading!  The on-line math games at least brought a spark of the thrill back to math.  We found an online baseball math game where each properly answered equations equals a hit and an incorrect answer is an out.  We tried another game that uncovered a part of a picture with correct answers.  Another game allowed him to send a space shuttle into space with the correct answer of a math problem.  The favorite probably was a math pinball game.  He really seemed to enjoy that and by the end of the game he was easily answering basic addition problems.  We truly love our math-u-see curriculum, but it was nice to reinforce it with some fun!  You might check out funbrain.com. 

We also started a neat on-line typing program.  Bubba is enjoying typing on the computer so much that I thought it would be good if he would learn how to do it properly.  Less incorrect moves to UN-learn later!  We found a program that is developed by the BBC.  It is very cute with various rock-and-roll animals teaching the home row and so forth.  He is really enjoying it and I think improving his typing skills.  Next year we are going to have to add a good typing program to the curriculum.  Adam will love that!

We are going to be attending the HEAV convention in Richmond next week.  It should be quite exciting.  I think I am going to buy the MP3 files of the speakers instead of worrying about attending the various seminars.  Mostly we are going to concentrate on the exhibit hall.  The first year that we went to the convention, we were debating homeschooling and just checked out the various curriculums.  The next year, we knew mostly what we wanted and went primarily to learn about those.  This year, although I know what curriculums we are using, I'm open to suggestions and want to learn more about the other ones out there.  What a progression!  Wish us luck!

Until next time,
Kristi

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May. 18, 2007 - Vacation???

For Blogger School this week, I am supposed to talk about my plans for keeping cool, relaxing and vacationing this summer.  Considering that we are having a cold snap here in Virginia today, I am really thinking about the possibility of vacationing on a very warm beach!!  We are supposed to go to a seminar in Virginia Beach for Adam next week.  Unfortunately we only get to stay for a day and that day the weather is supposed to be similar to what it is here today.  Isn't that my luck?  Adam has promised that we will get to go on mini-vacations this summer - basically weekends away.  So I wonder what lucky locale will have us come to visit and bring the cool weather with us?   Let's see where can I dream of going...Virginia Beach, Ocean City, Kill Devil Hills (just to see GraveDigger!), Williamsburg and Jamestown, the Zoo and Richmond for the HEAV conference, to name a few.  Bubba has asked to go to Natural Bridge.  I have to visit Greensboro and Raleigh Quota clubs in September, so we may have to make a week out of those visits!  Won't that be grand?  I'll go spend the rest of my dreary Friday relaxing on the couch pretending I am somewhere warm!

• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Page 1 of 2
Last Page | Next Page