I have two in high school this year.  There are the courses they are taking.

Zarek 10th Grade

1. English II - A Beka
2. Spanish II – with FLVS online
3. Psychology – with FLVS online
4. Life Management – with FLVS online
5. World History II - A Beka and Sonlight
6. World Literature - A Beka and Sonlight
7. Bible - A Beka and Experiencing God Bible Study
8. Health - A Beka
9. Chemistry - Apologia
10. Geometry - Teaching Textbooks

Alexis 9th Grade

1. English I - A Beka
2. Pre Algebra - Teaching Textbooks
3. Bible - A Daughter's Worth, Experiencing God and Precept Isaiah
4. Hebrew History (Old Testament) - A Beka
5. Physical Science - A Beka
6. World History II - A Beka and Sonlight
7. World Geography - A Beka

We've been having a very nice summer.  Lots of swimming, beach days and the kids are doing tennis Tues.-Fri. mornings.

We'll be starting school up again in the beginning of August, so our summer will soon be over. 

Here's Caitlyn and Brett looking for mole crabs Monday at the beach.  Those little guys were everywhere.

Last Saturday Zarek, Lexi and Josh played in a tennis tournament.  Zarek won 3 matches, Josh came in first for the boys and Lexi came in first for the girls, they both got their picture in the paper.  We're very proud of them.

On April 22nd our homeschool group got together to clean up a section of the local beach.  There actually wasn't a whole lot of trash but we picked up all we saw and had a fun time.  OK, I hate picking up trash but I hate a dirty beach even more.  Here's a picture of Lexi, Josh and Zarek after we were done.  Afterwards we went out to lunch with Josh's family and then the teens did some volunteer work and Cait, Brett and I came back to the beach and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.  We saw dolphins and a clear nose skate! 

This poor, neglected blog!  I've just not been in the blogging mood, but am making myself post.  So, this is probably not going to be interesting.  Not that my other posts were...well, whatever. 

We're studying Ancient Civilizations this year and we've been in Rome the past few weeks.  I'm  reading aloud to Cait and Brett from Story of the World.  This week we learned about Julius Caesar.  Alexis listens in most of the time because it is a good review.  Cait and Brett really enjoy the Usborne Time Traverler series and we just finished this book.

  They also enjoyed this book about Pompeii

With Zarek and Alexis I'm reading aloud from Augustus Caesar's World, which is a great book. 

Zarek and Alexis are also reading The Ides of April and will follow up with the next book, Beyond the Desert Gate.

Sometime this week I'm going to Michael's to get Caitlyn and Brett mosaic kits, they're looking forward to doing those.  So that's about it, we're just trying to move right along, we're on week 13 on Sonlight.  Very behind.  I can only keep moving forward and try  not to worry about it.  Spring Break is coming up soon and the kids will have two weeks off, as the next week is Jody's vacation time.  I plan on having them keep up with their literature reading though.

has been getting done, if a bit sporadically.  Wednesday life just took over and nothing much got done other than picking up the house.  I'm trying to at least keep Zarek on track since he's in high school now.  Alexis is doing a decent job of getting most of her work done each day and sometimes has to catch up on the weekends.  We have moved on from the Egyptians and are now learning about the Greeks.  Caitlyn and Brett are still enjoying learning about these ancient civilizations.  For Brett, the more fighting/warrior type stuff, the better.  They're both doing a great job at remembering what they've learned and love answering the questions for each chapter for Story of the World. 

Yesterday Zarek went to a friend's house to work on his biology experiements since we don't have a microscope.  Today he needs to take a biology test and an algebra test.  He started taking a Spanish course online and I don't think it's going to well.  I'm going to let him work at it for another week and if he wants to drop it I'll let him.  I think it's just too hard trying to learn a foreign language online.

This weekend I really need to catch up with Zarek's assingment and get them into HST and make up the next few weeks assignments, at least through Christmas would be nice.  Next week we're only having school on Monday and the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving break, the kids can't wait and neither can I.

1. What are your initials? RLOL 

2. How old will you be in 30 years? Are you trying to depress me?? 64

3. Where would you most like to vacation? Florida Keys

4. Rainy or Sunny? Sunny if I can be at the beach, Rainy if I can stay in bed and read

5. Do you make anything for Thanksgiving dinner? Yes, everything!

6. If so, what? Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, and desserts like carrot cake and pumpkin pie

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I don't wanna grow up  :)

8. What is your favorite day of the year?  Christmas

9. What is your favorite subject in school?  History

10. Look left, what do you see?  Windows

11. Look right, what do you see? My bed

12. Do you have a favorite stuffed animal? No

13. If so, what and who is it?

14. Have you written any books, or short stories? No

15. Do you ever wish for a different hair color?  Just that the gray would stop popping through

16. Superman, Spiderman, or Batman?  Um, none?

17. Do you have a pen pal, or e-pal?  My friend Wyndie is kind of an e-pal

18. What is your lucky number? Seven

19. What is your favorite Holiday?  Christmas or Thanksgiving

20. Who will you tag? Emmavj, Caitie, Brett

This morning we went on a walk for diabetes with several other homeschooling families.  The children have two friends who have Type 1 Diabetes and we went on the walk to support them.  We had such a great time.  There were Star Wars characters dressed up and walking throughout the zoo, we got a lot of pictures and the kids had fun playing together on the playground at the zoo. 

Last Saturday we met with two other families to do a walk for a Florida state senator.  We went to a few neighborhoods putting flyers on doors.  I think it was a great opportunity for the children and we got our exercise as well!

I was reading the Usborne Time Traveler book Pharaohs and Pyramids to the children today and I had to get up to help my oldest son in another room.  They just couldn't wait for me so I walked back in to see this and had to get a photo.   They are both really enjoying learning about Ancient Egypt.

The goal this week is less meat.  It's not good for you and it's expensive.  It may look like I'm still using quite a bit, but having any dinner that is meatless, is huge for us. Today we had small baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and melted cheese for lunch and it was so good!

Monday

Lunch- sandwiches, grilled or cold

Dinner- spaghetti, no meat in sauce

Tuesday

Lunch- leftovers or sandwiches

Dinner- beef roast, steamed carrots, potatoes, dinner rolls

Wednesday

Lunch- Leftovers

Dinner- Jasmine rice and pinto beans

Thursday

Lunch- Rice and beans or sandwiches

Dinner- Baked potato and steamed veggies

Friday

Lunch- Cheese quesadillas

Dinner- Large salad with grilled chicken, French bread

Saturday

Lunch- chicken and black bean wrap

Dinner- Sauteed veggies over Jasmine rice

Sunday

Lunch- Leftovers or sandwiches

Dinner- Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Fruit for snacks this week: Honeydew melon, red grapes, Gala apples

Some friends of ours told us about the McCain rally in Jacksonville and invited us to go with them.  I was so excited!  We arrived at 6:15AM, the rally began at 8:00AM.  We saw the Jacksonville Mayor, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former Gov. Jeb Bush!  Very exciting.  All the speeches were great and when McCain came out everyone was pumped!  He gave a great speech and the older children really enjoyed going.  Great educational experience and a fun time.

My little Republican

John McCain and his wife. 

The kids after the rally.

Last week we read about Sumer and Cuneiform in Story of the World Volume I.  The children were very excited to make their own clay tablets like the Ancient Sumerians did. 

We're going slow with Story of the World because the younger two are very much enjoying learning about Egypt, so I put several library books on hold and some came in today and we picked them up.  We're going to spend another week on Ancient Egypt before we move on.  There's just so much to learn and Sonlight 6 moves too fast!

Look at these beautiful children hard at work!  Ok, Caitlyn was sick so she is cutting out a paper model of an American Western Fort (never mind we're studying Ancient Egypt) but we'll call it handicrafts.  She did do math, Bible, poetry and history/geography along with everyone else.

Brett went to a space birthday party over the weekend and I caught him doing his math with his jet pack on. 

Everything went so well Monday and the children all enjoyed their day.  Caitlyn especially seems interested in Egypt and even looked through extra books and did some extra work on her own.  She is loving Story of the World.  She likes doing the coloring page and map work and then putting them in her binder.  Brett is also doing a great job with history but he's not as enthusiastic as his sister.  Alexis and Zarek are listening to STOW as a review but not doing the activity sheets, instead they are assisting their younger siblings with their map work if they need it.  Zarek and Alexis are both getting back into the swing of math, the last 2 days have been spent on corrections that had been neglected over the summer and finally today they are starting new chapters in their books.  Alexis is finishing up her Saxon 76 and Zarek is still working on Algebra I.

I just put some more picture books set in Ancient Egypt on hold at our library and hope they come in soon.  They're books I remember reading to Zarek and Alexis when they were about 7 and 8, which is when we last went through the Ancients.  We're starting up our school year slowly, taking extra time this week to watch the Olympics, so we're not on schedule yet.  By mid-September I'm hoping everyone will be doing every subject each day, until then we're enjoying this leisurely pace.

Yes, the first day of school for 2008-2009!  I'm kinda unprepared, but we're jumping in anyway.  We're going to start slow with just the basics and will add things in throughout the new few weeks.  I have all our materials together that we'll need for the first few weeks for Bible and History. 

I ordered our new poetry book today so that will be here Wednesday.  Everyone will also do their math, reading and a writing or copywork assignment and that's all I plan on for this week. 

I hope everything goes smoothly and we have a good first day!  I'll post pictures and blog about our day tomorrow.

We've been going to the beach a lot and Wednesday we woke up early to take a beach walk to see if we could discover some treasures before many people arrived.  Well, I turned my alarm off when it sounded at 6AM and went back to sleep...consequently we didn't get to the beach until 9AM, which was still good in my opinion...but not early enough because we didn't find anything wonderful like we had been dreaming about.  It was still a nice walk though.

Afterwards we took Alexis to her ortho appointment and then we went back to the beach to swim and play in the sand.  Thursday we went to the pool, Friday we went swimming at a friend's house...and today Alexis has a very bad earache.  I've been giving her something for pain and having her lay on a hot rice pack, but nothing is helping.  I called Urgent Care and they closed at 5PM.  So, tomorrow morning I plan on taking her.  She is in a lot of pain, poor thing.  These things always happen on the weekends, don't they?

I've pulled out my 2 big Sonlight binders for this year but I've yet to actually crack them open.  I did set up our new school year on Homeschool Tracker Plus.  We're starting August 18th.  I'm so not ready.  I wish summer could last forever.

These are the books I’m reading aloud to Caitlyn and Brett.  Alexis is listening in to Understood Betsy as well, as that is a favorite of hers.

Today as we were reading about spiders in the Nature Reader I was amazed at how excited Brett was to tell me all he knew about spiders.  He stopped me frequently to tell me what he knew.  I think that was one of the first times I’ve seen him show a real interest in something “school” related.