We're starting our new year on Tuesday!  I'm almost ready.  The shelves are stocked, the notebooks put together, most everything is entered in Homeschool Tracker.  I need to go through each subject and just be sure I have EVERYTHING done.  I'm also going to have the children help me this weekend to put our bins together: science bin, math bin, art bin, and anything else that I want to keep close by for our school time.

I also need to work on a group of items that are for Alex, age 2, to do just during school time.  He needs some direction.  :)

Today was our first day of co-op.  I've never done one before and was a little nervous about working there.  See...I'm not really that fond of children.  Funny, isn't it?  I have 4, one on the way....but I don't "enjoy" children.   I could NEVER, EVER in a million years work at a preschool.   I like other peoples children in short spurts.  Visits to me.  Visits to them.  But you won't find me doing an in-home daycare.  :)

But, I thought, it's only for 8 weeks, 2 hours a week, how bad could it be?  It was fine.  I was assigned to Alex's class so that was great!  It's actually infant to age 2 but we have 2 connecting rooms so we put the non-walkers on one side and the walkers on the other side.  We were supposed to have 14 children but quite a few ended up staying with their moms.  I think the most we had at any one point was 8 and 4 of those belonged to the 4 workers.

Workers also get a break.  There are 3 sessions that the older children do and each person is supposed to take a break during one of the sessions.  That was so nice!  I took my break during the last session.  The moms take turns bringing snacks and I had a great time sampling the fares and talking with the other ladies on break.

Matthew is in the preschool room where they kept them very busy for 2 hours!  They had stories, crafts, games, snack, play outside time.  A lot!  The teacher said they over plan because they like to keep them going on stuff.  :)

Samantha is in the 2nd/3rd grade class.  First session she had PE.  She loved it!  First they did push-ups, sit-ups, etc.  And then they played softball.  Next session was art.  Today they did a crayon drawing of a tree landscape...but it wasn't drawing...it looks like sponges but it isn't.  Very pretty.  Last session is music.  She said she got to play the piano.  I wasn't sure if that class would be that great for her ... it isn't a choice though.  She takes piano lessons already but she said she had a great time!

Kayla is in the high school class.  First session they had a class called "How to Get Published."  Then they have arts and crafts and today they did basket weaving.  Third session they join in with the jr high group for PE.  Mostly today they played games like tag.

It was good.  We all look forward to next week.  :)

Tennis lessons are over for now.  Samantha and Matthew have been taking them for the last 3 weeks.  Matthew's was a very basic class.  Mostly learning how to hold the racket and running around a lot.  Samantha's class was doing a lot of hitting and other types of practice.  Good class.  She loved it!  Well, she loved it after the first lesson where she had declared, "I don't think tennis is my game." 

We're starting co-op tomorrow and it's for 8 weeks so we're not going to pick up tennis lessons again until after Christmas.  Hopefully there will be openings for Kayla this time.  She wants to give it a shot also!  I wanted to take an adult class but they didn't offer any this fall.  Hopefully in January they will.

That's what my 7 year old is saying to me!  Guess it's time to get off the computer and sit down while she's willing!!!  LOL

Okay...now she has actually picked up her math book and is working on her own!  Wahoo!!!  

I'm off to school.  :)

So Scott asked us to vote on this poll...he says: "I'm a sucker for these online polls, especially when they give me a chance to stand up and cheer for homeschooling.  Here's your chance to go skew this unscientific sample.  I think you're going to like the results. "

So I voted.  And then I was reading some comments and here is one of them: ""Homeschooling is a joke, and shouldn't even be legal. Children need to get socialized, and educated by proffessionals. NOT a mother who thinks 2 hours of singing the ABC's will have their child ready for the real world."
-- Anonymous "

    Well, I'm off to sing the ABC's with my 4 year old, then do flashcards with the baby, talk about animal classification with the 7 year old, and then discuss the allegorical meanings behind the Ted Dekker books that the 14 year old is reading.  Not sure I'm getting them for the real world...but then in the real world they won't all be sitting at desks with other people exactly their same age discussing sex and evolution.    I'm hoping that they'll be in a variety of professions, including being husbands and wives, and that they'll be able to talk about a variety of things with all different ages of people, instead of where they're going to get their next fix from!   :)

Here's another comment and I agree with her: "As a teacher and a parent of young children, I feel that any of the four can be best. It depends on the parents, the socioeconomics of the area surrounding the school, and the needs of the child. "

I want to say...to those who are reading this that do not homeschool...I am not against other forms of education.  I just truly believe that homeschooling is best!  But I do not think less of anyone that chooses a different form of education.  I have cousins who I think are GREAT public school teachers and would be happy for my children to have one of them.  But, alas, that does not happen.  But each one of us must choose what is best for our own families. 

It was the 2nd week of piano lessons!!!!  This is about all I hear from Samantha right now.  LOL  Great lessons today.  I love that she is learning both hands at the same time and without using the stupid numbers for the fingers.  She is learning the keys and learning it all correctly from the beginning. 

On Monday, Matthew and Samantha had their first tennis lessons.  That was fun.  They both did a great job!  In Matthew's class there is only 1 other boy so they had lots of one-on-one instruction.  Samantha is one of 5 so that isn't bad either.  Their teacher seems good.  Samantha was already hitting the ball across the net. 

Tennis is only for 3 weeks.  Not sure what we'll do after that.  While they are in tennis lessons Kayla goes in the weight room and walks/runs on the treadmill.  On Wednesday she is meeting with a trainer who will teach her about using the weight machines.  She's excited. 

And Alex goes in the nursery where he gets to run around and play with toys and eat as many Cheerios as he wants, while I sit calmly in the tennis center watching the other 2 and reading a book.  Gotta love the YMCA!  We have a great one!  Our pools and tennis courts are inside so we can use them all year round!

I've been doing flashcard words with Alex.  They're very large cards!  I'm following the "system" from How to Teach Your Baby to Read by Dr. Glenn Doman.  Very interesting stuff.  I liked How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence even better.  Anyway, yesterday I showed Alex "mommy" and "daddy" and asked him which one says "mommy."  He pointed to the correct one.  What a boy (maybe a fluke? But I'm his mom and I say no! LOL)!  For 3 days I did 5 different words and then yesterday I have added 5 more words.   I'll be adding words for a while and then eventually will start replacing and reviewing for a while before moving onto the next section.

I've also gone and gotten myself involved in something that I said I would never do.  Never say never!!!  We've joined an 8 week co-op.  It starts next week.  I've heard such wonderful things about it and it seems very organized and I figued it's only for 8 weeks and if we hate it, then 8 weeks isn't that long!  If we love it, then there's another 8 weeks in the spring.  I'll be working in the nursery and will get to stay with Alex.

We live about 50 miles from Washington D.C. and we have been taking advantage of the many opportunities for learning!    I've always dreaded going up though...traffic, lots of people,  the metro makes me sick, the time it takes, etc.

A couple weeks ago I tried something different and it worked.  Wonder of wonders.  So we drive up in the car pool lanes - takes about 45 minutes to get there.  Both times now we've found a parking spot right in front of the museum we were going to.  These spots are metered and there is a limit of 2 hours.  I decided that 2 hours was long enough for us anyway!  Kayla and I could stay longer but the littles could not handle anymore!  So, instead of paying $3.75 for parking plus $2.35 each for one way tickets on the metro, I now pay $2 for the metered parking and only drive 10 more miles into the city!  What a deal!

We get there shortly after the museum opens at 10am, enjoy our 2 hours, and then head home.  This time we went to the Museum of American History.  We've been there before and we still haven't seen everything!  This time we saw Bon Appetit! Julia Child's Kitchen, the Pentagon Flag, the First Ladies exhibit, the Hall of Musical Instruments, Popular Culture with TV Objects, Textiles and America on the Move. 

We do plan on hitting this museum one more time as we would like to see Science in American Life and then participate in the hands on science center that doesn't open until 12:30pm.  So next time we'll go in the afternoon. There's also an exhibit on The American presidency that we haven't seen.

We're going to go again in a couple weeks and we'll do the Postal Museum in the morning, eat lunch, and then head the US museum in the afternoon.

Did you know that all the Smithsonian Museums are free???  What a deal!!!  There is so much for us to do in D.C. and we plan on doing all that we can while we live on the East Coast!

Today's word came out of our Bible reading again.  It was discernment.  Another good word!

We had a great chat about how to be discerning.  :)

We started school off with a blast!  Read our Bible reading for today: Proverbs 6.  One of Kayla's first things that she does in the morning is pick a word, or I pick a word, from our reading, and then she defines it, looks up other verses using that word, basically does a study on it. 

Today was frowardness.  Good word!!!  It talked about being froward in your heart.  I've read the verse before that says a froward mouth.  I always thought it meant disagreeable....unhappy.  And it sort of does.  But it means perverse also. 

Other verses showed how a generation was froward.  They were taking God's Word and perverting it!!!   Oh, it was a great discussion on how perverting God's word can cause our hearts to change for the worse!   It was great!!!

Samantha didn't have a good morning.  She was unhappy, grumpy, disagreeable, froward.  :)   After a little discipline I asked her to not come out until she could have an attitude change.  She fell asleep.  For 2 hours!!

Matthew had a great time setting up the train set again and making it go all over the house. 

Then Kayla and I decided to sew.  We made 2 dresses to sell.  Pictures at the bottom.  :)

Piano lessons were today.  Those went great!  Samantha was so excited.  I think she practiced for an hour tonight.  :)

I got this comment yesterday:

Posted by Hannie

What is a Flat Stanley?? Glad you and Michelle are getting a chance to visit! Mom

First, I want to comment on what a "Hannie" is.  :)   When my oldest was born my mom decided that she didn't want to be Grandma Sandy.  My daughter was going to have 5 grandmas at the time and so my mom wanted to be unique!  :)  She decided that being a Granny at age 42 might be pretty good! 

Except Kayla couldn't ever say Granny....it came out "Hannie."  And Hannie has stuck.  All my children call her that now.  :)

So, what is a Flat Stanley?

Here is a website that explains more:  http://www.flatstanley.com/   Check out How Does It Work?

Sometime this school year we'll be doing our own Flat Stanley and sending him off to visit others.  :)   Maybe he'll even get to go visit the children's Hannie. 

Michelle and I again stayed up way too late!  I'm going to be exhausted by tomorrow!!  LOL

We talked about educating babies.  We've been reading Glenn Doman's books: How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence, How to Teach Your Baby to Read, and How to Teach Your Baby Math.  They are very enlightening!    So we were on the internet last night looking at products, reading more articles, and talking and talking about our plans for our children.

It has been so wonderful having Michelle here.  We've become very close in the last few years and we don't get to visit nearly enough.  We both hope that one day our families will get to live much closer together.  Even the same state would be good!  :)

It was great to talk about curriculum again.  I was telling her how I didn't have much of a plan when I started teaching my own children.  It took me a couple years to figure out the direction we were going.  This is our 5th year and I finally feel confident in our curriculum choices and in the direction we're heading.  I can't take this back...but I wish that I would have done what she is doing.  Danielle, my niece, is only 3, but Michelle is researching, reading, contemplating, and will have a much better idea of the future of Danielle's learning.

On Tuesday we met Kayla and Samantha's piano teacher for the first time.  She is a homeschool graduate in her early 20's and she has been teaching for 10 years.  There are 2 definite pluses to our new teacher: she lives close, and she is inexpensive!!  Her prices are very fair...she charges us a certain amount each month but when we continue through the whole year then next July and August are free.  What a deal!

The girls both like her.  Kayla played some pieces for her and then they talked about the kinds of things Kayla would like to learn.     Then Samantha got to chat with her for a bit and talk about what books she would be using.  Now we have a list and we have to hit the music store before their first "real" lessons next Tuesday.  Both girls are getting 1/2 hour private lessons so we'll be at her house for 1 hour each week.  My only concern is keeping my 2 little boys occupied for that hour! 

Thanks to MamaBugs we finally have a new name for our school.  We are Semper Fidelis Christian Academy ... or for short: Semper Fi Academy.   It's a good representation of us being a  Marine Corps family and also of God always being faithful to us.   And hopefully us always being faithful to God!!   :) 

So, the MarinesWife is gone from the top of the page and our new name is there.  I need to go change my profile too.  :)

This morning Kayla asked me if we were going anywhere today.

Everyone knew that today was going to be clean up the yard/mow/etc. day.  But alas, it rained last night and everything is soaked.   So I said we were putting that off.

So then Kayla asks about going somewhere.

I said, "um...yes, I think we will go somewhere.  How about the library?"

The 3 oldest start jumping up and down and yelling Yeah!!  I grin and look at Roy and he jumps up and down and yells Yeah too.  LOL  Then Alex starts clapping his hands.

I said, If I had known making you all happy was this easy we'd go to the library every day!!!

(By the way, we go once a week usually!!)

Gotta love 'em.  Samantha and Matthew are in the kitchen, aprons on, pans on the stove, ingredients out.  They're pretending to cook a 7-course dinner using everything they need, except actual food!  LOL   I love it when they get creative and have a great time.

Meanwhile, Alex is sitting on the kitchen floor watching them.  Then he gets in the cereal cupboard and some how manages to pull himself out a handful of Cheerios.

I never really thought much about car schooling until recently.  Because we officially started our new year yesterday I did not want to lose momentum on day #2!   So we took everything with us.

On the drive up we did math first.  Samantha read the assignment, got clarification from me, did the work, and then told me her answers.  She did 2 lessons this way!  Yeah!!  Then she did the next lesson in her reading book.  I had read over it before we left so I knew if she was doing it right - and she was!  She's becoming quite the reader now.

When we stopped so I could nurse the baby we did English.  Now we're going to read our science and history and we're done.  I'm so glad that we did what we did.  We have to take the dog up to the 45 mile away vet in the morning and we will be car schooling again!!  :)

Traffic was fine going into D.C.  Oh thank you, thank you for the commuter lanes!!!  The hardly moving traffic to the right of us for 20 miles did not look fun!

So....I missed my turn.  Didn't see the sign....we're driving along....suddenly I notice that the roads are indicating that I'm in Maryland.     And we all have to go to the bathroom desperately!  So, we stop at a McDonalds and find out where I'm at.  Of course, I crossed right over the road I needed and didn't even notice!  In my defense can I say that I was really enjoying the sites of D.C. in the morning?    Instead of taking the belt loop around the city we decided to go straight through.  Loved it!!!

So we head out again, find the right road, and turn into the hospital.  We get into the parking garage and drive around.....and around.....and around....  Thirty minutes later we're still looking for an open spot - along with 50 other cars!   We finally pull into an illegal spot that has most obviously been used before and we join the other 50 or so cars that are also parked illegally (you would think they could make those spots ACTUAL spots).  By now I'm on the verge of tears, we're 20 minutes late for our appointment AND I'm appalled with myself that I'm not parking in an actual spot.  I had visions of driving aimlessly around and around all morning long.

We find the office.  The nurse is super nice about our being 30 minutes late (very unusual for a military clinic!).  BUT, come to find out, our appt was booked with the wrong doctor, wrong specialty, and our doctor will not even be there in the clinic until Sept 1.  I get the information I need and off we go.  We say a thank you that we did not a ticket in the parking garage.  I barely pull out of my illegal spot when someone else grabs it.

We're driving back through downtown D.C. when the kids "beg" me to take them to the "airplane museum."  So we put some coins in a meter and hit the Air and Space Museum for 90 minutes!!  Yeah!!!!   What fun.  Made our drive up there so worth it!  :)

Thankfully the drive home was quick and there was NO traffic!!! 

Today is our first day of school.  I will be going and getting the children up soon.  We're going to be pretty low key today.  Mostly looking through our new books, examining the schedule, talking about field trips we're going to take.  We'll do a few lessons but only in the 3 R's.  After a couple weeks I'll add in more things.  I'm excited to get going this year.  There's no new baby, no moving across country, no husband's deployed, no morning sickness....wow!  We might get a lot accomplished this year!  :)

One new item I added for myself was Homeschool Tracker.  It's free!  I have put in enough assignments to last for a month.  Then I'll go in and assign the days each week and print out the list for each child.  They're going to each have their own notebook to keep this and other items in.  What's nice is that if for some reason we miss math on one day, for example, I can just push the dates forward and the assignment will show up for the following week.  I look forward to using it more and making it work for us!

We don't do all of our school work based on "years" - we mostly just keep going through subjects.  But, if you want to be technical, :)  Matthew is in kindergarten, Samantha in second, and Kayla is starting 9th grade!!

Matthew doesn't turn 5 until February but we're calling him kindergarten early because he's doing so much with Samantha (especially science and history) and he's already learning to read and is doing K math....so I told him he's in kindergarten.  He loves that!

See Cindy's post:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/EmptyNestMom/17575/

Matthew is 4 1/2 and we're doing a mix of preschool and kindergarten items.  A few things he just listens in with sister. 

Bible - Bob Jones

Math - Saxon K

Writing - A Reason for Handwriting

Reading/Phonics - Explode the Code

History and Science will be done with Samantha

Matthew is also working on the preschool workbooks from Rod & Staff and we have posters and other material from Bob Jones that we do in between.

We also have a GeoSafari!!!   It is a wonderful tool for homeschooling families.  I bought mine through Ebay at a large discount and have been adding to our card packs for it.  The kids always have something to do and learn about.

Samantha is starting 2nd grade.  Wow!

Math - We'll be using Saxon 2 to start with...I think she'll whiz through most of it and then we'll move on to Saxon 3.  We used a different program last year and so we're starting with 2 to make sure there are no gaps.

Reading - Bible Nurture and Reader from Rod & Staff

Writing - A Reason for Handwriting

Science - Based on The Well Trained Mind - we're finishing up learning about The Body and then we'll be doing some Astronomy using books from the library

History - Finishing Mystery of History, Book 1, and then we're reading Our Community from Rod & Staff

Bible - Bob Jones

Spelling - Rod & Staff 2

English - Rod & Staff 2

We're going to be purchasing Signs for His Glory from Timberdoodle - hopefully - to start learning sign language.

I'm going to post a series of entries talking about our curriculum choices for this year.  Kayla is 14 and entering the 9th grade.  My husband and I prayed, and talked, and prayed some more.  Finally the decision was made to enroll her in a correspondence school.  My husband really felt that it would be better for all involved that she be accountable to someone else besides me.   So then we had to research schools, costs, what curriculum they use, etc. 

We finally decided on James Madison High School. 

From my point of view there are several benefits.  We pay monthly for approximately 18 months and at that time all 4 years are paid.  The instructors are available by phone every day so Kayla can call them if she is struggling with something. I only have to provide stamps so she can mail her tests into them.

From Kayla's point of view there are more benefits!  She can finish high school as quickly as she would like...or she can take up to one full year to complete each grade.  I've told her it's really up to her as to how fast she wants to do this!  Also, until we've paid for the full 4 years, she only gets one course at a time.  She's excited to do that for a while, just concentrating on one class full time.  Once we have paid for the full 4 years they will send all the textbooks for all the years! 

Because this is a secular school we are having  Kayla do a "Bible course" also.  We finally decided yesterday on what we're going to do.  First she and I are going to go through a book together.  It's called Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade.  It's a devotional book based on the Shorter Catechism.  Then she's going to do a curriculum that has to do with missions.

We're also using the book Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home but we're not doing each year like it is in the book.  We're mostly focusing on cooking all year long and will be using Sue Gregg's cookbooks as our main text.  I'm very excited about this as Kayla will be providing lunch every single day!  And she's excited because she loves to cook.

And lastly, for PE....we're still undecided on an actual plan.  We are members of our local YMCA and we will be going there 2 or 3 days a week to walk and work out with weights.  Then we're either going to take tennis lessons or more swim lessons.  We think we're going to do tennis lessons for one semestar and then switch back to swimming.  The 3 older children and myself will all take the tennis lessons.  It'll be another fun activity that we can do as a family and get some exercise at the same time!

We're expecting Kayla's first course to arrive any day now.  She's so excited to get started and I hope that excitement turns into motivation!!

I was reading Cindy Downes blog today and she recommended the Safari Search product found here: http://www.bluewavelearning.com/  It looks great and I will be buying this.  My 6 and 4 year olds love animals and this product is perfect for them to learn more.