As of today I am down 101 pounds and have gone from 267 to 166. The picture on the right is me at 242 and the left was taken Tuesday, when I was 167 LOL. I don't have one of me at 267 because I wasn't allowing anyone near me with a camera. My goal is 140 and I can not believe I am almost there! ( ignore my funny face in the pic on the left, my son caught me off guard)

My 17 yo took the ACT on Saturday morning and then we picked him up and went to a Civil War re-enactment. It was very nice and the boys especially liked the cannons.  We will be studying the Civil War soon so this was perfect timing! As we were leaving the troops came by where we were standing and they had fun trying to recruit my teen boys LOL.

Monday was a normal day and everyone did a lesson in math, lesson english, older kids each did a lesson in science and history. We read about indians in history with the younger ones and they did a narration. Then we watched a science lesson on the ocean with BJU and they did the worksheet. Andrew and Seth have continued to do copy work and dictation and I feel it's going very well. My 8 yo had speech for 30 minutes and then we spent some time reading aloud in the afternoon. Alsiha is still outlining her science book, but she is starting to not like it as much . I do want her to outline, but I agree that it's a bit much work wise to outline the entire book, so I might drop it to once a week outlining for practice. I dictated 20 spelling words to Seth and Andrew and they were able to spell all 20 with only 1 error by Seth. Nathan sounded out 10 words and spelled them onto his magnetic board. Nathan read one page in his CLP reader and copied one sentence of his choice from the page. Alisha, Seth and Andrew are in lesson VII in Latina Christiana and today they went over vocab and made vocab cards for thiis week's words. I have Alisha, Seth and Andrew rewriting the Town Mouse and today they did the first section. Danny and Mike are working on purasive essay's for speech class and today I had them start writing. They worked on their thesis statements and first paragraphs. They each did a lesson in SOS Spanish and Mike did his Henle lesson.

Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday, except my 17 yo had school at the CC. The littles didn't watch a science DVD this day though. We are almost finished our Lewis and Clark read aloud ( we are behind *blush*) and will start Narnia this week. I have Nathan doing oral narrations instead of writen for now and it seems to be working good for him. Nathan read one page in his CLP reader. He copied one sentence of his choice from the page. Danny and Mike wrote their second paragraph for their papers. They each did a lesson in SOS Spanish and Mike did his Henle lesson. Andrew and Seth copied their 20 spelling words into their bound books and Nathan sounded his 10 out with me and then copied them into his bound book. Alisha, Seth and Andrew did section 1 of their latin worksheet and we went over their vocab words. They also worked on the second section in rewriting their Town Mouse.

Wednesday everyone did a lesson of math and english. Seth, Andrew and Nathan watched a lesson in science and we read out of Hakim's History of US book for history. Nathan sounded out 10 new words and spelled them with his magnetic board. He did 2 pages in ETC book 1 and we restarted R&S English 2 but we are doing it orally. He did 2 pages in HWT and we read one page in his CLP reader. He copied one sentence of his choice from the page. Alisha, Seth and Andrew worked on the next section of their latin worksheet and we reviewed the vocab cards. They worked on the next section of rewriting Town Mouse and I hope to have it completed by Friday. Danny and Mike finished their rough drafts and I corrected them. They each did a lesson in SOS Spanish and Mike did his Henle lesson. I had bought OPGTR off the WTM boards so I spent some time reading over this while 8 yo had speech. I decided to buy the cards to go with it and I am going to start teaching Hannah to read when they come in. I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, then did a few errands, so we missed our read aloud time. By the time I got home we ate a quick dinner and left for church.

Thursday we all did a lesson in math and english and then Danny and Mike typed their papers. They each did a lesson in SOS Spanish and Mike did his Henle lesson. Nathan copied his spelling words into his spelling book and we read a page in his CLP reader and he copied his sentence. ALisha, Seth and Andrew finished their latin worksheet and worked some on their Town Mouse papers. We made dinner for a friend and worked on this before co-op so we could bring it with us. We left for co-op at 11 and did some errands on the way. My 17 yo called me and he didn't have math class today ( at the CC) so I picked him up and he came to co-op with us.The kids had alot of fun again and I was reminded again how Blessed I am to have these classes! Danny and Mike gave their speeches and did very well!  We went food shopping and to SAMS club after and got home very late. By the time we unloaded and dinner was done it was 7:30!

Today Nathan is doing math, reading from his CLP reader and copy work and we are going to review this week's spelling words. Andrew did math and english already and is playing on the computer as I type LOL. Alisha and Seth did logic and english already.  Mike and Danny will do science and history later and Alisha will do science. Alisha, Seth and Andrew are going to type their Town Mouse papers and read them for dad, who will be home at 1 today.  Danny and Mike need to do SOS spanish and Mike needs to do his Henle.

This weekend Answers in Genesis is doing a FREE show at a local church here, which is also the church where our co-op classes are held. Today my teen boys are helping unload the dinosaur bones, which they think is cool. Our family is going to the show on Sunday night.

We had a busy week, but it was a really fun week!

This week was very busy. Monday and Wednesday my 8 yo had speech, which he goes for an half hour each day. He is struggling with the TH sounds still, but is slowly making progress.

On Wednesday me and my 17 yo went and he got his driver's license! He is so happy to finally have it and I have more grey hair LOL.

The younger kids and I are reading about Lewis and Clark in history. Below is my 8 yo's narration ( Can't tell he is a boy can you? LOL):

Seth, Andrew and Nathan did a leson in BJU science on dinosaur bones and will finish the lesson today. I am hoping to bury some chicken bones so they can dig them up.

We didn't do a lesson in Latina Christiana this week, but spend time each day reviewing vocab cards. We will start lesson 6 on Monday.

I listened to SWB's " Writing Without Fear" CD this week and I started dictation with Alisha, Seth and Andrew. We have been doing copywork, but not the dictation part. I chose a selection from the Lewis and Clark book for them to dictate and it went better than I expected. Nathan copies a sentence each day from his CLP Phonics Reader.

I also started Seth and Alisha outlining. I had Seth outline a selection from SOTW 3 and Alisha is outlining her Apologia Geneal Science reading. It is a slow process, but they are doing really well with it.

We are finishing up our read aloud  The Slave Dancer  this week and the kids asked me to read aloud The Magician's Newphew instead of Swallaws and Amazons. I will save Swallows and Amazons for when we finish the Narnia series.

Yesterday was CO-OP which everyone loves! The older ones reviewed their speeches from last week and thier assignment for next class is to write and present a pursuasive essay. They have till Monday to pick a topic and I will work with them this week on the format. This is something I have been wanting to do with them for a while.

Alisha, Mike and Seth are doing logic today, while Andrew and Nathan do math. Danny and Mike have to finish their week's history and Alisha is doing a science experiment. Then we will review latin, dig up some bones and call it a week!

This has been posted on a few bloggs and message boards and I thought it worth repeating. I don't know who the author is, but this just really touched me.

I’m invisible…….

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, “Can’t you see I’m on the phone?”

Obviously not. No one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I’m invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, “What time is it?” I’m a satellite guide to answer, “What number is the Disney Channel?” I’m a car to order, “Pick me up right around 5:30, please.”

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude -but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She’s going … she’s going … she’s gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress;it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, “I brought you this.”

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription: “To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.”

In the days ahead I would read — no, devour — the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals– we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, “Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.”

And the workman replied, “Because God sees.”

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, “I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.”

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, “My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand-bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.” That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home.

And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, “You’re gonna love it there.”

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Today is the day of my daughter's first musical;  Suessical. They are doing 2 shows today, one tomorrow and one on Sunday. She is very excited, but nervous of course. She has had practice a few times a week for a couple of weeks now and I will be happy to not be driving all over the place  I will post pictures on Monday.

My 16 and 14 yo are working the lights for the show, which they are really enjoying! They also helped set up the stage.

Seth and Alisha learned outlining this week. I had Seth outline a chapter from SOTW and Alisha outlined an article on The Supreme Court. They each ended up with 2 pages and I was proud of them for their hard  work. I plan to have them write a summary from their outlines on Monday.

We are almost finished reading The Slave Dancer as our read aloud . The kids are enjoying the book, especially the boys. Our next read aloud is going to be Swallows and the Amazons.

Two oldest boys have worked hard at their SOS Spanish and both have brought their grades up. Danny ( 11th) is finishing module 3 of Apologia Chemistry and Mike(9th) is finishing module 4 of Apologia Biology.

I am restartng Apologia General Science with Alisha on Monday. She has ben working through the book herself and I feel she isn't retaining the information well. I am going to work one on one with her and teach her better study sills.

We plan a library trip tomorrow for books for next week. Seth just finished " Cheaper by the Dozen" , Andrew finished " Ben and Me" and Alisha is reading one of the American Girls books she got for her birthday.

Mike is almost finished " The Scarlet Letter" which is part of his Notgrass Exploring America program. I really like this program and will most likely continue with the World History for him next year. Danny and Ricky ( 12th) are using the Notgrass Goverment this year and I like that alot, too.

Dany is using Lightning Literature this year and this week read the short story "The Outcast of Poker Flat".  He enjoys this program and does it independently. He is an avid reader and reads about a book a day in addition to this. I can't keep up with him LOL.

All in all it was a good week. I have sick kids today so we are going to take it easy.

We had a pretty good week and I felt like we got alot done . Alisha, Seth and Andrew finished week 5 of Latina Christiana and did the review lesson. They seem to really like this class and love showing off the latin words they know.

We studied Napoleon this week in history and the kids each wrote a summary. I have been struggling with my 6th grader over summeries so I was pleased when he wrote a small paragraph! He is still not where I'd like him to be on this, but it's a step in the right direction.

We are covering classification in science and they each did a drawling of the classafication process, which I thought came out really nice.

I finally got the highschoolers work caught up on correcting. I struggle with doing this daily and I am working on being more accountable. Thankfully we weren't that far behind on doing it and their grades were good. Whew!

We had CO-OP classes yesterday. I had to teach Public Speaking to 9-12th graders( I am usually the helper but the lead teacher was absent). The kids had to read a speech given by a famous person. My 11th grader chose Naploeon, which was funny consdiering I have been reading it to the littler ones.

Nathan made a foam Noah's Ark in art class. It came out really cute! ( I'd scan it but my scanner is on the blink grrr). Andrew learned how to make tacos in cooking class.

All the kids really enjoy CO-OPand it's great to have other HSers to fellowship with!

This is an amazing video showing God's love for us.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

Alisha, Seth and Andrew are doing week 5 of Classical Writing and this week they rewrote the "Gingerbread Boy". Here is a picture of them working on their papers:

This is Andrew's( 4th grade)  paper ( he typed it himself!). I need to edit it some, I noticed some typoes and grammar mistakes, but I think he did a good job!

The  "littles" have continued with looking at things under the microscope. Here they are looking at different papers and a green scrubby:

Here is a picture of our school room and the kids working independently:

Tuesday was the day Halo 3 was released. My 17 yo and dad waited in line and were able to get one of the first copies at our Wal-Mart. Here is my 17 doing "school" aka playing Halo LOL.

My 16 yo has been taking a writing class with Eileen at www.home2teach.com . Here he is on Tuesday finishing his last paper:

We had a visiter show up on Wednesday and the youngest 2 were thrilled:

My 16 yo woking queitly on his schoolwork:

All in all we had a good week, but I am glad it's Friday!

Monday my 8 yo had his first day of speech therapy at the local PS. It went well and he really likes his teacher. I am considering doing his speech at home though and have some materials ordered. Once I look them over I can decide.

The boys ages 11, 9 and 8 are enjoying Noeo Biology this year. This week we looked at various things under the microscope such as a fly, dust, a scab and my 11 yo’s blood (from under the scab ugh lol). The kids had a blast! My 11 yo, after seeing his blood under the microscope, declared he “loves science!”  Ah, those moments make it all worth it.

This week we read about George Washington and the White house in history. The kids each did a narration and colored a picture of the white house. My 13 yo read a biography of George Washing and wrote a summary.

We had co-op classes on Thursday. My 16 and 14 yo are in a speech class and had to give a demonstration speech. My 16 yo chose to give a demonstration how to prepare and give a speech. It was funny and really well done. My 14 yo demonstrated how to prepare a PB and banana sandwich. He did very well and got to enjoy the fruits of his labor

The younger kids love going to co-op and have made some good friends already. Nathan (8 yo) made some cute puppets and Andrew (9yo) cooked Mac N Cheese in cooking class.

Friday we took a mental health day and spent some time preparing for our company. Our friends from MO came to visit with their 8 children. We had a really nice visit!

Friday was also my last day of work at the animal hospital. I am really looking forward to having more time now and to life being a bit less hectic.

The 3 "littles" have been studying microscopes and cells using Noeo Biology II. So we made cookie cells today.

Alisha making the cookies:

The boys creating their cells:

Still working....

Showing off their finished work....

William decided to "help" his sister bake bread today.   Ignore his outfit, he decided this is what he wanted to wear today LOL.

Back Row: Danny 16,  Melissa 18, Dad, Mike 14

Middle row: Ricky Jr 17,  me,  Alisha 13 holding William 2 1/2

Front: Seth 11,  Nathan 8,  Andrew 9 and Hannah 4 right in front.

We had a GREAT first week of school!  We started with just a few subjects and will add in history and science this week. So far the kids favorite is Latin using Latina Christiana. They ask to do more each day than what I have planned.

We also went to our first co-op classes with our home school group. The kids has a blast! They made some friends already, too! It was such a blessing for me to see them have fun and meet people. They have been wanting to meet friends for a long time.

I ordered a new digital camera yesterday and it should be in on Wednesday. I can't wait to get it and start taking pictures again! We had a family picture taken at church today and I will post it as soon as I can.

I found this link off a another blog and thought it was worth reposting. Interesting!

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/08/14/russian_governor_sponsors_conception_day/

 Russian governor sponsors Conception Day

By Liza Kuznetsova, Associated Press Writer  |  August 14, 2007

Things have been crazy here!  In July I  started working 25 hours a week at a large Animal Hospital nearby. I am revamping their inventory and getting their inventory software system in place. They are very flexible with my hours which is a huge blessing. Right now I work 12 or 1 till  5 or 6 PM. Once we start school I will work 2-7 or 2 till whenever. They pretty much have allowed me to choose what time and day I want to work.I can work more than 25 or less if I need too. This job has been a blessing although it's a bit much getting used to being out an about during the day. The kids are managine well with me gone and my teens have been a HUGE blessing in making this all work. I couldn't do it with out their help!

Melissa and Ricky both start their classes August 20th. They are excited to be starting and a little nervous, too. I am happy for them but still can't believe I have college age kids. I can't be THAT old

We will start with some classes on the 20th and ease intot hings slowly. I need to see how things are going to work with our new schedule and with me working. I still have some books to buy too, but we should be in full swing by Labor Day. The kids are looking forward to starting, but I am not so sure I am ready. This summer has just been insane so far.

Our house in Maine has been under contract and should be finalized next week. We had two closing dates already which fell through, so I am hoping this is IT. I will really miss our house though. I enjoyed our land and the privacy we had, but we feel this is where the Lord wants us for now. 

We have found a neat little church just minutes from our house. We all have learned alot since joining and I feel I have really grown closer to the Lord. It's so wonderful to have a church again after being churchless for the whole time we were in Maine. Well, we home churched, but I didn't realize just how much I missed fellowship with other Christians until we found this church!

Well thats it for new news for now. I hope to update more as we start school and post more of our day to day life with school.

Zookeeperof10 has tagged me. I have to post the rules:

1. All right, here are the rules.

2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

4. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight
things and post these rules.

5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged
and list their names.

Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re
tagged, and to read your blog

So here it goes.....my 8 facts:

1)I love chocolate

2)I got married at 18 to my highschool sweetie Rick

3) I love to yard sale

4) I love to buy books

5) I am terrorfied of bees of any kind

6) I dye my hair

7) My favorite actor is Mel Gibson

8) I am working on becoming healtier by losing weight.

So I have pick my 8 taggees:

twinacres, teena6 , tiredmom , hrlabonte , dawilli , ElCloud , JoyB , QuiverfullMom

I have been working on our schedule for next year and so far this is what I have. The # by the kid's names are their grade level. Hannah is our 4 year old who wants to " do school" with her siblings.

I have Nathan doing R&S English at the same time the older ones are doing CW and I am not sure if this is going to work or not. I will have to see how it goes and maybe move him to another time slot.

The time for each class is an estimate and I am sure it wont run exactly as scheduled, but I like a time frame to keep up on track somewhat.

Also, we have co-op classes the first and 3rd Thursdays from 12:45 PM till 4 PM. So, those days we will have to shorten school and finish up the following day.

My oldest is offcially graduated from high school! We had a small graduation ceremony and party for her on Sunday at our church. Here is a picture of her dad reading some words he wrote for her:

And her getting her diploma:

and her cake:

It was a really nice ceremony! We made her a slide show of her life with the song " Raging Storm" by Michael W. Smith playing in the background. It was beautiful and not a dry eye in the place! I saw it 8-9 times while making it and I still cried.

On the way home my DD said that it was better than any public high school graduation could have been and she was thankful to have been home schooled.

There has been a lot of discussion recently on the WTM highschool message board regarding Apologia Science and whether it's rigorous enough. I found this blog entery http://www.jeanniesjournal.com/ by Jeannie Fulbright very encouraging!

I'd love to hear your thoughts.