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Well, this bloggy break turned into a summer vacation!  Life has been more than full lately.  The economic toll has hit our family and I've been taking in more transcription leaving even less time for fun stuff like blogging!  Yech!

I am, however grateful that while times are thin, they are hardly tough as I'm blessed with an extremely talented flexible hubby!  He lost his job a couple of months ago (I think the company is tanking in slow motion!), but has kept quite busy with odds and ends.  For instance, this week he is doing sheet rock and mechanics and while he enjoys the variety, he would really like to get back into the computer game. 

The kids have been keeping busy as well.  Rebecca is on a new Robotics team and she is really enjoying that.  She has been quite ill this last week, however, and hasn't done much of anyything.  I took her to the doc on Monday and he did a rapid strep and some test on her ears to check for fluid and then basically said she has some sort of "throat virus" and to take it easy and return Friday if there was no improvement.  The child has mostly slept this past week missing all activities and not caring one whit.  She has improved the slightest, itsy bit each day, but Friday she tried to do school with us and made it through scriptures and some spanish stem changing verb review.  After that she took a two hour nap.  She's more chipper today and wanted me to get her up on time tomorrow.  YAY!

Elizabeth is in the advanced guitar class and is feeling a little overwhelmed now.  She has asked for private lessons on top of the group lesson she is taking through our homeschool band.  I told her to find out how much her teacher charges and where he does the lessons and then we would see.  I would really like to see this happen, but it will depend on the cost and how committed the dear child is to REALLY practicing. 

Josh STILL does not have his driver's license.  A year ago I was pretty okay with that because I wasn't totally comfortable with him  driving without me.  Now, as he approaches his eighteenth birthday, I'm wishing he had it or at least was motivated to get it because he is very nearly an adult and driving is something adults need to do!  Also, it would really help me out if he could drive himself to work sometimes. 

This is a picture taken many moons ago on a trip to Stone Mountain, Georgia.  I think.

Rebecca was fascinated with the huge, gigantic binocular thingies and this was Daddy's way of saying, "It's time to go!"

I love curriculum fairs not only because of the huge array of vendors (which is nice of course and also potentially very expensive) but because the workshops often re-inspire me in my homeschooling ventures.  This was a really good year! 

I attended a workshop on timelines, which we have tried to do in the past but then tend to peter out about two months into the project, but this time I think since the kids are older now it will be kind of like an art project across the curriculum kind of thing I want to chronicle the next three years scrapbook like including history, science, literature and to some extent art and music.

The really exciting part of the expo, for me anyway (the kids weren't particularly enamored), was getting to attend a number of Susan Wise Bauer's workshops.  She is the author of The Well Trained Mind and if you haven't read it and are interested in classical education or even just giving your kids a good, solid education, you need to read it.  So hie thee to a library immediately and check it out!  Also, if ever you have an opportunity to hear her speak, do take advantage.  She is an English professor at the College of William and Mary and you will NOT be bored.  She is concise, witty, and she has been there both as a homeschooler herself and as a homeschooling mom (with four kids including a 17 year old no less!). 

http://susanwisebauer.com/blog/

The first of Bauer's workshops that I attended was kind of an overview of classical education--how I wish I had heard this ten years ago!  All of the information is in the book, but having someone stand in front of you and speak with conviction about the methods and how and why they work is much more convincing then the written word. 

The second and third workshops that I attended were about homeschooling in the logic and rhetoric years.  Rebecca is my only logic age child, but she really is more of a rhetoric and I'll be treating her as such this year to a large extent.  I did want to hear about the how to's for this age however and once again, I wish I could have listened to this when Josh was hitting the fifth grade.  The rhetoric lecture left me highly inspired for our coming years, however, and I also feel better that I let my older dear children kind of begin to specialize.  I was feeling kind of guilty that we hadn't hit all subjects as hard as we could/should, but now I realize that this is a good thing if they develop a specialty. 

The last two workshops covered teaching writing and how to read a book.  The writing talk left me feeling that I really hadn't done enough in this area, but that it wasn't all bad and I can catch them up.  The reading a book lecture was AWESOME and now I really want to go to Susan's seminar this fall!

Today the girls and I attended our yearly curriculum fair.  We go the Southeastern Homeschool Expo which gets larger each year.  This year's keynote speaker of interest to me was Susan Wise Bauer.  I read The Well Trained Mind when Josh was in the fourth grade and I have to say it was the book that has had the most profound effect on how we homeschool.  It's been wonderful to hear her speak--and it doesn't hurt that she speaks very well: amusing and informative giving lots of info in a small amount of time.  Tomorrow I"m going back and I can't wait to hear her thoughts on writing and how to read a book!

The girls were supposed to be helping me choose stuff for the coming school year.  Well, they keep the convention hall at absolute arctic temperatures and Rebecca was not a happy camper.  She wanted to go home after lunch, but there were too many workshops that I didn't want to miss.  She made out like a little bandit however because she picked a T-shirt and she bought a couple of books written by a homeschooled 17 year old!

Here is the address for this gracious young lady:

http://www.epicscrolls.com/

Rebecca bought a t-shirt and a copy of the first Mighty Stallion for her friend's birthday next week and the author signed the book, so Rebecca is really excited about giving this particular book.  She also bought a copy of the book for herself as well as a copy of Iron Heart.  I will review these after I get a chance to read them.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get her opinions about the things I wanted to look at.  Had I done the looking first thing when we arrived there wouldn't have been a problem, but because there were back to back workshops I didn't want to miss, it was 3:00 in the afternoon before we really started "shopping" and after freezing for five hours, my baby was cranky.  She did take a look at the most important things: Omnibus I, Tapestry of Grace, and a couple of personal finance workbooks, but she flat out said she couldn't make a good decision.  We have a disc with a three week sample of Tapestry of Grace and so we will look at websites and the sample over the coming week and make a decision.  Or else I'll just pick one tomorrow and we'll do it for the next twelve months!

We went hiking along the Chattahoochee River a couple of weeks ago and came upon a huge patch of blackberry bushes just loaded with berries.  I happened to have a gallon sized ziplock bag and so we spent a few minutes grabbing a bunch.  Here is the result:

I used my Cuisinart Bread Machine to make this jam and it was soooo easy: just wash the berries throw them in with a couple of cups of sugar and a packet of pectin and some lemon juice.  An hour and a half later the machine beeps at me and I poured the jam into a hot jar and voila!  Now I just need to eat it in four weeks.  I don't think that will be a problem.

Oh, the cucumbers are actually from my garden--I think they wanted to sneak into this picture.

Well, it's exciting for me.  If you don't have teens who are doing chemistry this year, this might just be one big yawn, but hey, as I said, it's exciting to me.  I've started a new blog right here at homeschoolblogger!  Check it out if you're inclined...

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/chemblogblob/

Summertime is such a laid back time.  Our schedule is really nonexistant and I don't get as much done (like blogging!) but I'm not as stressed out either, so for a short season I guess I won't sweat it. 

The guys have been back from their Philmont trip for a couple of weeks now and poor Dan's leg was still bothering him and so he made another appointment with the orthopedist.  She opted to have him do an MRI and the afternoon after he had it done someone called him at work and said he needed to be on crutches IMMEDIATELY!  What?!   He ignored the "suggestion" and went to his follow up appointment the next morning.  Well, apparently the man did an 83 mile hike (including climbing a 12,000 foot mountain!) on a BROKEN LEG! 

Yes, evidently the x-ray he had done a few days before he left on this trip that didn't show any problems is not that unusual.  The stress fracture showed up loud and clear (so to speak) on the MRI, however.  Luckily it's starting to heal.  Apparently all of the drugs that he was given to make the hike possible (when it was believed that he had runner's knee!) slowed the whole healing process.  Anyway, he's not supposed to do anything strenuous for six weeks.  Like carry a 45 pound backpack 83 miles in ten days!!!!

Of course before we knew about this wonderful problem I did drag the poor man on yet another hike about a week after he had returned.  We found a lovely park that I must return to soon (In about five weeks maybe!) because it was totally awesome.  It's not very big, but extremely well kept and interesting!

Now as I look at this picture I feel a little bit guilty because I spent a good bit of the hike wondering if my poor hubby was beginning to feel his age because he NEVER complains about pain and he mentioned discomfort several times on our hike!  Poor guy!  Really, just the fact that he wanted to wear a brace SHOULD have tipped me off! 

This was a VERY laid back weekend.  I did a bit of transcription and a bit of gardening, a bit more research on curriculum and very little cooking.  Elizabeth did attend a youth dance and had a very good time, but other than that we really didn't leave the house.  All in all it felt like summer! 

We got some much needed rain last night in the form of several thundershowers.  Unfortunately with Josh gone, I wound up with Harry the Coward Dog in my room and the stupid mutt kept trying to climb into bed with me.  I even started dreaming about the dog trying to get up on the bed and finally, exhausted from what felt like hours of fighting with the dumb, drooly beast I dragged him down to the basement and shut him into Josh's room.  I woke up late and quite cranky this morning making me late for church.  At least there my soul was soothed and I came home in a much better mood--and Harry got fed today after all!