I'm asking because no one in my family can find it.  I'm afraid that its been thrown away.  It wouldn't be a big deal except it contained all of my notes for American History right now.

I had spent a decent amount of time going through every Liberty's Kids episode, our Dover Coloring Book, Samantha's workbook, and our A Beka text book on American History and cross-referenced the topics.  I used Liberty's Kids as my chronology because it was the most complete and I tied everything to that.  None of that had been entered into Homeschool Tracker yet.  I even had print outs of the events that I wanted to include on our timeline. 

I'm feeling very lost studying History this week without it.   As a matter of fact, I don't really feel like we've studied anything about history as a result.  We have actually watched 3 Liberty's Kids episodes and colored 2 pictures in our Dover Coloring book, but we havne't added any timeline entries and we haven't read our textbook.  The kids are reading their Sonlight readers for the time as well as about 15 other books that I picked up, but I'm still feeling very out of sorts without this part of my plan.

Tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse.  On the east coast of the United States, the moon will rise at sunset and be at full eclipse.  Over the next couple of hours, the eclipse will move off.

We rearranged our science lesson this week so that the kids would have read about the moon and eclipses before this weekend.

I only hope we can see it.  The clouds have been moving in all day and we will all be very disappointed if we cannot see the moon for the clouds.

Michael fights me many times when he has to "write a story".  I have a writing assignment on his schedule 3 days a week.  Either he can come up with something to write about or I'll find something to start the creative juices flowing.

Well, they got flowing this week and they haven't stopped.  Michael has written 5 stories.  Each one of them is at least one full page, and usually two full pages.  And, each one has an accompanying picture drawn depicting something from the story - and each drawing is lovingly stapled to the front of the story as a "cover"

This is definitely something I want to foster - but gosh, I had to tell him at 8pm last night to stop writing stories because it was time to go to bed. 

That's what happens when you get in a groove.

I'm in a weird groove.  I spent 2 1/2 weeks doing assignments on post-it notes, and then finally last week, I pulled the kids assignment sheets together again.

We didn't do any lessons on Monday because I was really feeling awful (a change of season migraine).  I hate it when we miss a day because the teacher is sick - but I just wasn't in a position to sit down with the kids and get them started on anything.

Last night, I pulled together the assignments for this week and I planned out the rest of the American Revolution unit that we are studying.  I find it interesting that the A Beka 4th grade text dedicates only 10 lessons - 2 weeks - to the American Revolution.  When we are done, it will be about 10 weeks of studies.  We are coloring pages in our Dover coloring books, Samantha is working worksheets in an American Revolution workbook, and we are completing a timeline of key events and military battles of the American Revolution.  Since our A Beka text has so little on the American Revolution, I have completed my lesson planning using "Liberty's Kids" as the basis.  I have made an "assumption" that Liberty's Kids is generally following a chronological path.  I have them cross-referenced our coloring pages and workbook pages to the Liberty's Kids episodes.  I have plotted the remaining 6 lessons of A Beka into the timeline and now my American Revolution planning is done.  The kids will be thrilled by the prospect of a Liberty's Kids episode every day.

Science is going better - I am doing a better, but not a great job, of doing our weekly lesson.  As much as I like Astronomy myself (and I felt the same about Weather), I just have trouble making myself do those lessons. I don't know if its because its takes pre-work on my part, or that it takes more of my dedicated time, or that I'm just having trouble getting into the habit since its only once or twice a week.  I vote for all of them.

Samantha is starting to get better with her "careless" errors in Math.  Today's lesson aside, she has reduced her careless errors significantly and she only missed 2 problems on her most recent test (whereas her previous tests were missing 6 or 7, most due to careless errors).  And, we got her test scores back from her SCAT testing and she tested in the upper 60% percentile for verbal and 84% percentile for math - in comparison to 6th graders.  Not bad.

Mike it out of town this week.  The good news is that I'm getting a good night's sleep (which I don't always get when he's home).  The bad news is that there is no one to "take over"  at the end of the day when I have had enough.  But, its only until Friday!

For the past week and a half, I haven't printed out an assignment sheet.  I need to and a want to, but I need to do a little bit of work in Homeschool Tracker to do that. 

For History right now, we are bringing in resources from a lot of places to study the American Revolution.  We have read 3 sections in our A Beka History book, we have completed 4 worksheets in an American Revolution workbook that I bought, we have colored 4 pages in our Dover Coloring Books for the American Revolution, and we have watched SEVEN episodes of Liberty's Kids.  The sad thing is that I think this shows how little emphasis that A Beka places on the American Revolution - all of the topics we did in the workbook, the coloring book, and in the episodes of Liberty's Kids happen DURING or AFTER the topics we have already read in A Beka and BEFORE the next topic.  I am glad that I have found a way to get a more complete story of American History for them, but I am currently doing my planning day-by-day trying to keep the topics coordinated across the multiple sources - since I didn't sit down and synchronize them in advance.

So, we have been "winging it" on assignment sheets the past couple of weeks.  For Michael, its easy.  Two worksheets of math (two lessons), 1 lesson of Grammar, new spelling list each Monday, and History and Science with Samantha.  Samantha is a bit tougher but I have been scribbling assignments onto "shopping list" type papers off the refrigerator and doing a day here and there - I guess I should collect those scraps and "back load" my Homeschool Tracker - because I still do have a child that will go through American History at some point (Emma!)

Anyway, despite that - we are in a decent groove right now.  The days go smoother when Samantha argues less.  I can usually tell quickly what kind of day its going to be by how many times she leaves the office when doing her math assignment (which is ALWAYS FIRST).  If she keeps leaving the office, she's not focused and its gonna be a tough day!

We are sitting on the couch in the family room right now, watching an episode of Liberty's Kids.  I have been excited to add these into our American History studies - and now that we have started the American Revolution, we're starting the episodes.

Liberty's Kids was produced by DIC and originally aired on PBS.  Recently the episodes aired on the local CW network and we recorded them onto DVDs.

Anyway, many famous actors and public figures lent their voices to the characters in this animated series.  The main character is Benjamin Franklin, and he is voiced by Walter Cronkite.  I have trouble hearing him speak without thinking that I'm getting ready to hear "And that's the way it is...."

We are approaching the half-way mark of our first year of homeschooling.  I wish we were already there, but a few too many "Monday's off" in the fall, a week in Williamsburg, a week of sickness before Christmas and a week at Disney changed that.

Anyway, I'm looking at some things and making some changes as I see what has been working and what hasn't.  And, in some cases I wish I had done it sooner, or started it sooner.

We have been going through lesson after lesson in the BJU 1 grammar book with Michael.  Michael KNOWS how to read - and well, so outside of a few topics here and there, its all a review for him.  I wish I had realized this about 6 weeks ago and pushed ahead through the review pages.  Well, I have now decided to do that.  In about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks, we will have covered all of the "English" topics in his 1st grade LA book and a few phonics topics that I think he needs to cover.  I'll administer all of the tests to him to make sure, but I'm sure he's not going to have a problem.  I am then going to move into a new curriculum - a little bit of a different direction.  I am leaning towards First Language Lessons right now - which is more English and lesson Phonics (since they have a separate reading curriculum).  I'm also going to go back and put some more emphasis in the steps to writing that the BJU curriculum emphasizes.  I haven't been putting the "Structure" into our approach for writing to date and I think he needs some.

Michael is also getting ready to complete Horizons 1.  I could have moved him through even faster but I thought that 2-3 worksheets a day was enough - regardless.  He'll be moving into Horizons 2 and I'll start out back at one lesson a day until we see how he makes the transition.

Samantha is still moving ahead strongly but I just don't think I'm doing a very good job of reviewing her writing assignments and giving feedback.  Her BJU 4 book has a chapter on writing every other chapter.  So, I don't really think she is further developing her writing skills above and beyond what they were.  I have purchased and I'm waiting for "Writing Strands" to arrive.  It was recommended by the authors of "The Well Trained Mind" (WTM), which is a philosophy I like a lot.  It was also recommended higher than IEW by the WTM folks; IEW being a curriculum used by a lot of Sonlight forum posters. 

I have been doing Dictation with Samantha as well as having her write journal entries (and giving her prompts if necessary).  Its still not where I want.  So, the other thing I'm adding in is "Narrations".  This is another technique recommended by the WTM and the Charlotte Mason method of teaching.  I think this technique is going to be valuable to help develop writing skills AND also to help with History, where I do a lot of Reading Aloud and I worry that the kids aren't retaining the knowledge well since we don't have many written assignments.  I'm going to add Narration extensively into History and then see if there are other ways that I can add it into our curriculum.  We did our first one today for both Samantha and Michael - Michael's dictated to me and Samantha's done on her own - I will share them tomorrow.

I'm also going to add the "Mini Reports" suggested by Sonlight Core 3 back into Samantha's assignments.  I think, again, it will give her another reason to write and help to reinforce the topics we are discussing.  We are moving into an important period of American History - The French and Indian War and the American Revolution.  There are many important people that lived at that time, and many events that shaped our history that are important for the kids to remember.

So, in a LONG nutshell, those are some of the mid-year course corrections I'm making to enhance our homeschool experience.  I still feel like they are learning more than they would have in public school - but I want to make sure they are learning the right things, and retaining that knowledge.

I want to know how I can feel so far behind and know there are many areas in which I am ahead - all at the same time.

We took the first week of Jan off to go to Disney World.

Last week we did a week's worth of lessons but it would tough to get back into the swing.

I was sick yesterday so we did nothing.

When I built the lesson plans for this week, I updated attendance and I saw that we would be finishing our semester right about the same time the public school is - which is fine except I started well over 2 weeks ahead of the public school system.  So, I feel really behind because of that.

I also feel behind because when I get overwhelmed, the topics that suffer are the ones that are "parent intensive" and that the kids do together - History, Science, and Health.  We did 1 History lesson last week but didn't do the other 2.  We didn't do our ONE Science or our ONE Health Lesson.  So, I am trying to double those up this week, which is made more difficult by being sick yesterday and doing NOTHING.

The kids aren't exactly behind - Michael is about 30 days away from finishing Horizons 1 and moving into Horizons 2.  I am jumping into a 2nd grade Grammar curriculum with him because he just doesn't need the phonics that consume our current LA curriculum.

Samantha is a bit behind in math - I decided a while back that we were going to stretch out her curriculum to give her a chance to really learn it (because it is pretty advanced for her).  But, we keep getting slowed down by a couple of areas that, despite our going OVER and OVER, she just doesn't get.  Not even a little.  I threw out this week's lesson in favor of a separate e-book to try and help her with place values - because she doesn't get them.  Not even a little.  Not even after all of the extra work we have done.   That pushes us out to the point that she is "barely" 1/4 of the way through the curriculum at 1/2 of the year (we didn't start half-timing the lessons until Lesson 25, so she still should have been further along).

So, I'm trying to figure out how I can feel so far behind but have areas that are so far ahead.  I think this is a struggle I just have to figure out within myself.

And, I think that Samantha will continue math on a daily basis throughout the summer.  I'm not real worried that she isn't finishing the curriculum in 1 year (because its long and tough and designed for a 7th grader), but I am worried about her forgetting what she has done.  I'm sure she'll be thrilled about her daily math lessons continuing over the summer.

But, then again, maybe we'll become year-round homeschoolers with a reduced summer schedule since we like to take vacations during the year while there aren't a ton of people on vacation!

So, there are my initial ramblings of the new year.

It doesn't take much to make me cry at a movie on TV.  People falling in love, people in great pain - they all elicit a tear from me.

I was "rewatching" Love Comes Softly" this weekend on Hallmark as part of a marathon of all 4 movies.  There is a scene in the movie that is very touching, poignant, and meaningful to me.  I have thought about it a lot over the past few days and thought I'd share.  The woman in the scene (Marty) is saying to her husband (Clark) "How can the God that you pray to ALLOW these things to happen?"  "Did you pray for your wife to die?"  "Did you pray for the barn to burn down?"

Clark takes her to where he prays and he equates God's love to the love of a parent, specifically a father, for his child.  What he says is wonderful and made me cry:

"I can hold my child's hand to keep her from harm, but no matter what I do, there are times she is going to get hurt.  Does that mean that I allowed it to happen?  No.  Will I comfort her when it does?  Of course".  Then he says "God's love is the same way.  God doesn't ALLOW things to happen any more than I allow my child to get hurt.  His promise isn't to PREVENT the bad things from happening, but to promise to be there to comfort us when they do"

This has been an "eye-opening" line for me.  There are so many times when I see friends (in person or online) in great pain due to the loss of loved ones (often children), the breakup of a marriage, the sickness of a family member and I have to wonder why there is so much suffering in the world.  If so many people are praying for these sufferings to stop, why don't they?  But I've come to understand that God didn't promise us a life free from suffering; He did promise to comfort us, and often carry us through, during these difficult times.

We are wrapping up our Weather unit in science right now. The kids have been learning about all different aspects of weather. Along the way, we have built some "home made" weather equipment to see how they work, and we have been creating little booklets and other "craft" items about weather. Yesterday, each of the kids put all of their craft items together into a "lapbook", which is simply a file folder made into a fold out book that kids can build to learn about a subject and display their results. The lapbook we created for Weather is one that I designed myself based on what we were learning in our weather curriculum. It was fun to make and even more fun to see the kids eyes light up as they realized what they had created.

Then today, we took a special field trip. We went to the NBC station in Washington, DC and met the morning weather man, Tom Kierein. We watch him a lot in the morning as we determine what kind of weather we'll be having during the day. Mr. Kierein showed the kids all of his screens and equipment and how he did his weather broadcasts. We watched him do 3 separate broadcasts while we were there. It was a really neat tour. We also got to see other parts of the NBC studio, including the temporary news studio they were using while renovations were occuring in their main studio - we also got to see the main morning news anchors in action. We saw the control room where the producers and directors worked and controlled the cameras. We also got to see the studio where national programs, such as "Meet the Press" and "The Chris Matthews Show" are filmed. It was really neat to see. The kids had a great time and Mr. Kierien was really great with them the entire time!! This was a great way to end our unit - but I'm just not sure I'll be able to live up to it when we finish our Astronomy and Oceans units.

I'm excited about a field trip we are taking next week.

We have been studying weather in Science.  It took me a while to get into a groove but we're going good right now and almost done with our lessons and about 1/2 way done with our lapbook.  I hope to have the lapbook done by next Wednesday.

Why, you ask?  Because we are going to the NBC station in DC to visit with the morning weather man and see the weather studio.  I am quite excited.  I had wanted to also visit the NOAA weather station near our house, but the only do visits for 6th grade and above.  But, going to the TV station is something the kids will appreciate more at their age and I think its gonna be pretty cool to see in person how they do some of the maps and screens, etc.

Can't wait!

So, science has been a slow subject for us right now.  Just having trouble getting into it with all the other topics we have been covering right now.

We are studying Weather in science right now - Using My World Science.

And, to add to my struggles with doing science at all, during the lesson on air pressure there are instructions to make a barometer.  The instructions talked about using a jar and a inverted bottle and colored water in the bottom of the jar.  I had a jar and bottle that I thought fit ok and ready to go.  But you need a rainy day.

So, once it finally rained a couple of weeks ago, we set out to make our barometer.  Had it done, sitting on the counter waiting for the weather to change to see if it worked.  Until the next morning when I knocked it over and spilled Green water all over the counter and floor.

And it took almost 2 and a 1/2 weeks to have a good rainy day to make another one.

That day was yesterday.  I used a different jar that I thought fit the bottle better, we put the water in the bottom and I drew lines on the side to watch the water level change.  I marked one with an "S" for Start because I didn't know what was going to happen.

Imagine our delight this morning when Michael looked at the barometer on the counter and exclaimed "The Barometer Worked".  The blue liquid had snaked its way UP INTO the bottle, a clear sign that the pressure had risen above the 99% humidity and low pressure we had yesterday.

The kids and I were so excited that I just wanted to share with others.  I had taken photos to go along with all the photos of our other homemade weather equipment that we have made as part of this lesson.

Maybe I can learn to like science a little myself!

There are always pros and cons to every situation.  I try not to judge those while emotional, which is what I have been the past few days.

But, today, I looked at my littlest one - Emma - and I immediately saw a downside to our homeschooling this year.

Emma needs to nap just after lunch - she has all but cut out her morning nap, which means by 12:15 she's toast.  But, in my attempt to keep the kids involved in various activities with other kids, Emma's naps have suffered.  At least 2 days, and often 3 or 4 days, Samantha and Michael's activities cut into Emma's nap time.

Right now, she is sitting somewhat catatonic watching Oswald on Noggin.  I'd rather that she be in the bed napping.  But, Samantha is at Drama Club and will be until 1:15 and so I need to keep Emma awake until them so I can go get Samantha.  If I put Emma down for a "cat nap" now, she won't sleep the rest of the afternoon and she'll be miserable for the rest of the day.

So, we sit here while Emma watches Noggin hoping she makes it until about 1:30 when I can put her down for a nap.  But there are certainly days I wish I could put her down when she's tired and know that she'll get a good nap.

Well, today was a better day.  It didn't START off better.  Because of a medication that Emma is taking, we often get her from naps or in the morning and find a messy bed.  That was this morning.  So, for the 3rd time this week, we had to strip the bed and wash all of it (blankets, stuffed animals and all).

But, I got all the kids fed and Emma shuffled off to the babysitter's house for 2 hours.  She was a perfect angel at the sitter's house and we got a TON done.

We talked about our weather unit.  We did our worksheets and caught up with yesterday's assignment that we didn't complete.  We also worked on some other parts of our weather lapbook that is due to be completed by Dec 13 - and this is important because we are talking a field trip to a local TV station to visit their weather center on the 14th!!

The kids finished all of their subjects and had even listened to their read aloud on CD long before lunch.

Samantha still had too many math problems to redo due to careless errors, but she did it with much less grumbling than yesterday, which in and of itself is a victory.

So, I am much calmer, the kids are much calmer and Michael and Emma are napping right now, so I *hope* that this afternoon/evening will even be more pleasant than yesterday.

Thanks to those of you that left kind thoughts in the comments section.  It is nice to hear when others have a rough day.  AND, one of those comments led me to another blog with a couple of FUN Christmas Unit Studies, so I decided what I'm going to do for Christmas this year!!

I feel like right now that our homeschooling is really hitting rock bottom.  Its a struggle right now. 

I have a table full of books and papers that result in my not being able to find what I need WHEN I need it.

I have a daughter that took 90 minutes to do parts of our science lapbook today because she had to do BOTH parts again.  Why, do you ask?  Because she didn't follow my directions because she thought better and it was wrong?

The same daughter then proceeded to scream at me and then put her fingers in her ears because I told her to write her math problem and ACTUALLY use the same numbers that are in the book (novel idea, huh).  My frustration level with her and math is very high right now because she could actually miss 50% of  the problems on her daily assignment and NONE of them are because she doesn't understand the concept.  She copies problems wrong; she messes up basic addition/subtraction facts, and many other "careless" errors.  As soon as I ask her the SAME question that is in the book, she goes "oh".  It is getting very old!!

And, Michael is napping with 2 subjects left to complete today (at 2:45pm).  His insistence on yelling and screaming instead of simply talking to us is getting way out of hand.  And, this is NOT a sensory issue - it is a stubbon 6-year-old boy issue.  Even my FIL this weekend asked him flat out "Why are you yelling right now?  There is NOTHING that you should be yelling about!"

And then I have the toddler who leaves the family room floor FULL of toys and papers and crayons and catalogs, etc.  She takes everything of mine and proceeds to mess it - and she knows that because she immediately says "Sorry" when I see her.  I have called to have her at a sitters for a couple of hours tomorrow in an attempt to reduce the chaos a little.

Because the chaos is overwhelming.  It is coming from all directions.  And when I make a comment to my husband about being home all day with all three kids, his response is "well, that was your choice".  ARGH!

OK, feel better now!

On a homeschool message board that I read, many people ask for advice on how to answer the plethora of questions about homeschooling, such as "How do you know if your kids are learning?"  "What about socialization?" "Are you sure you can do that?" and any number of other questions.  The advice is typically along the lines of "its our decision" (but nicer, of course)

Since my kids were in public school last year, we still see a lot of the parents of the kids we knew in school.  Many have asked over the past few months as to what classes my kids are in, or how they were enjoying school this year.  When we tell them we are homeschooling, I have gotten a variety of responses.  Some of them include:

"Good for you!"

"That's Great"

"Wow - I couldn't do that"

"I wish I could do that"

I have a hard time thinking of someone - friend or family - who has questioned our decision.  I think that my in-laws weren't quite sure about the decision, but I leave that to my husband to deal with and leave it alone.

So, I think I'm pretty fortunate that I have a mother that is ALL FOR my homeschooling (and wishes the parents of her other grandchildren were doing the same) and friends and acquaintances that seem accepting of our decision.

That is how I would describe Samantha's behavior of late.  Well, not of late - she's been doing it for a while but its hitting a crescendo right now.  Some examples, to elaborate my frustration:

- I tell her to do something and she just chooses not to do it

- She is hiding pieces of her meals so she doesn't have to eat them (under the pedastals of the table, which is where I found them yesterday)

- She does specifically what I ask her not to do

- She thinks she knows better for what should be done about Emma and it results in Emma being upset

Just today at the library, I parked Emma's stroller next to Samantha at a table while I was looking for some books.  I handed Emma a baby book and told Samantha to do her work and do nothing else for Emma "except pick up her book if she drops it".  Well, Samantha did that for a minute, and then proceeded to give her a pencil and paper to color on.  Then Emma ripped that and got upset.  Then Emma tried to write in the library book (Because of course she had a pencil) and got mad when I had to take it away.  Samantha thought she knew better.

Also, I had told Samantha that she was going to redo all of the problems she missed on her math test (8 out of 20 - ugh).  She was to take that to the library with us.  She handed me her math paper and said "Here, I'm done".  There were 3 problems on it.  I said "Where are the other problems?" and her response was "I thought you said to do these three".  Huh?

She has an unbelievable ability to hear what she thinks we are going to say to her instead of what we ACTUALLY say.  I think maybe she is formulating in her mind what she thinks we are going to say and fails to hear what we did say.

Anyway, this had lead to great frustration and anger on our part, and arguments on her part.  She argues her point just like her father - even louder when she's wrong than when she's right.  When I tell her something, her response is anything and everything EXCEPT "Yes Ma'am". 

I am running out of patience and ways to get this through her head.  I tried to explain to her today the impact on ME and EMMA to the fact that she gave Emma paper and pencil when I didn't want her to have them (I had to take Emma completely out of the library because she was fussing so loud that I had to take the pencil away - which is exactly what I KNEW would happen).

I've asked her what used to happen when she misbehaved at school (answer: punishment) I asked her if she misbehaved at school before or not (answer: no, of course not), so then my question of "so why do you misbehave at home during school" (answer: I don't know)

I have told Samantha that when her behavior or defiance affects MY time (meaning I have to stop what I'm doing to argue with her or punish her or redo something because of her behavior, etc) then I will be taking it out of HER time (meaning TV and playing with friends).  I am just so completely running out of idea on how to get this child to keep her nose out of her brother's and sister's lives, do what is asked of her, and not try to deceive us.  I'm really close to taking all week-day TV away from both of them and giving them tickets for 2 hours on the weekends, but I'm hesitant to do that just yet.  I don't want them to see homeschooling as such a negative (meaning they spend more time with me and have more time to get punished) that they don't want to keep doing it.

I continue to stress to Samantha how much easier and nicer things will be when she realizes that its easier to listen than to get punished for NOT listening.

So, I feel a little bit better now that I have just gotten all this out.  I am going to look again for a Daily Devotion book on Obedience.  I had seen and read one at a friend's house but can't seem to find that one to add to our library.

(Could be subtitled: The beauty of flexibility with homeschooling)

I purchased a 4th grade Grammar curriculum from Bob Jones University for Samantha for our first year of homeschooling.  Its a structured workbook approach that alternates between a grammar chapter and a writing chapter.  I liked that because Samantha needs some help with her creative writing.

Well, little did I know that Samantha needs some help with basic grammar.

I'm not sure they had actually taught her the basic parts of speech of the English Language in her 4 years in public school.  She seems to know nouns and verbs, but was having trouble with last week's lessons regarding predicate adjectives and predicate nouns - that is, knowing the difference between the two.

So, I am abandoning the lessons from the workbook this week.  I found a series of web sites that have pages and lessons on the basic parts of speech.  They have quizes and worksheets.  I even found a couple that have some grammer games.  So, Samantha is spending this week on various internet sites reviewing (or learning) the basic parts of speech and hopefully coming out stronger for it.

I have tried to go back to the elementary school web site and review the VA SOLs for 1st - 3rd grade for language arts to see what she might have missed.  No where in there does it talk about basic grammar.  It talks about "Reading" and it talks about "Writing", but it talks more about the "creative" aspects of writing than the mechanics of it.  So, I'm not even sure she had been introduced to parts of speech.

Its no wonder she is having trouble - week after week - identifying the simple subject and simple predicate in a sentence. 

After we spend a week going over the basic parts of speech, I think I'll take a look at the scope and sequence of the 2nd and 3rd grade grammar curriculums from BJU to see if there are any major "topics" in those that I think she's missing (I have the 1st grade one for Michael so I can review that easily).  We may not get back to her grammar book for weeks - but at least I'll know when we get there that she'll understand what we are talking about.

Boy, I'm frustrated with the school system and disappointed for Samantha because I really feel like these skills are important and she is frustrated because I can tell she is just going through the motions and really doesn't "get" it.

Well, probably many people could have told me - but I guess I didn't realize the challenge until recently.

The hardest part of homeschooling isn't scheduling kids with different subjects.

The hardest part of homeschooling isn't helping the kids with topics I don't understand.

The hardest part of homeschooling isn't getting motivated to cover topics I dislike (although this is a tough one).

The hardest part of homeschooling isn't motivating the kids when they aren't interested.

The hardest part of homeschooling isn't managing all the papers (although this one is up there too!)

It's dealing with Emma while doing school!

She is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I have had to gate her into the family room just to sit down and do flashcards with Michael or read a Bible Story.  Any paper or anything on the coffee table then becomes fair game for her.  She has colored on lots of my papers and books.  She has pulled magazines out of the shelves.  She has pulled wipes out of the box.  She has taken a pad of coloring paper I gave her and ripped it apart, sheet by sheet, and thrown those papers on the floor.

She has covered the floor with toys and books - even 10 minutes after I have picked them all up.

She is going to be the death of me - I swear.

The other 2 kids were NEVER into these types of things at this age (She's 20 months).  Its already clear she's going to be our daredevil - she is fearless and will do just about anything (except, of course - climb up and down the stairs)

I think I've just given up on the family room.  I can't find the floor right now despite picking up the toys and papers twice today.  I had to put her in the bed this morning when she was screaching at the top of her lungs while we were trying to put together some projects for our History Pockets.  It was really intended to be a "time out" (and a reward for the rest of us) and she quickly went to sleep.  This of course messed up her schedule and here it is 4pm and she is in the bed - but NOT ASLEEP!!

Give me strength!

My son Michael is left handed.  We have already observed many areas of his life that are more difficult for him in this "right handed" world, such as turning a door handle (which is designed to turn clockwise and is difficult to do with your left hand) and cutting (well, need I say more).  Do you realize how hard it is to write when you hand is constantly over what you have just written, smearing it and hiding it from view.  And when you are trying to copy something that your hand is covering up, its quite difficult.  The challenges for lefties in this world are great.

Today, during our history lesson, I have finally realized why children's handedness would have been changed in the past.  We were doing a hands-on exercise about penmanship in colonial times.  It was to show the children what was expected of the children back then as far as beauty of their letter formation, and how difficult it was to write with a quill pen dipped in ink.  My daughter Samantha immediately became frustrated but eventually learned how to manage the tip of the quill to get a few letters out ok.

And then there's Michael.  In addition to being a lefty, he has very weak hands, so writing is difficult.  And, add to that fact that he couldn't actually place his hand on the paper to write because he would smear the letter he had just written in ink.  So, there is no way using ink and a quill pen that a lefty could write without having to stop and wait for the ink to dry after EACH and EVERY letter - not at all feasible.

So, that is "my conclusion" as to why many lefties would have been changed in the past.