March 29, 2006 - Saving Pennies
We have the coolest thing to save for field trips. My oldest daughter wanted to help Jenni and I with homeschool and she prayed and came up with the idea to buy us a bank. She found this very cute teddy bear teacher penny bank and gave it to Jenni and I for Christmas. We were thrilled, what a loving gift.
We have been filling it with all our coins, so far we have saved almost enough to go to Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It is amazing to see how much money you can save by just putting away a few pennies a day. It has been fun too, we have been challenging each other to see who can put in more change. My oldest daughter & my husband have also been pitching in a few coins to help us reach our goal.
It will be a great field trip and a fun one too. Especially considering all the hard work and saving that went into getting us there. It will be more special.
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March 16, 2006 - March Madness
Boy, what a busy month this has been. I bought a new math book on ebay, for Jenni. Saxon Algebra 1/2, she was having a tough time with the Algebra One so I switched to this. I love ebay, it's such a great sorce for everthing. I also found the lab books for her Biology book. So we are ready to start those two. I am still teaching her American history. I noticed that most places recommend American history for 10th grade, and she "9th" but, I felt that she was ready, besides that she wanted to learn. We started with the native Americans, and now we are up to the Revolutionary War.
A lot of my madness this month is my volunteer things. I am a Red Cross disaster volunteer, and I also am a board member for my Homeowner's Association. My HOA has been insane this month, and sadly Jenni's schooling has suffered. She is starting to get mad at me, and I don't blame her. I will have to cut back a little, I don't want her education to suffer because of my over commitment. One good thing though, when I volunteer at the Red Cross office once a week, she comes with me. She helps them out with a lot of things, and they ask her for advise when they have to do things at the schools with kids about her age. It really helps her feel good about herself, which she needs. I keep track of her hours, and I will add to her school report. Volunteer hours will look great on her transcript!
Well better go this has been a long blog...part of that March Madness!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!
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March 1, 2006 - I Baaaaack!! YEAH!!
Well, after having my entire computer completely rebuilt, new motherboard, new and more memory, new video card, etc. etc. Basically I have a new computer, with a fraction of the cost. Thank you Lord! And now I can finally continue blogging!!! I have missed it so much, and you know trying to homeschool without a computer is very difficult.
Our trip to San Antonio, Texas was amazing. My oldest daughter helped pay (thank God as we could not have afforded it) because the only reason we were going, was to attend her husband's Air Force graduation. We were real proud of him, he is now stationed in California and is attending his training school. She will be joining him (with my grandson) in July and they will be there for about a year, before they move on to the next place. I swear the military is like a bunch of gypsies. Move, move, move. LOL! I have already begun to miss him, and I will hate being so far from my daughter and my grandson.
When we were in San Antonio, we of course went and spent a day at The Alamo. Wow, what an expierence that was. If you ever get a chance, go to The Alamo. It is incredible!! You'll be moved and changed by the place. I know it changed my daughter's perspective.
My youngest Jenni, said that she could actually imagine what it must have felt like to be those men and women at the Alamo. She said to her sister, "We are walking the same place were all those people did in 1836." She got it! She not only learned history, but she "felt" it! That is exactly what I have been trying to get her to learn. There is no teacher anywhere who could have taught her that, that comes only from being there. The Alamo helped her learn so much that day, that now she says she wants to go to more historic places. YEAH!! She use to hate history, for years in the public schools her history grades were always D's and barely C's. I could never help her "get" what is so cool about history. And now ever since I pulled her out of school last year, she is starting to enjoy history!!
Now all I need to do is figure out how to make science more interesting to her. Anyone have any ideas? The A Beka Biology book helps, but she is still pretty bored with science, like she use to be with history. But, I have faith because if God can help me change her mind about history, I know I can about science too.
Well, that is all I have for now. Thank you everyone for hanging in there with me while I waited for my computer to be fixed.
Have a great day! 
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January 30, 2006 - LOST WITHOUT COMPUTER!
Hi everyone!
I'm sorry it has been ages since I have blogged on here. My computer had crashed completly right after Christmas and is being rebuilt! I only get to check rarely, on a friend's laptop. I also get to check when I go into my volunteer job, answering phones at the Red Cross. They have a computer there and they are kind enough to let me check my email there. Since I have access to the laptop tonight I thought I would let everyone know what has been going on.
Thanks Col for checking up on me, you are so sweet to care about me. Everything is going fine.
I just lost the only store in my entire area that sells Homeschool supplies. I have no idea how I am ever going to get the stuff I need for homeschooling. Georgia has NO homeschool supply stores anywhere near me. Getting worried as soon will be done with some of her stuff. We are going to San Antonio, Texas to my son-in-law's Air Force Basic Graduation. Jenni will be learning a lot about the Alamo. Not to mention the stuff she will see being on an Air Force base and all the things she will learn. She never would have been able to attend if she was in a public school, that is just one of 100's of reasons why I love homeschooling!
Well that's all I can tell now. Gee I miss being able to blog and read everyone's Blogs. Computer should be repaired soon. At least I am praying it will be soon.
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December 8, 2005 -
I have to answer 7 questions and then tag 7 more friends. Here goes...
1. Seven things to do before I die (Not in any specific order)
1. Have a home in the blue ridge mountains.
2. Travel out west.
3. Continue my work with the Red Cross.
4. Have and play a hammer dulcimer.
5. Visit Wales, Scotland, Norway and England, home of my grandparents.
6. Meet President G. W. Bush, and First Lady Laura Bush.
7. Watch my daughter's grow into beautiful young women, wives and mothers.
2. Seven things I cannot do
1. play piano
2. have patience with the rude drivers out there
3. arm farts (my daughter teases me because she can and I can't)
4. run a race
5. deal with people barfing. Blood no problem, but barf and I'm gone!! LOL
6. watch my daughters make the same mistakes I did.
7. can't kiss Russell Crow either!! hehehehehe!
3. Seven things that attract me to my husband
1. His sense of humor and his silly practical jokes
2
. He's so easy to talk to.3. That he is a incredibly dedicated worker at work...home another story!
4. He is sexy.
5. He is a devoted husband
6. He's a wonerful father, maybe the best on the planet!
7. He loves me very much
4. Seven things I say most often
1. "Shut up you stupid dogs!!" We have 3 that MUST anounce everyone that comes in the house, or to the door!
2. "Glory sakes"
3. "Bite me" ok so it's not nice, but it's better than other things I could say to those rude drivers.
4. "Wait a second"
5. "For Pete's sake" (wonder who Pete is really?)
6. "NO!"
7. "Why me!?" Been saying that for 40 odd years! LOL
5. Seven books (or series) I love
1. Left Behind Series by Jerry Jenkins & Tim LaHaye
3. Chronicles Of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
4. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5. The Faith of George W. Bush
6. Little House On The Prairie Series by Laura Ingles-Wilder
7. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
6. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time)
1. Sabrina (new one with Harrison Ford)
2. Gaslight
3. Independance Day
4. China Cry (really well made christian movie with Russell Wong)
5. Anna and the King
6. The Wedding Planner
7. Gone WIth The Wind
Please give your answers to your 7 questions in a reply!, or I can tag you too, but I don't have 7 friends on here yet I can tag.
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December 8, 2005 - I HATE ~ LOVE COMPUTERS!!!
YIKES Sometimes, I really hate computers! This thing had crashed on me again! Except this time I could not get it to work till just this week, and it still is acting just terrible! I think after the holidays I will get a Dell, I hear that they are really good computers. If I didn't love computers so much I'd kick the habit and throw this thing out the window!! Besides, I missed my blogging! 
Well, let me catch everyone up on what is going on. My daughter did a fantastic job with Thanksgiving. She prepared most of it herself and even set the table and made the deserts as well. We were all very proud of her. Now she wants to bake Christmas cookies. I could never be so proud. My husband, Richard, was amazed that she did such an excellent job. Only one item didn't taste very good, but she cooked it right, we just didn't like the recipe. I told her that is part of cooking and trying new recipes. Just place a mark of YUK, next to the recipe and now you know not to fix it again. 
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and she was so proud of herself! As she should be!
Now things are getting a little crazy with Christmas coming and all. I need to ask all you old pro's for advice. How do you deal with all the constant distractions and still get your home schooling done? My oldest daughter, son-in-law and grandson are all living with us, talking about a distraction! Any advice would be well needed!!!
Will catch y'all later!!!!
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November 16, 2005 - Fun Times Ahead!
After all the whinning I have done, I'm waiting for God to strike me dead with a bolt of lightning! Hehehehehe!! Good thing He is patient!
This week I am having Jennifer plan the menu for Thanksgiving. Some great experience for her. She is excited about it as well. When she is done with the menu, then we will both go to the grocery store and buy the items (and other grocery items too). I will have her use her calculator and learn what the total of the food purchased will be and then I thought it would be great to have her figure out how much it will cost per person to feed everyone. Then we will prepare all the food together. I am also going to show her how to make apple pie from scratch. She loves to cook and bake so I figure, what a great way to get her math in as well. But we both decided that the other family members should clean up!! Ha ha ha!!
Last Friday Jenni, my hubby Richard and I went to a botanical garden center, that was a lot of fun. We were studying mosses and fungi in her Biology book and they had plenty of that there too. We collected some acorns and she wants to see if she can get one of them to grow. We are using the A Beka book; "Biology, God's Living Creation". We are in the Botany part right now and next we move on to Human Anatomy. I highly recommend this book, it is FANTASTIC!
I look forward to trying new ideas, and books. Anyone got any ideas about A Beka Math for my daughter, I had one person tell me it is hard and another tell me it is no harder than Saxon math, so now not sure what to think.
Until next time, blesses to all!
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November 10, 2005 - Chug, chug, chugging along!
Things are getting a little better at home, all of your replies have been the biggest help! Thank you so much!!!!
Col323 you asked if there are any support groups around me. Not that I can find, I live about 50 miles Northeast of Atlanta in nowhere Georgia and everything I have done to find a support group in my county has hit dead ends! It is very frustrating, especially since my teen daughter is getting soooooo board and lonely!!!!
We are signing her up for some horseback riding lessons, that should help as most of the students are homeschoolers!
So I was pleased to hear that. My Jenni loves horses, so this should be a good avenue for her to meet someone her age and to meet other home schooled kids, since she knows none.
We are now trying to add back in to our schedule more lessons. We had to remove so many subjects that we now need to add some. I just read in the latest TOS that CAPSTONE ACADEMICS has a good math program, but WOW what a price tag...not sure if hubby and I can afford that. But if it is good it might be worth it as she is way behind on her Algebra. Has anyone used Capstone? Have you heard anything about it other than the interview in TOS?
We are also trying to find a new church so that we can get her involved in the youth group in a church. We also want one because my hubby and I miss the fellowship of other Christians ourselves. Not to mention feeding and guidance from a Pastor is so important in our lives. So we are on a hunt!
Well, that is all for this week. Thanks again to all the wise and helpful and encouraging words! I've haven't seen such kindness as this, in many years. It is so uplifting that it has encouraged me to keep chug, chug, chugging along!
Until next time!
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November 3, 2005 - Another Day Another Book
Well, Praise God each day I seem to plug on through. My daughter is doing a lot better with her learning. She took 2 tests and got a C on both! These are the first tests that she has passed since I started her homeschooling in the fall! 
We are so happy and proud of her. It took a lot of work to help her pass! Now the bad news is we have had to drop a lot of her books and courses. The Bob Jones Writing & Grammer was too hard for her to do, even though it was her grade level. So for language arts I just have her reading different books. The Saxon Algebra I was too hard so I have to buy the Algebra book now (Thank God for Ebay!).
Is this normal? Am I a terrible homeschooling Mom? Am I doing everything wrong? Oh geez I am a nervous thing arn't I? I know eventually if I had time, I would work things all out, but she is in10th grade so time to work things out is short. She is also looking forward to going to college so I have that to prepare for as well. 
Whew, a lot on my plate. But I have faith that all this will work out....sort of! 
Ha Ha Ha Ha!
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October 27, 2005 - Even More Frustrated Than Ever
I am really having a tough time staying on task lately. Every night I go to bed with every intention of homeschooling her and everyday I get up and I can't seem to get the subjects done. 
I keep asking myself "Have I done the right thing? Have I ruined her education by pulling her out of school? What the heck do I teach her if the things I bought at the beginning are not working and she fails all the tests I give her?"
Yeah I know, where is my faith! I just am hitting a rough spot and this will pass, but I really have hit a huge rough spot!! How do I do all this without a support group? I live in nowhere Georgia with a very weak support system for homeschoolers, and I have so many questions. 
On top of everything else my Jenni is lonely for friends!
My my what a whinney day I am having! So sorry to bore everyone, but I welcome your feedback!
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October 22, 2005 - After everything I learned, I ended back at the beginning!!!
Well I have finally figured out blog a little at least now I understand what it is and what it is for. Now if home schooling were this easy I would have it made! 
It seems that my teenage daughter is determined to make things as difficult as possible. Nothing worse than a bullheaded teenager!!! 
On top of that I am really not sure what the heck I am doing. I tried at first doing this classroom structered thing, I should have done what the books said and not tried that one. 
What a mess that was. But now it seems she is not learning anything, at least it feels that way. I just don't know what I am going to do. So I guess I am back to "Ok Lord now what?" 
