Well, it seems as if God has plans of making our family larger yet again. I am currently about 5 weeks pregnant! Needless to say, because of the miscarriages between the boys, we have not told the children yet (a little early for that anyway). We will hold off as long as possible between here and the beginning of the 2nd trimester, but Young M is fairly observant, so who knows.
I am struggling with nausea which is currently worse in the evenings. That is something new for me. I am used to all day/night nausea. Even stranger is the fact that it gets worse AFTER eating (no matter the time of day) and I wake up to a seriously growling stomach.
I know Young M has been praying for a baby sister. I told her several months ago if she wanted one, she needed to pray about it and while she was asking for a baby sister, I requested that she also request a healthy baby, a normal, uneventful pregnancy (no preeclampsia, thank you!) and a normal, uneventful delivery. I have heard rumors, though that she would like twins. REALLY hoping she did not pray for that, but who knows, lol! We will take whatever God sends our way. I am asking my blog readers to pray for the same - healthy baby, safe & normal pregnancy and a safe & normal delivery.
So that is the news of the day for the moment. I am due around Oct 8th (probably the 10th or 11th on the doctor's 28 day wheel, but I only have 25 day cycles or at most 26).
I love that using Ambleside reminds me to teach my children a (sometimes) new hymn each month or perhaps a revisit to one they are familiar with already from church (we have a hymn of the month there as well). I am always blessed by revisiting these songs that we sang in church growing up. Why so many churches have gone to "choruses" is beyond me. There is so much to be learned doctrinally within these songs that so many generations before us sang. Doesn't that give you such a wonderful feeling of connections to the Christians that paved the paths here in America (and elsewhere) before us? Makes me ashamed to see that their hard work is being ignored these days, know what I mean? Maybe, just maybe, perhaps if the churches had not strayed away from songs of such a firm message that the hymns offer, well...you can shoulda/coulda/woulda stuff to death - and we all know what is coming eventually. Anyway, back on task - this months was "Revive Us Again"
We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.
Refrain
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Savior,
And scattered our night.
Refrain
All glory and praise
To the Lamb that was slain,
Who hath borne all our sins,
And hath cleansed every stain.
Refrain
All glory and praise
To the God of all grace,
Who hast brought us, and sought us,
And guided our ways.
Refrain
Revive us again;
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above.
Refrain
February's is "I Know Whom I Have Believed In".
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain
But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.
Refrain
I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.
Refrain
I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.
Refrain
I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.
Did you know this can be a very hard question to answer if you are homeschooling your child? The easy answer (well, the one we give them to hand out to relatives and others within the community) is to tell them what grade they would be in based on their ages. That makes the person on the other end feel better as it is something they can understand.
However, if you have read the book Understood Betsy or are a homeschooling mom, you know that grade level topic can be a tough one to overcome, even in our own public-schooled minds.
One of the things I have explained to my dd (age 11) is just because a particular curriculum has a number attached to it does not mean that is the grade is considered it. AO has years attached to it, but they absolutely do not coincide with a PS grade level. You see, using the Charlotte Mason method, you would not even start any kind of formal education with your child until they are age 6. That is 1st grade in the PS grades. And yes, it is a relatively simple year. That said, once you leave that year behind, it gets harder and by year 4, you are studying Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare (the real plays, not the easy fun stories we did the first three years). You have added in Latin as well. Pretty sure most PS 4th graders are not studying all that (plus the rest of their lessons!).
Young M's reading and comp levels are out of this world. She astounds me sometimes (but cannot keep her room clean, lol! Kind of like Tim Hawkins says - well, he is 9, speaks Greek and eats bugs - what grade is that??). She does very well in her math when she takes her time and does not rush it (sometimes, like the rest of us she goes fast & makes mistakes because something fun is calling her). Where on earth would I put her in PS? I know lots of people send their children to PS for high school, but I just do not see that as a good option for any of my children.
G2 (age 8) is slower in his reading than his sister was at the same age (unless he is reading his Bible - he can pronounce words out of there that I have heard grown ups trip over!), but is running ahead on his math. I expected this with him given that he is male and will develope at a different rate than a female.
Young M can give me a narration from something she has read with no problem. G2 - well, we still do paragraph narration with him regularly. But, I know once he had narrated it, it is stuck in his brain for a long time. How do I know this? Because of the questions he comes back to me with days later. He dwells on things, turns them over in his mind and looks at them from all angles. When he gives me his thoughts about something, I make myself stop what I am doing and really listen - because I am apt to learn something from him. Sometimes I have to correct him on his conclusions, perhaps made incorrectly due to lack of information, but it is very, very interesting to hear how he came to his conclusions (and I know Exactly where I need to stick in that correction, if needed, lol).
How do you test or grade this kind of work? I know they are learning and learning well. I know, for the most part, they are well ahead of their PS peers. Oh, they cannot quote the latest Hannah Montana song, but I am quite okay with that because I know they are learning more important things right now - and not just history. A few weeks ago, we were listening to a discussion on F2A and people were calling in to the show. The topic was the priest in Brittain that said it was okay to steal from retailers if you were poor or really needed something. Anyway, something one of the callers said inspired Young M to tell me that in the book of Matthew, it said something relavant to the topic. I wish I had written it down because I almost drove off the road. I was flabbergasted that my 11 yr old got that out of the scripture and could apply it to this conversation we were listening to. G2 has done similar things at Bible Study (I know pastor looked at him good and hard because the 8 yr old pulled out the gist of the scripture - and got it right. I think it surprised him a bit). This is the kind of stuff that the PS's do not care if my children know and would actually prefer that they not talk about it (let alone thinkreally hard on it), let alone test it. Yet it is the most important part.
I know there is more I want to say on this, but I am tired, the children are in from playing in the snow and the baby is asleep. I want to go rest my head for 15 min upstairs where the children are learning work ethic 101 - cleaning their rooms...heehee!
Don't look at the time and date stamp on the pictures. It is wrong and I cannot fix it due to the LCD screen being broken on the camera. The "posed" indoor pics were on 12/24 and the others are taken on 12/27 at various times.
Last Sunday, the children played piano pieces at a local retirement home along with several other homeschoolers. The residents that attended seemed to enjoy it and applauded them quite nicely.
Then, on Tuesday, they had piano lessons and I had a chiro appt. My shoulder/neck is doing much better. While not perfect, the pain is mostly gone. It comes and goes and still changes locations. I can tell you right now what area he will be working on this coming Tuesday (from the pain that is currently bothering me - ugh). But on a scale of 1-10 and 8 or 9 being where it was when this started, it is mostly around 2-3 now - annoying & bothersome, but livable for the moment as the area heals.
Last Thursday, we participated in Bethlehem Marketplace - a reenactment at a large local church for a couple of weeks prior to Christmas. It has a HUGE attendance and is not done every year (expense and getting the large number of volunteers is an issue, I suspect). The older 2 and I worked at the Jewelry stand "selling" sparkly childrens necklaces or bracelets for a "shekel" or 2... I think it is one of the busiest stalls there, lol! WOW! But, the children had a great time doing it as did I.
Friday night, we had our Grownups ONLY church Christmas party. Everyone brings a main dish and a salad or a dessert, along with a gift under $20 (we took chicken & dumplings along with Young M's famous Dutch butter bars). We eat, talk (lots of homeschool moms getting their socialization, lol), sing Christmas carols and then open presents. I suspect that part is the highlight of the evening. We are such a silly group of grown-ups as we open and steal gifts from each other. I REALLY needed that night out. We did not get home until almost 11:30 p.m.! Thank you to my MIL for watching the children (I think they enjoyed the night away from us, lol).
Saturday, we baked 6+ dozen gumdrop cookies for Gary to take to work on Monday for a cookie exchange (and yes, he helped - he had the hard job of cutting up the gumdrops, lol). I even got a nap in there - wow!
Then, we took the children to participate in our old church's outdoor Live Nativity. They have been doing it for over 50 years and we have been there in some capacity for the last 11 years. I know that sounds odd, since we do not attend there any longer, but our "pert near family" friends do and they are like a 3rd set of grandparents to the children and the children love to do things like this with them. Young M was the Innkeeper (and in charge of Mamacita the donkey, lol) and G2 was a shepherd. Normally, we drop them off with them and go shopping. This year, "Mary" was ill and unexpectedly, I was asked if I could fill in. I am glad it happened that way. Each of the 7 times I walked out there to do the little "skit" I thought about Mary & Joseph and what they might have been thinking. As I sat there behind the manger and put the "baby" Jesus in the manger, I contemplated what was going on in her mind and what challenges she had ahead of here. What a daunting thought. The song "Mary Did You Know" went through my head a few times as well.
Today, we went to church and I sang in the choir for the first time in several years (it required submission on my part to my husband's wishes that I get involved with the choir after not singing in several years). It was fun and we sing again on Christmas eve. After church, we went to our "pert near family's" house for lunch & some Packers before they took the children to do the live Nativity again tonight. We had the night off from it tonight. We hung out, Gary watched the rest of the Packer game with G3 sleeping on him and I caught ANOTHER nap in their recliner! The children put on a inpromptu recital for them after the live Nativity was done. We suspect this lasted 30-40 minutes, lol - for the 2 of them, lol!
Tomorrow, I have one small errand to run and then we are home for the rest of the day. We will be doing Christmas break this week, for the most part. Tuesday, I have another chiro appt. and some Christmas shopping to do for relatives (nope, I am SOOOO not done!). Then, on Wednesday, when Gary gets home, I will go back out and finish up some last minute shopping for the children (and maybe again on Christmas Eve-eve). I suspect Gary will have to do his shopping on Christmas Eve, but because he goes in the morning, he gets these fabulous deals and gets it done very quickly - lucky man!). On Christmas Eve, we will finish things up here, go to church, then out to my MIL's if the weather cooperates (currently sleet & snow in the forecast - yikes! - she lives on the other side of the county from us).
Anyway, if I do not get back on here, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
I have wanted to do some updating here, but the Friday after Thanksgiving, I woke up in extreme pain. Apparently, I slept weird or something and my neck/shoulder area was extremely painful. After suffering through the weekend (hoping it would settle on its own), I finally called a friend's chiropractor and saw him on Tuesday. He provided immediate (but not complete) relief. I see him again in a couple of hours to have more work done and go over the x-rays, etc. along with a recovery plan.
To ice the cake, the Advil (and the 1 Aleve that I took when I ran out of Advil) put my blood pressure through the roof. I was not terribly convinced they were doing any good and that just confirmed it. I had my annual appt. yesterday and received a concerned/stern talking to from my ob/gyn. My BP at her office was 178/90!! Needless to say, after discussing options, etc. I took Tylenol last night - and yet, I still woke up hurting, so what is the point, right? Anyway, my blood pressure has dropped off significantly through the day (thankfully - thanks to the prayers of many and dropping the Advil). I still hurt, but a nice hot shower freed me up so I could function a little bit - long enough to get dinner in the crockpot and a load of dishes done.
My home looks like a home would when the housewife is unable to do her job. The children help, but G-3 is a constant disrupter of any kind of neatness, let alone being able to get things done.
Hopefully, today's appt. will bring that much more relief and things will improve around here. We did not get our inside decorations up because I am the instigator for that. I did feel decent enough after the first appt. to at least get out the Advent books & wreath/candles, but otherwise, no deco's inside yet.
A journal of our home educating endeavors and our walk through life.
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