I think I'll probably take this question out to the homeschooling forum on About.com, but thought I'd just let my thoughts meander here first.  My son is giving me fits over tons of things.  It changes from day to day.  Recently, it's been spelling.  Sometimes it's math.  It's never the "easier" subjects like science, history, reading or Bible.  It's just the ones where he's expected to really do the work.  I guess I never really noticed that trend until recently.

I've been following the "mastery principle."  No grades.  We just move on when he's shown that he understands the concept.  However, he's been digging in his heels over spelling for DAYS now.  It started last Friday.  So, when do you decide that it's time for them to start working for grades?  Of course, in the public school system, they don't work for real grades probably until what?  Maybe in the 1st or 2nd grades.  Goodness knows they don't in kindergarten.  That's when I pulled him out, and of course I don't remember from my own schooling history.  Heck, until my freshman year in high school, I only ever saw A's on my report cards.

I just don't know if working for a grade would help him any.  I'd be willing to put together a grade book to help push him along if it would help.  Might even look good if the school district ever looked in our direction.  Of course, I have HUGE binders full of his work, so I can prove we've been doing what we're supposed to.  I just don't know.  I think it's time to head on out and ask around.

Have you ever felt that your kids are just out of control?  Have you ever felt that your kids are out of control for days on end?  Maybe it's all this cold weather, I have no clue.  I just know that I feel as if I'm in a battle and that I'm losing.  Big time.

See, I get stress headaches.  Mainly because I tighten up my shoulders in response to stress.  Over time, those tense muscles crunch down on necessary nerves and cause one heck of a headache.  They get so bad that they basically knock me out of commission and make me sick to my stomach.  Think "migraine" but harder to get rid of.  I think I feel another one coming on.  I had one last weekend and took me 3 days to ditch the critter.  I really hope DH can work on my shoulders tonight.  That will help keep it away.

Right now, my kids are doing something...  Something loud and obnoxious.  I'm so tired and I just don't feel like I can deal with it much longer.  DH is closing tonight, so I have NO clue when he's coming home.  He's hoping to get here by 7.  I sure hope he's right because I'm nearing the end of my rope.  I'm actually looking forward to saying, "Well, I'm going to go work!" and lock myself in the bedroom.  They aren't allowed to bother me while I'm working.  I'm a medical transcriptionist, so I have to be able to hear the dictations.  Not to mention all sorts of privacy concerns if they bother me.  I like my job.  *grin*  Right now I'm just tired and wiped out. 

Am I allowed to just throw up my hands and say, "I quit!"?  Just curious.  Probably not, but I'd sure like to.  Well, I'm going to meander forth and face the crowd.  Maybe they'll calm down a bit if I'm sitting there staring at them.  I also think I'll call DH and see if there's any way he's coming home early.

Sorry for whining, but I just needed to let off some steam.  I feel a little bit better.  I think I'd feel even better if I could just have a good cry.  I'm going to go out tomorrow all by my little lonesome.  I'm SO looking forward to that.  It's been a long time since I have taken that time for myself.  You know, it's actually needed when you're a SAHM who homeschools.  By the way, that's not going very well either.  But that's for another day.

Well, as usual, life has gotten away with me.  Of course there were the holidays to help me lose track.  We're semi-back on course now.  Though we have slowed WAY down on school.  I really haven't told anyone that, though.  *grin*  I'm sure that my MIL and mom would just be thrilled to hear that, NOT! 

However, I sat and watched my son dig in his heels left and right every time it was time for school.  It was reminding me of when he was back in ps and would start crying before bed and when he woke up for school.  The curriculum we're using is top notch, so he's learning everything just fine.  Besides, I read a study that basically says that ps children really only learn for 2 hours a day.  The rest of it is spent waiting. 

So!  I have split it out to 8 subjects and he has to pick 2 from the hard list and 2 from the easy list every day.  Math seems to flip flop between those 2 lists.  Right now, he loves it.  Then again, we're doing measurements and weights.  LOL  He'll dig in his heels next time because it's a review.  He hates reviews.  However, the fight over school has ENDED!  Hurray!  So what if we're moving slower?  It gives us more time to do other things during the day.

Speaking of which, we have an excellent place near us called "The Hangout Learning Center."  It's a center specifically set up for homeschoolers.  How cool is that?!  They offer a bunch of different "classes" and you can also just meander in to hang out in their cool rooms.  There's the Study, the Playroom, the Art room, and a Computer Niche.  There you can try out a lot of different curriculums and other programs to see if it's something you'd like to have at home.  I believe that area costs, but since we've only been there once, what do I know?  LOL 

The woman who started it said that she needs at least 200 homeschooling families a year to use the center, otherwise it will go away.  I really hope that it survives.  To help out, I'm going to be a math tutor.  Since my major in college was math, why not help out with others who are unsure of how to teach that subject?  I bet you that will help bring people in.  *grin*  However, I have to pass a background check before I'm allowed to do that.  That's okay. 

We'll probably go back there tomorrow.  They have a free Kindergarten class that I might try and see about getting my middle son into.  He's only 4, so might not like it.  However, it won't hurt to try.  If nothing else, the boys will have a blast playing at the center.

I guess that's about it for now.  Though I am planning on going back to work as an MT (medical transcriptionist).  I'm returning to a company I worked for in the past.  They were a good company, I just hated being away from my husband all the time.  So, I told them that I'd only come back part time and completely unrestricted hours.  I will fit in my 20 hours a week as I can.  I think that will work.  If not?  Well, then I'll just be back to where I am right now, which is not working.  *grin*  I figure that's fair as I wasn't planning on going back.  However, they called ME and asked me to go back.  After I stated my terms, they agreed.  So... Here I go again!

Well, it sounds like the kids are exploding, so I suppose that I should go see if I can help. 

Wow!  It certainly has been a long time since I felt like working on a blog.  Right now, I'm just doing it to relax a little bit and slow down.  I've been attacking our house.  Not too much, just enough to be able to see that I have been doing something!  I've been spending approximately 15-30 minutes per room, minus my children's rooms.  My older children should be capable of cleaning their own rooms.  Right.  Don't make me laugh.  Maybe if I keep that amount of time up for several weeks, it will become a habit and my house might actually look clean.  Here's to hoping!  I did go a little nuts in the bathroom today.  Did the counters, mirrors and tub.  I did leave the floor and toilet for another day.  Maybe tomorrow...  The kitchen was mainly catching up on dishes and getting some trash out of there.  Geez.  Sounds like I'm a horrible housekeeper, doesn't it?  Then again, I'll admit that I'm not the best.  I guess during the week I should start cycling in changing beds.  Five days in a normal week and five beds.  That should work well.

Now on to attitudes.  My oldest is REALLY starting to irk me.  He has this habit of "humphing" when something isn't going right or he doesn't like what I'm saying.  Today, he got right up in my face and did it.  He's now in his room doing some SERIOUS cleaning.  I'm rather upset with him, so I don't want to see him for awhile.  If he got his room 100% clean, I probably wouldn't see him until Tuesday.  It's a disaster in there!  He's been pulling this attitude on me more and more lately.  He ended up in his room ALL day on Friday because of his attitude.  He absolutely refused to do even 9 problems in math.  After about the 3rd hour of staring at him, I just sent him to his room.  This is becoming a habit with him.  Just sitting there and pulling things like:  "I have to go to the bathroom," "I am thirsty," dropping his pencil continually on the floor or flinging it across the table and all sorts of things.  It's driving me absolutely NUTS!  There's absolutely no reason for it.  He's really good at math, so I have no idea why he's pulling this.  I thought that it was because our program was tougher than most and a lot is expected of him.  So, I slowed it down and we're playing catch up.  Gee, all in math.  Imagine that.  He's STILL doing it.  So, I took my most social kid and tossed him in his room for the day.  I don't think it worked very well.  It works for a short period of time and then he's right back at it again.  Surely I'll win some day!

Well, now that my house is cleaner and I've achieved everything I meant to today on that front, I'm going to meander off and do some crafty stuff.  I made an advent calendar for the kids that isn't finished yet.  LOL  I'm always late on stuff like that.  I just might get it finished in time for Christmas.  I'm also in the process of knitting slippers for everyone in the family.  I have one pair finished, almost.  Oops.  Only 3 more squares on one pair and 10 more squares on another.  I haven't even started 2 pairs yet.  *sigh*  I've also decided to learn how to darn socks.  My boys go through them so fast that it's sometimes hard to keep them IN socks!  I can afford embroidery thread and a little time.  We sometimes can't afford socks.  So, I'm off to try doing that as well.  Hmm... Anyone have any time they can give me?  LOL

Well, I use Sonlight Curriculum.  GREAT program, though very intense.  We've finally settled into a grove and we're doing well.  It used to bother me NO end to have more than one week of the instructor's guide in my little notebook.  Now?  I don't care.  LOL  If we don't feel like doing spelling, then we don't do it.  We're behind in some of our read-a-louds, but it's not the end of the world.  I actually don't like one of the books too much.  That is the main one we're behind in.  I also don't have the kids climbing all over me to read it.  I think I need to play 'pick-and-choose' through the stories.  There are a few good ones in there and then just leave the rest.  *smile* 

Anyway!  Today went really well.  Started out like it was going to be rocky, but then we settled in and did pretty well.  Probably helped that I was absolutely exhausted (I suffer from insomnia at night and it really messes me up) and just let them have 2 hours to eat lunch and watch some PBS.  My son's favorite shows are "Reading Rainbow" and "Wild Chronicles."  So, I just let them watch those and the other 2 that are inbetween.  I then went and took a nap.  *grin*  When I got up, I was ready to face everything again and we cruised right through the rest of school.

My son even tackled his spelling without too many arguments.  AND we also saw the benefit of the extra subtraction worksheets that he thought I was torturing him with.  Math flew by for him today and I FINALLY heard "This is easy" for the first time while he was doing subtraction.  Hurray!!  I'm a happy mother.  *grin*

We're going to get out of the house this evening and hit a thrift store.  We're missing 2 costumes for Halloween.  We're going to go to our local zoo for "Boo at the Zoo" this year.  As members (thanks, Mom!), it's free for us, so we might as well go.  *grin*  We are going to have one astronaut, one bat, and one who knows what.  LOL  Our oldest (he's 11) is seriously thinking of skipping Halloween this year.  I actually have my ideas on WHY he's not getting a costume this year, but I'll just keep them to myself.  *smile*

Let's see here...  I guess that's just about it for now.  My house is an absolute disaster area.  No matter what "system" I try, I just can't seem to keep up with it.  My next idea is to move ALL of the kids' toys out of the living room.  We keep baskets of toddler-safe toys out there.  However, they are taking over every inch of space.  It's driving me NUTS!  Never mind the mess I have in the kitchen and in my sewing corner and in ...  The list is large.  *sigh*  I know the "rules" and I know the "drills" on keeping up with a messy house.  I just don't do them.  So it's all my fault in reality.

With that said, I'm going to head out.  I'm sure that if I try, I can reach the washing machine.  LOL

This week has been a rough one.  Neither of us has really wanted to do anything.  DS3 just plain flat refused to be around.  LOL 

Anyway, I have more stuff to do today that I have hours in the day.  Rather than spend my time sitting down and staring at my son, I decided to let us have a day off.  We both needed it.  Even though we already had 2 days off this week.  LOL  We'll get back to full steam next week.

I just had all of my stuff end on eBay yesterday.  I need to get more stuff up and running.  Not to mention getting some labels cut out and get things ready to ship and...  The list is actually pretty long.  I have to have a ton of stuff finished for next week because I have to ship a box off for a craft fair.  Today and this entire weekend is going to be spent doing stuff for that.  We're also coming near the end of our old hand dyed fabrics from last time.  So, it's time to set everything back up again and dye more.  That's the fun part.  *grin*  This past auction didn't do too well on our fabrics.  We were doing MUCH better when we finished up last time than now.  We're almost back to square one.  It's actually hard to handle.  Oh, well!  I REFUSE to give up.  Well, I won't give up until I run out of fabric.  *sigh*

Okay, with all that said, I'm taking off!  I have to get to work to save my business.

First of all, I'd like to start off with a comment:  I noticed that I was "tagged" the other day about what I would like to see passed on if I was ever chosen for "Wife Swap."  Unfortunately, I don't have the foggiest idea.  I mean, I barely even know what "Wife Swap" is as the only TV show I even bother trying to watch is "Numb3ers" on Friday nights.  Even then I'm known to miss it several times.  Good thing it's been released to DVD or I'd never get to see them.  If anything, the people I swapped with would go into shock because I'd turn OFF the TV and the video games.  LOL  MY computer is the only one that exists in the house and the kids aren't allowed on it.  So, that's that for high tech in our house.  Though I am seriously considering getting an older computer in our garage up and running again for the kids.  We'll see though.  We really don't have a safe place to set it up, so I might not mess with it for now.

Now, on to other things.  My middle son is almost 4.  He will turn 4 right at Christmas time.  Poor little guy.  LOL  Starting next year, we're thinking of moving his birthday to another day so that he can have real birthday parties.  With that, I figured it was time to start him on preschool stuff.  I came across a great website that offers several preschool programs for free (http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html).  The first is to just get them introduced to numbers and the letters of the alphabet.  He does sit in on the Bible readings with my oldest son now.  So, I guess I officially have 2 kids going through homeschool now.  Many people are of the "wait" school on teaching the younger kids.  However, he has started to express the desire to learn his letters and numbers, hence starting 'school' with him.  It's a cute program, though the layout is strange in my opinion.  It's hard to figure out what you're supposed to do on each day.  Oh, well.  I'll probably make myself an easier to read chart and call it good. 

We have also discovered recently that we believe he (DS3) has celiac disease.  Since it's genetic and my MIL has it, it was a good guess.  We have taken him off of ALL gluten and things are looking MUCH better.  Hurray!  Up to this point we were unable to potty train the poor child because he couldn't control his bowels because of the illness.  We are hoping we can have him well within another week or 2.  Then maybe he'll agree to potty train.  *smile*

What else is going on?  Well, I'm still trying my best to get stuff ready for my mother's craft fair.  Apparently this one is a rather small one.  Strange considering that it's right before Christmas.  The big one is in January, or was it February?  Anyway!!  I'm making little quilted gifts and I'm sending along some hand dyed fabrics to see if they'll sell there.  I have 2 postcards finished, 1 postcard almost finished with 4 more in piecing stages.  I have to ship them all by about October 23rd.  I need to get going!  *smile*  I'll get there eventually.  I prefer to do a lot of piecing first and then finish them all at once.  I'm also trying to finish up a wall hanging for my MIL.  I got stalled on the binding because I messed up a corner.  While my oldest was doing his reading to me, I ripped out the stitches to sew it better in the hopes of fixing it.  I stalled on it about 3 weeks ago and now I should have it finished in about 3 days.  LOL  I'm so silly.  I won't go into everything else I would like to finish.  It would take me forever to figure it out!

On another note on schooling, my oldest son is doing really good.  Well... sort of.  LOL  We were happily going along in math and were about to start the second set of books in Singapore Math.  Unfortunately, it became obvious that he's not doing very well with either money or subtraction.  I'm more 'worried' about the subtraction than the money.  I do have more worksheets prepared for the money problems.  He keeps confusing nickels and dimes.  It's the subtraction that keeps throwing him for a loop.  Need to work on that more because it's so important in math.

We just finished reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins" and he loved that book.  We're technically 'behind schedule' on his read-a-louds, but that's okay.  Since DH is going into the Army starting with the new year, I'm not too worried.  We'll have lots of hours to fill up then when Dad is gone.

We are getting ready to start reptiles next week.  Thank goodness my husband has agreed to teach that part of it.  LOL  I'm deathly afraid of snakes.  The book we're using for Science has real pictures of the animals in it and I can't even stand snakes when they're in books!  I even had to toss out the recent edition of our zoo newsletter because they were highlighting some snake they had.  ICK!!  Couldn't take it.  LOL

Well, it sounds like everyone's playing and finished with lunch.  I'm off to keep teaching! 

I know we hear about this stuff all the time, but it still saddens me.  Well, it should!  All these attacks on schools are getting way out of hand.  My step-son goes to public school.  Being my step-son, I have NO choice in the matter...  His school is beautiful, built only 3 or 4 years ago.  It is also in one of the nicer neighborhoods as the area is also brand new.  They have at least one police officer roaming the building.  *sigh*  My step-son is in the 6th grade.  It breaks my heart that the schools need police or their own security guards to keep a school 'safe' for the children.

Just recently, a school near us was 'attacked' by an older man.  I don't know all the details and I don't want to know.  Just hearing what I did was bad enough.  Being bipolar makes me really sensitive to things like this and I know I have a difficult time handling it.  Anyway!!  I found out because my neighbor told me that this had happened and that several schools in the area had been evacuated.  I remember looking down (our home is up on the second story and I was on the deck) at my children playing in the grass.  They were all happy and perfectly safe under our watchful eyes.  I had finished up school with my older son about 30 minutes earlier and he was out playing. 

Once again, I felt perfectly justified in keeping my son home and teaching him myself.  Can I make absolute sure that he'll be safe all the time?  No.  But by golly I can keep him safe from madmen who decide that schools are a good target for their insanity!  My children had no clue that a school had been attacked... Again. 

This past weekend my step-son brought up Columbine.  He was confused as to why all the school attacks are called "Columbine Incidents" now.  I semi-explained what happened at Columbine and left it at that.  I actually have the Columbine license plate on my car.  I believe the logo on the bottom is "Save a life" with a beautiful columbine in the center.  

It was also the original 'Columbine Incident' that made me seriously consider homeschooling.  It was at that point that I knew I was not going to subject my children to public schools if something that terrible could ever happen to them.  My oldest son was then my only son and he was only 2.  I did put him into public school for 3 months.  God reached down and reminded me that He had already placed it on my heart to homeschool my children.  After 3 incidents at my son's school where they were put into lockdown and then my son getting "lost in the cracks," I brought him home where he should have been in the first place.

Anyway, I'm absolutely thrilled that I homeschool my children.  I will no longer worry about what anyone thinks about my doing that.  All they have to do is turn on the news and hear that another school has been attacked.  Then my decision to do what I do makes perfect sense, don't you think?

Things are going pretty well around here.  As well as can be expected when you're surrounded by a bunch of small boys.  *smile*

School is going really well and my son and I have learned to really look forward to Fridays.  We use the Sonlight instructor's guide to lead us through our school work.  On Friday, there is not much work and we can easily finish up within 2-3 hours (or even less) if my son doesn't complain too much about a subject.  *smile*

I briefly tried a new spelling program and went back to our original program when it became obvious that it was working better for my son.  I'm sure I have the name posted somewhere in another post.  Probably back in the midst of my spelling woes posts.  *smile*

What else?  Well, I'm a huge crafty person.  Mainly a quilter though.  Unfortunately, I don't get much time to pull out my sewing machine to work.  Mainly because my sewing machine lives in my living room.  It's hard to keep it and the kids safe from each other, especially because my sewing machine is computerized.  My youngest loves to change the stitches on me.  Anyway!  My favorite thing to do is paper piece.  That really takes a lot of time and more setup than just normal piecing.  However, your designs are more intricate and prettier, IMO.  After talking to a good friend of mine about that very dilemma, she pointed me in the right direction to be able to do it by hand.

Now, You might think I'm nuts to do it by hand, but I have a lot of time during school to do hand work.  My son is not yet to the point where I can leave him and know he'll do his work.  He's getting better, though.  So, I have tons of time during the day to work by hand.  Enter the marvelous idea of paper piecing by hand.  Thank you to my great friend for pointing me towards tear-away stabilizer for this!  I started a small block last night and it's going very well.  I'll probably finish it sometime today and know how it will tear away from my hand stitches.  I'm pretty sure I'll get good results.

Oh, one more thing on school and I'd better jet.  My son is having serious issues with subtraction.  I have no clue why, but it's not coming as easily to him as everything else.  If you don't know about Math Fact Cafe, then you need to check it out!  You can build your own math worksheets there.  It has a lot of control and will even print out the answers for the adults.  Or even for the kids if you want them to check their own work when finished.  Anyway, it's my favorite math worksheet generator.  Just thought I'd share.  *smile*

Oh my goodness!  So much is happening around here that I don't even know where to start.

How many of you knew that the Army raised its age limit to 42?  How many of you have husbands that wanted only to serve their country but couldn't until they were too old?  That right there spells "trouble."  LOL

My husband has always wanted to serve his country.  His first marriage kept him out of the military.  The second is not.  I am behind him all the way and supporting him in any way I can.  God is apparently supporting this decision as well.  Everything is falling directly into place.

1.  My intense desire to get ready to move and to get rid of as much stuff as possible (still working on this one, we have too much stuff).

2.  Strange mention of the age limit increase from an unlikely source, his mother.

3.  The running out of his police certification at the same time as his physical examination for the Army.  See?  No regrets and past "what ifs" to hang on to.

4.  The INCREDIBLE score on his military test (ASVAB).  He scored a 99.  He's headed into intelligence work.  Who knew?  *grin*

5.  Marrying a woman (that's me!) who can't stand to be in one place for too long.  LOL  I'm serious here.  We've lived in our condo now for 5 years and I'm about to go nuts.  This is the longest I've ever lived in one spot in all of my 30 years and my family wasn't even in the military.  LOL

We've looked closely at the pros and cons.  The pros being all the things the military helps the family out with.  Housing, food, medical, retirement, etc.  Husband really wanting to serve his country.  The chance to move a lot and see other parts of the world when the Army allows the family to go.  The cons being the possibility for long separations and Iraq. 

Yeah, I think the pros outweigh the cons pretty good.  I'm definitely praying that DH doesn't get sent to Iraq, but that's in God's hands.

Another con that most sites list is how hard it is on the kids, especially pulling them out of school.  School?  Hey!  Who knew that our choice to homeschool would serve us in other ways?  I never knew.  God did though.  Isn't he grand?  *grin*  So, school will move with us at all times without too big of a break to throw that schedule out of balance.  Will leaving friends behind be hard?  Absolutely.  However, that's just something military families have to face.  I'm actually excited that my sons will have the opportunity to see the military from the inside.  Okay, I'm crazy.  LOL  I'll admit that.

Back to the school front.  We're doing well enough.  History has taken over as my son's most favorite subject.  Never saw that one coming!  LOL  Spelling is still his worse subject.  Saw that one coming.  *sigh*

Last night, my son BEGGED to go to the library.  He really wanted some books on knights and castles.  He also snagged a book on the Sumarians on our way through.  I picked up that book for him to look at several months ago.  Sonlight just presents history in such a way that he just loves it!  Hence the need to grab the Sumarian book.  LOL  I'm okay with that, though.  Heck, the fact that he was begging us to go to the library was great!

Well, I have things to get done.  I'm working a small business from home and it never seems to stop.  Luckily it's in my favorite field, quilting!  Though I'm having to go cut out business cards.  How is that?  LOL  Oh, well.  I'm sure that's all the room that is available to me in the living room.  Last time I looked, I couldn't swing open the cabinet to my sewing machine.  *grin*