Happily married for 12 years. Rog is a fulltime FireFighter, as well as the training officer for the volunteer department in our community. Firefighting is not just a job, it is a way of life - for the firefighter, as well as the family of one. It is an adjustment, an attitude you have to have. You have to be ready to let him go at a moments notice, without knowing when to expect him back home. You have to let go of your 'what-if' fears and stand proud of who he is.
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Greater love hath no man than this, a man that lay his life down for his friends. John 15:13
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as a homeschool mom...
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Being a homeschooling mom to 9 year old girl/boy twins is not much easier than being the wife of a Firefighter, but God placed me here for some reason, so I might as well enjoy the ride! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
WOW! November was a C*R*A*Z*Y month at our house! I will give you a quick recap, so you will know why I was missing! The first weekend was Halloween, and we had church festivities and a FIRST birthday party on Nov 1. Then that next weekend was youth hunt. We spent a few days getting ready for that, and then a few days down there. Both of the kiddos went hunting, but neither got anything ~ Riley saw one, but he says he didn't have a good shot on it, so he let it walk. We returned from that weekend at deer camp to hurry up and get laundry done and repack so we could go back down for opening weekend. We spent opening weekend down there with Rog and his family ~ plus a good friend ~ 11 of us in the camper! ~ we had a great weekend! Once everyone else went home, we stuck around, went on with our school work, hung out and watched movies, and did some exploring out in the woods. We stayed til Wednesday, headed home that morning for our normal *which wasn't* routine!
That night, after the kiddos were in bed, my dog, Rascal seemed restless. I got up and sat with him in the floor until about 1:30am, until he died there beside me. I don't know why...he was 13 years old, and we had sorta been expecting it, but it was still hard. I called Rog at deer camp and told him ~ he loaded up to come home. We had a hard time telling the kiddos and they took it very hard. It was a very sad day around here and at that point, I decided we were officially on Thanksgiving break ~ we were all too emotional to focus.
From there, Friday night, I sent Ry around to his cousins house, then had a couple of Girl Scouts over to spend the night. I think there is nothing better than listening to a group of giggly girls! And I love that my GS Troop are friends besides scouts! Well, they were here because we had a scout thing the next morning, and it was just easier! They had a great time though! Their even the next morning ( an hour away) was CSI: Diamonds ~ really cute fake scene set up and the girls had to do some investigating to find out who forgot to sign the letter that said welcome to the event I have a surprise for you, come find me! The girls had a great time with it!
While we were an hour away having some Girl Scout fun, I got the call that Rog's grandpa had passed away. So, as soon as the girls finished up there, we hurried home so we could pack once again and head to Tennessee. We drove all day Saturday, spent Sun, Mon, Tues in TN and then drove all day Wednesday. The Tennessee trip was very emotional for me, as it has not been that long since I lost my grandpa. I had a really tough time with everything happening at once as well. It truly was a bittersweet trip ~ we had an awesome time visiting with and reconnecting with Rog's family, but would have wanted to do that under better circumstances.
On the way home we took a different route and went the Huntsville Alabama. We did take the opportunity to stop in and the space center. We did a super quick mini tour and decided it was definitely worth a trip to come back to!
Home barely in enough time to celebrate Thanksgiving ~ even though we really weren't in the mood to. We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family, had a good time visiting with everyone.
Rog spent the rest of Thanksgiving weekend in the deer woods, while the kiddos and I hung out here...
And that my friends was our C*R*A*Z*Y November! Praying December is a little more calm!
As you read in an earlier post, we have been struggling with spelling this year. So, you can imagine my excitement when The Crew got the opportunity to review All About Spelling. We were sent Level One and Level Two and we will continue to work using this program as long as I see some improvement. I think it is helping Samantha with her spelling a little.
There were a couple of things I didn't care for with this program. First, there was a lot of prep work on my part ~ I had to do a lot of cutting and tearing and such to get the program ready to go. Second, I think that starting with this program at the age we are is not that helpful. We have already learned so much and I feel like we were backing up to get started on it.
If you are at the beginning of the 'learning to read' journey, then I think that this would be a wonderful program to start with.
We received a video in the mail and the kiddos jumped on it!! It was Exploracise: Gymathtics by Exploramania. I sat in on the first time they watched it and while they loved it, I thought it was a little more basic than for my kiddos.
I know they have watched and played along with it a few times since then. I think that this is a wonderful product for younger kiddos ~ my 9 almost 10 year old ~ not so much!
*Disclaimer~ This product was sent to me free for my review and opinions. For more opinions on this product, please visit the crew link above.
*Please forgive this first post. I have been out of town and am returning to some issues here. I will have everything linked ASAP.
As part of the Homeschool Crew, we were given a membership to AVKO's website. AVKO approach is multi-sensory and the initials stand for Audio, Visual, Kinesthetic, Oral.
When I first got signed on, I was overwhelmed. There is A LOT of information on this site. Once I started reading, I knew that I had been given a gold mine. The main thing I have focused on was To Teach A Dyslexic by Don McCabe. It come free with membership. I have been dealing with some learning issues with Samantha, so reading this book has been an eye opener for me.
Another thing that I found on this site was Sequential Spelling. I was able to download the first lesson free. For the first time all year, we didn't fight about spelling! They are loving it! In fact, so much, that I actually BOUGHT Level One for our spelling for the rest of the year. (And if you have been reading my blog for very long, you know I don't buy much!)
In placing my order thru the web, I actually started on a contact us page. I filled it out and waited. Nothing. Time passed and I realized that I never heard from them, so I filled it out again. And waited. Still nothing. Well, customer service is important to me, and I knew that I was going to have to write this review, and didn't want that to cloud my feelings for the product, so I called. The lady I spoke with was the most wonderful and helpful person ever! She helped me figure out what I needed, placed my order and then we still talked for another 30 minutes. (One of the great reasons to do business with a small, family owned company!).
So, if you struggle with some sort of learning issue at your house, you may want to come up with the extra cash (not much - just $25) and check out this website! It is one that I will keep in my top ten list!
