I just wanted everyone to know that I have choosen to move my blog to a new site.  I am not internet savvy and I just wanted something that was more user friendly.  So I have moved to http://downhomeintn.blogspot.com.  I hope you check it out.  I will monitor this blog until I feel comfortable to let it go.  Thank you for coming by and reading my ramblings.

I finally got to go see the latest in the Pirates of the Caribean movies and man was it great.  I was worried that it wouldn't hold up to the last two movies because it was the third one and it had to answer so many questions.  I am happy to say that it did not disappoint me.  I am glad however that my daughter didn't go due to the fact that it was over 2 and a half hours long.  

We (my family and I) had previously went to see the latest Shrek movie and were greatly disappointed.  It was not very funny and lacked the spirit of the first two movies.  No, I am not trying to be a commercial for my favorite movies.  I just get frustrated when I pay so much to see a movie and the best parts were the few scenes you see in the previews.   I guess that is why we don't go to the movies very often.  In fact we have went 6 mo to a year without going.  It has to be a movie that we feel very strongly about to pay to go, if not we wait for it to come out on video.

That said I also had the chance to rent Bridge to Terebathia this week and was not disappointed at all.  Even my husband loved the movie.  My only regret is that I had not read the book beforehand.  Both of my children have watched it several times.  They love it.  My son wants to go to the library to get the book because he said,  "Mom you always say the books are better than the movies, and I can't imagine how good the book will be if the movie was this good."  Well at least I found out two good things from watching this movie.  One, he does at least listen to me sometimes.  And, two, he wants to read a book!

Well I must recover from my weekend of swimming, working in the yard and all the other crazy stuff that we do when we have family time.  It is a blessing, but oh so exhausting!

I wanted to take a moment to thank mojmommy and nikkisimcox for their thoughtful and supportive comments.  We are still working on what to do about our situation.  With summer here we have just took some time to step back and take care of each other.  I have been selective about where we go and who we are around to protect us and my children from such actions and remarks.

It has helped to join a moms support group in my area but we only meet once a month.  I hope as I get more time that I can gain as many caring and supportive friends through my blog and online.  It isn't quite as lonely as I once thought homeschooling might be.

God Bless.

Well, I have began planning for next year.  Buying some curriculum, for my son.  I really want to end up as a very relaxed homeschooler or unschooler, but my son does not react well to this lack of structure.  So I purchased some stuff to cover the basics for 5th grade.  So here is what I have so far:  Reading, English, and vocabulary  I purchased Rod & Staff.  I looked at all the competition and this just fit us really well.  I plan on returning to Math U See for math, Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry, Natural Speller for spelling, and I will use notebooking and lapbooks for history units.

For electives he has choosen typing (we will be using a computer program), Bible, and drawing.  He also takes guitar lessons.  So I believe I have all the bases covered.  Plus, we read all the time. 

For my dd fwho is K5 I choose Rod & Staff phonics to use with Phonics Pathways.  For math we will use Math U See Primer.  She will also work with my son on science and history.  We plan on doing a lot of art activities and lots of read alouds.

Of course it like everything else is a work in progress.

Since I made the choice to homeschool my children I have faced quite a bit of negative comments and questionable looks.  So far I have decided that most comments and behaviors are natural reactions made by people who dislike what don't understand.  And I have become fine with that.  Thats not to say that it didn't hurt my feelings coming from some close friends, but I dealt with it. 

However, each new day brings about the reality of how my life has changed since making this choice.  I mean, for example,  I love to read Beverly Lewis' books about the Amish life.  There has always been something since I was a child that drew me to the lifestyles of Amish.  The hardest thing to think of in their lives is the Shun.  For all those that love you and say they care about you to turn their back on you, to banish you while you are still there.  I have read one story after another about this heart breaking rule that destorys lives.  Yet, that is how I have began to feel around many of my old non-homeschooling friends.  Especially, when my children are excluded from activites and such due to our choice of schooling.  These are people I have known and socialized with for years. 

Granted, I know my life has changed directions.  I no longer care what the latest new toy is my kids have to have.  I will no longer allow my kids to treat each other or others in a disrespectful way no matter how uncool it is to be polite.  And believe me the children I know  my sons age are very rude and disrespectful to adults and peers.  They think it is cool!!  And their parents are so worried they won't be mr or mrs popular at school that they support the behavior. 

I have been very careful about how I converse with the my friends about my choice to hs.  I make a point not to mention it until someone asks me a question about it.  Then I give a brief and general answer.  I do not tell them that by sending their children to school they are bad parents.  I have made it clear this is what works for my family.  It is not for everyone.  Eleven years ago I would have never thought it was for me. 

I think it might just be time to let go of these hurtful relationships and move on to ones that are positive influences in my life.  However, it will be hard for my children because they just don't understand what is so "wrong" with mom teaching them.

So in the end I always wanted to know what it was like to be Amish, but I never counted on being Shunned without even being one.  

Today I experienced one of those A-ha moments.  I had just completed a not so successful math lesson with my son.  We were working on double digit multiplication and other skills.  I had out the block manipulatives that go with our program to work through the word problems in the lesson.  After almost an hour of work and correcting mistakes we finally completed the lesson.  I let him go play his guitar and I sat there wondering what I was doing so wrong.  Why wasn't he getting this lesson.  

 So my 5 year old daugher comes up and wants to build with the learning blocks.  I let her play while I was setting next to her searching through sites on my laptop just chilling after the math episode.  She asked me to get her the big red blocks to play with as they will not fit in the bins I have for the smaller ones.  I tell her in passing that the red ones are called hundreds.  She says "and the blue ones are tens."  Just like that, I was impressed.  I hadn't told her that before and my son hadn't used them much around her so I sat and watched her play.  The next thing I know she is showing me how the bar of 6 and the bar of 4 are the same as the 10 bar.  And it takes 10 green ones to make the blue 10 bar. 

Now I have been surfing the unschooling sites, reading John Holt, and everything I can on homeschooling but none of it got the point home like my daughter did today.  It is truly amazing what a child can learn through exploration, experiences and life.  I hope that this and other instances will give me the strenght in the future to lean towards unschooling.  I just have to listen to my children and not that voice in my head left over my my days in ps and teaching in ps. 

Since choosing to hs in February we have been learning to live as a family again.  I was surprised how hard it was to begin to live as a family unit 24/7.  To make this process successful my husband and I have decided to focus on family as much as we can.  For Memorial Day weekend we took every chance to spend time with the kids doing  more than watching tv or going to the mall. 

The one time we did sit down to watch tv was to watch the HBO movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.  My son loves history and is very interested in Native American history.  This movie was unique in that it was told from the Native American's point of view.  It did have some graphic violence, but the interest it sparked in my son about the lives of the Sioux was well worth it. 

Anywho, I get off track easily, the time spent with cookouts, swimming, and just having fun with my kids made this Memorial Day weekend one of the best.