I'm not sure if this will stick.  I am repeatedly reminded about the Homeschool Blogger site everytime I read my Old Schoolhouse magazine, or when I talk to my friends IRL who blog.  I "used to" awhile back (as you can see) but I have let it slip by the wayside.  The problem is time!  I really enjoy reading blogs and typing my own entries, but it takes me SO much time and frankly I don't have the extra time.  I am serious when I say I have NO extra time (I shouldn't be using this time right now to type this since my son is supposed to be doing his independent work but has strayed from the table!!). 

But I "THINK" I am going to try to come back to it.  I wish I had some guidelines to keep things simple and short and to the point.  Or a set of tips to help me manage my time here.  Some sort of formula to help me post and still feel like I haven't squandered 30 to 45 minutes (or more!) of my time!

I read today an article I received in an e-mail from Crosswalk.com about a homeschooling mom who was desperate for friendship and connections.  She found it on HomeschoolBlogger!  I feel that lack of connection at times.  So I felt a draw to the blog again.  Will I find it again?  Do I have time to find it again?  My kids are older, but that doesn't necessarily mean I have more time!

Pondering and thinking and praying for an answer!

    Here is Caleb and his sticker sheet.  When he asks to go potty, or we tell him to go potty, and he goes and is dry he gets a sticker!
    After experiencing a lot of tears and accidents with potty training our first son about 3-4 years ago, I always said that I would NEVER go through that again.  My biggest headache/stress in parenting (right now) is the fear of going through potty training again.  Needless to say, I always said I would not potty train Caleb (our second son) until I knew he was absolutely ready.  I always said I wouldn't do it until he could tell me, "mommy, I need to go to the potty and I don't want to wear diapers anymore, etc."
    Well, that's exactly what happened on March 29th.  Caleb was in the bathtub and said he needed to go pee-pee.  I wasn't too sure, but he has never asked me while in the tub (he has told me this when a cousin or his brother needed to go--kind of a mimicking thing).  This time it was different, and it was real.  So I got him out of the tub, let him stand on a stool and he did in fact pee-pee in the toilet.  I asked him if he'd like to try big boy training pants today and he said yes.  I haven't put a diaper on him since (well, at night I have, but that has turned out to be unnecessary, too!).
    He started potty training on that Wednesday, he had a number of accidents that day.  On Thursday he had one accident.  Now, one-and-a-half weeks later, he is potty trained, with having only a few accidents in that amount of time (the three times I can think of he was side-tracked with either a video or playing outside).  Now, having a BM in the toilet is another matter, but staying dry and telling us when he needs to "go" has been a goal reached.  I am thrilled!
    I can say that this experience has been night and day compared to Joshua.  I KNOW that children are different, and Caleb has always been a bit more mature for his age.  But I am convinced that waiting until HE was ready and asking for it was the key to this success.  And I'm going to do the same thing with Daniel, and Miriam.  I'm going to wait and wait and wait until I see something similar.  I'm not going to push them or tell them we're going to potty train.  I'm not going to say, "today we're going to try to wear big boy pants."  I'm going to let them tell me.  No more headaches, no more tears, no more yelling or frustration.  It was a breeze and I am so thankful!
    Caleb filled in three sticker charts like the one above.  The first one awarded him a special cookie that daddy has for his lunches.  The second chart awarded him a treat from Dairy Queen.  And the last chart awarded him a new package of Spiderman underwear.  He is VERY proud of those Spiderman underwear.  He's asked for another chart, but he has this down, and charts aren't necessary anymore.  I think he's disappointed about that.  As long as he doesn't figure out that by having accidents I might have to go back to the chart!!

I have been less than organized in having daily lessons with Joshua on Bible.  At one time I had bought a Bible "curriculum" and we tried to drudge through it.  It was geared towards early elementary grades and had Bible stories, suggested songs to sing, verses to memorize, and questions to answer.  I felt so mechanical in these lessons and we didn't make it 1/4 through the book.  I think I may have it up on a shelf somewhere.  It might be useful if I ever teach a Kindergarten-aged Bible class at church.

After shelving that book, I waited around and researched a little in hopes of finding the "perfect" Bible study guide or devotional book for me and Joshua to do together.  And I waited and waited, all the while Joshua was getting no real study of Bible at home.  We were doing some teaching of Bible when it came to disciplining or in daily conversations about God and behavior.  And while this is very good and much in-line with our admonishment in Deutoronomy to "train up a child," I felt that we weren't doing enough of getting into the Word of God and learning from it every day.

Then it hit me last week that I should just get the Bible out and start reading with Joshua every day.  Last week we started in Matthew, chapter one.  Joshua read straight from his OWN Bible which is in the NIrV (New International readers Version).  I really like this Bible because he can read it with little to no help from me (names of places and a word here or there has been the only issues). 

Today we were reading into chapter four and learning about how after Jesus was baptized and then sent into the desert and tempted by the devil, he went out into the world preaching to the people.  We learned about turning from the darkness and walking toward the light.

"What does it mean to turn from the darkness, Joshua?" I asked after he'd read the passage.

"It means turning from our sins," Joshua replied.

"And when we turn to the light, what is Jesus talking about here," I inquired further.

"It means that we turn to God and follow Jesus," Joshua immediately responded.

BINGO, I say in my head with a huge smile on my face.  And with that, we have had our daily Bible study and we moved easily into the other lessons of the day with a good solid foundation of hearing the Word of God and holding it fast inside our hearts.  This is what "studying the Bible" is going to mean for us for awhile.  And I think it is working out beautifully!  I look forward to these precious moments together every single day!!!

Spring Break, last week, really put a kink in things.  The nice weather has been hard on us as well.  So we've not been keeping up with school work as faithfully as I had planned.  But you know what, that's ok!  Over the last three weeks I've let Joshua have several days to just play outside.  That's one of the blessings of homeschooling.  The freedom to enjoy each and every day for what it has to offer.

Now during Spring Break (DH is a school teacher and so we follow his school's schedule), I had hoped to do a FEW things throughout the week.  Well, you know what, the books and activities were never even broached!  Ah, well, so we're just a tad behind.  But again, that's ok.  They joys of homeschooling include the fact that we can continue schooling on Saturdays or into the summer--which I'm planning to do anyway.

These last few days of schooling have been especially rewarding.  Even though we've been on a break last week, Joshua picked right back up with school work.

The most exciting thing that has changed as of this week, is that I've deliberately set aside a subject/time for Bible.  I'm tired of not doing anything in the area of Bible study with Joshua.  I have been waiting for the "right" curriculum to do Bible, and so I have just not done anything.  I tried to have a "Bible time" in the morning hours where we'd sing songs and pray together, but that wasn't happening.  So this week I put a new line on our subject board--"Bible."  And on it I put a scripture to cover every day.  This week we were specifically addressing Respect and Obedience since Joshua has had a little difficulty in showing both to our neighbors (his friends' parents).  We covered Ephesians 6, and passages in First Peter as well as a passage in Second Corinthians.  And I will say that the time spent was both beneficial to me as well as to Joshua. 

Where I plan to go with this next week I'm not exactly sure yet.  Steve suggested that I follow a "Life of Christ" chart of some sort and read through his life over a period of weeks/months.  I was thinking of starting in the book of Matthew.  I'm not sure.  But what I do plan to do is have us read together a passage of scripture and talk about it generally and maybe go specifically into a topic that might apply for the moment.  If not we'll just read and then move on.  We did buy Joshua a great Bible that he can read himself called "The Adventure Bible for Young Readers." 

In other areas of study Joshua just continues blossoming. 

READING: We have finished Book 2 of the Pathway Readers for 2nd grade.  His reading is just moving right along.  He still does not do much reading silently, but I KNOW that that will come in time, because I do see him perusing through magazines and books and he's bound to be doing some "reading."  He just has not tackled chapter-type books on his own, yet.  But it will come, I feel 100% confident of that!  So I'll continue to conduct our reading lessons with him reading them aloud to me.

MATH:  Our first lesson back this week after Spring Break did take Joshua nearly an hour to complete--due to distractions.  But the last two days of this week Joshua has been self-motivated to finish his worksheet and has done excellently.  However, next week I'm going to have him review over his addition facts.  It seems he has relapsed just a tad and I'm not sure he's able to recall them as readily as he once did.

HANDWRITING:  We're coming near the end of his second handwriting manual in Handwriting Without Tears.  His handwriting continues to improve and he doesn't complain about doing this work as they are not lengthy assignments.  But today he made the most interesting comment.  Yesterday while I was preparing some cards to send to relatives, Joshua showed an interest in writing two little cards to be included in my mailings to his grandparents and another to his cousins.  On both he included a short little note which he wrote himself with my help for spelling.  When he was finished I told him that we should do this more often and use it as his writing assignment.  And Joshua, so matter-of-factly, said, "yeah, and it would be so much for fun and useful than doing workbooks."  And that's always exactly how I have felt, but it's so hard to follow through on that.  This is a whole other topic for another post!

GRAMMAR:  Joshua has shown more interest in the "First Language Lessons."  I really like this book because the lessons are simple and require no preparation and are short and easy to do.  And I will say over this last week I have continued to be impressed with Joshua's ability to memorize.  He has two poems memorized and has a grasp on all the things that I am teaching him via this book.  We will stick with this one for the coming year!

HISTORY:  Joshua made a funny comment today.  Sometimes I allow him to pick the order that we will do lessons, and so today he set the order of his work.  He went through the list of reading and math and piano and science and grammar and put history last, "because," as he put it, "then I can just relax."  He enjoys listening to the stories and today he even ran to the map to find where Carthage was and Rome and the Alps.  It was a lot of fun.  This is another book/curriculum that we'll be keeping for the coming year!

SCIENCE:  After weeks of having science on Hold, I finally went onto Lesson 12.  We talked about tadpoles.  It was impressive when Joshua ran off into the playroom and came back with a book and--using the Table of Contents, all on his own--he showed me a very well illustrated section on the metomorphosis of the life of a frog from an egg to an adult.  He knew exactly which book this was found in and brought it right to me when we had our discussion.  It saved me some time of having to look it up on-line, which is what I had planned to do!  I was so very much pleased.  (However, I'm thinking of "ditching" this curriculum next year.  I'll likely discuss what I'm hoping to do next year in an upcoming post.)

PIANO:  We're working on learning the lines and spaces.  Joshua's GOOD memory is showing itself in this area as well.  We're using flashcards and Joshua has grasped the lines very well and is currently working on the spaces.  We'll continue working on this over the next few weeks before we move forward in the book!

Have I mentioned lately that  I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING?!  Well, I do.  This is such a joy and I just cannot imagine my life any other way!  I thank God for this opportunity!

So I guess I need to update my Orchestra pursuits!

It's been two weeks now since I auditioned.  In answer to the comment regarding what piece I played, I performed the last half of the Finale in the Carl Reinecke Flute Concerto in D. 

We are all our worst critic are we not?!  And I am my worst.  I played about at 3/4 of my ability.  I don't like making excuses, but I had them this time.  The room was warm and my mouth became completely dry.  Not just sort-of dry, but no moisture what-so-ever in my mouth dry.  I was trying to lick my lips during rests and swallow, hoping to produce more saliva, but it just wasn't happening.  When the air is passing over dry tongue and lips the tone is affected, and mine was.  And to top that all off, this room was a nightmare for beautiful sound.  The walls and high ceiling sucked all my sound into nothing.  No reverb, no nice echo of sound (this room was designed as a recording studio!).  So my rhaspy, airy, dry tone was left with nothing to "fill" it up.  And the further into the concerto I got, my mind started to tell me all of this.

I did fine technically.  I did fine in interpretation, but my tone lacked SO much.  After coming away from the audition I realized I should have stopped and told the five gentlemen that I really needed a drink of water.  This wasn't some high school all-state audition.  This was a professional gig and we were all adults.  They would certainly have excused me to get some water.  And I could have at least started on the last page.  If they had frowned on such a request, that would have been fine.  At least I could have had the opportunity to play my best.

Anyway, so I was disappointed that I didn't show them my real ability.  However, I did get a call sometime last week from the conductor (who is French Canadian and difficult to understand) and he invited me to play Flute 2 on the concert.  The piece that requires a 2nd flute is the overture to the Marriage of Figaro.  There are two other pieces on the concert--a string serenade and the Symphony No. 40 by Mozart.  I was really hoping to be able to play the Symphony--but it only calls for one flute.

So now my curiosity is up as to who is first flute.  Is it someone from the symphony 70 miles away (where the conductor is also director), or is it someone local.  I'm very curious.

Well, I just keep asking myself, what if I had done my best, would it have made a difference?  Would I have been asked to play the first part, and play on the Symphony?  I don't know.  I just regret that I didn't get to play my best.

But I'm not complaining, per se.  I'm glad to be playing at all and playing in the orchestra on some real music again!  AND getting paid!  Who knows, maybe they are going to "audition" each concert (four a year) and I'll get an opportunity on further concerts to play first.

Anyway, I am excited.  My sister-in-law was asked to play horn 2 on the overture as well.  Steve has not been contacted yet, but they do not require trombones on the first concert anyway.  They were only getting an idea of the talent in the area for future concerts.

    I think it's about time I put in a little something about my life beyond my children.  Our little (but growing) town is trying to start up a fully professional symphony orchestra.  There are many talented musicians in the area and there is an established large city orchestra about an hour out-of-town (where many of our string players will be coming from). 
    This coming Sunday the orchestra board will be holding auditions for all instrumentalists for the upcoming 2006-2007 season.  The inaugural performance will be on April the 4th in the theater downtown.  This appears to be a big deal and hopefully the group will indeed succeed and become a thriving organization.
    I plan to audition for a spot as a flutist.  I have not auditioned for something in a long time.  I have selected a concerto piece I played for my senior recital in college (11 years ago!) and I will be playing one of the orchestral excerpts that they require as well.  I feel pretty good about my playing.  I have played on-and-off for the last 10 years--of course nothing like I was in college when I would practice anywhere from one to four hours in a day!
    The exciting thing about this is that it is going to be professional and each concert (they plan to have four concerts a year starting off) will be a paid gig.  And they will be playing challenging orchestral work--something I have missed doing all these years.
    I've always wanted to play in a major orchestra.  One of my dreams--before I became absolutely passionate about raising a family and being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mommy--was to be a flute professor at a university and to play in a symphony orchestra full time.  But I gave that up when I married Steve.  I could never have continued devoting my life to playing the flute and had a life as a wife and mother.  I couldn't be passionate and successful at both to the degree to which I desired.
    Well, this little orchestra is nothing major, but this might be my chance to play professionally.  It might be a wonderful opportunity for me.  I still love to play my flute and I feel confident about my playing.  I may not play on the scale of a top musician, but I'm sure I'm above-average.
    Oh, and by the way, Steve is also auditioning for a trombone spot.  So we'll see what happens.  We should know results by the end of next week!

So, does this blog feel neglected?  I truly mean to get on here once a week and journal our school.  Sometimes, though, I feel like there is just nothing to say.  But that's not true.  Certainly I can come up with a moment of praise, an instance of frustration, an "ah-ha" moment, a neat answer or fun lesson to share.  I will try harder, because I continue to be pleased and thrilled with our homeschooling endeavor and I would like to preserve the times that we share learning together!

Since I last wrote in late January, we have maintained a similar schedule.  Joshua does some independent work every morning.  This usually consists of a handwriting practice page and a page in the math workbook (unless we're going over a new concept and that has to wait until we have uninterrupted time alone!).  Sometimes he also gets his piano practice in during the morning hours if he feels so inclined.

The afternoons are devoted to our reading lesson, science lesson, history reading, and our new grammar exercises.  I finally broke down and ordered the First Language Lessons by Wise (The Well-Trained Mind).  We are currently on lesson eight and I'm not jumping for joy over the curriculum, but it does seem to fit Joshua's learning style very well, and it fits my teaching style to a "t"!  Joshua does get "annoyed" with all the repetition--and no wonder--he knows the definition or poem we have to memorize by the second day.  And so the countless days of repeating the definition of a noun three times EACH day truly vexes him and he insists that he says the definition on his own without having to listen to me say it over and over or even to say it along with me.

And I have truly found that Joshua's memory skills to be superb!  He memorized a short poem called "The Caterpillar" from lesson two (I believe) in just two lessons.  He had the definition of a noun down in two days as well.  In piano it took him less than one day to have the lines of the treble and bass clef memorized.  And he has all his addition math facts memorized.  I've been just as impressed with his ability to memorize Bible verses as easily.  So memorizing is definitely a strong point where Joshua is concerned! 

But again, First Language Lessons is about exposure and not mastery.  And that is exactly where I'm going with Joshua's schooling these early years.

In math, Joshua has learned how to read digits up to the hundreds of thousands.  It took him about two days to comprehend the 10,000s and 100,000s.  It was very difficult at first, but a breeze now.  He also knows how to find the Perimeter of an object.  Math is a fairly "easy" subject for Joshua.

Joshua is continuing to read well.  He still requests that we do his reading lessons aloud.  He reads the stories aloud to me and we go over the questions in the workbook that evaluate his comprehension of the story.  We're almost done with book two of the Pathway Readers at the second grade level.  This is impressive to me because the Pathway Readers are touted to be advanced as readers go.  However, I think at some point he should read silently in his head (right?).  When do I need to push that transition?  He does a little silent reading on his own (the "Magic Tree House" series), but I don't think he's reading word for word.  I really believe he's skimming and just grasping the story by scanning the text. 

But he should learn to read alone and silently--at some point, I believe.  But is he ready?  How can I tell?  One thing that does concern me is that as he reads aloud I still do have to correct him from time to time.  The main problem is that he tends to read quickly and pass over words or "concludes" on his own what words are coming up and insert them.  This is what gives me the idea that he skims/scans text when he is reading silently.  He does a little of it while reading aloud with me.  But he does read aloud very well, with the minor slips here and there (although, these slips can cause considerable changes in the meaning of the text!).

That's probably my biggest "concern" right now with Joshua's schooling.  All other subject areas are going well.

*I'm actually doing something a little different today.  I'm entering a post about something beyond our homeschooling.  I have always said I wanted to do more than just journal our school days, so this is a start.  Maybe this will be a start and I can start posting some deeper topics of discussion.*

We have moved two babies into older sibling rooms in the past three years.  I really enjoy the fact that our three boys share the same room.  Currently their ages are 7 1/2, 3 1/2 and just turned 2.   Here is how we did it.

When we were about a month and a half from the due date of our third son, Daniel, we decided to move our second son, Caleb—then 15 months—into his older brother, Joshua's room (then 5).  This transition went very smoothly.  We did make their bedtimes the same time and had a clear and constant routine at bedtime.  Of course, many nights became “party” time because sharing a room was new to them.  But Caleb was still in a crib and so the “party” consisted of them “reading” books in bed or tossing stuffed animals in and out of the crib.

Having them share a room was actually a great thing to do, in my mind, because it really helped them bond as brothers.  This transition was so smooth.  We never had any troubles.  If Caleb woke during the night, which he did do from time to time, I was amazed that Joshua would sleep right through it (loud crying and all!).  Of course, he is an extremely heavy sleeper!

In the mornings, Joshua would get out of bed as he normally would and come find me, like he was already doing.  Caleb was either still asleep or would be calling out to me to get him out of the crib.  It wasn’t long before Joshua learned how to take Caleb out of the crib and they would both come out of the room together in the mornings.
Then when our fourth child was about due we put our third son, Daniel, into the big boys’ room (he was about 16 months at that time).  The older boys were almost 3 and 6.  Again we stuck to a strict bedtime routine, made all their bedtimes the same (8:30) and the transition went smoothly.  There is a “party” in there about three or four nights a month.  But as long as they are not coming out of their room and as long as the noise is kept low we allow it.  Both older boys seem to be heavy sleepers because Daniel cries at night sometimes, still, and they don’t wake and I come in to get him.

We have contemplated moving Joshua out into his “own” bedroom (the playroom), but I so enjoy seeing all three of them together in the same room.  The dynamics of their relationship is enriched I think by them sharing the same room.  And none has ever asked to be removed or have their own place.  But Joshua is only seven (almost eight) and he may start feeling that way soon.  We’ll see.

We’ve also considered moving Joshua’s bedtime to 9:00 and keeping the younger ones’ bedtime at 8:30.  We would like some one-on-one time with Joshua.  And we think it will work.  There have been a few evenings when the younger kids have gone to bed and Joshua will be out with family and come home a little late.  When he goes into his room (as long as the other 2 are asleep) and gets into bed, it’s all just fine.  I even whisper a goodnight to him and tuck him in (remember we have heavy sleepers in this house!).  But I imagine if the later bedtime was still early enough that the younger two were not asleep yet, it might cause a problem with them waking up fully again.

Well, this has gotten really long.  I have been trying to see if I can remember everything we have done.  Right now Joshua is in a twin bed, Caleb is in a toddler bed, and Daniel is in a crib (at 26 months—we’re not ready to move him out yet!).  And we’ll probably keep it that way awhile until Daniel IS ready for a toddler bed.

    We've been chugging along these last two weeks.  I have been pleased with our "new" schedule.  Instead of letting the boys ramble around ALL morning playing (because I didn't seem to get anything done if I tried to "organize" them), these last two weeks I have had Joshua do some morning lessons at 10am when Miriam goes down for her nap.  The lessons cannot be lessons that require a lot of attention on my part.  So he does work that can be done on his own with minimal help from me.
    This means that at 10am he usually gets a handwriting exercise done, a page in the math book done, and maybe a little science lesson (in which we TRY to include the younger boys).  He might also get in a little bit of piano practice during the morning, as well.
    This usually leaves only his reading lesson and history lesson for the afternoon.  Sometimes we have to do math in the afternoon because it requires me to teach a new topic.  But that only occurs every few days or so.  This has really improved our time spent in the afternoon.  Instead of feeling bogged down and tired by naptime and trying to cram in all the work, we get about an hours worth done in the morning leaving a little bit of down time in the afternoon.
    This system has worked well.  Joshua has been able to focus despite the distractions going on around him.  On one occassion, however, I did have to move him into another room.  He hasn't griped about doing work in the morning, either (like I thought he might--he's missing out on playtime).  I think he realizes the more work he gets done in the morning the less work he has to do in the afternoon.
   
    Just a few notes on his work, handwriting appears to be slipping a tad.  The workbooks are requiring him to write on a smaller ledger and he's gotten sloppy.  Not sure if this should require more practice or just more opportunities to write in general.  In piano, Joshua is now learning the lines and the spaces.  He has worked very diligently at learning the lines of the bass clef and knows them well.  He took to that with excitement and energy.  In math, Joshua has done excellent with adding numerous two and three digit numbers.  Science and history continue to be "fun" topics for absorbing material.
    Joshua's reading lessons have gotten lengthy and more challenging.  We are in the Second Grade book 2 and I'm wondering if we're moving along too quickly.  He has some difficulty reading the stories.  I asked him if he preferred to continue reading them aloud to me, and he said "yes."  As he reads he skips words or changes them slightly.  Sometimes resulting in a complete change in the meaning of the sentence.  I end up correcting him frequently.  If I were to slow down, I'm not sure how to do that.  We've been reading three stories a week.  Now that they are longer and more difficult, maybe it's time to slow down the pace.  Joshua is an excellent reader, but maybe this is too far past his ability level at this point?  Not sure--will look into it!

"...because that means I get to spend more time with my family"

This was said by my 7-year-old son while we were headed to the park after lunch on this very beautiful (albeit, very windy) January day! 

Then he went on to say, "Not all families can do that because both the daddy and the mommy have work they have to do."

    I am very excited that today we are able to use our NEW kitchen table for the very first time!  Steve worked on building it over the Christmas break.  My dad built one just like this a long time ago for our family when I was growing up (they still use it to this day).  When our other table just wasn't working for our growing family, I got the idea for Steve and my dad to build one like the one I had growing up.  And here it is being used this morning for the first time while Joshua does some schoolwork and Daniel and Caleb have drawing time.

    The table is 5 feet round and has a laminate top.  The turn-table (or Lazy Susan) is perfect for all the meal's dishes.  It will sit our 6-member family very comfortably--as you can see.  And can accommodate very easily 8--maybe even 10!
    I'll also add that hopefully in the next few months I will get some help and re-do the colors in my kitchen/dining area.  Right now the walls are that dark navy blue and burgandy color and I'd like to lighten them up.  The cabinets are a nice oak color and so I will keep them.  But we might just re-do the countertops as well, now that Steve has had experience working with laminate!  If I do this project I'll be sure and post the progress on this blog!!

    Boy is it hard to get back into school work.  Steve has gone back to school/teaching, but my mom hasn't (college).  So needless to say, I've been spending extra time with her instead of getting back on track.  Well, my grandmother was in town last week and so we did spend several days with her.  It still felt like the holidays around here.

    Let's see, so what did we get done last week--our first week back in school, supposedly.  Well, we did a review of lesson 11 in math to see what, if anything, was retained over the holiday break.  Joshua struggled a bit on one word problem, but overall it went well.  We are starting lesson 12 this week.

    And I guess that's it.  I had intended on reading a couple of stories in the reader, doing a few pages in our *new* writing book, and taking a peak into the *new* piano book, but I managed only to show Joshua the More Busy Times reader and his new printing book.  That's all. 

    Joshua did, however, get a jump start on his piano.  One day this week he was at the keyboard experimenting and came running to me to listen to what he could do.  He had actually looked ahead and read through the second lesson in his new piano book.  I was pretty pleased with that accomplishment.  When a child's motivation to learn new things comes from within (intrinsic) I'm convinced they retain a good deal more of the material.  We'll see what he "learned" on his own when we do actually come to that lesson this week.

    I did make it to the library to check out our new read aloud for the lunch table.  Because of Winn Dixie is the book on tap for our next book.  The kids seemed to enjoy The Wind in the Willows although most of it was way above their heads.  So I'm looking for this new book to be of lighter fare, and possibly a bit more attainable for the youngers.  But Caleb, 3 1/2, always did ask to hear the Willows book when we'd sit down at the lunch table.

    Well, even if last week wasn't much of anything, I have a full slate of work to go for this coming week.  My real problem: I have to find SOME way to do SOME school work in the morning!  We have so much to do come afternoon nap time, that we work for 2 or more hours and there goes any hope of ME getting a little rest for myself.  Not to mention the fact, that after a long, busy morning, both Joshua and I are pretty worn out and not really in the mood to delve into a ton of material.

    So I must find a way to work on part of our schoolwork during Miriam's morning nap.  The current problem is Daniel (2) and having Joshua's undivided attention.  Maybe I can have Joshua do the work that doesn't require my assistance, but he cannot keep on-task if there are distractions going on around him.  I'm going to have to figure this one out. 
  
    One other noteworthy piece of information, I did purchase (win on eBay) two different curriculum material tonight.  First Language Lessons is a book that I have been thinking of getting for 6+ months now.  I was able to get it rather cheaply tonight.  And then I got a Spelling workbook.  I'm getting that book mainly as a guide or for ideas on how to teach spelling.  I read something from a homeschooling book the other day that talked about the site method of teaching spelling.  The word should be written down on a board or paper, the student looks at the word and then closes his eyes to see if he can picture it in his mind.  He then reviews the word on the board before it is erased and he then tries to spell it from memory.  I might try this approach to see how it works.

    OH, and another possible activity for this coming week--AHHH, I haven't written this in the lesson plans--is to have Joshua write 2 or 3 "Thank You" notes to grandparents/aunts and uncles for his Christmas presents.  I'm not sure how I want to go about doing this, although I thought I'd include a picture of him playing/using the item that he is thanking them for in the card.  If I don't write this down in his lesson plans, though, it won't get done!!!

Well, we'll see how this "real" week back to school goes!

Well, I'm sure I need to put in an update here for Daniel's rash. 

The last entry was on Sunday, the 25th.  On Monday, he woke up and the rash had nearly faded away.  It was faint on his body and only mildly rosey on his cheeks.  We were unable to see his pediatrician that day because of it being a day off/holiday for most people.

On Tuesday, Daniel woke up with even less evidence of a rash.  It was very faint and lacey pink on his torso and only a hint of pink on his cheeks.  The pediatrician saw him and said that she was pretty sure the rash was viral, although she would not say it was Fifth's Disease.  She said there are over 400 (!) viral rashes and they are all lumped together.  I did not know this, nor did I find it anywhere on the internet where it said this.  Oh well.

She did find a pretty badly infected right ear.  So she put him on another antibiotic and some decongestant for his nose and cough.  He has been taking both for 2 1/2 days now and seems so much better.  The rash is completely gone, his appetite is back up (he ate 3 whole slices of pizza for lunch!), and his cough and gunky nose are nearly history .

He has had no signs of any reaction to this specific antibiotic, although last time the rash did not start to appear until day 5.  I'll just keep an eye on him.

Oh, just wanted to put in a note, the pediatrician said that an allergic reaction would cause a rash that we could "feel and not just see."  She described an allergic rash to have welps.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  We're on the mend!

My son has a rash, and after a ton of research on-line I am baffled.  At one time I thought it was Roseola, but there was no fever.  I thought it was Fifths Disease, but the rash did not start on the face, but on the torso and it is not lacy, but splotchy.  I even considered Scarlett Fever, but again no fever.  And I have finally given consideration to an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin--which he just started a week ago, but still not sure.

Daniel started his Amoxicillin last Saturday for a strep infection on his bottom.  He was otherwise very healthy and happy.  Out-of-town family came to visit on Monday and had a sick child (runny nose, fever).  Daniel was exposed to whatever they were carrying.  I wasn't too concerned, however, because he was on antibiotics.

On Wednesday, during bath, I noticed some rough skin on Daniel's sides and stomach.  It felt like excema or sand paper (thus, the Scarlett Fever consideration).  But it wasn't red nor were there any bumps or spots.

Around that time Daniel also developed a slight cough and runny nose.  As of today, Sunday, he has a pretty rough cough (not consistent or constant, though) and a runny nose.

The rash began to develop over the next few days.  The red spots/bumps began to appear on his tummy and back and sides.  By the next day they were covering most of his torso and legs and a few on his face.  By yesterday and today he was completely covered with the spots--even on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet.  The spots and redness on his face became much more apparent.

Except for the cough, a loss in appetite and a slight bit of irritability, Daniel is fine and healthy and happy.  He still plays and laughs and runs around.  He wants to be held some, but not more than usual.  The rash does not seem to irritate him and it does not appear to be itchy.  I don't think he even notices he has a rash.

Finally, I'll add here a few pictures.



Are there any ideas?  I'm not concerned yet because he seems just fine and he has no fever (and has not had a fever).  He did vomit for no apparent reason what-so-ever on Tuesday before the rash appeared.  Maybe it is more related than I had originally thought.  Today he seems to be at the height of the rash.  It is at its worse right now it seems.

We will contact our doctor tomorrow (since today is Christmas) and ask about the consideration of being allergic to Amoxicillin.  We have stopped giving it to him completely as of right now.

And a related question: how did he get sick (with the cough and runny nose from his cousin) if he was taking antibiotics?!  That one gets me, too!

So any thoughts or comments?!

Thanks!

    Once again, I'm blown away by Joshua's acceleration and ease of learning math.  Maybe he's just bent in that area (I was always "good" at math).  Of course, I also need to consider the fact that using Math-U-See may also have something to do with it.  It seemed like just a few months ago--and it really was at the start of the school year--we were just reviewing and mastering our single digit addition facts.  He had them down pretty well at that time, but in just those three months we have gone from single digit addition to triple digit addition with carrying over!  Maybe this is normal progression of most math curriculums.  But what surprises me the most is Joshua has grasped it and done so with very little effort.
    Thursday was a good example of this.  We began lesson 11 in the Beta book.  This is the first lesson introducing adding three-digit numbers including the need to regroup the tens and hundreds (carry-over).  We watched the video of Mr. Demme presenting the lesson and then Joshua and I set to work on the first workbook page, 11A. 
    Of course, Joshua and I worked with the blocks--which are neat little plastic manipulatives that represent varies units and tens and hundreds.  We did all 9 problems using the blocks, carrying over the necessary blocks to regroup the tens and hundreds and Joshua seemed to grasp the concept.
    On Friday, I required that he work page 11B.  I offered to help him and use the blocks and he declined the assistance.  He proceeded to work the page and completed all 9 problems with only one mistake.  And he managed to work the word problem "in his head"!
    OK, so maybe he is good in math!  Or maybe the curriculum and method are really good.  Or maybe he has a great teacher .  Or maybe it's just a bit of all three!

    I am not very talented with the written word.  So you will have to bear with me as I write this.  I would prefer it be full of wonderful sounding words.  But instead, it will just be filled with simple words for a wonderful man.

    I am married to an outstanding man.  He is not perfect (a characteristic which I am all too eager to point out), but he is so very perfect for me.

   Steve is a good-looking man.  Here he sits waiting for his bride on his wedding day over 11 years ago.  He is such a handsome man.  I fell head-over-heels for him and his dreamy eyes and his winning smile.   I suppose you could say next to him I no longer looked like the wall-flower I felt I always was, but I was instantly transformed into an attractive and winsome woman.

    Steve has marvelous qualities.  They are qualities that truly compliment me.  I have become so much more easy-going because of him.  In the early days of our marriage I spent a lot of time worrying about anything and everything.  If something wasn’t entirely under my control or wasn’t going as I had planned I easily found myself stressed and in an uproar.  But over the years, Steve’s influence on me has greatly affected my behavior towards things that are beyond my control.  Even events that “appear” to be in my control no longer take me captive and control me with frustration, worry and stress.

    Steve is an excellent daddy.  He loves his children and finds such joy in them.  Here he is reading bedtime stories to our three boys.  They rapture in his attention and always enjoy one-on-one daddy time.  As they grow up, I have no doubt that some of the words that they will speak to me as well as to Steve will be the most precious words, “I want to be like daddy.”

    Steve is kind.  Many times he does things around the house that I fail to acknowledge, like emptying out the dishwasher, or making the bed, or doing the laundry, or vacuuming the floors, or dusting the furniture, or washing the windows, or doing the dishes, or mopping the floors.  But he does them from time to time and what woman could ever complain about that?

   Steve is thoughtful.  When I’ve needed a break and have had an opportunity to go out “with the girls” (most often my mom and sister), Steve is willing to let me go.  He has allowed me the little bit of freedom to get the needed rest and time of rejuvenation that I need to make it through another day with four children (three of them being three years old and younger)!  Speaking of thoughtful, do you want to know what he gave me for my birthday this past year?  A night’s stay alone in an area hotel with a Jacuzzi tub!

     Steve is a support to me!  Through many of my endeavors (crazy and not-so-crazy), Steve has stood by me (or was it behind me).  Whether it was homeschooling, cloth diapering, trying all sorts of crazy recipes, frugal shopping, or any myriad of other ideas, he remained loyal to me and supportive of me.  *He has changed his fair share of dirty cloth diapers—and even washed a few.*  The most encouraging and supportive thing Steve has done for me was his willingness to be there for me while I birthed our fourth child, our first daughter, via a homebirth VBAC after 3 previous c-sections.  It was a very rough road that we traveled over this last pregnancy that ended in the glorious birth of our daughter in May, and the labor and delivery were anything but easy.  But Steve was there with me the entire way!

    Steve is my husband and friend.  He is my confident and my support.  He is my helpmeet and my leader.  He is my joy and my love.  He is my partner in this fantastic life God has given me to travel.  Without Steve, it would be a much less enjoyable and much rockier journey!

    The weeks up until the week of Thanksgiving, Joshua and I did a good bit of work.  We finished up strong in all the areas.  Now that the break is over, we should be picking back up.  (We basically took the entire week off from Thanksgiving--I had planned to do some work on Monday and Tuesday, but Steve was off (school teacher) and whenever he is off it is VERY hard to do any schoolwork here at the house!)  Well yesterday Steve and I had an appointment in Dallas and so nothing was scheduled yesterday, and today Joshua is playing so constructively in the playroom and I'm beat (mostly from the "stresses" of the holiday week last week) so we'll see about starting back up tomorrow.

    But you know, I feel very good and confident about our school year so far.  Joshua is right on track--maybe a little ahead in some areas.  If we do anything this month it might be focusing mostly on the Pathway Readers and our Math-U-See curriculum.  What I also should think about throwing in the mix is a writing assignment--maybe a simple story on the spirit of Christmas.  Hmmm.  Maybe there's a way to "Row" (for all you 5-in-a-Rowers out there) a couple of Christmas/Giving type books and then have him finish it off with a simple story that he composes and writes on his own.  Well, I'm not even sure how to go about doing that.  And it sounds like I'd be compounding my responsibilities these last three weeks instead of alleviating them.  So we'll see.  Maybe I can google some ideas.

    But back to Joshua's progress.  He has come leaps and bounds in his handwriting.  I was able to order the next workbook "Printing Power" from Handwriting Without Tears.  I think we'll start that up in January.  He was also moving right along in his piano material.  I FINALLY managed to get his Level C book and maybe we'll take a peek at that this week.

    The only thing I feel I might try to add 2nd semester would be a spelling curriculum--possibly a grammar one too.  The Draw, Write Now was going well, once I decided it wasn't for his handwriting practice, but instead, an opportunity to learn a little bit about drawing and also to exercise his creativity in writing.  So I might move that curriculum from one lesson every single week to maybe twice a month or even once a month.  This will move in some more time for additional curriculums. 

    And here again, what I don't get done in the "regular" school year (which I have slated until the first week in June), can get caught up during the summer months.  I'm not overly worried nor do I feel pressured to get everything done before summer.

    Might I just add, that this evening is a Ladies' Night Out with women from church and I am SO looking forward to a relaxing evening eating some good food, chatting and "getting away" for a couple of hours.  Steve is a wonderful husband and father to let me do these sorts of things every once in awhile.

Wow, I just realized that today my little Miriam is 6 months old.  How did that creep up on me?!

Today, I didn't even push Joshua to do school.  Why?  Because when "schooltime" would have started Joshua was curled up on the couch reading a Magic Treehouse book.  About 30 minutes later he was still reading.  I asked him if he thought he'd get to his work after he finished the book and he said, yes, but that he was going to read another one that was on the couch beside him.

Over an hour later, he had picked himself up and was reading across the room from me.  From time to time he asked me for the meaning of something.  One was "life boat."  He spent probably 2 hours reading those books today.  I asked him, trying not to sound like I was quizzing him, about the books and he mentioned about a boat that sank (Titanic) and that it took a long time to sink.

I don't think I needed to pressure him into doing any school work today.  I think spending a couple of hours reading a book was just what he needed today (me too) and all was well and good.  I am just so proud and thrilled that he enjoys reading.  There is nothing more critical to life-long learning than being an avid reader!

This is Joshua's latest picture using the Draw, Write Now curriculum.  I am having mixed feelings about the curriculum.  On the one hand, Joshua is actually drawing and coloring and applying a bit of creativity.  But in reality he is completely copy-catting the subject.  I suppose you have to start somewhere.  He does vary the backgrounds from the illustrations in the book.  But the work is also frustrating (for me) because I'm not too good at instructing him in drawing skills.  So when he makes a "mistake" I'm not sure how to direct him appropriately.
    For the last two drawings (the barn and these ducks), I instructed Joshua to write the story all on his own.  In the past Joshua has dictated the story to me, I have written it down with blank lines in between and Joshua would then copy the words.  This was going ok, but Joshua was getting very little "from memory" handwriting practice.  It was also limiting his story--since we were trying to get it all on one page of writing paper. 
    With this exercise I even told him to "figure out" the spellings on his own. He was especially frustrated with this because he was absolutely positive that he had to get it perfect the first time (my perfectionism showing up in him?!).  I reassured him that it was ok to make mistakes.  And after much conserted effort Joshua came up with two great stories. 
    This one about ducks goes like this: "Mommy sat in her nest. In two minutes she got up and she saw eggs. She quacked to daddy. Daddy came and they both looked in the nest. The End" 
    You know the spelling is not bad. I sat with him and showed him the corrections for each word he misspelled.  Then I had him copy the words spelled correctly.  I wonder if this is a good method?
    And you know, I would have to say, after looking closely at his work, his handwriting is really not bad at all.  In fact, I can really see some excellent effort.  I think that this work is outstanding for his age and especially considering that handwriting was his weakest area.    I might keep this curriculum going.  If anything, it gives Joshua some creative writing practice.  Hmmm.  Something to think about.  I just wish it wasn't so time consuming (and at times frustrating--only because maybe I'm expecting something I shouldn't be?!).