Has it really been that long since I've posted?  I mean, I knew it'd been a while but I didn't know it had been that long!  Anyway here is our life lately.

I'm loving Bob Jones Science, although we did end up skipping the section about moon and stars because neither of us is really into it and it was a struggle to just pull the book out.  Gotta love homeschooling, we just breezed right on to the next thing! :)  We aren't as far in the book as we should be because we spend a lot of time skipping the curriculum in favor of other things but it's never far from my mind and lots of things that we do are worthwhile and educational.  As a former preschool teacher I'm really big on teachable moments and if one comes along it just might sweep us up for the rest of the day! :)  Or couple of days even. 

We are doing 1st Grade Saxon math and it's soooo boring to me and a little to her too.  So I stopped for a bit in favor of games and just taking a break from math and yesterday was trying to do an adding game with her that didn't have things for her to add up (basically, asking for her to answer mathproblems orally) and she couldn't do it.  So I guess even though we are a little bored with it, it's the basics that she's missing so we'll probably just cut out the boring parts and do 2 lessons a day to get the basics down. 

Spelling is going awesome.  Jillian is getting very good at reading and spelling, though I can't convince her to spend more time with chapter books.  She's still wanting to read books that are easy for her which is ok with me so she can build up her confidence.  I do wish she'd challenge herself a bit more.  I guess that will come with time.  We;ve been using the Dolch words as a basis for her spelling and I'm so pleased to note that she knows 173/220 sight words of the Dolch words charts which according to that system is through 3rd grade!

I haven't really done much in terms of social studies other than learning the meanings behind all the holidays we've just come off of.  But this week and next I am doing a family tree unit with her which will involve creating the actual "tree" with leaves, interviewing family members for their information (birth dates and maybe some other tidbits and favorites), writing out the info and laying out the leaves connected like a family tree.  I printed out a sheet from www.enchantedlearning.com that has names of family members and their definitions.  Anyway, I better wrap this up sine I've been working on it off and on all day.  Hope to post more often!!!

Swiped from Missy :)  Fairly accurate, although I don't know that people would call me gushy...unfocused, yes! lol.

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

Yes, it's 2am.  Yes, I'm blogging.  What has my world come to?  A couple of years ago I didn't even know what blogs were!  Since I'm a stranger to pretty much all of you, you should know this about me...I have struggled with depression since shortly after high school.  I have been on and off antidepressants for many years and when I feel well I'm off and then I start sinking and sometimes I have to take meds.  I'm ok with it now but I've also found that meds are a bandaid if you don't dig deeper.  I learned some techniques to take care of myself off of meds when I could.  But I'm back on again and seeing a therapist for the first time ever and loving it.  Here's what prompted me to get well...really well...for the first time.  I was sleeping a lot.  I mean, randomly falling asleep all day long as soon as I sat on the couch.  Jillian was reading a book to me which I love!!!  Is there really anything better than sitting and listening to an emerging reader?  Anyway...I fell asleep!!!  I woke up a few minutes later and she was sitting on the floor reading to herself.  The worst part?  She didn't even care.  I don't mean she didn't mind.  I mean it was so commonplace for her that she just brushed it off.  I was crushed.  Normal mothers do not fall asleep at the drop of the hat simply because they are too emotionally drained to stay awake.  Too bored with life.  Too lazy.  Too unmotivated.  Too anything.  Who does that?  Really depressed people.  So I've had enough of that garbage.  For my children, I will get well.  I've been on Wellbutrin for about a month, I've been for 3 counseling sessions and love it and plan to continue.  My therapist is helping me reorganize my life and my priorities.  My goal is to be on a regular, fairly regimented schedule within a month so we can officially start school with a bang!!!

To all of you mothers out there that struggle with depression or think you might, I'd encourage you to talk to your doctor and seek a solution.  Say a prayer for guidance and put your children first.  My original reason was my children, yes.  But guess what?  The byproduct has been that I'm putting myself first sometimes so I can be better for them!!!  I hope I've given you all something to think about.  Take care!

Keep her home! :)  It was the most agonizing 24ish hours making the choice and I literally lost sleep over it.  What a huge choice!  We were giving up Elementary school for both girls by turning it down.  But I feel right in my heart and Dan is supportive of me and I believe we'll do very well. :)  Not only that but a friend of mine had also applied and ironically enough happened to be next on the waiting list so her daughter got in!  I'm really happy for them, there was no agony about it for them.  They really wanted in, especially this school year for K instead of a 3 hour program that screws up your day and you have to pay for before/afterschool care, it's a full day program.  I was happy for them and then I knew I had truly made the right choice.  In celebration I went out and spent more money!  hahahaha.  Seriously, I did do a little shopping.  I had a coupon for TRU that if you bought an eduscience telescope or Microscope for $19.99 or more you would get a free eduscience globe valued at $19.99.  Well I already knew I planned on buying a globe at some point this school year so I figured we might as well get both for that price!  I bought her the smallest telescope which was $19.99 and that will be her Santa gift this year. :)  Of course, then Dan told me that he used to have a telescope and he'd have to see if it was still at his mom's house.  He knew I was buying it, he could have mentioned that!  But if he finds it I'll just return the telescope and get her a microscope instead which was only $5 more.  I just figured we'd get more use out of the telescope in the immediate future. Also, TRU had crayola paper buy one get one free AND the big packs (240 sheets) were on sale for $4 each.  So I got 4 packs and I'll donate 1 to Sunday School, 1 to the library and keep 2.  Not bad, it ended up costing $1 per 120 sheets.  The cheapo dollar store paper is $1 for 30 sheets!

Then I went to Walmart and got her a cheap backpack and lunch box.  When we talk about what she thinks she's missing out on for homeschool she consistently brings up a backpack and bringing her lunch.  So when her workbooks come in I'm going to wrap it up with her text book, work books and some school supplies and give it to her.  She'll be so happy!  I didn't worry about the backpack being a cheap one that will fall apart because it'll pretty much just stay on the floor next to her desk.   I am not sure how much use we'll get out of the lunch box unless we pack her daily snacks in it.  But I figure it'll be good for picnics too.  It's big enough to hold lunch for both girls I think.

Just when I thought we were set to go, homeschooling all the way, train pulling out of the station....a wrench in the works.  Strong Foundations (the charter school we applied to months ago and didn't get into) called today.  They are offering Jillian a spot.  REALLY????  NOW????  I'm so torn!  This is horrible.  When I listened to the message to call them back I knew what they wanted, even though they didn't say it on the machine.  I knew we were first on the waiting list and there was a chance we could get called.  Funny thing is, as much as I would prefer that she go to that school rather than our public schools, home school is my #1 choice and it was made for me already once!  My heart dropped and I was disappointed; almost as disappointed as I was when I found out she didn't get in!!!  lol.  It was easier not to send her when there was no choice! lol.  But I've got so much invested in homeschooling now.  Financially, I've bought a bunch of stuff.  Physically, we've reorganized parts of our house to give her a focused working space (which, ok, is super messy right now...but hey, it's summer!).  Mentally, I've been gearing up for the routine we need and how to work it into our lives.  It's also been a big time sucker, planning and choosing and stressing.  Finally, emotionally.  My heart is really really into the homeschooling.  So easy decision right?  Nope.  I felt that this was certainly a 2 parent decision and called Dan to tell him that she got in, expecting him to say we could go ahead and turn it down.  Nope!!!  He wants to send her!  He was baffled that I didn't!  Ok, it's not that I'm opposed to this school.  I liked it a lot.  But it's gas to go into Pembroke every day (about 13 miles one way), it's 8 hours away from me, it's cookie cutter education even though it's a charter school they are still catering to the whole class.  I'll be babysitting my nephew in the fall and my sister did agree to take J when she gets here and drop her off on her way to work but it's still pickup right in the middle of nap time.  I bought curriculum, did research, made friends with other homeschooling families, networked for resources in the area.  For nothing?  *sigh*  I know that if I insisted, Dan would say forge forward with homeschooling.  But what if I'm wrong?  We won't have this opportunity again next year and we'll be stuck with our school system.  Plus if Jillian goes, Allyson is guaranteed a spot.  How do you KNOW you are making the right choice?  I'm doubting myself all over the place.  I asked the woman if I could call her back tomorrow so that I could take tonight to prayerfully consider my choice.  So here are my pros and cons, some already covered above.  But I need to organize my thoughts and what better spot than a blog?

Homeschool Pros:

• Education tailored to Jilian's interests and needs
• Ability to slow down or speed up accordingly
• No need for her to be gone for 8 hours a day (school time and commute time)
• Freedom to explore field trips when we want, where we want, safely
• Run our own schedule, no assigned bathroom breaks :)
• Vacation on off-peak weeks
• Avoid/control negative peer influences
• No worries about missing out on something if she's sick or something comes up...we'll just postpone the lesson!
• Exposure to more real life activities that can be educational
• Tons of learning opportunities in the area by local business and organizations
• Family connectedness, don't have to worry about parent teacher conferences!

Homeschool Cons:

• Can I be scheduled enough to do it?  I'm not an unschooler, I want some routine.
• Missing out on projects and learning activities with peers
• Jillian wants regular school (backpacks and buddies).
• Opposition from family members

Charter School Pros:

• All of the structure of regular public school with small private school benefits
• Jillian would be happy in that environment
• Dan will be happy that she's in a regular school
• Focused time with Allyson

Charter School Cons:

• Commuting 13 miles to school (gas money!!!)
• No control over her education
• Field trips on buses (no 5 point harness there! haha)
• Pickup is smack in the middle of naptime for Allyson and the little girl I babysit.
• Gone for 8 hours a day and I work at night so I won't see her more than a couple of hours a day
• I believe she's ahead in many areas and K will be below her academically
• Who really wants to follow the crowd?  I don't want Jillian to be a "sheep" socially
• Exposure to childhood crap and drama that she doesn't need to learn about now.

Well, it's clear where my heart is.  But what if I'm wrong?  Input, words of wisdom and advice are WELCOMED!!!!  I only have a few hours though! :)  Oh yeah, and to get my husband on board.....

Since I've decided to be relaxed about her school work (it is summer after all) she's been really much more resistant when we do work on things.  So we are mostly playing games and reading books which is fine by me.  I did retest her on the Dolch words and she's up to 53 out of 110 so that pleases me.  I know she could sound them all out but I give her only 3 seconds and then we move on.  The point is to know her sight words, not what she can figure out. 

Today I read her part of the Usborne books Clothes and Fashion Then and Now Flip Flap book.  Whew, that's a long title to type! :)  It was very cool.  She learned where cloth comes from (including leather...she was oddly delighted to find out that her pink leather coat is cow skin!! ) and what ancient Romans and Egyptians wore.  Now if only we had a globe to put a place to a location ).  We are going to try tying a toga on because there are instructions in the book so that'll be fun.  Maybe tomorrow because Allyson woke up in a grouchy mood so that pretty much squashed any further exploration.   And I learned something new...Ancient Egyptians kept their hair short (both men and women) and wore wigs on special occasions.  Hey, even I'm learning from homeschooling!!! 

Yesterday we played a math game I kind of made up with the dominoes that came in my Saxon manipulatives set.  I spread out the dominoes face down and we each picked one up.  It was sort of counting meets war.  We had a paper with 2 columns and here's how it went:  say I picked up one with 4 and 2 dots and she picked up one with 5 and 5 dots.  I'd count mine and she'd count hers and she'd write down both numbers under our respective columns.  Then she'd circle which was the higher number.  She is really struggling for some reason with greater and lesser or more and less so this was a fun way to exercise that and she enjoyed the game.  I can see this game easily being changed into an addition game (4+2 is 6, rather than just counting to 6).

Oh, we got a bunch of outdoor toys off of freecycle.  A Cozy Coupe, a truck like a Cozy Coupe, a toddler swing (which we have no place to hang!), a plastic table that we will be re-freecycling since it doesn't have chairs and we don't really need it), a Step 2 wagon (now we can freecycle our wagon with the broken wheel!), a "gas" pump for the Cozy Coupes and 2 trikes!  I'm happy...not that we particularly need all that but with Allyson growing and Sam here and when we have friends over now we can all play outside with plenty of stuff to share!!!

That's it for now!  Take care and check back in for more updates!

So I think we are all set for JIllian next year for the most part.  If I could stay off of ebay now.  I bought a bunch of used curriculum and here's what we ended up with. 

Math:

For $30 I got a Saxon math set of manipulatives and the 1st grade teacher's manual.  What a deal!  That's worth $100ish new!  I still have to buy the workbooks but after reading some reviews and asking a friend who uses Saxon I won't be buying the daily meeting book.  She's going to show me hers so I can make a simple one up on my own.  It's only $9...but that's still $9 I can save!  I also have the learning palette games from Usborne for math, a Jump Start World (or something like that) math game and some of my own games I've made up for her.

Science:

For $21 including shipping I got Bob Jones Science for 1st grade.  It came recommended by a few people and looks great.  Again, I have to buy the workbooks but I got the teacher's manual and student textbook, hardcover.  I also have a few science books that I got from my Usborne party.  I also got her a really cool used book about weather that is a workbook and comes with a CD and also internet links to work online too.  It's so neat, I can't wait to try it out.

Spanish:

I don't think I'll do a formal Spanish program with her this year but I did buy her a book called the first 1000 words in Spanish or something like that from Usborne.  I'll keep mixing it into our daily lives (what I can remember...she asked me today to count to hundred by tens in Spanish and I was stumped a couple of times!) for now and if she wants more I'll do something on my own without curriculum.

Phonics/Reading:

I had fallen in love with FIAR which came recommended by others and really wanted it but I think I may hold off unless I find it at a bargain.  Not that it's that expensive but I feel like I have a lot already without adding another element until we see how the schoolyear goes for the first couple of months.  We are working out of a Phonics workbook which is Ages 4-9.  We've had it for quite a while and she's pretty far into the book now.  I also got a book out of the library called Story Stretchers so I may try to emulate the FIAR principal using that book as a help too.  I'd like her to be more interested in chapter books.  Those are well above her reading skill right now but she's not even interested in listening to a chapter each day which I'd love to do with her.

Social Studies:

Probably nothing too formal but I did get her some workbooks on maps and geography and some cool history type books from Usborne showing what life used to be like compared to now.  We'll do the typical school style of learning about history when relevant holidays come up, like Thanksgiving. :)

So if you have noticed a theme, I'm doing mostly first grade work with her.  The Math she's definitely ready for.  Science remains to be seen but if it's too much for her we'll just put it away for next year!  I want her to be challenged and keep moving forward but I'm nervous about moving TOO fast and then if we do send her to public school in the future she may have a hard time.  Maybe that's just me being optimistic :)

On an unrelated note, we celebrated my dad's 60th bday tonight (his actual bday is Monday)!!!!  Man, I can't believe it.  He does not seem 60 at all!  We had supper over at my parents' (cookout) and then my mom invited the seasonals and their friends, Fred and Mary, up for cake and ice cream.  I think he was pleased, if a little embarassed :)  I asked if this was his first surprise party and he said it was, to his recollection.  I've never had a surprise party :(  Well, I guess my engagement party, bridal shower and baby shower were...well, I did figure out the latter two.  Anyhow.  Tomorrow is Father's Day and I have sort of dropped the ball on it.  My plan was to get my dad and Dan mugs with the girls' pics on them and I kept procrastinating until it was too late.  So instead I got Dan 2 unfinished wooden picture frames and I'll have the girls paint them tomorrow morning while he's enjoying sleeping in. :)  He can put them in his office at the store.  Jillian is also going to decorate a plastic cup with foamie stickers for his pencils.   I don't feel too bad about  not having much (a whopping $3 gift!) because we are just caught up on everything and don't have a ton of excess cash right now.  He would rather a small thoughtful gift than an extravagant one.  I'm the same way, but I wouldn't turn down new gold hoops or a pretty diamond tennis bracelet! :)  I have been getting very depressed lately and the other day, sort of randomly,  I couldn't hold myself together...it was like the past year of having an IUD and no PMS hit me like a brick wall all in one day!  It sucked.  Anyway, he was so sweet...he said he was bringing me home a gift, but not to worry, it was free.  Ok..... lol.  So he had Jillian and me close our eyes when he got home and hold our hands out.  He brought me home a rock...awww.  hehehe.  Well, it was very thoughtful really.  He had to go visit a customer who lives on the beach and he knew how I was feeling so he picked out a really heavy rock that was flat on one side so I could paint it as a doorstop.  He brought Jillian home a shell and a neat stripey rock too.  It was really very sweet of him to think of me and what I'd enjoy and I know he wants me to start doing crafts again...part of my issue is that I have no release of emotion.  Normally my crafts would be that outlet for me.  Anyway, moving on. 

Right now I'm listening to Oh Holy Night by Martina McBride.  Sure, I know it's a Christmas song but it is one of my all time favorite hymns.  Check out my music list on www.playlist.com.  My name is jennifer4671.  Very ecclectic, from a couple of Christian songs, a couple of Disney songs (it just switched to Mary Poppins "feed the birds" song), 90s music, modern/new rock, older country. 

Well, it's 11 and Dan just headed off to bed so I suppose I will too.  Chat at you later!

So my party is finally over (sort of) and I made my choices!  Here's the list of what I bought including full price items that I wanted and boosted my party sales, 1/2 price items from my party sales and free items.  Also I'm including what I'm buying from the party that booked off of me since I get deals at her party too!!!

Carry me board book set (on sale for $7, will split up for 3 Christmas gifts)

Clothes and Fashion Flip Flap (history type of book)

Homes and Houses Flip Flap (history)

Addition Learning WrapUps

Mini Children's Bible

Mini Stories from Around the World

Science and Your Body

Science with Lights and Mirrors

Science with Magnets Kid Kit (only a couple extra bucks and includes tools for the projects like magnets and compass, etc)

Then and Now (history)

Mini First Thousand Words in Spanish

Tie a Bow Book

Prince and Princesses CD pack (story book with CD, will put away for Christmas)

The Easter Story (will put away for next Easter)

Mutiny at Crossbones Bay (Will put away for my nephew's Christmas)

The Learning Palette Base

4 Learning Palette disk sets: Addition Level 1; Blends and Digraphs Level 1; Numbers 0-10 and Intro to Addition and Subtraction Level 1; Money and Simple Fractions Level 1

Fairytale Things to Make and Do (probably put away for Christmas or her bday in Feb)

Molly's Magic Carpet (gift or in the prize basket maybe)

Aesop's Fables (gift or in the prize basket maybe)

Grand total: 109.50 for a ton of school stuff for Jillian and 7-9 gifts.  25 items total which works out to $4.38 a piece.  Not too shabby :)  Should have spent less but I feel like I did pretty darn well.  I'm most excited about the history books and the learning palette!  Of course there is still shipping to consider but....

Researching curriculums is a big PITA.  I have a headache, heartburn and my eyeballs are cracking.  Ok, the eyeballs part is an exaggeration...I did doze off for a bit.  But the first two are true.  I need a Mountain Dew or Diet Pepsi or equally unhealthy caffiene fix.

So here's what I've discovered today: My first stop was www.fiveinarow.com and I LOVED it!!!  It really looks like it would fit us very well.  I love that it involves trips to the library (which we love), reading stories (love), and incorporates all subjects into that story.  As I mentioned, I'm unit oriented and this just fed right into my love of unit studies.  It seems very individual as far as what you can do with it to expand or slow it down.  Oh, did I mention I LOVED it!  I'm having trouble figuring out the pricing though because what it says on the order link and what it says on the catalog link are 2 different things.  Maybe I'm just not reading it right.  Either one is super cheap.  I spent a ton of time on the message boards and site checking it all out and I really feel good about it.

Second stop was check out KONOS.  Ok, I'm sure it's sucessful but I don't get it.  First of all it appears to be history based which a) is NOT my thing and b) seems a little old for Jillian.  It's a lot of drama/theatrical stuff like skits and costumes and remembering dates and stuff.  Maybe as she's older I might buy a unit here or there to build on to what she's doing already but it's too much work right now.  Not only that but it's much more expensive.  1 unit (14-18 weeks) was around $100!  No thanks....

I'm also looking for Bob Jones science since 2 people I know use that but I went to what I thought was the website and it looks very utilitarian.   No colors, no cheer, no "come educate your child with my product" spunk.  Maybe I was in the wrong place?  Who knows.  Maybe I'm just so in love with FIAR that I don't want anything else.  :) 

Truly, if I settle on FIAR (which I like but have more research to do) I'll add in some science.  I feel like I'm all over the board in decision making...is it really this difficult?  But I feel good about next year's reading/spelling and math.

I don't have a whole lot to say...hm...I'm just blogging because I felt like it.  Jillian's classroom area is getting better and better all the time.  The bookshelf is set up nicely, I have a file thing for her completed paperwork;not that we need to keep a portfolio this year, but why not?  We have a new computer desk and our old large one is now upstairs in the mini-room (aka my NEW art room!) for my crafts so this room is undergoing some drastic changes in order to create a better workspace for Jillian.  I'm still struggling with what to put in Jillian's science kits but I am getting a couple of science books from Usborne so I'll work on building the kits from the material in those books.

Yeah, yeah, it's dorky.  But I connected with a woman from freecycle today who is also homeschooling.  Her daughter is entering 1st grade and the girls totally clicked right off the bat!  I really enjoyed talking to the mom too and finding out what she uses, how she uses it and checking out her space.  Good times!

She sent me a link when I got home to a co-op in Loudon.  They had 2 K classes to offer: Animals and Their Habitats (I really wanted to sign her up for this one!!!) and Storybook Science.  They were both full so I'll have to stay on top of when registration is for the spring semester.  It's a $30 per semester registration fee and then class materials on top of that.  Pretty cheap I think.

We're slowing down a little bit now and just doing "fun" worksheets.  She has a found talent for wordsearches.  I should have known, she's always had a knack for puzzles and other logic games.  We have also been doing some fun math games, like Flower Bingo.  I read out a math equation and she puts a penny on the answer.  She finally completed a row in her reading chart and got to choose a prize.  To my surprise she picked the sight words flash cards!  She feels so accomplished doing them.  I really figured she'd pick the dot to dot book though!  Sooner or later she will! :)

Ok, wicked brief note today but I have to finish "cooking" supper (hot dogs, Smiley Fries and salad) so I can get her off to TBall practice.  More soon!!!

Jillian started Tball...hooray!  She was so great.  She hit the ball well but had no clue how to run the bases! :)  All the coaches were so awesome, didn't matter which team they were coaching, they just helped all the kids.  Here's what I learned about tball:

• Our coach rocks.  He wrote the batting order on his styrofoam coffee cup.  That's hysterical and something I would do! lol.
• It's completely chill and about educating the kids...no pressure.
• There's no score.  Everyone gets a hit, everyone gets to cross homeplate.
• Even in tball they end with a cheer and high fiving the other team.  It was great to see.
• I love being a tball mom.

Last week I printed a chart of 110 Dolch words (http://members.enchantedlearning.com/dolch/chart/words1.shtml)  and was pleased to find that she knew 30 of them as sight words.  I tested her today on those 30 and she got 27/30 with no hesitation.  She was so proud of herself! :)  I was proud too of course.  That'd be a 90 on her very first spelling test! :) 

I found her a math workbook that I really like.  I found it at Walmart and it's Grades K-1 Transitional Math (by School Zone).  It gets progressively harder and is starting with stuff she knows but not stuff that's so easy that it's a bore like her preschool math book.  This brings me to the manipulatives I mentioned in my title.  A few of the pages she worked on today were about fewer and greater.  She was having a really hard time with it because she immediately wanted to choose the group on the left instead of counting both groups.  I think she just didn't get it because it's not really something we've worked on before.  So I had her go get the box of large legos and we used those.  She liked doing it two ways at the same time.  So the last page was 2 less...for example, there was a group of 5 and you had to circle the grouping on the right with 2 less.  So we built a 5 lego tower and took away 2.  I love supplementing a paper lesson with a hand's on lesson.  I think I mentioned in another post that we watched the Bee Movie last weekend.  I got some books out about bees and pollination so we'll do that this week too.  Sprinkle some science into our days! :)  Off to get her to put away dishes...that's social studies...lol.

Till later.....take care!

Allyson's fever I think has officially broken.  The doctor thinks she has Roseola so now we wait for the rash.  Yesterday we ended up at the doctor and it was the worst day of my life.  After plenty of poking and prodding and peeking (in ears, mouth, nose and eyes...you'd think the ped was an ENT) which resulted in no sign of infection or disease the oncall doc (Dr. Hallowell whom I had never met before and really liked...other than the baby torture of course) determined that we needed to catheterize my poor baby to check for a UTI.  She cried but was fairly cooperative (no thrashing about causing improper entry) but just stared up at me with her tear-filled fever-glazed eyes as if to say "why are you allowing this?  Why are you pinning me down?  Aren't you my MOTHER?"  It was awful.  How can 45 seconds feel like a lifetime?  And at this point she was so close to being treated for dehydration (2 barely damp diapers all day, but at least not bone dry) they could hardly get any urine and what they did get was dark.  Anyway, the urine came back with no sign of infection so Dr. Torture Hallowell said we needed to get blood drawn.  Again, she was cooperative but cried and cried.  The phlebotomists (what a great word to say...you are saying it out loud, aren't you?) were very kind and very speedy.  I'm sure they didn't want to be dealing with a screaming baby and crying mommy and impatient sister any more than I did...unfortunately I was the crying mommy so I did have to go home with us.  Actually, speaking of Jillian, she was awesome!  Thank God for small favors. :)  Blood work came back fine which led Doc to the conclusion of roseola.  Fairly harmless, just keep the fever in check.  Will do.  Today she taking fluids much better and eating normally for the most part.  *phew!*    The 5 hour break while she napped was nice too...I could have gotten a whole second night's worth of sleep in there!

Ok, on to homeschool topics.  And my Usborne book party!  I'm so excited except for one thing...I don't know if anyone's coming!!!  I've been so overwhelmed with the Ham Fest for the church booth that I didn't call anyone about my party last week so now I'm scrambling.  I still have a little over a week to go but I have to start hitting the pavement if I want to earn free books and stuff.  My wish list is around $400!!!!!!  Holy cow!  But I want to work on building my homeschool collection of stuff.  (BTW, to order from my party go to www.ubah.com/j2009 and click on the Jennifer Hurley party!  Ok, you don't have to, you are a stranger...but seriously, it's good stuff so please do!  Ok, shameless plug over.)  I'm really excited the most about the math curriculum stuff.  I'm struggling with providing her math opportunities beyond work book pages.  I did make her an addition game with index cards and pennies but she said it's boring! *gasp* boring, can you believe it?  Well my goal is 6 people.  I'm already at 2 if you count Jillian and me.  No, just kidding.  My friend Stacey is coming too.  *sigh* I need more friends with small children that are potentially about to be homeschooled!!!!

Oh, and Jillian is in a dance at church!  It's been fun to practice with her and the song is a bit infectious if a little over the top gospel for me.  But she's really excited and I'll take this as a free activity!  This counts as Phys Ed, right?  I got her registration form for tball today too so hopefully we'll get that rolling ASAP.  Course she needs a glove first.....

More soon! 

Maybe I will get good at this blogging thing! :)  Ok, doubtful.  So here's what I learned from making a schedule: it's easy to fall off track but we are much more productive when we focus on staying on track.  Ok, I am more productive that way.  Jillian is up to 6 stickers on her reading chart.  I've been trying to encourage extra reading by pointing out how much more quickly she will earn her prize by reading to us multiple times a day.  I have noticed her picking up a book and studying it by herself during down time though, which is a big move for her.  Usually she's busy watching tv (ok, getting out the lashing noodles), dressing up or playing make believe with her dolls.  

We watched the "Bee Movie" on Saturday night from Pay-per-view... I like Jerry Seinfeld and I thought this movie was really good (minus a couple of fairly vicious scenes where they are trying to kill the bee, and one very disturbing one where they shoot Pooh to get his honey...turns out it's only a tranquilizer gun but still...poor Pooh Bear).  It also opened a dialogue about pollenation.  Actually it was less of a dialogue and more of a question session with very few answers.  So I think we are going to study a little of pollenation and how that works...apparently I know less about pollenation than I thought I did!  Ya know, nectar to the honey, pollen to the flowers, yada, yada, yada (hehe, little Seinfeld drop).  Well I don't know HOW the nectar turns into honey or HOW the pollen aids in the growth of flowers.  So we are going to research together.  I like that Jillian isn't satisfied with the black and white answers, she wants the who's, what's, where's, when's, why's and importantly, the how's.  I have that kind of brain too so it's fun to learn and figure things out together.

Poor Allyson has had a fever for over 24 hours now.  I'm waiting for the doctor to call me back.  She's presently at 105.1...very scary.  Off to cuddle now...take care!  :)

Well we are in full Kindergarten swing, even though she wouldn't even be technically starting until fall time.  Why wait?  Last week was April vacation here in NH and while perusing home school programs in NH (there are a ton!) I discovered that the Audobon Society had an April vacation camp that started at PreK age.  I called the Saturday before the week started and left a message for the woman coordinating the camp without much hope that Jillian could get a spot but she called me back Monday morning and said Jillian could come!  Hooray!  It was $20 a day for a 3 hour program.  She went on Tuesday, which was Earth Day, and they learned about caring for earth and recycling.  They also planted grass seed in a cup but it spilled in it's baggy on the way home   Oh well.  She had to pack her own snack and water bottle which she thought was so grown up.  I struggled with whether to send her with a lunchbox (which I didn't have so I'd have to buy or figure out a substitute) or a brown bag.  In the end I sent her with a brown bag because I remember field trips as a kid and we had to bring disposable stuff.  Well I was the only loser mom to do that...what was I thinking?  A disposable paper bag, plastic baggies and a plastic water bottle...on earth day no less!  Lol.  She also went on Wednesday, needless to say, without disposable products besides her Dasani grape water which she loves.  Wednesday was all about reptiles and amphibians.  They waded in the stream with nets trying to catch frogs.  Jillian told me she was trying to catch a fish to bring home for supper...lol.  But all she caught was leaves!  They also got to check out frog eggs which she said was neat.  Her socks were soaked but they had been wearing rubber boots (ew, shared boots) so at least she had dry shoes to put on.  Thursday was bird day and Jillian is terrified of birds near her so I kept her home.  Friday was a field day and I wasn't about to pay $20 for her to play outside so I kept her that day too.  So she ended up going 2 days and had a blast!  I'll definitely look into summer camp there for a few days at least.  If you are a member of the Audobon Society it's cheaper ($20 isn't too bad but it adds up!).  The membership is only $55 a year for the family so if I find lots of stuff for her to do I may invest in a membership.

I stopped in to Barnes and Noble last night on my way home since I got out of work early.  I thought I'd look around for some books or activities to add to my growing homeschool collection.  I found out that this week is teacher appreciation week and you can get a 25% discount.  However, you had to have an educator discount card.  So I asked a woman how I can get it as a homeschooler and I'm also a Sunday School teacher.  She asked someone else who eventually brought me up to a manager.  They didn't really know what to do because you don't have to send in a letter of intent to homeschool until 1st grade since K isn't mandatory in NH  so I had no proof from the school system.  The manager said he'd take my word for it since it was too detailed to be made up...lol.  Sweet, I got a 25% discount!  The normal discount is 20% so I'm really happy overall!  He said just to bring in my letter of intent next year when it's time to renew.  I bought a dot-to-dot book because she LOVES dot to dots!  And these in the book get progressively harder, including skip counting ones which she doesn't know yet.  I also got an early reader book about wild animals with facts about their habitats, a set of sight word flash cards and the K level brain quest.  I took out the brain quest today but I told her that the rest was going into a prize basket.  She gets a sticker for each book read aloud and after 16 she can pick a prize.  She's already read 2.  :)  Here's our new daily schedule:

Relax until 8:30

8:30 Breakfast (Mommy cleans the kitchen)

9-11 Focused school time (Work pages, Mommy approved educational computer games, reading, any other school work assigned that day)

11-11:30 Exercise (play outside or take a walk.  I have to figure out something for bad weather...maybe just dancing to music or something)

11:30-12:15 Lunch

12:15-12:45 Allyson off to bed, chores (put away dishes, tidy up toys, anything else assigned that day)

12:45-1:30 Free Time

1:30-2 Rest time, tv off, eyeballs shut

2:00-Snack and Crafts

The rest of the day is free.

So the bulk of her work is 9:00-11 which is a good time because she's ready to be focused and I'm still chilling so she can do her self-directed work first and I can ease into my day :)  She'll also read with Dan before bed.  I hope we can keep this up.  Today was the first day trying this schedule and it went very well.  Since I built in 2 chore times for me hopefully it'll help with keeping up with the house too.

Well, that's it for now...hopefully I'll be back on before 2-3 weeks pass again!   Take care!