Just popping in to share a photo of my girls and some of their cousins (these are the quads with my girls - all eight years old, two boys, two girls - they are about the same age as my oldest, Natalie).

I'm constantly dodging toys and stepping over things in this place. There are legos & playmobile pieces everywhere I turn I have killed a few good toy soldiers (poor guys didn't have a chance).

In the kids room um, you can't even see the floor.

We are constantly moving things from here to there .

Life in a 700sq.ft, apt. house

We are 4 months into our homeschooling year. Seems like yesterday was our first day.

I thought I would write a post on what we are keeping, dropping and adding.

With Joshua, we are dropping Phonics Tutor. Josh, is not a computer person. He doesn't like to do school on the computer. We are replacing it with Spell to Write & Read.  We will continue to use CQLA (minus the spelling portion), Christian Light science, reading and social studies and he will continue with Math Mammoth.

Annette, we added CLE LA. She enjoys T4L but I prefer a more workbook type LA program. She still uses Time4Learning about three times a week. We are also adding in CLE Math. She wants to give it a try. Since she is using CLE for science, social studies, reading and language arts she wanted to include math. We will continue with Meaningful Composition. She is not thrilled with MC but she doesn't like writing period!

Caleb, will continue CLE math and The Phonics Road to Reading. I love the PR. It includes phonics, spelling, writing,grammar, and reading. I'll give it a review once we complete level 1. I can't wait to purchase level 2 so I can look through it. For now I did drop CQLA. Since he is getting grammar and writing with PR.

Brent, will continue using Phonics Road, Math Mammoth/Schoolaid math. He is doing well. Both Brent & Caleb's reading and spelling as improved with PR.

Ethan, is starting SWR & Cursive First.

All the children are adding in Cursive First. Josh, my 6th grader is now using more cursive then manuscript. His cursive has improved too. Brent, is also starting to write more in cursive since we started Cursive First. Annette, can still use some improvement and Caleb's penmanship is looking better too.

I bought all the children a copy of The New England Primer

I am having the four older ones memorize the alphabet. In Adams fall we sinned all. Annette, Caleb & Brent have memorized up to the letter M. Josh memorized up to the letter F. I thought they wouldn't be interested in the book but they all love it. They even carry their own book around and practice on their own. I plan to have them memorize some poems and such this year. We'll see how much of the book they can memorize by the summer.

I was reading and writing about Charlotte Mason today, so I decided that I should do what I feel is central in our style of education - and get myself outside with my children, even during these dark, rainy days.

So we went to see the falls. It's hard to believe there are so many beautiful falls and pieces of river so close to where we live. They are just breathtaking. Even this time of year. 

Charlotte Mason talks about visiting special places not just during one season, but during multiple seasons - to see how nature changes over the seasons and to make observations about those changes.

I searched through my old photos to try and compare the river now with the river is summer or early fall. It's really amazing the difference - the fullness, the smoothness, the swiftly moving and even swirling currents. All I could find is this picture - which isn't the exact picture of anything I took today. But you can see how different this look. Nowhere on the river do you see river rocks sticking up this time of year (except for the very biggest boulders).

Lance is so sweet! Every time he goes down for a nap he gives me kisses. He starts by giving me one kiss on each cheek, then my nose and last my forehead. 

It's been a busy morning. I have done three spelling lessons. One with Annette using SWR, one with Caleb & Brent using Phonics Road and one with Ethan, he did his first SWR lesson.

Ethan did his first Spell to Write and Read lesson. Some words were hot, all, but, and etc. He had ten words. First I would say the word, use it in a sentence, finger spell it and let him write it in his Primary Learning Log (PL). He new most of the words so I had to slow him down so we could do all the steps. I new with 'all' he would get stuck. We did the finer spelling and I asked him what 'o' sound are we going to use for the first sound in 'all'. Of course his first thought was using an O I gave him a hint. I asked him what letter says /a/, A, /o/. After a while he figured it out but still wrote "oll" instead of "all". I asked him to help my pencil write out 'all' and when he compared my word to his he realized that he made an O instead of an A.

Ethan, wrote with some capital letters too. I am teaching him cursive but for now he is going to write manuscript in his PL until we finish learning how to write all the letters in cursive or almost all. He is still learning how to form the letter 'a'.

When I first introduce him to a letter we start using the 'salt box', trace the sandpaper letter or finger trace the enlarged clock. Then I have him practice tracing a stamp of the clock face using his SmartPal. I insert the paper and he using a dry erase market. Lastly I give him a copy of Cursive First for the letter we are practicing. We don't do all this in one day, so it has been taking us a while.

We are doing the clock face letters first; a, c, o, b, d etc. any letter that goes around the clock  I'll add pictures soon.

Do you ever find that your homeschooling doesn't happen in a vacuum. We should and do try to institute 12 steps to a cleaner house. We have the kids help out with chores. We try to limit how much the kids are allowed to get out at once. Yet, if we allow them to be creative at all, if we allow them to enjoy learning from time to time, then order turns to chaos. Well, at least for me. I know of a few perfect people, but I'm not one of them. I'll keep trying though. I'll keep trying to be a loving mom, homeschool with a passion, keep a clean house, eat well and feed my family well, love God, and take time for me. But, I for one, although I believe we should keep pressing forward, don't do it all. Do you?

To all of my dear family and friends, regular readers and first time guests,

As usual this time of year, I’m not blogging very much. The holiday season is always so full of fun festivities that I don’t make much time to write. So, I’m leaving you with these thoughts on eating during the holidays that come courtesy of a friend of a friend, with permission, of course. I hope you enjoy the advice as well as the season, and I pray that you take a moment to drink a cup of Holiday Tea while reading Luke, chapter 2. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later than you think. It’s Christmas.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

 6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you do not like mincemeat, have two apple and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

We started using Math Mammoth Complete Curriculum Light Blue Series this past June (2009).

Joshua used 3A and is almost finished with 3B. Annette is almost done with 3A and will start 3B in January. Brent is using 2A and Ethan 1A.

So far so good.The children aren't jumping for joy to do math but they do like Math Mammoth.

Pros:

• You can download and print as many copies as needed
• Inexpensive. You pay about $30.00 for a full grade/year. This includes the student text, answer keys, test and review pages.
• There is no need for a Teacher's Manual per say; everything is written in the student text.
• Step-by-step instructions for both mom/teacher & student (in student text)
• Starts a new concept using illustrations then moves away from until there is only problems with no pictures etc.
• There is an end of chapter review and then a test. You can file these away instead of keeping a whole workbook. You do have to print the test off separately (same download though)

Cons:

• The answer key is sometimes hard to follow. It takes me a few minutes to find the page in the answer key that I need, to quickly correct a students page.
• In the 3rd grade Answer key some of the pages are off. For instance to correct lets say page 92 of the student page it's not the same in the Answer key. Minor error and I have penciled in the correct pages.

Other then answer keys I haven't really found any cons for us. It would be nice if the answer key was set up with the problems and the answers, but I can see where that would be a lot of printing for the customer.

The Complete Light Blue package is a full years worth of math. There is also a Blue Series. You would use the Blue Series if you are using another math program but your child needs review or you want to supplement your current math.

Click HERE to see how the author of Math Mammoth compares MM to other math programs (MUS, Saxon, Singapore etc.)

I have bought many math programs, R&S, Right Start, Singapore, MUS, Miquon, Saxon, Rays and I'm sure a few more that I have forgotten . For me I have narrowed it down to two that I   have found works great for my children and I. I say "I" because it has to make sense to mom too . The two are Math Mammoth and Christian Light Math.

Caleb has used CLE Math 2 & 3. Brent 1 & 2. I'll post about Christian Light math another time.

I do want to add that I REALLY am trying NOT to combine math programs but it has happened again. Caleb is currently using CLE 3 but wants to do Math Mammoth also. What we are doing is one week he works with MM and the next week he does CLE. We work through the summer so we'll see if he can finish both in 12 months. Samething is happening with Brent. He is using MM and Schoolaid. I started Brent with Math Mammoth level 2 but he wants to complete his Schoolaid math too, so again he is combining also . Annette, I started her off with Math Mammoth (MM) she is almost done with 3A BUT she wants to use Christian Light Math. Aaack! She said she would prefer to use Christian Light math because almost all her other subjects are from Christian Light Education. So, we'll see how that goes. I ordered CLE math level 4.

Blessings,

Linda<><

First let me write that if you have a child near by don't let them read this with you

Almost every Friday we let one of the children pick out a movie and we have movie night. Sometimes Lupe, will pick one out for us to watch later. I saw that Julie & Julia advertised as we pulled up to Blockbuster. I mentioned it to Lupe. Julie & Julia is about Julia Childs the famous cook. I thought it would be interesting and fun to watch.

When Lupe, Josh & Annette got back to the car; I saw that Josh picked out National Treasure and Lupe, rented the Julia movie. Lupe, was really tired so we didn't get to watch our movie that night. After National Treasure I put the children to bed, surfed the net for a while then went to bed myself.

The next day we all sat down to watch Julie & Julia. I didn't bother checking the rating on the back because the movie was about Julia. Innocent. Right? Wrong! The movie had the s,b and sh word and there was a seen with the younger Julie and her husband. Not as bad as some movies but still they were in their under clothes. Even Julia and her husband, although they were under the covers and didn't show much. Also the camera didn't linger (thank goodness) but still it was enough NOT to make it child friendly.

Just thought I would worn you all. It's not a "G" movie. I never did check to see what it was rated. The movie was good but would be so much better if they could leave certain words out and scenes. Lupe and I usually preview movies but this one seemed so innocent by the title

Why do they have to ruin movies. Last week Lupe & I previewed Star Trek the one that came out recently. There was a scene with Kirk in bed with a green woman and too many references to you know what. Another movie that would be just fine IF they would keep all that junk out of the.