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As Toby Keith would say,
"We talk about your dreams and we talk about your schemes
your high school team and your moisturizer creme We talk about your nanna up in Muncie, Indiana We talk about your grandma down in Alabama We talk about your guys of every shape and size The ones that you despise and the ones you idolize We talk about your heart, bout your brains and your smarts And your medical charts and when you start " Even though I know several moms who are or have taken prescription medication like Prozac for the problem, for some reason depression is still a rather taboo subject. I don't mean PMS or postpartum or menopausal depression but just good old fashioned "I don't feel like getting out of bed today" depression.
I did some research and found that the problem is a real problem faced by some famous women today and they are talking about it!
The following ladies are sharing their story:
Beth Moore shares her own story of dwelling in desperation in this book she wrote Teri Maxwell's experience with depression - read "A Journey Through Depression"
It has only been the past eight years that the Lord has given me freedom from the at-times-devastating depression that I had struggled with.
Sally Clarkson's struggle -
For me, it's been a very difficult and lonely road with times of loneliness and depression," she admitted. "I'm trying to minister to (other mothers) what I wished I had had. Being a wholehearted mother is such a vital and important task that will impact eternity, but there's no support saying to you, 'Your kids are fine and you're doing great.' Our culture worships SATs and there's no importance given to children being able to think or be kind."
Battling the Deadly D: Depression by Cindy Rushton
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CindyRushton/391676/ The next time I go through the "Big D" I'll find comfort in knowing I'm in good company because I
Mitezvel
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This next school year I'm breaking out of the box, boxed curriculum that is! This is my third year to homeschool my soon-to-be second grade student. My, time flies!
I have considered everything from A (Beka) to Z (Zaner-Bloser) in my quest for the perfect curricula! Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in uncharted waters! But I'm just like a kid in a candy store - the candy store being all the catalogs and websites from which I can't tear myself away! I've looked at Timberdoodle and Rainbow Resource and Sonlight. I've been to the Well Trained Mind boards, the Classical Christian Homeschooling website, and a million other sites!
So far I've only bought MathUSee for MATH. It looked fun, came highly recommended, and I loved the demo tape! But that's as far as I have gotten.
Extras for MATH I'd like to purchase are the Bible Heroes skip count kid CDs; and I would love to get the A Beka flashcards, too. I like that they are large and there's only one fact per card - makes studying families in groups SO easy (no flipping card around to get another fact!) I'll also use Prof B's site for a reference and maybe throw in some A Beka and Saxon type stuff. Right now I am trying to find a BIBLE curriculum. Loved the one I did last year (Positive Action for Christ) but I want something a little more intense this year. The Bible Study Guide For All Ages really impressed me!
I may have dd do Keys for Kids devotions (love that because it's free! And it was super easy to use) by herself and then narrate it back to me. Plus, we'll do AWANAS at church. I really believe in Bible memory!
I plan to review the ABC verses and Lords Prayer (we made a Lords Prayer Sandwich - there's also a Lord's Prayer song!) and Psalms 100 and Psalms 23 to my dd (who learned all these verses in Kindergarten.)
For HISTORY I want the Greenleaf Press Old Testament History - 3 book Study Package (Contains The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History, How The Bible Came to Us, The Student Bible Atlas) Their stuff looks so good! Also, I'm getting Story of the World I and Activity Book this week (keeping fingers crossed) from another homeschooler.
I also want to do some AMERICAN HISTORY- just reading and doing things on my own and Which Way USA from Highlights. My dd read at a 3rd grade level going into first grade so she reads fine but I'm thinking I would like to do a phonics/spelling program of some sort for the spelling. I like the TATRAS Vertical Phonics because it looks easier and more fun than the other Spalding type methods. Also, it seems more logical to me than the traditional phonics methods for the spelling aspect anyway.
In addition, I want to do a timeline of some sort. I think I'll make my own in the vein of Konos but with more detailed figures copied from the net or cut out of books, etc.
I'd love to do Mapping the World by Heart, too! Maybe I'll just apply the concept this year though.
I could do LANGUAGE ARTS with their English for the Thoughtful Child vol 1. (I was considering First Language Lessons for the WTM until I read that it had lots of typo's, had edited poems, and was boring). This has been the hardest subject to choose - I guess because LANGUAGE ARTS is writing, grammar, phonics, and reading!) I may just pick a couple of LA books - English for the Thoughtful Child and Primary Language Lessons. Also, I want Copywork for Little Girls from Queen Homeschool. Or some LANGUAGE ARTS program that teaches using literature and/or picture books? (I've ruled out Learning Language Arts Through Literature - too many people said it was boring) *Side Note: I love A Beka's English Grammar and I plan to use that in the upper grades.
My dd read at a 3rd grade level going into first grade so she reads fine but I'm thinking I would like to do a phonics/spelling program of some sort for the SPELLING. I like the TATRAS Vertical Phonics because it looks easier and more fun than the other Spalding type methods. Also, it seems more logical to me than the traditional phonics methods for the spelling aspect anyway.
I may buy the old Webster's Blue Backed Speller (This is an exact reproduction of the 1824 edition.) I'll use Don Potter's page for a reference.
For SCIENCE I think doing Dinah Zike's books would be fun. I loved the cause and effect idea! She even has a Texas History book.
Also, for SCIENCE I want to check out books from the library and I would LOVE to get some fun stuff like "Uncle Bob" (Bob Devine is the creator and narrator of "The Storybook Room" on Moody radio and the author of many children's books on nature (Moody Press). I know A Beka sells some of his tapes.
I'm thinking I may just work on a subject until we get bored with it. Maybe just do HISTORY and SCIENCE a couple of days each week but spend a long time on it. I would want to do MATH and BIBLE daily though.
Finally, my daughter's taking PE and ART classes in Co-op each week.
I'd love to do some fun educational puzzles, games, videos, and DVDs. And I'll be using a ton of resources like What Your Second Grader Needs to Know. And of course the WWW!
Ugh! I keep changing my mind. I am praying and waiting until I know for sure. I really don't want to spend a ton of $. And the questions I keep asking myself are:
So, how does that sound? Am I leaving something out? How am I going to get through all this? :o) Is it too much for 2nd grade? At least I won't be stuck with boring workbooks......I hope :o)!
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Week 16 of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up at About.com. The focus this week is "Practical Solutions for Homeschool Struggles." |
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Just after dark the other night I went for a walk in my quiet established neighborhood. As I passed each house a flickering glow radiated from behind closed doors. It was a nice night and the sun had just gone down. There was no front porch sittin', no one walking their dog, just the steady flicker of light coming from each home. Some of the houses had their drapes pulled, some didn't have drapes at all. Some houses had nice manicured lawn, some not so much. There were toys in the drives here and old boats there. But no matter what the differences were, the one constant was - the glow. I want to see what colors they chose for the walls and what the flooring looks like and all the nice touches that make a house a home. I like to see the organization or lack there of. I want to observe if there's clutter or bare starkness or somewhere in between. I love to see a welcoming atmosphere where each occupant's tastes and personality is reflected throughout. I love that plaque that reads, As I gazed at each home on my path, I couldn't help but wonder if all these folk were just mindlessly watching the images flicker in front of them; each lost in the dialog coming from the screen. Was anyone engaged in real conversation? Were families playing board games? Was there laughter and love and human contact? I read a book once where the family every night would gather around the old oil lamp and although each member was doing his own thing - Mom sewing, Dad paperwork, one boy tinkered, etc. but they were all in the same room and enjoying each other's company. Then they got electric lights and everyone spread out. They went back to the lamp because Mom didn't like how they were drifting apart. Literally and figuratively. Have we all drifted apart? Is the art of conversation lost? When my 80 year old mother in law gets together with her family they all gather around the table and talk. My parent's in their 60's play card games. My generation watches movies. The younger generation plays Xbox or whatever the newest gaming system is. With larger and larger homes and a TV in every room, we aren't even in the same room anymore. The kids are off in their Disneyland of a room with their computer, TV, Xbox, Gameboys, cell phones, and a dozen other gadgets only they can understand. Maybe it's the overcrowding and lack of vacant lots or nearby woods, perhaps it's the report of another abduction on the 6'oclock news, maybe we're too busy running our kids to dance and soccer, but whatever the reason kids aren't out playing. After spending their days being constantly entertained has imagination died? I was watching piece on 60 minutes early this year entitled Golden Boy Bode Miller. Here is part of the interview - skip to the highlighted parts if you want. I know it's rather lengthy but I really thought it was good and illustrates how his imagination allowed him to be different. Miller is different. He doesn't train in the ski team's high tech gym, but works out in an old barn on his family's property in New Hampshire. What kind of shape is he in? Bode Miller is characteristically modest. "There's a lot of guys who are in really good shape, but for ski racing there's no question I'm in better shape than most guys," he says. Miller designed the main machine he uses to train and his uncle built it. It looks like a contraption that came out of the Spanish inquisition and it probably would make most people talk. Miller is not lifting weights; his friend jumping up and down is doing that. He is building his thigh and stomach muscles by squatting down with a load of 320 pounds. The machine looks like the product of a mad inventor. "Like, if you get a good workout, it feels more like a torture device of some sort," says Miller. To relax, Miller plays a few sets of tennis with his father Woody, who is a pro, but still gets coached by his son. Miller's family runs a tennis camp in New Hampshire. His parents are divorced, but they both still live on the same 450 acres where Miller grew up. So does the whole family. His upbringing was as unconventional as his skiing. His parents were thoroughbred hippies who dropped out of the world to create their own world. They built a house on a mountain where they raised four children. They chose to live without electricity, a telephone, or even indoor plumbing. Bode Miller's mother, Jo Miller, still splits her own wood to heat her house. Jo Miller doesn't think it was tough living. "No, I think it was fun. I mean, it was a challenge. And I guess that's where Bode sort of picked up the, you know, the idea of needing a challenge always in his life." Bode Miller showed 60 Minutes how challenging it was just getting up and down that mountain, or at least the getting up part, which was close to a mile hike through the woods. There were no roads when he was a kid, but there were plenty of raspberries. He spent his days happily roaming these woods on his own. "It's nice to be able to spend time alone when you're young," he says. "Lets your imagination do all the stuff that imaginations are supposed to do." And in the winter Miller would run to the outhouse, which is still there, but not to school because young Bode didn't go to school. He was home-schooled until third grade. His classroom was the great outdoors. Miller's parents said that at one point they were making only $600 a year and that they were living on that. "That might be optimistic," Miller says. "That's including inflation. That would be $600 a year now." He didn't have money, but says he didn't miss it. He also didn't miss school. In fact, not being in school when he was little gave him more time to ski. He could barely afford skis but he had talent, and it did not go unnoticed. Right after high school, he got a spot on the U.S. Ski Team. His parents were behind his success, he says, because they pretty much ignored him. "So many kids who become athletes are the product of parents who are pushing them every minute of the way, who went to every race and didn't give them dinner if they came in second," Simon ( 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon) said. Miller says, "And usually those are the kids who burn out and end up being totally laid back, super counterculture hippies like when they're in their 30s and 40s, the kids who are totally nuts and pushed. That's sort of the opposite from me." Some days I am disgusted with myself for how much TV my family and I watch. I think of how many other things we could be doing and how our time would be better spent. I look into my children's eyes and wonder how much innocence is drained from them as their minds are corrupted by images and languages and topics which children have should have no knowledge. But then I realize - it's Wednesday night and I want to see if Taylor Hicks is the next American Idol! And like my neighbors all around me, and their neighbors all around them, and neighborhoods surrounding us, and cities around them, and in homes across the entire nation we are lost in the glow of the flickering light. Well, choose comedy because you Might As Well Smile! |
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Here's a little homeschool ditty I wrote. Hope it makes you smile. Because you Might as well Smile!
{IM]
Hello?, *BUZZ*, came the message from Momof4. You online, Titus2? PBS is having a drive, no cartoons for John! Handwriting without tears is making Katie cry, and I forgot to thaw the meat for dinner. Mercy sakes alive, sounds like I hear Conroy..... Was the middle of the day on the sixth of May
Mom searching the catalogs Katie and John with their pj's on And Jimmy dissecting frogs He is 1/2 way done at One "o" 1 In the middle of his science book Mom types, "Titus, you ready for next year? "Well, I'm about to put my order in." CHORUS
''Cause we got our little Conroy
Sleepin' through the night. Yeah, we got toddler John boy, And some that ain't quite right? Come on and join us homeschoolers We're in coop classes each Friday Where will teach even our preschoolers About the U-S-A. CONROY!!!! [IM]
Hello, *Smiley Face*, Titus2, You online? Where'd you say you found those history sites? I'm dressed to my shoes and shined my sink, and heading out the door for park day. I'll have my cell. Then I'll be at the library till closing time. My folding carts are loaded down with overdue library books. By the time we arrived at Wallace Park,
We'd sung eighty-five songs in all. We first made a stop at a nearby McDonald's, We read the menu on the wall. Uh, Ma'am is there a holiday today; Shouldn't these kids be at school right now? "We homeschool", I say, "and we're done for the day." "Please make it to go, we're late anyhow." [Chorus]
[IM]
I'm back, Titus2. Can you send me a URL for that last web page. Titus2? BRB, Titus2. You online yet? FYI, the thrift store's having a huge booksale today! Mercy sakes, we better get down there before the good deals are gone! Meet you there in an hour! Well, we pushed our buggies over to aisle 4
Like broadband highspeed connection We culled through all the romances novels Filling our carts with our selections By the time we hit that check out, The shelves were looking real thin: I found a book on Washington Thought it would sell on ebay for 10. We found flashcards, shoes, and blocks, And clothes of ev'ry size. Yeah, the dish aisle was full'a cheap wares, And stuff to please your eyes. Well, we shopped till close and we went for broke With 1,000 screamin' nuts and ten non-English speaking immigrants waiting in line behind us. [IM]
The IM read - Momof4 to AlliesMom, you there? Hey, BUZZ, AlliesMom? Say, you mind picking me up for Mother's Night Out? Yeah, dh's watching the kids, and I need a night out! Well, we walked through the door at half past six.
Prepared for a great time A couple dozen moms met us there We laughed and ate and forgot the grind "This is Titus2 and I'm Momof4. "I said it's great to meet you face to face." Yes, let's do this again sometime soon "Until then, Cya in cyberspace." [Chorus]
[IM]
LOL, K, Titus2. Why you still up?
Yes, I'm almost done here. Well, mercy sakes girl, I better get to bed. TTYL. Night. I'll IM you tomorrow! Bye! -Momof4 signed off ~Mitezvel Smile |