It has been 16 months since my last entry to my blog.  The twins had had their end of the year review and I was making plans for the coming year.  Their sophomore year went well on some fronts and not so well on others.  Rereading my previous entry makes me feel a bit sad. I had such high hopes for the year, and although it was a better year than their Freshman year, we still seemed to have so many struggles with keeping on course.

They each earned a credit for history and a credit for English using Sonlight's Core 100, American History in Depth.  We did 80% of the curriculum to meet our minimum requirement.  I don't prefer doing the minimum, but it was that our continue through August to get done.  That's the kind of year we had. 

Math went very well of SJ, but not so well for her brother.  JP was not able to finish Algebra II with VideoText.  His tutor was no longer able to help him and he just couldn't get it on his own. After a little research we decided to try Aleks, the online math curriculum, but after almost 9 months he couldn't seem to master more the 53% of the Algebra II material.  Our umbrella school advisor suggested he take a break from Algebra II and try his hand at Geometry.  More on that later.  Fortunately, the choice I had made for SJ for math worked well.  Instead of the Pacemaker Pre-Algebra math, we had decided to give Teaching Textbooks a try.  The education specialist who works with us in evaluating and giving SJ her IEP for math suggested it.  She tested into the TT7 level,  did very well with it and has continued on with Pre-Algebra.

JP finished Apologia Biology and got the second half of his Biology credit.  It was not his favorite course.  I have some great photos of him with his lab partner doing dissections where he almost looks green.  SJ participated in the biology labs with our co-op, but as planned, she used Globe Fearon's Pacemaker Biology.  Her teacher worked with me to reorder her chapters so that she was doing the same topics as the class.  Both SJ and I liked the curriculum and are using two of their textbooks for her Junior year.  I'll share more about Pacemaker at a later date.

Though our bathroom remodel has made slow progress, JP earned well over his 120 hours for a full credit of shop.  He continues to help his Dad and the project should be wrapped up in the next few weeks. He has learned a lot of very useful skills: sweating pipes (he liked using a blow torch), basic plumbing, basic wiring, laying tile and other miscellaneous skills connected with the project.  It did not get done as we hoped by Christmas 2007, but should, God willing, be done before Christmas of this year. 

JP's German credit didn't happen at all.  He kind of played at using Rosetta Stone from time to time, but wasn't consistent with it and wasn't consistent in using the workbooks I had ordered.  We had to sit down and figure something else out for a foreign language for the following year.

SJ did very well in all three of her umbrella school classes.  She did not end up logging any P.E., but she didn't need any P.E. credits either.  She had decided she didn't want to play basketball or softball, but she was pretty busy trying to keep up with school so that was okay.

So that was their Sophomore year.  As I write this we are three months into their Junior year.  I am going to write more often and will share about what we're doing this year and what I've done and am doing with my 5^th grader in other entries.  Writing all this out helps me to see the big picture and is somewhat therapeutic for this discouraged home school Mom. 

God bless!

Because the twins had only 4 and 4-1/2 credits each for this year they will need to earn 6-7 credits each year for the next three years. 

The good news from my advisor was that JP doesn't have to finish Algebra II by August to get the credit for 9^th grade.  She said they could leave it open as incomplete and he could have through October or November to finish it.  This is a huge relief!  We are still having the tutor come over as much as possible and they work for 2-3 hours at a time to get as much as they can done.  We will keep plugging away at it. The question is do we begin Geometry in September and work on them simultaneously or do we wait to begin Geometry until he is completely done with the Algebra?  On one hand if he enjoys geometry more, it might be a nice change a couple of days a week from the Algebra.  On the other hand, if he really takes to the Geometry more, there could be a temptation to keep putting the Algebra aside.  I think we'll wait and see where we are at when September comes. 

This is what my twins will be doing for 10^th grade…

Both JP and SJ:
English: Sonlight Core 100 – "Literature with Historical Fiction" – 1 credit
History: Sonlight Core 100 – "American History" – 1 credit
Bible: Sonlight Core 100, Youth Group Bible Study and Sunday School – "Bible 1"  - 1 credit

JP:
Math: Finish Algebra II with Video Text Algebra Modules E and F
Math: Teaching Textbooks Geometry- 1 credit
Science: Second Half of Apologia Biology Modules 10-16, dissections, labs and lectures with co-op – ½ credit
German: Rosetta Stone, supplemented with German Grammar Skills by Ed Swick and Barron's Learn German The Fast and Fun Way and  1 hour each week of a German movie, Familiar movie in German or movie with German Subtitles – 1 credit
P.E.: Logging hours for Karate, Swimming and Baseball  – 1 credit
Shop: "Bathroom Remodeling" – logging hours and documenting work helping father to remodel family's main bathroom: ½- 1 credit

SJ:
Math: To be determined, possibly Globe Fearon's Pacemaker Pre-Algebra – 1 credit
Science: Globe Fearon's Pacemaker Biology with dissections, labs and lectures with co-op – 1 credit
P.E.: Logging hours with Swim team, Karate, Basketball and possibly Softball – 1 credit
Improvisation: Umbrella School course – ½ credit
Chorus: Umbrella School course – ½ credit
Yearbook: Umbrella School course – 1 credit

I am actually looking forward to next year.  I am looking forward to using the Sonlight American History Core for Bible, History and English.  I am confident that we will work more consistently and stay on track.  I have a new approach in mind for scheduling teaching time with the twins that I think will be more beneficial to them, especially SJ.  And I hope that SJ's confidence will build as she works with textbooks in science and possibly math that were written for students like her... students that are intelligent but who process information differently.

It is nice to come home from our review feeling optimistic about the coming year!

{I have been woefully inconsistent when it has come to keeping up with my blogs.  My husband has been after me to do more writing, so if I begin to put aside some daily time for writing, I should be able to keep up with my blogs more consistently.  (Have I said this before?  I think I'm having a Déjà vu!)}

The school year has pretty much wound down.  We made it.  Barely.

This was not a productive year for the twins.  JP only ended up getting 1 credit for English grammar, the planned ½ credit for Biology,  an unplanned  ½ credit for World History, 1 credit for P.E. and if we can finish by August, 1 credit for Algebra II.  SJ managed 1 credit for English grammar, the same unplanned ½ credit for World History, 1 credit for General Math, no science, 1 credit for P.E., ½ credit for Improvisation and ½ credit for Chorus.  That means that JP only earned 4 credits in 9^th grade.  SJ was able to earn 4-1/2 only because of her two electives she took with our umbrella school.

JP has had a major struggle with Algebra 2.  VideoText Algebra has NOT been a good fit for him.   There is not enough review, the practice problems quickly get more complicated than the sample problems and when he does get it he quickly finds it boring.  We ended up working out an arrangement with a college friend who is a math major at U of Md. Andrew is tutoring JP 3 days a week.  We are only on Module E. (As I write this Andrew is away at a camp as a camp counselor and JP is on a youth group boys' camping trip.)  When Andrew comes over they do 3 lessons at a time.  Andrew seems to be able to explain things to JP in a way that he understands.  He also challenges JP to race him in completing a problem and my son is always very satisfied with himself on the rare occasion that he beats his tutor.  Still I usually end up having to give JP a unit test three times before he gets it.  I'm really afraid he won't finish by our vacation  time in August.  Not only that, Andrew has informed us that beginning mid-July he may not be able to continue with JP because he will be taking an intense Physics summer course.  If he doesn't finish by then I guess he'll only be able to count  half of the Algebra 2 credit and finish it up the first month or two of 10^th grade and get the other ½ credit that year.  Then we'll be able to move on to Geometry with Teaching Textbooks.  I hope that goes better!

SJ, as you may have noticed, gets no biology credit for this year.  Apologia was just too difficult for her.  The poor child just felt lost most of the year. Fortunately, she did get something out of the co-op lectures and labs, but not enough to count for credit.  Our umbrella school has suggested a curriculum for biology that was developed for high school students with dyslexia, ADHD and other learning differences.  This company has a whole series of textbooks designed for students like my daughter who are bright and intelligent but process information differently.  We were able to borrow a copy of this text for a few weeks from our umbrella.  Both SJ and I really liked the looks of it.  It is not overly wordy.  It gets right to the point and has lots of helpful illustrations.   My friend, who teaches our co-op's biology and will be doing the second half of Apologia next year with our students, is going to go through the book for me and tell me what order to have SJ do the chapters so that her reading will better line up with what they are doing in class. Next year they get to do the fun dissections! 

When it came to the World History, we just lost too much time at the beginning of the year.  It was just too much to make up.  We could have possibly pushed ourselves to get it done by mid July, but to me, it wasn't worth pushing through and retaining very little just to say we did it.  We will try to pick up the second half of world history in 11^th or 12^th grade.

If we can work consistently right off the bat in the fall, the way we did this past winter and spring, we can have a good year.

I think all of us would really like a good productive year for 2007/2008.

The kids, especially the twins, didn’t like the schedule.  They would prefer to do their school work in an order of their choosing. They would also prefer to start school at 9:00 or 10:00 am.  That hasn’t been working well enough.  Just letting them work on what they wanted when they wanted left me with no planned out teaching time with the twins to review Grammar, history, and science lessons and assignments with them.  And then there were times when no one needed me for quite awhile and then suddenly everyone needed me at once.  The days have often felt disjointed and I was never sure what my teens were getting done or not getting done.  Then there were the times when, because of the order they each chose to do their work, they both needed a textbook at the same time.

I want to regain order.  We need continuity in our days.  I think everyone will benefit from some consistency from day to day, at least with our mornings and early afternoons.

So tomorrow morning, with a few adjustments, we renew the January 20^th daily schedule.  However, instead of starting math at 8:00 we will begin with prayer and then our read aloud.  The schedule will proceed from there at 9:00 as originally written, except that science will begin at 1:00 after lunch rather than the read aloud. 

Once again, the challenge will be getting everyone up in the morning, including myself!  And in light of that, and it being almost 11:00 pm… I better head to bed!

Thank you Phonics Pathways...

My struggling reader is making progress.

I was not worried when EE was in Kindergarten and not ready to learn to read. I wasn't worried when she was in first grade and still didn't seem ready to read. Isn't this why we were home schooling? So that our children could learn on their own time table?

We didn't totally ignore language arts in Kindergarten and first grade. EE learned her consonants and short vowel sounds. She worked her way slowly through the Get Ready for The Code, Get Set for the Code and Go for the Code books in Kindergarten. In first grade she worked very slowly through Explode the Code 1, Christian Liberty Press' beginner reader It's Fun to Read and some Sonlight Core K Language Arts worksheets. She couldn't seem to get beyond short vowels at that point. I had Reading Reflex so I tried my hand at that with her but I was having problems using that program.

I had briefly tried Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my twins, but didn't like it. However, I got to a point of feeling desperate as we approached second grade so I borrowed a copy from my girlfriend and we tried it. It was going well until we got to about lesson 40 or 50 something. We put it aside for a little while and practiced what she had learned at that point with more Christian Liberty readers; Pals and Pets and A Time at Home. We ended the school year going back to 100 Easy Lessons. That took us into the summer and was okay for awhile, until we hit around lesson 60. It moved too fast for her and she still had a lot of trouble with blending.

We had to stop. I dug out my copy of Reading Reflex and read it carefully. I had an “aha” moment and felt confident Reading Reflex would help. We began third grade with Reading Reflex, a new set of beginner Bob Books and Explode the Code 2. I began to suspect that maybe we should have her eyes checked again. After sharing her struggles on the Sonlight forums I was made aware of Developmental Vision Therapists. I learned that there are Optometrists that go beyond the normal testing to check for developmental delays in the eyes. I made an appointment with one for EE. Turns out her eyes hyper-focus. A normal optometrist would have told us that she had 20-20 vision, but I watched as this doctor went beyond the basic tests and discovered that after about five minutes of trying to read her eyes get tired and begin to blur. So now she wears glasses. That helped a lot! We began to make progress with Reading Reflex and little easy readers and Explode the Code. The doctor did say if she didn't seem to improve we should bring her back for more testing to determine if she needs vision therapy for other possible eye development delays.

I thought we were doing pretty well, but we ran out of practice with Reading Reflex mid year. I bought some more easy readers, Fun Tales by Sonlight, and she began reading those and continued with Explode the Code, going back and forth between 2 to 2-1/2 and back to 2 because we lost book 2 in her bedroom for a few months.

A friend happened to see Pyramid Reading Exercises  (now revised and called Reading Pathways) on sale at Timberdoodle and told me about it. I looked into it and thought it might be worth trying. I became interested in Phonics Pathways which is put out by the same company, however, I wasn't ready to buy something else yet. I thought I should make a follow up appointment with the vision therapist. Turns out that my girlfriend bought it. She loaned it to me and after looking it over I decided to give it a try. I liked it so well that I ordered my own copy.

I still think that I should make a follow-up appointment, but I am so happy with the methods of Phonics Pathways and the progress EE has been making! I gave her a few “tests” from the review sections of PP and determined that we should begin with short vowel double consonant blends. When we have a lesson we first do a warm-up exercise with the Pyramid Reading Exercises reading one pyramid. The pyramid exercises begin with one word at the very top within a triangle. Then a second word is added to the first word in the next line. Then a third and fourth word added on the third line and so on, so that the student is reading short phrases and sentences that incrementally build. This is suppose to help with developing eye tracking, increasing eye span and teaching syllabication. Then we open up the Phonics Pathways book and she reads a page from it. Phonics Pathways teaches reading and spelling together. Her first lesson was on “ck” at the end of a short vowel word. She has also been learning when to use “C” and when to use “K” at the beginning of a word. Each page/lesson is usually made up of groups of lists of words with a related spelling rule and then some silly sentences at the bottom of the page. What we do next is what has excited me the most about this program. I bought a second grade composition book at Staples. After she does her reading, EE takes out the composition book and I dictate short sentences or phrases that use the words she just read. I sit beside her and also use this time to be sure she is using proper handwriting formation. She only writes 3 sentences or 6 two word phrases.  She is doing so well and we are both encouraged! It is wonderful to see her not only blending better, but learning to spell and write at the same time. I think this exercise reinforces what she learned in the reading. We've been working on short vowel consonant blends for about two weeks. When we first began she wasn't hearing the third sound in the words. For instance, she might write “met” for the word “melt”. Just within these two weeks she is now more consistently hearing all the sounds and writing them correctly. That is exciting!

I would highly recommend this reading program to any struggling reader or even for beginning readers. I would be lying if I said that EE loves the program. She doesn't necessarily like it, but she is willing to do it because the lessons are fairly short and even she is recognizing that she is making progress. She does want to be able to read and write like her friends and wants to write stories.

As I said, I probably still need to make a follow up appointment with the Developmental Optometrist, because there still may be some other issues that need to be addressed. In the meantime, I am so happy with Phonics Pathways!

Even if no one else ever read my blogs, I just discovered that they are still worth writing.  I just spent the last half hour or so rereading my blogs and have for the most part been encouraged.  But it is nice to see comments and know that I am not totally alone out here in blog-land.  J

Last night I wrote a nice update and it was lost.  I will try to recreate it again this evening with some additional thoughts.

I am still struggling with the fatigue, aches and pains of the fibromyalgia in various degrees from one week to the next.  However, we’ve done so much better the last month and a half school wise than we have done all year and that is encouraging.  We have not kept my schedule exactly, but it has given me a framework to keep in mind as I work with the kids each day.  Last week my twins did not keep up with their work for the week so they “lost” the weekend.  No sleep-overs or outings with friends on Friday night.  Saturday they spent most of the day doing school work.  I did let them have a few hours “off” Saturday evening, but then Sunday afternoon it was time to do science together.  They weren’t really happy about it, (and to be honest, either was I) but I believe they finally are understanding that it must be done.  Neither of them gave me much of a hard time about it.  I can see that they are not totally staying focused and getting all their work done this week either.  SJ has Awana Varsity Games on Saturday, so it looks like Friday night and Sunday afternoon will be homework time.  I hope that after losing enough weekends to work that could and should have been done during the week I may begin seeing an improvement in their work ethic. 

When I was looking at what I had planned to be using for school this year I thought it would be interesting to check the list and see what I was actually using 6 months later.

• SJ- and JP- - 9th grade twins
  • Sonlight's Alt. 6 Bible program – Not using
  • Awana's 24/7 program on Sunday nights – Going strong.
  • Sadlier-Oxford Grammar through Writing and Composition 9 – Still using, but only on Chapter 6!
  • Sonlight Alt. 6 readers and dictation – Dictation isn’t happening.  They have each read about four books so far.  They will probably only each read about 8 books from the Sonlight readers by the time the school year is done.
  • Apples Daily Spelling Drills for Secondary Students – Not happening, but both wanted to work on their spelling.  Maybe a summer project?
  • Bob Jones World History with Activity book – Have dropped the activity book.  The reading, section reviews and chapter reviews keep us busy enough.
  • Sonlight Alt. 6 read alouds – Have only now become consistent at a daily read aloud time on Mon., Tues and Weds.  We are presently enjoying The Bronze Bow.  Just finished reading Watership Down (not a SL book, we were reading it for a literature class they had with our co-op last quarter). 
  • The Teaching Company's High School World History DVD Course (A weekly supplement for fun and discussion.) Yes and no.  We’ve watched about 8 lessons, but since we had gotten behind in history and are trying to catch up, we’re not doing this consistently because of lack of time.
  • Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology, Modules 1-9 with Co-Op We’re doing it.  It’s a struggle, but it's happening.
  • Rosetta Stone German – JP started doing it in January.  SJ wants to wait till next fall.  I think we need a good German Grammar book to go with it. 

• SJ 9-
  • General Math with SOS – We’ve dropped this. It didn't work for her at all.  SJ saw an education specialist in November, was tested and we’ve developed an IEP for her.  She’s now doing daily Calculadder drills, 4-5 pages from a Pattern Blocks book or Geoboard book each week, and will be working through Various Key To books.  We’ve been consistent in this since we got the new plan in December.
  • The Teaching Company's Basic Math DVDs – Nope! Dropped too.
  • Chorus on Thursdays with Umbrella School – Going well.
  • Improvisation on Thursdays with Umbrella School – Also going well.
  • Soccer in Fall, Basketball in Winter and Softball in Spring with a local Christian School – She did the Soccer and Basketball and earned 1 credit.  Her basketball team went to their league’s division championship and WON!  More on that in another post.  She has decided not to play softball and to focus on getting school work done.

• JP-
  • Video Text Algebra Modules C-F – We had to back track but he’s finally almost done with Module D.
  • Visual Basic (with Dad) – I think this may be dropped for now.  It’s not happening.
  • Karate for Christ – Yes, he’s doing well and logging his hours.
  • Added – Shop Class - not sure what to call it, but he’s working side by side with his dad to remodel our bathroom.  The bathroom has been gutted and now we wait for warm weather for the project to resume.  The goal is to have it done by December, so he’ll probably get a half credit this year and half credit next year.

• E- - 3rd grade
  • Leading Little Ones to God - ::sigh:: This has fallen by the wayside.  My Mom was doing it with her twice a week, but I thought I wanted to do it with her so we WERE going to do it at bedtime, but I forgot about it till I saw it written here.  Either I’m giving it back to Nana or just consider it dropped.
  • Awana's T and T program on Sunday nights  We’re plugging along at this.
  • Continue to learn to read with 100 Easy Lessons and Reading Reflex – Dropped.  EE didn’t like 100 Easy Lessons and they began moving too fast.  We used Reading Reflex for awhile successfully but came to a stop again. She needed more practice.  We replaced it with something else…
  • Phonics Pathways and Pyramid Reading Exercises – a friend loaned me her book, we tried it and it was a perfect match. I will write more about this in another post, but both EE and I are thrilled with the progress she is making.
  • Lots of Easy Readers and Bob Books – Done and added…
  • Sonlight’s Fun Tales (27 short syllable stories like Bob Books)
  • I Can Read It! by Sonlight – No.  A friend was going to loan this to me but I never got it from her.
  • Old version of LLATL Red – No.  We did the first few lessons and realized it was too much right now.
  • Sonlight Core 1+2 history – hmmm, yes and no.  We dropped the Children’s History of the World, but have been reading many of the other history books from the core plus some. I’ve really ended up doing my own thing with Story of the World CD’s (have listened to the first set, and will listen to the second set later this year), Mystery of History and children’s history books I already own. We’re still having fun with Ancient Egypt but should move to Ancient Greece in a few weeks.
  • Sonlight Core 1+2 read alouds with Dad – Wow, I forgot I had planned this!  Need to talk to Dad about it!
  • Mystery of History Volume 1  - Started using it, it’s on hold for now.
  • Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 – Finally began this in January and we are doing it with some friends.  She LOVES it. She is doing oral narrations for me after each lesson.  It’s going well.
  • Singapore 2A, 2B and 3A – We’re done with 2A and are in the middle of 2B.
  • Handwriting Without Tears – off and on as needed
  • Art with Co-op (Drawing with Children and Art History) Yup.
  • P.E. and/or Spanish with Co-Op – Yup… on her third quarter of Spanish, had two quarters of tumbling and will now be doing general fitness
  • How Great Thou Art, I Can Do All Things art lessons – Just began these lessons with my Mom in February.
  • Fall Soccer with Local Recreation Group – Nope, we decided against it, but she wants to do t-ball in the spring.
  • Weekly Piano lessons – Yes, but I’ve got to get her to practice more.
  • Twice a month drop-in science, art and P.E. classes with Umbrella – When we can.  She really enjoys it.
  • Modern Curriculum Press Maps, Charts and Graphs C - She’s actually been doing this since the beginning of the year. Loves it and just finished it.
  • Read alouds with big brother and sister - She listens in to the twins' read alouds.

I am not getting everything in, but we are doing much better at getting the basics done. I feel confident that if we can keep working at consistency and a good work ethic towards school work, that we can be in a much better place next year at this time.  Between that and possibly having more realistic expectations of what we can get accomplished, even if I am still struggling with my health, I have hopes of a productive school year that doesn’t drag into the summer for the 07/08 year.

And with that I’ll end this post to my blog on a positive note!

::::Big Deep Breath::::

I'm going to try another new schedule.  The twins have GOT to get their four main subjects worked on at least four days a week.  We have been getting up around 8:00 am and beginning school between 9 and 9:30 am.  That's just too late.  Here's the new attempt at a schedule:

6:30 am Start waking family up/exercise for me
7:00 am Breakfast and Breakfast chores (everyone)
8:00 am Math for everyone.  JP work independently. Work with SJ first while EE plays math computer game or with math manipulatives.  Explain lesson to SJ and get her started.  Then work with EE.
9:00 am Have EE do what LA she can do alone, then she can do educational computer games.
             Review English and History with SJ and JP for a half hour.
9:30-11:00 Reading, read alouds and history with EE.
9:30-10:15  JP do English; SJ do History.
10:15-11:00 SJ do English; JP do Science.
11:00-11:15: review Science work with twins. EE free time.
11:15-12:00  SJ do Science; JP do History; I do Science with EE.
12:00-1:00 Lunch and Lunch Clean-up/free time for kids
1:00-2:00 Read Aloud
2:00 - 4:00 Exercise, German, unfinished work for teens, chores instead of Exercise on Wednesdays;
 EE exercise, German, freetime; Mom begin grading and recording grades for morning work.
On Thursdays SJ has Umbrella School classes.  Math will still have to be done before going, and main subjects done in afternoon.  JP will work on his Visual Basic course on Thursdays while SJ and I are gone.  Fridays we have our Co-op class, but again, there is time for math in the morning before going to Co-op.

If my husband can help me be disciplined in going to bed early so we can get up early, this schedule may work.  I'm really going to pray over this and ask God to help me see how this may need to be tweaked and what I do to sabotage my own efforts. 

The previous plan worked to a point.

The pancakes got everyone up but they weren't necessarily in a better mood.

The "three most important things" doesn't seem to be working, because school seems to be the most important thing and there are more than three subjects.

We did get the house all cleaned up and the Christmas stuff put away, but that took most of the week and then we had to get packed for Winter Retreat with our youth group.  SJ, JP and I all were going.

Then we had Monday off for Martin Luther King's holiday, but JP did spend most of the day with his Dad taking down tile and wallboard in the kitchen that is going to be redone.

So school started this week.  It has been a weak start.  I'm so frustrated with my teens.  I really need to work out a schedule that we can be more consistent with keeping.  I'm not naturally an early riser but I think we need to get up earlier and start school at, dare I say it, 8:00 am.  Then we can take an hour for each core subject before lunch.  And somehow I need to have time to work with my youngest.

I've really lost the joy of homeschooling and am just trying to get it done.

And not doing a great job at that either.

But I'm not giving up yet.

I get into these ruts when I'm not feeling good and tend to want to stay in them.  It’s really silly, but it seems sometimes when I am only feeling marginally bad or getting over feeling bad I get to some mental state where I want to avoid people.  This is very unlike me as I'm an extrovert when it comes to how I "recreate" or "recharge".  This morning I did not want to go to church.  I did not want to go to Sunday School. However, I knew I didn't feel that bad and I knew I needed to go.  I missed last week because I had only gotten three hours sleep due to my fibro and JT's snoring.

So, I got myself moving this morning and we went to church.

I am so glad that I did.  God really encouraged me this morning in Sunday School and Church.

In Sunday School a Psalm was read that really spoke to me and what I'm struggling through these days.  Its Psalm 121:

I lift my eyes to the hills --
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
  the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip --
  he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
  will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you --
  the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm--
  He will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
  both now and forevermore.

My help comes from the Lord.  Not from my own strength.  Not from my own endeavors.  It comes from the Lord.

He gave me some more help in church.
The message was "The Urgent and the Important" with the text from Romans 15:23-33; 16:3-4 and 17-20.

Our Pastor had four quadrants labeled:
I.    Important and Urgent
II.    Important and not urgent
III.    Not Important, but Urgent
IV.    Not Important and Not Urgent.

 I really do need to focus on the important and urgent, but not let the unimportant urgent rule my life.  Too often I waste time in "not important" and "not urgent" things.  I think when I get overwhelmed and weary I retreat to unimportant and un-urgent activities that suck my time but help me avoid what I should be dealing with at the moment.  Or I focus on important, but not the most important, activities, that are easy and give me an allusion of being productive. 

I think, to help me in my endeavor of resting in the Lord and doing better with my kids and school, I am going to type up Psalm 121 and the main points of the Pastor's sermon and post it somewhere where I will see it daily so that I might try to follow through in action.

"The Urgent and the Important
Main Point: Gain God's Priorities.

I.   Invest in God's Kingdom (It's Important)
II.   Pray Biblically (It's Urgent)
III.   Commend people (It's Important)
IV.   Avoid Flatterers (It's Urgent)
V.   Believe in Evil's defeat (It's Important)

Conclusion:  Stand on God's Promises (It's Important and It's Urgent)"

How does it apply to me now as it applies to my homeschool?
I.  When I invest my time in my kids and their education and their character I am investing in God's Kingdom.   God has given me the job of homeschooling my kids.  Am I investing my time in it or trying to get it done minimally?
II.   Am I praying for my homeschool? my children? my husband? our family? Am I praying regularly and consistently?
III.   Do I commend my children and my husband?  Does my mouth spill out more negatives than positives?  Do I lift my children up or tear them down?
IV.  I don't know that flatterers are a problem in my life right now.  I'll be on the lookout.  Do I flatter?  I don't think so but I'm going to try to be more aware of what I say.
V.  I think way too often I accept defeat when I should be acting victoriously in the Lord.  Am I listening to the enemies lies of hopelessness and condemnation or am I remembering that he is defeated in my life and my strength and victory are in the Lord?

Conclusion:  My words have been saying that I stand on the Lord's promises but not sure my thoughts and actions have been living them.  That needs to change NOW!

And tomorrow we start back to school and I will not shrink from my calling.  I'm getting out of this rut!

I don't even know how I want to start my blog today.  I realized I haven't written too much school related in it.  I have been struggling with school this year.  I continue to have trouble being enthusiastic.  I'm at a point where if I could send my two teens to private school I would.  (The local public school just isn't an option for us.  It’s really bad.)   JP has no interest in going to private or public school.  SJ plays basketball with a local private school and would love to go there.   I probably should have let my youngest go to the local public school when she started kindergarten, but I wasn't ready to let her go and it didn't seem right to send her "away" when the twins were coming back from their one year in ps.  She seems to have a reading disability that perhaps their special ed could have caught.  I just figured she wasn't ready.

I really need to remember the verses from Philippians about thinking on all things good and pure and beautiful because my mind keeps dwelling on all the negatives of our homeschool:

The rules I wrote up months ago haven't been well enforced.  (my fault)
My two 9th graders are behind in history and English. 
My 9th grade daughter struggles with math and is about 4 grades behind.
My 3rd grader is still struggling to read.
We start school on Monday (today is Saturday) and I'm fatigued from a stomach virus and my fibromyalgia and not ready to start.
My kids have lousy study habits.

I don't want to start on Monday.

  There I said it.

Yes, I need an attitude check and need to look for the good in our circumstances.
:::deep breath::::

I was finally able to meet with an education specialist in November and December and we began a program for my 9th grade daughter  to try to help her get on track.  She is math disabled, but we have a plan now.
My 3rd grader is doing very well with math and learning her math facts.  Calculadder has been helping her a lot! 
My son, a hands-on kind of kid, is going to earn credit working side by side with my husband in remodeling/refinishing our bathroom.  He will learn all kinds of useful life skills.
My kids aren't perfect, but they are generally caring people who usually want to do the right thing.
We aren't behind (too much) in science or math.

I guess it is hard to be positive when you are feeling physically and emotionally weary.  Even more reason for me to keep reading God's Word and seeking Him first.  Jesus said that His yoke was easy and His burden is light.  If I feel like I have a heavy burden on me it’s because I've put it there myself, either with negative thinking and/or from consequences to my own actions or inactions.

I haven't done much in the way of New Year's Resolutions this year.  When people ask me I say that I just want to continue in the improvements I began last year which include diet, bible reading and keeping a budget.  However, I do need to add a few new resolutions.  Exercise is an important one because that can help me emotionally as well as physically. I've been talking about adding exercise most of last year, now is the time to start.  The other thing is to endeavor to keep a more positive attitude about school and keeping on track.  Easier said than done, but not impossible.

I'm thinking I'll check in here weekly and journal each week and try to focus on the positives of the week.

I wanted to be writing more anyway.  

It just occurred to me as I was writing this the name I gave this blog.  I have been fighting being weary since the beginning of the school year.  I think I need to stop fighting in my own strength and just endeavor, as our pastor has recently challenged us, "do the next right thing."  How would it be different if I give more "effort" to rest in the Lord?

I am not going to resign myself to being burdened and weary.  I hope to be resolute resting in the Lord and reporting the positives from each week.

God Bless us Homeschoolers, Every one of us.

We had said we wouldn’t do it!  After last year’s very wet church camping trip, my husband and I adamantly said if it was going to rain this year we weren’t going.  It’s not that we didn’t manage to enjoy ourselves.  It was a memorable bonding experience with our church friends that won’t be forgotten for a long time.  We all kept saying, “It could be worse, it could be cold too.” 

Guess what?  This year it was cold too!

Yup, I went.  Let’s just say I’m a sucker for creating nice warm fuzzy childhood memories for my children.

Our relatively new yearly event begins on a Thursday afternoon and supposedly ends Saturday afternoon.  The first year we went the weather was sunny and warm.  It was good cool sleeping weather in the evening and pleasantly warm in the sun and cool in the shade during the day.  That last day everyone reluctantly packed up their gear after lunch and headed back home. 

Last year, the pieced together tarp that was protecting our tables from the constant driving rain collapsed Friday night while we were all trying to sleep.  Saturday morning after we cleaned up the wreckage from the collapse,  we ate breakfast huddled together under what was left of the dripping tarps and then all the adults agreed it was time to go home.  We took down our tents and loaded our cars in the rain eager to get home to warm showers and dry beds. It was at that point that Joe and I said, “Never again!  Next year if it rains, we’re not going!”

And so, when we were checking the weather Wednesday morning and the forecast had changed from 30% chance of rain on Friday to 60% chance of rain, visions of last year’s collapsed tarp and wet tents immediately came to mind. 

EE- was in the room with us so I warned her that there was a good chance that we wouldn’t be going on the camping trip after all because it was supposed to rain.

EE was crushed.  She flopped down on the couch with tears welling up in her eyes. "But WHY?"  she asked earnestly. 

“You don’t want to go if it rains, do you?”

Of course she did!  JP came upstairs.  We told him what we were thinking.  Did he still want to go?  He thought he did.  EE starts telling us all the fun things she does with her friends at the camping trip.  It’s one of the highlights of her year.

I begin to remember how that previous year the kids had gleefully played in the rain.  EE and her buddy, J., romped in huge puddles as if they were wading pools. 

JP was more often than not off with the boys, ranging from ages 11 to 19 playing football in the rain and sometimes the girls joined them to play capture-the-flag type games. Rain was no deterrent to their fun. 

Both JL and SJ enjoyed time laughing and talking with their friends around the campfire or sitting at the table playing cards.  At night all enjoyed the short devotional, singing and making smores around the campfire when their was a brief reprieve from the rain the first evening. Even with the rain we still had managed to do all those things the second night, just not around the campfire.  After the "formal" activites were games for all ages who wanted to play.  It was hard to get the young ones to go to bed!

My heart starts to melt.  Well… maybe….  But Joe reminds me how adamant we were that we said we wouldn’t go camping again if forecasters were calling for rain.  Yes, but, didn’t we mean we wouldn’t go if they were calling for pouring rain like last year? This time they were only calling for scattered and light showers…   No… he didn’t think we had made any possible exceptions.  Joe is beginning to get agitated with me as he envisions wet tents, damp sleeping bags and muddy feet in his vehicles.  I look over at EE sitting heartbroken on the couch. It couldn’t be as bad as last year…

After a little spat about what we meant when we said we wouldn’t go again if there were rain, we finally came to an agreement.  I’ll go with the kids if JP would be willing to do most of the tent set-up and break down and willing to dry the tents out if need be when we get home (and it is sunny again.)  Joe can stay home with JL, work on his research paper and be available to take her to school and work.  They can come join us on Friday night. 

Needless to say, JP was willing to take on the work so we went.  We hadn’t even begun to get ready to go so it was with a flurry of hurried activity that we prepared to take off for our camping adventure.  JP, SJ and EE brought up camping equipment and packed their bags while I ran to the grocery store for needed food. In three short hours the four of us were on our way.

Did I mention it was cold this year? And that in those three short hours the forecast had changed from 60% chance of rain to 90% chance of rain? 

It is only the end of September and I am already weary of school.

But it isn’t school’s fault.  My health hasn’t been its best and it's hard keeping up when you’re feeling achy and tired.  We had a pretty good first two weeks. Then the achiness and fatigue began to set in again.  It is so hard to stay focused and keep the kids focused when you’re distracted by flu-like aches and brain fatigue. 

Thank goodness for my Mom.  My Mom is coming over twice a week to help with E-.  I just write out her work and my Mom goes through it all with her.  That has allowed me more time with the twins.  But somehow time has gotten away from me these past two weeks anyway. 

This past weekend I went on a Ladies’ Retreat with my church.  The speaker’s theme was “What’s in your jar?” a take-off of the “What’s in your wallet?” commercial.  I would like to think my jar is full of the fruits of the spirit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control.  Unfortunately, as my jar has been bumped a few times I’ve noticed impatience and irritability spilling out of it!  Ugh!

I stayed home from Wednesday evening fellowship tonight.  I just feel too tired to make small talk and for those who know me well and who would want to really know how I am doing, well, I just don’t feel like talking about how I feel.  Its just more of the same thing.

I think this Saturday I want to spend some time re-adjusting the lesson schedule.  I also have to work on preparing the September summaries to send to my umbrella school.  And I want to spend some time drinking water from the well that has living water.  I need to spend time in the Word so I don’t keep feeling weary from doing good.   

My husband has often said that we need more “school rules”.  I finally decided to write down the “rules” we already had and add a few more.  When my fibromyalgia is bad, there needs to be some sort of guidelines to help keep the kids (especially the teens) moving forward on their school work.  The trick will be enforcing them!  Hopefully with my husband helping we’ll manage it. 

Here are the old and new rules:

Da Rules for High School!  (School Rules, that is)

1.    School hours are 8:30 am - 4:30 pm.

2.    Breakfast needs to be done by 8:15 am.

3.    School ends when your work is done!

4.    No showers or baths during the school day.

5.    You get 1 hour to have lunch and a short break. Breakfast and lunch dishes are to be taken care of during this time period.

6.    There is NO X-Box, TV, Movies, computer games, phone calls, CDs, Internet, or radio during the school hours.

7.    If you are caught breaking rule number 6, or goofing off in some way, you will be fined $1.00.

8.    You will be given a daily schedule.  You are to do your subjects as they are assigned.  Undone work when time is up is to be done as homework that same day, on your own time. 

9.    You will be given an assignment sheet each week.

10.    YOU are responsible for keeping track of your assignment sheet and doing your daily work.

11.    If you don’t understand an assignment, YOU are responsible for asking your teacher to explain it to you.

12.    All written work should have your name, date, course and assignment written on the top left hand corner.

13.    If, for some reason, you are not given an assignment sheet, you are to take responsibility and work on the NEXT lesson.

14.    Keep your work in your notebooks until your teacher asks you to hand it to her.  DO NOT leave them lying in the printer or the table or stuffed inside of books.

Elementary School Rules

1. School hours are 9:30 am - 2:30 pm.
2. Breakfast needs to be done by 9:15 am.
3. School ends when your work is done!
4. No showers or baths during the school day.
5. You get 1 hour to have lunch and a short break. Breakfast and lunch dishes are to be taken care of during this time period.
6. There is NO X-Box, TV, Movies, Unapproved computer games, phone calls, Internet, or radio during the school hours.
7. If you are caught breaking rule number 6, or goofing off in some way, you will be fined $.25.
8. When your teacher cannot work with you, you should find something school related to do:  Leap Pad Learning system, puzzles, art, listen to a book on tape, etc.
9. Subjects you can try to do on your own:  copy work, Readywriter, Explode the Code, Rainbow Rock on the computer and practice reading books you’ve already read.
10. If you have done all the work that you can do on your own, and your teacher still cannot work with you, or once your work is done you may play any of the following computer games:  Rainbow Rock, Zoombinis, Cluefinders (as long as you don’t need help), Read, Write and Type, any reading/phonics type computer game.

Maybe with more enforced structure and clearer expectations my kids and I can continue to move forward in school even when I’m at my worst.  And even when I feel weary, I won’t give up on doing good. 

What happened to our summer?  I had all sorts of plans for getting some much needed painting and redecorating done in my living room, dining room and especially kitchen! Where did the time go? 

Let’s see…

It went to swim team.  Six plus weeks of morning practices and Saturday meets as well as Divisional and All Stars.

It went to a much anticipated family reunion with my husband’s parents and siblings and nieces and nephews.  That was a wonderful and relaxing week on my sister-in-law’s and her husband’s 90+ acres in Ohio. I got to read a Jane Austin’s Emma, do some bird watching and sketching.  Kids hung out with cousins, took long walks, and one of them even read a book!  

And then my fibromyalgia sprung back up.  That has slowed me down quite a bit.

I spent a month going through books and trying to reclaim my living room.

That brings us to the last few weeks. 

Oh well, painting the living room, dining room and kitchen was a nice tho