Friday, June 27, 2008 - Week in Review

No Crafty or Flashback Friday for me this week.  I had plenty of time this week but didn’t get to either one.  I thought I’d just tell you about our week.  Despite a flurry of activity, it really was a peaceful, restful week, a week that had a sense of accomplishment.
Saturday the kids had back-to-back games.  My daughter’s team won this week.  She plays first base and did a great job catching and holding the team from getting on base.  She also hit a triple and brought in several runs.  She was very excited, as this was the first game they played that they won. (They won another by default.)   My son’s team lost because they didn’t have enough players show up, but they played anyhow.  On his first time up to bat in the game he hit a home run.  It was awesome, on the ground straight down the center of the field.  My oldest was at these games and afterward we all went to Bob Evans for lunch. 
You know about our morning events on Sunday, but in the afternoon my son had ball practice.  He and another boy were throwing the ball back and forth when the other boy missed the catch and was hit hard above the eye so hard that it split his head open.  It was pretty nasty.  My son felt horrible and you could see his fear and compassion on his face.  I had been sitting in the car and saw what happened.  I guess mommy mode kicked in, and I tried to lend first aid using what was available.  We had no first aid kit.  I had a sun and sand blanket in the trunk of my car and I used that and water to clean him up the best I could to see what was going on.  Those blankets live up to their claims.  The water and blood just rolled off of it, but I was able to get the bleeding to slow.  Someone ran across the street to the church and brought towels and ice which made it a whole lot easier to clean this boy up.  He was very brave considering the mess he was. The coach phoned his mother and told her what had happened.  Knowing how I would probably react if I saw all that blood on my child, I cleaned up his face, neck and arms.  She came and took him to Urgent Care.  I’m sure he needed stitches.  While cleaning him up I asked if he could see and he said he could see fine. We haven’t heard how he is, but we’re praying he is all right.  Whew!
Monday, my son went fishing with his grandfather, but the fish weren’t biting.  Tuesday was ice-skating and my daughter had a scrimmage game in the evening, which they lost.  We have also been ‘deep-cleaning’ the downstairs this week.  Amazingly it has only taken a few hours.  I guess the chore schedule has been doing its job and ‘deep-cleaning’ isn’t so deep this year. Yay!  I’ve been puttering around the yard early in the morning to avoid the heat, doing the weeding and other odds and ends.
The smell of new schoolbooks is in the house, so I have been pouring over those, trying to layout lesson plans for the year.  We normally work through the summer, but somehow we have filled our days with other things.  It will be all right.  Life is great schooling.

I'd like to ask for prayers for my mom.  She has been having problems with vertigo for years, but the episodes have increased.  She is going to another doctor to try to figure out what is causing it.

Now for my shameless plug.
Yesterday my new e-books were put in the Schoolhouse Store.  I am especially pleased with the State Study Motto Copybook and Notebook Pages books.  I put a lot of thought and effort into them and they came out great.  If you are planning on doing a study of the states or even one state, this book may come in handy.  Swing by the store for a full description.

Don’t forget to enter the Schoolhouse Planner Giveaway.

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Monday, June 23, 2008 - Quadruplets

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Sunday morning I woke up to get ready for church.  I was a bit concerned when my usual greeter was not around.  I searched her usual resting places and the nesting boxes we had placed around the house and called out to her, but she was nowhere to be found.  I called my husband to see if he had let her out when he left for work at 4:30a.m. and he told me he saw her in the morning but that he hadn’t let her out.  Then I woke the kids up to help me find her.  My daughter nonchalantly told me that she was under her bed.  When I checked under there, Willow had already given birth to three kittens.  (Don't it figure, they go anyplace but where you want them, lol) We were so excited.  My daughter and I were able to see her finish giving birth to the last kitten.  It was amazing.  My daughter had a lot of concern as she asked about what she was doing and if it was all right.  I reassured her that Willow was doing exactly what God had imparted on her to do.  We went to church and when we came home, she had moved the babies further under the bed.  We let her rest there most of the day. Knowing that they could not stay under my daughter’s bed all night, when my husband came home we moved Willow and her family into one of the nests we had made for her (we are using one of the dog travel kennels we had cleaned and lined with towels) and moved the whole thing into our bedroom.  Willow is taking wonderful care of her little ones and seems very proud of them as she let us “ooo” and “ah” at them.  She is very trusting of us as she has left the nest unattended a few times to visit with us on the bed and down in the kitchen while the babies slept.  But, like any new mother, as soon as she hears the slightest whimper, she is by their side.  The only thing that has me a bit baffled is that the kittens are all yellow Tabbies.  Willow is a calico/Tortie, her mother is a Calico, her father was completely white, and the only cat we ever saw around was black and white, so I have no idea how we ended up with Tabbies.  The kids are already spreading the word and looking for homes for them when they are old enough.  What a wonderful Sunday Blessing.

 

 

 

 

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - Book Choices

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I’ve been working on making decisions on what resources to use for school next year.  I have poured over the wonderful Rainbow Resource catalog, reading the reviews, and then getting on the internet and using their website, Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, and the various company websites to look over the products.  I love the preview windows most of these places offer.  It’s so hard to make choices site unseen.  My daughter’s courses are fairly simple to choose because she’s still in elementary school, but my son will be entering in high school this year.  I have a friend who works for the public school system, so she gave me the course catalog to look over.  The descriptions are so vague.  With so much input from all over the place it can be a challenge to make these decisions.   Sometimes it can be overwhelming because there are so many choices of great courses, and so many well-meaning people who try to be supportive when they tell you what they think you should be sure to cover.  So, I’m relying on instinct, previous experience with high school, and a large dose of prayer that the books I choose will be the best ones for my children. 

Here is what I’ve decided so far:

For my Daughter (6^th grade):

Bible-Daily Devotions, Copywork, Memorization

Grammar-Daily Grams

Writing- Journal Writing

Literature- Learning Language Arts Through Literature-Tan Book

Spelling-Spelling Power; Dr.Aardsma’a Spelling Drill

Vocabulary-Vocabulary Cartoons-Elementary

Penmanship-Copywork

Math-Saxon 76

Science-a weather unit using The Weather Book and HOAC Extreme Weather Lapbook: Exploring Creation with General Science (even though this is a 7^th grade course, we will begin it this year and finish it next)

History/Soc Studies-basically a mix of sources including Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers-19^th Century, SOS History 6, and living books.

Geography- Trail Guide to World Geography, Trail Guide to U.S. Geography

Logic-American Girl Minute Mysteries

Foreign Language- Prima Latina; Complete Book of Spanish

Music-Recorder

Art-Discovering Great Artists

P.E./Health-Ice Skating and various team sports, American Girl The Care and Keeping of You and Girl Zone Body Talk.

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For my Son (9^th grade, Freshman)

Bible- Daily Devotions, Copywork, Memorization

Grammar-Daily Grams-Green

Writing-Write with the Best; Journal Writing

Literature-Movies as Literature; various literature studies

Spelling/Etymology-Spelling Power; Dr.Aardsma’a Spelling Drill, Roots and Fruits

Math- Saxon Algebra 1

Science-Exploring Creation with Biology

History- U.S. History Power Basics

Geography- Trail Guide to World Geography, Trail Guide to U.S. Geography

Foreign Language- Powerglide Spanish; Latina Christiana

P.E./Health-Ice Skating and various team sports

Electives:

Music- Recorder

Logic- Introductory to Logic

Consumer Education-Home Ec

Art- How Great thou Art

Of course, I have a ton of e-books that will fill in any gaps I find in these courses, so I'm hoping I have the bases covered.

I’d be quite interested in what you think and what you have chosen this year.  Leave a message so I can check out your choices.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - Finished House and News

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The work on the house was finished last week and it looks wonderful.

Before:After:

The vinyl railing and new gutters look great and really dress up the place.

The house before all the work:The house after all the work:What a difference. If you noticed in the 'after' picture, there's no branch in the shot. That's because when the workers left, they hit the tree and broke the branch off. In the fall we will probably be removing the azalea bushes in front.  They have gone crazy nuts.  Would you believe that 15 years ago we planted the ones in front of the garage from cuttings? They were literally sticks.  Now, even with pruning, they are as wide as they are tall.  They don’t bloom the way they used too so we think we’ll try to move them to under the trees in the front yard and see what happens.

 

In other news:

Yup, Willow is going to be a momma.  I know, I know.  “Have your pet spayed or neutered.”  I have no excuses except that time got away from me.  This will be our first experience with baby animals (except for mice, which I highly recommend not allowing to multiply). If you put your hand on her tummy, you can feel the little ones moving.  Willow has been eating like there’s no tomorrow and following me around everywhere more than usual.  I have been on the net reading up on it and trying to watch for the signs of when she will give birth.  The kids have been learning about it all also. Isn’t homeschooling wonderful?  Luckily we have a few people who have already shown an interest in kittens, so hopefully we will find good homes for them.  And as soon as she is able, we will take care of the spaying.  It's kind of exciting though, and we are praying for a small litter.

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Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - A Modge Podge Post

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Friday night, my oldest had blessed us with the opportunity to join him at a minor league baseball game.  The company he works for had a Family Night where they supplied supper and tickets to the game.  He was so sweet to invite us all.  We had a wonderful time, although the game was a bit slow and the home team lost 6 to 4.  It was great spending time with him and his girlfriend.  Thanks son!

In other news, In between running around like a crazy lady Saturday, the mailman brought me the T-shirt I had won on the Homeschool Lounge.  It was like they knew me.

We are Survivor fans here, so this was a great choice.  Thanks so much, Homeschool Boutique.  If you haven’t been to their shop, you should check it out.  They have the cutest things.  I’ve put a link on my sidebar, so if you ever want anything, you can find it there.

And one more thing.  My 2 new copybooks, which aren’t yet in the store, are part of the Old Schoolhouse Store two-year anniversary Win Big promo.  If you didn’t receive the e-mail, here is the gist of it.

“We're celebrating the second anniversary of the Schoolhouse Store with our popular WIN BIG Contest
In our past Win Big contests, we've selected one winner. BUT, in honor of the two year anniversary in the Schoolhouse Store, we're selecting TWO winners!
All of the prizes are going to TWO  WINNERS!!  And, it could be YOU! 

It's our Win Big contest in the Schoolhouse Store.  Customers 43,000 AND 43,001 in the store are going to win this amazing prize pack worth almost $500!  (Please note: TOS employees, its associates, and family members are not eligible.)
The Win Big contest is open to U. S. and international shoppers!
We've had our Win Big contest before, but this time the prizes are even bigger and better than ever!    PLUS, the gift certificate to our store is $150! 100% of that $150 certificate is good towards products in the store.  Don't set aside even a penny for shipping and handling.  As always, there are no shipping charges in the Schoolhouse Store.

Here is everything included in this EXTRAORDINARY prize pack!  Don't forget,  TWO people will win this prize pack!"

• A $150 Gift Certificate to the Schoolhouse Store
• Transcript Boot Camp from Inge Cannon- $79
• The MATHer of Facts multiplication method program- $59.95
• 2-year subscription the The Old Schoolhouse Magazine- $39
• An Ocean Unit Study from Treasure Box Press- $40
• Wall Street Spinning Board Game from FunSpin.com- $29.95
• Homeschooling at the Speed of Life- $17.95
• A Dictionary for Young Learners from elearnaid.com- $25
• A Copybook of the Beatitudes and a Copybook of the Ten Commandments form Proverbs 22:6 Academy {that's me, lol} (each spiral bound along with a CD of the PDF files)- $10.95 ea.
• Homeschooling Methods from The Old Schoolhouse- $14.99
• Homeschooling the High Schooler audio CD from The Old Schoolhouse- $17.95
• The Well-Intergrated Homeschool presentation on CD from Gena Suarez- $12

As you can see it is a great list of products for 2 lucky winners.  If you are looking for some things to get your new school year ready, remember to stop by the Old Schoolhouse Store.  Shipping is always free.

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Monday, June 2, 2008 - Summer Beginnings

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What a crazy, busy weekend and the week ahead doesn’t have many signs of slowing down.  Saturday was a mad rush of events and shuttling from here to there. My daughter and I got up early to hit a church tag sale that proved to be a bust. Her Girl Scout troop was to meet at 8:30am for a trip to the city to take some computer courses.  We were there in plenty of time, but the leader showed up half an hour late and then they didn’t leave for another half an hour after that.  One of our friends, who was dropping off her daughter also, had left her lights on and drained her battery. So I called my husband to come over and help out.  We were able to jumpstart her car.  I had errands to run, so off I went again.  My son had a softball game at 11:00, so after running my errands I raced back home so we could all go to the game together.  They didn’t win but they played a good game.  Both the kids are playing first base this year, on different teams.  After the game, we stopped to get a bite to eat, and then I had to go on a swim trip with my Brownie Troop.  There were problems at the facility with little ones having an “accident” in the water, so our troop spent more time out of the water than in.  We ended up leaving a half and hour earlier than we had planned.  We stopped at Chic-fil-a for supper and let the girls play in the playground for a while.  When I got home about 7:30, I found out from my daughter that they didn’t get to do all the things that they were supposed to do because they were late arriving and then there weren’t enough girls.  They also arrived home late with parents waiting on them including my husband.  Crazy day.  Yesterday was better.  After church, the kids spent some time with their friends.  I picked up my son about 3:30 for ball practice.  My daughter, her friend and her mom went swim suit shopping so I picked her up after ball practice.  Then my son decided he wanted to take the cover off our pool right as I was making dinner.  That was interesting to say the least.  Today, there’s laundry, errands, paperwork, and I have the end of the year Girl Scout leader's dinner.  Tomorrow I promised the kids we’d go skating, Wednesday, my daughter has ball practice and my son has Scouts.  Thursday she has training as a volunteer at the library for the summer, and Friday, the big curriculum tag sale in Charlotte. Then we’re back to Saturday, when both kids have games.  In between all this, the people who are working on our house are supposed to come back and fix the porch poles (that's another story) and put in our gutters.  Whoever coined the phrase “the lazy days of summer” probably didn’t have kids.  At least it’s not dull.

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - A New Roof

Posted in Life

Yesterday we got a new roof.  I am very pleased with the results.  We have gone from this:

 To this: 

It was amazing how quickly this company worked.  They had the old shingles off in less than an hour and finished fixing and shingling the roof in another 5.  They were an awesome group of workers, very professional and extremely polite.  The foreman gave the kids a run down on the whole roofing process and explained what they were doing and why.  A great “home” school lesson for all.

Here’s a slide show of the transformation.

We have more work to be done over the next few days and weeks, but when we're done the outside of the house will look a whole lot better then it does now. God is so good to lead us to some really great contractors to handle the jobs we can't do. 

(I just noticed I'm going to have to change the picture of our home on my side bar.  I hope I remember how I made it in the first place.)

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Monday, May 12, 2008 - HS Planning & Update

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Friday was the end of our required 180 days of school.  As I have mentioned before, we school year round, though our summer academics carry a lighter load. During these months we concentrate mostly on those extra subjects like music, art, language and other subjects we consider fun.  I have been working on planning out my son’s high school years so that we have a game plan all laid out.  This past Tuesday, the skating rink sponsored a homeschool tag sale and I was blessed enough to find some great buys.  I found a Home Ec course complete with project sheets and all laid out.  This was the least of my concerns but it now it is one less subject I’ll have to put down on paper.  Then we went to the library book sale and I found an auto mechanics mini course, and an economics course.  So we are off to a good start.  We already have plans for English, Science and Math so we’re good there.  I have asked my son what language he would like to learn and he is interested in French. Oh boy.  I have a few years of Spanish but little to no French.  Hopefully between my mom and dad, if he does decide he would like to learn French, we’ll be able to learn it.  We will still work on Latin but it will be only at the basic level to help in his other studies.  My main concern will be making sure he is able to get into the colleges he wants to, so we will be setting up meetings with a counselor at the nearby college to learn what exactly they will be expecting.  We know the requirements for graduation and I have the synopsis of what is learned in each year, but we want to make sure that he gets a strong background to succeed in his future studies. It is both exciting and a bit intimidating entering into this phase of his education. 

 

On another note:

An update on the house buying.  We were outbid. Although we were a bit disappointed, mostly for our son, we gladly receive God’s plan and trust that something else will come along.  Thank you to those who prayed for us.

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