http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 8 Sep 2009 20:33:00 -0500 Tue, 8 Sep 2009 20:33:00 -0500 We take my son to the doctors on Thursday so, please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom. I would love to get a quick diagnosis so that we know how to help him. Also, I talked to someone today and they felt pretty sure we could get some financial assistance from the hospital we are taking him to and we could really use that right now! I have some good news regarding my health issues. Although we are still struggling for an accurate diagnosis, I am on some new medicine that is helping a lot with the pain - Praise the Lord! The downside is that it makes me extremely tired. As in I actually almost fell asleep standing up! I am hoping that will diminish as my body gets used to it. So, I am now on an anti-iflammatory, a pain reliever, and a muscle relaxer. This combination is helping greatly. I'm sorry to keep rambling about this but, it has been so long since I have been almost pain free and I am just so relieved! School is going slow right now due to all the doctor appointments and testing and a very tired mom! But, they are still learning some this week and enjoying most of it. Next week we will move on to the colonial period and I am looking forward to that since it is a favorite of mine. Thanks for the math advice. I am feeling a little more relaxed about that now. We have been trying to get our house ready to sell. My husband recently put on a new roof. We just completely remodeled one of our rooms, including paint and curtains. We are going to put up some trim pieces and paint in one bathroom. We have a section of our ceiling in the living room that needs replaced and I bought new curtains. I got both curtain panels, the valence, and tiebacks for $13! Then we will finish the trim and backsplash in out kitchen and it will be ready to go! Still a lot of work ahead but we are getting there slowly but surely. I am very thankful for the progress in several areas of our life. The Lord truly is good all the time! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/725190/ Tue, 8 Sep 2009 20:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/725190/ This week we are working on our All American studies. The kids made pieces of eight and doubloons today. They also made a treasure chest to put them in. We are finishing our exploration theme. They have studied all the great explorers that had anything to do with American history. Now we are finishing up with the pirates. They are having a blast! Tomorrow they will dress a pirate and then Wednesday we will play a game. Then we will finish up the week with an "Exploration Celebration." Now, if I could just get my older son to pay attention to the rest of our studies, I would have it made. He is so excited about history. But, when it comes to other areas that aren't as "fun", he knows how to do the work but can't seem to focus enough to do it well. He had a math quiz today and only scored a 77% and, yet, I knew he knew the material. When I marked the ones that were wrong and asked him to look over it again, he got them all right. I have considered not doing quizes or tests at all but, I feel like it is important for them to have the feel of doing it later on when they do their SAT and ACT's and such. Also for college. I have also considered testing but just for the experience and not recording grades. But, a part of me thinks that they should be accountable at least to some degree. I'm not sure. Anyone that has opinions on this, feel free to throw them out there. My little guy is doing great. He has some problems with reading because of his eye problems but, even with that going on, he does well. Today he was all excited as he was doing his math work because he noticed all by himself that there were "twin" math problems on the page. Since we are using a new curriculum this year, I am still trying to adjust. It seems very hard to fit everything in at this point. We are having fun but, I don't like the fact that it is taking so long to get everything done. Then on the days we add science, I am really drained. I'm hopeful that everything will work itself out soon and we will develop a flow to our days. We are beginning our 6th week so, we have a ways to go. I hope everyone else is doing well as the school year is starting back up. We are trying schooling year round so, I'm excited to see how that works out. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/722709/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/722709/ I'm mostly posting to catch everyone up to date but, I honestly don't even know where to start. I hate that it seems I mostly write about all our troubles. Through everything I know the hand of God is on us and I have much to be thankful for. This may be a little long but, I will try to be as brief and to the point as possible. I am much better after all of the complications due to surgery. However, I have some other issues going on. To sum it up, I am in a lot of pain and the doc is not sure what's causing it. At this point, he is thinking that I may have polymyositis. This is a disease where the white blood cells attack your muscles causing constant inflammation and pain. I am grateful to have a doctor that seems to be working with me well. I do not want to go on narcotic pain medication if I can help it and he has been very good at trying other options first. My six year old son, Jadon, has also been having some serious health problems. He has had some problems since he was a baby such as asthma, allergies, and severe acid reflux. We also recently discovered that he needed glasses. And, not only is he farsighted but, his eyes don't work together correctly. So, his Rx has been changed again and is now in the 500s and he also needs vision therapy once a week for at least 9 months. Our problem right now is that our insurance won't pay for this and it is over $6000. So, we are praying in regards to that. Also, in doing some further testing for his increasing stomach issues, it has been discovered that he has a positive ANA. We are told that this means he almost certainly has some type of autoimmune disease. So, we are scheduled to go to Riley Children's Hospital on September 10th. This is about a 2 hour drive for us but, thankfully, my husband was able to take that day off from work. I'm glad he is going because the doctors there are very good and there will be 2 of them that will give their opinions. I just hope it does not take long to diagnose. I hate the waiting and not knowing. Other members of the family are doing well. And, even with all this going on, Jadon has been handeling everything remarkably well. We have also been busy getting our house ready to sell. We have found another home that is in the country where we have wanted to be for a long time. It is an old two story house situated on three acres. It needs some work done to it but, I love it. Our payment will not increase much at all either so, that's a plus. We are going to make an offer on it in a week or two. In the meantime, we had to put a new roof on where we currently are and we are getting ready to do a little painting and just generally trying to spruce things up before we list it. We have also started our school year. We have now comlpeted our 5th week. We are using a new curriculum called WinterPromise and we are really enjoying it. This is also our first year using Apologia science and that is going well. So, between doctor's appointments and testing for myself and my son, doing school work, and trying to get things done around here, you can see why it's been so long since I posted. I am trying to catch up with everyone else's blogs as well. I will post here as often as I can. I really enjoy my blog friends. We are giving thanks to the Lord in all things! Blessings! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/721135/ Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/721135/ We went back to the eye doctor today for my youngest son. We had went about a week ago and found out that he was extremely farsighted to the point that he had to have some mega-strength, lasts 24 hours kind of drops in his eyes to relax(dilate) them enough for the doc to be able to accurately diagnose him. So today we discovered that he needs glasses and I don't remember the exact Rx but, it is +400 something in both eyes. The doctor had me look through the lenses and everything just looked like a big blob! I can't believe I didn't notice his problem sooner especially since my other son has this(although not to such an extreme degree). I am relieved to know that this may help greatly with his ADHD. The doc said that there is just no way his eyes can even focus on anything for very long so he just goes from one thing to the next trying to refocus. He picked out his new glasses today and they are blue and bright green! That's what he liked and they are kinda cute. On the other hand, my oldest picked out new glasses today also. And while I love the selection he made, it makes me a little sad that he is looking so grown-up. He had to pick from the adult section this time. I don't know where the time has gone! Maybe someday I will get a digital camera so I can posts some pics on here. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/701611/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/701611/ Yesterday I went through all the old school books and took them out of the kid's totes and put the new books in.  I LOVE new books! Later, the kids came to me and asked if they could have their old workbooks. They still have about 15 lessons worth of work in them and they said they might want to do a little work so they "don't get behind too much". I couldn't believe it - We've only been through with school about 3 weeks and already they are wanting to start again. This really makes me glad I had already decided to change our school year around this time. We will start in early July and pretty much do year-round schooling. I am so excited about the new curriculum we are using this year! It is from a company I just found called WinterPromise. They have awesome themed programs that are literature based. In case you are interested, our curriculum this year looks like this... Bible - Make It Stick Devotions(both) and WinterPromise Character Traits for Kids(Rayhan) Math - A Beka(Jadon) and Christian Light Education(Rayhan) Reading - WinterPromise “living books” (both - different books at their own levels) Phonics - A Beka Phonics 1(Jadon) Language - A Beka God’s Gift of Language(Rayhan) and A Beka Language 1(Jadon) Writing - A Beka Writing with Phonics(Jadon) and WinterPromise Make Your Own History Book(Jadon) and WinterPromise Timelines in History Notebooking(Rayhan) Spelling - A Beka Spelling 1(Jadon) and SpellWell D&DD(Rayhan) History - WinterPromise All American 1(both) and WinterPromise Timelines in History Notebook(Rayhan) Geography - WinterPromise Make Your Own State Notebook(Rayhan) Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy(both) Art - WinterPromise Early American Artists(both) and Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers Activities(both) Music - Music Made Easy(both) and possibly God Made Music(both) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/695816/ Thu, 4 Jun 2009 11:10:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/695816/ Wow! - I can't believe it is June already! Where did May go? I think the older I get, the faster time goes. Sometimes we get so busy it is hard to slow down and enjoy every moment. But I sure do NEED to slow down and enjoy them. If I don't, they will be gone. So many times people act like I am absolutely crazy to be homeschooling my children. I frenquently hear phrases like, " I would go crazy!", "I don't have the patience for that.", or "I couldn't stand to be cooped up with my kids 24/7!" I truly do not understand this. I feel like if I am not there every moment with my children I might miss something! Actually my husband and I do try to go out once or twice a month by ourselves if we can arrange it. But, for the most part, our kids are just with us and I don't think they belong anywhere else. I mean, the Lord gave them to us. Recently my son was invited to a friend's house for an overnight camp-out. As soon as I got off the phone he said," Mom you're gonna have to call them back and tell them I just can't stay the night there. I mean, I don't even really know them." Now, we actually have known these people for about 2&½ years and usually get together with them about once per week. But, I think because of our close family relationship, it means something entirely different to my son to say that he really knows someone. This child sometimes has a hard time staying with his grandparents even though he really wants to. And that is perfectly fine with me. We sure don't have as much money as most people opperate on these days but, God has blessed us abundantly for following His will. I am so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool my children! - Thay are worth it! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/695107/ Tue, 2 Jun 2009 10:48:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/695107/ It is sure a beautiful day here! I woke up with that song called "Beautiful Day" on my mind this morning and it is turning out to be so lovely here. The funny thing is, my youngest son, who is always singing something, started singing that same song out of the blue today. So I guess the Lord put that song in both of our hearts. I love it when I wake up with a song in my heart. I am just feeling very thankful today. Oh, my circumstances have not changed, but sometimes it is just us that needs changing. I have a tarp over my roof because it is leaking. My A/C is not working properly. My house is still messy because I can't do too much from having the surgery. But, the Lord is so good! I have a wonderful family that God has blessed me with. We have food on our table and clothes on our backs. I have the opportunity to homeschool my children and be with them every day. I love the scripture from Phillipians that says, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/688254/ Tue, 12 May 2009 11:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/688254/ I hope everyone had a joyous Mother's Day! Mine was very good overall. My husband started getting sick in the evening was the only downfall. We went to church and then out to lunch. All my men were very curteous and opened doors for me and the such all day long. I got a few things but, best of all I got lots of hugs and kisses:) I am thankful for my own mother and so very thankful that the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to be a mother. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/687694/ Sun, 10 May 2009 23:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/687694/ I woke up sick yesterday and haven't felt like doing too much so, I'm posting this a little late. Monday - Beef Stroganoff, Corn, Rolls Tuesday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans Wednesday - Pizza, Salad Thursday - Baked Chicken, AuGratin Potatoes, Green Beans Friday - Shepherd's Pie, Rolls   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/685382/ Sun, 3 May 2009 21:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/685382/ I didn't  realize how long it had been since I posted. I will try to do better. I've been through some more infections, etc., etc. but, the doc has finally told me that he thinks everything is settled down now and I can gradually start doing more - Praise the Lord for that! We are now trying to wrap up loose ends from this school year and eagerly awaiting the next. We have two weeks left and both kids are doing well. Right now they kinda have the attitiude of just getting it done instead of the "awe of learning" thing but, that's OK for now. I am so excited about all our new curriculum that is pouring in from my mailbox! I'll write more about that later. After school work is done for a while, I have some major house cleaning to accomplish. Everything has gotten behind because of the surgery and I never did the spring cleaning so I have a lot to catch up. I am looking forward to it though. Not the actual work but, the house being really clean again. I have this beautiful picture in my mind of what it is going to look like soon. While my brother is here, I am taking advantage of his carpentry expertise and he is also going to help remodel the kitchen, fix my roof, fix my A/C, and do some painting. I'm excited about getting all this done. In the meantime, I have had a birthday and it was pretty good. My husband and mother went in together and got me a Wii Fit that I had been wanting for a long time. It is really motivating me to exercise which is a good thing considering that I am overweight and now I'm 30! My husband and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary a little while back and he has really been there for me through a lot of rough medical stuff and I'm so thankful for him! Even though the doc has told me I will still have to take it slow for at least another 6 months, I feel like I can actually start "giving back" some now - and that's a great feeling! I'm thankful for my friends through this blog and I hope to catch up with everyone soon. For now, there are piles of laundry awaiting me. I'm confident everyone is having a great week. Blessings to you all! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/684330/ Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Andreamom2boys/684330/