The One Room Schoolhouse - Homeschool Blogger

I'm still here

Sun, 20 May 2007 22:29:00 -0500

    I was thinking of finding a new place to blog. I really like it here, but I have a hard time accessing the site. But my new home didn't work out, so I thought I better get you up to date.
    Well school has been going great (besides the spring fever)! We are on Chapter 3 of Vol. 1 (Weaver) and it is all coming together. It was a little bumpy starting off but everything is running smooth. I have spent the weekend getting their portfolios ready, we have to turn them in this week. We have a couple of weeks left and then were done for the summer. We tried reading The Wind in the Willows but we couldn't get into it, so we moved on to The Patchwork Quilt. It's an older book and probably a lower reading level then what they can handle but it's fun easy reading. Just what we needed with Spring Fever and all.
    There is still no progress on my room......but we did get the pool up so Madison is very happy. We put it up May 12 and she has been swimming ever since. The water is sooo cold but she dosen't care she just loves to swim. This pool is alot bigger then last years.
    Co-op is over, it went by so quick this time. The girls have already picked out their classes for Sept. I am starting a yahoo group for our co-op so we can all communicate year round. So far it hasn't had much action, but I'm sure everyone is trying to finish up their school year.
    Our visitor has come and gone. Deanie moved out last week and I think it was for the best. I hope we were a help to her while she was here. Her living with us was only a transitional move and it lasted longer then we expected, but I must say we have all grown spiritually from this. We were blessed in many ways and I pray we were a blessing to her.
    Oh about our nature notebooks, we have been working in them slowly. Time just seems to get away from us. We did find a praying mantis sac on our tree branch so we brought indoors and will be watching it hatch. So that is our new topic. Madison has already sketched it. Vanna and I need to catch up!
    That's all for now, it's getting late. We do have some cute pictures of Adrian (Deanies baby) I will try to post them soon!
                                                                                     Seeking Him,
                                                                                           Missy

We have a visitor....

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:02:00 -0500

    I'm still amazed at how fast time goes by. We have so much we want to get to (in the school year) and it is almost over! I wish my girls would let me school year round. (Just kidding) I'm sure I can use a break.
    Well we have started our new curriculum. I think I like it, but I don't quite have a feel for it yet. Everything is done in smaller bites, which I like. It seems to keep their attention better. We have finished The Little Princess and will be starting The Wind in the Willows. That might be our last book of the school year. We have started our Nature Notebooks and the girls are loving it. We are going to do them all through the summer. At first they objected but now they are excited about it.
    So our visitor is Deanie, my 19 year old stepdaughter. She has been with us for 2 weeks. I don't know how long she is staying but the girls really like her being here. She just got a job and will be starting this week, but when she is around she joins us for some homeschool activities. She is fitting in to our routine really well.
    We haven't made any progress in our construction, but the the weather is about to break. So I am hoping they start up soon. Co-op is is almost over, only two weeks left. I think I will be teaching a high school and middle school class on the Presidents and possibly the voting process for next semester.
    Well thats all for now.
                                                                      Seeking Him,
                                                                            Missy

Still under construction!

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:55:00 -0500

     Patience, patience. Well, It's been 7 weeks and our room is still not complete. We are waiting for the weather to clear up so we can put the floor down. We still need to put trim up, install the sink and add the finishing touches. It looks great though! Terry painted the room, hung the cabinets and installed recessed lighting.
    We had a great time at King Tut's exhibit. The Franklin Institute is such a fun place. The girls enjoyed Sir Issac's Loft and the Sports Challenge. I'm not sure where our next field trip will be, but I think it's time to take the train to Washington. There is so much to do there.
    We finished reading The Bridge to Terebithia and are trying to squeeze in a trip to the theater to see the movie. We just started reading The Little Princess. We wrapped up our study on Egypt, Snow and were just about done studying the book of Genesis. I think we might start our new curriculum real soon. We will be doing The Weaver by Alpha Omega.
    Both the girls are sick today so we aren't doing school. Our co-op is going great! I am planning to teach more classes next semester. We are still going to the church on Fridays to help feed the homeless (they extended it through the month of March). We have been helping redesign their Prayer Room. I feel like Vanna has been studying for this moment all her young life. She is really enjoying this.
    Vanna has been taking confirmations classes at church this year and she will be confirmed this Sunday at the 11:00 am services. Then they are having a luncheon in the fellowship hall afterwards. I am so proud of her. Madison I believe is gonna be a "Great Chef". She has been cooking up a storm. Getting cookbooks from the library, writing grocery lists and creating fabulous treats. Her Strawberry Lemonade is out of this world! She definitely has found one of her gifts. She even cleans up after herself. Last week when it snowed, we woke up to smell of fresh cooked pancakes. She makes me proud too!
    O.K., so I'm gonna add some new pictures and get rid of the Christmas music (even though I love it and could listen to it all year).
                                                                                              Seeking Him,
                                                                                                       Missy

Remodeling

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:22:00 -0600

     We are under construction again! This time we are finishing our laundry room. The drywallers were in today and will be back tomorrow to start taping & mudding. Well, if the roads aren't too icy. It is looking really nice. Our classroom is much warmer now. it is next to the laundry room and we had a terrible draft from it being unfinished. We also have a new entrance to the laundry room from the classroom. It cost me a book case but I think it will be worth it.
    So as I was finding room for my books I started cleaning off my shelves and listed a bunch of them on ebay . It was very successful. I didn't make a fortune, well maybe a small fortune. But it was alot of fun. I enjoyed listing them and waiting for bidders. I'm kinda bored now that it's over. I'll have to find more items to sell. Of course I'll be painting the laundry room soon so that will keep me busy.
    We are going to Philadelphia this week to see King Tut's Exhibit. The girls are very excited. We didn't take a field trip in January. We have been going to a local church to help feed the homeless this month and the girls have really enjoyed it. One of the families from our co-op belongs to the church so it was great for them to know other that were there. The mom from our co-op is very gifted in letting the children help. So all the children worked together to prepare pizza for everyone. They were all cutting, chopping, saucing the pizza, setting up tables.... it was amazing. This weekend Vanna participated in The 30 Hour Famine at our church and the whole group went there to help. It was a great experience for all. So far she has raised almost $200.00 to feed hungry children.
    We had a little party for my mom this past week for her birthday. The house was in chaos from the construction but we all survived. Vanna and Madison each played my mom a song they have learned on their instruments. It was very sweet. . We did get her a cake and gifts but I thought their music was the best.
    Well I'm trying to go to bed early and get up early ( once you break that routine it's hard to get back ) so I had better say, Goodnight!
                                                                                        Seeking Him,
                                                                                             Missy

It's Snowing!!!!

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:00:00 -0600

We are loving the snow! Even though we are having school. It's worked out great. We are doing a study on snow for sciene and I figured we wouldn't get to do the snow experiments. (Lack of snow in MD) But between last week and today we got to do them. Today we took black paper, that we had kept in the freezer, outside and caught snowflakes on it. Then we looked at the flakes with our magnifying lens and they were awesome. You could see the hexagonal shapes, they looked like fancy cutout snowflakes. The girls really enjoyed that. Oh and last week we did a Blizzard in a Bottle. They loved that too. They made their own snow and colored snow. They are still talking about that one.

I finally got my new curriculm and have been looking through it all. It is kinda overwhelming, but I do like it. I think we will wait to Sept. to start it. We have started reading The Bridge to Terabithia and will be watching the movie. We finished James and the Giant Peach and got to watch it on tape. The girls were disappointed that the movie left out the cloud men. But it is interesting to read the books and then see how they make it a movie.

We are going to the Franklin Institute at the end of this month to see the King Tut exhibit. My parents are taking us, my dad loves all the egypt stuff and history. We can't wait. We are beginning the story of Joseph and will be reading about Moses soon. Also in history we are going to do a study on Egypt, so this will fit right in.

I haven't got to do my freezer cooking yet. My husband is remodeling my laundry room and there is just too much mess and chaos in the house right now. I don't funtion well when everything is a mess, so for sanity reasons I will have to put it off for a while. But it has inspired me to clean out my bookshelves in the schoolroom. I have listed 19 items on e-bay. So far a have sold six, but the auctions haven't ended yet.

I'll try to load some pictures soon, especially when the room is complete!

Seeking Him,

Missy

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Feeling Better

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:38:00 -0600

    Well we're all up and running. Feeling much better, we weren't terribly sick, just getting run down. I can't wait to start a full week of school! We are in the middle of painting Madisons room. We went with a camouflage theme. She got all new bedding etc. for Christmas. The walls are half brown and half tan with green trim. It's looking so nice. The walls were purple and green from Dora the Explorer, she was much younger when we did that. They were all up there painting today! I finally fried chicken for my parents anniversary and Madison made her famous pudding pie. I showed my dad the ins and outs of his new cell phone.
    I am in the process of ordering curriculum for next year. I am going with The Weaver , It seems very similar to the curriculum we are using. From what I can tell it has a lot more planning already done, which I think I need. Anyway I have won it on ebay, but it is in limbo because the seller is having trouble with her paypal account. I hope it gets worked out quickly, I can't wait to see it.
     A local church will be helping the homeless all next month so I am making plans for the girls to volunteer their talents. They are excited. I am glad because while we were in Washington they came across a homeless woman and got scared. I am hoping this will help them understand better.
     I am also planning another cooking day. Back in Jan. 2007 I followed the The 30 Day Gourmet Freezer Cooking and made meals for a month. It took me 2 days but it was worth every bit of work. Dinner time has been so easy and delicious. I've almost used all my dinners so I am ready to cook more, this time all in one day. I will be trying some new recipes.
    I think that brings me up to date. Happy Homeschooling!
                                                                                           Seeking Him,
                                                                                                    Missy

Moving right along.....

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:44:00 -0600

    We are trying to get into the swing of things, but life keeps interupting. We took off last Friday because we weren't feeling well. I was supposed to fry chicken for my husband and father on Sunday but really didn't feel up to it. So I threw together a dinner and while cleaning up I realized it was the last day to sign Madison up for Little League. We rushed out the door and made it there just in time to sign her up. Then the girls wanted off Monday for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, who am I to say no. ( well i did, but the principal persuaded me to give them the day off ). Then we spent Thursday in the emergency room. My husband couldn't get out of bed after a weekend of wood splitting. Terrible neck spasms, but he's feeling no pain now, thanks to muscle relaxers. The girls did have school though, with their substitute teacher, aka mom - mom. From what I hear she enjoyed it. I never got to talk to her because after the trip to the hospital I had to get right to work.
    I feel like I still have the flu and Vanna wasn't looking to good at bedtime. Our friends want us to go swimming with them Friday, but I don't know if we will be up to it. I just want to crawl in bed and stay there.
    On a much better note we have begun our new bible study: The Power of a Praying Wife. I like it already. We don't have our study guide yet, but chapter one has plenty to think about. We did have snow flurries today!!!! My girls cannot wait for it to snow. Well I think it's time to crawl in bed and hibernate.
                                                                                        Seeking Him,
                                                                                              Missy

Time is slipping away.

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 15:09:00 -0600

Where does the time go? We still have our Christmas tree up. Vanna and I went to the 20th Annual Youth Rally in Ocean City MD, with our church, Jan. 5,6 & 7. Our church took 54 youth and about 14 chaperones. What a weekend. The kids were great, although it was like being at a rock concert all weekend. It was Christian rock, but rock none the less. They did have some great speakers, my favorite performer was Joel Engles . I really enjoy the adult fellowship on these trips. We are trying to get back into school, for reading, we have started James and the Giant Peach. It is a much easier read then our other books. The girls are really enjoying it. We are still studying astronomy, waiting for a clear night to check out the stars. The girls are really mastering their multiplication tables. We played multiplication Bingo and they loved it! Our Co-op will be starting up in February, I can't wait. Our bible study has changed to Weds. and we are beginning the book: The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. I have studied The Power of a Praying Parent, which was great. We had our family picture taken at church today for our new directory. They turned out so cute! Well that's all for now.
                                                                                           Seeking Him,
                                                                                                    Missy

What a wonderful Christmas

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:30:00 -0600

    Now I wouldn't say that we have had bad Christmas' in the past, but this year was AWESOME! There wasn't any stress, melt downs or arguments. It was unbelievable. I was shopping up to the last minute and wrapping presents till 2:00 a.m. with Madison's help. We didn't even decorate our tree with the usual ornaments because of our new cat. I was afraid he might climb the tree and destroy things. But it was just a beautiful Christmas. I think we stayed so focused on Jesus and our Advent study that he blessed us with peace and joy. Even my husband commented on what a great Christmas it was. So I just want to say thank you Jesus for all you have done for us and for the gift of salvation.
                                                                   Happy New Year to All,
                                                                                  Missy

It's quiet around here

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 22:37:00 -0600

Everyone is asleep and all is well. The cookies, milk and carrots are out, along with a quick note from Madison. I'm just waiting for Saint Nick to arrive. The girls are so excited for Christmas. We went to church tonight to watch the Christmas Pagent. Madison was a shepherd. It was really cute. I even got to watch "A Christmas Story" ( one of my favorite holiday movies). I am sad to know it will all be over very soon. I wish we could have the tree and lights up all year! Well i just wanted to leave a quick note before I go to bed.
Merry Christmas,
Missy