The daily doings of a mom and her boys as we learn together and grow in the Lord. My husband and I seek to help our boys discern their calling and take their place as soldiers in God's army. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:21:00 -0600 Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:21:00 -0600   A lot has happened since I last posted.  My baby turned 1, we celebrated Advent and Christmas, and we're more than halfway through 2007.  I am new to homeschooling this year, and am battling some "burnout".  I am struggling with "post Christmas" reorganization", regular "keeping up" and schoolwork with my son.  I often feel like I'm not doing enough, in the way of homeschooling.  However, I did his quarterly report, which I have to send in to "Royal Academy" He has done a lot of work, special projects for the holidays and become a VERY avid reader!  He just started to tackle chapter books, and now cannot get enough!  He's read 2 books in as many days.  I'm proud of his progress (and a little proud of mine).   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/272587/ Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:21:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/272587/ MY husband has been VERY busy since our "school year" has started.  In addition to being the pastor of a small church (in which he also directs the Worship team AND started a new service this fall) he was also teaching a class on the New Testament.  He hasn't had a lot of time to spend at home.  He decided that he needed to clean up the yard , after the big storm that pummeled us last week.  He statrted yesterday, with Bubbie and Ba-Baron's help.  He did a little more today.  Bubbie took about 3-4 LARGE wheelbarrow loads to dump, in between pushing the baby on the swing.  My husband marvelled at how much help he was.  I secretly felt very proud of my son (and a "teensy" little bit proud of myself for his "good" training).   It reminded me of how I need to continue to focus on how much the kids do to help around the house and appreciate the life lessons that occur every day.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/234342/ Tue, 7 Nov 2006 19:10:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/234342/ This week's carnival is up at Spunky's Homeschool http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/234338/ Tue, 7 Nov 2006 19:08:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/234338/ I haven't posted in a week for 2 reasons: Exhaustion and technological troubles.  After all the festivities for Bubbie's birthday, I was so tired, I didn't THINK to post.  Oh yes, I kept up with reading my favorite blogs, especially Bonny Glen and Cottage Blessings.  I just didn't have the gumption to post.    Also, I've had some technological difficulties.  I am not able to post pictures from my storage on the internet.  I ran out of space on this site, but have not yet been able to get my pictures to be "bloggable".  I'll keep working on it.    In addition, here on the coast of Maine, we've been hit with a "whammy" of a wind storm.  We had no power for much of the weekend.  Fortunately, we have a generator, but the cable was down (therefore 'SIGH' we HAD NO INTERNET).    I am happy to be back posting again.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/229512/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/229512/ 8 Years ago today, one of my greatest dreams was realized!  I became the mother of a precious baby boy.  Well, I actually gave birth on that day, but I became a mother 9 months earlier.  I remember the day I found out I was pregnant, March 4th, 1998.  The reason I remember is because it is the day before my husband's birthday, and the day he LOST his brother on the subway.  I took a couple of tests that were negative, so I decided, just for kicks, to take one more.  My husband wasn't home, but it didn't matter, because it was probably going to be negative, anyway.  Alas, imagine my surprise when those 2 LINES showed up!  I was so excited, I told my husband on the phone, when he called from Penn Station, where he was picking up his brother!  He was so shocked that he didn't get on the train!  To make a long story short, we found his brother, and prepared for our new life.  Less than 9 months later, on October 23, 1998, our firstborn came into the world!  Happy Birthday, my sweet son! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/225254/ Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:19:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/225254/ I have had a REALLY hard time losing the weight after baby #4.  Finally, in September, 9 months after giving birth, I joined Weight Watchers.  I've been doing really well.  I've lost about 14lbs (I still have 25 to go).  Today, we were doing science, and talking about gravity.  The science book said: "Weight is how much of a pull gravity has on something."  I joked, oh, I don't really have a lot of weight to lose, I just have gravity pulling on me.  Bubby said, "Boy, Mommy, you sure have A LOT of gravity pulling on you!" http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/223209/ Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/223209/ We went outside the other day, after it had been raining.  The kids put on their rain boots and dug out their pails and shovels.  I was in the garage, getting the stroller for the baby when I heard Bubby say what I thought was: D@#n.  I was just about to scold him for using a word that is not allowed when I heard the rest of what he said, "Let's make a dam in the puddle".  Oh, I did hear correctly, but it wasn't a bad word, but in the context of a very "creative project".  They set to work.  After about 30 minutes of mud & fun, they did build a very functional dam.  They managed to stop the flow of water through the puddle.  I was VERY proud of them! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/222511/ Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/222511/ <table width=350 align=center border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2><tr><td bgcolor="#EEEEEE" align=center><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style='color:black; font-size: 14pt;'><b>You Are Incredibly Logical</b></font></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><center><img src="http://images.blogthings.com/howlogicalareyouquiz/logic.gif" height="100" width="100"></center><font color="#000000">Move over Spock - you're the new master of logicYou think rationally, clearly, and quickly.A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!</font></td></tr></table><div align="center"><a href="How'>http://www.blogthings.com/howlogicalareyouquiz/">How Logical Are You?</a></div>   Don't know how that happened!  I was going to go to law school (my oldest bro is an attorney, and was very excited about my plans), but I did so poorly on the logical reasoning section of the GREs I decided the LSATS would be a bomb!  Oh well, must be all the practice I get debating with my kids (but Mommy, why can't I have jellybeans and chocolate cake for supper, that's bread and veggies, isn't it?) has sharpened my "logical thinking". http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/219725/ Fri, 13 Oct 2006 19:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/219725/ We took another field trip to our state museum yesterday.  It was a special program called "Earth Science Day".  My kids were not too impressed with the earth science displays There were a lot of public school kids there.  We could not get close enough to them.  To our great disappointment, the "panning for gold" was all done by the time we got to it. We, however, are learning to be good homeschoolers.  We "took the road less travelled".  We walked around the parts of the museum not part of the special event.  We were the only ones there, save a couple of other homeschooling families.  We discovered the bonuses of leaving the trodden path: We discovered BEAUTIFUL displays (see above), which rival those at the Museum of Natural History in NYC (that's quite a feat for a small state museum in a state with a population of only about 1 million people) and we met some other homeschoolers.  I had a wonderful chat with a mom of 6-with her precious one month old in tow.  That's dedication to your children's education! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/218860/ Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/218860/ My friend Melissa Wiley, over at  "Here in the Bonny Glen"  posted today on the value of giving your time to your children.  This is the greatest gift we can give them.  This is my precious 2 year old Ba-Baron.  I was thinking the same thing tonight, as I read him "5 Little Ducks" for the gazillionth time.  We pause for him to point out every bug, bubble and star.  We read 4 or 5 of the same books every  night.  We always end by talking about :who Loves Ba-Baron?"  We go through the list (Mommy, Daddy, Bubby, etc).  We always end with: "Who loves you the most?" He always answers: "Jesus" (before he could talk, he would sign: "Jesus"!)  Oh, how it make my heart sing to see my boys falling in love with our Savior!  Then we end our session with a special version of "Jesus Loves Me"(complete with signs).  We have such fun! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/217811/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyofboyz/217811/