I have a wonderful hubby that I have been a helpmeet to for 18 years. We have been blessed with 5 lovely daughters, 1 energetic son, and another son due in Jan. '09! This is our homeschooling journey. Our lives are not perfect but we love the Lord and try to do our best to please him! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:29:00 -0600 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:29:00 -0600 This is our 4th year we have been doing a co-op study group.  At first it was just us and one other family.  We picked up another family last year.  We prefer to keep it small. In the past we have done 3 units per year.  1 Bible unit, 1 science unit, and 1 unit about a country.  However, this year we choose to do something different.  We have decided to devote the next 2 years to a study of the United States.  We will cover 25 states this year and 25 next year.   So far it has been very fun. The 3 Moms take turns hosting which means they do the teaching and provided lunch.  One if the guest Moms brings donuts.  I know, not very healthy but I  must admit that I do look forward to my donuts!  We are using ebooks that we purchased from www.currclick.com.  I really like ebooks for unit studies since they are pretty inexpensive, you only print what you need, and they do not take up any book shelf space. We are studying the states in the order they were added to the Union.  Today we studied New York.  The host Mom took some pics and I will post them as soon as I get them. Once again, be sure to check out of family blog.  The link is in the side bar. Have a blessed day!   ~Mother http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/646052/ Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:29:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/646052/ since I have posted here but I post a lot on my other blog: www.homesteadblogger.com/motherofblessings Check it out! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/632236/ Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:07:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/632236/ Clark Chatter brought this to my attention this morning: From Foxnews: SAN FRANCISCO —  School officials in Palo Alto are reconsidering their use of a popular speaker for an annual career day after he advised middle school students that they could earn a good living as strip dancers. William Fried told eighth-graders at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School that stripping and exotic dancing could be lucrative career moves for girls, offering as much as $250,000 or more per year, depending on their bust size. "It's sick, but it's true," Fried, president of Foster City's Precision Selling, a management consulting firm, told The Associated Press. "The truth of the matter is you can earn a tremendous amount of money as an exotic dancer, if that's your desire." The school has asked Fried to give his 55-minute presentation, "The Secret of a Happy Life," for the past three years. You can read the rest of this sad story here. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/579883/ Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/579883/ These are just some of the reason we homeschool.  http://www.101reasons.org/index.php There are many pro-homeschooling reasons.  But this page says enough for now. ~MotherOfBlessings http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/577144/ Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/577144/ This is the 3rd year that I have been doing a co-op with my friend M and her 2 children.  I always find it helpful when other homeschoolers explain how they do things so I thought I would explain how we "do" co-op. We plan 3 units each year (Bible, science, a country).  We may change this in the future but for now it works.  We plan out our calandar first so we know how many days we will have to cover the material.  We meet on Fridays so we take a calendar and plan what Fridays we will meet.  We must take into account when each family starts and stops their school year, family vacations, Christmas break, etc.  Then we just count the Fridays and decided how many will be used for each unit.  Then we "brainstorm" ideas for each unit.  We usually do this over lunch.  We tried doing it at a resturant once but it didn't seem to work so well.  We choose the unit topics ahead of this "brainstorming" so we have had a chance to think about it and have ideas for activiites and books ready. We then pick out goals, things to cover, and texts.  We use mostly e-books for the main texts.  I think they have proven to be a good skeleton for our studies.  I get most of mine at www.homeschoolestore.com. They have lots to choose from and many that use lapbooking, notebooking, and copywork. We use a combination of these for our units.  After that we each take a unit or two and plan it out.  We break down what will be taught on each friday, what materials will be needed, and what pages to print/copy out of our materials.  This saves a lot of time when prepping to teach.  We also schedule a wrap-up day for each unit (to put our notebooks together) plus a Family Nay at the end of the year.  Family Night is when work is displayed and presentations are done for Dads and Grandparents. Once all of this planning is done the planning sheets and schedule are printed out and we each keep a copy in our Co-Op Planning binders.  If I knew/ was able to attach files I would put up pdfs of these sheets but I don't think I can. Well that is our co-op planning in a nut-shell.  I will cover what we actually do on a co-op day later.  Stay tuned!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/491073/ Sun, 2 Mar 2008 09:11:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/491073/ We are currently doing a unit study on the human body.  Our latest topic was the eye.  So we dissected a cow eye.  I like dissections.  They are fun and interesting.  My girls also think so, lucky for me.  I found step-by-step instructions on the internet.  Just Google "cow eye dissection" and you will too. Have fun learning! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/475431/ Wed, 6 Feb 2008 01:14:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/475431/ So my very good IRL  friend mommaofmany tagged for this "show your fridge" thing.  So in the spirit of fun here it is...........my fridge:   The top shelf is the "leftover shelf".  In addition to the leftovers, my overnight pre-ferment for our pizza dough is there.   The next shelf holds our soft drinks and condiments. This is where I stash our weekly soda (for pizza night), our juice or tea (that's tea), yougurt, sour cream, plus whatever condients will not fit in the door.  Here we have raw butter, salsa, and the jar in front holds the flour is leftover after grinding.  Can let such a good thing go to waste, now can I? Next shelf is the milk and kefir shelf.  From left to right:  raw milk, store milk ( only becasue going all raw is too much $$$) and a half-gallon jar of finished kefir.  When this picture was taken my gallon jar that holds my grains and kefir-to-be was out on the counter. Next is the chesse & lunchmeat drawer.  Right now we have raw cheddar, kraft american, parmesan (plus the mini rotarty grater that holds it), mozzarealla, ham, cream cheese, plus a baggie with a couple of leftover waffles in it.  An icepack is in there too. Next is the veggie drawer.  In here we have: carrots, zucchini, spinach, and celery.  Here we also have a baggie with leftover pancakes in it and an icepack (hmmm.... I see a theme here). There is a third drawer (not pictured) that I use for thawing meats most of the time.  Right now all that is in there is a gallon bag of gluten.  Maybe there is an ice pack in there too.  Wait....my oldest daughter is going to check.....yep, there is one there too!  I have got to get a handle on those things!  What can I say, you have 6 children and you are going to need some ice packs.  OK so they are not technically "ice" packs.  But they don't hurt so much when cold verses frozen. I'd like to stop here but I can't let momma out do me..........so here is the door Top: Mostly baking stuff: meringue powder, color flow mix, (I do cakes ~ see my homestead blog), butter, miso paste (use it in soups), and my pan release mix (equal parts of flour, oil, and shortening mixed together).  I brush this mix on pan before baking.  Never sticks.  Good stuff.  Thanks to my first Wilton teacher for that tip. Next: Beef soup base, a tin of homemade wound salve, tabasco sauce, capers, Super Fruit spread (I hide it from the kiddos), black cherry concentrate (for ice cream and shakes), oster sauce, tattle tonic (a horrible tasting concoction we make for treating tattle tales), lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar, and liquid chlorophyll (good for energy and anemia). Next: Mustard, mayo, roasted rep peppers, grated parm cheese, relish, hot fudge sauce, syrup, corn syrup, and cocktail sauce.  Last: Jelly, peanut butter, applesauce, and ketchup, and pace picante sauce. OK, I am tired now.  I am going to lay down and watch Monk while the children have their quiet time. By request I am tagging my daugther Kit.  This should be fun. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/465750/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:08:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/465750/ I decided a while ago that I wanted to use this blog more for school stuff but that has not happened yet.  So here is my attempt to "focus".  We have a study co-op that we do with another family who attend the same congregation that we do.  The mother of this family and I have known each for about 9 years.  She doesn't have a blog name so I guess I will just call her M.  This is our third year studying together.  I really enjoy it.  The children do too.  It adds something different to our school week. Our plan is to do three units each year.  We do a Bible unit, and science unit, and a country unit.  The units we planned this year are Genesis, The Human Body, and Italy. We like making lapbooks for the units we are do.  If you have never tried them then you should.  This year we are using a lot of e-books.  I get most of mine from www.homeschoolestore.com.  I like ebook for projects since I only print out the pages I need and printing pages from an electronic file is easier that copying them from a book.  Also they save shelf space for classics that will be read over and over.  We are done with the Genesis unit and are in the middle of the Human Body unit.  I will try to remember to take some picutes this week so I can show you what we do. Here are some picutres from our past unit on Mexico.  We went to a Cinco De Mayo celebration.  We enjoyed the Mexican music, dancing, and food. Hopefully I will have picture of our current study soon. May the Lord bless your homeschool. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/461124/ Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:26:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/461124/ Wow!  It has been a long time since I have posted anything.  When you're busy you don't have the time to write about how busy you are.  So here is the quick version~ The construction on the girls room is done but we have not painted yet.  The shed is built.  All we need to do is finish putting the shigles on the roof and put the double-bolt latch that Hubby's ordering for the door.  Even though we have been here for 3 months I still don't have everything put away.  This is partly due to the fact that I don't have all of the shelves and closet organizers (yet) that I had in the other house.  This is also partly due to the fact that it takes me a while to get things just the way that I want them.  In my perfect world everything would have its own lables and places to be.  Did I mention that Monk is one of my favorite shows? LOL We enjoyed the holidays.  Thanksgiving was good but Christmas was even better.  Hubby deep fried the turkey a la Aton Brown (Good Eats is my other favorite show).  It was delicious!  He built the rig with the ladder and everything via Alton Brown's specs.  He did such a good job! We celebrated with Hubby's family on Christmas Eve.  My mother came with us and we all had fun.  Christmas morning was spent at home.  The girls made each other the neatest gifts and I really enjoyed watching them give and receive them with love and joy.  Of course they all liked what Santa brought them.  The oldest four asked for American Girl things for their dolls, Munchkin asked for more Little People to go with her LP house, and Baby C got a piggy bank.  Hubby and I had agreed on sticking to a small dollar amount which he completely blew off by getting me the grain mill I have been wanting for some time!  If you think a grain mill is nothing for me to get exicted about then you don't know me! Hubby's parents parked their RV in our yard for the week and we really enjoyed visitng with them.  New Year's Eve was spent at home.  We did our traditional movie marathon.  We made pizzas and had plenty of snacks and soda.  We woke up the children that fell asleep right before midnight so we could litter our front room with confetti from poppers!  In the morning I used the leftover pizza dough to make cinnamon rolls which we ate while watching the Rose Parade.  We stayed in our jammies until noon then we cleaned up our mess.  What fun! OK, that's enough for now.  Here is a recent picture of my blessings! Bye for now! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/461009/ Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:15:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/461009/ 11/17/07 -   As I type this it is after 1 am.  I am typing one-handed from a standing position with a feverish baby on my shoulder.  So while I wait for the Snooze Time Tea to brew, I am going to type a bit.  Since he only lets me stop walking and patting for a few minutes between laps of the living room this could take all night.  Unless this little guy goes to sleep I may have all night. J Since I have not done so in a while here is tonight’s thankful list.  Just one thing tonight: I am thankful for my beloved hubby.  Today, the 17th is our 17th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  It amazes me to think of all we have been through together: little money in the beginning, separations due to business trips, training, and a deployment, births of our children, losses of family and friends, illnesses, major accidents, joys and sorrows, poorer and richer, walking this world together.  As most of you know marriage is not easy but it is worth what it takes to keep it together.  Neither of us is perfect, which is a good thing.  If we were perfect we would not need each other.  Happy Anniversary honey!  May the Lord bless us with many, many more. Yea!  The baby is sleeping.  The tea hasn’t even cooled down yet.  Oh bother.  Guess I’ll drink it.  Well I’m still typing one –handed but I can sit now so I’ll give a quick update of what has been happening around here. We are still under construction in the girl’s room.  Dry walling is happening slowly.  The girls and I will head to Joann’s soon to pick out fabric then we will choose paint.  This is going to be so fun.  So far I have OK’d a disco ball and hanging butterflies.  We want the girls to have as much say in this project as possible.  We are not going for a magazine cover but I would like a coordinated décor.   We have chosen a hard wood bamboo floor for the whole house except for the kitchen and bathrooms.  That’s a lot of boxes!  We bought all the flooring because it was on sale.  Since our new trailer holds only so much it will take about 5 loads total. 1 load is sitting in the school room, one is in the pole barn, 1 is in the trailer waiting to be unloaded and 2 loads are still at the store. Today we will be building an 8’ by 8’ shed which will be my extended pantry.  It will house the upright freezer and whatever will not fit in the inside pantry.  Considering the fact that I buy things like rice and wheat in 25 pound bags, a lot does not fit.  I will be so happy when it is done! Well the arm holding the baby is about to fall off and my back is sore so  that is it for now,  Have a blessed day!          http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/428707/ Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/motherofblessings/428707/