My thoughts and reflections on teaching our children at home and following the Lord daily. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 6 Aug 2008 05:46:00 -0500 Wed, 6 Aug 2008 05:46:00 -0500 M and J have both been learning so many new things lately! M is totally into the American presidents, getting her multiplication facts down and writing really well in cursive. J has learned all about adding and subtracting and is participating in math games with us; his penmanship is looking great as well. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/570624/ Wed, 6 Aug 2008 05:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/570624/ Have had much happen so I haven't been on here in a while so I'll try to cover everything. Last Saturday (the ninth) I hurt my left hip at the gym and haven't worked out since. I'm adjusting but it was very hard the first several days! To rest is difficult for me because the thing I want to do most is MOVE! I read a novel called A Wedding in December last week. It had me hooked and I read it pretty quickly (five days or so) but when I finished I realized it wasn't so great. The storyline wasn't that strong but the characters were very believable and Shreve describes the setting extremely well which is why I read all of it. Currently I am reading Sea Glass. It's historical fiction-1929. So far it is good.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/484193/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:19:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/484193/ Yesterday I felt quite a bit better than Wednesday. This morning I feel pretty good. :) I didn't exercise at all on Wed. but yesterday I did. I again did my Crunch cardio video for 30 minutes in the morning; 10 minutes of a new DVD (I'm borrowing from the library) called 20/20 Kick (also in the morning) and then 20-25 minutes of my Power Walking DVD with weighted gloves after dinner.  As long as my headache doesn't return I plan to workout again today and hopefully go to the gym tomorrow. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/476882/ Fri, 8 Feb 2008 05:14:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/476882/ Yesterday afternoon I bent over to pick something up and my head (specifically my forehead and sinuses) throbbed really bad. Last night we went out to eat at Roadhouse Grill and again I leaned down and I had really sharp pain, worse than in the afternoon. I went to bed early last night and today I'm doing lousy (physically). Everything must be compacted and I wish it'd just let loose and come out! This morning I did school with them even with how I was feeling. M had cursive practice (sentences), a money counting worksheet, a page of choosing the right pronoun for the sentence, alphabetized her spelling words, and a subtraction worksheet (she learned how to borrow today, and did really well!). J matched letters A-F with their cooresponding sound words (Aa apple, Bb bell, Cc cat, Dd dog, Ee egg and Ff fox) and glued them together on construction paper. He also listened to the Hooked on Phonics tape and used flashcards with me. He seems to really enjoy it and is catching on quickly. I will probably add a few more letters beyond F in a couple of days. Stephen got off from work early today because it rained this morning and will be home momentarily. I will probably take a nap this afternoon. :) I finished Light on Snow. It was really good! I picked up another of Shreve's books called A Wedding in December at the library a few days ago and will start it soon. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/475654/ Wed, 6 Feb 2008 11:51:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/475654/ Today M and I went shopping for clothes. We only ended up finding one pair of jeans for her and two workout shirts for me. Stephen took J to the laundramat and washed all four our bedding. All the comforters, blankets, sheets and pillowcases. He's such a good husband. :) I really appreciate him for all the extra stuff he does to help me with our home. Anything that needs fixing or maintenance, he's on it. And I know he appreciates me too. He's always thanking me for the work I put into our home and for caring for our children. It helps me so much when he tells me what a good Mama I am. And that I am a good teacher for our children. The Lord has really blessed me with him. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/473926/ Sun, 3 Feb 2008 21:42:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/473926/ Stephen worked today and I really didn't think he was going to be home in time for me to go workout at the gym so I went ahead and exercised this morning for 30 minutes with my Crunch video. Well, he ended up getting home a shortly after noon so the kids and I had lunch, I helped him with a few things and then I went to the gym. I worked out for 45-50 minutes (I lost track a little) but it really doesn't matter. I got in almost an hour and a half of exercise today. He took them to Kroger and to recycle so they had a good time with Daddy. :) Tomorrow we are all going to an outlet mall to *hopefully* get M some good quality pants and jeans. The ones I've gotten around here all get holes in the knees so fast! And the thrift stores who have quality brands for really cheap never have her size (10 or 12) like they have of J's (size 4).  Here's to finding some good lower halves! lol   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/473380/ Sat, 2 Feb 2008 20:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/473380/ J has known all the letter names for a while and practices tracing and/or writing them daily. He really likes  to write! M detested writing up until maybe a year ago?? Isn't it cool to see differences in your children when you KNOW it has nothing to do with you, your parenting style, or the child's environment; it's their individual personality shining through? I think it's neat.  At the first of the week I gave him upper and lowercases of each: a, b, and c to trace. I had decided I was going to tell him the letter sound of each as he traced each one and see what he thought and if he seemed ready to really learn them yet. He thought it was great! I said "A, aaaaaaaa" and did the ASL sign. He repeated me with a big grin on his face. :) Then I said the Hooked On Phonics word to go with A. I said "A, aaaaaaaa, apple" and again he copied me. It was really cute to see him respond like that. So we did the first three letters, and I'll probably do a few more next week. :)   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/472966/ Sat, 2 Feb 2008 05:52:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/472966/ A few days ago I bought a book called Light On Snow by Anita Shreve. Over a year ago I read another one of her books called The Pilot's Wife and it was a good read so I'm hoping I enjoy this one as well. I'm on page 60 now and so far it's good. She has a way of writing where it's somewhat suspenseful but not scary at all (which is good because I don't do scary!) This morning when I woke up my ears were aching and throat was a little sore. I took some Dayquil and it helped a lot. I didn't exercise at all yesterday (that will be my off day for the week) and so far today I've walked one mile. I just don't have much energy for some reason. I hope I'm not getting what M and J have. J is doing much better. Last night he slept 12 hours without any coughing. : ) Today he has been more energetic but he has such bags under his eyes! You'd think he had very little sleep last night. Maybe it's the steroids. I don't know. Stephen has to work tomorrow, again. It's good that he's getting so much overtime now (financially, I mean) but I miss him being home. I was in the kitchen a lot this morning. I made banana muffins, banana nut bread and peanut butter cookies. I filtered 4 gallons of water too. Washed the dishes in the sink and emptied the dishwasher. Did I mention I also did laundry? Can all of that count as exercise (especially since I didn't eat any of the stuff I made)? ;) Maybe I'll feel up to riding the bike tomorrow. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/472629/ Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:19:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/472629/ Yesterday morning I gave M 26 words to spell that are third grade level. She got 11 right and 15 wrong. What my plan is, is to now use those 15 she got wrong and they will be her spelling words for next week. I figure I should give her ones she really doesn't know, not just some list from somewhere. She liked the idea and she's getting a lot better about trying to spell something even if she really doesn't know the correct spelling. She attempted every word phonetically, so that was good to see. We sat down afterward and went over which ones were wrong and why they were wrong. We then discussed the craziness of the Engligh language. ; ) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/471586/ Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:20:01 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/471586/ Yesterday J really seemed fine. He didn't have a cough and his energy level was up from the day before. But then last night he went to bed at 7:00 and a little while later he was barking (not continuously but here and there). At 11:00 when Stephen and I went up to bed I checked on him and he sounded like he was wheezing and not getting much air in. I covered him with his blanket and he moved around a little. As soon as he started moving he started coughing. It sounded so bad so I got him up and gave him a breathing treatment of Pulmicort and Albuterol. He was retracting his chest some and I was still so scared from the last time that I called 911. They came and said his chest sounded clear but his pulse-ox was at 95 (they say that's "normal" but J's healthy pulse-ox is always 99 so I was NOT comfortable with a 95). I decided to take him to the hospital in my car rather than the ambulance since he didn't need oxygen. At the hospital the waiting room was full and J had gotten to be feeling much better after the Albuterol and the cold air outside so we went home because I couldn't see waiting 4-5 hours (at least) if he was o.k. enough to wait to see a doctor today. We came home and he waatched a little t.v. and had another treatment of Pulmicort and calmed down some enough to go back to bed. I didn't hear from him until 6:55 so I thank the Lord for that rest and His protection. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/471582/ Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:20:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/simplemama07/471582/