"Folk" Tales - Homeschool Blogger

What We're Using This Year

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:35:00 -0500

Wow! It has been a busy month. We've started school. It's going well. Isaac and Julia are loving it :) I have been fairly relaxed with the two of them about "school". During their pre-school/kindergarten years, learning took place throughout the day when life would lend itself to teachable moments.

"Life" is the most effective curriculum parents can use to teach! (at any age)

This year, my little first graders have also begun more directed learning. They actually recognize "school" and enjoy it immensely. It gives them tangible evidence of their accomplishment when they complete an assignment - something we all love.

We're using:

Leading Little Ones to God Schoolland
Veritas Phonics
First Language Lessons Jessie Wise
Singapore Math
Story of the World Susan Wise Bauer
Handwriting Without Tears
Veritas Time-Line
Science and art are incorporated weekly with nature walks and projects using what we find.
And many, many books from Five in a Row and Sonlight reading lists as well as others we have accumulated throughout the years.

My big boys, Luke and Levi, are using Sonlight Alt 7. They are studying World History this year with the living books Sonlight recommends. They are also using:

Easy Grammar/Daily Grams
Wordly Wise
Saxon 7/6 (Levi)- Teaching Textbooks Algebra (Luke)
Science topics from Classical Conversations (Levi)- Apologia Physical Science (Luke)
And a few supplemental materials for Latin and logic.

It is such a blessing to be able to have a direct role in training my children. There are many times throughout the day when acedemic lessons cease and life lessons are discussed. Praise God for leading me in this direction!

In other news... I am taking a class from our local technical college and working part-time. More about those topics another day.

Corey

Happy Birthday Noah!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:35:00 -0500

Noah is THREE! My friend Kate at Our Quiverfull and her family (and friends!) are celebrating the birthday of this sweet boy today. He has many health issues and unfortunately his birthday party will take place in the hospital (nothing new for the Estes Family ). I have had the joy of spending time visiting with Kate and Noah during his hospital stays over the past few months. Noah is a beautiful child and although he is very sick, he is an active, polite, affectionate toddler. You can read more about this amazing "young man" at Kate's blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!

I dropped off some balloons this morning

Changes

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 07:04:00 -0500

A lot can happen in a month....

We've moved here

We now live in this pool. No, this is the only picture of the outside of the apartments on the web-site. I'm too lazy to go out and take a picture myself.

OK! OK! I'll go take a picture. This isn't actually our unit though. Due to sun and space issues, I took a picture of my neighbor's apartment, but they are all basically the same.

So far, we love it!

Living on the farm for a year was a great experience, but these city mice needed to get back to our comfort zone . So, we'll try this for a while. Stay tuned, you never know where we may end up next!

Birthdays!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:05:00 -0500

- My baby girl turned 5 today! My, how quickly time passes. She is such a girly girl. As I'm writing, she is sitting beside me in her birthday dress with her make-up in hand. She just gave me a good coat of lip gloss .

- She is such a sweetie. When I need to leave the house to run errands, she must give me a hug, then we each kiss our hands and place them on the others forehead, then a pop kiss on the lips, followed by one on each cheek. Then she says, "I love you Mom. Have a good day at the grocery store." (or where ever I'm headed) If we miss the order or mess up, we have to begin again. Our bedtime routine is about the same.

- She is consumed by the thought of marriage. Just a moment ago she asked me if I remembered the very first time I married daddy. Too funny. She wants me to pick out a good boy for her to marry. I love the idea of picking someone for her, but can we at least wait until she's 18! She says, "He has to look good and know about God and have a good voice and be nice and only if I like him, then I'll marry him." Believe me, I'm not encouraging the girl and it does worry me that she seems to be so "boy crazy", but I hope it's just because she see how happy Daddy and Mommy are and wants that for herself.

- She has already named her children too. They will be Farimere, Vorimere, and Elliot. Oh Boy! You would think having three older brothers, she'd be more of a tom boy - Oh No - All girl! After having three sons though, I wouldn't have it any other way!

- Speaking of sons, today is also my oldest son Luke's birthday. He turned 13 today. He just told me I may have to lock Julia in a closet because of the way she is talking about boys. I think he's right.

- He is such a responsible young man and a great help. He has worked diligently beside Paul (and Levi) this week cleaning out Paul's shop. He was hot and sweaty and smelly, but kept on working. Even today when unsupervised, he and Levi went out to work without having to be asked. Came in and fixed their own lunch and went back out to finish the job.

- He reads his Bible and prays without prompting from us. He can be trusted to give proper instruction to the younger children and not lord his authority as oldest over them. I am so blessed to have this young man call me Mom.

- HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE AND JULIA!!

Questions

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 05:48:00 -0500

-- I don't mean this to sound flippant, but do you ever wish you could e-mail God with your Questions? I know the ultimate book of answers is the Bible. Sometimes though, it would be nice for a more specific question to be answered - maybe written on a blog .

-- Pray with us for wisdom in decision making.

Corey

The State of Today's Youth

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 05:45:00 -0500

-- If the behavior I've witnessed over the past week is "normal" for the majority of young men and women being raised in America, the future of our country is more bleak than I thought. On two seperate accounts, my family was on the front lines of teenagers in action. Their language was foul. Their intentions were dishonorable. Their temperament was disgusting. They had no respect for authority, elders, women and children, each other or themselves. Common courtesy appears to be an obsolete practice.

-- I guess I shouldn't limit the finger pointing to youth. I am from South Carolina, and we all know what the governor has been up to. Is this why young people act the way they do? Maybe their fathers have been more concerned with the mistress? How do you teach what you do not live?

-- Our country needs prayer. We need God's hand to reach down and touch the lives of Americans. We need fathers to pick up God's Word and be the spiritual leaders in the home. We need a solid moral foundation. We need our hearts to be turned back to the Creator.

-- Corey

Next Year

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:43:00 -0500

-- Next year will be our tenth year homeschooling. When this journey began, I didn't know if it would last through the first year. It was a week by week, day by day decision. There were many frustrating times and many unknowns. I didn't feel qualified to teach my children. I didn't know where to buy curriculum. I didn't know of any support groups.

-- Throughout the years I have been involved with co-ops and tutoring programs. I've learned about various teaching methods and used several curriculum providers. I feel like I know a little about everything.

-- Yesterday I went to Children's Books to pick up next year's curriculum. I love browsing through the aisle's, pointing out all the books we have read, all the materials we have at home, all the new stuff I want and what we actually need. I love the feeling of leaving the store with a box of goodies ready to be explored. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Fed-Ex truck later this week. The rest of the goodies had to be ordered. Makes me want to write lesson plans!

-- While I still have questions and am by no means an expert, I can confidently say that there is no where I'd rather be and no where I'd rather my children be than "at home".

Corey

Check Out Our New Toy!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:17:00 -0500

-- Paul and I found this cool float at Sam's Club. We were in awe when we first saw it, yet decided it was best to wait and think about it before shelling out the dough. (Not our normal response. Usually the attitude is buy now and regret later. But we've been getting better lately.)

-- Several days pass and we head back to the store. As we're pulling into the parking lot, we're listening to the last laps of the NASCAR race. What an exciting finish! Then we walk toward the store and notice that it closed less than five minutes before... while we were sitting in the car!

-- The next day I call Sam's and ask about the price of the float and am informed that they are sold out. The gentleman said they sell quickly, but more are on order and will be there within the next two weeks. The first week I call daily fearful that I'll miss the shipment. By the weekend, still no floats.

-- I begin to look online at other Sam's stores. There are not any floats of this style within 100 miles and there are NONE in SC. The closest store with this float in stock is two hours away. But, not to worry, we love to drive. So, we made a day of it. We drove to Charlotte, bought our float, ate lunch and drove home.

-- What kind of float could possibly be worth all this trouble?

-- We had a professional take this picture of us. That's me in the front with blonde hair. LOL Just kidding of course. This is the ad. I couldn't get good pictures when we used it because I was afraid of getting my camera wet. And no one really looks good in the water!

-- It is soooooo worth the trouble. Paul and I took our four and three of their cousins to the lake on Thursday and had a blast. We went again today (Saturday) with just our kids and really enjoyed the day. We look forward to spending the summer in the middle of the lake on our own little island!

Corey

Kid Speak

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:13:00 -0500

Julia: Mom, we didn't like the chicken and Chihuahuas.

Me: [puzzled look??] What Chihuahuas? (I know we have chickens, and she loves them - so I'm wondering why she didn't like the chickens and where did they see a dog?)

Julia: You know, that Luke made.

Me: [huge grin and slight giggle ] Oh! You mean the chicken enchiladas that Luke made for supper?!

Apparently they were too spicy. LOL

Contest

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:15:00 -0500

Kellie at The Pirate Mom Dot Com is having a contest and giving away a copy of the book Crazy Love. Visit her web site for a review of the book and to enter. http://networkedblogs.com/p6174392

Corey