This is our life, laid out for you to enjoy. This is our first year homeschooling, mainly using the Charlotte Mason method but we aren't completely dedicated to one form or another. We are a Catholic family and use the Seton and Catholic Heritage curriculum and LOVE it. Join us as we begin our homeschool lives. I guarantee you it will be fun, spiritual and probably a little chaotic along the way. God is directing us so we will go where he leads! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 8 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 Sat, 8 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 October...oh we love October here. Not because of Halloween but because October brings with it our annual trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival. The Texas Renaissance Festival is the largest in the state and I believe the country. It is HUGE!! We took my mom with us this year and met up with my sister, Tammy her hubby and 2 of their kiddos. Not only is this a big thing because our boys get to travel back to the days of jousting, dancing, merriment but also because this is an excuse to meet up with their cousins and spend the whole day playing games and eating turkey legs! The boys favorite show is the Ded Bob Show. It is a MUST see. We also like The Mud Show. Yes you heard it right...an entire show out of mud. It's great, just trust me on it. We also love Birds of Prey. Amazing birds that soar right over the top of your head. Another plus is the food.....ahh the food. Turkey Legs, Sausage on a Stick, Jerky, Fried Alligator, Fried Shrimp, Deed Fried PB&J Sandwhiches...Mmmmm **drool** The shopping is pretty darn good too. My mom, sister and I can do some major damage in the shops there. Madeline got her first Fairy wings, the boys bought necklaces from the coin mint, my nephew Cameron got another wand for his collection and Isaac was armed with his first wooden sword. The kids were blissful. There were games galore, mazes, rides, you name it...it was there.  Here are some pictures of our adventures. Enjoy!! P.S. If your ever in or around Plantersville (halfway between College Station and Houston) in the months of October / November the Texas Renaissance Festival is a MUST SEE!!!   Aargh me mateys! The kiddos Riding on the Swings Birds of prey Madeline gets her Fairy Wings   The boys and INothing comes between Dustin and his turkey leg!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/616420/ Sat, 8 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/616420/ In our ongoing struggle to have our washing machine and / or dryer last us at least a year...we have yet found ourselves in need. Luckily God sent us some angels to help and we found ourselves with a brand new, warranty infused Kennmore washing machine from Sears.   As Chris and my dad took the machine out of it's HUGE box, you could see the wheels of imagination begin to spin in each of the boys heads. There they were, heads together, contemplating their next move for The Box. Would it be a train? No. Spaceship? No. Race car? No. Army Bunker? YES!!!! They immediatly got to work cutting out gun turrets, formulating a plan of attack. They were off to hunt for terrorists. They drew maps, decked themselves out in their paintball gear, and even recruited our kitten, Stimpy, as lookout!! Try doing that in public school!!   Boy did they have a great time with the box and were both sad when it met it's unfortunate demise and had to be taken outside to the curb. Chris and I are talking about getting a new refrigerator with our tax return, the boys are already making plans for The Box again!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/608074/ Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/608074/     I can't believe that our precious little girl is already 3 weeks old! Time is flying by now. Everyday she grows and looking back at the pictures from the day she was born, she's changed so much. She has brought so much joy to our family. Her brothers are completely wrapped around her little finger. Chris loves to snuggle her and I can sit and stare at her for hours. Her baptism is next weekend. I can't wait to bring her formally into the Church. I thought I would post some pictures of her from the past 3 weeks. Mainly because her Aunt Mimi (and Godmother) over at Pathway to Heaven wants to see more pictures of her, but also to share her with all of you here! Modeling her Princess Dress Snuggling her Daddy Hanging out with her Brothers Modeling 2 of her many bows   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/587496/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/587496/   We had an interesting first lesson in Art today. Frustration. We discussed how all artists, even famous ones like Monet, Michelangelo, etc... got frustrated. We always strive for perfection but oftentimes get lost on the little imperfections along the way. The boys learned that you should always "stick it out" when you get frustrated with something. We even talked about an artist that was rendered paralized from the neck down in a car accident. She turned her frustration and anger into a positive by re-teaching herself how to paint and draw using only her mouth. Our assignment today was to recreate a butterfly picture using only our mouths. The boys were a little clumsy at this on their first attempts but they finally got a rythmn down and their pictures came out rather well. Here they are in action... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/586936/ Mon, 8 Sep 2008 15:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/586936/     Our precious daughter is here! Madeline Paige Buckbee was born on August 19, 2008 at 1:41pm. She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is so completely beautiful. She looks like a mini version of her daddy! Her two big brothers simply adore her! I can't stop thanking God for this miracle he gave to us. Life just can't get much better. Her arrival was worth the 8 years it took to get her here. Chris and I want to thank everyone who cried, celebrated, and prayed for us during this journey. It has mean't so much to us. Thank you! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/578482/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/578482/ OK. Only a homeschool mom would be excited about shopping for school supplies! I have come to this realization while tackling the aisles of Walmart this past week. All the children and quite a few parents were standing there with their school issued supply list grumbling about why they needed certain items. Others were on hands and knees digging through piles of discarded folders and spiral notebooks trying to find certain styles or brands. Then I walked in..homemade supply list in hand, happy to be out of the house (more on that in a minute). I got some pretty strange looks as I packed in 60 spiral notebooks or 40 pocket folders with brads. I think these parents wondered if I was insane as I passed up the "school required" 5 pack of kleenex tissue and grabbed 6 boxes of markers and map pencils. I also passed up the fancy "Trapper Keepers", locks, backpacks, etc.. in favor of modeling clay and loose leaf paper. I didn't have children crying because I wouldn't buy them the latest Hannah Montana lunch box or High School Musical protractor. I'm so excited about the start of a new school year. I still have a few other things to buy for the boys but we have what we need to start the year. Because of Madeline's arrival soon, we won't officially start until the middle of September, although I am going to ease them into a few subjects soon. Oh I can't wait!!!   On the subject of Madeline, I have big news...My stitches are out!! YAY!!!! Now we wait and pray that she comes soon. I will go in for an induction on the 18th (in a little over a week) if she doesn't make her grand arrival sooner than that. After 8 months of bedrest it felt so good to get up and move around. I"m no longer on bedrest and I can't tell you how wonderful that feels. My sister in law took me to the mall yesterday and we walked around for about 2 1/2 hours hoping it would bring on labor..no all it did was make me amazingly sore! I guess I should have eased into activity instead of jumping in with both feet. I was actually praying that my water would break while I was somewhere near Macy's! haha I will keep you all posted on our progress. Regardless, we will have our brand new baby girl in about a week. Please keep us in your prayers as we near our delivery date. I"m busy nesting and am doing a complete cleaning of the house and all cabinets and closets. OH it feels so good to clean too! We are also doing the boys birthday party this evening here at the house so at some point I need to make about 50 cupcakes. That should be fun as well. Hope everyone has a great week! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/572158/ Sat, 9 Aug 2008 09:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/572158/ Happy Birthday Dustin!   Wow how time does fly. Our oldest is 13 today. Chris and I were just talking about how we just can't believe we are officially parents of a teenager! Dustin is his dad in miniature. He loves anything fantasy or sci-fi. He LOVES to read. He loves the military. He's sweet, compassionate, caring and tender. He's very quick to make sure those around him are ok. He's weathered a lot in his 13 years but he has come out such a strong man. He loves baseball and has an amazing arm. I've seen him get the ball from centerfield back to the catcher in one swift move. He's a great pitcher as well. He loves Boy Scouts. He loves everything about it. He was so proud when he joined and takes his Scouting oath seriously. He can name just about every dangerous plant in nature and is a wiz at doing first aid. He loves to camp and be outdoors. He loves history. He has an amazing memory for dates and events. He soaks up anything history related. It's his favorite subject and he's incredible at it. We hope that he develops into a wonderful child of God. He's come such a long way this year and we are so very proud of him. I"m sure this first year of "teenager-dom" will be filled with frustration, arguments and probably a decent amount of teenage attitude. I"m also sure it will be more from me wanting to hold onto him and him wanting to push away and find himself. He's always been a very independent child. I hope he uses what we have taught him and molds himself into a wonderful young man. We love you Dustin and are so proud of the young man you've become. May God bless you as you continue to grow and learn. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/566295/ Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/566295/ Yep, we are on the final countdown to BABY MADELINE DAY!! I will have my stitches removed in 13 days then she will come anytime after that. My doctor thinks she'll come within a day or two of the stitches being removed. We are all so excited but time has seemed to slow WAY down. The days are creeping by now that we are so desperatly trying to get to the 7th of August. My doctor found out that there was a baby pool going on. He has asked me to inform those involved in the pool that he can be bribed for an induction by bringing him nice Cigars!     We are just about done with Wrinkle in Time. I'm suprised at how well the boys like it. I was worried that they wouldn't care for it, ecspecially Christian who isn't into anything fantasy related but they have both really enjoyed the book. There was even only minimal moaning and eye rolling when I pulled out the study guide complete with worksheets! We are also looking forward to our upcoming Olympics Unit Study. I think we are going to have such a blast with this. My only fear is that I will go into labor halfway through the study. We are due to start it the week my stitches come out. OH well. We'll just play it as it comes. There is Olympic excitement in our house right now. We followed the trials and are now ready to cheer on the USA teams as they compete. I love watching the diving competitions and gymnastics competitions. The boys are looking foward to track & field events.   I am also really looking foward to the start of the new Woman's Bible Study that I joined. It's a group of ladies, some homeschool, some don't from one of the Catholic churches here, St. Thomas Aquinas. They are called Joyful Hearts. We will be using the book Grace Filled Moments by Johnette Benkovic. I've visited several websites and found excellent reviews for this book. I can't wait to buy it and start reading. Our first meeting will be Sept 15th. I"m also considering joining the Familia group as well. I need to get a few more details to make sure it won't conflict with anything but I've wanted to do that study for quite a while. My sister Tammy raves about it and I even "borrowed" her books from the 4 year study to read through. I also have signed up to become a sponsor for the RCIA program at our church. It's so rewarding to help someone through their journey to becoming Catholic. I have come to the realization that I need to make time for my spiritual growth. I have been putting my husband and kid's needs, both physical, spiritual and emotional before mine and while that is never a bad thing, I need to carve out more time for me to grow in spirit and friendship and faith with other Catholic women. I"m really looking forward to this. I think this will help me relinquish more control to Chris. I look to him and respect him as the Head of our House but I am very guilty of being bossy, nagging and stubborn. I'm trying to fill my role as wife and mother and let him take the role he is asked to take as a father and husband. I think being around other woman and doing this will help. I pray that I can model my life after our most Holy Mother. I"m getting better but I'm still a very long way from where I should be.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/565502/ Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/565502/ Boy is that ever right! The past couple of weeks have been so busy! We spent week before last getting everything together, labled and packed for the boys camping trip. The list of stuff they had to bring was Amazing!!  Everything had to be marked with their name and their troop number. This was a Boy Scout trip to Lost Pines Scout Reservation in Bastrop, Texas. They were gone for a week and just came back yesterday. They haven't stopped talking about it yet! I think they had a blast. They did crafts, worked on merit badges, swam, hiked, fished and MORE! It was a bit pricey but Chris and I definatly think it was worth it. They are already looking forward to going back next year. We also had a baby shower for Madeline on the 28th. That was such a great time!! I had friends and family come in that I hadn't seen in a long while. There was great food, fun games and awesome gifts. I"m still amazed at the creative talent of my friends. The homemade gifts were so cool. Now I'm busy writing Thank you notes to everyone. After the baby shower, we loaded everything back up, went to the house, dropped it all off, visited with friends for a bit then headed over to my parents house. After a scrumptious dinner of BBQ ribs, we all headed to Grand Station Entertainment for a few hours of Laser Tag, Bowling and Glow in the Dark Mini Golf. ****NOTE**** The Pregnant Lady <----- ME, beat out everyone at Mini Golf!!! That was the first time we had been there and it was really cool. For those of you that know me, know I'm supposed to be on bedrest but I got a temporary pass from my doctor for the weekend as long as I promised not to overdo it. It was SO good to get out of the house and just visit and have fun. On top of all this, I've been busy putting all the baby gifts up, Chris finally figured out how to put the stroller / car seat together, and I've done about half the thank you cards. I even managed to keep sane while the boys were gone to camp. I was ready for them to come home the day after they left!! I got a lot of organization done for our upcoming school year. I have all their lesson plans ready to go, experiments and field trips lined up and even a few fun extras planned. All in all, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Then to round our week off, we found out that Christian is Insulin resistant and is in the beginning stages of Type 2 diabetes. We had been worried about his weight because the diets we had tried for him just weren't working. I spoke with my Endocrinologist and he told me to bring him in for testing. We did and the test results show that his blood sugar / glucose is way off and that could be what is keeping his weight up even though he is eating healthy. He put him on Metformin and he also gets to join Me on a nice diabetic diet! He's not to happy but even he admits that he will be happier when he can get some of the weight off. Luckily diabetic foods have come a long way and we have so many choices now so he shouldn't have to suffer to much!   On another note, our weekly doctor's visit went well. Madeline is growing like a weed. She's moving and kicking around like crazy. She has finally turned head down and is at +2 Station. The doctor said that since she has started to drop down in the pelvis, he doesn't think she's going to flip again so she should stay that way and be ready for a safe and healthy birth. My stitches should come out in 3 or 4 weeks then I can go anytime after that!! The countdown has begun and I can't wait. I finally have my bags packed, the car seat is loaded and ready to go, I've made arrangements for the pets to be taken care of, and the kids to be taken care of. Now all I have to do is hurry up and wait for her to get here!!!   Just thought I'd share a quick picture of my ever expanding belly. I've gained 18 pounds total for the pregnancy which is really good. Although from the size of my stomach, I'm suprised I'm able to stand upright! She's carrying all in front!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/557296/ Sun, 6 Jul 2008 17:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/557296/ Well we had our regular weekly doctor's visit on Thursday and our 3D ultrasound today. Thought I would give ya'll a quick update. I am 30 weeks now and doing good. Bedrest is still as boring as ever but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel now. Dr. Price thinks she's between 3 1/2 and 4 pounds right now. We are still on target to remove the stitches in about 6 of 7 weeks and I can deliver anytime after that. He did say that my cervix will begin to dialate almost immediatly after the stitches are removed but I will probably only dialate up to a 3 or 4 and stay there until actual labor starts or my water breaks. I"m getting SO excited now. We only got a couple of decent shots of her at the 3D ultrasound since she was being stubborn and kept flipping around to face my back. The ultrasound tech was laughing though because she had her legs up above her head and kept sticking the umbilical cord in her mouth. I suppose she really is a gymnast! We were able to get a decent black / white shot of her face and a color shot of her feet. We have more good shots on the actual dvd video but she kept moving her face before the tech could click the button to take the picture! (Chris says she's stubborn and camera shy just like her momma!) We were able to confirm that she is totally 100% a little girl, so tell Kyra to get ready to hand over that crown! This is of her face glancing over to the camera   This is of her little feet   We are all so anxious now! I"m trying to keep the boys busy and their friends have been over a lot. They leave for scout camp on the 29th so I know they are really looking forward to that. I had high hopes of starting Wrinkle in Time by now but with their friends in and out, me not feeling good for a week, we just haven't started. We do plan on reading it once they return from scout camp. I don't know what I"m going to do with a full week without kids. I think I may talk Chris into taking me to his parents house in town everyday on his way to work so I can lay on their couch and watch mindless television! (we don't have cable and only get 2 channels out here in the sticks).   If I can figure out how to take still frames from the dvd video of her ultrasound, I'll post some better pics!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/550569/ Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/teachingGodsway/550569/