I homeschool two children, one pre-teen and one teen. I also work fulltime and struggle with burn-out. Teaching Sunday School is actually good down-time for me. I use AOP for sanity's sake, thank GOD for a computerized HS program. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 30 May 2007 07:53:00 -0500 Wed, 30 May 2007 07:53:00 -0500 I haven't posted in a while, and the biggest reason is because www.homeschoolblogger.com is so incredibly sluggish when trying to update a new entry.   They need a bigger server or something, to accomodate all the blogs here! Well, I have had surgery on my back, almost a month ago, and still very sore and stiff.  Partly because I need to get outside and walk around the block several times a day, and haven't been doing that.  Other than that, life is just about getting the kids to actually sit and finish their schoolwork, get off Neopets, get my own work done so I can have a paycheck, and get the bills paid.   Plus writing the curriculum for the year for Sunday School.   I found the coolest software at Lifeway yesterday, on sale for $10.   It's the Thomas Nelson Bible Library, and it has waaay too much information on it to be just $10 !!!!!    I'm going to buy another one for one of my teachers, hopefully he'll be able to put it to really good use. Now, let's see if this new entry actually posts. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/335496/ Wed, 30 May 2007 07:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/335496/ It's pretty aggravating to type a long post, hit "Save changes", and the server doesn't connect.   The whole post is lost!   So, trying again, and learned to use the "save as draft" feature. On Easter Saturday, my family arrived in Orlando, FL, for a week's vacation.   With my ruptured L5-S1, the trip was a bit rough, but I took my pain pills and wore my TENS unit.   No way was I going to miss that trip, my kids had never been to Magic Kingdom, and since they are 12 and 13 now, it's time for them, you know?    Next big vacation, I told them we need to go inland and see other beautiful country the USA has to offer. We left a day early, on Thursday, drove half-way home and stopped overnight at Pensacola Beach.  It was beautiful, clean, clear, and a GORGEOUS day.   I settled my butt in the sand and read a book, yes, a BOOK (I don't get to read much anymore) for about five hours.   Got me a nice lil tan, too. All in all, it was a really nice week off.   Of course, since I only get paid for what I get done, I'm having to push myself this week to make sure taxes and health insurance are covered by my next check. I'm facing surgery, I guess.   My appointment with the neurosurgeon is tomorrow.   I really DON'T want surgery on my back, not at ALL. I spent a little time looking at costs for curriculum next year.  Not bad, considering $350 of the total $650 is a one-time payment for the two-year Spanish course by Rosetta Stone, and we all get to use it.  $650 isn't bad at all for two kids, either, but of course since we use Switched-on-Schoolhouse my younger daughter can use my older daughter's curriculum.  Next year I am deleting Bible and Math from the SOS, and instead they will use Math-U-See for math, add the Spanish, and of course I can handle Bible quite well on my own in our family devotions.   Just no more picking things at random, but using a teaching method to make sure they know as much about God's Word as I can teach them. I am also considering enrolling both of them in an online writing course, which I know is a good one since one of the mom's in our homeschool group is a teacher, and knowing her like I know her, she's a wonderful teacher, having majored in Language Arts in college herself. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/316304/ Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/316304/ On a recent Sunday as I was watching one of our teachers  teach our second hour fifth grade girls, he pulled out the toybox of the Armor of God.  As he began putting the little pieces on himself, I got a sort of epiphany about it, something I'm sure I've never heard anyone speak on before.  I think and understand things visually, so analogies like this make good sense to me.   The pieces are:  Helmet of Salvation, Breastplate of Righteousness, Belt of Truth, Shoes of Peace, Shield of Faith, Sword of the Spirit.   Everything listed is for the defence of your most vulnerable places, except for the Sword of the Spirit.   The exception to that is the Shield of Faith.  If you've ever seen an epic war movie of ancient times, you'll know that the shield is used to deflect arrows and sword strikes, but also to push, shove, and throw like a deadly frisbee.   So, your faith is both defence and offence.  That's why if you have faith as a mustardseed you can move mountains, and why faith is so important, it is extremely powerful.    If your shield is broken right now, take it to the "armorer" and get it fixed.   Maybe God gave me that realization that day  because mine needs to be fixed, so here I am sitting in the Armorer's workshop.   Another thing I saw is that 5 out of 6 pieces of spiritual armor are used for defence, and the verse above the list of armor pieces says - in that evil day when you've done all else, just stand.   His armor will protect us.   And when the enemy has come to us,  it's time to attack, and we have the Sword and the Shield.   Now that I'm tired just thinking about hand-to-hand combat .... Something I saw on the History Channel that very week was talking about that hand-to-hand combat and the chariots ... When a soldier in the thick of battle was getting tired, a chariot would bring a replacement soldier, so the weary soldier could escape in the chariot to rest before rejoining the battle.    I know I needed this, and I know God gave it to me because I needed it, but I thought someone here might need a little war-story devotion today too.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/307693/ Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/307693/ I've tried blogging before but there was never really anything to say.  Now I have too much to say, my opinions are getting stronger, and I need an outlet.   So here we are. As a WAHM / homeschool mom / Sunday School teacher / housekeeper / current news reader  I find a lot to say Grrrr about, and my sighs can get heavy.   The world truly does seem to be ending!   Today's  topic is homeschooling, of course there are pros and cons to everything including this.   The pros far outweigh the cons though.   In fact, our children have improved so much at this difficult age that my entire family is behind me 100% on this increasingly difficult endeavor.   I think the hardest part for me is having to work full time (although as a medical transcriptionist my schedule is very flexible), AND keep up with my kids.   Did I mention I managed to get myself a ruptured disk in my L5-S1 (bottom of the spine) ... so there are days I'm hurting too much to sit here. If I don't stay on the kids, they tend to think they can play all day.   Their life has turned into a permanent vacation.   Which of course I don't mind as long as they keep their priorities straight, which includes getting all their school work done plus their designated household chores (done RIGHT, please!). I am going to copy/paste an email I sent recently, which sums up my sentiments better than I can seem to today:       I pulled my oldest daughter out of public school after 6th grade in the magnet program, and my youngest came home after 5th grade.   My reasons:   My ultimate goal is to get my kids to heaven.   Life is more than about here on earth.  Education is also very important, but  it is secondary.   My kids were being greatly influenced by the kids at school, and various teachers with their own personal opinions, so whatever I was teaching them here at home was being absolutely undermined at school, whatever the subject:    Dress, homosexuality, attitudes towards others, etc.   School kids are being taught to be politically correct towards every group in the world except Christians.   1.  Homework - Since I also work fulltime here at home as a transcriptionist, I use a wonderful program that is computer-based called Switched-on-Schoolhouse  (www.aop.com).   It is completely customizable, so I can add or delete from the lessons as I see fit.   It has a calendar, so the kids know when they are getting behind, when they have days off, etc.   This does not knock me out of the loop on their education, but it does take a load off.   I also supplement with other things, like Math-U-See because they are weak in Math and I see the benefit of them learning the same math being explained in different ways.   Anything to strengthen that foundation.   Yes, the kids want to get lazy and act like they are on vacation every day of their life, so I use an incentive chart.   Rewards are weekend priviliges, and they have certain duties ... schoolwork, chores, being nice, they lose privileges for me having to nag them, for showing bad attitude towards me, etc.   It is easier to get the child to do their schoolwork that it is to get them to do homework ... because when they are homeschooled it's all the same thing.  They don't go to school 6-1/2 hours then come home to more work ... they simply do their work and it's done.   What you lose at home is the empty time  .... school is full of empty and wasted time.  Also, one of the best benefits with this is that they don't make  a failing grade on something and just keep going to the next unit without understanding a concept .. we stop, find other ways to explain a concept until they understand, THEN go forward.   2.   My kids still keep in touch via telephone and weekend sleep-overs with the friends who were actually real friends.   Plus they are very socialized at church.    Being homeschooled, they deal with adults maybe more than kids, so they actually deal better with adults and act more mature than before.   This is not something people actually believe until they've experienced it.   3.    This is no box.   Our children are most vulnerable at this age, and giving them the solid mother/child bond rather than the mother/everybody-else's-influences is what will strengthen them.   Sure, there are street-wise kids who rise above and become great, but most of them don't, the streets bring them down.   In reality, mothers not have to fight outside influences constantly is less wearing on both parent and child, and the child will grow up with better values and be a better citizen of the USA because they grow up KNOWING what they believe ... not hearing one thing at home and another at school ... in most cases I suppose parents cave in and figure if they want to keep their kid out of trouble they have to let others teach them what is and is not politically correct.   I don't want my kids brainwashed   4.   What fears do I have as a mother homeschooling my children?   The same as most anyone ... am I ruining my children?   Every time I have a conversation with either of my kids I find the answer to that.   No.   They can actually have a conversation with me now!   Am I the best person to try to teach them to write an essay?    Well, if not, there are people who can help, and some people in the POAHS utilize such writing programs.    Am I the best person to teach higher math?    If we get to a place where a subject is too difficult for me to understand much less teach (we have all have our strengths and weaknesses, that's why high school teachers don't teach the whole spectrum, they teach Math, or English, etc, that's what they are best at),  there are tutors out there too.     What do I do when my kids miss their friends?   Well, first I remind them of how mean those kids were when with them all day every day, then I distract by getting out of the house ... zoo, mall, park, library, POAHS ceramic fun day, whatever.  and if their incentive point sheet is followed, they still have weekends to invite friends over or go to their house.   Is every day rosy?   No.   And that's real life.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/306921/ Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/valarie/306921/