Today I am grateful for....

~^~ His unfailing LOVE...always Faithful in His Grace and He never forgets me!

~^~Sweet memories of family Thanksgivings throughout my childhood and adulthood.  

~^~A husband that is our home's spiritual leader.

~^~My sister's in Christ that faithfully attend church every Sunday without their husband's.

~^~God's healing touch, please continue Lord to do your great work.

~^~Accomplishments that I could never do in my own strength, only His!

~^~Worship, with our precious church family and at home.

I am blessed beyond measure!

I was able to purchase MFW Exp1850. I'm so glad, now I can figure out what to do next year.

I am going to read Building a City on the Hill & Trial and Triumph with Josh.

An idea would be to have Josh read; The Last 500 Years, Exploring American History, In God We Trust & George Washington's World on his own. We have the audio cd for Story of the World so we can listen to that. He can also read the read aloud selection from MFW on his own too. I can read all the 2nd/3rd grade supplements along with the two books I mentioned above. About twice a week we can do all the timeline, notebooking, mapping etc. All of us would do Bible together.

We can start our morning with Bible and I  can read anything else that the teacher manual, like notes and such. Then we can all split up. Josh & Annette finish their studies on their own. I can do Phonics with the youngers.

I'm still studying MFW TM but I think I can make it work. Now I need to figure out when to do The Phonics Road, The Bridge & Spell to Write & Read :)

I have some ideas for those also.

• Josh & Annette: Spell to Write & Read do 20 minutes a day. Once the timer goes off, just stop :)
• Caleb & Brent: Phonics Road Level 2 is broken down into three sections; Spelling/Phonics, Grammar & Reading. Each section takes about 20 minutes. Again, I'll set a timer and stop. Whether done with a lesson or not. We can always pick-up where we left off the next day.
• Ethan & Lance: Phonics instruction 20 minutes a day.

If I can stick to the 'times' and not worry about completing a whole lesson I think I'll be okay.

Just recording my thoughts :)

If you have an article/blog entry for the November 23rd Homesteading Carnival, please use this form before tomorrow afternoon.  It's being hosted by The Homesteading Carnival themselves!

This week's Carnival was hosted by Catherine at Seeds of Love.

Please let me know your thoughts!  Thanks!

Today I am grateful for....

~Free Gifts~

*God's grace, mercy and love

*the freedom of living within the United States of America

*good morning hugs and kisses from my precious daughters

*a friend that listens without trying to fix the problem, thank you Lord for my husband!

*spiritual gifts and talents that the Lord has given me to use in the places He has selected

*the promise of a future home, with no more pain, tears or worries.

Blessed beyond measure!

So glad it's Friday (doing the happy dance) LOL. Before I write about our day I wanted you all to check out my sisters blog. She has lots of notebooking pages that she creates. She is way more organized then I  am and creative. Her blog is so nice, clean and organized. She is very talented.

As for our homeschooling day. Today I had Caleb & Brent do copy lesson two from Wheeler's Elementary Speller. Tomorrow I'll have the spell the words orally and write them from dictation.

They also did a lesson from The Phonics Road. We are on week 11. They are doing very well with this program.

Once Josh completes Phonics Tutor. I am looking into Spell to Write and Read for him and Annette.  I actually wanted to get SWR for this year but have always been intimidated by it, but now that I have used The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading I think I handle SWR  I would like to add Annette. She can read very well but I still feel like she needs to go over the spelling rules. Annette started reading in 1st grade and has always been above grade level. Because of this I didn't do a 2nd year of phonics with her. She spells okay and usually misses about one word or less from Spelling Wisdom. I still feel like she should be a bit more grounded in spelling patterns and such. I'm not sure if she came across a difficult word if she would be able to decode it. Also how do I make sure she continues to progress in her reading? I think SWR would help in both areas.

 Nap time is over. Gotta go.

Yesterday we didn't get home until past three o'clock from the doctors office. We were all whooped from shots. Lupe, decided that we should all get the regular flu shot, plus each of us had some other shot we needed. Mine was the flu & Hepatitis shot. Everybody has sore arms or legs today.

I found out I have allergies . I told the doctor that my throat gets a tingly, itchy feeling when I sing at church (hymns) or read to the children. He checked my nose and throat, sure enough I have allergies same as the kids. I took my medicine that he prescribed and it's all ready helping. Who would have thought I had allergies. Bummer!

Ethan, has allergies too. His skin is really dry and around his eyes it's VERY dry. Skin peeling. The doctor said those are all signs of allergies, he is on med too.

I told him I think that Brent might have allergies because he sneezes so much and has had a runny nose for weeks. Sure enough; allergies.

Annette & Caleb has had allergies and are asthma since they were toddlers, so nothing new there. I was surprised about the rest of us.

On the way home we stopped at the flying chicken A.k.a Chicken Express.Now that flying chicken doesn't look too appetizing but the food is actually good

For years I have been wanting to use a homemade shampoo consisting of Baking Soda & Water. I don't like using the shampoos from the store. All those chemicals. Because of the price of Organic and no chemical shampoos I would continue to use regular shampoo. I did buy the 'good' stuff here and there but again the price would drive me back to the chemical stuff. Sometimes the kids would not notice that the shampoo fell in the tub while they were bathing. By the time I found it half of my expensive shampoo would be gone.

I am finally taking the plunge!!! I haven't used store bought shampoo or conditioner for a month.

When we ran out of conditioner over a month ago, I decided to try using a vinegar rinse instead. I have tried before but never stuck with it for more than a few days. I mixed equal parts of vinegar and tap water. I used white vinegar because we didn't have Apple Cider Vinegar. I'm going to purchase ACV tonight and try it.

I also purchased a shampoo bar from www.virginiasoapsandscents.com The bar of soap is wonderful. I lather it up in my hands then wash my hair with it. Our bathroom is small and doesn't get much ventilation, so my shampoo bar is going faster then normal :( Next week when my bar is gone I'm going to use the Baking Soda & Water shampoo. I'm going with In A Shoe's recipe; 1quart water and 1/2 cup of baking soda. I don't have hard water but I'm still going to boil the water the water then add the baking soda. Let it cool and add to a container. Again I'm taking In A Shoes's idea and putting it in a liquid dish soap container.

With using the Shampoo bar (soon to be baking soda/water) and my vinegar rinse my hair looks so nice.

I have frizzy curly hair.I don't brush it during the day because, well, think afro. It gets very tangly. I have to take a shower everyday because once I brush my hair out it's just so frizzed.

 I have tried many products and spent lots of $$$ trying to control my frizz. I was even going to get it straightened at a salon. My scalp use to itch all the time. I would use Head & Shoulders (I know, major chemicals). Now my head doesn't itch. My scalp feels so healthy. My hair looks great, I even go to the mirror just to stare. I love my hair now. Almost all my life I couldn't stand my frizzy our of control curly hair.

Regarding the vinegar rinse. You have to stick with it. At first my hair felt tangly and yucky. I'm so use to the conditioners and how it detangled and felt silky. The first two weeks are the hardest.

My morning routine:

• Brush hair before jumping into the shower
• Wash with shampoo bar or soda water
• rinse with vinegar/water rinse. At first I  was using 1/4 cup of vinegar & water. I think that's a bit much but my hair didn't dry out. I would put it in a cup and gather my hair (med-long) pile it, pour some of the vinegar rinse, let hair down and pour the remaining vinegar rinse. Massage and rinse. Most people use a spray bottle but I don't have one thus using the cup. Again, most people don't use that much of the vinegar rinse but it's worked for me. Eventually I'm going to use honey bottle (the honey is almost gone)
• At the end of my shower I squeeze all water out of my hair and use Olive Oil as a leave in conditioner. I put about a quarter size in the palm of my hand, rub with other hand  and finger it through my hair. Wrap hair in a towel. Once I'm done dressing and such I let my hair out of the towel pin my hair back and I'm done.

Currently I am using Olive Oil but I have read that Coconut oil works well too and I ordered some to try.

Here are some links I found that may be helpful:

•  Simple Mom
• Natural Homemade Hair Conditioner
• Nature Moms
• How to Go No Poo
• Dandruff Remover (this is probably why I don't have an itchy scalp. 
• Another Poo Free site.
• Hair Conditoner-Honey you can click on the link but I'll put the instructions here too:

  Mix 1/2 cup honey with 1/4 cup olive oil. (Use 2 tablespoons of oil if you have normal to oily hair.) Using a small amount at a time, work mixture through hair until it is evenly coated. Cover hair with a shower cap; leave on 30 minutes. Remove shower cap; shampoo well and rinse. Dry and style as usual.

• Here is another Honey Conditioner this one uses buttermilk.

To add some shine mix TBS honey to 4 cups warm water. Work through damp hair. Do not rinse out.

Honey Deep Conditioning 1TBS honey & 1TBS Olive Oil, mix and warm in microwave to melt. Apply to hair. Leave in for 30 minutes then rinse out.

Next I'm looking into a face cleanser consisting of olive & caster oil

 Today I am grateful for...

~time alone with the Lord, Him quietly and gently moving me along,

~His financial provision

~my warm and cozy home, we have enjoyed some wonderful fires in our fireplace this week.

~the laughter and joy in my daughters faces as they diligently seek to memorize His word and are rewarded at Awana's each week.

~an email from my husband, that though he is away, he is thinking of me,

~a new to me book that I am reading "Stepping Heavenward", what a blessing.

~finishing projects and not leaving them undone.

I am blessed!

For review I received the following product for free as part of the TOS Crew, for the sole purpose of review. 

Exploracise® Gymathics® DVD

This morning Josh and I were able to-replace our spacers with wires. We both have braces on our upper teeth. He chose a nice blue and I went with a light pink. Wasn't too painful, thank goodness. Just feels like I have yucky, gunky stuff on my teeth. I'm sure I'll get use to it.

Joshua, is a trooper. He didn't want braces at all. He's doing great. No complaining or anything.

We didn't get too much of our school done. I did give everyone a lighter load then usual. This week is pretty busy. Today we got our braces on, tomorrow my Sweets & I go for blood test and Thursday we all have our yearly doctor appointment. Lupe, took Thursday off because by the time we are done with our doctor appointment half our day is gone. We are blessed to have a doctor who will see our whole family in one day. When we were first looking for a family doctor; not many would see us all. They would say the most we can schedule is three or four a day. Well, that doesn't work for us.

Since we moved our doctor is an hour away but worth it

My boys are so into the outdoors survival stuff. They enjoy anything army or Daniel Boonish :) Yesterday, Josh was practicing his knife throwing skills. Oh, my children are growing up.

I found some nice stuff to get the boys at Vision Forum. The only thing I don't like about ordering from VF is the 8% tax. I paid over $15.00 in tax. Oh, well, I did have a 20% off coupon and that helped. It's about the only time I buy from VF because of the tax thing. I know, cheap, cheap as my dad would say.

Our school year is going great. Everyone is happy with their curriculum. Not jumping for joy but happy.

Math Mammoth is working out great. I'll have give a review sometime. Character Quality Language Arts is working well with Caleb. My only problem is we take a little longer to finish a week. I try to sit with him everyday but sometimes things come up. Yesterday my dad came for a visit (he usually stays for 4hrs.) today Caleb has a headache and has been sleeping all day. There goes two days of CQLA.

This year I'm not stressing about our weeks. I'm taking one thing at a time. As long as we are making progress in our studies, I'm not going to lose sleep ;) With Social Studies/History & Science I figure if as long as we finish over 75% by the end of the year we'll be a-okay. I remember when I was in school, we hardly ever finished all our workbooks/textbooks. Actually, I don't remember finishing any of them. My SIL's kids are in PS and they never complete every page either. Besides my children have already been exposed to a lot more history then I ever was. Same with Science.

With math, reading, grammar and writing I'm a bit more strict. We continue some of this through the summer.

Blessings,

Linda<><