Copyright 2008-2009 Sweetpetunia.

Checking in here from my in-laws' computer. They graciously let us hang out at their house for 10 days while they dog-sit at my sister-in-law's. They literally saved us in more ways than they know. I'm sooo grateful to be here where there's air-conditioning and the only bickering is from my stubborn little Dude and equally stubborn little Princess. :)

Our summer school schedule has been progressing nicely. I asked Tink if she would mind doubling up scheduled days so we can attempt to get the year finished in 7 weeks instead of 14. So far it's going really well. We're now half-way through India.  I don't think we're taking any more time to finish than we normally do but that's probably because we've been skipping the art portions and the experiments. We'd already been doing that anyway because of our lack of funds so Tink doesn't seem to feel too slighted. I'd really like to add the art back in now because I know how much she likes it but we're still trying to save up for a rental deposit and the "new" van is a serious gas guzzler so that makes it hard to get out.

I don't think I mentioned earlier that Ninja is no longer doing the majority of her schoolwork with us. She does not work well with us we'd all come to dread school time so I finally decided she should work on her own. She's only been doing math, science, language, remedial spelling and the extra reading for MFW ECC 7th & 8th graders. She's zipping through it pretty quickly.

It seems once these girls decided to put it in gear, they stopped messing around! Ninja has finished one Apologia Science book and is ready for the next. She's finished 1 1/2 math books, the first year's worth of language workbooks and one remedial spelling book. We purchased new language and spelling books for her and she immediately dug right in. Tink finished one year's worth of Singapore math and is ready for the next one. She has also finished her first language book and is about to wrap up her spelling book too.

I've decided to stick with Queen Homeschool for Tink's Language but I'm still undecided about which spelling program to use. Tink loves Rod & Staff spelling but I already have 4 entire levels of All About Spelling (AAS) that I reviewed last year with the Crew. It would make the most sense financially to switch to AAS but Tink didn't like it. Maybe we could give it another try and if she hates it, we'll return to Rod & Staff. Thankfully R&S is very affordable.

Since DH has a new job, I'm hoping to save up enough for Ninja's curriculum. I had to spend some of it while he was away in order to keep from being overdrawn on our bank account. It's going to be a tough choice we'll have to make: either stick it out at my mom's and save up for school and rent, or take a blind leap now and hope we make it. Of course, we have no money for a security deposit, so I guess that means we have no choice but to stay.

I really hate to do that. The girls and I have noticed that the Dude has relaxed and is using longer sentences again since we've been staying at the In-laws. It's painful to think that he'll probably regress again once we go back to grandma's.

If anyone's reading this, I'd really appreciate some prayers. I've been getting migraines which is completely out of the ordinary for me. I don't normally get headaches at all much less migraines. We'll need lots of prayer to get us through this stressfull season at grandma's.