Let me begin my acceptance speech now...*begins to clear her throat*

I would like to thank all those that made this first week of homeschool a success....I would like, however, to exclude the cats, dog and all those non homeschool friends who found it fun to call right in the middle of a major math explanation!

In all seriousness, we had a blast. All my anal retentive planning flew right out the window and we just enjoyed class. God saw fit to have it rain everyday so going outside to enjoy the weather was a no no (ecspecially on my newly mopped / waxed floors!) So we decided to invent things to do. Thanks to my dear dear friend Christin, we dissected scorpions that she found at her place and lovingly placed in ziploc bags and put in my mailbox! I found a great diagram page on the net (oh the things you can find on the net) so the boys could make sure they were looking at a scorpion heart and not a right foot! We played games, and even managed to get every bit of schoolwork I had planned with little to no complaining. (Hey in our house..that is HUGE) We also managed to knock out the 10 yr old's birthday and my 30th *gulp* birthday. My dear mother in law actually got me a gift certificate to the spa so I can go get a facial , mani/pedi and a massage..God bless her!

We had another wonderful blessing. My stepson, Dustin decided he wanted to come live with us and be homeschool and his mother actually agreed! We picked him up last Monday and started school with him on Tuesday. Thanks also to you wonderful friends that helped me get him some books at the last minute!! He is having a great time being here and doing work. (Yes, I said he was actually having a good time doing work..Who Knew??)

I dont' know why I was so nervous. Going into our second week, I'm excited. God has shown us the way to a fun family relationship. I'm getting to know the boys all over again. Even my DH Chris is excited. He's put together a computer programming lesson for them and can't wait until I can get them started on it. He's LOVING having his son with us full time. What a blessing that has been. Praise be to God!

I look forward to the weeks and months ahead. I look forward to the cooler weather so that we can get outside and have class. I even look forward to the stares I get when I have my kids out and about with me during "public school hours". It's great hearing my boys tell people. God wanted us to homeschool and we've already finished our classes today! Ok. Enough rambling. I have two boys that need to get to a forensics class and I have to go dig my shoes out from under the bed somewhere. I pray everyone has a wonderful year. I know ours is turning out pretty darn good!