Homeschool Times Volume 5:1

  This will be my first official homeschool post of the year. I call it version 5.1 because my daughter will be in 5th grade, and this is the first installment. Clever, huh? lol.
    Last Year was probably our most difficult year. There was lots of home remodeling going on(Idsay for at least 10 weeks). Try doing school with all the knock knock knock and tap tap tap. It just wasnt really happening. I had to do alot of reflection as to why I was doing what I was doing, what I needed to change,etc. Truth be told I can be a bit too uptight sometimes. I like to make lists, and lists of lists that I need to make. I like to check things off of those lists, and when they dont get checked off soon enough, I feel as if i have failed somehow and am going to lag behind. I used the same approach for homeschooling,always focusing on what needed to get done that day, instead of just kicking back and enjoying the journey and the learning process. My daughter is a dreamer and gets distracted very easily. Therefore something that would take a normal person abut 10 minutes can sometimes take her an hour or more.This has always been an issue, but this year I am determined to not let it be...........
   When we first started this journey, I was determined to  school her all the way through high school. That has changed the past year or two however, and now I just kindve take it year by year. This was the first year I actually considered putting her in public school(which, for the record, i have nothing against).So, I have decided to take the "treat this year as if it were your last year to homeschool" approach. Even though, I know it wont be,what if it were?Its definately something to think about.I got to thinking about this, and if it were, i would want to use the best curriculum out there,take a more simplistic, fun approach, and find something where my lessonplans are written out.
   That being said, for the past several years, I have pretty much just used what was affordable and whatever I could get my hands on to use, and make it work.Top notch curriculum was never an option for our family. Money has always been an issue, and homeschool is not cheap.There are some rare, inexpensive gems out there, but for the most part I have found that you get what you pay for.
   That being said, I have been drawn to the sonlight  curriculum for years. It has always just been too expensive. It is one of the best out there.It has everything written out for you,you dont have to come up with your own lesson plans. I decided a few weeks ago to go ahead and take the plunge.A pretty crazy thing to do, especially since we already had all of our curriculum and the year was almost planned.I also chose rather than to buy all of the items at once,to find them online seperately.Talk about a headache.....lol. I am praying that it pays off.If all goes well I should have it ordered by the end of the week. I hope.
     Heres the real kicker, and you are going to love this.....lol. My daughter absoloutely hates to read, and sonlight is a literature based curriculum. The core program we are using this year has over 40 books,and they range from 50 pages to like 300. Some of them we will read aloud together, and some she will read on her own.I am hoping that she will come to love to read.It may be the stupidest move I have ever made, or the best, only time will tell.............
    So, with all of that being said, here is what we will be doing for the tear: For history and LA we will be using sonlight, Teaching Textbooks 5 for math,apologia human anatomy and physiology for science(which i am super excited about), along with wordly wise/daily grams, and a reason for spelling and handwriting.
   Wow, that was rather long winded, but with the new school year quickly approaching, I figured I better write a blog about it......lol.
   Wishing everyone who reads this a blessed school year!!!

Thinking about homeschooling?

 So, this is our homeschooling journey. As I mentioned previously, I had had a blog dedicated to just homeschooling at one time, but decided to combine them. So from time to time you will see blog posts about homeschooling here.Why I decided to do it,what we are using and what weare doing,etc.
    The  choice to homeschool isnt for everyone.It has its disadvantages, for example, if money and financial security is important to you, and you like to make lots of it,then this isnt the best option for you. This has been thegreatest struggle for me personally. But through this journey I have come to realize that Time=Money. It is perhaps even more valuable.
   Speaking of time, you dont really get much to yourself,that is unless you are willing to wake up in the wee hours of the morning before everyone is out of bed. Yeah, I dont do a whole lot of that....lol. You have to sometimes be really creative,in my case, often retreating to the bathroom for some alone time. To this day, my daughter still *thinks* I have a potty problem.....lol.
   Thinking about homeschooling and dont know where to start? Or is it something you have just always wondered about? How does it work? Well, to start, to need to find out what your states rules are. Alot of states require mandatory testing,have attendance laws, require you to keep records,etc. Fortunately, my state does none of that(or guess I should say unfortunately for some) You can find out your states rules here .
    What about curriculum and books and such?Well, there are several ways you can go for this. Did you know that there are online public schools? In this particular situation, your child would have a teacher, and you would be considered their "learning coach" .Although its not for everybody,it is definately an option for parents who are having issues with their local school system.Or maybe for families who move around or travel alot.
  As far as teaching your child yourself, anyone can do it. You dont have to write out your own lessons plans, there are some wonderful curriculums out there that do it for you. You dont have to "teach" them everything. Figure out what your strongest subjects are, as well as your weakest and go from there. My favorite subjects to teach are science and history, and while i am pretty good at those, i am terrible at math. So, we do a DVD/CD rom math curriculum where actual teachers tutor her. Its great.
    You will want to start buy figuring out what your childs learning style is. here is a little quiz to help you determine that. Because every child has different needs and learnes differently, this is very important.Here  you will find an article about the four main types of learning styles.
   So, hopefully this has been some help to you and will be enough info to get your started. I am always open to questions, so if you have one, just leave it in the comments section.

In His hands

I am back online. Yay! I have missed blogging. I am going to try try to log on at least weekly and post some reflections. Earlier this week,my husband was cleaning our yard and found a broken plastic handwith a hole in it.Kindve a weird thing to find in the yard, but whatever. It was very obviously the hand of Christ. His Hand. There is comfort in his hands,there is grace extended, there is healing. There is power.But most importantly and the thing he showed me this week is that his hand and his arm do not fall short.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd I have all that I need(NLT)  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack(Amplified version)

See, Gods word says that he will provide for all our needs. Not  necessarily our wants. His hand does not fall short and every good and perfect gift comes from him. Do you have a need in your life, whether it be financial,spiritual, or physical?Leave that need in his hands and cast all of your cares upon him. There is no better place to leave your needs than in the hands of God.
We have raised our hopes and our cities high


We have followed fragile dreams

But only One could take the measure of our goals

And we've stumbled over the trials of life

And we've wrestled the unseen

But only One can calm the storm inside our souls



In the hands of God we will fall

Rest for the restless, and the weary

Hope for the sinner

In the hands of God we stand tall

Hands that are mighty to deliver

Giving us freedom



When our strength gave way to the weight of guilt

'Til we strained for every breath

Only One could lift our shame and make us well

And when all is finished and we face

The fearsome power of death

Only One has overcome the gates of hell



You're amazing

You're amazing, You are

And we praise You, Lord

For what Your hands have done

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Masterpiece Theatre

 Wow, I have been having mucho computer problems the past month or so, that explains my absence. Time to get some more memory I guess. Oh, and I am never downloading a ton of pictures ever again.......lol.
    So, we are one book report away and half a lapbook from being "done" with school this year. As a homeschooling family, I dont think we are ever done,but from here on out it will be very minimal for awhile.Lots of stuff going on.
     I didnt get my license. I am going to give myself until the end of the summer. Getting practice time in is hard when you have to have a licensed operator in the front seat, and the only licensed operator  I can drive with is gone most of the time. I didnt realize how difficult parralel parking would be(maybe it was just me). Lessons learned:Dont practice driving with a child in the car. Especially when the child in question is yelling things like "we are gonna die",etc. lol.
     I got to go on vacation on my birthday and it was by far the most fantabulous family vacation we have ever been on. The cheapest too, at only right around 300 dollars. It was such a wonderful thing to wake up on my birthday morning to see the mountains in close view.Theres nothing better than experiencing Gods creation first hand. Its like looking at a huge giant painting.A Masterpiece that was created for us to enjoy. I will post a pic when I get my other modem back.Words certainly cannot describe it. We went hiking as a family, and it was a very challenging experience.  At the national park we were at, thats pretty much all there was to do. There were several options, an 11 mile hike, 8 mile, or 4 mile. Of course we went with the 4 mile one....lol, but it turned out to be the most difficult. Its wasnt called devils hall for nothing....lol. I think they call it that because of how you feel afterward....lol. It felt pretty good though to ber able to finish it, and then later see these "young" teenagers, come back from the trail unfinished gasping for breath. yeah, I still got it  =) Later on as we were leaving, we found out the trail we went on was also the most popular one for the mountain lions. Isnt that special.....lol. We also ventured out to New Mexico(never been) to visit family, but our trip was cut short by forrest fires and a really bad, bad accident.Seeing stuff like that really makes a person want to drive, let me tell ya =(
I dont want to make this super long, so I wont. Have soo much more to say, but I will save it for another day.............

The big 3-0..........

 So, in just 2 short weeks I will be entering a new chapter of my life. The big 30. I havent quite decided what i want to do, but I do know I want to get away for a few days, perhaps on a camping trip. I would like to do some photography somewhere,you know, just have some time with God and nature. That would be sweet. I have mixed emotions about this new chapter in my life. Trying to focus on how far i have come and not on the things I havent yet accomplished. I am looking forward  to what this age holds and saying goodbye to my 20s.I would never go back, and I know everything up until this point has prepared me for the future............I have got a ways to go,but I never want to forget how far I have come.I am not getting another year older, I am getting another year to experience life and all that is has for me, another year to gain wisdom and to learn. i think I now know what the term another year wiser means.
  So, be looking for pics in the next few weeks of my birthday adventure,wherever it may be.........

The role of Mommy

Wow, it has been a week. Here we are, on the downhome stretch to finishing school for the year, and out of the blue M gets sick. I am not complaining, in fact it was actually a blessing. Now, thats the wonderful thing about homeschool, I didnt have to worry about make up work(theoretically speaking), no doctors notes,etc.It has been a stressful past few weeks for us,with trying to get done,etc.When i get too busy, I tend to look at the things God has meant to be a blessing in my life,and look at it as stress or an extra thing to do on my "to do" list. Check, there you go. Whats next? I think sometimes God allows certain things to happen so we wont do just that. This week, M and I got some much needed downtime. Bless her heart, she hasnt been this sick in 4 years or more(which I am very thankful for). Shes better now. My husbands job doesnt offer insurance, and we dont qualify for certain assistance,so we dont go to the doctor alot, unless it is an ER visit. Well because she got sick this week, we happened to stumble upon a clinic that could get her set up with some sort of coverage. Not only did she get coverage, but we were able to get it as well(its only good for certain clinics, but hey, its better than nothing).
   So, today she is on the mend(she is on like three antibiotics,which Im a little  nervous about), and she is even cleaning her room.Yay =)
   This weekend, it being Mothers day, I am reminded that there is no other role as important as being a mother(and a wife).Its weeks like this one that make me thankful for my own mom and everything she has done for me. I am a parent,cook, housekeeper,refe, teacher, nurse,maid, security,supervisor, nutritionist, caretaker, personal assistant,life coach, laundry maid, dishwasher,and motivational speaker. I dont get holiday pay, am on call 24 hours a day.7 days a week. Dont get sick days or days off. Now, whose job is more important than that? Happy Mothers day to all of the wonderful moms out there. Hope you have a great one, you deserve it.

Making a Switcheroo

I have been having a host of computer problems this year, so I havent had much time to devote to my blogs as i would like. I currently have three, a homeschooling one, a cooking one, and this one.Well, I am getting rid of two of them, and just keeping this one. So, its going to be a little bit of everything, but mainly homeschooling , since that is what I seem to blog about most. I dont think i have mentioned it much on this one thus far so i am going to copy posts from my other blog onto this one to keep my readers up to speed. I really hope you enjoy it, and its always encouraging to me when readers post comments. Who knows, I may even post a giveaway or two.............