Am I alone in this??? I go in spurts with the curriculum. I love to look at all of it and want to buy, buy, buy. I get to worrying that what we are doing isn't enough. I'm such a worrier.

I know my son is learning. He is learning so much but I worry it's not what he should be or even worse.... that it's not what the kids in school are learning. I know that is nonsense. Who cares right? Well, next year he has to take a standardized test and I worry. Yes, already, I'm worrying about a test that's not until next year. Crazy I know but I'm worrier.

His math is going great and I know that he can read and understand just about anything but we've been lax in Science and I know that what we've been doing in History is different from what they are teaching in school (although what we are doing in History is great and he is just soaking it all up!!).

Anyway, does anyone else do this? I'm constantly looking at different curriculum wondering if it is better than what we are using or looking at different styles of homeschooling and wondering if we should switch or if it would be better for us. Questions, questions, I've constantly got questions.

Hello cyber friends! Well, last week we learned a lot about painting. We painted the kitchen and the deck. What would you call that... home ec? no, art? I don't know, but we spent most of the week on it.

This week we are starting a new science topic. We are going to do 10 weeks of the human body. FUN!! I bought the "10 Terrific Weeks" program from Usborne books for us to use. I think it will be good and seems like fun.

We'll continue on with our regular stuff too. We are finally getting to the Greeks in History and I know DS is excited about it. He's been dying for them since we started!! It seemed to take him forever to get here. Because he wanted to get here so bad he had a hard time getting into the other stuff and so it took him forever to get past them but here we are.

I'm getting ready to start putting together a scrapbook of our year together doing this homeschooling thing. I'm learning that I need to take more pictures and be more organized for next year.

We will have DD home next year too. That will be Fun, interesting, and a lot of hard work!! I'm looking forward to it though. I've already got our history picked out for next year and maybe our science too. I'm ready to get started now. Hmmm... I guess you can see where DS gets his impatience!! Shame on me...

Hope all is going well with my dear friends out her in cyber space... Take care until next time....

Burn out?

No, not really but I'm feeling very cranky and DS is feeling really lazy and has an attitude this week. He's been slow and careless. It's driving me insane! How do you take a break and still do school? Now, that didn't make any sense!

I've been thinking a lot about next year. DD will probably be home with us too. She'll be in 2nd grade and DS will be in 7th. I've been thinking a lot more about unit studies but I'm not sure about it. I really like the classical approach, although I do it lightly.

Things really are going well, I just get frustrated and so does he. I really need to look into all our options. I'm not sure we like the History Odyssey. There are parts we enjoyed but not much. We really enjoyed just doing it on our own but I worried so much about not covering what needed to be covered. So anyway, we will probably be looking for something else for DS. I may use TWTM books (can't think of what they are called) for DD. I wish they had something for the older kids too.

Hmmm... now that I mention it, I may try their grammar for DD too. DS has been using "Language Arts Through Literature" this year and we like it for the most part but I may keep my mind open to TWTM curriculum that they have out there. (Meaning Susan Wise Bauer and Jesse Wise books that follow their book TWTM.)

Anyway, just thoughts for today. Frustrations and nerves are high in this house today. We need DH home and no more sickness. We need spring.

DD has been home all this week so far. She has Croup. Poor thing. I thought she might go to school today but it was not the cards for us. She had a very rough and long night. Her fits of coughing were terrible. I think, hope, pray that she will be back at school tomorrow. Times like these I really wish that we had just taken her out of school too but we didn't want to force her. Anyway....

DS is working very slowly this week. I don't know if has something to do with DD being home or if it's just a slow week. He gets all his work done but it takes most of the day. (Usually he's done by 1 or so.) His heart just isn't in it. He's doing well though and has been working mostly on his own. I just answer his questions as he has them or help him look them up or whatever.

Me? Well, I'm feeling rather poorly so I'm napping when I can and drinking lots of water. I've been reading again which I truly love and am glad I'm making the time to do it more. That's really it here. How are you all doing?

Well, DD will be home again tomorrow. She has a terrible cough and fever with a headache too. Poor kid. We're going to the Dr. in the morning but I'm sure they will just tell us to let it take it's course.

I'm going to get some work together for DS to take with us to the Dr's. Not sure what yet but I'll think of something. Probably, math and reading. That's the easiest thing to take I think. I'll take books to read DD and maybe a puzzle book too. It always helps things go better when we have something to keep them busy while we wait. I'm not sure DD will be up to anything but reading but DS can do his.

It's times like this that I'm glad I homeschool DS and wish DD did too. It makes things easier and they don't miss school because we can take it with us or do it at a different time during the day or even adjust the lesson so that they can get it in with minimal effort but still learning.

I'm looking forward to this week and what our homeschooling will bring. What will yours bring?

Spring is in the air... well, for today anyway! I'm getting spring fever. The kids want to be outside always! I want to work on the house and the yard. I'm really not very good at either.

We had horticulture today. I think DS enjoyed it for a while but then he came to me and said, "I'm going to get started on my math now." Too funny!

I'm really not very good at yard work. For one thing it really hurts my back. Besides that though, I just don't know what I'm doing. I was really just trying to clean the beds out so that new growth could start but I'm afraid that I may have pulled some of that new growth out. But regardless, it was good to be outside in the sunshine for a while and spend that time with DS.

We also went to the library this afternoon. That was nice. DS read a juvenile version of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" last month and now wants to read the real thing. He's so funny. He loves to read.

We've been doing a lot of talking about writing. DS hates to write. He loves to tell stories but absolutely hates to write. He hates to write anything at all. We've tried the journal thing but he doesn't do it. So I'm at a loss. While we were outside this morning, he kept asking somewhat philosophical questions. I told him that those would be good things to write about in his journal. Pose the question in his journal and then write about the different answers or thoughts. Well.... total no go. He has a big writing assignment coming up and it is going to be like pulling teeth to get him to do but... I've got a good pair of pliers!

Today

It's been a good day for homeschooling. Other things have been tough but homeschooling as been pretty good.

We read TSOM together today. It was very interesting. We read the chapter on the Rise of the Church.

He took 2 math tests today. We accidentally forgot to take one when it was time. He got a 95 and 90. Pretty good, I think. If only he wasn't careless we'd have 100's but at least it minimal carelessness.

He took a spelling test and did great on the words (didn't miss any) but he made a few mistakes on the dictation. Nothing major though. Still over all he got a 95. Then he continued on with his lesson from "Language Arts Through Literature".

His reading is going really well. He is reading "Stories from the Iliad and the Odyssey" by G. Chandon. He is really enjoying it and wants to read the real thing next. He loves to read and would do nothing but read for school if I let him.

Science actually happened purely by accident! We were talking about his plant and the uses it has. We were looking in a book about alternative cures and he just started reading the index and as he found something interesting he would read it to me and we would talk about it. We ended up talking about (besides the rosemary) asthma and the lungs, strains and sprains and R.I.C.E. It was actually pretty fun. He quizzed me on some of it to see what I knew too. Some of the medications he was on when he was sick were in there and he was able to look them up and see what all they are used for and how that was different or alike what he was taking it for himself.

He finished off writing in his journal and is now outside in the beautiful sunlight playing with the dog.

Hello friends. Well, we went out yesterday looking for a new bar stool and to see if we could find some books or magazines on container gardening. We ended with a rosemary plant and a strawberry plant. I looked at a couple of books about vegetable gardening and got some good information. We looked at different pots and such. It was fun. DD is just dying to get started. DS is is too but he's concerned that he might have to eat what they grow. He is totally against this! He hate veggies. (I've failed him there.) Anyway, today after church we planted their plants into new bigger pots. They had fun and wanted me to take pictures of them. They are very excited.

I'm taking it easy today. Just goofing on here. I need to put in a load of laundry though. I'm really sitting around waiting for DH (dear husband) to call. We've had a very hard time connecting lately and I'm missing him terribly. He called today while we were at church. I didn't have good service and he couldn't hear me so we didn't get to talk. So I'm hoping for him to call back soon. Hopefully before I have to leave to take DS to church for guitar lessons and Youth group.

I'm also sitting here reading my book that I'll be teaching from for VBS this summer. It looks interesting and I think the kids will enjoy it. That's really it here. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

DD is home today...

Good morning, dear friends! DD is home sick today. Her tummy is hurting really bad. She vomited a few times a few days ago but the pain is lingering. A friend at church last night told me that the virus that's going around lingers for 10 days. Hopefully NOT! and she will be able to get rested and feel well enough to go back to school tomorrow. (For the new visitors, I homeschool DS who is 11 and in the 6th grade. DD is still in public school 1st grade by her choice.)

DS is busy correcting a couple of mistakes from yesterday's math lesson. They were just careless but I still want him to be able to figure it out and NOT be careless. We will do some history and language today also (he'll do another lesson in math too) and then I'm going to try to slip in some science as well.

I'm ready for spring! I want to go outside and clean up the yard and flower beds for the new growth to come. That's science right? I can't wait for a warm afternoon to do all this in. DD wants to plant some veggies. I don't really have a place to do a real garden so we are going to try our hand at container gardening. I definitely do not have a green thumb so I'm hoping DD will.

We tried a container garden when we lived in Hawaii when my son was little (DD was a baby so she doesn't remember it) and we grew a few things. I hope we can do better this time. I wonder if my kids will eat veggies better if they are the ones growing them? hmmm... I hope so!

If anyone has any tips for our container garden please share them!!! We can use all the help we can get!! We are thinking of trying zucchini, squash, carrots, cherry tomatoes and I'm not even sure what we can do. Tip away!!

Menu/Meal Meme

A new blog (Sunny Day) that I've been reading lately has decided they want to know about my kitchen and tagged me in this list so here it goes.

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family? Hard one! There are 4 in our family, that's easy. Meals at home? Well, DH is home we eat at home most nights with the exception of Sunday lunch and probably at least once on Saturday. BUT when DH is gone we eat out much more often. My kids are very picky and to be honest, I don't like to cook unless my food is appreciated so....

2. How many cookbooks do you own? Too many! I love cookbooks

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week? Unfortunately rarely. My family likes to stick with what they know.

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? If so, what are some of your favorite sources I get a lot of recipes from my mother and recipezaar online. Also places like, BettyCrocker.com and others like it.

5. How do you store those recipes? So embarrassing! On scraps of paper from my mom and other live people. I do print out recipes from online and put them in a notebook (well, I don't always get them in the notebook. Sometimes, like now, I have a pile of them.)

6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas? well, I usually follow a recipe but I do leave out ingredients we don't like and sometimes add. I usually just cook from my head (no written recipe).

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? If so, what is it?Oh, we like TexMex and Italian and Asian but we eat a lot of noodles (with butter or cheese)

8. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? I don't know that I have one! To read this you wouldn't think I love to cook! I do! I guess I love looking at recipes. And yes, I love eating.

9. What's your least favorite part? Cleaning up

10. Do you plan menus before you shop? Sometimes. When I'm being really good I do but lately... no My problem is I plan menus and then when the family asks what's for dinner and I tell them, they say oh, I don't feel like that tonight. DH is the worst about this!!!

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances? Hmm... I like my baking stone and the dishwasher is pretty handy...

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have? Double ovens for the holidays!! I'd love a new refrigerator

13. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next? Appliance wise? An new frig but it won't be for quite a while.

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage? We have a VERY old extra refrigerator in the basement but no stand a lone freezer

15. Grocery shop alone or with others? Since homeschooling DS usually goes with me

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week? None, we are definitely carnivores Well, at breakfast we usually have pancakes or cereal and don't always have bacon but that would be a side so....

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors? My kitchen is the way it was when we bought the house. It's mainly white (counter tops) and the cabinets are natural with wood flooring. I would love a yellow kitchen though.

18. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you? I have no idea! Probably mac and cheese

19. How did you learn to cook? My mom I'm sure. I do remember a kids cookbook I had.

20. Tag two other people to play.

DesertShams and WendyLou

Too Cute!!

We received our Usborne Books kit today. The kids were just as excited as me!! DS wouldn't let me open it until he was there. DD couldn't get her hands on the books quick enough! DS kept telling her to be careful! They are special! He told her that "Me and mom are going to have parties to show people the books so that they can buy some too!" Too funny! I think it is just hilarious that he said "Me and Mom"! He considers this business to be his too! I love it! He is all fired up about it and can hardly wait for us to have a party so we can show people the books. They just love them!

Anyway, it's very exciting but there are other things going on. Let's see... DD has an ear infection but is on the road to recovery. DS has a terrible viral infection in his mouth but is finally recovering. He also has a staph infection on his thumb but we now have medication for that too so hopefully he will be fully recovered soon.

The homeschooling has been very slow with all this sickness the last 2 weeks but we have gotten a little in most days through puzzles, reading, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and so on. I'm expecting to be able to get back down to work come Monday.

Well, I guess you are now updated. Please if you haven't already, visit my new website. I KNOW you will find something you LOVE!

A new Family adventure....

Well, I've gone and done it! I've signed up to be an Usborne Consultant. I'm really pretty excited about it. I'm a little scared too but it should be fun. DS is excited about it and DD just wants to buy all the books!

If you don't know about Usborne. It's a company that sells high quality children's books. They are great and my kids love them. Last year before we were homeschooling and were just thinking about it we bought a history book from them. My son ended up using it for his homework more than once. He loves to just sit and read it or have me read it. DD loves the pictures. She has picked out several books for herself but also for her baby cousin! They are very excited about it.

So, I'm new to this and as I learn more I'll share but until then, please come check out my new site at Usborne Books. Browse around and I'm sure you will find something you like.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you have a great one with someone you love.

Valentines link

Well, I think we are on the mend. DS has been so sick. He's lost so much weight. They gave him an IV today and more meds. The difference the IV made is unreal. I took a puzzle book with us this morning because I figured he'd get and IV and just after about 10 or 15 minutes on it he was cutting up and joking about his answers. The room was filled with laughter, it was wonderful.

Of course, now Mom is exhausted and in need of some rest but... so much to do.

The puzzles we did included history, math, spelling, and language arts. DD was with us because public schools were closed for a snow day and she had a great time trying to help even though most of it was too hard for her. She enjoyed guessing and making her big brother laugh. I'm glad I thought to bring it with us.

I had no idea though, how much better he would feel with the IV. I've never been through this type of thing before. One of the kids usually gets really sick whenever DH is deployed but not so that they have to have an IV.

Anyway, just wanted to post an update.

Sorry....

I'm sorry. I just realized that I haven't updated here in a while. DS is still very sick. We were at the clinic everday this week except today. He's lost 16 pounds since Monday afternoon. I'm very worried about him. He did drink and eat a little today which is a plus but not very much. I tried to get an appointment for Monday and there aren't any available right now. UGH!

He has obviously not been able to do much in the way of homeschooling but we have watched a few movies that count as history and some shows on Discovery that count as Science.

I sure hope he gets to feeling better soon. It just breaks my heart to see him like this. We've both cried a lot. Poor DH is having a hard time not being here to help deal with all this. I know he is worried too. I can't imagine being so far away from my kids but especially when they are sick. Even DD is worried sick. She keeps having nightmares about her big brother. Poor baby.

Well, please keep DS in your prayers. Until next time.....

Poor DS is sick today. I'm afraid he might have strep. We have a Doctor's appointment this afternoon so I guess we will soon find out. He's watching the Discovery Channel today and will take a book with him to the doctor's. Probably "Stories from the Iliad and Odyssey".

He's been doing pretty good. I've been having my doubts as usual. I think all homeschooling parents do now and again, especially new ones. Anyway, the other day we were at the store and they were having a sale. The item I was looking at was on sale for a 1/3 off. I said kind of to myself, "Dang, why can't it be 1/2 off I don't have to think for that!"

DS came running over saying, "I can do it! Let me!" He was actually excited to do math! And fractions at that!! He did do it and he did correctly. So I guess, we are doing okay. I'm so glad to see him start to get excited about learning and showing what he's learned. To me, it's a step in the right direction.

Good morning cyber friends! We have had a pretty good homeschooling week. Even the weekend was pretty good for us.

DS has been a Paleontologist and had a great time. DD enjoyed watching him.

He's been reading about roman soldiers and also "The Art of War". He's having a fun time with it.

He watched a show on Killer Squids on the Discovery Channel and now he can't quit talking about it! He's got his sister scared to death to go into the ocean again! He also watched one on jellyfish. He's been having fun.

We've also done some math and writing and whatnot in there too, of course.

Deschooling?

I really thought about doing this whole heartedly when my son first came home to school but I was honestly afraid. I'm afraid of him falling behind and not reaching his full potential.

Well, I think in some ways I should have done this. I've read about what to do when they first come home and this is suggested over and over. Then I joined this online group and recently it stated that this is what someone else did. She brought her one of children home at about the same age as mine so ... What to do? I'm so afraid of him falling behind.

Often I worry that we aren't doing good enough as it is and then I worry that I'm pushing too hard and that we need to relax so that learning can be fun again. Oh the decisions we mothers must make.

I just keep thinking that there have got to be other more active and fun ways of learning. I wanted so badly to use the classical style but I'm finding that there are things that my son is interested in now (such as history) and he is impatient to learn it. SO... any suggestions?

My son would be happy to just do history all the time and he'd just skip all over the place! So, do I let him? Or do we stick with the classical style of doing it in order?

Decisions, decisions...

Funny how things work out....

Yesterday I was talking about how I missed some of my freedom. Well, last night DS finally cleaned his room. (It's passable anyway.) And he set himself up a little work space in there. So, today, he has taken his work up there and is doing it. I guess for today anyway, I have regained a small part of my freedom.

He's been coming down periodically for me to see what he's doing and so far I'm pleased. He took a math test and only missed one. I'm not surprised he missed that one. It was a kind of critical thinking and he's not really good at that. I'm trying to make him work on it but honestly I think that some people just aren't good at critical thinking. I was horrible at puzzles, math, logic as a student but now I love that kind of thing! He seems to take after me in a lot of things and maybe this is one of those. We will of course keep working on it.

I have been working on the kitchen which was very neglected the last month or so. I've been on the computer intermittently as well. I have lots to do and it seems so much easier to do with him working upstairs. I actually need to get up there too but one thing, day at a time.

Not so easy...

Not that I ever really thought it would be easy. I knew it would be hard but I didn't realize how much I would miss some of my freedom. Don't get me wrong. I love homeschooling and I'm very glad we are doing it but...

I miss my alone time. My time for reading, shopping, cleaning and such. My son is 11 and guess that I did think he would be able to do more on his own and probably this is all just part of the adjustment. I don't know.

Maybe it's made worse by the fact that my husband is currently deployed and he left the day we started homeschooling. I'm not whining but that could be part of it. I don't have my crying time during the day that I've had in the past. I get pretty down sometimes and that makes it hard to teach and I get cranky too.

Of course it's no piece of cake for my son either. He misses his dad. He's at an age where he really needs him. Puberty is here and I'm sure it would be nice to have Dad here. He gets down as well and I think he feels a lot pressure to be "the man of the house". Not pressure we have put on him but that he has put on himself. He's very protective of me. I have a hard time sometimes getting him to go do things without me. He does do stuff with our church but lots of times I have to force him. He's always glad I did after the fact but...

We are struggling today. As in everything, we have good days and bad days. This isn't really bad day just ... a tough day.