Chrysalis Bible Academy

Snails pace forward..

2011-03-08T20:28:00.002+01:00

So its been a slow start but were really actually getting somewhere this week. We are weeks behind and the first week of the curriculums were using are all rather boring but necessary to get started. So we are doing our best and making each project as interesting as possible. Today we caught up on our DRAW WRITE NOW assignments as well as Maps and Globes and Living World Encyclopedia. I am going to get my teens to put together our passport so I will have it ready to "board the plane on Monday. And tomorrow we are making our paper mache' globe which I am really excited about. He still isn't "into" school but since he has been doing so well health wise I really I really want to get on target while we can.

Worksheets and Meltdowns

2011-02-15T20:06:00.004+01:00

So we are finally starting school around here. Not full lessons but some placement tests and math worksheets. Really slow and easy start..or so I thought. So far Phoenix has found this all extremely stressful and spent half his morning crying over three math sheets. To know his personality its obvious its not him trying to get out of work but that he truly feels stress by the slightest change in routine and my way of teaching just doesn't match up with what he expected. So today we compromised and have decided only two pages of math a day until he gets used to it and if he can't get used to it we would try another program. Maybe SOS as its probably more his speed for math. I really wasn't prepared for meltdowns so early on. And we haven't even started our "trip around the world" yet. God please grant me patience as were in for a LONG RIDE.

Always Preparing, Never Prepared

2011-02-09T23:26:00.002+01:00

So its been a while now since we decided to homeschool Phoenix and I have let the school know although we haven't officially pulled him out yet. I have been trying to find all of our curriculum but as of yet I have only found fractions of pieces of most things however I have found the complete MFW ECC along with Primary language lessons, Math Mammoth, and a selection of Queens Homeschool books and resources from the other Geography curriculums I had purchased. Definitely enough to get started with school. Phoenix is doing really well health wise this week and had it not been for a million issues from no working sinks in the house and the fact that the school room is still TRASHED we would probably be ready to go. My goal is to be up and running by Monday.

In the meantime in addition to getting his room setup and a clean quiet place for him to learn I also need to get my lesson plans drafted. Finding time for all of this is really hard and has me a little scared. And on top of that we have a procedure coming up where he will be under anesthesia and have cameras inserted both ways to check for Crohn's and intestinal issues.

I know this blog is going to haunt me for its shortness and incompleteness but I wanted to get this update out there and Request for prayers spread.

Now off to work..

A new start..

2011-01-27T19:54:00.002+01:00

It has been forever since I have been on here. It seems the move and divorce took a lot out of me and a lot of changes have taken place in our world. In the past year and a half we have managed to stay afloat during three job changes, one child moving out, a new child moving in and countless hurdles we have crossed. Now were facing another hurdle but God is good and we were far more prepared for this one....

So all the kids have been in public school since we moved here. And Honestly I have no complaints. The schools here are really good and the teachers and staff have been great. So I have put homeschool in the back of my mind. But over the past few months Phoenix has been missing more and more school due to his intestinal issues and migraines. Now its getting to the point between specialist appointments and flareups he is almost never able to go to school. At the same time this started I started a new job working at home on a night shift doing customer service for a major video game company. Its like God was saying look I gave you the way now do it! So now we are preparing to bring Phoenix and probably Gryphen home again. We are clearing out and decorating the room across from my office for a school room, searching out all the curriculum I so lovingly chose and making sure we order any updates needed for their current ages. And hope to be able to start schooling within the next month. I have to be 100% ready as working at home and being the only adult in my house is going to be a lot different than all the years I homeschooled while married and at home. But its definitely what we need to do...

So the plan is to use Winters Promise Adventures in Sea and Sky and Children of the World...since I have so many excellent curriculums I am going to do a lot of combining on Children of the World...using Galloping the Globe and Exploring Countries and Cultures to turn it into a two or even three year Geography program. I am so blessed and i believe the only things I am going to need to buy is new language arts and spelling books from Queen's homeschool catalog.

If anyone out there reads this I do need some help. First I need TONS of prayers. I am more scared of this endeavor than of the nine years I spent homeschooling the older kids combined!!!
Also I deleted all the blogs I loved and followed. I am looking for inspirational blogs, especially ones that use our same curriculums.

Blessings~

Update and Changes

2009-07-18T04:03:00.004+02:00

Just wanted to let people know I am still alive and kicking. The move has taken so much out of me and the family as a whole and summer has been pretty rough. I think this fall it is going to be me homeschooling and not the children. They will be trying out the local schools. It was a hard decision and one I am not truly happy with but at this point it seems like my best option. I need to finish my transcription program and the boys are not getting from me what they need. So we will be giving school here a try and seeing what happens. This blog will most likely become more about my transcription journey and just a general family blog but this next week I am having to have a hysterectomy so it will be a few weeks before I get started on anything.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and I ask that you keep us in your prayers while we continue this new life journey.

Leaving England

2009-03-28T13:25:00.001+01:00

I know I haven't posted in a while...but just letting everyone know I fly out for Georgia on Tuesday and will be without internet for at least a few weeks.

From Caleb

2009-02-20T22:23:00.001+01:00

Georgia here we come!

2009-02-13T12:12:00.002+01:00

We got word! We have the house and so now the real work begins. We have requested move dates between March 10th-20th so I have very little time to go through our things and get ready for movers and the flight etc. I know this is going to end up being a good thing but it doesn't change the panic and fear welling up in me. School is obviously on hold until we get settled in our new home. It is simply too much to try to do it now!

Loss of a friend

2009-02-07T18:47:00.002+01:00

I found out this morning a friend of mine died of a heart attack. He was the manager of our bases BX and was from the same area of Georgia that my dad had lived in years ago. We used to sit around and have long talks about life in the south and life in general.

We had plans for this week. He wanted me to take him to the auction to look for clocks. He had called me on Tuesday but I was feeling so bad I kept the call really short and only confirmed our plans. Now he is gone. I am so shocked. I pray he was a Christian and hate myself for not being certain of that. Hate that I didn't take more time to talk to him when he called. The man has a wife, children, friends. He was a good man and a good friend. I will miss him.

Home?

2009-02-07T10:30:00.002+01:00

We still haven't heard anything but this is the house I am trying to get in N. Georgia...

If it is God's will we would be moving there next month. We should find out this week.

I LOVE SNOW!!!

2009-02-05T12:11:00.000+01:00

North Georgia???

2009-02-05T11:08:00.002+01:00

As an update to before. I have put in an application for a house in North Georgia. Long story..but it seems to be a really good place for us. Homeschool friendly, the house is affordable and big enough for our family and tons of space for the kids to be outside. I would be within four hours of two of my sisters and my sister in law. I am not positive this is the right decision but I am praying that I am following God's will for our life. So while I am waiting I ask for prayers and patience!

While I'm waiting...

2009-02-03T10:19:00.003+01:00

I don't want to burden anyone with details but I need prayer. Prayer that I can find the answers and path I am meant to be on. Prayers for the softening of hard hearts and that God's will be made clear in my life. Prayers for healing of my home, heart and extended family. And Prayers that while I am waiting I can keep my eyes on God and know his plan is there even before I see it.

Orders are in!

2009-01-31T12:00:00.004+01:00

So my orders are finally in! About a month ago I found a good deal on Winters Promise Quest for the Ancients Jr/Sr High curriculum. When it arrived I was so enamored with it that I knew we would have to use it right away. Tristan has this unbelievable interest in Ancient History so I really feel we will soar with this subject. But of course Jr/Sr High is far too much for a six and seven year old so anyways. I finally placed my orders and decided on My Fathers World Creations to Greeks to go with Winters Promise Quest for the Ancients, My Fathers World Exploring Countries and Cultures along with Galloping the Globe for geography . Rosetta Stone French. And Winters Promise Adventures in Sea and Sky. I know this sounds like TONS AND TONS of curriculum and it is. But we have a method to our madness. We are a family filled with ADHD learners, we bore easily and when we are bored we don't do anything constructive. So our plan is to alternate between Ancients and Sea and Sky allowing ourselves several years to complete them both. We are going to use ECC and GTG as Geography and only do it one or two days a week and again drag it out over several years. With this method I shouldn't have to buy any new curriculum (with the exception of language arts) for several years and will be feeding directly into my boys interest and learning styles. In addition we are still really LOVING Sandi Queen's Lanuage Lessons! This is a fantastic curriculum and since you are only doing a little bit each day and each day is something a little different it is really keeping the interest of all three boys!

Long Time No Post

2009-01-27T11:22:00.002+01:00

So it has been quite a while since I posted and I thought I should put a little update on what has been going on in my life.

WHY SO BUSY: Well a few weeks back my name came up in the queue for my blog makeover during that time I was more interested in the changes than keeping up with my blog so I didn't post. By the time it was finished and ready to be "revealed" I was sick again. Apparently just a severe sinus infection.

FOR FUN: On MLK day some girl friends and I went to Stoke on Trent to do some pottery shopping. We visited about eight factories and scoured through all the discounts and sales to find our perfect pieces. I myself bought some lovely red calico bowls, black calico plates and milk jug from Burleigh.

HEALTH ISSUES: Despite the fun at Stoke being out in the cold and rain took it's toll on my already poor health. And on Wednesday I started having mild heartburn and chest pains. These worsened on Thursday and then at about 3am on Friday morning I woke up with severe chest pains and heart palpatations. As the day went on the pains came and went and by 7pm that night I knew I was in trouble. Still I refused to get help as I was certain I was just having a panic attack and didn't want to be trouble but at 11pm after all the kids were in bed and Brandon was at work at the pub my chest pains became so severe I couldn't call up the stairs for the kids. I called 911 or here 714911 and out came the parade. I had four firemen, the fire chief, and an EMT. They hooked me up to monitors and took vitals. I passed out. They called the ambulance then took an EKG and cancelled the ambulance and decided to have a doctor just come do a home visit. Listened to my lungs and called the ambulance back and off I went to the hospital. Now let me tell you an ambulance is no way to travel. Especially when you live in rural England and have nothing but bad roads to travel! The bed rocked back and forth, the ambulance rocked back and forth it was horrible and my heart rate soared! Finally we arrived and they started tests and gave me some meds for the pain. Anyways to cut short I have damaged my chest muscle to the point that it was constricting usage of my right lung causing the pains, tinglings, passing out etc. And if this doesn't beat all they think the damage to my chest muscle is caused by severe stress! So anyways I have spent the weekend in bed. Still mostly on bedrest as too much movement, talking, and any stress send me into waves of pain.

ON THE SUBJECT OF SCHOOL: School for the boys has been going ok. They are excelling with Math Mammoth and I am over the moon thrilled with our language arts books. After using a few days in both books we finally settled on Sandi Queen's Language Lessons. The books are so gentle and so complete! The art work is beautiful, colorful and engaging. It only takes a few minutes a day and the boys all seem to retain the lessons beautifully! On the otherside we are not enjoying Ambleside Online. The boys love the stories but they want more hands on and coming up with projects and notebooking pages has been a source of real stress for me. We have dropped it for now and are doing some School Express animal units instead. The boys love the workpages and we add stories and pictures of our own to make it more complete. Now to me these are too schoolish and mostly busy work but the boys enjoy them and until we get something else these are working well for us. I managed to get my hands on the complete Winters Promise Quest for Ancient History Jr High Set and am in LOVE with this! It is obviously too old for Phoenix and Gryphen but will be right on target for Tristan. We aren't going to start using it until we get the boys Winters Promise sets but being able to actually read through the curriculum and books have really let me know that I made a good choice with Winters Promise. (saying that I am still interested in My Father's World).

Well that pretty much catches us up. I need to go lie down but I hope everyone is doing great!

Daily report

2009-01-13T15:05:00.002+01:00

After such a rough week last week I am happy to say we are doing much better today!

Yesterday since we were at Lakenheath we obviously didn't do any schoolwork..however we did manage to purchase cardstock, INK and a fun little spanish language kit. Also the language arts books we have been waiting for finally arrived!!! Today I was determined we would get back on track so last night I stayed up putting together makeshift notebooks and this morning we got back to work!

Bible: Devotional out of "Gotta Have God"

Math: Phoenix did six pages of number line review
Tristan did six pages of rounding
Gryphen did four pages of addition

Language Arts:
Phoenix did the first lesson of Primary language lessons and wrote out the answers on a
notebook page.
Tristan did lessons one and two of intermediate language lessons
Gryphen did lesson one of Language Lessons for Little Ones Volume 2

Ambleside:
Today we did "Science" with "A lesson in Faith" from Parables of Nature
The boys narrations were OK, they then did a notebook page.
Phoenix: Wrote a story about a caterpillar and a butterfly and drew a butterfly
Tristan: wrote his narration and drew a picture
Gryphen: copied the words Caterpillar, Butterfly, Lark, Faith and eggs and drew a
picture

Geography:
Our first flat stanley arrived today so we read his journal pages and talked about how far
we traveled. This week we will learn about his home state of Minnesota!

That is all we got to today but I do feel better about it..like we are finally getting somewhere!

Our Family Brochure!

2009-01-11T09:49:00.006+01:00

So I was surfing through some of my favorite blogs and came across this post on one of my favorite blogs Smooth Stones Academy. After reading it I found out that it all started at Trivium Academy which of course is one of the most informative homeschool blogs out there! But on top of that I found links to dozens of these brochures and decided even though I am years behind the curve I wanted a brochure!

So here is My Family in Brochure format!

Our Family: Dh (32), Denita (33), Chelsea (15), Christopher (14), Tristan (11), Phoenix (7) and Gryphen (6). My husband is in the USAF and also works part time as a movie extra and in a local pub . Being a military family we don't really have a "home". We used to call Florida home but in 2004 my mother passed away and the majority of my family dispersed around the US so now home is simply where The Air Force Sends Us.

Chelsea: Chelsea is a somewhat typical teenage girl. She loves clothes, friends, dance dance revolution and Mario cart Wii, watching movies and just "hanging out". She was homeschooled from 1st-7th grade using an eclectic classically CM education. We used everything from Beautiful Feet to Learning Language Arts through Literature and even did two years of Switched on School House with an intense Classical Reading List to round it out. Chelsea now attends a local (British) Prep school where she is a star student and an amazing stand up and moral type of teenager.

Christopher: Chris is all boy. He loves sports, sports and um...sports. He plays Rugby for his school team and also loves US Football, wrestling and well SPORTS. He was homeschooled from Kindergarten to sixth grade and is now a fantastic student at a local (British) Prep school but hates going and wouldn't except that he wants to play SPORTS! Chris is also very involved in our community. He volunteers at our base chapel, helps run our volunteer based movie theater, is an entrepreneur seeking out opportunities to mow lawns, pick up dog messes, walk dogs and babysit. He is at the Chapel every time they open the door! Even when it means walking in the rain or snow to get there! Loves Youth group, reading, and did I mention SPORTS.

Tristan: Tristan is 11 and suffers from SEVERE ODD and ADHD. He is really into video games, Lego's and computers. He loves to make "scrapbooks or notebooks" of his favorite things. Tristan is really into politics and likes to surf political blogs and write or discuss his thoughts on the issues a hand. He is not usually much of a reader but he recently found the Left Behind Kids and is flying through them and is always excited to share them with us. Tristan was homeschooled in K-3rd grade and then in exasperation we put him into our local Florida school and then 1.5 years in our local British school. He is now homeschooling again and we are just trying to get through the adjustments and figuring out how to deal with his anger issues.

Phoenix: Phoenix is a flash of movement in everything he does! The child couldn't sit still if offered every cool toy in a toy store to do it! Phoenix is ADHD and so highly dis tractable he will often forget his own projects and interests. Phoenix loves Hot Wheels Cars, not off brands or matchbox but HOT WHEELS! He is really into Lego's, Wii games (his favorite is Wii fit), and to write stories. Phoenix has been a rather sick child with intestinal issues, food sensitivities, and is the only child in my house to have broken anything. He broke his collar bone when he was two playing ring around the rosie with a group of cousins, and fractured his arm when he was four by wrestling with his younger brother. Phoenix is also the talker of our family. He has 1000000000 questions about everything and has to put in his words no matter what the conversation. His favorite show is Fosters home for imaginary friends, his favorite color is orange and he is not cuddly at all but loves to be right next to someone all the time.

Gryphen: In many ways Gryphen is the typical baby of the family. Although he has recently turned six he still has the heart of a toddler. He is cuddly, sensitive, friendly and funny. His favorite show is My Friends Tigger and Pooh, he loves the color red, likes Lego's, video games and drawing. He sings all the time. He has a stubborn streak that break a donkey!

Our homeschool: We didn't start homeschooling from our heart. It started with a need. My daughter was in first grade and was having all sorts of problems so after a few weeks of fighting with her school we decided it was time to try homeschooling. That first year we used workbooks and the library, computer games and coop classes and even though it was hard work I found that I liked having her home with me. I liked homeschooling. So we started a journey. I read "Homeschooling the Whole Hearted Child" and several Charlotte Mason books, The Trivium and the Well Trained Mind and we found our groove. Admittedly our groove changed many times over the years but when I allowed my children to go into the local schools here in Britain they were all miles ahead of their peers academically and socially.

Things are different now than when I was homeschooling the older children. I am dealing with two boys with ADHD and one of those also have ODD. Also we are living in a very remote village in England with no local group (although I am working on creating one) and it is very hard to get the homeschool supplies you need. Even writing paper and notebooks can be a challenge as the paper and notebooks here are a different size than at home so if you want uniformity you have to depend on the mail and BX both which can take quite a bit of time! So in someways it is like we are starting all over again!
Curriculum: This year we are going to try something new and buy a curriculum that is mostly laid out for us, both cores from Winters Promise "Children around the world" and "Adventures of Sea and Sky". Also their Science The world around us. Yes that is two full curriculum's but with boys as highly dis tractable as mine I decided that alternating two days of one core and two days of another would work really well for them. We will take at least two years to finish these cores. In addition we are using the complete reading list of Ambleside Online. Queens Language Arts, Math Mammoth, Mind Benders and Thinking Toolbox, and Rosetta Stone foreign language.

Schedule: We school four days a week with Fridays free for field trips, nature study and Art classes. Our goal is to homeschool from 9-12 but so far we haven't been able to get started or finished like we would like.

Outside activities: As we have just started homeschooling again we are still more "deschooling" than anything else. We will be taking art classes from my friend Rene along with another homeschool family. The only other activity we have at our disposal is Awanas and due to the time it isn't very likely we will be getting involved with it at this time. In the next few months we are moving and hopefully will have more outside opportunities at our new home.

My Interests: My main interest outside of my family is Computers. I love to play on them, with them around them. I "work" as a tech on the base helping people to set up new computers, fix issues and mostly teaching people how to make their computers and all the information safe from viruses, spyware, malware etc.
I also love to read when I get the chance, like movies, and LOVE Boot Fairs and Charity Shops. I love antiques but only the strangest items attract my attention.
I like scrapbooking but almost never find time anymore.

Interesting Factoids:
1. I originally wanted 12 children
2. I am afraid of Bathrooms...No seriously I hate bathrooms..even my own sometimes but really can't handle other peoples or worse yet public bathrooms.
3. I am ADD and can't keep my thoughts straight to save my life.

Regarding Homeschool:
I hope that i have learned my lesson and that I will not put these boys back into school. I would love to one day say that these boys graduated from our home! My eldest two were supposed to be homeschool graduates and it makes me very sad to see them head off to school each day and know I have wasted years of time with them and only get mere hours each day to know them.

Ch..Ch..Ch...Changes...

2009-01-08T17:58:00.003+01:00

Well our first week of homeschooling was pretty much a failure. No seriously FAILURE! Our heating went out the same night that we started getting snow and ended up with two days on maintenance men in and out of our house...between this, our language arts books still not having arrived, and our printer without the ink necessary for printing math and notebooking pages we really just couldn't get off the ground. Today we didn't even make an attempt! I had a computer job to work on and then Rene and I took the boys to an antique auction and the commissary. And tomorrow isn't going to go anywhere either as I have to get my house back in shape from the movers, have an alterations job to finish, and have to pack for our families trip to Lakenheath this Sunday. We won't be back on Monday but hopefully by Tuesday we will have our language arts books and HOPEFULLY Lakenheath will have ink for my printer. So we can try to start school again.

I have however learned something very important from all of this! These boys are not the same as our older children and they require MUCH MUCH more work and effort in their schooling. With that being said I am placing an order with Winters Promise for the boys curriculum. I need something more laid out for a while and Winters Promise just really seems to be up our alley! We will still be using AO breaking up each weeks reading selections as our bedtime reading mainly because I really love LOVE LOVE AO's books, and will still be doing artist, composer and nature studies on Fridays. The thing is with having Winters Promise as our Core curriculum on days that I just can't lesson plan I can just pick up and go! So for the rest of this month we are dumping A LOT of our school work and going to just do our Bible and AO readings, Math (when we get the ink) and Language Arts. And will pick up the pace when our new AMAZING curriculum comes in!

New School name..PLEASE HELP!

2009-01-08T13:02:00.001+01:00

Just trying out the new name before we make a decision..the boys have chosen

Chrysalis Gardens Bible Academy

But i think this is too much..not sure sometimes I like the name others I don't...I need some feed back please!!

Creative Solutions: Math

2009-01-06T11:39:00.004+01:00

I was talking to my sister yesterday who was saying that her six year old Neleh wasn't doing well with Math Mammoth and so she was looking for something more hands on. Since we had only used it one day I didn't have much input except the knowledge that math is probably the most individual subject out there so what works for one might not work for another even in the same household. Now my son Gryphen is only a few weeks younger than Neleh and I really need Math Mammoth to work for us! I really just can't afford to switch around right now! So I decided to just forge ahead and if we started having problems I would have to think creatively. Well today we started Less Than< Greater Than, this was one of the issues I know Melissa had had with Neleh so I was nervous. Gryphen seemed to catch on but then when I gave him "extra" problems he couldn't remember which numbers were "eaten" and which were "pointed at"...so we decided to make this hands on.

Our "everything room" has spanish tile floors which are perfect for turning into math grids. So Tristan and I took our "Gnome Jewels" and made about 14 greater than, less than and equal problems across the floor and then allowed Gryphen to use colored popcicle sticks to make the symbols. He loved it! It all seemed to snap into place and he kept asking for more and more problems to solve! For us this was ther perfect solution..just adding a little practical hands on fun made things really stick for Gryphen, and to be certain of it we will probably do a few problems each day when we do our math games...(really this is just us using our manipulatives to do problems on the floor in different ways)

Week One Day One

2009-01-05T12:59:00.002+01:00

Today went OKISH...we didn't get to everything I hoped and I gave up on my list an hour early but I still feel pretty good about our first day back.

Bible: Read Genesis chapter one and created a seven days notebook page

Habit of the Week: Prayer. We Read about Prayer and created an ACTS notebook sheet on prayer.

Math: Gryphen did two pages and Phoenix did four pages of level 1A math mammoth. I decided to start them both at the beginning so I could look for gaps and differences that would need to be addressed. For Tristan I started him in third grade because he has so many gaps and cultural differences in math that will need to be overcome. He did three and a half pages. It was really just review for all of them and for Phoenix it was way too simple but I am still glad we started this way.

Language Arts: since the books hadn't come in yet Phoenix worked on his letter to Alyssa. I think we will be working on it again tomorrow because he did very sloppy writing and she won't be able to read it. Gryphen and I did our first lesson in Sonlights "I can read"...by this time he was antsy and gave me some issues but he did ok...Tristan continued his math during this time.

Poetry: To Allison Cunningham From Her Boy

AO: How the Whale got its throat. (wasn't impressed with their narrations at all but they did ok with questions and answers, we will have to work on this)

Science: We are studying Whales and Dolphins this week and are creating our own "Great Big Book of Everything" Today we read the entry in Stanley's "Great Big Book of Everything" on Whales and Dolphins.

We didn't get around to Geography or Artist study but as we have flats to send out on Wednesday we will HAVE to do that tomorrow!!!

Boot Fair Finds

2009-01-04T19:25:00.010+01:00

I know I have babbled on before about my love of JUNK but still I wanted to share my finds of the day. You see it has been several weeks since our last outing and I was going through a little bit of withdrawal so despite the 28 degree icy weather Rene and I decided we had to go to the boot fairs. Today we invited our friend Wendy and we three brought along our teenage daughters for the adventure. It was a virtual gold mind of goodies!!!!

My first find was a rather strange one...Rene picked it up first but when she decided to pass on it I was more than thrilled to pick it up. I am not completely certain of how it is meant to be used but its heavy iron so I wonder if it isn't meant to be outdoors...I am going to hang it on a wall with two decorative candles. Not bad for 2 pounds! ($2.90)

My second find of the day is pretty incredible..it is an A.G. Thornton Architecture Set. The outside of the case is in excellent condition although the tools have some rusting...which looks far worse in the picture. When I clean them up I will have to check closer for a date mark on them but I have found the Thornton markings!!! And Guess what it cost me....NO REALLY YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT!!! 5 POUNDS!!! ($7.25)

The third item is a little strange..and I know some people will be possibly shocked or "weirded out" by it but I got this amazingly detailed Opium pipe! It is absolutely gorgeous!! and I got it for 3 pounds ($4.36)

So this one will blow you out of the water! Positive it will! I came across this guy with three beautiful clocks...they need some work but nothing too major and they are so beautiful! One of them is very unusual in shape and style..I was scared to even as the price..Now this is AWESOME! I got these two clocks for 5 pounds! Not five each but 5 pounds total!! That is two gorgeous clocks for about $7.25!!!!

Finally I found two books...The first is called "A Lost Leader" by Dorothea Townsend. It is a beautiful Hardbound edition with onion or vellum paper still in place throughout the book protecting the lovely illustrations. I haven't found the print date but it does have a placard in the front that says "Awarded to George Lloyd Christmas 1902 J.C Dowsa Vicar."

The second I am especially excited about..It is called "The Lamplighter" by Miss Cummins. Now many people would have heard of this as it has been reprinted by Lamplighter publishing. The book was originally written in 1854 but I don't think this is a first edition as it says "New edition" in the cover. However it also has a placard this one reading "Albany Road Baptist Church Sunday School, A prize awarded to Stanley Jermine for punctual attendance and good behavior during this year 1904." It is signed by a superintendent and secretary but I can't read the names. Now these books only cost me 1 pound for the both of them! ($1.45) and are both ingreat condition with solid binding and no loose pages!!!

After the boot fair (Where I only spent 17 pounds 16 on junk and 1 on hot chocolate) we had a lovely lunch at a local pub and spent a few hours letting the girls rummage around Primark (discount clothing store) before heading home. Needless to say it was a lovely LOVELY day!

Just a little rant

2009-01-03T22:21:00.003+01:00

I am so frustrated! I got this amazing new all in one photo printer on the base here. So I printed up all the AO lessons for 12 weeks, plus quite a few other things...point is I ran out of Black ink...so I go to the BX to get more and they don't have it, so I go online to order it and the US site won't ship to APO addresses. Now I understand about FedEx contracts being cheaper but it is a real slight to the US military when companies or individuals refuse to ship to us as we live in places where simple things can be hard to come by and APO addresses are one of the benefits we receive to help make this easier. (for anyone who doesn't understand an APO address is a US mailing address for military members stationed overseas, only USPS can send to us as it all goes to a sorting center and is picked up by the military who then carries it across the oceans to us) Now for me..I live in England so its not usually that bad for us. We can't always get the food we like and we have to order a lot of our electronics...but most things we can at least find a substitute for but here we are back at ink! I need ink...the local economy didn't seem to have it anywhere at all...and when I finally did find it paid almost double what it would have cost to ship it here then I put it in my printer and it won't register but comes up with an error message that the ink is incompatable...so 27 minutes on the phone with HP (not free for us by the way) just to have them tell me to call UK HP...well it's a US machine so you can imagine they are going to send me to the US site etc..so $60 down the tube, still no ink...and I need math pages for school monday and haven't set up the boys notebooks yet!!!!!

I am sure this sounds like babble...and it is really but I am so annoyed right now! All this could have been so easy if our US companies would just support our US military and ship to APO addresses...so what if it costs a little more than FED EX it is me that would be paying the extra postage prices not them!!!!

Please Pray for my Dad

2008-12-30T19:23:00.003+01:00

If you know me you know I am not really close with my dad but I do know he has tried to keep the lines open with me over the years. I only talk to him once or twice a year so it's no wonder I didn't know he had an accident a few months ago. Apparently he was leaving Burger King and tripped on a rubber door stopper and fell. As usual it took him months to get checked out and realize there was a true problem. Yesterday he had surgery on his shoulder and is now facing several months of physical therapy and treatments. Obviously this will affect their family (my family) a lot as he is the primary breadwinner and has a wife and two daughters at home who are only 16 and 6 years old. I did call him in the hospital yesterday and he was in good spirits (probably the drugs) and kept "bragging" to the nurses that he was on the phone with his oldest daughter all the way in England. Since the surgery his heart rate has been elevated and with his age and diabetes there are always risks. So please keep him (Bill) his wife Darlene and my sisters Stevie and Abby (and Laura who is already grown) in your prayers.

Making a list of 2009 Goals

2008-12-27T13:25:00.005+01:00

Trying Something New and adding a Meme..

This one is about making goals for 2009. I may update it several times before I am done but....

To make sure and read my Bible each and every day.
To Spend more one on one time with my kids
To spend time each day sorting through our belongings to get ready for our move
To use my new Wii fit daily
To finish my transcription course
Finally take another art class (this one is a blessing from Rene who has graciously volunteered to teach us art and artist study this term)
Stay on top of my homeschool goals so we are in term break when we have to deal with movers and moving.
To Pray for my husband and children daily
To be more frugal
To take the time to see the places that I will regret not seeing (Ambleside here I come)
To save some money
To take up menu planning
To get more organized
To get back to scrapbooking
To be stricter with our families electronics and outside activities
Finally lose this weight...
To learn to let go and trust GOD instead of trying to control everything myself.
To be more patient with my children

Well that is really all I can think of at the moment...but I am certain there is much more I should be doing...but the good news is goal setting doesn't have to be restricted to January 1st!!!

Wii Fit

2008-12-27T13:14:00.002+01:00

For the first time since we got the Wii last Sunday I have been given the chance to really play on the Wii fit! It was soooo much fun!! And believe it or not I am SOOO sore!!!

I played each of the open games twice, did a little yoga and played hoola hoop (I finally found it Melissa), and running in the aerobic sections! I only did 32 minutes then bowled two games on Wii play before the kids overpowered the remote!

Anyways..it was fun and with so little going on I thought I would share my small victory!

Gryphen's Sixth Birthday

2008-12-24T22:05:00.005+01:00

People say it's hard to have a Christmas Eve birthday but not for our Gryphen! He loves the attention, and the "specialness" of it all... he started his day off with a pancake breakfast, his daddy made "panacakes" with m&m's chocolate chips, white chips, and peanut butter chips. Then he got to play Wii and boss everyone around, followed by opening three gifts while we listened to his birthday message from Aunt Melissa on the radio (the video is supposed to be of that but my camera cut off before they got to Gryphen). Then we had over his friends and we had cupcakes that he had decorated himself and opened the rest of his gifts...Gryphen says it was a wonderful day!!

Rock Band Mania!!

2008-12-24T21:45:00.004+01:00

So one of the games we got for the Wii was Rock Band...I expected this to be a hit with the older kids but had no idea Brandon would love it sooo much! After all his talk of not needing a new game system he has commandeered the Wii to play Rock Band for HOURS and HOURS everyday!! He begs and demands the kids to play with him...It is hillarious!!! Check out this video!!

I guess they won't make their millions in music :( HA HA

Untraditional Christmas

2008-12-24T21:28:00.004+01:00

Sometimes things just don't go as planned! This year I really wanted to get the kids a Wii for Christmas and since money was tight I decided to make the Wii and a few games a family gift instead of a bunch of individual gifts. Then I decided that this might lead to fights "I want to play this game! No I want to try that one!" You know how it goes...so anyways I came up with this "plan". We were to have a week of Christmas...on Sunday we would have a big meal, watch "The Christmas Cottage" and open the Wii and the extra remotes, Monday a game, Tuesday a game, Wednesday is Gryphen's birthday so we would do his birthday, Thursday our individual gifts, Friday games, Saturday Games....GOOD INTENTIONS...

So lunch was fabulous, ham, potatoes, bread rolls, black eyed peas and red velvet cake. Then they opened the Wii and were so excited I couldn't resist giving them one more game..then one more..then one more...til it was all open!!! It was a really nice day and the kids had a blast!!!

The family posing in front of the tree before we opened gifts.

We played "Hot Potato" to decide who got to open each gift.

Daddy got to open the Wii fit.

Chelsea claimed "Dance Dance Revolution for her own"

Inside each of these boxes are several wrapped games....

Same with this one...

Daddy got PS3 games...he wasn't so sure about a Wii..

Even Mommy got two of the best gifts...specially made lego creations from Gryphen and Phoenix!

Base Children's Christmas Party

2008-12-24T21:15:00.004+01:00

So our Christmas Celebrations this year started on Saturday with a trip to see "Santa" at our base Christmas party. This was a great time for daddy and the boys (mommy stayed home to "rest"...They came home filled with treats and stories and gifts (mostly candy)....

Gryphen the Elf

"WHY AM I HERE???"

A story from "Santa"...

Even dad is having fun!!!

Daddy and Phoenix

Daddy and Gryphen

Phoenix and Tristan

"Mommy that wasn't santa..that was Colonel Dill!!!"

HELP!!!

2008-12-24T20:36:00.002+01:00

While trying to convert my blog to three columns I have somehow managed to delete all my favorite blogs!!!!

If anyone remembers even one blog from my list I would really appreciate the help!!!!!

Stolen Video...BECAUSE I SAID SO!!!!

2008-12-19T12:44:00.003+01:00

I stole yet another video from an amazing blog....but seriously every mom will relate!!!

Very Little To Report

2008-12-18T16:01:00.005+01:00

Right now my house is quiet. Clean. There is beautiful Christmas music playing in the background and the only light is the dim sun shining through the clouds outside. The

house smells rich and warm from the stew simmering on the stove. It is a beautiful time.

In six minutes I will leave to get the boys from the bus. Today is there last full day of school as tomorrow they only go in for the morning to have a Christmas party. So anyways that made today was my last day of "freedom".

So what Did I do?? Well NOTHING of course! I watched "Timepiece" and cried like a baby, I ran to the commissary and bought water, bbq and pineapple for our Ham this sunday...I started dinner...and I read..I read nothing very exciting only homeschool catalogs. Now I know what your thinking..how can she be looking at next years curriculum when she hasn't even started this years...but It was always my policy to purchase the next years homeschool items in February to give them a chance to come in and for me to examine them enough to know if they would work for our family so as to be certain to be up and ready to go when September rolls around. So I spent my day looking at curriculum and making decisions for next year...this year is sorted and some of it will carry over but next year needs to be far meatier! My focus for this next term is to fill in the gaps my children have from being in a UK school. Not that UK schools are better or worse but they teach things very differently and therefore in order for me to teach them I will have to fill in the missing pieces. Next year I want to concentrate on learning rather than retraining and filling gaps so I am researching...Now of course this isn't in stone but here is what I am thinking of...

Keep working on Ambleside year 1 at a relaxed pace. Keep working on the Math Mammoth and Primary Language lessons but add in Winters Promise "Children Around the World" with Otter's Science. So there you have it..very little change just some more meat and potatoes!

So anyways..the quiet is gone, the boys are home and I am off to feed and bathe them before a night at the movies with DH...

Like I said in the beginning very little to report.

Writing Mini Office

2008-12-17T20:29:00.005+01:00

I have been meaning to get this done almost since the decision to homeschool was made but had the worst time finding file folders! I finally gave up and purchased this economy pack of paper bag colored folders and brightened it up with really bright paper that I used to print up the ideas and downloads from here.

This one is for Gryphen to use during creative writing and language arts. It has phonics rules, a spelling dictionary, punctuation helps, parts of speech (he won't need this for a while) and tons of cute helps. I am making Phoenix one identical to this but will need to put in some work to find things for Tristan's age. Hopefully before homeschool starts I will have all three of them one for Math and Language arts and possibly for Science, History and Bible.

An Inside peak...ha ha!

2008-12-16T08:32:00.003+01:00

As a complete Anglophile I have watched this show for years! I think it is hilarious! But I don't remember this episode and when I came across it in this blog I had to "borrow" it to share with my friends!

Unbelievable!!! BUT TRUE!!!

2008-12-15T18:16:00.004+01:00

I can't even comment on this but read this exerpt and then check out the link to the whole story!!

"Building a Better Society

The Belgian government’s authority over the health and education of its children is deemed by many as a mark of progress toward a “better society” where children’s rights are properly recognized and protected. Those that satisfy the government’s standards live in peace. For the rest, there is no peace, and sometimes, they are not even allowed to live.
Since 2002, Belgium has allowed doctors to terminate the lives of infants under the age of 12 months if they feel the baby is somehow disabled or deficient, and is likely to suffer in life as a result.¹⁴ More than half of the Belgian babies who die before they are a year old are killed by deliberate medical intervention.¹⁵ In 16% of cases, parental consent was not even considered.¹⁶ To put these numbers in perspective, the CIA World Fact Book estimates that roughly 106,000 babies are born in Belgium each year.¹⁷ Even using conservative estimates of Belgium’s rate of assisted-suicide in infants, one can estimate that some 470 children will die before they celebrate their first birthday. Of these 470, more than 200 will die not from natural causes, but from direct medical intervention. Forty (40) of them will die regardless of their parents’ wishes, objections, or pleadings. Such a program might produce a “better society,” but one is left in horror at the ultimate sacrifice of innocent babies.

Unfortunately, the program has been deemed so “successful” in Belgium that in March 2008, the government began considering legislation that would also make assisted-suicide available to teenagers and younger children who are terminally-ill.^18"

^{I am speechless and disgusted....and TERRIFIED!!!}

^{God bless the little children, protect them from the ignorant and fearful!}

^Amen

Tradition! Tradition! Tradition!

2008-12-14T22:09:00.004+01:00

This year I have been feeling quite down about the holidays. With everything going on in our lives it just doesn't seem like a time to celebrate. We weren't able to get the kids as much as usual this year and I don't even plan on cooking a big meal for the holiday because of both money and just the Bah Humbug feeling that I have.

When my mom was still with us things were so different, even when we couldn't afford it there would be packages to the rafters and it became a contest to get the most creative and fun gifts for each other but now...well Christmas if just another day.

Despite all of this there is one tradition that we hold tight to. Movie night. When I was a little girl we would do these movie nights where we went down to Pepperidge Farms and picked out cheeses, sausages and sparkling ciders and came home ate on moms good china, using wine glasses (I had one with my name from my mom and step-dads wedding) and we would eat on the floor in front of the television. It is something that we have carried on in our home doing it once a week as part of our Christmas celebrations. So with Brandons work schedule we found tonight was a perfect night for our Movie Night...so I spent my morning making, sausages, cutting gourmet cheese, making pizza rolls, shrimp and chicken skewers, spicy chicken wings, chinese spare ribs, toquitos, mini tacos and fajitas, pigs in a blanket, an array of shrimps, crackers, chips and dip etc and a desert platter to make you faint! We watched "The Christmas Box" and "Frosty the Snowman" and ate on the living room floor...TRADITION...

I can't say it was a good movie night but we enjoyed the food and the movie touched me as it always does. And it is good to have at least one tradition in tact.

Lost Teeth

2008-12-14T22:05:00.004+01:00

Phoenix finally lost his first teeth..I say teeth as he lost one in the morning before school and the other during dinner on Friday...I guess he is no longer a baby :(

Moving?

2008-12-12T10:07:00.003+01:00

I don't have a lot of details but we are most likely moving in June. It looks like we will be going to Washington state but not as a family. Its part of military life to be separated but this is a very strange and different sort of situation and one that is especially difficult due to not knowing the details and moving to a new place on the other side of the world without Brandon. And the thing is even if it falls through and we don't go in June we HAVE to leave by next April (still most likely to Washington) which is more than a year earlier than we thought....Big changes....

Curriculum update

2008-12-10T12:16:00.006+01:00

After much struggling, research etc we have finally came to a conclusion with all three boys.

Bible: New Testament studies using HOAC "Who is Jesus" lapbook and homeschool in the woods "New Testament activity pack" and This Online Bible Study

Devotional: "Gotta Have God" ages 6-9

Habits: Notebookingpages Character Notebook along with a list of Habits from Simply Charlotte Mason

Math: Mammoth Math for all three boys and Living math for the younger two as well as Gnome Math.

Language Arts: Gryphen will be using Sonlights 2"I can read it" and Sandi Queen's Language Lessons for the very young book2 , Phoenix will be using Primary Language Lessons and Tristan will be using Intermediate Language Lessons.

Copywork: will be a mixture of pages I make up, memory verses and some of Sandi Queen's copywork books (Nature and Spelling)

History: We will follow Ambleside Online year 1 with all three boys
Trial and Triumph
An Island Story
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Viking Tales

Literature:We will follow Ambleside Online year 1 with all three boys

Poetry: We will follow Ambleside Online year 1 with all three boys
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

Natural History: We will follow Ambleside Online year 1 with all three boys

Handbook of Nature Study

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

The Burgess Bird Book for Children

Geography: We are using a mixture of Flat Stanley and Notebookingpages State Pack. As well
as some of Amblesides Geography.

Art: instead of studying an artist this term we are studying types of Art using Homeschool in the Woods Art pack as well as lots of art books from the library.

Composer Study: We are going to listen to many different composers this term just to get used to classical music

Handicraft: We will use knitting using our new knitting dolls.

and we gave up on Japanese and went with French

French: Several websites and downloads for conversational French..

There is just so much going on!!!

2008-12-10T09:06:00.006+01:00

What an interesting and busy couple of days I have had!

Monday we woke up to no heat or hot water...with ice covering the ground this is a really bad thing! The boys who all had to skip showers were consistently at each others throats and I have to admit I was a little glad to not have to deal with them all day after that! Well the day just kept rolling in that not so wonderful way...I had to take my car into the shop to have the brakes looked at...not that this is ever an easy or pleasant experience but when you live in one country and your car is from another country this can become downright painful. So I had to take in every paper this car has, and drive to the other side of the next county to a dealership where they had to keep the car until the warranty department could tell us if it was covered by them or not...AUGH! Well my friend who was going with me was nowhere to be found and on top of that I now was also waiting for maintenance to come and fix our heat, hot water, front porch light, bathroom sink and dishwasher..WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS!!! Anyways, Terri finally showed up, the maintenance people said they couldn't do anything but the heat until the next day so I waited for it to be fixed and left to take the car in. Well the good news is the brakes were covered by insurance but they also checked and fixed the nonworking air conditioner and it wasn't covered so I have to pay 50pds ($74) for that and on top of that one piece of our brakes aren't in so I have been without a car for the past few days...God provides though and Terri has driven us to the bus stop the past two mornings and ran to the commissary for me! AMEN!

So on to yesterday. The guys finally came to fix my bathroom sink, still no front porch light or dishwasher though...the car still isn't back...and we get an official message stating we have to move house! Now there are so many pieces to this. First of all we have been in this area for a year and a half and we have already lived in three places...temporary housing for two months, an awesome old school house for almost a year, and then into this house on base last April! We are in debt to the military for all these moves and that debt will be paid off in April, the older kids school bus leaves from this base and my daughter graduates her GCSE's this year (the end of required schooling in the U.K. and had planned on doing her A Levels (college type classes or university prep) at the same school. Anyways, this base is going to minimal manning and our division is being reassigned to a base an hour away so we don't have to leave the area but we have to leave our HUGE beautiful house on base and move to the economy. So we are dealing with that. Where do we want to live? How can we move again without putting ourselves further in debt? etc etc etc..

Now on the good side of it all Brandon's paycheck for his movie should be coming in soon so we should be able to pay off the military debt and catch up any loose bills we have, and its income tax season and we usually get a pretty decent return so we could use that to actually do the move but still my daughter can't really move or switch schools until she takes her GCSE's at the end of this school year. We have until August 1st to be out but at the same time our family is the largest on the base and out of the 11 families that have to move our housing allowance is among the lowest so finding a suitable house is really going to take faith in God!! So being open to anytime is rather important.

On the good side I have gotten in three hours at the shop this week (I manage a teeny tiny little shop on the base that is only open 8 hours a week) and will do another three today. I am testing Chris and Chelsea in math so I know where they are in case we have to or decide to homeschool one or both of them with this move, and I made our homeschool schedule!

I also have figured out my plan for the boys math this term. We are using Mammoth Math as our spine with Gnome Math or Living math on Fridays. Gryphen is going to be using MM light blue 1Aand 2A(1A appears to be mosty review so we should fly right through it, Phoenix will be using MM Blue time, money, european money, measurement and school express story problems and some UK money sheets I have found online. My reasoning is that I want the boys to start year 2 together so they can learn together and so I figured I would work on Phoenix's weaknesses while I work on Gryphen's general knowledge and then start 2A together in September and can add in the extra stuff for Gryphen as he needs it. (He may do some UK money this year when he does US money). Tristan is going to be using the MM Blue workbooks on his trouble areas and then work through 5A in light blue and 5B in gold.

So that is where we are now. I need to clean the house a bit and hopefully maintenance will come and fix my dishwasher. I will wait around the house until Brandon calls to let me know about the updates on the moving thing (meeting this morning yay!) and then open the shop. Boring Boring Boring (how I love a boring day)!!!

My Weekend

2008-12-07T18:20:00.003+01:00

So last night my "second daughter" Julianna (technically she is the daughter of my friend Rene and best friend of my daughter Chelsea) hung out with me and the younger boys while her parents were at a work party and my teens were at a school event. Julianna is a wonderful girl and as I wasn't feeling very well she occupied herself by reading a math gnome story to Gryphen and playing with our math counters. As the night went on she played some Play Station and later after the boys had lost interest and went off to do other things she started playing solitaire at the bar that connects our "classroom" with the kitchen. Well this is where my story begins. During all the time Julianna was here I had been reading Les Feldick on the internet which just happens to be in the same room.

So it happend like this
Julianna: "Ms. Denita what are you reading?"
Me: A Biblical transcript
Julianna: Why?
Me: because it's important to understand God's word....Julianna do you believe in God?
Julianna: I am not sure

DEAD SILENCE

Me: Why aren't you sure?
Julianna: Becaue of FYST (the youth group on our base)

off script here a minute..apparently in FYST they have been watching these videos by..I think..his name is Ken Ham. In one of the videos apparently he realy lays into homosexuality and how sinful it is...well one of Julianna's closest friends calls himself "Bisexual" and so Julianna couldn't believe in a Bible that made this great friend such a horrible sinner.

WHAT A DIFFICULT SUBJECT!!!

So I kinda skipped that for a minute and said...well outside of this do you believe in the Bible.

Julianna: Well I believe in Heaven and Hell and I believe in God but I don't think I believe the Bible. Especially the part about creation.

Me: well if you do not believe in creation what do you believe?

Julianna: I think the big bang theory

Well this led into a huge conversation about Creation vs "Science" and how science actually proves creation. Then about the transcripts I had been reading. And then about being sure about what you believe and the rapture and tribulation. Then we went back and talked a little about sin in general and Homosexuality specifically. By about this time my teens came home and the three older kids each in turn answered without doubt or hesitation their knowledge of their eternity and their belief in Creation and the four of them discussed it for almost an hour while I sat only interjecting when asked or she had a question the kids couldn't answer clearly. I don't know if it did any good but I hope we planted a seed there.

Pray that we did.

So I finally went to bed last night at 1am and I was pumped! After I prayed I just couldn't calm down so I turned on the tv and caught Fiddler on the Roof just as it was coming on...now this was my dads favorite movie/play as a child and he would go around singing the songs and dancing the crazy dances all the time. So I watched this movie...and before I knew it my husband was home from work and it was 330am!!! I went ahead and finished the movie and finally made it to bed at 4ish. Woke up this morning at 10:40 am and found my house quiet. Christopher had gotten up and went to church, Chelsea had a babysitting job so she was gone, and Tristan was still asleep. Phoenix and Gryphen had a birthday party to go to at 1pm so they had gotten showered and dressed and were sitting in the hallway playing legos. At 11:30 Brandon rolled out of bed and showered and dressed and ran out to get a gift for the party while the boys cleaned up a bit. At 1pm they left the house just as Christopher had come in, and Tristan was still asleep. So I sat down at my computer and did some reading. I read about Soddom and Gomorrah, then many different passages about marriage and parenting. In the end I stopped reading from eye strain but I felt very fulfilled and ready to take on the day.

When Brandon came home with the boys it was with some disturbing news about his job and the possibility of his getting transferred to a new shop. This really disturbed him and he started talking yet again about the possibility of taking a humanitarian back to Florida (Brandon's mother has cancer and is in the final stages but he and she rarely speak so its a very touchy decision). I felt empowered as a wife not to know how to fix it or what advice to give but instead simply to be able to support him. It was a nice feeling I haven't had in a while.

So that was my weekend. Seems like so much to report for so little actually happening...

Again I ask for prayer for Julianna and for Brandon, his mother and our family.

Math Mammoth

2008-12-06T12:19:00.004+01:00

This week I tested Tristan in Math using Saxon, Singapore and Horizons and consistently he was showing up in a 4th-5th grade range. He is 11 years old and if in the US should be in the 7th grade! Now Tristan was never an advanced student. He didn't take the interest to learn his alphabet until he was eight and learned to read at nine but we were ok with this as every child learns at their own pace but he was always good at math! And now he is testing a full grade lower than he was when he started British school last year! Now I understand that we teach math differently but a full grade lower than when he started..and try as I might I can't find anything new he has learned! As you can imagine this has frustrated me greatly! I mean I am not math minded myself and I can't use the SOS disks he wanted as they are too far ahead of him and require too little of me for me to be able to adequately keep up with his progress. I don't want to buy an expensive 4th or 5th grade program that is going to take all of my time when I have other subjects and other children to teach. I mean keep in mind in addition to three homeschool boys I have two teenagers who attend a highly competetive prep school that requires tons of prep (homework) and a rigorous schedule of activities to keep me on the go...so anyways my sister has recently started homeschooling and is looking for a math program and she came across Math Mammoth. I had heard the name before but never looked at it, but being the good big sister I promptly went over and downloaded the 200+++ free trial pages, read the website from front to back and looked up all the reviews I could find...this program is just what I was looking for! You see not only does this program have complete curriculum for each grade 1st-1/2 of fifth (the second half would be out before we needed it) but it also has tons of workbooks for specific issues (ie: fractions, money even simple adding) and workbooks for older grades as well. So you can test your child at grade level and instead of having to buy a whole grade level because he is short on some of it you can just buy the parts he is behind on!!! Now there is more amazing news....WAIT...DON'T STOP READING...this is GOD'S AWESOMNESS!! On Kagi (the authoress's preferred cart) she has everything...I mean EVERYTHING, the complete curriculums for grade 1-5.5, all the extra workbooks, all the upper level workbooks...EVERYTHING in a pdf download for just over $100!! I mean this program would cover all three boys, fill in Tristans gaps, and allow me to individualize Phoenix and Gryphen's math to their exact levels and needs! Just over $100 and I have an interesting comprehensive curriculum for the next 5+ years!!!! I am so excited and SOO thankful to God and my sister for finding this for me!

Now about handwriting.....well I don't use handwriting workbooks but am considering purchasing Startwrite...if anyone has any opinions???

AMAZING VIDEO ALL PARENTS SHOULD WATCH

2008-12-05T21:42:00.000+01:00

Ups and Downs of life

2008-12-05T19:24:00.005+01:00

I really don't want this to be a negative blog but I really need to let go and I REALLY need prayers.

You see there are some days when it seems like it wasn't worth getting out of bed. I mean all in all it wasn't a terrible day, being Friday my friend Rene and I hit the high street in Cirencester and I got some wonderful things. I got three male knitting dolls for my youngest sons Christmas (shhh don't tell), tons of wrapping paper and some new books. I bought the new Chronicles of Narnia movie for my family to watch tonight and had a yummy lunch at a little cafe above our favorite antique store (cranberry, brie and bacon pannini with chips (french fries) and hot chocolate). Sounds like a nice day right! No rain...not too cold..but really today was such a roller coaster.

It started off bad as DH and I are not getting along very well and today he was still home when I was getting the boys off to school so the day started with fighting, then when he left I went to take my shower he had used the last of the hot water. When I went to take our car to do my shopping I found out the brakes were grinding. I missed picking up the boys from the bus (luckily a friend grabbed them) and then when Chris came home he and Tristan started fighting really bad. It seems everyone in my house is fighting with everyone else and I can't seem to keep things under control.

I am really in need for prayer. We have had a lot of issues for the past few years dating from the loss of my mother and then two years later my son...things have many times been to the point of no return and God has pulled us back at the last possible second. This trip of my DH's to Morocco and the life he led there has pushed us back into a bad place and I really need prayers to pull through.

A Name for Our School

2008-12-04T17:01:00.004+01:00

So when we first started homeschooling we spent a long time picking our name...we chose "Backyard Elementary" and it was a nice name, it fit our homeschooling methods and it was fun but when the kids hit middle school we had to change it...this time we went a different direction and chose F.A.I.T.H B.I.B.L.E Academy (Fully Armored in the Home w/ Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) and it was a good name, a strong name and we liked the name. But now it is like we are starting over the children who helped me decide on the former names are no longer homeschoolers and the little guys want a name all their own. So that is where you come in....We want a name that can last all the way through graduation and although we have some ideas so far there is nothing we really love so I am going to give you 10 facts about our family/school as well as the ideas we are coming up with and I want you to comment suggestions to us...send this to your friends and family and get me tons of great ideas!!!!

1. We are a Christian Family and Christ is the center of our School
2. We are an Air Force Family
3. We are a family of seven
4. We are homeschooling three boys
5. We follow a natural CM approach to education
6. We love fairy tales and believe in miracles
7. We love Science and History
8. We love to tinker and invent
9. We love natural things
10. We are a family of computer geeks

Some of the ideas we have had floating are
1. 5 Loaves Academy
2. Christian Gardens
3. Faithful Gardens Academy
4. Garden of Learning
5. All Around the World Academy

We can't wait to hear what you think!!!

Today

2008-12-04T13:40:00.004+01:00

So this morning when I woke up the sky was still black as night...blacker than even normal and my window was creaking. When I looked outside the rain was pouring down in a sideways motion and the wind was whipping trees around like a hurricane. As my husband and teenage daughter are at Lakenheath for the weekend leaving me without a car I decided there was no chance I was walking my boys the two blocks (yes I know it's not far but it's just too cold) to the bus stop. So I woke up my teenage son and sent him off to catch a ride with our neighbors and I went back to bed with the younger boys. Funnily enough we woke up one hour later to beautiful blue skies and sun. But oh well. We have been spending our day doing all sorts of school work. We were supposed to start with Bible but as the eldest of the three took forever loading the dishwasher I decided to go ahead and start math with the younger boys. We played dice math rolling two dice and making them into addition or subtraction problems. The boys each got 100% of their questions correct! Gryphen then went on to pull a fit of not wanting to do work but Phoenix wanted to write a Bible story so he wrote about Zaccheus in his notebook while Gryphen pouted alone in the living room. I printed up some worksheets on Zaccheus but Phoenix stuck his nose up at them and went on with his own notebook page. Tristan is taking a math placement test for Saxon math, I won't be using Saxon but I am going to give him several placement tests over the next few days to help me to guage exactly where he is and what we need to work on. After lunch I decided to tell the boys about our new "incentive" program. I made a list (looks a lot like a schedule but not quite) of things that had to be accomplished and added in unacceptable behavior (like fighting, whinging, and pouting) then I told them that each thing I marked with a check earned one point towards an electronics coupon and each thing I had to put an X on would be a point taken away. It takes 5 points to earn 15 minutes of game system or handheld game, 3 points for 30 minutes of tv, and 20 points for 15 minutes of computer time. I know the numbers may seem off but as we are just starting I find it important that they are able to earn something most everyday.

So it is now almost 1pm and the last of our pencils have broken and the boys have completed everything written they can without a sharpener (DH is bringing one home from Lakenheath) so after some clean up they are free to do any nonelectronic activity they would like for a few hours before we do some read alouds and get ready for bed.

So here is what we accomplished so far...

Phoenix
1. one page of dice math
2. copied "Bed in Summer"
3. did a written narration of Zaccheus
4. wrote a poem of his own
5. read for 30 minutes
6. Listened to the story of Zaccheus (read by Tristan)

Gryphen
1. one page of dice math
2. copied "Bed in Summer"
3. Made his own poem
4. Listened to the story of Zaccheus (read by Tristan)
5. Did one Phonics lesson in his "I love to read" book

Tristan
1. Did a handwriting sheet (his handwriting is completely illegible
2. Took the saxon math placement test for middle school
3. Read in his left behind book
4. Read aloud the story of Zaccheus to his brothers
5. Taught the Zaccheus song to his brothers

What Can We Expect under an Obama Administration?

2008-12-02T18:01:00.002+01:00

HSLDA Tells Homeschoolers What to Expect Under Obama

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends of Homeschooling:

Since the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, HSLDA has received more than a few calls from both members and nonmembers. Some are quite concerned about the future of homeschooling under an Obama presidency.

First of all, let us always remember that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). He also instructs us to be wise, plan, and be prepared in everything we do.

Despite HSLDA’s efforts prior to the election to get an official statement from the Obama campaign regarding their position on homeschooling, we received no response.

So where does that leave us?

We do know that the Democratic Party has an official position of supporting public education. The National Education Association (NEA), which is the national teachers union, is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. We know that the NEA’s position is that every child should be either taught by a certified teacher or supervised by one. Additionally, their position is that the curriculum used by all homeschoolers should be approved by the state, and children should only be able to continue to be homeschooled based upon systematic evaluation by the state.

It is important to remember that under the United States Constitution, the federal government has no authority over private and home education. This is not to say that they will not attempt to exercise authority in these areas. And whenever private educators accept grants and benefits, there are conditions to receiving those benefits, including being subject to regulation.

Just because the federal government has no constitutional authority over home education, however, doesn’t mean that federal bureaucrats or legislators might not attempt to impose some form of regulation over private and home education. We saw this back in 1994, when the reauthorization of the Secondary and Elementary Act (H.R. 6) contained an amendment which would have conditioned funding to the states for public education to require that all teachers be certified in every subject area they teach. The homeschool community rose up; over a million phone calls were made to the U.S. Congress, and the amendment was defeated. During that process, Representative Dick Armey from Texas introduced an amendment which stated that the federal government and Congress have no authority over private and home education. This protective language was passed by the House of Representatives.

With your help and the help of homeschoolers all across America, we will vigorously resist any effort on the part of the federal government to regulate home education. Obviously, this will take resources—which come from our membership—and we would encourage our current members to continue standing with us, and encourage others to join us.

An immediate concern to watch is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although we do not know what Barack Obama’s specific position on the treaty is, we know that future Vice President Joe Biden has publicly indicated that this UN Convention should be ratified by the United States.

It does appear that we will soon have the challenge of keeping the UN Convention from being ratified by the U.S. Senate, ratification requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.

Should the UN Convention be ratified, it would impose the United Nation’s view of children’s rights on America. Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties become the Supreme Law of the land, taking precedent over state laws and state supreme court decisions.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is not in the best interest of parents or children, as it would undermine the parental authority that our laws currently recognize. For further information on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child visit ParentalRights. org.

To summarize, homeschoolers should not live in fear, but we do need to be wise, and we will need to be vigilant to protect parental rights and homeschooling freedoms in the future. We stand prepared, with your help, to do that as we’ve done for 25 years.

Michael Smith
HSLDA President

More on Phoenix

2008-12-02T10:02:00.005+01:00

Phoenix is a truly sensitive child. I wonder at times if he had been an only child or even the youngest child how much more difficult life would have been for him. He is blessed to have two strong brothers close in age who he can take strength from. I wonder sometimes if he will ever have the confidence and the social ability to make it when his brothers are no longer by his side? But I know God has a plan for this special little boy.

Last night Phoenix (for no reason) decided to write a poem. It is a lovely poem all about winter and I proudly asked him to read it to his dad. Phoenix became very jittery, unsure, started licking his lips and saying it wasn't good enough. Finally he read the poem with much uncertainty and glowed with happiness as we clapped and praised at the end. Honestly the whole thing broke my heart. He has such talent and creativity but he is so afraid of doing something wrong he becomes scared to even try.

This morning Phoenix got ready for school without any issues whatsoever, actually the past few school days have been rather uneventful. But this morning he was doing fine until we actually got into the car...then he says "Mom is this Tuesday?" When I tell him it is indeed Tuesday he starts crying "I hate school on Tuesday". Turns out Tuesday is P.E. day and little Phoenix isn't really athletic being skinny and awkward. He was turned inside out over P.E. day and all that it encompassed. How hard it must be to be Phoenix. So intelligent, beautiful and creative but so unsure and scared of the world. I hope with God we can help him to become more self-assured and take the fear out of my precious boy.

"A Christmas Poem"
By Phoenix

The day before Christmas with winter snow fun
Some people had a current bun
When it snows without any sun
Kids start to run and have lots of fun!

To Mom and Dad

My husband the movie star

2008-12-01T10:19:00.008+01:00

Brandon is home! He flew in late Friday night!

So here is the scoop. For those of you who don't know Brandon (my DH) has been in Morocco for over a month filming a movie. The Green Zone. When he left he had been cast as an extra which was really exciting for our family but somehow in the midst of the whole thing he was recast with an actual speaking part!!! He is now Commander One!! At the end of the movie he has this whole part running around and talking on the radio etc...

So here are some highlights

Brandon in Makeup.

Brandon playing bodyguard to "Poundstone" (played by Greg Kinnear).

Brandon as "Commander one" (his speaking part).

Brandon with JASON ISAACS!

When the movie comes out we are hoping he will be in the credits under Wallace Bagwell but aren't sure how exactly he will be listed. When it comes out I will post all the places you can spot him!!!

The Children of Ceasar....

2008-11-25T17:53:00.002+01:00

Phoenix

2008-11-24T10:13:00.005+01:00

So I had intentions of the boys going to school this week and then starting at home next week after Brandon came home but after heartwrenching cries from Phoenix I decided to not send him back. So here is our schoolwork for today.

I let Phoenix choose a story from the Bible and instead he chose one of the "explanation pages". (for this week since he is so sensitive already I am going to let him lead as much as possible) It was telling about the Minor Prophets and how they had to do some hard things by telling people God was angry and would punish them. Phoenix did most of the reading but didn't narrate very well so I decided to let him write a story using the words ANGRY, PUNISH and FORGIVE.

When I asked him to read the finished story to me he looked terrified and said "What if it's not good enough". My poor baby!!! He reads his stories to me all the time but I think because he thinks this is "school work" he is afraid of failing!

As I am not at all certain where he will be in math due to not only him being in school but also to him being in a school where Math is taught very differently so for today I am having him do worksheets from several different chapters in "The Complete Book of Math" so I can see what he knows and doesn't know.

We have an old reading comprehension book that we are going to do some pages in this as well to make sure he comprehends as well as he reads.

Later today we might read a book together and then he will go to the shop with me.

It will be a light week as I don't want to start the work I have planned for the boys as I would have to do it again in a week and Phoenix and I bore easily.

It is funny that this happened as this morning I was having a bit of a fit over whether or not I was really prepared for this!!!

God works.

John 14:6

2008-11-23T13:31:00.003+01:00

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

It is such a scary and exciting time for Christians. New signs are popping up everyday that indicate the end is near. I believe that JESUS is the way, the one way, the ONLY way to eternal salvation and beautiful eternity in Heaven. There are people out there..Oprah Winfrey, Our new president, and so many more who are simply not what they seem to be and are working very hard to take God's followers. And why wouldn't they go? I mean these people are promising us an easy path, they tell us we do not have to follow anyone, and we are our own "god". How easy and simple that must sound. A wonderful option to those who don't want to do what they know is right. The end is just around the corner. Whether we see the end of the earth or just simply die and wait for him to arrive we will not be here forever and it is time to make sure you know what you want for your future. If you do not want to go to heaven then quit reading right now. But if you have questions. Things don't seem right to you or you are unsure of your future then TODAY IS THE DAY to get things straight.

I am attaching some links that might open your eyes to the world we live in and some verses I highly encourage you to read. If you have questions ask me, ask a preacher or just PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!!

Don't drink the koolaid

Last Chance to Fight

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

"What must I do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. (John 6:28-29)

Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:47)

I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved. (John 10:9)

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies (John 11:25)

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:1--3)

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given amoung mortals by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)

Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day....everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (Acts 10:36,39,40,43)

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." (Acts 16:30-31)

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

..the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18)

It is by faith you have been saved, through faith ---- and this not from yourselves --- it is a gift of God --- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesian 2:8-9)

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:9)

"You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found" Jeremiah 29:13

An hour of QUIET!

2008-11-21T10:23:00.004+01:00

I don't know how I became so blessed but it is 9:22 am as I write this and all three boys are still asleep! I have been up since just after 8am surfing the web and just enjoying the quiet!

Anyways, last night Tristan started reading his new left behind books and is keeping a notebook tracking his questions, the characters, and verses he comes across. He is so excited about this project that it seemed a shame to tell him that it was a school assignment! Don't you love it when a plan comes together!!! Phoenix and Gryphen have nearly filled their first notebook with random stories, television narrations, and beautiful drawings! Gryphen's handwriting has improved so much with this simple "unschooling" exercise! For today I think we are going to do some reading lessons as Gryphen has been begging for them, play our Math Gnome game and start our main lesson book, and maybe do a few random experiments out of the everything book of science experiments that Phoenix has been obsessing over. I want to teach them to fill in an experiment log so they are used to it when the tadpoles arrive. Other than that the boys can do some worksheets if they want to (I know but they reall love them!) and maybe we will open the shop for a couple of hours.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am feeling??? Praise God!

A really great week

2008-11-20T22:22:00.003+01:00

Our family has been hit by a bug..one of those bugs that knock you on your back and make you feel like you were hit with a crowbar! And you know what...WE HAVE HAD THE BEST WEEK! The boys and I have been lying in bed til 9am and then getting up and writing stories, reading books and cuddling on the couch. It has been wonderful! Now the boys are doing much better and could go back to school but I don't want to send them. Now I know I said we would wait til end of term but I just can't do it! I mean hello all the supplies are in place and we are really enjoying being home so we are just going to march right in there and say were through. YAY!

Today we had a really amazing day. I had to go to the library to print a few things up (we really need a new printer) and I asked the librarian if she could order the kids "Left Behind" books for Tristan. Well she had no idea what they were and called me three times this afternoon to try to figure it out with the interlibrary loan (they have to come all the way from Germany) and during one of those calls she had a customer come in. Well the customer Corinna overheard the conversation and asked what the problem was and when the librarian told her Corinna asked who it was for and when she found out it was me she offered us the entire series both adult and kids versions! FOR FREE! HALLELUJAH!

Then my sister (whom I don't hear from very often) messaged me because she has decided to homeschool her children and needed some help! YAY!!!

I talked to my grandparents and they are doing really good!

And on top of that Brandon is coming home in less than a week!

So anyways. It has been a fabulous day and I am feeling so great!

Tristan

2008-11-15T17:37:00.004+01:00

So here is where I am so far.

HEO year 7 for his "Spine". We will use the light version and pick and choose as it is a rather intense year for a beginner but we chose this one as it aligns closely with year 1 and will allow me to do some of our activities and trips together.

He will follow the same poetry, folksong, hymn, artist and composer as the younger boys.

Use the same geography.

Use the same Science only with more books and projects.

For Math and Language Arts he wants to USE SOS. We have it left from the other kids.
The thing is they hated it so it makes me a bit nervous but I figure we can always get something
different later if he doesn't like it. We also have History, Science and Bible of SOS so we might use bits and pieces of that as well.

We still need to choose Latin, and Logic.

He will learn conversational Japanese along with the younger boys.

And for Bible he will follow both the younger boys curriculum and we will be doing a study on Revelation based on the left behind books.

I love SATURDAY!

2008-11-15T17:30:00.003+01:00

I love Saturdays! There is nearly nothing required of me. The boys and I stayed in our PJ's until the sun had almost started to go down and then they showered and put on fresh PJ's! Gryphen and Phoenix spent their day creating things. A rocket from a box and gadgets from the junk drawer, paper airplanes from "The Dangerous Book for Boys", treasure maps with construction paper and stamps....and the list goes on. Tristan cleaned is horribly messy room before running out to spend the day with a friend and made two trips to the library where he checked out two movies "The Nativity Story" and "Emma" (an old BBC version). We called Brandon in Morocco and the boys got to talk to him for a few minutes before he had to be on set. All in all it was a pleasing day.

Now Chris and Chelsea go to school on Saturdays and Chelsea has a dance tonight so I won't get to see her at all, and Chris is coming home just long enough to change and pack for his sleepover tonight so I might catch a blur of his bright red hair if I am lucky. I do miss them on Saturdays.

I spent my day relaxing. I caught up on the spouses group newsletter, Did some research on curriculum for Tristan, and surfed the web for a while. Later I warmed up some leftovers and watched the first part of Emma.

It really truly has been a lovely day.

Add one makes three

2008-11-14T21:30:00.004+01:00

So we have been struggling for a while with who all should be homeschooled. We knew Phoenix and Gryphen but were completely unsure about Tristan or Chris. Well today Tristan came home and said "Mom I really want to be homeschooled" so that is the answer to that! Tristan will come home with the other boys. Will this make life easier or harder? Not sure!!! He can be a very difficult child but at the same time can be the best of help. So anyways I now have to decide what to do with him for curriculum. WISH ME LUCK!

This that and the other

2008-11-14T09:49:00.003+01:00

I have so much that needs to be done. The house is a mess. I haven't done the spouses group newsletter, and I have several writing assignments for my English course. But today is another day of "I can't be bothered". You see my husband is away and when he is away it's like a giant vacation from life. The house isn't as much of a priority and the food is always more simple. And well..I have gotten lazy! Today I am going antiquing with Rene and Mandy so very little will get done. And this weekend is one of those busy weekends that lends itself to nothing getting done. Tonight Chris is boarding at school (Chris and Chelsea are both day students at a British Boarding school) so he can go to a pizza and quiz night. Tomorrow night Chelsea has a black and white ball so she won't be home til very late. And I have a social at a neighbors. So needless to say nothing or next to nothing is going to be accomplished this weekend. So anyways my point is..I AM BEHIND ON LIFE AND NEED TO GET IN ORDER!!!!

On the other side I have accomplished a few things. Yesterday I went to our tiny base library and have started arrangements to set up a monthly library lock in for homeschoolers starting in January. The librarian is helping me find out who the homeschoolers are and I am going to design our first lesson. I also spoke to our base counselor and will be working with her to set up a loss support group to help with all the recent losses our base has encountered.

At the boot fair on Wednesday I found four fantastic books for our school. For History I found "Children's Encyclopedia of British History" which is an usborne type book. and "100 Great Stories from British History" and then for Science I found "The Amazing World of Living Things" and "Philip's Nature Encyclopedia" . All four are large hardback books in excellent condition! And at a pound a piece I spent less than $6 dollars on the lot!

Well I suppose maybe I should at least dust and run the vacuum, maybe sweep the kitchen before I am off to look through the market, charity shops and antique fair.

Congratulations!

2008-11-12T16:39:00.002+01:00

Well as a bit of an update...My wonderful amazing friend Rene's husband Bill MADE CHIEF! IN HIS FIRST TRY!!!

We are so proud!

I love JUNK!

2008-11-12T09:42:00.004+01:00

So today is my WONDERFUL AMAZING SUPERDEDOOPER friend Rene's birthday. How old she is matters very little but the day itself means SO MUCH! Today also is the day Rene's husband Bill finds out if he made rank. Not just any rank but the rank of Chief. It is his first time testing and even though he studied like crazy and has an impeccable record the chances of making chief on your first try are really slim. So today has been jokingly became "Passover day". As in the day Bill could be passed over. With this kind of life changing pressure over everyones head Rene's birthday has been rather pushed under the rug. So this morning before we know about Bill we have decided to take Rene out to do her (and mine) favorite thing! BOOT FAIR! Armed with a measley 24 pds (approx $36) we are going to hit a local fair that has a tiny Wednesday following. Why is this such a great thing? Because of the junk!!! And I love JUNK! A few weeks a found an antique metal syringe for only 1 pound! I have four antique singer sewing machines that i picked up for around 7 pounds each! Antique toys, typewriters, buttonhooks (these are a favorite), tea cups, binnoculars (an obsession) all these things for relative pennies! Last week at a boot fair I found a most amazing set of over 100 eggs with a nature journal that all belonged to a man who died in the first wrold war! I couldn't afford it but the memory of that journal will last forever in my heart. Rene is looking for apostle spoons and horse brass. (Bill said no more chamber pots(Yes she seriously buys chamber pots!)

So anyways. My point.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENE! I LOVE YOU MY DEAR FRIEND!
GOOD LUCK BILL! YOU ARE WONDERFUL!
And most of all
THANK YOU GOD FOR SUCH AMAZING FRIENDS AND FOR 24 POUNDS THAT I CAN BUY MORE JUNK WITH!

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-11T21:34:00.001+01:00

Great Searches

Big Bug Search

From huge hairy spiders to spindly stick insects, there are about 100 bugs just waiting to be found on every spread.
Full of fascinating facts about the incredible lives of the world's creepy crawlies.
From rainforest to dusty desert and swamp to shady woodland glade, each beautifully illustrated picture puzzle details a different habitat, and is packed with the tiny creatures that live there.
Answers to every puzzle are provided for anyone whose bug hunt proves too tricky.
"What a fun way to learn about creepy crawlies and their habitat! Excellent." Wildside

Science- THE OUTLINE

2008-11-11T11:10:00.002+01:00

So my goal is to have our first 12 weeks of school planned out and neatly layed out in an easy to manage format before the boys finish their last day at "real" school (their words not mine). So I have already downloaded all the free resources from Ambleside and have them in neat little folders by week. I am using the Green Hour Challenge for our Nature Study and I have divided 12 area and season appropriate challenges into our weekly folders, I bought the E-version of our Geography book so I can just print up each weeks lesson and put it into our notebook (I love having as much as possible in one place). So that is History, Geography, Literature, Natural History, Nature Study, and Poetry ready to go. So now I am working on Science. Now I know that CM purists would tell me Nature study is enough, or to just add some science literature etc but my boys LOVE SCIENCE! So here is what were doing

I took an outline I had found online years and years ago and am tweaking it for us. We are doing 12 weeks of animal studies and as my boys LOVE SCIENCE (did I mention this before?) we will be doing science at least four days a week.

So far my "spine" is the Kingfisher First Encyclopedia of Animals. I also am using Hands of a child animal classification pack and several free lapbook packs we found online for ideas for our science notebooks. We will be using science logs to track progress when raising a tadpole and a butterfly. Will have an ant farm and a worm farm. We have a VERY tiny library so I am going today to see what choices we have on each subject. I WOULD LOVE IDEAS, TIPS AND WHAT YOU USED COMMENTS to help me get the most out of this study!

Week 1- Habitat, Food Chain and Classification.

Week 2- Amphibians- Frogs and Toads

Week 3- Mollusks + Annelids + Arachnids

Week 4- Insects- Ants, Butterflies and Moths

Week 5- Reptiles- Alligators, Crocodiles, Turtles and Tortoises

Week 6- Birds

Week 7- Fish and Other underwater creatures

Week 8- Mammals- Giraffes, Tigers and Bears

Week 9- Mammals- Camels, Lemurs, and Elephants

Week 10- Mammals- Whales, Dolphins, Walruses and Sea Lions

Week 11- Pigs, Dogs and Cats

Week 12- Review and trip to the Zoo

This woman says it all!

2008-11-11T10:12:00.005+01:00

So this morning I got the boys on their bus (have I mentioned before how much I hate putting them on that bus), came home and put some touches on our first 12 weeks of science (we will be studying animals), and decided to catch up on some favorite blogs. Well the new CM blog carnival was posted and although the whole thing looked great their was one blog that really caught my attention. It is by Weird, Unsocialized, Homeschoolers and it talks about sheltering your children. Now I am going to admit openly and honestly the number one reason I am taking my boys out of school is because I don't like the influence that they are receiving. Their education is fine but socially my boys are at the age of 5 and 7 already becoming boys I don't like...yes I am saying that! Now I am hearing all the time from friends that this is not a good reason to homeschool. If they are doing well in school why am I pulling them out etc. Well this is why!!!

I truly think everyone should read this blog first then her newer blog post of the same theme and realize that our children are worth sheltering!

Manic Monday :(

2008-11-10T11:01:00.002+01:00

There is very little that can drive me to insanity as quickly and horribly as the school morning. So here we go.

Yesterday I told my extremely active teens (including the preteen) that I had a huge day Monday and needed help getting the HUGE weekend mess cleaned up (I typically do a major overhaul Monday's after I get them all off to school). Well my daughter did a few things and then ran out to choir practice, my eldest son hid in his room and my middle son got so frustrated with his brother that he started fighting with everyone. In a nutshell nothing got done!

So this morning it is raining (yes typical English Autumn) and the house is a mess and I have a FULL schedule. Phoenix doesn't want to get up and waits til ten minutes before the bus arrives to get dressed. (He cries about school and I have to explain that it is only a few more weeks and he won't have to go anymore). I barely get to the bus on time and come home to start a rush clean of the house and the maintenance inspectors arrive EARLY! Well they are gone, house is still barely presentable and I have a friend coming for lunch in less than two hours...so guess what...I can't find our cleaning supplies! ALL OF THEM ARE GONE!! Well I can't leave the base because the tire on my car is bald (DH NEEDS TO COME HOME ALREADY) (did I mention he is in Morocco filming a movie???) and the commissary isn't open today, the bank isn't open and Brandon has my bank card in morocco. So now I am pulling on my wellies and praying that out eensy weensy BX has what I need so I can finish my house before my friend arrives.

Well lets add to this. I invited this friend, and I love this friend but this friend is one I have met from tragedy. Her son was just born still and another friend got us together so I as an experienced mother of a stillborn son could help her get through this. So this lunch isn't going to be an easy breezy fun lunch it is going to be one that is stressful and more wet that the pouring rain outside my window. So needless to say this is a really bad start to my week.

All I can say is...I CAN'T WAIT TIL WE START HOMESCHOOLING AGAIN. How much nicer our morning would have been if instead of fighting with Phoenix and the rain we could have snuggled in our pajamas and read a book, or even watched some way cool science movie or play a game!! It is amazing how one hour of morning stress caused by putting two young boys on a bus they don't want to be on can cause one poor mommy's whole day to just go up in smoke!

Praise you God for the tribulations I face please give me the strength to overcome and be joyful in your wonderful bounty.
Amen

Just Having Fun

2008-11-09T18:21:00.004+01:00

My Family

2008-11-09T18:01:00.002+01:00

Curriculum Ordered, Owned, and ready to be Used!

2008-11-09T13:00:00.004+01:00

We are officially starting school on January 5th. But when the boys come home for Christmas break we are going to go ahead and do a lapbook unit from "Hands of a Child" called "Symbols of Christmas". Just to get into the spirit of both homeschool and Christmas.

Here is the Rest of our curriculum for the first 12 weeks.

Bible- "Who is Jesus?" from Hands of a child, "Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History", and "Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt" along with our Bible

Spelling- Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason

Math- Math Lessons for Elementary Grades by Dorothy Harrer is our spine.
Gnome Math
Complete Book of Math 1-2 (we used this with my older children and they loved it)
Shoebox learning centers
Marvelous Math: A book of poems
Sir Cumference books
There are such great choices of Math Literature out there so I am sure
we will be adding to this!

Science- I ended up finding a free science outline online and decided it was almost
perfect for what we needed. We will be studying animals using
Kingfisher Animal encyclopedia, What your first grader needs to know,
The everything book of nature, The everything kid's science experiment book,
The everything kids book of bugs, Stanley's great big book of everything,
Pets in a jar and nature study using The handbook of nature study.
(we had most of this already). We will be raising several species of creatures as well.

Geography- A child's Geography

Habit- Dude Thats Rude and Manners Made Easy, Laying the Rails

Language Arts- We won't be using anything formal this year for Phoenix just have him read aloud to me practicing narration and expressiveness along with his spelling and copywork.

For Gryphen we will be using Sonlights "I can read it" (already had this) and will teach
Handwriting with sheets I make online using the same copywork Phoenix does.

History, Literature and Poetry- Ambleside year 1. We are skipping American History and Paddle to the Sea and want to bring in more UK history in it's place but am still looking for the perfect match.

I feel a certain relief now that everything has been ordered. Once it is all here I plan to set up a notebook for the first 12 weeks with weekly lesson plans and a checklist of what I would like to accomplish that week. Also I will start adding in field trips and science experiments etc so I can make sure we are prepared for these and they don't sneak up on me. I have basically six weeks to get set up before the kids are home for Christmas break and I hope to be able to set up everything so they can start playing with the centers and games during break and maybe do a small Christmas unit to get us all motivated...

A Little bit about my "educational philosopy"

2008-11-09T12:59:00.001+01:00

When I started out homeschooling in 1999 it was only Chelsea, she was six and after many problems in school we had decided to pull her out for a year. Christopher was in Pre-K at the base school and so far I was happy with him being there. Tristan was only two and I never even gave a thought into any sort of lessons for him. So for Chelsea it was easy. I bought a ton of computer programs, some workbooks from Sams Club, and was happy to spend the rest of our day outside playing with friends or curled up watching TV. I had always loved having my kids with me so to me just having her home was more than enough. Later that year a four year old boy brought a gun onto the school bus. That is when I first started thinking about homeschooling as more than a solution to a problem and more of a lifelong goal. So I started looking online and I joined a homeschool group and a homeschool prayer group and I found Charlotte Mason. Well she spoke to me in so many ways and I tried with all my heart to put her into action. I never quite got the hang of it and at the time there wasn't all the lesson plans and guidance that I am finding now so slowly we ended up back at workbooks, this time adding a lot more reading and hands on activities. We tried a few unit studies which were fun but felt so unnatural to me and with 5 kids two of them babies I just couldn't keep up. So eventually after seven years I gave up and bought a boxed computer based curriculum. My kids hated school on the computer and started to hate homeschooling. Match this with two devastating losses that shook my foundation to sand, an overseas move and a mountain of marriage problems we made the decision that rocked everything I believed in...we put them back in mainstream school.

Things are very different this time around. I have over eight years of experience under my belt and know exactly what I am looking for, what I believe, and what my boys like.

So here we go.

I still LOVE Charlotte Mason. Gentle learning, liberal arts education, nature studies, short lessons, narration, copywork, and emphasis on being outdoors. So we are following Ambleside online for Poetry, Literature, History, Artist Study, Composer Study, and Natural history. We are following "The Green Hour" for Nature Study. And will use Copywork for language arts and spelling etc. And "A Childs Geography" for well...Geography.

So...I liked reading the books on the Trivium and thought that TWTM made perfect sense for Science. Both my boys are very hands on and Phoenix LOVES experiments and inventing things so I feel a really good strong science rotation is extremely important. (The history rotation sounds good as well although I found that I prefer to start with learning about people as they do in Ambleside) So for science we are using an outline we found on a WTM board years ago using Kingfisher Encyclopedia, What a child needs to know 1st grade, and the library. We will be using a notebook and following the WTM four year rotation.

I could never be an unschooling purist but I do believe that kids given the best of materials (and removing the options of tv and other electronics) can sometimes give themselves an amazing education! Since my boys are very inquisitive, hands on and scientific I have decided to make one day a week an "unschooling day" (we will actually have nature studies on this day as well). I have created an inventors box filled with odd things from the hardware and craft store, have a basket of experiment books, science books, and downloaded "challenges". I also have made a huge craft box with everything from the fanciest of scrapbook stamps to cereal boxes. I am creating a peice of earth in the back yard that the boys can have full control of and have put in another basket some bulbs and seed packets along with books on how to make your own garden and the supplies for an indoor greenhouse. They don't have to choose from these but I thought they would help get them started and allow for their creativity. And to help to train them to find a worthwhile activity on these days I have created a jar of chores that the boys have to draw from each time they tell me they are bored or ask to watch tv or electronics instead of "playing".

Another philosophy that I don't think I could be a purist at but that I like some aspects of is Waldorf. Now I know this can definately set off some bells and alarms with people but all in all it really feels too pagan to me. But I do like the dreamy fairy tale aspects. The things that help a child to stay a child rather than all the violent and ridiculous creatures they see on tv and in video games. This is especially important to me with Gryphen who is still such a little boy at heart. So from Waldorf I am primarily taking their Math. I like their whole person approach and the beautiful gnome (and animal) stories and manipulatives used. We will be using their main lesson book concept that add such an artistic flair to the boringness of math. I have thought about using circle time as well to start the day gently, sing our hymn and folk songs from ambleside, light a candle and pray to GOD, and maybe read our poetry and Aesops. It's something I am still playing with.

I am not anti workbook. Obviously because I used them for so many years. But I don't believe they are the best way to teach the whole child. My boys LOVE to do worksheets. I have created, downloaded, and purchased several workbooks. Mosty math practice. But also some for Science to help enforce some ideas. I know on days when we just don't feel like school, or when we have a lot to do outside of school my boys will be more than happy to have these workbooks to do.

Lapbooking, Scrapbooking and Notebooking. As I have said before my boys are VERY hands on. They love to do projects and create things. I am not a fan of unit studies but have found lapbooks a nice way to stay hands on without going overboard. I joined Hands of a Child, and found an awesome site with lots of animal lapbooks to use for science. I love the Hands of a Child Bible lapbooks and we are starting our year with "Who is Jesus" and "Symbols of Christmas". I have found some amazing extra helps for this in the membership section (these helps made the membership worthwhile for me). We will also be doing notebooking especially in science and I hope to be able to create a nature study book like the one found on this amazing blog!

Bible and Literature. I believe their is room for Bible and Literature in every subject and we will be using both as liberally as humanly possible!

I am sure there is more...but for this morning my goal is really just to put down in writing what I believe in and what I am trying to use. Something to help me and remind me on the way.

Diary of a selfish mother

2008-11-09T12:42:00.004+01:00

I didn't plan on homeschooling, although I had been homeschooled a few years myself it just never entered my mind. I was a single mother to three young children with an ex-husband who was completely out of the picture and school just seemed like an obvious move. In 1999 I got remarried, moved my family up to the Florida panhandle to be with my new Air Force husband and enrolled my daughter Chelsea in first grade. Right away she started having problems in school. She was only six but more interested in talking, clothes and boys than in education and her teacher a rather horrible woman who had lost all interest in children started claiming she was ADHD and possibly learning disabled. Well I knew my daughter and fought the system and won. When she was tested she was not only NOT ADHD but she was around three years ahead of her grade in intelligence. I was so disgusted and angry that without any thought or preparation I pulled her out of school, bought some workbooks and started homeschooling.

Through the years we have evolved in our homeschooling and tried many different methods and curriculums. We had two more children and lost a third. We lost my mother to a long battle with cancer. We tried a private school once for two of my children, British school once for three of them, a base school one year, and then this past year I put all five of them into local British schools. The thing is I had become a homeschooler at heart. Chelsea had become a strong independent young lady who doesn't follow crowds, has strong morals, and thinks boys are for friends not for dating. This I don't think would have happened in school. But yet I had become burned out, broken inside over the loss of my baby boy Liam and my mother. And school had become a babysitting service that allowed me to be selfish and alone.

Now Chelsea is nearly 16 and will graduate her GCSE's and move onto her A-Levels, Christopher is starting GCSE's and Tristan is thriving in his local school. It seems I had made the right decision but yet the guilt wouldn't lift. You see my little ones were not becoming the young men I wanted them to be. With one year of school under their belt Phoenix was whiny, rude and angry. Gryphen who was a little boy in private was becoming a monster in public. They were trying to "fit in" with their peers. Educational Socialization was ruining my boys. You see I believe that socialization is a major reason TO home educate your child. In a school setting much like with Chelsea and my boys a child tends to become what his peers are. The reason being that they haven't yet had time to figure out who they are as people and therefore it is easier to just follow the crowd. So we have these kids who are following their older siblings, or parents whose ideals are very different from what you want your children to follow but these children and their parents ideals have created the children that yours idolize and want to be like. So anyways after much MUCH MUCH prayer, discussion and thought we decided Gryphen and Phoenix needed to be at home with us.

So this is our Journey. We are not new homeschoolers, but we are starting new.