Where did the week go??

Things kind of fell apart for me over the last few days.  I have been struggling for a while with the consequences of my hysterectomy, not that I would change anything.  I wouldn't go back and change a thing, I just didn't realize the possibility of being thrown into menopause and having to deal with all that that entails.  Oh well, I'm not the first woman to go through it and I'll definitely not be the last, I just pray that my family can survive it.

I have been taking pics, just not posting them.  I've been schooling the kids, just taking no joy in it.  I've been working, but my attitude stinks.  I've been doing things with my husband, wishing he would just let me go back to bed and sleep some more.  Hunter has had some more snow days, I told him if they cancel again I'll just be dropping him off anyway; he disrupts our day.  So obviously, I've been a pleasure to be around!!!

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 Everyone is hoping that this will help; they might be planning my demise as I type.

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On the way to work, where I go to hide.

We have a couple of reviews we are working on, one is an art program that the kids are really enjoying.  Look for a review of Artistic Pursuits, coming soon.  The other is an interesting program called Reading Kingdom which Ry is liking and Sissy is loving, that review will also be coming soon.  Koty is working on a couple of reviews too, I'm going to have him help write them, I think it will be a great opportunity for him to work on his writing skills.

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Koty's take on Impressionistic art.

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Sissy's take on Impressionism.  We are unable to share Rylan's as he decided to add a gun and blood to his, making it inappropriate and unacceptable, he is such a BOY!

I am also worried about something else,  the SUN disappeared, it is seriously MIA! (If you know where it is, please let me know.)  We haven't seen it in at least 5 days, it has been icy, snowy, cloudy, rainy, foggy and just plain depressing around here.  I am officially ready for spring.

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The fog has been so thick the last couple of days that I've been struggling with my photographs.  I love the depth that it adds, but I'm not sure if I captured what I was going for.

I found the reflection of the limbs in the water interesting and eyecatching, once again the fog was impeding or maybe it was enhancing; I'm just not sure.

One of the highlights of our week was Hunter's Taekwondo tournament.  He did great and was an awesome competitor.  It is so interesting to watch these tournaments, the judges can be really awesome or they can really suck.  I wasn't sure about Hunter's until after he competed, this judge pulled one of the other competitors aside.  The kid hadn't done very well and had gotten some really poor scores,  the judge was taking the time to build this kid back up and encourage him in his efforts.  It was awesome to witness, a judge can really make or break the experience for these kids; so I loved that he made the effort.  He was very stern, but also very caring.

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Well, I think I hit all of the highlights of what amounted to a very stressful week.  Honestly, it was only stressful in my eyes, it was pretty uneventful in everyone elses.  I'm working on that, I really am!  I plan on getting back to my daily Project 365 posts, sorry about the mega post.

Gratitude Challenge: Day 22

We're more than halfway through this Gratitude Challenge and I think I've done pretty well.  I've missed a couple of days, not because I wasn't grateful for something; but more that I didn't have time to get to the computer to type it.

Today I am grateful for the gift of choosing the proper way to teach my kids.  We have been a homeschooling family for 6 years and love every second, that is to say most of us do.  My oldest has decided that he wants to return to public school since we have moved and live in a better school district.  I'm not happy about it, but I am grateful that he felt brave comfortable enough to make this request.  Hunter will be returning to PS in January, with the start of the new semester.

While PS is something that Hunter wants to do, Koty is happy to stay home and keep working with Mom.  We realized a couple years ago that Koty has dysgraphia, self-diagnosed; of course.  He struggles with his grip and his hands cramp-up, he can't get his thoughts to translate onto paper and he is constantly frustrated with how his handwriting looks.  I have really enjoyed watching a child who hates something, open up and do his best; knowing he's not going to be judged.  He even hates to draw, I encouraged him today to do his best and his resulting efforts were awesome.  I'm confident that he wouldn't feel this empowered at PS.  Koty is so strong in other areas, mostly doing High School level work in 8th grade; that I won't let him feel less because of how he writes.

Ry and Sissy are both loving Time 4 Learning, combined with Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota.  Ry is getting more confident with his phonics, not reading yet; but definitely trying.  Sissy whizzed through Pre-School in a couple of days and is heading towards Kindergarten.  I love that they don't have to be held back or pushed forward just because of what day they were born on.

Well that's what we are grateful for today, head over here to see what others are grateful for.

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Shatto Milk Company-Part 2

More of the Shatto Milk Company.  Like I said, we got to sample many wonderful flavors of their milk.  The kids liked a flavor called Orange Dream, it tasted exactly like froot loops, exactly!  Pretty cool!

Mom is lactose intolerant, but decided she was going to taste everything anyway.  Bet she regretted that!  Here she is, sampling the bouquet of the milk, she declared it a good "hour".  Ha Ha!

They showed us how they milk the cows and then let each of the kids 'get milked'.  They put one of the suction cups on their thumb for demonstration. They offered it to me, but having breast fed 4 kids; I felt strongly that I've been milked enough.

Next, we got to meet Fuzzy the cow; who very patiently let everyone try their hand at milking.  Sissy wasn't sure about it, but finally she gave it a try.  Great Job, Sis!

Finally, we all bought some milk for the drive home.  Here everyone is enjoying their milk and lounging for the 1 1/2 hour drive.

Shatto Milk Company-Part 1

We had an excellent opportunity to visit a local dairy farm.  Grandma was able to join us on this really fun day.  Shatto Milk Company is a family owned dairy farm, that provides milk, cheese, butter and ice cream to local grocery stores and whole food stores.

Their popularity has grown so much they are in the process of building a new Country Store and viewing area.  This milk truck was parked in the new area, it was really cool and had a fun cow mooing horn.  This was the area where we got to sample a lot of their flavored milks.  We sampled Chocolate (my fave), Root Beer, Banana, Orange Dream (Hunter and Dakota's fave) and Strawberry (Ry and Sissy's fave).  It was so good and I don't even particularly like milk.

This is Leroy Shatto, he and his wife own and operate the dairy.  It was so cool to see another family business.  Our political climate is so against small business and family owned business that it's really hard to succeed these days.  As a family, we have decided that wherever we can, we cultivate the small businesses in our area.

This is Pat, the Root Beer cow.  She seems to be the farms mascot, I think they said she was 16-17 years old.  No, she isn't getting milked anymore, they just bring her up to let the kids pet her.  She was humongous, I can't remember what kind they said she was, but it was a really big variety.

More to come.............

Weekly Wrap-up! or should I say......

Monthly wrap-up or even bi-monthly wrap-up.  I am so sorry, it was never my intention to be away for so long.  We have had an extraordinarily busy few weeks.  We moved our family to the edge of nowhere, okay not really, but sometimes it seems like a whole new world.

We had previously lived in what my family refers to as ghetto-lite.   I bought the house 15 years ago from my grandfather, with the hopes that I could raise my children there for the long-term.  It was not even really on my radar to homeschool, all that changed after my kids started school.  My sweet boy would come home crying because his name was made fun of or he was teased because he was white, this child had no preconceived notions of color.  He just wanted people to be his friend and his best friend in Kindergarten told him that he couldn't be his friend anymore because Hunter was white.  The final straw came when Hunter was spat upon on the bus, Hunter retaliated by punching the kid and was suspended from the bus.  The other child was not punished in any way.  That was it, I drove the kids for the rest of the year and they finished out the year.  The next fall we started this homeschool adventure, that was 6 years ago and I've never been happier.

All of this to say that we have moved to an area with a great school district and I'm still not going to put my kids in public school.  You see, that while I began homeschooling for one set of reasons; I will continue for a whole different set of reasons.  I'm not prepared to give my kids back into a system, any system, that teaches to the median or in some cases the lowest common denominator.  That is what the US Federal Government will do to our schools, they will continually dumb them down and weaken our children's future.  I want to empower my children to learn on their own, utilizing their own resources and not have knowledge spoon fed to them.  I want to teach my children about God and our Savior Jesus Christ, without having the ACLU poking their nose into whether or not my children pray before, after or during their day.  I am saying all of this, because I've been asked (read encouraged) to put my kids back in school.  I say emphatically, "NO!" I won't do it and you can't make me.  Real mature, huh????  Oh well, I've never been particularly mature.
 
We also celebrated 2 birthdays during the month of August, Ry turned 7 and Sissy turned 5.  My mom made some great cakes for the kids and we had a wonderful meal.  They didn't get a whole bunch of presents, but they truly enjoyed time spent poolside with their family.  Early in August all 4 kids decided to dye their hair.  I didn't get a tone of great pics, but in the slide show you can see the results of at least 3 of the kids.  Tanyn decided on hot pink streaks in her bangs and sides of her hair.  Rylan wanted all over blue, this one was a bit of a disappointment; it washed out almost immediately.  Hunter and Dakota decided to bleach their hair, thankfully their hair grows really fast and I was able to shave it off this week.  The only one I truly liked was Sissy's, the hot pink was just really fun and sassy looking.

Now on to the monthly wrap-up.  We started school 3 weeks ago and everything has been going great, no we are not doing everything I intend for us; but we are definitely getting there.

Hunter and Dakota are doing Heart of Dakota Resurrection to Reformation.  We are absolutely loving it, the teachers manual makes it so easy for the kids to work independently and check in with me when they need to do oral narrations or have any questions.  They have art projects every week that help cement their history learning in their mind.  In the slide show are pictures of their stain glass artwork.  In science they are working on Apologia Biology and Geometry in math. Not truly excelling but plugging away.  I wish they were more excited, but I'll settle these first few weeks.

Tanyn and Rylan are still working on Little Hearts for His Glory from HOD.  We love this curriculum.  They are working on place value, the tens place and the ones place. We found an easel at a garage sale and the kids have been using it on our back porch a lot.  We are reading "Grandfather Frog" and Ry and Sissy love it.  We are working right now on memorizing the Lords' Prayer, difficult;  but definitely worthwhile.  In Bible,  we are working on learning about the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We are learning about the events leading up to the crucifixion, burial and Resurrection.  Finally, Ry is continuing to work on phonics with ClicknKids.  He's not in love with it but I haven't found one he is in love with, so he'll just have to keep plugging away.  Rylan is doing great, Tan is struggling a bit.  We'll probably end up going back to the beginning and starting over with Little Hearts for Tan when we start Beyond Little Hearts for Ry.  Technically she is still a preschooler, so we mostly focus on what she wants to do versus trying to shove her into an uncomfortable mold.


Well that's it head on over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others spent their month week.

Weekly Wrap-Up--Ramblings

I haven’t participated in a couple of weeks, so I’m going to do a general Summer update.  In case I haven’t announced it yet, I am a new member of the TOS Review Crew.  I have already received my first products to review and we are excited to get started.
We’ve had some big and stressful changes in our house; first and foremost, Hunter Storm has received his driving permit.  I’m not exactly sure how that happened, that he grew up I mean, but it did.  It makes me kind of sad in a proud mama sort of way, he’s growing up whether I’m ready or not.  I’m not, ready that is, I’m really not.  The other decision we’ve made is to move, probably by Sept or Oct, this will mean giving up the babies.  Not the kids, the dogs, I don’t know of any townhome or apartment that will take 2 one hundred pound dogs.  So we’re contacting the Great Pyrenees rescue to try to find a safe haven for them, hopefully they’ll be able to help us!  Anywho, we hope to be moving out of this neighborhood and into a better one, surprisingly, the kids are really ex cited about the idea.  I thought they might be upset about moving, turns out, not so much.  They don’t feel like they can play outside and have fun in their own neighborhood, mainly because they get picked on because of their color.  Sad.
We’ve had a great summer so far, spent time at the pool, zoo, movies and playground.  The movie theatres in our area have a summer movie program, so we’re able to see a movie each week for next to nothing, great to get out of the heat for a while.  Well, that’s about it, I’m going to include some random pictures from this week to make this post more fun.  Head on over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others spent their week.

The Old Schoolhouse Giveaway

If your a Christian homeschooler, odds are you've heard of The Old Schoolhouse. It's a great resource and always has a ton of articles that I read multiple times. I love it and now they have an opportunity for you to download a copy of your own. Homeschool 101, is a digital supplement to their regular magazine and is being offered as a free download.

You should be able to click on the picture and it will take you to the site for your free download.

Happy Reading,

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Weekly Wrap-up! Summer School

I'm a little late posting our weekly wrap-up, but here goes. Rylan and Tanyn are still really enjoying Little Hearts for His Glory. It is such a wonderful curriculum, open and go, which is what I really needed. I am scheduling challenged. This week they learned not to let fear debilitate them, by learning about Daniel in the Lion's den and Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo. (Pretty sure those are all misspelled.) The painted a wonderful picture showing the three being protected from the fire by God's Angel.
Wednesday we had a beautiful day and decided to spend the day at the zoo. We, as usual, had a great time and enjoyed wandering around. I found some really cool Animal notebooking pages that I'll probably have the kids do, to focus their zoo time. We spend so much time there, we probably ought to make it a little more education. I made a mistake and bet Koty about an animal fact, I of course was wrong. The kid is a zoo ninja. I guess being a Zoologist might be perfect for him.

Thursday we went over to the Nature Center to wander around for a little while. They have a little education area, where Ry and Sissy decided to put on a puppet show. Very cute.

Finally, if it seems like the big boys didn't do any work, it would be because they didn't do any work. Hunter and Dakota have had a short break before we start summer school. The boys will be doing Geometry and Biology, along with the reading program offered by heart of Dakota; Drawn into the Heart of Reading. We have finished Tapestry of Grace Year 1 and decided that it really didn't work for us. I'm not organized enough for it, I guess. Heart of Dakota is putting out a curriculum this fall that we're really looking forward to. I think it will be great for Dakota and with a little tweaking will work for Hunter, the fact that it is open and go is perfect for me.

Head on over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others spent their week.

Creation or Evolution

We are really struggling with this in our homeschool right now. Jennifer over at Blogging about Boys covered this in such a wonderful way, it's about a broader worldview. I personally went through public school, was a hard-core evolutionist, wouldn't even hear the word creation without getting on my high horse. Now I would call myself a creationist, with reservations.

It seems to be about personal conviction, present the information and let my children decide with their own hearts. Dakota is a hard-core Creationist, seems closed to Evolution. Hunter is a skeptic, he really doesn't seem to buy either theory, but is open to learn. The key is certainly to give equal opportunity to both, study both, learn about both and decide from there. Go into the study with our eyes and minds wide-open.

Weekly Wrap-up!

This is the "Why did I decide we didn't need Spring Break edition?????" Not a lot going on here on the school front. Everyone is essentially just plodding along. We're doing Tapestry of Grace for our literature, history, bible and fine arts; and while we've really enjoyed some of it, other parts are just a trial. Looking at continuing it next year though, simply because I do enjoy the richness of the curriculum. I just need to make it work for us and make sure the kids are leveled right.

Rylan and Sissy are doing Little Hearts for His Glory (Heart of Dakota), I love it. Wondering where this curriculum has been all my life. Simply can't say enough good about it. Rylan is working alot on his simple addition facts and phonics, doing a great job of it. Sissy is tagging along as a preschooler, but really keeping up just the same. Dakota says Sis has better handwriting than he does, which is rather sad as she is a left-handed preschooler and he is a 7th grader. Oh well, you can't win them all.

We have received an answer to prayer, CJ is starting his new job on Monday. It will be the first time in his working career that he won't be considered self-employed and will enjoy benefits like a regular fellow. Thank you, Lord! Unfortunately for me, he'll be paid totally different so i'll have to revamp how I pay the bills and reorganize my thought processes. Glad to do it, just have to make it work for us while at the same time work with by Financial Peace University budget.

Including a picture of the snow we received the first day of Spring, almost 10 inches. By Monday it was sunny and 60 degrees.


This was the sunset Monday night, like God was saying sorry about that snow; here's a beautiful day for you. We enjoyed it for certain.

Sorry our week was so boring, head on over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how everyone elses week went.

Weekly Wrap-up!

This is the "will we ever be healthy again" edition. Everyone has been passing around a stomach virus the last couple of weeks. It started right before my trip to Vegas and continued after we returned. Up until this week, it had skipped over me, while making the rounds twice through Chris and the kids. It has finally claimed it's last victim, me. I have been ill for the last couple days and kind of hibernating. The kids have been on their own a little this week.

Hunter is still pushing my buttons, but I think it's just an attempt to force me to be more involved in his day to day. I had been just giving him his schedule at the beginning of the week and assuming he would let me know if he needed help. Unfortunately, he is stubborn (have no idea where he gets that) and hates to ask for help. I am finding that making him bring me his work at the end of each day, helps him to identify problems and move on in the right direction.

Dakota is wrapping up his Zoology 3 and ready to move on to Biology. He works great independently, with minimal interference from me. Just a daily check-in to make sure he's on the right track.

Ry and Sissy had a great week with their curriculum. They are doing Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota. I had thought to have them do Math U See instead of the Singapore math that the curriculum suggests. Bad plan. I really don't like MUS at this level, while I love it at the High School level. Live and learn, I guess.I have been spending a lot of time this week working on our plan for the summer and next year. I plan to go ahead and school through the summer, to lighten the daily load for the boys and maybe be able to get deeper into the great literature offered by the Tapestry of Grace curriculum that the older boys are doing.

We are bracing around here for our last (hopefully) snowstorm of the year. They are implying that we could get up to 8". Crazy!!!!! I don't really have any cool pictures of our week, kind of plodding along here, but I'm going to include a few from my Vegas trip just for the fun of it. By the way as non-smoking, non-drinking, non-gambling people my husband and I still had a great time. Maybe, it was just being together for the first time in fifteen years away from the kids. Crazy, but I still missed them. It is amazing to me how beautiful Vegas was, if you squinted your eyes and didn't make eye contact with any of the barely legal drunks stumbling down the road.

The Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris hotel.....Beautiful statuary and fountains in front of Caesar's Palace....

Blown glass umbrellas by Dale Chihuly in the foyer of the Bellagio. Stunning, truly stunning......