FREE Geography Course!!

FREE Geography Course from Brookdale House!  "Drawing Around the World: Europe" is yours for free just by clicking the link below!  Over 250 pages, this looks like a great resource for you homeschooling mamas.  Enjoy!!

http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/HSE/?c11441Le

Craziness of Life

Well, life has continued its crazy journey.  I'm so very thankful to say that the plumbing DID get fixed, though it took several more days and a trip to Lowe's for a longer snake!  My dh and I got to go away for the weekend to Gatlinburg, which is where we honeymooned, towards the end of August.  I love my kiddos, but it was really nice to get away, just the two of us, for a couple of days.  I was able to take said kiddos up to my parents for nearly a week right after that and attend the family reunion from my Mom's side.  I hadn't been able to go for several years, so it was great to take a week off school and visit with family.  My parents and I were able to can 25 quarts of tomato juice while I was there, which they kindly shared with me.  I opened a jar earlier, and now the smell of homemade marinara is wafting through my house as it. 

Home-grown tomato juice!

 School as been going well.  Weeks two and three were somewhat rough as there was a LOT of reading for my two rhetoric students.  They are extremely strong readers, so when they struggle with the amount of reading, I know it's pretty bad!  We pared a little, but mostly I just gave them the space they needed to get it done.  Some chores might not have gotten done exactly when they normally would, but it's all about give and take.  Things are going much smoother now.  My oldest still hates algebra, but it's not a tearful battle each day now!

My youngest is learning to read!!  I love seeing the look of wonder on her face when she sounds out a word for herself, and it does funny things to my heart when she jumps up and down clapping and shouting, "I'm reading! I'm reading!".  Yes, there are times when I want to pull my hair out when she isn't really listening, or just doesn't want to do her work, but it is more than made up for at these moments.

How is school going for you?  I hope everyone is having a great year so far!!

One of those weeks!

Did you ever just have one of those weeks?  We're definitely in the middle of one of those MONTHS right now.

The kitchen drain is backed up.  We thought we got it fixed last night, but it backed up again.  (Yes, I'm typing this as I procrastinate going to the basement and snaking the second half of the pipe!!)  One of the girls took the dog out and the handle fell off the front storm door!!  The battery died on the van, the truck is messing up, allergies are driving us crazy.....the list goes on, all while trying to homeschool with a new, rather intense curriculum.  How do you react to those weeks?  Tears, anger...laughter?!?  I drive my husband nuts at times.  I end up laughing.  Not a cute giggle, or a light laughter--nope, it's more the "I'm so tired that everything's hilarious and I can't stop belly laughing for anything" kind of laughter.  After all, when it's either laugh or cry, why not choose laughter?!?

All right.  I'm off to snake a drain.  Let's hope there's no more maniacal laughter in my near future!

Question Time!!

What is your absolute favorite non curriculum supplement for your basic subjects: Math, Science, History, Geography, or English/Literature?

I love using movies to supplement history and literature, and my girls love Google Maps for fun.  We're studying Ancient Egypt right now in TOG, so they've already watched a couple of short movies on Moses and/or Exodus.  Now we're getting ready to watch "The Ten Commandments".


Jump in and share your favorites!

And so, the year begins!

Well, technically, we began July 28th.  As usual, I'm a tad late getting on here and posting.

First day of school!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We're still trying to get used to using TOG, and it's not helping that weeks 2 and 3 are heavy weeks reading wise in history.  Some of the book are really hard for my girls to get into, but some of them they are thoroughly enjoying.  My freshman has decided she'll be happy to never talk about Ancient Egypt once we get past it!  There has been some frustration...and a few tears...but I just keep reminding them that this is a) a new curriculum and b) unfortunately, there's a couple of really heavy weeks right off the bat.  I really think once we get past this week, things will start settling out.

As always, there is tweaking going on.  TOS had a sale of a whole bunch of books, etc for $19 that also included a full year of Live Online Math video course, so we switched our freshman to that instead of Landmark's curriculum.  I unexpectedly got Writing Aids when I bought my TOG curriculum, so we're using that instead of the Write With Ease and Igniting Your Writing, though the 7th grader wants to try to use Igniting Your Writing as well once things level out.  As long as she's doing her other work, I'm great with that!  Italian is being a tad slow getting back into it, but as we started so early, and these first few weeks are harder getting settled in and the heavier load, I've given them a break and not made it mandatory until next week.  We're doing a combination of Rosetta Stone (they're starting Level II) and Duolingo which I love!  I think both programs have strengths and weaknesses, and I feel they really compliment each other well.

Little Bit is doing great in kindergarten.  We have our moments, but overall, I'm very happy with her progress.  I'd forgotten how...interesting it can be homeschooling one her age! lol  Things I'm SURE we'll struggle with we fly right through (see photo below), and things I think will be easy...are NOT!!  Who knew you could have so much trouble with ONES and fly right through the FIVES?!?

First time trying with NO help!

Well, time if flying on, and Little Bit is ready for me to help her in phonics. 

HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!!

Books!!

I'm a certified book-a-holic.  Nothing makes my day better than going to the mailbox and finding new books! :-)  Today was great as THREE came in all at once! 

Now, TOG is a book-heavy curriculum.  This will, I think, work well for our family as we are huge readers.  However, that gets pretty pricey over the long run.  I'm trying to use the library for most books that are only used for 1-2 weeks.  I'm also using my book swap websites for as many books as I can find through them.  Otherwise, I usually go to Amazon or Half.com.  I've gotten most of the books we needed but didn't have either requested from the library or on order.  The first three came in today! :-)  My oldest dd is only a freshman this year, so I realize the SAT book is a little early, but I mainly wanted it for the vocabulary.  TOG tells rhetoric students to start a vocabulary box, but little or no help on what vocabulary to use!  Hopefully, this will help with that issue.

Life happens! :-)

I'm getting a little bit overwhelmed at the moment, but I know that will pass.  We're less than 2 weeks out from starting school this year, but my summer did NOT go as planned.  (When does it ever?!?)  I started May with a very large kidney stone that forced me to have a lithotripsy to blast it.  I thought that would be the end of it.  Boy, was I wrong!! 

When I went for my follow up visit, I was informed that my calcium levels were high, and when you put that with parathyroid hormones that were through the roof, I was told I had hyperparathyroidism, and I needed surgery--soon!!  I wasn't so sure about that, so went home and started researching hyperparathyroidism.  Hmmm.  Come to find out, that one tiny (or in my case, NOT so tiny!) parathyroid gland can cause all kinds of problems--including my very large number of kidney stones!  I went to see the surgeon, and before I knew it I was scheduled for surgery.  I was expecting a quick surgery and easy recovery.  Unfortunately, once again, things did not go as planned!  My parathyroid gland was over 85 times as big as it was supposed to be which caused a larger incision, lengthier surgery, and fairly rough recovery.  I'm doing so much better, but I'm getting a little anxious about being ready for school in time!  On the plus side, the deep bone pain I was experiencing is GONE, and my blood pressure is normal again instead of all over the place like it was.  I have high hopes that the general "feeling bad", brain fog, memory issues, etc will resolve over time.

Yes, this has been a very rough summer for me.  Yes, school is rapidly approaching and I don't feel I'm ready yet.  However, God is good--ALL the time!!  I know God pointed me towards using Tapestry of Grace curriculum.  I have NO doubts that it is what He desires us to use.  Therefore, I know I need to rest in Him and be confident that He will see me through this!!   I'm sorry if this is a little muddled, but I still feel a little muddled! :-)  I'm confident that "this too will pass!"