Let's Try This Again

Well, now it's been almost a year since my last post. Sigh. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this, but I'm going to try this one more time.

We've now finished the house we were building and have moved in AND we LOVE it!!! We have about 6 acres and we are really enjoying the peace and quiet here. We got way off track with our school work during the move, but we're now getting back on the right track and we're really enjoying what we're doing this year. We've had several math issues, particularly with facts, so I've decided to supplement with Mastering Mathematics. That's going well. We've also taken several detours in our language arts program this year, but are settling into just some basics with Rod & Staff. In the next few weeks, I'm going to be following the suggestions and ideas presented in The Writer's Jungle and maybe even using one of the Arrow studies from the BraveWriter website. We need to start making writing a part of every day now that the cursive writing is coming along.

The star of the year though has been Sonlight! We are loving it!!! Right now, we are reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody as our read aloud and the kids always beg for more. They are reading a Landmark biography of the Wright Brothers for their independent reader. They are also loving that, too. It has inspired them to pull out the Legos and build planes. For history, we're getting ready to head into learning about World War I. We're using Sonlight for this so we'll be reading from the Landmark History of the American People and Usborne's The World Wars. We'll also be using the Story of the USA workbooks. In science, we just finished reading a biography of Rachel Carson and it was such a great way to get them thinking about nature and living things all around them. We're focusing on biology this year and are getting ready to start a Corn & Beans TOPS unit that should be lots of fun. All in all, we have just really loved Sonlight.

For pleasure, we are reading Boomtown by Nowen N. Particular. It is a funny book, full of silly but clever wit that is entertaining for all of us. We found it through a recommendation of a friend and are only a few chapters into it. I'm hoping it holds up all the way to the end!

I'm planning a trip to IKEA later this week to get more Billy bookcases. We have a wall of 7 of them, but it's nowhere near enough for our land of story books. We've got boxes and boxes that were in storage during our year of building the house and I'm ready to pull them out and see what adventures are in store for us. Reading levels have grown and the little ones are ready for lots of the chapter books that have been packed away. It's so wonderful and such a blessing to have our big new school room to hold all these great books!

If I could figure out how to post pictures, I'd do that. Maybe I'll ask my sweet husband for help. Or, maybe we'll just read instead!

Still plodding along

I cannot believe that I haven't blogged in so long. Life just is so busy. I'm still trying to figure out how other people do this so often. Oh well. For what it's worth, I'm here today.

I'm going to write today and try to make my format more interesting tomorrow. Maybe I'll even add pictures. I figure if I can get this thing going and make it interesting, then maybe I'll even want to do it more.

Meanwhile, I'm busy praying about next year. We have big decisions to make with curriculum. So far, here's what it looks like:

History - Sonlight
Reading - Sonlight (coordinates with History)
Read Alouds - Sonlight
Bible - Postive Action for Christ
Grammar - Language Lessons for the Elementary Child
Spelling - Sequential Spelling & Spelling Wisdom
Math - Singapore 3A & 3B
Science - ???Sonlight 3 Science & Complete Apologia Flying Creatures of the 5th Day
Spanish - The Easy Spanish
Art - ???

The only thing I am totally committed to at this point is the Positive Action for Christ Bible for 3rd grade. We are doing second grade this year and we LOVE it. Each lesson includes a character trait focus and that's perfect. I really want my children to understand that "good character" really is the fruit of the Spirit and can only be genuine if it flows from the Lord. Anyway, the rest of the options are staying open until our state homeschool exhibition, GHEA. I can't wait to go and actually touch the stuff and look at it!

I'm praying that by the fall our house will be built and we can start fresh there. It would be so great not to have to move again in the middle of a school year. Either way, I've got to start the year with enthusiasm for learning rather than a focus on the house. Last year, I was in the middle of trying to prepare the old house to be sold. We listed it toward the end of August and we closed on the sale at the end of November, so for those 3 months there was a lot of "keeping everything perfectly clean", and a whole lot of loading up the car to leave so that somebody could come in and look. It really interrupted our homeschooling, but we persevered, just not in the way we like. Science experiments had to fall by the way and our other messy ways of learning did too. It won't be that way this time. Since we're renting this house, we aren't going to have to have it ready to show all the time right up until we move. So, even if the house isn't ready when we're ready to start our fall studies again, we can still do things the way we like.

Next time I'm going to post about our summer plans; we never really stop schooling, we just change things up a bit. I'm looking forward to a change of pace!

It's Been A Long Time Coming

Well, it's been a LONG time since I've posted, but we've been VERY busy. We did close on our house on November 28th, and had to be out on the 29th. It was WAY harder than I expected and I expected it to be killer! Does that tell you how it really went. Thankfully, God is faithful and just when I thought I couldn't take another thing, He came through with a sweet blessing.

So, now we are renting my sister-in-law and her husband's house. It has plenty of living space, more than we really need, but is sorely lacking in closets. Also, we went from having a basement to having none. It's a challenge every day. What really keeps us going is that we are getting closer and closer to building. Our contractor is doing all the legwork of getting the well dug and all those things in order in addition to getting final numbers from all the subs. It looks like maybe we'll really get started in March. With God's blessings of good weather, and I am NOT asking for less rain (I'd rather have major delays on the house than that), we could be in the house in August. That would be GREAT. I just don't want another year with a move in the middle, but I'll leave that to God. He knows exactly what I need to make me who He wants me to be.

In the meantime, things have been busy around here with all the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and all the treasures of everyday life. I'm determined to get back to posting regularly and sharing what we're doing, so I'll start with that tomorrow. For today, I'm just going to add a link to the picture that is almost identical to the house we've picked out. Looking at it keeps me going.

http://www.wlmartinhomes.com/images/wlhome_main.jpg

Just looking makes me so excited!

Sweet Sunday

Well, much of what some people would call "fluff" in our plans for last week did not happen. We had an offer on our house. It's not the kind of offer you LOVE to get; it has lots of contingencies. But, in this market, it is still a fairly decent offer. It did disrupt things though. Extra energy and time went to prayer and I mean lots of it. We are still hoping for he best and trusting the Lord for whatever outcome He brings. If all goes well, we will be moving out of our house very quickly, before the end of November.

My mind is tangled in what if and held back by probably not. I don't even have a great plan for the week. I'm so thankful that we plunged ahead with lots of our work last week; especially our math and language. Narrations were done beautifully and we did find ourselves in the middle of some of the real-life learning that simply happens when curiosity and good books come together. Handcrafts went by the wayside, but we added much in the way of scripture memory and have now almost successfully completed memory work on John 14:1-4.

God is sovereign and I must be faithful with the tasks with which He's entrusted me; I do not need to take on burdens He hasn't given me, so I'm going back to doing what I know I must. All the rest will fall into place in His perfect timing.

Monday Musings

It's a beautiful day here and we plan to enjoy time outside later this afternoon. We're doing leaf rubbings this afternoon. Maybe we'll build fairy houses, too!

This week's schedule for school for our younger ones:

Math - Measurements of length (Metric and US)
Language - Plural Nouns, Picture Study, and Creative Writing Narration of Picture Study
Memorization - Continue perfecting Ephesians 6:10-16 & Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson
Spelling Words - gardens, vale, autumn, bonfire, smoke, trail, pleasant, blazes, gray, seasons, bright, towers, summer, something, flowers
Nature Study - Make a nature study journal; Nature scavenger hunt; Nature walk - observations
Zoology - Notebooking habitats, biomes,instinct,extinct, endangered species, and fossils
Handcrafts - Monday - Thanksgiving Cards, Tuesday - Watercolor, Wednesday - Turkey napkin rings, Thursday - Autumn Hot Pads, Friday - Mobcap and Tricorner Hat
History - Paul Revere's Ride; Import/Export worksheet - The Light and the Glory Activity Book; Chapters 9-10 The Light and the Glory; Name the 13 colonies and work on memorizing the Preamble of the Constitution
Reading (Fluency) - Tippy Lemmy, The Paint Brush Kid, Jake Drake Bully Buster
Read Aloud - The Animal Family, Rabbit Hill, The Bible

For my personal reading, I've started Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. I'm also beginning my holiday check list and countdown for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't believe it will be here before we know it.

School for our older son is so much more independent. I am so pleased with what we chose for Bible. We chose "Rooted and Grounded" from Deeper Roots for our general Bible. We're also using "Don't Check Your Brains at the Door" for apologetics. In addition, we use BJU Geography, BJU Physical Science, BJU Spanish 2, Glencoe Geometry and Smarr Publishers Intro to Literature. I love the Smarr course; it includes great literature like The Importance of Being Earnest, White Fang, The Prince and the Pauper, The Merchant of Venice and more. It also includes a writing course with tips for improving writing and essay assignments of various types. We have been very pleased with that. It's a full day for our high schooler and a challenge to stay on track, but he is learning so much and really doing well.

I'm busy trying to revamp our schedule so that I'm doing all my fine-tuning of our weekly plans on the Thursday prior. I think it will make Monday mornings go smoother and we'll all be more productive. There never seem to be enough hours in the day, but I think this will make better use of them.

On that subject, I do have another recommendation. There is a wonderful cd that I got from Vision Forum that speaks to the subject of prioritizing and wise use of time. It's called Twenty-Four Hours is all you get. Here's a link:

http://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=Twenty-Four+Hours+is+all+you+get&productid=37952

I highly recommend it; it has been a blessing for me!

Happy Monday!

Vision Forum Contest from Life in a Shoe Blog

Okay, first day blogging and zipped over to a blog that someone recommended and WOW. You must take a look at Kim's Life in a Shoe blog! Here's your link for a fantastic contest, but be sure you look at her great blog: http://inashoe.com/?p=1853. Run, do not walk to this link; the contest ends tonight! So, I easily made my wish list from all the fantastic offerings from Vision Forum. My children literally wear our catalog out looking at all the things they love and want. So hurry over to Vision Forum and take a look yourself. Here's you link to their site:
http://www.visionforum.com/. I'm trying to get the link feature to work within my post, but I can't seem to get it to, so be sure you copy and post the complete links. Here they are again:

Kim'sBlog - http://www.inashoe.com/?p=1853
Vision Forum - http://www.visionforum.com

And here's my wish list:

Pouch of Ancient Coins #98550 $18
All American Boys Spy Cipher #83740 $12
Teach Them to Your Children #17820 $17
Regina's Colonial Dress(Size S) #11017 $49
Ladylike Nightgowns for Ladylike Girls (Sz S) #12015 $24
The Liberty Doll #72564 $89
The Adventures of Missionary Heroism #74642 $24
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God #84332 $16

Total $249

Thanks, Kim! Even if I don't win, the shopping was fun!

Living in the Land of Story-Books

There are two poems that I love that capture what I want for our children at home. One is "The Land of Story-Books" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Our home is truly the land of stories, not just for our little boy (as the poem is specifically about a boy), but for all of us. Seems to be a common thing among homeschooling families, but not so common elsewhere. To start this blog, I'm including the full text of the poem because I just think everyone should read it and be inspired to take little visits to their own "land of the story-books" no matter how old you are.

The Land of the Story-Books
by Robert Louis Stevenson

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.

These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.

I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.

So, when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story-Books.

More on my other favorite poem next time. Today, we'll be in the Brambly Hedge with Jill Barklem. Her Autumn Story is a perfect place for us today.

Until next time,
Suzanne