Google AdSense NonSense

I just removed my Google AdSense ads ... all three of them. Why? They were advertising for "Phsychics" on my blog!! Usually, the ads are reflective of some wording on your blog. I have worried about what might be on these ads, but I have never seen anything bad come up or offensive to me..... until now.

And while I am at it... has anyone out there ever made any money from these ads? Supposedly, you are supposed to get checks in the mail. I have been using it for about 9 months and no checks have arrived in my mail. :)

Another Rocking Update!!

And a little while later today.....
We were in our school area and Sierra was walking Sahara around the room. I turned my back to talk to Savannah about cursive writing and suddenly Sahara started screaming. I guess that rocker that Savannah drug in her yesterday looked inviting to Sierra and she was trying to rock her baby, too! They are a hoot!!!

And one more funny thing kids say...
Caden: trianga-dul (trinagle)

Rocking Update!

Yesterday I about Savannah wanting to rock her baby. Sahara likes for us to hold her hands while we stand behind her and let her walk all of the house. So, today Savannah was walking her around the house and I heard Sahara screaming and I ran to check on her. I thought she got hurt, but it was just Savannah trying one more time to rock her! I told Savannah to stop torturing our baby. Does anyone out there have a baby we can borrow? :) Savannah would greatly appreciate it!

Flashback Fun Photos!

Yep, that is Savannah's finger poked in the mouth of her NEWBORN baby sister! (gasp!) But isn't it just so precious. Now when they are fighting we remind Savannah that she prayed to have this little baby sister. She prayed relentlessly that God would send her a baby sister... not a brother at that point in her life, but only a sister would do. We had many talks about how God would send us what we need and we would love it no matter what, but she was quite pleased to get her pick.

My kids never seem to get enough of babies and they always want another one.... although we are not planning to fulfill their requests ... hehehe! Tonight Savannah wanted so badly to rock Sahara, but Sahara was having nothing of it. She wanted her momma only and none of that rocking stuff from her sister. Savannah had even brought her little rocker in here and a pillow to prop "her baby" on. Savannah was so desperate to rock a baby that she tried to capture and force Caden to let her rock him, but he wasn't going for it either. I told her she needed to just get a baby doll and be done with it and she said, "I don't want a baby doll. I want a real live baby to rock!" It was so sweet and cute! So, I was looking through old photos and how appropriate that I would come across this one of Savannah and her baby Sierra. I LOVE it!

Getting To Know YOU Better

I was just wondering if everyone might enjoy sharing some information to get to know each other better. So, I think I will start with a list of questions and answer them below that. I think that will make it easier to copy and paste the questionaire. If you do not want answer a question just skip it... no problem.

1. How long have you homeschooled your kids?
2. Did any of them attend public school?
3. Did going into public school make it easier or harder to begin homeschooling them?
4. Do your kids attend co-op or other schooling (Pre-K)?
5. What activities do your kids attend outside of the home?
6. What do you drive (or what is your transportation method)?
7. Do you have another occupation?
8. What is your husband's occupation? Does he work a set schedule or shift work, travel, etc,?
9. Does your husband help much?
10. Do others help much?
11. What type of computer do you use, internet speed, wireless or wired?
12. Do you live in the country, town, suburb, or other? What state or region?
13. Do you like where you live?
14. Do you travel? Do you like to travel?

Okay, so I will start by answering my own questions. Also, feel free to add some questions that interest you. I will be happy to answer your questions. And PLEASE do not share any information that could endanger your family (address, etc.).

1. I have homeschooled my kids since November 1, 2008, so less than one year.
2. Savannah was in 2nd grade and Sierra was in Pre-K when I pulled them out. Two months into the year they had already closed school twice for hurricanes, so they had not really been in school much for the year. I think God may have been trying to tell me something because hurricanes hit our area when each of my girls were in Pre-K (and hurricanes aren't too common here... none in my life until Hurricanes Rita and Ike).
3. Sierra was not in school long enough to develop habits are have "set" expectations of what school was, so it has not affected homeschooling her. Savannah is totally affected by it. In some ways it has helped for me to see some of the techniques that were used to teach her and in a way sort of "teach" me to teach some. In many other ways it has hindered us because she has that idea of how school is and it is not all good. I know God had a hand in the wonderful teachers and public schooling that she experienced while she was in public school. She was always loved in her school and got extra attention that I know all kids are not fortunate enough to recieve. God placed (and moved her) in the very hands of teachers that could nurture her heart while I was not able to. Sierra, also... in her short experience.
4. My kids have not attended co-op or other schooling since we took them out of public school. We have changed churches to allow for more spiritual growth and I am happy to say that is working. At the new church my kids have more opportunites to do things like children's choir, etc., also. I have signed them up for co-op this year for the experience of being around more kids that are leading similar lives to theirs. I am not at all concerned about the classes, but I am sure they will enjoy those as an added fringe benefit.
5. This year our kids will attend church (Sunday and Wednesday, etc.), homeschool co-op, gymnastics (although I have enjoyed not going this summer), and I might check into 4-H. We tried Girl Scouts in the past, but our experience has not been to good with it. I might form a group of friends for some social time, if I get to feeling spunky, but don't hold me to it! ;)
6. I am in love with my van!!! Who knew that would ever happen?! I am a very practical person, so driving something "sensible" and boring is no surprise. I had a Dodge Caravan until I wrecked it in the mountains when I hit and ice patch, but I replaced it with a 2002 Toyota Sienna that I plan to drive until it falls apart. I actaully fantasy about something a tad bigger with a higher roof, a port-a-potty in it, and a bed! LOL! Weird, but I am sure you understand, right?!
7. Another job? Uh... who has time for another job!! I know some of you may have another income making job. I have in the past, but do not now. I keep my tax ID certificate current and claim some "sales", but I have not done much since I was pregant with Sierra. I have sold one-of-a-kind children's clothes that I made on eBay and locally. I had two booths in an Antique and Craft mall. One was for selling my handmade children's things and the other was a retail booth selling purses, windchimes, and various decor. Hmmm... and at some point I had an antiques booth, although I don't fully remember all that. ;) I am always finding something to keep me double busy, but I have learned to stop. Oh yeah, I have done the festivals and flea market sales circuit with my "ventures" as well. FYI: Local festivals are where the profits are at!
8. My husband is a public school teacher (7th grade English) with his Master's degree. We are thinking he may have committed job suicide when we decided to homeschool. ;) Maybe one day he will be able to get a principal position, but I am quite proud that he is willing to sacrifice his career potential for his family. He works Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Occassionally, he has to work a school dance or football session stand, but for the most part he is off when the students are out of school. He goes to work a couple of weeks earlier than the students at the beginning of each school year. Each summer he usually has a random workshop to attend. He travels to a conference 1-2 times a year. In the past he has taught summer school for a few weeks during the summer, but not this past summer. School starts back with his students tomorrow and he is always nervous, so he is acting weird today. By the way, his students LOVE him and he is a local celebrity in our town. Very cute!!
9. My husband helps with everything!!! He does dishes, laundry, bathes kids, braids hair, runs bedtime duty... the whole nine yards.... we are in it together and it takes more than me to get it all done. I really cannot rely on anyone but him. Others offer, but there are usually scheduling issues, etc.. Most the time I just don't ask rather than be told no. Cody takes a day off, if I have something I just absolutely cannot take the kids to.... very rare, though.
10. I have an older PC that runs XP that I gave the kids when I got my baby... uh, I mean, computer.... so sad, but I am so addicted to this thing. It is a pink Dell Studio laptop, all wireless, built-in video thingy for Skype, etc., has wierd things like a fingerprint reader, and way too much technology for my little brain. We are all wireless in the house now for printers, etc. and I love that. With the laptop I can cook and print a worksheet from the kitchen and take it with me where I go to rock the babies (usually my school room desk or my recliner). And my icing on the cake is that we have DSL through AT&T.... ahhhh, heaven!! They had to slow down my connection a bit right after I got it, but I can't tell and it saves me $10 more a month. I can click on your blog link and it loads before I can snap my finger!!! LOVE it!!! And I ask this question because I often wonder if anyone has to wait for my stuff on my blog to load.... that is why I recently deleted my music. I could tell it was slowing down my blog.
11. I live in a small town in Southeast Texas. The school here is a 3A school, although it was 4A when went to it years ago. I live in the "old town" area with the historic homes, although it has not been declared a historical area... not touristy here. My house is over 100 years old and I can walk to the vintage movie theater about three blocks away. It takes me five minutes to get to Wal-Mart or any other store in town and my husband has a round trip one mile commute to work. We are both from the country, but we are loving the convience of town life. Yes, we still fantasize about more land (we have one full acre here after buying and additional 1/4 acre) and such things on a DAILY basis. Just today we were pondering our options. My husband said we should buy some acreage just for recreation and I suggested that joining a hunt club lease might be more ideal and then, we could have four wheelers, etc.. I know God will open a door if he intends us to have "land"... even in the middle of town!! I am hopeful! :)
12. We love where we live, but as you can guess in the above answer there are some things we long for... nothing we need or can't live without. Our biggest thing is that our families, etc. all live 45 minute drives and two hour drives away. They all moved after we did, so it is not in our control. Also, two hurricanes in a three year period kind of got us freaked out, too. Hurrican recovery is not for the faint of hear, but I guess you have something to worry about everywhere you live... earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes... you can't control all that stuff, so I think we will stay where God has us... unless he gives us a clear sign to move.
13. I LOVE to travel, but I am content to travel in the U.S.! There is so much to see in this beautiful country that I want to see it all before I move on to bigger things. We went to Cancun for our honeymoon, but we love to go to Colorado more than any other place. I have been to about half the states, but Cody has been to less. We love the mountains and we even talk about living there someday or packing up and just leaving. Who knows! Right now there are just some things that hold us here... family... and knowing that God put us where we are.

So, it's your turn and you can keep it short if that is more your style. You can answer in my comment section or do a blog post. If you do a post, come back here and post the link in the comments. And one more thing... don't make me have to tag you. There are some of you out there that I really want to know some of these things about!!! If you don't answer I am going to harass you tag you, if you are one of my "followers"! LOL!

Eight Years... Looking Back... Inviting YOU

You are invited to see my HOME!!

Well, this is just weird, but what I want you to do is go to the END of this post and start reading there. Technical difficulties (I mean, brain difficulties) have made me post my pics backwards and I just don't have the patience to fix it or reload pics. So, play along with my game, okay? We'll just pretend I did this on purpose, okay?! :) Okay, so start from the end and read each paragraph under the pic after you read this paragraph. So, I am home alone and I started looking back at some old pics and let's just say a lot has changed in our lives. Remember ... go to the end NOW.

I just realize I need to make sure you realize that is Savannah in the costume above... whoa, she looks just like the pic on the sidebar of Sahara.... Our kids really are clones of each other!!! LOL!

And for whatever reason I feel like showing off my little ladybug in her costume that I made for her. She had hosiery on her arms to make her black and her wings snapped off to go in the car seat. See.. I told you she was "cheesy". Go look in my sewing category to see some pics of her modeling the one-of-a-kind children's clothes she used to model for me. She is a natural model, but we don't do that anymore. It was a huge hindrance in our lives. Weed out the hindrances!!! I just feel like passin on advice today. :) And before I close I want to make sure that I say that God sent us to this house... against our will even... He knew what He was doing and it is only recently that I have really started to see the profoundness of it. I have always know it, but even more now. Strange how God reveals His plan for our lives!!! TRUST GOD AND HIS PLAN!!! (I hope you are reading this Bridget!)

Around this same time we went to Johnny Carino's for our very first time and this was our date out with Savannah because she went with us everywhere (and they all still do). Little did we know this would become our favorite family restaurant. YUM! You can also see where all my kids get their curls from in this pic. When I was little my hair was the exact color of their hair, so one day I guess they might all have my black hair, too. Interesting... time will have to tell that story.

This is a "glimpse" of the interior .... can you say NEUTRAL... lots of beige and off white. I LOVED it... Loved being past tense. After about three years I started painting and re-doing and adding LOTS of color. I'll have to invite you back to see the inside sometime and some of my projects ...and my R~A~I~N~B~O~W of colors.

Just another view. I know it may not look all glamorous, but I can remember feeling like I stepped on the cover of Southern Living magazine... and were you paying attention when I said foreclosure. So, if I have any advice to give it is to check into foreclosed homes, BUT make sure you know what you are getting and the extent of needed repairs. And if you are buying a 100 year old home like this be prepared to have some projects. I have to say ours were minimal because the previous owners (Mr/Mrs C) had already done the major updating. We got this house for a steal.... but you have to know that we could not of afforded another dime. Our other option would have been to buy a much different type house... and much smaller. And if you envy us at all... let me remind you of the saying about "blood, sweat, and tears" because this house has had it's share from us.

This is the veiw from the back corner of the lot (3/4 of an acre) and the deck was a God thing!!! Thanks to Hurricanes Rita and Ike I am missing two of these trees now and the fullness the other trees used to have, but things happen and God spared our home. What a blessing!

You start to get a little better idea of the size of this house when you look at it from the sides. My daddy in "inspecting" it. Don't those dead azaleas make beautiful hedges? Uh, yeah... they needed that overhaul I gave them later.

And this is where we live now! This is what it look like when we first saw it. I have to tell you I am known for what some call having "vision" and a "green thumb". This house had been foreclosed on SEVERAL years earlier and the bank was letting it be used as a rental property. They were renting out a 3500 squate foot house for $600 a month!!!! Uh, do you have to be suprised that the tenants would not maintain it properly!?! The original owners (who are our current neighbors... Mr/Mrs C) had beautiful landscaping when they lived here. You so those horrid looking scraggly bushes on the right side? Those are all azaleas and they are all around the house, but at this point they were mostly dead. I got in there and cut them all back to healthy and got all the dead out and amazingly saved them. I even surprised Mr/Mrs C. They thought it would all die. Honestly, I had my concerns, but they looked awful. By the way, we thought this was a small house when we first saw it. It's frontal view is very decieving.

I had to include this pic of Savannah's big ole smile. She was and still is sooooo "cheesy"! No need to "say cheese" to get her to smile. I use this Pooh blanket even now with Sahara. Look close in the entertainment center and you will see VCR tapes, which are almost obsolete!... makes a person feel old! :)

I am struck by how young I look here... BECAUSE IT WAS EIGHT YEARS AGO! Wow! I think I was 28. My daddy helped me build this house and I paid for it as we built it in my early twenties while Cody and I were dating. Cody would come over and visit (and work). I lived in it single for a year and then, we got married and he moved in. He proposed to me on the front porch and we married in 1995. Five years later we had our first child, Savannah, in 2000. I thought I would live in this little house my whole life, but things change and decisions have to made sometimes that we never plan for. In this case, this house was SMALL... I built it with a plan to be single, so it was bursting at the seams with a family of three in it. The intention was to add on to it. I intentionally designed it the way I did with an additional floor plan for that add on, but ten years ago when my daddy had and emergency five bypass heart surgery I decided I would rather have debt and my daddy living. It was not a hard choice for me, but it was hard to leave that little house behind. In the pic you see there is an open room with baby furniture and clouds on the wall. That was really the dining room until Savannah came into our lives. I turned that little 8 X 10 dining room into a nursery for her and we squeezed a small drop-leaf table into the 12 X 14 kitchen. It was perfect really.... although it was cozy. We knew we were going to want one more child (Ha!), so it would quickly become too cozy without the add-on. I began searching for larger home and we would later move when Savannah was eight months old.

Read My Previous Post, Then Read This

Here is the link to my previous post

and want to

SHOUT OUT a H~U~G~E

THANK YOU

to all of you for your comments!

All of you have left me such wonderful AND HELPFUL comments! Thank you so much!
Catherine, I put that orange poppy there as a daily reminder, but I have not been looking at it lately. I will!!! I actually want to literally write a few of those things like that on the walls of my house. I thought about taking all the colorful "school" posters down and stenciling verses, etc. on my classroom walls.

Jennifer, I did decide to take the math slower than you are supposed to, but guess what? I have not been..... eeeekkk... my fault... We use A Beka and I like it, but I think it moves too fast. I want to slow it way down and I have to. I bribed Savannah and got some of the work done tonight, but now I am feeling ridiculous for it. I mean, really.... what did I accomplish? How quickly I forget that the whole reason I chose to homeschool was to spend QUALITY TIME with my kids. Also, our house is full of distractions as I am sure you can guess. I am holding a fussy baby or even a happy noisey baby while teaching and a two year old is throwing Legos around the room while tackling the baby or whatever. Meanwhile, I am teaching Kindergarten right next to Savannah, so she wants to watch some of that.... I mean, Kindergarten is so darn fun; who wouldn't want to do it!? I have looked into Math-U-See and it may be in our future, but I like the A Beka stuff on some level. I also realized that the My Father's World curriculum that I have been checking out uses Singapore Math and I got to thinking that it might be a good choice. I was all set to let her do her math alone tomorrow, but I am thinking that I might just play some cards with her. She will be shocked! I might through in some flashcards.... she actually likes some of them, but we never do them. I have the funnest set for doubles that we made together (I'll have to do a post about those). Maybe I need to do some more things like that, too.

Quinn, I have actually thought that she and Jared sound similar (which is why I had no real solutions to send your way... hehehe). Poor you, too! Seriously, I am joking.... they are a blessing and I keep trying to remind me that their differences are who they are. I don't want to ruin something special in Savannah just because I don't get it. Of course, I know that I was not doing nearly the level of math that she is when I was that age. I should just let her play and be a kid. On that note, we have totally cut back on screen time stuff. They are probably a bit in shock, too. Suddenly, everything in their lives is changing. They might be watching an hour of TV a day. They are not thrilled with that, but they are liking some of the new things we are doing instead. Both the girls have a Nintendo DS (from grandma), but they don't play much because they zombie out. They have not played in over a week. I wouldn't mind if they play a few times a week, but I limit them to mostly when we need some entertainment for them and I need something to do. I think seperating her for the worksheet stuff or doing on "her" time is going to be helpful... hopefully. I think we have got to add more game time to our home. There is so much to learn in just playing a game. And you are so right... "Anything that causes us to lean upon the Lord is a good thing and in that, you're day was a good day". I just wish in the midst of it He would drop a roll of duct tape from the sky for me to put over my mouth! ;)

I just had to do a seperate post for this because I wanted to make sure you all know how truly HELPFUL your comments were for me. Isn't blogging fabulous!! One day I am going to be saying, "I love homeschooling" and it is going to be due to the fabulous support I get from all my bloggy friends! THANK YOU!!!

Searching

I was having a rough time with Savannah today and I just can't help feeling that we are not doing this homeschooling thing right even with all the changes I've made. Today should have been perfect... I awoke to my husband having the older two girls all ready for the day and shortly after Caden awoke while I was dressing. My husband dressed him and had them all eating breakfast by the time I came in a few minutes later with Sahara still in her pj's. My husband quickly left for work. Everyone was in good spirits and I was thinking this was going to be a most glorious day. Until..... I started trying to get things accomplished. Not big things... Just simple things that you have to do to get through the day like clearing the table and moving on to brushing your teeth, so you can get on with the rest of the day. Once we moved on to homeschooling it just seemed to have a snowball effect. Things went from bad to worse. It is not a matter of capability, but rather of distractability and lack of focus. I just got in the "I can not do this" mode. So, I went searching for "how to love homeschooling". I really want to love it and not just endure it. Does this speak to anyone out there. I know most of you out there seem to love homeschooling, but I am just not there completely. I was loving it over the last week and a half, but that is not much of a track record. Guess what? Nothing comes up when you do that search, by the way, so I typed in "love homeschooling" and eventually came to this link http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SandyinMD/223183/?#c1334073 written in 2006. Go read it. Okay, so maybe I just still have to give myself time to adjust to this life. It's a major life change. And as I ponder it I recall that when Savannah went off to preschool, etc. that was a major life change, too. I had to adjust to that and I did to some degree.... I mean, you feel like you have to do that and you really do not have a choice... or, at least, I felt that way. With homeschooling it is all a choice. And because it is not the norm it is a very intimidating choice. Okay, so I am confident in my choice, though... okay, so maybe it doesn't sound that way, but I have had a hard day at this today. I am not confident in my abilities. I started out not being confident in my abilities to actually teach, but I am over that. It is more than that... I am not confident in my ability to make it enjoyable and they actually learn. I can get them to play all day... even with some learning mixed in, but by the time they are Savannah's age (3rd grade) and sooner they have more they need to learn than I can teach without a worksheet. I can not teach division, etc. without a worksheet. I can explain the process, but they still have to have the worksheet to apply what we learn. So, it frustrates me when we sit here for 30 minutes and I look down and there is nothing written on a page!!!.. and they are staring around a room. So, anyway... I have searched and I am changing, yet another thing in our homeschool day. We will do all things "schooly" and then, Savannah will go of somewhere on her own to do her math. Maybe she will get it done that way. Arghhhhh!! I just hope that works, because public school starts next week and it was looking like a good option today.... I know, I know... I can't even think that way!! There is just no going back... only moving forward and I have to learn with them how to cope!! Recently, a homeschool mom told me (in a workshop presentation) that when you start homeschooling you have to deal with your own issues and that she learned she has an anger issue. I have many issues and I have to learn to deal with them... and NOW! Double Argghhhhhh!!! So, I am trying and I am trying to step up and really be the mom that we all should be trained to be... only we missed the treaining session by about a hundred years. :) I have always wanted to spend time with my kids, but now that I am it is so hard that for the first time ever I find myself wanting not to. It's not that I don't want to be with them, it is just that the pressure to succeed at this is so overwhelming. Anyway,... I could type a novel, but my husband just drove up and life must go on... back to the reality of it all. Thanks for following my craziness. Hope it helps you all not feel this way, otherwise writing this is all in vain. We have to fight these crazy feelings.

Favorite Things for School

If I had to choose on favorite thing for my school supplies it would be:

This name plate is made by Carson Dellosa and can be purchased at many school/office supply stores or ordered through www.carsondellosa.com . It comes in several styles and various of age specific details. The choices make it match up with how you choose to teach:

1. Traditional Manuscript
2. Modern Manuscript
3. Traditional Cursive
4. OR Modern Cursive

You also choose the grade level:

1. Grades PK-1 (includes name line, upper and lowercase alphabet with stroke lines, alphabet pictures, 0-20 number line, 8 shapes and shape names, left and right hand icons, 10 labeled color crayons, and 18” ruler)
2. Grades 1-3 (includes a name line, alphabet upper and lowercase alphabet with stroke lines, 0–30 number line, 11 shapes with names and colors, 12 inch ruler, a hundreds board and addition chart
3. Grades 3-5 (includes name line; upper and lowercase alphabet with stroke lines, 0-12 multiplication table; place value chart with words, fractions, and numerals; fraction and decimal equivalents; and standard and metric rulers)
4. I also have one that includes name line; upper and lowercase alphabet with stroke lines, place value chart with words, fractions, and numerals; 0-30 number line; left and right words; days of the week, months of the year; money photo chart with amounts. (I am not sure which this is, but I have the item number, if anyone needs it.)
   

The down side is that they come in a pack of 36. Or this is the upside... depending on your viewpoint. I went in with a friend and split the cost and we each kept 18 of each that we bought. It would be great for several people (or a whole co-op) to split up and split cost.... or you could always share some with other homeschoolers as a little gift.

Anyway, this is my favorite thing. It is great for the kids to have this right in front of them all the time on their desks rather than a bunch of posters around the wall. This one thing can replace several reference posters. Let me know what you think of it and share your favorite thing!

First Day of School (Follow-up Post)

Just in case I left some of you wondering what I was talking about in my previous post "First Day of School" when I said that I would be making some changes in our homeschool. Here it is:

First of all, I want the Bible to be the center of our curriculum. Now that does not mean I will not have a heavy focus on academics, but rather Bible will be front and center. I don't have all the details of this worked out just yet, but I am trusting God to teach me and give me direction a little at a time. I do know these things. I will start the day with prayer requests and prayer, reading scripture, discussing and repeating scripture, and including the Pledge to the Bible and the Pledge to the Christian flag. I know if my kids can say a pledge to the U.S. flag they should be pledging their allegiance to God's Word and Christianity. I know that I will teach academics from a biblically based perspective. I started out focused on academics, but somewhere along the way you start to realize that the two can not be seperate.

One thing I will do is have the kids write Bible verses for copywork and make scripture memorization a part of our schooling.

We will sing hymns and children's Bible songs, as well as, introduce them to a variety of Christian music. We have realized recently that my husband and I grew up listening to a lot of music, but we are not surrounding our own kids with music. If you asked them their favorite song I really do no think they would have an opinion about it. That troubles me, so I intend to change that. And if I am going to put music in their heads well it might as well be Christian. Of course, we will still sing Mary Had a Little Lamb and "clean" secular music. Looking back most of the music I grew up on was just not "clean".

We will end by lunch unless we just want to continue with something the kids are wanting to do.

We will work at their pace, but during the allotted time for an assignment (i.e. Math, etc.) once the time runs out we will put the assignment back in their folder. They will be allowed to complete uncomplete assignments during a "Seatwork Time". I can already see this will help us stay on schedule for ending at lunch.

I am not going to be a slave to curricula. Phonetics/Grammar and Math build on each other, but I am not going to try to "do it all". As long as they master the concepts we are not going to make ourselves crazy trying to complete everything. By the way, I like teach using a Content Mastery approach. If they know "x" information, then we move on. From time to time we can review it to make sure they know it. If they do not know "x" information we are going to stop right there and learn it. That might just mess up our lesson numbers, but oh well. The whole point is to learn, right!

I want to do less textbook stuff and more hands-on. Instead of doing patterns on a worksheet we will do patterns with our Lego's, etc..

Afternoons are not going to be for TV time and DS games, etc.. (Well, maybe some..., but I want them to enjoy the things we are doing so much that they want to spend the whole day doing it.... uh... we'll see how that goes) I do want them to be kids, but I do not want them missing out on life because they are vegging out in from of a TV, etc.. I want them to learn to enjoy other things more than normal kids of today.

We are going rise early, get dressed, have breakfast, and start our school day by approximately 8:00 a.m. daily.

Okay, so that is some of what I meant by the changes we are making in our homeschool. So, what are you doing different this year?

So, here it goes.... the sure to be lengthy post about our schoolroom. I could just share some pics, but no... not me. ;) There's so much to the story that has brought us to this point in our lives. I feel you need some of that information to understand it all better. I'll try to shorten it some (a tiny little bit). I like details, so I tend to be overly detailed as if you realyy need the whole story of my life... LOL!

First, I have to brief you about my house some. It was built in approximately 1905 and is said to be the oldest house in our town (not so sure I believe that, but ya just never know). The realtor tricked us into viewing it as we kept saying we didn't want to. We thought it was in a different area of town. She was convinced it was just what we were looking for. And she was so right. It was everything and double more than what we dreamed of. The day we walked in it the first time I remember saying, "I hope God doesn't expect me to fill this thing up. At that time Savannah was an eight month old only child and we were still slightly under the assumption that WE could control the plans for our life! Ha! We have changed so much!! Anyway, we were dreaming of a standard plain Jane 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a great yard and not a mountain of projects to do. Our one extra was that I wanted a little deck in the back yard for outdoor celebrations. And... I must mention that I am c~h~e~a~p, so you have to know that only God could work this thing out. The house was under foreclosure and the bank was wanting to get rid of it. They had kept it as a rent house for several years and were ready to be done with it.
Okay, so this post is about so much more than our school room really. It is about a work God started in our life long before I could ever imagine it this way. It's about a home with lots of space for our family and a room that could never quite seem right no matter the decor. It was just a room to clean and exist with no real purpose. I had furniture, but it always looked boring and stuffy even though it was the place the kids could hang out. And I always felt like it was like dungeon for the kids to be in. I always wanted to make it very kid like with bright colors and giant bean bags or something like that all around the room, BUT it was the living room for this house and right off the front entry area. I felt I had to have it look like a living room, so I finally made it the last room re-do in this house and we painted and changed up the decor. I was done with it, but it still never really felt "right". I now understand why.... God had a different plan. In all it's chaos it feels "right" now. In the last nine months I have made many changes, but I think I have it how I want it now for the most part. There are some things I still want to do and get a bit more organized, but that will come in time. Without further ado I present to you our homeschool room.

I am only starting with this pic by accident, but so be it. This is a recent find. My husband thought it was junk not fit to keep. I saw something much more. Actually, I saw so many different things in it's potential that I had to just choose and go with it this way. It is a simple frame with chicken wire on it. Also, there were two chalkboards (both have and x, y graph and one even has the numbers and is much nicer than the one shown in the pic). I put one on each side of the frame and tied it on with ribbon with bows. Simple clothespins hold all sorts of art on the upper part. The whole thing makes a divider for the room and, if necessary, will be a great divider for my highly distractable older child. I can't believe this was being thrown away... until I came along! :) Yes, I have no shame and pay careful attention in this post because I am going to reveal just how cheap I can be. And I firmly believe in making use of what you have available or waiting until something IS available.

Divider Screen that doubles as two chalboards and art display = $0

This is the smallest wall i n the room because it has doorways at both ends. Just for the record, if you have not spent money on all these posters for learning... don't. That is my advice. They are great, but my kids don't really look at them. They look at their books and the posters are just not necessary for a class with so few kids. Save your money. Anyway, since they are there I am leaving them for now, but I am not sure how long. I just do not like the clutter on the wall. I am still defining what I want to leave in that space, so it is likely to change drastically in the next few weeks.

The book shelf.... Ahhh! I love this book shelf because it is soooo huge and it was $20 from a hair salon sale. I picked up the colored bins at a children's resale shop for 5 for $10 and the black bins were $1 each at the Dollar Tree. This shelf is loaded down with craft supplies, curriculum books, extra workbook supplies. The Little Tikes easel was a secondhand find a long time ago and is great for dragging around to whatever location to work with the kids rather than do workbooks.

The two tables in the middle were part of a find at a Yard Sale. They were not exactly what I was wanting, but for $5 each they became "what I was looking for"... LOL! Told you I was cheap! They are heavy wood and even though I think they are ugly I know that if I ever so desire I can paint the wood a cheery color and even replace the Formica top. For now I am leaving them as they are because we plan on truly using them... and let me just say that when I can I am ripping out the carpet in this room and we will be painting in here with no worries.

Oh yeah, I say I am cheap, but I spend money on important things. If you look closely at the table that Caden and Sierra are sitting at is LOADED DOWN with my THSC Convention purchases. A little visit to the My Father's World booth and I left there with the Pre-K Package and one more item from the Lauri set of toys they sell, plus a wonderful Wee Sing CD with songbook. Whooo-hoo! They are sooooo fun for the kids. That one purchase probably made all the difference in my kid's first day of school this year. At $130 it might be the most expensive thing in the room! LOL!! We also bought the kids a Connect Four game and they are loving that.

Here you see the screen, again. The third table in front of the piano is what we use for the girls' desks. It is the tallest of the three tables and I purchased the two black chairs from Wal-Mart for $20 each. I have a desk beside theirs that I bought from my neighbor a few years back ($20, also) and I sit opposite them in a rocker that I purchased at auction (another $20). Keep in mind that some of these items were purchased with different plans for them, but if they fit the need then I recruit them for the current use. The rocker is necessary for rocking my babies to sleep while I teach. My desk was originally purchased as my fabric cutting table. The piano drives me crazy is a wonderful thing to have available in case my kids ever take an interest in it... other than banging the keys and making my head spin. ;) It was free!! I must not complain, because really who gets that kind of blessing!!??? My husband can play it by ear and Caden seems to really love it and all things musical. Currently, I will be using it to display posters for the current letter of the day, etc.. :) The Bass Fiddle (or whatever you call it) is my husband's. He got it as a teenager from his parents. Believe it or not he used to play a washtub base.... yeah, a washtub with a stick in it and a string to pluck... weird, but very cool... in a very weird, hokey, country bumpkin way! His whole family plays instruments (fiddle, banjo, guitar, bass, piano, etc.) I play my voice.. Hehehe!

Okay, back on subject... If you look close there is a small desk under the window to the right of the piano. It has some of my junk on it that I have to go through and has storage tubs under it to hide some things I need to go through. I will do that soon and then, put two little chairs there for a desk for my two little ones. They will be able to color as they look out the window, if I can get them to sit still long enough. HA! In the corner is a stack of chairs that I got on clearance at Wal-Mart last month (not in picture). I just could not find what I really wanted, so I jumped on these at $5 each... Uh, I bought twelve. Yep, crazy, but they work to sit around all the tables and another great thing about these chairs and our three tables is they can also be used for parties and when someone comes over for dinner. Above the stack of chairs I have an American flag hanging and posters for the pledges (U.S. flag, Christian flag, Bible). I actually think these are posters worth having whether you buy them or print them yourself.

Another thing you can't see is my sewing area. Behind my desk is an area that takes up about six feet wide. I have SOME of my sewing stuff there and the rest upstairs in two armoires. I keep my serger and sewing machine downstairs where I can get to it when I want to. It may be moving for the first time in eight years, though. The verdict is not out on that just yet. I have thought about leaving it here, so I can sew while I teach, and rock babies, and multi-task like a crazy woman. Uh... yeah, it might be moving into the next room. I'll let you all know what I decide.

By inviting you into my home to see my homeschool classroom I am really having to get over what you may think of my mess. Just close your eyes... I can't stand chaos and things "out of place", but I am having to just get over my perfectionism issues. Peer through the windows in this room and you will see all the stuff we are getting rid of in what is supposed to be a relaxing little sunroom. We never use that room anyway, so it is out of the way there. Okay, now that is off my chest I can proceed. The Rose Cottage was purchased for Sierra's birthday last year (secondhand, also), but got added to this room for a "reading cottage". The shutters on the window or a great cluttery spot to hang more artwork, although I am going to try to avoid it if I can.

This wall has three large credenza style desks lined in a row and you are gonna want to shoot me when I tell you I acquired these in an online auction and did not even know what condition they were in. I won these for a whopping $3 TOTAL !! The pic does not really do them justice, but they are in great condition with flourescent light attached to each one and a large sliding keyboard/supply tray. There is a wonderful storage shelf on the top and a shelf along the bottom for sitting a computer tower, books, and supplies. I was planning to move the books down their, so the kids could reach them better. That was until this week when I realized that Sahara could reach them better, also. Time to start moving some things UP! Seriously, I did not need these desks, but my kids are going to grow older and we will have them. Until then we are going to use them for "centers" areas. So, the kids might come in one day with a puzzle center or a science activity set up. On one end we have our old computer that now belongs to the kids for school, etc. All the stuff in this room is very versatile and that is what I like about it.

Some questions you might have:

• Do I think all this is necessary? No, I do not. I just happen to have the space and I kept finding good deals. I do think that the more versatility I have in the classroom the better. I also bought 130+ books for 10 cents each this summer and now I have space to store them on the desk credenza shelves. As for desks/tables I think you just need a good comfortable spot for the kids to sit with good postioning for writing. I do not think that sitting on a couch, etc. is a good place for learning handwriting because I think they need a stable writing surface.
• Do I NEED all those books? Well, it keeps me from dragging four kids to the library and I worry about losing books amongst our books. I do think that you are just as well off in many ways if you only had twenty books and those twenty books were read consistently over and over. For us the best way to acquire books is to buy one or two special books throughout the year as gifts and the rest are purchased at Goodwill, other resale shops, and yard sales. It is amazing how many books we buy this way that are obviously brand new.
• Why not just school them in other areas of the home? or outside? We tried that last year and I thought that was the way I wanted to go. I got to thinking that having a classroom was unnecessary and schooling should just become life, but then I changed my mind... that simple... a girl has a right to change her mind. This way all the stuff is in one room. I do not think as homeschoolers that we should try to recreate the classroom setting (even though it might look like it in my pics). On the other hand I can have all the kids in this one room and oversee what is going on and I think it will work for us right now to really be watching and guiding their behavior/character. School will also go on in the kitchen, backyard, and the rest of the home. We might do a spelling test in the car or in the kitchen, so we are not limited to being in this room.
• Insert YOUR QUESTION here. If you have any questions that come to mind feel free to ask away and I will answer.

First Day of School

We had a G~R~E~A~T first day of school today! I was so thrilled. I let it be a low-key fun day based on our new materials, new schedules, new expectations, and new habits (mine and theirs). I focused my energy on gently correcting behavior (most of the day... this evening I blew a fuse... confession). The kids truly enjoyed the school day and so did I.

Tomorrow Cody goes back to work and I will squeeze in some of their academic studies and a new technique for behavior/character training called "Imitators of God" that I purchased through www.heavenlyhomemakers.com (download for $2.95). It is so cute, so go check it out (and look for her free downloads as well). Each of my kiddos will be growing their own "tater" patch in our school room. Hmmm.... maybe I need to grow one, too. I also will start them out with a new Accountability Chart. I am kind of marrying "I Did My Chores" with "Accountable Kids" and my own ideas and later I will try to do a post on it to let you know how it all goes. I love both those programs, but I am throwing them together to get it going quick, but without losing some of the concepts that I love about making them truly accountable for themselves. I do not have time or energy to waste on checking off chore charts and I want something they can do themselves with less guidance than some of the other systems.

Anyway, I am off to dig around in some of their academic studies and see what I can get organized for tomorrow. I can't wait to have some time to share some of the MAJOR changes I am going to make in our homeschool. I already don't grade or test, so it is not that simple.... yep. I am gonna definitely be one of those weird homeschoolers afterall.... details later.... keep you waiting a bit.... :) Yeah, today's theme for my multiple posts seems to be about those weird homeschoolers! :) Goodnight! If I get a chance I might do one more post tonight..... crazy me!! What an exciting day....

Homeschool Conference Observation

Interesting observation:

On the way home from the THSC Convention

my husband mentioned that what stood out to him

was that EVERYONE was so nice and polite.

They would ALL hold the doors open for you, etc..

So, I don't guess I mind so much

if my kids are weird like that!! ;)

The Last Conference of the Summer... I think ;)

Well, we made a last minute decision to attend the Texas Home School Coalition Convention and I am so glad we did. Crazily, this is the third conference I have attended this summer. I attended one at the beginning of the summer and it was a blessing in the end, but not quite what I was thinking it would be. I walked away with a lot to think about... some good... some not so good. In the end it was a major turning point in my thinking... like I said, some good... some bad. I have spent the summer really sorting through my thoughts and my mixed feelings. A couple of weeks ago I seriously started thinking that maybe homeschooling might be a mistake after all. Anxiety began to set in about the beginning of our homeschool year. Conviction reminded me that God had revealed to me that if I could just look at it long term, then I would see it would be the best thing for our family.

This summer I also got a glimpse of homeschooling that I did not like as much... I won't go into all that, but I have seen a side to it that does not appeal to me as much. My kids are in a position to be hurt by the decision to homeschool in some ways that are hard for me to come to terms with. I have seen their hearts being broken some this summer and my kids are already used to too much heartbreak within relationships outside the doors of our home. Now I do realize I can not protect them from all heartbreak, so we made another important decision this summer that I initially did not want to do. I decided to enroll them in a local homeschool co-op where they will attend classes twice a month. I am not interested in the classes really, but rather have made this decision in an effort to encourage the forging of new friendships with children that are leading similar lives to theirs. So, yes... we did decide to continue homeschooling.

The next thing I did was attend a smaller local conference that made it's debut. The Mid-County Home School Confence and it was such a blessing. The workshop sessions were honestly better than the conference I attended at the beginning of the summer (... uhem.. partially because they were all presented by fellow homeschoolers... rather than people that have never homeschooled... I think that is important... just me and my point of view). Being at that conference calmed my anxiety... roughly by about 90 percent!! So, I got to thinking that maybe one more conference would do the trick, if it was good.

We decided (after I bore my poor husband with all my thoughts and wishy-washy discussions) that it was worth a shot to attend the Texas Home School Coalition Convention. Maybe it would be just the thing to calm those last little bit of nerves. The timing is not so good, but maybe it is just the right timing... My husband returns to his job as a public school teacher on Tuesday following the conference and I am beginning our homeschool on Monday. Anyway, good timing or not we are here and I am glad we made the decision to come. I have never seen this many homeschoolers in my life. It is almost unbelieveable and it really makes you realize that so many people are switching to homeschooling their kids. They are just everday normal people. I "stepped on some toes" after attending the first conference when I jokingly (half jokingly and half seriously) made some comments about my concerns about what my kids would turn out like. I am sorry to those that may have been offended, but I am human... not a perfect being. I do not want my kids to be outcasts or considered strange. And no, I do not want them to be worldly either.. I want them to set themselves apart from the world as Christians (and they already do). If it came down to their salvation or being popular or trendy, then I, of course, would want them to be saved nerds with really out-dated clothing. :) It is great to see that the vast majority of homeschoolers just blend in and do not look strange.... come on.... we have all thought it.... and you should know that I for the most part have no style and need to lose 20 pounds... can't stand make-up , but wear it when I feel I have to... am toooooooo talkative to a fault... dress my kids in hand-me-downs and mostly bargain clothing (although I am choicey most of the time when we are out of the house)... I am not at all trendy and if it remotely appears that way it is only after a shopping spree (rare)... I wear buns and funky ponytails to avoid styling my hair... I am NOT trendy or in-style most days ... nor care, so I don't really have huge vanity issues... BUT I still feel I have an obligation to not make my kids outcasts, etc., if it can be prevented... I want to make them well rounded individuals to the best of my ability (AND GOD'S, OF COURSE). All that to say I am feeling bettter after a trying summer about our homeschooling decision. And I have met some phenominal people homeschooling!!! (more on that later... got to sleep... it is after midnight and the bed is calling)