Always Busy

Boy did this weekend go by so fast! Then again we were busy. It was a good kind of busy though. Sat. I went to the local parade/craft show(we weren't in the parade) to get MOMS Club® advertised. What was cool about that though was that we were inside the high school. It was the school my husband went to when he was teenager. What else was neat was that we were kiddie corner to the wall (every year Seniors of that year painted a wall) that hubby and his friend painted for their senior year. Let me tell you even though I didn't go to that school it brought back memories when hubby and I were teenagers! It really doesn't seem like it's been 17 years since we started dating (12 years of marriage). It was very nice to have those memories again.

After I got home from that and after lunch we left to go to another parade where my sister-in-law and brother-in-law lived. It was so cold but we watched it and the boys got more of what they (think) need....candy! LOL. It was fun though. I have to say I am so grateful for the family we have. Hubby's family has always felt like my family too. I love them as much as I love my own family.

Speaking of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law please keep them in your prayers. They are going through something right now (nothing bad :) ) and could use some prayers. I don't want to get into it too much so I am just going to ask for prayers for them. Thank you.

Sunday, we didn't go to church. Poor hubby didn't sleep well the night before and the boys ended up sleeping in. I think they needed the sleep anyway. So instead we went to visit my mom. We had a nice dinner together and enjoyed each other's company.

Today I had to get to the board meeting for MOMS Club® to make sure all the business is taking care of. We also started to talk about our end of the year banquet we have. It's not till June but we want to discuss ideas and stuff for it. It is the best time for us moms of the club! We get to dress up and feel pretty and really enjoy ourselves. I can't wait to see what we plan. It's all a surprise to the members till we sent out the invites and what not!

After the meeting I ran and did grocery shopping and came home and spent some time with the family and made an early dinner. Since hubby works afternoons now we have a pretty early dinner so he can eat with us. I feel it's important for us to eat together.

Oh and between that I of course did school with the boys. I swear I need some clones of myself LOL. Anyway I wanted to get to the Library today but I didn't get a chance to. Maybe tomorrow after I go to the Laundromat to do our laundry.

As you can see not too much has changed for me LOL. I am still as busy as ever. Maybe one day I will slow down. I do get some downtime but I notice if I am stationary too long I become antsy and irritable LOL. So maybe that is just how I am supposed to be. I love being involved in things. I am slowly learning to take breaks here and there though LOL.

Sorry I know I rambled on through this but just like my life I tend to rush through things....It is who I am I guess. Hopefully you understand what I wrote LOL. Thanks for listening to me LOL.

Homeschool Memoirs: Homeschool Agendas

This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests. So this week I hope you will share what you’re doing this year for your homeschool agenda. Share the different curriculum you’re using. You can also include what age/grade you’re using it for, how long you’ve been using it, and why you like it.
Please share a Bible verse that has encouraged you or inspired you during this planning-process, and how.

Hmm our Agenda. I guess we are more of a relaxed homeschool family. While I do have curriculum for the boys and we do follow them it's also easy for us to either drop what we are doing if something else interests and come back to it later or drop it all together or skip things here and there if we are just not interested in it or if it's something we have already been through previously. Here is the Curriculum we have...

1. Bible - we have BJU Following Christ. I use this for both boys. I don't really have Jarod do the written work but we discuss things all together that is in it and what we can learn from it. This way they are both getting benefits from it.

2. Phonic - This is for Jarod not Chord since Chord can read and read well. Jarod is only in first grade so he is still learning to read. We are doing Saxon Phonics 1. I used it with Chord and now I am using it with Jarod. He is really loving to learn to read. He took his first test today in it and he got them all right!!!

3. English - This is For Chord. He does BJU English 3 Writing and Grammar. He is doing well in this.

4. Math - They are both doing Horizons math. Jarod 1 and Chord 3. I am thinking I really need to go through the math book for Chord because he does really well in math. I probably should go a grade higher for him. I just don't want to skip anything that he may not get. See in Third grade they are just getting into learning multiplication and he's already known how to multiply small numbers since first grade. Even before he knew how to carry over and borrow in addition and subtractions. I just don't want to skip over something and then have him confused I guess. For Jarod he's getting much better in this area! He still needs some work but he's finally getting what addition and subtraction is :). We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel :).

5. Reading - I have Chord read books silently and I also have him read some of his Bible (he can choose what he wants to read) out loud and we discuss what it means and what it's talking about (reading comprehension). With Jarod I have him read to me what he can and I help with words he doesn't know yet.

6. Spelling - For Jarod it's in his Phonic so I don't have to worry. For Chord I just have him look up words in his dictionary and learn to spell words that way.

7. Science - God's Design for Life, The Human Body is what I have for both boys. We do this three times a week. It's a lot of fun for the boys. There are some things we can do and other things we read about. It's for 1st-6th graders so it's good for both boys :).

8. History - I had gotten a History curriculum but I didn't like it so we are just getting books from the Library and reading about History. Last year we learned about Ancient Egypt. This year we are learning about Rome. We will probably do like last year and do what follows their interest. Last year too Chord learned about some of our Presidents.

9.Writing - I print some handwriting sheets from http://www.edhelper.com/ and have the practice their writing. Chord is learning to write cursive better (he started it last year) and Jarod is just practicing more of his writing. I so want them both to have better handwriting than me LOL.

10.Music - I just have this for Chord right now because it's learning how to read music. This is cool too since I don't know how to read music either so we are learning together LOL. It's called Theory for Young Musicians (ages 8-12) and it comes with 3 small workbooks to go through.

I had an art program for them but I think it took all the fun out of art and the boys thought so too. I think I will have Harlow teach them more since he is the artist of the family LOL. I am lucky to draw a straight line if anything at all LOL. Harlow draws wonderfully. If only I had as much talent as he does in his pinkie LOL. Oh well I guess that will be his job now LOL.

The Bible verse that keeps me going I guess would be like it says on my blog...

Dt 6:6-9
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, When you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

For me that means no matter where my children go to school hubby and I are still responsible to teach our children about God, Jesus and what He has done for us!! Reminding me again that we can do nothing without God. :)

Please click on pic above to find out more and how you can participate.

For Parent's Thinking of Homeschooling.

I was doing a blog search on homeschooling (always looking for new friends LOL) and I found this post Katie-bug Journey: Why Homeschooling? Part 3 on some pros and cons of homeschooling. These are truly real con's of homeschooling not the common misconceptions of homeschooling. So if you are thinking of homeschooling please read this. Also like she says, "Also know that I completely understand WHY some choose not to homeschool." It is a choice for some families but not all and that is good too! We all do what we feel is best for our children so what ever your choice don't let people make you feel less than because of them. :)

My Week Ahead and Being More Organized

Well the boy's didn't get to be in their play this weekend because we got a big snow storm that lasted from early morning hours of Sunday till late Sunday night so they canceled church services yesterday. So hopefully they will still do the play and do it this coming weekend. The boy's have worked so hard on their lines it would be sad to not see them get to perform them.

I can't believe just how much snow we got LOL. We went from almost all melted snow to a lot of snow. I will have to take a picture to show everyone LOL. So now that we've had our snow I am ready for summer again LOL. I am just so bad with cold weather. Makes me feel lazy, tired and really cold LOL. But I will get through it and it does look really pretty LOL!

For the local schools in our area were closed today. I let the boy's have a "snow day" too even though the last three they had already I haven't let them. I figured it was the first true "snow day." If it hadn't been so freezing out I would have let them out to play in it. But alas it was just too cold for any of us to go outside.

I was supposed to have a MOMS Club meeting today as well but since the schools were closed they canceled it till Wednesday. So at least I didn't have to run around today after all the running I did last week LOL.

Anne, I wanted to let you know I did buy me a planner LOL. Now let's see if I can remember to put things in it and look at it LOL. That is my New Years resolution LOL. I want to be more organized. I need to be more organized it really. I tell you I get what seems like ten million things that go through to my mind. Also unlike most people who can clean a room at a time in their house I can't seem to do that. I'll start off in one room and realize oh yeah I need to go do this and end up in a different room so it's like I never get anything truly done around the house. It's so easy for me to get distracted. It's almost like I have adult ADD LOL. I think I need to start listing for each room what I need to do and keep it in that room so I have it there to see exactly what needs to be done. This might keep me a little more on track. At least I hope.

Well tomorrow is good ol' laundry day. I got everything packed and ready to be put in the car. When hubby gets home he will put it in the car along with the boy's school work for tomorrow. At least I don't have to run around too much this week. Mostly just my normal stuff other than the MOMS Club meeting on Wednesday. So how was every one's weekend?

Abuse and the Homeschool?

I have read online about some who are against homeschooling say that most that "homeschool" do so because they abuse their kids. That if they went to public/private school they wouldn't get away with it. I just think that's ridiculous because I know for a fact that some child abuse still get's ignored in some schools. How do I know this? Because my hubby was very much abused growing up by his father and he went to on school from the time he was in second grade till he graduated. Never was he asked what the bruises were from. Never did anyone call CPS on his parents. My husband was the oldest of five and he and his mother would get the most of it. It got so bad that at the age of sixteen he left and lived with his grandpa. That was just before the time we met and got together.

So to say the schools would find these cases is a lie. Granted they may find some but in some cases they look the other way or never know what's going on. And before someone say's well bigger schools might not see everything the school my hubby went to was very small. Small in that everyone knew your name. I know of other people that have had similar experiences (in different schools mind you) and never had anyone to help them either.

Thankfully (or should I say fortunately) hubby isn't an abusive husband or father. He broke the cycle. In fact I do more of the discipline because he doesn't like to. Our discipline usually consist of sending them in their room to cool off, time out's or taking away of things they hold dear like a certain toy or game. So unless that's called abuse then I think we are doing ok LOL.

Abuse happens everywhere not just in homeschools and not just in public/private schools. Parents aren't always the one to be the abusers and neither are teachers or someone in charge. We should all do what we can to stop they cycle when we see it. There are sick people out there that do abuse children in one form or another. We should join in helping to stop this madness not try and blame everyone around you. Yes there are some sick people that use "homeschooling" as a guise for abuse but then again that's not true homeschooling! There are also teachers or other authority figures that use being a teacher or person of authority to abuse children. Just as most teachers and people of authority are abusers neither are most homeschooling parents/guardians an abuser.

I write this to inform people that abuse isn't just in a homeschool environment and we as parents should work together in helping those that are abused in any situation. Not try and blame every homeschool parent or every teacher of abuse. Yes it happens but not with every situation.