It's been a while! I've been through some major health problems and have recently had surgery to hopefully make a huge difference in my 'quality of life'. Throughout all this time, my children have been learning (sometimes not exactly what they wanted to learn) even though we've not been able to keep the schedule that I wanted to at the beginning of the year. God has so lovingly surrounded us with a support system that is a safe place to land.

Now that I will be able to be more active, we will begin delving further into the books as well as doing more outside activities. In the meantime, we've learned a lot so far this year both 'in school' and out. Most importantly, we've learned to trust God.

 

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin.   God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.   He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc.    Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

My daughters and I went to church on Wednesday evening and were blessed to be in the presence of God's people. On our way home, I asked Karalynn, my littlest one, what she learned about in her class. Here is the gist of the conversation:

MOM: Karalynn, what did you learn about tonight?

Karalynn: Mom, we played insurance! It was really fun!

MOM: Insurance? You played insurance?

Karalynn: Yes...(very large exasperated sigh, accompanied--I am sure--by eye rolling) insurance mom. We had a lot of fun.

MOM: Insurance? How do you play insurance? (Wondering all the while what in the world that has to do with church.)

Karalynn: YOU KNOW MOM...INSURANCE, LIKE IN A BAND?

MOM (Very big lightbulb moment--after a little help from Emily) AAHHHHHH--Instruments, I get it. I bet that was fun. I'm so glad that you liked it.

Karalynn may be 4, but she still has her moments in which she speaks her very own language. Thankfully, those moments provide more giggles than frustrations. Thank you Lord....for insurance, instruments, and Karalynn

It's been a week since I was last able to check in...where does the time go?!

We began our homeschool bowling this week and both girls were thrilled. We go every week and, of course, we all have to go to lunch afterwards. One of the other moms was wonderful enough to take my girls for a few hours so that I could get some work done that afternoon. I'm so thankful to have such a beautiful friend.

 

I also was refreshed by two different Bible studies this week. I'm getting the message loud and clear that I should speak the truth and speak it loudly! I'm finding my voice more and more in the recent weeks, rather I'm finding my "take a stand" voice more than my "it'll all be okay" voice.

 

Back to homeschooling....my littlest one came in to lay in bed with me this morning and we talked about bones, of all things. I just cannot imagine going back to a life where we have to rush out of bed and get everyone off to school in the mornings....we would've totally missed that moment (well 30 moments) this morning.

Where does time go?!

The girls and I finished up our "All About Me" units over the weekend and took Monday off. Emily started reading about the Constitution on Tuesday and played some computer games. Karalynn just did imaginative play all day. All three of us are feeling a bit punky, so who knows if we'll get anything done today...other than a trip to the grocery store that is badly needed!

We're still praying for the hurricane victims and those who are in harm's way from this newest storm as well.

Well, the girls and I finished all but the taking pictures part of their "All About Me" unit today. I also had a few Child Identification Kits from our local sherriff's office and we put their fingerprints on them and filled those out too.

It was interesting that they both say their favorite color is pink and their favorite food is pizza. I asked their best school subjects and my 4 year old said "learning". I guess that's a pretty good subject to be best at.

They both collect "toys". I asked what they are good at and the little one says "petting the dog and hugging you mommy!". My oldest daughter said playing gameboy and running.

Hopefully, we'll get their pictures taken today or tomorrow and I can print them and put them with the ID kits as well as in their portfolios for the year. It was an interesting way to start the year and I hope that we can keep on moving now that we've gotten started.

We're trying to organize a hurricane relief effort here in our little homeschooling support group. Many of us feel like we dodged the bullet with Katrina, she passed us by 40 miles to the south when she was supposed to have hit us straight on. We are very blessed to be on the giving end of this and not the receiving end.

Whew! What a week!

We've been trying hard to get started on our "official" school year and seem to be having a hard time. I feel like we've done things in spurts, but looking back on the week...we've actually done a lot. We started our "All About Me" unit, but didn't get as much done as I wanted. We'll just finish it up tomorrow or Monday instead of starting something new then.

Hurricane Katrina and three not-hurricane-related deaths in the family have left us emotionally devastated. Some health news for myself has not helped this week either.

Today is a new day and we are looking upward and forward, thanking God that we are still here and have each other. Our thoughts and prayers are with those in Katrina's path, both here in south Florida and the other Gulf Coast states. Our thoughts and prayers are also with those who have put aside their own lives to help with the huge relief efforts. And we are praying for those teachers who have suddenly had children from the destruction moved into their classrooms all over the nation...what a burden they must be feeling. The rainbows are there and they continue to come during this time of need. Thank you, Lord, for the rainbows of hope.

Well, I've worked hard today to try to get my links moved over to the  new website. While doing that I found a website that will work well with the mini-unit that we'll be doing at the end of the week. I've got a few more pages of links to get up and organized and hopefully can get that finished in the next few days. Time to get back to work.

Welcome to my journal.

I'm kind of new at this, but excited to be here. I am trying to get ready for our year of homeschooling and thought that I'd try to organize my thoughts here.

I ordered Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies 101 as well as a few of her other unit study cd's today. We are looking forward to diving into those!

The girls and I will begin our official schooling this year on Thursday the 1st. We are starting the 6th grade and Kindergarten...what a combo, huh? I have the Weaver curriculum for Kindergarten and will be pulling things from that, as well as around the net. My 6th grader is anxious to jump back into the Mystery of History as well as the Prarie Primer. I'm thinking that we might just have to go back and forth between the two.

Anyway, I plan to start on Thursday with an "All about me" unit. Just a short and sweet one to get them going.