School Update

E, in first grade, is flying right along. She has completed 200 pages in her math book, 12 of which she did this week. She continues to learn a concept immediately, which I'm thankful for. Her handwriting is still a bit sloppy, but I have been correcting her more, and she can write beautifully when she takes her time. She also completed 8 pages in her English this week, and LOVES finding word opposites, and counting syllables. She is still reading well, but her spelling is not doing as well as I would hope. She spells more phonetically, than correctly, but for being only 6 she is normal in that area.

C, in 5th, has now completed 99 out of 120 lessons in math, and still earns A's with each assignment. If she would consistantly double check her work she would get A+'s. We finished her unit on pronouns this week. Somehow they had 2 extra lessons, so Monday and Wednesday she did 2 English assignments. Again, all A's. A+ in Spelling, as always, and a very imaginative journal entry for her this week. Not the best writing she has ever done, but I love her imagination. C also did 4 lessons in Bible, and 2 pages in geography.

She and E completed chapter 9 in Zoology. I'm amazed at how fascinated E is with science. It is the only class she is never bored in, and actually sits still to listen, and answers comprehension questions.

As for myself, I learned what antecedents and reflexive pronouns are. I'm not really sure why they are important, and have never heard of them before, but always nice to learn new things. LOL

D and I have come to an agreement with the attorney, and signed all the papers Friday. We both must attend mandatory parenting-of-children-going-through-a-divorce classes next month, and then it will be final. Still waiting on child support. For the first time in my 38 years of life I've had to get my home phone disconnected, and cable TV is next on my list of cutting back on expenses. I have also had to apply for assistance with my power bill, so we still have power for another month or two. Thanks to my friend, M, the girls and I have been eating very well, though. So, even though I am having to make adjustments, and dont like things such as applying for assistance, God is, as He always does, providing, and the girls and I are very blessed.

A Few More Small Life Changes

Since our seperation D has been living in a motel room. He has now found a place to rent, with 2 bedrooms so the girls can visit, and has permission from the landlord to take 2 of our dogs. We have 8 dogs, and he will be taking the 2 largest ones, Lucky, his 9 year old yellow lab, and Shadow, MY 2 year old black lab. These are 2 of the best, smartest dogs I've ever known. In fact, Lucky is the dog that made me begin liking dogs. I will miss her, but she belongs with D, as she is crazy about him, and miserable here with him gone. Shadow, on the other hand...I'm REALLY going to miss him. He really IS my shadow, following me from room to room, laying beside me wherever I am. Shadow knows and obeys all commands, worries about me when I'm sick, or upset, and is fiercly protective of me, and our home. I have posted about him before, check my May and June 2008 archives on this blog, when I nursed him through near-death. He is the largest dog we have, at 95 pounds, so I suppose the bright side to this move is that those 50 pound bags of dog food I buy every week might last a little longer, but I AM GOING TO MISS HIM SO MUCH! This dog, even though huge, is MY baby, and the only reason he is going to live with D is that Shadow is a little OVERprotective sometimes, and D and I feel he would be better off without 5 other male dogs in such close proximity.

Below is Lucky, tucked in with her stuffed animal. (Yes, she's spolied, LOL) and Shadow, who grew tired of waiting for dinner time, and brought us the dog bowl, and the water jug. He feels it is HIS responsibility to let us knw when food or water needs refilled.





Often, people dont think about pets when they hear the word "divorce", but each and every one of our pets are special and very dear to us, they are ALL definitely members of our family. I can't just get rid of them; they have been part of our family for years, and we intentionally kept each of them. I will still have plenty of animals here, 6 dogs, and 6 cats, plus D's one remaining fish (maybe he can take that...I'm not too into fish, LOL, but there's going to be yet another hole in this family, with the 2 labs moving. At least I will still be able to see them when I drop the girls off for visits with their dad.

First Day Back After Christmas Break

Since this is technically supposed to be a blog about homeschooling, I thought I'd post about our first day back after a 2 week break. We had a very productive day.I know I haven't been very good about keeping on topic lately, but personal life affects homeschooling, too.

C spent more time than usual on math today, almost an hour, but she only missed one problem. She got an A+ on Spelling, and 2 A+'s in English. (We did 2 lessons, a cumulative review, and the first lesson on her pronoun chapter.) She didn't do as well with Bible as she normally does....missed 3 questions, but understood better after we went over the assignment again. C also did some "social studies", ironically through her English text. Each unit has a theme, and this unit's theme is Australia/New Zealand. We looked New Zealand up on the globe, talked about Sydney, the "outback", Aborigines, how English prisoners were the original white settlers of a continent now predominantly white, the differences between seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres, the awesome, and unusual animal life in Australia (kangoroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils, and platypusses [platypii???lol]). I wonder if we could take a field trip to The Outback Steakhouse....? LOL

E did 2 pages in math, 1 page in English, read me a book, and practiced skip-counting by 5's. As of this writing, she still needs to do her Bible lesson.

Both girls together did science, an introduction to pterosaurs. Almost every child is fascinated by dinosaurs, and pterosaurs are similar, but NOT (as the science book informed us) dinosaurs. The 3 of us ended up spending 45 minutes to get through 4 pages. We always tend to get into long discussions when doing science and social studies.

While it was nice to have a break, and I dreaded getting back to school every day, it went well, and we accompished lots. It was kind of nice to be back doing something productive, and while C may complain about doing school, I think she secretly likes it. I know it sure helps her attitude, which has been sorely lacking in repect and kindness lately, part of that due to boredom. E is always happy to do school, just not too much at a time.