First, I'd like to congratulate my daughter, E, age 7. Yesterday she completed test 8, and lesson 80 of her second grade Horizons Math, which means she is exactly half way done with second grade math. She also took her test for week 10 in Spelling. She earned an A+ on both tests.
Last night C, age 12, told me a disturbing comment her dad made to her on his nightly phone call. He told her he "probably wouldn't be calling on Thanksgiving because he had nothing to be thankful for." Now, after 13 years of knowing her dad I am used to his negative thinking, but I was a bit appalled that he told his own daughter that!
As tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and his comment was on my mind, I've been sitting here this morning thinking of all I am thankful for. I have always tended to be on the more positive end of the spectrum, and I USUALLY try to live my life with "an attitude of gratitude", as a good friend says. I thank God every day, sometimes several times a day, for the least little things in my life, and I KNOW how blessed I am. Sometimes I tend to forget, though, that not every one has such an attitude, so I thought it appropriate to take this blog and use the opportunity to just list a few of the most important things I thank God for in my life.
First and foremost I am thankful for knowing God in my life. Without Him I would have none of the following blessings.
I am thankful for my daughters, C and E, They are the loves of my life, my reason for living, and I consider it a privilege to have been entrusted by God to raise them. I am thankful for their health. I am thankful for their unique personalities and abilities. I am thankful for each day I spend with them, and I know full well how quickly I could be gone from this earth, or THEY could be gone, and I never let a day go by without telling them how special they are, and letting them hear me pray to God thanking Him for allowing me to be their mom.
I am thankful that I have the opportunity to home school my girls. I am thankful for each and every book I am able to provide for them, and each day that they are home, learning at their own pace, and not sitting a third of their day in a classroom away from me.
I am thankful for the good family life I had growing up, my childhood seems almost idyllic...all the traveling and vacations, memories, my parents, my brothers, my beautiful house and yard, and a mother who let me be me! I am thankful God gave me a dad on this earth for 17 years, and a mother that doubled as my best friend for 26.
I am thankful for all the good years I had with my ex husband, all the good times, and even for the bad times. Without the bad times we would never appreciate the good. And I'm thankful that he and I still maintain a friendship, and that he kept his promise to the girls of a year ago and calls them every night, sees them every other weekend, (sometimes more), and when the alcohol doesn't get in his way for him being a good dad.
I am thankful for a few GOOD friends, M in particular. M also accepts me for me, puts up with me, and has been there no matter what time of day or night this past year. He provides stability, consistency, food, advice, a listening ear, laughter, and moral support for the girls and I.
I am thankful for my house and yard. They are both a bit ramshackle lately, as I am not the carpenter D was, and don't have the energy or time most days to do yard work, but they are mine, and they are paid for, and they are HOME. I could be living in a card board box in Kenya, or a garbage dump in India, but God blessed me with a beautiful house and yard here in the United States, where at least we still have a FEW of our freedoms.
I am thankful for our pets....my 5 dogs, 6 cats (plus a few strays I feed outside), and the 2 dogs that D was able to take. They are expensive, and sometimes we choose between paying the bills or buying dog food, but they bring us all joy and unconditional love, and on some of the days when I'm NOT feeling so thankful there is nothing more comforting than a cat or two purring on the couch next to me.
I am thankful for so many little, material things that make my life easier or more comfortable....my couch, my computer, my books, my piano, the hot water heater, the washer and dryer, and microwave and my coffee maker. I could go on and on, but there's too many to name. Rest assured I'm thankful for everything I own materially.
I'm thankful for a working vehicle, albeit the windshield is cracked, the headlight is out, and most months I can't pay the insurance. LOL It's better than trying to walk or borrow someone else's car, or take the city buses. I don't think I've had more than a quarter tank of gas in it in over a year, but God always provides enough to get me where we need to go.
I could go on and on, but everything I mentioned above are things I am thankful for, and my girls hear me say each one of those things every night when we say prayers together.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And if you're reading this, be thankful you have a computer, and electricity to run it.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Been Awhile Since I've Updated About School
For anyone who reads this with any regularity, I apologize for not posting any school updates for so long. The past 6 weeks have been nothing but doctor appointments, vet appointments, and trying to just catch up on chores and the bare minimum of school work. At least that's the way it has seemed, although as I think about what we've accomplished with school, we've done more than I thought. Somehow, no matter what life throws at us, school for my daughters is always my #1 priority.
E is doing wonderfully in all her second grade work. She loves math, and is currently completing lesson 73 as I type this. She has vastly improved her speed on her addition and subtraction drills, has learned about half of her multiplication tables, and no matter how difficult the assignment she always gets As, and many days begs to do another lesson.
E's handwriting has also vastly improved, and I would even call it "pretty" some days. She is reading chapter books fluently now, both out loud to me, and to herself for enjoyment. She and I are working slowly through Phonics and Spelling. She does well remembering spelling rules and applying them to her assignments, but tends to forget when writing stories, cards, or in other assignments that spelling correctly is meant to be done ALL the time, with ALL writing, not just in a workbook.
E and I have begun reading, "Little House in the Big Woods" each day for History. We usually read about 20 pages a day, and she reads roughly a third of those pages aloud.
As for C.....she is still doing fine with math. She is becoming a little less lazy on her first go-round, which is earning her higher grades (A's) and less time spent re-doing problems she already well knows how to do. She is on lesson 77 today. She is working through her 7th unit for English, and this week through Thanksgiving week is researching and writing a Research Paper on an Historical Place of her choosing. C chose to write about Pompeii.
I have to really hand it to C. We have had so many unexpected interuptions in our schedule since the beginning of October, and without complaint she often doubles up on lessons to make up for days lost, so she isn't behind at all.
Both girls and I are still enjoying our Anatomy and Physiology course this year. We have completed the units on cells, reproduction, the skeletal system, muscles, the digestive system, and the renal system. This week we began a Health and Nutrition unit.
Coinciding with our anatomy study, C has been plagued by unexplained wrist pain intermittantly for the past few years. The past few months the pain has increased, in severity, duration, and instances. I took C to her regular pediatrition, and was able to get a referral to an orthopedic sports injury specialist. C has had X-rays, and yesterday, and MRI, and we await the doctor's verdict next week. I pray she won't need surgery, but the pain has increased to the point she often times refuses to play, and wakes up at night from a sound sleep needing ice packs. E and I were present for all of C's appointments, and I think the radiologist was pretty impressed by 7 year-old E exclaiming upon viewing the X-rays, "I see C------'s phalanges! And there's her ulna and radius! Wow! I can see her metacarpals, too!" If the radiologist wasn't impressed, she sure got a big chuckle at least. LOL
As for C's social studies...I have altered a bit from HOD's curriculum. I will still employ several of their books, and use their art, poetry, literature, and Bible, but I have incorporated more of our own "living" books, along with Story of the World Volume 2, and Mystery of History Volume III. The biggest change is that I decided to scrap the notebooking work, as C and I were both dreading the tedium and repetitiveness of it, and the hour and a half every day it was sucking up of our time.
That's about it for an update for now.....long story short...both girls are not only doing well....they are ahead, and we'll keep plugging away. Please pray for C and her wrist, and that she may be healed without surgery, but that if surgery is required, that it will all go safely and well, and as painlessly as possible.
E is doing wonderfully in all her second grade work. She loves math, and is currently completing lesson 73 as I type this. She has vastly improved her speed on her addition and subtraction drills, has learned about half of her multiplication tables, and no matter how difficult the assignment she always gets As, and many days begs to do another lesson.
E's handwriting has also vastly improved, and I would even call it "pretty" some days. She is reading chapter books fluently now, both out loud to me, and to herself for enjoyment. She and I are working slowly through Phonics and Spelling. She does well remembering spelling rules and applying them to her assignments, but tends to forget when writing stories, cards, or in other assignments that spelling correctly is meant to be done ALL the time, with ALL writing, not just in a workbook.
E and I have begun reading, "Little House in the Big Woods" each day for History. We usually read about 20 pages a day, and she reads roughly a third of those pages aloud.
As for C.....she is still doing fine with math. She is becoming a little less lazy on her first go-round, which is earning her higher grades (A's) and less time spent re-doing problems she already well knows how to do. She is on lesson 77 today. She is working through her 7th unit for English, and this week through Thanksgiving week is researching and writing a Research Paper on an Historical Place of her choosing. C chose to write about Pompeii.
I have to really hand it to C. We have had so many unexpected interuptions in our schedule since the beginning of October, and without complaint she often doubles up on lessons to make up for days lost, so she isn't behind at all.
Both girls and I are still enjoying our Anatomy and Physiology course this year. We have completed the units on cells, reproduction, the skeletal system, muscles, the digestive system, and the renal system. This week we began a Health and Nutrition unit.
Coinciding with our anatomy study, C has been plagued by unexplained wrist pain intermittantly for the past few years. The past few months the pain has increased, in severity, duration, and instances. I took C to her regular pediatrition, and was able to get a referral to an orthopedic sports injury specialist. C has had X-rays, and yesterday, and MRI, and we await the doctor's verdict next week. I pray she won't need surgery, but the pain has increased to the point she often times refuses to play, and wakes up at night from a sound sleep needing ice packs. E and I were present for all of C's appointments, and I think the radiologist was pretty impressed by 7 year-old E exclaiming upon viewing the X-rays, "I see C------'s phalanges! And there's her ulna and radius! Wow! I can see her metacarpals, too!" If the radiologist wasn't impressed, she sure got a big chuckle at least. LOL
As for C's social studies...I have altered a bit from HOD's curriculum. I will still employ several of their books, and use their art, poetry, literature, and Bible, but I have incorporated more of our own "living" books, along with Story of the World Volume 2, and Mystery of History Volume III. The biggest change is that I decided to scrap the notebooking work, as C and I were both dreading the tedium and repetitiveness of it, and the hour and a half every day it was sucking up of our time.
That's about it for an update for now.....long story short...both girls are not only doing well....they are ahead, and we'll keep plugging away. Please pray for C and her wrist, and that she may be healed without surgery, but that if surgery is required, that it will all go safely and well, and as painlessly as possible.
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