Prayer Request Update

Two days ago I asked for prayers for our 8 week old kitten, Moses. He steadily worsened, and by that evening I feared he wouldn't make it through the night. I syringe-fed him bits of water, and tucked him in my jacket to keep warm, because he was so listless and lethargic he just kept going off alone to huddle miserably.

Yesterday morning I took him to the vet. The vet said his intestines felt "enlarged", and he thought Mo had a bowel obstruction. The only way to find out for sure was an x-ray, which cost $135, which I simply could not afford. And even if I COULD afford the x-ray, I couldn't afford the $1000-$1500 the vet said surgery would cost. He prescribed antibiotics "just in case" Mo's intestines were enlarged simply due to his enteritis, and told me if there was no improvement we might have to "put him down". I am adamantly opposed to euthenasia, especially for a tiny kitten whose only fault was coming into a family who doesn't have bill and grocery money, let alone such a large expense as surgery.

Moses had his first dose of antibiotic at 10 a.m. By 1p.m. he was eating a tiny bit of soft cat food. At 3:30 he came mewing into the kitchen, so I offered him more, which he again ate. At 8:30 last night he AGAIN ate a small bit of food. At 10:30, instead of huddling alone somewhere, he jumped into bed with my husband and I, and happily lay purring between us. I awoke this morning to him SCREECHING for food, and he ate 3/4 of a can!

He SEEMS to be well on the road to recovery. Thank you to all who prayed for our special kitten, and thank you to God for healing him. I can't think of a better Christmas gift for my daughters : )

Christmas Break and a Prayer Request for our Kitten

The girls finished their first half of the school year Thursday.

E completed:
>3 out of 5 units of English.
>101 out of 176 lessons in Math
>19 out of 34 lessons in Spelling
>a lot of handwriting practice sheets (not sure how many; I didn't count)
>6 out of 8 units in Health
>2 out of 24 lessons in History (I'd planned it that way. We'll concentrate on History second semester.)
>science intermittantly

C completed:
>1 semester plus 3 more weeks' worth of Hewitt's Lightning Literature/Writing
>8 out of 14 chapters of Math
>um....over half of Social Studies...I forgot where we left off before thanksgiving, but we will be moving on to a year long study of American history and the Constitution in January
>9 out of 16 modules in Science
>has only 5 pages left in her second (intermediate level) book of violin in only 6 months of lessons. She loves playing, but detests the exercises. She wants only to play SONGS.

After over 3 weeks of trying to get a straight answer out of their dad on whether or not he was going to have them for a visit over christmas break, his wife finally called at 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning to get them Thursday afternoon. We put a rush on E's last 3 review lessons in English, took her unit exam (she got an 88% ) while C took her Module 9 science test for science, and managed to pack and get them off for an 8 day visit. They will be back Friday, just in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas. The timing works out perfectly for a home schooling mother who usually never has a moment to organize and wrap gifts without children around.

One last thing...our 8 week old kitten, Moses, is VERY sick. He has a severe case of roundworms, which has resulted in him getting enteritis, an infection in his digestive tract that is fatal to young kittens. He can not keep ANYTHING (food, water, medicines) down, and is hovering between life and death. The girls and I LOVE Moses very much, although C is especially fond of him. C has requested that instead of Christmas gifts, I use the money for Moses' vet care, and to also take all of HER money to help pay. The vet and I are doing all we can, but it is very serious. We would appreciate any prayers for Moses to get well soon and live a long and healthy life. This kitten is very loved and special to us.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

School Update

This is, so far, the best school year we've had. Both girls are progressing well.

In 3rd grade, E has completed 95 out of 176 lessons/tests in her math. She continues to learn math quickly, and just breeze through. She has completed 16 out of 34 Spelling lessons. She is still working on becoming quicker with her handwriting, but her neatness and spelling have grown by leaps and bounds now that she writes the majority of her work in cursive. E is consistently reading longer chapter books; her favorites are currently the "Boxcar Children" series. She isn't doing science as a formal subject right now. We are almost finished with her Health book, and we dropped her McRuffy science, due to it's lack of explanation, and she and I's lack of interest in the boring way it was written. We will be doing Abeka science when we finish Health. E is also loving her Abeka 3rd grade History and Geography when we get to it, but we will concentrate more on that the second half of her school year.

The subject I am most impressed with this year is Rod and Staff English. For years I have heard all the rave reviews from other home school parents about this program. Yet through 2nd grade I went the "gentle, "Charlotte Mason" style of learning for E's language arts due to her handwriting issues. I thought Rod and Staff might be too "hard" or too vigorous for E jumping in at the 3rd grade level, but I was wrong. Rod and Staff is PERFECT for her! She just completed the second unit (out of 5) and she has done exceedingly well so far. Our gentle, yet repetitive, approach to English the last 2 years prepared E perfectly for R&S's textbook. She and I do much of the textbook orally, doing only 1 or 2 of the written assignments per day, plus the extra worksheets for extra written practice. These first 2 units have been mostly review of what she already knew well...nouns, pronouns, and the 4 types of sentences, so we will see how she fares with Unit 3, which is on verbs.

C is progressing through her books well, also, although we've had a few minor setbacks. She is doing well with Apologia's General Science. She loves the experiments, and the book is written in a very interesting, and easy-to-understand fashion. She is just finishing the 7th module. She is also doing well with BJU World Studies, but MAN is this the most boring book we have ever read! Both C and i agree we will not be using BJU for History or Social Studies again, simply because it is such a struggle to read and stay awake. LOL However, it IS a good overview of our World, both past and present...just very dry.

C and I are both liking Lightning Literature. The reading selections are good, except for "Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland", which we just finished. We did this book as a read-aloud, since I had never managed to read it as a child. Although we both could barely stand the book, it IS a good example of creative writing. About the only thing I liked about it were the puns. The rest of their selections, even the poetry, have been excellent, and C has done well, and even (though she won't admit it) like the written assignments.

Our major hurdle this year for 7th grade is Math. Last spring and summer she had done the first 5 chapters of BJU Fundamentals of math. It was taking her an hour, to 2 hours, per day. She detested it. I loved it, and thought it was a wonderful math program. I decided, though, to keep her interest in math, to try "Life of Fred" math. I thought maybe, since C loves reading, and hates doing lots of math problems, that the humorous storyline, and the greatly reduced written problems, would appeal to c, and math wouldn't be such a struggle for her. Well....she loved the humorous story line, but she proved (by her slipping grades) that she NEEDS the repetition and drill work of a standard math textbook. So after wasting the first 6 weeks of school this year on "Life of fred" we have gone back to finish BJU's math. We are currently in the middle of chapter 7. Not only does C need the repetition of 30 or so problems a day, she needs MORE practice, and we are doing EVERY problem...doing the odds on day 1, and the evens on day 2, and the quizzes on day 3. So it is going to take us until high school graduation to finish 7th grade math! LOL

In other news....we are still working one day a week at the no-kill animal shelter, although some weeks we go in twice a week. All 3 of us love the work, although we are always sore and exhausted (even the girls) on the days we work there. Next week we will be working both Wednesday and Thursday, as they are very short of help on Holidays. That's fine with us; we will just have Thanksgiving dinner Friday, a day after the actual holiday. It matters not to me which day we actually eat our big dinner, but it matters to the 300 plus cats that there are people to feed, water, and clean their cages, let them out to exercise and give them love and attention.

My oldest daughter, 20, (technically an ex-step-daughter, but both she and I consider ourselves true mother and daughter) lives back in the area, and we have been seeing lots of her. She will be joining us, of course, for Thanksgiving. She is in the process of moving this weekend, to an apartment only a few miles from our house.

And a week ago C came rushing in the house out of the freezing rain and brief snow we got exclaiming, "Look what I found!" In her hand was a tiny 3 or 4 week old kitten, so we have a new addition to our already over-populated feline population. To be truthful, the next morning I took him in the to shelter we work at, but after 3 hours of work the girls and I went back to check on him, and just couldn't bear to leave such a tiny creature in a cage all his life, so...we took him back home.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We plan to take most of the week off of school, and concentrate on animal shelter work, and prepping for a huge meal with family.

Brief Update

Well, I never thought I'd survive without a computer, but it has been 6 weeks since mine died for good, and I'm actually making it just fine. I can check e-mails, and get on google from my phone, but that's about it, so I apologize for being unable to post anything here for awhile. And most likely it will be several months before I am able to get back to posting regularly on here, as my finances are in no shape to be buying a new computer anytime soon. I'll try to pop in from time to time, though.

In a nutshell....we have:

-been doing VERY well with school
-lost our dear dog, due to diabetes, very suddenly
-begun working one to two days a week at a local no-kill animal shelter, both girls and I...it is very hard work, but we all 3 love it!

AND....

-celebrated C's 13th birthday! We had a wonderful time doing special things for a very special, hard-working girl, for a very special birthday...after all, you only turn into a TEENAGER once!

We are all doing fine. Hope anyone reading this is, too.

: )

She Had to Wait 8 Years, but E had a Dream Come True Today....

She got to ride a CAMEL! This girl LOVES camels, and in fact up until recently she wanted to BE a camel when she grew up. LOL

Don't worry, C got to have fun, too. Here she is jumping around on the bungee cords.



The girls and I enjoyed some beautiful weather, for a change, and went to a Labor Day Festival/Fair about 30 miles away. We rode rides. played games, ate fair food, fed animals, and wasted too much money, but it was worth it to see them have so much fun.

Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend, too!

We Had A Wonderful Day Yesterday

As I said in yesterday's post, I wasn't much in the mood to begin school this year. But, thankfully, I had already had our day planned for over 3 weeks, and sometimes you just have to MAKE yourself do what needs to be done.

Our day began a little later than I like, about 10 before we started, which was fine, since I didn't have much actual WORK planned. Since C's school year usually starts in late winter/early spring, she was already partially through 3 of her subjects. She had 1 new set of books....Hewitt Lightning Literature for 7th grade, which I introduced to her, and we did the first day's assignment. I have also TEMPORARILY switched C's math from BJU Fundamentals of Math (which she had finished 35% of) to Life of Fred math. We are going to try Life of Fred on a trial basis, and I am keeping the BJU Math in reserve to go back to at any time. Life of Fred Math is COMPLETELY different than any other math program I've ever seen or heard of, but both C and I liked it---she did the first 2 lessons. C also did the next lesson in her World Studies. We didn't do formal science yesterday.

E had also already been working in some of her books, so there were 3 we didn't even go through....Horizon's math 3, McRuffy science 3, and her Cursive writing book. As you know, she finished learning all her cursive letters, and now will simply have 1 copywork sentence daily. New to E was Abeka Health 3, Abeka social studies 3, R&S Spelling 3, and R&S English 3. We went through all of these, and she did the first lesson in English. I doubt you have ever SEEN anyone so thrilled to have a "real" textbook" and her own spiral notebook as my little E. She is used to workbook-type materials, and has never had a textbook that she can not write in, and must use separate paper, and she couldn't be more excited about it! LOL

Together the girls and I are reading aloud Joy Hakim's "History of US", which is a 10 volume set, so I doubt we are able to get through it in only one year, but we began it yesterday. We are hoping within the next year to begin being able to do some extensive traveling around the country, so we decided we wanted to read United states History together to learn more about WHERE we will be going.

After school, I gave the girls their "First Day of School" giftbags, which they, of course, were surprised by, and loved. In the afternoon we went to the park for a couple of hours. God blessed us with such BEAUTIFUL weather to be outside and enjoy, and we only left because we were all extremely hungry. LOL

I had several more BIG blessings throughout the day yesterday, some good news for my family and our future. When we got home and were waiting for hot water for C's bath, the girls and I played 2 games of "Spell Up Count Down", so we ended up just having a wonderful day from start to finish.

I pray such an auspicious first day is an harbinger of how this whole school year will go. If only ALL days could go so well, have such beautiful weather, and be so fun for the 3 of us...Thank you, Lord, for such a perfect day yesterday. : )

First Day of School 2011-2012

I normally start school the first Monday in August, so we're a bit late this year. The girls visit to their dad for 2 weeks, and we took last week off so they could get back into a routine, with bedtime and chores, and to unwind from summer.

So we start today. I have all the books and materials. I've done all my major chores and the house is clean, top to bottom, so for at least THIS week I won't have to concentrate on anything but school.

But....the teacher (me) has had a stressful week, and even more stressful weekend, and the last thing I feel like doing is school. I'm not at all ready. I haven't been feeling well, and yesterday was the anniversary of my Dad's death. It's been 22 years, but I never forget getting the phone call, frantically trying to convince my mom he was really sick and we needed to GO, hearing the news... every minute of that day I relive over and over on the 28th of August. : ( My oldest daughter, April is also having some issues, and calling me constantly. And I've barely seen or spoken to my husband for over a week now. So....I'm not at ALL in teacher mode.

I'll let everyone know how it goes when I can. We're not doing much today, just going over books, and if all goes as planned, a few hours at the park for the girls. I also have a gift bag for each of them.

TV...

I have always been bored with TV. There were very few shows I could even tolerate as a child (Gilligan's Island, Brady Bunch, and Little House on the Prairie.....now don't THOSE date me? LOL) My mom and dad had the TV on every evening from after supper until bedtime. Us kids could have it from when we got home from school until supper, so about 2 hours a day. If it was raining, or I ran out of books to read, I would sometimes watch it, but certainly not every day, and most DEFINITELY not if I had a book, or could go outside.

Back then we didn't HAVE video games...not till I was about 10 anyway, and we didn't HAVE computers, so TV was the only screen time I was exposed to. So what did I do instead? Well, in the summer time, I got up and watched the sun come up from my bedroom window and waited for Mom to wake up. When she was up and gave me permission I could come out of my room. I'd eat breakfast (cereal or a pop-tart) and away I would go. I'd swing in one of our 5 swings. I'd ride my Big Wheel up and down the block. Once I could ride a bike, I rode it all OVER. I'd climb trees. In other words...I got exercise and fresh air. I'd build tree houses and forts with my friends. We would walk 2 blocks to "Sherwood Forest" which was a very tiny little wooded area that we thought was huge, and a secret place from the grown-ups. As I got older I would sometimes jump rope for hours, ride my bike for hours, and not just around the block, but all OVER town and the countryside. My best friend and I would walk to the library and check out as many books as we could carry. If we were "rich" we'd stop at my dad's store on the way home and buy pop and candy. We happily took old, used textbooks home from school at the end of the year, and would "play school" for hours and hours. We were "home schooling" ourselves, and didn't even KNOW it. LOL The only rule back then was "be home before dark." In other words, I had adventure, time with friends, and all kinds of learning experiences....you don't learn safety any better way than going a mile out to the creek with your best friend and realizing how thin that ice really IS. And those electric fences around fields to keep cows in the pasture? Those really ARE electric. Ask me how I know....LOL

What brought this post on is that my new husband (and the ex-husband, to some extent, although if there were better things to do, he, at least, could shut the TV off, and if there weren't, the girls and I could, at least, go in another room and do our own things) thinks TV is a NECESSITY of life. This man LITERALLY never shuts it off. NEVER. We go to bed and all he does is turn the volume down a little. We eat dinner, it's on. We are talking, it's on. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that TV is constantly on, noisy and intrusive. I'm peacefully sitting in the living room drinking my coffee, and mentally going over what I need to do for the day, and hubby wakes up, and within 30 seconds he turns the volume up loudly blaring to his favorite cable news channel. Now, I am all for keeping up with the local, the national, and the global news. I, too, think it is important. The difference is that I can watch 30 minutes of our local news, or check online for 5 minutes, and get all the bullet points. If something piques my interest, I can do my OWN research into it, and form my OWN thoughts about it. At M's house I go from "peace and quiet" to "migraine" in less than 30 seconds. I can't get away from it, like in my own house, because his house is too small, and there isn't a room the girls and I can go to to play games, or read or do puzzles or school together.

When I was in college, I didn't OWN a TV. Never even thought about buying one. I had my books, and I had my music,, and I had my car. When I lived in Nevada for 3 months in 2004 with the girls, I didn't own a TV, and, again....it never even crossed my mind. The girls didn't care, and it was just not something I thought about getting. I spent my summers as a child and teen living in Michigan, and we didn't own a TV there, either. The funny thing was that my mother thought we watched too much of it...and back then we only watched maybe a total of 2 hours a day and only when we couldn't go outside for some reason. TV was a last resort for us kids, only in the most dire of boredom circumstances. We much preferred learning math by playing Monopoly or card games, or spelling and dictionary usage by playing Scrabble or Boggle, or logic and problem solving by playing Checkers, Chess, Clue, or any number of other games out there designed to use our brains to think and strategize and reason.

Technically I own a TV now...I own a huge 5 foot big-screen TV, and the stupid thing takes up my half my living room. I have even turned my TV ON a few times since the girls dad left us 2 years ago. Last night, I counted up the number of times I turned it on, and I came up with 4 times. Once, when E was sick she watched "The Price is Right." I, myself, watched the Royal Wedding a few months ago. 2 or 3 nights ago we had a storm, and I turned the TV on for about 60 seconds to check the local radar. And one night about a year ago the girls and I watched an episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos". Not one time have the girls EVER asked to turn it on or to watch something! They, too, have better things to do with their time, and ways to have more fun.

**WARNING...THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH HAS SOME MINOR LANGUAGE SOME READERS MIGHT OBJECT TO THEIR CHILDREN READING**

I can assure you...if I couldn't stand TV BEFORE...I REALLY DETEST it now that I can't get away from it. And to make things worse....the GIRLS have a TV in the room they sleep in. C, my oldest, could really care less about TV. She watches it only out of boredom, and at least she watches half-way educational shows. Forensic Files, the Weather Channel, animal rescue documentary type shows, and CMT when they have music videos on. E, on the other hand watches what I refer to as "CRAP" . Cartoons with subtle sexual innuendos, shows on 2 certain networks specifically called "Children's Programming", with the little teenagers all dressed like street walkers, and nothing but materialistic mind-sets. On every one of these shows my littlest girl is viewing episode after episode of "how to get away with something without your parents or teachers knowing", "how to trick someone into doing your work for you", in other words...how to be dishonest and disrespect your parents and teachers. The ------ Channel...a channel supposedly for children...is nothing but disrespectful, materialistic, overly-made-up irresponsible teenagers. And for some reason, ------ makes a lot of money promoting teeny-bopper singers that have no talent and CAN'T sing, so they just dress them up like whores, and play them over and over and over, brainwashing my child that that is somehow TALENT or musical ability! They have a FEW shows that don't involve talentless singers making money for the network, and they even have one or two shows where the kids dress like normal kids, and are respectful, and by the end of their 30 minute sit-com they have "learned a lesson". But those are few and far between, and apparently they only made about 5 episodes of each, because I'VE seen them enough that *I* have them memorized, let alone my poor girls who are stuck with the TV on...again...24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (I went back and edited out the specific network names, but I'm guessing any of you who have TV know EXACTLY which networks I was referring to.)

UGH!

C complains constantly about having the TV on. But...she wants a light that "isn't right in her face" and though she has a lamp for when the ceiling lights are turned off, E wants the TV on. C says she can't sleep with that flashing, changing light in her face all night. And no matter how low we turn the volume, she can still hear it. I know that's true, because that all bothers ME, too. We thought we had found a solution by hanging Christmas lights all around...but the cat chewed the cords the first night, and we can't afford to buy strings of lights daily. LOL

So...what's my point? Other than, obviously I can't stand TV. My point is that I think it is fine to watch the news, or check the weather. I think it is even fine to watch educational shows where I can actually LEARN something, or see far away places I will never in a zillion years be able to travel to. I think it is even fine to watch OCCASIONALLY for simply the entertainment value, and share some laughs together as a family, or watch quiz shows where, at least, we learn and test our knowledge. But I think news can be gotten in 30 minutes or less, and it's not necessary too see it over and over and over all day long. I prefer to just hear the news and form my own opinions, not listen to grown-ups arguing politics all day long, rudely yelling and interrupting each other to get THEIR viewpoint across in the time segment allotted. I don't want THEIR opinion; I'd like to form my OWN. I prefer a good, well written BOOK any day to watching a show on TV. With a BOOK I am subtly learning spelling, grammar, how to construct well written sentences and paragraphs, and using my mind to think, "what happens next?", picturing the setting, picturing the characters, cementing in my mind historical dates and figures that would be bypassed completely staring mindlessly at a TV.

I am not completely opposed to TV, not at all. I know there are some really good shows. But I AM opposed to having the durn thing running all day and night. I am opposed to children not using their minds to THINK and their bodies to get off the couch and MOVE. I feel TV wastes a lot of time that could be better spent getting our work done, or finding things to make, games to play, or talking, having conversations, not staring at the TV watching OTHER people talk and live their little made-up lives.

I will now step down off my soap-box. I have to get ready for our school year to start Monday. I would love to hear YOUR opinions on the issue of TV, so comments are welcome.

Pictures

I think I've figured out how to get pictures up on my blog again. I haven't done so, since my computer went kaput, and I lost 7 years worth of photos. Since then, I've been afraid to keep any pictures on my computer, therefore, this blog has been photo-less for way too long. IF I can make this work, the following photo is one I took yesterday. The girls and I went out to the river, and because of the drought our area of the country is experiencing they were able to play in water that was no more than ankle-deep all the way across.



All right! Lookie there, it worked. Sorry about the poor photo quality; that was taken with my cell phone, but poor quality pictures are better than NO pictures! Now that I've figured it out, I'll be posting more photos in the near future. : )

There's No Better Feeling...

....than having my daughters safely back home. I missed them so much. I worried about them so much. It was almost unbearable to hear them crying on the phone, knowing they were 200 miles away, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Their dad said they'd be home LAST Friday, but then he QUIT his job (more likely got fired for calling in 6 days in the 6 weeks he actually HAD a job) so he could "spend more time with the kids". Then he said they'd be home Thursday.....but he was so plastered Wednesday night he and new-wife couldn't be bothered to get up in the morning. And of course no one bothered to return my calls and texts until AFTER they were supposed to already BE here, and I was worried sick. Turns out they BOTH had their phones turned off!

But they finally arrived yesterday morning, only 15 minutes late. (Dad got another speeding ticket on the way here.)

These 2 girls followed me every step I made all day and evening yesterday. THEY are happy. I am happy, and all is right with the world again! Thank you so much, Lord, for bringing my girls safely back home where life is safe, consistent, and all children are treated equally, and THEIR needs and concerns come first!

Would You Send Your Children Here?

Would you send your children to a home where they go 3 days straight with no bath or shower? Where they come home and burst into tears WANTING a bath? Where they are so tired they BEG to go to bed as soon as they can get bathed? (and this was at 3 in the afternoon!)

And yet, although the CHILD doesn't get a bath or shower, the adult taking her to the doctor for her 104.2 temperature had to get HER shower before taking this child TO the doctor.

Would you send your children to a place where they call you in tears, in fact, crying so hysterically that I thought someone had DIED, and when I finally get this particular child (the one that's almost 13) to speak coherently, I hear how the entire DAY was spent with nothing but yelling, arguing, and crying? And THIS is my child that I've only SEEN cry WHEN someone dies!

The OTHER child, my 8 year old, was crying, too, when she finally got her turn on the phone, but she was so exhausted, yawning, and almost falling asleep on the phone, that I reassured her the next day would be better, and to go get a good night's sleep.

Would you send your child to a place where, when you call them, they are hiding in the car, because their dad is in a drunken fight with 4 neighbors, and his wife is still new enough that she plays the role I, and the first wife, played for so many years, of trying to stop him, trying to appease him, calm him down, get him in the car to go home? The drunken fight is so loud, I can hear all the words out of all the parties involved, and when he finally gets in the car he begins cussing out his new wife, turns to the backseat and cusses out my little girls, yanks the phone out of their hands and hangs up, while I frantically text and leave voice mails on both he and new-wife's phones to make sure my girls even get home safely. A nice little touch their dad added, AFTER he yelled at C, "Give me that f--- phone you f---- little b----!" was when he called me back, and tried to sound sober as he said, "Would you like to talk to the girls?" 15 minutes later.

No...I would not WILLINGLY send my children to a place like this, and I doubt any other mother worth a grain of salt would, either. But the law says I have to. The law says there's nothing wrong with this. They have food (plenty of it, and GOOD food, too, not just Ramen noodles day after day.) They have shelter, (again, very GOOD shelter....a beautiful house on a lake in a gated community.) They have medical care. (C DID get to the doctor, right?) And they have clothing. (in fact, new-wife has been so kind as to buy my eldest daughter more clothes than she's had in 2 years this past week...and I thank her for it, too.)

So, according to the law, their needs are being met, and I have to keep sending the most precious things in my life to this place every so often for good, quality time with their other parent.

So....I would appreciate my readers prayers, for my girls, for their safety, and for their father to be sober, loving, and responsible. They still have a few more days to go on this particular visit.

How Have We Done on Meeting Our Summer Goals?

Back in May, I posted about my goals for this summer. We met almost all of them.

First, my goals for this blog. I said 3 months ago that I wanted to "re-introduce" who we are, and how we began homeschooling. I accomplished that goal. I'd also said I wanted to talk more about our particular situation, how I came to be divorced, and being a single, stay-at-home-home-schooling-mom. I haven't gotten around to writing about all that, but give me time.

Goals for the girls this summer? We met ALL of them!

> Both girls successfully finished another season of softball.
> E has successfully learned to read music, and her piano playing is improving daily. She has set a personal goal for herself to memorize every piece she plays, and so far, she has done so.
>C....well, C has FAR surpassed my expectations with her violin lessons! She has completed her "beginner" book. Her teacher said she is the best student he has ever had, and that most of his students take a year just to get through HALF of this book. C has completed the ENTIRE book in only 11 lessons.

Academic goals? I hadn't set many for C, and in fact, said that if she did NO school over the summer, it would be okay. However...

>C completed chapter 5 of her math, and is therefore 35% of the way done with 7th grade math.
> C also completed module 1 of General Science.

And E also met and surpassed the academic goals I'd set for her...

>After reading through her 3rd grade R&S English, I scrapped our Language Arts goals for the summer. R&S is very comprehensive, and there was no need to finish FLL.
>E completed the first 20 lessons of her science. (out of 66 total lessons)
>E completed the first 30 lessons (and 3 tests) of her 3rd grade math.
>And....drum roll, please...FINALLY E has learned, every letter of the alphabet, lowercase, and upper-case, in CURSIVE! She loves cursive. And while she still writes slower than most children her age, her cursive is beautiful (unlike her printing) and it is marginally quicker for her. She JUST learned "Z" Friday morning, before leaving to go visit her dad for 2 weeks, but we DID it! She is very excited to begin her R&S English and Spelling, and I told her we couldn't begin Spelling until she could write in cursive, because we intend to do all her spelling in cursive. She will also have 1 copywork sentence each day to help her practice.

So, although it seemed most days this summer I had no time to do HALF of what I wanted to...the girls and I did manage to get all our academic goals met. They also had time for softball, music lessons/practice, and tons of daily play-time with friends.

Why We Began Home Schooling...part 4....final chapter

During Christmas break of C's 3rd grade year I noticed something strange. Her night terrors stopped. Completely. And then it dawned on me that she NEVER had night terrors during the summer, or any other times school was on break. She didn't wake up screaming, yelling, thrashing around, crying, throwing up, or crawl into bed with me when there was no school!

Coincidentally...or maybe NOT coincidentally, I tend to believe God sends us SIGNS we can either choose to follow or ignore....I happened to read an article in "Parents" magazine during Christmas break profiling a family in new York City that home schooled. I thought to myself, "Well THAT'S a cool idea, too bad it isn't legal." And then....another sign....I happened to see something on TV about home schooling...perhaps an episode of the Duggar family, if I'm recalling correctly. And I thought again, "Wow, I wish *I* could do that. I wonder what the laws are about this home schooling stuff. Maybe it's NOT illegal, since I keep hearing about it."

So you add C's boredom with being held back academically, the bullying and verbal abuse, the tyrannical lunch-lady, along with the fact that I'd suddenly realized during breaks from school C wasn't suffering ANY of her night time terrors and sickness, AND add in the fact I kept "coincidentally" seeing things about home schooling, and I decided one morning to do a little google search online to see what I could find out about this home schooling stuff.

Much to my surprise, I found out home schooling is not only perfectly legal in all 50 states, it is growing exponentially every year because LOTS of parents were having the exact same issues I was worrying about with my daughter. I began researching obsessively. I couldn't STOP reading websites. I couldn't get enough books from the library on the topic. I found home school blogs. I found home school forums. I asked questions. I made up my mind, and decided that this is what I wanted to do...that homeschooling was a completely natural extension of parenting, and that no one would be able to teach my individual child as well as i could, that no one could invest the time, the love, the energy into her well-being better than I. I decided that I would make C finish out her 3rd grade year in public school, but that for 4th grade she would stay home safely with her mother teaching her. I even, after MORE research, chose and ordered her 4th grade math curriculum. (Saxon 54)

Then I decided maybe I should broach the subject with my then-husband. LOL

I was scared to talk to him about it. I thought he would think I was nuts. I thought he would be against the idea. I excitedly opened the Saxon math box, and then hid it so he wouldn't find out. And then I just couldn't keep it from him any longer, because I wanted to tell C about home schooling, and I couldn't tell my 9 year old without first at least NOTIFYING her dad of my plan. LOL I printed off pages of information off the internet, and marked places in books to show him. I went into this discussion fully prepared to defend my stance, argue till I wore him down, and no matter what he said to home school anyway.

One evening I finally brought it up. And he said, "Yes! Yes! That is PERFECT! Yes! You HAVE to do this! We have to do ANYTHING to keep her out of these schools. They are ruining A and B, and I can't see another child of mine go through this. YES! That is a GREAT idea!" I didn't even have to say anything other than, "I have been thinking about C's problems in school, and I've done some research, and I'd like to try homeschooling her." And then I said, "Oh, good, because I've already ordered her math, and I know what else I want to buy." LOL

When I talked to C about it, she began crying. Crying because she was so happy to know she had an "out". Happy because her mommy had figured out a solution to her problem and was going to help her, save her. And sad because she didn't want to go back. Ever. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to agree to go back. I made a bargain with her that I would call her in sick every Wednesday; that way she never had to go to school more than 2 days in a row. And reminded her that Mondays were ok because she had that 30 minutes of violin. And Fridays weren't bad because when she got through the day she had a whole weekend. Of course, she tried to get me to call her in sick EVERY day, and since I was already doing "school" with her every night at home, it was hard for me to adhere to making her stick the rest of the year out.

By March, the ONLY thing keeping her in school was those 30 minutes of violin once a week. I began calling her in sick more and more often, but not too many days in a row, because we didn't want to get in trouble for truancy. By mid-March it was time for Spring break. And once again, for 2 weeks, I had my happy child back. The one who LIKED to get up in the mornings, and the one who slept the nights through peacefully.

April 1st, 2008, was C's first day back to school after spring break. It was also her LAST day of public school. As always, she walked out of the building at 2:15, crying, miserable, mad because her class was so boring, and the teacher wouldn't let her work on multiplication because "it would make the other kids feel bad since they are still working an addition and subtraction." She had to go to the bathroom, because she refused to go at school because that's where some of the girls cussed at her and pushed her around if she went in. She was hungry, because she never ate lunch unless they served something with rolls or mashed potatoes. Three girls had called her a "white b***h" and poked her with pencils waiting in line on the staircase. That night she woke up screaming, crying, and yelling again.

Early the morning of April 2nd, as her dad watched the news, and got ready to go to work, and I sat drinking my coffee, I said to him, "Enough is enough. I can't take this for another 6 weeks, and I'm not putting her through this anymore. (as we listened to her crying in her sleep in her bedroom) I'm not sending her back. I'm writing a letter of intent to the school, and I'm taking it up there in person this morning, and I'm never making her go back to that hell-hole." And he said, "Good!Thank God!"

So I let C sleep in late that morning, and when she woke up, I told her she didn't have to go back, but that she and I had to drive up to the school and take her principal the letter of intent. C said, "Really? You MEAN it, Mommy? I don't have to go back?!?" And began bawling her head of out of relief. I showed her the letter. We delivered it. We thanked her teacher, her music teacher, and picked up her school supplies. As we walked out of the classroom, the teacher's aide followed us into the hall, and whispered to me that she, herself, had been home schooled, and that she intended to home school her own children, and that she was SO happy for C, but not to tell anyone she had said that to us because she had been instructed not to ever tell anyone at the school she worked at about home schooling.

I have SO much more to say about home schooling. It is truly my passion....educating my daughters, spending time with them, finding curriculum that matches their own individual learning styles and personalities, their strengths and weaknesses. I'd love to talk about all the things *I* have learned through teaching my daughters. I'd love to ramble on and on about this whole new lifestyle. Because it is NOT just "school at home", it is our whole way of life. I'd love to talk about some of the wonderful people I've met through home schooling, or tell you about all the people who are positive about it. (and in fact, I've not had any negative reactions to it at all.) But I've rambled on enough for right now, and the only thing I'd like to add to THIS post is that from that night on, C has not spent ONE NIGHT in my bed. She has not woken up crying or screaming or yelling or puking ONE TIME since I pulled her out of public school.

My daughter left public school on April 2, 2008, and I have NO regrets. I KNOW I am doing the right thing, the best thing for her, and also for little E, who I've home schooled from the beginning and is now in 3rd grade. I have so many thoughts, so many ideas, so many opinions, but at least now I have finally gotten down in writing the story of WHO we are, and what led us to home schooling.

New Post Below...Why We Began Home Schooling

I started to write the post below a week ago, but wasn't able to finish writing until today, and for some reason it is not showing up as a new post...so if you want to read the next post in my "Why we began Home Schooling" series, read the one below dated July 25th, even though I just posted it a few minutes ago.

Why We Began Home Schooling...part 3....Final Year of Public School

Ok, sorry about the delay. C is well, and I am well, and we've both finished antibiotics. Nothing to do with my topic, but softball is also finished for this year. C's team just wasn't a good team this year, and they finished in last place for A league. E's team finished 2nd in C league.

Now, back to home schooling. I left off at the end of C's 2nd grade year, where she continued to do well academically, but was bullied almost daily. C began her 3rd grade school year a little better off. Not only was she still earning the top grades in the entire SCHOOL (not just her grade level), but she was also one of only 2 children in 3rd grade selected to play in her school's violin program, something usually reserved only for the 4th and 5th graders. So, every Monday, for 30 minutes, she got to leave class, and have a violin lesson, and perform in their concerts.

However, as the year progressed, not only did bullying begin anew, we also began having lunch and recess issues. The children are allowed 15 minutes to go through the lunch line, sit down, eat, and dispose of their garbage. They are not allowed to speak a word during this time. So....barely enough time to gulp down anything, and NO time to relax or talk with friends. IF there was ONE WORD spoken in the lunchroom, the lunch ladies punished the children by making them stand still and silently against the wall for the remaining 15 minutes of their lunch "hour". (actually only 30 minutes.) As it was nearly impossible for several classes of elementary children to be able to get through lunch without one, single word spoken by several classes of elementary students, C spent most of her lunch time standing still, facing a wall, with every other child in her class.

I called the principal. She told me, "It might not seem fair, but kids can be pretty LOUD if given the chance, and Mrs. T keeps them in line." So, I wrote a letter to the administration, expressing that I felt the few minutes break each day was IMPORTANT for the children to relax, eat, socialize, and get a few minutes of fresh air and exercise to break up the monotony of sitting still at a desk for 6 hours. I never received any answers, and apparently I was the only parent who thought it weird to force children to not move, and not speak, let alone, PLAY and EXERCISE for 30 minutes each day. The only minor satisfaction I got for C on THAT issue was during Thanksgiving week, when parents are allowed to come eat lunch at the school with their children, and I, and several other mothers, ALL thought the silence rule was ridiculous....so we mothers happily engaged the children in conversations, even daring to make them giggle and laugh, while we ate with them. Mrs. T came out and glared at us, and one time even tried to shush us MOMS! However, *I* am not a subservient person, and no lunch lady would have controlled me when *I* was an elementary student, let alone now that this woman was making the love of my life, my CHILD, miserable, along with hundreds of other children. Children are full of LIFE, and who in the world has their child sit silently at a desk all day, with no break, not even allowed to speak during the 30 minutes they are supposed to eat, play, exercise, and get at least a few minutes of fresh air?

I don't conduct my HOME that way, why in the world was I sending my little girl off 5 days a week to let OTHERS treat her that way?!?

Meanwhile, aside from the half hour every Monday that C got to participate in violin class, she was dreading school more and more. Every morning was a daily battle...she cried, hid under her pillow, begged me to let her stay home. On good days I was able to coax her out of bed 10 minutes before the bell rang, get her to get dressed and go to the bathroom, (she refused to use the school bathrooms, if she didn't go before we left, she wouldn't go until 2:30, when I picked her up.)and actually get in the car. Every morning I watched her walk in those big double doors, and feel guiltier and guiltier. I didn't know what other option I HAD....parents HAVE to send their children to school, don't they? It's illegal NOT to. EVERY child goes to school, and we all survive, right? But I just felt horrible, sometimes crying, myself, at how mean I felt abandoning my girl, forcing her to go somewhere she was afraid of, was bored at, was abused at.

Every night, C woke us up. She suffered from night terrors....screaming, crying, yelling. I would go in her room, attempt to wake her up, sometimes i was able to, sometimes she was so sound asleep she just kept crying and yelling. Sometimes she would become so upset in her sleep she would vomit all over in the bed. Many nights, I would say at least 3 or 4 out of every 7, C would crawl into my bed beside me. I was never one for having my babies co-sleep, but nor was I one to tell a scared, crying child that they had to deal with it alone and to go away, so when she felt the need to get in bed with me, I didn't push her away or discourage her. I would put my arm around her and hold her. And apparently sometimes engage in a sleep-talking conversation with her that I never remembered, but would make her laugh the next day as she told me about it. But that's beside the point...

The point is that my child was growing older and older, yet becoming more and more afraid to even GO to school. She fared far above average academically, yet detested doing the same things over and over. She begged me to teach her multiplication in 3rd grade because she was so TIRED of adding and subtracting. She begged me to buy her books she would like because the ones she was allowed to read at school were too easy, and she finished several of them a day, yet the school said she wasn't "old enough" to read chapter books. The only thing she liked about school was violin 30 minutes a week, and the rare occasions the children were silent enough during lunch to actually get to PLAY on the new play equipment in the school yard. In the evenings, at home, I read her chapter after chapter of the "Little House on the Prairie" series, let her read any books she wanted to, and bought her math workbooks, flashcards, and map workbooks because she ASKED me to teach her. She became fascinated with the presidents of our country, beginning with George Washington, so we read books about presidents, bought biographies, and every night we were doing school....it's just that NEITHER of us realized that's what we were doing.

In December school went on WINTER break....not to be confused with Christmas vacation, because Christmas is offensive to some people, and even though there were only about 3 students in her entire school who celebrated anything else (these 3 celebrated Kwanzaa) we were no longer allowed to have a CHRISTMAS program or CHRISTMAS break, we now had a WINTER program and WINTER break. Either way, C went on break for 2 1/2 weeks, and THAT is when our entire future changed.

To be continued....

C and I are Sick

C and I are both sick. She has been on antibiotics since Saturday, and I am going to the doctor later today. We are also one of the 32 states included in this excessive heat warning, and my air conditioner is not working, which isn't helping us feel any better.

Hopefully, within a few days we will feel better, and I will return to my "Why we Began Home Schooling" series of posts. I have at least 2, and possibly a third, planned. Sorry for the delay.

Why We Began Home schooling...part 2....more public school

Last post I left off while C was finishing her Kindergarten year. This same year, her oldest sister was in middle school. When April was 11, and in 6th grade, she came home asking questions such as "Mom? What's a bl** j*b?" because she had heard other kids talking about that, and a boy on her field trip had asked her to give him one. She was also telling me about girls in the 7th and 8th grade who were pregnant. Apparently, bj's were reserved for a "just friends" status, and quite common, but "all the way" was for the more "serious" of the middle school couples, and getting pregnant was a badge of honor. While this was all quite shocking to me, I tried to give as honest answers as I could, not show COMPLETE revulsion, and keep the lines of communication with my daughter open, so she could feel comfortable bringing these topics home to at least have someone to discuss these things with.

Meanwhile, C sailed through first grade with no major problems, and a wonderful teacher. C made "high honor roll" every quarter in first and second grade. She was one of only 2 students in the entire school to receive that honor. I continued being actively involved in helping out with classroom activities and field trips. The only trouble C had during these years was a few of her classmates made fun of her for always being on high honor roll, and for having a mother who cared enough to come in and help out in the classroom. She was still being called vulgar names, but this time the name-calling stemmed mainly from GIRLS in her class, one in particular. C began to refuse to go to the bathroom at school because these girls would gang up on her during restroom break.

C also began, during these years, to suffer night terrors.....virtually every night I would awaken to her screaming, yelling, crying. I could not get her to wake up during these episodes, and she claimed to not remember them at all in the mornings. She became very tired and difficult to wake up for school in the mornings. Every time I tried to talk to her, find out what was bothering her, she claimed to have no memory of bad dreams, or of screaming and crying for a good half hour at LEAST every night.

One day C came home with a note stating she had a detention after school the next day for "disrupting" class. Of course, I asked her what happened. She said one of the girls who always taunted her had been walking up the aisle between desks. The teacher had been writing something on the blackboard. This girl whispered "white b**ch!" at my daughter, and shoved her desk into C so hard that C had bruises on her chest, and knocked her over backwards out of her chair. C cried out, " Mrs W!" to her teacher, and THAT was how C managed to disrupt the class. Mrs. W claims that since she didn't SEE what happened, and since C was always complaining and "tattling" on this other girl that her only recourse was to give both girls detention the next day. The teacher said since she didn't personally see the incident, only heard C call out her name, that she had to punish both girls equally. Mrs. W told me then, as on other occasions, that C really needed to learn to "handle" things, and not be such a tattle tale all the time. I told Mrs. W that maybe SHE needed to learn to handle her class and not allow girls to push and shove other little girls and call them b**ches and leave bruises on them, and then punish C for merely calling out to her teacher for help. I then called the principal, who said she had to stand by the teacher.

So...the next day at 2 : 15, I showed up in the school office, and served detention with my daughter. I felt it was unfair that she should even be punished at ALL, let alone that the girl who made a racist, profane comment to her and knocked her clear out of her chair backwards was receiving the SAME punishment as my daughter was for calling to the teacher for help. Of course, the principal came out and told me I couldn't be there in the detention room, and i told her, "You already know I feel this is wrong. Our school district claims to have a "zero tolerance" policy for bullying and violence, yet you have issued C a detention which goes on her permanent record for asking for help. While I disagree with her being punished, I also raise my daughter to respect her authority figures, which, at school are her teachers and YOU. Therefore, since you have decided she has to serve this detention, I want her to know we have to respect that decision, but I'm not making her sit here alone when she did nothing wrong!" The principal didn't quite know what to do with me, so there C and I sat and served our half hour detention. I then went home with her, and called the district superintendent.

The next day, the principal called me at home, and asked me to meet with her. When I arrived, she had C, C's teacher, and 4 other children in her office. Apparently, after I served detention in support of my daughter, the principal decided to further investigate the matter of what had occurred in class 2 days earlier. She had called each and every child in the class down to her office, and these 4 who sat near C all told the exact same story as C had tried to tell. That C had been working at her desk, that the other girl had said, "whit b**ch" and shoved the desk into C, knocking her over backwards, and that all C had done was call out her teacher's name for help.

The teacher continued trying to say that since she hadn't sen it happen, she had no recourse but to punish both girls equally for causing a disturbance. The principal, however, apologized, and said she would have C's detention cleared from her record, and informed me that because of their "zero tolerance" policy they had to adhere to district guidelines and suspend the other girl for 3 days from school. I asked why had they not talked to other children BEFORE C and I served our detention? Why had I had to call the district administration office and talk to the superintendent to get anything looked into? Why had C had to serve the detention in the first place, when she should have been HELPED when she was hurt and bruised, instead of being punished fro being 8 years old and asking for help in vain? The principal and teacher both tried to say that some of the other children were against C because she always won high honor awards at assembly, and therefore they felt she was getting "special treatment".

Well....DUH! I guess any child who was one of only two in the whole school who consistently made the high honor roll SHOULD get to feel a little special, walking up every quarterly assembly and receiving their certificate award. That's a pretty big deal. It is not something a child should be made to feel ashamed of, or that a child should feel he/she has to NOT get in order to be SAFE! The girl who shoved her desk into C was in her second grade class. However, this girl had been in trouble numerous times for bullying other children for whatever reason, and she was 10 years old and SUPPOSED to be in 4th grade, but had been held back twice. She was older, about a foot taller (really, this girl was TALL), and had a long school record of trouble. Yes, they cleared C's school record of the detention, but she still had had to serve it, and she had still had to go 2 days being a victim not only of the girl who hurt her, but of a teacher who wouldn't listen or get the facts!

Sadly, all this was not enough to make me think of pulling C out of public school. I STILL hadn't heard of homeschooling, other than the Duggar family on TV. I didn't think it was LEGAL. I didn't think normal people did it. It certainly never crossed MY mind that it was an option. By this time I HAD looked into private Christian schools in our area, but they were WAY beyond our financial means. However, I made the comment to my husband one night that due to what C was experiencing, and due to the graphic sexual behaviors at April's middle school, that, "Come hell or high water, I will NOT allow C to continue in this school district. I will save every penny I can so that by the time SHE reaches middle school I can put her in a private school!"

To be continued....next post...third grade, the year that changed everything.

Why We Began Home Schooling...part 1...public school

My daughter, C, always had a love of learning. I spent her baby months teaching her colors, ABCs and counting. By the time she was 18 months old she not only could recite the alphabet, she could recognize and find each letter. Through her toddler years we spent hours each day working puzzles, playing games, reading, and learning songs, shapes, and all the other typical "toddler stuff". When she was 3, I felt she needed to have a few hours each day to be around little children her age, and to learn more. So I sent her off to preschool, where I discovered she already knew all the things they were teaching. I still felt it was "good" for her to be with other kids, though, and I was very actively involved with her classroom, coming in and helping the teachers a couple times a week, going on all field trips, and daily helping the other little ones with pick up and drop off at the bus area.

Everyone praised me for such a smart daughter, but I really didn't think THEN, and I STILL don't think that she was really any SMARTER; she just had a mother who spent her days working with her from infancy onward, teaching her things. When I couldn't think of any more to teach her I bought C workbooks for math and spelling and reading and writing, and worked with her more. At that time I had never HEARD of home schooling, and I wouldn't have considered it if I HAD heard of it. Little did I know that I WAS home schooling.

C turned 5, and off she went to Kindergarten. And that's where it all fell apart. She spent the first semester crying and begging not to go to school. There were a couple of boys in her class who taunted her, poking her with pencils as she tried to do her worksheets, calling her very vulgar names (fat c*nt, and dumb b**ch the 2 most frequently used). These boys caused her to be afraid of going to school, and because of her fears I felt like a horrible mother forcing her to go every day to a place that was "good" for her. I spoke with her teacher, and her teacher said, " I know, these boys are horrible, but there is nothing we can do about it. They come from troubled homes, and we are supposed to give them leniency. They call ME those same names." Well, I couldn't believe THAT. There is no way a teacher is going to be told to ALLOW that kind of language and bullying, and I was horrified this was going on in KINDERGARTEN! So, I took my issues to the principal, and lo and behold, the teacher had not been misinformed, the principal ALSO told me these boys come from troubled homes, and need encouragement, not discipline. Well, I'm all for encouraging children, but not in negative behaviors that involve verbal and physical abuse! I wondered if these children were so abusive and vulgar at the age of FIVE, what would they be like in HIGH SCHOOL?!? What kind of men would they be? How would they treat their wives or girlfriends when they were older?

Well, I guess the teacher and principal got tired of me being a pest and not shutting up about what my daughter had to endure every day, because one day in January, they called and informed me that they were having a little problem with C. Since she was so unhappy in Mrs. C's class, they switched her into Mr. D's class. They didn't let either of us know they were going to switch her, they didn't prepare C, they just pulled her out of class one day and told her she had to go be in Mr. D's class. Mr. D was a brand new teacher. He had never taught before, until this semester. They gave him a class of 12 children. C had LOVED her "old" teacher, and while she had to endure abuses no ADULT should put up with, let alone a child, she was, quite naturally, scared and didn't know anyone in this new class other than....the 2 boys who had spent the first semester tormenting her. Yes, THEY were switched into Mr D.'s class too!!!! The principal told me C was having a little problem. I asked, "What do you mean?" And the principal said, "Well Mr. D can't get her to lift her head off the desk. She has been crying since this morning when we put her in his class. She wouldn't even get out of her seat to have lunch. " Mind you, this was at 2:00, just minutes before I was walking out the door to go pick her up.

After meeting Mr. D, and talking with him about a half hour with C included in the conversation, I decided to give his class a try. As this was his first semester teaching, they had only given him a small class. They gave him a few of the kids who caused problems. And C was deemed a problem causer for 2 reasons: 1.) because the other children picked on her, and 2.) because she already knew everything they were trying to teach the rest of her class, and so spent much of her time reading books because she finished her work so early, and they didn't know what to do with her. We agreed to have C be in his class for 2 weeks only. If, after 2 weeks, she still wanted to go back to Mrs. C's class she could.

Mr. D personally called me every day letting me know how she was doing. The first few days she refused to do anything but cry, and refused to eat lunch or go outside for recess. She, literally, would not leave her desk. However, by the end of 2 weeks, C began joyfully running to meet me when I picked her up, telling me all about new things she was learning, cool things the class was doing, and best of all....the 2 little boys who had been so mean to her all along and yet had been transferred into Mr. D's class...well Mr. D didn't tolerate their language, their bullying, and their disruptiveness. Somehow HE managed to run a class, teach the children, and keep the children under control. Mr. D felt so bad for C; he felt personally responsible for her being moved into his classroom, and being so sad, scared, and miserable. So, he made it a personal goal to make her LIKE school, make her ENJOY coming, and show her that no one would be allowed to hurt her in his class.

By the end of the school year, C had learned tons. She was reading fluently, waking up smiling, excited to go to school, and was only sad when she realized that finishing kindergarten meant leaving her beloved Mr. D behind. ALL the children put in his class loved that man, even the 2 little boys who had been so out of control. Well, heck, *I* loved that man...he gave me back my happy little girl who LIKED school. I thought so highly of his teaching and classroom abilities I wrote a letter to the administration and the school board on his behalf because they weren't sure they wanted to keep him on in our district,, because he was so new. Funny, how a tenured teacher and a principal couldn't figure out how to manage troubled kids, and one accelerated child, but a 23 year old fresh out of college not only managed just fine, he fostered respect, kindness, and a love of learning.

To be continued.....

Who We Are...A Reintroduction

I began this blog over 3 years ago, shortly after I began home schooling full time. In the past 3 years I have gained new readers, many of which don't personally know our family. Our familial circumstances have also drastically changed, so I feel that it's time to explain a little about who we are, an "introduction" to my newer readers, and a "reintroduction" for those of you who have known me all along.

As it says in my sidebar, my name is Rebecca. I am a stay-at-home-home-schooling-mom. I've raised/am raising 4 daughters. April is 20, B is 17, and neither of them live at home anymore, but both live nearby so that we see them somewhat frequently. Technically, April and B are "step"-daughters, but as I raised them full-time from the ages of 3 and 6, I consider them my own. I guess if we want to be TECHNICAL, they are no longer my actual step-daughters, as I was divorced a year and a half ago from their dad, but again....family isn't simply blood, or marital ties, and these 2 girls will always be daughters to me.

At home with me are my 2 biological daughters. C is 12 1/2 and in 7th grade. E is 8 and in 3rd grade. Both are active in softball. C loves cats to the point of obsession, playing the violin, and reading. E loves ALL animals, playing the piano, listening to music, reading, and helping others. E is the kindest, most generous person I've ever known. C has an attitude just like her mother, yet is a little shy. Both girls love to play outside, BE outside in nature, and being with friends.

I am recently remarried (6 weeks ago) to Mark. Mark is very private, and so am I, so I try not to write about him too often, or say too much when I do.

C and E's dad is Danny, to whom I was married for 12 years. He happens to be getting married (tomorrow) so the girls will have a step-mother, Brandi. As I don't know her, I won't say much about her, either.

That is basically WHO the main members of our family are. As I said, I've been a stay-at-home-mother since I met Danny, and April and B. I was a nurse prior to that, but my priority and Danny's has always been to BE home with our children, to raise them ourselves, to be the primary people they spend time with. No matter how poor we have been at times, we both considered it imperative to put parenting and time with the girls first. It never crossed either of our minds that I work outside the home, leaving my children with someone else, and when we divorced, we both agreed C and E shall remain home schooled.

Now that you know the basics of who is our family, in my next post I will address the main aspect of our life, which is home schooling. Everything I do, every day, from my schedule to my finances ( or lack thereof ) , from the girls visiting their dad to when I am able to do chores and yard work, my life is dictated by putting my daughters first, educating them, spending time with them, giving them the best possible life I can, being the best possible mother I can.

Cursive vs Printing vs Keyboarding

E has been steadily learning and practicing her cursive writing. She actually does quite well. While she still labors with anything hand-written, cursive not only speeds her along a LITTLE bit, it is also much more legible...pretty actually. It has been all over the news lately that public schools in 41 states are doing away with cursive, and children will no longer be required to learn it. While I have only recently started seeing news stories about this issue, it has been a topic of debate among home schoolers for at least the past 3 or 4 years. If they can not WRITE cursive,how will they ever learn to READ cursive? Remember, most Americans use cursive as their primary form of writing, and even if they have phased cursive out of the public schools, I feel children should still learn it; if nothing else they need to be able to READ what other people write. And how will they sign their names?

All 3 of my older daughters prefer to print. However, they CAN read and write cursive, and did so for several years until they were of middle school age and allowed to choose. The public schools now feel that cursive is becoming obsolete due to computers and e-mail, cell phones and texts. While I feel it IS important to learn to type, I don't feel children should rely on typing until they can write by hand well, in EITHER form....printing or cursive. My children all learned cursive in 2nd grade...E is a few months behind, as she is going into 3rd grade, but that is due to her possible dysgraphia issues. C is going into 7th grade, and thus far I only allow her to type e-mails (of course) and final drafts of reports or major writing assignments. She is learning to type as she goes, although I will hopefully be able to afford to get her a formal "keyboard" curriculum by the time she is in 9th grade. By 9th grade she will have been printing for 10 years, and writing in cursive for 6. She will have no trouble reverting to whichever form of handwriting she prefers by then, and by 9th grade she will have a true NEED to learn to get around proficiently on the keyboard for lengthier and more frequent writing assignments. For now, though, I prefer to let the computer be used only for "special" assignments, and final drafts. Sort of like I allow the internet to be used only for research on those same types of assignments, and things such as real books and encyclopedias for most of her research.

So while I am all for children learning to type and be proficient on a keyboard, my opinion is that they should FIRST be proficient at good old-fashioned printing and cursive, and have several years of both under their belts before taking the "easy" way out and typing everything.

Indepence Day/Thank You A and B/and a Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: For this post I would first like to mention that awhile back I said there were a few private issues in my life that affect our home school, and our life in general. For the past 3 years of writing this blog, I have left personal details out, and kept our names, locations, and identifications private. However, I have been feeling lately that, while still keeping identities private and not betraying TOO much information, I would like to delve a little bit more into aspects of our life that make our family unique, especially among the home schooling crowd. Not that I'm a very inspiring person, but there were many years in my life that I would have been inspired, or at least not quite so ALONE, if I had realized I was not the only one on this planet dealing with such things as alcoholism, abuse, and yes, home schooling as a single parent with no family to help me, watch the kids, or offer financial help, or moral support. I am blessed in that the girls dad(up until the past month) has always been very supportive of home schooling, and that the girls step-dad is also supportive of it. However little I reveal in the ensuing post, it is still a lot more than I have ever PUBLICLY revealed, but I feel it important for others to read the truth, not just some pretty picture of the good things in our life. I hope to soon find time to elaborate more on our particular situation, and yet retain privacy and be respectful of all parties in our family. Ok...on to the main topic...

This is my least favorite holiday. My ex-husband used to make quite a drunken production of The Fourth of July and several days leading up to it. The first time he ever beat me *badly* (requiring medical treatment) was during, and because of, fireworks, when I was 5 months pregnant with my now 12 year old. So, needless to say, for years I dreaded and barely endured this time every year.

But THIS year, I actually ENJOYED it. In our town, for some strange reason, everyone always puts on their big fireworks shows on the 3rd. Both my older 2 daughters live within an hour of me, and they stopped by Saturday night to ask if I'd like them to take C and E to the show last night. After giving it some thought, I called them yesterday and said if they wanted to we could ALL go, and I would drive. Just because *I* don't have any fond memories of the 4th, doesn't mean I shouldn't let C and E have fun and get to see what every American child SHOULD see. We're American, it's our tradition, and sometimes Moms do things they don't want to do for their children.

My oldest daughter (technically they are ex-step-daughters, but as I raised them, spent their whole lives with them, they consider me mom, and I consider them my own)was a bit shocked, "But MOM, you HATE the 4th!", but she and B were both happy with letting me do the driving and come along. They both brought their boyfriends, so there were 7 of us altogether.

Much to my surprise, I had a REALLY GOOD time! We all did. We talked, and laughed, and ate very overpriced cheeseburgers and fries, and a few times remembered some of the humiliating, stupid things the kids' dad used to do, and were simply able to laugh about it, and be thankful none of us have to deal with his abuse any more. Well, MOST of us....E got off the phone crying from his nightly phone call while we were there, and said he was "really mad" that we were all there together, and when C got off her turn on the phone she just rolled her eyes, and said he was being stupid and mad again. (He's been having a few "issues" since my remarriage, and the entire reason we got divorced was because of his abuse of A and his drinking, so naturally he doesn't like that she and I have remained in close contact. )Other than THAT, though, the night was wonderful, and the fireworks actually lasted about 45 minutes, which for around here is a pretty good show. It took us about that long to get out of the parking lot, and then we came home, the girls visited with my husband for a few minutes, and went on their way.

So, not only did we celebrate the anniversary of our NATION'S independence, my 4 daughters and I were able to enjoy and celebrate OUR independence, freedom from abuse and alcoholism, and just have fun, and ENJOY the night, which is the way it should have ALWAYS been. I think it was very good for all of us. Thank you so much A and B for thinking of your little sisters, and for the nice night we had last night.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

A Reminder That No Matter How Tight Times Are, God DOES Provide even the Little Things

I received a complimentary issue of "Homeschool Enrichment" Magazine a few days ago, as I'm sure many of you also have. I've never heard of, let alone read, this particular home school magazine before, but so far I've enjoyed every article in it. But one, in particular, really struck me, because it reminded me of something miraculous in my life that I'd forgotten about.

Back in October, 1998, I was a brand new wife, and a brand new mother. I had 2 step kids that I considered my own and raised their entire lives who were, at that time, 4 and 7 years old. I had a baby less than 3 weeks old, and we were, to say the least, poor as church mice. Our bills weren't much...rent, power, and that as about it. We had propane heat because we lived in the country, and we had well water for the same reason, and we burned our trash, so no garbage or sewer bill. We didn't have a computer, so no internet, and we didn't even have TV, so no cable TV bill. But we also had no income....neither of us worked. We had very little food, because it's hard to buy food with no income. We had a clean house, happy kids, and when my then husband found an odd job here and there, or my mother sent us a little cash, we bought several weeks worth of cheap groceries for the kids, and he and I rationed our food to one meal every 3 or 4 days. By cheap, I mean our kids LIVED on Ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches. On a good day we had grilled cheese and tomato soup.

One morning, I noticed my 2 week old baby girl, C, had thrush. She was screaming in agony, and wouldn't nurse. I called the doctor, and he prescribed some medicine for me to go pick up for her. However, when I called the pharmacy to see how much it was, they said it would be almost $9.00. Now, $9.00 certainly isn't much, but it was about $8.00 more than we had when we scraped out change together.

I couldn't bear seeing my baby girl crying, in pain and hungry, but unable to nurse because of the pain. I was sure she was going to starve to death. I was crying, and, though I had no faith at that time, I didn't know what else to do, so I said, "God, please help me help my baby. Help me find a way to make her better." As I sat there trying to rock her, and both of us crying, D went out to get the mail. One of the envelopes was addressed to my baby, and was obviously a card congratulating us on her birth. I opened it up, and....enclosed was a 5 dollar bill and 4 ones. $9.00.

Now....who in the world sends $9 for a baby gift? NO one sends such an odd amount. People would either send a an even $10 or $20, or just a card and gift, but not a 5 and 4 ones. So here i am, not a Christian yet, having NO faith, but in my desperation to calm my baby and help her get well I cried to God without even thinking. And less than 15 minutes later not only did he provide, he very clearly provided the EXACT odd amount I needed to go buy C her thrush medication. Maybe back then I didn't yet have faith, but He sure wanted me to know he listens!

Times for me right now are just about as tough as they were back then. I have no babies, my youngest daughter is now 8. I have no rent, as I own my home, but I have way more bills, and again, no income, and haven't had child support in over 6 months. I AM a Christian now, and I have a very STRONG faith, a faith that actually began the very day I am writing about, and 15 months later was fully planted. But I think God sending me the particular free issue of a home school magazine in the mail at this particular time in my life was meant as a reminder....the similarities to the story in the magazine, and to my OWN story are just too eerily similar to be a coincidence. And I sure needed that reminder at this time in my life that no matter how tight my financial situation happens to be right now, He WILL always provide for us.

Bragging on E a Little : )

E is 8, and in her second year of softball. Last year she did well at practices, but froze up during games. She spent much of her time at homeplate turning around searching for me to make sure I was watching, waving at me, and striking out. Last night E had her first game of THIS year. Much to my surprise she did not have one, single out. She was up to bat 6 times, and she hit the ball each and every time. Not only did she HIT the ball, she WHACKED the ball into the outfield! She had 5 singles, and a double. She COULD have had 2 doubles, but on one of them, she didn't realize she had plenty of time to keep running, and stopped on first base. E came home on all of her at-bats, so was responsible for 6 of the 18 runs total her team scored to win their opening game. I don't know how many RBI's she had; I wasn't paying attention.

When it wasn't her teams turn at bat, she stood in for the pitcher. On the first game with each new team of the year, the coaches pitch, so E wasn't actually pitching, but she stood there and fielded all 6 innings. And picking her nose. Constantly. LOL I called her over at one point and whispered to her that everyone could SEE her picking her nose. She said, "Okay." and went right back to it. LOL! Maybe all those boogers helped the ball stick , because she stopped many balls, and threw a couple girls out at first, and tagged another girl out.

I have never seen E play softball so well. I have seen her improve this year during practice, but she really SHINED last night, and I'm very proud of her, and of ALL the girls on the team. They all played well, and deserved their 18-8 win.

Very Busy

The girls and I have had a busy couple of weeks.

I'll begin by adding a little more information to my last post about getting married. I have known Mark for 3 1/2 years. I was there for him when his daughter died, and he was there for me when my ex-husband left the girls and I. What began as a good friendship gradually developed into more, and ten days ago we became husband and wife.

Softball season is now in full-swing. (no pun intended, lol) C had her first A-league game yesterday. They lost, but C got home to score 4 of the 8 runs her team had. She hit 2 singles, a triple, and got a lucky run on a dropped strike. She pitched 2 innings. E's first game will be tomorrow evening.

E and I managed to get in some good days of school in last week. As I said previously, we won't be doing a full-time school schedule, but I hope to work through E's Science, and finish teaching her cursive writing, and also keep up with working on her English. We didn't get to any English, but we DID complete 3 lessons in her science, which both of us are enjoying, and she learned FOUR new cursive letters, both capitol and lowercase. Her handwriting is still very labored, but her cursive is SO much prettier and neater than her printing.

C has now had 5 violin lessons. She has advanced very quickly though her beginner book; she is now half way through it. ( Lesson 100 out of 195 ) She is dedicated in practicing, and working very hard. Her teacher has notified us that this is his final year of teaching, and that when the summer is over, he won't be doing it anymore. As we both like him, and he appears to be doing a very good job instructing her, we are disappointed that after so many years of waiting to be able to get her a violin and a teacher, she will now be losing him so soon after beginning lessons. Please pray C can find another good music teacher with no lapses in her lessons.

My older 2 daughters, A and B, came to visit us yesterday. They both live within a couple hours drive of us, but it is rare we get to have all 4 of the girls together. I see A every few months, and B seems to just randomly drop in, but it isn't often they both are here together. They will be coming back in 2 weeks to see their little sisters play softball.

Another busy week is in store. I have 6 softball games in the next 6 days, plus violin lessons, and every spare minute we have the girls are playing with their friends (because they are unsocialized home-schoolers) working on small bits of school, and trying to keep up with house and yard work.

I'll write when I can.....blessings to all! : )

Summer Plans

I said that I was going to post our summer plans. I have several goals for this summer, some academically, some personally, and I also have some plans for this blog.

I think I will start with the plans I have for this blog. The major change I plan to undertake is to write a little bit of our background, our history. Judging by my "stats" page, I am gaining a few more readers, and for those new to my blog I feel I should "re-introduce" myself. I began writing three years ago, and just about every aspect of my life EXCEPT home schooling has changed since then. I also plan to talk a little bit more about our particular situation. If homeschooling is still an "eccentric" way of life, then how much MORE odd is it to have a single, divorced, stay at home mom doing it all on her own? No husband, no income, no baby sitters, and no family other than my daughters? Hopefully, over the next few weeks/months I can address the girls and I's own unique, personal situation in a little more depth. I'd also like to try to address WHY I am divorced, when divorce goes against everything I believe in, both as a Christian, and as a wife and mother. This part I am still having a few issues in how to approach. I have so much to tell, but I'd like to do it without "invading" too much of my girls and my ex-husband, and my own privacy. And yet, I feel it is important to write down, not only for my daughters, but for any of you moms that may be reading this.

As for academic goals....those are so much more concrete, and therefore so much easier to write about. For C, my 7th grader...our goals are relatively simple. She will be spending 4-5 days a week or more either playing softball, practicing softball, or watching her little sister's softball games. This is C's 6th year in softball. I also plan to have C continue with her violin lessons. She has only had 3 lessons, but I am actually quite amazed at how well she is doing, how hard she is practicing, and how fast her teacher is advancing her. She has passionately wanted to take violin lessons for 4 years, and so far she is exceeding my expectations. (To be quite honest, she is under threat....she knows I have NO income, and those $15 a week lessons REALLY hurt. She knows if she DOESN'T advance quickly I will consider it a waste of not only time, but much needed money, and the lessons will stop.) As for school work...C and I usually do very intermittent school over the summer break. She is already a month into HER break, and we haven't done one thing, which is fine. My goals for her school work are to maybe get one more whole chapter of Math done, and maybe one chapter of Science. And if not....well, then she and I can both enjoy a first....a summer with NO school. At least for her.

E's goals for the summer? Well, E is also in softball....her second year. She will be at the ball park on all the same days as her sister. E will also be continuing piano lessons. I am her piano teacher, and our lessons are very sporadic. I may do 3 lessons in one week, and then go a month doing NO lessons. Anyone who reads this blog knows E is just as much or more passionate about the piano as her sister is with violin. E still plays at a beginner level, but that is mostly due to my busy days and not being consistent enough as her teacher. She memorizes everything, she plays every day, hours a day, and would advance MUCH quicker if I spent more time being able to teach the "extras", like piano. I am hoping with less school work, I can do better at teaching E more.

I also have quite a few school work plans for E. As I said in my last post I hope to have her complete Level 2 of First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, and in addition, have her finish the second half of her Harcourt Learning Language Arts workbook. I also plan to begin and hopefully, complete several of her McRuffy Science 3 lessons while we have time. Science is one of those FUN, but TIME-CONSUMING, classes, and this will be the first year I have home schooled and had the 2 girls in 2 separate science classes. They have always done the Apologia science books together till now. Because of these 2 reasons, I think summer would be a good chance to get ahead with E's science, when we can spend more time since I am not working much with C for a few months.

My MAJOR goal is to have E writing completely in cursive by August. Um....for those of you that are long-time readers....yeah, I know that I may have mentioned this goal of E writing in cursive one or two times in the past. THIS time I MEAN it! LOL E has severe handwriting issues----to the extent that I believe she may have a form of dysgraphia, and I have had to spend far more time just helping her better her PRINTING, than introducing her to CURSIVE.

This isn't necessarily a GOAL, but I have it in the back of my mind to get E through at least the first 20 or so lessons in Horizons Math 3. Math is her favorite subject, and Horizons has so many lessons that it would be NICE to get part of them done, but because she does so well with it, I don't consider it IMPERATIVE.

So...in a nutshell...our summer plans are to carry on with music lessons, get through the hot, humid days of softball, spend quite a bit of time on E's schoolwork, but not every day, and not too MUCH time that she can't be a kid and enjoy playing and being with her friends. And ideally, I will find a way to go into some rather personal things writing here on this blog, without getting TOO personal.There is, literally, TONS in my brain, just itching to get out in print, yet I have to be careful what and how I say things. And if you know me, I am NOT a censor-my-words kind of gal. So...we'll see if I am able to meet this goal.

Blessings to all of you, and Happy Memorial Day. : )

Ok, E is FINALLY Finished With 2nd Grade

It took a little longer than I had planned, due to every one of us in the house getting sick...first her, then me, then C. We have had sore throats and fevers, sinus issues, and earaches. So, while my intentions were to be completely finished 2 weeks ago, we just finally finished yesterday. We spent many days the past 2 weeks doing NO school, but this week we finally were able to pick up the pace and get through a few loose ends.

E's main unfinished business was her English. We completed Level 1 of First Language Lessons, and half the workbook pages in our Harcourt Press language book, that I've used to give her more seatwork and extra practice for English skills. We plan to keep right on working through the summer in Level 2 of FLL and the rest of her workbook pages in her Harcourt Language Arts book, in time to begin R&S 3rd grade English by August. This is the only subject E is a little behind in. She excels with the grammar portions, but is having some handwriting delays which is causing me to move her through a little slower than I normally would.

E has also been working very hard on learning and practicing her cursive handwriting. This is not really a specific grade level subject, although my goal is to have her be able to read and write cursive fluently by the time she begins 3rd grade. Most children seem to learn cursive during their 2nd or 3rd grade school year. E has had so many issues printing, that I'd wanted her to become more proficient with THAT before learning cursive, but I finally came to the conclusion that it might be easier for her to write using cursive. There have recently been many public debates at the national level on even TEACHING children cursive at ALL anymore, but I think every child should know both printing and cursive, and they can then choose which they prefer to use for their own writing. Many public schools have done away with cursive writing altogether. E really enjoys this "new" way of writing, and although she still labors, it seems to be a little easier for her, and she definitely writes MUCH neater in cursive than printing.

Those two things are the only things we were really working on for E to finish 2nd grade. Both of those we will CONTINUE to work on through the summer, if all goes as planned, but she has worked hard, done lots, and is easily able to be considered a 3rd grader now.

E and I actually have lots planned for the summer, because while C is "on break" I just have so much more time to really concentrate working with E. She is still young enough she LIKES school, and she gets bored and still ASKS to do school, so this won't be any problem at all THIS year, at least.

I will try to get a post written in the next few days about our summer schedule. But for now, I wanted everyone to know E has worked very hard this year, and done VERY well. I am so proud of her, and when I look at all she has learned, and can do, I am very proud of her. E is the only child who has NEVER been to public school at ALL, and I can really see a huge difference between her and my other 3 daughters at that age.

E's grades:

Math------A (almost A + for the entire year)
English---A
Spelling--A (again, almost A +, but spelling LESSONS and TESTS are not transferring into any of her other writing.)
Reading---A
Handwriting----not sure what grade to give her, LOL. A for effort, C or D in actual results.
Science---B. she participated well, understood almost everything, but has not retained as much as I would have liked.
Social Studies--B. same as science, participated, did her work well, understood it, but isn't retaining as much as I'd like.
Piano--A+ for sure. E loves the piano....I can't keep her from practicing, she drives us nuts playing constantly, she works and works and works on what she learns. I couldn't ask for anything more, and in fact, she EXCEEDS any expectations with this.
Health/P.E.---A+ too. She not only knows and retains anything to do with health, she sometimes scolds ME. LOL

Wonderful job E! I couldn't ask for a better "student" or daughter. You work so very hard, and are never a problem. You are a joy to work with and teach, and I love you more than you will ever imagine. Congratulations on completing 2nd grade!

C is Officially DONE with 6th Grade

C is officially done with her school year. She completed Saxon math 67, and the first 4 chapters, 28%, of BJU Math 7 (Fundamentals of Math). She will work once or twice a week in this book from June through August, and then we will get back to full time school. She, E, and I completed Apologia's Anatomy and Physiology. She completed BJU English 6, actually she finished that first about 2 months ago. She completed the first third of HOD RTR in the fall, and then we switched to BJU 7 World Studies in January. She will continue with that next school year.

She earned:

Math---B
English A-
Science A
Social Studies/ History A
Reading/Literature A-
Art A

Congratulations, C, on a good year...even though you some days didn't feel you were doing well, and on completing 6th grade. You worked hard, and I am especially proud of your improvement in writing, and how hard you have worked in Math when we switched curriculum. : ) We have had a lot of schedule upheavals, unexpected missed days, and 2 major curriculum switches, but you have done very well.

AND....we just found out today she will be beginning her VIOLIN LESSONS in 2 days.

E is ALMOST done with her "official" school year, but we have hopes to do lots of extras through the summer, so I will post her update in a separate post.

Mother's Day

Just a short, little, sentimental, feeling-sorry-for-myself post today.

Mother's Day growing up was always spent going to church, going out to brunch with our entire extended family, and then my parents and I would usually just drive around for awhile. I have never had a Mother's Day with my mother while being a mother. My mom died when C was only 2 1/2 months old, so MY first Mother's Day as a mom was the first Mother's Day without my OWN mom.

The next 12 years I spent Mother's Day usually the same way. It was always my pick of what to do, what to eat, and where to go, of course, and usually my choice went like this: go to Hometown Buffet for breakfast, go to Barnes and Noble to buy books, go to Best Buy to buy a CD or video game, drive around for awhile, come home, open my gifts from everybody, and then fishing. I haven't fished for almost 2 years, but it is so peaceful, relaxing, and who wouldn't love to just spend time enjoying nature surrounded by their whole family?

This year....well....my daughters both made me beautiful hand-beaded bracelets, colored me pictures, and made me cards. I went to Wal-Mart and spent $167 on groceries. Anyone who knows me knows I DETEST Wal-Mart, and it is the LAST place I would choose to go ANY day, let alone Mother's Day, but home schooling kind of puts a damper on errands during the week, and I guess at least I don't have to go back to Wal-Mart for 2 weeks now. Too bad I couldn't afford a fishing license while I was there, and at least I could go fishing! LOL If the grass ever dries out enough I'll go mow instead...oh yippee! LOL

Hope the rest of you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!