What's New In the Past Year?

Yes, it's been almost an entire year since I've posted anything. Life has been busy.

The girls had probably the best school year we've ever had last year. Emily soared through sixth grade, and while Colleen didn't exactly soar, she made all A's and B's. We worked hard every day, and only missed a few days back in October and November when I went into kidney failure and had two surgeries. Since then, though, I have felt better than I have in a long time, and I have also been losing weight. I've lost 47 pounds since last December. Seeing the huge number at my nephrologist's office on the scale was my motivation.

Colleen completed her fifty hours of required driving, to get her drivers license. Emily is continuing with gymnastics, and improving rapidly. Neither girl did softball this year, for the first year ever.

My little grandson, Brendan, 2 1/2, has been spending 1 day a week with us over the summer. His little brother, Conner, 16 months, still prefers to stay home with his mama.

I recently ordered all out upcoming curricula. No the girls with be doing Sonlight. Colleen also will be doing Algebra 2, and finishing Spanish. Emily will be doing math, spelling, and science in addition to her Sonlight. We will begin school in about 4 weeks, when the girls and I return from vacation up in Ludington, Michigan, where I spent half my childhood.

Back to School

I have attempted to update several times, but every time I tried to post pictures, it wouldn't let me, so I got mad, and didn't post ANYTHING. However, since it was asked of me if I was done blogging, I shall post a brief update.

We have been SO busy! Last time I wrote, I was expecting a new grandson. Conner Lee was born almost 5 months ago now, weighing in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces, and is a happy cheerful baby. I adore him, and would love to share pictures, but alas...you'll just have to take my word for it.

Emily, age 11, has become active in gymnastics, and both girls were, as always, in softball this year. Colleen continues to volunteer at the animal shelter 2 days a week, and has learned to drive. In our state, parents are not allowed to homeschool driver's ed, so she spent 4 months attending public school for this class. She got an A in the class, and an A in the behind-the-wheel portion. Since she got A's in both parts of the class, she was eligible to take her driving test already, and now has a waiver, and won't have to take it at the DMV. I didn't even know she TOOK the test till she handed me the waiver.

Colleen also gained more than her permit and waiver in Driver's ed. She also ended up with a boyfriend. Although this is a little unsettling to me, these things happen when you're almost 16, and I'm happy for her. We do not allow dating, however, so they are restricted to phone calls, texts, and visits at our house.

I was sooo behind in ordering curriculum this year. Normally, that is something I do in the winter, but I didn't make my final decisions or place orders till three weeks ago. We now have everything, and have started a tiny bit of school, intending to begin full-time next week.

For 6th grade, Emily will be doing the complete Timberdoodle kit, substituting TT Math for Saxon.

Colleen will be in 10th grade this year, and will be doing:

MUS Geometry
Abeka Biology with DVDs and Labs
Abeka World History
Abeka World Literature
Jenson's Format Writing
ACE Spanish
Critical Thinking Co. Level 3 Verbal Skills

Colleen is on her 2nd week of Biology. It is taking some adjustment to get used to a DVD class, but overall I'm liking it.

Emily just began spelling and math this week.

There is, of course, tons more going on with life, but this is the homeschool update. If anyone still reads this, hope all is well with you.

Finishing up, Driver's Ed, and Grandbabies

Colleen and Emily are both swiftly finishing up their current subjects. Emily finished science 2 weeks ago, and has only 10 days of Math left. I am in a quandary what Math to get her next year, as she places into pre-algebra, but I don't want her to be that far ahead yet. I am considering Saxon 8/7, the Art of Problem Solving, or just sticking with BJU Math for one more year.

Emily and I are taking a break from ACE English and ACE Word Building this week, due to the impending arrival of my second grandson. (My oldest daughter is 3.5 cm dilated, and his due date is today. We keep thinking, "this is it", and they keep sending her home till she has regular, strong contractions. ) While Emily and I take a break from the boring tedium of ACE....I'm not knocking it; it does a thorough job, but it's just so REPETITIVE day after day....we have begun Emma Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons. ILL is an entirely different approach...the Charlotte Mason approach in homeschool-speak, and it is a breath of fresh air for Emily and I. She so far SEEMS to be learning English much better this way, and every day is different, instead of just "underline, fill in the blank, circle the right answer". She is learning poetry, narration, picture study, logical thinking, creativity, and writing skills...none of which is in ACE English. (It is basically grammar only.) We may just extend out break, and keep on with ILL, occasionally doing the rest of her PACES till they are done. I'm not denying the importance of grammar, but there are so many other important aspects in English. Aspects that are much more interesting. :)

Colleen has finished ALL of her subjects other than PAC Integrated Physics and Chemistry. She still loves this, and due to our late start with her science this year when I was so sick last fall, she is only halfway through the course. We will probably work through the summer, since she wants to continue, although I plan to begin her Biology in August.

With only one "class" each day, Colleen has spare school time on her hands. She is 15,and in our state, this means she can take Driver's Ed. In our state, homeschoolers are not allowed to teach Driver's Ed. We have the option of 1.) taking the class for free through our local public school district, 2.) paying for a professional driving instructor, of which there are none in our town, or 3.) waiting for her to get her driver's license when she turns 18. We chose door #1...taking the class for free through our local school district. Beginning Monday, Colleen will be going daily to the local high school for one hour a day the next nine weeks for her driver's ed class. She will do the "Behind the Wheel" (actual driving) portion of the class over the summer, which fits in perfectly with out school schedule. I asked her if it felt weird to be going to school again, and she said, "Yeah." Our high school is HUGE, but when we registered for her class, they showed her around, and she even has a student ID card, as no one is allowed in the building without one. It will be a pain for me to have to drive her up there every day, come back an hour later to pick her up. I prefer scheduling all my errands once a week, and now I will have to go out 7 days a week, but I feel learning to drive is important, and I am NOT having another child that refuses to drive in this family. Colleen is the 3rd child I've raised, and when she gets her license she will be the FIRST one to ever do so. April is 23 and still refuses to get hers.

The girls will also be starting Spanish as soon as the ACE Spanish set we bought arrives. This is something Colleen has been begging to get for over a year now, and I finally got around to choosing and ordering it.

So, as the girls finish their current 5th and 9th grade subjects, we're just kind of moving on into their 6th and 10th grade ones. We take each day as it comes, awaiting our new little family member anytime now, and also awaiting spring. It was a long, cold, snow-filled winter, which no one but me apparently enjoyed. I love winter, detest summer, so I happily stayed cozily inside doing school, reading several dozen books, and trying to rest when possible. The girls, and everyone else in the Midwest, are ready for warm weather.

We are DONE with Algebra

I don't think my daughter has ever struggled so much with a subject in her life. Every day the last few months was tough to get through. There were times this fall I wasn't sure how or when we would EVER get done. I even debated switching to some other curriculum, and only held off because we were well over half-way done with the current book.

In November she seemed to hit a point where Algebra was easier for her for a few chapters, getting A's on three chapter tests in a row. This was enough for the end to be in sight. We took a break for 3 weeks over Christmas, came back and did one more chapter with another A, and then she hit a wall again. However, by the time we hit THIS wall, she only had 11 more lessons left in the entire book.

I looked at the hours she spent on Algebra 1.....over 290 hours, which is well over the requirements to earn a high school credit. (A credit is approximately 120 to 180 hours.) I looked at what she had left to complete in the book....which was 11 lessons, 9 days of review, and 3 tests, including her final exam. A friend pointed out to me that when in all MY years of schooling did I ever finish an entire book? (Good point!)

I decided only 2 of the remaining lessons were of utmost importance for her to complete. She did those both with no problem. We skipped ALL the review days, and I gave her the final exam. I told her I would adjust her grade, if need be, for the 9 lessons we ended up skipping. However, there was no need to adjust her final exam grade, as she got an 88% on it with no review, and not having finished every single lesson.

Colleen's final Algebra grades ended up as follows: Semester 1, 93% for the semester, and 88% for the midterm exam. Semester 2, 87% for the semester, and 88% on the final exam. I am VERY proud of her (and myself, lol) for sticking to it, and I am SO relieved to have this subject done and over with! She now will have an almost 6 month break before we begin Geometry. And WOW have our days been smoother with 2 less hours of school every day this week, and not having the stress of a very difficult, for her, subject. : )

Colleen got an A on an Algebra Test

That's all. That in itself, is exciting enough news to title a blog post. She took her chapter 12 test last week, and got a 94%. We are now on break this week for Thanksgiving.

Back to Homeschool....way later than usual

We normally begin school the first Monday in August, pretty much as soon as softball season is over. This year, though, we are just NOW getting back into full time schoolwork. My health has just been crazy this year, with tons of doctor appointments, tons of lab appointments, tons of pills, which I hate taking. It has really put huge delays into everything, from school, to simply doing chores and paying bills. My first doctor, and first and second set of labs back in the spring said I had Lupus. I was sent to a rheumatologist, who said my blood levels were not "high enough" to call Lupus, and I had to go back in August to get more labs. Again, he said while I tested positive, it wasn't high enough to be considered Lupus. They did note, however, that I am extremely low in Folic Acid and Vitamin B, so I started taking supplements. I have had ulcerative colitis since I was a child, and they attribute my deficiencies to the fact that my colon does not absorb Folic Acid like normal people, and the B vitamins can not be properly processed without Folic Acid. I can definitely say that I noticed a HUGE increase in my energy levels within a week of beginning to take the supplements, although they do nothing for all my other symptoms.

Then, about a month ago, I began suffering pretty severe lower, left abdominal pain. It was in the exact same spot where I always have pain with my ulcerative colitis, but other than the pain, I was having no other symptoms. Finally, I went (was forced) to the doctor, who felt it was my colitis, and prescribed me Flagyl and Cipro for 10 days. Which during the time I took them, actually made me WORSE, but once I was off them, I slowly improved to the point that this week I was finally back in school mode for the first time. I was pretty out of it for a month or so. I didn't even pay my bills...not because I couldn't afford to, but because I was so exhausted, in so much pain, that I simply didn't care, and I simply couldn't find the energy to write checks or pay by phone. School-wise, all I could manage to force myself to get done was math for each daughter.

Finally, last week, I decided that ANY school accomplished is better than NO school getting done. (Yes, I've been so out of it lately, that it took me this long to figure that seemingly obvious fact out.) So, instead of my usual, teacher-intensive curriculum, I went with what I consider the "easy way out" this year, and do a major portion on each girls' school with what I like to refer to as: "read and regurgitate" type workbooks. Colleen began last year, and is finishing this year, ACE's 9th grade Geography, and she just this week began PAC's Integrated Physics and Chemistry. These basically require nothing of me, other than handing her the score keys after she completes each days' assignment. Honestly, I never liked this kind of curriculum, but, as I said, SOMETHING is better than NOTHING, and she actually does very well with those 2 subjects. She is CONSTANTLY reading aloud from both these courses, sharing what she finds interesting, and does very well on all her tests, seeming to remember more from the "read and regurgitate" format, than from typical textbook formats. Colleen is also doing Writing Strands Level 5, which is WAY too easy for her, especially after having completed Windows to the World Writing/Lit last year. But, it constitutes a "writing intensive" semester course, which our state requires 2 full credits of in high school, and she adds to it by....GASP!.....writing short stories on her own. Yes, Colleen, my writing-loathing daughter, has been writing short stories on her own at night.

Colleen is also almost done with Chapter 10 (out of 17) of Jacob's Algebra. She has had a horrible week with it this week. She and I literally spend a MINIMUM of 2 hours per day, and usually more like 3, every day. I love Algebra. I loved it when I did it in school 25 years ago, and I love it now. Colleen, on the other hand, truly thinks I make her do it because I am "mean". Together, we use the white board a lot, and truly work one problem at a time, one lesson at a time, and as a reward for finishing a chapter, she takes a week off from Algebra after every chapter. Next week is her birthday, and thankfully, she has a whole week off. I'm not sure who is happier about that....Colleen? Or me?

Emily is on chapter 7 of BJU Math 5, and as always, flies along in anything math-related. I went the easy way out on some of her curriculum also. She is doing ACE paces for both English and Word Building, which is a fancy name ACE has for Spelling, to fool kids into thinking they aren't doing spelling. And happily, she is doing all 5th grade work this year, right at grade level. The past 2 years she has been working a grade behind in both spelling and English. They require a lot more writing than she is used to having to do, but she is doing well with both courses. She's only in the first pace of each, though, so I'll reserve judgment till she gets farther into the year.

Emily is also doing Writing Strands this year, level 3. It is EXACTLY where she needs to be for her abilities, and she brought tears to my eyes this week when she turned in an assignment that has NO spelling errors, and NO missed punctuation or capitalization errors. Granted, there were no words longer than 5 letters in any of her sentences, but as the one or two readers of this blog may recall, Emily is mildly dyslexic/dysgraphic, and for her to turn in a perfect writing assignment is amazing to me.

Emily has not started science or social studies this year. She is partway through each of the 5th grade Abeka books in each of those subjects, so I'm in no hurry. I'm doing much better than I was a month, or even a week, ago, but I'm not up to doing Abeka with her yet....THAT is way too teacher intensive, and I'm just thankful we are now at least getting the basic core subjects done daily. I also still have to order Spanish for Colleen. We plan to do it together, as a family, but it's not happening yet, due to my health, and also because I can not seem to find a Spanish program I'm completely happy enough with to spend money on.

So, while I am more behind this, my 6th year of homeschooling, than any other year, and while I am NOT keeping up with this blog as I should, and as I began 2013 out intending to do....we ARE still here, and we ARE muddling through school and life. I am so thankful for each day I make it through, and I thank God many times a day for the people who are here to support, love, and help me. It is very difficult for me to ask for help of any kind, so I appreciate all those who SEE what I need without me asking, and help me! Simple things, such as carrying the laundry for me, or taking out the garbage, save me hours of pain and exhaustion. Simple e-mails and phone calls show me who is there for me, and who cares. Thank you to all of those who are there for me. I TRULY could not make it without them! And while most of the time I just don't have the energy to promptly return emails and phone calls anymore, I do truly appreciate each and every gesture of love and concern.

Another Softball Season is Over

This was Colleen's 8th year, and Emily's 4th year of softball. The season lasted a month longer this year than in the past, but the weather was the nicest we have EVER had. There were only 2 days hot and humid enough we even had to bring water coolers, which was lovely for me, since I have trouble in the heat.

Emily's team, unfortunately, didn't win any games. Not one. They finished last place for the season, and were the first team to be eliminated in the tournaments. She didn't have much fun this year, but I am proud of her for sticking it out. She, herself, played very well, hitting the ball about 90% of the time she was up to bat, and on the rare occasions the pitcher actually pitched something the other teams could hit, she quickly fielded any balls that came her way. Which only happened about 3 times the entire season. Here is Emily on her final night, in the pouring rain (thus, the blurry picture).

Colleen, on the other hand, finished her season with a 16-3 win/loss record, and her team was in first place for the season, and won 1st place in the Championship game just last night.

Close up view of her trophy:

Colleen happily showing off her sliding skills after the game:

...and half her team sliding into home at once after the trophys were given out:

Colleen ALSO won $5 from her coach last night, for a stellar, left-field catch. So, another season is finished, and we will soon be having to start school again. Normally, we begin the first week in August, but with softball going on longer, and my health issues, we're going to just take a few weeks off to relax. I haven't even ordered all their curriculum yet, although I do know what we will be doing. I have some lab and doctor appointments this month, too, so it might not be till after Labor Day before we go back to school.

Almost Done for the Year....and WHAT a Year it has Been!

This has been a very good year school-wise. My daughters have worked harder than ever before. However, the past few months we have had nothing but upheaval and interruptions in our lives, so it has been a real struggle to reach our end-of-year-goals. Normally we finish our year by the end of April. Here it is the end of May, and we have about 2 weeks left.

Colleen has 13 days left to reach the midterm of Algebra. She has 3 chapters left in Literature. Today will be the last day of Geography; she will do her test for Pace 5 this morning, and be done till fall. Originally, we had planned to complete 6 paces, to be exactly halfway through the course, but with everything going on the past 3 months, we just didn't make it.

Emily has about 9 days left to be halfway through her spelling book, and 7 days left to complete chapter 4 in 5th grade math. She has 3 days left in 5th grade science.

Technically, both girls are several months into the grades they normally would be starting NEXT year, but because we haven't finished our take-a-break-for-summer goals yet, I feel behind. They both have also begun softball practice about a month ago. Games begin in 2 weeks.

Since I've been too busy to keep up with my blog this semester, I will briefly explain why. January brought my dear father-in-law's unexpected death. February and March were taken up with me going to a myriad of doctor's appointments and lab tests. I went to the doctor more in 4 weeks than I've been in 10 years, since i was expecting Emily! March also brought us a litter of 5 kittens, which we were all blessed to be able to witness their birth. In April baby Brendan was hospitalized for 6 days, and had surgery. He is doing well now. Also in April, my ex-husband came to stay with us for a month. That, in and of itself, was a MAJOR disruption in our lives, but we appreciate all the hard work he did around here to help me out and make improvements on my house. It seems there have been things that come up every, single day, but we keep muddling through. Also, as I said, we have softball practice 5 out of 7 days of the week, Colleen still works at the animal shelter at least once a week, and as soon as we finish her school she will be back to 2 days weekly. There are also my ongoing marital issues, which I never speak of here, but add a huge amount of daily stress.

With so many things happening, my pain levels seemingly increasing by the day, and the stress in my personal life, it is all I can do to make it through school days. But the girls and their education are my top priority, and as I said, we keep muddling through. : )

Prayers Appreciated

This has been one of the worst weeks of my life. Not THE worst, but it ranks in the top ten. Today, especially, is a day I could just use prayers from any of you reading this. Thank you.

Happy 10th Birthday, Emma!

My youngest daughter had her 10th birthday! She had a VERY busy weekend. We began celebrating by taking last Friday off school. As homeschoolers, we always take a day off in honor of a child's birthday. We went to Olive Garden and Barnes and Noble Friday afternoon, and Friday night, Emily had her best friend over to spend the night. They only live 2 houses away from each other, so we normally don't do overnights. The only problem we had was her friend goes to public school, and is used to getting up WAY earlier than us. And is quite chatty at 5:30 a.m. I made her blueberry muffins for breakfast, and Emily opened her presents later in the morning. This is the only picture I took of any of her birthday events:

She had more presents. The above picture is only what I got her. April bought her a box of 10 dolphin puzzles, and a light-sketcher thing from Crayola. Her best friend bought her a Barbie and a coloring book. Her step-dad gave her $10 and her favorite candies.

One of the things she asked for was a pair of roller skates. I wasn't able to get them, but Saturday afternoon Emma, her friend, and Colleen went to the skating rink. Overall they had fun, although some high school kids were being very mean to Emily in the beginning. She kept falling, because we only go skating about once a year. Instead of helping her, they laughed at her and made fun of her, and she began crying. Colleen, who is rarely nice to Emily herself, didn't like OTHER people being mean to her sister, and wanted to talk to the older kids directly. Emily didn't want her to, so they told they rink manager, who took care of it. Other than that, they all had fun skating, playing arcade games, and playing laser-tag, but both my daughters' legs were very sore the next day, and Emma also got 2 huge blisters and several new bruises for her birthday. : (

That night we went out to a local steakhouse for her birthday supper. Emma's favorite food is steak. We came home, and she had brownies, in lieu of cake. Not a single one of my children like cake. They all choose another dessert. With the exception of too little sleep, and too many skating falls, she had a good birthday.

I can't quite grasp that my little Emma is alreaady 10. It sure doesn't seem like a decade since I had my dark-haired little girl. Her personality has never wavered. Emily is my sensitive child, my art-loving, nature-loving, musical, theatrical girl, and she has the biggest, most loving heart of all my girls. I have never seen her NOT offer to share whatever she has. She is always there to jump in and help when needed. She will cry at the drop of a hat, whether from sadness or unfairness in her world, or joy at the beauty in life. She still isn't too big to cuddle on laps, or freely hug those she loves. She loves puns, loves math, and loves art, music, puzzles, animals, and nature. She's one of the smartest children I've ever seen, rarely needing to be told twice how to do anything. She's the one I hate to disappoint, but the one who it seems I am always short-changing, due to her thoughtful, giving nature. This little girl was a big surprise when I found out I was expecting her, but she is SUCH a wonderful gift from God, and I am so blessed to be her mom.

Emily, I love you with all my heart. You are a wonderful daughter! I am so thankful to have you in my life.

ACE World Geography 9th Grade Review

I've never used anything from ACE before. I've heard many negative reviews, and not so many positive ones. The reviews I've read all say it is too "easy", or that students just read the paces, and "regurgitate" the answers in fill in the blank, multiple choice workbooks. Parents also complain that their children don't retain the information they read.

I beg to differ. Unsure what to use for Colleen's 9th grade year for social studies, I researched several options. Eventually I came down to deciding between Abeka's 9th grade World Geography, and ACE's. The deciding factors were 1.) price. ACE is several hundred dollars less expensive than Abeka, and 2.) A comparison from a fellow homeschool mom who owns both of these. I figured, for the price, I might as well give it a shot, and see for myself.

Colleen has just completed the first PACE. Normally, a pace is to take about 3 weeks to read, answer, do the mapwork, and do the self checks and final test. We took over 4 weeks, due to the deaths in our family last month, and the plumbing and vet emergencies we had. Is it easy? Colleen says, "Yes." Does she have to mindlessly regurgitate answers? Yes, some of the time. She reads, and answers questions, just like any other publisher or textbook. She answers FAR more questions than were she to use a textbook curriculum, and although many of them ARE just multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank, she also has mapwork, and open ended questions that require thought. She can not just skim through her reading, because she would not be able to answer the questions without fully reading the material, and she spends much time flipping back and forth from her workbook pages, (called an Activity Pac) and her actual reading in the PACE. She spends maybe 30 to 45 minutes a day with this subject. She says it is interesting, not boring. (Which it is; I read the PACE too.) It is colorful, which believe it or not, I never knew ACE was, till I had it in my hands. Colleen likes that they explain things, and not just write a bunch of facts, with no explanation. She doesn't like the mapwork, but she has never liked any mapwork in any curriculum.

She averaged an A throughout the PACE, usually only missing 2 or 3 questions, if that, each day. Last week she had her test. I warned her to study, and her reply was, "Studying is stupid. I don't need to study." I thought, "Hmm. We'll see about that tomorrow when you take your test then, Little Miss Smarty." Even with her begative attitude, and not studying, she certainly DID retain the material. She got an 88% on the final test. While, in my opinion, that isn't great, it isn't horrible, either. It's a good, solid B, and it's her own fault she didn't want to review or study. And actually, it gives me an even better gauge of how well she retained the information learned because she DIDN'T review it one bit.

All in all, after completing the first of `12 Paces for the year, both Colleen and I like ACE's 9th grade World Geography. She did well. She found it interesting. We both prefer it to the standard, boring, dry textbook production of the topic. There is virtually no lesson planning or teacher-intensiveness to it. She can do this completely independently, with me only helping her if she truly can not find something, and me to grade the test and self-checks. I like it so well that I would definitely consider, and AM considering, using ACE for some other subjects. I wouldn't want to use this format for every subject, but I wish I had checked it out much sooner than going-into-my-6th-year-of-homeschooling.

Look Who Can Smile Now : )

Brendan, not quite 3 months old...

Hectic Homeschooling

Wow! We have been BUSY! As I posted last time, we had 3 very good days of school after Christmas break, and then my father in law died. My husband's uncle also died, so we had 2 back to back funerals, tons of out of state family in town, and tons of running around to do. I managed to have the girls do one or two subjects a day last week, but definitely NOT full school days. We were finally able to manage to get to the grocery store this Monday, and we got back to school Tuesday.

However, my bathtub faucet has been leaking. For months. But by last week it was running constantly, almost full force. The hot water, which caused my bathroom to be steamy, water to literally be condensing on the ceiling, and me having to squeegie off my ceiling twice a day when it bagan to drip on us. For real. Last week, tiny little spots of MOLD began appearing on my ceiling and walls in the bathroom. Leaking faucets and high water bills are one thing. Mold is another. The appearance of the mold motivated me to finally call a plumber. He spent almost 2 hours here Tuesday, and came back to finish for another hour Wednesday, and for the first time in months we have faucets that actually shut the water OFF when we turn them. How novel! I'm not sure how to get the little mold spots off my ceiling, though. I have 9 foot ceilings, and the squeegie just doesn't scrub mold. Any one reading this have any ideas?

Also on Tuesday April called to tell me she is moving. Her husband was laid off a few weeks ago, and there aren't many jobs to be had around here. He found a job, but it's an hour away. They also found a trailer to rent, much cheaper than their current apartment, and much closer to his new job. They are moving this weekend! While it's not as bad as when she lived in Wyoming, I was quite shocked, and sad, because I wasn't expecting this. She knew how busy I was all last week with the funerals, and didn't want to bother me, so she didn't tell me until it was a sure thing. So I have 2 more days to adjust to the fact my daughter, son in law, and new grandson won't be living in the same town anymore. They won't be just dropping by anymore, and we won't be able to just run over there when she needs us anymore.

The girls and I DID manage to get a really good school day in Tuesday, and a sort of good one in yesterday. Yesterday we got all the subjects done, but not well, with interuptions from April and her family stopping by in the morning for an hour, and the plumber at 1 for another hour.

Colleen has gotten a good start into her new algebra, geography, government, and we just this week began "Windows to the World" literature. I'll try to post about these soon. Emily has been having difficulty with math for the first time ever the past few weeks, but we have made it through this difficult chapter on double digit long division, and she has a chapter review today, and test tomorrow. She has also begun some new subjects for 5th grade, and is doing exceedingly well with them. Again, I'll try to get around to a good school-only update in the very near future.

Hopefully, things can get back to normal around here, and we can get some good, quality, school time in for awhile. And I hope everyone else's back to schooling is going much smoother than ours.

My Father in Law

Thursday, my husband walked in his dad's house to find him laying on the floor. He had passed away sometime the day before. Now, my father in law was 92, so it shouldn't be completely unexpected, but it WAS. He just didn't SEEM 92.

Herb still drove, still ran most of his own errands, walked without a cane or walker, and had only had 2 hospitalizations in his entire life....both minor. Last spring was one of those hospitalizations, and for 2 months, Herb needed a little home health care. I went down there (his house is only 5 houses down the street from mine) twice a day till he recovered. During that time, I grew to know the man fairly well.

He was one of the funniest guys I've ever known. He was awesome to spend time talking to, whether we talked about his days in WWII, his marriage, his sons, his work, or things in my life. He cared deeply about his wife, who passed away last June, and was married to her for 71 years. I would call him, or visit him, from time to time, just to get his advice. He never failed to make me feel better, and cheer me up, and usually I could call him sad, and hang up laughing. He was very intelligent, and just 2 months ago wrote a letter to President Obama, detailing his idea to fix our mational debt. (We haven't heard back yet....)He was very proud of his 30 years as a credit manager, and even prouder of his years in Europe during WWII. His answering machine message finishes with him saying, "God bless America". He made me promise to him that whenever he passed away, that I would make SURE he was wearing his WWII Veteran's cap. And he is.

Herb could be stubborn, and so can I. I will never forget one day last summer, when he and I clashed about his health care. Next thing you know, this 91(at the time) year old man is yelling at me, and I'm yelling at him. I stalked out of his house, only to have him call me in tears an hour later, telling me he loved me, and was afraid I wasn't going to come back. I felt so bad that I ran right back down there.

My dad died when I was 17. Herb is over 50 years older than me. But I always told him I felt like he WAS a dad to me, and a grandpa to my girls. His best friend in the world was his wife, and his second best friend in the world was my husband. Those 2 talked every day, usually several times a day. My girls, especially Emily, adored him. He was always giving them little trinkets, but he always had to make a game of it. On his last birthday, he told the 4 of us to pick a number between 1 and 4. Then he disappeared into his room, and reappeared with one of his wife's old purses. My 14 year old picked the winning number, and "won" a free purse.

Only three weeks ago, I had his house professionally cleaned for him, as a Christmas gift. He had been wanting this done forever. Before the cleaning company does their work, they do a home visit so we could get an estimate. Herb wasn't concerned with price. He wasn't concerned about credidentials or quality of work. No, Herb was asking what the ladies who would be doing the cleaning LOOKED like. He requested pretty ones. LOL The man doing the home inspection and estimate, was quite a solemn, dour man to begin with, but, like most people who met Herb, he left laughing.

I only knew my father in law 3 years. I've only been his daughter for not even 2 years. But that man was special to me. I love him. He left a good impression on anyone who met him even briefly, and I'm going to miss him sooooo much. Here he is last summer. This isn't the BEST picture of him, but it captures that great, big grin of his. I love ya, "Grandpa Herb"

First Day Back to School 2013

It's a good thing I said yesterday that I didn't plan to do much, because.....we didn't do much. : )

The first thing we did was dig into Jacob's Algebra. I explained the basics, let her look through the book, and we did the introduction, which was a series of number puzzles that I had her do on our whiteboard. Both girls enjoyed the puzzles, and we actually spent over an hour doing them. Mr. Jacob's did well using these for his intro to algebra. After doing several of them, he showed how to use symbols to figure them out, no matter what the number. So Colleen was doing algebra, and not even realizing it. She enjoyed them so much, she wrote down the steps so she can amaze and stump her friends with these little puzzles.

Emily then proceeded to take over the whiteboard, and drew, "a ship with a bottel in it" [sic], and a castle.

When I was able to get the whiteboard and markers away from Emma, I showed her her new spelling book. (MCP's "Spelling Workout"). I "pre-tested" her on her first list of words, which she got all right. She always aces all the words IN the spelling book. It is transferring them into real life application where she goes horribly wrong. She was sad, because I didn't get her the 5th grade book, or even the 4th grade. She is in level B, which technically would be second grade words. I anticipate breezing through level B, though, before summer is over, and moving on.

Emily then asked if she could use one of her new spiral notebooks I'd bought for school, for writing in. I'm all for writing, so I said she could have it. Now I am short one notebook for school, but that's ok. She then decided the cover was too "plain", and drew, colored, and cut out a rainbow to tape on the cover so that it would be "beautiful". If left to her own devices, this child would do nothing but art all day long. I am guessing the stuff between the rainbow and the grass is rain.

We then went on to U.S. History. Prior to our break we had left off at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. We began talking about the writing of the Constitution. We will finish this chapter, and then my daughters will branch off in their history studies. Colleen has a 9 week course in nothing BUT the Constitution, and Emma will be doing Abeka's, "Old World History and Geography." I went ahead and went through the first-day-introducing-new-books of Emma's OWHG, and we got sidetracked looking at pictures, and discussing places.

That's it. Somehow that took us about 3 hours total, and we didn't really DO much, but it was a nice ease-back-into-school-day. I kind of like those days, where they can take their time, and not be rushed through several subjects. Unfortunately, most days aren't as relaxing.

Homeschool Math Curriculum

Today the girls and I go back to school after an almost 3 week long Christmas break. As I posted last month, for Colleen's high school years, we are deviating from Saxon Math. It was great for her elementary years, but she was slowly losing ground with it in the middle school years. High school is important. Everything we do counts towards credits and transcripts. And everything she learns helps her that much more.

Many people are of the belief that Algebra isn't used in "real life". I beg to differ. I use math and algebra all the time here at home, and coming from a medical profession I couldn't have made it one DAY in work without higher math. Seeing that Colleen hopes to enter the medical profession in a mere 4 or 5 years, treating animals, she is going to NEED to know how to do algebra. It is impossible to do chemistry without a solid knowledge of algebra. It is impossible to figure out dosages and treatments, or even program IV pumps, if you can not figure out WHAT equations to use and how to operate them. Colleen hopes to one day run her own no-kill animal shelter, similar to the one she currently works at. Even if she fulfills that dream, it will be helpful to her to have a basic animal medicine background, and running a non-profit organization takes quite a bit of math skills in and of itself. Being a vet tech OR running a shelter, (or both) will require that she master higher levels of math.

That being said, today we begin 9th grade math, aka Algebra I. I'm a math geek. (and history geek, and geography geek, and literature geek, and writing geek....apparently I'm just a geek period. ) Colleen, on the other hand, has grown frustrated and bored with math. She doesn't understand it. She can DO it, but she doesn't know WHY she must do it, and she is so bored with it that she doesn't CARE about doing her best, most careful work.

I have now had Jacob's Elementary Algebra in my hands for 3 weeks.

I have purused it fairly thoroughly. I have today set aside to simply go through the introduction together. Mr. Jacobs has some really cool algebra puzzles to introduce his book, and all 3 of us will be working through them. Yes, Emily can, and in fact, is needed, to help do these puzzles. They are fun. They are interesting. I THINK even normal people that AREN'T math geeks would agree with that. Spending an hour or two doing these puzzles is important, not only to catch Colleen's interest, but so that she can see how differently Jacob's Algebra is written, and how it is a complete change from Saxon Math. She might be lost if I just hand her the book, and say, "Ok, do Lesson 1." And I really like that he begins every, single lesson with a "real life" example of algebra being used.

I have a few other things I'd LIKE to get to today. We have just a few lessons left in a couple of subjects that we need to finish before each girl is "officially" promoted to their next grade. We have another few subjects I would, ideally, like to also begin today. And I have a LOT of curriculum to still order, and would like to at least get started on getting to that. But if we do nothing today but begin Algebra I, that is fine by me. That is all I have scheduled for SURE today. I don't want algebra to be just another thing to cross off for the day. My girls are fine on their required number of school days, and they are both basically ahead of where they would be if they were in public school, and we are all 3 having trouble getting out of our nice break mode, and back into school mode.

We had a very nice break, accomplished a lot of extra cleaning, sorting, relaxing, game-playing, shopping, and Colleen worked many extra hours/days at the shelter the past 3 weeks. Winter still has a few months to go, before they can be back outside enjoying play time and softball, and this is the best time for us to get lots of schooling done. We don't have to do it all at once, though. We are very blessed to have plenty of time to TAKE our time. I am excited to begin our new school year! : )

Grandma's Boy

Shameless brag, here. Isn't he just adorable? He is 8 weeks old now.

New Year, New Look

As everyone can plainly see, I've finally decided to change the look of my blog a little bit. Don't worry, I'm not done. Well, I might be. I'll probably be too lazy to change it again for another 5 years. I'm not 100% sure about this font, and I don't like the big, blank space on the upper right side. My picture should go all the way across the top. Or I should be able to put a few smaller pictures in that spot. (Like of my kids, but that's too sensible.) But with this template I can't. But I like the template. Or maybe I'm just too technologically inept. Which is, most likely, the case.

So for now, this is the new look. I hope everyone's new year goes better than my blog-altering abilities...Happy 2013!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We finished school Friday. We will be on break until January 7th. I have been cleaning and sorting all weekend. Look at all this curriculum I donated to the Goodwill Saturday! I'm too lazy to post ads for sale, and keep having to make trips to the post office. I had no idea I had this much! (We did not donate the cat. LOL)

We also donated about 80 additional books to the library. The above picture is just of the curriculum.

I was also able to finish up my Christmas shopping yesterday morning. Today we will be doing our last-minute grocery shopping, cooking our Christmas Eve dinner, and baking cookies. Tomorrow the girls and I will just enjoy at home with our small family.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

Good-bye Saxon

After 9 years, we are finally saying good-bye to Saxon math. Colleen began using this when she was in public school. I have a certain sentimental attachment to Saxon math. BECAUSE she used it in ps, and I was familiar with it, and because I was a homeschooling novice and knew of no other math program back then, Saxon was what I ordered for her. In fact, Saxon 54 was the very first homeschooling purchase I ever made. I actually ordered it 4 months before I pulled Colleen out of ps.

Saxon worked well for us up until this year. This year we have been doing pre-algebra. We are almost finished with the book. It is December, a time when I typically have been researching and choosing the next year's curriculum. Colleen normally begins her next grade level in January or February. Because she will be moving up to 9th grade, a FRESHMAN, AND because she has really been struggling with pre-algebra, I have been stressing myself out to the max over what math to use for her. Saxon seemed fine for the lower grades. Colleen caught on and moved through each grade level quickly. For 4 months now, I have known I would NOT continue to use Saxon math for her. For four months I have looked and looked, researched, asked other parents what works for THEIR child, looked at samples online, watched videos, discussed math programs ad nauseum with Colleen, made HER watch videos, read reviews, take placement tests.

Each day we struggle through math. Colleen takes about an hour, maybe a little more, doing her 30 daily problems, and each Friday she takes a test. However, we then have to take ANOTHER 45 minutes or so correcting all the problems she is missing. Saxon calls itself "incremental", which is a code word for spiral mathematics that just leap from topic to topic randomly, with only about 3 problems each assignment that actually have to do with the lesson for that day. Ok, maybe SAXON has a rhyme and reason for them leaping from topic to topic, but I sure don't see it, and it isn't working for us. And of course Saxon is well known for its tedious, repetitive practice OVERLOAD in the primary grades. But then we get to the higher levels of math and there is less and less practice. The past couple of weeks I have actually been spending my mornings making up my own practice problems for Colleen to do before we even open her book.

Um....why am I writing out pages of practice problems when I HAVE a book? Why do they introduce a concept, such as solving for 2 variables, and then only have 2 problems per problem set dealing with this? Yes, to ME, it is easy. I LOVE algebra. (I'm a geek, what can I say?) To my 14 year old daughter, it is difficult, and she doesn't "get it". Well, if you are in softball, you don't expect to show up at practice and hit fair balls, only batting twice a day. Ok, yes, for some people that works. My younger daughter doesn't even need to keep hearing me explain a new concept; she tells me, "Ok, Mom, I know." and has the problems done while I'm still talking. Colleen, on the other hand has reached a level where she simply needs more practice, and more consistency in the lessons, not jumping from one topic to the next. Then Colleen gets frustrated and angry, slamming the book and declaring herself stupid.

Ok, so for 4 months now I have known this was it. I knew Saxon was done in this house. I just haven't known WHAT was going to replace it. Colleen doesn't LIKE any of the samples we have looked at online. She doesn't WANT a video/DVD teacher. Colleen is pretty set in her ways for such a young girl. She doesn't like change of any kind. She actually WANTED to stick with Saxon through high school math. She figures I can just keep holding her hand and getting her through it. We went with change for math once, 2 years ago, and went with a mastery math program, and it was a dismal failure. Most likely because it revealed WAY too many gaps that Saxon had left.

I have been stressing out over ALL our soon-to-be-ordered curriculum, for both girls. But Algebra has definitely been my main worry. I have never spent this much time deciding on curriculum. I've been close to choosing a popular video text math, but Colleen just could not abide the thought of the man's voice doing the teaching on the DVD. Can't say I blame her. I almost chose another program, too, but something kept stopping me. Other than that, I was up in the air, starting to panic over it being almost Christmas break, and not only do I not HAVE next year's math here at the house, I don't even know WHAT next year's math will be. I was just about to throw in the towel, and just order Saxon, but I just couldn't quite make myself do it. Much as I love algebra, I just don't want to spend all my free time writing out equations and problems. That's what the book is for.

And then. Last night. (hear the choir of angels singing in the background here?) I was idly on another site reading math reviews. This is for a company that only has math for grades 1-6. BUT.....it has suggestions for what to move on to from that particular program. And since, like most homeschooling mothers, I am addicted to researching curriculum, I clicked on the links to read reviews of higher maths. And there were several there I had never even heard of. Then I read user reviews. Then I went over to Amazon, and read their user reviews. Then I made Colleen come over here to the computer, and I showed HER, because it was truly the best looking Algebra program I've seen yet. AND SHE LIKED IT TOO.

And so...an end to an era....good-bye Saxon. You were good for awhile, but it's time for you to move aside for: Jacob's Algebra. As soon as I looked at Jacob's Algebra (and their Geometry, too, because what homeschooling mom doesn't look ahead at the upcoming years?) I just KNEW this was the one. Really, I felt it was right. And when Colleen agreed, and was SMILING over a MATH prgram? Yeah, that clinched it. So, in just little more than an hour, I will be calling Rainbow Resource (yes, I'm old-fashioned, and like to CALL in the order, as opposed to ordering online.) and ordering this. We will start it as soon as we go back to school in January after Christmas break.