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.

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! : )

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.

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.

School Update

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

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

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

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

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

First Day Back After Christmas Break

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

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

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

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

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

Finally Able to do an Update (very long post)

Wow. I just realized I have not done an update for over 2 months. I suppose, as tomorrow is our last day of school until after the new year, I should. First, though, Let me explain WHY I have not been posting. D and I are in the process of getting a divorce. We officially seperated Oct. 23, and he moved out of our home Nov 13. For a few of you that read this blog, this was not a surprise, as you have known D and I the entire length of our marriage. For those of you that I've met through the homeschooling community, I imagine this is quite a shock, as I keep my private life just that...PRIVATE, and this is the first time I have brought it up. I will not go into the reasons on a public blog, but this is for the best. D and I just have too many problems that could not ever be resolved. He and I both are in agreeance that we would like me to be able to continue homeschooling the girls, therefore I am trying to make plans to find an at-home job that will allow me to keep the girls here at home, and yet earn some income to survive. D is NOT contributing at this time in any way financiallly. Thankfully, the Lord has been providing, and we are making it.

Now for the update on school-related topics.

C, in 5th grade, is doing WONDERFULLY. She has completed Saxon 65 math through lesson 93, earning A's in all her tests and assignments, She will be finished with the book within 3 months. We are wrapping up Unit 8 in BJU English tomorrow, which is exactly half-way. I STILL can not say enough good things about this english program, as she is finally getting straight A's in English, too, and has actually written several good pieces this year, in addition to cementing her grammar skills, and learning to diagram sentences. She's even written some poetry, and is currently working on a play for her sister, and their friend to perform. C has also finished book 3 out of 5 in her Bible for this year, and is loving this subject. She is on unit 24 (out of 36)in Spelling. All this adds up to my daughter will be done with her 5th grade work within 3 more months.

E is doing wonderfully with her first grade material. There was quite a long period that we did not do any formal schooling....for almost 4 weeks. E is so active and high strung, and I was feeling unable to cope well with all that is going on in my life that we took an extended break. It's easy to do this, when we school year-round, and she is still ahead for her year. When we finally got back to school for her I was afraid she would have forgotten everything. To the contrary...the break was the best thing I've ever done for her! Not only did she remember everything, she has been doing a far better job in her schoolwork than before. Instead of math boring her, she whizzes thorugh her math facts, and is into adding 3 numbers at a time, and double-digit addition. Instead of whining about having to write a few words, she is now writing several sentences per day, and up to doing 2 pages a day in English, as opposed to 1/2 or 1 page a few months ago. Her had-writing has improved TREMENDOUSLY, and she is reading fairly fluently, although her spelling is still more phonetic, than correct on many words. She has only 6 lessons left in Bible, and will be done with the entire first grade Bible curriculum. As I've mentioned before, E does school on no set schedue, other than when she asks to, so I anticipate accomplishing a lot with her over the Christmas "break". As long as she keeps progressing well, and enjoying her work, I see no reason to change what we've done and has worked for 2 years now.

Both girls have still been doing science together. I had hoped to have finished Zoology 1 by Christmas, but science was laid by the way-side for awhile, while I was feeling overwhelmed just trying to get the basics, reading, writing, and 'rithmatic done, so we are only half way through the book. Science, is one subject we will probably continue with through our "break", also, as both girls ask for it frequently, and usually during the hour or so before bedtime, which actually works out very well.

C and E have both also been working in their map skills/geography books, but we have not done any FORMAL history since September. We have done quite a bit of INformal history through reading "living" books, documentaries on TV (C just loves the show, "Cities of the Underworld" on the History Channel), and looking up places and events online.

My hopes are to be able to still somehow afford Sonlight's Core 5, Eastern Hemisphere for her upcoming school year, along with SL's core 5 science. Both are reportedly THE BEST in Sonlight's line-up, and cover very extensively areas of study I feel imperative for her to learn. However, you get what you pay for, and for these 2 programs alone, the cost will be a little over $800. Add in her English and Math, and I will need to come up with $1000 for her full 6th grade year. That is my dream for her next year, but time and finances will tell the reality. Paying for a divorce from a father that does not contribute, trying to find some work that will still allow me to be home, and still keep up with normal bills and groceries, does not leave me with money for the EXCELLENT programs I've had planned for over a year now.

Thankfully, E's 2nd grade curriculum won't be nearly as expensive. No Sonlight for her, and although I have not researched enough on all her subjects, I am tentatively planning to at least use R&S English for her 2nd grade year, which is thorough, rigorous, and yet, very inexpensive. I will not decide on her math until she is closer to finishing her first grade book, and as she is such a whiz in math, it is a difficult choice among all the many good math programs out there. All I know for certain regarding math for E is that it is time to move away from Abeka, and she is too young to start Saxon; I won't begin her in Saxon until 4th grade. She does not need repetition, as she grasps concepts very quickly, although a small amount of review would be good for her. I have not even had the inclination this year to even look ahead for her other subjects.

Another quick thing to update on, we were able to have a week-long visit with April and Lance the first week of December. Lance's father suffered 2 heart attacks, and underwent cardiac surgery. Lance obtained emergency leave, and he and April stayed here at out house. Although they spent much of their time at the hospital and with his father, we were still able to see a lot of each other, and had a nice visit. They even worked in a special afternoon with just C and E, going out to lunch and bowling, which meant a lot to the 2 little sisters, who have missed them greatly. I am impressed with how mature April has become in just 6 months of being a married young woman. (Although her housekeeping skills need work!!!! LOL) We are so thankful Lance's dad is recovering well, and even though the reason for the visit was scary, we are thankful for April and Lance making it safely here and back home, and for the nice times we had.

One last thing I'd like to mention, a HUGE thank you to two of my friends. Denise, thank you for being tolerant of my going days/weeks without e-mailing, you, only to barrage you with my problems and moods. Thank you for listening to me, and being there for me, and for your many kind invitations. You are awesome! And M...I can't begin to list the things I have to thank YOU for. You are one super-special friend to all 3 of us.

My apologies for such a long post, but there's been a ton of changes in my life the past few months, and I haven't felt like writing until now. Wishing everyone who read this far a great Christmas and New Year.

Week 4 Review

Both girls did very well this week.

In first grade E completed 2 more lessons (in addition to the 2 posted below), and got an A+ on test #11 in Saxon. Her dad also did a few pages one night in her Abeka 1 math, and I might have done 1 page in there yesterday, but I won't admit that.

She also did 3 lessons in her Queens Language Lessons, and 2 pages in Abeka Language 1.

She read me 3 stories aloud. E also completed a chapter in her Reading Comprehension workbook.

She did 2 pages in geography, which she loves, and is up to lesson 9 in CLE Bible LU 104, which she also loves. I, however, and getting tired of stories written to 6 year olds about all the evil kings, and torturous punishments going on in the Old Testament. I'm hoping they soon move to the more peaceful, and pertinent to Modern-day Christianity, New Testament soon.

We did not do any spelling this week, although I hope to get back to that over the weekend.

As usual, E also hung around listening to her sister's science lessons. We are all still loving the Zoology, which is good, since we are in book 1 out of 3. This week we completed chapter 4, which centered on migratory birds. *I* even learned a ton, and it was fascinating. We went out in our backyard one day, and pretended to "migrate", which all 3 of us enjoyed.

In 5th grade C completed 1 test (A+), and 2 lessons in math. It's hard for me to get used to doing math only 3 days/week. C won't admit it, but she ASKED to do math Thursday, so maybe it seems strange to her, too.

We flew through English 5. C did the review of Chapter 2, got an A on the test (only missed 1 this time), and has completed 6 lessons of Chapter 3. She also did a daily gram each day, and is up to #50 in the book.

She also completed chapter 14 in spelling, getting an A+ as always. She doesn't really NEED spelling, but it's good vocabulary practice.

In history we learned about "Illumination" writing, and mosaics. I have intended for the past 3 days to make our own mosaics using paper, but haven't gotten around to cutting up millions of tiny pieces of paper for the "tiles". This week has been a good one to be able to have internet for, as we found some gorgeous examples of both the illumination writing, and mosaics online. C also did 1 page in her weekly geography book.

We haven't begun Literature yet. I still have to read the first book I plan to assign, and I've been reading a series of books my brother sent me, and can't get motivated to read a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder at the moment. Not a big deal, as I only plan to study 4 books in depth this year.

C also completed 3 lessons in her Bible, not to mention daily reminders on how God wants us to treat others....especially little sisters. LOL

I am missing a subject, but can't for the life of me remember which one at the moment. Anyway, it's been a very productive week, and I hope to tie up loose ends over this weekend. (Reading that biography, and making the mosaics.)

In non-school life we have been watching the kittens grow and falling more in love with them every day. They are now a month old. We took our pool down, as the nights have been so cold we haven't swam for 4 weeks now. We have been dealing with more spiders than I've ever seen in years past, including one at 11:00 last night that ran under E's bed. (Thank you, hubby!!!!!)

This week has also been full of step-daughter-15 issues. I don't want to say too much here, but I've been in frequent e-mail contact with her caseworkers, frequent phone contact with her biological mother, (always a joy) and dealt with B running away and missing for 3 nights in a row last weekend, a court hearing Wednesday, another one scheduled for Oct., a probation appointment next week, and a very important meeting scheduled for the 29th, at which something might actually get done to get help for this wayward child. I think I spent more time on this child's issues this week, than school, and she doesn't even live here anymore!

~May God bless you all~

Week 3 Review

We had a very productive week, even though it was shortened by Labor Day.

In Math, C completed Lessons 52, 53, and 54. She missed one problem each day, and every time it was a problem on using the distributive property of multiplication. She obviously isn't getting it, but since she can multiply those numbers in her head, I don't really care. Yesterday she was so tired of missing the same type of problem she actually voluntarily took notes on my explanation to refer to.

E did 3 pages of math with her dad. He's not being very consistent, so I've started orally drilling her on facts and skip counting, so she doesn't forget. She does fine; it's just that they will never get through the book at this rate, even though I had her 1/3 of the way through it before he took over.

C completed the next 4 pages of Daily Grams, and wrote a compare/contrast essay all by herself. She earned an A. This is a huge accomplishment for her...an A on writing, with no help from me. She has completed 19 lessons in her 5th grade English book now. E did 7 lessons in her Queens Language Lessons, and 2 pages in her Abeka Language.

Both girls finished lesson 3 in Zoology 1. I hadn't intended for E to participate in C's science, but she loves it, and is having no trouble retaining the information, so we've been doing science together. C is notebooking through this course, and writing lab reports on all experiments. E just listens, and helps out with the experiments.

Both girls also completed a few pages in their respective mapwork books.

C did Chapter 13 in BJU Spelling 5. She got A+ on it, as always. E completed Step 4, and half of Step 5 in her All About Spelling.

Both girls completed 4 lessons in their Bible workbooks.

C and I began the first 2 chapters in history. They are all still pretty much review of the fall of the Roman Empire, which we just finished studying a few weeks ago. She did get to read an abbreviated version of "Beowolf", which was pretty cool. She liked the poetry style of story writing.

We have not started literature yet. I will next week. It has a ton of time-consuming work, so thought it better to hold off until she wasn't on a writing chpater in English.

E read me 3 stories. She actually asked to. She doesn't like the stories in her graded reader, but she begs to read to me from real books.

Both girls have sinus infections, but not severe ones. They've been well enough to play outside with friends every day this week. I think it is interesting that this is the first time either one of them has gotten sick since I pulled them out of public school a year and a half ago. I'm almost positive they caught their bugs from a little boy they play with who was over here, and didn't mention he'd been out sick from school until my girls had been playing with him for over an hour.

This week was a very good week school-wise for all of us. It has also been a very busy week with step-daughter, B. She is having more issues, and has a court hearing next Wednesday. This was an unscheduled hearing, but due to her extreme problems, it was requested.

Yesterday...(5th grade)

...was just one of those days where school flowed smoothly. C was up at 8:30, ate breakfast, and began her independant work by 9. (Bible, Spelling, and Grammar.)By 10, I'd given her math lesson and assignment, and her English assignment. She and I spent last week writing a Compare/Contrast Essay together. This week she is doing one entirely on her own. While she did those assignments, I finished cleaning the kitchen, and switching laundries around. By 11, all we had left was science. (We alternate science and history/geography.) By lunchtime we were done.

After lunch I made the suggestion that, even though she did very well all day, and had her work done, she might want to consider working ahead, since she had 2 writing assignments today. Her choices were to do her journal writing a day early, or go ahead and begin her rough draft of her essay. I let her know she didn't HAVE to do either, but it would make her day easier today. Shockingly...she chose the essay. Even MORE shocking...she wrote it fairly well. She didn't ask for help one time. She wrote it in the correct format, and had zero punctuation or spelling errors. I only saw one thing she could add, and I'm trying to make her figure it out on her own, without pointing it out.

So...here's my reminder to myself in black and white (okay, technically GREEN and white, LOL) that C CAN write, and she can even do well at it. And some days we can do 6 subjects in just 2 1/2 hours.

What is it About English?

I love teaching my daughters. Some days it's hard to find time, and some days I get incredibly bored, but the teaching itself, is usually actually fun. I loved that my daughters aren't wasting hours waiting for other students to catch up, and I love that when they "get it", we can keep moving on to new material. My daughter used to literally cry over math in public school. They spent almost 2 hours a day on it, and C was done in 1/4 of that time. She still won't admit to liking it, but we do the entire lesson, and homework assignment in under half an hour most days. Science is more of a fun activity than boring. I couldn't stand science in school, but my daughters and I love it now. Rocks, birds, clouds, it doesn't matter, it's fun. History is apparently my strong point. I'm a history buff, anyway, so teaching it is easy, and I always have a flair for turning some boring old war into a funny story. (If I do say so, myself. LOL) I get so into history that I've caught my husband eavesdropping in the hall, and laughing out loud. Whatever it takes for her to remember the stuff.

Then...there is English. Growing up, English was one of those subjects I called a "blow off" subject. An easy A. No work involved. I never really got into poetry, but I could spout something off if I was assigned to. I could write volumes of stories, essays, persuasive arguments...you name it, I could take 10 minutes, and have an "A" paper. We didn't do a whole lot of grammar, but that was easy, too. Noun, verb, adjective...guess the rest. Essay question that I didn't know the answer to?..no problem. Just baffle 'em with B.S. I could cover half a page in answer to said question, and say absolutely nothing, and get one of those little "Excellent" comments written in red pen next to it from the teacher. Another A. Spelling...no problem for someone that taught herself to read AND write at age 4 during naptime. Literature...easy....just read a book, something I did non-stop back then, and still do now. I didn't have to take English classes of any sort in college, because I was allowed to "test out" of them. (I did the same with college math.) I did, however, take some just for fun. Yes, I'm a nerd.

So......WHY IN THE WORLD CAN'T I TEACH IT?!? It is my daughter's weakest area. She's not really bad at English, but she certainly isn't good, either. She loves to read, and thankfully seems to be a natural speller, like me. We do a spelling curriculum, but only because it has really good vocabulary exercises, and there are some thinking skills involved. Up until yesterday I would even have said she's good at the grammar portion of English. Her weak area is writing. She can not stand to write, and will always take the easiest (read...laziest) way out of a written assignment. I KNOW part of it is that I expect too much from a ten year old. I expect that because she excels in other areas that I excelled at, she should go above and beyond in writing. (If anyone has ever noticed that I occasionally let her type "guest posts" here in my blog, that is why. If she manages a decent paragraph, she feels very special to be able to type it up on the computer and put it on Mommy's blog.) I rarely yell at my children, but poor C gets frequent rants from me about English.

We just started the year. I have it planned that, although we will do grammar, we are going to concentrate on writing this year. Her book is set up so that every other chapter is grammar, alternating with a writing chapter. It is written very well. I had high hopes for this English program, after going through 2 last year. (And the second half of last year I wussed out, and did only grammar. My excuse being, that some children need a little more time for their brains to grasp the abstract thinking involved with writing.) C has never (until yesterday) had any problems with grammar. She has a good, solid background in grammar. The first chapter we doubled up on lessons, and did 2 each day. She did the chapter review Monday, and took the test yesterday. She didn't miss a single thing the entire chapter. I didn't expect her to, as it was mainly review of things she has done for 2 years now. She missed SIX test questions yesterday, earning her an 82%. That's a C. On things she's never had a problem with, and should have easily aced. For those of you that know me, C's are completely unacceptable. B's are barely tolerable, but C's?!? I figure if you know the stuff you will get an A. Anything less means 1.) I didn't do my job as a teacher, and 2.) the child is a borderline idiot, and needs more work. (Sorry to offend. If you don't like it, don't read my blog.)

Remember, this C was on a test of things she KNEW. She's done hundreds of times. She had no issues whatsoever on the entire chapter, but when she did the test apparently the word "are" became a preposition, and interrogative sentences suddenly became confused with imperative sentences. (Cute side note.....during my rant after grading the test I asked C, "Why do you think they call it an interrogation when the police question their suspect after arresting them???" Poor C said, "I don't know, Mom. I've never been to jail." LOL!)

So, on day 7 of our official start of 5th grade, I am already having issues with English. I would like to call in a substitute, but as the only legal substitutes for homeschooling are other, immediate family members, that won't be happening. My choices are limited to a 6 year old, and a man that skated through school with D's, dropping out at age 16, and has read a total of two books in twelve years that I've known him. (both having to do with snipers in Iraq killing the enemy.)

I'm not sure who dreads English more, me or my daughter. Yes, I realize she zooms in on the "subtle" little clues I give her, and that my attitude affects hers. My attitude reguarding English has not been subtle at all. I have not been patient or humble. I have a mental block when it comes to people that don't understand concepts quickly. I am, basically, a horrible English teacher. I have no qualms about admitting that. I am not helping my daughter out. If I could afford to hire a private tutor, I most likely would, for this one subject. If it was legal to do so, I would skip English entirely until I get her into high school.

However, the moral of this story/rant is that I, at least care. In school a C is perfectly acceptable, and they move on. In homeschool we CAN work through this, and if we have to do it in baby steps we will. If I feel myself getting angry we should stop for the day. If I see C becoming frustrated we should stop for the day. We school year round, and we are far ahead in every other subject. We have plenty of time. I love this girl with everything in me. I want her to learn, to do well, and to enjoy learning. We CAN make it through 5th grade English.

Today we begin her first writing chapter, and I promise to remain calm. In the event I feel my blood pressure rising, we will stop.

Week 1 Review

C began her first official week of 5th grade this week. We are only doing half days, until after Labor Day.

She finished her 3rd grade Bible program. The curriculum we use runs one year behind in publishing their new, revised versions, so she will do 4th grade for her 5th grade year. I'm not concerned about grade levels for Bible, as it's not something like English or Math.

C completed 6 more lessons in Math, and got a 90% on test #9. I wasn't too thrilled with the 90%, because her mistakes were, as always, careless ones that should have been caught by checking her work before turning it in.

She has done the first 9 lessons in her 5th grade English. We were able to do 2 lessons each day thanks to Easy Grammar last year. It was all review, although she and I are both learning a new technique for grammar...diagramming. I don't see the point of diagramming sentences, but others swear by it, and BJU English uses it, so we're seeing how it goes. She got A+'s on every assignment.

For Science, C completed unit 2 in her Zoology 1 book, and began unit 3.

I hadn't intended to start History for 2 more weeks, as we JUST finished a summer of reviewing Ancient History, but C asked if we could please start it, so we've done the first chapter of the Middle Ages. I have an entire box of "living" books to go along with our History, but if anyone has any really good recommendations for books pertinent to the Middle ages, please post them in my comments. C and I are both voracious readers, and we can never have too many books.

E is continuing on with her 1st grade work. We completed 2 lessons in her spelling/phonics program. She finished LU 103 in Bible. We began a new geography book, and she completed 2 pages. She has been reading aloud to both her Daddy and I, and particiapting in C's Zoology lessons for science.

The big news with E is that Daddy has agreed to finish teaching her math this year. She is already 1/3 through her book. He managed to do 3 pages in her book 1 evening this week. I was looking foward to getting a break from at least one class, freeing up a little more time each day, but Daddy isn't too consistent, and I'm not sure how long this arrangement will last. LOL

What is Homeschooling?

Two years ago I didn't know a thing about homeschooling. I had no idea exactly how one went about homeschooling, where one obtained books and materials, or even that it is perfectly legal in all 50 states. Different states have different criteria to meet. I live in a state where it is very simple and easy to stay within legal boundaries, but even the most rigid states aren't that complicated. It is such a part of my life now, that I forget the "average" person doesn't know what it might entail. Recently, I was asked a question by someone, and this is the thought that popped into my head to write about this morning.

Everyone chooses to school their children in different ways. One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is that we parents have a HUGE variety of materials and curriculum to choose from. We can choose which math program works best for each individual child. We can choose whether to use textbooks or "living" books, or just life. We can choose secular or Christian content. We can choose whether to spend the next year concentrating more on grammar or more on writing depending upon each child's needs. In other words, we are free to choose what works best for each child, AND what works best for us, as teachers. Some mothers (I will use mothers as teachers, because they are most often the ones staying home and educating the children. I know of a few fathers who homeschool, but they are in the minority.) find a program they like that includes all the subjects, and stick with it for each and every one of their kids. Some mothers always second guess their choices, and try something for 6 weeks, only to drop it, and try another program. Some use textbooks only. Some are die-hard unschoolers, and never once do their children see a book or workbook. Virtually everyone begins the same way...reading a myriad of books written by homoeschoolers and researching the topic. Most of us nowadays find our way to a website or two devoted to homeschooling where we can "talk" to other homeschooling parents, and gain insight and knowledge from others' previous experiences.

I've been fairly blessed with my curriculum choices. Of course, I'm the type of woman who can't ever make a serious decision without researching it to death first, but I've only had one issue with one of my daughters. Everything else I've bought has worked well for the child I bought it for, and exceeded my expectations. With the exception of C's English last year, I've stuck to all of my original choices. I don't use one program for all subjects; I mix-and-match with whatever works for each child in each subject area.

More about curriculum choices in a later post....for now I'll get back on topic. Homeschooling is basically educating your children at home (or in the car, or out in the park, or waiting in a doctor's office...)in the way that works best for your particular family. For my family, this means I use textbooks for Math, English, and Science. My daughters are definitely allowed to state their likes/dislikes with each book, and they have input in decisions when choosing a textbook, but we DO use textbooks. I feel that not using a textbook in the basic subjects leaves a good chance for "gaps" in their education. On the other hand I detest textbooks for History and Geography. I don't remember one single thing I learned in 13 years of school, and 3 years of college that had to do with history. Do you? I learned more about the Civil War from trashy romance novels I read in high shcool, and anyone that knows me knows I have a fetish for anything related to WWII. I will read ANYthing having to do with the 1930's-40's. I have a series of books I use to keep myself going in the right direction, but mainly I use living books. Living books are just your normal book read for pleasure. Of course, I choose these books carefully, picking ones that have to do with the time frame in history we are studying. Last year, for US History I used a text for our spine to ensure I didn't skip any major historical events, but C was saturated with living books that she read to herself, or that I read aloud with her. I found the textbook was very boring, and very innaccurate, and left tons of history completely out. We read biographies of Helen Keller, Louis Braille, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and Thomas Edison. We read the entire "Little House on the Prairie" series aloud. We read books by Mark Twain. I almost ommitted the Mark Twain books, because I thought they were boring, but C adored them, and found them hilarious.We read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond", and we read others that I can't even recall now. C really enjoys biographies. (just like her mother LOL)

Not only did we read tons of enjoyable books having to do with our history, we utilized the TV. I hadn't even intended the story of our country and its' foundations to coincide with the presidential elections last year, but it did. C watched the national debates with me. She attentively listened to my opinions on Barack Obama and John McCain. She helped me research their respective voting records, and political history. We compared the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and The Articles of Confederation and what our founding fathers had in mind with the state of our union in current times. We watched the election and innauguration speech. Although I completely was against Obama (don't even start with me about him!) his election worked perfectly into not only our study of what our country was founded on, but also went along with slavery, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Enough said on that before I get myself in trouble with the blog police.....

Homeschooling just becomes a way of life. I probably annoy my children to no end. We frequently enjoy studying nature. Not for school, but just because nature is cool, and I enjoy being in solitude out in a forest or down by a lake than being around other people. Lately, though, my poor children can't find something neat in the woods without me researching it online or in books when we get home. Find a bone? Let's look it up and compare it to animals native to our area. Find a cool rock? Let's find out what kind it is, and how it was formed. Poor kids. Yesterday C and I had an hour-and-a-half long discussion about labor, delivery, and the female reproductive tract just because our cat is soon expecting kittens. Who needs a health book, when it worked so well into the natural conversation? (An added bonus that she loved...she learned all about her own personal labor/delivery story, and how pitocin works. LOL)Final exam will be watching (hopefully) the cat actually give birth. C loves animals, and has seen many surgeries and 1 birth (of a Panda) on TV. I know birth won't bother her a bit in person. E, on the other hand will probably gag, and go to a room as far away as possible. C even got to hear the stintilating stories of my high-school boyfriend who was a hog farmer, and the deliveries of piglets he and I assisted at many times. (Well, okay, not me. I just watched him assist. If you've ever seen someone have to assist a pig having trouble giving birth you will know what I'm talking about. It ain't pretty.)

Homeschooling takes more time than any full-time job. It takes time away from your housework (not neccessarily a bad thing), your husband, your friends, and your own personal time. Actually....I think I've forgotten what my own personal time is. I literally have both my daughters with me 24/7, but that's the way I like it. It makes it a little difficult to shop for birthday or Christmas gifts, but other than that I feel it's what I am meant to do, and SHOULD do. It's not something we do only from 9:00 to 3:00. We are learning all the time, and just because we complete assignments in school-books, we aren't done. I'm completely involved in all aspects of my daughters' lives. I never have to ask, "How was school today?" or "What have you learned in Math this week?" The worst problem my girls have with school is they do a lot more work than in public school, and they have one of those teachers that has a tendency to ramble on too long. : )

Schooling Year-Round

This is our second summer of schooling year-round. I've had several people ask us why we don't take a break in the summer like public schools. There's really only two simple reasons.

First, we get bored. Summer is our busiest season with softball, swimming, and other "outside" activities, and it's my time to catch up on all that housework that barely gets done when we are schooling full-time. However, these things don't take up every second of our time, and both my daughters actually ask to do school some days. (C will never publicly admit that, though. LOL)

My other main reason for summer-schooling is because it allows me to fit in the extra subjects we do, and actually gets our work ahead enough that we can school 4 full days, and one short day each week during the typical 9 months of the school year.

What does our summer schedule look like? Well, it is certainly not the same as our main part of the year schedule. We only do "light" days, and only a few days each week.

For C, who is in 5th grade, we do one Math test each week. The way Saxon Math is set up, there is a test every 5 lessons. I allow her 1 missed problem on a test. (out of 20 problems) If she misses more than 1 we will stop the tests, back up 5 lessons, and that is where we will begin doing lessons and assignments. Yesterday, she took test #7, and got 100% on it. Therefore, currently, she has "tested through" 35 lessons in her math. Adding the 7 tests and 3 investigations to the 35 lessons she won't need to do equals 45 days of math we won't have to do through the school year. So, once again, she will be able to have a 4 day week in Math, as she did last year. Technically, she could even do a 3 day week at this point, (M-W-F) and still finish by next May. I'd prefer to finish a little earlier, though, so I won't do a 3 day week unless she passes at least 3 or 4 more tests.

Public and private schooled children don't have the option of testing through parts of the book they already know. Even the more advanced children will have to slog through wasted lessons with 20 or more other kids who have forgotten over the 3 months of summer break.

C also is still working through her Bible lessons. Normally we only do formal Bible 2 or 3 days a week, no matter what time of year it is. C also is working through Grammar 5. Our goal is to complete 40 pages in her Daily Gram book. She has already completed several chapters in Easy Grammar, and 19 lessons in Daily Grams. Again, I set this goal with a 4 day week in mind.

For history, we are re-reading Story of the World, Volume 1, Ancient History. We did an in-depth study of the Ancients last spring and summer, then skipped to a full year of American History for the school year. As I plan to stick to a chronological approach to history and do an in-depth study of the Middle Ages for 5th grade, C and I both thought we should do a quick review study of the Ancients over this summer. This is her favorite subject, and doesn't even seem like school work to us. (She never says it is her favorite, yet it is the one subject she asks most frequently to do.)

We haven't done any formal science since April. This week, we finally began our first book in C's Zoology series. She will be working much harder in science this year, keeping a notebook and writing reports, and also writing up formal experiments. As she chose Zoology, she has 3 full-length textbooks to finish in only 2 years, so we HAVE to work on science through the summer. I want her to take the usual 7th grade General Science, 8th grade Physical Science, and be right on track for the high school sciences. I'm somehow also hoping to add a 4th science in the next 2 years: Exploring Anatomy, which won't be released until this August. So, in order to cover what she wants, and what I want, we have to do science full-time for the next 2 years. We don't have the luxury of taking summers off.

Summer school for E, 1st grade, looks exactly like her schedule any other time, except that E gets a little MORE school in the summer, as I have more time, doing so little with her older sister. We try to do 2 pages of math a few days a week, practice reading, (which is coming along wonderfully, btw!) and work on E's, Moving Beyond the Page concepts. MBTP is aimed towards gifted children, and is a complete program that works in every area of study, except math and phonics. (social studies, science, reading, thinking skills, handwriting, etc...) It's a combination of lit/unit studies, and has wonderful hands-on for "active" learners like E. And no, I'm unsure as to whether E is truly a "gifted" child. She comes from a highly gifted family, and has the advantage of one-on-one tailored-to-her-needs learning. So, maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but I really don't care. She seems so, but I refuse to push my children more than a few months ahead of their peers, and don't receive any government funding for having such a labeled child in our school, so it's irrevelant.

So, that's why and how we school year-round. Summers are much lighter than the main school year for my 10 year old, and the same for my 6 year old. We do it because we enjoy it, and because it gives us 1 day a week through the school year to concentrate on only 3 or 4 subjects, instead of 7. Mom's gotta do housework and get bills paid sometime, right?

C's artwork

Ok, I think April's wedding pictures have been on top long enough. She dominated all my posts in May, and since then I have been way too busy to get on my blog and update anything. Last week C had the opportunity to attend college. No, she's not one of *those* homeschooled kids; the local community college has several summer enrichment classes, and she chose to take one on watercolor paintings. Her teacher was awesome, and C completed 12 different paintings over the course of a week. I will post my favorites. Please forgive the blurriness. I had to zoom in a little too much on a couple that have her full name on them to get it "out of the picture". (ha ha)

Her first one is still one of my favorites: When it's not zoomed in it looks very realistic, and the tree is beautiful:


I chose the next one because I love the double border:



This one is my husband's favorite. I never knew he had a thing for still lifes.



My final choice for posting is a tribute C drew, then painted, of our late kitty, Goldie:



I would like to mention "Happy 1 Month Anniversary" to April and Lance today. We all really miss you, and appreciate all the phone calls, e-mails, pictures, videos, and e-cards you send us. It seems to have hit E the worst. She REALLY misses big sis!

Update on Past Month/Brief Reviews of New Curriculum

I suppose I'll start with school updates first, since this is a blog about homeschooling.

C is doing well still. We are on Lesson 100 of 120 in Math. This is currently her worst subject...worst meaning that she has been getting more B's than A's. Her tests are 20 questions, so it only takes 2 missed problems to get a B, and 3 wrong to get a C. So this past week we spent on review....mostly of multiplying 2-3 digit numbers by other 2-3 digit numbers. She knows how to do the steps, but she makes the same mistake every single time. As she multiplies the "tens" place, she continuously adds the numbers she "carried" when multiplying the "ones" place. She knows she does this...yet still keeps doing it.

We finally returned to English a month ago. She is now working through Queens Language Lessons and Easy Grammar grade 5. We do 1-2 pages/day in the EG, and the title says it all. It is easy. This program teaches prepostitions before anything else. Once you learn prepostions, you can cross out half a sentence; thus, making it much simpler to identify the other parts of speech. She loves it. I love it. This book is over 300 pages long, so we will continue working 1-2 pages/day through 5th grade. The Queens LL (for the elementary child 2) is perfect for finishing up 4th grade. Each lesson is roughly 1/3-1/2 a page long, and can easily be done in 5 minutes. C usually does anywhere from 2-5 lessons/day, 4 days/week. We got this book a month ago, and she is somewhere in the 50's for her lessons. (out of 180)It is very simple. I would not use it as a stand-alone LA curriculum, but as a supplement it is perfect. Queens LL has a nice variety of LA concepts, from grammar to poetry and writing. The lessons are short enough to not discourage a LA challenged child, but complete enough to give a thorough review of all topics she needs to be familiar with before moving on to her main LA course for 5th grade.

C also began BJU Spelling 5 a month ago. This is in lieu of her Wordly Wise 3000vocabulary she finished earlier in the year. She couldn't bear the thought of doing more WW, and I couldn't bear the thought of her possibly missing out on some sort of spelling/vocab. We both like the BJU Spelling. The words are not at all difiicult for her...she's a "natural" speller. The exercises in the book are fun for her, and incorporate the Bible. BJU Spelling 5 also has a weekly "journal writing" assignement, which she readily writes each week. Apparently when you have to write on an assigned topic for spelling it is easier than doing the same thing for LA. : )

We have not done much History or Science the past 2 weeks. We have only 2 1/2 chapters left in Abeka's 5th grade science. I could not reccommend any better science text. C and I both will miss it, and have learned TONS! (Yes, I learned tons, too...even though both times through college I centered in science related fields.)It is tempting to start in on our brand new series of Apologia science books....Zoology 1,2,and 3 (at C's request.), but so far I'm being good and keeping them on the shelf for when we finish the current science. Ok...I read the entire first book in the series, and bought all the materials for the experiments....but I put it back. : )We have also been doing an independant Anatomy study. Kind of unintentional, but she is interested right now, and I told her any Human Anatomy she learns will help her out in her future vet career with Animal Anatomy.

As for History, we are up to the Civil War. We read a biography on Harriet Tubman (fascinating woman). We read the first section of the chapter in her text. That's about it for the month. We are far ahead in history, too, so no worries about falling behind. And if you count the "Little House on the Prairie" series, we've done lots more. We finished 2 books, and are almost done with another. We only have 2 more books left in the series. They are historical, and cover the expansion of the U.S. So they fit right in with our history this year. She also read 2 other books on Pioneers and the U.S expansion: "Trouble for Lucy" and "Sarah, Plain and Tall."

That covers our main subjects for 4th grade. Now for first...

E continues to whiz through math. I switched her to Abeka's grade 1 Arithmetic. She adores this. So do I. But we couldn't completely give up Saxon 1, either. She enjoys that, too, although the tedium and repetitiveness is enough to drive me insane. So...since she technically shouldn't be in first grade until next August....we do them both. We alternate days, or some days we work in both texts. I took a loooooong break with the Saxon (for my own sanity), and we recently began again. I am not one of these mothers who wants to continually brag about how advanced her child is, and am in no hurry to push E ahead a grade or two. If I push her ahead NOW, she will finish school and go off to college even sooner. Nope....not thinking about that. : )We continue along a few days a week, and plan to finish first grade roughly around the time she would finish in public school. (14 months from now).

E is reading well. Her current favorites are the "Biscuit" books, "Amelia Bedelia", and the "Frog and Toad" books. I can't stand the Frog and Toad books, but she likes them, and she's reading, so I'll grin and bear it till this, too, shall pass.

E also is loving writing. She does so in dozens of notes to family members and pictures with stories. A page or two in a Phonics book will bring her to tears, but she can write a page long note with no trouble. Her current thing is notes to Mommy while Mommy is on the phone. Examples of this include: "Mommy, C turned the channel on TV and I was not done watching a show." or..."Mommy, Can I have a marshmello {sic}? I love you. Love, E" or...."Mommy, Daddy let the dogs out. Can I let them back in?" : ) I guess it's better than interupting my phone call... Usually these notes are accompanied by a detailed drawing illustrating what she wants. Such as a stick figure and a giant marshmallow. Or 8 dogs surrounding a stick figure and a house.

Both girls' favorite subject is, by far, Bible. I bought the rest of the CLE light units (mini-worktexts)for them, and they love them. If it were up to E should would do an entire light unit each day. In addition to their Bible curriculum, I have been trying to include C in some of my own Bible readings. Nothing major...just when I run across an interesting story, later in the day C and I re-read it together. I'm pretty new to this Bible reading, so I will probably screw it up somehow. Well, not new to it...I grew up going to church, but I didn't pay attention or truly GET the Bible until the past few years. Since we haven't found a church here I'm satisfied with I'm on my own.

On my own I am up to 2Kings. I would probably be several chapters into it right now if I weren't sitting here writing a blog entry that's already 10 pages long....

I hope this posts. Some message just popped up saying. "Cannot connect with Blogger. Post may fail." That's always good to see after spending half an hour typing. Please excuse any typos....with that message I'd better just click "publish post", instead of proofreading. : )

Things you'd only hear a homeschooled child say....

A few weeks ago C and E were in the yard playing. C came running in. "Mom! Mom! Get my science book! Hurry! There's an insect out by a dandelion, and I need to see if it's a honeybee drone, or an American Hoverfly!" We'd studied insects 2 months ago.

LOL

Last night in Mc Donald's, happily eating a cheeseburger...."Daddy, do you know how the state of Virginia got it's name?"

"Um, no."

"Well, because when Raleigh sent some people over to the New World to explore and look for a place to settle, they named the land Virginia after the Queen of England. Her name was really Queen Elizabeth I, but since she had never married, everyone called her 'the virgin queen'. Get it? VIRGIN queen...VIRGINIA?" This was 2 or 3 weeks after we had learned about it.

LOL again.


Overheard while playing Guitar Hero with her big sister....C happily explaining in great detail about the missing colony in Roanoke, and the settlement of Jamestown, and how it almost didn't last, either, until John Smith stepped up as leader, and told the settlers, "You don't work. You don't eat." Big sister, listening intently, and complaining that she had never heard that before, and how come C got to learn all the interesting stuff.

At least I don't have to issue out tests every week to see if she memorized material. She, quite obviously, is retaining what we read and discuss. Of course, I have the advantage of working one on one with my students, and exploring further anything they want, and I already KNOW she's learning.

Where we stand for the year so far....4th grade

Well, C and I have finished Story of the World, Vol. 1. We both have enjoyed it; C loves it so much she is begging for Vol. 2. We are on Lesson 58 out of 120 in Saxon 54. Which means we have 62 lessons, 7 investigations, and 13 tests left. In US History and Geography we are about 1/3 of the way through the book. Currently we are studying the origins of the original 13 colonies, and early government under England. We've finished the New England colonies, and are moving on to the Middle and Southern colonies. We are taking a brief (2 weeks) break from Vocab, because it's just for extra practice, and C has informed me she doesn't like it. In science we are beginning Unit 3, about Light. Unit 1 was on insects and flowers, and believe it or not it was actually fun and interesting. (Who'd've thunk it? ) Unit 2 was THE LONGEST unit ever on mammals. Fortunately we both enjoyed that one too, and hopefully never have such a long unit again. I have no idea how Astronomy is going, because that is C and her dad's thing. : )

But the big news is.....Language Arts. Oh, the dreaded, horrid, Language Arts. 7 months ago when I began homeschooling C, she had had NO writing instruction whatsoever. She hated it. She knew virtually nothing. I can thank God she is a natural speller like me, and also seems to just naturally know how punctuation goes. However, the child couldn't write a decent sentence, let alone even know what a paragraph was. I was really dreading this year's English, because not only does she hate it....I love writing, and never had an issue with it, so it is very frustrating to me to see her struggle on what seems to me to be something she ought to just KNOW how to do.

We have actually covered almost half of the material in her 4th grade book. She has mainly done well, although we had a few issues on using encyclopedias, and I made her re-do the entire chapter. We did Units 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. You notice we skipped 4. That's because Unit 4 is all about writing reports. Written and oral book reports, and a written research paper. I knew she wasn't ready, and I knew I would probably just get angry and frustrated, even though the girl can't help no one had taught her. Finally, last week I could put it off no longer. I felt that since we were so far ahead in Language, that I could afford to devote an entire 4 weeks to this one unit. Actually, I had planned to allow 4 weeks soley for the research paper. We began the unit, and just went through each lesson. We came to the assignment: Write at least a 125 word paper about "George Washington Carver". I waited for her to balk. She didn't. She was very diligent about her work. She read an encyclopedia article, she took notes, making sure to put them in her own words. I assigned the rough draft. She spent 2 hours writing the rough draft. The only problems I found were the order was off, and there were 2 or 3 places I felt she needed to clarify a little more. I explained that someone who hadn't read anything about this man before wouldn't understand, and she had to write in a way that ANYONE would know what she meant. She went through and re-wrote the whole report, revising and adding/editing where I suggested. We went back through it. I found very few problems, and only had a few suggestions. Wednesday evening I fell asleep after dinner. I woke up. The house was silent. I found Daddy and E watching TV. C was in her room. A short while later, she emerged from her room, and shyly handed me her notebook. Of her own free will she had completed her final copy of her report while I had been sleeping. It was't even due yet. It was over 200 words long. I don't think I could have written it better. I found one error in the entire paper...she had left out the word "a" in a sentence.

I actually teared up. Who would have believed a few months ago my daughter could write so beautifully? She cried over paragraphs, and had no idea how to go about writing or researching. Who would have believed a 4th grader's report on an assigned topic would make me so emotional. Not only was it skillfully written, she finished it entirely on her own! It wasn't due yet; I wasn't pushing her because I know she hates writing. She said, "I wanted to surprise you, Mommy." Well, boy, did she! Even Daddy and 17 year-old sister were impressed. (I had her read it aloud to them.)

Big sister said, "Mom, there are seniors in high school who can't write this well! That's why I dropped out of journalism class....because I got so tired of the teacher making everyone learn to write paragraphs because they couldn't figure out how to write articles for the school paper." It was nice to hear that, because I know my pride was a result of loving my child, and knowing how hard she worked, and how far she has come. I might have been just a wee bit predjudiced. I gave her an "A" for her final grade on the report, and Daddy was offended. "WHY would you give her an A? That should be an A+" I said, "I don't give out A+'s in writing! There are so many ways to express things in writing, and so many opinions on what constitutes writing well, and A is the highest I will ever give."

Congratulations C. You made me so proud! I know you still don't LIKE writing, but don't ever tell me you CAN'T write! : )

It's been awhile...

I suppose I should update this.

C finished her softball season the past weekend. Her team finished in second place overall, 3rd place in tournaments. Not as well as her first year, but better than last year. We have the awards ceremony this coming weekend.

My husband lost his job 2 weeks ago. He starts a new one today. I pray this one works out. The other one wasn't actually a bad job. The best thing about the new one is that although he loses $1/hour, he doesn't have to drive an hour one way to get there. With the price of gas so high, $4.09/gal, the $40 each week he loses, won't even be noticed, with him only filling up every week or two, instead of 2-3 times a week. He's bummed about being "low man on the ladder", instead of the man with top seniority.

Daughter,5, has taken to swimming like a fish. I bought her "floaties" again this year, but she only wore them the first day in our pool. 5 seems to be the magic age for her learning the "big-girl" skills. Bike riding, reading, and swimming.

We are going on a shopping spree soon. Our 14 year old is a recipient of the Make-A-Wish foundation. We originally had planed to go on a trip to Disney 2 years ago. We couldn't figure out how to afford boarding our 8 dogs, 2 cats, and rabbit. Then B began getting into trouble at school and home, and we have spent the past 2 years dealing with all sorts of counseling, court, school meetings, etc for her. She finally decided she wants to get the shopping wish granted, which will be easier on all of us. I'm not sure of the budget yet, but in August or September, we will be picked up by limo, driven to several stores of her choosing, and have lunch/dinner out, all free for us. Her shopping list included: new bedding and a dresser, a computer, a TV, books, clothes, games, CD's, etc. I'm not so sure about the computer, but I have a feeling she will be allowed to get it. We just made sure she knew she wouldn't be allowed internet in her room. Her sisters each will get $50 spending money so they don't feel left out. It sounds like a long, tiring day, but sort of fun, too. B will be thrilled if she gets all the things she put on her list, and I will be thrilled if she just gets the dresser and new bedding!

There isn't a whole lot going on other than that. C and I still working a couple of days each week on Math, LA, and History. History and Math are both of our favorites. She's averaging A's in everything, as always. She and E are attending Vacation Bible School this week. I haven't been doing much school with E. I'm not worried. She is over half way through Kindergarten, but wouldn't even be allowed to start for another month in public school.

Very Busy Lately

Whew! I was beginning to think I'd never get back to time enough to write entries in a blog. Here's what all we have been up to the past week or two:

1.)Friday before Memorial day weekend. Shadow, the black lab, still very sick and losing weight, so we took him to the vet. She had no ideas.

2.)Saturday-Monday, Memorial Day. Dog continues vommitting and having diarrhea, still refusing to eat. By Monday he is so weak I'm thinking he will just waste away and die. He only moves to follow me from place to place. I call our vet's emergency on-call. This vet says she can't do anything, and to call the vet school at a nearby University. They will be glad to see Shadow....for a base fee of $800-$1,000. Can't afford that, so no help for Shadow. Husband and I spend Monday scrubbing carpet.

3.)Last Tuesday the vet was finally open here, and I took poor Shadow in to get barium X-rays. This was an all-day procedure. (and a $200 one at that) The good news is we finally found out why he is sick: he didn't have a blockage, as we'd suspected, but he HAD had one sometime prior, and it had been so large his large colon was distended and "stretched" to 4 times normal. Peristalsys was not working because the bowel was so distended. The bad news is that the vet said there is nothing to do for this. Hopefully his body will heal on it's own and learn to adapt, but only time will tell. His weight had plummetted from 49 pounds to 40 pounds. That's 20% of his body gone when he should be growing!

This was our 8th grader's last day of school, so had to run across town to pick up all her diabetic supplies from the school. I've spent far too much of this year at that school having conferenes with the dean, the principal, the social worker....glad this time was my last trip over there.

This was ALSO the first day of softball for C. She lost her first game 8-6.

4.) Last Wednesday I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to the poor dog laying in his crate covered in liquid stool. Covered! Poor thing couldn't help it, but what a wonderous day that was! Me, in nightgown in the front yard with a hose and a disgusting crate...dog in back yard with disgusting crust. After coffee-ing myself up I got dog clean in the shower in the basement. This was quite an ordeal for the dog AND me, but by 8a.m. we had survived and were clean. I figured Shadow would never speak to me again, but he still follows me everywhere. He really is my Shadow.

Wednesday was also E's last day of pre-K at public school. I was almost sad that it was over because she is my youngest and growing up so fast! She is so social; I have to find something for her to get involved in with other children.

C's second softball game; her team won 17-3! It was a very short game.

5.)Thursday I FINALLY got some formal schooling in with C. We had a good day. She did Math, History, Reading, Language Arts, Science, and a Reading quiz. She is getting all A's, except in Reading, which is a 90.9%. I gave her the option of officially ending 3rd grade with those grades, or going a few more days to bring the Reading grade up. She opted to get the grade up because she is a perfectionist, and doesn't like anything less than A's. Wonder where she gets that....? ;)

6.) C and I only did History, which we actually do for fun, and she read 2 of her library books Friday. She gets credit for these, as long as she can tell me about the books, so that I know she understood them.

Her softball game was cancelled due to thunderstorms and tornado warnings all around.

7.) The weekend. Hmmmm...we didn't really do anything in particular. I caught up on a lot of laundry and cleaning. Hubby mowed the lawn, we went to the store, he spent several hours playing softball with C, and working on pitching with her. Her game Sunday was canceled due to more thunderstorms. Her coach called, and spoke with me about getting her into more intensive softball training. She is the best player on her team, and he wondered if she would be interested. Besides animals, her passion is softball, so YES, we are interested. I knew she was good last year, and she is this year, too, but it was good to have that phone call from a coach to verify that I wasn't being a biased parent.

Saturday evening the dog began to eat. He hasn't wanted to eat anything for over 2 weeks. By Sunday he seemed to be making up for lost time. He ate. And ate. And ATE! He hasn't vommitted since last Monday, and his stools are getting a little better. I imagine HE knows better than I when he is well enough to handle food, so I allowed him to eat when he was hungry. He ate every 1-2 hours Sunday. I'm so happy he is feeling better!

8.) Monday I averaged out the girls' grades again, and C had raised her grade to a 95% in Reading. I had been trying to decide if it would be cheating if I gave her extra credit for something, but I didn't have to! She spent a lot of time reading last week and over the weekend, so with all that it really helped.

I issued E and C's report cards. They both got straight A's, and were promoted. E to Kindergarten (even though she's been doing that since January) and C to 4th grade. They were more excited with their grades and promotions here than I would have thought. They were jumping up and down screaming because they are now officially in a higher grade. I am going to go broke, though. They get $1.00 for each A, and any child in our house that gets straight A's gets an $5.00 bonus. I owe C $11, and E $12! E has an extra dollar because she had an extra class in "Critical Thinking" that C didn't have. Music, Art, Handwriting, and P.E. don't count. I debated on Bible, and decided to count it because C works hard to understand that and read it, and they both work together in their Bible study workbook. It's just as much a class as Math or Science, and it is a class that they NEED to have for life. If you don't know and learn the Word, when it's time to account, God isn't going to care you got an A in Math; He will care how you lived your life and treated others.

9.) Yesterday. Oh yesterday was a lovely day. Ha! Our oldest daughter woke us up at 1:30 to tell us B had run away again. (She left notes again)I figured where she went, and checked the phone. I was correct. We called the police, who finally showed up 2 hours later, and made another report. B has quite a lot of police reports for someone that turned 14 only 2 months ago. The police went and got her and brought her back home. Her friend's mother had actually come and picked her up at 11:15. What kind of parent would just pick up a mentally ill, diabetic young girl after curfew without talking to a parent?!? The house was pitch dark. It was obvious we weren't awake! B took 2 huge bags of clothes with her and flat out told the woman she was running away. She gave her usual "My Daddy beats me" saga, and added to it that we only allow her bread and water. The woman told the police she figured it would be okay with us. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's great. Come get our daughter in the middle of the night without even letting us know or asking. I would NEVER allow one of my children's friends to come over here or leave with us without first speaking to a parent. and if they gave a little teen-age drama-queen story of abuse I would call the police. Either it's made up, or there really is abuse, so I should let the proper people know to get help for the child. NOT just take her, and whisk her off to drop her at ANOTHER girls house. This third girls mother didn't even know B or us.

Thanks to B I was up from 1:30a.m. yesterday; she was brought home about 5:30a.m. By this time we were under thunderstorm attack again, so I stayed up. I tried to sleep, but the thunder and dogs whining kept me awake. Hubby got back to sleep until 11:00. He didn't have to work due to the rain. We had thunderstorms off and on all day yesterday, and by bedtime last night there were tornado warnings all over around us. C's softball game was cancelled again because of the weather....three games in a row now! I stayed out on the couch watching tornado warnings until midnight last night. I NEVER stay up that late...especially when I've been up 23 hours.

I made it up by my usual 5:30 today, though, and here I am. Now I've caught up on all the basics here. All the girls, except B are doing great. The dog is doing great. I haven't weighed him, but his ribs and hipbones aren't sticking out anymore. I'm doing great...for a woman with a total of 8 hours sleep in the past 48 hours. : ) Hope amyone reading this is doing well, also.