2 Weeks Down; 34 to Go

The girls and I have now completed our first two weeks of school this year. (With the exception of C's social studies unit studies, which NOW won't be in till after the 18th).

C finished her first unit in English, and got a 90% (B) on her 1st test yesterday. She will be doing Lesson 50 in Math today. As we got so far ahead with math this summer she only has to do math 3 days a week. C and I also finished her first unit in science (Anatomy and Physiology). She LOVES this subject, and I have to admit, so do I. She learned about the history of the study of anatomy, and about cells, parts of cells, and how they function. I wish we had a microscope!

E has been working VERY hard. Some days I wonder what I was thinking when I chose to get her advanced curriculum. She isn't having any trouble with math, though....straight A's. She now can count by multiples of 2,3,4,5,6,and 9. (and of course 1, 5, and 10, but she's known those for 2 years.)She has learned to "carry" in double, triple, and quadruple digit addition problems. She is reading very fluently, and she is earning A's in language and reading.

E's struggles still seem to lie in Spelling. I, and my older daughter are "natural" spellers,which means we instinctively know how to spell. E has not inherited this ability, and I have yet to find a spelling program that suits her, and that she actually learns from. She has so far gotten all A's on her spelling lessons and tests, but it is purely memorization, and she doesn't "get" the phonics rules or how to apply them.

I bought E the book, "How to Draw 50 Animals" as she has quite a creative, artistic streak, and I am pleased with the beautiful drawings she has been producing.

As for non-school life....the girls have been bored to tears with softball over, all their friends have been busy the past 2 weeks, and the weather here has been one heat advisory after another. So...the majority of our daytime is taken up with school. I've even skipped mowing for this entire past week. Mind you, I'm not complaining. This is the life I enjoy...spending my days with my girls, doing school, NOT mowing. I miss going places, though, and I'm hoping when the weather cools down I can take them out to some parks, at least.

So, school is off to a fine start. I know when our Heart of Dakota curriculum arrives, C's (and my) days will be lengthened considerably, so we're getting ahead in other subjects, and enjoying adjusting to a 5 day a week schedule while we can.

This Year's Curriculum (2nd and 6th grade)

This is the latest in the year I've ever posted about our curriculum choices. It is also the latest in the year that I've ever decided on, and then ordered our books. In fact, I am actually still awaiting one more box that was back-ordered until the first week of August. Any other year I had my decisions made and the girls' school books ordered in January and February. This year, on such a limited budget, I was unable to order it all at once, and had to order it piece by piece.

You will notice I have a much shorter list this year. This is partly due to financial restraints, and partly because a few of the girls' subjects are complete programs, with several subjects wrapped up into one particular program.

So....without further ado, the girls and I will be doing:

MATH: 6th grade-Saxon 76. C has already completed 1/3 of the book. She will be "beginning" 6th grade on Lesson 41. As seems to be the case every year, she has completed so much of the book already she will only need to do math 3 days a week.

2nd grade: Horizons 2 for E. I can not say enough wonderful things about this math program. E has already completed 25 lessons and 2 tests, and this is just the BEST math program for advanced children I've ever seen. Horizons Math is promoted as the most advanced math available for elementary students, and I have to agree that it is certainly advanced. This math program is very challenging, very fast faced, and it actually is a ton of work. (for both teacher and student)I think so highly of this math that I intend to do a full review of it soon.

ENGLISH: C chose (and I happily agreed) to do another year of BJUP English 6. 5th grade went so smoothly, and she learned so much, that neither of us saw any reason to change a good thing.

E will be doing McGruffy's full Language Arts program. This program actually consists of 5 subjects all tied together: SPELLING, PHONICS, READING, LANGUAGE, (grammar and writing), and HANDWRITING

SCIENCE / HEALTH: We are still reading through Apologia's Zoology series, and I ordered Apologia's ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY the second it was published. Being a nurse, I am impressed with this program for elementary students. It looks awesome, and I splurged and actually bought the accompanying student notebook, instead of being cheap and trying to run all the pages off in black and white. (ok, so my printer is broken and I CAN'T print pages off the internet, LOL) It looks to be a worthwhile expenditure. I've had these books now for 2 months, and I am as excited as a child on Christmas to actually begin this with C, and as always, E may sit in as she wishes.

SOCIAL STUDIES: C is reading "Story of the World" Volume 1 aloud to E this year. As some of you may recall, C liked this overview of Ancient History so much we actually did it twice...once for a grade, and once for fun, and if I have to read this book in it's entirety one more time I may just puke. I will be supervising the readings, and I will, of course, be doing most of the geographical aspects of this program, but I just can't sit and read it myself again this soon. LOL I also bought BJUP Heritage Studies 2, with the intention of working through it with E, but she fell in love with the textbook, absconded with it, and reads it herself.

C will be doing Heart of Dakota's "Resurrection to Reformation" with the optional Shakespeare literary study. This program is technically a "history and geography" study, but as Heart of Dakota is basically a Charlotte Mason style/ literature style unit study, it covers history, geography, cultures, art, Bible, and literature / writing. There is a TON of reading involved, a TON of notebooking, writing, mapwork, and hands-on activities. I am anticipating this to be the most time-consuming portion of C's day. This also happens to be the program in which a few books are on back-order, so I must wait to start it. I have all the other portions of the program; however I do NOT have the Teacher's Guide, the Student notebook, or the Student's Shakespeare notebook. In other words, I have all the reading, the main text, the CD's, but not the actual "workbooks" or Teacher's Manual, so it is impossible to begin until I have those.

Both girls will also be doing Thinking Skills daily. I bought "Building Critical Thinking Skills" at the age-appropriate level for each girl. E also has a Learning to Draw Animals book for Art.

That's it. A much shorter list than previous years, but very comprehensive, and I think they will both actually have to work a lot harder than in years past. C, for sure, will have much more "homework", and E's math alone take 60-90 minutes per day.I'll let you know how it goes.....

Where Have I Been?

My posts have really slipped this past year. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have been working hard this past year, but for several months I've let my schooling slide to the way side. I think I may have been going through a bout of depression, and for awhile I was being very self-centered. I spent more time worrying about money (I don't have to worry about THAT anymore, because I don't have any to worry about! LOL) and feeling sorry for myself for having to do "man" jobs, (don't have to worry about THOSE anymore either, because I'm getting proficient at figuring things out or, GASP! asking for help.) I also spent much of my time helping out my dear friend, and I don't have to worry about THAT anymore, because he and I seem to have gotten this scheduling thing down pat, for the most part.

So, where have I been for 2 months? Well, I've been mainly getting my daughters and I lives back on track. C completed her 5th year of softball, alternating between the positions of pitcher and first-base, and contributing to her team finishing 2nd place for the season, and 2nd place in the tournament. This year, I had the added fun of simultaneously watching TWO softball games on TWO different fields, as E completed her 1st year of softball. Her team ended up in 3rd place for season, and 3rd in tournaments, which was much better than I expected at the beginning of the season. Five years into this softball stuff, and all 3 of us still love it, still haven't missed a single game.

Ex-husband, D, is now living with his girlfriend, and that has helped with him seeing the girls more often. He now gets them for entire weekends, and the girls really enjoy getting to spend more time with him. He coached C's softball team this year, had them for many weekends this summer, and so far, things are working out pretty well.

I have also spent the last couple of months FINALLY not only deciding on curriculum for both girls, but ordering it, organizing it, and preparing for C's 6th grade year, and E's 2nd grade year. I normally begin back to full-time home-schooling the first week of August. With 2 yards to mow, being a single mother, and all the extra work that entails, I'm not sure if I will get the year off to as productive a start as normal, but I can't do any worse than LAST school year! LOL

I have everything planned out. I have everything ordered. I am only awaiting one last shipment that was back-ordered to arrive next week. The girls have intermittently been doing math through the summer, but other than that, we will start all other subjects fresh on the first day of school. All 3 of us have been very busy this summer, but it's really been a great few months, and I am actually excited (for the first time in a year) to start school. I hope to post once more before our actual start-date with the list of curriculum and plans for this upcoming year.

Hope everyone is doing well. We are!

Making It

The time flies by...one minute it is November, all of a sudden it is the end of May. What happened to this lost year? I don't think I've ever been so busy in my life...not even when I was single, working 3 jobs, taking care of my dying mother 3 states away. And yet I haven't been busy doing the IMPORTANT things. Every day seems like just another day of chores to get through. The bare minimum of schoolwork for the girls because I just couldn't bear to sit still, to slow down and study, do lessons, assignments, grade papers and tests. Slowing down meant thinking, and for the past 6 months slowing down was perilously close to just stopping altogether.

I do all these mundane chores because SOMEONE has to, and yet....the next morning they are all waiting to be done again. The dogs need fed, the cat boxes need changed, the dishes need washed, garbage needs out, floors need vacuumed, grass gets mowed, only to grow right back again. E needs to learn to spell, C needs to learn...EVERYTHING it seems. There's so little time to teach it all, so little inclination to teach ANY of it. The girls grow, they need fed, and that entails stores, and cooking, and more dishes, and new shoes, and bigger clothes. And ironically, I need smaller clothes that don't fall off. And I can afford neither bigger clothes for the girls, or smaller clothes for myself. And Mom doesn't like this....this seeming waste of time on the things that don't matter as I look back on my life. And I don't like the girls growing, because soon this 6 months that has gone by in what seems to be only a few weeks will turn into 6 years, and then 12 years and they will be gone too.

Softball games begin in 6 days. For the first year in 5 years I don't care. I don't want to go. Softball used to be so much fun. But this year I don't WANT to talk to people. I don't want to watch the man coaching that is somehow no longer my husband...he's just "the girls dad" who sees them maybe once a week. I don't WANT to enter the summer months knowing C will be staying home all day every day because I can't afford to let her take the kids' enrichment classes at the local community college. We will ALL stay home all day because I can't afford to just waste the days going to bookstores, shopping, out to lunch, and I can not BEAR to go hiking, playing at the parks, searching for rocks and shells at the river because...half the people who should be out at the rivers and parks with us are gone. Half a family is gone. 6 divided by 2 is 3. 6 divided by 2 = just me, and C and E. Anywhere I go, anywhere I could take the girls seems empty. I see the ghosts of April, and Brittany, and Danny in all these places, and it's not right that it should be only 3.And who suffers for this? The girls, of course....begging to go here or there, and hearing "No" so often they don't even ask anymore.

It's not ALL darkness, though. Every once in a while the sun actually shines through. I think this week I set a record for "number of good days in a row" within the past 6-7 months. I managed to do school every single day. I managed to get PAST the never-ending daily chores, and wash windows, wash curtains, scrub things that haven't been scrubbed since LAST spring. I actually walked into my kitchen this morning and SMILED at how bright and pretty and CLEAN it looked. I actually have tons of completed work in E's math folder, and I feel proud that she has worked so hard, done so well. C has helped me with housework, she has giggled, we have had happy moments, and we have actually been productive this week.

Thank you, God, for protecting my daughters, for giving me strength, and for this week.

Wow! Hard to Believe, but....

....today is April and Lance's first anniversary! What a year of changes in this family! It has been a very sad year, but the newly-weds have made it through their first year.

Congratulations, and Happy Anniversary! We love and miss you guys!

So much catching up to Do

If anyone still reads this, I haven't forgotten. I just have not been in much mood to write, and I also haven't had a lot of time lately, either.

In a nutshell....D and I's divorce was final a month ago. E finished first grade, and I've begun working with her on 2nd grade. C finished 5th grade, and we are on an extended break. Both girls are signed up for softball again this year. It will be E's first year playing, and C's 5th year. D will be coaching C's team again. The weather has turned warm and beautiful here, so girls have been spending every day outside playing with their many friends on the street from the minute the other kids get out of school until dark, if I let them. LOL

I've been busy trying to take care of the house, the 12 pets, 2 daughters, home schooling, and helping my friend. As the only "adult" (I use that term loosely, LOL) in the house all winter, I learned how to light our boiler in less than 5 minutes, without crying, panicing, or blowing up the house. I figured out how to install a new screen for my front door. There was some crying with that task, but I managed. And I have added mowing the lawn, and scooping dog poop to my list of chores. Oh, and I had to kill a spider all by myself....ALL my "spider-killers" have moved out.

One of these days I will try to get on here and update our curriculum lists, and plans for next school year. God Bless anyone who still reads this.

Happy Birthday E

E is 7 today. From the time I was 13 weeks pregnant, she hasn't stopped moving. Her personality hasn't swayed since birth. Labor with E was 46 hours...it was time to be born, but she just didn't want to leave her Mama. LOL

She was born with a gorgeous head of dark hair, and had dark eyes. She's looked just like me all her life, but her personality is all her own. She is slow to warm up to new adults, but once she approves of someone, she gives her heart to them fully. This child is SMART! If it seems impossible, E will work and work to figure a solution out. She gets things on the first try, and is ready to move on to more new things.

E is imaginative. She's talked to herself her entire life, spinning stories, conversations, and making up songs. We have stood outside many a public bathroom, laughing because we can hear her clear outside the door talking, and taking on both imaginary parties conversations. She loves music, and will compose her own songs on the piano. When she is sad or thoughtful, she makes up the most beautiful, sad-sounding songs. When she is happy and excited, I have to tell her to quit banging on my piano keys. When she isn't singing, or playing the piano, she is "drumming" on everything in the house...or whistling...or playing the recorder. She loves to dance, spin in circles, and exercise with Mommy. (Shhh...I don't do that! LOL)

School with E is interesting, to say the least. She learns quickly, and on first try, so thankfully, it doesn't take long. Thankfully, because she is constantly making up stories about the illustrations in her book instead of writing answwers. She rarely has her pencil on the paper; instead it is being poked through her socks, her shirt, my comforter, and occasionally her own skin.

E is the only child I've met who can be sitting perfectly still and fall off a bed or out of a chair. She loses EVERYTHING. We have a place for things like coats, shoes, pencils, etc....but E's things are mysteriously never where they belong. How do you lose a coat??? LOL

She feels things very deeply. She cries tears of joy and amazement, and she cries when she feels life is unfair. She is the child who, if Mommy or someone else is upset, will not say a word, just quietly make a picture to cheer me up, or bring me her own blanket, even if she is cold. E's nickname is "Cuddlebug"....she's my hugger, my lap-sitter, the one who for the first 3 years of life couldn't fall asleep without clutching Mommy's ear. When she's sick, she will still reach up and hang on to my ear for comfort.

When we say nightly prayers, E is the one who remembers to pray for people or situations C and I forget to mention. E is the one who, not one night of her life, has ever forgotten to ask God to tell her litany of pets and people who have died, that she loves and missed them. (Bandit, Sonny, Goldie, Kristi, and Thumper...every night!)

E is the most active of my children, the smartest in figuring out new things and grasping new concepts. E is the most, by far, imaginative, and the most sensitive, empathetic little girl. She is caring, loving, and considerate without a single reminder.

E was quite a surprise to me when I found out I was pregnant, and she has been a challenge to mother, and yet she is the biggest blessing, the example we all should follow. I ADORE my E, and am so thankful God blessed me with her. I just can't think of one thing about my little E that I don't love and appreciate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dear, little one.

School Update

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

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

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

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

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

A Few More Small Life Changes

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

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





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

First Day Back After Christmas Break

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

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

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

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

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