Cursive vs Printing vs Keyboarding

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bragging on E a Little : )

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

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

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

Very Busy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summer Plans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ok, E is FINALLY Finished With 2nd Grade

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

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

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

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

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

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

E's grades:

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

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

C is Officially DONE with 6th Grade

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

She earned:

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

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

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

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

Mother's Day

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

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

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

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

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

Curriculum Review: Horizons Math 2

For my younger daughter, E we needed something that moved faster and could hold her interest...something that would challenge her, yet not frustrate her. Something where she was able to learn new things, yet remained fun for her.

Horizons, by Alpha Omega Homeschool, is widely known for use with children that are "gifted" or "accelerated" in math. I began E in grade 2 when she was 7, and she just completed it a week ago, at age 8 yrs. 2 mos. We completed every lesson, every test, and every speed drill. Horizons math lived up to its reputation.

E and I both LOVED using Horizons. We both want to continue with it. E says, "I LOVE math. It's my favorite subject. It's FUN. " As a teacher, and mother of a child who excels in math, I also loved it.

Horizons begins with a speed drill 4 out of 5 days of the week. Then we move on to the lesson of a new concept daily, with an oral lesson, board work for examples, although E never needed these, as she catches right on, so we skipped examples and we would go straight to her assignments. Each lesson took me about 5 minutes to teach, and then took E anywhere from 15 minutes to maybe 45 minutes tops to complete. She got 2 B's on her work (160 lessons, 16 tests) and straight A's the entire rest of the year.

The program covered basic addition and subtraction, and by the middle of the year she was doing 3 and 4 digit addition and subtraction with borrowing and carrying, and "columns" of adding. She began learning her multiplication facts by mid year, also, and has them all down pat by now, a full year earlier than most math programs used in home school, public school, or private schools. Horizons math 2 also covered money, fractions, different kinds of graphs, decimals, thermometers, and basic geometry concepts such as area and volume, and 3-D shapes. One major thing that helped tremendously when she began learning her multiplication facts was the first half of the year the child learns by rote "skip-counting" by every single digit number. The 2 workbook set for students was in full color, which captured my child's interest with the pictures, while each assignment had her doing anywhere from 60-100 separate math problems. EVERY assignment had at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 story problems in which E had to figure out which operation to use (add, subtract, or multiply.)

As each concept is introduced, it is practiced in-depth for the next 5 lessons, while still daily introducing another new concept. Once a concept is learned, it is never forgotten, but touched upon again and again throughout the daily assignments and on tests, and built upon.

Horizons is not for everyone. If your child needs more time with new things, I would not recommend Horizons. I would also not recommend it for children who are distracted by colorful worksheets, or by constantly switching topics in one lesson. But for a child who likes math, who excels at it, or who is considered accelerated, Horizons definitely has been the best math program we have tried, and we will definitely be sticking with it.