Olympics, cheap workbooks, and the past month in general.

I just don't update like I should. My intentions were to post here once a week. I never seem to have the time or inclination. My blog is so boring compared to some.

C and E are still doing well. I'm amazed at how quickly we complete a school day. I can't imagine how bored C must have been in ps. Math....still whizzing through. LA...she mostly whizzes through, unless she has a writing assignment. She's not a great writer, and doesn't like it. She did surprise me yesterday. She had to write a letter to a make believe friend in India, telling this friend about Christmas. She had the letter done, in correct form, and very well written in 5 minutes. I was very surprised, and it was her best written assignment yet. She still begs to do history/geography every day, even on weekends. We are slowing down now, because we've reached the rise of the Roman Empire, and it's pretty fascinating stuff for both of us, so we are adding in lots of extras outside her history book.

About 2 weeks ago I found some really cool workbooks at the Dollar Tree. 4 Science ones for C, and 4 Math and 1 Phonics/Reading one for E. Since they were just for fun, and not part of our curriculum, I handed them to the girls to do as they felt like it. C had hers all 4 done in 2 days. E had the math ones done, about 1 per day. The phonics one was 60 pages long, so it took her a whopping 2 days on that one alone. I told hubby maybe I should just hand them all their schoolbooks, and see how long they take to finish those. LOL

C loved, LOVED the Olympics! It was on all day at our house for the past 2 weeks. Her favorite sports were swimming and gymnastics, but she watched it all, every sport, every country. If something came on after her bedtime she knew who was competing, and asked me first thing in the morning to check online to find out scores. She either has a crush on Michael Phelps, or just really admired his record setting in swimming. She learned to average while the teams did qualifying rounds. She tallied the scores, divided them by the number of competitors, and tried to get the team score before the judges posted it. She watched so much swimming she learned to do the dolphin kick in our pool. I can't believe I work and work on teaching her proper swimming, and she learns one of the hardest strokes from watching TV. LOL She's impressive at it, too. very quick and graceful. I can't do it at all. I look like a whale having a seizure when I try.

Hope everyone reading this is doing great. : )

Summer school update

Story of turtle below.

Less than a month before the other kids go back to ps. We have been schooling off and on through the summer. 2 or 3 days/week, 2 hours each day for dd9, and maybe an hour each day for dd5.

C and I had a goal of the first 20 Math lessons, plus the investigations and tests that accompany them. We met that goal last week, and now are on "Math break". When we return full time to school I need a compass for her lessons. Since when do 4th graders use compasses?!?

C and I also had a goal to finsish 2 chapters in her LA book. We are only about 2/3 of the way through that goal. Sentence structure and Capitalization is boring, so we both tend to spend most of our "school time" on Math or History/Geography.

History...well, we are both LOVING Ancient times. She asks for us to do that almost daily. I am learning as much as she is. I don't remember learning any of this in school. We are over halfway through the book, and we spend about an hour each day that we do it.

We have done no formal science, but I have found out LIFE is science. Things always seem to come up. An example: 2 days ago a large snapping turtle appears in our driveway. This led to observing the turtle, calling the Humane Society and having them come pick up the turtle (after interrogating them as to their intentions after getting the turtle), watching how they captured the angry, jumping, snapping, and hissing (yes, they hiss) creature, and then spending an hour or two researching snapping turtles online. Both girls drew their own snappping turtle, and C added a list of interesting facts on her page. E was able to just tell me the facts. Then E and I read 2 stories in Aesop's Fables that had to do with turtles. I have seen plenty of turtles in my life fishing and camping, but never one in our own driveway that needed to be removed to a safe location. And for any of you concerned about what happened to it, my husband was getting a load of gravel down at the pit, and actually spoke to the Humane Society guys while they released the turtle in the beautiful, wild area around the old gravel pits and lakes. So he is much better off.

Back to the update. E has finished 50 out of 100 lessons in Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. (cheesy name, not-too-bad book) She is about 1/3 through 1st grade phonics, almost halfway through her K math book, and is averaging a 100% in spelling. She is working on memorizing the Pledge of Allegiance. (unlike a certain presidential nominee...oh, wait! That's a different blog)

E loves "playing" with the globe, and can locate the equator, the continents, the Oceans, and Hawaii. She also knows the difference between the North and South poles, and knows by name the Pacific Ocean. She can tell me tons of information about Africa, it's people, it's animals, and it's major features, such as rainforests, deserts, and savannah's. She knows the Sahara is the largest desert in the world, and where it is. She knows the Nile is the longest river in the world, and can point it out, too.

I have a short unit study prepared for both girls featuring the Olympics, since it's almost time for them to begin. C and I are already studying ancient Greece, so it works out great, and I didn't even plan it that way.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Last curriculum is ordered! : )

I'm so excited! We homeschool moms agree the most exciting part of homeschooling is the curriculum....all the curriculum. Well, I've had a list made for months of the last few things I hoped to buy for the upcoming year. I've diligently read and re-read my RR catalog. (Rainbow Resource for all you non-hsers.)All 1258 pages. I've checked my list way more than twice. Finally I am caught up enough in my bills that I placed my order. The total was almost $200, and my wonderous husband merely said, "So? If that's what you need or want then buy it."

I am most excited about: Books 1,2, and 3 of Explode the Code for dd5, and also a 3 book geography series for her. For dd9 I am excited about Wordly Wise 3000, a vocab program. She doesn't need spelling, so I opted for a highly praised, challenging vocab book this year. I am anxious about a Critical Thinking book for dd9. This book alone cost $28, and it appears to be very challenging. I think it will be fun, though, and something different than the "read, answer questions, quiz, forget-about-it" schoolbooks she was accustomed to in ps. She will have to THINK.

The rest was 2 books for me, several books for dd9 to hopefuly enjoy reading, and incidentals such as laminated maps, charts, and educational games for both girls.

It will be shipped within one week, so within 10-14 days I shall have a huge box.

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.

Softball

C's coach has been switching her positions around to see where she works best. She was tired of third base. She did well there, but she requested a change. What she really wants is to be pitcher, and she has been working hard at it. She's actually not bad pitching, but another place she likes and is good at is catcher. Ugh! You couldn't pay me to put all that extra gear on in the hot, humid midwest, and spend the inning squatting on my poor old knees.

The coach actually called us the other day about C. He is impressed with her, and she is one of the two best players on the team. She has NEVER struck out in 3 years. She has NEVER had to sit the inning out in the dugout. She is good at getting opponents out. He wants us to look into getting her individualized coaching from a softball coach at the local Catholic high school. That man trains younger girls who show a special talent for softball. I am getting the information from C's current coach, and will contact the man. I hope we can come up with some money. He isn't cheap, but C has 2 big passions in her life, and softball is one of them. And she really is very good. She sure doesn't get that ability from me! LOL

This wouldn't happen in public school

Saturday afternoon. We have half an hour before the softball game. (Yes, we actually managed to get a few in between storms and rain) Kids have been playing outside and helping with our back yard all day. C wanders into my room and says, "Mommy, I'm bored. Can we maybe do some math?" I was tired, and didn't really want to. I said, "Well are you sure that's what you want to do? I was letting you have a two week break." C replies sadly, "Oh. Okay. Well if you don't want me doing math it's okay."

What was I thinking? Why should I turn her down? Isn't that the cool thing about homeschooling? I can teach her what I want, when I want, and we can spend as much or as little time on things as we want.

I said, "For a kid that hates math, you sure seem to excel at it. It was your highest grade for 3rd grade, and you do each lesson so quickly." She said, "Well, I like it when YOU teach it Mommy." So we did math. : )

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I would just like it to be known that I'd like to see some softball this year! We haven't been able to have a softball game in 9 days. Out of the past 4 games, all 4 have been rained out and rescheduled. C is supposed to have one at 4:00 this afternoon (rescheduled from last Sunday), and it is pouring again! The softball fields are flooded, our yard is flooded, everything is flooded! We have had severe thunderstorms and/or tornadoes every day this week.

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.

Science and History

After learning about ancient Egyptian farming methods the girls decided our local river was The Nile, and the surrounding "farmland" needed irrigating, so they built canals.

Science and History

They also dug up quite a collection they call the "Museum".