amazing where God leads a person sometimes

I've blogged on this in the past here, about God leading us in places we don't expect sometimes. So far, this year God has led me to transfer to a new college and pursue a degree in ministry, which totally freaks me out. He has also strengthened my desire to continue homeschooling, so now my need to homeschool and pursue this degree both are so strong that I am unable to fight either one. Sometimes I don't like where God is leading me, but I know it is the right thing to just follow Him and His guidance until I get to wherever it is I am headed.

Well, now God is leading me again. Scott and I had decided that this upcoming year we'd be leaving OHVA, and going back to Sonlight full time instead of just supplementing. We had a plan in place, and I started gathering materials to do starting next month. Well, God led me into a completely different direction this week, completely different from our plans. I ended up changing our status for OHVA to reflect us being enrolled in the fall. It will be a very difficult juggle, but I have a great support system with a friend and my husband both willing to step in as needed to do lessons with the kids.

Now, I know you are asking. How did I go from planning to go independent as a homeschooler to staying with OHVA for the kids and doing that much juggling again? Well, its a long story. You see, this past month I've been sick, and have been in and out of the doctor's office and on all kinds of different medications. Through all that, I've managed to finish up our school year with OHVA because I was kept accountable. I had to meet requirements on attendance because OHVA is a public school and they are required to meet certain regulations. Just like sending the kids to Newark schools, I have truancy laws to follow. If we don't log a certain number hours halfway through the year and at the end of the year both, then we could get in trouble. I have always kissed the reporting rules for hours with Melissa, sometimes we're a little ahead and sometimes we're behind. But as a general rule, we do pretty well with it all.

This strict accountability with logging hours and lessons is going to be VERY important for me come fall. With my own full time college courseload, I will need to be organized to get everything done since my husband works such long hours he is unable to help much sometimes. I know that my own college work will push aside homeschooling if I don't have this kind of accountability to get it done daily. I will be spending a lot of time daily working on schooling for both the kids and myself, so chores won't be at the top of my list. This is where the majority of Scott's helping and supporting me will come in.

Also, this school year coming up k12 has some changes that I'm looking forward to. Math will be more online than before, which will help a lot. There are some other things too, but they aren't as important in my opinion. Mostly they are administrative stuff for me as the learning coach. But I'm going to be seeing some more independent learning for Melissa starting up soon. She's becoming slightly more solid with her reading, and this will lead to her being able to do her math more herself and some of her phonics and lang. arts on her own as well. And who knows, she may even be able to do some history and science herself. This will be a big change from last school year when she struggled to do any worksheets at all without my help.

But if I can make it through this upcoming school year, the next year when I add Kimmy to the mix as well Melissa will be doing more independent work for sure. Our teacher this year for the girls has already told me that starting in 3rd grade the kids start doing more work themselves in a noticeable fashion, so I just have to survive that. And then I can decide if we're holding Jordan back a year so that she's 6 when school starts instead of 5 because of her September birthday (we're leaning toward holding her back, I'm planning on letting her join in on math and phonics with Kimmy though as she desires to get a better idea of her readiness)

But isn't it amazing how God can lead us in a completely different direction than we ever imagined at times? I literally had NO intentions of staying with OHVA after this school year, and now I'm planning to stick with them and supplement with Sonlight like I did this school year.

officially FINISHED our school year!

Well this month was the one that I was looking forward to the most. This month is when I was going to complete all our schoolwork in general so that I can pack up materials to ship back as soon as I get shipping labels. So, this weekend I shall be doing a bit of packing up of OHVA and k12 supplies. Of course, the only things we didn't finish are Lydia's math and phonics, however she is a grade ahead in math so I am NOT concerned about this. Phonics, well we'll get it finished up in our own time. Her trouble is with the sight words. So, our finished list is..........

math K
language arts K (times 2!)
history K
science 1
history 1
art 1
math 1
phonics K

And we have officially met all our hours requirements as well. Melissa needs 920 hours by May 28th, and as of May 21st she is at 945 hours. Lydia needs 460 hours by May 28th, and as of May 21st she's at 654 hours. Yeah, you can tell which kid REALLY likes school................

We are set up on track to begin our new school year on June 1st still. I have all our basic curriculum that I need; all that is left for me to get is the stuff to set up our workboxes for the girls so they can be more independent with their work.

box day again

Well all my books from Amazon are in. The first package (with just 2 books in it) arrived on Friday or so, and the second one with the other 9 books I bought came in today. So, now I have my side table FILLED with books stacked up on it, books that I need to label and find a shelf to put them on. I have a lot of work to do, and we're all set now to start in June with our new school year for the kids. Just looking at the stacks of books on my table though, its a little scary and panic-inducing. lol It is just *slightly* overwhelming to know know that I am going to read ALL of these books to my kids this school year (and a bunch of others that aren't on the table since I'm doing 2 cores this year). But I know it will go great, just like OHVA did for us this school year. I'm really looking forward to getting to spend this time with them, reading all these great books and learning as a family.

And on a side note, I got word from college that my transcript has arrived so they can start working at what will transfer and how to schedule my remaining classes. I also finished and submitted my FAFSA last night, so they should be getting that report soon as well. Then I'll be told I need to submit verification as usual (apparently the government doesn't believe that a family of 6 can survive successfully on just $35K-40K a year, I've had to do this every year that I have filled out a FAFSA for school) I am really looking forward to finishing school and taking the steps I need to take so that I can get down to business with this. And yet, at the same time I am flat out scared of what I'm about to do, and I don't know what on earth God is thinking when he chose me to do this but hey, I'll just keep doing what I'm told and eventually the answer will be revealed to me. Right? I mean, that's how it has always worked in the past.............

yet another reason to be happy that my kids are homeschooled

I had a doctor appointment this morning. That meant that i had to find a sitter willing to take all 4 kids (thanks Tristan!) and I needed to be organized to get them ready and to that sitter and then hit the ATM so I could make my copay for my appointment. Now, if I had my children doing the public school thing, the 3 oldest ones would have been off already (two at the local elementary school and one at preschool) so I wouldn't have needed a sitter because a lone 2 year old is MUCH simpler to take to the doctor than 4 kids is. So yeah, sometimes sending my kids to public school would be easier.

But then I have to stop and think. I have some mobility problems from last spring's illness. With this, some days are better than others. I also have problems with my heart and lungs, and am prone to certain illnesses because of these problems. I pretty much live on antibiotics, allergy meds, and asthma medications (both quick-acting inhaler and a long-acting medication to try and maintain) along with rounds on and off other stuff as needed. Currently, I am dealing with pleurisy (infection of the pleural membranes, it can be fairly painful and this is not the first time in my life I've had this particular issue) and am having a hard time with my allergies and asthma acting up because of all the pollen. So, I am having trouble catching my breath and doing much of anything. Just making lunch for my kids is difficult, standing tires me and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the kids' favorite, we have it at least twice a week at their request) leaves me short of breath. As a result, we've been eating a lot of takeout the last couple weeks, my house is badly in need of a good cleaning, and I'm so behind in my laundry that it will take a month to catch up again. Oh well, we'll get things back in order again.

I manage to keep up with schooling and am meeting everyone's basic needs. That is my sole goal during times like these. And so far, I've been able to do exactly that on a daily basis. My husband is completely supportive of me during these difficult times, and helps whenever he can by picking up the slack with the housework and taking care of the kids. He is truly a godsend for me, a true blessing. I honestly don't know what I'd do without him right now.

Anyway, today was a doctor appointment for me. I dropped off my girls at my friend's house to play so that I could discuss all this stuff with her about what is going on lately. Now, my doctor that I see has been my doctor for almost 15 years. She knows all the stupid things I have done in my life, and is able to make connections to my current health that some doctors wouldn't make because she knows things about me (mostly because my grandmother was also a patient of hers and that woman would rant like a mad woman at me about her ungrateful grandchild and all the stuff I did) I like not having to explain everything I did from 16-21 to a new doctor, as my doctor doesn't have a lot of these things in my chart. But, my doctor has been known to try and put me on anxiety medication regularly because she is convinced that I have panic attacks from "having too many kids" and "not being sensible and putting the kids in a real school like normal parents do." We obviously have our differences on this thinking, and sometimes I wonder if it is clouding her judgement when treating me. However, today I didn't hear any of this opinion she has. She asked how the kids were doing and a couple general questions about how life in general is (probably to see if stress and anxiety could be a factor) and then we got down to business.

After a thorough exam, we came to the conclusion that I have pleurisy, and I got antibiotics and stronger asthma medications. She did, however, suggest that I take a school year or two off homeschooling, to focus on my physical health so that I can be a better mom. I told her I would consider that angle, as it wasn't one that I considered in the past.

Well, I have considered it. Sending them to school for a couple years may help give me time during the day to rest and recover. However, the work of making lunches and getting them to and from school on time (even if its just dealing with the bus stop if I can get the district to assign one at my street corner) would be so much work that it would completely undo the recovering I do while they are at school, especially since I have to take preschoolers to Head Start because they don't offer bussing and they'd only be there half the day. And then I have to deal with homework at night, making sure they have appropriate clothes clean to wear to school, and all the other little things like dealing with fundraisers, field trips, class things, parent-teacher conferences, and only goodness knows what else that pops up.

But with homeschooling, I can easily lay on the sofa and do all our lessons, taking frequent breaks to catch my breath as needed. I don't have to worry if the kids are dressed properly to go out in public, and if we decide to spend the day in our pajamas we can. I can have Melissa sit on the floor in front of the sofa with her dry erase board, and we can do her math lesson together before she does her workbook page for it at the coffee table. She can put a stack of blank paper and the crayon bucket in the middle of the coffee table and they can draw pictures while I read their history lesson to them. I can take a day off on Tuesday and do lessons through educational tv programming, movies, and computer games if I want or need to. I am not bound by a traditional school schedule. If I am having trouble moving to get out of bed one morning, we can curl up with snacks in my bed and watch tv until I can get out of bed better.

Homeschooling may be difficult in the eyes of people who don't do it, but for me it is a lot simpler than sending them off to school. I spent half a school year fighting my health with one in school, and I have to say that this is much easier for me than sending them. It may be difficult and stressful at times when one of the kids just isn't getting a concept in math or phonics, but in the end it just doesn't compare to the crazy hectic chaos that I'd have if I did send them to school. If you have kids and health problems, you probably know what I mean about getting around and doing things at times.

now THAT is how you do some shopping

I admit it: I have a major shopping problem. I spend a lot of time daily at amazon and other sites, browsing and looking at various things. My favorite thing to look at happens to be books.

I love books. With a book, you can go back in time to the Revolutionary War, you can explore the Lost City of Atlantis, you can go anywhere and do anything. All from the comfort of your bed, sofa, or a big cozy chair (or wherever you end up reading your book at) A book is the PERFECT thing for a person with an incredibly visual mind and an overactive imagination. A person like myself can spend hours in a good book, held by a plot far more complex than any television show. Yes, books are a beautiful thing to me. If you want to excite me, you give me a book that I don't have yet. For me, books are serious business.

No wonder I'm drawn to a literature-based curriculum like Sonlight. I love books just that much, and so far my children seem to have inhereted my unending thirst for a good book. So, we are constantly buying new books. I don't particularly care for used books; there is just something about the smell and feel of a new book as you open it to read for the first time. Some people get off on new car scent, I get off on new book scent. (don't ask, I'm just strange like this)

Now back on topic now that you have a general idea of the importance of books in my home................

A couple weeks ago, my husband cashed in the reward points on his debit card to get a $100 gift certificate for Amazon. Now, Amazon is a book-lover's dream. You can get ANY book there, in any language. And, most of the time you can get the books you want with free super saver shipping. Yes, Amazon is amazing.

I knew I needed to purchase some books to finish off my curriculum for this upcoming school year, so my first thought was to use the gift certificate to buy some of them. I went to Amazon and started searching out the books I need for core K, as I had purchased a used 4 day package missing 3 books. I had decided also to fill it out to the full 5 day schedule, since Sonlight is so genius as to print both the 4 day and 5 day schedules on all their guides. I love this about Sonlight by the way, I wish more companies did something like this. It is just one more of those little details about Sonlight that makes them so awesome.

Anyway, I got to Amazon and loaded up the books I need to finish off my core into my cart. OK, I was at $70-something with just those, so I started poking around at other books that may interest me. I played with my cart for 4 days before I got it how I did tonight. I knew I wanted to get as close to that $100 amount in one shot without going too far over it so that I don't have to play around like this again later with buying a bunch of books. This is my main shop for the school year and I was being as careful as possible. I ended up with a total of 11 books, all with free super saver shipping, and a total of EXACTLY $100. So I clicked on checkout.

Yes, I aimed to hit a certain amount, and I knew I could afford to go a couple dollars over right now but kept tinkering until I hit it exactly. I ended up with all 8 books that I needed for core K, one of the newer books from core P 4/5, a new copy of Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, and a book that was written just for the ADD homeschooling mom. That last book is obviously for me.

Now for the amusing tidbits. When I clicked to checkout, I discovered that I had gotten a 4 for 3 deal in there and my order was $3.99 LESS than my $100. No big deal, it can sit for my next purchase in a couple weeks. Then once I submitted my order, I realized it. My mailman is like 70 years old, and he has to deliver a box with 10 books in it (one of the books, Hero Tales, will be available to ship in 1-3 weeks and will ship separately when it comes in). LOL I can just picture him grumbling over that package, he gave me the stinkface glare when he had to deliver a box with just THREE books in it a couple months ago.

Now I can place a $25-30 purchase every payday or two so that I can get the rest of our materials since I have the necessary books for the upcoming school year.

Happy Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day. For me, it has a very special meaning. I went into labor with Lydia on Mother's Day 6 years ago, and just after midnight she was born (yes just after mother's day ended)a full month early. My little Lydia Grace is a special girl, and has a very special place in my life. By the grace of God, when she was born all was well and she was healthy, and my cancer was cured so I was able to have more children. It is a beautiful day for me, one that I will always hold close to my heart. Tomorrow my sweet angel will be 6 years old, and we celebrated her birthday today so that her grandma Peggy could have birthday cake with us. She chose her cake at the bakery, a white one with pink flowers on it and pink candles and "Happy Birthday Lydia" written on it in pink (do you see a theme here yet?). We gave her birthday present to her today as well, she got a brand new lavendar Disney Princess bike. She was ready for the next size up so we chose to go with a special one for her as a birthday gift. This bike should last her at least a couple years before she outgrows it, and she happily passed her 12" bike down to Kimmy. She was so excited to get this new bike, and we even allowed her the opportunity to take it for a ride on the side street with her sisters while we walked the street.

Yes, Mother's Day is a special day indeed for me and my family. This is the day we celebrate new beginnings, of God's touch directly in the lives of all of us. This is the day that started everything for us with our journey. I will never look at Mother's Day like most moms do, as a day to be pampered and shown how much we are appreciated. I will always look at it as the gift that it was to us, as that miracle that we experienced 6 years ago when I went into preterm labor with our second child. Mother's Day is a day of victory for us, one that will ALWAYS ring pure and clear in our hearts.

I pray that all moms had a blessed day today, and that they have many more blessed days ahead of them. May God bless all of us moms as we work endlessly to raise these gifts from God, our children.

~Children are a gift from God, and a sign of his blessing. Like arrows are to the powerful hunter, so are the children born of one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is filled.~ Psalm 127:3-5

I think that sums it up perfectly right there. God bless us all: moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and future parents alike. I hope you took a moment to thank your mother for giving you life, and for being your rock when you didn't think you needed her as a stubborn and rebellious teenager. *smile* I know I called my mom today, even if I did have to leave the message on voice mail because her phone wasn't on when I called (probably not out of bed yet lol)

nervous

I'm taking a HUGE leap of faith here at the moment. I have completed a year and a half of credits online through University of Phoenix before Jordan was born, and keep saying that I'll finish but never get around to it. Well, lately I've been feeling a prompting from God to change schools and programs completely, so I've been looking around at different options. I settled on the decision to attend a Christian college instead of going back to Ohio State or finishing at Phoenix, so I started looking for local-ish options and online-only programs. Well, I found what I'm looking for. Ohio Christian University is in Circleville, Ohio (about an hour to and hour and a half away from my home, so driving distance) AND they offer their programs online for us busy adults. I submitted an application today after a lot of prayer about this, and feel really good about it. Phoenix never felt like the "right" school for me, but I kept pushing ahead anyway because it was the first one that I found with a decent looking program. This time I have spent a great deal of time searching and praying, and I feel 100% comfortable with the choice of this school. I will still continue to look at Christian schools that offer online program options for me, but at this point I just feel so amazingly comfortable and right about this.

I've also been praying about schooling the kids, and am still confident that I am meant to continue homeschooling the girls while I finish my education. As a result of this, I am working on creating a schedule that will allow us to manage everything, and I will be perfecting my crockpot cooking skills. Times will be very lean here for the next few years I think while I pursue this huge leap of faith, but I know that if we just stay strong and work together on this, Scott and I can make this work. We'll be pulling as much as we can from Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover to make the financial end work, we'll have to work together with the housework and teaching the kids, but I know that we can make it work.

Pray for my family please as we undertake this huge change. I'm very nervous about this decision, as it is something I've fought for close to 15 years now, but I know that it is the right decision for me. I am finaly answering God's calling in my life.

drat!

That 15 passenger van I posted about over the weekend, well it is officially SOLD and gone. Scott drove by this morning on his way to work, and at lunchtime when I drove by it was gone. I didn't think it would last............. Oh well, just a sign that it wasn't the one for us. I guess we shall continue to search for the perfect full van, eventually we'll find it.

sometimes waiting pays off with academics

Melissa has been struggling the last several weeks with 2 digit addition and subtraction, so we just kinda skipped that unit for now and went on with non-related skills. We've been touching it every day, and had NO success with it at all. Well, today we took the dry-erase board and pens out onto the back porch and spent about 20 minutes playing with addition and subtraction facts on the board. We started just reviewing basic facts, and then I decided to try doing adding tens. So I wrote 10+10 on the board, and talked to her about going from right to left instead of left to right (I think THIS is what's messing her up, we've spent so much time reinforcing left-right with phonics lol) and then we worked together on that problem (which we always did with pencil/crayon/marker/whatever on paper) to solve it, then did a few more together, and then she told me to write one and let her try it on her own. Stinker got it! So I wrote 3 on her board and told her it was a test, and she told me to go away while she did them and got them right (couple numbers backward but WHO CARES!) So I tried subtraction with tens, and I no sooner than wrote 40-10 then she grabbed the board from me and solved it with no issues. *sigh* Waiting and relaxing really paid off with her! I made her stop after we did a half dozen subtraction problems, and she got mad at me. Tomorrow we'll try 23+31 and similar addition/ subtraction problems that don't involve carrying and borrowing, but HOLY COW she hit it dead-on today. I wonder if it was just waiting a bit or the change from paper to dry-erase board that did it................... maybe both? Heck who cares, she got it!

so excited!

I found the Holy Grail today just around the corner from my home!

Now what could get me this excited? Well, allow me to describe it to you............

It is white.
It is Ford.
It has only 82,000 miles on it
It seats 15!!!!!

Yep, I found my 15 passenger van that I've been looking for the last few years today. It is at the auction lot by my home, and I plan to trade in my 8 passenger van for it (I can probably get some money back on it too)

Now, I know. You are wonder what on EARTH a mom with only 4 kids needs a 15 passenger van for. Well, first we aren't done having kids. We want more. Plain and simple. Also, when we go somewhere as a family, our van is a bit tight feeling for us when we get the double stroller, diaper bag, small bag with extra outfits, and all our other necessities in it. Grocery shopping for us is a total pain, I have to take out the 3rd row just to fit all our food in it when I really go for a stockup. And, if I want to buy something large, I have to see if they can hold it there for me until I can get home and get a sitter so that I can take the truck to get it.

For us, a 15 passenger van is a luxury, but at the price they are asking it is a totally affordable one. If the van runs, that is............. lol I need to ask a friend of mine to go check it out for me before I put in an offer for the thing, it is almost too good to be true. And since I have a completely paid-for minivan (paid almost $10,000 cash for it 3 1/2 years ago so its always been free and clear) I won't have to worry about getting enough in trade to cover the van and what is left that I owe on the minivan. Ahhhhh the joys of being smart with our money!

Of course, I am not going to put in an offer until one friend of mine tells me that she's not going to. She's pregnant with their 6th child and they NEED the seating of that van, while for us it is more of a luxury for a couple more years. So I want to be sure that I'm not snapping it out from under her family before I snap that puppy up for myself.

I'm in heaven! Hopefully all goes to plan, and I'll have my very own "get outta my way!" van for my family. I bet the nasty neighbor behind us will LOOOOOOOOVE that when I park this big white sucker right in the front of my house. *snicker* Yet another plus about that van, it will make him mad because it'll be obvious as heck that we're not done having kids (he can't stand the 4 we have now LOL)