What's happening this week

We've been pretty quiet here, I know, and for good reason.  We took the last two weeks off completely from everything here.  I had a baby on March 3rd.

At 35 weeks I was told that I again had pregnancy-induced hypertension, just like I did with Preston.  Fortunately, this time it was much later that it developed, so I didn't spend several weeks doing extra lab tests and bedrest to keep my blood pressure in the "safe" zone.  Instead, I watched how I was feeling and had extra labs for 2 weeks.  Then at my 37 week appointment my blood pressure was 150/100 so I got sent to labor and delivery for monitoring and testing, and possibly to be induced if things didn't look right.  Immediate labs looked ok so they sent me home after a few hours to do the 24 hour labs a third time.  However, between my appointment and getting to the hospital for monitoring, I developed a headache and Tylenol did nothing for it.

So I got home and did the 24hr stuff, and that evening noticed a few new things.  Mainly, my ability to pee seemed to be almost completely gone.  This is kind of important, as the main part of the 24hr labs is collecting urine for 24hrs straight and taking it in to be tested.  My urine output over that 24hrs was about 1/4 of what it was when I did the 24hr labs a week earlier.  The headache also started getting worse the morning after my appointment, so I put in a call to my midwife and ended up sent back to the hospital.

Anyone who has kids knows that being sent unexpectedly like that can be a bit of trouble to find a sitter on a whim, so I ended up having to wait until Scott was at lunch break to get him on his way home to drop me off at the hospital and watch the kids.  I wasn't thinking too clearly at that point, as the headache was getting in the way of that, or I would have called one of a couple people I had lined up for this birth.

I was monitored less than an hour while the midwife on call (my midwife was out sick the last couple days) looked over my chart to see what this pregnancy and the one before had done and she waited on labs.  I got 3 high blood pressure readings in a row, 15 minutes apart each, and she decided to induce me.  So, Pitocin and antibiotics for me and then 4 hours later the lovely epidural (I knew what Pitocin does to me already and chose to take the wimp route with NO regrets).  A total of 8 hours after the induction started, little Nathaniel was born clocking in at 6lb 6oz and 20" long.  He was perfectly healthy, though TINY for us after having three 8lb newborns before him.

I had the foresight to take off that week from lessons because I just didn't feel good at all, and I was induced on Friday afternoon (he was born at 12:20am Saturday) so the kids and I had a week of me just feeling yucky and resting.  Then we took off on baby break so I could obviously recover, as an epidural is one of those things that just takes a little time to recover from.  He is now 9 days old and my back still aches a little once in a while where it was done, but it is much better.

We picked up schoolwork again today.  Yes I said today.  We needed the routine back in our life, that normal feeling.  We started with just math, science, and literature (science and literature is me reading to them and then on weekends they do the experiment with Scott maybe, but he doesn't know that detail yet heehee).  Later in the week I'll add in reading some of "A Child's History of the World" to cover history with a little about the middle ages while I pull together a few resources to finish an Ohio unit that we had started just before we went on break.  Next week, we'll add in some electives.

And now, enjoy a little bit of tiny new baby cuteness.

this week

This is a busy week in my home.  I only have a few minutes, so bear with me.  I'll come back later hopefully to edit and add some pictures since I'm on my laptop and have no pictures on here.

Today is Melissa's birthday, she's 11 years old now.  Crap where did the time go?  I have to bake her a cake, she chose a strawberry one with purple icing, so I need to do it soon to have ready for tonight.

Scott is working double shifts all week, yes I mean 16 hour days on top of his 1 hour commute each way.  We won't see too much of him until Saturday, and then he'll likely spend the weekend sleeping off this week at work since this is his scheduled full weekend off.  We obviously are NOT making plans for the weekend that involve going anywhere major because he'll be too tired.

I'm 35 weeks pregnant as of today, and still baking away happily.  I go in Thursday for my regular prenatal appointment, and Scott has specially arranged to have the morning off so that he can take over with the kids instead of me taking them with me.  My appointments just go faster if I'm not taking them along, so he does that once in a while.  We will likely be starting weekly appointments at this point, as my last baby was born at 37 weeks gestation.  I'll also be asking about possibly inducing to make sure I can actually make it to the hospital on time with Scott's commute time.  I am concerned that this time will be faster than my last birth (I was in labor a total 1 1/2 hours last time around, we were lucky that I was already at the hospital for hypertension to decide if they were going to induce me right then or wait for the next day to do it when that started) and that my dear daddy-to-be will possibly miss the birth of our last child (and I possibly not get to the hospital and end up with an unplanned unassisted homebirth, I don't want to do that thankyouverymuch).

Kim started Horizons math today.  I got her book 2 of second grade math, figuring that it would be about her level.  I've heard that Horizons is about a year ahead, and she's ahead in math so right on level would be good for her.  Yup, too easy.  Oh well, I used the AOP sale they do every April to get it so it was only $15 and free shipping.  She can zip through it at her speed and we'll teach whatever she doesn't know already, and I'll call it "adjusting to a new curriculum style and layout with review" before she starts the third grade books I plan to buy this upcoming weekend for her to do next.  Problem solved.

Full moon/ blood moon/ lunar eclipse tonight.  I'm hoping to stay up and get some pictures of it that I can share with the girls tomorrow and then set up an experiment with a flashlight and some balls to simulate an eclipse so we can talk about why and how it happens.  However, if I can't stay awake (which I know is possible at this stage of pregnancy) I know that I'll find a lot of pictures online for this.  So that is on my list for science lessons this week.

We started an Ohio study to meet the state history requirements for our state this year.  Just covering the basic information on the state at this point, then we'll dig in and learn historical events, people, places, etc. as we go along.  This study is going to last until Nathaniel is born, and we're doing a lapbook to go with it.  I have no clue how much is going to end up being covered, but it will be enough to meet the state requirements easily.

I think that covers it for now.  So now I shall go bake a cake and figure out supper for tonight.

mid-week progress

Well, we are halfway through the week.  Literally, it is lunchtime on Wednesday here.  It has been one BUSY week here so far.

Missa is plugging away in MUS Gamma as she has been.  She's about halfway through the book now, so we are finishing up the basic multiplication facts with her.

Lydia took a Saxon math placement test on Monday and then on Tuesday started 5/4.  She only needs part of the book before she can go into 6/5, but we decided to start at the beginning to make sure that she gets used to the different program with good review of things she knows already.  Saxon is definitely a different animal from the Everyday Mathematics garbage they teach in the local public school, she's going to need a little time.

Kimberly is just working on her multiplication and division facts, then she too will start Saxon 5/4.  I figure she'll start it about the same time her sister moves up to 6/5, so we're taking our time and working on things.  I'm also having to re-teach her how to do some things that are basic concepts that the public school totally screwed up teaching her.  No big deal really, although I do find it mildly annoying that I have to undo the damage from a poorly written math curriculum.

Jordan this week is working on greater than and less than in Math Mammoth.  She is doing really well with this curriculum, and will stay with it until further notice.

Yes, I'm doing 4 completely different things with 4 kids in math.  Mildly annoying that I've got so many different curricula going, but it is what works best so I juggle it.

We also started Apologia elementary Astronomy this week.  I'm reading 1 or 2 sections out loud daily to the kids, as the youngest girl doesn't seem to have the attention span at this point for more.  No biggie, we'll work up to longer time reading out loud as we go.

History is on hold until after Nathaniel is born at this point.  I'm trying to be realistic in what our workload is with this pregnancy.  Things are 100% textbook perfect for me with it, but I know how fast things can change in this area.  I don't want to go from full speed to a dead halt suddenly because of hypertension issues again like we had to do last time, so we're going a slower pace.

The girls are also reading daily for a little bit.  They pick the book, but they MUST read daily.  It is working really well for us at this point.

finally!

I think it is safe to say that we are all 7 well on the road to recovery from this horrible illness we had.  Thanks public school..... That was not a fun ride for us, but after a diagnosis of strep for Missa, Jordan, and Preston complete with antibiotics, I'm pretty sure we got it on its way out of here finally.

Do you have ANY idea how difficult it is to keep track of antibiotics for 7, prescription antihistamines for 2, cough syrup for 4, fever/pain medication for 6, and breathing medications for 2 with the dosing amounts and times?  I was about to borrow a trick for a lovely lady I know who creates a chart to log it all with, by creating one in Word and then printing out a few copies so that I could just get it going on.  I think that the next time we have a major run of illness like this one, I will do just that.  Maybe I should create a generic chart soon to keep on the computer, one that I can just open up and add medication names/categories to then print off.

Not the week I was expecting

So this is the first week of all the kids homeschooling again.  I knew there would be bumps but this is just ridiculous.  We are ALL sick.

It started with just Kim, and I took her in on Saturday morning to get looked at.  She has bronchitis, joy and delight.  I have her taking steroids, 2 different nebulizer medications, allergy medication, all the usual stuff to keep it from getting worse.  I have to call the pediatrician tomorrow to get her in because the only difference so far is that her fever is gone.

The rest of the kids and myself, well we managed to catch the virus that she had that turned to bronchitis in the first place.   This stinks.

By the way, if you didn't know this already..... I learned last night that if you smear Vick's chest rub on your feet (a good amount, none of this eeeeewwww as little as possible stuff here) and then put on socks to protect everything just as you are going to bed, it will work a million times better than anything else I've ever tried with that stuff before to loosen up my chest and sinuses.  Unfortunately, Scott didn't appreciate sleep next to me last night, he said the room REEKED of that stuff.

A new beginning

Things have been pretty crazy around here the last couple months.  I'm finally in third trimester of pregnancy (will be 29 weeks the day after tomorrow) and the two girls have missed a decent amount of school due to weather.  It has been one heck of a winter here in central Ohio, that's for sure.  Currently the state is discussing if they are going to approve an additional 4 days that schools are allowed to close since the majority of districts have at least 1 or 2 days to make up now.  There is another storm coming in this weekend that will likely close the local schools another day or two in fact, and they already have done one make-up day by turning a teacher development day into a student day.  Yes, it has been busy times here.

However, we are entering a new stage now.  Remember that please while I ramble a moment about several things.

January brought a good amount of snow, ice, and frigid arctic cold.  That led to most of the snow days the kids had.  It also brought me into a season of illness, as my own asthma decided that it did not agree with the frigid cold weather and I began a fight with bronchitis at the tail end of the month.  I also started experiencing the first stages of the bile reflux that I always develop in third trimester, which has me now on prescription reflux medication and back on nausea medication. *sigh*  Yes, I take a lot of pills along with having to modify my diet to work with it.

February brought its own set of fun things.  I entered third trimester, which really helped to bring home that this is pregnancy is winding down.  I'm now at the stage where I am growing a little bigger each day, and it is not funny.  It also begins the stage that my husband enjoys most, that time when I start waddling and he gets a cheap thrill out of copying my waddle as it gets worse.  Not funny, dude.  It also brought us the tax refund, which is ALWAYS a welcome thing.  It was deposited in our account just 3 days after we celebrated my 32nd birthday.  Scott got me a new laptop as my gift, I'm totally loving it.  We also got to celebrate Preston's second birthday.  Yes, the little boy has managed to survive for a whole 2 years without any major injuries or killing himself or anyone else.  I also got to experience the joys of the one hour gestational diabetes test, which I managed to fail by 8 points.

I took the 3 hour diabetes test the following weekend and passed it with great numbers.  I figured I would, as I am hypoglycemic.

That brings us up to this past week.  Our district has had some interesting things hit the news this past week, involving a teacher who is now in jail after a little inappropriate extra credit he gave some of the girls in the band (he WAS the assistant band director for the high school).  As this case exploded through the week, Scott decided that it was no longer in the best interest of the two girls for them to remain in the local public school so they were withdrawn.  Their last day was Friday (that's yesterday) and we will pick up with homeschooling on Monday unless the school calls a snow day.  I'm going to honor the snow days and breaks of the district the rest of this year I think, just to keep up the schedule and routine that we've gotten used to this year.

Of course, withdrawing them was slightly interesting.  Thursday I was the responsible mom and I personally delivered my notification and curriculum outline to the district administration office.  The lady who handles homeschooling and attendance for the district was out that day for meetings, so the receptionist put the paperwork in her inbox to get it first thing the next morning.  Friday, which is the next morning, I got an e-mail from this lovely lady who handles attendance and homeschooling.  I had sent a note with the girls stating that it was their last day and thanking the teachers for a good year, and providing my e-mail address if they had any questions for me.  My cell phone had decided to malfunction on me and not work all day, so I was down to just having internet communication for everything.  No big deal really, and my phone is working properly again now.  Anyway, the attendance lady hadn't gotten my notification and was informing me that I needed to either have them enrolled in a school or have notification to her before I could withdraw them.  I replied with a simple, "I delivered notification yesterday to the administration office, it should be in your inbox there waiting for you."  Yup, the receptionist forgot to put it in the inbox and it was still sitting on her desk.  Got it tracked down, everything is in order now and she is sending out my excuse letters.

Hopefully there is nothing else interesting that happens with this.  I don't know that I have the strength to keep going with any sort of real drama.  I may just snap and tell people where to stick it and then let HSLDA loose on the district if anything else comes up.

So what is the plan?  Well I have some math stuff that I'm going to be looking through tonight and tomorrow to find the specific spot each girl belongs at, and they will start it Monday.  History, right now I'm going to just read daily from a history book I have here already and see if we can finish up the year that way.  Science, I'm going to do the same with an elementary biology book I have.  With both subjects, we'll also add in library books as desired, and I may add in some units from KONOS as I feel a need and desire to.  All other subjects that are required by law (language arts, music, art, etc) will be incorporated into science and history by having them do research, projects, crafts, etc. related to what we're learning about.

Hopefully March and April go smoothly with this plan.  I'll let you know on Friday how this week goes.

snow day

Since I have 2 kids in public school, I'm a slave to the schedule.  Which means, when they close for weather my homeschooled kids don't do any schoolwork.

Last Friday and again today we had school cancelled for the weather.  This throws off my normal groove, even when we're on a winter break from lessons.  I have to completely restructure my day to get things done, and triple the time it takes to do things because of added interruptions for questions and to break up fights.  Ah so goes the life of a mom with a bunch of kids.

I did, however, get to pause long enough for Missa to use my crappy iPhone to take a quick picture of me sporting my latest baby bump.  Enjoy it folks, because I do not like being in front of the camera.  I know it is slightly fuzzy, Preston was trying to climb her so that he could snuggle his "babwit sista" as he'd say (that's toddler for favorite sister if you don't speak this fun language).

Yup, there is totally a baby in there.  Now we wait for the kicking to start, darn that anterior placenta that I'm rocking this time around.  I'm still 5lbs below the weight I started at, but that shouldn't last too much longer now that I'm starting to look like there's a baby in there instead of looking like I ate one too many pieces of pie.

Winter break!

Woohoo!  It is the week of Thanksgiving, which gives me the opportunity to relax a while.  Every year we take off this week until the first Monday in January.  Without the added focus of daily schoolwork, this gives me the opportunity to focus on preparing for the holidays and doing fun little crafts and activities with the kids.  We all welcome this nice long break, and it just gives us all a chance to step back and really enjoy one another as a family without the pressures and expectations of academics thrown into the mix.

During this time, the kids will watch too much television, make lots of messes with art supplies, cook a ton with me, play together, read, get on computers, pretty much anything we come up with.  We also will spend time focusing on life skills like fine-tuning chores that we do, and getting my end of year deep cleaning done (hopefully!).

As for me, well my plan for this time is to create a 6 month plan for January through June.  Since we have a baby coming in May, I need to make sure I have a plan in place to cover potential third trimester bedrest and complications plus time for me to recover from birth and surgery.  I don't want this period to go like it did with my last pregnancy, as we were totally unprepared for the challenges of having me on bedrest for 3 months and the complications that come with pregnancy-induced hypertension.

I'll keep you updated with my plans that are in process.  I have a rough idea what is going to be put into place, but we'll see what it turns into as I write it out for us.

What's happening here

We've had a few things happening here lately.  I'll try not to spend too much time rambling on though, as I have a lot to do today.

First, last week we finally found a new to us vehicle.  We traded in my minivan for a Ford Excursion, it is older and has high high miles (2000 with 163,000 miles on it) but it runs beautifully and is a great fit for our family.  There is enough room for even the new baby coming in the spring.

Isn't it a pretty piece of machinery?  I love driving it, and have gotten a few funny looks from people when they see this short little girl get out of this huge truck (the mirrors are at eye level to me).

Saturday night we took it for our first drive out of town, going to church.  Remember what I said about the extra space this gives us?  Well here's what I mean (I'm later going to move Preston's seat to the 3rd row where the empty spot is so that we can put the baby in the middle row where he is now)

Like I said, a LOT more space, and I got cargo room too so we can go grocery shopping on weekends as a family again.  I can't wait until next payday in 2 weeks so that we can do this (nobody wanted to go over the weekend with me for the short trip so I did it alone).  It also is allowing us to be able to go on a vacation, we're talking about going to the beach next summer at some point (likely when public school starts up again for next school year).

The other fun thing is a pregnancy update.  I had my first ultrasound and labwork done this morning at *yawn* 7am.  This is thankfully only 1 baby, this is a concern we had based on my symptoms and history (I miscarried triplets before having our oldest, and our second had a vanished twin).

As you can see, we have a perfectly formed baby there as far as we can tell.  The little booger is already incredibly active, the tech had trouble taking measurements because he (we'll call it a he until we get a gender, then we'll start using our chosen name, yes we have names already picked and no we aren't sharing until we know who this baby is) was waving, kicking, and bouncing so much all over in there.  We also changed my due date.  Based on my cycle I was due May 25th, and now according to the scan I'm due May 19th. Lydia's birthday is May 10th, and she is not amused by the change in due date.  His heart rate clocked in at 170bpm, which is excellent.  Now I have seen who it is exactly that's made me so sick I can barely function some days.  Zofran is my friend right now.....

That about covers it I think, for now at least.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures I had to go with today's update.

lots happening lately here

It has been a crazy month here in my family.  Lots of fun stuff, I tell ya!

I know not everyone has facebook so I'm going to put all the stuff we've been up to here.

First, we've not found our new van yet.  Every time we think we had, it gets sold before we can make the trip to check it out. *sigh*  Oh well, no big deal as we do have an 8 passenger van at this point and it will work for now with our family.  Eventually we will find the right van for our family, and we already know what we qualify for in a vehicle loan (and what we can afford in a payment) so we have a budget already set.  That makes it a LOT easier for when we do find our new van.

Second, we've had a lot of issues with Lydia.  She's had stomach problems her entire life, but this year has been especially difficult for her.  We've put her on medication for reflux, which has changed twice so far with not a lot of improvement.  We have her on a daily dose of colace to try and manage the bowel issues.  She is just miserable and lives in pain and vomiting regularly (at least 2-3 times a day).  We got a referral to the GI clinic at Nationwide Children's Hospital and she saw the doctor last week, then yesterday went in for an upper GI.  It came back 100% normal, so the doctor ordered blood tests that she went and did today after school.  I should know by the end of the week what the results of the labs are, and she goes back to GI clinic in 3 months (at this point in time, could be sooner depending).  We are also working with a dietician because earlier blood tests showed elevated cholesterol and triglycerides.  Lots has gone on there just with her. *whew*

Third, Lydia and Kimmy started public school in August by their choice and are doing VERY well.  I encourage each child to take ownership of their educations because it isn't something I can do for them, and the two of them felt that it was the best option for this year.  We discussed it several days before enrollment, and they are doing pretty well.  At least, they are doing well when they are there.  Lydia has already missed 5 days for her GI appointments, and Kimmy has missed 2 days for being sick.  I am trying not to worry about it, but if Lydia misses too much work I'll likely discuss moving her to a virtual academy for the remainder of the year while we get all the GI stuff taken care of.

Now, let's finish off with an adorable picture of my little man.  Preston is such a happy proud boy!

(yes his shirt means we're expecting #6.  Please say a prayer for us as this pregnancy is NOT being kind to me so far, I'm so sick Zofran isn't always doing much to help and it is affecting my parenting right now, the home learning kids are on a school break until I can get it under control again)

Upcoming hopeful changes

We've had one minor source of discomfort here as a larger family, which I'm sure many can relate to (no matter how many children you have!).  We do not enjoy going out as a family because my minivan is just a tad cramped for our family of 7 after we add any supplies we may need.

I know this is something almost everyone can relate to at some point, as I've seen many vans and larger SUVs with family stickers on them sporting only 1 or 2 children, or a few even with no children but several "fur babies" that are transported.  There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having a vehicle larger in seating than what you may fit, and this is a lesson I've learned only after having a 5th child and a dog.

If you are not aware, I am blessed that we own an 8 passenger van.  We purchased the vehicle shortly after learning of my pregnancy with our 4th child, trading in my awesome crew cab pickup truck with suicide doors (I could easily fit our then 5 member family in there).  We've had this van for 6 1/2 years now, and it has served us very well.  It fits us for a quick trip to the store or for an outing to visit family or friends locally, or even a trip to the park or a nearby field trip (such as to the local science and history museum).  However, we are unable to pack it adequately for a day trip with the stroller for my toddler, a cooler for meals and snacks, extra clothes for EVERY person (2 outfits for the toddler!), diapers and wipes, and anything else we may need.  My kids in the third row fight nonstop as I have 3 back there (we removed a 2nd row seat to provide access to the 3rd row) and that causes a great deal of noise and distraction to the driver no matter WHERE we go.

We've made the transition to being a 2 vehicle family for any outing more than 10 minutes away from home whenever possible, just to not hear the fighting.  But this gives us a different set of complaints.  All the kids want to ride with daddy, and none with mommy, so they take turns 2 girls at a time (we only have 1 car seat for Preston at this point and it stays in the van because I refuse to wrestle it on a regular basis).  This is a great solution for the most part, but it results in Scott and I frequently on our cell phones the entire trip to make sure that I know where I'm going, and I feel it reduces the family time a little bit.  I miss being all in one vehicle for outings, but can't STAND the fighting from the back 3 kids hitting each other and ganging up 2 kids on 1 back there and screaming about a sister singing along with the radio, well you get the idea.  I would wear ear plugs if it wasn't a bad idea because of needing to hear emergency vehicle sirens.

I saw this issue coming long before this time, as I started searching for a larger van during my pregnancy with Preston.  This is a big deal to me, as I once told Scott that I would never be one of those moms who drives a minivan.  I pouted for quite a long time when Scott chose to trade my truck in for my minivan instead of getting me the Suburban that I had picked out.  He wouldn't even LOOK at my pick, he just went straight to what is now my van and we test drove it and bought it.  Now, I love having a van instead of the SUV that I wanted originally.

The only way to get a bigger van than what we already have is to buy one of those vans that a lot of people refer to as "church vans."  These vans seat 12-15 passengers and are HUGE.  Of course, we could just buy a retired short bus, but that would probably require us both to have a CDL to drive it.  We do joke often about buying a bus and then have a laugh at the mental image of the horrified reactions from our neighbors who are already trying to run us out of the neighborhood with bogus calls to the city for violations that don't exist.  The neighbors have cooled it once I flipped on the rudest one and raked them both over the fire, and now they approach us with things instead of just calling the city.  Finally.

I have very specific wants for a new van of course.  I want it to be a 15 passenger van, but instead of bench seats I want captain's chairs and lap/shoulder belts in ALL positions for maximum safety in a crash (lap belts I feel are about useless outside of installing a harness car seat).  I don't care about little things like having LATCH, although it would be nice, or the color of the van (which I'd REALLY prefer to not have a white van if possible).  In the past 2 years, I've not found exactly what I'm looking for because of a couple little specifics.  All the pre-owned vans in my area have bench seats and a LOT of lap-only belts, or they are a 12 passenger van that isn't on a 15 body (meaning no cargo space behind the back row of seating).

Until last weekend, that is........

I found a dealership 90 miles away with THREE vans that fit my specifics (minus the fact that they are white, oh well can't win them all!).  These vans have captain's seats in all positions, which modifies it from a 15 passenger to a 14 passenger van.  They have lap/shoulder belts in all seating positions, and are in great condition and at a very affordable price.  I've already made the call to our insurance company to find out what the difference in policy pricing would be, and it is more than affordable with the slight changes I made to our policy in the same call.  All that is left to do is a step that I cannot do, which is to contact the bank to find out about financing the vehicle.  That is a step that Scott needs to do, as all credit that we take out is always in his name as the head of our family.  I need to get together the things that Scott needs to have for the bank, which he will be doing first thing Saturday morning on his way home from work (I want to secure approval before we make the trip to Akron, for obvious reasons).  I am currently in the process of reviewing our budget to make final cuts that will more easily allow us to make the payments on this van, but I don't have too much to do there.

Having a car payment will be an adjustment for us after living payment free for several years now, but I know that we have the budget to make it work and I'm comfortable with taking out a loan until we can pay it WAY down (or completely paid off) in the spring with our tax refund.

Now I already hear the question from you. "Why don't you just wait for the refund to buy the van instead?" Well, I've been looking a little under 2 years for the perfect van for our family, and now that we found it I do not want to pass it up and risk not finding another in the spring.  I would rather take a tight budget for about 6 months to make 100% sure that we don't have to settle for a less ideal vehicle for more money.  The van I found is just over $11,000 for exactly what I want, while comparable vans in my area are $15,000 and up without fitting the specific must-have things that this van does.  The van we are going after at that lovely price is worth close to $18,000 according to KBB, so if I can get it that low I'm going to jump.  It is truly a deal that we are meant to have, as I've prayed for an amazing deal to be granted to us at the perfect timing for our family.

I can't wait to find out what Scott gets worked out at the bank this weekend, and if we are going to go for it definitely.  He knows how much this purchase means to me personally, and has promised to do whatever he can to make it happen.  Here's hoping!

Lapbook vs. notebook

I've been strangely silent, I know.  Life has been a bit crazy here for us.  I was met 2 weeks ago with two of my daughters wanting to attend public school this year, just 4 days before school started, so I had to get them enrolled and then go get school supplies and lunch stuff and open house, bus stop assignment, all that great stuff.  They have been in school a week and a half now, and are doing excellent.  These two thrive in that type of environment, so it was a good decision that they made.  Lydia and Kimmy are quite enjoying their days at school, and have no issues with homework afterward.

Melissa and Jordan, obviously, are still learning at home.  This means that I had to completely rethink my plan for the school year in the subjects we've combined (science and history, geography, social studies).  I no longer can aim my lesson materials at my middle two children and add in for the oldest and youngest of the 4, as my middle 2 are attending school.  So we are changing up the year.  It will go pretty well I think, as I've decided to split the two girls up and let them learn more on their own terms.

Now, on to the real purpose of this post......

One of the things I chose to do with the girls is that they will each have a literature study each month.  I already have September's literature units picked out for the two.  Jordan will do American Tall Tales, using the Evan-Moor literature pockets set of tall tales.  Melissa will do a literature study on the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins" this month.  It is Melissa's study that I need a little help with.

I have already purchased the Kindle version of the book and loaded it on both Kindles that we own.  I also obtained the unit study from Hands of A Child last year when they offered it as a freebie.  I have both the lapbooking set and the notebooking set.  Currently, I am sitting here trying to decide which set I should assign to Melissa to do for this study.  She has done both lapbooks and notebooking but has no preference of one over the other, so she has no opinion on which to assign to her.

For those of you who read my blog but do not know what lapbooking or notebooking is (yes I know who you are!), a lapbook is pretty much taking a couple file folders and refolding them and gluing them together to make a book of sorts.  Inside you glue little paper minibook flap things, wheels, pockets for cards, stuff like that with information you write on/in them.  It is pretty cool, we've really enjoyed making them in the past as the kids were younger.  If you dig through my blog I'm sure you will find pictures of what we've done for lapbooks in the past.

Notebooking is a bit different.  Instead of having a little flap book or something like that to write the info on, you have a journal paper type page and you write down the stuff and there may be an area to draw out illustrations or glue pictures you find and cut out.  You can punch the pages and put into a 3 ring binder, or store in a folder, or just about anything (including spiral binding to store like a book).

I'm weighing the ups and downs of both choices still.  With both options, there are a LOT of templates to choose from and different ways to layout the material.  With notebooking, you can do some pages laid out like a newspaper with different "articles" written about the characters or the locations, events, things like that.  You can do a similar page with a lapbook, then just fold it up and put in a pocket glued into the file folder to store it (label the pocket though so you know what is in it!).  Both allow you do have many different aspects to your project.  The biggest difference I can think of is the space for each thing.  A lapbook, you are limited to the size of the mini-book for how much you can write so it is important to choose the templates carefully for each piece you want to add.  With a notebook, you can write as much or as little as you want on the page.  That makes for a pro to notebooking and con for lapbooking.  But, to flip it a notebook feels so plain and kind of dull and lacking creativity in design, while a lapbook you can add clip art, arrange the mini-books however you want, print them on multiple colors of paper if desired (instead of all on white), pretty much the sky is the limit.

Another big thing I need to factor with Missa is the fact that she is both dyslexic AND left-handed, so her handwriting can be difficult to read at times.  Notebooking would allow her more room for her writing and more practice of writing as she writes longer passages, but a lapbook may be better because it will limit the amount of writing so she can focus more on neat penmanship and proper spelling.

I also need to take into consideration that this particular literature unit is listed for grades 4-8 and she's in 5th grade.  She is at the lower end of the range based on her particular abilities, as she is about a year behind in reading and writing skills.  The unit is written as a 10 day project, but is assigned for the entire month so she can work at her speed on it.  If it takes longer than a month to finish, that is fine as I will just assign the next unit when she finishes this one.  If it takes less time, then she can come up with a creative project (art related most likely) related to her literature unit to fill in the rest of the month until her next unit.

So now I turn to those who read my blog.  Should I assign the lapbook or the notebook to Missa for this month?  With the holiday on Monday, I don't have to print off anything until Monday night so she can start it on Tuesday.

Bible 2013-14 school year

This is a subject I don't talk about too much, and there is a good reason for that.  I am an ordained pastor, and my husband is Agnostic.  He and I do not agree on the whole religion thing, and I typically don't push it.  However, this year I am going to be doing bible lessons and daily prayer.  Here's what I'm *thinking* I will do for this.

I have a lot of wonderful books thanks to using Sonlight for a few years.  I have been exposed to books that I would have never picked up typically for our children, and in a very good way.  I have a growing collection of books of missionary stories, Christian heroes in history, and devotions type books.  My plan this year is to pull from that collection of books and have fun with it.

One book I have is called "Window on the World."  I got this book to go with core B+C a couple years ago (when I expanded our core B to B+C) but we never really got into it.  I'm going to make some notes this upcoming week and read through it so that I know what I'm going to be doing with it really, since I don't know much about it.  What I do know, at this point, is that this book talks about how people in other countries live and and believe, with some details for how we can pray for these people.  It is probably more of a geography book than anything, but will still be fun to add as we learn about and pray for other cultures.  I plan to put up a world map so that we can mark each country as we pray for it.  I will be lining this book up to go with the other bible materials I'm going to be using.

The main part of my bible studies for right now is a book called "Hero Tales."  This book focuses on Christian heroes in history and came with our core A (the core has since been redesigned and this book was removed from the program, sadly).  This is one of a 3 or 4 book series, but I'm just going to do this one book for now.  There are 15 Christian heroes in this book, including Gladys Aylward, Martin Luther, and Harriet Tubman to name just a few.  There are two stories for each hero, and a couple pages of basic information to go with it.  I will focus on a hero each week, reading one of the 3 sections to the kids out loud.  There is also a list of character traits in the back, which I will use with the studies for discussion points as they come up.

The first 15 weeks of bible study will look like this (as an example)

Gladys Aylward 3 sections- 3 days
China reading from Window- 1 day
Missionary story- 1 day

I have a couple books with missionary stories as well that I'll incorporate on a 5 day week (the weeks with 4 days or fewer I'll skip the missionary story for the week).   This particular part will be aimed at Missa, with Jordan permitted to not listen because some of the stories being a bit intense.  A couple stories involve a bear attack, being shot, and other violent acts that she may not be able to process quite yet.  I also have some fun picture books with stories that I can read to her when the missionary story of the week may be too rough.  Those books are light and fun but still teach the wonderful way God loves us.

Once we finish the Hero Tales book I have here, I'll decide if I want to purchase another one in the series or if we'll move on to focus mainly on character traits or something like that.  I have 15 weeks of this study plan, with a week to prepare beforehand, and that should get me covered with bible until right around Christmas, when I'll pick up and do a study on the birth of Jesus.  After that I will likely spend some time doing a study on the life of Jesus, or I may do something completely different.  I find that it really is best to not plan too far in advance with things like this.  If I set a whole series of "ok study this and then this and that and the other" to cover a year or longer, I tend to get discouraged and burn out.  However, a 15 week study plan goal like this one should be fairly easy to keep up with and finish.  I'm looking forward to seeing how we do with it.

My log book in detail

In yesterday's post, I talked about my log book where I keep track of everything that the kids do.  I only showed one broad picture that shows the 2 page weekly planner there, and I thought I may get a little more detailed on it so you can really see how this works for our family.  Please remember, this is my first year of trying it this way instead of making a ton of plans ahead of time and then falling short daily on everything.

First, I'm not going to show an outside shot because there is no cute cover page, yet.  I've not figured out how to create one and lacked the time to do so.  If time allows, I'll create something simple to use as a cover page.  My binder is a standard white 1" binder with clear outer pockets for covers and spine labeling.  You can get one for under $1.50 at your local big box store, any brand will do really.  This binder I've used EVERY year as a lesson planner even when we had a prepackaged curriculum with all the planning done for me (I'd spend hours transferring all my planned curricula pages into a planner in this binder so I didn't have 5 or more binders and teacher guides laying all over the place).  This is the 6th year that my binder has been my lessons slave in this manner.

Now when you open it up, you first see my approval letters in the inside pocket.  I have an excuse letter for each of the 4 girls to homeschool this school year, and when Preston is 6 I'll have his letter there each year as well.  The first page is this:

This is my year calendar, where I mark school breaks and scheduled days off (or unplanned ones).  I use this as my "academic calendar" like the public schools have.  At this point I've not marked any days off scheduled, but I can tell you that as soon as I get another highlighter (someone ran off with mine again) I have a 6 week "winter break" from Thanksgiving until New Year to mark in there (I always take the craziest time of year off for my own sanity, Christmas gifts and cooking and cleaning just means no intentional learning will happen though my planner section will still happen).  When Scott gets his scheduled time off for next year, I will also mark that on this calendar (we always take his vacation time as time off from intentional learning as well).

The next section is my monthly calendars.

This happens to be my August calendar.  As you can see, I have a couple written notes on the lined top half.  This area is where I put details for certain days.  The day listed here happens to be the first day of public school.  I have listed there that school starts that day, with my plans for making the day special here at home with cinnamon rolls for breakfast (and chocolate milk with silly straws), a trip to the zoo to spend the day without a huge crowd, and the girls' favorite supper (pizzas, likely homemade with a topping bar so they can each make their own pizzas).  On the calendar I have little check marks for days we've done any kind of logged learning, sort of my way to keep attendance.  I'm required to provide a set number of hours of instruction each school year, and this just makes it a little easier because I can automatically say "oh 4 hours on this day" when there is a check mark.  Most of our days have MUCH more than just 4 hours of learning in them, but it gives me a good base number to go with.  Behind each calendar, I will have a writing sample from each girl (yes each month they will be expected to write something monthly so I can show how they progress through the year, my plan is to have them copy a short poem or bible verse each month for this)

The last section, which is my BIG one here, is my weekly planner pages.

As you can tell, it is just a basic 2 page weekly layout.  The days of the week are down the left side, with subjects listed across the top.  Shown is this week's page, including the help from Preston yesterday in filling it in when I was tinkering with our Wii to try and get it working after it took a tumble off the tv stand.  This is where I log all intentional learning we do, and the life learning as I catch it happening.

 This is the left page, as you can see 3 of the girls did some math worksheets yesterday.  I haven't put in the math practice I did with Jordan yet, but she did some practicing with the tape measure and we worked a little with a plastic learning clock.  We also didn't do any kind of history or social studies, but that is ok because I didn't have any plans for that at this point.  I think we'll read some American Girl books to cover that here as soon as I can get to the library again for a few.

This page is where I keep track of art, music, physical activity, books that I catch them reading, and chores we work on together.  We had a pretty slow day on this side of the paper, as they spent most of their time reading and not so much being active or helping with the household tasks.  I expect this page to vary in content based on moods, weather, and stuff like that.

I have a LOT of the pages for that section of my binder, and I'll likely end up printing off more as the year progresses I bet.  I only have somewhere in the range of 40 weeks of pages here.

I've considered adding some lined paper and unlined paper behind the weekly pages so that I can journal and doodle about things, or for the kids to make a note or picture about something, but I'm not sure I want to do that yet.

The very last thing in my binder is a copy of my notification forms for this school year, including my outline and supplies list that I provided to the district (for informational purposes only, per state law) and the results of the girls' standardized testing that I did over the summer (this year we chose testing instead of a portfolio review).  You may ask why I have these things in my binder, along with my excuse letters for this year, and the answer is simple.  I've had a few visits from CPS in my first couple years of home educating, mainly because a family member felt we were doing wrong and was trying to bully us into using the public school system by using government offices to intimidate us.  I just like to be a little OVER prepared in case something like that happens again.  This is why I keep a log of everything we do as we do it and I keep attendance, and have these forms readily available at a moment's notice.  I can meet CPS at the door and tell them to hold on, grab my binder, then step on the porch (not letting them have access to my home) and show them all the great things we've done so far in the school year and that I am indeed legal in my paperwork before I send them off on their way.  I could join a group like HSLDA but I see no need.  I'm fairly well educated in the laws and what they can and cannot do thanks to growing up in a very political family (my grandfather was a politician and attorney, I got this covered).

Our schooling area 2013-14

Time for another post for the iHomeschool Network's "NOT back to school" blog hop!  If you missed it, last week I posted about our curriculum.  This time, we are talking all things about where we do our lessons and how we organize things for School Room Week.

I don't actually have a "school room" or even a specific area we learn at.  I do lessons where and when we feel inspired.  Usually, we do seat work at the dining table.

In case you cannot tell, that table will easily seat 10.  I like having a little extra space to spread out if we need it, so when we do written work or most of our projects and crafts, this table is where we do it if we aren't out in the yard working (in which case I'll set up a sheet of 4x12 plywood to work if we need a workspace).

The rest of our work is done on a bed, a sofa, the floor, or even up in a tree (yes, I've had kids up a tree last week, reading or drawing).  The world is our workspace typically.

The exception to this is reading aloud to them.  I have hip problems, so I require a nice comfy seat while I read.  The typical setup for that is me lounging on one of our loveseats to read (be it textbook, novel, Kindle, whatever) and the kids sprawled out on the floor, perhaps with pillows and/or blankets.  I also will read with us all snuggled up on my bed or on one bed in the kids' bedroom (one of the two bunks we have in there is a twin over full, we'll pile onto the full)

As for organization, well I've done EVERYTHING already.  We've done strict schedules and schooling times (using Managers of Their Homes, wonderful book by the way!), routines with just an order to things, and checklists for lessons and chores to get things done.  I've scheduled out detailed lesson plans in the past to follow.  I found that for our family, none of those things work for me.  So, I'd like to introduce you to my new best friend, my homeschool binder.

This is my weekly page.  I use a basic two page weekly planner layout from the Donna Young web site.  I printed off about 45 or so double-sided that I keep track of what we do each day as we go through the day.  When we do an intentional lesson I write it down in the right subject.  Any math pages the girls do I log with that kid's first initial (remember, ALL my children have a different first initial, we did this intentionally just for this purpose).  If a girl reads from a book and I catch her, I write it down under "Reading" but I only log the FIRST book I catch her reading that day.  Any time I catch someone doing something academic in nature, like watching anything educational or playing a math game or doing a dance game on the Wii even, I list it where it belongs.  I even have a column for chores and tasks we need to do.

In this binder, I also have, as my first page, a full year calendar covering July 2013 to June 2014.  Behind that, I have individual monthly calendars where I can keep track of appointments, days Scott has off work, holidays, and planned field trips.  My plan with the monthly calendars is that behind each month one I will keep a writing sample for each kid.  Yes I will be putting one thing each month in this binder for EACH girl (and the boy as he starts to learn drawing shapes and such).  My calendar pages (the year one AND month ones) are also from the Donna Young site, I like free things.  I also have a printed copy of my notification form and outline plus last spring's test scores in one pocket, and my excuse letters from the district for this school year in another pocket.  I do not keep "grades" so there is no grade sheet for me to record grades.  You are lucky if I remember to put a check mark in the monthly calendar on days we actually TRY to do something intentional.

There you have it.  Relaxed at its best.  We are obviously transitioning to a radical unschooling lifestyle, but I will never get rid of the log book I've created if this setup works for us like I think it will.

New family pet

In April our sweet dog, Tinkerbell, died following a 2 week illness that she just couldn't recover from.  Today, we went to the county animal shelter and looked at a few dogs.  We walked 4, and brought 1 home.

We named him Terrance.  The shelter took this picture of us all with him, and I love that we have a new member of our family.  Missa will be doing 4H with him this year once I contact a friend's mother to get a few details I need (she runs a dogs club).

I will never purchase a dog from a breeder or pet store, there are just too many in the local shelter that need adopted or rescued (our shelter is a kill shelter).  Every pet we adopt from the shelter is just one more life spared and touched by God's grace for all His creations.  I love that we have the ability to save a pet from being killed like this, every pet we've ever gotten from the shelter in my lifetime (this one is the second one for my family, plus I've had 5 cats and 3 other dogs from the shelter in my youth) has been a wonderful pet.

I can't wait until Terrance adjusts completely to our family and shows off his full personality.  He's a pug/beagle mix, which I have heard is referred to as a "Puggle."

21013-14 Curriculum in detail

It is time for the iHomeschool Network "NOT back to school blog hop" and after seeing others do it for a few years I've decided to join in this year as well.  So, I'm going to start with a quick welcome to the blog hoppers and a brief introduction to my family so that you can see what we work with.

This is me, Cat, and my husband, Scott.  This was taken 2 years ago, but we look pretty much the same.  We've been together for 11 years now, and married 9 1/2 years.  Don't let the picture fool you, he's a head taller than me.

This is the reason I pray to God every day for strength.  My 5 ADHD kidlets.  In order from left to right is Jordan (almost 6), Kimberly (7 1/2), Lydia (9 1/2), Melissa (10 1/2), and Scott Jr. (almost 18 months).  The little dude goes by his middle name, Preston, just to make my life a little easier.  This fall we are teaching grades 5, 4, 2, and 1 while managing a VERY active toddler.

Our philosophy

We don't homeshool for religious reasons or anything like that.  They did well in public school last year for the first half of the year before we withdrew them again in January.  There are learning disabilities and medical concerns present, but not to the degree that they are non-functional.  The reason we homeschool is because my husband works 12+ hour shifts at an optical manufacturing facility in northern Columbus (this is about an hour from our home) and we don't have the luxury of having dad home in the evenings like most families do.  He leaves for work before 6am daily, and is home after 7pm.  When the girls in school, there were many times they wouldn't see their dad at all until Friday night when they were allowed to stay up past 8pm.

We have a fairly eclectic style.  I do use unit studies on occasion with the kids, but I'm a big fan of keeping it simple.  This is our 6th year of homeschool, with the exception of that one semester last school year.  I've had a few years of trial and figuring out how to work schooling into our very busy days that are traditionally packed with learning through life experiences.  I am an unschooler in belief, but in practice we are just short of true unschooling.

The plan for this year

We do most subjects as a family, which makes my life simpler.  I gear lessons mainly at the younger kids and then encourage the older ones to dig deeper within each topic.  Obviously some things must be taught individually, such as math, but for the most part we learn together.  Here is my plan for the school year.

History- We will be studying the middle ages using Story of the World (SOTW) volume 2 as a family.  My oldest girls will be encouraged (and expected) to dig deeper into topics as we learn together.  I am taking a VERY hands-on approach that has a lot of crafts and activities, some of which are from the activity guide for SOTW.  This subject is how I'm also meeting *most* of our requirements for art and music as we will include studying art and music from this time period on top of doing crafts and projects constantly to reinforce and make learning more fun.

Geography- one day each week we are going to be doing map assignments tied to our history lessons, but also we are going to be working on being to identify and locate countries, continents, oceans, seas, landmarks, and other such things on the world and US maps (which I still have to buy these maps for the wall, I could print off free ones online but I'd prefer the markable map sold by Sonlight).

Literature- we are going to do a unit study each month on a book or type of literature (tall tales, poetry, short stories).  We will study authors within the monthly study.  This may or may not include lapbooks and other projects as we go.

Science- we will be studying animal science this year, using Apologia elementary zoology 3 as our starting point.  I have a child who wishes to be a veterinarian when she grows up, and that was what influenced my decision this year.  If we finish our science book before the end of the year, I plan to purchase the Winter Promise Equine Science curriculum (if we don't finish early, then we'll do equine science next school year).  We will be notebooking through the curriculum, as well as doing all the experiments as we study land animals.

Math- this is one that we do individually for the most part.  Our curriculum of choice is Math-U-See.  This year Melissa is finishing Gamma and then will do Delta, Lydia is doing Gamma, and Kimberly is finishing up Alpha and then going into Beta.  Melissa will also be doing the Key To Measurement series to work in her US measurement skills, as she struggles with this a lot still and needs these skills for her future as a chef.  Jordan will NOT be doing Math-U-See right off.  She did k12 last school year while her sisters were in public school, so this year she will be finishing up her k12 math book and then I'll likely place her in Beta (or possibly just teach her what she needs still as she'll place about midway through Beta and go straight into Gamma).  I will also supplement a little with Math Mammoth to make sure they score well on their spring testing.  Just a bit of a reassurance that I am covering all my bases really, our main curriculum by itself is more than adequate even for my dyslexic child.

Language arts- I found online for free some complete curriculum for grades 1-6 to cover grammar and spelling, so the girls will be doing the Treasures workbooks (I downloaded them to the computer and each week print off what I need).  In penmanship I will teach Melissa cursive while I teach printing to Lydia (who has motor delays and needs the remediation) and Jordan.  Kimberly will be given bible verses, poetry, etc. to use as copywork to practice her handwriting as she writes beautifully already.  Jordan will also continue through k12 PhonicsWorks to learn to read, and her sisters will be expected to pick one book each month and do a project (craft or written) to present to the family.  There are no rules for the monthly reading, it is all about them enjoying the book and showing why they enjoyed it.

Electives- Melissa wants to learn to sew, so I plan to teach that.  I'm also teaching the girls 1:1 how to knit and/or crochet so that they can make a few things.  They will also be my kitchen helpers for all meal preparation.  I have assigned one day to each girl for cooking and their involvement will depend on the child.  For example, Melissa will be cooking meals while Jordan will be helping mix, measure, and learn to chop.  I'm also considering karate classes for the girls, and Scott is going to teach them to shoot a bow and arrow hopefully in spring.

As you can see, we definitely embrace hands-on learning and being actively involved in life and learning.  I rarely have a clean home because we almost always have at least one project happening, and learning is a never-ending process.  My bookshelves are being filled now with books that relate to our science and history topics, internet bookmarks are being revised to give quick access for things that we pre-approve for free web browsing, and all kinds of great things.  This weekend I go to hopefully fill the craft bins with supplies to last us at least the first few months of the school year, and I pray that I can get even half of my plans accomplished this year.

The 1 year old, well he will learn how to play quietly while we work (heck who am I kidding? he'll be a distraction and in the middle of everything we do).  I haven't worked with a toddler since Melissa was in kindergarten, so I am going to be learning as we go with this juggle.

Back to homeschool!

Man, it has been a rough summer here.  Not having our routine in place has definitely made this an interesting time for me, especially with having to do the juggling that came with Scott not working his normal shifts at work (he has worked less this summer, which has made for a lot of tension at home as we worried about being able to work things out financially).  His hours have started to pick up a little bit thankfully the last couple weeks, so I decided it was time to start settling back into our regular routines.

Today we started the routine, but on a light load.  We had our typical morning wake-up, chores, and breakfast then settled in to do math.  We finished the morning stuff at 11am, so now they are having some free time with music and drawing until lunch.  Typically, my routine has us finished with math and the rest of our seatwork by 10am so that they have a snack and break until we pick up our unit at 10:30 but I'm ok with this change of pace since it is just the first day.  We'll get into the groove as the kids remember our routine and things become more natural to us.  Until then, well this first week I'm only doing math and our tall tales unit that I thought would be a fun start to the year.

Jordan started 1st grade off with working on telling time to the half hour.

Kimmy started 2nd grade by reviewing in her Math-U-See Alpha book, I'm buying her Beta to do next month after she finishes the review.

Preston even got in on the action.  He got his first Ticonderoga pencils and got to draw with one during math (don't be fooled, that pencil is now chewed along the wood and it is also missing an eraser *sigh* toddlers are so fun)

Missa, as my 5th grader, is pretty independent so I can just make a few copies for her and turn her loose for the most part.  She lets me know when I need to come give her a little review talk on the concept, today we worked on multiplying multiple digit numbers time a single digit number with Math-U-See Gamma.

Lydia is also really good at independence as a 4th grader.  She is working at memorizing her multiplication facts, and working slowly through Math-U-See Gamma.

Overall, it has been a good day so far but it is only noon.  We'll have to wait and see what this afternoon brings, especially as right now there is a huge meltdown from Jordan because she didn't put away her markers and Preston decided to get into them.  She's going to learn quickly about keeping her supplies up when she's not using them.

I have a feeling this is going to be a great school year once we get back into the swing of things. I have a very full courseload for the kids so it is imperative that we get into routine as fast as possible.

thinking outside the box with math

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I have a child with special learning needs.  Missa struggles with all her basic math facts, she can't get them memorized totally.  She has some of them all in her long term memory, but it is a work in progress.  I've slowed down her lessons in math for a few years now because of this fact, and have watched her get frustrated and want to give up over it many times.  So I'm considering a new approach with her on this.

I'm thinking that this summer I'm going to take the remaining levels of Math-U-See that she has prior to algebra and teach her the concepts and practice her facts daily.  I am going to start back at Beta with multi-digit addition and subtraction, despite her already doing that level, just as a refresher for her and move forward from there.  She's really good at understanding concepts and how to do problems, the only thing that holds her back usually is the fact that she can't seem to get those facts memorized.  I'm going to teach her to do the work on paper AND on a calculator both, using the manipulative blocks and any other materials (including flash cards for fact practice!) to reinforce the concepts.  Then around September or October, depending on when we get finished with this step, I'm going to start pre-algebra with her.

I can already hear you asking why I would do such a thing.  Well, there are many reasons for this.  First off, Missa likes puzzles and is quite good at problems that involve solving for the unknown and other abstract concepts.  She is really quick to pick up and solve problems like what you would find in algebra.  Second, there is this awesome little device called a calculator that most people use (including professionals!) for basic math, even I use one quite frequently.  They really do make it pointless to memorize the math facts if one's brain just isn't hardwired for that kind of stuff to happen easily.  Third, I plan to continue working with her daily on basic math facts even as we move forward, in hopes that she will memorize all those facts eventually.

I've watched Missa grow a lot this last 5 years of learning, and she really is capable of higher math than we do because of her inability to memorize her facts.  This is the best part of homeschooling her.  I can take the time to work with her where she struggles but still not hold her back in the process.  I've noticed that when we spend an extended period of time just working on basic math facts, she starts to get discouraged and shut down on me, calling herself stupid and insisting she'll never get it and then she starts throwing things and getting angry about it.  However, if I work with her where she's struggling and add in new concepts at the same time, she seems to do much better and master both at a faster rate.  I don't know why, but it is how she does things so I'm going to go with it.

The other kids will continue to move forward as they have been doing, as they are progressing nicely and don't need the additional help.

homeschooling on a shoestring- the used curriculum sale

Yes, you read that correctly.  I said USED CURRICULUM SALE.  As a mom of 5, I don't always have the additional resources to purchase curriculum that we may want and/or need so I have to be resourceful.  Granted, I know of many ways to obtain free materials online and I use this for the bulk of our education.  However, sometimes you just can't beat a good old-fashioned book for teaching something efficiently.  That is where a used curriculum sale comes in handy.

My local homeschool group had their sale this evening, and since it happened to also be payday I was able to go pick up a few things.  I had in mind some very specific things I need for our lessons, in hopes that I'd be able to get some of it for less than the new price.  I had $60 to spend, which is about the cost of a single textbook new on my list of wants for this fall.  I was very careful and found a lot of great things, but in the end I managed to get most of what I really needed and a couple goodies for future use.

I got a book that lines up with our Middle Ages study in lessons for my oldest daughter to read bits of this year as appropriate.  I figure that she and I can read a bit of the book at a time together and discuss it, and even if we decide to put it on the shelf for a couple more years it will get used.  It was only $3 so I don't feel too put out from it.  I have a feeling Missa will enjoy it, as she is really into all things related to history.

I went with the intention of hopefully finding a specific science book (Real Science 4 Kids level 1 Biology) but instead left with Apologia science (the 6th day of Creation one, animal science).  I got it and another book that I can use to include my youngest girls in the lessons for $20 total.  I'm happy with that, although it isn't what I planned to use for science.

There were a couple other little odds and ends I picked up as well, but I think my biggest score was all 3 volumes of the KONOS curriculum.  These 3 books retail new for $110 each from the company, and I got the 3 books together used in pretty good shape (there are some penciled in notes and check marks and stuff like that, nothing a few minutes with an eraser can't fix) for a grand total of $20.  Yes, I managed to get over $300 of curriculum for $20.  I have a general plan already for this fall, using Story Of The World for history, but I am looking forward to using the KONOS books to keep going with lessons when we are starting to lose steam and hit burnout from going too long on our regularly scheduled lessons.  It will provide a wonderful change of pace for us in that area.  The only downside to this is that I'm not really all that familiar with the curriculum outside of knowing that it is unit studies centered around character traits, so I will need to spend some time really going through it and figuring it out so I am ready for it when we need to take that break.

I will still obviously need to get a copy of one specific book I need for a spine with our history program, but I am saving up for it and will purchase the book through Amazon this fall.  Unless, of course, anyone who reads my blog wishes to donate a copy of the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History.......... No takers?  Darn.  Oh well, I'll get the book before we start in the fall and I'm not really too worried about it.

If you haven't taken advantage of a used curriculum sale, I highly suggest it.  I spent less than $50 tonight and got a lot of great things that I can't wait to use with the kids this fall, to the point where I'm seriously considering cancelling "summer vacation" because of their bad attitudes already and jumping in as soon as VBS week is finished here.