This is only a test...

This week has been a week of tests...not just homeschooling tests...but LIFE tests!!

Gman had his first homeschool test on Monday!  He was nervous!  Here is an excerpt from his journal: "...but then, the dreaded Test! Ahh!!!  I went over things like lesson and review games.  Then, I sucked it all up and when I took the Test, let it all out.  And guess what happened?!?!  I got a 97%  That's an A! Woo hoo!"

I second that, "woo hoo!"  Gman is really learning valuable study skills and time management using this program. 

Gman and I also had a MOST AMAZING conversation at lunch yesterday.  We'd gone out to do some errands and it was nearing lunch.  I still had to grocery shop so in lieu of going home for lunch I decided we'd stop in the Subway inside the store.  We got our sandwiches and sat down.  Gman asked me to say the blessing which I gladly did.  I was initially proud of him for being willing to pray in public...let's be honest...who actually does that like we should?

As we began our meal Gman suddenly said, "oh Mom, I forgot...we shouldn't have done that!  What if there had been someone here that didn't believe in God?  He might have shot us."

Well, he was remembering the story of Cassie Bernall, the young lady from Columbine High School who, when asked if she believed in God, answered yes and was killed anyway.

I responded to Gman that I would rather die professing my faith in God than to die of any other circumstance.  We went on to discuss how important it is to always be ready to defend your faith, no matter the circumstances. 

I asked Gman what he thought would have happened had Cassie said, "no."  I told him the shooter probably would have killed her anyway.  And then, what do you think Jesus would have said to her when she arrived in heaven? 

I taught Gman Matthew 10:33 which states, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."

So, a pretty deep conversation for lunch...but such an important one.  It's conversations like these that make me SO glad to be at home with my boys and homeschooling.  It makes every rough or stressful day, every sacrifice and inconvenience completely worth it.

Because Cassie said yes her death served as a witness to millions of Americans. The faith of a young girl shined through in a terrible tragedy.  How many of us, when staring down the barrel of death...would do the same?  That's right...I'm testing ya.

The Fruits of Your Labor

^"Go to the ant...consider its ways and be wise!"  Proverbs 6:6

This was supposed to be our first week of homeschooling.  The plan was to start Monday and end Friday.  However, my hard-working, overachieving ant did 5 days of lessons in 3.  That's how successful our first week was!

I thought it would be a wise idea (I have those every now and then) to have Gman hand write a journal everyday after his lessons. It serves many purposes, three of which are: 1) to document his experiences with at home learning, 2) to document his progress and 3) to practice his cursive.

Monday was a bit of a rough start.  Perhaps I could have lightened the lesson plan, except I'm not really sure how to do that yet, so we plowed through.  I was very happy with his results the first day, although I'm not sure he felt the same...

Here is a journal excerpt from Monday: "My first day of homeschooling was not that great.  It wasn't like I expected.  It's not like school at all...The questions can be really hard, especially when there are a lot of vocabulary words...it sure made my head spin."

The second day, however, left me dazed and confused and truly second guessing our decision to homeschool (didn't take long!).  Gman scored D's and F's on 3 quizzes!  This from the boy who has NEVER scored below a B in school.  I just couldn't understand it.  This was a good time to dig in on the Administrator side and see just what he'd been up too. 

Well, the content was easy enough but my little ant was being careless.  A valuable lesson not included in the curricula was about to be learned.  I reassigned the lessons and quizzes, gave Gman a few tips to better absorb his reading and prayed for the best.  It wasn't long before a very excited young man bounced into my kitchen exclaiming his new score of 93% on his first quiz! In his own words he said, "Mom, you were right! Taking notes and studying really works!" Moms do know some stuff!!

An excerpt from Tuesday, written after taking the reassigned quizzes: "Today is my 2nd day of homeschooling and it was great!"

Gman was so excited about his improved grades that he did his work Wednesday and went on to finish Thursday's and Friday's lessons!  I LOVE to see a motivated learner!  My old student was back!  He's actually excited about his Bible test Monday!!

I told him as long as his grades stayed up and he was learning (and retaining) the information he could work ahead as much as he wanted.  I love to see Gman visualize a goal and work toward it and achieve it!

PS  Ellie's new nickname is Ellie Bean...hey, I thought it was cute!

She's thriving and already spoiled.

She'd never make it as an ant...

Never say Never...

I thought our family was complete.  We were happy, the five of us, in our little home.  We weren't looking for it...didn't expect it...but out of nowhere came number six...

Ain't she sweet (that's right, ain't)? 

This little gal practically lept into my arms last week.  We were walking home from the playground when we heard her cry.  I looked around and she was across the street.  She'd spotted us too and was headed our way!  As I approached her I could see just how in need of attention she was.  She was filthy, flea infested and starving for love. 


We got her home, bathed and set up in a box...that's when the phone calls started.  I called the vet, they said call the animal shelter.  The shelter was full.  So I called the vet again and explained that the kitten needed medical attention and that I was not interested in dropping tens of dollars on a cat I wasn't planning on keeping...nevermind we're allergic too!  The vet said, "we'll gladly euthanize her for the city."  Well, as you can imagine...we now have a cat.

Yes, we're allergic.  But ain't she sweet?

We did get her to the vet that day.  She's only about 3 weeks old, wonderfully healthy and after a multiple of flea treatments, KMR formula and softened kitten food she's another member of the family. 


She still sleeps in the box although she'd probably prefer my shoulder. 

We kicked around several options for names and finally settled on one...

Welcome to our family

ELLIE MAY

Some Things are Worth Repeating...and Practice Makes Perfect

One of my favorite elementary school years was the 4th grade.  I had a great spiral perm, gap-toothed grin and "unique" sense of fashion (layered neon anyone?).  I had a wonderful teacher that year and I was on the jump-rope team!

It was so great I've decided to do it again!!  Only this time, no perm, no gap-toothed grin and probably very little jumping rope.  I still have a "unique" sense of fashion (layered sweats anyone?), but this time we're going digital...

Our homeschool curricula is computer based...all the "hard" work will by done by ye old laptop.  This being our first attempt at homeschooling we thought this would make the whole transition easier.  I won't have to grade every quiz and assignment and Gman won't have to listen to me drone on  lecture  teach (at least not too much).

To better understand what Gman was going to be seeing and doing, the wonderful support team at AlphaOmega suggested I set myself up to be a student.  That's right...4th grade here we come.

Last week I logged on to look at my assignments.  The first lesson was a  p r a c t i c e lesson.  It showed me step by step how to use the software as a student.  Beginning with some navigation tips, it was very thorough in explaining the whole process from reading the passages to completing homework and quizzes.  I'll have you know I scored a 100% and am currently an A+ student!

Gman completed the practice lesson yesterday.  I helped for the first few minutes but he was able to take off and complete the whole thing--also earning a 100%.  I can see there maybe some rivalry developing.

School starts Monday...I think we're ready...now where are my hair scrunchies?

Yo! It's a Book Review!

I'm a magnet for useless trivia.

Back when I had a better memory I used to soak up information like a sponge.  My motivation was that perhaps one day I would need it.  Every now and then, in a class, conversation or random Jeopardy episode I would get my chance to showcase my efforts.

In the spirit of knowledge and useless trivia I wanted to find an easy way to learn the U.S. Presidents in order.  I stumbled came across two magical books, Yo, Millard Fillmore and Yo, Sacramento by Will Cleveland and Mark Alvarez.  These books use word and picture association to assist in memorizing those tedious lessons we all need to know at sometime or 'nother!

Our library didn't have either book so we requested them through Inter-Library Loan.  The first book to come in was Yo, Sacramento.  Through picture and word association this book teaches readers the state capitals.  An example for Augusta, Maine is "A gust of wind blew down Main Street."  The accompanying picture shows a windy street. 

Gman (and also myself) learned the state capitals in about 2 hours!  And we still know them!  We practice in the car and around the house by quizzing each other.  I'll give him the capital and he'll name the state and then I'll give him the state and name the capital.

The second book, Yo, Millard Fillmore, begins with a picture of a washing machine in the yard at the White House.  The accompanying sentence is "Wash a ton for George Washington."  Then the authors build a story from that first picture.  "Imagine that when you raise the lid of the washing machine and look inside, there are a lot of atoms swirling around in the water.  Atoms for Adams."  The second President is John Adams.  "What's this? Well, now the atoms are being fried up over a grill by a chef's son who is wearing his father's big chef's hat.  Chef's son for Jefferson."  The third president is Thomas Jefferson.

The book also gives you easy tips for remembering the corresponding number for a president.  For instance, Monroe is a picture of money rowing a boat.  The money is a five dollar bill with Monroe on it.  He was the 5th president.  That way, if someone were to ask you who the 8th President was, you could reference the 5th and work your way forward.  Or remember the 10th (John Tyler) and work your way back.

They're fun and easy books.  Gman had a great time learning his capitals and Presidents.  He's so proud of his accomplishments!  Quiz him next time you see him!

By the way, the 8th President was Martin van Buren...just some useless trivia for ya.

The Boys of Summer

Fishing poles and ice cream cones,

"No, Mom, I'll do it on my own."

Hot nights outside with the stars and moon,

The boys of summer coming soon

 Bikes, trikes and scraped up knees,

"More watermelon if you please."

Blowing bubbles and roller skates

The boys of summer stay up late.

Matinees and dollar days,

The temperature is all ablaze.

Hammocks, wagons, laundry on the line

The boys of summer one more time.

Wagons, lightning bugs, splashing in the pool

Frozen slushies keeps us cool.

Garden fresh, soft summer rain,

The boys of summer, back again.

--FB

A New Objective...

So I haven't blogged in a REALLY long time. My apologies. I know my followers have been hanging on by their teeth for me to bestow upon you the the wonderful golden nugget of knowledge...

Yeah, I know...that's completely facetious...

However, given my (at times lame) attempt at blogging and my continued desire to do so I've decided to change my focus and direction of my blog. Yes, it will still be a "we want a farm/here's how we did it" type blog but it will also include (hopefully) a glimpse of our daily doin's as well. I've got a lot more material in this facet!

As most of you know I'm a (blissfully blessed) stay at home Momma. I've had a few in-home jobs such as transcribing and babysitting but at the moment I've put those aside and am a full-time, 100%, 24 hour a day Mom/Wife (and yet I still can’t get supper on the table every night). Not too long ago my hubby and I kicked around the idea of homeschooling our oldest, Gman.

You may be asking yourself, “why?”  Well, most importantly we wanted to get Gman back in to a Christian based schooling program.  He went to a private school for kindergarten and first grade. We all loved it.  Due to some theoretical differences and financial obligations (our 2^nd son was on his way) we decided we’d try public school. 

Gman LOVED public school!  We had two very wonderful years with excellent teachers and staff.  I cannot praise his experience enough.  However, we felt as though the “Camelot” was ending and that perhaps his extraordinary public school experience wouldn’t last.  We decided not to take that gamble and instead teach Gman at home. 

After much consideration, reading, research and talking to and emailing other homeschool families we've decided. It's official, we're homeschooling!!

We've purchased a curriculum, two actually. The first and foremost is Switched On Schoolhouse by AlphaOmega. This is a Christian based software curriculum that will guide Gman and myself through the daily to-do's of homeschooling. We purchased the 5 subject set; Bible, History, Science, Math and Language Arts. All the work, testing, journaling and daily documentation required will be done on the computer.

The second curriculum we purchased was a book by the American Education Publishing company. It’s basically a book of torture devices worksheets.  I admit, it was a bit of an impulse buy on my part but I was looking for something to supplement the SOS software anyway; this just saved my printer toner and provided something tangible for the file cabinet!

We are all absolutely thrilled and (albeit cautiously) optimistic about the up and coming school year.  Gman is totally on board and excited about this adventure.  We hope and pray that we’re doing the right thing and that he’ll thrive in this environment.  I’m very excited about doing hands-on activities like science experiments and field trips.  Any experience can be a learning experience.  There is a lesson in everything.  Golden nugget anyone?



“All experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untraveled world…”  -Tennyson