Another Update: you know since it has been a month.

Well, this has been a wonderful month... I have really gotten to stay at home, spend a lot of quality time with my family, just veg out and watch HGTV a lot...on the other hand IT IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO.  :0)  Since  June 3 I have been dealing with KIDNEY STONES.  Because most of my lovely readers already know this I will not go on and on about everything....I will just say this. I am so very, very sorry for anyone who deals with kidney stones.

We are of course dealing with a lot financially-- we have pretty good insurance and an FSA but 3 ER visits, 2 surgeries, doctors visits, a lot of medicines have very quickly added up!

 a few other things have gone on this month too....

• we got a new dishwasher!  If you remember my parents own this home and we are renting so basically we have AWESOME landlords!  When it came time for a new dishwasher we opted to go in together to buy a REALLY good one and I am excited.  It is nice and so far working very well--- it takes forever though!
• we kept Max- Amy and Brett's new dog, so cute!  and wow puppies are a lot of work!
• we kept mom and dad's dog AND Brian's dog (they had cancelled a trip because of my surgery but when the date was changed they ended up getting to go-- I was so glad since I felt bad they had cancelled it...we love keeping the dogs- we get to send them home!)
• we have been incredibly blessed with friends and family-- meals, helping with the kids, babysitting me--- asking if we need anything!  Such an amazing blessing!
• we have continued on with school-- we missed a few days between my being really sick and the week recovering from the first surgery but have done pretty well keeping up since then.  I am behind where I wanted to be but feel pretty good about the fact that we are WHERE we are!
• Emily finished up her Sound of Music play... more on that in another post.
• we have missed out on a number of summer activities that I planned but it is what it is, right! 
• Dave has already used a number of vacation days (so blessed that he has a lot!)
• I learned today that my second surgery is postponed from Tuesday (today) until July 3-- this is really disheartening... I am hurting.  I am in limbo.  I am taking a boat load of meds that I would LOVE to be not taking.  I am not taking care of my family. I am tired and pretty much discouraged.  SO much of the kidney stone thing seems to be: Well WE DON'T KNOW....

I guess that is about all--- I promise some real updates soon and some pictures!  I will also hopefully also do a school sum up! 

Kirsty Loo Hoo....

 

She is a crazy girl!  This is almost a year ago. There are just no other words for this crazy girl!
She just turned 11!  I can't believe that 11 years ago we were waiting for that plane to land and bring this tiny, tiny, TINY little thing into our lives!

Summer school- begins..

We started back up to school today.  We had ALL last week off-- because of a technical break but we had most of the week off before because of sickness (which sadly bled into our technical break).... but even before that we were only at about 60%!  But we finished our "school year" and started our summer school plan today- 3 day a week school.  I am sooo excited! 

We will have two days a week off- with ZERO school (if I see there is a huge struggle in math we will up our math- but we are going to try it this way for right now.)  The kids are excited and I am excited knowing I only have three days a week to plan/ DO! 

Today was the first day of having MF for our full school day.  She has been schooling with us the past couple of weeks, focusing on math-- but she has been doing Bible, spelling and English with us too, but today she entered the land of EVERYTHING THOMPSON ACADEMY has to offer.

She will be schooling with us next year too-- so yeah.  4 kids.  :0) 

A funny story-- of course whenever you are used to teaching your kids things become second nature so I have to stop and explain some things to MF that she is not yet used to doing.  I really need to communicate better because today I told her a very "teachery" thing.  She had done spelling words 3 x each and I asked her to put 3 x each at the top and her name.  I looked at the paper a few minutes later and she had written Mary Mary Mary across the top line.  I laughed and laughed.  I explained what I needed and that I need to remember to explain things better and if she has a question she needs to make sure and ask... It was so funny.

I guess that's all folks!  It was a good day!

aha moment...

I had an aha moment this morning with my kids.

Now hear me out-- I am NOT a dumb person and will not pretend that I will not have to have this aha moment again in the near future but really...

Emily did something and I said to her..."Emily if you do "x" again, I just don't know if I will be responsible for how I react."

and it hit me.  YES, I WILL.

I don't care if she has done it for the 50th time that day.  I don't care if the kids are HELLIONS that day.  I don't care if they have told a thousand lies, lit the house on fire, sold my I phone and racked up thousands of dollars in debt....


I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY REACTION TO IT.

Aha moment.

Happenings....

We have been sick. Strep throat.  yuck.

I bought a new rug a couple of weeks ago.. and it is one of my favorite things-- but it is getting dirty.  What to do? What to do? 

My van stopped working LAST Monday (that would be Monday a week ago) and was in the shop all week-- we just got it back on Monday that would be this Monday) and on Wednesday it stopped working-- different problem.  Yes, I know.

Dave has been on a  trial since last Thursday.  Hung Jury.  He had a rough time of and has yet to process all his thoughts-- a girl is dead, an 18 year old is now free (for now) and where is the justice?

My sister in law--whom I don't know at which point I cease calling her my sister in law changed her face book status to unmarried the other day... for some reason out of all this mess- that made me really, really sad.  I am still completely unsure how I am supposed to feel... it is surreal.

I reading Grace for the Good Girl--

 a book that I knew a year ago when I saw the promo video that it would be a book I would read.  I bought it a month after it came out-- in OCTOBER.  I am just now reading it.  It is going to be harsh, but speak truth.  You know that about a book when you put down the introduction four times and it has taken you 5 days to read....

I would like to state again that I am thankful for my FSA-- shame on you Obama for screwing with them....

I am NOT dieting.  I mean there are certain things I am not eating... but certain things that I AM and I need to get back on track.  I have this vision in my head of how I am going to behave (diet and exercise wise)  but it is almost like the saying a writer can't put pen to paper.  When you can't get the words out so a story goes untold... I feel like I can't make the vision I see for myself happen.  Does that make any sense at all???  I want it out of my head and into actions... it is doing NO good in my head.

Dealing with NOT dealing with things and NOT making things better is hard for me.  I like to fix things.  I am a fixer.  Standing back and not fixing.....gives me anxiety.  Lets just say I am dealing with anxiety right now! 

We took the entire week of school off--- (before we knew we were sick- so that worked out well).  We have taken TONS of days off but rarely have the kids had an ENTIRE week of No school.  They were amazed... and I have a feeling they like it a little too much.  So this weekend I am jump starting us a little by starting new chore charts and re arranging the school room and "talking" up our summer plans to hopefully get them excited.  It is working on two of them....

Emily wants to do a sport this summer.  I should be really happy about this-- and glad to have her participate.... but I just feel ugggghhh.  Shame on me.

My IRL friend and blogger Brenda @ The Family Revised had her baby.  I just wanted to mention that....Baby Bee..... 

I have pinned and pinned and pinned lately!  I have plans to work on three of those pin- this weekend and into next week-- I will let you know how that goes. TIRED of pinning awesome crap and never doing it!

I had hoped that putting Emily in drama would decrease the drama at home if she had an outlet-- Yeah I know, it's not working for me.

Matthew has been attempting to watch some eating habits-- of his own volition. It is not enough to make any real change but it is a great step in a good direction! I think some of it is simply a mind set that he is breaking out of and some is because he beginning to understand that his choices are controllable.

4 days left!!!

Alrighty Then!

The Texas Education Code requires that public schools meet 180 days per year; public school students must attend 170 days/year.

I just cut off 10 days from my 180 day year because Texas Education code allows me too-- truly I don't have to actually follow TEC, but as I CHOOSE to follow it and I am a rule follower-- I am totally psyched about this new stipulation!  Obviously the extra 10 days are to allow those who were absent to still meet the required 170 days!  We school all together-- so WE MEET IT!  There are no absentees in my school!

So as of today I have 4 more days of school!!!!!!

I think I am going to take a week off! NO GUILT!

Of course then I just think about what taking a week off will do to my plans for next "years" curriculum and I change my mind about a week off. 

THEN I think why on earth do I feel the need to start August 1?

and the merry- go- round keeps spinning!

SO the big decision is TAKE A WEEK OFF.  I told the kids and they were busting with excitement!  Then I told them we would do school 3 days a wek (minus math which will be 4) until we are through our current curriculum or a stopping point that makes sense. 

They are completely, insanely... excited!

and you know what I am excited too.




           

Sunday Sum Up: Day 156-160 (still playing catch up-- this should have gone out THIS Sunday!)

Monday

we had our busy day with theater AND history....

Emily is doing really well and I really like a lot of the ladies-- I am sure it will get harder as we get closer but thankful that we have 11 more rehearsals until the big day!

I am teaching for the next 5 chapters in history and that will lead us up to World War I...

today I covered Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson and we also studied about the culture of the day: dress, home, jobs, political climate and people like Dwight L. Moody and Fanny Crosby.

We watched a movie called The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band

we also watched An American Tail

when we got home from Amy's the kids did math and Latin.
FULL DAY!

Tuesday:

We slept in a little and then the kids went for a swim (PE right!)  we had lunch and started school after lunch.  I want to say again that I like after lunch school (thank you Brenda!)

We read from Little Women
We did our Bible and review
We started math-- which ended up taking a LONG time!

The kids read

and then I started working on the school room and no other school got done--but I am ready for tomorrow and have my copying done and flashcards ready so I feel good.

Plus I folded a ton of laundry this morning and did two loads of dishes... so lots got done!

Wednesday:

the kids swam early- they got too much sun yesterday. 

We started school with our new spelling exercises.  They went over smashingly (insert sarcasm)

I worked on a money review with the girls and started Matt and Kate writing out their vocab cards...

My morning is so far NOT going as planned as we have veered from our usual things we do and I don't have a handle on how long these added activities will take yet.  But we are pressing on!

I had the girls glue their vocab words/ pictures onto a card for reviewing also.

We watched part of An American Tail again during lunch!

We read Little Women

We did Bible and English.

We also started reading about Frank Lloyd Wright as our newest artist.

We also did logic.

Thursday:

We had theater--- costuming is a lot of work and I am not even doing the majority of the work! 

This is Emily's paper she filled out for theater that I got a picture of.. I find it hilarious that she answered YES to telling the director something! 

After theater we came home and did a little school. 

later that day Kaitlin and I went to the 4H County meeting.  Kate had a lot of fun!

Friday:

We had school-- we did spelling, English, math, Bible, read Little Women and the kids got to swim.

Later that evening we went to the LOCAL 4H meeting--- Kaitlin go elected as a county delegate (which means that she goes to all the district meetings and takes notes and comes back to report to her local meeting) 

This is her doing her "speech" on why she wants to be on the leadership team- (take note of the current president, he sure doesn't look interested!)  :0)  -- we also need to discuss STANCE!  :0)

Here is the entire LaPorte 4 H council for next year-- Sarah Tindall made president!

Sunday Sum Up: Day 131-135 (the unfinished, un- updated week... with no pictures AND it's not even Sunday!!)

Monday:

We went ALL day long.  We left the house at 8:00 and got home at 6:00.  Whewww.  We had theater and history at Amy's.  We are at the Spanish American War (1898)---so excited to  about to hit the 1900's!  Over the next 8 weeks we will work our way to World War II.  So we have loads of presidents, loads of regulations and federal DEPARTMENTS to be set up, a depression, Prohibition, World Exhibitions, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the Roaring Twenties.. GANGSTA's... TONS of exciting stuff!

Tuesday:

Matt and Emily treated us to McDonald's- their oatmeal is pretty good actually.  We did chores and also worked on starting a few spring cleaning tasks. I have a LONG list.

The kids did math, vocab and read.  

We are finishing up learning about Louise Comfort Tiffany today and will start our new artist tomorrow!

We did physics. 

We also did Bible, English and Emily's Rod and Staff



Wednesday:

We did Bible- I want to say again we love this curriculum!  It digs deep, it is a little much for Emily but it's okay she is still learning every day!


Math

English- 2 lessons

vocab

and  the kids watched the Apple Dumpling Gang


I didn't even finish the update! ;0)  WE did school stuff for two more days that week!

This is your new low...

In theater Mrs. Shelley has a saying, "This is your new low."  She is usually speaking to the kids about their volume.  If a child speaks a certain level-- and she needs them to speak louder, she has them do exercises to help them with their volume.  If a kid shows noticeable difference in the volume she will tell them.. "THIS IS YOUR NEW LOW" and she doesn't want to hear them speaking lower than that again- in fact they are supposed to keep working on speaking LOUDER and LOUDER. 

Anyhoo... I have discovered that I LOVE this saying...


The kids were copy working (is that a verb) a scripture and I informed them that if it was not written nicely they would be doing it over.  Well Emily and Mary Faith had to do theirs over but Matt wrote VERY nicely.. and he has--- well he has crap writing!  WORSE than chicken scratch!  But he did a really, really good job, and I knew he had worked hard on it.  I had him hang it on the wall and told him THIS IS YOUR NEW LOW-- don't write any messier than this! 

LOVE IT!

I am thinking about all the possibilities-- behaviour, skills, abilities...

It really is about standards.  We want to keep our standards high for our kids!  We want them to reach their potential!

So of course I can turn that on myself!  Didn't get laundry, dishes and mopping today--- Had a bad day with the kids during school--- became angry and sinned ONCE too many times today?

Well TODAY WAS MY NEW LOW-- I don't want to see myself at this place again!  I can do better, I can achieve the standard (God's standards) I can work towards my potential.

It doesn't mean that the kids and I will always stay above that low-- It doesn't mean that we will always hit our potential for the day---

BUT it does mean that we are reaching for greatness.  We are striving to be better! 

That is a good thing. Too often in this world the status quo is accepted-- in fact often it is the ONLY thing expected from a person.  We are better than that!  Schools teach to the lowest in the class-- what does that do for "brighter" kids?  Society doesn't expect a teenager to NOT be disrespectful or lazy-- they act all surprised when kids achieve something!  THEIR LOW IS VERY, VERY LOW!

Well as for me and MY household--- this is our new low... is going to help us rise above the status quo, rise above what the world excepts from us, rise above our lesser qualities and abilities...

and I am good with that.

American History week 31-36

We are moving on and really hoping to get through the next century without it ACTUALLY taking a century!   The Civil War is over, we are RECONSTRUCTING over 7 years and the country is hitting depression, has some awful presidents, the West is being won.....

Lots going on!

We went and visited the Civil War Museum on Fort Worth-- it is neat because it focuses on the Texans in the Civil War!

One of my favorite quotes about Texans in the Civil War is: by Robert E Lee

They had a scavenger hunt so all the kids participated:

I loved the flags...

So we have studied:
Zachary Taylor
Compromise of 1850
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
John Brown's raid
Abraham Lincoln
Civil War
Emancipation Proclamation
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's assassination
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
Andrew Johnson
Reconstruction
Ulysses S. Grant
15th Amendment
Clara Barton



and the kids read these books:

Abe Lincoln
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Mr. Lincoln's Drummer
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
some of the American Diaries series
Across Five Aprils
Behind Rebel Lines
Charley Skedaddle
Dragon's Gate
A Family Apart
Freedom Train
The Great Turkey Walk
Little Woman _________Still reading as read aloud for heaven's sake!
Bound for Oregon
The Perilous Road
The Red Badge of Courage
Rifles for Watie
Uncle Tom's Cabin (abridged)

Plus more but I don't have my full book list-- I can't find it.. ARGGG.

on track...

In my funk I have not really been up in the school room.  We have simply done school downstairs at the table and I actually like it... except for having to clean it off all the time of course!  I also do not like that I don't have all my stuff.  I am less likely to have the kids read "x" book, or play a game because I am not WHERE THE STUFF IS.  So we moved all our school items back upstairs to the school room and I am tidying and readying.

For instance I have a very large book shelf of historical reads... When we started out in the school year after we moved our "current" reads took up half the shelf.  We are down to half of the top shelf.  I need to buy new books/ get library books for next unit of history and for the rest of the curriculum.  We are in a new century people....

I moved the few leftover civil war books down off the top two shelves and all that are left are what we are currently studying!  There are a lot of reads for between 1900 and 2012!  And we are getting through them by July 31!!!  Yes, I know.  It will be a tight squeeze!  We honestly will not get as much (extra) reading done as we did the first part of the year because I have put us in a time crunch-- which I don't usually do.  However I want to start our new curriculum on August 1-- so time crunch it is.

I am adding-- because I am crazy like that... some additional math and spelling work for each of the kids.  Math- because I am feeling the draw of OTHER curriculum and since I want to keep at Math U See, I feel like I need to fill in some holes.  Dave and I are discussing math right now and deciding what we will do.

We are adding for Emily- sight word/ word wall activities to help with her spelling of common, every day words that she might not have learned the rule for but needs to know how to spell. (read MOMMY is tired of spelling crap for her all the time!)    Matt and Kate are going to now be responsible for not only knowing the definitions of their vocabulary but also knowing the spelling-- which I supposed is just a good idea right!


Math --- ahhhh math... so much stress in my life feels related to math!  Emily is bucking at learning her multiplication tables.  She knows them one day but answers a problem wrong in math and I am like WHAT GIVES.  So we are doing flash cards daily, playing math games daily and doing drills.

In addition Matt and Kate are doing drills also...because well it wont hurt them and Katy couldn't answer what 3/4 of an hour was the other day without giving me the blank stare....(in her defense the book gave a word problem where she had to add fractions and then figure out how many minutes in an hour that fraction was without reducing the fraction(9/12) which is 45... but then they asked her to reduce the fraction (3/4) and answer which one allowed her to come to the conclusion of 45 minutes in a hour FASTER.  I think she felt like she had to really FIGURE out the 3/4 of an hour without realizing DUH it is 45 minutes SOOO MUCH easier... But anyway.  We are doing drills. because I said so.


We are fixing to watch a SWARM of Netflix movies because there are SO many for our current time period! FUN.  I loaded up my queue and now I just have to be really good about returning them quick so I have turn around!  I also need library books-- which involves me paying a fine-- I KNOW YOU ARE SO SURPRISED. 

So basically I am just getting myself back on track--- I have been headed in the right direction this whole time but I felt myself drifting.... gotta stay on track!

struggle

I am struggling but not because anything big, bad or overwhelming is happening... at least not to me.  We found out that my cousin (actually my moms cousin) who has dealt with cancer and thought she had beaten it once has found out the cancer is spread and she is opting to stop treatments.  She has a boy about Kate's age.... so sad for my Aunt and family.  My heart hurts for the path this has taken.  Also I have loved ones on the cusp of separation and my heart is hurting for their pain, struggle and decisions they are making in the next few days...

in the midst of such huge situations... any thoughts I have seem small and pitiful.

I have no words, no comfort, no idea why things happen... besides to show US to a place of brokenness.... To allow us to see God's grace.  And why not TO us... the Bible doesn't promise us happy endings.. He promised PEACE through the trials, HE promised He would never leave us or forsake us... HE promised that HIS grace is sufficient...


but none of those things make my heart hurt any less for them.

I have my daily struggles, my own giants but they seem so insignificant.  I know they are still important to God.. but I need to keep in perspective real problems and not allow my struggles to take such a hold until they become bigger than they truly are.

Sunday Sum Up: Day 136-155 (the really sad where where I don't update at all!)

Wow that is a lot of days to sum up!

We haven't hit the school books HARD but we have certainly hit them! 

We have done Bible, English, Math, Latin, Vocabulary and History!  Lots of learning going on!

But to simply catching up I will just tell you that we did it and move on... besides a history catch up!

hello.

I am still here.  that is all.

Sunday Sum Up: Day 125-130

Monday:

I managed to make it to Emily's theater ON time-- actually a few minutes early, with Starbucks in tow and everything Emily needed PLUS what Kaitlin needed for choir.  Whewww. It went really well.

We got home and Dave took the truck to work-- my van is STILL in the shop!

We did math, vocab and read Little Woman.

We also did Physics- Emily's book is lost- {{{sigh}}}  We used Nerf guns to demonstrate trajectory.. because that is how we roll in this house!

We reviewed Latin, did BIBLE and also started catching up our history notebooks which were 3 lessons behind! 

Tuesday:

We slept in a little, this mama has a headache-- YUCK!

The kids and I did math, ENGLISH- 2 lessons, finished up catching up our history notebooks and did our Unit Wrap up for Physics.  We also read Little Woman-- which is turning into the read aloud that NEVER ends!  I am fixing to buy that sucker on tape! 

The kids also read a history chapter, Emily did a short study on filibusters and I have an awesome WEST WING show on filibuster-- love that show!  (well I don't love the politics on that show, just that people and the show itself!)

The kids got in some major trouble because for the past two days if I leave the room is erupts into chaos instead of school getting done. SO they have been banished from the school room and had to bring all their school stuff downstairs and sit at the table.  Where my eyes and ears can see them at all times!  They also lost electronics!  ARRGGG.  Oh and PUT YOUR HOME SCHOOL STUFF WHERE IT GOES SO YOU CAN FIND IT.  Am I the only mama who deals with such drudgery?


Wednesday:

I am doing school with 4 today which often changes the dynamics-- however today it is working out quite nicely, I must say! 

We worked on math for a while and moved onto English.  I thought the kids were going to lose it when I went onto a second English lesson-- but my plan was for them to do the WORK for the second lesson tomorrow whilst they are sitting at theater for 3 1/2 hours!  See I am working it out!

I have to download more Latin lessons so we are at a stand still until I get that done! arggg.

The kids did vocab, Rod and Staff and read the NEVER ENDING Little Woman.  Can we just watch the movie and be done with it???

Oh- Becky introduced me to State Stacker App on the IPhone-- too cool. There is a lite version but I went all out and paid the .99.   It is cool!

The kids also all did math blaster, Typing and Spelling city today--- because I finished them up with their seat work and computer so I could lay my splitting head down on my pillow for a while!

OH my van is back--- we picked it up this morning!  IT only cost us $445.00!  ONLY!!!!!!  ARGGGG.  Yes, praises that we HAD the money-- just not where I wanted to spend it!  :0)

Thursday:

We headed out for theater.. I managed to leave early and have Emily's stuff, school work for the kids and stuff for myself to do!  I never got around to doing any of my stuff, but hey I had it ready!  The kids sat in the car to do some of their work and managed to kill my battery, so Dave had to drive from North 610 for almost an hour to come give me a jump.  JOY.

We got to Kate and Matt's Dave Ramsey class- it was their last class.  I am really glad that they participated in the class.  I think it was great.  I am glad to have ONE thing off my plate--- but so glad to have had the opportunity!

We stayed and visited/ chatted at our home school group.  Emily had an amazing time running amuck with all the kids and it was the day to celebrate March birthdays.. so that was a bonus! 

When we got home all I could do was lay my head down for a little bit... but we did accomplish SOME school work besides what Matt and Kate had done on their own. 

Friday:

We did Bible, English, Math, vocab and read.  It seemed to literally take the whole day though.  I mean we didn't even do every subject but everything just TOOK longer.  We had a lot of breaks and the kids played outside....but still we were still doing stuff at 5:30! 

I promise pictures next wrap up m'kay!

today...

I want to say thank you to my husband who gets up everyday and goes to work.

I hate getting up.

The end.

blah, blah, blah

• okay here is a random post for you.

• I love pineapple. I forget about till I cut it up for a fruit tray at a party and then I remember how much I love it! Also kiwi-- I love kiwi. Must buy more variety of fruit! I always get apples, grapes and navel oranges!

• Emily's physics binder is lost. I am VERY frustrated about this, but moving on today and just copying the pages she needs to do.. I will think about it tomorrow.

• I am really, really ready to paint the house- money of course matters, but I could have prioritized paint money if I had really wanted to-- the thing is I HATE to paint. But I need to just DO IT! I will be so happy with it once it is done!

• I need to do some lesson planning. We have 56 days left of this school year! Now technically THAT has nothing to do with my lesson planning as we will not wrap up ANY of our curriculum on that magic day! I know stupid to count right.. It is just my base for the kids "grade" level. Hello, you have completed another 180 mandatory days of schooling-- you are in the next grade level!

• I need to work on my laundry system. Actually what I need to do is fold clothes as they come out of the dryer and MY system would be perfect. I have a folding area-- which I need some baskets to add a little more organization-- but really I just actually need to FOLD CLOTHES!

• Emily's first theater practice went great-- there was a parent meeting and I am helping with costumes. We shall see. A lot of the ladies were very friendly. I was not bored watching what they were doing but I know it will get boring at some point-- I will have a good stretch of time to check math, make index cards, work on STUFF ...IF I remember to bring it with me.. All of that takes planning and to be honest getting all three kids up, dressed and TO the theater before 9:00 plus making sure Emily has all she needs, plus making sure the KIDS have something to do for a few hours means I MIGHT NOT GET TO ME! We shall see.

• Kaitlin is FLYING through math right now. I am so happy! I am sure that it must make her feel confident also! Matt is flying too and will quickly catch up to Kaitlin-- which I am fine with. Emily is doing fine too we just need to work on her facts. WHICH she fights!

• My van is still in the shop- NOT EVEN DIAGNOSED. I am so beyond frustrated but apparently it probably is a seal and the entire engine will have to be taken apart to actually diagnose that it IS the seal and while the part to fix it is cheap the labor IS NOT. So Dave says he is pleased to purchased the warranty. My thoughts are still out on that.

• I want to plan a date night with Dave. Must do that soon!

• I made Mongolian beef last night for dinner-- and it was amazing.  Really.  It was not that hard and the flank steak cost 7 dollars for all of us.  I served rice with it and the ingredients for the sauce didn't even add up to 1 dollar so we ate WELL for under 10!  It was so good and has made it onto our MAIN meal list.  Do you have a set number of recipe's that you repeat?  I tried enchilada's last week and it wasn't such a hit-- I guess I will stick with my enchilada casserole recipe. 

• I know that people who know me IRL will gasp at this but I am actually looking forward to Thursday's gym day.  I still don't like rowdiness but I am looking forward to being able to sit and chat with a few moms! 

• I guess I need to get back to schooling my children so that we can say we only have 55 days left of school-- they had lunch and are currently running around the house playing Nerf war and all the lights are turned off. 

Sunday Sum Up: Day 121-124

Well I am calling this a four day week because we took off Monday of ACTUAL school work but we did do history at Amy's so I don't want to not count it at all-- but we didnt' do full loads on the other day so I am calling it FOUR!

So there.  As the head teacher/ superintendent/ attendance coordinator I say it is and it is SO!

Monday:

Was this little girls BIRTHDAY!!!!

We went to Amy's for history and we are FINALLY past the Civil War!  Seriously our study OF the Civil War LASTED the length of the Civil War!  We are moving and grooving on.   Amy is teaching for the next four chapters-- {{{SIGH}}} I have taught all year so ready for the break! 

Tuesday:

We did the barest of the barest to get by calling this a school day!  But hey, while we did not take a spring break-- I did decide to have a very slow week, because next week starts a BUSY season for us.  One that this mama, unlike H-Mama is NOT used to!  So next week begins theater practice twice a week from 9-12:30-- gasp you say-- HOW do you home school?  I DON'T KNOW!!!  I guess I am gonna find out!  :0) 

So Emily got the part of Sister Sophia and her first song is all Latin-- and while we currently do consider ourselves very cultured and classically schooled-- cuz we have LATIN in our curriculum...we are NOT that good yet.  So, to help Emily learn the song I wrote down each word as it sounds...

so pretty words like this 

Rex admiriabilis 

on Emily's paper look more like this 

Rex odd me ra bee lease 

but hey she's learned the song okay! Wondering how others did it???  H-Mama?

Anyhoo, So along with butchering a beautiful Gregorian chant all in Latin-- we accomplished math, vocab, reading, Bible and devotions! 

Wednesday--

On this day we simply accomplished the basics and we made it to church-- just barely because my van decided to throw a transmission code and well NOT run!  Nice.  Actually it could run- we opted NOT to run  it in the off chance of doing further harm. 

Thursday--

Well the nice tow truck man came and picked up my van-- after I got everything I needed SO desperately out of it-- which was a lot because we live in our cars apparently!  Except I didn't grab Emily's Sound of Music CD-- MOMMIE FAIL!  Hopefully the car will be out tomorrow and like I said I have all the words butchered on paper for her, right!

We accomplished basics and checked math-- fixed a few issues and moved on.  We also got taken out to lunch by my mom!  YEAH!  That is always nice!

Friday...

I did math with all the kids, and we did Bible-- it took a long time as there was lots of discussion today!  We worked on Emily's music and had Matt and Kate work on some translation for fun-- because that is how we roll.  I have not however CHECKED their translation so I have no idea if it is accurate or not!

The kids also did vocab and Reading and Emily did Rod and Staff. 

and that wrapped up our VERY, VERY relaxed school week---I am not sure I can call it four days but we are just going with it, m'kay!


{{{edited to say my van's STILL not out of the shop and STILL has not even made it onto the rack}}}

{{{argggg}}}

Preferences.

My son has let me know- clearly and plainly, I might add- that he really prefers to write in pen while doing math.

I have let my son know- clearly and just as plainly, I might add- that there is an unwritten LAW of the UNIVERSE that you use pencil whilst doing math.

Can I get an amen?

He is under the funny assumption that his preferences should always be THE WAY IT IS...

I shall break him of that if it's the last thing I do, my pretty. {{{cackle}}}

No, really. It is not okay in life to think YOUR preferences should always be accepted, allowed, catered too-- etc.

It is called Self Absorption. That is pretty close to SELF-

WE don't always get what we want-- Life is not a Rolling Stones Song
WE don't always get it our way-- this is not Burger King

The world does not revolve around ME-- Learn this lesson and you will go far in life my little Padawon!

I want my kids to not be selfish -- meaning we talk about giving to others, thinking of others, giving of our self.. etc. Since infant hood we have dealt with them being selfish--

BUT self absorption-- it seems to sprout in children as they get older and can better verbalize THEIR preference.. or better yet maybe figure out that they HAVE a preference!  As they grow it gets BIGGER and BIGGER.. and we need to focus less on them being selfish (like with sharing toys) and more on them NOT JUST THINKING ABOUT THEMSELVES.

We talked about if you and your friends are deciding on a movie OR a fun place to go .. a way to not be self absorbed would be to NOT just think about what YOUR favorite food is or what YOU want to see most...

It is a hard lesson and one that I KNOW I don't have down pat!  But I suppose if I can work on this character trait by simply having him use a pencil instead of a pen... so be it. 

I am pretty sure that later on in life.. his wife will thank me.  :0)

Happy 9th Birthday Emily!

Okay I am not going to focus on the fact that  year from now I will no longer have any children NOT in the double digits... seriously!

I cannot stand it.  She even looks older to me.  I miss baby hands. 

She had an extra special birthday this year... we had planned on Matt and Dave taking this shooting course called Appleseed... and the closest one to us at the time we booked was Dallas and well that was near THE AMERICAN GIRL STORE!  So Emily got money from us, and three grandparents for her special shopping spree at the store!  Also for some extra fun -- Mary Faith and Becky AND Ma Ma Vickie got to come!  WE had an awesome time in Dallas!  We spent over 4 hours at the American Girl Store..... yes. OVER. FOUR. HOURS!  It's not that big people. 

We shopped,

got the girls hair done (and by girls I mean doll's) did a craft,

 had lunch at the cafe

and got books signed by the author-- which was neat!

Emily bought McKenna-- the doll of the year who is into gymnastics! 

We also had a small family party for Emily here on Saturday-- which also HAPPENS to be Super Mario Brother Day-- doesn't everyone celebrate Super Mario Day!  The kids played the Wii and it was very low key but fun anyway...

And to top off an already awesome birthday hoopla--- her best friend Mary Faith got to wake up with her on her birthday!-- Last night the girls roller skated DERBY style all around the house.... I say just roll with it. (no pun intended)  I am all for Emily expelling energy!

Donut holes for the birthday girl.

special brownie treat and McDonald's happy meals (a rare treat) at Mimi's house for the birthday girl..

a 9th Birthday Extravaganza!!!

Sunday Sum Up: Day 116-120

Sorry it's so boring... but at least I have it all written down!

Monday:

We got back from our vacation late and ended up sleeping late because the alarm was turned off and was LATE to Emily's audition-- I was mortified-- but it was fine and everything worked out!  Emily did well.  She didn't sing very loudly and we all KNOW she can so it didnt' show the director very much confidence but I suppose as the show goes that director will see what all she can do and it will show in future performances.  Personally I don't care what part she gets -- I am not one of those moms but I do want her to do her best and I know that she can be very confident on stage so I was a little disappointed that she didn't portray that.... in her church performances they TURN her mic down!

edited to say:  Emily got the part of Sister Sophia and ensemble.. so she is very excited because she gets to sing in the Maria song and say "Will o' the wisp"! and she gets to dress for the party scene and sing GOOOODBYEEEEEEE! to all the children!

Sister Sophia is the second from the left  picture credit

we got home from auditions and Emily started on school work and soon after Matt and Kaitlin got home from choir.  Each of the kids did math, vocab, Latin and read for history.  Then later we did Bible and the kids all did flash card work and typing. 

Tuesday:

I am eventually going to stop writing that we got up late because it is much more becoming the norm than not.  However right now I AM sleeping FULL nights with a different medicine that is helping my headache some.. and I am simply sleeping a lot.  Anyhoo...

Got up.. did some chores. Had breakfast.  I REALLY, REALLY need to go to the grocery store but it just is not my priority right this minute so we shall have to make do with WEIRD WHATEVER IS IN THE FREEZER FUN MEALS!  you know what I am talking about right!

We did Bible, started our memory verses up again, Latin, vocab, math-- watched part of the Sound of Music again with lunch and had an hour reading time (mommy lay her head down on a pillow in quiet time)
and next we did physics

Wednesday:

We started with Bible review this morning and our Bible verse for this week... John 1:3-4

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 

 In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind.

We finished up our physics from yesterday and did some review.. the kids did their crossword and worksheet.

We started our new artist study on Louis Comfort Tiffany...

such beautiful work!!! 

The kids played Apples to Apples and I had a problem calling them back to do school work because they were having such a good time!

But alas I did... they did math, vocab, Latin review and English!

We also played Math wrap around and Boggle...

Thursday...

the kids just got math, vocab and Latin done and we left for Dave Ramsey class.  Emily got to go shopping with Amy for her birthday present.  So I had an hour and a 1/2 to myself!  RARE!!! I just did errands...SO EXCITING!

Friday...

we got up and did Bible--

we also did Latin, started reading our next history chapter, finished up our history reads, did math, English and ALL About Spelling

we also read a chapter in Little Woman

and then we settled down for a quiet reading hour during our rain storm!

arrrrgggg!!!!

UGGG I cannot stand these types of emails... because if I DON'T choose YOUR method of home schooling I don't wanna give my child the "lost tools of learning" that will give my children the skills to learn any subject well??????????????

Or I can't possibly manage to teach them a Biblical worldview and have them impact the world...


BUGS ME A LOT!  I get grief from people for NOT wanting to do co-ops and that bugs me enough-- and there was a HUGE blowout argument on GHAH the other day about when does it stop being home schooling if you "farm" your student out for 6 classes a day.... which I pretty much agree with-- I mean really you are not teaching them although you have some control over what they are being taught I suppose.  But there was a lot of discussion on how the people who just want to teach all their kids at home are the "dinosaurs" and aren't doing it right!  ARRRGGG.

If I get to a point that I cannot teach my kids something... we will visit the idea of "farming" out a math or science or writing but until then... I am doing JUST fine!  Writing might be one thing I will farm out btw!  :0)

Just irks me!  Rant over! Oh and I DON'T give a fig if YOU decide to do a co-op btw... I just want to be left a lone to do school my way and not feel like I am causing my kids to miss out.  I swear I have gotten more grief from home schoolers who tell me "well I just have a social bug" than I do NON- home schoolers.  and I DO have a social bug-her name is Emily.  I do attempt to give her an outlet... I just don't do it with her core subjects!  Shame on me for wanting to "school my kids at -- you know -- HOME!

okay end of rant again!

Dear Fellow Homeschoolers,

Are you interested in the Classical Model of Education?

Would you like to understand the "lost tools of learning" that will give your children the skills to learn any subject well?

Would you like to know how to teach your children from a biblical world-view in order to impact the world for God's glory?

Parent Information Meeting

Date:

Saturday, March 10th

Time:

10am

Location:

Temple Oaks Baptist Church

2101 West 34th St.

Houston, TX. 77018

RSVP at tdavis @ classicalconversations. com or call 512.945.6098. Thanks!

Grammar -- 15 Grammar Goofs that I am SURE I make all the time!

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Carl's Jr's. Ads--- wowzers.

So the great debate is going on about Carl's Jr's ad choices.. the are VERY sexy.  I thought after getting a email from the AFA suggesting a boycott that I would take a gander.... WOW!


Here is one...
Here is a worse one...
and here is the one that I think started the controversy...


These are BAD!  Is really is basically p*rno.  I wouldn't want Dave or Matt seeing these!  I personally think that Jack N the Box has pushed the envelope a few times and the whole marry your bacon sandwich thing freaks me out but these commercials are awful!  I am generally NOT a boycotter--- but I don't think I will choose to support this company right now.  I don't plan to CALL it a boycott I just don't plan on making plans on going --which we had since these restaurants are popping up all over town!

Anyway.. just passing it along! and BTW, I do not agree wholeheartedly with the AFA on a number of issues-- I am just passing on information! 

Sunday Sum Up: Day 111-115

BUSY WEEK!  Actually a busy few weeks.  I have really just been going and going and going but, it has been busy in a mostly good way.  I mean I have enjoyed 90% of the activities and gotten good things out of them, but the house has suffered some (not as bad as in the past though!) and school work has suffered some (although we are at a point that when we get home in betweenxt -- is that a word?-- going places I just give the kids assignments and they do them.  SIMPLE) But the sit down and TEACH work is not getting done every day.  Anyway... I will watch my schedule and attempt to be more careful... however we are putting Emily in a drama theater thing and will GREATLY add to the "things to do" scale in this household. However, Dave and I feel it is a very good opportunity and it is for a specific time period...so we will give it a try.  I am also dealing with a headache this week-- YUCK!


Monday:

I took Kaitlin to choir and then we went to the mall- nothing educational about that!  We never go to the mall, but Amy and I put it on the calender weeks and weeks ago!  No history this Monday and we decided to just go to the mall!  We shopped for Emily a new outfit for her birthday and ended up finding a pair of jeans and 3 shirts at Macy's for 25.00!!  Deal!  We also got another shirt and sweater from Penny's and another shirt from Dillard's.. all on clearance!!!  YEAH! 
Tuesday:

We had a field trip to the Museum of Fine Art.  It was a pretty good tour.  I had not set up the particular type of tour and was pleased although truly storybook tours are MY FAVORITE and I really think they should offer them for all ages!

We got to see a Mary Cassatt painting in person--- we stood in the gallery with the Impressionist and Matt looked around the room and picked out the Mary Cassatt and it was not one we had studied but sure enough.... it was a Mary Cassatt!  I was excited that he could recognize her work!

The kids did basics math, reading, vocabulary, devotions and Emily did (started her Rod and Staff- found  on Wed she had started but not finished the assignment as going to the bathroom apparently got her off track! She also did not do her math assignment-- so I informed her on Wed that she would not attend choir until all her assignment were caught up--- immediate water works and anger because she feels that choir is her responsibility.  OH little girl- school work is your first responsibility and as her choir teacher/ pastors wife/ public school teacher will back me up on I feel slightly gleeful. Is that wrong?)


Wednesday---

We attempted to hit the school books hard today and we did-- somewhat, but then we got distracted by mama not feeling good and ended up just watching The Sound of Music-- which is never a bad choice, right!

We finally got through all our history and introduction in Bible and started Chapter 1!  The answer/ review section is a little much for Emily but as she gets used to "listening" for the things they ask about in each review it will get easier for her than going back and looking up the answer to all the questions.  I ended up helping a fair amount but it was fine and she did really good!  I love the Mp3 they have for each chapter-- ONE less thing for this MAMA to read!

We started LATIN today---- YEAH!  The kids did great-- Matt had a good attitude!  Emily kept up just fine! Whoop, whoop! 

Here is the 11 feet of laminated Latin cards---- and here they are all cut out! 

The kids all did math-- I checked math, because I hadn't for four or five days!  They are doing really well!  We are going to have to work harder on Emily's math facts though-- it is one of the first things I let go during the day I and she can so easily do them by her self or with a sibling or on my IPHONE, that i really should not let that go!

Emily is finishing up Tall Tales-- so we get to watch the movie next week! YEE HAW! 

Kate and Matt are plodding through the history reading list... they are almost done I believe and I have mandated that they take two books to Dallas!  I know MEAN MOMMY!

Matt and Kate worked on Rifles for Watie and Emily did Rod and Staff  Reading.

and we went to church!  (edited to say: Emily did finish her assignments both from Wed and Tuesday and was allowed to attend choir!)

Thursday:

I got an appointment for my neurologist and so mom came and kept the kids so that they would be doing school work--- they accomplish Latin, Bible and vocab.  later they did Math.  Then we left to do errands for our trip....

bank
dry cleaners
other dry cleaners (don't ask!)
Pets Mart for crickets
Michael's for envelopes
Academy for last minute swivels for a gun sling---
Pasadena Animal shelter to drop off newspaper
Bubbles to clean and vacuum car out

Got home and took the rest of the stuff inside- had dinner and STARTED packing!  I also have to finish washing.... it is going to be a long night unfortunately, and we leave at 6:00 a.m.!


Friday:

We went on vacation to Dallas and headed to Fort Worth to the Texas Civil War Musuem... pics coming SOON!  :0)