Why We Homeschool

I've posted on here about why we homeschool before but Anjanette over at Raising the Barr's is starting a series where other bloggers share why they homeschool . Today I've got my first guest post on her blog! Stop on by and check it out. 

Why We Homeschool

Diligence Update

Well, seeing that I haven't updated in several months, it's clear that I've gotten off track from my "Diligence" goals for this year! I did want to finally update though. Each month in the middle of the month I'd think about doing this then forget and remember at the end of the month and thing "oh I'll just remember to do it in a few weeks." Only problem was I never did!

Bible Reading
Still working on this! I'm getting back into reading daily although I'm quite behind on my read the Bible in 1 year goal. It will take me more than a year but I WILL get there!

School
We have started up the new school year. We ended up taking the summer off as I've mentioned in other posts due to the craziness this summer brought for us. School is going pretty well though and the kids are enjoying it!

Hunter is working on reading and we've started our country studies with My Father's World for Chelsea. Natalie is still mostly tagging along although she does have her own workbook she can do as she pleases.

I am finding it hard with extra kids in the house some days. I need to get more consistent with Hunter's school work. We did start in February so we have plenty of wiggle room but I know consistency will help him learn more.

My House
With our move my houe got BIGGER! Such a blessing but it also means more work. I also have a basement for my laundry so it's not confined to one basket in the tiny laundry room anymore. Overall things are going pretty well! We have gotten out of the habit of the kids having morning chores and need to get back into that. I also need to find a way to keep up on their rooms. Chelsea tries to keep up on the girls room but we have friends staying with us and 3 little girls up there playing while we do school makes for quite the mess.So that's my goal for this month, find a way to keep up better on the kid's rooms

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Picture from SoupArt

I've heard these verses in the past but this year I'm truly finding out what they really mean. My husband has struggled with depression and anxiety. Last year, 2012, things got so bad that he hardly left our bed room. He didn't join us for meals, spend time with the kids unless they came to the bedroom, go to church or anywhere else. I'd like to say I was a supportive, understanding wife who stood firmly by him without a complaint but that would be a major lie. 

I greatly struggled watching my husband go through months of not interacting with anyone and sleeping the days away in our room despite my best efforts at getting him out of the house. There were many days I wanted to give up and run away and I almost did a few times. 

When we went on our vacation with his family last August he was forced out of the house, awake most of the day and out enjoying North Carolina. That broke the ice for him and he started the upward climb from his depression. 

Going through all of that with him made me rely greatly on God to get through my days. I see now that's one thing He was trying to teach me as I went through those difficult months. 

The other lesson relates to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God"

This year my best friend had her world turned upside down and now she's struggling with depression. 

I now see that God led me through last year with my husband so that I can now encourage her and be more understanding of where she's at. 

Had I known last year that God would use me in this way just the following year I don't know that it would have made last year easier. Seeing it now though it reminds me that God makes all things work together for our good and His glory.

I want to encourage you, whatever trials you are going through, God has a plan. He will see you through if you rely on Him for your strength to make it through each day no matter how hard it may seem. One day He may use that struggle you've been through to help someone in a similar situation so that you may be a light in their time of darkness. 

Back to School!

We finally started back up this week! We had done one week in June and ended up taking the summer off. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and so are the kids. Here's there's first day of school pics. I officially have a 4th grader kindergartner, preschooler and of course the new addition who is 1 month old! 

Exploring Countries and Cultures  

We had started week two back in June so we spread the other 3 days out over the week. In science we read about plants and trees and Chelsea started her leaf collection. We have a flower press so that will eventually be used to press the leaves. 

For the history/geography portion we read from Maps and Globes about different types of maps and she got to use a map I drew of our yard to find her "treasure" which was the cake mix for our world cake which she made on Friday

Treasure hunt

World cake! 

Chelsea baked the cake and frosted it on her own with just a little supervision from mom! She's quite the little baker! Instead of blue and green frosting we used colored sugar from the store. Everyone enjoyed the cake for dessert after dinner! 

Math

In her Saxon book it's still a lot of review but much needed since we took the summer off. We worked on odd/even, adding several numbers, finding missing numbers and more. She is enjoying the DIVE program but the homework part not so much. She can do the work but that's the problem, it's work and she's not a big fan of math. We worked out way through though and she did well on her first test. 

Reading/English/Spelling

For reading this year we are using A Beka third grade reading. This week we used their Handbook for Reading to practice and review phonics skills. 

We worked on reading poetry and sentence structure for English lessons and completed the first unit of the spelling program which is also from A Beka. Chelsea seems to like the workbook style spelling program but I do think we will need to use some of the word study skills used last year with Spelling Power. Many of the mistakes made on Friday's test were one letter mistakes so she's close on the couple she missed.

Bible

Bible lessons this week were readings in Window on the World about different religions around the world, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. I've learned about the other religions in college courses but it was a first for my kids other than just a quick mention and we had a few questions about why people believed or did certain things. 

Kindergarten

Our unit this week was Oo Octopus! We have had a lot of fun making octopus pictures with our hands, octopus hot dogs for lunch and a BIG ocean mural that friends helped Hunter and Natalie make. 

In reading we continued practicing the blend ladder and reading simple words. Hunter is doing a good job with it. The blend ladder he likes to try to add his own ending sounds to the sounds when we just have two. He's full of energy so getting him to focus is a challenge sometimes too! 

In math we worked on the 100 chart and calendar skills. Hunter had a fun page with an octopus where he wrote the numbers 1-8 to number the octopus arms. He then cut out rectangles and we practiced using a ruler for the first time to measure one rectangle and then put them all in a line and measured the line. He used the rectangles to make one big square and one big rectangle. 

Octopus hot dog. They all got a big kick out of these! 

Hunter Natalie and their friends Audrey and Bre helping with the ocean mural

The finished project! 

Preschool

Natalie has a workbook from Rod and Staff that we have been working on but for the majority of the time she follows along with Hunter's activities like the mural painting or other activities. In her book she practiced tracing lines and making X's as well as coloring, cutting and sorting shapes.

It's been a fun week and we're excited to start our country studies with ECC and continue working through our K and preschool stuff! Any fun ideas for our next kindergarten unit W for water? 

Summer Update #3: Allison's Arrival!

Last summer update before I start posting about our school year. Miss Allison Nicole made her big appearance on July 22nd at 8:38 pm! Here's our birth story.

Saturday and Sunday I had contractions off and on, not painful, just braxton hicks type. Monday afternoon I went to the store with my grandma and they started again. I figured they were just more of the practice contractions. 

After dinner they started getting more regular, about ten minutes apart. They gradually got closer together. Around 7 my grandma walks into the kitchen and spots me mid contraction. By this time they are five minutes apart and getting rather uncomfortable. I still think I have plenty of time. We walk in our bedroom of our new house where my husband and mom are "trying" to hang curtain rods. "Jacqueline's in labor." Grandma announces. I get some surprised looks from my mom and Wayne but tell them "oh we have plenty of time" 

At 7:30 we call my friend to come get her kids who were over to play. She comes and gets them and takes our 3 to my dad's house. By now it's 8 pm and contractions are 3 minutes apart and not fun. We leave and get to the hospital at 8:10. I have to stop walking when they come. We get to a room and I change while Wayne parks the car. I had 3 contractions in those few minutes. The nurse finally comes to check me and says that she "thinks" I'm 8 but my water hadn't broken and was right there so she was afraid of breaking it without the doctor there and baby coming. She calls the doctor and Wayne calls his mom and mine telling them to get to the hospital quick. 

Another nurse check me and says I'm complete. Doctor walks in and I start pushing. As I'm in between pushes another nurse is trying to get an IV in my hand for precautionary measures which I'm about ready to tell her to forget it but can't get the words out. She's holding it in my hand as Allison Nicole makes her arrival at 8:38. One small tear and no major issues. Allison is on my chest when my mom walks in the room and sees here there. I will never forget the look on her face of pure shock! Shortly after Wayne's mom walks in and had seen the doctor leaving as she was coming in and says "I missed it didn't I?" Doctor confirms and says "I almost missed it!."

Allison weighed in at 8lbs 0.6 oz and 19.5 inches! She's already a month old and at her checkup yesterday she had gained almost 2 lbs! The kids love her to pieces and she's another wonderful blessing for our family! 

The night she was born 

Natalie and Allison

Summer update 2013 Part 2

This past July got quite stressful for us. My husband was out of work again after having worked very hard for 3 weeks for an Amish construction crew and unemployment wasn't coming in for whatever reason. We had been behind on our rent and and out landlord was tired of working with us and waiting for his money. At the end of June we got a letter from Metro housing saying that our wait was up and we'd be getting assistance after 3 years on the waiting list! The problem though was that most people don't want to rent to a family with 3 kids, one on the way, husband not working and pending eviction.

God truly had His plan in the works though! My mom was on the hunt for a rental house. I get a call at 7 am saying that she found a house in a nice neighborhood and the owner is super nice. We went the next night to meet her and see the house. We fell in love with the house and she seemed to really like us. We asked her if she would be willing to accept payment from Metro and she reluctantly accepted.

I was very doubtful that this would work out though. After filling out the paper work and waiting and waiting for metro to do their end of the bargain we finally got in touch with them and they came to do the inspection on July 17th which happened to be our 9th wedding anniversary.

A little before lunch the home owner was at our door with the keys to the house! She said "It's all yours!"  We were thrilled but I still had a feeling like this was all too good to be true! Finally out of our tiny 3 bedroom apartment town house in a not so great neighborhood and into a beautiful neighborhood and pretty big house! We started moving things over to our new house a little at a time. A week and a half later several men from our church came and helped move the bigger furniture from our apartment and we were officially moved into our new rental home!

God's provision has amazed me! On the same day that we got the keys we found out that Wayne had gotten hired at a job he never thought he'd have! He is now working with high functioning handicapped people and loving his job!

I will post pictures of our new home once I get my phone back but wanted to get this posted. God is good and HE WILL PROVIDE IN HIS TIMING! I wanted things done my way and in my timeline but His was exactly right on time and even better than I could have imagined!

Summer Recap 2013 Part 1

Hello there strangers! It has been a crazy, fun, stressful, blessing filled summer all within the past few months! I thought I'd update on what's been going on in our family

. In June we had planned to start 4th grade work for Chelsea and continue kindergarten with Hunter. Well, we got about a week done and then that plan went out the window. Friends moved back closer to us and the kids went to VBS 2 weeks in a row. One VBS picks up kids on a bus and takes them to the church for the morning. The other was at my in law's church. Both had a western theme which they all had a blast with! I loved the fact that they related and compared Moses' story to Jesus. I had never thought of that before. For example the first day talked about how Jesus came to save us while Moses was sent to free the Israelites from Egypt. I really enjoyed seeing the kids all so excited about Jesus and learning about Him! It was a crazy two weeks and they were all exhausted by the end of it but so worth it to plant those seeds and light the fire inside of them for Jesus! 

Chelsea and my best friend's son with their horse crafts after one night at VBS

So there you have part one of our summer! July brought a whole range of emotions and activity. I will fill you all in on the events here soon!