Thankful Thursdays

Today I want to do a post about "Thankful Thursdays".  This week I want to discuss 5 things I am thankful for. 

1)  My husband and children:  I have been truly blessed since my husband came into my life.  He is my best friend and the love of my life.  He is a wonderful head of our house.  He is a spiritual leader for us.  He is strong and consistent in his faith.  Our children are also such a blessing.  They bring such joy and excitement to our lives.  My sons have taken us on quite the adventure.  And our daughter just adds to that adventure in only the way a baby sister can.  There is never a dull moment in our home


2)  My Faith:  I am thankful to know that I have a personal Lord and Savior.  I am glad to know that He died on the cross for our sins.  

3) Homeschooling:  I am thankful I am able to homeschool our children.  The relationships between my children and us as well as between them is fantastic to watch.  It is nice having them around the house and getting to actively participate in their learning instead of simply battling to get homework completed.

4) I am thankful for our friends:  Even though we have moved twice in the past 6 years, we have made some really good friends (some of whom I consider to be family.  

5)  I am thankful that our family has spent almost the past six years living places that have 4 seasons.  It can be so peaceful to watch the snow fall on a quiet evening surrounded by our family.  Then in the spring, everything comes to life and becomes green.  That is followed by summer - even though there may be hot days, there are also cooler days mixed in as well.  Finally in fall the see the trees change to all different magnificent colors is such a wonderful experience.

So what are you thankful for today?

Creative Attempts

I know I promised you yesterday that I would share pictures from our birthday dinner feast.  Unfortunately, I got so busy cooking that I forgot to snap some pictures.  So I will try again at our next meal.  Tomorrow I will be sharing some pictures from our Spaghetti Dinner we fixed on Saturday night though.  In the meantime, I hope you will appreciate my post on my creative attempts.

So I have never claimed to be an artist.  Math I can do.  History I love.  Reading I love.  English or Language Arts (whichever you prefer) I can even handle.  Science is okay.  Music (such as High School Band, chorus, and such) I loved.  But Art was a subject I dreaded going to class for every time.  Even when I became a substitute teacher and subbed at the Elementary School level, I was not thrilled by having to substitute for an Art teacher.  

So over the past few weeks, I have become involved in quite a few different groups on Facebook that are forcing me to embrace my creative side.  I decided I wanted to embark on a journey to journal about my Bible study - both personal and for my Online Bible Studies that I participate in.  Part of this came from a lot of talk about Verse Mapping for our Online Bible Studies.  As a result I did a search on Google and Pinterest to see what I could discover.  From these searches, I ended up coming across a group that did "Bible Journaling".  I thought it was going to be dealing with using words to convey thoughts about the Bible.  However, it ended up being something somewhat different.

Instead of just using words, many individuals draw these amazing, incredible, and detailed drawings.  I am in awe of what I am seeing.  Throughout the years of homeschooling,  I have had to come up with Artistic courses/activities for my children to do.  Fortunately, I have been blessed to find tons of dvds and books to help.  But now I am going to take the plunge and study some of them myself.  This way I can create some of these artistic masterpieces.  So stay tuned, I will be sharing about my journey.

Top 9 Favorites for Homeschoolers

So this year we are in our 9th year of homeschooling.  When we began our journey, I really did not know a lot about homeschooling. Nor did I know a lot about what was out there for homeschoolers.  So today I thought I would write about my top 9 favorites for homeschoolers.  These are my "go-to" items, and are especially the items I recommend to families who are thinking about or are brand new to the homeschooling journey.  But they are also great for even the most experienced homeschoolers to have.

1)  I believe an absolute necessity is Cathy Duffy's Top 101 Picks for Homeschoolers.  This book is incredible.  (Although when I was first introduced to it it was only her top 100 picks).  It breaks down homeschooling into manageable pieces and her recommendations I have found to be spot on.  She includes a section to determine your philosophy of education, your teaching type, and your student(s)' learning type.  Then she goes through each subject and breaks the subjects down into what matches up with what teaching AND learning style.  So it is easy to make wise choices.  She also has a website with a lot of the information on it - but I still recommend getting the book.  I share mine often.

2)  The Rainbow Resource Catalog - OK, I admit this book is a monster - I mean it is huge and it is heavy.  But it is jammed packed full of incredible homeschool supplies, materials and more.  Getting it each year is like an adventure that lasts an entire year.  Everything is broken down by subject, topic and even grades so you can easily find things.  Their website is awesome as well.  Their customer service is fantastic.

3)  Homeschool Conventions - I firmly believe in attending homeschool conventions, especially if they are good ones.  When we began our journey 9 years ago, I was blessed to be part of a military community - so we had lots of ladies with lots of experiences and knowledge. But more importantly they were so willing to share that knowledge - especially with someone who was brand new to the world and needed guidance.  I remember several of the ladies giving me some sage advice that I use to this day - never buy on the very first day.  Our family always spends the first first day just looking around (well I should say my husband, my mom and I), while our children typically participate in the Children's Conferences (well they used to participate - now all but our youngest are old enough to help instead).  I bring the entire family.  We use the opportunity as a family vacation.  But I will be devoting an entire post in the future to conventions.  I will end by saying there is nothing like a homeschool convention to be able to see, touch and connect with homeschoolers and homeschool materials.

4)  Homeschool Magazines and catalogs - There are a wealth of maganzines and catalogs homeschoolers can choose from that assist in choosing curriculum and such.  Some of my favorites include "The Old Schoolhouse Magazine" and "Practical Homeschooling".  I love Christianbook.com for homeschooling materials as well.

5)  The Internet:  In these days and times there are a wealth of sites online that can assist with your homeschool journey.  Or even if you don't want to homeschool full time, on those rainy or snowy or dreary days when the children claim they are bored, you can go online and find activities for them to do.

6)  Educational Manipulatives:  I love manipulatives.  I love giving our children a chance to experience learning "first-hand" - if you will pardon my pun.  Some children just learn better by doing, touching or creating.  So they need outlets for those experiences.

7)   Patience and a Sense of Humor:  Homechooling parents need a healthy dose of patience and wonderful sense of humor.  Some days will just not go like you planned, and you need to understand that.  There will be fantastic days where everything just clicks and moves along smoothly.  But then there will also be days when everything and anything that can go wrong does.  But if you keep the right perspective, you will all come out on the other side having learned something.

8)  Some kind of Homeschool record-keeping system:  Whether your state requires it or not, you should maintain some type of records.  We have only homeschooled in two states:  North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  But for both I have used some kind of record keeping system.  In Pennsylvania where we have lived for the past 6 years, I am required to turn in a portfolio at the end of the year that has to include a list of what books we used on what days of the years.  Doing this by hand is tedious.  So instead, I  had a friend recommend a wonderful online program called "Homeschool Skedtrack".  I love the flexibility of this program.  While it is somewhat time consuming to enter everything in initially, the end result is marvelous.  Each subject/course is entered individually.  Assignments are marked off as they are completed.  If the students are responsible enough, you can assign them their own login to where they keep up with what needs to be done each day and mark it off as completed.  At the end of the day, the parent goes through and approves what they have done.  Then the next assignment pops up for the net day.  If for some reason a student does not complete something, it automatically moves it to the next day.  Also the parent can schedule days off and what courses are on what days.  This program is one of the best I have seen.  And the fact that it is free is terrific.  

9)  A Homeschooling community (whether it be found online, in a group, with one or two friends or a co-op).  You need to connect with other homeschoolers.  It is okay if this takes a while to find the right fit for your family.  When we began our journey, I became part of a group that met once a week - moms (dads if they could come) and children.  We did various activities based on the week of the month.  It fit our family perfectly.  I have found tons of community online to give me support.  It is nice to know when I have a question, an answer is as close as my computer screen.  I have never participated in a co-op, simply because I have not found the right fit for our family.  But I know lots of people who have participated in them and found them to be very useful.

So these are my top 9 favorites for homeschoolers.  I hope you enjoyed reading about them.

Scheduling Chores, Activities and Routines

Having just moved into our current home gives us opportunity to re-evaluate our daily schedule and routines.  We homeschool, so that means I have my children home all day every day.  So every meal we typically eat at home (especially since our oldest is lactose-intolerant).   So we expect our children to help fix meals and clean up after the meals.  Also we expect our children to do their laundry and clean their rooms.

So scheduling chores, activities and routines become a natural part of life.  Through the years I have had numerous books and methods shared for scheduling chores.  Two of my favorite ones are "Managers of their Home" by the Maxwell family and "Large Family Logistics" by Kim Brenneman.  Both of these methods have their benefits.  It really depends on your personal preference.

"Managers of their Homes" uses a very detailed approach.  Literally, you break down every minute of every day for everyone in the household and every single thing you all need to accomplish each day.  Once you do this, then you assign tasks to specific time slots.  Each person/activity is color coded.  Once you complete the initial chart, you fill out a large chart that can be put up on a wall where everyone can see it.  This way everyone can see what is going on when.

Another option for scheduling activities is "Large Family Logistics", which breaks things down into routines.  So there would be a morning routine, meal routines, Afternoon Routines, Evening Routines and so forth.  The routines would be specific to your family and your family's needs.  There are also specific days assigned to things like running errands (Town Day), Laundry Day, Kitchen Day, Office Day and so forth.

It really depends on your own preferences or tastes.  I love both.  For someone just looking to begin organizing their day, take time to look at both and decide what works best for your family and the season of life you are in.  Then investigate what is out there.  Regardless of what you decide, I have to say having a written plan is a necessary part of organizing your day.  What methods do you like for organizing your day?  #blogboost

A Day in Our Life as Homeschoolers

So it is Friday and it is also day 10 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  Today I want to talk a little more about homeschooling and how how our day goes.  My husband is usually the first one up because he typically leaves around 7:30 in the morning to go to work.  He likes to start his day off by reading his Bible.  So typically he gets up between 6 and 6:30.  Then at almost exactly 7:02 every morning, our daughter bounds into our bedroom to begin her homeschool day.  She works in our room at my desk, which makes life easier - she can show me her work as she completes it.  Plus she doesn't (or should I say I don't) have to lug the books all over the house.  She finishes these subjects and then assumes her duty as the town crier (AKA - the walking, talking, screaming alarm clock) going around to the boys' bedrooms to tell them it is time to get up.  Sometimes the boys do well with this and other times laziness sets in for a while.  She then proceeds downstairs to eat breakfast.  

After eating breakfast, she heads to her bedroom where she does her subjects on her computer.  As she goes to her room, she typically reminds the boys that it is time to get up.  All three boys work in their bedrooms.  Our youngest son will come show me his work as he completes it.  The older two tend to forget this step.  My oldest son does all of his work on the computer.  My second son has a mix of books, workbooks and subjects he does on the computer.  Starting around 12 Noon everyone begins their lunch time routine.  Once lunch is over the younger two typically have recess outside for 30 minutes while the older two have some time to do things they want to do.  Around 1:30 everyone is back to work.  They continue working until they are either finished or Dad gets home from work.  Dad typically gets home anywhere between 3:45 and 4:45 depending on the day.

At 4:30 everyone is supposed to be on the first floor to help with dinner detail.  Some will set the table.  Some may empty the dishwasher.  Still others help Dad or I prepare the meal.  But everyone is supposed to be roughly together.  Once dinner is ready, we all sit down at the table and eat together.  Some of our dinner conversations are quite fascinating while others lend themselves to the disgusting side of life.  We may discuss things they learned about that day or we may talk about things they are simply interested in - it all depends on the day.  After dinner, the four children are tasked with cleaning up the kitchen.  Once that is done, everyone basically has free time.  Sometimes sone of them play games.  Sometimes we may watch a movie.  Other times we have evening activities planned such as church or shopping or other things that need to be done.

Anywhere from 9:30, if it is a school night, to 11 pm is bedtime.  Then the next day we start it all over again.  So I hope you enjoyed taking a peak inside our day.

Never liked English in School So How Did I Get Here?

Alright I need to be honest about something.  All through school English was never my favorite subject.  Oh, for the most part I adored reading (I am a bookaholic), but the rest of it including literature analyses and such I did not necessarily find fun, exciting or interesting.  Initially I went to school to become a teacher, but allowed some well meaning people and a few not so well meaning people to convince me I was on the wrong path.  So I switched majors and colleges to pursue a degree in Business Administration.  This was not my "best yes" by any means.

I graduated from college and despite attending numerous job fairs and interviews through the university,  I did not find a job.  Then I decided to stay in school to complete the courses I needed to get an accounting degree.  After all there would always be a need for accountants.  That first summer, I ended up getting the worst sunburn of my life along with falling through a dock and hurting my knee.  So I ended up not doing well in the courses.  I decided to withdraw.  And because of some other things going on I ended up moving to Jacksonville, NC to live with my finance's sister.  The following August we ended up getting married.

Four years later we had our first son.  Then we had two more sons and while I was working at an Insurance agency as the office manager and enjoyed my job, it was time for a change.  So I interviewed for and accepted a job as a high school math teacher.  I did what is called Lateral-Entry - it means you already have a degree and courses you need to get certified in a particular area and basically just have the education course requirements left.  I worked at the school for two years, the third son was born during that second year.  My husband and I decided it was best for me to pursue being a substitute teacher since we had health insurance through his job.

Two years later we found out we were expecting our daughter and it was in our best interest for me to quit working.  Two years after she was born, my husband went active duty in the Army Reserves and we moved on the military installation.  At that point, I decided to go back to school to finish my education requirements.  During this time, I had a wonderful instructor for one of my courses.  She was an amazing woman.  She was teaching another one of the courses I needed, but it was on the Masters Level.  She offered the opportunity for several of us who already had degrees and were in the current course with her the opportunity to take this Masters Level class.  What an amazing journey it was too!  The entire class revolved around nothing less than writing papers for the entire course and having meaningful discussions about what we learned.  This gave me a passion for writing.

During this time, my husband also went back to school and I had to proofread all his papers for him and much to my amazement I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed taking apart and putting back together theses masterpieces.  And they must have been masterpieces because he wound up with "A's" in the majority of his courses.

I also was homeschooling my children - which you guessed it, involved me teaching English.  So when we moved from eastern NC to western PA it only seemed fitting to begin a blog.  I enjoyed writing this.  I enjoyed writing about our experiences, our dreams, our thoughts and just the general thoughts that came to mind.  So even though I never liked English in school, I am enjoying it now.

How I Choose Our Homeschool Curriculum - Part 2

So we are back for day 6 of the Ultimate Blog challenge and day 2 of my discussion about how I choose our homeschool curriculum.

If you read the blog yesterday, these were the last things I had to say:

      "We have the lists of what we need, so we know what we are looking for and      possibly what vendors will have those items.  Then we go back to our hotel room that evening and have a frank discussion of what we saw."  

We discuss the merits of the choices.  We look at any literature we may have collected from the vendors.  Sometimes we look online at the vendor's website or possibly Cathy Duffy's site to confirm our thoughts about the curriculum.  Then we start making new lists.  This time we typically pick 3 to 5 choices per subject that we want to investigate further.  We have a good idea of what will work for our family.  Day 2 of the convention is spent examining in depth curriculum.  This is where things get really serious.  If a vendor does not have time or interest in talking to us, most likely we will eliminate that selection.  I understand that vendors are busy and we go to conventions that have a ton of people.  But if I stand in a booth watching new people walk in and be helped, it turns me off to that vendor.  

Of course, if the vendor acknowledges me and indicates they will be with me when they finish with the current customer, I can understand that and will wait patiently.  So typically on day 2, my husband and I spend time looking and comparing together.  Other parts of the day, he has a list of items he is responsible for looking at while I have my list of items.  This is where we break our initial lists down further.  We look at the materials closely and with our children and our lifestyle in mind.  then that night we go back to our hotel room and again evaluate what we saw and learned that day.  Sometimes, we bring a child or some of the children into the discussion since our children are older.  It helps to have their opinions occasionally.  Other times, we just make executive decisions.  Finally day 3 comes around (if there are 3 days in the convention) and purchases have to be made.  If there are only 2 days for the convention (like the one for CHAP in Pennsylvania), then day 2 changes to the day purchases are made.  Usually by the time the CHAP convention rolls around we have already attended at least one other convention, so we have already looked at a lot of the material and are really just trying to fill in gaps.

Day 3 we have carts and items to place materials in.  This is also the day that everyone is called to action.  If we have a lot of material to buy, my husband and I may split the list and make purchases accordingly.  Other times, we find it faster to stay together - that way we can make runs to the van or hotel room if necessary to unload things.  With 4 children we can acquire quite a bit.  Plus we usually end up adding in some extra items for my husband's Ministry collection or for my personal library.

I love when I can purchase books or materials and actually bring them home with me.  However, that doesn't always happen.  Sometime we have to order the materials and wait for them to arrive.  But when the boxes start being delivered, it is a fantastic day.  I hope you enjoyed reading a little about how we pick our homeschool curriculum.

We begin 

How we entered the world of Homeschooling

So as I said before, I was going to share how we got into the world of homeschooling.  Once again, God has a sense of humor.  You see my husband, prior to us beginning homeschooling, was totally against the idea.  He felt like children needed to be in classrooms in public schools.  I often hear people express that same opinion.  Moreover, I hear people say that children can become socialized while being homeschooled.  But I beg to differ.  I caution people to never say, "I could/would not ever do something/"  Because immediately that sets someone up to have to have their words thrown back in their face.  

Our son went to two different public schools for grades kindergarten thru 5th.  The first one he attended kindergarten through 2nd.  Then we moved from one home to a home on a military installation.  So he did 3rd and 4th there and began 5th.  However, he was placed in a classroom with a teacher that was completely the wrong person to be teaching him.  Because it was a small school on an air station., we did not have a lot of options.  This teacher made it impossible for us to leave him in the school.  The school had a full-time nurse who was at the school full-time.  On the morning in question, she was there.  My son had health issues that it would take us until 2013 to get diagnosed  (took that long for symptoms to get bad enough for us to want to put our son through endoscopies).  We knew he had heath concerns and this particular day, I knew he did not feel good.  But I asked him to try to hold out until lunch.  However, the teacher took it upon herself to determine that my son was faking as a result of forgetting to bring the spelling words he was forced to select on the second week of school instead of the teacher providing the list of words to the students.  She ended up yelling at me, not a good start for a conversation about my son.  She told me I could do what I wanted to with my son - so I took him home.  I knew my son was sick so what other choice would I make.  

Based on the conversation with the teacher, I went home with my son and called my husband.  I said something needed to change.  Our other 3 children all attended this school and had wonderful teachers, wonderful classrooms and had all their needs being met.  We had three choices - change all the children to a different school, change just Jacob to a different school (which didn't work because we would have to provide transportation and I could not be two places at one time).  Or we could just homeschool our oldest.  Mentally I had gone through all the possible decisions and  investigated homeschooling before I talked to my husband.  I knew I was up for the challenge - after all I had been a teacher in a classroom and taken the teacher certification courses.  So that part didn't scare me.  So I went into the conversation knowing what my decision was going to be.  Surprisingly enough he agreed with my choice.  Of course we had family members who were skeptical.  But in the long run, the majority came around.  Less than a month after bringing our son home we saw tremendous changes for the good in him.  He started to enjoy being around his family.  He started to do better with his schoolwork.  Within that first year, my husband became a really staunch advocate of homeschooling.  

We became part of a homeschool group, so that plus scouts gave him opportunities to be with others his own age.  The next year we brought all the children home and I have to say it has been a tremendous blessing for our family.

Life of a Mom of 4 - Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge

So I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and today I want to talk about life for me as the mom of 4.  I am a wife and a mother.  I also homeschool our 4 children.  Obviously I have held the title of wife longer than mother or homeschooler.  Life is never dull being the wife of a military service member, nor is it dull with 4 children in the house.

Our oldest turned 18 back in June.  He has been our interesting child.  Since the day he was born, he has never let us have a dull moment.  From breaking our crib to driving our van into a fence at 4 years old (although our 2nd son was his cohort in crime for that little excursion).  He keeps life exciting.  He is the protector of his little sister and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.  He is the reason we got into homeschooling in the first place.  At 18 he still gives me tons of hugs and kisses along with saying he loves me.  He even does this in front of his friends (much to the friends' dismay and the friends' mothers disappointment that their sons don't).

Then along came number 2.  He's my one that arrived in the world before nurses or doctor were ready - or even the aunt who was my coach.  He  has a smile that lights up a room.  Although he quietly goes around stirring up trouble and leaving excitement in his wake.  I quickly learned to find him when things happened at our house.  This was also the child that at 2 years old assisted in the great minivan fence fiasco.  He is also an Eagle Scout and was the youngest scout in our troop at that time to have earned the rank.  He sets goals and achieves them!  He and his older brother earned their ranks of Eagle Scout on the same day and we had one fantastic Eagle ceremony, where their younger brother served as Master of Ceremonies.

Then came number 3 who took anything we might have thought we learned from 1 and 2 and made us throw it out the window.  This child had no fear - I repeat no fear!  He would jump into pools even if mom and dad were on the other side of the pool.  Because he knew we would race to the other side to get him.  At Busch Gardens Williamsburg, he went up and down the ropes area for kids and race down the slides only to jump up and race back to the top - sure that Daddy would catch back up with him before he reached the point where the attendants might make him stop.  And this was all because Mom couldn't keep up seeing how she was about 7 months pregnant at the time.  He's had the most stitches of our children- approximately 7 sets with the majority being in his head within a one year period.  We quickly discovered the only thing wrong was motor skill issues.  Fortunately we were able to take him to an amazing physical therapy office in NC. He was the only one to fracture a bone and other adventures as well.

Then along came his cohort in crime.  They are the dynamic duo and the Bobbsey Twins and quite a few other things rolled in one.  Our little girl quietly entered the scene and took everything in.  She moved with stealthiness that is hard to come by.  She is defended by her three big brothers.  She grew up with three brothers plus being surrounded by loads of boys thanks to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  She has no fear either.  Anything the boys can do, I assure you she will say she can do better.  She is my little doll.  She is my sunshine.  

So needless to say, my life is never boring they keep me on my toes and I love every minute of it.  Often people tell me, "Oh I couldn't homeschool my children".  Well I say don't say you will never do something, because God has an amazing sense of humor.  So you might be surprised what you find yourself doing.  And #blogboost - 2 days down and 29 days to go!

Life, Moving and Homeschooling

So like most years, we started our homeschool year back in the middle of July.  We had stopped a little bit earlier than normal because we moved from one house to another.  This meant all of our homeschool materials had to be packed up.  So the idea was for the most important items to be placed either in the rooms where needed them; where we wanted them or where they could most easily be accessed.  Also all boxes were to be clearly labeled with what was inside and who the items belonged to or what rooms the items belonged to - i.e. kitchen, oldest son, daughter, my mom and so forth.  However this did not happen with us having our 3 teenage sons, one pre-teen daughter and some of children's friends.  

Don't get me wrong, they packed really well.  However, they failed miserably at labeling.  So now we are a couple of months into our school year, and many items I need are missing - meaning buried beyond a mountain of stuff or otherwise hidden.

Also the moment I say, "Where is such and such - I know person A packed it". I get the answer of, "I didn't pack that and I have no clue where it might be."  

Now top that off with a husband in the military and things get more interesting.  He has had two trips to take to other states.  Both of them allowed me the opportunity to go with him since he was authorized to drive.  So that meant 6 days we were going to be out of the house.

I don't know if you homeschool or not, or even have children - but the combination of the cat being away (me - the enforcer of all rules and grandmother in the house since my mom lives with us) means the mice will really play.   The mice playing interferes with schoolwork getting done.  So I need to make a plan to get everyone caught up, on schedule, and on pace.  Stay tuned for our continuing saga.

It's been a while

So it has been a while since I posted.  Life has been moving right along.  We are getting settled into our new home.  Everyone seems to really be enjoying themselves.  School is still going on at a reduced level.  However, this time next week, we will be back at full force doing all subjects.  We still need to add Literature, IEW-SICC, Latin. Art and Music to our day along with our Wisdom Books.  So Monday morning will begin that.

Our family labored on Labor Day Weekend.  We put up corn, beets, tomatoes, peppers, and worked on getting pickles done.  The pickles will get put up today.  I will try to post photos later.

This weekend Dennis will be attending a change of command ceremony.  The children will be working on school.

I will spend most of the weekend planning school materials and getting ready for the Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Studies new Bible Study - "The Best Yes" by Lysa Terkeurst.  I am really looking forward to this study.  It has been nice to take the summer off, but I am ready to get back into things.  In two weeks, Dennis will be preaching at the Salvation Army Corps.  I am looking forward to hearing him speak.

On August 22nd, Dennis and I celebrated 22 years of marriage.   We spent the day together.  We went to Carlisle, PA to get his DA photo done.  We ate lunch at the Macaroni Grill in Harrisburg, PA.  From there we went to the outlets at Hershey.  We took a ride through the Hershey Resort Campground.  We really want to take our family camping there.  Then we came back through Selinsgrove and spent some time looking around at some stores.  We found a refrigerator we fell in love with.  Then we went to the Outback Steakhouse in State College.  The service was not as good as we would have wanted.  But the food was pretty good.  One of the most enjoyable parts of the ride was seeing the countryside and all the Amish farms/people/buggies.  Well I guess that is enough for now.

Our Week So Far - Thankful Tuesday

Well, this week is a lot less busy than last week. Last week, we had VBS each night.  Dennis and I led the music and did the opening.  It was wonderful.  Our church did "Weird Animals".  Dennis did great playing Dr. Paws.  My oldest son was a leader for the 7 & 8 years old, and I went around with him.  My second son took pictures.  My third son ended up helping with the 5 and 6 year olds.  And of course our baby girl was in the 9 - 12 year old group.  

We had amazing people in charge of the various activities.  The crafts were fantastic.  Each night, we had animals brought in - including two snakes, a skunk, two dogs, some guinea pigs, a bunny and some other animals.  The children loved them.  

Sunday we had our graduation ceremony and everyone did fantastic!  We sang two of the songs - everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

We are also still doing modified school - meaning we are not back to full force on all the subjects yet.  We still need to add in Latin, Wisdom Books, Chemistry for my oldest two, Literature and IEW SICC-B.  I am getting most of the subjects entered into our online planner for the year.  Once I am done, all the children will need to do is log on to see what they need to do and they can mark it as completed.  Then I can go back and input grades as they finish.

I am reading Paperless Organization in the hopes of going digital for my home management binder.  I am also trying to get more into Flylady and utilizing her routines, Cozi, and the flight plans to help me stay on top of things at the house.  I am also getting ready to re-read Large Family Logistics to try and get some systems in place for living in our new home.

We have had some amazing meals the last few days - including our last quart bag of my father in law's pork bar-b-que.  We had fresh zucchini on the grill last night that our neighbor gave us (he also gave us some lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint and basil).  I love having the fresh vegetables.  

I am looking forward to a quiet weekend this weekend, since Dennis has drills.  Plus the children and I will hopefully get some things done around the house.  In two weeks, Dennis and I will be celebrating 22 years of marriage.  That is amazing to me.

So what's up with you today?  I would love for you to share!

Our New School Year so Far

So we are about 2 weeks into our school year.  We began on the 16th of July.  The first couple of days, we basically just covered math and language arts.  Then last week, we added in History and Science.  This week we added in the excitement of Vacation Bible School.  Dennis and I are doing the opening, the music and the opening skit.  I have to say, my husband is absolutely amazing.  He is doing a fantastic job getting into character.  Our oldest son is a co-leader for one of the groups (ages 7 and 8).  I am amazed by the gifts God has given him every time I see him work with children.  Our second son is taking photographs of all the groups.  Our youngest son is helping with the opening, plus assisting with one of the younger groups.  

I love the experiences the children are gaining by participating in VBS.  They grow in their faith, their ability to communicate and the ability to relate to others.  So school is somewhat slowed down this week, but next week we will kick it up into high gear.

For this year, I have one that would technically be in 10th grade, a 9th grader and a 7th grader.  All four children are doing the Advanced Training Institute Wisdom Book Language Arts, and Wisdom Books, Art, PE and Music.  The younger three are all doing Student Writing Intensive Course B, and Phonetic Zoo/Spelling Power.

The 10th grader is doing:  Alpha Omega Monarch Algebra and Geometry, First Form Latin,  Daily Grams 10th grade, Friendly Chemistry, Introduction to Criminal Justice, as well as Forensic Science.

The 9th grader is doing Life of Fred Math (currently preparing to start the Advanced Algebra book), but while we are waiting for the book to come in, he is doing Videotext Interactive Online Algebra.  He is doing Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology, First Form Latin,   First Form Latin, and we are still working to pick out his electives.

Our 7th grader is doing Life of Fred Math (currently doing Pre-Algebra I with Biology), Daily Grams, Latina Christiana, and Exploring Creation with General Science.  

All of the children participate in Home Economics by helping around the house.  Some of the children are starting to be more involved with the preparation and cooking of our meals.  

Also since we just moved to a new home in the later part of June, we are still settling into the house - which means lots of unpacking, sorting, decluttering and such.

So  how are things going in your world?  We welcome comments.

So we are moved in

We are moved into our new rental home.  We only moved about 10 minutes away from our previous home, but it feels like we have moved into a different world in a lot of ways.  I am having to adjust to not having mail delivery - this is a first in my entire life.  No matter where we have lived, we have always had our mail delivered.  What is really ironic about this is that we have a post office.  

Now we just have tons of boxes to unpack and all the things to put away.  We have been doing a little at a time.  But at least we have made some progress.  As we unpack, we are also trying to get rid of some things.  The younger two love that they have a dedicated play/classroom.  

Everyone loves the home we have moved into.  We are in a quiet little town that actually is a village.  We are just a little ways from a State Park - although we have not really investigated that yet.

Of course the move made it necessary to suspend school, so my goal is to start back on Wednesday.  Fortunately we know where the children's books are, so starting should be relatively easy.

3 Simple Steps - Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies Living So That by Wendy Blight Blog Hop

3 Simple Steps I take to combat the flesh and feed the Spirit - after all Jesus did not just feed His flesh when He was in the desert for 40 days.  He told Satan that Man can not live by bread along and this is true.  The first thing I do is try to spend time in my Bible.  I have an Ipad and I absolutely adore the YouVersion Bible app.  It allows me to choose from an incredible amount of Bible study plans that fit my needs and interests.  Then it gives me the option to send myself reminders at a specific time of day to ensure I complete my reading plans. It also gives me the chance to catch up on my plan if I get behind.  I find this invaluable.  Also, if I find a plan is not what I thought it was I can stop the plan.  Also, I can share my progress on Twitter and Facebook - which allows me to share with my friends what I am reading.

Second, I try to spend time daily in prayer - and more than twice a day.  As I am going about my daily routine, I often find something or someone on my mind that I feel drawn to pray for and I don't worry about where I am at the time.  Also once a week, I try to attend our Salvation Army Corps' weekly prayer meeting along with my husband.  Now I have to admit sometimes life gets in the way!  Also, we try to have prayer with our family.

Finally, I spend as much time with like minded believers.  God's Word tells us this is a necessity.  We have to be around His people.  Almost every day of the week, we are involved in some activity(activities) at our Salvation Army Corps which is our church.  We reach out and try to become involved.  My husband and I both feel we have a calling from God to ministry work.  So we seek out and join in various activities - including what we call our League of Mercy - which involved visiting two local nursing homes/assisted living facilities once a month and helping with our soup kitchen once a month.

The biggest blessing I get from this is spending time with our family.  We homeschool our children, so most of the activities we do together. 

These are just three of the things I try to do to feed the Spirit.  God calls us to deepen our walk with Him.  We need to reach out in what ever ways He leads to accomplish this.  When we reach out to Him, He reaches back to us.  As we just celebrated Easter and the Resurrection, it reminds me of Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

A small update

Here is a small update on our family.  Life has been really busy around our house since the beginning of February.  In February, Dennis, Jacob and I attended the Candidates Seminar weekend for the Salvation Army in New York.  That Friday night, we attended services at the temple in Manhattan.  It was an incredible evening.  It is amazing to see what God is doing in our oldest son's life.

Then in March, Dennis, Jacob and I attended the Soldiers Retreat for the Salvation Army at Camp Ladore.  Again, it was an incredible weekend.  Joseph was supposed to come up for the day on Saturday with some of our other Youth, but it didn't happen unfortunately.

Then on the last Saturday of March, Dennis, me, and a couple of other adults from our corps took some of our youth to a Divisional Youth Music festival on the outskirts of Philadelphia.  It was a really long day because we got up at 4:00 AM and didn't get back until 9:30 at night.  But it was incredible to see the talent in our division.  It also was great to get to see our Training College cadets at work that day.  They did a devotional time that was incredible.

Then at the beginning of this month, we took a group of youth (including all four of our children) to our Divisional Youth Council.  It was also an incredible time of worship, praise,  and decisions being made for Christ.  Our oldest son joined Dennis and I onstage during the call to officership.  What was incredible about this was our Corps officer along with those in attendance joined us on stage (the same went for all those who responded to the call from other corps) and there was a time of prayer for us.  It was truly incredible.

Now we are winding down the school year and working toward cleaning up and decluttering our home.  For one never knows when we might get our next orders to move.  We have some children who are experiencing growing pains and we have others who are growing incredible amounts but not having the pains.

January 13 2014 update

Well it has been a while since I posted anything.  A lot has been going on with the holidays.  We helped with the Christmas activities at our corps.  Dennis completed his final course for his bachelor's degree, so now all we are waiting on is his diploma to come from Liberty University.  

We took a trip to North Carolina to see his family.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  It was good to get to see the family and the children even got to walk in the sand a little bit.

We recently found out that Dennis, Jacob and myself were accepted to go to the Salvation Army's Candidates' Weekend in Suffren, New York.  So we will be making that trip in February.  We (Dennis and I) are going since we want to become officers in the Salvation Army.  Jacob is going because he wants to pursue going to Railton - the Salvation Army Eastern Territory Youth Pastor College.  So we will see what happens.

Next month we need to have another Corps Cadet Sunday, so we will be gearing up for that.  Jacob may be the one to give the sermon that day.  This month we will finish our first course for Corps Cadets.  Then in February we start the second course.  The cadets seem to be doing an excellent job.

Today is the first day back to our normal routine of activities.  The after school program resumes along with Music Company as well as Beginner Band.  This morning we woke up around 6 am so Dennis, Joseph and I could go to the YMCA.  Our goal is to get Nathan through the course he needs to take so he can go with us.

So there is  a little update on our family.