Finding a New Groove

One of the groove busters: our MN vacation.
Here are the kids 0n Paul Bunyan's lap in Northern Minnesota.

Somewhere along the way, I lost my schooling groove and my blogging groove. I am looking for them. If you find them --or any of my other good grooves, will you return them to me?

Ahhh, if it could only be that easy.

It's always harder to restart than it is to keep going, isn't it? So, why do I have such trouble remembering that? Sometimes it's a circumstance: a vacation, a sick child, a broken car, or some other time-consuming event. Then my feelings take advantage: I don't feel like it.

Another pic from our groove-busting, memory-filled vacation.

It is just like when I am running along and then... bam... there I am walking. I didn't decide to walk. But I am walking none-the-less. It is best if I take three quick steps as soon as I notice I'm walking or I may walk a long way. And so it is with my habits, I need to take quick action or it may be a long time before I'm grooving again.

Unfortunately, I did not take quick action and so I find myself today in need of lots of gumption to find the grooves of schooling and blogging.

One of the easier grooves to re-establish has been running. It hasn't been as long since I was in the groove as it has been with the others. Also, my oldest is running with me. He woke me up yesterday when I didn't hear my alarm.

So there is that, too: fresh enthusiasm from another. Always very helpful to get over a hump of inertia.

And in the running together, I have passed on a couple of tid-bits: watch your form and it's a mental game. Now, at first they were for him. But, I have found that I need to apply this mental game advice to my every day life.

Our family at our dear friends' wedding.

Most of us can get up and run -- even if it is not your method of getting a work-out. But the big part of learning to run (and a great benefit of running) is to teach your mind to direct and not your body. Decide beforehand how long you will run and how you will run. The work-outs can be slow and easy with no walking or fast and hard run with short walking breaks.

The type of run doesn't matter as much as training the body to do what your mind says and not what it feels like.

And isn't that great advice for tackling the daily details? Determine in advance what you will do in spite of what you feel like doing.

And so, I determined in advance that we will do math this week even though it is birthday week at our house (three birthdays, seven days). We will set our alarms and begin our routines. And instead of reading lots of blogs this morning, I am writing my own blog post. I need to re-establish the blogging groove somehow. Here it is.

Cute, aren't they?
At the end of our three-day camping trip in Northern Minnesota.

What are you determining to do in spite of how you feel?
Are you in a good groove?
Or, are you like me and beginning again?

P.S. Welcome to the Company Girls...I've been gone awhile...thanks for checking in on me...and for my other readers click HERE to get to know some other folks...

The Plan for the upcoming 2011-2012 School Year

Hello! Welcome to all and especially to those hopping on over from the the Not-Back-To-School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter.

Today's post will be focusing on curriculum.

Since I home-school multiple ages, I try to do as many subjects together as possible. That includes science, history, Bible, and read-alouds. Also, I adhere to a learning lifestyle that includes many books that we read aloud together, looking up questions as they come up, observing wild life around us. But I do recognize that there are some academic skills that we'll not master if we don't take the time to intentionally pursue them.

So the following list is mainly for our in-the-seat work.

Bible
Our main text is The Story Bible by Catherine Vos. We read aloud. Then the kids take turns telling me what they remember, also called narration in the Charlotte Mason method.

AWANA handbooks: they each take ownership of memory verses and projects. I'll need to help the Kindergartener since he'll be learing to read. I have one who graduated out of the program after achieving the Timothy Award. So my seventh grader & I will be memorizing whole chapters of the Bible together. This will be incentive for me to memorize Scripture.

Sunday school class, VBS, and life lessons as they come up.

Math--
In order to create a fun atmosphere in regards to math we have these resources around.
I Hate Mathematics
Math for Smarty Pants
Games for Learning Math by Peggy Kaye

Muggins, Math-It, Yahtzee & many other games
Math-U-See blocks, legos
Dice, coins, chips, fraction wheels, rulers

Making Math Meaningful by David Quine for the K, 5 & 6th grader
Life of Fred for the 7th grader


Language
English From the Roots Up, Vol. I by Lundquist
Emma Serl's Language Lessons (Both Primary & Intermediate depending on which student)
Four days a week prompts to write in a composition book.
Learning Spelling Through Copy Work

History
Our main text is V. Hillyer's A Child's Story of the World. We read a chapter and then the children draw a picture and write about it. As they get older, I'm requiring more be written. We emphasize using our best handwriting and applying grammar rules.


We're entering the Roman phase as we read chronologically. I hope to read some of Genieve Foster's Caesar Augustus World. I also look up books that will fit in this time period, using different book lists that I can find including a Carole Joy Seid book list, Valerie Bendt's Unit Study book. I also use Honey for a Child's Heart, Books Children Love, and the Read Aloud Handbook to find good books to read, not just for history but also for science and for fun. I love looking for new good books to read.

I will also check out a book or two from the library about crafts & projects we can do. We also have a global puzzle, spend time looking at maps, too.

Science
Considering God's Creation: We have several units left that I would like to cover: animal classification, weather, and some others. There are other resources listed in each unit that I use to supplement.

The Periodic Table for Elementary Students.

Nature Walks & Observations in a field trip notebook

Art
Artistic Pursuits by Brenda & Dan Ellis
Creating Books with Children by Valerie Bendt (oh.. to finish this project! it is up first!)

I also try to have lots of art supplies on-hand.


Kindergarten
Alphaphonics by Samuel Blumenfeld. I have taught the other three with this book. When we complete this book, they can get a library card of their own. (The local library will give you one when they are born. When we started the phonics program with the first born, none of them had cards and I thought this would be a wonderful incentive and directly related to reading! They loved not being restricted to the number of books because we had to share my card.)

Bob Books for practice of reading

Sparks handbook

Five In A Row Vol. I by Jane Lambert

Handwriting Without Tears

Making Math Meaningful-Kindergarten


Seventh Grader
Fix-Its by Pamela White, an IEW product. The student fixes grammar mistakes.

Other miscellaneous grammar workbooks that I picked up here & there. I still need to fill in the remainder of his grammar curriculum. This will be a focus while I'm hopping to other blogs.

Starting Points by Cornerstone Curriculum. I plan to do this over the course of two years. The program begins to teach how to discern worldviews and how they impact literature and history. In addition to the syllabus, the seventh grader will be reading: How to Read Slowly by James Sire, the Chronicles of Narnia, The Deadliest Monster, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Know What You Believe by Paul Little. This curriculum is to begin to teach Biblical world view thinking.



Other thoughts
In this post I am listing curriculum, if you click on a colored words it will take you to a website about that product. I tried to link to the writer of the product if I could. This is just for information. I haven't received anything to do this.

I appreciated when I began all the help that other home schoolers gave me. Still, when I need to focus on a new area, I'm thankful for the trading of resources & blog hops like this one.

If you would take the time -- which I'm assuming most of us don't have -- and clicked on my post from last year, you would notice we are using many of the same curriculum. We're in a groove right now that seems to be working -- and if it's working let's not fix it. The newest additions are for the oldest (a seventh grader) and the youngest (a kindergartener).

May we all have either a great School year no matter where we are educating our children!

When do your children go back to school? Some folks around here go back today, which seems way too early for a girl who always started the day after Labor Day. Did you look forward to going back to school as a child or were you terrified? Or tell us your plans for the upcoming school year.

A Year Ago

Our house

A year ago, I was taking a cold shower wondering if we would have to sell the house. I was wondering not because the hot water heater was broken but because my husband was unemployed. It just so happened that the water heater broke two days before he was notified of his lay-off.

A year ago, I was also wondering if we would go into full-time vocational ministry. We had talked on & off through the years about it, especially if something cataclysmic happened. This seemed cataclysmic to me.

A year ago, I was wondering if we would move to Minnesota where all of my family lives.

A year ago, I was wondering how long our savings would last. Would it be enough?

Now, I know the answers to those questions: no, we didn't go into full-time ministry, move to Minnesota, see a zero balance in our bank account, or even try to sell the house.

But last summer, no one could tell me what would happen to us. They could only tell me their stories. Alike but different. No one knew the answers to those questions except One. And He wasn't talking.

My head wanted answers. He knew what my heart needed: the day-by-day practice of trusting Him and of seeing Him work in the big and the little things.

the hydrangeas in our front yard

Eight boxes of food were given to us the same day we had three extra children at our house. They stayed for five days. God gave to us so that we could give to others. My husband and oldest son "just happened" to wait a long time and then be given free doughnuts the first Saturday after the lay-off.

God didn't work in mysterious ways. He worked through a friend showing up at my door with groceries for a nice dinner. She came on a day that I was particularly discouraged. Another friend gave us a gift certificate for a restaurant and an offer for free babysitting. God gave to us abundantly.

Others gave us money. At different times. In different amounts. Because "we love you." All those gifts of money were the reason we didn't see the zero balance in our bank account. We were humbly loved. How sweet it is.

We canceled two trips up north to see family. Through the contrast of ease of travel to then not being able to travel, I saw how sure it was that God swept me up to Minneapolis at just the right time to be there -- at my brother-in-law's side when he took his last breath. He battled cancer for three and a half years. I live nine hundred miles away. Yet, God took me there at that moment. I was able to be with my sister for a week and half just after he died. How thankful I am that I was able to do something and be there when I live 900 miles away. And just as sure as he swept me there and back to Tennessee, I was unable to travel at all for 13 months.

Two canceled trips. He showed me that He is in control when I'm not paying attention (such as the ease to get to Minnesota just six weeks before) and when I am disappointed about rearranged plans. We canceled the enrollment of my oldest two in a writing class. Instead, we hosted a sign language class at our house, which became a treasured memory from last school year. His plan is better than mine.

Peace came through trusting Him. It did not come through answers or even a job. Yes, I was happy and relieved when my husband was offered a job six months later. But relief is not the same as peace.

The tree house that we built last summer and fall.

Today, I am thankful for my husband's job. I am thankful we were able to get back to Minnesota to visit family after a 13 month hiatus. I am thankful for a tree house that we built because of a canceled trip. I am thankful for more ways that God provided than I can list here. I am even thankful for the disappointments and the loss for I have gained something greater than any loss I felt.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." Philippians 3:8

I am thankful for the lessons learned while we were sailing on the Sea of Saturdays.

May I continue to walk in peace and not relief.

May I continue to know the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus,

Humbly yours,

Kathleen

Welcome Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood from Jen @ Finding Heaven. Link on over there to find more inspiration of God at work.

Do you have a story to tell about looking back and seeing the hand of God work in your life? I would love to hear how God works through you, too.

For those who were wondering...

...and for those who weren't... the picture in the post prior to this was located in Wisconsin. Congratulations go to the grandma in Vancouver who guessed correctly due to the mouse and cheese! For some reason the upper Midwest loves to make tall statues of various items. And for some reason we love to taking pictures by them.

One day if scan my old photos into the computer, I would have quite a number of photos in front of different statues. Whew! Aren't you glad I haven't put all my photos on the computer?!?

O, Happy Day!

Then & Now

A quick hello to blog land. We've continued to gallivant around. But in the process I have set my screen saver to be the pictures that I have loaded onto the computer. So we all find ourselves sitting down and looking at our most recent pictures. (I started loading in the middle of 2009.)

Here is a little observation about time flying.

Last summer

This summer

The picture is shot at the same location somewhere on our travels. Does anyone know where we are? Do you have a guess at the state? Do you have a tradition of taking photos at the same place or way each year?

Have a happy day!

Home Again

Well, well, well. Last time I blogged, I hadn't blogged in three weeks. Now it has been longer than that. We have just arrived home from a 3,000 mile road trip! Whew!

My husband and I attended an Appleseed weekend while the kids visited cousins for a week in Chicago. Then, we all traveled onto Minneapolis where we celebrated a 6 year old birthday, reminisced with high school friends, hugged family, watched my nephew play baseball, rode a Ferris wheel, had a water fight, ate lots of food, enjoyed blue skies with puffy white clouds.

Then we traveled to Northern Minnesota where we camped on an island for three days, drank purple cows, took our picture with Paul Bunyan. For our next stop we drove a little further west to participate in a wedding: a matron of honor, two junior flowermaids, a singer/guitar player, a ring bearer and a reader. We all had a job. We tubed down a river, rehearsed, met some new friends and celebrated with dear friends and danced the night away.

We have managed to arrive home with less tears than expected and lots of sweat! It sure is hot out there (especially when the fan on the van stops blowing!) and we sure are glad to be home!

There were many more memories....hope to post some pictures soon and some new thoughts that are brewing.

Hope y'all are keeping cool in this heat!

With joy, Kathleen

p.s. Welcome Coffee Company sisters....if you're not one...check 'em out HERE.

Here and There *

*This post has been edited to add a few photos and captions.

Three weeks it has been since I blogged. I have not abandoned nor forsaken the blog. In my three week blogging absence, we have been living life. I will highlight a few of our adventures.

We picked five gallons of strawberries. They were the best tasting strawberries I have ever eaten in my life. We ate a lot of fresh strawberries. I have some puree in the freezer to make into homemade strawberry jelly, hopefully soon.

Our feasting table

We had a Greek feast to celebrate the end of our school year. We hosted some Olympics: we ran around the house 10 times, did the long jump, threw a discus (a frisbee) and a javelin (a Nerf sword), raced chariots (bikes) and thumb wrestled. The oldest prepared the games for the night. The girls prepped the table and helped get dinner on the table. The youngest helped mama secure the goods for the feast at the store. And hubby made leaf wreaths for each of us that we put on our heads after completing the Olympics.

On feast nights, dinner always follows Ken Wojack's** First Rule of Cooking: Make 'Em Wait (because everything tastes better when you're hungry.) We enjoyed tasting Greek feta cheese that was actually from Greece. I was surprised how much all the kids loved it. We also had kalamata olives (which none of the children liked), pita bread, hummus, cucumbers, rotisserie chicken, and baklava. We had each child stand up as we praised what they did this year. I imagined having certificates to give them but instead we simply verbally praised them. The five year old seemed to glow especially bright as he stood up. He is so excited to be in Kindergarten next fall and especially Sparks in AWANA.

"Yes! School is out!"

Though we had the end of the year banquet, we are still 'finishing' school this week. We are logging some math hours and putting the finishing touches on our human body unit, history notebook, field trip notebook, and assembling books they wrote and illustrated this year.

I have started leading a women's Bible study on Colossians with my Teacher's Lounge (TL for short) friends. This is the third time that I have essentially have written the Bible study (two for this group and one time for another group). Love, love, love this writing and leading of Bible studies. Two of some of my top favorite things in life: leading Bible studies and being with these homeschooling friends woven together by God. Though I have many friends that homeschool and many dear friends in life, I am thankful for nearby friends that homeschool, that pursue the Lord, and laugh a lot, too.

I spent one day scrapbooking and completed 11 pages. Sweet number three is now 9 months old in her baby scrapbook (and only 9 years old in life!) Feels good to have made some progress. When I actually return to scrapbooking, it is so good for my soul to reflect on all the good in my life. My hand-written journal processes life. It includes good things, too, but, there is something about seeing photos of laughing children, of me holding my babies, of the older three with huge smiles and all crammed onto hubby's lap that seeps deep into my soul causing it to resonate with gratefulness. I need to put scrapbooking back into my regular routine somehow!

We re-started the garden. Thanks to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, we can actually see green peppers, beans, and flowers where vegetables will be.

We've been hiking and made friends with Flit, the Butterfly. We went to a Memorial Day service. We made fleischkeuckle and visited with a brother-in-law and sister-in-law that were in-town. We've been to a $1 summer movie. And we've been staying home! It seems I could have had more time to blog lately with a freer schedule but I've been decompressing from our usual fast-paced spring that included the adjustment of two new jobs --one for hubby and one for me. (Mine was part-time and is done for the summer. Thankfully hubby's is on-going!). Also, we're still transitioning from the spring school schedule to the summer schedule which hasn't really seemed to settle in, yet. Before we know it, it will be time to start up school again.

So here's to hanging onto these fleeting moments of life while I can. Hope everyone has a joyful day.
Joyfully,
--Kathleen

Joining the girls for Company Coffee at Home Sanctuary. Click HERE to read more entries.

** My husband learned the first rule of cooking years ago when we were vacationing with my parents for a long weekend in Arizona. He taught my husband how to make omelets and this was the first rule of cooking that he shared with my hubby. I don't know if my dad remembers saying it but we have quoted it often since that time.