Domestically Employed

“…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” I am pretty amazed by how much of the time I look at my life and wonder…how’d I get so lucky? Now of course I know it has nothing to do with luck…nothing whatsoever. But I guess I’m wondering, as I see others close to me going through difficult things, whether I will be content when my own life is much less rosy. Some might argue that my life has already had some pretty crazy bumps, and that I might already know the answer to this question. But bumps are one thing…serious trials and tribulations are another. So what I do say is that I hope and pray to be filled with God’s grace when those trials come, as they will, and that I will find myself content no matter what. Not “happy every second,” but content. For now, I AM content. More than! What could be better than the life God has given me? Every day, my husband tells me he loves me and my children astound me with creativity, love, and kindness toward their fellow family members. Plus, they love BEING with me, which is icing on the cake. We have employment (both at home and outside the home), a lovely house, trees and land and chickens, a phenomenal church, amazing extended family, and friends who love us and whom we love.

But again, the question is….if God sweeps it all away, for His own reasons and purposes…will I be content? Can I? I believe God says I can and that I must. So if those things happen, I hope I return here to read this and remember…..He has showered so much grace on me already that I can’t have any response that isn’t thankful….any response that doesn’t hold the things of this world loosely in my hands and the things of heaven firmly in my heart and mind.

Where’s all this coming from? I’ve had a lot on my mind the last couple of days.

That all said, school is progressing swimmingly. We had a terrific Monday co-op and today ended with a birthday party for Whit’s friend (in our woods). Cathleen & Tom did really well with their reading earlier–I used an online “flashcard” program for their sight words. Fun!

Grace is enjoying Beowulf…Whit is really liking Robinson Crusoe. (Veritas recommends an edited version so that is a good fit for such a difficult book.)

Kids are calling, so off I go…

It seems like I just posted, but I can see it’s over a month ago that I did so. I’d really like to be here more, so I’ll need to work out when the best time is for me to post.

With soccer out of the schedule, things feel a bit more like “normal.” My hubby’s new job means I have to do most of the transporting, and I attended every game, so that kept me hopping, to say the least. I think my meal planning took the biggest hit during that time period.

I don’t hit every activity for the Memoria Press Kindergarten program, but we have been able to keep up on the math and reading worksheets. We also have read most of the weekly books, some of the poems, and some of the music and art. I need to get more organized on the last three things. They are not hard to do, but I need to plan ahead for them. The EXCITING news is that both Cathleen & Tom are reading the “easy readers” really well. They are similar to “Bob” books. I can see that the program has been working well, and they are really enjoying being able to decode all the words on their pages…and their mama is THRILLED! This is my first experience teaching children to read, since the older 2 learned at school, so I almost feel like I’ve performed a magic trick. Haha! So COOL!

For all the kids, I am hoping to get back into our Bible memorization rhythm. We use a very efficient Charlotte Mason tool for that, but I’ve been behind on my prep and facilitation for it this year. The little ones are getting Bible with their preschool, and Grace is very faithful in her personal Bible time. Whit….need to encourage him to be more consistent. The great thing is that their dad does family Bible and devotions each night after dinner…they are currently going through A House for My Name, and he also reviews the sermon from Sunday and goes through the notes. God sure blessed me with a great guy!

Grace is really doing well with Math this year. She toiled through Algebra 1/2 last year and it was painful for both of us. This year, we kept her from going forward to Algebra 1, and instead opted for Transitional Math. That is going very well, and I believe she will be ready for Harold Jacobs next fall.

She is also doing great with Vocab from Classical Roots B. I hardly need to do a thing to help her with it, although I enjoy it very much when she needs me to assist. Her Logic work is going great–we are taking an easy pace with that, since it was scheduled as a semester class (but we are using it for the whole year). Apologia General Science is fabulous–my friend teaches that in co-op, so Grace is getting it and enjoying it.

Omnibus has taken the most time for Grace this year, which makes sense. She really enjoyed Confessions and Nine Taylors. The Dragon & the Raven was a 2nd read-through for her, but she liked seeing it again. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English Church was….not her favorite. But it was fascinating, and there were many good moments of fun together as we read it. We both liked going through the Creeds, and The Rule of St. Benedict was truly quite enjoyable. We started The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (which is also a 2nd read-through for us), and that is fantastic. Our next stop is Beowulf….what a journey!

Whit has been soaring through Saxon 7/6 and Phonetic Zoo C. He loves doing History (Explorers) with his buddies on Mondays, and we are working our way through Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation together. He has also been enjoying his Literature. So far he has done Heidi and Treasure Island. I think Robinson Crusoe is next. My friend is facilitating IEW writing in co-op now, which is excellent practice for Whit. I am impressed with how well he is doing. He is doing Science with Grace, and I’m sure the experiments are his favorite. Yay for having a friend who likes Science and is willing to do experiments–so much fun for the kids!

I think that’s a pretty good update for our core work. The other co-op, Classical Conversations, continues to be a good fit for us. All of the kids are getting better at presentations (Grace has been pretty good from the start). I need to work with Cathleen a bit on her class participation, but I am told she is very good with her facts. I try to visit each class every week, but having kids in all 4 areas makes it a little challenging (especially since Lizzie wants me in the nursery with her).

I’m getting back on top of my meal plan, but the daily chores around here are hit or miss. I often feel like I’m in survival mode as far as home cleanliness, but I imagine that is just a season. At this point, my main goal is to do the school we need to do, enjoy the fun and flexibility of doing it at home, cultivate a joyful family environment, and glorify our God and King in all of it. If things are a bit dusty, well…that’s just how it goes!

So, we are involved in two co-ops during this wonderful, busy year!

The first one that started was Classical Conversations. That is a national group that has chapters that meet all over the country. There are three cycles of information, and everyone covers the same cycle each year in rotation. This year, we are studying Cycle 3. The kids have tutors that facilitate the learning of facts, and parents who are not tutoring stay on-site during the co-op day. There are three classes this year: older girls, younger girls, and all boys. Grace is in the older girl group, both boys are in the boy group, and Cathleen is in the younger girl group. I have Lizzie in the nursery. The day starts in the auditorium all together. Then we split into class groups. I spend a bit of time in the nursery each time, but otherwise, I am free to go from class to class. I take Lizzie with me some of the time since she doesn’t love it when I’m away. I think she’ll get more comfortable as time goes on.

The tutors introduce facts in History, Latin, Math, English, Geography and Science. They do an art project and a science project each week, and they also each do a short personal presentation during class. So far, I have only gotten to see a few of the presentations (due to my own poor timing). Cathleen did one on her stuffed animals, Tom did one on a caterpillar he had found, Whit did one on our trip to Orcas, and Grace did one on “Chocolate & the Senses.”

We are really enjoying the CC co-op, and it seems to be hitting some of the “misses” I might have in our home school. It is also a great way for the kids to see church friends (since many of the families are from church, although not all), and it is wonderful for me to see the moms too. We meet from 9:30 until 12:30, and then we have lunch together.

The other co-op is the one that currently meets at our own house. There are 3 families involved, with a total of 14 children, and for the moment we also have my sister and her 2 kids also. I have the privilege of teaching Omnibus to Grace and her friend, and then I take over the pre-school kids in the afternoon. My other friends teach Literature, History, and pre-school, and then all the big kids get together and do Science with one of them in the afternoon while I have the younger kids.

Omnibus is a course that provides 3 credits, one each in History, Literature, and Theology. Our first books are Nine Tailors (Dorothy Sayers) and Confessions (St. Augustine). I have been blown away by Confessions. I’ve never read them before, and aside from his tangents, his observations are simply wonderful. I can’t believe how much we can relate to things he said so long ago. Nine Tailors is a murder mystery, and I really enjoyed it. The kids are doing very well with the material, although some of it is quite weighty. I wish I had more time to expound on all this, but my hubby just got back from his trip to the east coast, so off I go!

So the 3 days between the co-ops are dedicated to the other work the kids need to do, as well as 3 full days of Kindergarten for the 5 & 6-yr-olds. Those young ones are learning to read–so fun!

I have tried to write blog posts for the last 2 days, but instead, I spent all my “spare” time ridding my blog of “bot ads.”  It has been extremely annoying.  I had to delete my blogroll because it was full of ads for medical products I shall not name.  (Did I mention I find this extremely annoying?)

There is SOOOO much to write about.  But it is late.  I will say that Classical Conversations has gone fabulously for 2 weeks in a row.  Also, we started our NEW co-op today, and it went REALLY well also!!!!!  I can’t even express how absolutely thankful I am for both groups.

We also had our Premiere of Caesar’s Sandglass….that was beyond amazing.  Okay, more later about all the amazing, wonderful stuff, but for now, I’m off to bed.  Hack-bots…PLEASE don’t visit me again!!!!

Yes, folks, it is a NEW SCHOOL YEAR, and we are off and running! I got hacked again, so please ignore any weird ads telling you to buy strange products. ): I removed a bunch of it, but it’s time-consuming. I’d rather be writing.

We are going to be involved with two different co-ops this year. The first one started last Friday. That’s Classical Conversations, and the facilitator is my friend Laurie, who goes to my church. (I will write a bunch more about CC very soon!)  Next Monday, we will start the RJK co-op (for lack of a better name so far). Three families (including ours) will co-op on History, Literature, & Science. I will be teaching Omnibus, which gives a credit for History, Literature, and Theology. I am hoping to keep up here with info about how Omnibus is going…we are planning to video-Skype with the Chocolate Family over in Switzerland, so it should be quite an adventure! Grace is my only participant in Omnibus.

Whit will get to continue onwith Veritas History (Explorers-1815), and Veritas Lit (for 5th grade). He will also do Saxon 7/6, Phonetic Zoo Level C, and General Science by Apologia (with the co-op). I am giving him a break from Shurley Grammar.

Tom and Cathleen will be learning to read this year. They can both read a bit, but I am using Memoria Press Kindergarten to do a more formal program with them. For instance, today they practiced writing big “M,” little “m,” 0′s (zeroes), their phone number, a poem about wind, a book for the week (“The Important Book”), and an art piece (“Mona Lisa” by DaVinci). Tomorrow they continue phonics and math, review of the art, poetry & music (“William Tell’s Overture”), and will make a “Book about Me.”

Grace will do Omnibus, Transitional Math (Chicago School), General Science (Apologia), Vocab from Classical Roots B, and Intro to Logic (Nance).

The big kids have their assignments on a clipboard for the week with all necessary copies attached. They will work nearby so they can ask questions when needed. The first couple hours of actual school will be devoted to the young ones. Lizzie was on my hip today (and fussing around by my feet, and getting into general mischief). I think I’m going to assign a big kid to her in a couple 15-min increments for the copy-work portion so I can work on letter formation. We will get it all ironed out, I’m sure.

Today was great because I managed to go for a run while the kids got breakfast & cleared the dishwasher. I was able to shower off quickly and start on Kindergarten. The older kids finished early since they haven’t gotten to the new co-op work yet, so they did their cleaning chores and then took the kids outside so I could run a bank errand. I bought them Arby’s food as a treat for the first day of school…each child got a sandwich and we shared some fries….still cost a small fortune, so we won’t be doing THAT very often. It was a fun surprise, though. We were also celebrating Dad’s first day at his new job, so I baked a Remlinger Farm Bumbleberry pie tonight (it was super yummy!)

Whit is VERY thrilled that three of his home school buddies are joining the PCCS soccer team with him. He has been practicing for a couple weeks, but his friends just joined him. It is wonderful to see these young men together out on the field–I hope they make really great memories. I loved my years playing soccer when I was young, so I’m sure they will carry these moments all the way through their lives.

The older two are continuing piano, and we will consider whether Tom should start and when. Little Lizzie is smart as the dickens, but at this point that just means she wears me out. She is lots of fun, though, and she is taking her own place in our joyful family.

Late & time for sleep…hope I get back to update regularly!

Wow…hard to believe my baby is 2! Pretty fun to look back at how little she was when I first started home schooling…now she’s ready to jump on in.

We are pretty much down to our last 2 weeks of home school. Both big kids are nearly finished with their Math books…we are very close to the end of the Grammar text…they are each reading their last Literature selections…we only have a few History cards left…and their Spelling and Linguistics are also nearly completed. Hard to believe!

I checked with both of the older kids  recently…neither has any inclination to return to private school, even though they do miss their friends from there. They’ve kept very busy with home school buddies, however, and nothing can be done about seeing their super-wonderful CHOCOLATE buddies who reside in the land of the Swiss, so all in all, no complaints.

Gotta run–Whit is waiting for me to read some Tom Sawyer aloud…who could resist that??

I haven’t posted in awhile…I think little Lizzie has tipped the scale.  I really have not been able to sit down and type much with 3 little characters on the loose this year.  Tonight, I had to send a document, and it automatically went from my domesticallyemployed email address, so I decided to leave a quick post.  Turns out, I got hacked somehow!  I have no idea when it happened, but it was rather annoying.  I am not sure I managed to fix the problems, but I tried my best, so I’ll see if the enemy code still causes me grief.  Ya’ll let me know if you see anything fishy in my posts.

Our year with Veritas materials has been so terrific!  We’ve been studying 1815-Present for History…our lesson tomorrow will be on the Wright Brothers.  We just finished studying Immigration to the U.S.  (26 million people came to this country c. 1900….that is unfathomable!)  Fun moment last weekend…Grace asked me if I could guess when Heinz ketchup was founded, and I actually heard “1869″ pop out of my mouth…and yes, there it was on the bottle.  But I had said that year because of our study of the industries that formed around 1869…pretty cool!

We spent a number of weeks on break from our regular Shurley Grammar in order to complete research papers.  Both Grace and Whit picked topics, found sources at the library, created bibliographies, wrote index cards, did rough outlines, wrote rough drafts of each topic, combined them for a final rough draft, and then re-wrote the entire papers complete with a title page and freshly written bibliography.  What a project!  Grace did hers on Jane Austen and Whit did his on Leopards.  Today, we went back to Shurley, much to their chagrin, and we had what I fondly refer to as a “Grammar-fest.”  Oh, yes, it IS as fun as it sounds…;)

Grace is close to finishing Saxon Algebra 1/2.  Turns out I accelerated her without meaning to, which might explain how much she has disliked Math this year.  I got advice from a Math teacher friend of mine, and I will be having Grace do a year of the University of Chicago’s “Transition Mathematics” next year before I start her on Algebra I by Harold Jacobs.  I hope this will make next year a bit more pleasant for her and really cement her knowledge of the pre-Algebraic basics.  Whit remains a year ahead, in that he is finishing Saxon 6/5 in his 4th grade year.  He’s doing just fine with it, so I will keep him there and he’ll do Saxon 7/6 this coming fall.

Whit is a little behind in his Phonetic Zoo, somehow.  We will be doubling lessons through the end of May, and that should get him back on track.  Grace’s Vocabulary from Classical Roots A has been FABULOUS.  I love that program.  I will have her doing B next year.  The studies of words from their Latin and Greek roots is fascinating, and I like the analogy work they do also.

We decided to put Latin aside for the year, after we struggled so hard to keep it in our daily plan.  It got squeezed out far too often, so now my plan is to try summer Latin as a family.  Stay tuned…

Literature has been another joy for me this year.  Whit has recently done The Hobbit and is now reading Leepike Ridge  by N.D. Wilson.  He is really loving that.  He will finish the year with Twenty-One Balloons and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Grace recently read Little Women.  She is currently in Fahrenheit 451 (and not loving it).  She will finish the year with…The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I am reading Grace’s current book with her.  It’s pretty heavy material, but very thought-provoking.

With the little ones, I have been doing Sing, Spell, Read & Write.  I am also incorporating some Abeka Math.  The most fun is the story-times with them.  We recently read A New Coat for Anna, and I ended up buying it because we liked it so much.  They also enjoyed Frog and Toad very much, Amelia Bedelia, and tomorrow we are on to Dr. De Soto.  Even Lizzie is enjoying the read-alouds.  She is a handful, though…but I’m thankful the year has gone as well as it has!  Can’t believe we are down to 5-6 weeks!  We’ll see if I get a chance to sit down here again before then.  For now, it’s off to bed for me!

I’ve sat down 3 different times to write a post, but something always came up and I wasn’t able to do it. So even though I am only able to do a short one, short is better than none.

Things have been going just great around here! Grace is on Chapter 5 of The Jungle Book and Whit is working his way through Faerie Gold.

We are up to Chapter 9 in Grammar, and the kids just finished their first essay done with the IEW (Institute for Excellence  in Writing) materials. It was a good experience. They had to read a short story (The Emperor’s New Clothes) and write a key word outline from it. Then, without the story, they re-wrote the tale in their own words by using their key word outlines. We corrected their rough drafts together, and used IEW suggestions for making things better. Then they wrote their final drafts. It was a good experience.

We are getting ready to watch The Alamo with John Wayne, since it finally came in at the library. I think that should help them remember some key things about that time period.

Whit seems to be whizzing through his spelling…he gets one wrong every now and then, and I do think it is challenging enough, but the method seems to help him learn the words well, so he does great on his quizzes and tests. All good.

Both kids are progressing well through their Saxon books. No concerns there.

We have taken a month-long break from Latin in order to insert French. I don’t know if that will work as well as I had hoped. The French materials I have are not as easy to use as I would like…am thinking of going back to “Live Mocha.” It’s like Rosetta Stone, only it’s free. Or it was free last time I checked…

Our Art/Science co-op has gone great so far. We had to put it off til Wednesday this week because Kat and I were not feeling well for Monday. In fact, I spent most of Monday in my bed, not feeling well at all! I’m doing a little better now that it’s late Monday night, but I’m headed back up to bed within moments of now.

I have set a new schedule which will include family exercise, chore time, and quiet time. Those are 3 things that don’t always happen when they are not scheduled in, so I’ve come up with something new to try. The exercise part won’t happen until I’m a little less sick. Last week was a bust because of 2 days of furniture delivery issues. (We got some new furniture!) This week, my own illness has gotten us off to a weak start. But we’ll get on track soon…and try our best not to be completely derailed by Thanksgiving…haha.

Hoping for better health tomorrow!

Yes, we are having a lot of fun with our home school!  I have not been updating the blog as frequently, and I was pondering the reasons why…

I think the biggest reason is that I have less time.  Last year, I had Bail’s help, and that gave me a little flexibility I don’t have now.  Plus, Lizzie is much more mobile than last year, so I’m hardly ever able to sit and type.  (She’s currently fussing in her bed and not napping, so I’m typing fast before the fuss turns into a wail.)  Speaking of which, she seems to want to give up her first nap…I was hoping that wouldn’t occur for a few months yet.  Sigh…

The other reason I am doing less here is because I’m using the Veritas lesson plans.  Last year, I had to work hard to keep a record of everything.  This year, I’ve got the curriculum laid out for me, so I feel less concerned about recording every detail.  I still like to get down what I can…some family members like to see what we’re doing, and I also would love to share with other home school moms who are interested.  Good to keep the information flowing.

I am continuing to really love the lesson plans we are using.  I have enjoyed how flexible our start time can be (especially when sick little ones are keeping me up in the night), but I have had to face some facts about myself.  I like structure.  I thrive on a schedule.  I TRY to be really free-form and laissez-faire, and I usually fail miserably.  I find that a little funny, actually.  Oh, well.  We all have our ways.  I like to do every subject I have scheduled.  I like to do every THING I have planned.  I am starting to see there are days each week that are lighter than others, so I’m hoping to get myself to take the plunge some weeks and just go do a field trip or visit friends.  I really do think it’s funny that I have this sense of “I can’t go do that,” which is only because it means I will feel “off schedule.”  It’s FUNNY only because I can see how absurd I am being.

Grace and Whit are writing 3-paragraph essays today.  I hear a little bit of moaning going on about that…there isn’t great love for essay-writing, it seems.  Grace finished Kidnapped and is reading Call of the Wild.  I am THRILLED with the books she has been reading.  I actually never read either of those myself, and when I choose to read a little of her books, I am amazed at how well-written they are.  Whit is actually enjoying Faerie Gold…more than he expected, I’m sure.

We have been studying the invention of the cotton gin in History.  Bit of trivia:  Eli Whitney never received royalties for his cotton gin invention.  He did, however, get royalties for his work with interchangeable parts for firearms.  Interesting!   The kids have memorized the beginning of the History timeline song.

Whit is doing well with Phonetic Zoo.  Grace is doing great with Vocab from Classical Roots too.  I am really liking those programs.

We had our first art/sci co-op day.  I am calling it, “K&K Science Lab” and “K&K Artistry.”  :)  The big kids studied the effects of temperature and agitation on a solute.  They were able to see that heat and agitation both added energy to the solute and caused it to dissolve faster than the items that were left in cold water or were not shaken.  Basic, but fun (we used candy, which is always a hit!)  We also used bouillon cubes…those weren’t as exciting to the kids, but they worked great.  The little ones did paintings on the easel on the deck, as well as play dough.  I tried blowing scented bubbles for them also, but the bubble solution didn’t work very well (so much for scented soap!)

There’s more, but I’ve gotta run.  See title of this post…:)

This says, “The FUN of Building Lego City” not the “FUR.”  It was difficult to scan.  Also, he had some missed words when he re-copied.  I didn’t make him re-write the whole thing since he had another assignment to do the same day.

This one got hacked so I removed the file…bummer.