I wish.....

Don't get too disappointed when most of these aren't spiritual.....I'm in a very human mood right now.

• That I didn't have to vaccum three times a day
• That I could lose this last ten pounds
• That I could take my children to the dentist (that really should be number one)
• That I wasn't completely exhausted all the time
• That doctors didn't have to "practice" medicine so much
• That I could be completely sure about a major life decision I'm making
• That....well, this one's a secret

What I'm grateful for:

• That I have four wonderful children to vaccum up after
• That God has allowed me to lose some of my weight
• That even though I can't take them to the dentist they seem to have healthy teeth
• That I'm exhausted serving the ones I love
• That I have doctors that care (that hasn't always been the case)
• That I can trust the Holy Spirit to guide me
• That....well, still a secret

One of those days......

I wanted to take the children to the pool today. We haven't really gotten to go this week, because they haven't been getting their work done. But, today I was determined. We pay for the pool, so by gosh we're going to use it. It took several hours of "pulling teeth" to get everyone to do their jobs. We finally got to the pool around two in the afternoon. Everyone was having a good time, except the baby who for some reason today decided he didn't want to be in the water. I've got to watch four children, so for part of the time I made him. Bad idea. Something happened that startled him and he let out quite a scream. I was so busy trying to figure out what happened to him that I didn't notice he'd pulled the top of my swimsuit down so far that my left breast had popped out. That is no easy feat. After nursing four young 'uns those things hang down so far I didn't think that was even possible. I covered myself up, while turning extremely red and tried to hide for a while.
We got home in time for me to make dinner, but everyone was exhausted and grumpy. The oldest took off to hide and read. Rachel disappeared into her room. So there went my helpers. The youngest two led a chorus of tears the entire way through dinner prep. Neil cried every time I tried to put him down. Do you know how hard it is to make chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes with one hand? I had to pry him off and let him cry while I cut the potatoes though. During that time the four year old kept crying, "I hate what your making. Why can't I have Pringles for dinner?" the whole time I was cooking. Even though she's never actually even had it before. I kept calling the older two to come help, which they would for about 15 seconds and then take off again. I'm actually still too annoyed to deal with that at the moment. I'll have to do that later when I'm more calm. At some point during the chaos, Brent came home, grabbed his golf clubs, and took off for the golf course. I'm not exactly sure when though. Not sure I know how to keep this dinner warm, so his will have to be a reheat.
I think I want to put everyone to bed early, curl up on the couch and watch and episode of MI-5 tonight. Hopefully typing this will be therapeutic.

Next year's curriculum

For my 11 year old:

• History/Literature/theology: Omnibus II. I combine these because they are so interrelated in the curriculum. He'll read Beowulf, The Rule of St. Benedict, Eusebius- The Church History, Confessions, Ecclesiastical History of England, Song of Roland, On Incarnation of Our Lord, Bondage of the Will, Macbeth, Canterbury Tales, The Divine Comedy-Hell, History of the Kings of England, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These titles are the primary reading. Omnibus has the student do a text analysis, cultural analysis (theirs and ours), and a Biblical analysis. It also contains a variety of writing assignments. I like the fact that the student really has to think. He doesn't just get to parrot out what he's read. He's forced to make conclusions and comparisons. This was hard for him at first, but by the second semester of this past school year he had adapted quite well. Omnibus also has Secondary books. I just let him read these for pleasure, no examinations by mom. He's a willing reader so this has never backfired on me. Most of them he's already read anyway. This years title for pleasure reading are Robin Hood, The Hobbit, The Nine Tailors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dragon and the Raven, Fellowship of the Ring, King Richard III, Henry the V, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, and Winning His Spurs.
• Mathematics: Geometry by Harold Jacobs. I've already spoken to almost all of you about this curriculum, but let me repeat one thing. In Geometry proofs are essential. Yes, I know you can learn about circles, angles, and triangles without them. But, proofs do much in helping students become logical thinkers. I don't think your doing irreparable harm by using a curriculum that doesn't contain proofs, but in the long run I think the student benefits from them.
• Grammar: Rod and Staff Grade 7
• Vocabulary: Jensen's Vocabulary. It teaches the student how to use Latin and Greek suffixes and roots to discover what words mean.
• Spelling: Spelling Power (all of you are already familiar with this)
• Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing DVD seminar's and workbooks
• Science: Apologia's Physical Science. He wants to get to Biology so I'm going to let him start this over the summer. Hopefully he'll get to Biology by second semester.
• Foreign Languages: Formally we do ABeka's Spanish 1 and 2. I know it's a high school course, but we take our time and spread it out over several years. We're also learning Mandarin together by CD Rom. I've tried squeezing in Latin, but am just plain out of time. So, this year I'm going to bite the bullet and get him the DVD's. So, someone else will teach him Latin.

For the 8 Year Old:

• History: We're doing Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation this year. I combine Veritas Press, which tends to focus on events, with Greenleaf Press, which tends to focus on people. Together I think they're pretty complete. I forgot to mention Geography with my older child. I wrote my own curriculum for that. The two oldest do it together, but the older one is accountable for more information.
• Mathematics: ABeka 3 and part of 4
• Grammar: Rod and Staff Level 3
• Vocabulary: Vocabulary from Classical Roots Book A
• Spelling: Spelling Power
• Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing DVD Seminar's and workbooks
• Science: Apologia's Exploring Creation with Botany
• Foreign Language: Spanish Abeka book I
• Cursive: I have a CD Rom called Start Write. I type out whatever I want her to write and it prints out the dots for me so she can make correct formation.
• Literature: McGuffy Readers Plus Adam of the Road, Beorn the Proud, The Bible Smuggler, The Door in the Wall, Ink on His Fingers, River of Grace, King Arthur, Macbeth (together with Dillon), Robin Hood, and Homer Price.

The Four Year Old:

• Reading: At Last A Reading Method for Every Child combined with McGuffy Readers. This has worked for all my children, each of which has completely different learning abilities. My first two, who are complete opposites academically, were both at a third grade reading level in Kindergarten. I attribute that to this phonics program.
• Math One: By Saxon She's already a third of the way through this and loves it! The all have, even my math hater.

For the Baby:

• Lot's of crackers, blocks, board books, and Baby Mozart videos. I just try to keep him and alive and feeling loved during school hours. That's not as easy as it sounds. ; )

I hope this helps.

Course work and Homeschooling

• Course Work: Well, my instructor agreed to let me work on the book that Dillon was most excited about. I'll keep you posted as to how it's going. I have to have the complete book and chapter synopsis turned in by mid-July. It's a good thing we're on our summer schedule for school.
• Homeschooling: I've had so many calls in the last couple of weeks from people with curriculum questions that I'm going to list out my curriculum on my blog. That way I can send everyone there and save myself the hours I've spent on the phone. Look for it in the coming week.....If any of you have questions about a specific subject or curriculum let me know and I'll be sure to include it.

Recommended Reading

I want to recommend two historical books. The first, The Church History by Eusebius (translated by Paul L. Maier) gives one man's picture of the early days of the Christian church. Eusebius lived from A.D. 260-339. I found it interesting to see them grapple with which books should be in the canon. At the time of his writing they still weren't too sure about James or 2 Peter as well as some others. The most touching parts are the accounts of the martyrs, especially the elderly Polycarp.
The second book is also by Maier, The Flames of Rome. Paul Maier tried to create a new genre called Documentary Fiction by using only real people and actual events in his novel. It reads like historical fiction normally would, but is more accurate. Set during the time of Claudius and Nero you get a unique picture of how the Romans reacted as they were exposed to the early Christians. One word of warning-Nero is a vile man. You probably already knew that, but his vileness is shown in the novel. If your considering having your child read it, I would preview it first to see if your comfortable with their exposure to the se*xual content. He does it as tastefully as possible. Personally I was impressed with his ability to give you the real picture without being too explicit.