Looking toward the Future

     

     Who would've thought that having the kids in school keeps us busier than homeschooling! I can't believe it's been about two months since my lasts update  . We're about to have our last week of school and it boggles my mind when I compare our lives to the beginning of this school year. I recall a wasp infestation inside the trailer on the first day is school! Who could forget? Anyway,  Ian got on a job that's about an hour away. He's home at nights and most weekends . He was very excited to be working in his county ! Wrex had a group project this week, it involved him and a buddy making a music video about Julius Cesar. He actually voiced to me that this was something that he had missed when he was homeschooling. To be clear, he missed friends because I assure you, his musical career is a bit dim.  I defensively argued back that I'm sure he also missed the extra hour and a half of sleep that his homeschooling allowed because ...well I am childish! The truth is , I am so happy that he likes Jr High and I'm incredibly shocked that I will have an 8th grader. He also pointed out that most 8th grade boys are taller than me . To that I say Ha Rumph! Houston got his year book yesterday and was amazed to see that he was actually in it! That's got to be a hard working year book staffer, to catch a kid that came in March! We've been involved in his school and went on a mother son orienteering night. Very fun. We also participated in the book fair and guess who is in PTO for next year? Houston likes having me at his school , so that's what I plan on doing. Waylon is less like a baby and more like a full on boy. For the last week, he dug out a Halloween skeleton and has been taking Mr. Skeleton with us everywhere. Even to a very special graduation dinner. I don't know how to fight him on this when he is so clearly my child. So instead we pull up a chair for Mr. Skeleton and we tuck him into bed at night. I have been better than I deserve. This Mothers Day, Wrex bought me a movie ticket to see a chick flick and sent me with money to buy myself a popcorn. Houston bought me red vines and I spent the afternoon by myself at the movies . It sounds odd maybe? Kinda lonely? But actually , I was just so appreciative that they realized I'm a person , with needs of my own. They treated me like they want to be treated  and I call that a victorious day in parenting! Also, my aunt had taken me to a day spa the day before. I was untouchable that weekend!

     Memorial day weekend marked  three years that our family of five has lived in a fifth wheel. Holy crap! How did we survive that? Three years ago I took our kids out of school a little early and we moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Now we're back in our hometown but still in our fifth wheel. Most of you that I  talk to know how crazy that has made me. The fact that we are not in a house yet, has driven me insane. We're talking about multiple mommy meltdowns. The truth is it has been a major conflict over here. Coming home  did not go as planned . We thought Ian getting to work would happen faster. I thought a dream rental would be waiting for me . I wondered if we might  buy another house...The reality that I was faced with was work was slow in January. Rentals were scarce and kinda yucky and   prices were going up. My family and I only wanted to stay in selective  areas and that made it tough to find what we wanted. Also,  my husband and I had different ideas about how the next part of our lives would start. He thought of being more conservative. Living modestly, pile up a large amount of savings and then make a plan. I want something now. We've already been sacrificing , let's see the payoff now. I want a house so big , I can't hear the kids when I'm in the bathroom . That sounds amazing to me!  Ian has been gone longer than the boys and I. He really just wanted to go back to our house  and feel like he came home. I just wanted a big house where everyone could scatter. Neither of these ideas were realistic. Our home is a quaint beach bungalow that's two bedrooms one bath on a large quarter acre. It's a half-mile away from the beach and Ian has put his blood sweat and tears  into that house.  I didn't write about this sooner because it was a very hot button of mine. I never really even considered going back to the house because of when the lease ended. I had no intention of staying in our fifth wheel any longer than necessary. We recently had to move RV parks. That was so disappointing. I thought I had parked in my last RV park . We've just covered the house topic from top to bottom. Our friends and kids are sick of hearing about it. The facts are: nothing very tempting has come up to rent and rentals go like hot cakes around here. So I can finally tell you , we're going home. The renters have their 60 day notice to vacate the property . We are working with a contractor and will be adding on a master bedroom and bath sometime in August. If everything goes well. I'm excited for the next season of our lives to start. It could be just the start of summer, but I feel excitement  for all of these  changes to finally begin . Now that I can accept that things aren't the way I thought they should be , I can really start to appreciate and feel excited for how they actually are. I'll keep you posted on our progress . I realize my blog has been about , traveling , homeschooling, running and now about remodeling. I would apologize but it sounds just as scatterbrained as I am . So thanks for following me living this life on the road. 

Hey Remember me?

Hey ! Remember me? That's been my phrase lately. Our family has slowly been entering back into our old lives and it feels like so much has changed and then there's all the stuff that hasn't . I wonder if people will remember us and then I realize I don't want to stand out . My mom keeps reminding me that I haven't put out an update in a while and I told her, "I just don't know what to say." She said "tell them, you're not alone. " And I know what she means, it's just I never was alone , anywhere I went . God always provided a special person to keep me company and I'll never forget that. 

  About a month ago , Ian got called to a job 4 hours away. He was so happy to get back to work but our family didn't follow him on this job. We started to put down roots here in Oceanside , our hometown and we just couldn't leave again. So that's been difficult . He comes home on the weekends, sometimes when he's not working overtime . It feels counter intuitive since we spent the past few years trying to stick together.  Then there's still the fact that the boys and I are in the fifth wheel. It's all good and fun to be in a fifth wheel when you're moving from town to town but when you're in your own neighborhood, being in a trailer feels weird! Our house is rented out and I don't know if we should get a rental or what, so that's just its own strangeness. But I gotta tell you, I am so anxious to get out of the fifth wheel! 

  Quite a few things have changed around here. About the same time Ian took his job, Wrex started at the local Jr. High. I never intended to home school the kids forever. We did that when it worked for us . However , since we didn't see us uprooting any time soon and 7th grade math is hard...we enrolled him into the local jr high. I was a nervous wreck . My 7th grade son is pretty innocent and nerdy, which I hear is cool now .Lucky him. He ended up knowing a lot of kids from the years he attended Oceanside schools. The fact that I couldn't help with his math homework the first week was proof that he's right where he needs to be . He doesn't like his PE tracher and he thinks his science class is too loud . Common core math is tough . Part of me wants to fix these issues but a wise woman shared with me something that really helped " Will there be bullies, possibly. Will teachers be unfair? They could be. Is he going to struggle with the common core? Probably at first. But these things will teach him how to handle adversity in life , because life is not perfect." Wrex and I also toured the Jr High together before he started  and I have the utmost confidence in the administrators. 

    A few weeks after Wrex started, Houston became more willing to go back to school . He was lucky enough to be able to attend the same school he went to for Kindergarten.The first week or so he sat alone at lunch. I would put notes in his lunchbox and he said they were the best part of his day . He'd check before he left to make sure my note was in there.

 Last week I dragged him to a PTO meeting. I sat there thinking that I had no business being in a PTO meeting 3/4 through the school year. I'm torn between trying to participate and feeling really out of place . But yknow? You suit up and show up right? Well as it turned out , Houston came home a few days later and said " mom , that lady from the PTO meeting saw me and introduced me to a lot of people." Ahh sweet relief, I think it's going to be ok. His school had a car show this weekend and Houston and I went and had a blast . 

  Lastly , when we got back to town, I was approached by a friend to do some bookkeeping. It was not my intention to go back to work but it sounded like a good gig for me as part time work so I took that opportunity . Waylon started preschool two days a week. So life is pretty full. Ian has been working lots of overtime but he's enjoying it. He feels good about his career. The boys and I go to Church with my mother in law on Sunday's and Monday through Friday we have school,  work and youth group.  I'm reconnecting with friends and acquaintances .  Sometimes, I feel awkward reconnecting with people because I  think "they're not going to remember me." And then thinking , "Oh crap! Maybe they've been reading my blog and know how crazy I am." But y'know that's me, I am a little crazy but kinda introverted . So for all 35 of you reading this ... I'm here , we're back. I still feel like I'm constantly transitioning and some things are not happening as fast as I'd like. Do I keep writing now that we're not traveling? I don't know . If you have an opinion on that , leave me a comment . Ok mom ? 

Tourist in our hometown

I've started writing this blog three times. I keep changing my mind about what I want to say. What I keep coming back to, is how grateful I feel. Everyone should move away from home and come back as a tourist! I have a whole new perspective and I feel so lucky to be me. 

    Three weeks ago, Ian passed his journeyman lineman exam. It was a rough week leading up to it. Our kids got the flu. One . By. One.   I told Ian he should stay in a hotel. I was so worried he would get sick on his test date and this years stomach flu was a doozy. But he didn't catch it and he passed. Instead of partying it up all weekend, we took care of sick kids. On Monday he went to work and worked 36 hours and then he said " that's it, I'm done, screw this weather, we're going home." So we did. We drove back to California with our trailer in two days. Two days that I had that cruddy, sinus congestion, cough thing that everyone's been having. We made in to weather in the 60s and the nicest RV Park, I've ever stayed in. 

Now it feels like the whole apprenticeship was a dream. We spent our holidays with a different family member or friend every night. We took our kids to the beach. While California's temperatures dropped into the 30s and 40s , we marveled how we could still go outside! Then we went to the beach again , and went in the water with all the other tourists. Things that I took for granted before are so special to me right now. I went to a church that I've been listening to online  and I loved it and my kids liked it too!

   There are still so many uncertainties. Ian hasn't started working yet  and we're still in our trailer but we are having a great time . We're spending time as a family just hanging out. I get to see family and friends almost every day. But most importantly, I feel like I invested these past years into my family and I'm proud of that. I feel like I do have something to show for it. Maybe not physically but I am so proud of what we have accomplished as a family in the past 2 1/2 years. 

That's pretty much all for now. Not a whole lot of New Years resolutions over here. I think it's going to be an exciting year . I'm looking forward to getting back into a house, even though I don't know when that's happening. For 2015 my goal is to relax more. These past few years have been a lot of work. I'm really enjoying being a tourist in my hometown. As one of my favorite bloggers says " I've got a new pair or perspectacles on." And life is good.

A Home for the Holidays

  Good Morning Lovelies! You'll never believe how crazy last week was. We heard from our insurance adjuster and he told us to get the fifth wheel "dried out" as soon as possible. We started calling around and the mobile techs told us that it would take a while to dry out the underbelly of our rig and it wasn't ideal to have the insulation removed from the kids room, while it dried out . Our weather in Golden last week was mainly a high of 40. This is exactly what we had predicted. While I don't think the damage is too severe, we want it to be taken care of to prevent any warping or rotting of the floor. Meanwhile we can't leave the bottom of the flooring exposed to the outside and expect our kiddos to stay toasty warm....so we're spending Thanksgiving in a house! YAY! Take a moment for a happy dance....
            The fact that we were even able to secure a house this close to Thanksgiving was a miracle. I started looking last Wednesday and the last one I could find on vacation rental by owner was taken that very day. I was trying to stay out of a hotel, because I still wanted to cook and I was really excited about the idea of spreading out for a few days. The insurance told us our housing allowance set in our insurance coverage and said we could use it however we wanted. A friend told me about www.airbnb.com You have to check it out! It's basically a site, where people rent out part or even their whole house to you. So this house is completely furnished and we have it for 2 weeks. You guys, we were so flipping excited. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms ( a bathtub...say what???) laundry inside , a dishwasher...my head was spinning. So we moved in on Friday. We immediately started breaking things (mainly Waylon) ok , just a pantry door and I melted a knife in the dishwasher so far, whoops! Just having space has been amazing. The house has wifi so Wrex has connected his ipod to it and has been face timing family members. Did you know  you could do that? Our wifi in the trailer is expensive, so this is a whole new privilege fore him. He is constantly texting Grandma and walking around the house on facetime. It gives us a glimpse of our future.  Houston is obsessed with the fire pit outside. He really wants to have a bonfire and make smores. Waylon loves the bathtub and tells me that he doesn't take showers anymore. He only takes baths.  I was on the phone with my bestie yesterday  picking apart the house and all of its details. The pictures online are gorgeous and in real life, it actually reminds me of home. It's just those "do it yourself" imperfections that my eyes are so keen on. Just to be in a house, with all of it's imperfections and noises is such a comfort right now . It is fricking windy out there this morning! I have a lot to be thankful for. Today the boys and I are going to drive up to Boulder to fill the freezer with Trader Jo's goodness. Usually we have to be so choosy in what we can fit in our freezer, we plan on going all out. I'm going to bake up a storm this week and enjoy that big kitchen. We have the house for two weeks. I'm pretty confident our trailer will be dry by then. If not....we'll cross that bridge when it comes. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Here's a few pics of our home for the next 2 weeks...

The Wintertime Blues

     

    Hello my dear readers. Whoever you may be. It always surprises me when I check in behind the scenes and see people have been reading when I haven't been writing. Here's a little secret, I don't write when I can't write honestly. When all I have is complaints, or frustration and I feel like

everything is swallowing me up, I don't write. I make phone calls and I pray. My family and friends that I call, they know the real me . See, I've always wanted to be like Drew Barrymore. She's so free and adventurous and she goes with the flow. Drew Barrymore can make sunshine out of dog poop. I want to be like that. I'm still looking for a fictional character as neurotic as I am, but my old friends once told me I am like Monica from friends. I love order. I love a good plan or itinerary. Give me something to look forward to. I need a meal plan or a lesson plan or a guide. Order gives me peace and it creates new chaos at the same time. I love order but when it doesn't go as planned, Kristina has melt downs. Guess what? Things have not been going as planned. We are so close to the end of my husbands apprenticeship and that should be so exciting. We've all sacrificed for the past three years towards this common goal. What's killing my buzz is that I don't know what comes next. Where do we go, where do we live, can we get out of this God forsaken fifth wheel?     We don't know.   Wintertime comes and  work slows down in this trade and we have to be in a place that there is work.  The suspense is killing me and also making me a lunatic. Here is a glimpse of some of my craziness that I haven't written about.

                                                 --Potty training in a fifth wheel sucks. Poop poop everywhere eww. If I

okay sometimes he uses the big potty but ....ugh!

have to look at that tiny gross toilet any longer.....
--My  car broke down. After I had dropped Waylon off at preschool. Preschool is only 1.5 miles away.  I can handle that right? Y'all, it started to rain and I don't have a jogging stroller. I have a target umbrella stroller. Running and holding an umbrella stroller  in the rain....not a good day.
--We went to the pumpkin patch and my older boys did flips, literally flips down an inflatable slide. They nearly clobbered a class of kindergarteners.  I was so mortified we left without pumpkins.
--We've brought in our truck to the mechanic over 6 times this summer. That darn truck has literally drained our savings.
--This week our water froze on Monday. When our water freezes, for some reason that master bath usually still has water, but the kitchen and boys room don't have water. So to do the dishes, I boil water from the bathroom sink and soak the dishes. After soaking them, I scrub them off and rinse my dishes in the bathroom sink. It's been a long week.  We stayed at home all week. Ian came home from work early Wednesday and chauffeured us around. We had to get groceries and more propane. Other than that we have been on lock down. I don't drive in the snow if I can help it. I don't have 4 wheel drive and getting stuck or in a wreck with the kids is my nightmare. So finally on Friday, we braved the mostly clear roads and went to the movies. Two hours, that's how long I was gone for. The water lines finally thawed, thank you Jesus...but one of the boys had left a sink handle in the on position. They probably went to wash their hands, saw no water coming out of the sink and walked away. When the water came on, it ran and ran, it  filled up the black tank, came up overflowing their bathroom sink and continued to run. There was easily 2 inches of water in their bathroom when we came home from our lovely jaunt in the snow. The carpets were soaked, the water ran into the kitchen that shares a wall with the bathroom. We grabbed all of our towels. we own probably 9 because who has the space in a fifth wheel . After those were soaked, I went and put them in the dryer which takes hours to dry.  I started hyperventilating. After making phone calls to everyone I knew and sobbing, I rented a carpet cleaner. Ian came home and we spent the evening sopping up water in cabinets and in our vents. Our good friends the Duncan's dropped off a dehumidifier that we ran all night long . Then they ordered us a pizza. Our friends are the best.

      So what has been getting me through all this chaos? The good stuff, sprinkled in between. Halloween was a blast and Waylon is still talking about trick or treating. We went to a friends  house that had an amazing neighborhood. We let the older boys run ahead with their friends and Waylon stole the hearts and candy from everyone he met.

  

Wrex turned 12. He has been wanting a Mohawk and really who the heck are you trying to impress when you're homeschooled living in a trailer park, right? So we let him get a Mohawk for his birthday.  We went to lasertag with some of his buddies and he bought himself and ipod touch with his birthday money.


      I ran the rock-n- roll Denver half marathon and all my boys came to cheer me on. That was a great day for me.

Super early in Downtown Denver with my boys before the race

  We have awesome friends. I have a group of girls on Facebook that 's called "trampwives. "We have all lived in trailers at one point or another and encourage each other and listen to each others complaints. We've made great friends here that I can call in an emergency and they come to my aid. I have great friends in California that cant wait for us to come home. I have a supportive family scattered all over the country . What else could I need?

      It feels like the winds are changing for us . Either way changes will be happening in our household. I always have this nagging feeling like I'm doing it all wrong. My kids are going to figure out any moment how clueless I am. My hope is just to be honest with you, maybe you don't have it all figured out either but we can at least be honest with each other, right?

Keeping it Real...How home schooling is REALLY going!

   

     Hey all! I've been wanting to update you on how school is going but I've had a hard time finding a moments rest. The first day of school started with a bang! We sat down to begin and soon realized that we had some visitors. Wasps had made a nest inside one of our slide outs in our trailer . I killed as many as I could swat,  maybe 5 or so and I got the kids in the car and drove to Home Desperate, I mean Home Depot. We bought the most expensive wasp spray ( hoping that if I spent enough the problem would go away) and made a B- line for home . I kept the kids in the car and ran inside to face our new nemesis. They were mainly in the master bedroom so I sprayed as many little buggers and we vacated the premesis. We played at the park and went out to lunch before returning . I only found 2 after that and Ian killed the nest when he got home. It was an extraordinary first day of school. Not at all as I had planned , which has been a theme this year .

First day of School!

      It was an adjustment for my oldest to homeschool out of books.  He has been accustomed to work on a computer . His early weeks were very long school days. Math was taking us for.....ev....er. My magical Algebra book that I was so hyped on, didn't work for us. Turns out we weren't ready for Pre- Algebra. The curriculum magazine told me we were but that was a lie! It was hard for me to accept at first. I thought maybe he had forgotten things over summer, or he was just trying to torture me. I finally found a free placement test online for Saxon math.
 http://www.sonlight.com/saxon-placement-tests.html
        I was able to get him a new math program a few weeks into our school year. I was bummed that it didn't work out with that other curriculum  but I am really happy with how he's doing now in Saxon Math. It still is the subject that takes him the longest but it has gotten so much better. Latin has turned out to be his favorite subject. Which has given us an opportunity to learn how to make flashcards . That's one of my favorite parts about homeschooling. Finding practical things to teach my kids, like study skills. 

     Teaching two kids out of books is still hard for me. I feel constantly torn between the boys but something that has helped immensely is coming up with a lesson plan for the week and giving it to the boys Monday morning. It has helped them to be more self sufficient . Another homeschooling momma gave me this idea. So they know what pages they have to complete this week and when their test will be. They can get ahead if they're feeling ambitious and they don't have to keep asking me "what's next?" Also, they color in the box when the assignment is complete. I think that's actually their favorite part of the lesson plan.

 

  I think we're definately in a groove now . But there are moments when I want to tear out my hair . Things I have to repeat constantly are " Yes you have to write in complete sentences." Or " Yes you have to do all the exercises ." or " Why did you skip this?" or " Capitalize you're sentences." or "Where is the period?" My favorite answer that has come up so far in the school year is this one.......

See the 4th question down. Poor kid even spelled butt wrong

      Then there was the devastating day when my son got a 60% on his English test. He didn't even attempt to study. If your grades fall below an 80% average in this house, video games are off limits. We were headed to a friends house for a Friday - homeschoolers video game day. Oh he was so upset. Tried to strike a bargain with me, pleading and begging. No luck,, he missed out that day and his friends were just as disappointed as he was. You better believe he studies for his English tests now. How do we figure out grades? I'm glad you asked! Around here, we do a lot of bookwork. All work is checked and corrected immidiately. So they can't just slop answers down or they will be redoing it all day long. Since they put so much time into their bookwork, they are graded on classwork and then I average their test scores in with their or daily work score. 

  On top of this school mania we have started soccer 3x a week and fall baseball once a week. Then we started up guitar lessons because I have been thinking about it for 2 years. So we finally  signed up for that too.  Of course Awanas has started back up  on Wednesday nights and we have to do that because it's date night and we parents love our date night! We've even squeezed in a field trip to the Denver zoo. So that in itself has kept us off our rockers , busy.

Linewives at the Denver Zoo

 

     We were hoping to leave Denver at the beginning of November but it looks like we'll be here a bit longer. So we signed up Waylon for preschool . It's only a few hours, twice a week, but he loved it. That one day he got to go before catching some sort of sickness from preschool. Oh well. We look forward to the time that he goes . We got so much done those 3 hours that one day. Cuz in the end, I'm not anti-school . I'm pro- happy kids and whatever it takes to make your children happy with their learning career. I'd do it.

Running into Preschool as fast as he can

 

Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to

    

       A blog post is way over due. I see so many pictures on Facebook of the first day of school but we are not there yet! I woke up before dawn today and took my older boys to the airport where they flew to grandma's for the first time as "unaccompanied minors." They have been looking forward to this all summer and I have been trying not to think about putting my kiddos alone on a plane. They made it there safely and now me and the little guy are finding ourselves bored without them. This gives me the time I need to get ready for our next school year. We start as soon as they come back home .... enjoy your last few days boys, school is about to begin.
     Homeschooling has been a mixed bag for me. It was something I never had a desire to do. Even today at the grocery store, the cashier quizzed me on when my kids start school  and I kinda cringe when I say we homeschool. I cringe because then she goes on to say how she's not structured and she's better with summertime. As my neighbor here in the mobile park said to me this summer  " If I home schooled my kids, they'd be dumb." So I cringe, because I feel like people are putting me and my kids into a box, but I'm not shy about it. The weirdest change, is that I am excited about it. I searched out and sorted through curriculums. I've looked online and went into stores. I had all of my books put on hold and then purchased them on a day when I knew everything was 20% off. When I checked out, the gal at the counter asked me " Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to! It's frickin crazy to me , that I'm going on three years of independent schooling . Other people are asking me about it too, what I am using and how I do it. I am really excited about this year. It's the first year I am really taking things into my own hands and it's a little scary but really exciting.
    The first year, we went through a charter school for both boys that was completely online. It was great because I felt so insecure in my teaching ability and I didn't want any responsibility for my kids education....but that's not really how it works. Even when you have a teacher in an online format, the parent is still there everyday making sure every task is accomplished and scanned in. There were areas that I found lacking and some tedious projects enhanced. When it came to 6th grade and there were multiple teachers to email and scan to, it got to be too much and we looked for something else. Our second year homeschooling, I paid for a private online school for my 6th grader and I found a great homeschooling resource in Colorado called CHEC. I purchased all of my 2nd graders curriculum through them. I felt that my second grader wasn't being challenged with the online format and his handwriting was a joke, since he was on the computer all day. So last year I got to experiment with a few books and see what worked for us. You will find what we used under "My Homeschooling Research" on this blog. At the end of last year I felt like I knew what books worked for us and what didn't. I got the hang of how classrooms are run online and through traditional books. This year we are only homeschooling through traditional books. I have always been the one that wanted someone to tell me exactly what to teach in each grade, but this year I made all of my own decisions and I'm so eager to see what's in store for us. I purchased most of these books from Mardel Christian Book Store or through Veritas Press. I will tell you how or why I came up with each item in hopes that it will help you someday...or so I can remind myself in 3 months when I am saying "what the heck was I thinking?" This is what I have come up with :

3rd Grade

Saxon Math 3- I have always heard homeschoolers speak highly of Saxon Math. I was really happy with our Math book last year but apparently they don't make one beyond 2nd grade. Saxon is notorious for repeating concepts. This bothered me when I picked up the enormous book and realized that we have already gone over half of this stuff. When I looked at the next year it was a bit too advanced. So I see that each year seems to be a lot of review but this is the thing that I have come to realize. That is what school is. Each year we review the same things and build upon them. Sometimes, we review the same thing with even more detail. This is how we learn.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega   Last year my youngest wasn't given a lot of material to work with in his Science books and my oldest struggled with his Science online. I randomly picked up this curriculum and it turned out to be identical to what his very expensive online school taught. LifePac's come in unit studies. It comes in a box with 10 small books, that are each unit studies. Each small book has lesson reviews, experiments and Tests included. I loved this arrangement for Science, not all of their subjects. So everyone is doing LifePac's for Science.

History Heritage Studies 3- This book is by Bob Jones or BJU as the homeschoolers call it. I found this one the old fashioned way by comparing every history book in the aisle. I loved the pictures, which I think history books should have plenty of. It came with a workbook which I like for reinforcement. Also, it had a test packet. Very handy.


English 3 Writing and Grammar by BJU We used the second grade version of this book last year and I was really happy with it. This year I went a step further and bought the test packet to go with it for both boys. I didn't know they had a test packet last year. Live and learn and moving on.

Spelling Grade 3 by Purposeful Design- I'm a softy for colorful textbooks that we can write in. I chose this one by comparing it to other options and it looked like something I knew my kiddo would like or at least not fight me too much on.

Explode the Code 3 1/2 - This is a phonics book. Nothing was wrong with our last years book but the boy disliked it greatly. This one seems the same but looks different. I'm hoping to trick him into liking phonics.  I did like that they had 1/2 years. Year 3 looked like ground we already covered so I opted for year 3 1/2.

Handwriting without Tears- WE....yes we  worked really hard last year on handwriting. We went through multiple books and free worksheets. I was referred to Handwriting without tears from a kindergarten teacher and I'm really excited to try it out.

7th Grade:

Elementary Algebra by Harold  Jacobs- I found this book in a magazine called Veritas Press. Parents raved about how simple the concepts of Algebra were presented in this book. Then I found out it was out of print and that kinda thing really sets off my inner geek. I must posses those treasured textbooks that are irreplaceable. Of course Veritas Press is apparently buying all of the copies they can get there hands on, so I ordered through them. I will let you know if it's all it's cracked up to be. I even went on half.com and read some pretty amazing reviews about it there too. I ordered the enormous textbook, the test packet and the answers to the tests ,which apparently have the work to show how the answer was reached. That sounded invaluable to me, but it hasn't come in the mail yet.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega- see notes above

America the Beautiful by Charlene Notgrass I started using this book last year to supplement the boys learning because I felt they were both saturated in World History and knew nothing about American History. Eventually my enthusiasm dwindled because there was real school work that needed to be done. What drew me to this book was again the amazing pictures that I believe all history books should have. Less Words and more pictures or at least 50/50. I want to visualize it y'know? Also this book has a map workbook so the kids can locate the area they were learning about and draw things indigenous to the area . I like that to reinforce and picture which area of our country we are studying. This year I bought the lesson  review book too. I also realized that this book is broken up into 30 units. Even though this is actually two enormous books we are going to get through it by doing 1 unit a week , 1 lesson a day. They really mapped it our beautifully for me.

English Writing and Grammar 7 by BJU- see Notes above


Reading Detective B1 by the Critical Thinking CO.- This book was referred to me by someone who apparently has a brainiac child. It reminds me a lot of state testing. It has reading passages and questions to answer. The promise of this book is to develop independent thinkers. The answers are not word for word in the story , the child will actually have to use their mind. I will tell you how it goes.

Vocabulary from Classical Roots A by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers- My seventh grader is an awesome speller, so instead of a spelling book, we are learning Latin. Hear me out! He's the kind of kid that reads books way above his grade level but then he will pronounce a word he read completely wrong. So we are learning roots of words, which I am hoping will help him for the rest of his life. He will not be speaking latin but he will know where some words come from. Lesson one starts out with the word mono- meaning one : think monologue, monarch, monopoly etc.

Health from Horizons- I had every intention of teaching my son a health class last year and since I didn't , we will do it this year.

Typing: I have heard of www.typingweb.com but I haven't really looked into it yet

I am also armed with my amazing planner, " A Well Planned Day" It has room to plan your lessons, track attendance, grades, shopping list. It was my saving grace last year. I actually purchased one for the 7th grader too. I'm not sure I'll get my monies worth out of that one...

      So that's what we will be tackling next week. When I put it all down, it makes me want to take a nap. If you're thinking about homeschooling , talk to some homeschool moms. We come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We have some very different ideas of what school should be like. That doesn't mean that it's not for you. I have taken small steps to get here, but I'm glad I'm here. My goal is to have educated children, who think for themselves and like to learn(or at least don't hate it.) I may have accidentally wandered into homeschooling but I am intentional about their learning. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor.