Pre Christmas Busies

We have been so busy with getting school out of the way to enjoy Christmas this year. Since my daughter and I are traveling to Ohio this year I wanted to have all her work done for the year the week before Christmas. I think we have 1 section in math to do and the test and we will be done!

We will be enjoying The Nutcracker ballet tomorrow. We enjoy doing this every year. We first started going when she was in 2nd grade. She had won tickets to the Birmingham Ballet's performance from a coloring contest. The next year we were able to see the Alabama Ballet's performance of it and really enjoyed it better. So since then we have made it a tradition to go see the Alabama Ballet's performance. It is 1 of 6 ballet companies in the world that perform George Balenshen's version (sp) This is awesome to have it here in our backyard!

We will also be having dinner with some friends of ours at Red Robin on Friday night. My daughter is so excited about this. Her "best friend" is going. We also have a funeral to attend this week. My daughters friend lost his grandmother this past weekend. It is so hard here at Christmas to lose a loved one. On Saturday I get my grandson. He is spending the night with us and going to church with us on Sunday and then to my husbands family Christmas party with us. Most of them don't even know that we have a grandson. It will be very interesting since he is 15 months old.

Well Merry Christmas everyone if I dont get back on here before then. And no I do not say Happy Holidays. Christ is the center of the season and it always will be in my heart.

Craving Knowledge

It is December already! Boy the older I get the faster time flies. This time of year is always very busy around here with school activities and such. This year my daughter and I are driving home to Ohio for Christmas with my mom and sister. I can not wait. I have not seen them in about 3 yrs. I know that is a long time but don't get me started on that whole story.

The other day I was talking with an old friend of my daughters and he was telling me how boring school was. He said it is the same thing over and over. Its do this, do that, you can't do that, you must do that. He said if school was just a little bit interesting more kids might want to come to school. Now this young man is not a slacker. He goes to school everyday and participates in after school activities and gets good grades. He just doesn't see the meaning to all of it. I think I have ruined him. He asks all the time what we are doing. I tell him this or that. I tell him we got to the library a lot for research for a subject my daughter is learning. I remember one time he wanted to read the paper my daughter wrote about some historical battle. She had spent several days at the library researching. He told me that he had never known half of what was in her paper. He is a year older than her. So know when we are done with a workbook he borrows it to get the information that his PS is not giving.

I think for Christmas I might get him some books that have been very helpful to us over the yrs. I think he might like the chance to get more out of his learning than what he is spoon fed. I sure am glad I have the God given ability and God's blessing to home school!!!

Trouble in "Paradise"

All my life I have been kind of a loner. When I was a teenager all my friends were older than me. They drove and did things a whole year before I did. So I did a lot of things on my own. Things like: shopping, movies, afternoons out. Well I realized today that I am none the wiser when it comes to picking friends. Only now I just dont have me to think about, I have my daughter. Either I feel I am not smart enough or not sophisticated enough. At least that is what it seems to me. (What some of these people dont understand is that sophistication has nothing to do with it. This girl went to the country club when she was younger.) I thought I was alone in this thinking until my wonderful daughter asked me if I felt like a 5th wheel, because she certainly did. Hmmmm. What can I do to change my situation? It is not them, it is me. I need to look at my choices and see where I am going wrong. Prayer, lots of prayer. That will be my answer. In the mean time while I am seeking God's answer on this one, I will spend my time with my beautiful daughter and laugh!!!

What does God have in store for us now?

Today was the last day of our church we started 4 yrs. ago. After long prayers and talks with God my husband believes that it is time for our church to close. God gave him a peace about this. He knows that something bigger and better is up the road for us. He has spent many hours of preparation and study. God has put us in so many peoples lives when they were struggling through family members dying and hospitalizations. Thank you Lord for letting us minister to them. We were able to help many confused and lost teenagers in our time as a church. Thank you Lord for that. God has tremendously blessed us through our ministry. I just can't wait to see what he has next for us to do!!!

Some more confirmation

Yesterday my daughter and I spent time with our friends, laughing, taking pictures, painting ceramics, and having dinner. We could not have done this if she was still in public school. Granted this was not "school" but she was learning and reinforcing her manners in a public place. How else can she get along with others in the real world if she doesn't get to practice it??

Now onto cooking. Yesterday morning I also did some cooking before we left. I made some peanut butter granola and some cookies. The cookies are hard to keep around. Most were gone by the time we got home. Hubby and son ate almost all of them. I went through my Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookies cookbook and noted the one I want to try this year. There are also some great mixes for gifts!!

Apple pies are on the agenda for the weekend and maybe some more fudge. Of course the cookies too. But those are getting in the freezer before the men get home!!! O maybe a few cakes too!

If anyone wants recipes let me know.

OK so who owns Gooseberry Patch cookbooks? I own 1. Yes, only 1. That is not to say that I would not like others but times are hard especially for homeschooling families with 1 income! I love my cookbook. I received it from a friend for Christmas a few years ago and I think I have been through it about 10,000 times. LOVE IT!!!! I have Christmas Cookies. Love it, Love it, Love it! Oh have I said that I might Love it???? I make copies of the tags to put on my gifts every year and I use the labels too. Please get one if you do not already have one! They are such an inspiration!!!

GO GOOSEBERRY PATCH!!!

Set Backs

Well my daughter had another set back this week. Tuesday evening she had a seizure. The first one in 7 months. She remembers NOTHING!!! Even me. Everything is being reintroduced to her. Very frustrating to her and me. I just can't imagine what it is like not knowing anyone or anything. She is my hero! So for the next few days no school because she has to "get her file cabinet back in order". That's how the Dr. described her problem. Its all there but someone or something came in and removed all the files and through them up in the air. Now she has to find them and put them back in order. I wish I could do it for her.

Tonight she will see some of her friends for the first time since the seizure. I hope they are not going to be mean. If they are we will leave and not go back. Tomorrow we have class. Luckily she will be in my class all morning so I can be with her and "protect" her. There is really only 1 person that I am worried about hurting her. He can be so mean to her at times and other times he is a sweetie to her. I guess I will have to wait and see. I will also pray before going tonight and tomorrow that they will all be kind to her! I need to get some more info on her problem!!!!

Enjoying the little things

I was sitting here thinking on everything I needed to do today. I then said to myself that I sure am glad my daughter is able to go with me. Light Buld moment!!!! If she was still in public school she would not be able to go with me on my little excursions. She would be stuck in a classroom all day and then come home for a few hours with the family and put her nose in books for school and then go to bed and do it all over again. Not really spending time with each other.

Today we are grocery shopping, paying bills, going to the bank, and meeting up with some homeschool friends for tennis, laughter and conversation! How can life get any better than that??? We will have PLENTY of laughter at the tennis courts. No one but my daughter has played in almost 2 years. And then it was only to goof around. We are all very very very much ametuers!!!!

I am extremely happy that God has given me the courage and knowledge to homeschool! Thank you Lord for these blessings!!!

Been rough lately

It has been kinda tough around here. About 2 months ago we lost our dog of 7 yrs. Skooter was the best Heinz 57 breed around. Protective, loving, and good all the way around. He got attacked by something and our 14 yr old daughter found him (he was her best friend). Well about 3 days later a puppy maybe 6 weeks old found its way to our house and took up residence here. So we named him Cooper. He was a pretty good dog but chewed up alot of things. But for being a puppy he was good. Well last night we had to put him down because he cut his foot so severely that it didn;t have any skin left to close it up. It was already to late because infection had set in. So we lost another dog. Very hard to deal with because they become very close to you.

Well then my daughter has had some friend trouble and today was the end of it. She just lost it. It is so hard seeing your baby fall to pieces and there is nothing you can do for them except hold there hand. I just don't understand how someone could be so thoughtless about others feelings. I think if it hadn't been her best friend it probable wouldn't had bothered her as much.

The fun of growing up!!!

Can't seem to get it together

I thought things were going well today. My daughter finished another book in Science and will be taking the test Thurs. Got Math done and a few other things. Then things started happening...
1. Phone was acting up and had to call the cable company. They will be out in the morning to hopefully find the problem.
2. Son needed me to pick him up from work so we could go get plugs and wires for his car.
3. Found out that I totally forgot a field trip we signed up for. Missed it last year because of my ankle surgery.

I am so glad this day is almost over. Hopefully things will go better??!!

I have found some rose scented hand lotion that we forgot about. Not so much to make for the craft fair I think we are going to do.

Moving quickly

Time sure is flying by! This week we did a little school work. My daughter did some light work on Mon and Tues this week. Wed she took the PSAT. Thurs was her birthday so no school and she had to take her drivers test. Friday we spent preparing for her birthday party. So next week we will be getting back into the school mode quickly. I have really enjoyed breaking up our days. It makes homeschooling more enjoyable when you can take a day away from it all.

My daughter and I are getting some things together to start selling our lotions. We are going to make make 4 or 5 different scents for the Christmas season. But they will not be Christmas scented. We will have sandalwood cinnamon, rose, lavender, evergreen (maybe) and 1 other that i have not decided on yet. We sell the 4 oz. bottle for $5 each. It has Aloe and Vit E in it. It is very soothing!!!

Class Day

We had a good 1st class day today. We meet 2 times a month. This was the forst for this year. I am teaching scrapbooking for highschoolers. I was very impressed when 2 boys wanted to join our class. It was not for the girls but they wanted to know how to do it. Also they needed an art credit and this sounded interesting. We completed a whole page before we left. It was great working with the teens. I can't wait for the next class!!! It was an interesting social environment. It makes me wonder what some of these "christian" kids are being taught at home. Or are they being taught anything??? The girls are chasing after the boys. Thank goodness some of these boys have their heads together and don't want any part of it!!! It was bad in public school but this is pretty bad too. I just pray for these girls that think they NEED a boy to make them happy. I am very proud of my daughter for not participating in this. Unfortunately these were her so called friends.

Interesting Look at Things!

I was having conversation with a child that I know from the public school here. She was asking me y my daughter isn't going to the school anymore. I told her that we decided to homeschool her. She doesn't understand several of our reasonings but that doesnt matter because they are our reasons and only God has to understand. But we later got on the subject of what my daughter wants to do with her life. Shannon (my daughter) has a very clear picture what she wants to do with her life. She knows what she wants to do and she knows what her back up plan profession is going to be. Shannon works very hard at getting things done so she can achieve both of these goals. This little girl who I was speaking with could not understand y my daughter wanted to grow up so fast. Or how she could know what she wants out of life at such an early age. Well I kindly told her that most of my children have prayed long and hard that God reveal to them what they're gifts are. They have also asked God for direction in career choices in their lives. Some folks just don't understand that God gives it all to us. I just was thinking of how true a lot of my daughters public school friends have the same feeling and attitude towards these things. I thank God every day that he has blessed me with some awesome kids!!!!!!!!!

Just Thinking

OK my daughter has already started her schoolwork on her own. She has completed 2 workbooks for each subject so far. My thinking is do I now set a deadline for her to get things done or do I just let her keep going? I am very proud of her for taking the initiative and doing it on her own without Mom telling her to do it. I just don't want her to get lazy and fall behind. I think with her moving on her own I will probably set broad time lines for her to get things done. I will have to push her into starting her foreign language though since it is on the computer. Does anyone have a good calligraphy program? She is so wanting to do this as an art.

Intro

Hi! I am a mother of 3 and a grandmother of 1. My two oldest are boys and they are 21 and 19. Both have graduated from public school. My 21 yr. is married and has a 1 yr. old son. My 19 yr. old has finished his first year of college and is enlisting in the Army to leave sometime in January of 2010. My other child is my daughter 14 yr. old. We have been homeschooling now for 1 yr. The public school system that educated my sons was not benefitting my daughter and the moral issues they are having was not what I wanted for my daughter to deal with. We are loving homeschooling very much. We have joined a homeschooling group in our area that is WONDERFUL. We are using ACE curriculum and my daughter is loving it. She is a self-motivator. I will be talking about our trials and tribulations dealing with homeschooling and our ps community.

The only way we can accomplish anything is through Jesus Christ!