?

Do you ever feel inadequate? Maybe that's not the right word. How about...

Do you ever feel like you fail at everything you do? Wife, mother, teacher, housekeeper, accountant, child of God.

Oh, I left out daughter.

It seems like with all the different hats that I wear, I could at least be successful at something.

I know I need to get my priorities in order. And I started the day off great. I got so much accomplished. Then....

It turned into a typical Monday, with horns and a tail.

Praise the Lord I get to start over tomorrow. Praying for a better day, and a better state of mind.

Blessings

The Lord has truly blessed my family this summer. Both of my girls decided they wanted to live their lives for the Lord.
It truly is a blessing.

Weekly Wrap-Up #4

Monday
This week started of awful.  We slept in, I had a headache, and I threatened to send one kid back to public school. 

What a way to start the week.  Do you every wonder why you are doing this, or if you are doing the right thing for children?  I sometimes wonder if I am hurting them more than I'm helping them.

I know the reasons we decided to homeschool, and they haven't changed.  If anything they are stronger, and we have added more to them.  But somtimes I just wonder if I am really capable to homeschool my girls.  I always hear people say they don't have the patience to homeschool; well I don't either, I just do it.  But sometimes I feel like I could explode.

Okay.....enough ranting.
After I got done exploding, the girls did pretty good on their school work.  Baylee went to cook with her Nownie.

Tuesday
The girls did good today.  Molly had chemistry, and of course I was not prepared.  She didn't have her notes, and we forgot to study for the quiz.  Thank goodness I was blessed with a smart girl; makes up for my slacking, she made a 90 on the quiz.

She is also doing great in algebra 2.  It could be that she has a new teacher, her daddy.

 

Baylee has decided she loves to read.  She would reather read than do her school work.  It's hard not to let her read, but we can't get behind the first month of school.

Wednesday

For the rest of the week we are not going to get to much "school work" done.  Remember how I don't like to tell people no.  Well.....I am having a Body by Vi party Thursday night for a friend.  And since my house is not emaculate, and we have been remodeling; I think I need to get some cleaning done.

And I have decided to change curriculum after only 3 weeks of school.  We are just book people, and the whole textbook method is not working out to good for us.

So we are switching to Sonlight for History and Literature.  I feel like it won't be as hard and time consuming as Tapestry, but we still get to read "real" books.

No work on Thursday.


Friday
The girls did real good today after we got started.
Molly seems to be doing real good in Algebra 2 and Chemistry.  Maybe I won't do to much damage.
We are not doing to much History and Literature until I get the new curriculum.

I can really tell a difference in Baylee this year.  It seems like everything is clicking; Science, Math, Reading.  Everything but spelling.  I can't blame her though, I'm not a good speller either.

She worked on a little science experiment today.  She was trying to see how strong one stand of fettucine was.  She played for a long time with it, doing it several different ways.  She is going to be my engineer.

To get back to the weekly wrap-up click http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2011/08/weekly-wrap-up-anniversary-edition.html

Weekly Wrap-Up #3 (Better)

We did a little better this week.  I still am having problems getting my little one (10) to get her school work done without whinning.  She never feels good or always has a headache when its time to do school work.  But she doesn't seem to feel that bad when she wants to read a book. 




I am also having problems with people calling and wanting me to do things that takes away from my time at home.  It's like since I homeschool I have all the time in the world to do things for other people; forget that I need to be teaching my kids.

Baylee is chuggin along in her Abeka Language Art books.  She seems to be struggling a little with fragments, run-on, and compund sentences.  She is doing great in reading and comprehension.

We are reviewing some math facts from last year, so math seem to be pretty easy right now.  That probably won't last.

As always she is really enjoying science.  This year we are using Bob Jones 6 and Apologia's Astronomy.  We are talking about volcanoes and some basic astronomy concepts.

She really loves the Abeka Bible 6 program.  I think she likes it so much because of the pictures and the story aspect.  The girls like to play the Sword drill game too.



Molly is on the yearbook staff this year, so she had to work at our homeschool parent meeting.  She did very good helping and talking to people.

I am not sure if Molly is going to like the textbook method for Literature.  She has already said something about wanting to read real books.  But she really needs so be exposed to a Literature program and learn all the concepts.  I plan on added several "real" books to the curriculum for her to read. She is also doing the IEW program.  She loves to read and has a great imagination.  If I could just get her to write; I think she could write a best seller.

Now on to Algebra 2......LoL. We did the first lesson on Monday, and I began to wonder if I am going to be able to teach this.  And this is just after the first lesson.  I guess I need to get the DIVE cd's, and let her dad teach it to her. 

Molly is taking Chemistry at Covenat Christian Academy (Thank the Lord).  She loved her Physical Science class last year and the teacher.  She went to her first class this week, which was just a review of some basic concepts.  Hopefully the experiments will pick up, and she will love this class as much as she did last year.

Both of my girls have always loved the Bible and the stories that come from it.  I think that is because we view it just like history and tie it together.  Molly is using the Abeka Kings of Israel program this year, and so far she is loving it.  It is a lot of work, but she enjoys the bible so much I don't think she cares.


Both of the girls are going to have to do some school work on Saturday to catch up.  Maybe it will help then get on the ball next week.

To head back to the weekly wrap-up click http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2011/08/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-compass.html

I'm a Winner!!!

Over the past few months I have started couponing, and I have done pretty good at it.  I even have a little stock pile. 
Last week I started looking into surveys and swag bucks, and all of a sudden I began to notice all these giveways on different blogs.
So, I entered several of the giveaways.  And.........I got lucky and won a few. Yippie!!!

It seems like since I started couponing, I don't want to pay full price for anything anymore, and if I can get it for FREEEEEEEE, well that's even better.
From Wendy at Artsy Chaos I won, $25 gift certificate at Odette Alfaro, $10 for Restaurant.com certificates, and a $5 Amazon.com e-Gift Card.

From Dana at NW Bargains I won a Coach wristlet. :)


I have entered several more giveaways; maybe I can win some more.  I love being a winner. LoL

Weekly Wrap-Up #2 (Not in the Groove)

Sooooo........
We haven't got back into the swing of things yet.

I had to keep my nephew 2 days this week and a friends 2 children one day.  So, it was real hard to do school work on those days, and we have been trying to play catch up the rest of the time.

This is not a good way to start out the new school year.  Ugh!!!

Our classes outside the home start next week, and we will not have any extra kids; so maybe we can do better.

PS. I saw Kris' title and had to use it in mine.  Cause I so don't have it together this week.

Weekly Wrap Up - 1

We started school a little this week, but we will be in full force next week.  I really think we are going to like every subject this year.  Maybe I finally picked the right curriculum.  To check out what we are using this week click here.

Here is the schedule I have done for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  We are to busy on Tuesday and Thursday's with outside classes and activities to have a fixed schedule.

Time	Mom	Baylee	Molly
6:30	Morning Routine	Morning Routine	Morning Routine
7:00	Exercise	Exercise	Exercise
	Shower / Dressed	Shower / Dressed	Shower / Dressed
	Hair / Teeth	Hair / Teeth	Hair / Teeth
	Swish &Swipe BR	Swish Swipe BR	Swish & Swipe BR
8:00	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30	School Time	Bible	Bible
9:00	1 Load of Laundry	Math	Math
9:30	Kitchen	Science	Math
10:00	FL Hour Cleaning	Lang. Arts	Science
11:00		History	Literature
11:30		Writing	Literature / Grammar
12:00	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
12:30	Fly Zone	Piano	Grammar
1:00		Violin	History
1:30	Chores	Speech	History
1:45		AHG / Art	Piano
2:15		Chores	Violin
3:00		Free Reading	Chores
3:45			Free Time

3 in 30 July - Week 1

So.....
I didn't do to good this week. It was a hard week to start something new. Ha ha. I should have been doing this all along.

1. I did pretty good on keeping my clothes put up. If I could just get the girls to do it.

2. I think last night was the only night the dishes got done before bed time. We have had a busy week, and we are remodeling. Excuses, excuses......

3. The B90Days does not start till this coming Monday, so I got a little break there.

Hopefully next week will be better.

July 3 in 30

Okay......I am going to try this again.  Maybe I can stick to it for a whole month this time.
My goals for July are:

1. Clean the Kitchen before bedtime.
2. Put up my clothes when I take them off.  (I'm trying to set a good example for my 13 & 10 year old girls.)  It seems like their clothes never make it to the hangers.
3. Read my B90Days everyday.

Pretty simple...right?  Not for me.  Staying on any kind of schedule is hard for me.  I guess we will see if I can stick to it this time.  Wish me Luck!!!

It's True!!!

So..... I have gotten behind in my Bible reading and the Power of a Positive Mom.

I have had a very bad day.....WEEK; with my attitude toward my children. They have not been acting good toward each other or doing their work diligently like they should.

I've been wondering why I am so short and ugly with them. Then I picked up my Power of a Positive Mom book yesterday and began to read.
I realized, I haven't been reading the bible or praying in the mornings. It's funny how I was behind on my reading, but I needed the Positive Mom chapters this week, not last.

I never thought it would really make that big of a difference,but Oh my Lord; it's like someone else has taken over my mind this week.

So starting tomorrow, I'm going back to my reading the bible in the mornings. I'm going to test this theory out. Let's see if by Monday my attitude is better. I bet it will be. I know my kids hope it will be.

I know my children need to be disciplined, but I want to do it in a loving way. I'm not saying that I abuse my girls, so don't go calling the authorities on me. LoL

When I walk away from them after I have gotten on to them; I don't want to feel bad for the way I acted. That bad, isn't it? How can I expect them to act right when I can't.

So, great things are to come.

Weekly Wrap-Up

This week I have been trying to figure out what my oldest daughter is going to do for high school.  It's hard to try to figure out what she will be doing four years from now.  So much can happen between now and then.

This is Baylee being stubborn at Walmart.  So, we thought we would just walk off any leave her.

Baylee has had a pretty good week using the new Abeka materia.  She is still struggle in Spelling, but I think she just needs to study more.  Her reading comprehension is great.  She got A's on both her Language and Reading Quiz for this week.  Yippie!!!

She had her first History Test with Abeka, also.  She did good on it too; she got an 88.  She seems to be really enjoying the textbook method.  It just seems like she is getting so much more from her school work.  We also started covering the Ancient Middle East.

She never has any trouble in Science.  She has been reading about insects.  She also went to Sci Quest this week, and they studied cells.  Here are some pictures

:

This is a cell.

Baylee is making good grades in math as well, but I think she needs a little more work on her multiplication.  I am thinking about using Math-U-See over the summer to give her a little boost.

Molly has had a good week too.

She continues to do good in her physical science class.  I hope she likes chemistry as much as she does physical science, next year.  She is studying about electromagnetic waves this week.

Molly is still working in the Analytical Grammar book.  Grammar use to be her weak subject, but she seems to really be catching on now.  This week she is working on helping verbs.

She has started reading To Kill A Mockingbird.  At first she did not like it, now it is just okay.  This coming from a girl that LOVES to read.  When she gets grounded, it is from reading.  I hope as the book progresses she will enjoy it more.

She also took her first history test, and made a 90.  Woohoo!!!  Once again, she is loving the textbook method.  She is now covering the Fertile Crescent.

She is moving along in Algebra 1, but sometimes I am afraid she is not retaining everything that she is learning.  I may use Math-U-See's Algebra text for her this summer just to make sure.  I have heard a lot this week about making sure that their Algebra facts are firm before moving on.  It has me a little worried.

Molly is making oatmeal cookies for a party tonight.

Finished Product

Guess who gets to clean up the mess?

We have our spring piano recital coming up, and the director over the school has asked Molly to sing at it.  The recital is in May, and Molly is already getting nervous over it.  

Baylee has been asked to do an impromptu speech with 2 other girls at the Debate / Speech Parent meeting. 

It is so funny how ones weakness is another ones strength.  Baylee loves speech and performing in front of people, and it terrifies Molly.  Molly has gotten better since she has started taking Speech, but she still has a long way to go.
Both girls are reading Mark in the Bible.  We are also working on the suggestions from the Doorpost Blog.  They have been great, and I could really tell a difference in the girls last week. 

To get back to the Weekly Wrap-Up ........

Progress!!!

I did okay this week. 

1.  I got up at 8:00 most days.  Sometimes it's just so hard to make myself get out of bed when there is nothing pressing to do.  We can always do school work later in the day...right?  That is until someone calls and wants us to go do something with them.  But, I did make some progress :)



2.   My sink was clean most nights too.  Last night I didn't get to it before we went to bed, and my husband said, "One night won't hurt ya." 

3.   I have been doing great on reading 3 chapters a day in the Bible.  Some days I read more.  I really hope I can stick to this one.  I want to read with B90Days in July. 

The Power of a Positive Mom - Ch. 1-2

I am reading the Power of a Positive Mom with Jenn from Daze of Adventure at The Homeschool Village.  If you want to follow click on the book.

The first week, we are reading the introduction - Chapter 2.  There are questions and Power Points to along with each chapter.

I am reading this book, because I feel like I can be negative and hard sometimes with girls.  I can definitely use some improvement.  I hope when I am done reading that my girls can see a difference in me.....that I can see a difference in me.

So here is what we went over this week:

• The influence of a mother; the worth of a mother = $507,000......priceless
• Being a mother broadens our worldviews and opens our hearts to a deeper compassion and love for others.  It constantly exposes us to new challenges and stretches us to learn new skills.
• The day to day "job" of being a mother may not be glamorous, but we are achieving an important end goal:  raising the next generation.
• We are essential in our children's lives.  Our job has more than monetary value; it has eternal worth!
• Create a job description for ourselves and a Statement of Belief and Purpose.  I have not created my job description yet.  It's not as easy as it seems.

 

My Personal Statement of Belief and Purpose

I believe I was created by God for a purpose.  I believe my purpose is to worship and love the Lord.  I believe God has created me with unique gifts, talents, and abilities that he can use to bless and enrich my family and the people around me.  My strengths include:  My love for the Lord, my love for learning.........

I recognize that I also have certain weaknesses, yet I know that when I am weak, God is strong.  I trust him to do a great work in my family.  My hope for my family is:  to put the Lord first, to have a happy life, to love each other and be kind to everyone, and to love to learn.

Okay the statement is a work in progress, but hopefully the more I read the better my statement will get.

Not my will.....But HIS

So many different verses stuck out to me.  Maybe this won't be a long post.

S - Matthew 2:12;  Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:20 & 22

• "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route"
• When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt....."
• Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel.....Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

O - Once again complete obedience.  Of course we don't know what they were thinking, but they still did as they were told.  Just imagine the relationship they must have had with God.  

A - Okay, two days in a row.....the same message.  Maybe the Lord is trying to tell me something.  These people did as Jesus told them, without murmuring, complaining, or questioning him.  At least outloud.  I would have done all three, and I would have definitely questioned him on my return.  I would have wanted to make sure it was safe before I returned.  I want that kind of relationship with the Lord.  When he tells me something, first, I want to hear it; and second I want to act without murmuring, complaining, or questioning Him.

P -   Lord, please help me to draw closer to you and hear your voice.  Help me to “Do all things without murmurings and disputing” (Philippians 2:14).  And help to give thanks in everything: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Just a few other verses that stuck out:

• Matthew 3:8-9   "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ' We have Abraham as our father......"
• Matthew 3:17   "And a voice from heaven said, " This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Schedule Rebellion - Homemakers Challenge

 A schedule has always been a challenge for us.  I love make one out, getting it all typed up, and color coded.  But, we never followed through;  we have so many outside activities it's hard to stay on schedule.  

So this is a great challenge at JoyfulMothering.net.  I am doing the 3in30 challenge also and getting up at 8:00 is one of my goals, but the one task I want to do for this challenge is my personal devotions / bible time in the morning.  It seems like the day would be so much better if I could do this first thing in the morning.   

But, I usually stay up late therefore I sleep late, and I usually don't have time to read the bible in the mornings.  EXCUSES....no good!!!

Monday: I read and reflected; I loved the quite and reflecting time with the Lord. 

Tuesday: I read and did the SOAP Method.  I feel like I am getting so much more from my reading by doing this method.


Wednesday: It was more mid-morning before I got done with this.  But I am still going do it and loving it.  I feel like I am getting so much more out of my reading.  I am not sure if it is making my days better, but I know if I stick to it; eventually it will.


Thursday:  I usually read 1 chapter in the morning with momstoolbox, and I read several in the Old Testament before I go to bed.  This has been working out pretty good for me this week.


Friday:

Check back to see how my week is going.

Matthew 1 SOAP

I am Blogging thorugh the Gospels with MomsToolBox.  Hopefully this will help me when B90Days rolls around again, and I can finish this time.  If you are interested in seeing what SOAP is all about click on the soap button.  If you would like to follow along on the reading click on MomsToolBox.  I am not sure I will have time to blog everyday, but here is today's.


S - Matthew 1:24   When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had command him and took Mary home as his wife.

O - WOW!!!  He did what God told him too, the first time.  He must have really known God and had his praying done.

A - I would love to have a dream from God that I absolutely knew was from him.  I need to draw closer to God, so I can truly hear him and know HIS voice and act the first time he tells me something.

P - Lord, help me to set aside time each day to pray and read your word.  I want to live right, draw closer to you, and put you first in my life.

Weekly Wrap Up

 A few weeks ago  we switched from a classical approach to textbooks, and the girls love it.  It is not the way I wanted us to learn, but if that is what works best then we will stick to it.

I found Abeka 6th grade Language Arts for Baylee, so we started on it this week.  She seems to be enjoying it too.  She has always done good in grammar, so some of it just seems like review.  But, the reading part of it has been wonderful.  She is practicing her cursive writing, which she doesn't like.  She is also working on memorizing the poem "The Pasture".




In Science, she is covering Mollusks, Echinoderms, Anthropods, and Insects.  She loves it;  it seems like she can remember all the facts that she reads.  She just enjoys it so much that is sticks with her.
 In history, Baylee is studying the ancient middle east, the Phoenicians, Hittites, & Lydians.  I don't think she likes history as much as Molly and I do, but she likes it enough.


Molly has been studying helping and linking verbs in grammar.
I just got her To Kill A Mockingbird, so she should start on it next week.
 In Physical Science she is studying the applications of sound.  I have no idea what is going on here.  She goes to a class at our homeschool covering, and her dad helps her.  She is working on a bridge project.  Here are some pics of the bridge.

Molly absolutly loves the new history textbooks.  She is using the 9th grade Geography book from Abeka, so she covered latitude and longitude, map studies this week.

Both girls are reading Matthew in the bible, and practicing their piano.


To get back to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers click here.

April 3in30

 I have tried to work on my 3 in 30 goals this week.  I needed the jump start (trial period) before I actually have to begin.

 I actually done really good this week on getting up at 8:00.  I only over slept one day.  Yippie :)
Most nights the kitchen was clean before bedtime.  Go me!!!!
Okay, the one that I really should be doing and letting the others go; I didn't do to good on.  I did not read the bible everyday.  I just kinda put this one on the back burner because I am starting blogging through Genesis on Monday with MomsToolBox.

So that's it for this week; how did your week go?

Our New Adventure

I had a garden when I was little living at home, but I have never had one since I have been married.  I decided that we were going to have a small one this year.  The prices of fresh foods are so high; I thought why not just grow my own.  We are fixing to put our house up for sell, so we are not going to have anything big and extravagant.  But, it will be enough for us.




Since, I had already decided to have a garden; I thought why not join this challenge.  It will be a great way to learn how to garden.

I plan on planting some herbs in pots.  Not sure on which ones yet.  I am going to plant green beans, onions, red, yellow, and green peppers; maybe some tomatoes.  This is the place of our future garden.  

I plan on buying my pots and plants this weekend.  We have had a rainy and gloomy week; which doesn't motivate you to get outside and work. LoL  So I should have a picture of "the pot area" next week.


I'm not sure on what materials we are going to use or if we will even use a curriculum.  I just want the girls to be involved every step of the way with every thing.  I want them to enjoy the experience so they will always want a garden.

This is a new adventure for us, so send me any suggestions  you have. I am going to have to read every post submitted so I can get some great ideas.

If you want to join or just follow along here is the spot to go to - HSV Garden Challenge.   www.thehomeschoolvillage.com/2011/03/hsv-garden-challenge-link-up-1.html

McWane Science Center

Yes, we love going to zoos, aquariums, and science centers.  I think they could live at the aquarium.  We went to the McWane Science Center on Friday.  We stayed almost 6 hours, and Baylee was not ready to leave.  The rest of use were about ready to drop.  We had a great time, I wish Sci-Quest was more like it.
Here are some pictures we took.

 Okay, this was really hard.  I tried it; it would be a great way to work out the upper body.  Baylee was having trouble, so Molly decided she would try to help.  As you can tell they didn't get very far.

Tommy was going to try to show me up, and do it faster and better than me.....He slipped on the way up.

 Yes, she is very entertaining.  

 Can you tell that she doesn't like to get her picture taken?

 And this one does?

 Okay, I thought these were so cool.  These are casts of ant colonies.  The top one is of Fire Ants, and of course we can't remember what the other one is.

We loved this exhibit.  We could have stayed there a lot longer, but people were waiting. We even went back a second time.  

I think the most fun was when the girls rode the roller coaster simulator ride. I laughed so hard, the people watching that didn't even know us were laughing.   We could here them screaming!!!  Click on the picture below to watch the video.  This was taken on my phone....we are not professionals. 

This week we have had SAT's .  And Friday and Saturday we have our Debate and Speech Tournament.  So we have not done "traditional" school work this week.

To get back to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers click here.

April 3in30

I did not do the 3in30 challenge for March.  I tried it in February, and I didn't do to well.  I set broad goals and had a hard time accomplishing them.  I have really tried to think of very simple goals this time, so hopefully I can stick to them.  So here are my 3in30 goals for April:

1. Get up at 8:00 Monday through Friday.   I know this is bad.  I homeschool, and we have a hard time getting up in the morning.  We like to stay up late and sleep late. But, I want to change this habit. 
2. Read at least 3 chapters of the Bible a day.   Once again this is bad.  I am an active church goer, but we are on the go a lot; and it is hard to find time to read the Bible.  No wait.....I don't make the time.  It's not hard to find it; I'm sure if I tried I could do it.
3. Clean the kitchen before bed.   The few times I have done this, it was great to wake up to a clean kitchen.  It would be nice to get started on our school work and not have to worry about cleaning the kitchen.  

So there they are.  I hope can accomplish these this month. 

February - Sci Quest Trip

I know it's been a while.  I guess I blog in spurts.  So what we have been up to:

We went to Sci-Quest in Huntsville; they have a new cell exhibit.  It's pretty good, and Baylee has been studying plant and animal cells, so it was nice to see the big models.

 

Baylee made this cute mask, and of course I had to get a picture. 

Tommy is playing with the girls.  The girls are at the other end of the tube talking to him.

This is Baylee's animal cell.  Don't look to close; play doh dries out.

The girls have started working on their new Abeka history books.  Molly really likes it; it's not as much work as she was doing.  I think Baylee could take it or leave it.  The only thing she would like is, if she could sleep till noon everyday.