The Sparks Circus

Get The Heck Out 2009

2010-01-01T11:56:00.002-06:00

Dear 2009,
I am sure there are some out there will argue that this year has been a wonderful year for them, and while I can say there has been great moments I know I will not remember this year fondly at all. You see 2009 you were a year that threatened to break our family, almost broke my sanity and pushed our family to the brink. 2009 has by far been one of the hardest years of my adult life, it was the year I went faithless for the majority of the year and have struggled to get it back.

2009 you made me so uncomfortable that even the people who could help me most, I think were puzzled with what to do with me next. And while there are no guarantees that 2010 will be better, I do know that 2009 is now gone and that is a comfort. 2009 if only you would have not been such a confrontational, devestating, and just a "ball busting" year and on top of it the recession made things ten times worse to deal with. The only good things that came out 2009 were a new grandchild, a stronger relationship with my twin and a new found bond and a stronger relationship with my oldest-and for those things I am grateful. 2009 you did not have to be so mean you started out with all the promise of other years but quickly decided to turn wicked SIGH so it is with no regreat that I shred your calendar, and to not look back with any longing to the good old days in 2009.

So while I have never been a resolution maker.. I will promise to not become as bitter has you, 2009 pushed me to become. I will not lose the lessons you taught me, but I will not give you credit either. I will not live under the illusion that nothing bad will happen during 2010 but I will not let it get the best of me as you 2009 did. So in closing 2009, get the heck out. GOOD RIDDANCE, and please let the door hit you on the way out.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T11:50:00.000-06:00

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T10:16:00.005-06:00

Turtles!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-11T09:54:00.003-06:00

From our Fall hike on Tuesday

Homeschool Mom Translator

2009-11-08T13:04:00.000-06:00

This is so cute and funny!

A Day in the Life of Sparks Classical Academy

2009-10-24T10:52:00.005-05:00

A typical day
Someone was curious about everyone's day with highschoolers and since I have 3 (two 10th graders and one 9th grader) I thought I would share. But becuase I tend to be long winded I thought I would add it to my blog, so my bloggy friends could see. Ohhh and please keep in mind I am do have sleep issues, so if you see me getting up before 8am I am lying LOL.

9:30 ish wake up and normally at least one of my kids is also

10:40ish kids start their morning chores

11:00 start school normally I start with the Queen to be's math (alg 1) so while I work with her, wacky prince and chef to be work on their assigment sheets. About this time is when sleepless wonder arrives and normally finishes eating he brunch-ish meal.

12:00 I finish math with queen and we normally eat lunch and I start with sleepless and give him is daily sheet and he starts to work away

12:30 Prince to be time for math help with queen moves onto do her indepenedent stuff
chef is normally by this time working on science and doing a project of some sort

1:00 ish I finally decide I am hungry and eat something and start to read for co-op literature class

finish up lunch about 1:30 and I work with Chef to be on his english and the others normally have finished their math and have corrected their worok

normally this continues until about 4 when most are done. I am around to answer questions or help with issues.

when sleepless wonder has finished up for the day (which is anywhere between 4:30 and 5 and if he is not I normally stop him by then) we all go up and play Brawl on the wii... we normally play that for about 30 min. If I am real tired normally I nap

Most of the time by 7 Sleepless has been picked up and dinner is almost ready

my kids play or Queen to be normally work on spanish for our co-op and watches TV (spanish for some reason monopolizes a bunch of time for her). We all kind of hang out for the rest of the day. My kids are told to read at 10pm and lights out at 11pm. We are a very late night family.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-21T01:59:00.003-05:00

The joy of homeschool teens... ohhh and just so you know my youngest one is on the other side of THAT DOOR wanting to be let out :) of course he was rolling on the ground laughing while asking to be let out.

Thoughts

2009-10-17T17:30:00.005-05:00

You know you never know what God is going to call you do, and you never know when he will call you to do what you would view as the craziest thing. Our journey with the Sleepless Wonder (his bloggy name) began many years ago, 4 I believe. And never would I imagine what a difference this kids would make in my life in such a short time. You see Sleepless one is part of our homeschool and clearly that is where I thought the it would start and end. But wait I am getting too far ahead of myself.

And how did I get into that one?? Well good question! My daughter was good friends with him for 4 years and a couple year after we meet him, his parents stopped homeschooling him and enrolled him in a private school and we all thought that was the end of the Sleepless one for us. But ever now and then we would hear from him and lost touch with him a couple of times, until this summer. My daughter had been going through some hard times and out of the blue she asked if she could call Sleepless, and I said sure, even though truth be told she was only allowed to call one other person. And that is how it all started!

The hung out for months this summer and it was getting close to "school time" and Sleepless, and now just his father, decided that they would go back to homeschooling. Well Sleepless is in the same grade as Queen to Be and I offered to his dad to help if it is needed, that even though Sleepless is very smart and ahead of my Queen that I would love to help with this. After countless calls and many hours of talking we settled into a "plan," now the funny thing is that plan does not at all look like our "homeschool" today. But anyway off we started and I found that Sleepless is quite different from my kids but hmmm who isn't? But I truly enjoy being around this kid as much as I enjoy my own kid and he truly he has a good and what seems like a "he has always been here" fit.

Now looking at the journey we have been on for several months, God put him into our lives to help heal me and more important to heal him. After a tough year were I questioned just about everything I had ever done, he came and helped me to put faith back into my mothering, schooling and family. How did he do it? By just being there and by just being the one who needed me more than I needed to keep reflecting on my past and its mistakes. I am truly in awe of what and how God did this! And I am proud to say that I now have 4 kids, thank you God for putting this family into our lives. And thank you for allowing him to put faith back into my journey! And thank you most of all for allowing me to be his "mom!"

Long time no bloggy

2009-09-05T10:11:00.002-05:00

Well it has been a long time since my last post but here I am, we have been very busy with now homeschooling 2 in high school, and soon to be 3. WOW... it takes a lot more time to grade than it ever did before, but luckily the do work independent a lot. We also registered for co-op classes and start next Friday.

The big news is we have an additional student this year with our homeschooling, we are homeschooling a family friend with my kids. We are very excited to have him as he is in the same grade as Queen to Be, and he will be known on this blog as Sleepless One :D because he sleeps less than me, which is incredible in itself.

Our Co-op Classes for Fall 2009:
Queen to Be
Sign Language
Mapping the World
Spanish II
American Lit
Dance

Sleepless One
Chemistry (yup he almost died when this class almost filled up... strange!)
Spanish II
American Lit
Dance

Wacky Prince
Biology
Current Events
Flag Football
Dance

Chef to Be
Designing Playgrounds (he is very excited about this they will make models and stuff)
Robotics
Chess
General Science I (abeka 7th grade science a great book)
Frisbee Gold

More Lake Fun on Dad's Day Off

2009-07-30T11:30:00.004-05:00

Since we only have one car and dad only has one full day off... we take advantage as much as possible to go and have fun with out friends.

This is one of the Queen to Be and her new friends that are starting co-op with us this fall they are sitting on the rope that sections of the beach area

This is the sand creation my adopted niece made with her "friend boy" if you can't figure it out it is Mr. Crabs from Sponge Bob.

Here is the artist, Manga Girl and Her Friend Boy Mr. Boyscout

And last.. The Wacky Prince and his version of the Thinker... disturbing huh?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T09:50:00.001-05:00

Friends at the Lake

A Homeschool funny

2009-07-26T11:19:00.003-05:00

An Afternoon at the Lake

2009-07-23T12:18:00.005-05:00

We took a mid-week break to go to the lake with some friends... we had a good afternoon and had lots of fun. We saw some old friends we have not seen in a long time and some co-op friends. Yes these teens played in the sand and made this stuff, the joy of homeschoolers the ability to entertain

This is the boys... mud pit they made. it started out as an island on our previous trip to our lake spot

This is the girls dragon, my best friends daughter did it she did a great job

The girls working hard on their "castle" and dragon

The whole group sitting on the wall eating lunch, we didn't tell them to do this they just did :) isn't that cute?

Dear Socially Challenged Duplex Mates PART 2 (yes it is another letter)

2009-07-21T09:41:00.005-05:00

As previously discussed in part one of this letter, I feel it is time to once again address some issues that obviously your mom did not teach when you were little. I am so sorry that your parents failed you in this area but it is time at your age to realize that yes there are other people around you.

First of all, I am glad that you are married and also have a boyfriend, I am glad that your guy has a great time over there and your husband does not seem to care. But please do not leave for a "date" with your boyfriend and kiss in front of our window and declare your love for each other. My children know that is not your husband and I am tired of the questions. It is just really white trashy of you to do that to your husband and your kids... they can see you too. And I honestly find it very gross to say the least and maybe I should say the least.

Secondly, I know that you both are out of work AGAIN this summer (hmm I have noticed a trend)but please realize that not all of us have the luxury to "get laid off" every summer and collect unemployment. And we do get annoyed with the door slamming, feet stomping and giggling outside at 2 am, even though I have insomnia and I am up most of the time... it never fails that the nights you do that I am actually feeling sleepy. Ohh and by the way, your children should be in bed at 2am, your daughter is younger than my kids and PUT her to bed, she is giggling and hyper because she is sleepy (and yes she is in her brown pants).

Thirdly, I am shocked I have to tell you this one but the sidewalk and curb is not made for road traffic. Please do not run over the curb especially when my children and I are standing there. I am sorry you have a long car and obviously do not know how to park but we honestly don't need the stress of whether or not you will run over us. I would like to think you would not but I can't honestly say I trust you one little bit.

Fourthly, all winter long I have listened to cats being born underneath our house, I have listened to them meow, give birth and "attack" each other. And you know it annoyed me but I also knew I could not trap them because it was too cold or I was too busy to deal with it and I WAS NOT GOING UNDER THERE. Well now in the heat of summer come to find out one of those cats had pulled our duct work down from under our house and we have been living with the heat because of these cats, that duct feeds our upstairs AC. Please realize that I like to use my duct work to cool my house, not to birth your cats.

So until further notice the "Feral Cat Birthing Center" that is located under our duplex is closed. There will no longer be a birthing room in our ducts. I will not be nice about it any longer! I will no longer listen to meowing and do nothing, the city has gladly loaned me the use of animal traps to use, and I will bring them out there and I will not care if it bothers you. I am sorry that you are "addicted" to cats but honestly going through a 30lb of cat food every weeks should be your sign you have too many. And moving them inside does not solve the problem... JUST SAY NO!

Also please be on notice that I will not help look for your wife when she runs off, will not listen to stories of your terrible life or want to go into your house for coffee. My life stinks some times too but I don't feel the need to share the wealth with you please don't feel you need to share it with me. I would normally love to have coffee with anyone but your house smells so bad my eyes, ears and nose feel like they are going to bleed when I leave, not to mention that smell I taste it for days. And my suggestion about your wife, next time she leaves make sure she takes the cats with her, and change the locks.... she is cheating on you!

Again I hope I have brought to your attention some ideas you might embrace. Remember the world does not revolve around you, other people live in this world and honestly don't give a darn about you, and we hate your cats. So the next time you hear a popping sound, it is just me shooting your cats with my airsoft gun. Don't fret about it I really really really enjoy it.

Signed....
still your neighbor and still annoyed

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-08T08:49:00.002-05:00

*note: no one was harmed or died in the taking of this picture*

What we are using the year

2009-07-06T12:31:00.003-05:00

Our slogan this year is "Get it done in 2009" my kids begged to switch to a more textbook-y approach. So we are doing what they asked

Queen to Be (10th grade)
BJU Algebra I (yeah finally)
Abeka American History (11th grade)
Abeka American Literature
Earth Science (we are using BJU and adding a project)
Spanish 2 (at co-op)
Wordsmith Craftsman and some daily editing practice
Homeschool Pysch

Wacky Prince (9th grade)
BJU PreAlgebra
Abeka Geography
Abeka Themes in Literature
Biology (at co-op they use abeka)
Jump In writing, Daily Grams 9th grade, and Apples Spelling Drill
we will add spanish most likely after christmas
PE will be taken at co-op

Chef to be (7th grade)
Key to decimals, fractions, percents
Texas History
Abeka Of People Literature
Marine Biology/ CKE Earth and Space (he asked for science at home too)
General Science (at co-op)
Wordsmith Apprentice and then start Jump In
Daily Grams and Editor in Chief
PE will be taken at co-op

School Routine

2009-07-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

Here is our school routine for the current school year (started today) I have blacked out the names but I think you get the idea.

WE Now know

2009-06-05T17:36:00.001-05:00

Where the swine flu originated!

Our June 1st Nature Walk

2009-06-01T22:04:00.002-05:00

Well we are almost done

2009-04-20T12:31:00.001-05:00

You will notice I am doing some changes to my blog! We are trying to finish up our homeschool year and hope to be done soon. I will be updating and hope to be adding some new pictures... so stay tuned.

Menu Plan Monday 3/30-4/5

2009-03-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

Monday 3/30/2009
breakfast
bacon
home fries

Tuesday 3/31/2009
Tacos
beans

Wednesday 4/01/2009 Youth
cereal

Thursday 4/02/2009
chicken alfredo
salad

Friday 4/03/2009
grilled salisbury easy meal
mashed potatoes
leftover salad

Saturday 4/04/2009
grilled chicken
beans
rice

Sunday 4/05/2009
leftovers or pizza

Obituary for my Uncle Ted

2009-03-24T16:31:00.001-05:00

Ted Patterson, of Camden, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Patterson Sr., was born June 21, 1924, and died March 19, 2009, at his home.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Dorothy Pate Patterson; son, Bill and his wife, the former Dawn Glover; daughter, Jo Marie and her husband, William Wannamaker; three granddaughters, Pate Wannamaker Neal (Richie) of Simpsonville, Erin and Anna Patterson; two great-grandchildren, Tripp and Sarah Neal; sister, Dot Segars of Orlando, Fla.; brothers, Bobby of Houston, Texas, and Pat of Lugoff. He is also survived by his beloved dog, Pondie.

He was predeceased by a sister, Doris Baulknight.

Mr. Patterson attended Newberry College until the beginning of World War II where he was a Sherman tank driver. He opened DeKalb Body Shop in 1959 where he went daily until his health began to fail. Mr. Patterson was past president of the S.C. Garage Owners Association, past chaplain and lifetime member of James Leroy Belk American Legion Post No. 17, member of VFW No. 5928, and former board member of the Kershaw County Vocational Center. Mr. Patterson was a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church where he was a former deacon.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-24T10:14:00.006-06:00

I know this is suppose to be Wordless but I have to brag and show my 13yo dysgraphic son's persuasion paper. This kind of writing in the past has been hard for him manly because the organizatioin is a challenged, we are using Apologia's Jump In and it is great.

And here is a picture of the cat my son was referring to, this was the time she found some toilet paper and had fun with it.

Wordless Wednesday 2/11

2009-02-10T22:11:00.000-06:00

Funnies from today 2/10

2009-02-10T13:29:00.003-06:00

I said the dictation sentence, "My brother is writing a letter to my uncle." My oldest son could not stand and shouted downstairs, " And not a very nice one."

Our puzzler for the day came in Austin's math, "What composite number is equal to the product of the four smallest prime number?" So we did some research and came up with the correct answer of 210, because you don't count 1 so you have to multiply 2,3,5 and 7.

Thoughts from our Homeschool today 2/9

2009-02-09T14:53:00.003-06:00

Spelling Sentences mom used:
Her wideness prevented her from fitting in the door, she decided to go on a diet.

Thoughts we have pondered today:
Some birth defects are more defective than others (pondered by my 13yo while looking at my new reading glasses)

Menu plan monday

2009-02-02T12:24:00.003-06:00

We have learned during this month how helpful Angel Food Ministries has been helpful to use, so I decided to put AFM by everything that comes from afm :) to show you how helpful it has been. This is the lean time of year for my dh's business so we had religiously stocked up and now we are using it up :)

Monday
breakfast tacos

Tuesday
catfish
hushpuppies and fries AFM
salad

Wednesday
Church night
sandwiches or cereal

Thursday
Pork Chops AFM
Parmesean baked Fries
fruit salad

Friday
Chicken salad sandwiches

Saturday
Grilled Lemon Herb Chicken AFM these are real good
rice AFM

Sunday
chicken tender AFM
fries AFM
salald

On this Day... one of my favorite authors was born.

2009-01-19T08:01:00.002-06:00

On this day in 1809, poet, author and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

By the time he was three years old, both of Poe's parents had died, leaving him in the care of his godfather, John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. After attending school in England, Poe entered the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1826. After fighting with Allan over his heavy gambling debts, he was forced to leave UVA after only eight months. Poe then served two years in the U.S. Army and won an appointment to West Point. After another falling-out, Allan cut him off completely and he got himself dismissed from the academy for rules infractions.

Dark, handsome and brooding, Poe had published three works of poetry by that time, none of which had received much attention. In 1836, while working as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He also completed his first full-length work of fiction, Arthur Gordon Pym, published in 1838. Poe lost his job at the Messenger due to his heavy drinking, and the couple moved to Philadelphia, where Poe worked as an editor at Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine. He became known for his direct and incisive criticism, as well as for dark horror stories like "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Also around this time, Poe began writing mystery stories, including "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter"--works that would earn him a reputation as the father of the modern detective story.

In 1844, the Poes moved to New York City. He scored a spectacular success the following year with his poem "The Raven." While Poe was working to launch The Broadway Journal--which soon failed--his wife Virginia fell ill and died of tuberculosis in early 1847. His wife's death drove Poe even deeper into alcoholism and drug abuse. After becoming involved with several women, Poe returned to Richmond in 1849 and got engaged to an old flame. Before the wedding, however, Poe died suddenly. Though circumstances are somewhat unclear, it appeared he began drinking at a party in Baltimore and disappeared, only to be found incoherent in a gutter three days later. Taken to the hospital, he died on October 7, 1849, at age 40

UPDATE on changes for the rest of the year

2009-01-02T23:22:00.003-06:00

Well Monday we start back up and I am not excited sorry after homeschooling for 10 years I am very very tired for some reason. I know I will be fine but I am so sick of changing things up mid-year it is always at least one subject I have to change up, and this year it is no different we are changing history.

The kids are doing well the Queen to Be is doing farely well in math-I am seeing progress and Saxon is looking like it is doing its job. The chef is actually thriving in math and is working almost a year ahead. The prince is doing really well also with Saxon, I think for right now it was a great switch.

We have continued to be behind in Government, ugh much to both my disappoint and the Queen's. I think we really just want to be done with it and umm we are sadly very, very behind. UGH but I the queen will be done by February so we can start and Intro to Worldviews. I think my poor little queen has had a hard time shifting into having more expected from her, harder co-op classes, and umm having only one assigned time to talk with mom during the day.

The chef is needing some tweaking this semester some things I really need to work on with him but umm my time has been on settling others into what is expected of them. We are switching him to the History Odyssey program because I think the outlining that they do with Kingfisher will be helpful to him. He is tends to be "organizer" thinker... he likes to put everything in categories(geez I don't know where he gets that from). I think it will put a lot of the planning pressure off me.

Here is a couple of pictures from Christmas if anyone is interested.

Christmas Pictures

2008-12-25T16:38:00.002-06:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007037&l=c19f8&id=1537666024

Here are our Christmas Pictures :)

this cracks me up

2008-12-24T08:52:00.003-06:00

wordless wednesday

2008-12-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite songs :)

2008-12-05T10:11:00.001-06:00

Something about this song so makes me giggle.

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party
We were drinking champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him until he sang
Felis Navidad, Felis Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins from his second wife Mary Nell
Of course he brought his new wife Kay
Who talks all about AA
Chain smoking while the stereo plays Noel, Noel
The First Noel

Carve the Turkey
Turn the ball game on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quickpak Store
We need some ice and an extension chord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of tampons, Marlboro Lights
Haleluja everybody say Cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night

Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Make Bloody Mary's
Cause We All Want One!
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites
A box of tampons, some Salem Lights
Haleluja, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the Family

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-03T09:50:00.001-06:00

My son is the one pulling the shovel through the water... he is on a fossil dig.

Pantry Re-organization

2008-11-29T15:06:00.001-06:00

This is the bottom of our pantry we put a lot of our canisters of noodles and beans, oils and backing things down here. Also notice the cans, these are frequently used things that I try to keep a heavy stock of:chicken broth, refried beans, cream of mushroom soup and Bean with Bacon soup (dh's fav soup and so we always try to have lot of it) We also keep large cans of tomato soup for soup night at our house which in Sunday night.

This is a another area I keep our dry milk, potato flakes and condiments. I am kind of low on condiments but I stock up when on sale. During the summer when prices were so high we had enough bbq sauce to last us until Sept. My wacky prince uses bbq sauce on everything

This is the top half of the pantry, the blue boxes is mashed potato flakes that I got with angel food for a couple of months. Also there is tomato sauce that normally I don't but once again got it from Angel food. We have lots of beans and tomato products as we eat lots of tex mex things at our house. I normally keep enough diced tomatos, chicken broth and refried beans to make our favorite soup- Refried Bean Soup. We also try to keep enchilida sauce, green chilies and refried beans for our Bean Enchilida Casserole.

So there is a look at our pantry :)

End of November Update

2008-11-28T18:12:00.003-06:00

Well we have had a difficult month-- but it will be over soon enough and then we can start anew with a shortest month of the year. YEAH! The queen continues to have some problems with budgeting her time between our homeschool work and her co-op course load. I think it is something she is starting to get the hang of, but she sometimes tends to dwell on the "stress" and does not do a quality job. So sigh I had to be the mean mom and come down hard on her she did horrible on her math last week, and her phone time had been substainly cut down on and will until she brings her grade up.

I have also made decision to swtich from TOG and get something that is not so teacher intensive for me, at this point I just don't have time to devote to it as I had in other years. So my oldest two are using Beautiful Feet Anicent History and my chef to be is going to be using History Odyssey. HO looks like a good fit for him but will require him to learn to outline, something that I really need to work with him on anyway. Beautiful Feet looks good for the older two and I think it will free up some of my time.

We once again signed up for Co-op, this coming semester I am teaching 3 classes again- can you tell I love to teach at co-op. I will be teaching a class in every grade level. I will teach Readers Theater (1st-3rd), Literature Quest (4th-6th) and the Hobbit (7th-12th). I really enjoy teaching more of the discussion literature classes and am amazed every semester by some of these homeschool students and their deep thoughts. This semester I will have my grandson in a class that is a first I am looking forward to that.

My kids classes look really well some of their first choices were filled up, we go to a BIG co-op but I think it will still be a good semester for them.

**Queen to Be**
Biology
Dance
Spanish
One Act Play

**Wacky Prince**
General Science
Spanish Made Fun
Architecture
Archery
Entomology

**Chef to Be**
Early Explorers
Whose Line is it?
Literature Quest
Adventure Down Under (My DIL is teaching this one)
Entomology

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-05T09:44:00.001-06:00

Week in Review Catch up

2008-11-02T10:42:00.004-06:00

Well it has been a long time since I have updated but with co-op going I just don't have the time with keeping Queen to be on track. She is doing much better at keeping on top of things and is doing very well at planning out how to get the work done.

All the kids have now done the big switch from MUS to Saxon and boy I wish I would have just done it at the beginning of the year with everyone. The only problem is with Wacky Prince, he just does not seem to retain how to do certain things. So I think we are going to have to have a lesson in taking notes and remind him that that is not a sign of weakness. MUS definetly is a good fit in the younger grades but you know spending a year on fractions(or in our case 2 years) tend to make anyone loathe math.

The chef and the prince has switched from CQLA, I really liked the idea of cqla but the boys needed a little bit more review on grammatical concepts than they allowed so both boys have swtiched to Easy Grammar. This way we can do a strong spelling program, chef is still really struggling in that area so he is using Apples and Pears and wacky is reviewing his spelling rules with Apples Spelling Drills. Both boys also have a daily review program for english concepts and they both has new writing programs.

Tapestry has definetly taken on a light status here, we have had to switch our priorities especially with the queen to be. WE don't do as many projects or activities but we still do a lot of the reading and about 1/2 of the literature selections. I think we are trying to get over a little Fall Fever and it is just taking awhile. I finally sat the kids down and we have decided we definetly don't want to do school after May so we need to get better about doing school work on the weekend.

WEll that is a little update I hope to do better next week.

Homecoming

2008-10-18T09:39:00.002-05:00

Here is our Homecoming pictures from last night. I love this one of her alone, sigh she looks so grown up.

This is great because her and Thumper are in their own world, they had totally forgotten anyone was in the room

Doesn't she look calm and collected in this picture? Well it because she completely wigged out about 20 min before, I mean any cool she had left was gone. I had seen her like that once before and the best part was my friend was there to see it too.

Dear Socially Challenged Duplex Mates,

2008-10-11T10:19:00.004-05:00

I know your life must seem hard to you, and I know it is hard to believe that other people reside in this world for reasons other than serving you. But I would like to request that you follow some simple rules that your moms forgot to teach you. Honestly I should not have to teach you these, you both are older than I am and I feel most people should have realized the "unwritten" guideline by now but that apparently is not the case.

First if my outside light is not on and it is dark outside don't ring my doorbell, and if it is on and it is past 9pm don't ring my doorbell. I am sorry your wife has run off, she is not over here. I am sorry that is thundering and lightening outside and she has had enough so she has left. Also I am very sorry that your teen has lost her cellphone and you only have one car and your wife is out with the girls. Your emergency is not my emergency and maybe your teen does not value that phone as much as you do and should lose it.

Secondly, please stop collecting cats, although kittens are cute when they start numbering in the double digits they loose the cuteness. I am tired of hearing meowing kittys under my house, we have a cat and love it dearly but we only have ONE. Please close your garage door so not to collect more strays, strays have fleas and we don't like fleas. Don't assume every one else likes your cats and when you finally are forced to get rid of them 3 loads of cats is TOO MANY! It is your sign you have a cat addiction problem, when you open your door and cat urine can be smelled 5 feet away that is not pleasant.

Finally, please learn to not slam you door, honk you horn we have groceries or I am in the car waiting, and for gosh sakes buy your youngest daughter a second pair of pants. You may close your door without slaming I don't need to know your coming and goings. By slamming you make me cringe especially after 9pm when I am scared my peace is going to be distrubed. I am glad you have gone grocery shopping and are home but by honking the horn the whole neighborhood realizes you are home and honestly we don't care and especially if it is 7am and your dd will no come to car get out of the car and get her. An idea, take your dd cellphone the one she has lost and call and they can meet you at the curb therefore distubing NO ONE. I have lived here for 10months and have seen the same pair of pants on your daughter everyday that I have seen her. Please buy her another pair and if she has more than one have an intervention and make her wear something else. WE all know that the brown pair is her favorite but please change it, a nice pair of jeans would be nice.

I hope I have brought to your attention some ideas you might embrace. Remember the world does not revolve around you, other people live in this world and honestly don't give a darn about you. Honestly we don't all care about your daily life, just because I have pulled up and you are out feel free to not to talk and tell me your woes. I have my own problems and family and honestly don't care, go and talk with your wife, you children, or a cat that wonders by.

Signed,
your annoyed again neighbors

Muddy Waters

2008-10-09T15:47:00.000-05:00

Absolutely wonderful video, it gave me chills.

Our week in Review- Week 11

2008-09-25T08:47:00.005-05:00

Well our week has been a little strange, dh was home sick on Sunday and Monday, the mold count is through the roof and has been effecting both of us for weeks (since Gustav blew through and then Ike). So we are getting a little behind but I have some "catch up weeks" scattered in before Christmas.

Week 3 at co-op unearthed my 14yo test taking skills, she received a 93 on her first Spanish test and has a 120 homework average (yep she is the extra credit master in spanish). In biology she took a test, and it was hard it is Abeka Biology, and got a 74 so we learned she needs to really review hard before she takes her tests. She is currently gathering up extra credit to take in on Friday to be added to her test grade.

This week in History we are studying Ancient China, the boys are writing mini-reports on Chinese inventions, the both chose gunpowder. Isn't that a big suprise considering wants to be a police officer and the other wants to be a parimedic SWAT member (yes the have some of those in Dallas). She is doing a mini biography on Confucius mainly to understand a little bit more about how that religion got started.

The chef to be is loving doing TOPS science Monday he made a circuit out of a clothes pin and enjoys the hands-on feel of TOPS. WE are going to start working on our science fair projects soon. The queen would like to make a model of the heart, and the chef would like to do an electricity project, the wacky prince wants to do something but not sure on what?

Math is coming alone, how else to describe it? The queen is getting ready to start Pre-Algebra in the next two weeks. Math is not her thing but I think she is turning a corner and it is starting to get easier for her. The wacky prince is thriving in Saxon and is doing really well, I think he really needs the spiral method. The chef is doing well and is taking a math class to help with his facts at co-op. The class seems to be helping him and his rate of computation errors is going down.

Tomorrow we go to week 4 of our co-op, we love co-op but it is a little exhausting for mom. I teach three classes and I still have to prep those. I have two chapters to read for my literature class and I need to firm up my plans for my 4th-6th Africa class I have already worked out what we will do in the 1st-3rd grade. Everyone have a good weekend.

Great new movie

2008-09-17T18:09:00.000-05:00

Our plans for the week--Week 10 of our school year

2008-09-14T16:23:00.002-05:00

Well this week we are studying the Indus Valley in History, we will be reading several books on Indian Mythology. Because co-op has started we have cut down on the expectations in History we will do a notebook page on "the Buddha" and some literature sheets on their mythology books. We are reading these books:

and

The queen to be has a lot of homework for her co-op classes so she will have to keep on top of it to get it all done. This is our first full week back after starting co-op last week because of dh getting a couple of "holiday/personal" days. With co-op starting that means we have to do core subjects on Sunday to be able to get everything in, since we take off Wednesday to be with dad and run errands. Our menu for the week is posted on my recipe blog . Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday or What Gustav's winds blew in!

2008-09-09T23:55:00.002-05:00

Isn't it pretty it is a Amorpha juglandis, aren't you impressed? He stayed all day on Saturday, the winds were very high due to Gustav (we didn't get any rain just high winds) and so he stayed on our wall underneath a shelf on the patio area. We learned that as adults do not eat it is only the larvae that feeds on walnut, hickory, alder, beech, hazelnut and hop-hornbeam (whatever that is) none of these trees do we have in our yard. So happy Wordless-Nature Loving Wednesday!

Week 8 and 9

2008-09-06T11:53:00.002-05:00

Well we finished up our first term, and week 9 was our break week. Everything is going smoothly. We start co-op yesterday and that was a little rocky for me, I was so exhausted and also was having major allergy issues thanks to Gustav! So I had an allergy medicine induced haze all day. The kids had a great time and were real excited about all of their classes, my queen to be is in high school classes so she is learning how to schedule all of her homework. Next week dh will actually have two days off in a row so we will have a short week, honestly I still need a little break to get history for the next unit together. So that is a little update!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-26T22:30:00.003-05:00

We are calling this picture... Sitting Fat Cat :)

Week 6 and 7

2008-08-25T08:43:00.003-05:00

We have been very busy still getting and keeping our groove going. WE are making progress, in fact next week is our first break week and we will start co-op that week too. WE are working on Biblical era of Exodus and talking about the tabernacle. WE are finishing up our Ancient Egypt projects so I have pictures of them working on those. We are making progress in all of our other subjects.

We are enjoying Write Your Own Roots a lot, dd is learning a lot about our family tree. I really do like the concept of the book, I do recommend if you are going to use it as your writing program to(at least at the beginning) supplement with a grammar program (we are using Easy Grammar/Daily Grams). It is very simple to use, you just have a short weekly "meeting" with your student and then they have a learn and apply section and write their story.

The Queen is finishing up MUS we probably have another 4 weeks left and then we will switch. She is counting down the days and so am I, I think MUS got us through a rough spot but I think she needs more of a constant review built in. The chef is still about 8 weeks away from switching. It seems as they get older they all need that constant review. I was the same way so I know how it feels to know you how to do something but then for the life of you, you just can't remember how to do the problem.

We registered for Co-op and we are excited!!!

2008-08-24T19:11:00.002-05:00

WE were number 10 out of 105 and we got everything we wanted, sorry to brag but we are so excited! So I will tell you all about them.

Queen to Be-9th grader
Biology with Abeka
Line Dancing
Spanish I
Pyschology

Wacky Prince-8th grader
General Science II
Architecture
Tennis
Brain Surgery
Whose Line

Chef to Be
Math Games
Spanish
Chess
Whose line is it?
Brain Surgery

Teen funny

2008-08-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

Wow I heard this just this week :) don't you love the teen logic?

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-13T00:12:00.005-05:00

Joy is a wordless Wednesday full of grandkids pictures. This was taken for Wendy's 9th birthday, not her real name but she plays Wendy on several blogs.

My youngest Grandy and my daughter in law

second to youngest grandy

The Birthday girl in jeans and our once youngest grandy (happy adoption)

Blogger Class Mates

2008-08-13T00:08:00.003-05:00

Hop on over to Blogger Class Mate to do what sounds like a fun "class" getting to know other homeschooling moms. Add the button and sign up on her Mr. Linky, and come get to know us!

Week 5 in Review

2008-08-08T11:59:00.003-05:00

Well we are into week 5 of our new year, we are in the midst of our Ancient Egypt study and also talking about Moses this week. It is very interesting to talk about Ancient Egypt and Moses at the same time. We are focusing our studies this week in the pyramids and the preparation for the after life that the Egyptians took.

The kids are working on a salt dough map of the Nile delta region. Notice the Queen is having way to much fun while the chef is totally disgusted by the whole thing. I think the wacky prince is thinking up how to smear this all over the queen (SIGH) but he knows better and tries later when there is no proof of his crime

Here is a close up of the map, it is still in its drying phase. We are expert salt dough mappers now! Let's hope I don't get the urge to do this again this year, we are still cleaning up the table boy it was a mess

See enjoying this way too much!!!

OUR CORE WORK

This is the chef math, he is trying to finish up the Delta book so we can move onto Saxon, my kids really need the spiral method in math if not they will total forget everything. Chef had a good week this week, he finished up another CQLA essay and is excited about our co-op starting again.

This is Wacky Prince's essay he is doing really well in his writing, and who said this boy was dysgraphic? Yep the advantage of homeschooling is we waited until he was developmental ready and boy his writing is wonderful. The prince has moved onto Saxon and is doing really well with spiral method. MUS was so boring for him because he just hated studying the same thing almost all year. He also got very frustrated with the MUS videos, especially when a new concept was taught and Demme showed three different ways to solve a type of problem one right after another. It was very annoying and ended up confusing him most times so we had to say good bye to MUS, it was great for a season!

The Queen to be is really doing well last week we had to give the poor girl a meet the "principal"(instead of a meet the maker) speech. She improved her attitude and has had a great week. This is her Bible for one day this week, it is from Bible Explorer series. This is a great series and real dives into the Word, it especially great for kids who have gone to church their whole life and needs an indepth study. The queen is enjoy the calm before the storm, we register for co-op on the 23rd and she will have pre-homework for co-op and that is when she will get busy. She is taking 3 credit classes this year and boy will she have homework. But she will survive-she knows this because I tell her all the time!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-05T23:47:00.002-05:00

Yep week 3 of the squirrel picture! If you enlarge the picture you can see a foot dangling in the back. LOLOL

Weekly report week 4

2008-08-02T16:07:00.007-05:00

Yes we are on week 4, I sure do wish we were on a 4 weeks on 1 week off schedule and I would be a lot happier, but we have the first month down and completed. So last week I showed you our "core" assignment sheet, this week I will show you our history assignment sheet.

This is the front page, it lists all the vocabulary words for the week, people to know, reading assignments, literature focus, and a master checklist. Notice the reading box is labeled 1-4, dh has only one day off per week normally and so we take off Wednesday to be with dad and to run errands (we have only one car).

This has some notes about this week, and lists our hands on projects for this "theme" I find that older kids like to do one or two bigger projects instead of little ones, at least my kids do. The queen and wacky prince are making pectoral (see week in review #3 it is the jewelry thingy) and the chef is going to making a model of a home during this time period (he begged to do this instead of the other ). They are also doing a salt dough map of the area. I figure TOG is so crazy about salt dough maps that using it for going on our fourth year we need to at least make one, right?

These are his accountability questions, these are his notes for when we have our history discussion. We normally have our history discussion on Monday of the next week, what I do is we discuss last weeks leesson and then I give a preview of the coming week. I love TOG but after 4 years I have learned to adapt it to our family, I don't have to the talk on Wed because we don't do the writing that comes with TOG. And I have a lot more "discussion" or lecture energy at the beginning of the week and by Friday I am spent and when co-op starts I will be even more so!

These are our history books for this week and next

We are continuing to love our new Bible program Bible Explorer Wisdom of Words, it has worked out so nicely

This is the chef's work it is also used with Wacky Prince and the Queen uses the same but a different level (this is Discovery level shown Queen uses Quest). We are still working hard on completing our math u see so we can move onto Saxon, boy do we need the review every day especially the Queen, the prince has moved onto Saxon and I have seen an improvement in him already.

Things I have learned this week: (in case people are curious)
-the Ancient Egyptians created a calendar that was very accurate even though it relied on the flooding of the Nile River.

-that the egyptians only used high windows in their homes (geez they had windows I thought tents) to get light but not sunlight heat in their homes

-they cooled their homes by wetting mats and the evaporated air cooled

-that squirrels like to eat grass when there is no water around (nope not in our reading but I observed it in our backyard)

So that is our week in review!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-29T22:57:00.002-05:00

Look! Our buddy brought a friend with him this week. How cute he has a playmate! (This is week #2 for this little guy in our Wordless Wednesday, look at last Wednesday to see his debut!)

Week in Review week 3

2008-07-24T20:21:00.013-05:00

Well we are already to week 3 of our new school year, where did week 2 go? Well let's just say we don't really want to review it LOLOL. Here are my two boys working on our TOPS science electricity, it has been a huge hit. They love that is written to them and I do too. This next week we are going to check some books out from the library to do some readings also to round out our study!

This is my Chef's asssignment sheet for this week. I thought I would include this pictures in case anyone wants to see how these look in action. The Sunday column is for when co-op starts and we have to do school on Sunday because we take Wednesdays off because it is DHs only day off.

Handwriting for ds, we are trying Italics. My poor chef's handwriting is very hard to read so we are still trying to improve it. The Wacky Prince graduated from Handwriting this year.

This is the wacky Prince's assignment sheet, the circling is things that were missed during normal school hours. NOT COOL this happened last week and trust me no one wants that to be repeated. If it is on the assignment sheet it has to be done, if it is not done on that day you listed, you lost your right to ask questions like, "where would I find the area of Greenland?"

This is Wacky Prince's first essay (CQLA) of the year. He wanted a letter grade and so he got one because, I really think he did a good job. This was the same boy 3 years ago who could barely write a sentence, and when he did it took him hours. Dysgraphia is so annoying!

This is Queen to Be's assignment sheet, this week was rather lite in government because she had a test and essay. She does the essay tomorrow but the test is down below.

Queen to Be's test this will 2/3 of her test grade for this unit, the other 1/3 will be her essay.

This is the logic we do during "circle time" we also do word winks, sudoku and other "logic" games I come across. WE do a devotional called Extreme Devotions which talk about modern day people who spread the Word. Every day we locate the place and read the devotion. We also do a read aloud this terms read aloud is Gilgamesh by Geraldine McCaughrean. We will add some hymns, folk songs and Chistmas Carol study later on in the year, after the first terms.

This is one of our projects we are going to work on for the next couple of weeks, while study Ancient Egypt.

Here are the instructions for said project.

My list of what I have learned during this weeks history study
-the book of Job should follow Genesis (I actually think I learned that during Bible time when studying up for our Psalms and Proverbs Bible study)
-Isaac means he laughs
-Abraham means the father of many
-and the Bible is not in order, at least the old Testament is not
-and we have a weird squirrel who lives in our tree
-and we have more baby possums under the house although I am not sure how many

Yes I did learn those last two things during history, I can be a little ADD after lunch and sometimes I have to be redirected (I just hate it when the kids feel the need to redirect me LOL) So all in all it was a good week. Hope you enjoyed!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-22T17:55:00.004-05:00

Notice the squirrel flat on the branch, we have named him after one of my sons (the wacky prince) because he seems to be a funny little dude and this squirrel likes to sleep and sleep and then sleep some more. The squirrel obviously feels the same way yesterday he was rolling around in a dirt hole LOLOL and then went and napped the afternoon away.

2008-07-22T10:16:00.001-05:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-16T08:59:00.001-05:00

Hiding from the heat!

Week in Review- week 1

2008-07-11T23:02:00.004-05:00

Well week 1 did not go as smoothly as I would like, although day one was awesome but it would not last. Day two was the victim of surging hormones but was salvaged and we were still able to get the whole days work done. Day three we had a little issue getting the garage door to come down and I had to be outside until dh got off at noon because it seems the little public school kids have nothing better to do than to get into trouble (the kids were able to finish their core subjects but no history or science). Day four was a weird day dh left for work late, the garage door guy came and the plumber came. So all in all it was a very atypical and weird week, and for me frustrating (at everyone else not the kids).

DD started her high school classes this week, she is finishing up her MUS and will move into Saxon PreAlgebra in another month or so but is moving along and is understanding so that is good(math is a very hard subject for her, just like her mom)! She is working a lot on her own and we have scheduled two "teaching sessions" per morning with mom but honestly she can get by with just one. It will probably change once we really get going! She also decide to tag along with our electricity unit and science and SHHH don't tell anyone she likes it, she is also decided to do a science fair project this year. She is thinking of doing a project along the lines of anatomy. Government proved to take more time than she budgeted so she is stuck working on it on Saturday.

This is from Trail Guide and instead of using an Almanac for all of this, you will be amazed at how quickly you can fill this out with the help of Google.

This is her assignment sheet for Government, she found that she definetly needs to allot more time for this subject than she was.(This picture came out really large I don't know why and can't shrink it) I am letting her plan some of her subjects out this year and it is definetly a learning curve, she ended up spending about 4 hours on Saturday working on things not finished from this week. She will do better I bet :)

Wacky Prince is working on a high school level health class, even though he is in 8th grade we are allowing him to do the Abeka 9th grade health for credit. He loves abeka science, in facts he jokes that he must be a geek because he automatically knew the name of the small clusters of endocrine gland cells that are located in the pancreas are, do you? He got an easy week in geography this week, it seems the chef got his worksheet and he got the chef's work. I wish sometimes the trail guide series codes for levels was a little easier to keep straight. He has one lesson in his MUS and will move to Saxon, He has been so bored in MUS for the last year it has been good for him but he does not like staying on one topic all year and I agree with him.

This is his first Health Quiz

This is his map work for Trail guide notice you can read the handwriting, that is big :)

The chef had a good week he is still getting hung up on long division but it is almost figured out. He can do it but just doesn't like it at all, the steps of divide, multiply, subtract and bring down just drive him crazy and the way MUS teaches it really confuses him. CQLA is going the same, they do it but they don't like it but would they really like anything? Nope probably not!

here is his handwriting, it is still needing some help. SIGH dysgraphia is very annoying

This is a worksheet for history, I am using it with TOG it shows all the different animals and how many really would need space on the ark. IT is very very neat.

So that is our week 1 in Review! Ohh and if you missed our pictures from the first day of school click here

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-08T23:26:00.001-05:00

Why can't I go shopping too? I recycle my bags, I make a kitty nest :)

First Day of 2008-2009

2008-07-07T14:42:00.001-05:00

Billy the Early Years

2008-07-03T23:38:00.002-05:00

This looks very good and moving, I teared up several times watching the trailer.

Everyone knows who he is. Now find out how he got there.

The film hits select theaters October 10, 2008

2008-06-28T08:54:00.003-05:00

Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

Still left to do:
-empty old binders
-pick up library books
-plan science with chef to be
-assignment sheets
-history sheets
-copies

Where did my summer go? I was so good at getting a head start planning and somehow that just feel apart, and I think I slept my summer away. HMMM it will be fine,
it will be fine
it will be fine
it will be fine
it will be fin
See the more I say it the more I believe it! I believe it right?

You know what kind of day it is going to be

2008-06-25T11:26:00.002-05:00

When you actually utter the words, " I don't care if the pope himself is leading that youth group, YOU are NOT going!" Yep just shoot me now and get me out of my misery. But guess what I AM going to win! Consistency is the key, you are ground and will not go anywhere yes Sunshine even if the pope does come to lead your youth group, did I mention it is not a Catholic church?

Chore Chart for 2008-2009

2008-06-24T15:00:00.002-05:00

This is the chore chart for the kids, if you notice we have Wednesday which is Errand Day. Dh only has one day off so we run to the grocery story, library and other things we need to do since we only have the car that one day. Friday we have co-op when it is a co-op week we have to do school on Sunday also (to make up for taking Wednesday off to be with dh). So if it is a co-op week they will do zones on Sunday if not they will do a zone on Friday. Clear as mud HUH?

This is my chore chart for me. I had to do one just to make sure I got everything done. The library takes anywhere from a day to get an item to a week, so I will have to plan for that and need to allow for enough time to get the items we need. Tuesday I vacuum so the house looks and feels fresh on dh's day off. Thursday revolves around getting ready for co-op, we love co-op but it has to planned for so it is not chaos on Friday morning. Co-op is such an important part of our hsing lives that to make it fun for me it has to be planned for.

So there is my chore chart, you would think I was organized wouldn't you?

Public Service Announcement

2008-06-21T12:16:00.003-05:00

Yes I have a public service announcement and I feel it is important. If you have ever thought how cute those sweet little kitties are that have no home so you are just going to feed them a little bit, this is for you! I don't know how it started out and honestly could care less because right now it is a huge huge problem that is out of control.

So I will tell you a little story and you can be the star if you wish. So say you are moving, for the 3rd time in 3 years wait getting off topic, and all you want to do is find a nice central location so dh can easily get to work and not use so much gas. So you find this little duplex that is in your small price range and it is located central and you make sure to even ask about the neighbors(because who wants to live next to nuts-key the music) and they have lived there for 12years and have older kids so no screaming babies all day. Sounds good?

So you being the silly little innocent idiot move in, you adjust to being in smaller quarters and actually comment on how less you have to clean and how it has helped you get rid of junk. Aren't you great? So spring comes and you start to notice a cat or two on the fence that you share with your neighbor, but no big deal it gives you terrior mix something to chase. As it gets warmer you notice more and more cats, and one seems to be getting larger. So you make an excuse to talk to with the lady, and ask her about all the cats (now numbering 5 with a male visitor that likes to wrestle in your front yard during dinner UGH). She takes her through her urine aromaed house complete with 2 indoor former feral cats, who obviously are litter box challenged. She tells you all about the wild things and then you casual mention Feral Friends, that will fix them for free you just have to trap them. She then explains how she can't bare to trap them, the look they would give her would break your heart. (Key the twilight zone music at this point)

Yep you got a problem, and you didn't even suspect it did you! So fast forward two weeks and your dd comes down all excited and tell you there has been a liter of at least 5 kittens born (yep you are now neighbor to a total of 12 cats). Well at this point they are staying on their side of the fence, but you are spraying your lawn with flea stuff, and you are never a day late on the flea treatment (the stuff you have used for 3 years that works great). Another week goes by and your dd comes down and tell you she sees more kittens four so far, yep you are now neighbor to 16 cats. With in the next month she comes down two more times with kitten announcements, that she no longer thinks are neat, for a total of 10 more cats making your grand total of cats 26 with an additional nasty male that has taken up with them. 27 CATS!!! 27 CATS

So you frantically call the Animal Control people to explain this and they come out and knock and knock on the door, you know this because you are looking out the peep hole. They don't answer the door!!! They are home you hear them, they are home! But ohhh man AC leaves. Dear you have a problem, you look over and notice your dauschund itcing and your terrior itching too. Your try to deny there is a problem but don't you are losing precious time. Your indoor cat now has flies, so you frantically bath them, to only get rid of the fleas on them. Dear you have a big big problem!

This is your public service announcement if you are the person on the other side of the fence. Spay or neuter your cats!(feral orginazation will do it for free) The will multiply, and if you feed them they will multiply in your yard, and yes you will get fleas and Merry Christmas your neighbors will too(making you very unpopular with them and considering they didn't do it the target of numerous calls to the landlord for help)! Feeding that harmless cat means it is yours and it your issue that you have harmless inflicted on yourself. No matter how cute it is make the committment to adopt it or call AC and they will put it up for adoption. This is not a victimless "crime" my two dogs and indoor cat who has not been outside in 3 years can tell you otherwise if you don't believe me and I can tell you because I too have been bit and itch for hours swearing there is another on me(of course this always happens at about 12am keeping me up to 2am).

So remember the moral of my tale, that I am living, SPAY AND NUETER YOUR FREAKIN' PETS OR KEEP THEM INSIDE that is all :)

A Conversation with my new grandaughter Windy

2008-06-20T11:26:00.002-05:00

Windy is one of my new Grandaughters, she is 8yo and is so sweet, she is the quiet one in the group (and by group I mean my 3kids and 6 grandies she is the only quiet one). She called me yesterday and made my day, I was having a terrible teenaged induced trauma day and the phone rings. I answer the phone and this sweet little voice says, " Grandma L***, this is Windy(bloggy name)!"

"Hey Windy how are you doing?"

Windy responds, " Great we went swimming today and tonight we are going to have a sleepover."

"Really who with?"

Windy pauses," UMM I don't know but I have been told it will be fun!"

"Well that sounds like so much!"

Windy, " Yep! Hey Grandma L*** I love you! Good-bye"

Totally made me day :) This is the second time this little sweetie has told me she loves me, you can tell she is so happy to be in a family loves her. What a blessing God has given my son and DIL and what a blessing he has given us.

Planning Part 1

2008-06-08T15:48:00.009-05:00

1. Define our school calendar and set it on paper

2. Write down a course study because if you are like me you will forget a subject that you find important like handwriting. I make sure and do one for each kid, don't assume you will remember because you will not!

3. Ok so now you know what you are going to do, work it into a workable routine. We use the word routine because schedule assumes you assign times to thing and I don't do that. So I make sure and schedule a time for each kid and even put on that schedule what I want to cover with that kid. Each block of time lasts 20-30 minutes. And I write down what I would like the kid to be working on during that time. I have never done this kind of thing but since my kids are older they are working by themselves on a lot of thing but still need some help and discussions of what is expected of them.

Well if the economy gets any worse

2008-06-07T15:10:00.002-05:00

at least I know I can make my own shoes!

they might not be stylish, they might not be waterproof but they are in the budget!!! Now off to convince our guinea pig, Jackie that she no longer needs the kleenex boxes to store her hay in!

How does my garden grow?

2008-06-07T15:02:00.004-05:00

Well we planted just a couple of things this year as an experiment! We had these bed with some kind of bulb planted in it, not sure if it was going to come back or not so we planted on one some cherry tomato plants. I have in my history not been known for my green thumb but I hope to change that soon.

Now this is the bulb plant, I am not sure what it is my mom thinks it is a lily of some sort but it has yet to bloom. It is not ugly just taking up space for my veggies.

Well I am back in a well known place again

2008-06-03T22:37:00.002-05:00

I call it the world of DUH, or why you should never go to a school with Dripping in the title (sorry mom)! I finally found my maps cd for year 1 and I am once again hit with places I can't pronounce and/or places or title that I can but have no idea who or what they are. I am really getting an education along with my children because either I was taught it and dripped out of my brain (LOLOL went to dripping springs high and the knowledge dripped out LOL) or I was never taught since most of these are during Biblical times I probably not taught them. So please feel free to help me if you can, so far my list of places in ancient times I have never heard are:

-Phoenicia (assume it is a place since it is on the maps cd)
-Assyria (is there a leader missing at the beginning I bet not)
-Syracuse (truly they are not talking about New York)
-Punic Wars (hmmm I have heard mention of this in yr.2 of TOG)
-Diocletian (no idea how to even pronouce this Julie call me and tell me how)
-Constantine (heard of him again in yr.2 of TOG)

Well I need to break out my teachers guide and get this figured out. It was like when we TOGged yr.2 and I found out why the burned Joan of Arc at the stake, truly I thought it was because she was a brat. UGH I hate when I trip over my education and it seems to be getting more and more frequent, last year it was 3 times and the year before just once. HMMM do you suppose when I graduate my oldest I can get another diploma?

Memorial Day

2008-05-25T23:00:00.004-05:00

I love this song, it reminds me of the soliders who are and have fought for our freedom. God bless everyone who has kept this freedom for us!

Ancient Literature

2008-05-17T18:11:00.004-05:00

This is for my 9th grade student, these are her literature only books. History will still be composed of "living books" but they are many books we will use with history curriculum

First Term
The Golden Goblet
Tales of Ancient Egypt
Gilgamesh

Second Term
Black Ships Before Troy
The Children's Homer
Hittite Warrior

Third Term
Aesop's Fables
Psalms
Old Testament Readings (Major to Minor Prophets)

Fourth Term
In Search of a Homeland: The Story of Aeneid
The Bronze Bow
The Lantern Bearers

For a total of 12 novels read, each term lasts 9 weeks, and boy is that tough sometimes. Soemtimes you just want to be done with a history topic, ugh like when we studied the reformation when the prince was in 3rd grade. I asked the little comic to be if he remembered why someone was famous and he said, " Was he one of the burn-ees?" This was only after 2 weeks of the Reformation, we were done the next week. It will be interesting this next year :)

9th grade plans

2008-05-17T10:27:00.005-05:00

Well the Queen starts high school here is the plan so far:

Math
Saxon Algebra 1/2

Language Arts
Write Your Roots(she will write a collection of family stories should be interesting with all the family she has)
Vocabulary Vine or Science Roots (haven't decided)
Applications of Grammar
Daily Grams
Ancients Literature done with history

Science
Abeka bio taken at co-op so labs can be done there :)

History
Ancient Civilizations (Tapestry of Grace Yr. 1)

Debate-done at co-op

Pychology again done at co-op

Government-done 9th grade year because it is an election year,she will also keep an election scrapbook

the second semester will be Christian Living which we will using Thinking Like A Christian and maybe the next in series Counter Culture

Also she will do Drama through co-op but will only earn about a 1/4th of credit with it

also a 1/4th credit for a line dancing class

We might work on 1/2 of Spanish but I have not decided that yet if we did it would be in the winter semester.

planning

2008-05-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

Well I am in the midst of a planning frenzy. So far I have planned only one of the many classes I have to plan. I have planned American Government we are using CLP The Land of Fair Play and Painless American Government.

I still have high school health to plan for the wacky prince, science for the chef, language arts for queen to be, health for the chef to be and 1 pre-algebra book to finish working through. Ohhh did I mention the co-op classes I need to finish planning, my literature class always takes a lot of planning but is by far my favorite class to teach. I also need to work on my 2 levels of African studies, and get that done but those classes don't start for awhile.

It was so easy to plan when they were little, what happened? And what happened to my summer break?

menu plan Monday

2008-05-12T12:52:00.003-05:00

Monday
Chili Rellano Casserole

Tuesday
Spaghetti
salad
garlic bread

Wednesday
leftovers

Thursday
LisaOK oven fried Chicken
cheesy mashed potatoes

Friday
Pacific Beans
Cornbread

Saturday
baked potato bar

Sunday
grillin' delight

My favorite things

2008-05-10T10:35:00.002-05:00

Well my bratty daughter in law tagged me, such a brat so without further delay MY THREE FAVORITE THINGS:

1. My favorite color is a deep forest green, it is so earthy reminds me of pine trees that were around our house in Houston where I grew up.

2. My favorite time of day is after the house has grown quiet and everyone but me is asleep. I don't get to enjoy this time often maybe only once or twice a week because dh is a night owl and has more stamina than me.

3. My favorite book for today is my third. It is a book that I feel is liberating me and making my time my own. If you have problems saying "no" this will be your favorite book too, Boundaries by Henry Cloud. IF you are always the person to call because they know you will not tell them "no" embrace this book. If more than once this week been up late making something, last minute planning or covering for someone else this is YOUR book.

These are my three favorite things today :)

School Year 2008- 2009

2008-05-05T13:06:00.006-05:00

Week 1-9
July 7- Sept 5th
break Sept 8-12th

Week 10-19
Sept 15-Nov 21
Break Nov.24-28

Week 20-21
Dec.1- Dec 12

Christmas Break
Dec.15- Jan.2

Week 22-27
Jan.5- Feb 13
break Feb.16-20

Week 28-33
Feb.23-April 3rd
Easter break April 6-10

Week 34-38
April 13- May 15 th (week of May 11-15 is a catch up week

Off until the Monday after July 4th

Well it is over the 2007-2008 school year is done :)

2008-05-04T15:39:00.002-05:00

Well the Hindenburg and the school year is done. It is like the project that would never end, kind of like the school year. We worked hard and for the most part we are done, my queen to be has about a week's worth of health to finish plus a project. It honestly is not her fault our printer broke mid-year and have been unable to replace it, so I have forgetten several times to get copies.

We will take a week off and then they will have to do math twice per week. The prince will finish his math book soon (MUS division book) and will move into Saxon 87. DD is trying to finish Zeta and is only a little over half way done but will move into Saxon Alg.1/2, her choice :) Why the switch? My younger one(the chef) needs more variety he is so bored with division and hates that he has to spend a year doing it. My oldest needs to feel confident in her math skills and Saxon is very good at it but she also needs constant review or it goes bye bye and she total forgets the skill. My wacky prince is a little bit of both, he is very good in math but has yet to be taught some fraction skills (even though he picked up quite a bit with the queen's stint of over a year and half in fractions) but also needs the review. Also Saxon can be bought cheaply and is not consumable. So for this season we are going to be a Saxon family.

I am pleased with how their writing has progressed this year. CQLA really improved their writing a lot, it is IEW laid out. The younger two will continue with the writing (mainly because we have it leftover from this year) but older will be going a different avenue. All in all I am very pleased with the progress this year. We are still finalizing 2008-2009 school plans but I am working very hard on it. I am already working on lesson plans for science for the chef, TOG history and Government for the Queen to be. Nothing is completely done and some are barely started.

But for now it is SUMMER BREAK IN OUR HOUSE

Menu Plan Monday

2008-05-04T15:31:00.003-05:00

Monday
egg burritos
with bacon and salsa

Tuesday
chicken fajitas

Wednesday
leftovers
or
Baked potatoes

Thursday
baked potatoes
or
sausage with potato wedges

Friday
BBQ meatballs
with leftover potato wedges

Saturday
hotdogs with chili

That is our week :)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-30T09:47:00.002-05:00

What a ham!

some frugal recipes :)

2008-04-27T13:58:00.002-05:00

Recipe: Baked Navy Beans (very much like B&M baked beans)

CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com

Category: Baked Beans

Serves/Makes: 6 | Difficulty Level: 3 | Ready In: > 5 hrs

Ingredients:
2 pounds dry navy beans
1 small onion -- chopped
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water*
2 teaspoons mustard
3 tablespoons molasses (used pancake syrup)
1 tablespoon salt
8 slices bacon -- fried crisp

Directions:
*add water as needed

Put beans in three times the volume of unsalted water, bring to a boil
and let simmer for 30 minutes. Let stand in covered hot water for 2
hours. Mix other ingredients in bowl. Drain beans well and mix all
ingredients and beans together. Put in crock pot and let cook on low for 12
hours.

Noodle Rice Pilaf (Taste of Home magazine)

1/4 C. Margarine or butter ( not spread)

1 C. long grain rice

½ C. Thin noodles ( we use little stars.) Any little noodle will
do,
alphabets, thin spaghetti- broken in small pieces etc.

2 3/4 cup chicken broth ( I use water, and 2-3 chicken bullion cubes)

2 T. parsley.

Dash of garlic

Dash of onion pd.

Melt butter/marg in sauce pan, add noodles and rice and brown. Add
broth/water and seasonings, bring to boil, put on lid, reduce heat to
simmer/low and cook for 20-25 min. Makes 4 servings

Menu Plan Monday

2008-04-27T13:06:00.003-05:00

Monday
breakfast pie (again a huge hit at our house)
bacon

Tuesday
tacos
homemade refried beans
taco rice

Wednesday
brisket fajitas
leftover beans and rice

Thursday
BBQ drumsticks (again a huge hit last week and cheap)
BBQ beans (from last weeks bunch)
crockpot mac n cheese?

Friday- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
homemade pizza to celebrate :)

The plans for the last week of SCHOOL!!!

2008-04-27T13:02:00.002-05:00

Well this is our last week of this school year, the last week of having all 3 in middle school or elementary school. Our plans for this week include:

History- finish up WWII projects and questions and that darn Hindenburg once and for all

Math- continue as normal

Health-oldest has to finish this to get high school credit she has gotten behind so will probably have to work on it or get an incomplete and have to take it in the fall at co-op

CQLA or english- finish up the current unit we are on :) this will be a lot of work but I know they don't want to put off summer break one more week :)

What kind of shoe are you?

2008-04-27T12:05:00.001-05:00

You Are Flip Flops

You are laid back and very friendly.

Cheery and sunny in disposition, you usually have something to smile about.

Style is important to you, as long as you can stay casual.

It takes a lot to get you to dress up!

You are a loyal and true person, though you can be a bit of a flake.

You tend to "play hooky" and blow off responsibilities a lot more than most people.

You should live: By the beach

You should work: At a casual up and coming company

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

2008-04-21T10:06:00.002-05:00

Monday
Egg pie
Bacon

Tuesday
bean cheese tacos

Wednesday
hamburgers

Thursday
grilled drumsticks

Friday
sausage and oven baked parmesean fries

Weeks in Review

2008-04-18T22:36:00.006-05:00

Well we have finally finished the long awaited essays!! I took pictures for proof, the turned out really well. I bet you can tell whose is the oldest?

The chef to be's essay, boy is his dysgraphia still showing. He did his on predators, he wrote it on the Electric eel and the Venus Flytrap.

Mr. Wacky Princes essay on Henri Fabre, for some reason he learned about him in General Science in co-op and was really intrigued with him.

Queen to be did her's on William Shakespeare, she really is becoming such a good writer. If you know the queen you would not be surprised she did it on Shakespeare, it is so dramatic of her LOL

The control center for the week. We are winding up the school year and have just a little time left. Boy and I needing the break :)

Our history this week includes pictures of works in progress :( the Hindenburg is STILL be worked on it has been fun but we need to finish it up this week. Chef did a model of an aircraft carrier that is included too. Also included are the book we have been reading on WWII.

It has been a busy week and I am so glad it is the weekend!

Happy 14th Bday

2008-04-17T12:02:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-15T23:45:00.003-05:00

Notice the sticky on our kitty's b*tt, it says, "KICK ME!" I guess I could suspend my homeschool kids for bullying! LOL

Update and weekly musings

2008-04-14T11:46:00.004-05:00

Homeschooling
We are working on WWII STILL we are moving into the Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima time. The Hindenburg is finally completely paper mached and is partially painted. My youngest has also made an aircraft carrier model out of cardstock, he loves doing this kind of stuff.

The essay is coming along we are editing it and it should be turned in and completed on Friday, hopefully. My wacky prince is almost done with his MUS book (the 2nd one this year) he will move into Epsilon. We will continue to do math 3 times per week through the summer.

The queen to be is finishing her health for the year she will get a 1/2 credit for high school. She will finish all the book work before the end of the year and will finish Me, Myself and God Scrapbook. She will have an additional project that will be done next year sometime, it is a heart lapbook

Basically we are just counting the days until we are done, it is time for a break we have been going full speed since we came back from moving and we are all ready for the two month break!

Co-op
Co-op ended on Friday and I could do the happy dance, we love co-op but I am so glad for the break. My queen to be pulled a 101 in her Rainbow Science class and the wacky prince received a 88 in his General Science.

Queen to be will be in High school next year and wants to take IPC or Biology (big debate here), Pyschology and Debate for credit classes. Pyschology and Debate are 1/2 credit classes and she will also take a drama class (surprised aren't you) plus a line dancing class. The Wacky Prince will take General Science Part 2 and wants to take flag football, logic class, golf and is dying to take auto maintence(he gets that mechanical gene from my dad)

We have no idea what the youngest will take but I am sure there will be a cooking class somewhere in there.

Home Life
Well we have a new member of the family, no he is not allowed inside and we do not pet him. But he is a very busy little fellow and fun to watch. When we got home from the end of semester thing for co-op (where none of the picture came out) he was hanging around in a bush. He is really fun to wach and we just love the nature in our neck of the woods, we have seen so much here possums, doves, cardinals, blue jays, wild cats and gulp lots of slimy snails.

WE have also celebrated a birthday this week. The wacky prince turned 13yo on Friday so until Wednesday I have two 13yo, are you scared?? So happy bday wacky prince

This is a picture from the fall, he was not in the mood, LOL what a surpise, 13yo and not in the mood!

2008-04-14T10:35:00.002-05:00

1.Bible Study/ Devotions- Proverbs 14-18 and keep reading Boundaries

2."Must Do"~ shop for dd's birthday and bake cake
go to the bank
lesson planning for history

3. Zone~ my zone this week is the living room, it needs a good sweeping and mopping

4.Train Them Up~ Work on my 13yo (Both of them I have 2 until Wednesday) attitudal issues. Break the have to talk on the phone every minute of the day habit

Menu Monday

2008-04-14T10:20:00.004-05:00

Monday
sausage and mac n cheese

Tuesday
tacos

Wednesday
homemade mexican pizza?

Thursday
hot dogs chili

Friday
BBQ meatballs

Saturday
smoked brisket

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-09T13:22:00.003-05:00

My stepson is precious :)

Menu Plan Monday

2008-04-07T09:15:00.002-05:00

Monday
Pancakes
bacon

Tuesday
Spaghetti

Wednesday
leftovers or
hot dogs
Thursday
chicken scampi
smashed potatoes

Friday
not sure it is the last day of co-op and we have the end of semester program that night

Saturday
grilled chicken

Nature in the 'hood!

2008-04-05T17:25:00.005-05:00

So we have a lot of nature experiences this week :)

We first had this fall into our yard, at first when we looked out the window and saw it (it was pouring down rain at the time) we thought it was a plastic puffer fish. so of course we had to slice it and see what was inside! Can you say your homeschooling is showing!

Then this afternoon I see our chix/terrior was sure interested in something. And seemed about 2 seconds for attacking. Luckly I stopped him because there seems to be a family of these, living under the deck!

We live in a major city and have seen more nature in the last week, than in the year we lived out close to the lake. The kids are loving this and so am I!

Spelling list for my son

2008-04-03T12:11:00.002-05:00

I am putting this on here for my son, and so we can easily find his spelling list for the week so please ignore this!

http://kidsspell.com/spelling-words.php?ln=Sparks CQLA 2a week 4&w0=what&w1= while&w2= finish&w3= there&w4= charge&w5= Christmas&w6= shingle&w7= thimble&w8= publish&w9= thimble&w10= establish&w11= accomplish&w12= tried&w13= known&w14= were&t=15

2008-04-03T08:49:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-01T17:15:00.002-05:00

Love is.....a new piece of rawhide