May 2016 Hodgepodge

May was an interesting month!

Here were some of its challenges and surprises:

New Van: This was a complete surprise to all of us. We went from "hear of a van for sale" to "okay, time to drive it home" in under 36 hours.

Freeway Accident: What happened when the aforementioned van burst a tire on the freeway, ripping off our driver-side mirror (and other parts of unknown nomenclature). We were all thankful for the Lord's protection during this time!

Stomach Viruses: Two of them, two weeks apart. The lucky family member who came down with both of them was... Yours Truly. With as much time as I've spent nauseated and throwing up this month, it's just like being pregnant. But without the cute baby at the end.

*   *   *

Now, enough negativity! Here are some of the random wonderful things we've done, enjoyed, and loved over the past month:

Jules Verne: The boys are enjoying the abridged versions of "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Around the World in 80 Days," and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." My husband is enjoying introducing them to the movie versions (the older classics), which were his favorite boyhood films.

YouTube for Homeschooling: I am using short YouTube videos for hymn study, classical music appreciation, history studies, and memory work. Here are a few videos we've enjoyed lately:




















Latin and Memoria Press: Prima Latina is our first curriculum from Memoria Press, and I love it. Excellent quality in every way! I'm now interested in checking out their other curriculum options when they exhibit at our upcoming homeschool convention in July.

Christian Light Reading Curriculum: Another curriculum WIN! This is an excellent curriculum that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Melendy Quartet Book Series: "The Four-Story Mistake" was a complete hit with the 9yo, and we are moving on to "And Then There Were Five." I am very much enjoying sharing one of my childhood favorites with my children.

Amazon Prime: My husband gets a discounted membership through his employer, and we finally caved and tried it. Oh, my goodness. THIS is what I've needed. While I understand the "shop local" idea and support it, I am the type who - if I have to go out running errands to get a certain item - will simply never get around to getting it. Ever. This way, I finally am able to get some of the items we've been desperately needing. (Like a pencil sharpener. Mmmmm.)

Trim Healthy Mama: Love the recipes! Yum! (Have I lost any weight? Um, well, let's not talk about that part of it.)

The Dust Bowl: Our first state study of the year was Oklahoma, and we were immediately captivated by the Dust Bowl and the Okie migration. Fascinating material! See the "Dust Bowl Blues" video above.

El Pinatero: A book that was a huge hit with our children while passing through the subject of the fight for Mexican Independence.

Reading: Some of my own favorites recently have included:

• Amos Fortune, Free Man
• Loved this.
• Little Women
• I used to find this book incredibly annoying. In some ways, I still do. But I am captivated by the gentleness and love of the mother-daughter bond portrayed in this book, and it is an amazing relationship to emulate.
• Mountain Born 
• I can't believe I missed out on this awesome book when I was a child!
• Evolution's Achilles Heels
• Probably the best refutation of macroevolution that I've read. Highly recommended. It is rather technical - a background in genetics or at least general science will help.
• The Door in the Wall
• Another lovely choice. So well-written!
• Adam of the Road
• I loved this book!
• Elements of Style
• Another book that makes me realize how embarrassingly bad my education in English grammar was. Oh, dear.

Assigned Reading: Last year I told the 9yo, "Read anything from this (history) shelf!" This year I moved on to a specific reading list. I was nervous about this, but it's been a huge success and he is reading voraciously - both in "fun reading" and history reading.

"The Three Musketeers": This book caught the children's fancy, and they have played musketeers endlessly these past two months. My husband is enjoying sharing the Gene Kelly film with them, and they adore it. (Why they like it, I don't know, but I think it's a guy thing.)

Carpet Cleaning: It only took me six years, but I finally got around to this. Anything that involves picking up the phone or otherwise making an appointment is hugely intimidating for me, so this is a huge triumph! Now I'm ready to dive into a bunch of organizational and decluttering projects inspired by the furniture moving. For locals: We highly recommend Revolution Carpet Cleaning.

Abridged Classics for Children: I have always steered clear of these - academic snobbery, I think. But I have come to realize that abridged classics familiarize children with character, setting, and plot - so that in another four years or so, when they'll be ready for the real thing, they will already have a semblance of familiarity with the work. The 9yo has devoured "Frankenstein," "The Three Musketeers," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and others.

Working Together: This year I gave myself the assignment of completing for myself all of the science, history, literature, nature, and Latin assignments that I gave the 9yo - so that he could have someone working alongside him. It has been a grand success, and I'm enjoying the work.

Vision Collision Auto Body Paint and Repair: The repair shop to whom we owe our new van's snazzy new look! Locals, definitely check out this company if you need auto body work in the Phoenix Valley. We highly recommend this team.

Mom Delights: Formerly Large Family Mothering, this blog by a mom-to-15 is absolutely awesome. Definitely check out her amazing wisdom. I enjoy each of her posts greatly. 

As of Friday, we'll be one-sixth of the way done with our homeschool year. Wow, how the time is flying!

We're heading into our busy-busy-birthday-season, and also looking forward very much to next month's homeschool convention. 

Dear readers, I hope that you all are having a lovely summer!

(P.S. I am breaking one of my cardinal blogging rules - that is, I am writing a new post before answering the comments on the last post. I beg everyone's forgiveness, and will do my best to get that done soon.)

First Month of School

As of Friday, we'll have finished our first month of the 2016-2017 school year. One-ninth of our work for the year done, just like that!

I can't believe how quickly it passes.

I kept busy getting ready for school up until the very last minute before school started. Is that crazy, or what? I don't even do much lesson-planning ahead of time. But ordering curriculum, tracking down used curriculum, ordering library books, cleaning out supplies and buying new, making checklists and updating documents - wow. It really took the whole summer!

(The bags in the background are books that a sweet friend dropped off for me - about two months ago! Maybe sometime I'll actually get around to putting them away. For the present, they make awesome tablecloth-weights - and sign supports! And when I get the chance to eat by myself, I simply dip into a bag and pull out a book. Mmm, modern luxuries.)

Latin is going well, as is our new reading curriculum. I'm already looking forward to next year's curriculum purchases and plans! It's amazing how fast the year goes and how far my mind immediately extrapolates for curriculum plans.

I'm still unsure if I'm going to continue blogging - maybe yes, maybe no, maybe somewhere in between. Lots of prayer still needed.

Maybe I'll just write a book. I've had a topic in mind for years. (Others have already written on the subject, but I'd love to try my hand at it.)

(Gee, since I don't even have time for blogging, I certainly have time to write a book. Oh, the logic. I'm overwhelming myself here.)

In the meantime, here's to the new school year!

Have a wonderful summer, dear friends!

Beginning our 2016-2017 School Year

It's that time of year again - our 2016-2017 school year starts on Monday!

I'm excited. And nervous. And somewhat exhausted even thinking about it. But still excited.

It's going to be a big year.

Besides our usual school schedule, which will be our first full year with daddy working outside the home AND with the baby no longer taking a morning nap AND with adding three (four?) new subjects (Latin, yay!), it's going to be a full year:

• We will be dealing with medical, dental, and behavior issues with our baby with special needs. 
• We will be continuing our work with a special diet for our baby with special needs - right now we're on Intro GAPS.
• We will be dealing with dental issues for my husband. 
• I am in full-time pregnancy preparation mode, which means lots of supplements and routines.
• We will be completing our transition to a gluten-free household. We've been messing around with this for about five years, but it's time to go hard-core. It makes me beyond frustrated that a wonderful God-given food has been transformed into a substance which is poisonous for a huge proportion of the population, and we have been dealing with this for too many years.

Additionally, if history repeats itself, there's a good chance that the Lord will bless our family with a new little one over the course of the following year. If that is the case, then we'll deal with all of the attendant nausea, etc., at the same time. 

From my current vantage point, the thought of a new pregnancy is overwhelming. Right now I am just tired, tired, tired. And so incredibly busy. All day, every day. There is just so much to do, and the work just doesn't stop. Ever. The idea of adding astounding levels of fatigue and nausea to that is somewhat overwhelming. 

But I'm also overjoyed at the thought of a new little one, and we will be thrilled if and when our number grows again. (Maybe we could just skip the whole nausea-exhaustion bit this time.)

In the middle of all this, I'm not sure what to do about blogging. I am actually toying with the idea of quitting (for now).

You see, I don't have time to write right now. But an unattended blog is not just an unattended blog. It's a constant source of both temptation (to blog when I should be doing something else) and frustration (of articles written mentally which I do not have time to write physically). It's a constant source of stress. 

Additionally, there are a couple of other things about blogging that bother me:

Point #1

Blogging (or any other computer work) seems to be a signal for my children to misbehave. As in, within 30 seconds of my starting to write. Case in point, the 4yo started a crying fit about six paragraphs ago, just after I started to write this post. Right now I'm ignoring him and letting daddy take over, but this is not an isolated incident. Whatever evil lurks in the heart of my children receives a big go-ahead as soon as I sit down at the computer. 

Point #2

Blogging is a joy to my heart. But it's not necessarily always a big benefit to my family, and it can cause me to neglect those hobbies which do indeed benefit my family. If I'm making time for blogging but not playing the piano for the family (a substitution which happens often), then I think my priorities are out of place. 

Point #3

I am nearing my 1000th post on this blog. But you know what? My best posts are still in the Drafts folder. For some reason, whenever I write a really good post, especially about a subject that moves me deeply, I never feel comfortable publishing it. Is this because I simply shy away from being so openly vulnerable in such a public place? Or is it because I am a coward and can't take the push-back that comes when I publish my opinions on controversial subjects? I believe it's both. (I know it's definitely the latter.)

Point #4

Blogging is a time-eater. It's just so much fun, that time slips away unnoticed. This can be a serious annoyance to my husband, who needs my help and mindful (as opposed to zoned out) companionship.

Another case in point, my husband just walked up and said, "Hey, I thought you were going to stop blogging!" 

Well, I am. Sort of. I'm blogging about not blogging. 

But my husband knows well the trial of trying to pry me off of the computer when I'm in "Stop everything, I have to blog!" mode. 

Anyhow, no answers right now. I still have (lots of) posts in draft form that I need to publish if I can ever get around to it. But as for real blogging... I still have to think and pray about it. Either way, I probably won't be around much!

In the meantime, Happy Easter, Happy Spring, and Happy Back-to-School to you all!

Have a wonderful weekend, dear readers!

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2016-2017

We are now three weeks away from starting our 2016-2017 school year, and here are our curriculum choices for the coming year!

Because I am somewhat short on time, I have copied and pasted last year's post into the space below and will simply change what has changed (which is a lot!). I will include brief reviews of the curriculum we used this year.

In the box is the quick-and-easy run-down of next year's curriculum choices, and further down are the details.

Enjoy! Feel free to leave comments and questions!

~ Fourth Grade Curriculum ~   Family Time (see notes) - Bible, Bible memory, catechism, prayer, safety skills, manners, missionary biographies, poetry,    poetry memory, skills training.   Bible:        Daily Reading        Possibly Christian Light Bible, Grade 3.    English:        Grammar, Penmanship, Spelling:             Christian Light Language Arts, Grade 3        Reading:             Christian Light Reading, Grade 4             McGuffey Readers, Grade 3 and 4        Composition:             Notebooking with history, science, literature   Latin:        Prima Latina   Math:       Christian Light Math, Grade 4   Science:       Christian Light Science, Grade 4   Literature        Daily read-alouds         Personal reading, 30 minutes per day        Poetry - readings and memory pieces   History and Geography:         Cantering the Country, Year 2 of 2        Story of the World, Years 3 and 4        Maps Book D   Piano:        Lessons and practice   Art:        "The Painter and the Father" series study        Draw Write Now, Book 1        Arts and crafts   Typing:        Typing Instructor program   Field Trips, Group Activities, Etc.         Park days and field trips with three homeschool groups        Contenders for the Faith Club

Family Time

Our morning couch time involving all of the children. This includes:

Daily activities

• Bible reading - Usually a chapter a day from a book of the Bible (chosen by Daddy).
• Bible memory - One verse per week. 
• Prayer - We have a list of people and issues to pray for, and we cycle through that list. 
• Poetry - We read a couple of pages from whichever book we've selected. The children love this - it's usually a struggle to move on!
• Poetry memory - This was new last year, and a huge hit. We plan to continue this year.
• Catechism - One per week. We use the Catechism for Young Children. 
• Character Books - This year we'll begin with one of the Miller books.
• Included weekly - Manners and safety skills (including personal safety).

Bible

• Individual study - The 9yo is assigned to read either one chapter or ten minutes worth of study. This has worked well over the past year, so we're continuing.
• I'm considering Christian Light's Bible Light Units, which we will look at during the homeschool convention in July. If we go with this, we will probably start with Grade 3, as Grade 4 is a continuation of the New Testament study begun in Grade 3. 

English (penmanship, spelling, grammar, reading, composition)

Grammar, Penmanship, Spelling

• Christian Light Language Arts, Grade 3 - We decided last year to begin language arts a grade behind, and this was a good decision. At some point we will begin the catching-up process, but for now, it's a good plan. The 9yo's skills are developing without undue frustration, as would have happened had we insisted at staying on grade level.

Reading

• McGuffey's Eclectic Readers, Grades 3 and 4 - Last year we chose random books for reading practice, but this inevitably resulted in arguments over book difficulty (I wanted harder, he wanted easier) and selection length (I wanted longer, he wanted shorter). The McGuffey Readers are a great choice because the material is at grade-level and all of the selection are a perfect length for reading aloud (we usually alternate sentences or paragraphs). My only complaint is that the books are insufferably corny, but I can live with that. 
• Christian Light Reading, Grade 4 - We're also adding this in. Have I mentioned how much I adore Christian Light?

Composition

• Copied narrations from Story of the World history lessons.
• Notebooking assignments for science and literature. 

Latin

• Prima Latina by Memoria Press - Very excited about this! 

Math

• Christian Light Math, Grade 4 - Grade 3 was a huge success, and I am excited about moving into our third year of CLE math. CLE has just introduced a textbook approach for their fourth grade math (nice timing!), and we are excited about trying this, as the initially higher investment will enable us to reuse the material for later students (the consumable Lightunits edition is still available).

Science

• Christian Light Science, Grade 4 - We also purchased the accompanying science experiment kit from Home Science. (Trying to find all the items for science experiments by myself = no science experiments.)
• We will also continue with lots of unschooling-style library book reading. 

Literature

• Daily read-alouds
• 30 minutes individual reading per day - I am planning to alternate assigned books with free choice books. 
• Poetry - Daily readings during family time. 

History and Geography

• Map Skills -  We will continue with "The Complete Book of Maps and Geography, Grades 3-8"
• Cantering the Country - I have decided to alternate two years of Galloping the Globe (country studies) with two years of Cantering the Country (state studies). This will be our second year of Cantering the Country.
• I hope to post a quick review of CTC and GTG soon. Look for it! 
• Story of the World - We will continue with the end of Year 3 (Late Renaissance to Early Moderns) and into Year 4 (1850 to present). 

Piano

• Lessons and practice - Last year we had a great start with Hoffman which quickly petered out into nothing, mainly due to my lack of diligence. This year we are starting again, and I will pick a traditional curriculum and teach him myself. I can't say I'm thrilled about adding something else onto my to-do list, but we do not have the money for paid lessons and I've procrastinated, oh, five years or so past when I should have. Onward and upward! 

Art

• "The Painter and the Father" - This is a collection of paintings in one volume which will save me considerable time in chasing down paintings in library books from other picture lists. 
• Draw Write Now, Book 1 - An easy way to incorporate art into our home education program. This is a new pick for us. 
• Seasonal arts and crafts. 

Typing

• Typing Instructor - Thankfully the 9yo loves this and considers it a treat, so I don't even have to schedule it into our lessons schedule. It happens on its own! 

Clubs and Groups

• Contenders for the Faith club, which includes meetings, monthly field trips, and badge-winning activities. 

Fellowship Groups

We belong to three homeschool groups:

• A large homeschool group, which offers a monthly park day, a monthly field trip, a monthly moms' night out, and a great email group.
• A smaller homeschool group which offers twice-monthly park days, a monthly field trip, and holiday events.
• A homeschool group through our church which offers weekly park days. 

We try to attend nearly all of the events offered (except the expensive ones!).

The Not-Happening Category
This year we will not cover formal P.E. This comes under the "send them outside, and it happens naturally" category.

***

I am always interested in cost analysis, so here is the approximate price tag for this year:

Purchase from Christian Light (textbooks, workbooks, teacher guides, answer keys, readers, etc.)
    = $205

I could save money by buying used, but I am slowly learning that I usually end up the loser in such situations, inevitably finding that I have purchased the wrong edition. For now, buying new saves time and money.

Purchase from Home Science (for science experiment kit)
    = $55

Purchase from Modern Curriculum Press (for Latin)
    = $30

Purchase from a friend (Draw Write Now book)
    = $5

Purchase from Peace Hill Press (Story of the World, Year 4, student pages pdf - I was already given the text and activity guide for free from a friend)
    = $10

Purchase from a local music store, anticipated (for piano theory and lesson books)
    = $20

Purchase from Walmart for school supplies, anticipated (I purchase most of our school supplies in July for the following year, when supplies are on sale, so our purchases right now will be minor)
    = $10

This doesn't cover other fees, such as:

• Library fines (thankfully rare)
• Used curriculum/literature costs at sales in May and June
• Purchases at the homeschool convention
• School supply purchases in July when they're on sale
• Field trip fees
• Club fees
• All of the etceteras

Thus, we spent about $350 on official curriculum purchases for 2015-2016, and will likely spend lots more over the year. However, I'm also hoping to build up a slow supply of reusable curriculum, so hopefully after a few years of increasing purchases, our costs will stabilize or perhaps decrease. (Ha!)

*****

Dear readers, I can't wait to see your curriculum plans! Feel free to leave comments and questions!

Snippets and Tidbits - Going on Leave

I had an enormous "Snippets and Tidbits" post to share with you all. It was so gigantic, as a matter of fact, because I simply didn't have the time to finish it - so I kept on adding article links, recipe links, and book links - without having the time to add pictures and write down my own notes to go with the links.

As the post grew to mammoth size - and I still couldn't finish it - I finally had to admit the sad truth.

I just don't have time for this right now.

Like it or not, the time is just not there. Life is too crazy, and my workload right now is just too much. I'd tell you all about it, but... I don't have time. (Not having time to write about why I don't have time. Funny, that.)

And so I ended up deleting the entire post (*sob*) and forcibly putting myself on "Snippets and Tidbits" sabbatical - for at least three months, possibly permanently.

I adore sharing links for articles, blog posts, recipes, and books. I'm just like that. When I find something I love, my immediate reaction is to share it with everyone I know. That is, in fact, what has been hardest about leaving Facebook - not getting to share fun things with friends.

But the fact remains that there just is no time. And while I occasionally can pen a short blog post, I don't have the extra time or energy for a regular feature that is quite labor-intensive to put together.

And that's that!

But to appease my insatiable appetite for sharing thigns, I may just tag random links on to other posts, just to keep my hand in.

Like this one!

Accepting Children with a Grateful Heart @ Children Are a Blessing - It's good! Go read it!

And this one!

60 Titles for the Well-Rounded Child's Bookcase @ Deep Roots at Home

Sorry. Lost control of myself for a minute. (*deep breathing*)

But I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum. If I don't, y'all can reach out through the internet and slap me silly.

Really.

Case Study: Morning Sickness After Baby's Birth

I have recently began to compile a small-but-growing list of morning sickness (NVP) coping tips under a new side bar on this blog. Check it out, and let me know if you know of any great online lists to add!

One of the lists is Morning Sickness Survival Tips from Sara Elizabeth at A Mama's Story.

As an interesting side note, Sara is one of those rare ladies who experienced continuing full-blown NVP (nausea and vomiting of pregnancy) after the birth of her baby. (See this blog for a documented case of post-birth HG.) Scroll down to the end of the post to read her story, from which I quote here:

"My fifth pregnancy was worse. I was sick in the beginning and lost a good bit of weight. Then around halfway through my pregnancy, nausea and vomiting returned.  As for the baby, he was fine, healthy, and was my biggest. After the birth, I continued being sick, the entire 1/2 inch of my hairline fell out, as well as other patches, and my chemistry lab was “indicative of someone with an eating disorder.” By the time he was 3 months old, I was in a size zero–way too thin for my height.

"Looking back, I believe Diastasis Recti played a part in my continuing sickness; but I was too stubborn. During the pregnancy, I felt I was doing my duty by avoiding the “big guns.” By my final month, I came to grips with reality and talked to the CNM about medicine, since not eating or drinking as I should wasn’t good for either of us. While I think there was a physical issue that led to the symptoms, I believe I went too long. After working as hard as it could for the baby, my body simply collapsed after the birth. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve talked to her sooner."

I am always fascinated by these rare but very real cases of post-birth NVP. (I too experienced nausea that continued for quite some time - that is, about two years - after baby's birth, though I did not experience full-strength post-birth NVP.) There simply isn't a lot (or anything, really) in the medical knowledge-base about this condition, but I have heard it mentioned by many severe-NVP mamas.

I echo the sentiment that NVP/HG can have severe, long-lasting consequences on a mama's body, especially when it is gets of out of control. I have experienced this. Competent and sympathetic management are so crucial to dealing with this nasty condition.

Thanks to Sara for sharing this post about her experiences!

Trim Healthy Mama for Morning Sickness Management?

As I have traveled further into the Trim Healthy Mama world, I have asked the question that I ask of pretty much everything:

It may be great, but does it help with morning sickness?

The answer appears to be yes, at least in some cases.

While I don't have much data from HG mamas, I have seen several mothers reference using the THM system during pregnancy with substantially better NVP management.

Here are a few to check out:

Morning Sickness Survival: The Updated Guide @ A Mama's Story

(See Tip #5)

My First THM Pregnancy @ Not My Own

Relief for Morning Sickness and Hyperemesis Gravidarum @ Are They All Yours?!?!

THM Pregnancy Tips @ Mrs. Criddle's Kitchen

My guess is that any diet that helps with blood sugar regulation will be a big plus for morning sickness management. That's no guarantee with HG, but it's something to look into.

Thoughts, dear readers?