Daniel 7 vision

Daniel sees a vision during the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon and recounts it in chapter 7. He describes four beasts that come out of the sea, with the last of them being 'terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet.'

The four beasts represent four world powers. If I understand it correctly, the fourth beast will be the strongest and will devour the world. It will have ten kings who will rule kingdoms or empires. From them will come one additional king who will subdue three of the original kings, defy God, oppress Christians, and change religious festivals and laws.

I am definitely going to have to dig deeper.

What we should be doing in America

May God be merciful and bless us.

May his face smile with favor on us.

May your ways be known throughout the earth,

your saving power among people everywhere.

May the nations praise you, O God.

Yes, may all the nations praise you.

Let the whole world sing for joy,

because you govern the nations with justice

and guide the people of the whole world.

May the nations praise you, O God.

Yes, may all the nations praise you.

Then the earth will yield its harvests,

and God, our God, will richly bless us,

and people all over the world will fear him.

Psalm 67

3 Weeks of School Completed

We have now successfully completed 3 weeks of school. I have a little bit of tweaking to do with our schedule, but things have been running very smoothly. I am so pleased with myself for keeping up with history discussions and grading. We are continuing to use the workbox system, which is keeping me accountable on a daily basis to get things graded, recorded and prepared for. Another big help was to enter all of the assignments for the year into an Excel spreadsheet for grading purposes. I can now open that up and see at a glance what I need a grade for. It is a visual reminder for me, which I find extremely helpful.

My biggest problem right now is how best to utilize our science lapbooks. We started with Ecosystems from Hands of a Child. I got this one for free several months ago, and went on to purchase lapbooks on Sled Dogs, Chocolate and the Holocaust. Dd is not enthused each week to continue with her lapbook. Right now there has been a lot of writing involved and she typically does not like to write things by hand. HOAC does have many of their lapbooks available as "Type It In". I purchased at least one of our lapbooks in that format so we will see if she likes that format better.

I signed up to be the coordinator for the middle school field trips for our local homeschool group. It is a lot of work since I have never coordinated field trips before, but I hope it will be incentive for me to get out of the house on a monthly basis and do something fun. It is suggested that we do one educational and one social event per month, but that is not strictly enforced. I already have us scheduled for a scavenger hunt downtown (complete with tours of the Powder Magazine and the Heyward-Washington House), a trip to the state museum and a living history day at Boone Hall. That will take us through the end of the year on the educational front.

Freshman Orientation

Ds and I spent Saturday morning from 7:45AM-12PM at his new high school for Freshman Orientation. We were split up with the parents sitting in the auditorium and the kids going off for what sounded like a pep rally (with lots of screaming and noise), a tour of the school, and small groups. I learned a lot during the first half of the morning and passed on the info to ds when we got home. Here is a snapshot of what I learned:

1. They need to have 17 credits in order to advance as a senior. They may be in their 4th or 5th year of high school, but until they have 17 credits they are considered a junior and do not receive senior priviledges.

2. GPA's can now be higher than a 4.0-AP, IB and Honors courses are weighted heavier than regular courses, so it is possible to graduate with a GPA of 5+.

3. 'Busting a sag' is not permitted and the school has zip ties to cinch belt loops if needed.

4. Underwear and excessive skin is not allowed to be shown. The school has 'high fashion' clothing available for the students to wear if their parents cannot bring them a change of clothing.

5. Cell phones are not permitted and will be confiscated. Parents must come in to retrieve them and are charged $25 (which I would pass on to my child). The school uses that money to offer rewards to solve crimes at the school. Last year they gave out almost $2,000.

6. Hats, hoodies, bandanas and sweat bands are not allowed as they obscure the face from the numerous cameras in the hallways and around the campus.

7. The school has 2 uniformed police officers and 1 security officer for roughly 2,300 students.

Do I feel comfortable sending my son to a public high school? Not really, but I am trusting that God will keep him safe until he gratuates or my husband is convicted in his heart to bring him home.

Church News

Dd just moved up to the middle school section at church this morning and loved it. She had not been happy in Kids Church, but her face was shining this morning when I picked her up after the service. I had been praying God would show us where He would have us worship and where we would all feel comfortable. We are returning again tonight for Sunday evening classes and on Wednesday evening they break into small groups where they can go in depth on different topics.

Ds 'graduated' from the middle school section to the high school section and will be attending that service tonight for the first time. I am so excited to finally feel like we are 'home'.

Successful Plane Ride

Dd made it home in one piece and very happy. She was taken to the unaccompanied minors room at the layover airport which had snacks, a movie and board games. She said it was nice to fly solo because you don't have to talk to anyone. For all of you who know my dd, that statement is hilarious! I don't remember a time when dd did not like to or desire to talk, and talk, and talk. Ds and I barely made it to the gate on time as her flight arrived 20 minutes early. I could have just waited at security and they would have brought her to me, but I wanted to meet her at the gate and had to get a special boarding pass to get past security. We picked up pizza on the way home and had a great, relaxing evening.

First Solo Plane Ride

Dd will be taking her first solo plane ride today. She is flying from Kansas to South Carolina. Our ds has done several solo trips, but this will be dd's first. I am nervous to say the least. We paid dearly for her to fly as an unaccompanied minor, which means she will be escorted from plane to plane and we will have to show ID and sign for her on our end. Grandma and Grandpa will be allowed to go with her to the boarding area and will not leave her until she is under the care of one of the stewardesses. She has her cell phone and has been instructed to call us when she boards both planes, when each plane lands and during her lay-over. Please pray for my nerves and her safety. I know God is in control and He has His hand upon her.

Strawberry Pretzel Squares

This makes a great summer treat!

From Kraft Food and Family (with some slight variations)

2 c. finely crushed pretzels (mine looked slightly larger than chopped pecans)

1/2 c. sugar, divided

2/3 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

2 T. milk

1 c. whipped topping

2 c. boiling water

1 pkg. (6oz) strawberry jello

1 1/2 c. cold water

4 c. fresh strawberries, sliced

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pretzel crumbs, 1/4 c. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. (I added 2 graham crackers, crushed as well). Bake 10 minutes. Cool.

Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar and milk until blended. Stir in whipped topping; spread over crust. Refrigerate.

Prepare jello according to package directions. Refrigerate 1 1/2 hours or until thickened. Stir in strawberries; spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

Serve with more whipped topping if desired.

Curriculum for the Upcoming Year

Tapestry of Grace for history, geography and literature (going into Year 4 Redesign)

Saxon 7/6 math

A Beka Grammar

Spelling Workout G

Writing Aids (to coincide with TOG)

Lapbooks for science (Ecosystems, Dolphins, Sled Dogs, Chocolate)

Bible Bee and Kay Arthur studies for Bible

Unit study based on 'The Book of Virtues' by William J. Bennett for character training (downloaded fromhttp://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ShiverAcademy/Book%2Bof%2BVirtues/)

Sewing unit fromhttp://sewing.about.com/library/lessons/bllessonindex.htm

Weight Loss & Healthy Eating

After having to squeeze into more than one pair of shorts/capris this week (and stepping on the scale) I started counting calories and watching what I eat. I have always had a high metabolism and have never needed to watch what I eat, but I have always struggled with stomach upset. This has been due to eating too much and eating the wrong foods. I am like most people and enjoy my food, but I have a weakness in knowing when to stop eating. Even though I never went hungry as a child I feel a strong urge to finish everything on my plate and to eat more than I should simply because something tastes good or because it is still sitting in front of me.

I found a great site called Calorie Count for figuring out how many calories are in different foods. You just type in the food you are searching for in the 'Search for Foods' box at the top of the page and it will bring up a selection of matching foods to choose from. I really like using it for fruits and vegetables or for recipes in which nutrition information is not given. I use another site for figuring out how many calories I burn doing different exercises or chores. You simply type in how much you weigh and then the number of minutes you spent doing 1 or more activities. I found that by increasing my walking pace from 2mph to just under 4mph, I burn an additional 75 calories in 50 minutes. If I increase my pace to a jog, I burn an additional 189 calories.

Tracking my food intake and looking at different exercises as calorie burners has caused me to think about every bite of food I eat, not just as I am eating it, but also as I contemplate the depths of my pantry and fridge.

First Swim Meet

Dd is getting ready to swim free style. She is the one in the blue and gold suit, adjusting her goggles.

Diving in. She is much improved from the beginning of the season. She can now breathe properly when swimming instead of swimming with her face constantly out of the water and she finally uses her legs when swimming.
This was our first experience with a swim meet. The whole evening was one delay after another. The meet finally got called due to lightening at 10:30PM-and we were not even halfway done. To make a long story short-this was not the norm and the rest of our swim meets have run much smoother. Dd has really been enjoying herself and our plan at this point is to have her swim again next year.

Pictures of our Backyard

Finally, pictures of our new and improved backyard. We had the fence installed in March and are loving the freedom it gives us with the dogs. The backyard also feels larger to us now because we can clearly see exactly where our boundaries are. Since this picture was taken the flowers against the house have spread considerably. They are now twice as deep and wide. The flowers that are in the pots (sitting on the brick) are now planted in the front row.

My husband has been diligently working on our front and back yards and flower beds and has done wonders with what we had originally. The original owners did not live here for very long and the yard was pretty bare. We have since purchased a dark wicker loveseat which sits inside the screened patio against the left side with small matching end tables on either side. Dh rigged up a small set of speakers and we have two fans that sit against the right-hand section. We can now enjoy sitting in our backyard, which is where you will find us most evenings. Every evening we enjoy sitting outside and listening to the orchestra of frogs, crickets and cicadas.

When winter comes we will bring the table and chairs inside the patio and move the loveseat out so we can sit in front of our (not yet bought) firepit. We also hope to purchase a hammock to place near the back fence as that spot gets afternoon shade.

Pictures of Nature

This is one of the flowers I planted outside my front door. They are beautiful when in bloom.

I saw this dragonfly one day and grabbed the camera and snapped this shot. Little did I know that this would not be the last dragonfly of this size I would see. We have the pleasure of seeing these beauties every day. Our rottie, Annabelle, loves to chase them around the backyard. She does not try to eat them, but just loves chasing them. My dh said it looked like one of them was playing with her the other day as it would circle around her and then stop and hover in front of her before circling and hovering again.

Boys!

Ds never ceases to surprise me. Last Friday, he thought it would be a good idea to put a cable bike lock around his neck. This is the kind of bike lock that looks like a noose when it is locked. He did not think to find the key first, but simply acted on his impulsive thought. He tightened it enough so it would not fit over his head, but gave him plenty of room to breathe. He was never in any danger, other than dying of embarrassment.

We did not have any idea where the key for the lock was, so husband suggested going to a hardware store to have it cut off with a bolt cutter. Ace Hardware was out of bolt cutters and he had to go to his therapy appointment with the lock around his neck. It kind of looked like a tie, with one end hanging almost to the ground. My next thought was to take him to the fire station to see if they had bolt cutters, but luckily, the therapist took pity on him and they walked back to Ace and cut it off with a wire cutter. I, of course, did not get a picture. Why can't I remember the camera at times like these.

Do boys ever grow up?

Bike lock-$15

Trip into Ace-embarrassing

Memory of event-Priceless

Thinking Outside the Box

How many boxes do you fill? I typically fill 6-8 boxes per day

Do you expect your children to go in order? Yes, because I throw in fun things to be done after lengthy assignments to break the day up.

Do you use the schedule strips? No. I used poster board and library card holders to create a schedule. I glued the card holders on the poster in 5 rows of 5 cards. Dd starts with the top left card and moves along the rows until she completes the last filled card holder. I have written subject titles onto index cards for the things she does regularly, like AQ/TQ work, research, edit, rough draft, chores, etc. I then use additional index cards to write the specific assignment down. For instance, I will right the chapter or pages to be read and that is placed in the box with the book(s).

How long does it take you to fill the boxes? It typically takes less than 15 minutes.

Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? Some subjects are done daily, such as math, Bible study, study for Bible Bee, and walk the dog. Those just get rearranged each day for variety.

Do you have some boxes repeat each day so there is less filling/refilling? See answer above

What do your kids do with the empty boxes? Right now the filled boxes go on the top shelf of our baker's rack and the empty boxes are placed on the bottom shelf. This works because I have room for 3 sets of 3 stacked boxes on each shelf. If/when we need more than 9 boxes dd will just put the completed boxes on the floor beside the baker's rack.

Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids? So far I have not put any supplies in the boxes except for the vanilla pudding mix that dd was to use to make cookies. She is 10yo and more than capable of finding her own pencil, pen and paper. Next year I will be putting supplies in the boxes for science experiments, history lapbooks and projects, sewing projects, Keepers of the Faith activities, etc. I will probably have dd help with putting things away.

Workboxes

I came across the workbox idea on one of my yahoo groups and immediately saw the benefits to this system. Dd was getting bored with school and I needed to find a way to add in some fun to our days. We had gotten into a bad routine of only doing academics and putting off anything that even remotely looked like fun. Sue Patrick came up with this system and describes it her book, 'Sue Patrick's Workbox System'. I will admit I have not purchased the book and have instead set up my system based on comments and reviews posted by others who have read or have set up their own systems based on the book.

I bought a piece of white poster board and small envelopes that look like library card holders. I glued the card holders to the poster board in 5 rows of 5. I am using this in place of the schedule strips. Each card slot will hold an index card on which I have written either a box number (to coincide with the baskets) or something for her to do that does not need to go in a basket (ie. walk the dog, read aloud, chores, snack, lunch, etc.). She moves through the rows from top to bottom and left to right, putting all of her finished index cards in the card slot on the far right in each row.

I purchased 9 medium stacking baskets from Target (below) in three different colors and we keep these on the bottom two shelves of our baker's rack in the kitchen. The kitchen is next to the office, so that is the ideal spot to keep dd's work. I am only doing this with her for right now, as ds will be heading back to public school in the fall. So far, little bug (20mo) does not get into the boxes. I am not sure what we will do if she decides they are interesting.

Today's work:

Box 1 (with Mom)-Bible study

Box 2-Bible Bee study

Walk Milo

Snack

Kitchen Duty

Box 3 (with Mom)-Math

Box 4-Literature book

Chores

Box 5-Research for Speech

Lunch

Library-Gather books

Read Aloud

Box 6-History Reading and AQ/TQ

Snack

Box 7-Preposition worksheet

As you can see, we do not use all 9 boxes or 25 card slots per day. They are there just in case we have lots of small assignments or I choose to break longer assignments into smaller pieces.

New addition

Ds has been placed on homebound and will be schooling with us for the rest of the year. A teacher from school will come to the house once or twice per week and go over his schoolwork. I will also give him additional work as I see fit to fill in his days. Hopefully this goes well and we don't have to battle with attitude adjustments too much. 

Strawberry Picking

I set up a field trip to one of the local strawberry farms. I have never picked my own strawberries so it was a new experience for me. We ended up filling 4 of these white baskets and purchased some onions that had recently been picked. I was dumb when I went to freeze the strawberries, though, and I froze them with their stems still on. Now I need to go through and cut the stems off when they are still frozen as it is quite messy if I wait until they thaw out.

This is the little girl I watch during the week. She had a blast sitting in the aisles and holding the baskets. She could not pull the strawberries off so I helped her by pinching them with my fingernails.
Dd did a wonderful job filling 2 baskets. We both had sore backs and legs at the end. 
Here is little bug. She decided the strawberries were good enough to eat right out of the basket, dirt and all.
Anybody have any good strawberry recipes?

Easter

Dd and ds had a great time finding easter eggs. I hid lots of them inside and then went out back and randomly tossed more into the buffer between our yard and the golf course. We only lost one egg outside, and luckily it was plastic. Someday someone will find it and become .50 cents richer. This just proves that you are never too 'big' to hunt for eggs (ds is now standing at 6').

International Night

One of the support groups we belong to hosted an International Night in which each family chose a country and put together a display. We chose Scotland and used several pictures and books dh and I got when I visited him during a port call. We chose to make scones for our dish and made one batch with a cheese topping and the other batch with a sugar topping. We brought along strawberry jam, and surprisingly, some of the ladies put the jam on the cheese scones. I was not sure if people would like them, but they disappeared at an alarming rate. Dh and ds came and looked at all the displays and sampled the food before heading out.

Art pics

Here are pictures of our latest art project. We used art masking tape to make nice clean lines around our rectangles. We colored the first square with an orange crayon and then a blue oil pastel crayon. The second box was done with a yellow crayon and a violet oil pastel. The third box was a green crayon with a red oil pastel on top. Using a toothpick, we then scraped away the oil pastel to reveal the crayon underneath while looking at different photos of insects on leaves and twigs. The first one is mine and the second is dd's.

This project was done to introduce us to shading. This was a several week project and involved drawing the bear using a photo reference, using a charcoal pencil to add shadow and then using a white pastel pencil on other areas. We also got to use a blending stump to blend certain areas. The first drawing is mine and the second is dd's. We are enjoying our art time, even though we don't manage to get around to it every week.

Horse Show

Dd had her first horse show today and she did great. We arrived around 10AM so she could get registered and watch some of the competition. She received 4th place in the first round, 4th place in the second round and 3rd place in the third round. 

     Awaiting the results with 'Scamp'

    Dd and her friend with their ribbons

Prayer Warriors Needed

A little boy named Noah is desperately in need of our prayers. I have been following his mom's blog for for over a year and I have been amazed at each new blessing I have seen in his little life. He is in a VERY bad situation right now and needs prayer very badly. Here is the link to his mom's blog.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull

Psalm 73

Truly God is good to Israel,

to those whose hearts are pure.

But as for me, I almost lost my footing.

My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

For I envied the proud

when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

They seem to live such painless lives;

their bodies are so healthy and strong.

They don't have troubles like other people; 

they're not plagued with problems like everyone else.

They wear pride like a jeweled necklace

and clothe themselves with cruelty.

These fat cats have everything

their hearts could ever wish for!

They scoff and speak only evil; 

in their pride they seek to crush others.

They boast against the very heavens,

and their words strut throughout the earth.

And so the people are dismayed and confused,

drinking in all their words.

"What does God know?" they ask.

"Does the Most High even know what's happening?"

Look at these wicked people-

enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?

Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

I get nothing but trouble all day long;

every morning brings me pain.

If I had really spoken this way to others,

I would have been a traitor to your people.

So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.

But what a difficult task it is!

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,

and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.

Truly, you put them on a slippery path

and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

In an instant they are destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors.

When you arise, O Lord,

you will laugh at their silly ideas

as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

Then I realized that my heart was bitter,

and I was all torn up inside.

I was so foolish and ignorant-

I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

Yet I still belong to you;

you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever.

Those who desert him will perish,

for you destroy those who abandon you.

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

Update on Son

Ds is home now and some things have gotten better. He is much more responsible with his chores and he 'was' getting along great with his sister. The two started fighting again yesterday, but I think both children were at fault. We will see how today goes, as dd is in quite a mood already because she had to get up at 8:30AM on a Spring Break day. Poor baby! 

Her attitude has gotten quite bad lately and it is really starting to wear on me. A lot of the problem stems from me giving her so much free reign with her time. She has been allowed to work on her schoolwork unattended and did well in the beginning, but has gotten increasingly more lazy and many times gets to the weekend with unfinished work. She argues with everything I tell her to do and throws up an attitude when I make her do something-whether chores, schoolwork or helping around the house. I think she has developed a bad case of entitlement-thinking she is in charge and should not be required to do anything unless she feels so inclined. Argh!

We just moved the schoolroom downstairs where I can see her, so that will make it easier to keep an eye on her. Another struggle for her is realizing that her workload is getting larger now that she is moving up in grades. She is used to getting done with her work in such a short time, and hates that some things are now taking longer to complete. Writing is a good example. She 'says' she cannot complete an entire writing assignment in one week because it is too much to do each day. When I told her it is not unreasonable to spend up to 45 minutes per day pre-writing, doing the rough draft and editing, she about had a cow!

Does anyone have any ideas for moving a child from 'easy' elementary work to more 'advanced' middle school work? She is very smart and has no trouble understanding the assignments for the most part, it is just her willingness to give what it takes to do it right.

Prayers for son

We had an interesting end to our week on Friday. I don't really want to go into details, but I would definitely covet your prayers for ds. He is struggling with some serious stuff right now and can use God's protective hand over him. If nothing else comes of this situation, it has caused me to sit back and take a good hard look at our family. I also pray it will be an eye-opening experience for others in our family.

Homeschool Memoirs #28

Last week's theme was Life Skills. This is one area in which I would truly like to be doing more. My 10dd has normal chores like dusting, kitchen duty, and yard clean-up. My children are each given a weekly allowance that is based on them completing their chores. Chores that are not done or done incorrectly do not get paid for. They still have to do them, they just don't get paid. I am not sure if this is actually working as my 14ds does not care enough about money to 'remember' his chores. 10dd also gets paid to help me with the baby.

We go through periods of time when one or both children start slacking off on thoroughness. A lot of this is due to dad and I not checking and verifying that the chore was done correctly or completely. I get so worn out having to come behind my children and check everything. It is my job as their mother, but I wish they would 'get it'. I guess we are all like that, though, sometimes. I don't like to admit it, but I also have a lazy streak. 'Research' on the internet, school or pleasure reading, playing with the baby, etc. can all pull me away from cleaning the bathroom or doing laundry (my two least favorite chores, next to mopping). 

I am preparing to start Keepers of the Faith with my dd and hope to do it in a group setting. I am hoping that a group setting will provide the accountability I need to keep up with things. I am the queen of starting projects and not finishing them. Everything sounds so interesting until we get into it, and then it becomes work! 

In the past I have had my children each prepare dinner one night per week. I think I will use this opportunity to begin that again. I would also like to bring my daughter beside me when I am baking so she can develop the skills to one day take care of her family. 

A Virtuous and Capable Wife

Proverbs 31:10-12 'Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.'

Wow! That is a powerful passage. I got done typing and really thought about the last sentence. 'She brings him good, not harm, ALL the days of her life.' How many times have I said something snotty to my husband because he has hurt my feelings or I think he is doing something wrong? How many times has he asked me to do something and I have forgotten about it? How many times have I argued with him (even if it was just playfully) for the sake of playing the devil's advocate?

My Bible reading plan for this year is to read 2 chapters of the Old Testament, 1 chapter of Psalms, 1 chapter of Proverbs and 1-2 chapters of the New Testament daily. I got to Proverbs 31, though, and decided I should camp here for awhile instead of starting Proverbs over. I am going to take one section of Proverbs 31 each week and concentrate on it. I hope that by the end of the 8 weeks I will be a better wife and mother. If need be I will go back through it again and again. I have a really good book that I should be able to incorporate-A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. 

Thankfulness

Psalms 50:14-15 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.

I have probably read this chapter in Psalms many times, but never picked up on this. I know we don't make physical sacrifices anymore, but God is saying that even if we were it is our hearts that matter to Him. We can make all the sacrifices we want and claim we are making them for God, but God knows our hearts. 

I want to live my life in a constant state of thankfulness. I want to thank God for the large blessings in my life as well as the small blessings. 

Thankfulness list for today:

1. All of our needs are met

2. Friends I can turn to when I want to share sorrows, frustrations and joys

3. Automated postage machines at the post office (the kind that weighs your package and prints out a shipping label and is available 24 hours per day)

4. At least two more months on my car's warranty 

5. A healthy family

Track 'meet'

I was recently discussing with my ds his upcoming track schedule. I asked him if he knew which races he was going to be competing in. He looked at me and said, "No, a meet is just where we go and meet each other and hang out." I almost died of laughter (laughing to myself, of course).  What was he thinking track was, just another alternative to PE?

Homeschool Memoirs #25

This week's theme is laundry and how many loads we do of it. We just moved into our new house and for the first time have the laundry room upstairs. It is nice because that is where the majority of the laundry is generated, but is an inconvenience because I am downstairs for most of my day. Even with the signal set to loud, I still have a hard time catching the loads when they are just getting finished. Most of the time I get to them hours later and they are already wrinkled. 

I would say we do an average of 6-7 loads of laundry per week. We only have 4 people living here, though, so that helps. I just started watching my girlfriend's 15mo daughter, but I only dirty one washcloth per day extra with her. I do keep little socks on hand, but as those are so tiny, they don't amount to much. 

Speaking of laundry and not catching it in time, I am off to fold and put away the load that has been sitting in the dryer for awhile. 

Track/Swimming/Soccer

Ds just tried out for track. We had to get him a last-minute physical that was quite the ordeal, but he made it to try-outs in time. It really was not a try-out as the coach did not cut anyone. Ds will ride the athletic bus to the high school every day after school and practice for 1 hour. The middle school has Friday and Monday off and they will have a two-hour practice Friday. He is very excited and sore from two days of running. Tuesday he ran about 2 miles and Wednesday he ran 3 miles in Converse sneakers. Poor kid could barely walk last night and went to bed around 7:30PM. Dad loaned him his running shoes until we can get to the store this weekend. Ds will be outfitted with new running shoes, several pairs of athletic shorts, several pairs of athletic pants and probably a couple of t-shirts. 

He also started taking percussion at school. His drum sticks (brand-new, but not expensive) are already missing, either lost or stolen so we will have to replace those. He is really loving school and has settled down with his behavior. He knows that he has to keep his grades up and have no behavior problems in order to stay in track. 

Dd signed up for the swim team, but practices do not start until April. We might sign her up for soccer as well, but it will overlap with swimming for about 3 weeks at the end. I am not sure if that will be too much for her. It might be too much for me as we will be having track meets, swim practice and soccer practice/games. Sounds like  a lot of running around to me.

What a beautiful day!

Nice weather has finally arrived! We have had such yucky weather for the longest time (yes, I know, it is officially winter) and I am more than ready to be able to go outside without a coat. We took the dogs to a dog park this weekend and had a great time. The dog park has a large open space for the dogs to run and play with plenty of picnic tables for the humans to sit at. Both dogs did great, but Annabelle wanted to stay close to us. The trainer at the dog obedience classes we are attending is working with her to socialize her with other dogs and also people. Milo was great with all of the dogs. He is such a stinker when he is on the leash, but acts like a completely different dog when he is off of it.

Today we headed off to the park in the neighborhood after lunch. Dd kicked a soccer ball back and forth and Annabelle chased after it, burning off lots of energy. We then headed over to the playground area and allowed 'little bug' (my daycare sweetie) to swing and play on the slides. Unfortunately, she slid right into some lovely water at the bottom of one of slides, so she got to take a bath when we got home. She proceeded to get dd and me wet from splashing. It did feel good, though.

I have most of the windows open in the house and the fans whirring. 

Dd's book report

This book report is about Utterly Me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child.

Clarice is the second oldest in a family of seven, including a granddad. Her older brother Kurt is always shut up in his room, which smells like rotten cheese, her older sister Marcie is always grumpy, her younger brother Minal is always annoying, her dad is always on the phone, her mom is tired of being a "maid", and her granddad is, well, granddad.

Partway through the school year their teacher, Mrs. Wilberton, announces they are going to have a book exhibition. Unfortunately the winners' cup goes missing. Clarice and her utterly BEST friend Betty Moody decide to look for it together. They read mystery books about a girl named Ruby and they learn a lot from that. They decide to do their book exhibit on them. If they find the cup in time, can they win it?

I like this book because it seems as if you are reading her diary. It's also very funny. Once Betty loses her glasses in a nasty place and the janitor has to fish them out. I would recommend this book for most girls.

Pics of outside for MIL

These are pics that my MIL requested so she can give me gardening tips. Everyone is welcome to look at them, but they are not very interesting unless you are into gardening.

Planting area around the screened patio that the dogs have access to. If you keep following the house to the left you will see the bay-window.

Bushes around the kitchen bay-window. (above)

Close-up of the bushes closest to the front (from the second pic below). 
The garage is off to the left of this picture. The close-up is the picture above.

Close-up of bushes from pic below.
Looking at left side of house.

Close-up of bushes on the right side of patio (if you are looking at the house).

Right side of patio.

Finally...pictures of the house

I know, I know! You have all been waiting patiently for pictures of our new house. We have been in our house for almost two months now. The downstairs is pretty much how we want it. We are planning to replace the bathroom and kitchen linoleum with tile, replace the sliding glass door with a french door and replace all of the mini-blinds with 2" faux wood blinds. I will post more later. My computer is not "seeing" my camera.

                         Looking from the living room into the foyer. 

                                              View of the kitchen.                                                 Eat-in kitchen.
Looking from the living room into the office. You can see the kitchen bar off to the right.                          Looking into the living room from the foyer.

Flower dissection

Dd is doing Apologia's Botany book for science this year and seems to really be getting into it. We got a late start on some of the experiments due to poor planning on my part and the stores not carrying seeds until just recently. Below is a picture of a flower dissection that she did this last week. She is amazing me with what she remembers about the different plant parts and what they are for.

Ds's Knee

Ds injured himself at school while playing with some friends. He tripped over another kid's foot and slammed his knee into a concrete curb. He called me from school to tell me about it, but did not mention that his knee was swollen to nearly twice it's normal size. I was shocked when he came home and I saw how big it was. We went to the nearest urgent care center as it was after hours and x-rays showed that nothing was broken or fractured. Even now, one week later, he still has some swelling and pain.

 

Frozen feet

My dd had another horse riding lesson yesterday, but it was around 38 degrees the entire 1 1/2 hours she was there. She normally wears one pair of riding socks (about the thickness of dress socks) and rubber boots. Her feet were cold within minutes after arrival. She said it hurt really badly when she had to jump down from the horse at the end of the lesson and every time she needed to push her heels down while riding. Does anyone have any ideas about how to keep her feet warm during riding lessons? We only live 10 minutes from the stables. I am wondering if they sell socks with some kind of gel that can be heated up, kind of like those hand-warmers they sell at Walmart.

I had thought I would be cold as well sitting in the car with the heater off, but the sun shines straight through the windshield and turns the inside of the car into a nice toasty place to sit.

College

I just wanted to say congratulations to my sister for entering college. She will be starting her first semester on the 22nd and is starting with a full course load. Her goal is to get her degree in teaching and she would like to teach high school history. I am so proud of her!

New Puppy

Here is our new puppy, Annabelle. This was taken when we first got her and she was 10 weeks old. The other dog is Milo. The two dogs are best friends and love playing together. Milo still has the upper hand (even though Annabelle is bigger at this point) only because he is faster. She will soon have the upper hand, though, as she will far outweigh him and have much more strength. She is now just over 4 months old and she has probably doubled her weight and added around 6 inches to her height.