So, I got a letter from the school board the other day.  My first reaction was of panic.  We've never had any problems in our area with homeschooling but there is always the first time right?!?!  Anyway, I open the letter and it was actually a very nice letter.  It thanked us for informing them of our intent to homeschool again this year and then they proceeded to inform us of the grade 3,6 and 9 testing that takes place every year.  They have told us of a deadline to contact them if we choose to have our daughter tested along with the other grade 3 students.  I'm not sure what to do.  Have any of you had experience with this? Do we need to have her take these tests?  The schoolboard isn't putting pressure on us, just informing us of what is available.  Is there any point to having her tested?  Aren't these tests to see how well the teachers are doing and how well the school system is performing?  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I can hardly believe that I have been off of here for so long.  Time sure flies when you are busy.  Now I am back though and since life is getting hectic again I thought I would ask you all for help.  I am on our Christian Education committee at church and every year we put a float into the Christmas parade.  This is a real source of irritation for the CE committe because we can never think of an idea for the float.  So, do any of you creative ladies (or men) have an idea for our float. We are a small country church so budget is an issue.  Obviously we want a churchy theme to it as well.  Thank you all for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Below is a recipe for making your own water color paints.  Enjoy.

3 tbsp. baking soda

3 tbsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. white vinegar

1-1/2 tsp. light corn syrup

food coloring in different colors

Mix vinegar, baking soda corn starch and corn syrup together.

Divide mixture into several bowls.

Add food coloring to several different bowls.

Use it wet or let the mixture dry and use a wet brush in them.

So it has been a long time since I have posted!  Christmas, New Years and now Valentines Day has come and gone and I am just starting to get life back on track.  One of my goals this year is to make our meals as healthy as possible.  That means trying to limit processed and pre packaged foods.  In trying to accomplish this I came across a new recipe.  If your children love McD's burgers because of the sauce then I have the answer for you.

Here's the recipe:

1 c. Miracle Whip

1/3 c. sweet pickle relish

1/3 c. Thousand Island dressing to taste

1 tbsp. white sugar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dried onion flakes

Mix together and spread on your burger.  I don't know how long this will last in the frig.  It never seems to make it to the fridge.   Enjoy!

Every Christmas we hold and open house for our church.  As the pastoral family it is like our thanks to the church for all of their support.  I am tired of making the same recipes each year.  I am looking for new punch recipes, squares and cookies and sandwich recipes.  I would love to hear from you and your favorite Christmas treat.  Thanks so much!

Thank you for all of your advice.  I think we may have made a small break through.  My ds now recognizes the sounds and letters for 23 of the 26 letters.  Now if I can get him to realize that these letters and sounds are what we use to read and spell, I'll have won the war.  That's another battle though.  It'll come.  I just keep thinking what would have happened if he went to "real school?"  As it is he reads standing up and has to take several wiggle breaks per subject.  My ds would have been labeled and left behind....so grateful that I am my ds's teacher!

For the last month my ds has struggled with language( letters and sounds).  He won't be 6 until next month so he would be the youngest in his gr. 1 class.  He doesn't know all of his alphabet and can't seem to figure out sounds and how to make them into words.  He can't seem to see the connection in things.  For example: we practice his alphabet everyday and then do flashcards of letters and their sounds.  He hasn't made the connection that the alphabet and these letters are all the same.  He constantly asks me if the flashcard I am holding is "in the alphabet."  He doesn't see that the blends and special sounds we practice are in actual words.  He is great at memorizing in order but mix things up and he has no idea where to start.  Does anyone have any great tips on how to bridge the gap and show him the relationship between letters and words and letters and the alphabet? It is really holding him back.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!

So here I am in the potty training debacle.  We've had a few successes but many failures.  The Lord has definately been trying to teach me patience.  I know I say this with every child that I go through this with but "he is the hardest one yet!"  Add to that the issue of trying to accomplish school with two other children and I am virtually exhausted by the end of the day.  I wish that there was a magic pill to give him and then he would be trained.  So until the day that that happens I will be the parent with a 7 yr. old still scared of the potty;)

I am sinking fast.  I am trying to train my 2yr old ds.  This is my third child to train and he is by far the hardest.  So, here it is...he's afraid of the toilet.  We have had some sucesses.  He has gone numerous times and we do reward him with a piece of candy or gum, his absolute favorite.  This is our third week of trying and we don't seem to be any further ahead than when we started.  His pull-up is always wet even when he goes on the potty.  He was born with Polycystic Kidney disease, he only has one functioning kidney.  I don't know if this is a contributing factor in our training dilemma or not.  that is something I have to investigate.  So does anyone has some great tips to help.  We give him books to read, we turn the tv to his favorite shows, we let him play with cars until one fell in.  I'm not going fishing again.  I'm desperate.  Help please!

We took the day off of school on Friday and went to the plowing match.  Can you tell what sort of community we live in? My dh was born and raised on a farm and compared to him I was born in the city.  I wasn't but I'm far from a country girl.  Anyway, we've been blessed to have been pastoring for the last 4 yrs. in a small farming community.  We love it.  I've learned so much about country living.  My mom always baked her own bread and canned and we NEVER bought cookies or sweets my mom always baked them.  So it's  not totally foreign to me to live by the sweat of our brow. Now I am learning all of these great skills about gardening, and signs of the seasons and great home remedies.  Anyway, I say all that to say that the most interesting part of the day for my 2 ds's was getting to sit on all the tractors, lawn tractors, four wheelers etc....  I've learned a lesson though...next yr. my dd and I will leave the boys to look are machinery so that her and I will get a chance to look at the stuff we want to see.  We never  did get to go into the craft tent or do any shopping!  Look out next year...dh has been warned!

We finished our first week of school on Friday.  Here we are at Monday again and I still haven't gotten into a routine yet.  On top of school I am trying to train our 2 yr old.  Talk about over load. So we do the best we can and move on.  My 5 1/2 yr old is struggling with his letters and sounds. 

Finally got the laundry caught up for today.  Made a roast and  I made a new dessert that I have never made before.  It is called Apple Kuchen.  Very good.  I'll add the recipe later.

I forgot to let everyone know that my Dad got his test results back on his lung and he doesn't have lung cancer either.  So he is officially cancer free.  He has another disease called sarcoiditis.  He may end up on oxygen eventually but it could have been a whole lot worse.  Thanks to all for praying.

Has anyone else checked out Facebook?  My sister in law got me to check it out and now I am hooked.  I love it.  I am in contact with friends that I haven't spoken to since college.  If anyone else out there is on Facebook come check me out, I'd love more friends and maybe we can set up a homeschooling network.  Not that it will replace my blog.  Sometimes being able to vent with others who understand is just what the doctor ordered:D

Michelle Craven

Wow, it has been a long time since I've been on. We actually just got back from two weeks vacation in New Brunswick, Canada and New Hampshire.  While I was gone I was awarded the NICE MATTERS award.  What an honor! Thank you.  Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I hadn't dropped off the face of the earth...I just took a hiatus.

What an incredible week.  My best friend from high school(who was also my matron of honor) lost her mom this week.  She had diabetes for atleast 15 years if  not longer.  She was on dialysis and was in desperate need of a kidney transplant.  She hadn't been doing well the last couple of weeks and on Sunday morning at the age of 59 she died from a stroke.  She left an incredible legacy and made a profound impact on my life.  Without her influence I never would have met my husband.  The funeral was a happy occasion where she was honored and the message that she lived her life well was very evident.  Her family will see her again and  she lived a life of faith which is evident in the lives of her children who faithfully serve Him.

With such a sad event we ended the week with the new arrival of our neice baby Isabella.  The scales are now tipped in the favour of the girls in our family 4-3. 

I think I may have found a way to get my children to get their chores done quickly and early in the day.  They both have three chores to do a day.  I make sure that these are chores that can be done in the morning so that this doesn't drag out all day.  I have given our daughter the color pink and our son the color blue.  Each evening I write  all three of their chores on three separate post it notes.  So I have six post it notes all together... 3 per child.  I hide them in the house and in the morning they go looking for their color post it note.  They can't look for another post it note until the first chore is done.  I don't do this every day but every other or every two days.  They love it.  They are on a scavenger hunt and getting their chores done all at the same time.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my Dad.  He called me tonight and told me that the Lymph nodes that they thought were cancerous aren't.  He has sarcoma and the lump on his lung looks like it is sarcoma as well.  We have to wait for further tests to confirm his lung but nevertheless we are thrilled and we are giving God all the glory. 

I just found a website that many of you may find helpful.  It's called "The Oldfashioned Education."  It is absoutley free and it lays out a full year of curriculum that is down loadable all the way up to grade 12.  If you are on a tight budget you should check it out.  I haven't spent a whole lot of time searching this site but I would recommend it.

www.OldFashionedEducation.com

Help.  I am looking for free novel studies for elementary aged children.  Maybe a study using the books Box car children or Superfudge.  Please help.

I have decided to try and get a jump start on planning the new school year.  So after spending all day yesterday doing laundry, baking and making homemade spaghetti sauce I have now dedicated today to school planning.

I wish the excitement that I feel for the new year would extend throughout the whole year.  We live far away from any organized homeschool network so we are all alone on this journey here in the country.  That's OK sometimes but it sure would be nice every once in a while to have a support system to get together with.   Most homeschooling parents deal with the scrutiny of other parents but I am a Pastor's wife and every one seems to think they have the right to criticize things we do. 

Anyway, I had a great day starting the planning session.  Next week I plan on getting the school room cleaned out and organized.  We leave for vacation for two weeks at the end of the month so I would like to have everything organized so that we can just step into school when we get home.

OK.  I'm finally starting to think of the new school year.  I used to teach school so I tend to be driven by lesson plans and plan books.  This is my dilema.  I am looking for a FREE down loadable lesson plan book.  I've down loaded Donna Young's stuff and chart jungle's stuff as well but they just don't seem to be what I am looking for.  The bigger problem is that I'm not exactly sure what I am looking for.  I don't need seating charts and emergency contact info. like other lesson plan books give.  I'm sure you all have faced this problem too.  What have you all used?  Suggestions are greatly welcomed.