The last leg of our curric.(reading) came this week and the classes started broadcasting! Thankfully, the same ones will be broadcasted next week. I am recording up to 6 classes for 6 grade levels! Except handwriting. I think the classes are neat with some fun thematic information, but I think that will just be something we do on our own-the skill itself is not unnecessary, but watching the classes are.


 I am hoping to start Monday. Faith is very excited! My bookshelves are not done, so the stuff is in our bedroom .... lovely. Pat rightly has his mind on some other things that are keeping him from taking care of that which I won't go into.. okay.. if you must know--- millions of hours of canning our upcoming harvest and looking for a new job because HP is laying off again....

Hopefully, we'll get ourselves into  a routine of sorts quickly!

 Elijah will be ONE year old next month!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!
I think we will make it a tentative ritual that we have ice-cream cones on his birthday because that's what Grandpa and Grandma Nagle were doing when they got the call announcing his birth!

 I hope all is well with all of you who are reading this!

Remember, this is for staying in touch, so please comment or email even just to say Hi!

So, for yet another week, I am not able to do all I want on my blog.
I did want to add something though!
Please pray God's will for Hubby's interview that he had today.
Please pray that we will not be discouraged if it doesn't come through.
 Please pray that we will also repent of our cynicism as well,,,there is nothing wrong with hoping God will say yes, as long as we are putting out trust in God and not Hubby's skills...

Kiddos are finally improving healthwise although Elijah still has serious yuck nose.

and as Pat says... "it's gorgeous!" Soon, after he's moved all the files over and all that, I will be able to get back to prepping for school (for this year) and then finish the movies for family that I am waaay behind on. Then I can get back to my regular posting! This is waaay cool: Our laptop is back in business after not being internet accessible for awhile. This means I can work on my blog upstairs and share files with the main computer.... Heeeeellllpppppp.... I think I'm turning into a geek

but I wanted to pop in and say hello to all of you anyway before I go to bed. I had a BAD day yesterday! I really just needed to crawl back into my hole!! It started with rumors that turned out to be true regarding our homeschool curric. The company is no longer going to deliver distance learning in the mode we signed up for. Fortunately, they will be stopping it AFTER this year, so we are going to record and make DVD's for every class for all the elementary grade levels and then buy the textbooks that go with them, so that the textbooks match the class instruction. Anyway... I don't have to worry--it is a sin that I am CONSTANTLY having to repent of!!! The other bad thing is that I lost my left contact down the drain. Not a major deal and we aren't going to replace it right away ( but sooner than later, I hope) I just forget that I am sometimes wearing my glasses and then can't figure out why there is a huge smudge in my life!!! OH!! it's my lenses!! ugh, take them off, wipe them, put them back on... You know what? I'm spoiled. Not horribly, horribly...but in the big scheme of things, I really am. Before I head to bed, I want to add this little quote from Isaiah. His latest announcements have been starting with: "OH NO, I ( or We) FORGOT TO...." So tonight, he filled in the blank with "GO TO HEAVEN!" "OH NO! I FORGOT TO GO TO HEAVEN!" I assured him that he did NOT forget as Jesus has not called him there yet and then gave him the gospel, telling him that when we ask Jesus to forgive us for being naughty and we thank Him for dying on the cross to take our punishment for us, we'll get to go to Heaven when our bodies here stop working. While he seemed glad to get this information, he is only 2.5 years old and you can never really know how much they "get" at this age! This is why I became a Mommy! I LOVE my job!!! I bet ya'll can tell which posts were done with firefox and which ones weren't, eh???

 Just taking a break from homeschool prep to make sure I get these written down!  I don't believe in embarrasing my children, but hey...they're young, they won't know to be embarrassed until much later!!! Right now, we'll just put under "quips and quotes" and just be glad we didn't have company when these were overheard at our home! ( all words are spelled as phonetically as they were uttered!)     

Faith (4.5 yo)--when watching me put a drip tray under an indoor grill machine: 
"Yesterday, a long time ago when I was 3, the doctor gave me one of those at the hopsital when I threw up."     

Isaiah (2.5yo)- a directive to Papa when eating a hard boiled egg this past Saturday morning.
 "Don't wake up my baby bird."
"What baby bird?"
"This one."( showing the yolk to Papa!)   

 ------------- YES, THESE ARE MY CHILDREN!!! -----------------------  
 I suggested to Pat that maybe we could hold off on science after the bird comment     
I AM curious though...  Is there a test to know if there is a baby bird in an egg, if you don't know where the egg came from?? If it came from a store, not a friend's chicken coop?

 I AM PLANNING TO RESUME MY THURSDAY'S THOUGHTS AFTER I FINISH A SPECIFIC PREP TASK!
Hopefully, it will take not more than a week! I'm creating the DVD covers for our Kindergarten classes!
                                                                               
oh... and if that isn't enough... the following is a list of things I have actually said in conversation with the little scholars! ( forget context!!! I can't even remember what we were talking about!) I had to stop after the first one and thought-- gee, that would make a great book title for a how-to in parenting preschoolers! Don't steal it though-- I think it's copyrighted by virtue of me typing it, but if you do want to write that book, I'll sell ya the title so I can buy a grilling machine without a removable drip tray!

1. Stuffed animals don't drink iced-tea,
2. Dead moths don't like kisses
3. Dead people don't eat peanut butter spoons

Of course these could all just be chapter titles and the book could be called...
 Herding Cats From Your Own Private Corner of the Bathroom ... and other preschool parenting how-to tricks"

 Hey Nancy M!! You have to know that I am thinking of you as I write this!! It's your fault! You did say to write EVERYTHING down!

Well, we had some  trouble with the computer not wanting to work with our filter. Then we shut off internet access altogether on the apple. A few days later, we found a tool that would solve our filter problem and went back on the internet, followed by the computer shutting itself down over and over--


ugh--ugh---UGH!!!



So.....first thing I did was to back up all of our pics because if this computer dies, I would have lost all of our memories with it!!! I do need to get back to scrapbooking, but it's a whole lot easier to grab 5 DVD's of pics only than 5 scrapbooks in case of emergency!

In the meantime, I still have to send out DVD's from February until now to the fam!!!

The great news ( for me, anyway) is that I have finished a big chunck of prep for this coming year!!!! and more, because I will never have to do THAT piece of it again-it's done for all kids to come!

I will try to jump on when I have a thought and I am going to continue the whole consistency thing with the quotes from the kids as I can, but I really want to be ready for this coming year and so MOST of my computer time will be spent doing that!

I was having thoughts regarding fulfillment today as I was driving around, but since I want to get back to my prep, I'll make it short and sweet:

Finding fullfillment in ANYTHING outside of Christ, will leave you ultimately UN-fullfilled

with all those studies about babies and depth perception! Either he has NO depth perception or he has just no fear! He was crawling near the edge of the porch today and I was right there to catch him... I thought he'd hesitate and look to me for guidance or something, but no.. just went off the porch onto the concrete slab. ..oooh ouch! I felt sooo bad!! I really was going to catch him but I guess I wasn't prepared for him to NOT stop first!

So yep! He started this two days ago and he now knows where every electrical cord is ( I think he smells them!!!) You CANNOT turn your back on this kid for 2 seconds! He is everywhere! and he's fast!!! He had been working on it for some time and was getting into postion, but then splatting down on his tummy. Some days he does get moving but is actually using only one leg and just sort of dragging the other behind...looks funny but it still gets him to his his favorite places : the cords and the plants!

Quips From My Quiver
Faith wants to know

• Why do we need tongues?
• What do giraffes sound like?

Isaiah tattles on big sister and is whining alot!! Please help ! Anyone!

Homeschool Happens
  Oh,  hmmmm.... Just still organizing for this coming year and hoping that the baby will be sharing room with big brother by then...so I suppose part of the prep is going to involve some schedule changes to ensure same bedtime and oh ...( rolling my eyes in ridiculous despair) by the time I get that down, Isaiah could possibly be needing to use the potty in the middle of the night which will only wake the baby! Would love some help from folks who have kids this little sharing rooms.

I found out today why my blog was looking all wide and weird--pics were too big. I had to back and redo some of them and that means that some of my old blog entries are gone ( just maybe 2 or 3)..

okey dokey...working on pics... there has to be a faster way of doing this!..

Our mr. man-He's looking less like a baby (already!) and more like a little boy. I think it's all that hair!

how utterly charming our baby is!!! And to report that as adorable and fun as he can be, I was able to lay down the line and make him go night-night! Can you believe he went from smiley, happy, charming, sweet to completed monster in about 5 seconds??? ( and it lasted only about 3-5 minutes with a few good " let's give that mommy-heart-wrenching scream" again interspersed). Gotta tell ya something else about this kid that I've already learned---if I go in there to rescue him even though I know he's fed, I know he's dry, and I know that he got a good amount of silly playtime with snuggles, his tears quickly evaporate and he turns into mr. charm once more...until I put him down again.... hmmmm.....gotta love him and I look foreward to seeing him in the morning ( hopefully about 8 and not 4:30!!) I've got another pic of all 3 coming Thursday!! ============================================= OH! I HAVE TO ADD THIS FROM FAITH OR I MIGHT FORGET! "How does God make our mouth open without seeing all the blood?" I am assuming that she is concerned about all the blood flowing around down there in our innards and that if our mouth is a hole, why doesn't it just flow out the hole (???) She's 4. Is it EVER safe to just assume we understand how they think? I could be waaaay waaaay off on this!

Well, I can choose to work on DVD covers for K5, or to commit some old tapes to itunes so that they can be repacked up and sent to the floor of my closet! ahhh...sigh... maybe I'll just go get a soda from the pantry and get started on the tapes as they are cluttering up our office!

I am excitedly awaiting my dvd's that I ordered. Blank ones that I can burn my self made movies onto!! They are already sitting ready to burn!! I just have to sit and wait!!

So, here are my weekly categories in addition to a tag which I will do first and then tag someone with it! Looking forward to seeing the results!

I will do the tag first and then those of you who want to read on, can...
If you had to choose 5 foods on which to survive the remaining years of your life, what would they be? Answer as if because you can only choose 5, there would be no consequences of bad choices!!!  No weight gain and cost is not a factor--what if they were free?? Oh and there is no limit on drinks-- you can have whatever you want at the time to wash it down...so just mention the solid foods!
 Mine are:
1)Little Smokies appetizer sausages
2)Mrs. Field's Peanut butter dream bars
3)grilled zuchinni and yellow squash
4)sample platters of "chick food" tea sandwiches, etc...
5)popcorn chicken from KFC

Quips From My Quiver
  " I am pretending that I am Laura (Ingalls Wilder) when I was 7 and Isaiah is Almanzo when he was 2!"--Faith.
Also from Faith: "What would happen if we didn't have tongues?"
 Isaiah is also catching the "tending" bug--he constantly pretends that he is going to a friends house and comes up to me and says " hugs and kisses before I go!" OOOOhhhhh..... I hope he does that when he's 12!! He is my Mr. Snuggly! Elijah was actually snuggly tonight, but that's only because he's miserable with teething!

Homeschool Happens
    Been watching the orientation broadcasts for K5 and I am jumping at the bit! I am sooo excited to start. Pat wants them to have traditional summer breaks in the early grades, so I am holding back!! We haven't even purchased the Reading/Language arts/Heritage Studies stuff yet and I am not ready logistically either, but I am still excited!

Personal Bible Reading: 
  Last night, Pat was already asleep, so I didn't do my "next" psalm--I just read one that one completely out of sequence and this is what it was:
PSALM 143:8
    Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in You."
 I just love this one. I have it circled, but it wasn't last night that I circled it--just proof that God brings me back to this constantly!!


My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
    Taken from May 14th -The Habit of Enjoying the Disagreeable-
(2 Cor. 4:10)
Oh, yikes! This one hits it where it hurts, but ohhh sooo true and it was such a new way of looking at why He saves us.
"We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from Hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life." 
( um ugh... where is my rock that I may climb under it??)

Sorry, no pics tonight! Maybe next week!

I mainly made this entry for those on my Homesat email list, but all can  enjoy!
Here are the boxes! I had a huge one, but could not fit it all in,but it seems to work with two smaller boxes and they are easier to manage anyway + they will fit better on my new homeschool shelves that Pat built for me! One is labeled for Blockfeeds 1-17 (A blockfeed is a weeks's worth of classes that I record off the satellite dish and then
commit to DVD.)


Here is one of my manipulative envelopes for math. I actually have about 6-7 as they are labeled very specifically ( ie farm animals, rulers, etc...)

  Okay, here is the plan~Every week has 5 folders one for each day and every worksheet we use for every class that day is in the folder which is labeled by lesson #. I color code the classes ( RED=reading/phonics, BLUE=math, and YELLOW=Bible).   Instead of having to look for all the Reading pages, for  example, I just clip them all together with a paper clip that has a red sticker. The same for each worksheet for the other classes.
  I even do this for the worksheets that are singular, so that I do not need to pull out the page to see which class it's for. If I am preparing the night before and need a Bible page, I just grab the yellow paper clip and the worksheet it's attached to.  Actually, Pat will be grabbing the yellow ones, since he's going to be doing Bible. I take the paper clip OFF the worksheet and attach it to the folder and put the worksheet in the folder it belongs to  for the next day's lesson. (Each class has some special character folders we use each day where the child finds the work--the "Hopper "folder, etc..)
Each night the parent fills the child's folder. These folders are for parent organization!


I also put a corresponding color sticker on the DVD cases! As you can see, only one has a Good Label-that's because I haven't done the labels for math and Bible yet.


Now, next year and beyond, these colors will always represent the same classes and we will be adding Green for Heritage studies. Perhaps first grade +, I will not be tearing out individual worksheets, but just letting Faith work out of the workbook itself.

Faith had a horrible time staying in bed this evening. Her last hurrah was when she came into the hallway to report that her toes were not beautiful! Just thought I'd share!

...so that I can work on my blog, but there's a million other things I want to work on to--homeschool stuff, baking my biscotti, etc...so... I am at this very moment thinking what can I do in order that will take care of itself so taht I can work on this blog?

Biscotti: just get it onto pan and into oven-leaves me 20 min. to work
Laundry: Just bought some red fabric to make a dress or jumper for Faith-will take 30 min. to wash/30 min. to dry-I can fold whatever comes now out of the dryer later
homeschool prep: Got some DVD's to label, but the computer can do that with a push of a button (lightscribe)21 min. per DVD!

** little note to those who are on my mailing list: no pics of kids today, but I'll post some up soon. it's just getting late right now.**

So, now, I am ready! From now on, I'll include the following catagories and some little thoughts under each. But I'll sometimes start the whole thing with just stuff that's been happening in our lives around here.
Quips from My Quiver (quotes and stories from/about the kids)
Homeschool happens-updates in our education as our children homeschool us
Personal Bible Reading
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers-the parts that I highlighted in my own copy of the book because they basically whammed me!

 Let's Go!
Quips From My Quiver
    Just want to say that I am sooo amazed at Isaiah's vocabulary explosion in the past few months! While he struggles with first time obedience without complaint most of the time, he sure does hate it when big sister doesn't obey either and bids her to "obey Mama, c'mon Faith!"

Homeschool Happens
  I can't believe she'll be starting KINDERGARTEN in the fall! I mean, this is big stuff! While all those moms are pulling out their kleenex boxes as their babies get on that big yellow school bus ( and some actually do this on the first day of K!!), and weeping about how they are "losing" their littles--I will be still snuggling mine!

Personal Bible Reading: 
     I am currently going through the psalms. What caused me to do this is the fact that so many songs are based on the Psalms, yet only a few are really known by many, so I decided, with prayer, to go ahead and read through them. I am not going to "read and report " on ever one as I go along. This Blog time is not my quiet time, but I will share what stood out to me in the proceeding week.
     This week, I read Psalm 81. Verse 1 reads,
        Sing for joy to God our strength;
       Shout aloud to the God of Jacob
Now I know that some will be horrified that I was so moved at the word "shout". After all, we are to be quiet, discreet, well behaved...that is just NOT reverent! But my eyes read, shout TO  the Lord, not AT the Lord. It's just different. I also am compelled to add that last night I was telling Faith that some people open up their hands to God instead of folding them. I told her this is a way of saying, "see here God? It's yours! Take it! Use it... I'm not going to hold onto it." (it meaning anything: finances, family, bitterness,....He has access to all of me because it all belongs to HIm to begin with). As I was showing her my hands being opened... the hymn, Take My Life and Let It Be" just poured into my soul and overwhelmed me! I miss this in my singing worship to God. I have become stiff and well behaved. What does God think of that?

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
    Taken from May 26th -Think as Jesus taught-pray continually
(1 Thess 5:17)
"If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly...prayer is not an exercise, it is the life."

No, today is not Thursday. I am thinking of blogging just on Thursdays, so be ready for it! Here's the question I have for you technical geniuses-- How do I change the Title of my blog (A Baker's Blog) to Thursday's Thoughts???

I am thinking that I may have to do weekly blogging instead of daily. Looks like Thursday will be my day, with some exceptions like some Friday evenings (once a month) or Sunday evenings here and there. Anyway, I wanted to also let everyone know that we have our van! Yeah!!! If I didn't detest soccer so much, I could be a future soccer mommy now! I'll still buy the kids a soccer ball to kick around the yard, but don't include me in the game--I'll be in charge of Koolaid, thank you! I do still have some plans for this blog, but right now I can't work it out! Time for Bed. God is Good ALL THE TIME!

Keep in touch! Bring on those comments! I love to hear from you!!

Here is a montage of the month of May--so far! The music is by a father/son duo named Aaron Jeffrey         (I've had this CD forever--more than 10 years!! Don't even know if they are still singing together!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

OKAY! Whooo hooooo! I've got photo studio back on the system! Thank you so much dear hubby! So, here is Elijah and he loves his bath!!! He's 7 mos old now and will be almost a year when we start up our new year of homeschooling in the fall. Should be interesting---I am wondering if he and Isaiah will hit it off enough to play and not distract Faith too much or if Isaiah will still consider him "the baby" and want to be big like Faith. Isaiah loves the mascot for K5 (BJU) and sings the little opening song all the time!

I am already considering Faith's schedule for the fall. It might look something like this:
morning:

• 8:00am Wake/eat breakfast / clean up / play time

• 9:00 Get dressed-watch math ( while mom showers)-Faith is already at mid-Kindergarten level now, so she doesn't need much supervision with this video class. She and Isaiah can watch while Elijah naps.
  
• 9:30 Do second side of assigned worktext page

• 10:00 Do optional activity for math ( each lesson they have a fun hands on activity-- some are messier than others.

• 11:00 Outside play time-mama catches up on internet radio programs missed from morning while doing morning housework ( Focus on the Family, Enduring Truth, and Family Life Today)

• 12:00 Lunch-early Fall is still picnic time and kids eat out on the porch!! We'll do "Beginnings" sometime after lunch. This is the hour long program that includes the bulk: Reading, Phonics, Composition, Heritage Studies, Science and I am undecided on whether to wait until Isaiah is napping too or not... hmmmm,,.. may do it immediately after lunch or Faith will be too tired also! So whenever we do it ,we'll do it and then Faith will rest for an hour.
  

by me.. I am going to wait until we get photostudio.