Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
I hate to do this to you again, but my Show and Tell is over here: FarmLifeFarmWife.
It's a homestead Show and Tell about our wheat "harvest." Don't laugh!
I was gone all week, so I'm having a hard time catching up. I missed the Homeschool Memoirs meme on Wed. Rats. I doubt I can make it up now. I've tons to do.
"Oh, curriculum, curriculum! How I love to try a new curriculum!"
Perhaps that's why my shelves used to be filled to the very top with something new to keep us out of the doldrums of same-old, same-old. Well, the shelves are pretty empty now. I see the hundreds of options out there for the next generation of homeschoolers and can't help thinking, "I wish I . . ."
In spite of all the new programs, I'm going with the tried and true reading curriculum for Kevan (5) and Justan (7). Their mother, Kristel, learned to read with A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education) ABCs of ACE, as did her 3 brothers. I like the songs, the stories, and the simple way (AKA hardly any phonics rules to memorize!) it presents. I know there are probably some super reading programs out there, but ACE has the time-tested track record with me: all my kids can read, and it is painless. Big sister Kristel reading to her little brothers--1992. Now I'm teaching her boys to read.
Kristel just had Baby #6, and her oldest is 9. Justan has not been ready to read until this year, and I offered to teach the 2 younger boys. They'll come over 4 days a week for about an hour or 2. Since they live across the street, this will work well. I think Kristel is relieved, as she's been worrying about Justan getting "behind." I keep telling her, "Behind what? What's the hurry? He'll learn at his own rate and eventually be at the same level as everybody else."
For Math (K and 1), I snagged a couple of Spectrum Math (not my first choice, but they didn't have any Life Pacs to look at so I could make an intelligent decision). I used Saxon with my younger 2, and K's oldest is doing Math U See, but I'm going "easy" and we'll see how it works.
That's about it for now. KISS (Keep It Simple, Sister!) is my goal. The frills can be added later, by their mother. I'm dedicated to the basics this fall.
My students
On Fridays, I'll be teaching a writing workshop at the co-op. I'm using the same lessons as I have here for folks to download, if you're interested: WRITING WORKSHOP
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Now, we pause for a little ad. Do you like to review books? Would you like FREE books from Crossway? Would you like a chance to win prizes? Here is an e-mail from my former marketing manager (used to work for my publisher, Kregel, but now works for Crossway). She asked me to send out feelers to homeschoolers who have blogs and would like to review books geared to homeschoolers. Read her "call" below. NOTE: if you contact her, don't worry if you get your e-mail "rejected." She really DID get your e-mail and will contact you.
Calling all homeschool bloggers!
This fall, Crossway Books and Bibles is beginning a brand new book review program open to anyone who likes to read . . . and blog! Here’s how the program is going to work:
Five times a year, Crossway will mail participating bloggers a complimentarybook and newsletter. After you read the book, we welcome you to blog about it! The sky’s the limit with what you can do. Here are some ideas:
• Conduct an interview with the author (Crossway can help organize this)
• Write your own ending to the book
• Write a traditional book review
• Post the book trailer (if there is one)
• Post a picture of you reading the book in an “interesting” place
We’ll give you approximately two months to complete the book and post your review. If you finish your review by the deadline, you will be eligible to win a number of prizes (free books, gift cards, and more!). Most of the books will be for homeschooling parents, but older children are welcome to sign up, too.
If you would like to join the program, or even find out more about it, feel free to e-mail Amy at marketing@crossway.org.
Today begins "Homeschool Memoirs", a weekly "class" to share with fellow homeschool moms on bloggy land. I hope I can "keep up" but this sounded great. Click the sidebar (or the graphic above) to join up.
This first assignment is "All About You." I think I can handle this. See what you think...
I am a twenty-year veteran of homeschooling. I used to teach in Christian school, but when our church closed it down, I immediately joined the homeschool "pioneers" by bringing my then 5th grade DD and 4th grade DS home. Problem? No curriculum, so we continued to use the ACE curriculum we'd been using at the school. Long story short: As homeschooling became more accepted, more curriculum became available. I homeschooled them through high school, then began all over again with my two young sons. My youngest son is now a senior and goes to community college. In a week or two, I begin all over again--this time teaching my 7-year-old and 5-year-old grandsons to read. My oldest DD and oldest DS live across the street, so that makes it fun (most days).
When I'm not homeschooling, I'm writing. I'm the author of The Circle C Adventures series, which you can read all about here if you're interested: CIRCLE C ADVENTURES. My characters even have their own blog here on HSB: CIRCLE C BLOG. And if you have any eager up-and-coming young authors in your home, explore my writing corner, where kids can take a writing workshop, get feedback on their blogs for the lessons, and even earn a certificate. It's free, of course. (Like, what else have a got to do, right?). I just love teaching. WRITING WORKSHOP
Here are some pictures. And Baby #6 joined DD's family on 8-08-08. He is 10 days old.
My DS, Chad, and family.
It's embarrassing, but I can't find his "graduation" picture so you get his old McD's picture. Hope he doesn't see this! Andrew is a junior at Washington State University, studying electrical engineering, like big brother did!
I couldn't find a decent picture of Ryan, either! Another McD's boy, although he's moved up the employment "food chain" this past year. He's at Green River Community College and interns as a CAD drafter under his brother-in-law.
I have a new picture of Christian. He's finally stopped crying long enough to allow his mommy to take a picture of him with his eyes open! Isn't he a cutey? Christian Martin Adair Ross; 5 days old
A fun birth date: 08-08-08; 7# 3 oz. 20 1/2 inches long.
Here's the sweater set I crocheted for him. Kristel wanted everything white this time: blanket, sweater, and hat.
I guess school is starting for the rest of us. Jocelyn is hosting Blogger Classmates, and I thought I'd join in. It's a writing assignment kind of class. I never did well in those at school, but perhaps I can discipline myself to write something intelligent next Wednesday when the "real" assignments begin.
Please join us! Just click the Blogger Classmates graphic in the right sidebar to link to the instructions on how to get started. Like Mary's Friday Show and Tell, this gives me the accountability I need and want to visit everybody and peek in on your lives.
New babies are fun! And it's such a privilege to watch the older siblings so Mom can have a couple days with just baby.
So . . . here is why I'm too tired to find any pictures to go along with this.
This is DAY TWO of a 2-day "watch the kids" adventure. Sean will be home the rest of the week.
--Our day started at 8am when DH and I crossed the street and brought home the kids--all 5 of them. The boys built the Lego monorail (the classic), but the 3-year-old and I went on a bike ride (she rode, I walked/jogged) three times around the development.
--Yesterday the 1-year-old ate a lot of blueberries. Today I paid for that.
--Today we took the more relaxed view of things: Wiping bottoms, washing hands, dirty fingers, and messy mouths, my speciality. Food on the floor, food on the table, Capri-suns leaking on the rug, and hmmm...what else? Oh, a dish of ice cream balancing on the table's edge.
--Then, E didn't want to eat her chicken noodle soup, and a few noodles found their way to the floor. Then E stepped in them. "Yikes!" I yelled. "E--, you're stepping in squishy noodles, just like stepping on a slug." Peals of laughter from around the lunch table. Then cleaning up the slimy foot.
--J-- goes home for a nap in her own crib, to return two hours later.
--Oops, I forgot to eat lunch (no wonder young mothers never have to diet).
--Then, since we were feeding a horde already for supper, I called up and invited Chad and kids, since Joanna was taking a final away from this chaos, at the college extension center in town.
--Kristel comes over with the new baby, who sounds like a cat with his tail stepped on. J--, the "former baby" is in "melt-down" and Levi, whose very "life" is food, is melting down as he watches the the food get nearer the table. Sean is not home from work yet. Smart fellow.
--I dish up the assembly line food for the kids, we all pray, help ourselves, and then I remember we forgot to tell Ryan that it was supper time. He's in his room playing video games (another smart fellow). Poor guy. "You forgot about me?" he cries out. No wonder. All the plates looked taken. (I was going to take a picture of 7 little kids around the table and in high chairs, but I was just too tired to find the camera. Sorry. It was pretty precious...uh, I mean...messy).
--As Chad is cleaning up under the table after supper, he remarks, "Cornbread was probably not a good choice for a meal menu tonight." (Along with baked beans and hot dogs). Cornbread crumbs are everywhere. Poor Chad. He and his dad did up the dishes; baby still crying; Katelyn stuck in a tree.
--The other boys in trees, but not stuck. Good thing it's not raining!!!
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OK, they're home; I have so much writing to do--proposals and things. But you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go watch a Stargate SG-1 DVD or a Stargate Atlantis DVD. Worth every penny I paid for them. I'm gonna veg tonight with a bowl of ice cream. I slept 10 hours last night, and I expect I'll sleep about that tonight.
I had hoped to post this on Show and Tell Friday, since the baby was born Friday morning EARLY, but alas! I was at the W.A.T.C.H. homeschool conference, signing books with the Salt Shaker Bookstore, our local Christian bookstore.
So, delayed but at last, here are the baby pictures and the stats:
Christian (I forgot the middle name!)
7# 3 oz. 20 1/2 inches
A whole week late!
Easy labor and relatively pain-free delivery; (after a 10-day labor you'd think there would be some kind of compensation!)
I MISSED it because I couldn't get home in time from Seattle. sniff, sniff. But Kristel's former mid-wife happened to be at the hospital, and we now know why God had her wait. This gal stayed with K and made the whole experience wonderful--no tearing, no stitches, and what a blessing. So God really does work all things out in His perfect timing.
I won't be blogging much this week--watching the 5 little ones today and tomorrow so Sean can go to work, then Wed. the other set of grandkids, then Thursday an author-thing at our WA state historical museum, to launch their new ColumbiaKids e-magazine, and yours truly, a local author is going to READ the first 4 pages of Family Secret...to the public. Yikes! What was I thinking? Then book signings for an hour, and then Friday's here and I will definitely do a Show and Tell by then if I am not too exhausted by this week.
HSB put on a great Summer Reading program for homeschoolers this summer. The good news is that HSB is going to keep the blog going, and it makes for a great opportunity for any young readers who might like to try their hand at writing book reviews. Click on the graphic above to read about how you go about getting a book review posted on the Splash blog.
Click here to see the very first review: SPLASH BLOG
I hope you find this fun and useful for your kids.
I thought the title of this might grab your attention. I've always been excited about the imminent return of the Lord. You know, of course, that it is an unsolvable paradox: "No one knows when He will return, but look! Here are the signs."
The Bible also compares the imminent return of the Lord to a woman in labor. So, here's how that whole picture took on new meaning for me this past week:
Kristel is ready to have baby #6. In fact, I went to the Oregon Christian Writers conference last Monday, knowing I might have to leave early if K went into labor. I've been with her for all of her babies, and it is a joy and a privilege to be in the delivery room. So of course I didn't want to miss it. I was in Oregon a day and a half when I got "The Call." With baby #6, the mother knows when she is in true labor. Contractions, loses plug, etc. She knows. So I rearranged my entire life based on these FOR SURE signs of the soon appearance of the baby! I rushed home Tuesday night. We did our usual "shopping and lunch" trip on Wednesday morning, which always culminates in going to the hospital to meet Sean and finish out the labor. We were SURE. The signs were very evident and we were prepared mentally for that boy's appearance!
Fast forward to.....today. No baby yet, folks. It will be a week tomorrow since I got her call. She is STILL in labor--continuous contractions--not the fake ones, the real ones. But slow and far apart and now tapering off (her due date was last Friday). Am I disappointed? You bet. Is she? Uh....no answer expected. The one GOOD thing in all this is that we WILL have that baby. There is absolutely no doubt about the end result. It's just that we misinterpreted the signs last week.
I got to thinking how this is a perfect picture of now days. Oh, those signs of Christ's return are REAL signs--not fake "labor." I see that ol' Iran gearing up and I think....when? However, it would be SO wrong to rearrange my entire life for the next few years (not caring about saving money for retirement, not working for the Lord, etc.) if I am so sure that these are THE signs. Then...they fizzle out a bit--still there but toned down. The only thing I know for certain is that He is coming back. Until then...occupy; keep going on with life. Don't get so caught up in all the signs that it's all you think about.
And I'll sure let you know when that baby comes.....
I hate to do this to you again, but my Show and Tell is over here: 
Big sister Kristel reading to her little brothers--1992. Now I'm teaching her boys to read. 
And Baby #6 joined DD's family on 8-08-08. He is 10 days old. 
My DS, Chad, and family. 
It's embarrassing, but I can't find his "graduation" picture so you get his old McD's picture. Hope he doesn't see this! Andrew is a junior at Washington State University, studying electrical engineering, like big brother did! 
I couldn't find a decent picture of Ryan, either! Another McD's boy, although he's moved up the employment "food chain" this past year. He's at Green River Community College and interns as a CAD drafter under his brother-in-law.
Christian Martin Adair Ross; 5 days old
Kristel wanted everything white this time: blanket, sweater, and hat. 
