Raising Them Up

Well, it looks like we may be moving in a couple months.  The Lord seems to be providing us with a new home across the state.  That’s a blessing we’ve been praying for for quite a while now and we’re thrilled.  With that comes a great deal of thankfulness that we are a homeschooling family.  If we weren’t, we would have to start our kids at one school for the first 2 months of the year and then move them to a new one in October where they knew no one.  How great that we can just take a short break and pick right up again. 

That said, we have much of our homeschooling goodies in storage since our house has been on the market all summer.  We truly hoped to have moved before the fall.  It looks like it will be more like the beginning of October.  We do have the MFW curriculum that we bought this summer and that is most of what we really need so we will go ahead and get started.  I considered the idea of starting the school year later, but we are due for another little one at the end of February and I just feel that will all those major life changes, we better just get started and plug along as best we can.

We received D’s standardized test results last week.  I was a big disappointed.  Not in him at all but rather in myself.  I know D is a very very smart boy and I can tell from the parts that he didn’t do as well on that it is where I failed to teach him as well.  Overall he did just fine.  I’m really hoping and planning for next year to be more organized and for me to be able to better accomidate what he needs from me in those subjects. 

We have already gotten our curriculum for next year.  We’ll be using My Father’s World for both D and C.  We are using Math U See and Rod and Staff spelling for D and have an eclectic collection of books on handwriting, spelling, and phonics for C in addition to his MFW stuff. 

I hope that we have moved by the end of August.  My prayer is that we might review this summer and then start fresh in August w/ MFW.

The older boys are in a day camp right now.  That leaves me time to keep the house and to work w/ K on her computer and reading stuff.  We are also planning a lot of time at the library this summer.  They’re doing some great programs including a reading challenge that D is taking to heart in a big way!

So we’ve finished up the year at this point.  We’re just waiting for David’s SAT results.  But really, we’ve stopped for the year, officially.

That said, I know I need to be reviewing with them this summer and I need to be reinforcing some things.  And I really really need to be getting on a schedule before we all go nutty.  So I’ve got to start planning that out!! 

Here goes.  This summer, David desperately needs to read and write.  He’s got to.  He’s got some definate room for improvement.  And Collin.  I want him writing all of his ABC’s.  I think we need a little brushing up.  Then we can start reading a little. 

On the "fun to learn" stuff, they want to start Spanish and Collin wants to learn to ride his bike w/out training wheels.

And Mommy?  I need to get on the ball and have a schedule figured out.  Especially with our house on the market. I’m going to order "Manager of Their Home" and see if that helps.  In the meantime, I’m going to work on setting up an online schedule.  I really need to do this and stick to it!

David has 2 short lessons to complete to be done with our 2nd grade curriculum.  We will spend the rest of the year doing experiments, unit studies, and lots of review.  I can’t believe how well he has done and how much we’ve all learned this year. 

Collin will turn 5 next month and is begging for more learning.  I love seeing him seek it out.  I’m doing my best to keep up with their desire to learn. 

I feel like we’re moving fast through life right now – not just school.  We found out that we are expecting our 5th child in the fall.  We’re thrilled.  We’re also working hard to move forward with our desire to move closer to our familiy and to a larger piece of land where we can spread out and be a little closer to nature.  Living in a neighborhood of close houses and people who we seem to have little in common with just isn’t fitting with the way we wish to raise our children.  And we would so enjoy seeing our extended family more often.  God has a plan.  We’re just waiting for it to

This past Sunday we drove about an hour from here to a Pick-Your-Own strawberry farm in Oviedo.  The kids LOVED it!  We started with a little picnic before picking our berries.

After that it was on to the business of the day!

We had so much fun that we decided to start our own little planter garden at home.  We planted a banana tree, 3 tomato plants, and 5 strawberry plants!  Everyone had fun.  David thought it was hillarious when he learned what "cow manure" actually was (while being up to his elbows in soil enriched with it!