Moving Updates

Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats on selling our house. We were not expecting it to sell so quickly but are so glad it did! We can be neat but having to be near perfect all the time is not easy! I pretty much took all the school stuff out of the house and either put it in a cabinet or the attic or just anywhere I could! Some of it has been pulled back out for now though. We did some serious staging and I think it paid off.

If all goes well we will be moving on November 24th. We have scheduled back to back closings on this house and the one we hope to buy. Our inspection was this morning (on the house we are selling) and I am praying that nothing major was found. It's an older home so there is always something to repair or update but we tried to take good care of it and keep it maintained.

The home we are buying is only about 10 minutes from where we live now. It was only built 5 years ago and is in a neighborhood with a few other families from church. We think that is really neat and look forward to having such great neighbors. Rachel can't wait to have her own room and I am excited about having a school room. Mary Evelyn is ready to explore the woods behind the house and Jason is just praising God that it's all going so smoothly so far! Poor Betsie is pretty clueless and is in for a shock. We'll have to make sure she gets lots of loving until she is settled again.

I haven't had the heart to get packing yet. We had a closing fall through a few years back and didn't know until we showed up for the closing and with everything on the moving truck. Once I know the inspections went well I will get started though. Can't put it off forever! For now I am just thankful that we have it under contact and that things are progressing.

I'll post pictures after we move.

Jen

WOW!

WOW! That is my profound thought for the day.

We sold our house today...after a total of 7 days on the market. For a good price. We are in shock and so very excited and thankful.

Still working out the details of closing dates, etc. And we are making an offer on a new (to us) house tomorrow. Thanks for praying...we are SO excited!

Clearly, I am a bad blogger

A few faithful friends and readers have called me out for being a slacker. True, but I have some great excuses! Really!

The first is that we just put our house on the market. In doing that, I lost my main computer that I use day to day. We took it down along with the desk in my bedroom in order to show off the pretty window with plantation shutters. It's all about staging, baby. Losing that computer has resulted in WAY less computer time for me. I am mostly suffering from Facebook withdrawals.

Putting the house on the market also meant new carpet, refinishing hardwood floors, painting, etc. It's been hectic here. The blog will almost certainly always be the first thing to go when life gets full!

Also, (and I will not add details for now) we are continuing to learn about how to teach and parent a child with some special challenges. It's new territory for me and it's been hard. We have a diagnosis (or two) and we are trying to figure out the next step.

Thirdly, Jason has some big things going on at work. I'll wait for his greenlight to share those things but it's all good and exciting and making life even more hectic around here.

So those are my excuses. Do any of them hold water? Jill? Ronette? Mom?

Homeschool Blog Awards Meme - Something New

Well, this should be an easy post. This week's meme from The Homeschool Blog Awards is called something new. We are to share what new product we are using in our homeschools this year (and where to get it and why we chose it and how we are liking it so far, etc.). My challenge will be to share WHICH new thing!

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The most obvious new thing in our school this year is Exploring Countries and Cultures from My Father's World. And in summary...we love it! I chose it out of a desire for a little more structure, a little more of a Biblical emphasis, the desire to teach Rachel and Mary Evelyn together, everything is included in the schedule, and the history is taught chronologically. I like that My Father's World combines the best of Charlotte Mason's methods with the best of what classical education offers. I have already said a lot about MFW in previous posts, so if you are interested in it for yourself you can go here.

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I am going to also mention our new co-op. It is called Enrich and it is for users of the My Father's World curriculum. We met yesterday for the first time and my kids had a ball! I was the teacher for Betsie's class and as I type she is eating breakfast holding the crafts we made. Rachel and Mary Evelyn had a great time too. Not something you can buy, but new for us and I think a wonderful addition to our school. Plus it only meets once a month, which means we'll still be enjoying it 8 or 9 months from now! LOL!

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I won't go into tons of details but I will also say that I am glad we made the switch to Teaching Textbooks math for Rachel and Right Start math for Mary Evelyn. Math is not the evil around here that it once was. Yay!

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One last thing: we will start using The Learnables very soon for Spanish. We just got this in the mail last week. I haven't had a chance to even look at it, but that will be another new addition to our school. I have always wanted to add foreign language and The Learnables was much cheaper than my first choice and can be done independently on the computer. I'll let you know how it goes and if they learn anything or not!

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Let me know of you do this meme so I can see what's new with you!

Heart of the Matter Friday Meme: Your Children's Learning Styles

You may (or most likely may not!) have noticed that I added a new picture to my sidebar: Heart of the Matter online homeschooling magazine. I just discovered this magazine a couple of weeks ago and have enjoyed browsing their articles and features. Each Friday they do a meme (don't ask me to define that.) for us homeschoolers so we can share with each other concerning all sorts of schooling/parenting/homemaking issues. Today's meme is about our children's learning styles.

I hesitated doing this meme because I have never really been able to figure out learning styles! With me, it's more of a , "hmmmm....that didn't work!" process. One of our children had some occupational therapy done last year and the OT told us her learning style seemed to be auditory...I still don't see it.

So everything from here forward about my kids is speculation. Does it count that I am not totally satisfied with being unsure? I have reserved a few good books by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias from my library. (I think I have read one of these before or at least a part of it.) The first book is called The Way They Learn. If I finish the book this time, I'll be sure and review it later.

Most people agree that the main learning styles are visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. Since I have never been certain which category most describes my girls, I try to hit them all. Here are a few examples:

Auditory: We read book to the girls and they listen to lots of books on CD. We also use songs to learn things. It was a song that taught my girls the continents and Mary Evelyn some basic math facts. And of course, every kid learns the alphabet with a song!

Visual: Visual learners remember what they see. We learn a Bible verse each week. We do say it often (auditory) but we also look at it a lot too. Our map work is visual as well.

Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic/tactile learners need to DO something or TOUCH something to learn. Mary Evelyn's math curriculum is a very hands on program with a lot of manipulatives and games. I have seen her grasp the concepts MUCH better with this curriculum versus our former program (which was a traditional workbook program).

Hopefully I will learn more about my own kids by reading the book I mentioned. Here is an article that some might find helpful as well. So while I could not give definitive answers about my own children's learning styles, I am thankful that the meme sent me researching a little more. If you would like to see what others are saying about learning styles, go here for links to the others who have blogged about it.

Please Enlighten Me

I feel like this might be a dumb question, but someone tell me anyway.

What does this mean in the internet world?

<3

I see it on facebook and blogs and all over the place and I am just clueless. Looks like less than 3 to me, but then I guess I am not as cool as I thought! LOL! (I do know what LOL means at least.)

Travel Group Reunion

Betsie, Julia, Abbie

These little princesses were all born within 10 days of each other and lived in the same orphanage for their first 10.5 months.

A little over 2 years ago, six families from all over the country shared one of the greatest adventures ever...the journey to China to meet ~ and adopt ~ six orphans from the Hunan Province. Our journey together began with a really LONG layover in an airport in Chicago, followed by two weeks of sight seeing, memory making, scary traffic, assertive street vendors, laughter, prayer, lizards, chicken knuckles, and tears.

On Saturday, for the first time since that great adventure, three of those families spent the day together in the Atlanta, GA area. It was so special to see how the babies, now preschoolers, had changed and grown. It was fun hanging out with people who became very dear to us two years ago. And I was so happy that I got to introduce my other two girls to them as well as meet a few of their family members as well. I can't wait for the next reunion (in Florida, right Heather?)!

And Now...The Smile Award

(Laura, Nikki, Michele, Candace, Amanda, Deleise, and Heather P, scroll down to the I Love Your Blog Award post.)





Sheri also nominated me for this award:

This award comes with another set of rules:

1. The recipient must link back to the award's creator. (It's on the award.)

2.You must post the rules to receive the award.

3. To receive the award, you must pass it on to 5 others.

4. You must fit the characteristics of the award recipient. (below)

5. Post the characteristics of an award recipient.

6. Create a post sharing your award with others.

7. Thank the giver.

And here are the characteristics of award recipients.

1. Must display a cheerful attitude (not all the time - we're all human!)

2. Must love one another.

3. Must make mistakes (This must be what helped me get this award.)

4. Must learn from others.

5. Must be a positive contributor to the blog world.

6. Must love life.

7. Must love kids.

I am passing this one on to Heather (who I get to see on Saturday!), Leslie, Jill, Marcy, and Hollie.

Now on my To DO List: Accept and Pass on Blog Awards!

Sheri has given me TWO blog awards today. I would pass these on to my husband, but I am guessing he'd rather me not.



Here is the first award. I'll do the second one in a separate post a little later:

The rules for the I Love Your Blog award are:

1. Link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Include the award on your blog.

3. Pass it on to 7 worthy bloggers with links to their blogs on yours.

4. Notify your recipients

I am passing the "I love your blog" award on to Laura, Deleise, Michele, Nikki, Amanda (who thinks no one reads her blog and who tagged me for another post but I haven't done it yet...HA!), Heather P, and Candace.

Monday To Do List

Let's see how much actually gets done...

1. Change the sheets on Mary Evelyn's bed.
2. Have the girls clean all the junk out from under their bunk beds! (Gonna start that as soon as this post gets published.)
3. Help older girls pack for a night at Mimi and Papa Bill's house.
4. Go to meeting for new co-op and get pics made for the security system they have there.
5. Deposit check from Betsie's birthday.
6. Drive girls to my parent's house.
7. Usual daily maintenance of laundry, dishes, etc.

I'll let ya know!

Our First Break

We are now officially taking our first break from school. We completed our first 6 weeks on Friday and will be off for the coming week. I have made a to do list a mile long. Actually, I made an index card for Monday through Friday and wrote on each day what I hope to get done this week...things like shoe shopping for the girls, a haircut, going through all the kids' clothes and figuring out what fits, what can be tossed or given away, etc. Always a big chore. Lots to do.

Even with all that I hope to accomplish next week, it feels SO GOOD to have 6 weeks of the new school year under our belts just as the schools here are starting back. We have had a great start. I wish I could show some of what we did, but now even my cell phone is acting weird so I can't even use that camera! When we start back, we will study Canada and then Brazil before we take another break.

Other recent blog-worthy highlights are:
1. The birth of a new niece! Jason's brother and his wife just had their first baby (a girl) last week.
2. I was able to spend Tuesday with a friend that I had not seen in 8 years! We had been quite close from college on into early married life but then lost touch about 4 or 5 years ago. It did my heart good just to laugh with her over some of the funny memories we share.
3. We went to my grandmother's 87th birthday party today. Jason took some pictures with his phone so maybe I can post some of those later. My poor grandmother was not able to recognize many of us as her memory is so poor now, but I hope she felt loved as we celebrated her life and influence on all of us. I had a wonderful time catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
4. We are planning a Disney World trip in a few monhs with my parents, aunt and uncle, and my siblings and thier families. Have you ever tried to make dinner reservations for 19 people at Disney World? Crazy!

Devotion Time

We are studying the book of Matthew. I thought this was a sweet scene in our home tonight so I went and grabbed the phone for a picture (camera still not working). Sorry for the grainey looking photo, but this made me smile tonight.

What Would You Tell A New Homeschooler?

One of my friends is about to begin homeschooling. Her child has already been in school, so if you have experience pulling a child out of school and then beginning to homeschool that would be great! I know sometimes that is different than starting with a pre-K or kindergartner.

I suggested trying NOT to be overwhelmed with the gazillion choices for curriculum and joining HSLDA, but I am wondering what others might suggest!

Got any special nuggets of wisdom for my friend? I'll point her to this post if anyone decides to comment with suggestions.

Thanks!

Hanging Out at the Library

Where would we be without our library? And where would the library be without all the books we help them buy with our late fees?

Happy 3rd Birthday Betsie!

These pictures are from first thing this morning. Family is on their way over here now for cake and ice cream...more celebrating to come!