Hi all
I haven't written in too long to say. Lots have happened. Rick works for Plantronics in Santa Cruz! We live in Scotts Valley (in the Santa Cruz mountains). My kids are still homeschooling. Eli is finishing 1st grade and Katie is finishing 5th grade!
I plan to start blogging more often now. I have a computer that I understand how to blog with! I have much more active children and I need to start documenting their life better! And I turn 40 this year!!! Yep, I'm an old lady and I love it! I am training for a 5K (I know some of you are thinking there's no need to train since its such a  short run. But please remember I'm out of shape, old, have Fibromyalgia and arthritis type stuff in my foot!).
Look for new posts and picts coming soon! This is going to be a great year!!!

Getting Caught Up

The new school year has begun. We actually started on August 15th. Crazy huh? But we started very slowly. They did some reading and math and swimming (PE!). We spent the first 3 weeks just working on how to balance both 4th grade and kindergarten at the same time! Yep. That's right. Eli is now officially in school.

Homeschooling one is hard. Homeschooling two is harder! I've had to learn to let go of my dreams of well educated children AND a clean house! My house is a mess much of the week, but my kids are learning!

Katie is reading real literature this year. We're looking at having her actually start reading The Magicians Nephew by C. S. Lewis or House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She loves literature, so it wont be hard to get into it. For math she's doing multiplication. She just learned to multiply by 10's and 100's (ie 80 x 2 = 160 or 900 x 3 = 2700)! She is a grammar wiz! I'm learning new things right before teaching it and she just gets it right away! Her favorite part is when we do Mad Libs on Fridays!!

Eli is working on reading and writing his letters. He's reading short vowel words and enjoying the short books he gets to read at least a couple times a week! Hooked On Phonics is working for him!! He is a math dude though. He can add and subtract numbers up to 5. He just flies through his work!

Together they are doing history and science. For history, we are doing Story of the World volume 2. It covers world history from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance. It covers lots of Asian history that I have never heard before! They both love the story format and to answer comprehension questions at the end of the lesson. They compete to answer better then each other in complete sentences! Its fun.

For science we are doing the Apologia Human Body! Right now they are learning about cells and how they divide to cover so many different aspects of our body. This weekend we are even making an edible model of a cell (jello and candies)! They love working in their journals and talking about all the things God thought of to make us so awesome!

We are in a Co-op once a week with several friends. They are doing science (rocks and minerals) and art (various mediums like oil painting, water colors, sculpture and eventually drama taught by mom!!) They have been making many quality friendships there and I have as well. God truly blessed us when we moved to Scotts Valley last year. He gave us such a great group of homeschooling friends!

I think what I love most about homeschooling is seeing my kids play. These kids wake up in the morning anxious to talk to each other and play with each other. They spend so much time together and they love it. They really are each others best friends. I love their laughter and joy!

So that's our new school year. I promise to try to be better at blogging this year! I might even let Katie post something?!

Playing Is School

One of the things about homeschooling is the fer that you aren't doing enough "real work". I make Katie do worksheets and papers and "real" school everyday so she wont get behind. But I have been learning a new way to teach my kids. It's called playing!

Yep! That's all. I make it a point to either go outside and play or pull out some games and play every week.

I'm finding that even the most basic game is indeed learning. For instance: hop scotch is a big time learning game. I make Katie put the numbers she's learning to multiply by in her boxes (for example, this week is 6. So she writes 6, 12, 18, 24, etc.) and Eli has to write his numbers 0-9.

Another game we play that is a real learning game is Twister. Yes, you read that right. Twister. I have found that my kids still struggle to remember their right from their left quickly. They also get flustered at remembering their color, hand or foot and left or right quickly. So we practice...by playing Twister in speed mode!

UNO is another very important game for our kids. They learn color combinations. They learn numbers. They learn to read. They learn strategy. And they learn to play fair and be a good sport in winning or loosing!

As summer approaches, I highly recommend you look at your game cabinet and start playing. They wont sleep away their learning and they will have fun building memories while their at it!

Good Things About Eli

I know I talk about how hard it is to raise a boy. Eli is oh so hard compared to Katie. But today I realized some wonderful things about raising my boy!

Eli has a beautiful heart of worship. He loves to walk around the house singing songs to God! He's not the most theologically correct, but he's so passionate!

I also love how loving he is. He wants to hug and kiss me and tell me he loves me everyday!

He's always cracking jokes too! He has been working so hard at telling them, and they make no sense, but he's really trying!

I also love how he is so eager to learn new things.

He really is a blessing. I love him and he's a true blessing in my life. I thank God for him!

More cute quotes...

Katie was working on learning the 50 states. She was having a hard time remembering Hawaii and Alaska. Finally I said, "Hooooloooo.." and she'll say Hawaii. It was hard to remember Alaska until I said "Sarah Palin'sss..." and she'd yell out "ALASKA!!!" Yep, we liked that show on the TLC.

Eli was looking around today and said, "Hey Mom. Everything has color. My shirt has color. My pants have color. The walls have color. Outside has color. Everything has color! God made the world of color, not that other guy." It took me about 3 hours to realize he was talking about a commercial he saw that was advertising Disney's World Of Color show at Disneyland! And he's right! God made all the color, not Walt Disney! ;)

Charlie Browniest

This year I have not been able to get into the Christmas spirit as I have in years past. Usually by this time I have already watched every Christmas movie we own and gotten all of my gifts purchased, wrapped and sent. But this year I haven't gotten into it. I'm not sure why.

Last night we watched "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" on TV (so blessed America still allows that show on network TV!) At one point Linus says to Charlie Brown "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest." This struck a chord in me. I'm feeling very Charlie Brown-y this year. Buying gifts and decorating and even watching movies is not what it's all about. When Linus got up and read from Luke 2 my heart was warmed.

"For unto you in born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord...

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Yes, indeed. Christ the Lord is what Christmas is all about. My heart was filled with joy and hope for this year's Christmas season once again.

Today, my son asked if Santa would bring him a present because he tried to be a good boy this year. My heart sank again. I was so good at teaching Katie the truth of Christmas. She really understood that we celebrate Jesus being born. But somehow I've missed the mark with Eli. My apathy this year may have given room for Santa to fill the place of God in my sons way of thinking. Well, not anymore. I am getting back to the basics. I'm going to take a clue from Linus and the shepherds and remember that Jesus is worthy to be worshiped. Jesus is not just the reason for the season. He is the reason for living!

Confessions

I home school my kids. You probably already know that if you're reading my blog. But what you might not know is that sometimes I am jealous of those who don't. I rarely talk about it, because all the other home school moms I see seem to love it and are doing a fabulous job of it. I, however, see my house and think how much better it might be to just put the kids in school. I get envious of the moms who take their kids to school and then have 4-7 hours to clean the house, get the shopping done, or even just take a shower in peace. I feel guilty when I have these thought and feelings because I know that homeschooling is what God has asked me to do. I know all the great benefits of homeschooling my kids; I see the growth and development in Katie almost daily at this point. I know that the messy house and lack of showers is just a season. I know all the logical things I would be telling another home school mom who is feeling this way. But knowing all the right answers and feeling the tiredness and jealousy are two very different things. All I can do is hold on to those logical thoughts at this point and know that God does indeed take all things and make them not just a good thing but a blessing in His own special way.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my great relationship with my daughter. I am thankful for my ever supportive husband, my energetic son and a God who takes my feeble efforts and makes them work together for good simply because I love Him!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!