Where is the New Year.....?

I sure am glad the holidays are rolling along.... almost outta here!
I am just in a "funk" right now, I have tried to just plug along and try and make it as nice as I could and then live with it. I really belive if you are around negative people it wears you down... Well my husband is a very negative person, he told me that when a guy he works with called our house and I answered, the man told my husband I sounded very nice & had a sexy voice - My husband said yea but she is 500 pounds. Then I wrote a shopping list for him to pick up on his way home from work after he cashes his paycheck, I put down chicken chunks - He said "You just sit there and hope I bring that home" sarcastically. Well, I really have to let that kind of thing roll over my shoulders.
My son is cleaning up his room very nicely, He painted it and rearranged it which has been keeping him busy. Kelly has been on the computer WAY too much - I hope to be getting back to some type of learning after the 1st.
The new year can not get here soon enough for me........

Merry Christmas!

This is the closest we will get to snow this year.....
It was raining when I got up at 7:30am now it is overcast and mild - Just not Christmas weather : (
We had a nice time last night at my in-laws, My son brought his girlfriend which made it even more festive. We didn't have any money to buy them presents so I tried to print out a picture I took of my kids by the Christmas tree but wouldn't you know it our colored ink was almost all used up and the picture came out very poor.
Today Kelly finally woke up at about 10:00am. she opened the presents and like I thought she liked the Are you smarter then a 5th grader - I can't wait to play!
Kelly and my husband have taken Chance out for a walk, When they get back the turkey will be done. My son is over at his girlfriend's house so I think we will go ahead and eat without him.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas today!!!!!!

Christmas Eve

So the holiday begins....
I worked like a wild women yesterday cleaning and getting out the decorations that we never put up and washed the curtains & floors trying to make things look pretty for the holiday. My husband and kids kept asking why I was going to all that trouble when the holiday is almost over now, but I really wanted to make the day alittle festive for the kids. I got it looking pretty good, I even hung up the christmas wreath on the door.
Well I got up early this morning to wrap the presents that I got for Kelly at the Toy's for Tot's program - they gave her 5 gifts & books. The one gift I know she will like is the Are you smarter then a 5th grader game, the other games I never heard of and the puzzle & books looks very hard and not very kidish but hey I apprecaite all they gave her! My day has started out rough already, My husband has been yelling all morning at me for spending money yesterday on 2 jars of red cabbage to add to the turkey dinner that I picked up at Albertson's donated from the church for Christmas Day plus I bought food that we ate yesterday because I didn't leave enough for gas money to get down to my in-laws house tonight..... He said I don't know how to handle money and he is taking it over! This month I have been to food pantry's & churches getting food, human resource centers to help pay for our electric bill, toy's for tots for presents for our daughter, talking to bill collectors - All I have been doing is trying juggle to feed my family and give them a holiday and he is yelling at me : (
If I might ask, Could you say a prayer for me & my family.....

The Days Sure Do Fly By..... 4 More Days

I can't belive counting today only 4 days away from Christmas! How quickly the days have flown by. As you know this is not a Christmas I am looking forward to, but it is coming if I want it to or not. There is no excitement here at all, half the time we don't even have the tree lights on. I have tried to explain to Kelly that we just can't afford presents like we have done in other years. She says she understands but you can see the "let down" in her eyes. I have to use a large chunck of my husbands paycheck to get the car insurance back up and running so we are covered again, but with what is left I am determined to get at least a few little things to wrap for under the tree - I can't imagine having her and Kristopher not have anything to open Christmas Day. I was able to buy Kelly one of the things she has been talking about: The Magic Tree House Space Book (Thanks to a special homeschooling blogging friend ~*FatcatPaulanne*~). I go today to the Toys for Tots program to pick up the toy Kelly will be getting from there - I am not sure how that program works since we have never used it before. I had to write down a few of the things she wanted not sure if they go with one of those things or if they just have to pick through the items they get donated, What ever it is I am sure she will enjoy getting it. Kelly had a small list this year even before the hard times hit - A western saddle, a computer for her room (she told me used for both items would be just fine with her), Apples to Apples game, Who is smarter then a 5th grader game, a puzzle & the Magic Tree House Book. I thought I would at least try and get the games so we can play on Christmas Day to make it at least a little festive. The one church pantry was giving away free fixins for a Turkey Dinner from Albertsons - I pick that up today too. I thought also since things will be kinda ho hum Christmas Day, I might try and take her to the movies to see "NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS" we both think it looks good and if only her and I go it won't cost too much. I am bound and determined to make this holiday a nice one for the kids (maybe not the best we have ever had but nice...).

Homeschooling Possibilities....

We had another great day of school work - Yea!
I have been very pleased with how well things have gone yesterday and today.
As we go over things I keep getting her attention so she stays with me (I ask her "Are you putting this information in the mind bank" - Which makes her laugh and brings her mind back to what we are working on.
I know it isn't good to keep jumping around from one teaching style/book to another but I "THINK" I may have found just what I have been looking for - Joy Hakim's American History series and she has a new Science series too. I got a few of the books in the history series from my library and they are really good. Kelly & I started book one - The First Americans (Prehistory-1600). I am still going to use Story of The World book one for our World History studies. We will also finish off our Apologia's Zoology 2 book, I liked it but I think we will switch over and try Joy Hakim's sciences books - We had trouble with alot of the very large words not knowing how to say it correctly and it just bogged us down, kind of mixing us up.
I have to say I feel a bit renewed again : )

Cold Here In Florida.....

It sure got cold last night, but it is supposta get even colder tonight yikes!!! When I woke up at 6am. it was like 56 degress here in the house, I know that doesn't sound cold to some of you but it sure was cold for us. Tonight they say it may get down to 39 degrees or so - that's way too cold for Florida.
I am reading a very interesting book one of my homeschool buddies suggested to me (Thanks Bunny) "A Mind At A Time" by Dr. Mel Levine. It really helps when you have a child like my Kelly who seems to have information go in one ear and out the other.... I do wish he would go into more detail about how to help correct each problem area though.
I am also reading "Your Best Life Now" by Joel Osteen, Also a enjoyable book that is helping me get a better attitude for the situtations I am facing lately. Can you tell I was at the library on Sat. I tell you I get in there and could stay for hours - I can not see why my kids HATE the library the possiblities are endless.
We are hitting the books this week - I am really taking stock of what I can do to help Kelly retain a bit more of the information we are covering. In talking to her she really doesn't have much recall for the stuff we have covered so far so I must take a step back and see what I can do differently. I thought of covering more current history topics like metnioned in Ambleside Yr. 6 I thought maybe if I could get her more intersted in the topics we cover she might remember more. Not sure yet which way to go with this....

Car is repaired Yea! & Blogging

Well the jeep repair went very well. The fellow came when he said and seemed to know what he was doing, being that we are out of town though he had to travel back into town to get the starter that was needed to repair it. It cost everything I had $180.00 (He replaced the starter, cut the transmission line and fixed that & looked into a light issue we are having). I had to use the money that was for the electric bill : ( But it is repaired - One problem down on to the next....
I enjoy when I get a few free moments to look around at all the home schooling blogs, Well I was reading along on one of them and it got to her post about her family hunting & trapping (Dec. 5, 2007 - Black Widow Update) when I saw the raccoon in the cage I just started bawling.... he looked so terrified and just wanted to be set free to be with his family. I find it amazing how people's blogs can so affect another person weither it be good or bad, sometimes you find fantastic teaching ideas or just some fantastic fellow homeschooling moms : )

Trail Blazing.....Kinda : ) & Aldi Stores

We didn't do any schooling yesterday but we did go outside and explore alot of the trails in the woods. It was kinda fun and Kelly seemed to have enjoyed herself, We looked at the different types of trees & shrubs. One of the things I wish we had missed was a black snake.... I just get the creepys when I see one. Kelly just said "Mom, He's more afraid of us then we are of him, look he is terrified and is slithering away", and she contiuned down the trail.
I was kinda proud of myself, I found a car repair man who comes to the house! I am saving the $60.00 tow bill - Yea! He is coming today at around 10:00am, We will see how this all works out - Keep your fingers crossed.
On the down side I was a bit upset last night, My husband came home from work and said that the boss said working on Sat. will be mandatory from now on, If you don't show up you are fired. I took this as a good thing, another extra day of pay is going to go along way towards helping us. My husband was very upset with the idea that he would have to work on Sat. : ( sometimes I think I mop up our problems all by myself!
On another note: I have been trying to lower our food bill and really miss a store up in PA. that had really GREAT prices it is called Aldi they are a bare bones type of store but when you are watching every penny it is a great store to shop in. I discouraged to find out that there aren't any in Florida... I contacted the company (I suggested our area as a possible location) - They said they are planning on building in some Florida locations, she said the closest one to me will be in Daytona.

Can't wait for 2008

Kelly & I tried to do at least some school work yesterday, Even though she complains I think she really misses when we don't do some work. She actually said to me "Who made the decision to take a "vacation" from work last week?". My brain is all over the place so I can't seem to get much done but we did work on spelling, reading, music composer, presidents, & she wrote a page about two of the books she has recently read. I think we will just dabble here and there during the next few weeks until after the holidays pass....
It is sad to say but I can not WAIT till the holidays are over! It has just been one thing after another here, Just when you think maybe you see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel something else happens. Like I had mentioned that we had gotten help with the electric bill so all we had to do was pay the $86.00 (the next electric bill of $132.62 is due today) I had planned on paying the $86.00 plus the $132.62 so we could finally breath easier knowing that the electric would not be shut off. Well you know what they say about best made plans..... Our car would not start! We had the battery checked and it is fine, the repair guy said it might be a starter but of course he would have to look it over. So now I have to pay to get the car towed in to the repair shop (about $60.00) and then what ever the repair bill will cost - Yikes! So all the plans I had made of paying the electric this week, car insurance next week and then on the 22nd. possibly squeeze the paycheck to buy a few gifts for the kids is out the window : (
I can't wait for 2008!!!!!!!

Thank You!

I just want to "Thank" all of you who have been so wonderful with your concern about our financial situation, I have had wonderful offers of help, tips & ideas on what we could do & even money donations......
Thanks again to all of you, You are the BEST!
xoxoxoxoxo

Life Lessons.....

Well we sure haven't been getting much schooling done lately but we sure have been having alot of "Life Lessons"...
For the first time in my life I had to go the Human Services and ask for help with our past due electric bill that the eletric company keeps calling us about that they are going to shut us off. I had Kelly with me at the meeting, I sure had mixed emotions about that. They gave us $200.00 towards out electric bill which will be a big help. The lady there gave me a list of food banks, I went to one of them also. Kelly stayed in the car this time she didn't want to go in, but when we got home we went through the bags they gave us and we were both shocked at how happy we were to see certain things like the pickles she loves and peanut butter it WAS like Christmas for us. One of the saddest moments of the past few days is that on Wed. morning my husband said we were totally out of money, there was nothing left for gas. We use alot of gas a day for my husband to get to the area he works at, So I had to find some way of getting some money together. I decided I had to part with my Dad's car, He passed away 16 days after we moved down here to Florida and the car which no longer works since it needs a transmission has been just sitting there, but I didn't want to get rid of it because it is something my Dad just so loved and it brought me such peace to be able to see it each day. When I told Kelly that the junk man was coming to get the car her eyes got big and said "Mom are you going to cry when they take grandpa's car away"? I told her no but inside I will be. The junk man came and got my Dad's car and our old Neon, they gave me $225.00 which will be a big help this week, but it really comes at a "Heart" cost....
It has been a very tough time for our family, but I know that Kelly is learning some life lessons through out this whole mess good & bad : (

Good Monday Morning : )

Good Monday Morning! Hope everyone had a great weekend.
You will not belive this but this cat in the picture is a stray cat, she started hanging around our house, she would run away from us when we would get to close to her - But right after Mickey passed she lets us pet her and she tries to come into the house! Our other cat (Mickey's brother Joe doesn't care for this new addition to our family though).
Kelly and I semi finshed up last weeks work, She did great on the spelling test and on the test she took after watching a video on United Streaming about Thomas Jefferson. We are moving at a snails pace but we are moving : )
I had signed my son up for a health class at Florida Virtual Schnool the class starts today - I was looking over the course and what is expected of him (Three Oral Tests). He is sooo worried about this, He is afraid he will do poorly and he will get an "F" for the class which will then not allow him to get the Bright Future Scholarship which he needs to be able to go to the police academy. I called his school this morning and it doesn't look like he has any other option (To be honest his guidance counseler was not very helpful, It was like pulling teeth trying to get him to pull up Kristopher's records). I hope it all works out for him.

It's Starting To Look Like.....

Christmas at our house!
The kids got the tree out and put it up and took the extra lights they didn't use on the tree and decorated out side. They still have to add the decorations to the tree but "Gosh" it is only November 29th.....
Kelly and I are trying to wrap up some of the school work we started back during the week of Thanksgiving so we can start a fresh week on Monday, But of course we got side tracted after lunch - Our two Tom turkeys wondered down the street and ended up at my neighbors yard (Kelly and I were out there for a good hour looking for these fellows - I had really given up hope and thought they were going to be somebodies dinner). Then Kelly spotted them behind my neighbors fence - We have lived here for I guess around 5 years and I have never once meet or talked to these people before yesterday. To be honest I think they were going to keep the "boys" if I hadn't gone right up to their fence and kept calling for the turkeys. We got the turkeys home and put them in the goat, chicken & now turkey pen, No more running around for them!

Sharing a yahoo group with lots of idea.....

I wanted to share this yahoo group with you all.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturallearner/This gal has a lot of great ideas & links, She is a member of the homeschool group I belong to and lives out by me.
Hope you find some ideas you can use.

Passing of a treasured friend...

Kelly wasn't feeling well yesterday so we took the day off - That was fine with me, my mind seems to be in a million places right now anyway.
Our cat did pass away on Sunday morning, I was crying and carring on - The kids are like but mom she is in a better place now and not in any pain. I am just always shocked at how finale death is, one minute you are here and the next you are not. Very early Sunday morning maybe around 3:00am. I heard Mickey meowing at my son's bedroon door (She had been spending most of her time in there so the dogs would not pest her), I heard her but thought nothing of it - I think it was her saying good bye to me. When I went in to check on her about 8am. she had already passed. She passed away with a cross stich under her that I had made for my son when he was a baby with his name on it, How she got a hold of it I do not know..... maybe she was saying thank you to him for taking care of her in her finale days.
Okay I know you must be thinking - Gosh she is NUTS!!!!!

Me just being a sad sack again.....

Kelly & I have really been doing a whole lot of nothing here!
My husband has been home these past four days, plus my son's girlfriend went away for the hoidays so he has been home 24/7 too.
I have been finding this weekend just so depressing.... Our cat Mickey is failing fast, she is old for a cat almost as old as my son who is 18 - I keep hoping for a turn around.
Then all these commercials on tv and in the newspapers about buying presents for the holiday, "Your daughter deserves the best", "Your family will be happy for the holidays" ect. has really gotten me down. As I have said we are struggling week to week just to pay a bill and have enough to eat during the week. there just isn't any money to buy presents this year.... Epecially if the comapny my husband is working for shuts down for two weeks for the holidays. My kids are all excited about getting the tree up and decorating the house, my son even decorated Chance's pen with lights. I am trying not to be a sad sack and just enjoy the time but it is so hard when you know that they are going to be sooo disappointed this year. I even signed Kelly up for the Toy's for Tot's program just in hopes she get's a present or two. Hopefully a miracle comes through and things turn around I sure hope so.

Thanksgiving /Homeschool e-store

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
My mother-in-law came down with a virus and cancelled our dinner. It kinda threw us since we didn't budget any money to buy food for that day - We ran out to Walmart and got a ham and some fixins to go with it.... I used the money we had a side for the electric bill, this could cause a problem since we had a shut off day on the 20th. but I couldn't imagine not having a dinner for Thanksgiving.
On another note, I am having trouble already downloading the free items on the Homeschoolestore website it says the site is down....

What a difference a day makes.....

Gosh I was so optomistic after yesterday's lessons.
Today sure was a different story! She was oh so cranky.... I stayed calm and moved along with the lessons, I think too often I fold up the day when she is like this - not today. I see two sides to this is she really learning when she is in this mood, probably not but she has to learn that she has to truge through stuff even when she is not in the mood for it. The day peaked at math - She really has such a tough time with it. I think I need to move it to the morning learning time instead of after lunch. I am amazed at how if she doesn't use it (multiplication & division), she totally forgets how to work out the problems.
Oh well tomorrow is another day - My son is off from public school Wed., Thurs. & Friday too, so I am not sure how much school work we will get done Wed. & Friday but we will see.
My son has finally decided on a career path for when he graduates high school this spring - He wants to become a "Police Officer". I am bit worried for his safety going into that line of work but if it is something he wants to do I am behind him.

Good Day Today!!!!! : )

Finally a productive day!
It has been weeks of mish-mosh here going from one thing to another.
Well today was a different story, I worked on a schedule last night and woke Kelly up early (That child will sleep till after 11:00am if I let her). We started at 10:00am and kept pretty much to my schedule here or there changing things around as needed. I went back to a workbook style of learning for her spelling words (That is a really tough area for her), she seemed to do so much better with the words. I even made up a word search out of this weeks words which she will tackle on Thurs. - We will see on Friday when she takes the test if this is better then the Power Spelling which we were using. I read a few books on the presidents (We are working on one president a week), I tossed aside the books she seemed to be not able to follow and I think we found one we can work with. Math is still a sticking point - I found a book "All the Math You'll Ever Need" by Steve Slavin it is very basic but covers everything you could ever think of even personal finances & business math ect. we are giving this book a try. We did these subjects and a few more and she even read by herself.... there again I was fighting with her to read books she didn't like or were to hard for her, Now we are using the Magic Tree House books.
I wanted to mention that a fellow homeschool blogger (Bunny over at - Homeschooling in Florida )brought to mey attention about using Florida Vurtual School I told kelly about it and she really doesn't want to try that option yet, but I signed her up and I am reviewing the courses I think we might just try one to see how we like it .....
Today was a good day : ) I am actually looking forward to tomorrow....

Walmart's can be dangerous to your health!

I have to pass on to you all something that happened to me today.
Being that it is Sat., the shelves in the store were already on the empty side, there were only a few of the paper plates that I buy and they were located all the way on the bottom shelf in the back. I knelt down and was grabbing for the plates when a shopping cart came barreling into my head! I was stunned, I stood up and really wanted to cry but controlled myself. The lady who hit me had a pointsetta plant in the baby seat of the shopping cart which must have blocked her view. The lady kept saying I didn't see you I am so sorry.... I was like you almost knocked me out. Being the eightball that I am I threw the paper plates into my cart and went to find my husband. My husband was over by the dog food, I told him the story. By now my head is splitting, she hit me right at the top of the head above my right eye area. I cashed out and left the store - thank goodness I bought Advil because I need it! I have a major headache and feel shaky. I tell you all this so that the next time you are shopping and need to get something from the bottom shelf please have a look out for you to ward off any shoppers who may have large items in their carts and not be able to see you!!!!!

Feeling Down In The Dumps Today

I sure am feeling like a sad sack today..... My husband finally found a job, he has been there for two weeks now, His pay is almost half of what he is used to making and only works 5 days (He used to always work Sat. too). But the way the job market is around here I keep reminding him we are blessed he found this job. Yesterday the fellow mentioned to him that they usually shut down the job for TWO WEEKS around the Christmas holiday time.... When you are living week to week this is really bad news - Especially around Christmas! I asked the gal up at Walmart if they are hiring and she said they are always hiring, I was thinking of some how getting a job. I really feel like a wet rag now with taking care of my dog business, all the dogs, homeschooling Kelly, the housework & making dinners but I can't imagine what type of Christmas it will be like here the way we are going. I have tossed it back and forth with myself thinking maybe I could work the evening hours say 4pm to 11pm. but with gas skyrocking here (the last I looked I think it was $3.19 a gallon) and our Walmart is pretty far away from us I would be using at least $10.00 an evening in gas just to get there and back if not more and with making only minimum wage of say $6.50 that is almost two hours a night just to pay for the gas - Yikes! I always tell the kids when the going get's tough the tough get going or when you are delt lemons you make lemonaid but really right now I feel so down and out.... I just can't see how we are going to dig ourselves out of this - the amount my husband makes is just basically food & gas money for the week, we are chipping away at the bills but we are getting behind where they are doubling. Oh well I guess I have to stop whinning and get a better attitude about all of this. If you don't mind could you include us in your prayers I would be very greatful : )

Where has the week gone....

I can't belive we are already heading for another weekend - the days go by so fast.
It's funny how I carry on about what Kelly is or isn't learning, and stress to no end that we aren't covering everything she needs to know, Then my son comes home from public school where he is a senior in 12th grade and tells me about the work they have been doing in one of his classes..... watching movies, Beauty and the Beast, The Adams Family ect. this has gone on for most of this marking period. His teacher in that class through out the whole marking period has not been well, he actually was so bad the one day the kids helped him to his car where the priciple drove the man home. During his days off they have a sub who is 23 years old and knows nothing about the topic they are supposta be learning about. She has actually said to the class as long as they do not cause any trouble and stay quiet they will get a good grade! Yikes!
Anyway, My mission this weekend is to get some kind of vision of the path we are going to take and try and get papers printed out and books together so I am not always scrabbling around trying to get it all together.... I really think alot of our problem is her past public school learning was from textbook/workbook style and so was mine - It has been very hard I think for both of us to let go of that and move towards this narration/notebooking type learning, but I know we can do it : )

Wow! It sure is hard to hit the books again.....

Well we attempted to get back down to business today. Kelly got up early and we got the silly stuff out of the way (Her computer time/riding Chance around the block). Then we started school work - Gosh it was hard! We were moving like snails today. We seem to be just foating along, going in a ton of different directions - Which I hate! I can not belive on the 17th of November we will be home schooling for one year and I am no better at getting it organized then when we first started : (
I ran into this gals blog and her schedule and her day sounds so wonderfully rounded and organized: http://weblog.xanga.com/TeacherBritt/619886200/our-curriculum.html I can only hope that one day soon I can get us purring along like this family.....

What a great day to be alive!

It is absolutely beautiful here in Florida today!!!!!
These are the kind of days my granmother when she was alive would say "What a great day to be alive". It is just so refreshing outside, on the cool side with the sun shining : ) I know it has my whole family outside together which hasn't happened in a very long time, My husband, son & daughter are cutting some shrubs down and making horse trails on our two acres for Kelly to ride Chance through.
I of course am spending too much time inside on such a great day - I was up almost every hour last night with my new puppies and am really cranky today (Maybe that's why everyone is outside heheheh).

Are we ever going to get back to school work??????

Each day this week it seems like something has come up and school work has gone out the window.....
I had such high hopes this week to "Review" the things we had learned to make sure Kelly has a handle on those things before we move on. WELL, I think we have covered maybe one lesson and since then one thing after another has come up.
I am a dog breeder and two fo my girls delivered their puppies which is always a whirl wind of activity (One night we were up till after 2:00am). Kelly is such a big help during the deliveries, I really couldn't do it with out her. Then we have been running to the vet's office yesterday and AGAIN today to have the puppies tails cropped & dew claws removed so there goes school work for today : (
I know she is actually learning alot about breeding ect. and with her LOVE of animals this kinda stuff may come in handy for her down the road.
But I keep asking, "When are we getting back to school work"!
I hope thngs settle down for next week and we can dig back in and start in again. I think I am going to toss the "Review" idea out the window and get going on new stuff - We have spent just to much time slow poking along here!

~*Happy Halloween*~

I really enjoy Halloween, but since moving to our location here in Florida we have no Trick or Treaters & none of our neighbors decorate there houses for the holiday so it is not very festive at all : (
Anyway, I have decided since I can not convince Kelly to go Trick or Treating down town tonight we will go get some ice cream, popcorn & some candy and veg out and watch our new favorite show "Ghost Hunters": T.A.P.S. http://www.scifi.com/ghosthunters/sanatorium/
http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/
Kelly and I can scare ourselves pretty well..... I'll just shut the lights off and just have the pumpkin flickering in the room.
Happy Halloween!

Mr. Pumpkin Head

We cut out our pumpkin on Sat. then Kelly & I were supposta go to a haunted hayride on Sunday night - It was the last night they were running it an it rained! Kelly was SOOOOO disappointed. It just seems like just one more thng this poor child has to do without : ( She had saved enough of her own money for the both of us to go. I told her I would drive her down to town if she wanted to go trick or treating on Halloween but she said no..... I will try and think of something special we can do at home on that night to make it kind of festive.

Fractions....

My plans for "Reviewing" this week has not gone as I had hoped. Since my husband has no work and has been hanging around the house it has been VERY hard to get school work done - then today my son is off again from the public school so it REALLY will be a stuggle to get anything done!
We started a Bat Study since we couldn't attend the Bat Class our homeschool group was offering (We are really scrapping bottom now but I keep praying that he find works soon). I found Kelly really absorbed alot of the info. about the Bats when we stayed pretty much on that one subject. I was thinking of maybe doing one subject a day instead of jumping around from one thing to another.
I was embarrased when we were working on Fractions! I was mixing her up.... We are using the Mammoth Math Fractions 1 booklet and I was showing her up at the board how to find the answer and I got all mixed up and couldn't figure it out : ( My husband came over and showed ME how to get the answer - YIKES!

Space Shuttle at Flagler Beach

Kelly & I made it down to the beach today to see the Space Shuttle take off - Since moving down to Florida from PA. we make an effort to watch each rocket & Space Shuttle to take off. It still amazes me when you see how much fire is blazing off of the Shuttle that people are actually in there - It really is breath taking.
As you can see from the picture I took you can't see the Shuttle but it was visible by eye - I posted a better picture taken much closer to the lift off so you can see how spectacular it really is!.

Monday, A New Day.....NOT!

Okay here I go again being negative.....
First of all I stayed up late last night (untill 11:00pm) watching the tv. show "Jon & Kate plus 8" , I really enjoy seeing how these parents handle so many children and I have a tough time with two. Anyway, I woke up at 6am. this morning which was good, I only had gotten up once last night (the cat has been getting me up a few times a night lately to go in and then out). My son left for school and then my husband left for his parents house, Kelly was still sleeping - I thought I would grab a few more winks. As soon as I layed down my son came back, his car is having trouble going into gear and is smoking! I was flabergasted, I have just enough money this week to pay the electric bill ($333.70 - which needs to be payed today or they are shutting it off), now we have this problem. I had hoped to take Kelly to the beach tomorrow to watch the Space Shuttle launch, We can see it from our house but I am sure it would be a better view from the beach - Now it looks like that won't happen : (
I HATE starting the week off like this!!!!!
As far as school goes, This week we are going to be "Reviewing" what we have covered so far. I had read on "Higher Up and Further In" that she used the history book "Oxford First Ancient History" I got it in Sat. mail so we will use it this week to review with and see if we might like it better then SOTW.
Well it's 8:40am. and I sure hope the rest of the day turns out better....

Sun Down in Florida

This picture just does not do the sun set justice last night - It was just beautiful and the colors, I had ran into the house to get the camera and when I got back out there the colors had already faded.....

Set some "Goals'......

I found a site that seems to be helping me, it has a lot of teaching tips ect.
http://www.susancanthony.com/Workshops/workshops.html In one area she mentions how you need a "Goal", I think that is one of my problems, I need to narrow down what I really want Kelly to learn this year and stick to it. For instance we are working on the United States - Does she really need to know the state flower, bird, tree ect. no not really not if she isn't interested in it, but I do want her to be able to locate each state on the map and memorize the capitals too. I sent away for each states travel guide, this way she will have something to look over when we get to each state, that way if she sees something the she is interested in we can go in depth a bit more.
We were also working our way through the Zoology 2 book by J. Fulbright we got to lesson 5 Primeval Reptiles: Nothosaurs, Mossasaurs, Plesiosaurs & ichthyosaurs. Because it was in the book we trugged through it, Kelly & I both were pretty lost about these "giant sea reptiles" and to be honest didn't learn a thing about them even after having read it : ( Why did I waste time on it - I don't know. I need to set my "Goals"!

It's that time of year again...

Each year we usually try and decorate the house for Halloween - This was the only decoration I could find in our closets, Where do they all go : (

As for homeschooling - We are at week 7 of our studies and when my son brought home progress reports from his high school, I thought it would be a good time to look over how we are doing too. I see we have to do some tweeking, When I asked Kelly what the name of the huge human/animal shaped statue in front of the pyramid was called she couldn't tell me.... We are using Story of the World vol. 1, Which I thought was working well for us since she LOVES to do projects & experiments but I guess I need to do more. I am going to try and add some of these books to our curriculum and mix up our schedule a bit to match this one: http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2006/12/year-6-program-and-booklist.html
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2006/12/year-6-schedule.html
I also am going to look into using unit studies more for each topic to go a little bit deeper on a few of the topics covered, I am hoping this will help her retain a bit more information we are learning. Most times Kelly looks at me like I am making history up - She has asked me "How do they know all this REALLY happened?". Maybe I should have worked my way back from the present to the past instead of the other way around....

A Day At The Beach

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Kelly & I finally got a chance to take the car today! We went down to the beach. It really makes a difference when you are able to get out of the house and see something different for a change! Here are a few picture I took today of some of the goodies we found, jelly fish, a baby sea turtle, a large sand crab & tons of shells. As you can see Kelly was wading in the water for the shells, I was chicken, too cold for me!

Butterfly Nature Study

I'd like to share with you a couple of the beautiful butterflies Kelly and I saw today on our nature walk. We were really out hunting for tadpoles but got distracted a few times watching these magnificent butterflies. I have to say one of the best things about the Charlotte Mason teachings is the nature study - So many times we race around and never stop to see the beauty that is around us if we just take a moment to look.

Homecoming Dance

This is a picture of my son Kristopher and his girlfriend Annie getting ready to go to the "Homecoming Dance". It was raining like cats and dogs Sat. night so you can see alittle wet stain on my son's shirt. I was so worried about them driving out in that weather, But all in all they said it was okay and everyone got home safe.

One good thing / One bad thing.....

It is funny how things seem to be working here - When one things goes right another one goes wrong!
I started a unit study on Presidents and becoming a President via http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/PresElec.html I bought the workbook "How to be President of the USA", I have a number of books already on the different Presidents that we can look through. It started out a bit slow - Kelly was feeling a bit mixed up about the different political parties. I didn't really want to go into it to deeply at this point. I asked her the President Quiz questions from the workbook and she did great.... We then moved over to the computer and watched "So you want to be President?" on United Streaming (I have recently found out that our school distric subscribes to it so we homeschoolers can use it too - Yea! If you haven't checked it our take a peek it, it looks great: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm ) Kelly actually watched it and seemed to be interested in it : ) I then went to print out a few work sheets and would you belive the printer is broken!!!!!! I love my printer I use it all the time for so many things, It really is needed for homeschooling. I was so depressed since money is so tight here not sure when I will be able to get another one : (

Down in the dumps : (

Yesterday was one of those days!
I have read where Charolotte Mason feels so much about learning is the "Learning Environment". This year instead of working at the kitchen table we made an actual school room. As you know I am trying anything to get Kelly to be able to focus in more on her learning.I think we have tackled that one area okay but when talking with another homeschooling friend she said that the turmoil in the home really affects the child too because they are "home" all the time!
We have really hit a hard time in our lives financially, my husband just does not have any work! He paints houses and for some reason it has totally dried up here in Flagler County. He usually does those multi million dollar homes on the beach and golf courses (when the economy slows down it really doesn't usually affect those people) but this time it has. Anyway, all the talk in the home is about "money", This week has been "Are we going to be able to pay the electric bill on tues. $367.00".... "If we pay the electric bill we won't have any food money"... ect. Kelly has been hearing all of this. Kelly said to me yesterday (I forget the actual words but something like this), I am always home, I school at home, I play at home, I only get to see the three of you people, I only talk to you people, I never get away! This broke my heart. I know where this is all coming from - We had to cancel her one and only outing each week her horse back riding lessons ($35.00 a week) until we get some money coming in so we have been pretty much stuck around the house. We barely have gas money for my husband to go and check out possible jobs, so we can't waste it on joy riding some where just to get out for awhile.
So you put thses two things together, the constant money talk and not getting away from the house and I think it spells it all out on why Kelly is sooooo distracted (what kid wouldn't be). I have been trying to think of ways to make it a bit better here for her until things turn around - I have been letting her take Chance out for rides around the block each day, but that get's a bit of the "same old" pretty quick too. As far as not talking about money in front of her it is pretty hard since we live on top of each other here in the double wide mobile home and it is such a "hot" topic with my husband.... So needless to say I am feeling a bit worn out by it all. I have to some how make things a bit better for Kelly - This is also her childhood and I hate that she feels things are so in the dumps : (

What day is it??????

I am in a blur this week already!Monday morning Kelly woke up at 6am. - I was like "yahoo" we are going to get a good start on the week..... I took my shower at 9am. while in there she is calling me telling me that Chance the horse is loose. We do not have a car during the day (That is one of the reasons we don't get to go on any of the trips or gatherings offerend by our homeschool groups) so we are walking up and down the roads calling for this horse. We were out there from 9:15am till about 12:15pm coming in from time to time to check to see if anyone called us about him (I had called the non-emergency police line and left our phone number). I then decided to call the country store and ask there - sure enough someone saw him, by now I couldn't walk another step. I called my son at his school to ask him to come home early (One good thing about having a senior in high school who is already 18 years old - he can sign himself out). My son got home and the minute we went up to the main road there was Chance - A man was following him. Kelly & I got out of the car and the fellow said "Does this handsome looking horse belong to you ladies", this kind man was following Chance to make sure he made it across the main road. He said Chance had been at his house for hours playing with his horses. In our area where we live we have so many nasty & mean people we are just blessed that Chance found this nice man. The kicker is Chance didn't want to come home with us! That beast wanted to continue to run around and be a free man, so it was a bit of a struggle for Kelly to keep him moving towards home (His horse friend kept neighing, calling him back and he kept neighing back at them). We walked all the way home.
So needless to say we did not do any schooling on Monday!!!!
What a way to start the school week already : (

People!!!!!! Geez!!!!!

I had a strange incounter yesterday...
While I was down at the post office in town behind me came in my daughters 2nd. grade public school teacher. Let me back track a bit, We had just moved down here to Florida from PA. - Being on the "Up North" schedule we got down her late for the begining of school. We had a meeting with a number of the staff at the new school since Kelly was an IEP (Individual Education Plan) student. When the head gal told this teacher Kelly would be added to her class she said she was filled and couldn't possbily add another IEP student.... My husband and I are stitting right there, Now I am thinking I don't want Kelly placed with a teacher who doesn't want her. Anyway, Kelly was placed with her and I was pleasently surprised at how much Kelly & her got along, the year turned out great she loved having Kelly in her class - She was a very young energetic, organized teacher we grew to really like her. She walks in behind me, smiles and says "Hello". I do the same. She asks "How is Kelly doing"? I said "Great, I am homeschooling her now". She says, "I know", and gives me a "Look"! I felt the fur rising on my neck, I said "I am loving it". She then says "That's nice" - In a monotone. Then says, "Tell Kelly I said Hello" and goes to her mailbox slot and then leaves..... I was so mad at myself for not questioning her more on how she "knew" I was homeschooling Kelly (We pulled Kelly out of public school late last year when she was in 5th grade). The "look" she gave me said all over it - "You are not qualified to teach that wonderful child, You are going to ruin her future". I know the look, I get it from my mother-in-law.... Normally I would just blow this all off but this past week we have really been struggling schoolwise. It is really hard to get Kelly to settle down and do work, she seems to have her mind in any place but on her school work. We will be going over a passage in a book about Egypt, while I am turning the page she will say something like one of these examples "Maybe we should check to see if the goats are loose", or "Do you know how many people on You Tube are sick and are already not going to school?", or "Can we work on the Chances hooves after we get done?" - It is like her mind is every where but on her studies. It really has me worried that I am just not getting the information across to her in a way that it will stick in her mind.
My mission today is to get in our school room area and organize for the up-coming week and see if I can add maybe a unit study or a something to get my sweety interested in learning : )

Duggar Family

Did you happen to catch the new episode of the Duggar Family: http://www.duggarfamily.com/ I saw it last night amazing! I only have two children - My son who is 18 years old (a senior in public school) & my daughter who is 12 year old (6th grade homeschooled), Every time I watch that family I always think how do they feed that many children.... Our food bill is so high here (about $200.00 a week), My son can eat that up before the week is up too. The Duggar's say their food bill is $2,000.00 a month and they feed 17 children! I always love to see how they organize their food pantry and to do all that laundry - Yikes! They all seem very happy and what a beautiful house they have too.

Great "Blog" & Ideas....

Every morning I get on the computer and one of the first place I stop at is: http://homeschoolhome.blogspot.com/ I really enjoy her posts about homeschooling she has such great ideas..... One that she suggested to me which I have been checking out is: http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/index.html It really looks like it might have some great ideas for Kelly & I. The "CheckList": http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/checklist.html I think will really help us stay on target of what Kelly should be learning (Which is one thing that always worries me). Now I just need to find the money to buy it : )

Kelly's Nature Study

When It's Raining It's Pouring......

It has been raning here in Flagler County, Florida for what seems like days! You can see by the expression on Chance's face that things are not looking good for his pen..... The poor man is standing in water that is going over the tops of his hooves. I think we have gotten more rain this time then when we have hurricanes - Shhhh I shouldn't speak about the "H" word.

Oh, the joy's of living in FLORIDA!

When things get tough the tough get going.....

Kelly & I thought this looked funny so we took a picture of it.... Nothing like having your food looking back at you!

We are really running into a problem with all of the house painting work being dried up in our area.... My husband usually paints those new big beautiful multi million dollar homes on the beach or golf courses but even those have dried up.

It is a bit scary not knowing if things will pick up. What worries me most is that with no work around here no one can sell their homes.... Which is a double edged sword.
I just pray things improve & quickly - My husband only has about two more weeks of work and then nothing. YIKES!

Joy of Homeschooling......

Here is a picture of my daughter's turtle that she took - I think I have a photographer in the making : )

On the homeschooling front, I have read many posts about not jumping ship to quickly on the curriculum you are using BUT.... I think the short lesson CM style works great for Kelly but the jumping from one subject to another seems to leave her bewildered and again not remembering to much of what we went over. This drives me crazy! It just seems she is only able to take in the parts she finds interesting and the rest just floats away. My sister-in-law said my neice was the same way - Her doctor put her on a small doze of Ritilian (sp?). She said it really helped her settle down and concentrate better.... I would much rather just find a way to teach her without the use of drugs (My daughter will not even take an asprain when she has a headache). Being that she is already 12 years old, I feel very nervous about not getting what she will need for high school under her belt.

Oh, the Joy of Homeschooling!

Rough Start.....

Well it's only been a few days and we already have hit some bumps in our Homeschooling Adventure.....
Part of it is me - As I mentioned we are using Ambleside http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml I was thinking we would start with year 3 but then thought why not add year 4 things in too, It would just add some assortment to the day. Then after starting to read some of the books - We just don't like them! I am not sure if it's me and being used to regular textbook learning or what, but I can't stand how vage alot of the books are (Does that make sense?). I LOVE history and I just am not getting the feel for these books. Anyway, I am starting to jump ship with some of them and look for others to use.... Needless to say I am broke and have no more money to spend.
Kelly, She was all gun-ho the first few days then I made the mistake of using a morning to go out on our Nature Study - that seemed to have blown her school concentration and it has been sooooo hard getting her to buckle down to our regular schedule! Then to top it off my husband has no work so he has been home alot which just makes it to much harder - He has the tv on, or he is talking ect. On thurs. I was feeling so sick and had no energy to teach. Then Friday Kelly looked terrible and we didn't do much either. Kelly said to me though - Let's get back to school work mom, I have been too bored!
Okay!

Back To School Day!

Today we start back to school!
My son starts his senior year in Flagler/Palm Coast High School & my daughter is home here with me - Homeschooling.
I thought I was ready, Have all the books I need ect. but I have this nagging feeling already that I missed something..... I think alot has to do with my son's girlfriend. He mom homeschooled her for a few years then she entered the public highschool system. This poor girl is so far behind for her senior year - I so feel for her. She has to take a ton of hard classes because when she entered the high school they gave her a number of remedial classes to catch up to what she needed to know for the high school requirements. Now she is loaded down with a lot of the harder classes that they expect her to complete this year and pass her FCAT too...... It makes me dwell on if the path we are taking will really prepair Kelly for if and when she goes back to public school. It really rattles my bones to think about that : (
Oh well time will tell about that and all we can do for now is enjoy what we are learning....

~*1969 Woodstock Music Festival*~ 38 years ago...

Today in History (See story below post):
It's funny how I was only about 6 1/2 years old but I remember this so vividly.... Our summer house was in Masten Lake, NY so we were vacationing up there during the time frame for the concert (If I only saved the newspaper articles from those dates....). People were walking to the concert from miles away, We saw people on our roads asking how far to the concert (Only about 30 or so minutes by car going 55 miles per hour but walking, gosh who knows). The news on the tv made it out to be so scary, that things were out of control. My mother was worried, she told us to stay away from the roads and not to talk to anyone. It was just so crazy! The tv showed pictures of Route 17 (a major highway) closed - It had cars parked on both sides of it. Everyone you spoke to said "Stay away from that area"! A few of my older cousins tried to make there way over to the concert but all the roads were pretty much blocked. Our vacation was over around the same time as the concert (Not sure if it was one or two days after) but we were driving home with these folks. It was "amazing", such an eye opener to what other type of people were out there.... Some folks were riding on the outside of the cars - I guess just catching a ride. People were also taking baths in the ponds along the highway - My mom was like don't look! The roads were pretty jammed and we were moving slowly - People were giving my cousin Kim & I peace signs as they passed us, We started doing it back to them but my parents saw us and yelled.
It really was an amazing time, How so many people could be in one place and be so peaceful with one another! It is just one of those mameories that I will never forget : )
Some pictures I found of the event: http://www.woodstock69.com/woodstock_pics2.htm
**************************************************************
August 17: General Interest1969 : Woodstock Music Festival concludesOn this day in 1969, the grooviest event in music history--theWoodstock Music Festival--draws to a close after three days of peace,love and rock 'n' roll in upstate New York.Conceived as "Three Days of Peace and Music," Woodstock was a productof a partnership between John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfieldand Michael Lang. Their idea was to make enough money from the eventto build a recording studio near the arty New York town of Woodstock.When they couldn't find an appropriate venue in the town itself, thepromoters decided to hold the festival on a 600-acre dairy farm inBethel, New York--some 50 miles from Woodstock--owned by Max Yasgur.By the time the weekend of the festival arrived, the group had sold atotal of 186,000 tickets and expected no more than 200,000 people toshow up. By Friday night, however, thousands of eager early arrivalswere pushing against the entrance gates. Fearing they could notcontrol the crowds, the promoters made the decision to open theconcert to everyone, free of charge. Close to half a million peopleattended Woodstock, jamming the roads around Bethel with eight milesof traffic.Soaked by rain and wallowing in the muddy mess of Yasgur's fields,young fans best described as "hippies" euphorically took in theperformances of acts like Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, JoanBaez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, JeffersonAirplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.The Who performed in the early morning hours of August 17, with RogerDaltrey belting out "See Me, Feel Me," from the now-classic albumTommy just as the sun began to rise. The most memorable moment of theconcert for many fans was the closing performance by Jimi Hendrix, whogave a rambling, rocking solo guitar performance of "The Star SpangledBanner."With not enough bathroom facilities and first-aid tents to accommodatesuch a huge crowd, many described the atmosphere at the festival aschaotic. There were surprisingly few episodes of violence, though oneteenager was accidentally run over and killed by a tractor and anotherdied from a drug overdose. A number of musicians performed songsexpressing their opposition to the Vietnam War, a sentiment that wasenthusiastically shared by the vast majority of the audience. Later,the term "Woodstock Nation" would be used as a general term todescribe the youth counterculture of the 1960s.A 25th anniversary celebration of Woodstock took place in 1994 inSaugerties, New York. Known as Woodstock II, the concert featured BobDylan and Crosby, Stills and Nash as well as newer acts such as NineInch Nails and Green Day. Held over another rainy, muddy weekend, theevent drew an estimated 300,000 people.

Space Happinings.....

One of the perks of living in Florida is that you get a chance to see Space Shuttle Lift Off's! Of course we aren't this close to see it this clearly - Most lift off's we see alittle streak of smoke, Night time lift off's are the best - You see the whole area in the direction of Cape Canaveral light up and then you see it a sreaking ball of fire going higher and higher. We were lucky enough to see one launch where it went up and over our house (Kelly & I had to run to the vet's office so we were on the road when it went over and didn't have our camera but it was truly breath taking to think people were riding in that ball of fire!!!!!
Here is the link for NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html

Also, We are almost at the peak time for a meter shower:http://spaceweather.com/ I hope to get out one of these nights to see some of them. It is very good veiwing from here not many lights in their area.

Just when you think you got things rolling....

I have been feeling pretty confident lately about this up coming school year, We are going the Charlotte Mason route. I really feel this will work so much better for Kelly. We are going to mainly follow the Ambleside year three schedule (they aren't scheduled by acutal year, more by the student's reading ability). I am throwing in Vol. 1 of the Story of the World series for history. I had bought Children's History by VM Hilyer but I felt Kelly really seems to flow along when you have either experiments or projects for her to do. I am also throwing in Spelling Power - Kelly (and I) are very poor spellers I would like to get her better rolling with that because alot of understanding what you are reading is the ability to spot & understand the words. Apologia series is what I have planned for Science - We are starting off with Zoology 2. So you can see I am not using Ambleside to the tee but varing it a bit to suit us.
WELL, I have planned to start school this year on August 20th. - That is the date my son stats his senior year of high school at the public scool. I am going to use their schedule as it seems we get nothing done if he is home.... that gives me only about 15 more days till school!!!!!!
I kinda am a worry wort but I really want to be ready for school this year (This will be our first full year homeschooling and I want it to get going from the start).
I am running around trying to get everything lined up so we can just roll along.
I'll keep you posted on how things come together : )

"ForK" in the road.....

I have been reading over on another Homeschool site about a gal who has run up on a "fork" in the road of her life: http://fieldofweeds.blogspot.com/
It has gotten me thinking of how when you are at a younger age you swish through life and then you wake up one morning and you are 44 years old and "Now What"..... I have found myself feeling a bit nervous when those commercials come on about senior citzens and the age braket for being included is starting to get very near : (
I have always felt that at anytime in your life you have many roads you can take - Some times you go with your gut, somtimes by what others people have influenced you to take, sometimes you just feel that there is no other options and you take that road ect. I know my mom used to say to me - "If I could do it all over again, I would have done it all differently". I used to think that so sad that she felt that way but now that I am slowing down and taking a look at my life you can see areas that you jumped the gun and should have re-thought things out better and made better decissions for sure.
My son is now at that one of those raods in his life - He turned 18 years old, He will be a senior this year in public school. He has played football since he was about 9 or 10, He has now decided to quit playing football for his highschool team. This is huge for him - Many of his dreams were attached to his playing college football and then possibly playing semi pro or pro ball. His highschool football coach had said to him that with his size (6ft. 3 in. but at 185 lbs.) He just wasn't going to get the colleges looking at him..... that broke his heart! He has been a changed fellow since then, he has been so angry every day. I have tried to step back and look at it from his point of view and I can see how whn you have so wanted something for so long and then somthing happens and it changes pretty much over night youa r thrown for a loop. My husband felt he should still continue to play this year and finish it out that maybe some small school would take a look at him and he would still be able to play - But Kris felt that there is so much time and effort into playing (Especially down here in Florida) that he could not stand putting the effort in and then being placed week after week on the bench after being told "Your the starter", "Your playing both sides of the ball tonight", "We are counting on you" ect. and then playing a few downs and then being replaced for one reason or another..... I can't blame him there!
anyway, I felt that after reading the gal aboves "fork" made me see how many time in our lives we do run up against "forks" and how we deal with them.

Horse Back Riding Day Camp

We had signed Kelly up for a Horse Back Riding Day camp run by the P.A.L. goup here in Flagler County. As yesterday approched she became very nervous, She was worried that she wouldn't know as much as the other girls there, wouldn't be able to handle the horse ect. I reassured her that she is a good rider and everything will turn out just fine. On our way to the camp yesterday she turned a funny color (I had made her eggs & toast - If she doesn't eat in the morning before getting going she get's sick), sure enough she looked terrible. At the convenience store I asked her if she wanted to go back home (I had ordered a sandwich to be made, As always I was on top of everything - NOT!), She said no, We might have to pull over and throw up but she was going to make it. She made it there and when I dropped her off I was worred they were going to call me so I rushed around with my errands and flew back home - But she did just fine! When I picked her up she was all smiles and she had had a great day : ) Of course when we got home my son was in a mood and as usual runined her day by yelling.... that happens all most evertime here in our house - If you have a great day, someone always brings you back down : (
I am really looking forward to getting back to homeschooling - I am so hoping all the reading I have been doing about the Charlotte Mason method I am going to use will help get things running a bit more smoother.

Grow-A-Frog

This is a video of our Grow-A-Frogs. We had such a tough time in the begining, each time they sent us a tadpole it would be dead when we opened the box. Then when we thought we were in the clear and had a frog grow from a tadpole to frog (Our guy had grown so fast that we weren't prepaired for his changing so quickly and we didn't have the correct food on hand)I feed him some cut up chicken livers but I must have overfed him - He passed away. Finally we got our two handsome fellows you see here in the video - A white colored one & a greenish colored one. They are such a hoot to watch!

Barrel Racing

This is a video of my son's girlfriend ridding her horse in a barrel race that we had gone to see - She is really great at it and Kelly hopes to ride like that one day : )
As

Flagler Beach, Florida

We seldom go down to the beach even though we only live about 25 minutes away from it, But yesterday and today we went down and had alot of fun - The water is very warm about 80 degrees, with the heat index here running around 102 the water sure does feel great!

Family Fun Night !

As I posted, I have been worried we have fallen into a rut! We seem to always take the easy route of staying home instead of doing things. Well last night even though some of us were hesitant we went down to the Daytona Internation Speedway and watched practice sessions for both the Busch & Nextel racing series, after they were over we stayed and watched the rolex racing type cars: http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/ I have to tell you it was so good to get out and away from the house! My son went in his car and took his girlfriend, I was stressed until we meet up with them (I hate when he is driving I-95, It is such a crazy highway with a speeding limit of 70!). My daughter who is 12 got in free - so that saved us $20.00. Thank goodness because my husband said sodas were like $4.00 each, hotdogs $4.00, french fries $4.00, hambergers $5.00 - It cost me $17.00 when I got 2 dogs, 1 burger & 1 frie - Yikes! Plus the $40.00 to get in made the night pretty expensive but I really feel I need to get this family out more!

Homeschooling - Exciting or Boring.....

I had a few minutes this morning to browse the internet and my thoughts went back to how excited I get thinking of teaching my daughter Kelly - I always have such high hopes on ALL the wonderful things we could learn about..... there is just so much out there. Then I stop and remember how hard it is to get Kelly interested in learning! From time to time I have heard things we went over come out of her mouth - Even at her horse class, the instructor asked if anyone knew what horses looked like when they were first discovered and she did, they were much smaller then the horse of today. I know things are sticking in there but I worry when I sit down and work on where all my money goes (I am trying to write down everytime I spend money in a book to keep track) and I add & subtract the numbers - I worry maybe I should make sure she know this. She really seems to have a hard time with math, and I think we tend to not spend much time on it.
I looked over a Homeschooling Blog: http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/ now this mom has it working! They take such cool trips too!!!!! Now that to me is learning..... Which brings me back to our situation "Boring"!

Horses & Girls....

We had a nice weekend, Friday night we went to watch my son's girlfriend ride her horse in a horse show - she did barrel races & polls. She did very well, She sure is a great rider. We meet her parents there - I pride myself as being able to mingle with just about anyone, these folks were much older then us but I found them to be very nice.
The kids and I went back on Sat. to watch the competition again, Kelly & I just love seeing so many horses in one place : )
Now I have to say Kelly is going through the grundge stage, she looks dirty most of the time & her hair - Well that is straight and just not pretty. I have let her go on like this because I kinda remember when I used to wear yuky sweat-shirts and ripped pants too.... She usually wears a basball cap that hides alot but at the horse show she didn't. My son came home and said that his girlfriend said "Kelly better wash her face & brush her hair or the next time she see's her she will brush it herself". I thought that odd.... But what ever. I think it really hurt Kelly's feelings - It's not that it isn't true, the girl looks a mess (dirty hair, neck, hands ect..) but I really think it's that fase just before they care about their appearence where they want to hide that they are developing into a women (I remember it). Oh well.....
I have one more week with the puppies and then they go to their forever homes. We still have a few that don't have homes, but at least the bulk of them will go. I need a brake, and I need it soon!

Homeschooling During the Summer.....

I had high hopes since out first 6 months of Homeschooling did not go very well that we would just keep plugging along for the summer months and start our 6th grade curriculum..... Well it hasn't turned out that way at all!
With my son home from public school my daughter feels very slighted that she has to do school work and has balked at the idea oa doing any work. I really can't blame her, I soooo remember those last days of school for the summer months something inside you just bursts with excitment - By telling her we were going to work through the summer I have taken that excitment away..... I should have just told her we would take the month of June off and that way she could have anticipated the school brake.
To be truthful, Right now I am sooo busy with my work that I can't even begin to think of school work on top of it. The majority of the puppies go home on June 24th. so just possibly I may be able to take a deep breath and regroup. I for sure want to add in some fun things this summer! Buying a swimming pool is still very high on my list, I had to spend $244.00 on an airconditioner - Our centeral just isn't working right and my husband thinks it would be too high to get it fixed so he suggested getting a large window unit. We will see how high the electric bill goes now with this & the central air both running - Yikes!

I Hate Complaining But.......

It seems as though more posts then not I am complaining about one thing or another but sometimes I just don't understand why so many bad things are happining at once!
Here is the latest saga that occured yesterday.... My husband & son left to take two puppies to their forever homes, Kelly and I had the whole day planned out on what we were going to do (As in past posts you know how stressful things are here lately so when two of the stress factors leave it really lightens up things). We were just getting read to go to Walmart when the phone rang our van was acting up they were going to come home..... We then all went down to Daytona and rented a car for them to complete the puppy drop-off's. It was terribly hot here yesterday, I mean really terrible so it was a struggle to get things done. When it got a little cooler Kelly & I headed out to Walmart and dinner both were nice. We got home and one of the puppies was really ill! She looked awful bad so I called the emergency vet and we set off for that journey. It is all the way up in St. Augustine which is over an hour for us, It was about 7:30pm. We got there and they said her temp was 105 and going up.... They had me sign a paper saying the cost could be between $500.00 - $700.00 to stablizer her. We sat and waited - I find these places like blood suckers and I mean it, They pray on your weaknesses and they know they got you. They have Kelly & I go in a talk with the doctor - The doctor says they can not pin point the problem but they think either she choked her self and swollowed her vomit which is n0w in her lungs or she bit into a cord.... they want to keep her on oxygen and keep her over night. They bring out the bill, It could cost between $1,200.00 to $1,600.00 and she could still die! I tried calling my husband to see what he thought but he didn't have his cell phone on. I kept rolling it through my head and I just kept going both ways back & forth - I finally said I guess we will try and see if the medical treatments will work. they took me to the office and the doctor said that they needed the deposit of the higher amount..... I was like all right now? $1,600.00? They said yes, I looked through my pocket book and had $1,000.00, I said I guess that anwers my problem for me. They come back out and from an estimate of keeping her over night which would run $1,200.00 - the bill I owed was $950.00!!!!! I think they saw I had $1,000.00 on me and they paded the bill to get it up to that point. What can you do though? I paid it, took my sick little pup home : ( She is still hanging on but having a terrible time breathing.... I just hate that I spent almost a thousand dollars and they don't know what is a mtter with her - If she hangs on till Monday I will have to spend more money and see my vet. Next time, I wonder if I will be so quick to go to the emergency vet hospital???? I got home without crying, but I sure am on the brink of it. Here I finally thought I was going to have maybe just alittle money to pay bills get caught up and buy the kids a small pool to enjoy... at the rate I am going renting cars, vet bills ect. there isn;t going to be anything left. The real topper though is if the pup doesn't start responding, I will need to contact the women who bought her and tell her the bad news! It will brake her heart : ( Life sure is never easy.....