A Florida Morning : )

There is nothing more prettier then a Florida morning!
I have been missing so many of them because since we started homeschooling our schedule has so changed... It seems Kelly & I stay up late to maybe around 11:30 - almost 12:00 then go to bed. I get up with the dogs & my husband & son at around 5:30am. get them all off to work/school & feed the dogs ect. and then go back to bed for a while which I think has been throwing my entire day off! I get up at around 10:00am and it seems that we are always sluggish through out the day doing that. I have in the past been a morning person.....
Anyway, My guys are off on a trip up north delivering a litter of puppies - and I have been enjoying it!!!! It just seems so much less stressful it is kind of invigorating : )
Yesterday, Kelly & I went to "Cracker Day" http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Neighbors/NewsTribune/flaNT03032807.htm
We so enjoyed seeing all of the horses! There were so many there - I think everyone who owned one was at "Cracker Day". Being that it was our first time there we weren't sure what time to get there or how the events were run but we followed along and had a good time - My son's girlfriend was supposta be in the barrel race but she wasn't : ( It was a very nice day for the event but not being outside for so many hours in awhile left me hot tired and getting a major headache, but we had our meal and watched a few of the events and then left. We for sure are going to put that on our calender for next year : )
Which brings me to this morning, the phone range at 7:30am - It was my husband, checking in to see how things are going. I then took my shower instead of going back to sleep and took care of all my chores. I was out walking the dog and heard a woodpecker hammering away at a tree and the roosters were crowing talking to each other it is just so peaceful in the mornings. I really have to make an effort to get Kelly & I back on a morning schedule!
I do want to mention that I a really thinking of not renewing our "Oak Meadow on line curriculum" - It is $45.00 a month and since Kelly really doesn't seem to care for it why keep going with it....
I have been reading about http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml
& http://oldfashionededucation.com/ as two possible routes to take. I am just a wreak with having a 12 year old 5th grader who just might not cover all the things she needs to know!!!!!
I also took out of the library "The unschooling handbook" - I want to give that a good reading and see what that says too. My husband would NEVER go for that type of schooling but I could mix in a bit of that with these programs above.
So much to learn so little time......

Hard Day's & Night's.....

I know my post are getting very boring....
It just seems we are in one of those years where not much good things have been happening....
It seems like everyone is fighting with each other - My 17 year old son almost every day says he is moving out (This from a boy who has never had a job)! Just today we were fighting over I gave him a $100.00 bill to buy a phone and some other things at walmart, Well the kid takes out $25.00 dollars to take his girl friend out to the movies (He didn't even ask me first!), He just felt he needed the money so he takes it.... I flipped out of course and he tells his father that he wants to move out because of ME!
My husband and I have never been more on each others nervous as we are lately! It seems that we are at that stage of life were it seems we are not happy with each other : (
To top if off, I contacted a lady on Flagler Freecycle who advertized a free couch, two swivel rocker chairs & a recliner chair - She said they were 3 to 4 years old. Having animals we go through furniture very quickly so I e-maile dand she said it was still available. My family & I went over there tonight and we drove up (the furniture was located in her garage), It looked like junk... It was in worse condition that the junk we have. We didn't stop, but I did e-mail her and told her we would not be taking the furniture (I didn't mention that we had seen it and it should be tossed to to the curb). She e-mailed me back very cranky saying that we were the second family to stand her up and she would be leaving freecycle because of it... I just can't seem to catch a brake lately....
Then there is my daughter - She is the one ray of sunshine in my life right now. She is the one person in this family who tries to be happy every day : ) She finds such joy in working with her horse, She has been doing a great job with him lately.
I just enjoy seeing her eyes light up - she jumped Chance over a board and they glided over with such ease it was great, She was so excited. Her school work is another story though! But we are working on it, We found this "Blog":http://roosterintheroaster.blogspot.com/ it caught her attention - She said "Now that looks like fun schooling". I think if I could just get a more hands on learning program going she would do much better. It seems like I find all these great unit studies ect. and get all excited over it but I just can't seem to implement it! But I am going to really try this wek to make her learning more FUN!!!!!

Monday's!!!!!!

It is a bright sunny day here in Florida today - I have been outside a few times to take the dogs out and it is a bit on the chilly side but should warm up by afternoon.
It is 10:30am. As I sit here writting I look around and it just seems overwhelming - The house is a mess...., Kelly is still sleeping..... and I don't really have a lesson plan for today anyway.
Ever since the day with that mid-term test and she didn't remember much of anything we have done for the past 3 months has really stopped me in my tracks!
We need to change gears and go another direction, I have been reading and have gotten a few ideas but I seem to be paralized with the idea of starting something new.... Doesn't that sound crazy!!!!!
Each Sunday I tell myself to get the house in order so when Monday rolls around I am not looking a a ton of mess plus the idea of homeschooling around that mess! But each week it seems to happen again and again.
I wish I could just hire a cleaning gal to help me get it under control once and for all and then maybe I could stay on top of it. My family is small just the four of us but each one is a mess type person, no one puts a thing away where it should go, clothes are thrown all over, dishes are never put in the sink ect... plus we have a ton of dogs who live in the house too. So I think it is a recipe for disaster! But of course the blame for the dirty house always seems to land in my lap even though I have tried to explain to everyone that we all make the messes we need to clean up but that doesn't seem to matter very much both my husband and son both feel that since I am "home all day" I should be the one to clean up even though I run a dog breeding business & homeschool Kelly.... : (
Gosh my posts seem so negative lately - I really am a positive type person!!

Homeschooling & Life Lessons.....

Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow. Albert Einstein
One learns through the heart, not through the eyes or the intellect...Mark Twain
Learn the past, watch the present, and in it create the future... Anonymous


I found these quotes on a Blog: http://www.carlalynne.blogspot.com/ which is so up lifting about not getting carried away with what you have failed in teaching your children but look at what the possiblities are instead:http://carlalynne.blogspot.com/2005/12/homeschooling.html#links
This women who has 6 children & Homeschools has decided to pack up and live in a travel trailer to get back to the basics and be able to buy land and build their own home. I had always had thoughts of something like that. kinda like the "Wild Thornberry's" http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/thornberrys/tv.jhtml
Kelly has even mentioned once my son goes off to college could we try it.... But we have too many animals to be able to just get up and go : ( But it sure would be a nice idea! That was my thoughts when we moved down here to Florida, to have our bills as low as we could possibly go so we could have fun instead of being strapped to making money. We have no home loan (We bought a doublewide mobile home on two acres), the only bills we have are our utility bills: $148.00 cable, phone & internet a month, car insurance: It has sky rocked since adding my son $250.00 a month for 5 months, garbage $25.00 a month & of course property taxes which vary but run about $650.00 a year. We drive to older cars - My husband has a 15 passenger van (We need that, just in case we need to evacuate do to fires, hurricanes ect.) & we just bought a 1991 jeep cheroke for my son to get back and forth to high school - I have no car for Kelly and I to get around but that is one of the trade -off's I guess. Anyway, I have always felt there is nothing that will weighs heavier on a family then bills!!!!! and Money problems!!!!! If my children learn nothing else from me, I want them to try and live within their means not above it because it can strip the entire fun out of life.....

Getting a bit worried....

We are using Oak Meadow http://www.oakmeadow.com/ the 5th grade online curriculum. Since we started homeschooling so late (Nov. 2006) we are just now at the mid-term test. I printed it out and just for the sake of it asked Kelly some of the history questions, YIKES! She couldn't really answer hardly any of them!!!! I asked her why she thought the info. didn't stick in her head she said that all this stuff just isn't interesting to her... I kinda looked the questions over myself and even though I have a good idea some of the questions I think I would get wrong too. It makes me think we are either moving along too fast because we really aren't taking the info in or I should use other methods to get the ideas across to her. I do have to say that the part she remembered very well was about Lewis & Clark, I think what aided in that was I had gotten a moview from NetFlix to watch about them. My husband has flipped out about how much I was spending on homeschooling so I had to cancel the NetFlix membership but I really think when I get a few extra dollars I am going touse it again, I think it really helps her.
Anyway, I have been feeling very down about it - I have been trying sooo hard to get this homeschooling running smoothly......

Daytona Museum

We had signed for the homeschooler's day at the Ponce Inlet Light house on Wed. http://www.ponceinlet.org/ But on Tues. night Kelly decided she didn't really want to go since there was going to be sooo many kids there (150) and it was to be 82 degrees. Since my husband had already made arrangments to take the day off we decided to go to the Daytona Museum http://www.moas.org/ It was pretty expensive I thought... $32.00 for the three of us. We walked around, my husband and Kelly went way to fast I thought. We then left and went out for lunch at McDonalds. Came back went on the walking trails they have and then went back inside to watch the show in the planetarium. It was okay but not really worth the high cost I thought.

Yooo Hooo Butterfly...

We have started our butterfly project....

When the caterpiliar's came in the mail we were so excited, I forgot to take pictures of the first stage. I have enclosed a picture of the stage we are at now, It is so amazing watching the transformation of each stage!