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
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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 : )