Homeschool 2009/2010

Well, I know I've been absent a while - but not without good cause. We were able to escape Memphis for a full three weeks, thanks to our awesome volunteers and staff here in town! Since we've been home, I've been busy getting school ready for the fall and doing some last minute cleaning and organizing. Also trying to catch up on my sewing projects - have several to finish before I can start on some Christmas projects! So...for any of you who might be interested - here is my FINAL cirriculum list for the upcoming school year. Feel free to stop reading now if you could care less about homeschool! :)

Bella - 4th grade

Bible - Considering God's Word Book B
Critical Thinking - Mind-Benders
Math - Horizons 4
Spelling - Spelling Workout D
Writing - Writing strands 3 (about halfway through this book)
Grammar - Evan-Moor daily language practice 4
Language Arts - Language Lessons for the Elementary Child book 2 (Queen Homeschool)
Literature - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dangerous Journey comp guides from Veritas Press
History - Story of the World Middle Ages/Early Modern
Science - Sonlight and Nature Journals

Izaiah - 2nd grade

Bible - Considering God's Word book A
Critical Thinking - Mind-Benders
Math - Horizons 2
Spelling - Spelling Workout B
Grammar - Evan-Moor daily language practice 2
Language Arts - Language Lessons for the Very Young book 2 (Queen)
Literature - Black Ships before Troy comp guide from Veritas Press
History - Same
Science - Same

Sam - Kindergarten

Math - Horizons K
Reading - 100 easy lessons
phonics/spelling - explode the code series
History and Science - same

So what do you think? Overarching? We homeschool moms like to start August off planning on schooling 14 hours a day - but usually by October we have scaled back. I am using a slightly different scheduling format this year, so although this might look heavy, hopefully its attainable. I'd love your thoughts!

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Where in the world...

So what have I NOT been doing?? Sewing, crafting, riding my horses, blogging. What have I been up to? Working for HFH, keeping up with my excercise (although not as intensely as I'd like) and trying to finish out the last tidbits of school with my kiddos.

Historically, summer has always been our busiest season at HFH. When I realized we were once again entering the hectic cycle, I figured I had two choices - buck up and deal with it (and help) or say 'no' and grab that time for myself, my hobbies, etc. Thankfully with God's grace I have found some additional time to devote to HFH this summer. The reward has been meeting some precious new moms and helping my husband in the work that he is so devoted to - he amazes me with his dedication! Even when he's having to do things that I know aren't his favorite, he presses on and honors God with his discipline.

Tomorrow, we leave to go spend some time in NY with my mother-in-law and the rest of Mark's family. We will take your prayers - we will arrive thursday at the cottage, and this is the first overnight this year that anyone will have spent there since Gary passed away. We are looking forward to helping Margaret get settled in to what we know is the new "normal" - one that none of us want to deal with but with God's grace we will see it through.

At the end of our time in New England we will make a quick trip to Boston to see our precious and long-time friends Annie and Adam, to visit Eli VanZanten and his family, and to spend a bit of time at L'abri Fellowship in Southborough, MA. L'abri. AHHHH. Enough said. Some of you may know that we have modeled some of what we do here at HFH after the L'abri model. Mark will need to drag me home (I love Memphis, really I do!!). We would appreciate your prayers for our summer trip and I will try to post some pictures while we are away.

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MOO

I needed some quick and easy tags for my "Sweet Mylissa" gear, and I remembered that Robin Cornett had ordered these a couple years ago as business cards. Mini-Moos are so cute, and you can upload up to 20 images for a set of 100. There are three font choices for the back - simple but very nice. At 19.99 and fairly quick shipping you can't beat it!

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300%???

I came across this article today, and I was shocked at the statistics and some of the implications. Apparently, in less than 30 years, the number of overweight 4 year olds has increased 300%.
Read more here.

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The Calendar

One of the ways I am staying motivated with working out this go-round is with my trusty calendar. If I was better at using our scanner, I would show it to you, but its basically a simple calendar that tells me I have to work out 3 times a week, at least. The days I do something, I write it in that block, and I can track my progess. So the humilating but highly effective part of the calendar? REWARDS. Yes. Stealing from the chore system we recently implemented for the kids, I chose to allow myself small rewards on the Saturday after each two week period. I have just completed my first month using the calendar, and I can tell you it's helping. And the best part is that I am not even looking for the reward at this point - its just a nice reminder that I am staying on track. At the end of June I get to buy myself new jeans - my favs :).

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Babies, Babies, Everywhere!!

At 31 years old, Mark and I feel our baby-making days are (more or less) over, and now most of our 30-year-old friends are finally getting on the bandwagon. Soon, I will have lots of babies around to hold! And friends' babies mean lots of fun sewing!

My friend Jan and I share a love of birds. She didn't want a "theme-y" nursery, but has a few cute birdy things here and there. When I found this Joel Dewberry Aviary fabric, I knew it was for Jan.

I think I will name the pattern "Charlotte" in honor of Jan's little one, unless she changes the name. Its backed in flannel backed satin, because every baby needs a silky! I used "warm n white" all natural batting, because its real cotton and I love the feel of it.

I put together this little set for my friend Becky to give to her friend Christal. Christal and Becky have been BFF's since 5th grade, and Christal is naming her third child after Becky! Rebekah Pate Barnes will join the world Monday - precious baby. This is Heather Bailey's Pop Garden line, with which I am completely enamored. The bib is backed in soft striped chenille, which just makes me happy.

And take note of the pretty pink flower I grabbed from the front garden for these pics. Mo Ottinger has been relentlessly mocking (all in good fun) the massive hollyhock that is growing in front of the house (it has crested 6 feet, and yes, its a bit out of place) but now that I am getting these sweet flowers from it, I really don't mind!

And we have purchased the domain http://www.sweetmylissa.com/ to put up a simple site for my projects. I have tags heading to me in the mail. I will let you know when the site is active!

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Celebrations all around

May 10 was Bella's 9th birthday and Mother's Day. We celebrated all day, including a trip to build-a-bear in the afternoon. On May 12 Nonny Margaret came into town, and on the 19th we celebrated Papa Gary's first birthday in heaven. Samuel's birthday was the next day, so Mark and I really wanted to do something special to celebrate both of these days. The evening of the 19th, we left for St Louis to go to Six Flags all day on the 20th. Papa LOVED roller coasters, and amusement parks were something that Mark and his brother John enjoyed with their parents regularly when they were kids. Bella also rode her first roller coaster with Papa. It was bittersweet to enjoy that park without Gary, but it was also more precious to think about how much Papa would have enjoyed it there. Mark inherited his father's love of crazy rides, so he really enjoyed himself too.

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