sickness again

Well, after more than a week of coughing and hacking by the four youngest kiddos, they are still not well! The very day I took Elizabeth to the doctor, and was told it was all viral, Jordan began running a fever. By the next day Emily was very sick, and by Friday night Kimberly was wheezing and coughing with a low fever! So off we went to the doctor again this morning....and to get Kimberly to open up and say ahhh, Emily volunteered to let the doc look at her first. Unfortunately Emily had a red throat, moreso that Kimberly! Everyone got checked, but Em and Kim got swabbed for strep and guess what??!! Emily was the one who had a positive strep test! So here we are again. Vaporizers, codeine cough medicine, amoxil, polyhist, lots of fluids. Maybe all will be better in the next few days.
On a positive note the kids got to open gifts from each other and one from mom and dad on Friday night. I know it is early but their dad has to work all next weekend and that is when we traditionally let them open from us and the siblings. They all were happy!

Christmastime's a comin'

Are you ready? I think we are-almost. Decorations are up, and most gifts are purchased, wrapped and in the attic, far away from 2 year old fingers. Ingredients for baking for the neighbors have been purchased. We need to sign up for the gifts needed for members of our congregation, though. Otherwise, all is done and I am so glad! the kids have been sick this week so we have to miss the CHEFS Christmas party tonight. Hopefully the older girls will get to attend their caroling party for the shut-ins on Sunday. The children are counting the days until the 19th. That is the date we told them they could open their gift from us and from each other (they draw names amongst themselves). Then they just wait for Christmas Eve with grandparents, and Christmas Day to see what Santa brings! Oh, the excitement of childhood!
The most exciting thing by far is that we made reservations for our vacation. We are going to the beach this year and looking forward to it. We have never been on a long trip since we have had nursing infants or a pregnancy going on for the past 10 years. Anyway, one week of homeschool to go and then we can take a modified break for the holidays! Hope everyone is doing well and staying well!!

The Shot Heard Round the World...

Homeschooling is such a blast. We spent the week learning about Paul revere and the battles of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War. We read books by Jean Fritz, and others, we used the Liberty's Kids website and made colonial era paper dolls. It was so intriguing to the kids that they dressed up and waged war on the redcoats from the treehouse as militiamen!!

Then to work on the ocean unit a bit more we learned about crustaceans, narrated, and made sculpey crabs. What fun learning can be!!

Holiday Decoration Day

We always decorate with the kids the Saturday following Thanksgiving. It is a family fun day that will be sorely missed as the kids get older and move away. But they will always have joyful memories of making the house feel festive. Here are the works in progress and the finished areas!

Thanksgiving -Part 2

Somehow I didn't get but a few pictures on Friday. We were at Clay's parents' house for Thanksgiving and I meant to take pictures of the kids eating, but by the time I remembered, they had scattered!

Thanksgiving -Part 1

On Thursday we ate a lot at my parents' house. The kids played with cousins, got to watch some of the men shoot skeet, and drive around on golf carts. We were really tired at the end of the day!

Time for evaluation

Next week is Thanksgiving week and we are having our first major break in the school year. It will be put to good use. About this time each year I start thinking about what is working in our homeschooling day, what areas need work, are we on target, is the schedule working for us or are we its slave, what do we want to continue studying, what do we want to take a break on, and the like. So I began sketching out ideas and pretend schedules on a spiral late Friday evening. I just had a burst of thought and energy (fueled by coffee). I want to maintain focus on the major things (developing character and relationships, leading lives for Christ, language arts, and a little math) and leave the other stuff for exploration (history, science, art, music, spanish). My belief is that if you train children to be godly people who are literate and have the knowledge to find information and think for themselves, they can follow great paths of their own choosing.
I think we will spend a week or so more on oceanography, rework the schedule, and get a copy of The Prairie Primer to supplement our American history study through the spring. We are also going to do a 50 States notebook. We are going to skip astronomy since we spent the last 2 years doing units on such. I want us to have more concentrated bible skills with the littler three kids, including tape time, activities and such. I did that with the older ones, but it kinda fell through the cracks on the younger ones. I also want to have more concentrated bible time for the big kids with bible reading schedules on topics, and work in the Explorer series workbooks, and some character/purity training books. I want to be sure I read aloud with all children daily, reinforce life skills and thinking through situations, have time for sibling interactions and parental discussions, and serve the Lord together more often. And I want them to have good memories of a godly home and desire to keep God's word at the center of their lives.
Homeschooling is something I am passionate about and I strive to do the best I can for my kids, so this is a necessary exercise each year. I love it, though. And I truly look forward to the future of their homeschooling journey.