Gloomy Days

Please keep my family in your prayers. My grandfather is in the hospital and has been for about three weeks now. He was gravely ill and on the verge of death. Only by a miracle(God's miracle) he started to get better and be on the mend. Less than a week later he had to be reintubated last night. He is back where he was a week ago, not doing well and things don't look so good.Pray that as we plan for our trip tomorrow that we would know whether or not to go. If we go I pray that he is stable while we are gone.

Answered Prayers

Well we have had a lot of things happening in the past few weeks. We received a contract on our house! Woo Hoo! We also found a house that we feel God totally put in our path and now we have a contract on. The funny thing is 3 years ago when we bought our current home we would have never considered looking at it. The elementary school that our kids would have to go to is not one we would choose to send our kids to. We did not even think twice about the schools because they is not in our future. We both agree that homeschooling our kids is where God is calling to minister right now. I have a overwhelming peace about the house and the whole situation. We have had an inspection on our house and had an inspection on the house we are buying. There was nothing shocking our concerning on either, which is always good news. We close at the end of October on both houses the same day. My grandfather was hospitalized two weeks ago with pneumonia and we started to make funeral arrangements because he was rapidly going down hill. I spent the morning with my parents last Sunday at the hospital and when I left it was not looking good. After a lot of prayer and discussion my moms family decided to have all the tubes removed from him and to sign a DNR. They all went in and had a chance to say their goodbyes. Once everything was removed, all his kids and his wife were gathered around his bed. Then suddenly he opened his eyes and growled at everyone, everyone jumped and hollered and the nurses came running. They asked him if he meant to do that and he said yes. Over the next couple of days he made great improvements and was moved out of ICU and into a private room. He still needs rehabilitation and will have to stay for 3 more weeks to help him regain his strength. Needless to say last week was an emotional roller coaster ride for my family. My sister and I took my two boys and her youngest son to a Cub Scout camp out this weekend. It was very chilly but they got to do a lot of fun things. My youngest got to shoot a bb gun and a bow and arrow. He was so excited to be big enough to do those things. They earned several belt loops while we were there to add to my oldest and start the younger ones collection. We are currently getting ready to go out of town this week with my in-laws for a much needed vacation. We are headed to Galveston Texas for 4 days. My kids are so excited to go to the beach and look for tide pools and other beach creatures. We are doing Apologia Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day and they are thrilled to gets so hands on time at the beach. Once we get back it will be full speed ahead trying to get everything packed up. Moving makes you realize how much stuff you really don't need! So I hope to be able to clean out and organize as I pack and unpack. Life at our house just seems to go so much smoother when we are organized and scheduled.

The U.S.

As we have been studying the United states my kids have enjoyed learning all the various facts. They love learning about the state animals the most. I try to incorporate fun activities to help them really memorize the facts as we go.

We use the Leapfrog Tag reader pen along with the map of the United States to practice finding the states. It also tells interesting facts that my kids really enjoy. We use the Leapfrog Tag National Geographic Kids cards to review and learn new facts about bird and sea animals as well as land animals.

We use both our globe and our small wall map to review locations of the states we are studying. My kids love getting up and moving while they are learning. It really helps to engage them in studying about the states. We have some puzzle both wooden and regular that we switch out that are The United States. I find the more hands on activities the more they retain the info.

Studying The Word

My husband and I joined our church in a bible study called 40 Days In The Word. We have only been doing it four days and it has already been just what we needed. I have always heard people say God shows you the versus you need to see at the right time, and boy does he. Day 1 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 Day 2 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians 1:27a This verse is very important to us right now. As my husband had to deal with a situation that we both really prayed about. That God would give him the right words that would be worthy. Day 3 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 I feel that God is really working in Both of us with our house situation. We have been called to let go of this house and move somewhere else. At his time we have no idea where we are going and that is usually a very scary thing for me but I have this peace that God is going to guide us were he wants our family to be. Day 4 I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12b Day 5 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 We we got an offer on our house and lets just say it was not what we had in mind. So we ended up making a counter offer to the people. We are waiting to here back from them but instead of being anxious about it I have this deep sense of peace about the situation. I pray that God uses this bible study to bring us closer to him as a couple and individually. That we continue to have peace about selling our house and that we are listening to what God is telling us.

I thought I would share what we are using this year.
For Buddy who is 10 and in 5th grade
Math: Math U See Epsilon
Language Arts: Life Pac Language Arts

For Chicka who is 8 and in 3rd grade
Math: math u see alpha (she is way behind in math)
Launguage Arts: Life Pac Language Arts

For Bub who is 6 and in 1st grade
Math U See Alpha
All About Reading 1
All About Spelling 1

We are all doing
Bible: Kids Of Intgegrity (Focus On The Family)
Science: Apologia Swimming Creatures Of The Fifth Day
History: Road Trip USA (Confessions of a homeschooler)
P.E.: Swimming 2 days a week

Extra curricular activities

With school starting my husband and I decided that our kids needed an extra curricular activity during the week. So we signed them up for pre competitive swimming. They have really enjoyed it and in the 3 weeks they have been going I have seen some great skills develop. My 6yr old could not swim well all summer. We would not let him jump off the diving board because he would not be able to make it to the side of the pool on his own. So on Labor Day weekend he was finally able to jump off the diving board all by himself. He is swimming so well now that I don't have a fear of him getting to deep to touch. My daughter also enjoys swimming class too.

She was telling everyone that she was going to signup for swimming so she could be in the Olympics. My oldest likes to swim but not so much the way that they want him to. He enjoys recreational swimming more than swimming strokes. I can't wait to see how great they are doing at the end of the semester. What kind of extra curricular activities do you have your kids in?

Thinking inside the box!

Do you ever get tired of hearing your kids ask for a snack? Well, I know I dread snack time. They seem to live by the clock at our house. The minute the clock reads 3 o'clock they come running wanting to know what is for snack. It seems like I am always in the middle of something and I have to stop what I am doing and dig around for something to feed my crew. Well I decided that this school year I am going to be more prepared than I had in the past. So I have put together snack boxes for my kiddos. I bought school supply boxes when they were on sale. I made sure I got three different colors, one for each child. I try to fill it with three or four small snacks. I then place them on the shelf in the fridge that they can reach on their own. I have given them the rules of the snack box and they are: you can eat your snacks whenever you like but when they are gone that's it there will be no more. So if they choose to eat all of them in the morning they won't have anything in the afternoon to eat. So far it has worked out really well. They pick out one or two items and then place them back in the fridge for later. I really thought my 6 yr old would eat them all in one sitting but he surprised my and has rationed them to have throughout the day. This has been so helpful to me because I still have control over what and how much they get for a snack. This has also helped them by giving them some independence, to chose when and what they would like to have. Let me know if you try this and how it works for your kiddos.

Planners for Homeschool

Have you ever used a planner for homeschool?  Well I ask this because I have never taken the plunge and planned out our weeks.  I have a general idea of what we are doing from day to day but I have never sat down and planned it out.  I typically use the books for a guide and just do one lesson at a time.  Well with three kiddos in the mix I feel the need to start planning our days a little better.  I have looked at several different planners but I am not sure which one will work best for me. I need one that is not complicated and that does not demand so much of my time to get started filling it out.  So I would love to hear what you use and why you like it so much.

Coasting in the slow lane!

Well, I think the title about sums up how things are going around here.  Our house is still on the market and we have only had 4 people look so far.  Still trusting God and we know he has a plan; we just don't know what it is yet. 
We visited a new church the past two Sundays and it was a really good experience for Kevin and I as well as our kids.  We visited the Sunday school class this Sunday and it was very refreshing to feel connected with people in the same stage of life. 
Our kids start pre-competitive swim tomorrow and they are so excited and I am very excited for them. We have all of our curriculum lined out and we are just waiting for the right time to start.  My original plan was to start today but my sister had child care issues and I am watching 2 of her kids all week this week and all 3 of her kids next week.  So I am thinking that we are just going to wait until the first of September.
We are working very hard at trying to figure out what being a family without projects looks like also.  When you have spent the last 6 yrs working on houses that you live in, other things take the back burner.  We have a lot more free time to say yes to our kids when they want to go and do things.  Hopefully we will have a little bit more cash since we are not dumping it in to our house projects.  I would love to do a little bit of light traveling with our kids and do a few things that we have not been able to do up until this point.

We have done several playdates this month and gone to the $1 summer movies every week.  We had a Cub Scouts kickoff party at the lake and the kids swam for hours.  We also attended a back to school block party at the church.  Our sweet neighbor has let us swim at his house several times a week which is great when its 100 degrees outside and the kids are stuck inside all day.
We are going to go to The Great Wolf Lodge in September for the Homeschool week.  My kids are so excited that we have already started a countdown.  We will make it an extended weekend and stay with my sister and brother in law while we are there.  Hopefully, we will be able to continue enjoying the rest of our summer break before it's over!

Stepping out in faith!

Well it has been 1 month since we put our house on the market.  We are just waiting for the next step and we not sure what that even is yet.  Hubby  and I both felt convicted to sell our house and for me to stop watching other children.  So when the school year ended I said goodbye to the sweet little girl I was keeping.  We are both excited and nervous about where God is going to lead our family. I have almost all of our curriculum to start school next month. I just need to round up a few more odds and ends to complete it.  I just ordered All About Reading and Spelling for Bub and can't wait to get my hands on it. I think it will really help him become a stronger reader.  I really want this year to go as smoothly as possible and I am working on being a better planner.