Homeschooling for 3

Despite my family's bout with sicknesses this past month, my daughter recovered enough to be able to participate in her first Children's Choir. The kids did a stupendous job and got a standing ovation for their two performances. The choir is made up of children seven years to twelve years of age. A couple of the "old" children (you know 13-15 year olds) helped out by playing their instruments and being a part of the drama re-enactment. I was really happy for Jade because, although she was initially nervous, the love and applause that she received as part of this group had her walking a bit taller and showing a bit more confidence in her abilities. She learned what being part of a team was and the responsibility that it entailed. A few times (post illness) she tried to wiggle out of going to rehearsal, but (being the mean mommy) she went anyway. She made a few friends on her own and told me to sign her up for the next one! I also envy her because I would have lo...

My daughter, Jade, joined the children's choir last month, but was out sick with the plague with the rest of my household for much of their rehearsal time. We had the CD and I practiced with her at home, so the choirmaster allowed her to rejoin the group tonight. They really sound good. This is my first experience with choirs, and I must say I was very impressed with how everything functions. Secretly, I am interested in joining the adult choir, but I can't do it right now because Mr. Michael won't let anyone hold him, and its hard to sing when your arms are full. :-D. I'm also very happy that Jade has started making friends on the choir. We've only been attending church for the last three months, but we're now starting to fit into the group a bit more comfortably. Growing up as a JW, I never realized how much warmth can come from a church. (We were taught that the church is one of the unknowing tools of Satan, so you can imagine what I imagined it would ...

Well, besides learning that a 7 year old can cry for 45 minutes because her brain won't let her think (??) I learned a few things in history today. We are doing Roman history, starting with the Pax Romana era. It's such a shame that the Caesars after Octavian were crazier than bedbugs. If you ever get a chance, you really should read (or listen to) "The Twelve Caesars" by Suetonius. It's quite entertaining (if you can forget the people who lost their lives due to the insanity, greed and viciousness of the Caesars.) Anyway, I learned that the manger is actually a feeding trough. Now, I know that seems silly, but I never really gave much thought as to what kind of "crib" Jesus was put into . I guess I thought that "manger" was another word for barn or something. Well, anyway we learned about the birth of Christianity in terms of the Roman Empire. I also discovered that the word "pig" can drive a 4-year old to tears when she...

My kids and I have been cooped up in the house (with the exception of driving my husband to the bus stop and back) for almost two weeks and I can't wait until we can resume our normal lives again. We were all sick and then my oldest daughter came down with a rash that looked like the measles. It turns out that it was 5th disease (which is a cousin to the measles). So, since I don't like to make other people sick, my husband and I decided that it was best to do the quarantine period. So now I'm losing my mind. This morning my daughter announces that she isn't going to eat because she wants to starve and go live with God. I explained to her that God gave us stewardship over our bodies and we're supposed to take the best care that we can, so I didn't think he'd let her visit him if she hurt her body. Then she tells me that she can't be in our family because she's not talented. After that didn't elicit enough sympathy (I guess), that she wanted...

Another thing that I learned while being under quarantine is the wonderful program called Mentoring for Free ( http://pat.mentoringforfree.com ). It is a program designed to help people who work from home or have a network marketing business that they are working on the side. The program is truly free (yeah!) and my mentor Pat is awesome. They have seminars on everything from advertising ideas to building a good spiritual (not based any particular religion) base of operation. I signed up because I felt that I was being overwhelmed, and that is a very unfamiliar feeling for me. So, I took a chance and visited Pat's site. I still wasn't sure if I would like the program until I attended a seminar this past Wednesday. One of the "textbooks" that is used is a book by Napoleon Hill called "Think and Grow Rich". They cover a chapter a week and each person submits what that chapter means in their lives and how they plan to use the lessons that they've le...

Over the past few weeks of being a doctor and patient, I have had a lot of time to think. And oh those thinks that I thought ... I recognized that washing dishes manually is great for therapy. My kitchen sink is having a major leaking problem (the joint that connects the two pipes has a hole the size of Moby Dick's blow hole), so we use a basin, wash the dishes and dump the water elsewhere. I've been using my dishwasher almost exclusively for over ten years. So, the idea of washing dishes by hand was not initially a pleasant thought. But as I wash the dishes (with Clorox) 3+ times a day, I look out my window and think thoughts. And here are some of the thoughts I thunk (okay, now I'm being silly) ... One of the problems that people have today come from not having time to think. While I was washing dishes (and only took me about 15 minutes to wash/dry/put away the things) I realized that the dishwasher hadn't really saved me as much time as I thought it had. ...

Well, its' been awhile since I got a chance to put anything on the blog. The month of December is going to be renamed "The Month of Disease". It has been one thing after another. All of the "women" in the house have sinus infections (that includes me!), my son had Fifth's Disease, which my oldest daughter contracted last week. It was a "wonderful" side disease from her sinus infection. My mother is going to drive me to drink. When the kids had colds last month she started on her mantra about how I must be doing something wrong because the children keep getting sick. Maybe my house isn't clean enough or I need to get rid of the animals. My sister's advice is to send the kids to school (?) so that I can give the house a thorough cleaning, thus preventing colds. Now, the last time I checked elementary school is the breeding ground for every disease known to man and the children are the best vectors for these germs ever invented. But...

Okay, maybe not joy, but I did get a really good book that has helped me keep my sanity while everyone in my house (including me!) is sick. It's a book by Debbie Macomber. It's a nice cozy, perfect for someone who's head is trying to separate from the body. But seriously, this book was entertaining and light reading. It centered around a knitting shop, its proprietor and the students that she picks up along the way to teach about knitting. I love to crochet (I wish I had time to actually do it !) and I do cross stitch (stamped -- I can't seem to count correctly! LOL!), embroidery, needlepoint and a little knitting. The book has a crafting quote from professional knitters for each chapter and I found many of them to be true. I especially liked the one by Morgan Hinks that says "Knitting goes with us; it calms us." When I actually had time on my hands (now I have neither hands nor time thanks to the children), crocheting a blanket or someone would complete...

You know, I started blogging as a way to express my thoughts, keep my sanity and have a little fun. But sometimes, blogging seems to be the last thing that I'm able to do. I was really proud of my little musings that I was putting up on a daily basis. Then the plague(s) came to visit and I rarely have a free moment to think, let alone write! But, just as with homeschooling, sometimes we make things entirely more complicated than it needs to be. Last night, I realized that blogging isn't my job, it's my hobby. And with all hobbies, sometimes you have more time for it than others. So, I'm giving myself a break and not breaking out into apologies for not posting regularly, as was my original intention. Instead I'm congratulating myself on retaining the few brain cells that are left in order to write this. One day everyone will be healthy again and I can really enjoy blogging. And I hope that you avoid the repeated colds that my family seems to be suffering thro...

My daughter is currently in the second grade. Next year begins the wonderful world of standardized tests which are demanded by the state and "No Kid Left Behind". When I was growing up, we had the yearly Citiwide examinations to test our math and reading skills, but that was nothing compared to what the system wants now. Back in the time of the dinosaurs, the most preparation that you received for these tests was practice filling in little circles and the importance of reading all of the instructions were stressed. Unbelievable as it may be, our teachers weren't worried about what we knew, because they had spent the better part of six months teaching us and helping us develop thinking ability. Fast forward to the future -- the school system spends 6 months teaching children how to take the test properly, and if they learn anything about how to learn and why they need to learn, that's by accident. I'm not blaming the teachers -- I come from a family of educators a...

Today in church our associate pastor (who is from Africa) delivered the sermon to the congregation. Before he began his study on Ephesians he took a few minutes to remind everyone one of the true reason for the holiday. Many were shocked because they thought it was all about the Indians and Pilgrims, when in fact it was a rallying call to bring the nation's attention back to God and the many blessings we've received. Amazing how this powerful holiday and call to God has been watered down to a fairytale about pilgrims and indians eating dinner together. It is amazing that today to invoke God's name, or sing religious Christmas carols I include the text in it's entirety. I have bold-faced the parts that were emphasized in today's service. ================================================================================ Proclamation of Thanksgiving Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863 This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanks...

Today my daughter, Jade, got her Yellow Belt in Taekwondo!!! She's training with Master Issak. He drives from West Orange, NJ to the Poconos to teach the kids in my development for $5 per class. I've included his website, just so you can be proud with me. It's www.karatewestorange.com. I'm so proud of Jade. She's 7 and has worked really hard to do well in the class. I think the hardest part for her is to stop worrying about hurting someone. She's the only girl in her class (the other girls dropped out) and you can see the difference when it comes to the punching and kicking. When she's practicing at home with inanimate objects she goes all out, but when she's working with the teachers, I can see her pulling her punches and kicks a bit. The boys, however, in her class try to see if they can kick the bags and cushions to the moon. But today she not only did her 15 forms correctly, but she broke 2 boards with her fist. (She did one before the ceremon...

I'm putting this out into the ether in the hopes that someone will stop by and give me some ideas. As I've mentioned before, I work with Prepaid Legal to earn extra money from home. But I've also signed up with another company for totally different reasons. The company is SendOut Cards (www.cardsfloat.com). Now, I signed up with them as a distributor mainly because I love their product and the distributor level gave me more greeting cards per month than the other options. I use these cards to keep in touch with family and customers. It's really an easy system and we plan to use their cards for our Christmas mailing. I haven't been doing much of anything with the business -- I just love the cards. Anyway , I think the greeting cards would be a great fundraising tool, but I'm not sure (a) how to setup a fundraiser or (b) who to speak to about learning about fundraisers. The way it works is you sell the retail membership for $25 and the charity (or organizati...

Thursday I was on the phone with a representative from FIS Marketing, Inc. I work with Prepaid Legal and they were offering 200 free leads, so I filled out the application and the rest was history. I called the 800 number to learn more about their services and what I heard was great, but a bit pricey for me at this time ($495), but you get 500 leads. They do ad copy, send out autoresponders, and if you speak to the leads that you purchase about your product and/or joining the salesteam and they turn you down, FIS will give them a call and close them for you. That's a really great program. And the leads cost about a buck a piece, so you can't beat that. Anyway, the salesperson (let's call him "G") was asking questions about my business, compensation plan, personal interests, etc. to see if they would be able to work with me if I decided to use their services. So of course, during the progression of our interview I mention that I homeschool my children. Well, ...

Today was my son's first birthday. He started his day off at 6:45 a.m. making a beeline to the kitchen. Well, actually, he did make a couple of detours. My 4 year old daughter was sleeping in my room, so he went to whack her in the head before deciding to bang on my bedroom door to be freed. It's a good thing the 4 year old really loves him and thinks he's her baby. I keep telling him that one of these days she's going to whack him back, but he doesn't seem to think that's possible ... Anyway, school went fine today. My husband took my 4 year old daughter upstairs to review her alphabet (she's trying to convince us that she doesn't know any of her letters -- strange girl) with the birthday boy. I tackled my 2nd grader's courses and had to resort to tickling when her brain took a powder. I've found tickling to be quite effective if applied before the meltdown has time to build up momentum. Anyway, all in all it was a pleasant day with the B...

I'm really trying to remember to do a blog a day. Right now I'm exhausted from a day of schoolwork and tears. Children are very interesting. You put them to bed early, wake up in a good mood and I think all that contentment makes them crazy. My daughters spent the day crying over various (and mostly imaginary) problems. My four year old (who knows all of her phonics and has been reciting the alphabet forever) suddenly doesn't know any of the letter names. My seven year old, who has a natural aptitude for math, suddenly can't do addition or subtraction. And I mean equations such as 15-5. The very appearance of equations made her cry. So, I let her play Harvest Moon for a bit (she needed to buy fertilizer for her farm and medicine for her cow)to let her get herself together before we got back to work. Mistake. The bull was sick too -- she was an awful farmer and the tears started flowing again. Her sister cried because her throat hurt her too much to recite the ...

Thanks to Amethy for bringing this to my attention. I got a kick out of it. Out of all of the points mentioned in the article Gripe #2 is my pet peeve. Here's what it says: "Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts." [For the full article visit http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschooler.html ] Socialization (according to Clausen as quoted in Wilkipedia) refers: "to the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it. For the individual it provides the resource...

I was received my daily dose of Kim Klaver ( www.kimklaverblogs.com ) and was very intrigued by an article regarding companies having to pay fines for violating the Do Not Call List. I'm personally on the state Do Not Call List, as well as the federal list, but still they call. So I was a tad bit bemused and befuddled by the article. Bemused : I am of the opinion that if you put your phone number on a survey, raffle, etc. you have to be ready to receive telephone calls from marketer. I mean, when you go to trade shows, the purpose of the show is to drum up revenue. So, why be angry when they give you a call. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but then again McDonald's did have to pay money to a man who spilled hot coffee on himself so ... Befuddled : I'm seriously confused since all of these people put their information out there for all to see and still get the company into trouble when they call them. Now, the reason that I'm confused is because I hav...

I've noticed that Sundays put me into a contemplative mood these days. Maybe it's because I've found a church that feels like home. Or maybe I'm just too pooped from the week of working, educating (and the never ending battle to keep my house clean) that all I have energy for is thinking. Today I stumbled upon a website that's whole premise is based upon the 31st chapter of Proverbs ( http://avirtuouswoman.org ). The person who was blogging about the site felt that it was very negative towards women. This of course caught my attention, so I went to take a look at it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it very practical. Now, I'm not one of those people who believe that women should be subservient to men. Actually, my older brother predicted that no one would ever marry me because I'm so opinionated and want to be right all of the time. Well, I proved him wrong -- I got two guys to marry me, so there! ( Ooops , I forgot, he probably won't be read...

You know, I hate when my kids get sick. It's not just because it's yucky and I don't get any sleep for a week. It's mainly because I get tired of people asking me why my children are sick. One day I think I'll create a diagram of the infection. It'll go something like this: J, A and M were sitting in McDonald's playroom (they have a really great one in Stroudsburg). Unknown child 1 wiped her nose with her hand before climbing onto the sliding board while grasping the handholds. Unknown child 2 sneezed without covering his face and the spray took in a radius of up to three feet in 180 degree spread. Unfortunately, my children were caught in the spray. A rubbed her eyes and infected herself that way. J breathed in the flying germs while laughing at her sister's antics. And M got it from his two sisters. I mean, how the heck does anyone get sick? Uh, they are around sick people and, duh, get infected. That's why we all still suffer from the common cold ...

A few years ago I joined Shaklee's as a way to make money, but the timing wasn't right and I really wasn't interested in marketing the products. I was very interested, however, in consuming their chocolate soy shake which helped me lose a lot of the post-pregnancy weight I'd put on after the birth of my daughter. Anyway, my sponsor's daughter, Lori ( http://www.shaklee.net/lorirussel ) still keeps me in the loop and shares "food for thought" articles. I found this one to be quite thought-provoking and thought that I might share it with you. Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - 11/2/07 - "Judging Others" Have you heard it said, that the things you see and dislike in others are things you probably dislike about yourself? When you see things about other people that you don't like, can it teach you anything about yourself? For instance, if you look at someone and think,"He is angry, and I don't like that," could it be that...

So, I was just bragging about the latest edition to the family. Well, let me tell you a couple of things -- my brand new baby doesn't like to speak to my in home network system. So, since the main reason I purchased the laptop is so that I can be mobile, this was really a bummer. But, like all new mommies, my newest baby was so darn cute, I was prepared to go the extra mile and find out what was wrong. I was even smiling about it. Then I tried to fix the network myself. Mistake. Big Mistake. After about an hour of trying to figure it out alone, I called Network Magic, the company that I used to setup my home network. The technician had me do a couple of diagnostics, but their software was working perfectly. So he told me I should call HP, especially since my computer had just arrived the day before. So I go to the HP website and setup a chat session with a technician. The first technician needs some serious retraining. She was courteous enough, but totally ineffectual and...

It's wonderful to be back on the internet again. Two weeks ago my faithful laptop booted up for the last time. I guess all the homeschooling and typing assignments finally got to it. It was four years old. Now, I guess I shouldn't be too sad since it did last four years and only over the past two months did I have to hook it up to my television because the screen died. And, yes pressing the right arrow key would take me to the save menu. But it was my buddy. It kept me busy during my sojourn of bedrest during my last pregnancy. It played videos on our two hour treks to civilization to visit the family. It told us many stories (I subscribe to Audible) and recently it began to play movies for me as I tune into Netflix for my entertainment needs. So, with a heavy heart (and mourning pocketbook) I purchased my new laptop from Walmart. It's a beauty. I'm still a little afraid of the thing. For one thing, it runs Windows Vista, which is a beautiful looking system,...

Just in from the front -- homefront that is. There's a new writing site available to homeschooled children. I've copied Melissa's original email announcing her site in its entirety. I look forward to reading the submissions from those homeschooled children out there! :-) "Hi everyone,I've started an online literary journal just for homeschool students. Write at Home will be published monthly on-line at www.writeathome.org . We are currently looking for submissions of poetry, short stories, and artwork from homeschool students across the country (the world actually).I'm looking to launch the first issue in January of 2008.While we will not be able to publish all submissions, everyone who submitswill receive a response. Please visit www.writeathome.org/submissions for submissions guidelines.Feel free to forward this email to other lists that you may be on. If you have any questions, please email me off-list at mvanbaast@austin. rr.com . Regards,Melissa Van Baa...

"Anyone can be faithful to an employer; millions are, daily, constantly; it is one of the dullest and most vulgar of loyalties." - Rex Stout from "A Nero Wolfe Mystery: The League of Frightened Men" Well, it is a start. Obviously, this is my first true adventure in blogging. It is a little like auditioning for your high school play - only without the stage, lights and props. Still, there is a script and the script is being written by me. I need a better editor.

My family has just started attending a local church in the area. This is a new experience for me since I was raised to believe that secular churches were harbingers of Satan. Anyway, after 39 years of life I've successfully crossed the threshold of church without imploding. Anyway, my girls are quite comfortable there and I am enjoying the experience. It's so different from my experience. There's a curriculum, activities and songs that the girls are learning. My youngest has been practicing her song about God didn't give us a spirit of fear but the spirit to be brave. She's so cute. My eldest child just learned about the origins of Halloween and she's trying to decide if she should play Animal Crossing (Gamecube game) during the Halloween season. It's her first moral dilemnia. :-) I guess all I really wanted to say today was that for the first time in a long time I am happy and enjoying worshipping God. Now, if I can get my baby to cooperate and stop ...

Well, this was a good week of homeschooling. The tears were kept to a minimum. Now, if you don't homeschool, you may not understand that tears is a frequent side-effect of homeschooling. Sometimes its the parent who's crying and sometimes its the students who are crying. Let me explain. Most homeschoolers have a schedule for doing their schoolwork. And invariably, at least once a week in my home, the child(ren) cannot fathom that its time to do math, language arts, you name it they can't understand why they are expected to get to work. So, that's when the tears start. But they never admit that the tears are about the schoolwork -- oh no, why make it easy. My eldest daughter, for example, will claim she's crying because her baby sister is humming (yes humming is a capital offense that should be punished, at least Ms. 7 year old thinks so). Or, the dreaded "is it time for lunch yet?" question. If the answer is "no" the child will commenc...

I am a Christian. I know what I titled this piece, but I want to let you know that I am a very God-centered person. However, I am sick (sick, sick, sick) to death of people who proclaim that their religion is "The Truth" and others are misguided fools who will die at Armageddon. I was a part of a religion that believed that only they had the Truth of God's Word and that all others are actually worshiping Satan the Devil. Now, these people may not think that they are agents of Satan, but they are. Because of this I had never entered a church, other than my own, until two weeks ago. Now, the church that I belonged to initially kicked me out because I wouldn't agree to their disciplinary actions (I left a husband that was an alcoholic) . Anyway, I'm dead to about 150 people whom I grew up with and knew throughout my 30 years of association. Anyway, my mother (and others from that church) really believe that if you don't attend their services and read thei...

Hi. My name is Cheryl and I am one of the many moms who work from home. I'm also one of those brave souls that educate their children at home and still manage not to pull all of their hair out of their heads. I have one husband, three children, one dog, cat and a couple of fish to round out the group. My dog is neurotic, my cat thinks she's a dog and life is very interesting on this side of the world. Actually, I think my husband is the bravest (or kookiest) because he willingly commutes across two states to keep us in food and shelter. I like to tease him when he gets home and enters the madness of children fighting over shadows, dogs chasing cats and our little son sticking his head into things that no person should willingly place their heads. You know, he was in the land of grownups and willingly returned to the chaos that is our home. He claims we're more fun, but sometimes I wonder about the state of his sanity. LOL! My golden retriever is the only dog that rai...

I decided that I needed to do a blog as a way to keep my writing skills from getting rusty. But, it has been a struggle. You'd think that I'd be able to find 10 minutes to jot down a few thoughts before I recommenced (is that a real word?) running around like a chicken with its head cut off. But nooooo that would be too easy. First of all, I couldn't even log into my own blog. Each time I tried to login I was told that my email address was unknown. So, I played the retrieve the password game and finally got in. (And by the way, I'm actually quite good with computers, so this was frustrating on many levels.) Then I set up the blog and play with the graphical backgrounds. By the time all of this was done I was tired and my 10 month old was waking up to eat, so I logged out. But when next I tried to put a few thoughts together I got the same error message when I tried to login to the blog. So, there goes another 10 minutes lost for foolishness. (I've set the a...