A Fly Went Bye Bye

When my youngest daughter was five, one of her favorite books was A Fly Went By.  We would read this book over and over.  And that really has nothing to do with today's post.  Well, other than the title.

Last night after we put the girls to bed, my oldest told me my youngest was in desperate need for me to come upstairs - there was a fly in her room.  I went up to see what all the fuss was about.  I can't catch a fly, they're way too fast.  And I didn't want to squish it... anyway, she was freaking out because there was a fly on the edge of her bed.  She had a crumpled up tissue that she pressed into my hand, and told me to "get it."  Yeah, right.  Well, I figured I'd try, and then it would fly somewhere else.  It was a big old fly, one of those fat lazy ones.  Probably at the end of its life.  I grabbed at the fly with the tissue... and guess what?  I caught it!  But then what do I do with it?  I didn't want to throw it in the trash, it would crawl out and fly around the house.  I didn't want to throw it outside, I figured it would come right back in.  So I did the only logical thing I could think of... took it downstairs to flush it.

Well, when I lifted the lid, I noticed someone forgot to flush.  Gross.  Oh well, I was planning on flushing, anyway.  I threw the tissue and fly into the toilet and flushed.  But then the tissue came back up.  I figured the fly probably drowned, and was about to flush again, when I saw the fly float out of the tissue toward the surface of the water.  I couldn't imagine it would be alive, but before I got a chance to flush... it flew out of the water!  Unbelievable!  So now I had a pee soaked half drowned fly, buzzing around the bathroom.  Fortunately I had shut the door.  First the fly landed on the toilet.  I grabbed some toilet paper and made a swipe at him... but apparently his near death experience gave him a boost of adrenaline, because he was quicker than me.  Great.  Then he tried to get out of the bathroom, and landed on the door.  I was afraid it would fly out under the door, as there is a pretty big gap there.  But I was able to catch him that time, and lost no time in flushing him.  I watched carefully, and this time both the fly and toilet paper went down to their watery grave, and didn't come back up.  Although after that I was a bit nervous to use the toilet, because you never know...


When I told my children the rest of the story of what happened to the fly after I took it downstairs, my oldest said I should make this story into a children's book.  And my youngest said, "Yeah.  It could be a Little Golden Book."  Oh my.

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19 days and counting

This past Friday was our latest Box Day.  We received our school supplies, and had fun looking through all our new books.  Our math books came today, so now we're all set for the upcoming year! 

This is going to be such a busy month!  On Sunday our oldest goes to camp, and she's so excited!  The day after she gets home from camp both girls will be staying with their grandparents for a week.  Their church is having VBS, so the girls are looking forward to going to that.  Then on July 25th we start our first day of school!  :-)

I've spent the past few days looking through our curriculum, and at first I was a bit intimidated.  The instructor's guide seems a lot more detailed than what I'm used to.  But after spending more time with it, I think it will work out just fine.  I figure the first couple of weeks we'll all be getting used to the new program, but after that it should come a lot more easily.  Hopefully in about three and a half weeks I'll be able to write a new blog entry about our first week of school!  It's amazing that it's coming up so quickly!

Last night my oldest was sitting with me as I was putting all the worksheets into sheet protectors.  She was looking through the art book we'll be using this year, and she found a lot of interesting projects.  As she was just about ready to go to bed she turned to me and said, "I'm so excited for school to start!"  That's such an encouragement to me, and confirms to me we're doing the right thing with homeschooling our girls.  :-)

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Convention - more fun than I realized!

This weekend my hubby and I traveled up north to go to our state homeschooling convention.  His parents were wonderful and kept the girls to make it easier for us.  We only went to the curriculum exhibit, but we still had a lot of fun!  I was amazed at how many companies were represented!

Our first stop was the My Father's World exhibit.  It was wonderful being able to see all the curriculum laid out, and the people there were so friendly and helpful!  Even though we knew we wanted to buy from them, we decided to wander around the exhibit hall before coming back and making our purchases. 

At first I was a bit nervous, as there were so many people there!  It was a bit overwhelming.  But God is good, and within two minutes of walking  in to the convention center we saw another homeschooling mom from our church.  We visited with her for just a couple of minutes, but that really helped to make it seem not quite so overwhelming.  She said this year they had the biggest turnout they have ever experienced.  That's pretty cool!

As my husband and I walked around to see the different vendors, I commented to him that it was kind of like walking around at the fair, only most everyone there were Christians.  I loved it!  And my husband said next year he'll have to try to get both days off work, so we can go to the entire convention.  That will be so much fun!

There were some really fun exhibitors we visited.  There are a couple of creation science based organizations in the Pacific North West, and it was fun to see the different tours they offer.  There is even a creation museum up near Mount St. Helens!  We would love to take a trip up there someday with our girls.  It's several hours away, but that would be a wonderful field trip someday.

We finally made our purchases, although most everything we bought will have to be shipped to us, as by the time we went they were out of some of their packages.  We were going to take the Light Rail back to our car, but it was such a beautiful day my husband and I decided to walk.  Saturday was really a wonderful day!

Yesterday after the girls came home we showed them the few things we brought home from the convention, and they were so excited!  Each of the girls will have a  pretend passport this year, and each time we visit (learn about) a country they will get a flag sticker to put into their passport.  They both thought that was so cool, so last night when they were talking over the computer with my parents, my oldest had  fun showing Grandpa her new passport.  It was a lot of fun, because then he was able to show her his real passport.  She was amazed at how similar they looked, and how real her passport looked!  :-)  The girls were also really excited to see some of their new language arts books, and thought they looked like a lot of fun.  I've had some reservations about the LA recommendations, but I decided to go ahead and give it a try this year, and if we don't like it we can try something else next year.  But my oldest was so interested in the book  she curled up in the recliner with hers and started reading!  I think she's fascinated because it is a reprint of a book that is almost 100 years old. 

All in all, Saturday was such a fun day, and now we're even more excited to start school in a few weeks.  In about a week or so we should be having our "box day," so we'll have a lot of fun going through our new books.  I wish we could start school sooner (and so do the girls!) but my oldest will be away from home for 2 weeks next month, so we'll need to wait until she's home.  She'll be going to camp for a week, then the girls will be be with their grandparents for a week so they can attend VBS and Grandma and Grandpa's church.  Once they get home we'll start school, so that will be July 25th.  We're all anxious for that day!  And I look forward to having some fun topics for my blog, once we start school.  :-)

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thoughts on next year

I've been giving more thought to my blog lately, and I'd really like to get back to updating on a regular basis.  I don't know if that will actually happen, but it's a goal.  :)

We're wrapping up our current school year, and I've been giving a lot of thought to next year.  A couple weeks ago we visited my parents in Arizona, and somehow during that week the topic of next year's schooling came up.  I'm not sure what all we talked about, but I got to thinking about the possibility of trying something new next year.  We've been using Sonlight for the past 5 years, and we've really enjoyed it!  But I think we're ready to try something new.  Sonlight has a lot of reading (which we love), but not much of anything else.  I think we'd all really enjoy some hands on activities.

The past two weeks have been crazy with researching different curriculum options!  When I began  I didn't really know what I was looking for, although there were a few things that were important...

• I want a Christian curriculum.  Something that gives a lot of focus on the Bible would be terrific.
• I'd prefer a lesson plan that has everything planned out for me.  I'm not comfortable in my ability to put everything together.  It's too stressful (I tried that in preschool and it didn't go so well) and I'm not confident I'd include everything my girls need to learn.
• Combining lessons would be terrific.  My girls have had separate lessons in everything up to this point.  It would be great if some subjects could be combined.
• Hands on activities are fun, but I'm not at all creative... if we're going to do these kinds of things, it needs to be planned out for me, and scheduled in.  Otherwise it's not going to get done.

 As I searched online for various curricula, I found a few that interested me.  At first I was drawn to Tapestry of Grace, but the cost of that one held me back from putting too much research into it.  So right now the top contender for me is My Father's World.  It has everything I'm looking for, and the cost is about half of what I'd pay for another year of Sonlight.  And the way they save money is by using the library for most of the readers.  One thing we loved about Sonlight is the wonderful library we have built up over the past 5 years!  But the cost of continuing to build our own library is just not possible right now.  We do have a wonderful library system in our state, so I'll be able to make use of  that.  We can look online to find the books we'll need, and have them sent to our local library for pickup.  And through the course of the year if there are any books we find we just love, we can keep our eye out for a used copy somewhere.

During my research I've read about some fun activities that are planned during the year's study of Exploring Countries and Cultures (the program we'd start with My Father's World), and it looks like a really fun program!  I've shared my findings with my girls, and they are both really excited about the prospect.  In fact recently as I was looking online for other curriculum choices my oldest asked what I was doing.  When I told her she said, "No, Mommy!  Don't look at any more!  You might find something that's not as fun!"

Although I haven't decided 100% on our choice for next year, at this point it looks like we'll be going with My Father's World.  I'm excited to go to our Homeschool convention in June so I can see the books in person.  This will be our first time at a homeschooling convention, and my husband and I are really looking forward to it.  We won't be going to all the different workshops, as this year our focus is just to see the exhibit hall.  While we're there I'll also be looking into a new math program, but that's a post for another time.  :)

I'm excited to see what the coming year has in store for us!

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lost in space

Wow, it's been way too long since I've updated this blog!  School is going alright.  We're not as far along into the year as I'd like to be, but such is life.  I guess that's one of the beauties of homeschooling.  I wanted to finish in May, but it looks like we'll go into June.  I'm just thankful I have the freedom to arrange our homeschooling schedule to fit our lives, rather than the other way around!

It's hard to believe my girls are 7 and 11!  And I'll have a 5th grader in the fall!  Where has the time gone?

Although I've neglected this blog for the past several months, I've been working on another one, lately.  I'm not sure if I've got the courage to share the address for that one, though.  :-)  My husband and I started a new  weight loss journey last month, and I've been chronicling my journey, stumblings and all.   He's trying to get his diabetes under control, so I'm joining him in our new exercise routine, trying to give him whatever support I can.  It's been a wonderful change for our family, although it sure has been a challenge!  Whenever I start a new exercise program I almost always end up injuring myself, and this time has been no exception.  But I'm finally back on track.  Anyway, most of my blogging efforts lately have been with the other blog.  If I ever get brave enough (or if someone requests it), I might post the link from this blog.

In any case, I figured I'd better check in to let you know we're still kicking.  :-)  And still pressing on with our homeschooling!

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Through my child's eyes

Over the past five weeks, Peanut and I have been reading through the book of Mark for our time in the Bible.  She is a very sensitive child, and we have to be careful what we allow her to watch as far as television and movies.  For example, when we watch Little House on the Prairie, she always sits next to me because if there is a disturbing scene (someone is injured or sick) she will bury her face into my neck.  She can't bear to see anyone in pain.

Because of this, I have wondered how she would handle the chapter about Christ's crucifixion.  I know she's heard the story before, as we've read about this in some of her Bible story books.  But to my knowledge, this is the first time she's heard this story straight out of the Bible.

Today we were scheduled to read Mark 14:43-72.  Peanut was sitting in my lap and while I was reading about the soldiers beating and mocking Jesus, she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into me.  I stopped reading for a bit so we could discuss what was happening, and how she felt.  She said she didn't want to read anymore, so I asked her if she knew how the story ended.  Peanut nodded her head yes, and said Jesus would come back to life.  I asked if she wanted me to keep reading, so we could read the happy part of the story.  Peanut thought for a bit, then agreed to have me continue reading.  Mark 15 was very difficult for Peanut.  I paused off and on to be sure she was ok.  We talked about why Jesus died on the cross.  Then I read chapter 16.  It was such a relief to her to read about Jesus coming back to life, and that He was ok!

It was very touching this morning to read from the Bible with my girl.  To be able to experience the anguish and joy through her eyes... I think this morning she is the one who taught me about reading God's Word... seeing it through my daughter's eyes was  an eye opening experience for me.  And it reminded me of what a great sacrifice Jesus made, so that I might have eternal life with Him.

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a troubling day in school

This morning Peanut and I  were reading about the Bedouins in the Arabian desert.  I was reading to her out of her history book, and this is the sentence I came to:

The Bedouin are Arabs who wander across the Arabian desert, herding camels, goats and sheep.

Peanut exclaimed, "That's terrible!"  I didn't see anything wrong with what we just read, so I asked her what she meant.  "They kill their animals!  That's so mean!"  Then I realized the source of her confusion.  I read "herding camels, goats and sheep," but Peanut heard "hurting camels, goats and sheep."  I guess pronunciation is extremely important!  :)

Later we finished reading Charlotte's Web.  Peanut has enjoyed the book during the past couple of weeks, but she was terribly disappointed in the ending.  "What?  Charlotte dies and that's the end?  How can they do that?  Who would make a book with such a sad ending?"  I guess she is learning books don't always have a "happily ever after."  But at least I know she's paying attention in school today.  :)

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