Hello again!

So, I haven't written in a while. Mostly b/c I am so dang busy homeschooling 5 kids and trying to keep up with the housecleaning, laundry, cooking, errands, etc. Though, over the summer we got an iPad, and my lovely dh got me an iPhone as a Christmas present, so today Ifinally figured out how to get a blogging app for those, so now I can blog away from my computer. So exciting. So hopefully I will write more.

Also over the summer, I was working 3 days a week at the local farmer's market, selling my MIL's locally grown, organically grown, sustainably grown food products. These are not items that she grows or makes herself, but she collects from others and re-sells it. So I worked Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, roughly 8 hours a day. I was also schooling the kids most of the summer, to prep for our October trip to Colonial Williamsburg, so it was way busy. I will not do that again....work and school. Way too hard. Not sure how it will go next summer.

Tapestry of Grace - the classical, Christian homeschool curriculum for the whole family | TOG.com

We are finishing up our second year of using Tapestry of Grace. We started at the beginning with Year 1 last year and are in Year 2 Unit 3 right now. I love it so much, that I talk it up whenever the opportunity arises, so today I looked into becoming an Affiliate and have decided to do it. So I get credit if you click on one of the icons on my blog. If you decide to buy something, you can put give my code (on-line or by phone) and I will get credit for your purchases......my code is "shannonrop." If you are looking for a Christian, classical, history-based curriculum, Tapestry is what you want. When we stopped homeschooling 5 or so years ago to send my kids to public school, I had already heard about TOG and knew that if we went back to homeschooling, that is the curriculum we would use. My thoughts hadn't changed when we got back into homeschooling in the Fall of 2008. It is the best out there, as far as I am concerned.

More schooling decisions

We think we are going to have our two oldest daughters, in 6th and 8th grades, take some electives at the public middle school here. Michigan homeschool law says that homeschool kids may not take core classes, like math, history, science, but that they can take electives, for free. So my 6th grader wants to take Band, which is great, b/c she wants to play trumpet and I can't teach her that! There is a local-ish homeschool band here, but it is expensive and a 35 minute drive one way, so her going to the public school is more convenient, as it is only 2 blocks away. My 8th grader wants to take the speech/drama class, art, and the foreign language class. The FL class is really cool....they get 6 weeks of French, 6 weeks of German and 6 weeks of Spanish. So the girls can get their school "fix" and can take some cool classes at the same time.

Lazy Day

So the kids are watching the DVD of our musical, "A Case of Monkey Business" which is basically Tarzan, but Tarzan is a copyrighted name so we couldn't use it without paying money. We really should be doing school. But I am feeling lazy this morning and the kids are all occupied and getting along......We'll get to school today for sure, but I guess it won't be a normal day.

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Tapestry of Grace - the classical, Christian homeschool curriculum for the whole family | TOG.com

Tapestry of Grace - the classical, Christian homeschool curriculum for the whole family | TOG.com

Schooling decisions

So my MIL said the other day that she thought dd7yo should go to "real" school next year b/c she thinks dd is getting lost in the crowd of her other siblings. DD has been homeschooled the last 2 years in K & 1st grade and has never had the classroom experience. We had already been thinking about sending ds5yo to school for a year of Kindergarten in the fall, so he could get a taste of what a structured environment is like....we are definitely more unstructured here at home, as it should be. So now we are maybe sending two off to school in the fall, but only for one year. (We would still homeschool the older 3.) Which means a public school, in all likelihood. Though we are looking into a local Christian, classical school which would be my choice, since we do classical ed. here at home. Will be interesting to see what happens. Though I am SO not looking forward to being on the school's schedule. If the 2 kids do go to school in the fall, they will miss about 2 weeks right off the bat, as we are planning a trip to Colonial Williamsburg then.

Derailed lunch plans

Well, today is Jason's grandma's birthday and the women had made plans to take her out to lunch. We (mom, 2 sisters-in-law, gma and me) were at the restaurant when I get a call from Jason saying he had locked his keys in his car and I needed to come home right away to unlock his car b/c he had to get to court before 2pm (it was about 12:30). I asked if he could borrow a car from a colleague, but he said they were all at lunch so I asked if he could borrow his cousin's truck and he thought he probably could, but then remembered that the case file he needed for court was also locked in the car. So I had arranged 2 different types of child care (one for the girls and one for the boys) and had driven 45 minutes to meet everyone, was there for about 20 minutes and then I had to leave....without eating lunch!! I had the waitress cancel my order, so at least I didn't have to pay for any uneaten food. To his credit, Jason was hugely apologetic. He made it to court when he needed to, but the girls missed their meeting. I ended up going to the new local Pizza Hut for some pasta, so I finally got lunch about 1:3pm. So now Jason has said we need to have spare keys to both cars in the house, just in case!!

Mid-Winter Break

We are taking this week off school. We just finished our unit on the Middle Ages last week. Now this week I need to plan for the next unit, on the Renaissance and Reformation. I love both these periods in history. Yesterday, our first day off, I got the house back in order. It seems to me that when I am going gangbusters with school, the house really gets messy. And vice versa...if my house looks great, then I am not spending enough time on school. Finding a balance is pretty hard, I guess. I hope to start painting our hallway this week, but don't know if that will happen. The upstairs and downstairs hallways are about the only place in this house that didn't have hideous wallpaper on it, so painting it will be easier than when we did the living room and dining room and study. I'll let you know how the week shapes up.

Tarzan

Well, we had try-outs a week ago yesterday for the spring musical, "Tarzan and a Case of Monday Business." This is with the RRCT. Two of my kids are monkeys and will be singing in the chorus. My oldest daughter is Millie Thatcher, the oldest daughter of missionaries in the jungle. I am playing Karla Wellington, a ditzy, blonde, movie star. It is a fun character. Performance dates are May 6, 7, 8 at the Kent Theatre in Cedar Springs. I wish my husband would've been in this one, but he says he needs a rest. He doesn't like to be so busy...we have practice Monday and Wednesday evenings.

I'm Back! :)

Well, can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted. Today we had our Medieval Feast, to celebrate the end of the Middle Ages unit. We use Tapestry of Grace and they have these great celebration ideas. We did Year 1 last year, and I am sad to say we did no unit celebrations.....it was our first year homeschooling and I already felt overwhelmed enough without adding all the preparation for a big celebration. But I am so glad we have started to have them. The Renaissance and Reformation are next, and that will be fun, too, I am sure. The 2 big girls are bowling with the Jr. High youth group now. Can't believe they are old enough to be in a youth group! We are loving the snow....wish there was more of it! Though Spring sounds nice, too....I just love having all four seasons! Just when you get sick of one, it changes! In the past year, Jason's sister got married and we were pretty busy with that, as all 5 kids were in the wedding and Jason & I were the Master and Mistress of Ceremonies. Fun times. In the Fall, we got involved in the local community theater, and did "Joan of Arc." I was Isabelle D'Arc, Joan's mother, my oldest daughter was "Young Joan," my second oldest daughter was "Young Catherine," (Joan's younger sister), my husband was Joan's sweetheart and my oldest son was a page in the castle of Charles VII. I have the theater bug now! What fun. Plus since we had been studying the Middle Ages, it was the perfect play for us. Gotta go get the girls from bowling!