Waiting on Spring

March is quietly (& coldly) leaving us soon. The few days of warm temps we had this month seem like they were years away. Its been quite cold and icky, I've debated turning the heat back on. lol We did venture out on one fairly nice day and took the short hike/walk up to the Washington Monument. It was a chilly, breezy day so we didn't stay long.

 

The closer we get to Summer, the more work it seems the kids have to finish. Of course, they haven't been doing much at all.. which is normal and they have to bust their asses to finish it up before our final review of the year. They've both still been doing a good bit of reading. So they aren't JUST playing on the computer or Xbox. hehe But I've redone their schedules and I am *hoping* they stick to it a little better in April.

We've changed the dates a bit on the boys game days we were doing. It was becoming to much *work* for Jake since 2 of the boys were bickering a lot between them. So instead of every week, we are now hosting it once a month. So with the once a month Family Game Nights at the game store, that should be plenty of non-family game time. Which we've been doing a lot of. Jake won't always play, so mostly it is Amanda, Randy and I. We have all the Settlers of Catan expansions now. (We'll eventually get all the 5-6 player expansion sets so we can have friends join us.) We took a break from Settlers this past weekend though. On Saturday I showed Amanda how to play Uno Rummy Up. I hadn't played it in years. So Sunday, with dad with played that and Life. I think she's getting burned out on Settlers and needed a break (after all, it was usually her wanting to play Settlers so much!)

April brings so many activities I have on the calendar. Whether we'll get to them all, I have no clue but there are a few I *really* want to do. On the 2nd we a bake sale to raise money for our MS Walk team. So I'll help out a bit then, not sure if the kids will. The 9th is an open house at the Earth & Space Science Lab. The 16th is the MS Walk. Amanda and I will be doing this, not sure if I can talk Jake into it yet.  And then on the 17th is the Brookside Gardens Earth Day Festival. This is the things I am most looking forward to this month. On the 23rd, there is an Earth Day Festival at Morgans Grove park. Not sure yet if we are doing this. And sometime in April we are hoping to spend a Friday in DC.

Brrrr!

It is so freakin' cold here right now! Winter certainly has slammed into us hard here in MD. Monday it was almost 70* and now this morning it is a toasty 11* (-7* with wind chill).

I am sick. :( Started feeling bad Thursday evening. It hit me all of a sudden. I was fine all day, then by about 8:30 that night I started with a bad sinusy headache, the major nose drippage. then when I woke up Friday morning, I felt horrible. I was feeling much better yesterday, but I guess being out grocery shopping wasn't the smartest thing to do, but hey ya gotta have food in the house. So this am. I woke up and my throat is on fire, I can't talk but a bit of a squeak (tried talking to the cat because no one else is awake). So I am downing hot tea today. Getting ready to make my 2nd cup here in a second.

Last week started our Christmas/winter break. Monday was our homeschool groups holiday party. After much craziness, we made it there. I had invited my mom to come along, but then she ended up not. So that left us without a ride. So we were bummed about having to miss the party. Then after some emails & phone calls back and forth we had a plan. :) One mom would come pick up 1 of of us (Jake) and another mom would come pick up the other 2 (Amanda and I) because she had 2 seats left as her littlest one was sick. :( So she stayed home with her daddy (and he ended up missing his Christmas party so the rest of the family could have theirs). This is what the holiday season is all about... being with your loved ones, lending a helping hand, and making others happy. So we have several people to thank for helping my kids and I get to our Christmas party: Mindy & Kim for the rides; Jim for giving up his party to stay home with poor little Maggie; Marti, Krista and Pat for their offers of help. I love my group of friends.

So then on Tuesday we had our Earth Scouts meeting & book group scheduled. But the weather was totally the opposite of Monday. It was cold, snowing/raining/sleeting. So I went ahead and canceled. The roads were most likely ok, but I didn't want to take that chance. So the kids and I finally got to decorate the tree. And Amanda and I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies.

The rest of the week we had nothing planned until Friday. Which was our co-op's last day for the Fall semester. We were going to build gingerbread houses, but of course we missed that because I woke up sick. But Marti's oldest dropped off our house before taking her sisters to co-op. So another thanks goes out to Emilee. :)

So I was hoping we could have done the house over the weekend with Randy, but I just didn't feel good enough to. I am hoping maybe this afternoon or at least tomorrow I be feeling better. I have a TON of baking to do also. But I did get the grocery shopping and Christmas shopping finished. Our ham is ordered, Randy will pick it up tomorrow evening. So we'll at least have food, maybe not too many cookies though. But I'll at least get a batch of chocolate chip cookies made. hehe

Where does the time go?

I am getting terrible about posting on my blog. :( But its mainly because I am so boring there is nothing much to post about. hehe Well I am boring but the kids aren't.

We were supposed to have our math book finished last week, but didn't get that far. So we'll be finished by tomorrow. We have 2 tests left, a unit test which will be done today and a final test that they'll take tomorrow. I allow them to be "open book" tests so that they can look back to be sure they are doing a problem correct.

I was going to go on to the next book in MUS (Zeta) but decided not to. If we would have finished back in March like I wanted to then yeah I would. But things happen and we just didn't get as far as quickly as I had planned. So I decided that for the remained of the "school year" and through-out summer we're going to work through some more Key To books. They have about 1.5 books on fractions that they'll be able to finish by the end of this month just about. Then we'll go on to decimals. Amanda of course was not pleased when I told her my plans.. but when I suggested we start another big book instead, she mellowed out. LOL So check back in the fall and see how well things went. LOL

The weather has been fabulous here, not too how not to cool. We've been outside a lot. Yesterday was park day. So several of us met up there. Amanda wasn't feeling so great so for awhile she just sat and was bored. Then she went off to swing with Jake. They ended up with 2 of the other kids making a very nice fort. I didn't have my camera, so didn't get a picture of it. Maybe I should walk up today and see if it is still up. It was very neat how they were making the walls with all the sticks they found. None of the kids really wanted to leave it. LOL

I am so terrible about bringing my camera when we go places. I think I need to attach it to myself permanently.. so I will always be ready to take pictures. :) Amanda has been begging for her own camera. So Dell had a coupon for 15% off so we bought her the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S700. She really likes it and has been snapping pictures like a maniac. So then of course we had to get Jake something, so he got a new DS Lite and car kit.

So that's about it for what we've been up to. Hope everyone is enjoying the Spring weather! :)

Homeschool Reviews

Here in MD, homeschoolers must be reviewed twice per school year. You can either go through the Board of Ed (BOE) or a private reviewer/umbrella group. I used to just go through the BOE, only had one "bad" reviewer in 7 years of going to them. (The lady "failed" us and marked our review as unaccepted and that we needed to come back for a 30 day follow-up. That never happened. Apparently this lady was "failing" a lot of people that day.)

But for the last 2 years of going to the BOE, we had the same lady reviewer. I did like her, and enjoyed the reviews.. until.. she started "offering" more and more suggestions. "You should try this"; "Maybe if you used this"; "You should be doing such and such", and so on. So I felt that maybe it was time to go to a private reviewer.

So last year we did. And I don't know WHY I waited so long. It has been SOOO much more enjoyable to go to a fellow homeschooling mom that has/is going through similar issues we do. I used to get stressed big time about BOE reviews. You know, that queasy/butterfly in the stomach feeling when you are going somewhere you DO NOT want to? No more! I don't stress anymore.

Until now! LOL I suppose that since this is our 2ND year of going through our reviewer, we are able to either come in for a review, or mail a review. So with DH's surgery I thought "Sure, I'll type up something and mail it in". Well it was harder than I thought. LOL I have no clue how to write it out. So I muddled through it this morning and finished it up for both kids before the mailman came. And it is off to our reviewer now.

I really hope it is OK. I'm going to be worrying about until I find out what she thinks.

*sigh* I have a terrible headache (not from writing up our review). I believe it is just allergies. I am so happy the weather has warmed up.. but this time of year about kills me. My nose & eyes itch nose stop. Both run faster than our stream out back. But I'll survive. :) Just not sure how much work we'll get done today....

I *think* Spring is FINALLY Here!!

Off to shower and get ready to head out for the morning.

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day out. One of my local HS groups has a regular Friday play date. We don't usually go because it is never usually a good day for us to get somewhere. And I think it is usually younger kids that are present. But one mom suggested the park that is about 1/2 mile from our house that we walk to all the time (same place we meet on Wed. with another group). So everyone came out and enjoyed the warmth & sun. There was about 9 moms and a slew of kids. I think everyone had a great time.

It was just so nice to be able to sit outside and not freeze. The wind was blowing and it was a tiny bit chilly at times. And I got sun burnt!! My arms and face. They hurt this am. :( I put aloe on last night, and will again once I shower here in a bit. Amanda's ONE arm and ONE leg got a little burnt. Not sure how she managed to only half face the sun. LOL I am such a bad mom.. I always forget to put sunblock on them. :(

Today is going to be close to 80!! Woo hoo! So we have some errands to run, then I need to mow the yard this afternoon. I enjoy mowing, it gives me quiet time to think or not think. LOL

So the MACHE fair is going on today (and it was yesterday as well) but I am not going to make it there. :( I need to get the next math books (MUS Zeta) but if I can't find them used from someone, I will just have to order and pay shipping. It's not that much, so no worries. And our local Home & School store has a sale during the fair as well. 20% off everything! So once we finish up at Target, I am heading over there. I have my list of things I am looking for. I need a few Key To books and I always pick up some new Professor Noggins games.

So we didn't get too much finished last week with our work, but at least got the math done that I was trying for. And most our of Egypt work completed. We are still reading the one book and will most likely finish reading that over the weekend. Then next week, instead of history we need to get caught up with our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory study. So that May can be the month we begin studying Ancient Greece. We should be able to finish everything up by the end of May aside from Math. That we'll continue with through June (or however long it takes to finish Zeta). I don't expect either to have much trouble with Zeta as they are OK in working with decimals. Be we'll see! :)

Been another long week

and once again, we've fallen behind in our work. *sigh* Last week was spent running errands, going to appts. and then finishing up with dh's knee surgery on Friday. We are waiting on the dr. to call back today to tell us what all he found. He was planning on snipping the tendon but end up finding what he *thinks* is gout or psuedogout.. as there were LOTS of crystals present. So he needs to be sure and sent them to be checked. They got the report yesterday, but the nurse couldn't tell us what it said until the dr. reviews it.

So he's in pain, but its getting a little better. He is a bit mad that the dr. didn't do more while he was "in there".. as he doesn't want to have to go through this again. hehe No one does, but what can you do.

So today, I want to get some math done if nothing else. I really wanted to have our math book completed by now so that next week we could start the next. But things happen.

Amanda and I will be watching Marie Antoinette today, then I think later the family is going to watch the Blue Man Group DVD we bought a few weeks back. I love those guys, and would LOVE to see them live. I bet that's be an amazing show. I kinda wish our TV was bigger, instead of just 32". LOL

We've had some cruddy weather lately. It's been in the 30's and low 40's for the last week or so. The past 2 days have been horribly windy (up to 40 mph). Today is cold, but not so windy. Hopefully it will break soon and we'll have a little bit of Spring weather.

Spring break... ?

We had intended to take a spring break this week (Thursday & Friday) and through Monday but... the temps have seriously dropped here! What is going on!? We have a freeze warning for tonight. Come on, it was 80 on Tuesday!! So I think we'll just finish up our work and wait until it gets warmer again and take a nice break. What good is spring break when you have to stay inside wrapped in blankies?!

But aside from that, things are going well. We are just about finished with our first MUS book. I'll be picking up the next one at the curriculum fair in 3 weeks. Then we'll work our way through that before breaking with math until Fall. I have to update our materials we've been using, as we have completed some things. Our Egypt study ran a little longer, so we are finishing that up this week.

I had picked up a book called "Earth Child 2000" by Kathryn Sheehan and Mary Waidner, Ph. D. at Borders a few weeks ago. The cover states "Earth Science for Young Children Games, Stories, Activities, and Experiments" It is intended for younger ages (Elementary grades) but it is still a really neat book. Everything can be added to for my kids ages, so we're going to start with that next week. I've been writing out a plan/schedule for that as well. And looking up books from the library to add into our learning. Plus whatever books we have at home to go along with each "unit".

As we've been finishing up things, I've been listing them for sale. I am trying hard to clear out my shelves with things we're completely finished with, and also things I've had forever and that I KNOW we aren't going to use. I don't really need to make room for next year's books as I already have just about everything. I just want nicer, more organized shelves. :)

So that's about all that's happening here. We are waiting to hear from Dh's drs. about when he will be having surgery on his knee. It is kind of hard to really plan anything right now, not knowing that date yet. So hopefully they'll get the approval soon from the insurance company.

Getting ready for some snow!

Well we are "supposed" to be getting hit with a winter storm here this week. Calling for possibly up to 8" of snow, plus maybe sleet or freezing rain. Can do without the latter for certain! But the snow we are looking forward to.

School-wise, last week was a bust. We've all had colds and felt miserable... so we didn't do much of anything at all but sat wrapped in blankets and drinking lots of juice and hot tea. Towards the end of the week, I was feeling tons better.. so I started some decluttering. I cleaned out my spices. Tossed a bunch that were VERY old. Made a new list of what I need from the store. I cleaned out the BIG junk drawer in the hutch in the kitchen. Tossed stuff from there and put all the odds and ends into containers. Now I am moving on to magazines. I have the past 6+ years of Family Fun magazines stored in magazine holders. So I started going through these. Last night I went through about 20 while watching the Grammy Awards. So they are in a bag waiting for their new owner to come pick them up. LOL

We have our King Tut tickets!! Can't wait. We are going on the 21st, then staying overnight and check out some other attractions (Liberty Bell, etc) on the 22nd. Amanda is mad because I didn't do the mega-fancy hotel. LOL But hey they charge for their high speed wireless, so I wasn't going to pay even MORE!! hehe But were we are staying is nice and cute. And hey, we're only going to be there for 1 night.. so no worries. So anyways, we are all looking for to a mini vacation.

This week we need to focus on just Math and History. We are slightly behind in both. History is of course Ancient Egypt. So we are going to really buckle down and get caught up there.

So off I go, we have to go grocery shopping today and get some goods stocked up.. just in case this storm really hits us hard. :-)

It's snowing!!

Its been a nice light flurrying here for a bit now. It's laying on the road even! So hopefully we'll get a bit on the ground before it passes by. Here are some pics. The first is looking out back by the apple orchard, the second is down teh driveway out to the road. :)

It's cold!!

Right now it is about 25 degrees, it feels like 19 with the little bit of wind blowing. I am freezing. We are *supposed* to get a winter storm blowing through this evening. Possibly some snow dropping, some areas might be getting freezing rain. :( I really hope this isn't so. Snow I am all for, all that other stuff.. ice, feezing rain, sleet.. we don't want it here.

Our school week finished off roughly. Friday Amanda was just terrible to be around. She was yelling about everything and at everyone. I had to ask her again if she wanted to go to school. I don't want to out her in PS.. but if she isn't happy homeschooling and wants to try it, I'll go along. But she doesn't want to, she just doesn't want to do *anything*. So she of course lost the one thing she does want.. her computer. Friday evening then she came down and asked if she could please have her computer back. I said "Yes, but you have to work for it." So she had to help me make dinner. And while was cooking, she had to help me do the day's dishes. After supper she wanted to make a cake mix I had from Tastefully Simple. So we did. The family watched a movie and ate the "ugly cake" (That's what the mix is called hehe). All was ok. She had to then help me do up the dinner dishes. THEN she could have her computer back for the rest of the night.

I thought all was ok.. until we went up to bed. She said goodnight to her dad, but ignored me. So Saturday I just stayed away from her, as the crabbiness continued. She was still nipping at everyone. But she did tell me goodnight and gave me a kiss at least :D Today is better, she is only fighting with her brother. *sigh*