Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom at the Cabin in Lakeside, AZ

I know you are in Heaven, Mom, and that your body no longer ages, but we're keeping track of your birthday's anyway. We just can't help it. It's what those of us still on Earth do when we grieve for those we've lost. We remember and celebrate the milestones that matter here. Probably a useless thing to do, but yet, we do it anyway.


So, here are some memories of my Mom.

Mom made all holidays a lot of fun. With 7 kids this was quite a challenge, but she always did a great job making these times special and memorable.

My Mom loved to have fun and enjoyed being silly. 
This was her famous "silly face". We call it Mom Silly now.

Mom and Me - Christmas 1972 - 
I wish I still had that bear, but with 6 siblings it got destroyed at some point.

All of us before we started leaving home.
One of the few photos of all of us together. 1987

At Mom's funeral we all honored her by doing our version of her Mom Silly face. All 7 of us kids together for the first time in many years.
Hopefully it won't be the last.

From Youngest to Oldest, Right to Left.
Alex, Tyrell, Morgan, Stacie, Ryan, Alissa, and Celeste (Me)

I love you, Mom. You are always in my heart. 
Happy Birthday!

Natural Law Parenting Introduction

In our studies of American Government, we have delved deeply into the concept of Natural Law (God's Law) as the founding father's basis for why they wrote founding documents for the United States of America and the thought processes behind what they wrote. This is important in determining the meaning behind what they wrote. Some books we have studied on this subject are The 5000 Year Leap and The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution by Cleon Skousen and Uncle Eric Books by Richard Maybury.

I liked the concepts so much that I began putting up signs around the house. My children began to repeat the concepts and I found we were using them in context with our house rules. (See PDF file at the bottom of this post.)

The Two Rules of Natural Law are:

1. Do all you have agreed to do.
2. Do not encroach on other persons or their property.

Within these Two Rules of Natural Law, we discovered that most smaller rules are included within the two main rules. This allowed us to streamline the family rules and make life a bit more calm. My parenting time has greatly lessened because we do not have to remember so many other tedious rules, tally points, or manage tedious consequences. The consequences of one's actions are also "natural" and fit the rule broken.

Some examples:

Family Work

When our family work assignments were originally given, my husband and I sat down with the family and described the new plan. All listened and gave input about the new plan. Some questions were asked and things were clarified. In the end, the entire family agreed to the new plan of the division of household assignments feeling positive about the arrangements and all were happy with the new assignments. 

As time went on, occasionally a member of the family neglects their duties. When discovered, someone would point to the chart of the Two Rules of Natural Law and say, "You have not done all you agreed to do." The child who has neglected their duties then needs to get in gear and catch up their work area. Sometimes, there is a disagreement about who has done what, leaving one person feeling slighted. I've discovered that if we simply go back over the timeline of assignments, it usually becomes pretty clear who has neglected their duties and who has not.

Computer Time

One area of constant complaint is computer time. We have only one laptop and everyone wants to use it pretty much all day. We determined a set computer schedule would benefit us the most, but there was a problem. Nayna needed the computer for online classes were Chris needed the computer for programming, but he does not have a set time when he needs the computer where Nayna does have set times to sign  in for classes. We had to develop a plan that would allow Nayna to be on the computer during her scheduled times, but still allow Chris to have blocks of programming time. I need time to do writing for curriculum and take care of church duties.

Over time, we discovered that sometimes people were encroaching on another person's scheduled time (sometimes this was Mom!). It was easy to point to the chart of the two main rules and say, "Are you encroaching on another person?"

Personal Space and Property

Another area of contention is the bathroom. We have teens and teens take up a lot more time in the bathroom than younger children. We have not needed to have a bathroom schedule...yet...but we do have problems with some people making more of a mess in the bathroom that others or using someone else's items in the bathroom or just plain taking forever!

We've been able to again apply the Two Rules of Natural Law to our household. If someone uses another's property, it needs to be replaced, cleaned, or tidied up. If someone takes too long, they have encroached on another person's time, they need to make up for that time. 

Resolving Encroachment Issues

We allow them to work out the problem among themselves until everyone is satisfied that the encroachment has been resolved. 

Some ways they have decided to work out Restitution have been:

• Replacing items used or damaged.
• Giving a monetary settlement.
• Offering a service to replace time lost when another person has encroached on their time or in household neglect.
• If the encroachment is small, sometimes a simple "I'm sorry" has sufficed.

Sending Sam Back to College

Over the past year since adopting this new and simpler method of parenting, I feel greatly encouraged by the growth in our family and the outcome as I find myself needing to intercede less and less. Some may argue this is because I have older children, which may be a valid argument. However, sometimes teens need more parenting than young children. Their problems and infractions are often more costly; physically, mentally, and spiritually.

I should point out that I do incorporate other methods into my parenting style like:

• Parenting With Love And Logic - I enjoyed this book because I learned to parent through simple logic rather than my emotions. When I step back and answer their feedback (both positive and negative) with logic, it teaches them the "why" behind the constant requests that parents make of them. What this book lacks, however, is the teaching of right and wrong.
• The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers New Edition: The Secret to Loving Teens Effectively - From this book, I learned that I needed to change my parenting when my children enter the teen years and to expect that change as a natural part of growing up.
• The 5 Love Languages of Children - I love this book because it makes me think of each child's personal needs and what they need to feel truly loved. A true gem for every parent.
• Parenting a House United - Teaching Self-Government - Through teaching my children to respond respectfully, I believe this book has taught us all how to be in opposition without offense. What this book lacks is the individual's need to respond with their grievances. She teaches that after one time of responding to a request they should just do it without question. I don't agree with that philosophy.
• The Great Behavior Breakdown - While this book is geared towards children with severe problems, I did find it most useful in explaining how parents react with Fear and Anger most of the time. What we need to do is parent from a point of Love. When we do, we get much better results, we show our unconditional love for our children, and we show them the proper way to handle problems in their lives. What this book lacks is clear teaching of right and wrong and does not come from a religious perspective.

Over the past 20 years as a parent, I just learned that I needed to simplify what I've digested from these books and methods into the larger picture of parenting from God's Law (Natural Law) and how that can be done with less stress and through a basis of Love. Children still face consequences, but rather than a specific consequence for a specific infraction, the children give restitution for the act itself. In other words, "the punishment fits the crime". I believe this leads to better teaching of right and wrong, true and false, good and bad. We have also found that the children are less angry because the restitution is typically decided among the injured party and themselves. The conflict between youth and parent becomes less and less as the parents become the mediators and not the jail wardens.

Society and Parenting
The trend in parenting in society is becoming more and more institutional. Parents look to day cares, nannies, babysitters, schools, and media to do the teaching. There is very little parenting time in most homes with children spending up to 10 hours a day in day cares, schools, and after care programs, then sleeping for 8 to 9 hours a night. This leaves the average parent with a maximum of 6 hours with their children, yet statistics say children typically watch 4-6 hours of television each day. TV has become the cheap babysitter and teacher.

This is in tune with Man Made Laws, not with Natural Law. Natural Law or God's Law would have the teaching of right and wrong be done within the family. Parenting through institutions was one of the key factors listed in the Communist Manifesto (see pages 24-27). As a mother, I encourage all parents to truly consider where their parenting style comes from and how it can be improved to promote love within the family and freedom in our country.

Getting it Together

When life throws you some curve balls, it can be hard to get back on track. Having challenges is part of life. We all have them at various times, some more than others it seems. With educating our children at home, we often find that difficult circumstances greatly alter our ability to stay with our education plan. We find ourselves detoured as we meet the challenges we face. Sometimes we are detoured far longer than we expected and it is easy to feel guilty, depressed, frustrated, or all of these things combined. If our trials have been of a very severe nature, like death, loss of job, new baby, etc. then we may find ourselves so discouraged that we may give up completely.

How do we overcome challenges that slow down our education?

1. First, realizing that everyone will face challenges in life at some point makes it a bit easier. We need not feel alone or that we are the only one. Yes, other people's challenges will be different than ours, the focus is on that everyone HAS challenges that derail their education at some point, even though they may be very different in nature.
2. Next, we need to not beat ourselves up over lost education time, passion for education, and loss in attitude towards education. When we face difficult trials in our lives, we turn to what is often called "survival mode". We cut back on things that are non-essential and turn towards getting through the day. This is a built in coping mechanism that is given to us by our creator to protect life first. We shouldn't feel guilty about doing this during the most difficult parts of our trials. Over time we can add more of the non-essentials back in. I know, how can education be non-essential? In terms of survival, education is not on the level of essentials, it takes back seat to food, shelter, safety, and personal relationships.
3. The first two steps are mental preparation and giving ourselves permission to cut back. The third step is to look forward to a return to our educational plan in a timely manner. Depending on the trial, it could be months before you can return to a full educational path. Trials that derail us completely like death, severe health problems, and a new baby will take the longest to recover from. Trials of a financial nature, discipline problems, moving, etc. will often take a change in attitude and a few weeks to get back on track. You are the only one that can determine when you are ready to return. Your children may even be very happy to be off-track! That will discourage any mother and make you wonder why you do it all. But, you will find that one day you will feel inspired to return to the schedule and you will feel the pull to bring the family back to the way of education that you need.
4. Once you feel that pull to return your family back to education, take some time to write notes or make a plan to ease back into the schedule. One of the most damaging things I've done in returning to our education plan was to "jump in with both feet". My children were suddenly told that the next day we were starting back to a full education schedule. It was a difficult day and I've learned since to add things in week by week rather than all at once. Usually it is the guilt that drives us to suddenly return to our education schedule in full force.

As we are getting it together after a month of trials, it feels good to get things back into action one step at a time. Our approach is to:

1. Pick a date we will begin returning to our education schedule. For us, that will be after our oldest goes back to college. We decided to extend our annual break a few more weeks to allow us to have more quality family time together. Normally I would start to feel guilty about this, but with so many deaths and health issues in the family, I think we need this extra time.
2. Decide what parts of our schedule are the most important to start first. One area that has crept in is a lot more entertainment than I normally allow. The first thing to change will be a reduction in our entertainment and to make the hours it is allowed to be firm again.
3. Make a plan for which week to add in schedule/rules to the plan. Our next schedule changes will be adding in devotional, kid school, and classes outside the home. These will have various start dates and will be added into the schedule with a plan in place, knowing that our schedule will steadily increase in demands.
4. Follow through with the plan to return to full education schedule. Knowing the plan helps everyone have an understanding of what is expected and when it will be expected. We typically discuss the schedule and the "step-up" plan a few weeks before we start it. Having the plan laid out helps everyone transition with a good attitude and makes the transition much less painful.

There will always be hiccups to any great plan. Learning to roll with it and adjust and tweak the plan as needed is important to remember. I'm feeling much better about our return to home education and hope to have a smooth transition.

Please share your tips and experience on getting back to home education after life's trials.

Fieldtrips in the Spring

Spring really is the best time to get out and explore nature. Everything is growing, sprouting, blooming, and just plain beautiful! Here are the last two fieldtrips we've been on in the past few of weeks.

Wilson Creek National Battlefield

Mike went with us on this fieldtrip. We were still staying in a hotel and he had not started work yet. It was a nice break from waiting around to move in to our house. I didn't know this, but the battle at Wilson Creek was the 2nd major battle in the Civil War and that Missouri was greatly divided between feelings for the North and South. In fact, they had troops fighting for BOTH sides. Enjoy some pictures of our visit. We'll have to go back now that the trees have their leaves.

Springfield Conservation Nature Center

A few days ago we decided to go to this free Nature Center. There are several hikes so we can return often and have several different adventures. The best part...it is all free! We saw wild turkeys, squirrels, caterpillars, several types of birds, and some frogs.

This is what the landscape looks like near our home. Many areas have been cleared of trees for farming and pastures for cattle and horses. We live in a pasture area that is now being turned into home sites.

Lumberjacks

With my recent accident in log splitting, I was very skeptical about Christian chopping wood. He convinced me that he had sufficient knowledge of safety precautions and that he would be careful. He also pointed out that Almonso in "Farmer Boy" was allowed to do a lot of things that are considered dangerous as part of his regular chores. (So much for using classic books as examples...he had me there!)


Of course, I was being careful too when I fell onto the log splitter and injured my hand! But, a mother has to put some trust in her children and allow them to learn and grow at some point. He is a careful boy and so I felt the need to cut him some slack and not smother him in his desire to WORK for the family.

He did a great job getting the wood started on Friday! Over the weekend Mike and Christian chopped a lot of wood. Our garage is extended by 6 feet and has an area for storing wood. They filled that area and we still have more to split. Too bad the rest of us are too sick to help right now. We could at least stack for them. Maybe next weekend.

Walnut Canyon

Walnut Canyon is a beautiful place! We tried to stop there once before, but we had our dog with us and dogs are not allowed in. So, we scratched it that day and put it on the list for another outing. Our goal is to go to one National Monument/Park, or other place of interest, each week. There are so many places within an hour drive we just can't help but see them all.

Marly inside a cliff dwelling.

Chris calling out to hear the echoes in the canyon.

Throwing grapes at mom because he doesn't want his picture taken during snack break.

Week 21

This week we took most of it off from "official school" and decided to take a week to enjoy being together. Sam came up for the week and we wanted to show her around. Please see our other posts (Boom Baby!) to see what we were up to this week.

This week in pictures...
Sam Rained out at Cinder Lake

Marly at Homeschool Park Day

Chris at Homeschool Park Day

Boom Baby!

Nearly every day has met with rain in the past two weeks. I love rain, so I am not disappointed. We have tried to enjoy the weather as much as possible since we are SOOO happy to be away from the oppressive heat of the desert that we have lived in for the past ten years. Here is a little video of our last attempt to go hiking...

I love the sounds of gentle thunder and small flashes of lightening. We are so much closer to the clouds that it often seems MUCH louder than when we lived in the desert.

What's "Hop"pening...

Dust Bathing Chicks

Chris filmed some funny video of our 4 week old chickens...(P.S. Brother Cluff, we hope you see this one. You are a great scout leader and we appreciate the example you were to our son!)

Bunny Walk

We were given this sweet, adorable Mini Rex bunny named Little Jim yesterday from Freecycle. He is a very domesticated and social bunny. Thank you Linda Rae, Corey and Justin for allowing us to give him a good home. We love him already! He is so incredibly soft and cuddly.

Other News

Good news! Mike is getting promoted. He was notified today that starting June 1st he will be on his own route. This is very good news for us and much sooner than was expected. We are very thankful to Heavenly Father for providing us with this opportunity. I know that He is looking out for us, even if things do not go perfectly and we have trials and tribulations along the way. We feel very blessed despite the setbacks we are experiencing in other ways.

April Showers? or Just Windy?

April Showers Anyone?

Where are the April Showers? We have either had snow or blasting wind that closes highways and rattles windows at night. I do not remember so much wind the last time we lived here. I know the weather patterns seem to have changed a little bit in the last few years...but this is ridiculous! I hope we get a few showers in to help keep the forest green over the summer. We saw a lot of smoke yesterday due to a forest fire.

Finding Joy!

It was one of my goals this year to focus on happiness and joy in life. I can say that I am happy, even through the trials and tribulations. I have learned, thanks to previous trials and tribulations, to be patient and realize that things could be a lot worse. Really, things are very good! After watching April General Conference, I felt that despite our economic hardships, everything else is really, REALLY GOOD!

We are very busy in our new home with getting the land "fire safe". The previous occupants let the back 3/4 acre become very overgrown. We have worked on the weeds, but the wind keeps blowing our neatly piled weeds around. We have tried to burn the weeds but cannot because of high winds, I had to get a burn permit and I call every day to see if we can burn. So, we stopped working on that for now and pray that the winds will cease long enough for us to get the weeds gone!

The flower bed is planted with seeds and Marly diligently waters it every day. Our eight chicks have more than doubled in size and are now living in their remodeled coop. We do not let them outside much yet because we are afraid they will blow away! They are not big enough to handle the wind yet.

We found a local homeschool group...there are five other homeschool families in our ward alone. We have been excited to have so many "close by"...meaning within 20 minutes drive. LOL! There are TONS of teens here. There are 40 young women and about 15 young men in our ward. They have all welcomed Marly and Chris with open arms and invited them to lots of things already. The boys are particularly happy to have another boy so they are not so outnumbered.

I hope to get some more pics up soon. I have just been so busy...

Spring Break

We are having a truly awesome Spring Break! I wish I could post pictures, but Sam took the camera with her to her dad's before I could download the pics. Oops! The only huge bummer about this trip was that Mike was working the whole time and could not go with us.

We took off to cooler country...but not that much cooler! It was 70 degrees in Flagstaff while we were there. Oh well, at least it does not get over 100 there. We spent time exploring the countryside and visited the Sunset Crater Volcano and Walnut Canyon in Northern Arizona.

Sunset Crater Volcano - This was really neat, especially since we just read the book and saw the movie for Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Of course, the movie is NOTHING like the book. In the book, they describe the lava fields and entering the dormant volcano. We could totally picture what it was like since we could see it in real life. Very cool! If you ever get a chance, don't forget to take an hour out of your way to see it! We did not hike too much, but there is a 1/2 mile hike further up to see more. Oh, and they don't allow dogs on the hiking trails! :-( It was sad to lock Maggie up in the car.

Walnut Canyon - We have seen the turn-off for Walnut Canyon several times and never taken the time to go. It is right off I-40 and closer than I thought. Marly was not up to taking the 240 stairs down to see the actual cliff dwellings, but we'll attempt it another time when she is feeling better. There is a short Rim Trail that allows you to see the caves from the opposite rim. I wish I had known more about this because we would have brought binoculars. We'll remember to bring them next time! Again, a very cool place to stop and see. Dogs are not allowed there either.

We are so lucky that Marly has a Golden Access Pass that was given to her when we went to the Grand Canyon a few years ago. She was restricted to a walker at the time and we inquired about handicap services. The next thing we know, they are handing us this free life-time pass for her to get into ANY National Park for free. It is for her and up to 4 people. So, needless to say, we take advantage of owning this pass.

2009 - Week 5 - This Week in Homeschooling

In addition to Marly and Chris's babysitting job, Chris has been sick with a sinus infection this week. The level of his education was greatly effected this week and we hope he will get better soon!

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lesson 12 - We spent the entire week on the Atonement.
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
• Read Aloud Book - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (and my kids THINK they have chores)
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last week's words - New Words - winsome, meager, haughty, foster
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - The Winston Grammar Program: Basic Level - Word Roots Level A A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - Respiratory System - Usborne Science Encyclopedia pg. 358-359, How the Body Works pg. 69-77, Human Anatomy Coloring Book p. 218-23 (College level book - we do not memorize the terminology, but the detailed diagrams are really good).
  
• P.E. - Daily dog walks. Chris was too sick to do much else.
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters 9-11
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Unit 2 Test, online math drills
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-18, Molly Moon Stops the World, Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure, The Hounds of the Baskerville's (1st half)
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1, 1-38 thru 1-39 (1st half)
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (still working on this one), The Love Dare (a 40 day challenge so I'll be reading this one every day for awhile - see this movie "Fireproof"), Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning (studying up on the levels of Scholar Phase to present to the family next week)
  
• Projects - cleaning and perfecting my bread making skills. See my favorite recipe at The Solar Cook.
  

The Baby is the School

This week we are tending the baby, and sometimes the youngest three, of a sister I visit teach since she is on bed rest right now. We are having a great time! My children do not have any little siblings and so having these three (ages 4, 2, and 6 months) has been a fantastic learning experience for Marly and Chris. I read something once about homeschooling families that have babies and how they incorporate the baby into school. It really struck me that my kids are missing out on that. But, thanks to this service opportunity, we are able to include this as our life skills.

"Baby School" skills:

• Diaper changing
• Playing with younger children
• Bottle preparation and feeding
• Burping a baby
• Rocking a baby
  

In addition to "Baby School", we are working on:

• Devotional - New Era - Dec. 2008
• Do Together - Listening to the last 1/2 of Stave 3 and Stave 4 of "A Christmas Carol". We really need to finish this soon. We have book club at our house tomorrow on this!
• Read-A-Loud - History - Story of the World vol. 1- Chapter 30 "Ancient India"
• Chris - Reading - Calvin & Hobbes, Math - more geometry practice on area of a trapezoid and area of a triangle, Life skills - cooking science (he is getting really good at cookies), Science - Rabbit 4-H Project.
  
• Marly - Finished final exam for Math-U-See Delta - 97%! She finished a whole year of math in 3 months. Reading - "Turnabout", "Hunted", and "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" by Mark Twain. Science - Rabbit 4-H project.
  
• Me - I'm a little behind in my grading with the extra kids here. Planning for teen book club meeting tomorrow. Reading - "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis, "The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook" by Raymond Moore, and "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer.
  

Chores - FlyLady Zones

I posted some things a while ago about home organization, family work, and chores. I have heard from a couple people asking details so here goes:

Our chores list is rotated on a daily basis. I personalized a list from FlyLady.com. I do not do everything she suggests...that would drive me crazy...but I took some lists of chores by Zone and made our own zones. In our home the zones are:

• Zone 1 - Dining/breakfast area - sweep (includes kitchen floor), clean table, clean sliding door as needed, tidy china cabinet
• Zone 2 - Kitchen - Dishes, counters, wipe down cabinets & appliances when needed (this is the hardest zone that everyone dreads)
• Zone 3 - Children's Bathroom - Everything in bathroom
• Zone 4 - Family Room - Vacuum (includes hallways), dust, tidy room

This does not include laundry room or master bedroom and bathroom - which are my additional areas. Each child is also in charge of their room every day. I also tried a laundry schedule that has not been perfected yet. This is Monday through Friday with Myself having Zone 2 twice a week. I rotate myself through so that every four days the room gets a really "good" cleaning. They have to do their zone at least 3 times a day: before school, after school, and before bed. If there is a big mess then I call them in to clean their zone an extra time.

Saturday is our extra deep cleaning day and the zones are rotated so that we have each zone once a month. If I had more children or a larger home I would probably add more zones or break up zones.

My children are now middle and high school. When I started this they were much younger. I helped them do some of the harder things or allowed their "best job". Over time they grew to be able to manage everything on the list.

Someone first sent me a link to FlyLady.com about 5 years ago, I think, when my kids were 6, 8, and 11. She helped me to think of things in a more organized way - which I so desperately needed!

Yes For Marriage - Prop 102

I am excited to post about this topic. It is something that I did not understand fully - the difference between a law and an amendment to our state constitution. I now understand that laws can be overturned by judges. We have a law in Arizona that states that marriage is between a man and a woman. This could easily be overturned by a judge. However, if we vote YES for Prop 102 it will make an amendment to our state constitution which cannot be overturned. This states that marriage is between one man and one woman. That's it! Simple, plain, and true!

Vote YES on Proposition 102 - Yes for Marriage Blog

Arizonan's must register by October 6th in order to vote this year. Our country and state has many important issues to vote on this year. The two most important being a new President and Proposition 102.

Get out and vote on November 4th. It is our R I G H T and our D U T Y as citizens of the United States of America, the most free country on this planet. I have been blessed by my Father in Heaven to be born and live in this great country. I feel deeply my duty to uphold the correct moral principles, the same moral principles that our founding fathers created our country to protect. These moral principles are part of God's Law.

If you are LDS or you would like to know where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands on this issue - Check out this news release. Our church has joined with other churches to stand firm on this issue.

Today's Newspaper Article - About Us!

I could not find a webpage of the article about homeschooling that we are in, so I took pictures of the pages.





The article is pretty accurate to the essay I submitted. The reporter edited it a little, but in all it is a fair representation of why we homeschool. We look awfully excited don't we! It was weird to have the photographer just snapping away while we were doing our regular day. Except...we wore day clothes not PJ's!

First Day of School

Here are a few pictures of our first day of home school this year:

As you can see, Chris did not want his picture taken.

Marly basically humored me. She did not like how her hair looked and really did not want me to take her picture.

In order to get their pictures, I had to agree to allow mine to be taken as well. We had a great first day and we are getting back into the swing of things. I was excited to begin and invite the kids along. We are focusing on Genealogy as part of our writing and literature curriculum. The kids were interested in how we are going to do that and were also excited about the biology books, microscope, slides, and other science tools we are using this year. Our website has more on what we are doing this year for home school.

Sam is staying with her Dad for most of the month of August. She also started her first day as a Junior in high school. This is the first year that I have not been part of her first day of school. She is sixteen and so old enough not to need me really, it is just the principle of it that is hard for me. I feel like I am being forced to let go of her about 2 years too soon. I was not prepared to have to let go of a 16 year old. I thought I would have until she was 18.