Busy, busy...

Well it's been quite a busy week here at the Simpson house! We haven't really been out of the house much, but there has been lots to keep me busy. Let me share a few tidbits on what's been keeping me occupied (and sometimes frazzled if I wanted to be honest)...

One major thing that has been going on since my hubby came home from the field is the extra occupant in our bedroom. See, Joey was sleeping with me while hubby was away (a bad habit I know but I hate sleeping alone) and even though we put him in his room at bedtime, we would wake up in the morning to see he had brought his pillow and blanket to the foot of our bed to sleep. Apparently he was waking sometime in the night and coming into our room. So it started with him sleeping on his mattress on the floor and ended several weeks ago with his bed in our room. I know, call me a lazy parent if you want, but after a long day the last thing I wanted to be doing was spending my down time dragging him back to his own room repetitively. So, we caved. That said, we really didn't have space for his bed in our room. Sooo I decided one day last week to move my office area into the dining room to free up some space. It made sense to do even without his bed in our room just because my desk rarely gets used because I can never seem to sneak away. Now ALL of our homeschool stuff is in ONE AREA and I can sit at my desk and work (with headphones in listening to classical to block out noise) on my school work, grading or whatever! Naturally, I had to do all the moving, rearranging and organizing myself since hubby couldn't help. I got it all done and both rooms squared away in about 6-7 hours one afternoon. I even took apart, moved, and reassembled furniture. Here is the desk/bookcase I moved out of the bedroom:

My IKEA desk

And here is where it is now (sorry I don't have a photo of the desk actually in the space yet). It's now in the left corner, with the shelf against the back wall and the desktop running parallel to the sliding glass door:

It really does look pretty good, even though now the living area doesn't seem quite as roomy as it once did. Also, I spent all last week writing and tweaking a paper for my class. The class is the required intro class all new students are required to take and is called Personal Dimensions in Education. I have actually learned several things that I think are going to help me tremendously in my core classes. We have covered study skills, learning styles, several theories about learning and development, researching and finding credible sources, and the writing process among other things. Anyhow, my first paper that I wrote for the second week in the class didn't get as good a grade as I had hoped it would, so I worked super hard on this one. I communicated back and forth with my TA for the class and she has helped tremendously. I think this paper might just get an A! Of course, the week isn't officially over til Monday evening and I'm sure the TA will take a few days to grade the papers, so I will be on pins and needles waiting to see how I did. My paper was about Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences and how it applies to my own learning experiences. It was a very interesting research process and I learned a lot about myself in writing it. Anyhow, as of right now, after 3 weeks of classwork has been graded, I have a 94 A average, so I'm happy. My next class is PSY 202: Adult Growth and Development. Should be interesting! I start November 1st.

Also, speaking of school, my financial aid was disbursed this week (sigh of relief)! I had been seeing a lot of comments on the AU facebook page from students who weren't getting their funds in their accounts on time, so I was slightly worried. No, I am not attending school just for the loan money, but I am not going to lie, we need the extra and we have a huge amount of things that have gone by the wayside since our pay has been short since we arrived here in April. So I called the financial aid department in Thursday (my disbursement was scheduled for Tuesday) to check on it. I found out that yes, they were behind on processing disbursements because of some glitch in their system, so they were processing each account manually. The woman I spoke to told me to keep checking my account and that they would get it processed as soon as possible. I also double checked to make sure all my paperwork was in order and that there was nothing on my end that might cause a delay. Lo and behold, Friday afternoon I got an email saying my funds had posted to mt student account. They have 14 days now to send my excess funds to Sallie Mae to be direct deposited, but it is usually done by the following week. So this time next week, I should have my money! It's a good thing too because 2 kids need coats, 2 need shoes, all the boys need winter clothes, we all need to go to the dentist and I need to go see the optometrist, among other things.

Homeschooling is moving right along, although we didn't do much formal learning last week. Two mornings I woke up to find Drew and Isaiah curled up with Wimpy Kid books on the couch, so I left them be. It's a rare thing, especially for Isaiah so I was tickled to see them doing it on their own! That's what homeschooling is all about. Next week, we do need to get back to the books, however. That's what I will be doing all day tomorrow - prepping their assignment binders for the coming week.

Well this turned into quite a LONG post, sorry about that! Hoping everyone has a great week :)

Blessings,

Cassie

Weekly Wrap up – Week 5

Let me start this weekly wrap-up by saying this was a tough week. I can’t pinpoint any one reason, I think we are all just itching for our upcoming end-of-term break! It didn’t help that I got sick Friday (stomach bug) and haven’t quite gotten back to normal yet…

This week did, however, have some fun highlights that I am happy to share:

Being that both of the boys are studying plants right now, they were able to collaborate on a science lab this week.

Our lab involved germinating bean sprouts and planting them. The above photos were taken after the beans had been wrapped in wet paper towels and stored in a baggie for 24 hours. It’s hard to see, but on some of them, there was evidence of the shells breaking open in order to let the growing sprouts out.

These photos were taken yesterday before we planted our sprouts in dirt and labeled them to observe over the next week or so. You can see that each bean has a fully formed sprout growing out of it. We did a lima bean, a lentil, and a great northern so we could compare the differences. Now they are in their clear containers. We set them out in front of the patio door for a few hours each day so that they can get the sunlight they need to make food and grow!

Right now, Drew is doing Science the Well-Trained Mind way, utilizing a book called “How Nature Works” and our Usborne Internet-linked Science Encyclopedia. I will be getting a few Apologia books this coming week to try out, and one of them is the Elementary Botany book. So we are excited to try it out! Isaiah is using the “Great Science Adventures” books to do Biology this year. I had never heard of these, but they were recommended via TWTM, and once I saw that they incorporated Dinah Zike’s foldables, I was sold! This past week was his first week, and he really seems to be enjoying it so far. Next week I will show you some pictures of the minibooks he has been working on.

Jazz had a bit of a slow paced week, as I had found some things that she needed some extra help with as I was grading her work last weekend. So we took some time to do some extra practice with divisibility in Math and did some extra sentence diagramming worksheets. I tried to find some fun, different ways to review these things, but sometimes you just need to practice, practice, practice!

Joey has been really good this past week and I think he is starting to adjust better to entertaining himself while we are getting schoolwork done. Daddy was home on Wednesday and Thursday, as usual, and brought some laughter to our evenings…

Friday, we didn’t do school because I was miserably sick. I am still fighting off a mean stomach bug and I’m hoping by tomorrow I will be back to normal. Luckily, no one else has shown any signs of getting sick, so here’s hoping!

See you next week!

Weekly Wrap-up (our first 3 weeks)

It’s Thursday evening here, and man I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday! I haven’t posted any updates yet to share how the new school year is going because I have been so busy and just plain worn out!

I am amazed at the difference one more student in our homeschool makes. The fact that she is almost a high-schooler and has never been homeschooled makes things that much more interesting (and challenging). But I’ll share more about that later.

In the hustle and bustle of getting adjusted to new curriculums and new ways of doing things, we haven’t been able to enjoy a whole lot of the “fun stuff” I always try to incorporate into our days. The few projects we have attempted failed miserably. For example, our ming bowls…

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Although the kids did a very good job molding them and thoroughly enjoyed the process, the clay we used shrank up while drying. This resulted in a few cracks. Ok, I thought, no big deal. We can use fresh clay to patch them up! Then this curious little monkey came along…

Since we had our projects drying on the table, right at his eye level, he just couldn’t resist touching. Long story short, the cracks became complete breaks that were beyond repair :( We had planned on redoing them, but we just didn’t have the time. Which brought a thought to mind: We definitely need a high up, out of reach shelf hanging on the wall to keep things like this safe from exploring hands. The kids were pretty bummed we didn’t even get a chance to paint and glaze our creations.

One fun activity we did get to complete was trying to reproduce different forms of Chinese pictograms. The kids each chose 3 characters and painted both the early and modern forms on page.

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Now I think it would be nice to share a little bit about each of the kids’ studies and how they are doing so far.

Isaiah – 8

Isaiah has gotten to the point with his reading where he is hitting a wall, actually it’s more like a plateau. So we have been doing things other than our BJU Phonics and Reading 1 program. the first new thing we are trying is ETC Online. This is working out pretty well, and I am seeing improvement with his basic phonics skills. The second part of our new approach is using Rocket Phonics. At the HOTM conference last week, Dr. Guffanti (the creator of Rocket Phonics) shared a lot of great info about Kinethetic learners, and I got to ask him some questions about reading. So after listening to him talk about incorporating games and motion into your curriculum, especially when a subject is tough for the child in question, I decided to give it a try. So we started working through the lessons and games in Rocket Phonics this past Monday. So far, we are mostly reviewing the skills he has already learned. But he is really enjoying it and is able to actually sit and “do” reading for about 30-40 minute sessions daily without losing focus or getting frustrated. I think we have a winner! Isaiah is doing a lot more things on the computer now as part of my attempt to make his learning more engaging and exciting.

Drew – 10

Speaking of reading, I’m just dying to share a little Mommy brag. Drew has always been a pretty strong reader, but has never really enjoyed the process of reading. I have purchased any number of highly recommended books for boys his age, but none of them have really produced the enthusiasm I have been working for. The other day we went to the bookstore and I allowed the boys to choose a book. Drew recently read a few superman comics, graphic novels actually, and kept bringing me these $20 books. Of course, I was not planning on buying him a $20 book, so we went over to the young reader’s section. I happened to see the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, which I have heard lots of good things about. I talked him into it and we left to go get dinner.

This child read the book through dinner, on the way home, and for an hour after we got home! He kept giggling and rereading parts to me and his brother. He went to bed soon after, and I looked where he had placed his bookmark – he had read 65pp in just a few hours!! he read more today and is now over halfway through the book. It was a beautiful sight to come downstairs after waking up this morning to see both my boys, not vegging on the couch watching cartoons, but READING!! I am LOVING it!

Besides the reading progress, we have also changed latin programs for Drew. I realized, halfway through level 2 of Latin’s Not So Tough, that it was teaching him whole-to-parts latin instead of the parts-to-whole that the WTM recommends. So, we are now doing the Big Book of Lively Latin, and though it has been a bit more challenging for him, we are both learning way more from one week of this program than we did in 2 months of doing the previous program.

Drew is also really enjoying doing Logic stage Biology ala TWTM. He has not complained once about a single Science assignment, even when he is required to read and outline (he dictates, I type or write) from the Usborne IL Science Encyclopedia. I was worried about that being too challenging of a read for him, but he is grasping the material beautifully this far!

Jasmine – 13

Overall, Jasmine is doing well. We are having some issues with breaking some of her public-school, one in a classroom of 30 students mentality. She has shown at times that if something is too hard or takes too long, she won’t finish it. She has had a few days where she has had double assignments in a subject because she neglected to finish the work on the day it was originally assigned.

She does, however, take great notes for her notebooking pages in History, although I think we are going to be working on learning some outlining skills as I think she is being a bit too thorough and missing some of the key information. My goal is for her notes/outlines to be all she needs in order to study for an evaluation at the end of a week or a chapter. So far, she hasn’t done well on tests.

She has really been enjoying doing the transparencies for her TOG atlas assignments, though I am disappointed that she isn’t enjoying doing her timeline activities more. I am hoping this will change as she continues to adjust to homeschooling. Her writing thus far has been really good, and though she needs to hone her grammatical skills, her creativity is inspiring. She does a great job of getting her thoughts down onto the paper.

We also started our formal Latin and Logic studies this week, using materials from Classical Academic Press: Latin Alive level 1 and The Art of Argument. She seems to be enjoying these and while the Latin is pretty intense, between it and Lively Latin, Mom is getting a crash course! We are still wading through the introductory material from AofA, but she seems very pumped about learning how to argue logically and identify fallacies. I am really glad we are going through this program together, cause I have a feeling she is going to be pointing out the shaky arguments of everyone in the house. I will be prepared!! LOL

So I hope that gives you a decent idea of what’s been going on the past few weeks around here. As for me, this post has taken much longer to write than I had anticipated, and it’s now very much past my bedtime! I hope you had a great week and an even better weekend…

Blessings,

Weekly Wrap Up – Pregnancy Update Week 7- Hello Blog Walkers!

What a title huh? I haven’t been blogging very regularly, and I have a few things to cover, but fortst of all I would like to say HELLO! to all who are visiting my blog through the TOS Blog Walk! This is the 4th week of the walk and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I have been visiting my fellow crew member’s blog every week and have been adding you all to my subscriptions as I go. You can check out the other TOS crew members’ blogs here:

1. King Alfred Academy
2. Confessions of An Organized Homeschool Mom
3. Curriculum Reviews from Oak Creek Farmhouse
4. I Can't Decide
5. My Life on A Taffy Pull
6. Losing My Tale
7. Made in His Image
8. Serenades and Solace
9. Our Village is a Little Different
10. SisterTipster's Tell'n It!

Well this week was pretty slow as far as school goes (it is the summer after all), but we have still had a very busy week. Last Saturday we went to our local fireworks display and I got to try out the fireworks setting on my new Canon Powershot…

As you can see, it’s a tricky thing to take good fireworks shots. I had to hold the camera very still, and being that I neglected to bring my tripod along, the photos came out a bit blurry. Oh well! I am sure I’ll get better shots next time.

Also this week, my hubby made a trip to MEPS to sign his Army contract and take his oath. So the kids and I, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law and her kids were all there to watch the swearing in ceremony and take pictures.

We are all very proud of him! It has been a long process for him to get to this point (because of needing a dependent waiver for such a big family) but now he is officially a member of the US Army! Actually, his official status is US Army Reserves, until he reports to basic training in November. It’s a relief to have this part of the process finished and know when and where his training is going to be. Unfortunately because of his delayed entry status, he is going to be in training over Thanksgiving, but will get a few days leave for Christmas. When the baby comes, he will be in AIT, so he won’t be able to be here for the birth. But that’s ok, I have a lot of family and friends who will be there, and though his presence will be missed, that’s the sacrifice you make sometimes to be a military family.

Speaking of pregnancy, my spotting has really decreased this past week, and I even have has a few days where I have had no spotting at all. No more bright red bleeding, so that’s been a huge relief. As far as we know, baby #5 is still doing fine and hanging in there. My next OB appointment is at the end of July, so we will know more than and I am hoping to have another u/s scheduled then so we can see what’s going on with the hemorrhage and that second sac they spotted. Until then, I am taking it easy and taking good care of myself.

The last major event of this past week was not a pleasant one. Drew, once again, got poison oak from climbing trees. Uuugh! Will this child ever learn?! The worst part of it is, we didn’t realize it until one whole side of his face was covered with a red, swollen rash. It was pretty bad for a few days, but then we started him on Zyrtec, and it seems to be helping him a lot. We are also cleansing the rashy areas with Tecnu soap daily and applying Caladryl as needed to help with the itch. He’s looking pretty good today and hasn’t complained a bit, so I think it’s in the process of drying up and healing, THANK GOD! I really hate dealing with poison oak/ivy. I have already told him now multiple times NO MORE CLIMBING TREES!! LOL Luckily it didn’t spread to much and it hasn’t been contracted by anyone else in the house, so I am counting my blessings.

Next week is the last week of our summer term, then we are taking 2 weeks off before the “official” start of our school year. Drew will be spending those 2 weeks with his grandmother (on his Father’s side) on the east coast, having fun in the sun and swimming in the ocean. The rest of us will be here. Boo hoo! Just kidding, he really looks forward to these summer visits and has been counting down the days. This will be his first time flying as an unaccompanied minor, so I’m a little nervous. But I know he will be well taken care of and he has flown several times before, so it’s not a new thing for him. Please be praying for his safe arrival next Saturday afternoon!

SO that’s about it for our week! I hope you had a great one and are spending this holiday weekend with people you love! Have a blessed week!

Pregnancy Update – 6 weeks

Wow what a crazy, stressful week it’s been. I haven’t shared the details here previously, and I won’t get too deep into it now, but I have a history of recurrent miscarriage. I had 5 miscarriages before I found out I was expect Joey in August of 2007. I was never given a reason why. It was a devastating time for me, when I wanted another child so badly. So I did the only thing I knew to do – I prayed. I prayed like crazy and went to the altar for prayer at church whenever I got the chance. I just knew that God wanted to bless us with another child, and in His time, it would happen.

When I found out I was expecting that August, I immediately called dozens of ObGyns. I told them all my long, heartbreaking story, hoping one of them would say something, anything to give me a glimmer of hope. That’s when I found the awesome Drs and nurses at Caring for WOmen’s Health. They agreed it was imperative that I come in right away to see what could be done to make sure I did not experience another loss.

Long story short, I ended up seeing an awesome CNM and she and her fellow physicians treated me for several possibilities. I was immediately started on once daily progesterone supplements, baby asprin, and twice daily injections of Heparin. Something in that medical cocktail did the trick, because 9 months later, I was holding a beautifully healthy baby boy in my arms.

When I found out I was expecting again a few weeks ago, I immediately called my previous CNM, only to learn that she and the NP had left the practice and joined another. So I called and made an appointment. I will get to go in for my first pre-natal visit tomorrow afternoon.

But this past Saturday, a terrible thing happened. I started spotting. I took it easy for a couple of days, and when it seemed to have stopped, i resumed my usual activities. At the end of the day, I was horrified to have gone to the restroom and see more bright red blood than I had seen several days before. The next morning, i called the dr’s office and spoke to the nurse, She told me to immediately call my midwife and tell her what was going on, so I did.

The poor lady, I ended up talking to her 4 different times throughout the day. She thought it would be a good idea to call in a prescription for the hormones I needed and get started on them right away. At one point, my bleeding got heavier and I was almost ready to go to the ER. Then it tapered off again. Since I wasn’t in any pain, and the bleeding wasn’t heavy (like my previous miscarriages), I decided to rest at home and wait it out.

Today I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. I was in bed for almost 24 hours, with an occasional trip to the kitchen or the restroom. The bleeding wasn’t stopping or slowing down. We called a friend to come stay with the kids and off to the ER we went. It was NOT the place I wanted to be, but I had to have some answers.

After spending 3 hours in the ER, and receiving the warmest, most professional care I have ever had from an Emergency room, I have my answers!

The bleeding is not being cause by an impending miscarriage. In fact, the baby is doing quite well, we even got to see it’s little heart fluttering away on the ultrasound screen! However, they did find the source of the bleeding – I have a small subchorionic hemorrhage. This is basically a blood clot that has formed between the uterine wall and the placenta. It can be dangerous, but 90% of all pregnancies with this condition go on to deliver healthy babies.

I am anxious to talk with my midwife tomorrow and find out if I will have to decrease my activities, or be on bedrest, until the hemorrhage resolves on it’s own. But for now, it feels so good to know that my little blessing is alive and well and that there is an explanation for the bleeding I am having.

I will make sure to keep posting updates as I learn more, but for now, I thought you may enjoy seeing baby #5 for the first time ever!

The arrow is pointing to where the little heart was beating!

 

The other bit of news is pretty shocking – there was a second sac found by the us tech, although at this time, there doesn’t appear to be anything inside. That may or may not change as things progress and the baby(s) have more time to grow and develop. I am too shocked and overwhelmed right now to even share with you how I am feeling about this possibillity, but I am very happy to know that I have at least one healthy lil embryo floating around!

Blessings,

Happy Father’s Day to my husband…

My husband is an all around great guy, and not many people dislike him. But around here, we are pretty fond of him. Why you ask?

• He is always up for a round of roughhousing with the big boys, or playing cars with the lil man,
• He works very hard, and goes to a job he doesn’t enjoy and pays very little, just to take care of us,
• He always tells us he loves us,
• He gives great hugs,
• He’s great at changing diapers, brushing little teeth, and clipping little nails and never complains about doing any of it,
• He takes the time to talk to our children and teaches them why right is right and wrong is wrong,
• He loves Jesus,
• He vacuums, cooks, and dusts when I just don’t have the motivation,
• He enjoys opportunities to teach our children life skills and pass on his wisdom to them,
• He loves us an awful lot,
• He puts our needs above his own,
• He always makes us laugh,
• He plays video games with us,
• He reads the stories we write and looks at the pictures we draw and tells us, “Good job!”
• He is just as comfortable with a newborn baby as he is a 10 or 13 year old,

• He enjoys spending time with us,
• He can fix just about anything,
• The list goes on!

We are so very lucky to have him in our lives and want to wish him a very Happy Father’s Day! Later on, the kids and I will be cleaning the van inside and out for him, and I am planning on making him a coconut cream pie for dessert. I wish we could do more but I know he will be pleased nonetheless!

Hoping you and yours a wonderful Father’s Day!

These are a few of my favorite things – Blog Hop 5.18.2010

Yes, it’s time for another Homeschool Blog Hop! This week’s theme is “My Favorite Things”

Of course the top on my list is JESUS! In a very close second are these characters:

  And in no particular order, here are some other things I am pretty fond of…

 

My laptop and internet connection…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My awesome bread machine that my Mommy got me for my birthday…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cell phone with internet access…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOKS, BOOKS, and umm, more BOOKS!!

 

 

Yes, I could go on and on, but then I would sound more and more materialistic, LOL. Which I am totally NOT!! This was a fun meme to do, can’t wait to see what other things people love! Make sure you check out the other bloghop posts below…

Blessings,

Lots of fun changes!

As I shared in my last post, this is a busy time of year for us. One thing we have really needed is new living room furniture. We used to rent-to-own our living room furniture, but after hubby lost his job last year, we were no longer able to afford the extra expense. So after we returned our living room set, we were left with a hand-me-down recliner. Thankfully, we were given a loveseat by friends, and that is what we have had for over a year now. We purchased a cheap set of end tables from Walmart to get us by. Last year we really wanted to purchase a new couch, but I just couldn’t bear to spend so much on one item. This year, we decided to look around to see if we could find something used in our price range that would meet our needs and cost us under $500. The first store we went to, we found just what we needed. We ended up with a very nice, clean sofa and loveseat set for $375!! They also had a really neat bookcase that I just had to have for $75.

They delivered our things this past Monday and I completely love our new living space. But before I show you what our living room looks like now, let me show you some before and during photos.

This is our living room before as it has been since we moved here in November. The pain about the way our living/dining room is set up here is that there was no other way to arrange the couch and recliner.

Ok, the night before we were to get our new stuff, we did some prep. Our entertainment center had to be moved down a few inches to allow room to reposition the dvd shelf in the corner. We also had to get a new whiteboard and have it cut to fit the opposite wall because the bookcase had to go on the wall that previously held the whiteboard.  And of course, we moved the tall bookcase upstairs into the bedroom. It’s not very stable and I wanted it out of the main living area. There were several other small changes that we had to make also. The first picture shows the bookcase I moved to our entry way. We had a small table there with a basket to hold hubby’s things and it tended to be a catch all. So I purchased a few fabric baskets to keep mail, catalogs and other things in and put them on the shelves.

These pictures were taken Monday afternoon while we were waiting on our delivery to arrive. We moved the loveseat into the boys’ room and the recliner went into Jasmine’s room. Thank goodness we had a good friend who came over and helped hubby move that loveseat upstairs. There is no way I could have helped him without hurting myself in the process.

 

I just had to share that first picture. They thought they could sit in the cubbies, but there were a little too big! Aren’t the couches pretty? And I am completely in love with the new bookcase. My fabric bins fit in it perfectly. I still don’t have it totally organized the way I want it. I’m a little OCD about stuff like that. If not for having been so busy all week, it would have been done by now. The best thing about the new furniture is that the entire family now has a comfy place to sit.  The really cool thing about this whole process is that Isaiah and Jazz have both been away all week with family, so Friday when they get home, it will be like a whole new room they have never seen!

We took Drew and Joey to the park today, and I took lots of pictures. I’ll be sure to post tomorrow and share them with you and tell you what Drew and I have been doing for school this week with Isaiah away.

Blessings,