Goals for this week:

• List one item on freecycle every day.
• Declutter the living room.
• Start shopping for winter clothes for the boys.

I’ve found a yahoo group for the area to which we’ll be moving and I’ve posted an introduction.  I’m hoping to get to know a few people before we move so that I won’t feel all alone when I get there.  I’ve also been looking at websites for churches in the area.  I’ve found a couple that I plan to visit when we get there.  Find a new church home will probably be the most important thing for me because it will make me feel less alone.

Sebastian seems excited about the idea of moving.  He’s already planning what he’ll do in the snow.  Xander doesn’t seem to understand it at all.  He’s a trooper though, so I’m sure he’ll take it all in stride.

I missed Ben’s call Saturday.  I was in a meeting at Sebastian’s martial arts school and didn’t hear the phone ring.  We’re down to less than 30 days until he’s home!!  I’m so excited (and stressed)!  I know I’ll have peace when he’s finally home. 

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Sebastian

• enjoying martial arts and is going to be joining the competition team!
• listening to The Marvelous Land of Oz at bedtime.
• mastering keeping his room clean.
• LOVES the little people house mama found on ebay that is just like one she played with when she was a girl!

Xander

• learned to read the word “George.”
• behaved so well when we went out to eat last night!
• has been bringing mama books to read to him… and actually *listening* when I read them!

Mama

• finishing up lesson plans in Homeschool Tracker Plus so we’ll be ready to start school July 7
• bought a bunch of winter clothes in preparation for The Big Adventure.
• had to get the tires replaced on the car… cha-ching!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Link of the Week:  Clickschooling

I’ve finally made up my mind.  We’re definitely starting school in July this year.  I had been waffling between July and August, but with The Big Adventure coming up in December, I think the earlier we start the better.   I’ve been keeping myself busy making sure all of our lesson plans are put into Homeschool Tracker Plus and that everything’s ready to go.

It’s been interesting adjusting the schedule from the Sonlight Core 1 Instructor’s Guide to work with the scope and sequence I created for history (based around the 32 Old Testament & Ancient Egypt History Cards from Veritas Press).  There isn’t much to work around.  The literature read-alouds follow the Sonlight schedule, since this year they aren’t directly tied to the history.  The geography readings also follow the Sonlight schedule.  So, in reality, the only change I have had to make is to schedule the history read-alouds to coincide with the topics we’ll be studying each week.  Simple!

My main focus this week is to schedule in all the websites I’d like us to visit this year.  The Link of the Week I posted is one of my favorite resources for finding quality educational websites to use with our studies.  I highly recommend joining the Clickschooling mailing list to get daily link recommendations.  I especially love the “Virtual Field Trips.”  It’s so nice to be able to “visit” a place without having to leave the house!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Mama.

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My children amaze me every single day.  Watching them work out solutions to problems, listening to them wax philosophical on subjects most would consider mundane, hearing the excitement in their voices as they make a new discovery…. these are the moments I cherish!

Xander, my little one, my autistic one, my huggly-snuggly one, is especially prone to giving me these moments lately.   I was completely surprised one recent night when I began reading a story to him and he pointed to several words on the page and identified them correctly!  This little 3 year old boy has been teaching himself to read right under my nose!  Who knew?  And to think, I was worried he wouldn’t be ready to start Sonlight’s Core P3/4 this year! 

Sebastian, my big one, my deep thinking one, my wiggly-bouncy one, gives me his own moments of surprise.  Like the night he recently told me he wanted to pray for forgiveness, and after discussing it with me, asked Jesus to be Lord of his life!  Nothing could have made this mama more proud and simultaneously humble.  He makes me think… sometimes really hard… about everything from bugs to engineering to space travel.  And he is always ready for the next adventure!  He teaches me to step out, unafraid, and experience all that I can while trusting in the Lord.

I thank God for the opportunity I have to spend so much time learning from these brilliant little men.  I do believe that they teach me just as much as I teach them.  If you’ll excuse me, I think they’re ready to start the next lesson.

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Ben sent me an email yesterday telling me that we’re moving
to upstate New York in December.  Needless to say, I freaked out a
bit.  I’ve spent nearly my entire life in warm climates, so the thought of
being dumped into what I affectionately refer to as “South Canada” in
the middle of winter is a little unnerving.  After a bit of an emotional
breakdown and a phone call to my mom, I was able to resign myself to the facts
and choose to look at this as The Big Adventure.

In preparation for The Big Adventure, I’ve asked for advice on my favorite
homeschool forum.  So far, the consensus has been:

Yikes!

I decided to be proactive and go shopping.  It is June, after all, and I
should be able to find awesome deals on winter clothes.  I ordered a parka
and snow boots from Roaman’s.  Somehow, knowing that I’ll have a coat in
my size made me feel a tiny bit more confident.

Other preparations will need to be made.  I’m going to have to consciously
anticipate the changes in the state homeschool requirements and go ahead and
begin to keep the appropriate records.  This is more for my own security
in knowing that I know the law and can do what is required than anything else.

Also, I’m going to have to purge a LOT of stuff from our home.  That’s
going to mean some major freecycling.  There is no way we will be able to
take all of the things in our current apartment with us when we move. 
Absolutely. No. Way.  I’m making it my goal to create one freecycle
listing every day until we move.  Surely, that will get rid of most of
what we don’t want to take with us.

I’ll keep you all updated on the progress of the move and what else is going on
with us as it happens.  The great thing about the internet is that I can
keep in touch with you no matter where we move to! 

From my home to yours,
Andrea

I am truly blessed to have what I consider to be the best and most important job in the entire world.  I am a stay-at-home mom and home educator.  These may seem like non-jobs to some readers, but trust me when I tell you that I have all of the excitement, challenge, responsibility, and satisfaction of a 9-to-5 career.  I just don’t get the fat paycheck, health plan, and pension.  Of course, I wouldn’t have chosen this path if it wasn’t totally worth it!

There are two things about my job that are loud, messy, distracting, persistent, and expensive!  They are also the two very best things about my job.  They’re my boys, Sebastian, 6, and Xander, almost 4.  They give me joy each and every day; and it is the experience of watching them grow and develop into bright, caring, well-educated young people that sustains me through challenging and difficult times.

The worst things about my job are also the least important.  Less money is the big one.  We are a single-income family and with that status comes several unique challenges.  We chose to downgrade to a single used vehicle for which we paid cash so that we would have no car payment.  With that decision, we also chose to lower our insurance coverage.  We dropped the fun cable channels and opted for the most basic option (I think we have something like 12 channels, but I haven’t counted), so that we could have cable internet instead.  Without the need for a home phone for dial-up internet access, we chose to get a second cell phone and drop the landline altogether.  We’ve had to learn to live within our means and with the Lord’s help we’re completely debt free.

Being a doctor isn’t for everyone.  It takes a unique person to have the intelligence, skills, and determination to make it all the way through medical school.  In the same way, being a homeschooling stay-at-home mom isn’t for everyone either.  Those in my field face many societal pressures to enter into paid employment.  We’re faced with such accusations as “you’re wasting your education” or “you’re setting the women’s movement back 50 years.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Those who are employed in the care, nurturing, and education of children are making the very most of their education and furthering the women’s movement by promoting homemaking and child-rearing as valid career options for both genders.

It is my sincere hope that more young women will choose to be stay-at-home mothers and that more families will choose to homeschool their children.  It’s not for everyone, but for those who are called it is an extremely rewarding and fulfilling career.

From my home to yours,
Andrea

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