Reading – Sebastian has read orally from The Beginner’s Bible through “Jacob’s Dream” (Genesis 28).  He has also read through “The Children Grow Up” from Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1.  Sebastian has listened to and discussed Charlotte’s Web through chapter 12, “A Meeting.”

Language Arts – Sebastian has completed through lesson 11 in Language Lessons for the Very Young.  Topics covered:  picture study of a painting, narration of a painting, listening to poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,”  narrating the poem, illustrating the poem, identifying stanzas, finding capital letters at the beginning of each line, copying the poem in his own handwriting.  Sebastian has practiced spelling by correcting and reviewing spelling errors in his writing.  He has also completed through page 12 of My Printing Book for additional manuscript handwriting practice.

Math – Sebastian has completed through page 31 of Singapore Math’s Primary Mathematics Textbook 1A and through Exercise 15 of Primary Mathematics Workbook 1A.  He has also completed through page 15 of Primary Mathematics Intensive Practice 1A.  He has studied the following topics:  counting, making number stories, making addition stories, addition with number bonds, and word problems.

Science – Sebastian completed an in-depth study of water and its properties.  He studied the states of water, the water cycle, how water gets from the reservoir to the tap, etc.  Sebastian also studied the similarities and differences between mud wasps and paper wasps. 

Social Studies – Sebastian has studied the following topics:  why study history?, methods of studying history, archaeologists, historians, dating methods, prehistoric man, and creation and evolution.  Sebastian also studied the similarities and differences of many modern world cultures through listening to the book Peoples of the World.  Locations referenced in various studies were located on maps and discussed in relation to our own location.

Health & Safety – Sebastian has studied nutrition, fire safety, traffic and bicycle safety, disease prevention, and proper exercise and rest.

Physical Education – Sebastian has had frequent physical activity including running, scooter riding, and free play both indoors and outdoors.  Rules and etiquette for sports and games have been discussed and practiced.

Music – Sebastian has listened to a variety of music.  Music has also been incorporated into other studies, such as history and language arts.  Sebastian has used household objects to create musical instruments and explore beat and rhythm.

Art – Sebastian has used a variety of media to create both two and three dimensional art.  He has also begun picture study in which he is asked to look at a work of art and tell about it in his own words using his own powers of observation.

Wow, it just hit me so suddenly…

We’re going to have a HOME for the holidays.

No more intrusions by maintenance men who come on the landlord’s schedule and not OURS.  No more giving up on getting the dishwasher fixed because the landlord refuses to buy a new one or hire a knowledgeable repair person.  No more worrying every year about whether our lease will be renewed… or how much our RENT has gone up!  No more staring at white walls because we’re not allowed to paint.  No more trying to maintain a space designed for 2 when there are 4 people living there!

Instead we’ll have:

• Four good sized bedrooms upstairs.  One for Ben and I, one for Sebastian, one for Xander, and a playroom!
• Another bedroom downstairs that we’ll be using for an office/schoolroom.
• A good sized kitchen with LOADS of cabinets and counter space!  Seriously, this kitchen is at least twice the size of the one we have in our apartment.
• A good sized laundry/bathroom downstairs.  Compared to what we’re used to this bathroom is huge.  Yes, the laundry appliances are in there, but there is plenty of room to use it for both purposes.  This will most likely be the room we use to bathe the boys, because there is more room for a parent to kneel down if needed and it will be really convenient to undress them and just toss the clothes into the laundry.
• A yard!  We’ll be moving from an upstairs apartment to a house with a yard.  That means that my boys will be able to run and jump and play on the grass instead of on my CARPET!
• Porches!  I guess we technically have these in our apartment if you count the balcony and the top of the stairs.  Our new house has real porches!  The front porch has beautiful columns and railings and is perfect for a swing or a couple of rocking chairs.  The back porch is fully enclosed with lots of windows.  I can’t wait to sit there and watch the boys play in the snow while I sip my coffee/hot cocoa.
• An attic, a basement, and a garage (with an attic)!  I’ve never imagined having so much storage space.  The single car garage has space for a vehicle and storage on the first floor, and also an attic room above.  The attic in the house is partially finished and partially carpeted.  It’s not a scary place at all, and I will have no problem going up into the attic to store things or bring things out of storage.  The basement is… a basement…. but this will be our first time having one of those.

This is truly the best Christmas present ever… and to think that I prayed so hard against this move.  God has blessed us so greatly and I am so thankful that the way is being smoothed for us.  I remain in prayer as we get closer to our closing date.  Each hurdle has been crossed.  We’ve done all we can do and now it’s just a matter of finalizing the details.  Our real estate agent seems to think we’ll be able to close shortly after our arrival on the 7th.

I’m so excited and so hopeful.  I know I can do this and that this move will be a blessing to my family.  I have a completely different attitude than I started out with and I have the peace that only comes from God.  I can see his hand in this and I know he has some purpose for us in New York.  I actually feel like this house is our new home.

I’m ready go home.

Reading:  Sebastian has read six stories from The Beginner’s Bible and four from Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1.  He shows good reading skills and comprehension.  I’ve noticed that he seems a little more excited about the nature reader and I think it is because he’s realizing that he can learn from reading on his own, not just from having mom read to him.

Language Arts:  Sebastian has been practicing writing capital letters.  In grammar, we’ve been discussing sorting objects into groups and subgroups.  We’ve spent several days focusing on the poem, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost.  Sebastian has narrated the basic story the poem tells, drawn an illustration, identified the number of stanzas, and circled the capital letter at the beginning of each line.

Math:  Sebastian has complained that his math book is too easy, so I’ve added Singapore Math’s Intensive Practice 1A to our daily lessons in addition to allowing him to work ahead by doing more pages per day if he wants.

Science:  We’re currently studying water.  We read and discussed The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks.  Topics covered included:  the water cycle, the three states of water, the process of how water goes from the reservoir to the faucet.  Sebastian read the book Water.  We’ve also read from Starting Point Science about water vapor and condensation.  Sebastian enjoyed watching a Popular Mechanics for Kids DVD on rockets that we rented from Netflix.

Social Studies:  Our studies this year center around ancient history.  So far we’ve covered topics such as:  why we study history, historians, archaeologists, creation, evolution, and prehistoric man.  We also spent time going over the creation account in Genesis and the fall in the Garden of Eden.  In geography, we’ve talked about cultures from different parts of the world, including their language, clothing, money, etc.  We’ve also used maps to identify locations in the stories we’ve read.

Art:  In addition to illustrating the poem mentioned earlier, Sebastian has also had opportunities to color pictures in math.  We’ve introduced picture study in which we look at a work of art together and Sebastian talks about what he sees.

I’m looking forward to getting our move over with so that we can focus a little better.  I think being in the new house will be better for our homeschool, because we’ll be able to store things a little more securely, giving me more control over supplies and books than I have now with everything in the living room.  I also think it will be easier to fit physical education in when we have a nice big yard and snow to play in.

Xander is continuing to work on his ever expanding vocabulary and has learned quite a bit from watching PBS kids while I work with Sebastian.  He’s doing very well and has mastered most preschool concepts.

Sixpence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me” is softly playing on my iTunes as Xander lies beside me struggling against sleep.  The room is dark except for the soft glow from the bathroom light and two brightly lit rectangles as Ben and I sit on either side of our youngest son and stare into the screens of our laptops.  The only other sounds are the faint tapping of keys and the soothing white noise of the fan.  It’s a peaceful night at the H. house.

I’ve been dwelling a lot lately on all of the to-dos related to moving out of this place, buying the house in New York, and moving in up there.  It’s overwhelming.  I’m trying to take it one day at a time, but it’s hard to do when I’m running out of days.  I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t have procrastinated, but that doesn’t help me now.  All that will help me now is to keep plugging along, one foot after another, checking off each box as I come to it.

The home inspection and radon test came back clean.  The appraisal is scheduled for Wednesday.  I’ve been in contact with a snow removal contractor and set up service so that we can have a clear driveway on moving-in day.  I’m working on separating out our junk so that the junk men can take it away before the moving men come.  I’ve called all the utility companies about shut off days and I’m working on changing our cell phone provider since our current one has no coverage in the area to which we’re moving.  I’m trying to keep Ben on task with the things he needs to do.  I’m teaching school on top of everything else.  And every day I’m looking at the pictures of “our house” and dreaming of when we’ll finally be in it and all this other stuff will be behind us.

Ben’s mom is coming to visit us in New York from Dec. 15-21.  I don’t even know if we’ll be in the house by then.  Ben starts work on the 10th, so I’m not even sure if she’ll get to see much of him while she’s here.  Hopefully it will work out that he’ll have half days since it will be so close to Christmas, but we won’t know until we get there. 

That’s how I feel about so much when it comes to this move.  We won’t know until we get there.  For a planner/worrier/control freak like me, that is a terrifying sentence.

We won’t know until we get there.

Lord, help me to give you control of my circumstances.  Only you know what plans you have for me and my family.  Help me give up my will for yours. Please grant me wisdom to always know what the next step should be during this hectic time.  Amen.

• Ben’s home.
• We’re moving.
• For real.
• We’re in the process of buying this house.
•  
• It was previously a convent.
• Sebastian’s in 1st grade.
• Xander’s taught himself to read CVC words.
• I’ve got 2.5 weeks to get my house ready for the movers.
• Ben’s got 2.5 weeks to get in shape (again) so he can meet army standards when he signs in at the new base.
• Or he doesn’t get to go to UAV school.
• And all of this was for nothing.
• I’m trying not to panic.
• Daily.
• I voted for McCain.
• I wanted to vote for Ron Paul.
• The economy sucks.
• I’m trying to avoid going into debt.
• I’m praising God that I felt it laid upon my heart to following the advice of Dave Ramsey.
• Last year.
• We’re still taking baby steps, but at least we’re not incurring any more debt than our new mortgage and all our other debt is paid off and we have a (meager) savings to rely upon for the expenses involved.
• That’s huge.
• I feel that we’re following God’s lead.
• And yet I feel so far away from Him.
• I’m trying to get back.
• It’s hard.
• I had checked out of my life when Ben came home, and checking back in hasn’t proved to be easy.
• This is part of that process.