ABCs, Describing Me

Audrey

Baby coming!

Christian

Dedicated to my family

Ever changing 

Five children

Good girl

Homeschool my kids

Inherited poor eyesight

Joke a lot

Kind hearted

Love to knit

Married

Nauseous

Ohio (27 years)

Pregnant

Quiet

Reliable

Stubborn

Tennessee (almost 2 years)

Unsad :)

Very shy

Went to public school

eXhausted most days

Yellow sunflowers, my fave!

Zombie-like state :)

School Days

We're supposed to post school pictures.



This isn't a school pic, but I couldn't resist.
(about 1983)














First Grade
(1986)

Yes, my hair really was that short. I wanted it "cut like a boy."












This might be 4th.
(1988 or 1989)

My hair is actually in a French Braid.











About 1988.

27 Reasons to be Thankful

Psalm 100

A Psalm for giving thanks.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord , all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord , he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

 
It's so hard to narrow it down to 27. Here they are, and in no particular order.
1. I am able to homeschool my children.
2. God has given me a wonderful family to take care of.
3. I woke up this morning.
4. Jesus loved me enough to take the punishment for my sins.
5. The Internet.
6. Spell check.
7. Free books online. Saving lots of money!!
8. I am in good health...
9. And so is the rest of my family.
10. My van is almost paid off!
11. Charles Alderton for inventing Dr Pepper.
12. Delirium during labor, or we'd only have one child.
13. Hot water... well, any kind of running water is great.
14. There are people strong enough (mentally and physically) to fight for what's right. Whether it be in the military or getting laws passed/changed, etc.
15. My mommy didn't marry my biological father, but that she decided to marry my daddy.
16. My daddy loved me so much that he adopted me.
17. Mountains.
18. I can see them from my house.
19. I can read, write and do 'rithmatic.
20. My Memaw.
21. My Grandma helped me to ask Jesus into my heart when I was 6.
22. God sees the overall plan to my life and guides me along the way.
23. The delete button.
24. My digital camera.
25. Space heaters and blankets.
26. A wonderful church family.
27. Miss Jocelyn, for making me think of and list a lot of things that I am truly thankful for.

"Mom" Help!

What do I do to clear my head or take a breather? Usually, I fiddle with my blog or read posts on various forums and email groups. If I'm frustrated or a bit iratus? I clean. It burns off the energy that I do NOT want to use in anger.

(19) "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." ~ Mt 28

I just try to remember that my kids ARE my mission field. Until recently, I battled within myself about not doing enough for Jesus. Then I was reminded that God has given me 4 souls that need to be directed to HIM. Just because my husband and I are Christians, does not mean that our children are born that way.

Field Trips

My absolute favorite would be when we went to Texas, but I posted about that here. But of that trip my favorite part was staying in New Orleans. I've always loved New Orleans. The first time I went was in November of 1997 when my Grandpa died. The funeral was in Gulfport, MS and my loving mother (Happy Birthday, Mommy!) drove me to New Orleans for the day.

Here is on the way to Texas last May.
We stayed at the Hilton and could see the Super Dome from our room.

The next morning, we walked along the boardwalk until the Aquarium opened.

This was my first visit to an aquarium.


Here are a few pictures as I was trying to get back on 10.

10 Timely Facts (about me)

Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you!

I know I did something like this before... And I promise I didn't look it up, so if it's all mostly the same, that just means that I'm boring! LOL

~ 1 ~ My name is Audrey. I am named after my Memaw (mom's mom).

~ 2 ~ I sucked my thumb until I was 8. I swore that none of my kids ever would. So we let them use a paci. YAY, it worked!!

~ 3 ~ I've had 4 kids and still haven't *seen* a birth.

~ 4 ~ I'm addicted to Dr. Pepper.

~ 5 ~ I let my kids have Blueberry Muffins and Popcorn for lunch today.

~ 6 ~ I am 28.75 years old and have never flown in an airplane. And now with all of the hassle, I probably never will. I did get to sit in one in 1st grade. We had a field trip to the Airport and our whole class got to buckle in. No flying though.

~ 7 ~ My favorite TV show is Charmed. I recorded the finale, and every time I watch it I cry.

~ 8 ~ I am 1/4 English. (Memaw was born and raised in England.) I am very proud of my heritage and I LOVE hearing Memaw's stories.

~ 9 ~ I'm a "jack of all trades and a master of none." I'm torn as to whether that's good or bad.

~ 10 ~ One of my favorite songs is If We Were A Movie, by Miley Cyrus. Another one is her version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

ETA: I linked to the other post above.

Our Homeschool Family

I didn't think I would like this at first... but I really enjoyed it.

(Sung to the tune of The Addams Family)

We have a terrible two-er
Two boys who are peculiar
Big sister is a drooler
Our Homeschool Family

We learned to grow a daisy
The librarian thinks we're crazy
It really doesn't faze me
Our Homeschool Family

We go to church on Sunday
And sometimes school on Monday
But we learn ev'ry day
Our Homeschool Family

~ Moan ~
~ Groan ~
~ At Home ~

We're learning to speak Latin
The states we are a mappin'
Education is not lackin'
Our Homeschool Family

Lazy we're not bein'
Skippin' school for a museum
Imitate the art we're seein'
Our Homeschool Family

The internet is our friend
With lots of mail to send
A blog to keep the trend
Our Homeschool Family

Here's the video that sparked the whole thing!

Study Spot

I was waiting to post until I had pictures, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Maybe I'll add some later.

We are usually at the kitchen/dining room table. Sometimes we venture into the living room. Our main read aloud is reserved for bed time. We all sit around the toddler bed since he usually falls asleep before we're done reading.

Summer Photo Essay

I'm going to start "summer" in May. That's when we went to Texas. If I don't include that I probably won't have many pics!

We stopped in New Orleans, it was a LONG drive! We stayed at the Hilton on St. Charles Ave. We could see the Super Dome from our room (on the 17th floor.)

The next morning we hit the Aquarium. We had to spend a little time in New Orleans in order to be in Houston by the time my mom got off of work.

The next day we went to the Space Center in Houston.

We also made it to the Houston Zoo.

We did lots of stuff! (We were there 2 weeks.) We made it to Galveston...

...and Kemah. This is the hotdog stand where we spent $50! The boys that worked it couldn't believe that we spent that much.

After all that, our summer was pretty boring. We made it to the Natural Tunnel in VA a couple of times. That's my cousin.

Like I said earlier, if it hadn't been for Texas then I wouldn't have had much of a post!

My Favourite (Homeschool) Things!

Mmm... that Dr. Pepper looks yummy... I may have to go get one.

First I'll mention the FREE stuff. We all love free stuff, right?

FREE
~ Google Books
~ The Baldwin Project (This one is probably my favorite.)
~ Currclick (I also get their freebie of the week.)
~ Homeschool Freebie of the Day
~ Notebooking Pages.com
~ Imagination Library (Not available in all areas.)
Homeschool News/Informative:
~ Tn Home Ed
Forums/Book Clubs:
~ SCM Community Forum (Charlotte Mason)
~ WTM Forum (Classical Education)
~ My Father's World
~ Book Mooch
Blog Tech Support:
~ Blogger University
~ Blogger for Dummies
~ Tips for New Bloggers
Youth/Kid:
~ White House Kids
~ Kids Answers (Answers in Genesis)
~ National Geographic Kids
Memes:
~ Homeschool Memoirs (of course)
~ Wordless Wednesday
~ and the occasional "tag" meme
Bible Focused:
~ Answers in Genesis
~ Blue Letter Bible (search text)
Homeschool Method:
~ Basically Beechick (yahoo group)
~ Simply Charlotte Mason
~ Well-Trained Mind

Something New This Year

Pretty much everything we're using this year is new, but I won't go through the whole list! :)

The biggest change will start Monday. We are going to try a Loop Schedule.

We started Adventures in My Father's World in June. I have found what we will stick with until the end of that cycle. It provides two main things that I need. Plans are already prepared for me and library trips are not essential to the program. Yet, there is plenty of room for flexibility.

Next would be Kindergarten. I tried just about every reading plan or program I could think of and Reading Reflex is what is starting to show results. I know that a lot of times reading finally clicks and it's not necessarily the program, but in our case it IS the program. We're also using VM Hillyer's Kindergarten at Home. (Free at Google Books.)

The last major change is how we do Language Arts. I'm using Primary Language Lessons with my two oldest. We're also implementing a more Beechick approach. Copywork will be done in the first 3 loops and on the 4th it will be dictation. Right now, I'm using the lessons in The Three R's. Hopefully I'll "get" it soon and be able to make my own lessons.

Routine/Schedule

I figured it was best to just post a picture of the schedule I look at. We don't follow it 100%. I use it merely as a guide to keep me on track, and make sure that others are busy during one-on-one time.

At 6:15, Daddy leaves for work. We usually try to finish up whatever hasn't been done.

Our main Read Aloud is done while the kids are laying in bed. 2 of them always fall asleep and the other 2 beg for more!

Homeschool Agenda 2008/9

Where to start?

Adventures in My Father's World is, what I guess would be called, our main curriculum. This is our 4th year homeschooling and I've finally found what I want to stick with. Whew!

I decided to use Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 as our science curriculum. I've always wanted to do it, and really this year was perfect to start. We will have all of the Zoology books completed and then MFW adds Astronomy and Botany.

We are using three, yes 3, Latin programs this year. We've already started Minimus and Song School Latin. Day1 is our Song School lesson with review of Minimus. Days 2-5 are new Minimus material and review of SSL. I'm planning to have them work one Latin's Not So Tough: Level 1 workbook page per day. We'll slow down if needed.

For Math *B* is using/loving Math for Christian Schools 3 by Bob Jones University Press. I hope this works for her, we've had such a hard time with math. *C* is just starting Horizons Math. I'm having him work through the 2nd first grade book. More than likely, he will start the 2nd grade books in mid October or November.

One lesson of Art Adventures at Home per week.

Language Arts has had lots of changes over the last 4 weeks. *B* and *C* are using Hillside Education's version of Primary Language Lessons. (You can download the PDF answer key for free.) Right now they are on the same lesson. I plan to keep it like that unless one of them needs to slow down. I'm trying to use a more Beechick approach to LA this year. Along with PLL, they will have copywork Monday - Thursday and on Friday dictation. I will correct spelling and grammar as needed, but there will be no formal instruction in either. Except for what is included in PLL, of course.

Kindergarten for *T* started out with My Father's World. It's just not working for us, so I bought Reading Reflex. He's also doing Horizons Math K. We will also add activities from Kindergarten at Home by VM Hillyer.

I don't have a plan for *L*. In a perfect world, he'd be a genius doing K along with his brother! :)

All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs, what a neat idea!



I attended the same public school system from Kindergarten to Graduation. I loved going to school. I guess you would classify me as a Sociable Sue.

In February 1998, I started going to the church where I met my husband. He started in November of that year. After nine months of church together and only six weeks of dating, we were married!

I don't remember exactly how or when we decided to homeschool. I do believe that God has meant for parents to teach their own children. (Although there is nothing wrong with utilizing the school system, if one so desires.)

So, there's a little bit about us... short and hopefully sweet.