Sunday, December 31, 2006

Oh happy day!!!


Well, I just published my new ebook.

I've been working on it for quite some time now, then I suffered a bit of stage fright LOL Anyhow it is now published. This is something that I've wanted to do forever and a day now and finally I've done it: I've written my own ebook!!! I'm so psyched and thrilled. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link. I don't mean to go on and on but there's something great feeling whenever you achieve a major goal. I think that this is something that we as homeschooling parents are truly able to teach our children. I wish each and every one of you the best of success in the coming new year.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Play dates...

...are not all that they're cracked up to be. We had one today and by golly my daughter must have cried for no good reason at least 5 times. For some reason she seems to be going through a rebellious stage. It is absolutely driving me crazy. She can be soooo sweet for her grandparents and then soooo bad for me :( I keep threatening to send her to public school even though I would never do it. I'm trying to crack through her thick skull that she can't act this way. I know that kids are always better for people other than their parents but by golly I just am about my wits end. I love this kid to death and love spending every waking minute with her but I'll be greatful once this stage is over. Anyhow, I'll stop ranting now LOL

Friday, December 29, 2006

Wowsers

Well, I finally got caught up on my email today. I'm glad about that but I have so many great articles that I have written while away that I'm having a hard time getting caught up there. I also have an ebook ready to convert to a PDF file to be published and sold. I think that this is going to be a good year. We're going to meet some new friends tomorrow. They're unschoolers. I think that we'll get along just fine even though we're more eclectic, only bordering on unschooling. At least my daughter will have some friends now. Plus I can have her best friend over too which will be nice. There's also a homeschool group that this mom is a part of that I'll start going to in January. My daughter now will be with kids 4 out of 7 days of the week. It will be good for her. We'll just need to learn how to do school around all of these great new things that will be going on. I'm actually truly looking forward to it though. After all this is really waht homeschooling is all about in my opinion. Well, I'm off to bed... Good night!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Goodness I missed being online...

...but I sure did learn a lot and now that I'm back I look forward to sharing everything with you really soon. I'm just trying to catch up on a few things now and my dad will be here soon to hook up my Vonage phone line. I'll chat with you soon though, promise!

Friday, December 22, 2006

:-( I'm lost without the Internet :-(

Unfortunately Verizon offers very poor service. I moved from one apartment to another and they have totally messed up my account. Thus, I am waiting for Comcast to give me service. Unfortunately they cannot do this until Thursday. As such I will be offline until then. Missing you all...

Friday, December 15, 2006

Taking a small, short break!

I'm going to be away from this blog for a few days because real life has me busy. I'll be back Monday or Tuesday. For now though, I'll leave you with this "song" that I found online (sorry, I don't know who to give proper credit to as it was floating around a few groups that I'm in and all by different people posting it) and really liked so I thought that you may too. Anyhow, I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you when I get back...

The 14 days of Homeschooling( sung to The 12 Days of Christmas)
On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Can you homeschool legally?”
On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E. , do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”
On the eighth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”
On the ninth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “They’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”
On the tenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “What about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the eleventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “I could never do that, what about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”
On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: “They Can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don’t like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we’ll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!
On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “How can I get started, why didn’t you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE’RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we’ll join a sports team, and we’ll homeschool legally.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Curriculum

In my opinion there are 2 real ways in which to get content. One requires money while the other requires time. I am so glad that I have tons of time on my hands because I'm on a strict budget. As such I end up making most of my own curriculum. That's what I just spent the last 3.5 hours doing and I still have some stuff to finish. I don't think I'm going to get it done tonight but at least half of it is done. I have fun doing this so maybe I'm crazy. I'm not complaining really, just taking a deep breath.

Finding a homeschooling style

Each of us as parents has to find a method that works for us. However, I am finding that mine is so much different than a lot of the people that I'm around. I don't honestly even know what to call my method and I wonder if it even matters but sometimes it does because I try to tell people what we do and can't just say "CM" or somethin as easy as that LOL Instead I have to tell them more than they probably wanted to know. This is why... My homeschooling method is a lot of unschooling, with about 30 minutes of worksheets per day. The rest of the time my daughter is playing educational games either with me or on the computer, reading with me or looking at books alone, doing file folder games by herself or notebooking/coloring. (I probably forgot a few other things along the way LOL) It works for us though and that's my point: If you find something that works for your child: RUN WITH IT!!!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Lapbooking

I know that I just recently had an article published about lapbooking but in all honesty I cannot sing enough praises about it. My daughter is learning so much from it and she really enjoys doing it. All I have to do is ask her if she wants to color and away we go on a journey into learning without her even really realizing it. Another thing that I like is that most of the material is quite inexpensive and can be used over and over again (well at least 2 maybe 3 times it can be used). I don't know if you realize how much money this can save you. The fact is that most material is expensive but not this. Of course you do sometimes have to look information up online but it's not that difficult to do. Anyhow, I just wanted to encourage you to read my lapbooking article if you don't know what lapbooking is. Then if you want to try some great lapbooks out, you can even find a free one to try, just go to HandsOfAChild.com OK I'm off my "soap box" now LOL I just get so excited when I see something working :-)

A word of wisdom

I just spent the past 1.5 hours putting together my daughter's portfolio because I hadn't done it yet this year. Yes, I know, I started our school year in August and had all the papers lying around because I keep finding other things that need done. Well, I swear I'm going to fix that. My "new year's resolution" is to start putting her papers away each and every Saturday and keep better records too. I'm just barely going to get my 180 days into my homeschool planner as it is now. Everything is due June 30 and I'm playing catch up yet again. It seems like that's the story of my life ;-(

Monday, December 11, 2006

Milestones

We all have them but I wonder: Does anyone get so excited when they see their children accomplish something that they could jump up and down. My daughter just read her first 3 words: red, blue and yellow. I'm so thrilled I could jump up and down clapping for joy LOL

Sunday, December 10, 2006

What a night!

I've been up twice now. Once because I couldn't sleep and now because of a domestic violence situation happening in front of my apartment's window. I swear there must be a full moon. I have so much to do that I can't afford to be up and down like this because now I'll be exhausted. I'm just wasting time right now while the police take care of it then back to bed with me IF I can fall a sleep. UGG!!!

Saturday, December 9, 2006

Christmas!

I can't honestly believe that it's almost here. I just looked at the calendar and there is less than two weeks until Christmas day. I didn't think that it was that close because it sure doesn't feel like it is. Wow! I guess I'd better figure out what I'm getting for my parents really fast. I was hoping to get a Christmas lapbook done before then but in all honesty I may have to finish it the week after Christmas which won't be a big deal. There's just way too much other stuff going on right now. I hope everyone is a little more prepared for it than I am. I do have all of my daughter's shopping done but need to figure out what to get for my parents and do it soon. Oh well! There's nothing I can do about it today.

Friday, December 8, 2006

The things you learn

I've been reading through the homeschooling laws for PA and found that there's not much difference from what we're currently doing. I was quite happy to find this out and have made the small adjustments that were needed. I'm surprised that I knew this much though because this is the first time reading through the law. I have been homeschooling for 2 years but my daughter hasn't reached compulsory age but I still want things to be done right ahead of time. I'm such a perfectionist LOL

Thursday, December 7, 2006

I'm always amazed...

...at just how much I learn whenever I homeschool my daughter. I am learning right beside her and I really enjoy doing it. While it's been a busy day here, I think that we've learned a lot today and I'm learning how to homeschool on the go. I think that the reason this works so well for us is because we're a bit on the unschooling side but nonetheless we're still learning and having fund doing it. That's what really matters the most!

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

I don't get some parents

This has been bothering me for a while now. I was at the library the other day and heard some parents complaining that books were too long. They went on to say that their child would sit there all night and let them read to them. Well DUH why wouldn't you want to feed your child's brain on good books. I just don't get it. I think some parents are getting really lazy and expecting that the school is going to do every drop of work for them. What a shame!

I must be getting old LOL

I'm getting reflective and interspective anymore and I don't know why. I'm only 31 years old so it's not like I'm old so I'm not sure what it is with me but it is happening LOL I guess we may all go through periods of life like this but this is something new for me. Maybe I've matured or something or it could also have something to do with the fact that I'm reading the book "Christy" right now. I don't know but a lot of it has been about God and about homeschooling. I'm sure that it will spill out here sooner or later but I'm not quite able to put it to words just yet. Whatever it is and however I say it I'm sure you'll all read it soon enough. Good night!

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Another day draws to an end...

and I don't even know where it's gone. It's almost 8:30 so it's definitely bed time but goodness. I don't know what I did today. I did a couple of errands this morning then my daughter's therapist was here for 4 hours and we baked cookies, did some science work and played games. After that I read for about an hour and now it's bed time LOL Good night! Maybe there will be something more and better to say in the morning LOL

Monday, December 4, 2006

Why do kids have a way of making you so angry sometimes?

I would love to know this answer as I just sat here stewing over the fact that my daughter has ruined yet another toy. She can be so destructive and it can be so annoying. I just don't know what to do about it anymore but forgive her and move on but this isn't teaching her anything :(

Honestly!

I don't know where time goes. I've been up since 8AM this morning and don't know where the day has gone. I did some work online, homeschooled my daughter and did some house work that I still have to finish. I can't believe that I'm sitting here, taking a short break, and I look at the clock to see that it's almost 4PM OMG LOL

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Simplicity

I know that may be a strange title for an entry but I think it's a word that's truly came to mean a lot to me so it's fitting and here's why... I mentioned a few weeks ago that I took some time off to reflect on my business and our homeschool. I think that what I learned is that I need to keep things simple. I should only have a couple of jobs going on at a time and not push my daughter so hard in school. I'm just reflecting on this today as I finished a project, still have 2 others to complete (but they're both just about done as well) and some normal day to day work to do. It's nice to know that I can take time to watch movies with my daughter, read a book to her or just relax if I want to. I'm really glad that I brought simplicity into my life and invite you to do the same too. Stop running around trying to stay so busy because of worry that you can't stop to smell the roses along the way. I had myself so worked up and frazzled for a while that I couldn't do this and so I feel like I really missed out on a lot. Now I'm able to relax and trust that the work and money will be there. I know I may have to seek out work occasionally but in the end everything will be all right. Our children grow up so fast that they deserve all of us. I just wanted to share these thoughts with you before leaving for my parents' house today... I hope you'll enjoy your children today and have a great Sunday! See you later!

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Christmas is near

I just came back from an activity at the library and feel energized by the Christmas spirit that they shared. I love our local library. They put on some absolutely wonderful activities. Now my daughter is off for the day to her grandparents. I swear I'm going to relax even if it kills me LOL So that's what I'm off to do now. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 1, 2006

Run run run

I feel like that's all we do some days LOL We started off at the library, then I needed to buy a trolley pass, we had lunch and were off to the doctor before finishing off at the store. I'm not complaining because we got a lot done and even accomplished homeschooling along the way but I still have stuff to do today and I just want to crash LOL My house is a mess, my daughter is hungry, my body aches, and well who knows what else. OH!!! It's going to snow tonight that's what else and I HATE snow LOL I guess I have done enough complaining for one day but hey everyone deserves the chance to complain every now and again LOL