Pastorette's Progress

It is hard to believe that my last post was the first week of the "Back to school Blog Hop" waaaay back in August.  I never made it passed curriculum week.  I guess that is because the next week was "School Room week" and it just did me right in.  You see, up until a week ago, our school room had also become Alec's bedroom and my office.  We had a family come to live with us and his room became their room and my office (that held lots of school stuff) became their babies nursery.  So to say our school room took a hit is an understatement!!!  Our "adoptive" family came to live with us in May.  It wasn't so bad - summer was upon us so the school room wasn't needed.  But come August, the room kept getting smaller and smaller...and messier and messier!!  Alec started doing school in the kitchen and Bailey made due!! It is always amazing to me how God's timing works.  We had no idea how long the family would stay....we thought probably ...

Hola,...Hello!       We started another week and in Week 5, I think we may FINALLY have a working tentative (lol) schedule!!  Praise be!!        The boys are heading to Mexico as we study North America in MFW.  We quickly ran through the United States as it was mostly review, and now we are on to the good stuff!!!  (Not that the United States is not good stuff!!)      We are condensing Mexico into one week because we leave for Disney World Monday - woo hoo!!!  (Our first time as a family and my first time since I was in high school... a loooooong time ago. :)  This couldn't come at a better time for our family.  I am so looking forward to this time together.  It will be the kids first time to fly, and they are both so excited!!  My mom and the kids "adopted" grandmother are going too.  I can't wait to post about it when we come home.    ...

We had one of the best days homeschooling thus far...at least in regards to Alec's behavior!! Once I began to recover from my downward spiral (THROUGH MUCH PRAYER), God's plan began to unfold as I re-did the schedule and the lesson plans, re-arranged the room, etc.  I began to see the good that God was working out. Some of His plans... especially in regards to my relationship with Bailey as well as helping Alec to be more independent.  With the girls working mostly on their own, that left me with a lot more time to spend with the boys - all three of us...together...for like 3 hours!!!  Each day Alec was getting worse and worse and I was struggling with what to do. (Funny how quickly we lose sight of the big picture when we are in a downward spiral!!)  Losing Sydney forced me to make some changes in how we do school.  They will ALL have to be more independent now - which is a good thing.  I will have to be Bailey's lab partner -w...

My picture of a downward spiral!!!! To say that today did not go as planned would be an understatement!!!  This is definitely going to be a "poor my heart out" post.  I will probably ramble and not make sense at times so bear with me.  As you know, I have been homeschooling for a few weeks now, and it has been going great!!!  Well... really good... most of the time!!!  Things are always a little tough with my Alec, especially my un-medicated Alec!!  But we have been making progress as we make changes to help with the day - the schedule, the curriculum, etc. Things with the girls have been wonderful.  Bailey is verbally admitting her enjoyment of homeschooling. This is a huge accomplishment from spewing venom!!!!  They enjoy their day so much, especially Science... which ... brings me to the downward spiral part. Today I found out that Sydney won't be coming back.  Her family has decided to go in a different di...

(This post is based on my comment of One Mom's Walk  lastest post!!)           I feel like I have been slapped upside the head so many times these last couple of weeks that I can't even see straight!! I have tweaked and tweaked, and things finally do seem to be falling into place. It is such a life change...a good one, but still a change.                                           The biggest thing that has slapped me upside the head is that I need to work on being more SELF-LESS . When I am less worried about my emails, talking on the phone, blogging, shutterfly, and facebook, it is much easier for me to sit and work with the boys, interact with the girls, etc. I've realized that my being unplugged is as important as...

it might not be as hectic!!!!  But we all know there is ALWAYS other things going on. My second week of homeschooling the girls and my first week (well Wednesday & Thursday), I spent as much time at the doctor/E.R. and taking care of sick people and animals as I did working on school. There is never a dull moment at the Reed's.  Monday Bailey stepped on a nail.  How, you ask??  Because she was out in the rain bare footed checking on her cats!!  So Tuesday we took our first field trip...to the doctor... where we found out that apparently there is a 12 year well visit we missed.   Bailey ended up getting 3 shots.  It ended well with pizza and ice cream at a cute place by the doctor's office. Then on Tuesday, our dog Freckles... My husband calls her the Highlander because he says she's immortal!!  i.e. - won't die!!!  was bitten by one of our other dogs.... We're pretty sure this one - Mo Jo-was the culprit!!! B...

What are ba-dillies??  The little things that happen throughout our day that remind us that God is right there with us.  It is looking for the hand of God in the small things...and finding Him over and over.  (I can't take credit for this word.  I went to a women's conference a couple of years ago and the speaker was Cindy Wood.  She wrote a book called The Frazzled Female.  I borrowed/stole (lol) the word from her.) Anyway, ironically this word kept coming to mind on Day 1 of boy week.  I was a bit overwhelmed and desperately looking for ba-dillies!!!  Looking back on our two day week - we started Wednesday!!!! - it wasn't horrible, it had just been a rough week to begin with (I'll share about that a little bit later), and it was a big change from the girls - a lot more planning, a lot more teaching time, and a lot less down time!! That being said, I spent the better part of the weekend tweaking and thinking and tweaking and thinking so ...

Well, this week we are supposed to talk about what a day of homeschooling looks like. Well, we are starting week 2 with the girls and will add the boys Wednesday so I am not really sure what a "normal" day will look like, but here is what I'm aiming for.... My 9th graders (girls) will start at 8:30, and we will do a Bible devotional geared for them.  We are starting with A Young Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. I read a passage/part of a chapter and we talk about it and then in prayer, commit our day to the Lord.   They will also have a prayer journal where they will spend a few minutes each morning sharing their hearts and talking to Christ.  I've taught them ACTS - adoration, confession, thanksgiving, & supplication.  I don't want their prayer time to be all about "requests" - I want them to see there is so much we have to share with our Lord and Savior. My 7th graders (boys) will start at 9:00 and we will do basically th...

Well, week one for the girls was very productive... well mostly!!!!! We did a lot of tweaking.  By Wednesday their schedule and lesson plan format had changed, and by Thursday, I had returned their language arts program and ordered a new one.  We are going with Easy Grammar for 9th grade since their English 1 credit will come from their literature part of My Father's World.  And can I just say one more time THAT I LOVE MFW!!!  The girls also love Teaching Textbooks ALgebra 1 which is a shocker because neither are strong in math. They have also enjoyed their Apologia Physical Science - with 2 successful experiments the first week. They will finish their first paper on Monday, an argumentative paper.   Bailey argued that SoBe water is better that Vitamin water...     VS and Sydney argued that Crayola products are better than Roseart. VS We had such a great week that Thursday we ...