He's home!

Well, my hubby is home! We are so grateful that he made it home safely to us! Today was kind of uneventful other than Chris' return. The kiddoes and I spent quite a bit of time reading. I am currently re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series and am now on Book 5. Now that I have discovered blogs, I am addicted to reading other's blogs. How did I not know about this? Well, I knew about it, but didn't really understand the magnificent scope of it! Now that I do, I want to see what everyone has to say!
The kids and I had a little talk today about friendship. How grateful I am for the dear friends I have. Some of my close friends include Jed, Bridget, Paula, Sandy, Shelley, Lesa, Wendy...there are others further away, but these dear ones are the ones I talk to on a regular basis. How blessed I am to be able to name them as dear, dear friends. My children sometimes think that if they are angry with a friend, it is okay to say "You are not my friend anymore!" I had to spend some time today explaining to them what a friend is and isn't. A friend is someone that you can disagree with or even be angry with, but WORK IT OUT! Friends are precious! So many people come into our lives and go out of lives...those friends we have for life are so rare. I hope that my children can appreciate their friends, cherish them, and be the kind of friend our Father wants them to be. I think the older I get, I am more able to savor this amazing gift God has given us in our FRIENDS.
Well, on to other issues. I asked my husband tonight if I could get a Holland Lop bunny. He was not overly thrilled about the idea. He said they are weird looking! Can you imagine?! A bunny that looks weird?! I know I am meeting my quota of animals and taxing his patience with me already between our 3 dogs and our cat....but my, oh my, there are so many precious animals to be had! Has anyone seen the sleepy meercat commercial? Those are the cutest little darlings....but I wouldn't dream of asking for one of those! Hee! Hee! My doggies would eat it! Currently we are owned by Nissa, our American Eskimo, Mozart, our Golden Retriever, and Layla, our Beagle. We also have our constant companion (after we decided to make him stay inside instead of antagonizing the other felines in our neighborhood), Aspen. He is our cat and he runs the place. Nissa and Layla, the girls, are little lovebugs! Nissa is currently taking a nap on the vent beside me in the foyer where she likes to cool off. If I go into the living room, she'll just come in there and pick a vent. She is a bit sneaky, but oh so cute! She has eyes that are adorable with little white eyelashes, and she can sure use those eyes to butter you up! I know you know what I mean, Heather! She has been taking lessons secretly from Ashley, our youngest daughter.
Well, enough for tonight. I am tired from this long day and ready to go and relax with my hubby and furchildren. I bid you ado! Have a FABULOUS weekend my blogisphere friends!

Blogs I Currently Read!

Tina's X-Stitch Blog
Girl Talk
Adoption Journey
Sandmonkey
Tony Kummer
Rose's Reasonings
Sweet Jazzy Cat
The Earnest Contender
Glory of God blog
Unashamed of Grace

My Evening Musings

Well, can this week go any slower? My darling hubby comes back home tomorrow night! I am sitting here thinking that I should NOT have eaten those tator tots that the kids and I made for a snack. I did, however, have a healthy snack with fat-free ranch dressing for dinner. For those that do not know, I am doing Weight Watchers to rid myself of the extra person I have gained in the last 10 years. I have been on WW for a week and a half now and have lost 6.5 lbs. !! Only about 50 to go....ugh! BUT never fear, I am committed and am doing quite well. I am not even hungry. And boy, I didn't know a person could actually live on SO much less than I was eating. I even bought myself an elliptical machine that works your arms, legs, abs, back, shoulders, and everything else. Oh, not your butt, and heaven knows I need help there too, but maybe those lunges I am doing will help that flattened and rather large area. No one ever told me that age affects you soooo much....and I am only 36! Time to get in good shape now before my shape is totally gone, LOL. I will keep you up to date on my progress for those that are interested. Paula, I know you are! Thanks so much for the encouragement you were when you were here last week. You have set me on the right path!
Well, since this is not all about ME, but IS about our homeschooling journey, I will post a bit about that. I FINALLY decided on Shurley Grammar for Grammar/Language studies and will supplement with Rod and Staff. They actually have a separate workbook to be used for those that use another primary curriculum. Today we went over Lesson 3 in Latin for Children and I learned that "de fenestra" means to throw something out the window. IF I translated that wrong, please do not feel the burning desire to correct me, as I want to feel I learned a new phrase and be proud of myself:) That IS what the lesson said! In grammar today the kids had to define "obtuse" and when reading it, Ashley thought it was obese! Obese/Obtuse....sure looks close. :) We had fun with that one! The kids had a time grasping the concept of antonyms and synonyms...Lauren said pencil and pen (synonym), and Jordan said VCR and DVD player (antonym)...we had to go over that antonyms had to be the same type of thing...but opposite....such as light and dark....high and low....cold and hot....lol. But, Lauren protested, when discussing synonyms that pen and pencil were similar...am I wrong to say no? Surely they are both writing utensils...but not similar enough to be synonyms? Well, after they caught on, we had fun making up new ones! Now they are enjoying Tarzan 2 while I blog and then we'll finish the rest of grammar. Today in Science Ashley and I read about Zoology, taxonomy, and binomial nomenclature. Here is her narration:
"Lesson 1-Zooligy (leaving original spellings and punctuation)"
There is a classification. First Kingdom Animalia, then it gets smaller to Phylum Chordata, Phylum Arthropoda, and Phylum Annelida. Then smaller to Class Mammalia, Class Aves, Class Arachnida, Class Insecta, Class Crustacea, Class Oligochaeta, Class Polychaeta." The End.
We'll have to work a bit more on narration. She is new to this! For those of you that use narration with your children (a la Charlotte Mason), please feel free to send me any suggestions! We'll be using narration quite a bit with science and history this year!
Well, I have "mused" my self out....I hope you all have a FABULOUS Friday! Ta ta!

Life :)

Well, today has been pretty productive! We made it through Bible, Grammar, and Math. Jordan has to go back sometimes and get a second chance on his math questions in order to check what he has done...but he is getting more careful each year! I am trying to get them to practice every day on the piano, which they are not prone to do! We have to be sure to schedule that into our busy days also!
We are still trying to decide what to do about Grammar. We are using Shurley Grammar, but also wanted a traditional grammar book to supplement. We may go with Rod and Staff since it is more traditional and less convoluted than Abeka. :)
We are missing Daddy so much this week! He is gone all week in Alabama and although we talk several times a day, it is so difficult to have him gone! He'll be home all next week though, and then the following week, we'll all be going with him to AL. Anyone know anything about Birmingham that we should try to see or do while there? :)
Well, not much else to report today. We are going to try and get another lesson in Grammar done tonight and do our Latin lesson. Last night we popped a bowl of popcorn and watched Nanny McPhee. What a good movie! We loved it! Yesterday morning we went to the theatre to see Zathura with our neighbor, Lesa, and her 5 children. We enjoyed that even though we had already seen it twice! Still enjoyable to get out a bit!
Love to all of our family and friends! The NC Roys!

Beginning the Year! 2006-2007 :)

We are starting a new homeschooling year here in NC. We are starting a tad early in order to leave Thursday (co-op day, band day, and piano lesson day) school free! We also want to buffer in days for vacations with Daddy and time in FL with Nanny and Poppy! We are excited about this coming year! Lauren will be turning 13! We can hardly grasp that concept. Jordan will be turning 12, and Ashley will be turning 10. They will be doing 4th and 7th grade this year. Where has the time gone...all little preschoolers to now the two oldest in mid-middle school. Chris and I are aging as well, although you'd never know ! This year Lauren will be taking flute with the Springs Homeschool band, and they are all 3 taking piano. We are going to be taking Tae Kwon Do as a family (that will be fun!). Jordan is still in scouts; it is his first year as a full-fledged Boy Scout.
We are doing a combination of Abeka for Bible, Shurley Grammar and Abeka for Grammar (although this may change to Rod and Staff and Shurley Grammar), Latin for Children for Latin, Apologia Science, Story of the World and History of the World for History (and may also delve into Mystery of History), Saxon Math, Abeka Spelling, Abeka Reading for Ashley, and a few other things. We tried using completely Abeka and doing the DVD's, but that was a BIG flop...the children didn't like the format or the time in front of the t.v. So we have mixed it up a bit with some Abeka and some other things we like. Homeschooling is all about finding what works for your child and your family as a whole. We have 3 very different style learners, so we are constantly searching out the best curriculi for our children. As they change, the curriculum may change (from year to year or every few years).
Well, follow us along our journey this year....we'll have loads of fun...loads of work...and lots of growing, I am sure!
Blessings!