Goose Hill Academy

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My Glasses

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to get my house cleaned and in some kind of order. I wanted to have everything ready beforehand not only for school, but for a bridal shower my daughter was having for her best friend. I thought this would help so we all wouldn't feel so stressed. (With 3 kids, will that feeling ever go away?)

Well, with everything going on, I neglected to mow the lawn. We have 4 1/2 acres and it can take a few hours to finish which means missed calls. So today, I decided to take my cell phone with me. Guess what? Not one call the entire time. I did, however, stop for a moment to text D and ask him if he wanted to attend the evening service at our church.....www.rileyvillebaptistchurch.org I then put my phone back in my pocket and hung my glasses on my shirt like I always do. Well, somehow, my glasses wound up in the yard where I must have run them over and shot them into the woods because they are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!! Between our cat Rascal and myself, I have lost (he has hidden) 6 pairs of glasses. -o-o-

When Steven heard about my eyeglass mishap, he was happy. "If mom can't see, we can't start school tomorrow!" he said. Let me tell you, Wal-Mart has some nice, inexpensive reading glasses.

"SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION!"

Blessings~
Laura

Sunday, August 26, 2007

We Made It Through The First Week

Has anyone else had this problem? I JUST PAYED OFF MY CAR LOAN AND NOW MY CAR IS FALLING APART! This is not the first time this has happened. I think the car dealer and the bank are in it together. They probably have a button under the desk and when they get that FINAL payment......THEY PUSH IT! ha ha ha

YEAH.......WAHOO.......WE DID IT! I know it was only the first week, but I am THRILLED that it went as well as it did, seeing as we had NO CLUE really what we were doing. We did have a couple of snags, but nothing that we couldn't work through. The biggest thing is trying to get S to realize that when I tell him what his assignment is, just because you say "No thank you, I don't want to work!", doesn't mean that you don't have to! I wonder where he got that from......hmmmmmm?

S had 3 quizes his first week: one in History - 99%, one in Math - 100%, and one in Science - 100%. WAY TO GO, STEVEN!!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!! Keep up the good work!

I have truly enjoyed this past week being home with Steven. We have had the opportunity to talk about many things and learn some new things about each other. I know in my heart, without a shadow of a doubt, that my DH and I made the right decision to homeschool Steven. What a JOY and a BLESSING he truly is!

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From the book Prayers for Homeschool Moms by Michele Howe:

Dear Lord, I must come before you in the deepest gratitude for I finally understand that you are the sole provider of my strength. Any confidence that I might possess stems directly from you. Thank you for graciously giving me the courage I require to take this momentous step. It is hard to enter into unknown territory. There are moments, many of them quite frankly, when I am paralyzed by a sudden fear that leaves me frozen. I'm not certain I'm up to this challenge of education my child. Yet, there is another part of me that recognizes that you equipped me to parent my family even in this new way. I believe that you are able to teach me as I begin instructing my child. Thank you for the knowledge you have given me. I would ask that you continue to guide our steps and that we would bring honor to your name in all that we do. This new phase of life will usher in joy I'm sure. I come to you, Father, rejoicing that as parents we have this option. Thank you for placing us here, at this time, when so many others are choosing this same road upon which to travel. Let me be humble enough to seek out the help I'll require. And encourage me to seek out assistance when need be. Restrain in me attitudes of pride and self-sufficiency that may hinder my abilities to best influence my family. I commit my loved ones once again into your faithful hands. Be with me, give me your good words of wisdom, and instruct me in the way I should go. Amen.

Monday, August 20, 2007

How It Went

Boy.....I thought I had our first day of school all planned out. Getting up early, making a pot of coffee, pancakes and maple sausage for breakfast, and throwing in a load of laundry (with homemade laundry detergent) before Steven woke up at 7:00. Well, it stormed ALL NIGHT, keeping Steven awake. Everytime I tried to get him out of MY bed and back in HIS, the thunder would crack, scaring him half to death. Needless to say, when we FINALLY WOKE UP at 10:30....I just laughed.

OFF TO SCHOOL WE GO........My DH and I are using the Alpha Omega Switched-On Schoolhouse 8th grade CD-ROM Curriculum. Steven has poor fine motor skills which make writing difficult for him. He is a whiz on video games and the computer, so this just seemed the most appropriate way for us to go. Our school day went something like this........

Math - Steven's favorite subject. He reviewed transposing written words in to numerals, and numerals to written words. He finished 2 lessons very quickly.

Language Arts - Steven's least favorite subject. Reviewing prefixes and suffixes, learning about 2 different kinds of morphemes.

Science - Things were going well until he saw he had 20 questions in this section.....complete shutdown. "BREAK TIME!"

Bible - Steven really liked this section. We talked about the Lord's Prayer and looked up the two different places you could find it in the Bible, Matthew and Luke. We also talked about the different kinds of translations that there are, as both of our Bibles were a different. Steven really enjoyed having me read mine, he read his, and then telling me the differences in the wording of the two.

P.E. - Steven's older sister Amanda, works at our local fitness center in town. Their hour long fitness program for kids is taught by Miss Robin, and she is WONDERFUL with them. They play games, run around, and have so much fun, they don't even know they are excercising!!

Science...again? After we got home, we were getting ready to start science when another horrendous storm came rolling through causing me to shut down the computer and postpone it.

During the day while we were doing our school work, our youngest daughter, Sarah, was busy preparing us a DELICIOUS, homemade dinner of pork BBQ, cole slaw, and peanut butter brownies. Both her and her sister, Amanda, love to cook. YEAH! They are both chefs in the making!

After dinner, the storm had passed and we were ready to start Science. However, Steven had another agenda........SLEEP! He was sound asleep on the family room couch. AWWWW! What an angel!

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY!!!