Homeschooling helps..

While gearing up for the school year I have been thinking about what tools have been indispensable for me. Ones I am truly thankful for. One is the Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System. My oldest two children went through the AWANA program and learned so much scripture it was mind boggling. They only vaguely remember "hearing that before" as we stopped reviewing after the program ended for us. What a terrible shame on me. I taught the Word of the Lord to my children and planted it in their hearts, then neglected that garden and let it die. It is now gone from their minds.

One day while visiting Charlotte Masons site I stumbled upon her system. The light went on and the next weekend the Lord gave me everything needed(quite remarkable) for .35 at a garage sale. I love this system for these reasons.

1. My children ask to do it several times a day.

2. They are learning, on average, 2-3 passages a week.

3. Did I mention they enjoy memorizing scripture? Priceless.

4. I have a record of ALL verses the Lord has put in my children's hearts.

5. Easy to create and maintain

Every God-fearing household should have one of these(imo ;) I love it and thought I'd share.

http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/

Banking will be a sweet family memory.

Banking is made memorable when...at the bank teller window you gladly accept their offer for suckers. When they ask how many, you say 6 with a smile. The children all know what comes next...the teller's eyes inevitably pan the shaded windows along the side if the van peering in to look. We receive the suckers and maneuver out of the banks narrow drive-through. Mommy is so well seasoned in this next area, I can now glance in my rear view mirror and announce "Grape!, Coconut!, Apple!, Root beer!, Mystery!" as the children call out their choice of flavor - one at a time - starting with the ladies, of course. Then only using the rear-view mirror I can fling the suckers over-the-shoulder to the child of my choice and hit target, square on. Now you know why driving to the bank is so much fun for the children(and me).

Candy is the REWARD...

not the REASON to go potty.

Gracie, that girl, she is a wise one. You might have wondered why I touted great methods of potty training and superb results then the absence of posts updating progress? Here enters Grace. We started when? 5 weeks ago? 4? How is she doing? Not much better than she started out. We do NOT give up. She met her match. I will do mountains of laundry before I put her back in a diaper. There is rarely a wet one in the house but the dirties magically appear each time she steps from behind the rocking chair. EVERY time.

Now there is a new problem, she is asking to go every 10-15 minutes(and doing it somehow!) then holding up her chubby little hand and stating "kindee?". Oops, we have conditioned her to manipulate. I will be setting the timer now. So many of my children's sinful habits are actually caused/taught by my lack of attention and discipline! Arg.

Church Campout

I found my camera! It was hiding real well. Here are some pics from last weekend

A new goal in life

Our family has a new goal in life Not your typical goal, but a goal nonetheless. Daniel asked me if I saw Haley's Comet. As a matter of fact, I did, and remember it well. It last appeared in 1986 and I was 12 yrs old. It's funny, I can't believe I was that young, it seems so recent! I described what I saw and then we went to good ole Google Images and everyone oohed and awed over the pics.

Don't ask me how we ever got started on this topic. Oh, the meteor shower over the last couple nights have fascinated our children. Which leads me to our new goal in life. We are all going to try(Jacobs idea) to live long enough to see Haley's Comet. Daddy will be "the big 90", I will be 87 and we will be celebrating our 68 anniversary. Jessie will be 65, Jacob 63, Danny 61, Emma 59, Micah 57, Gracie 55 & Elijah will be 53 - so there is a good chance most of us will see it. Jacob said "You have a good chance of seeing it with us, mamma, if you drive carefully." Don't ask me WHERE that came from, I am a good driver! Sheesh.

Another 2 min update(I like these)

My camera is still missing after cleaning the trailer. We are going to drive back up to the mountain to see if Hurricane Grace through it in the brush around our trailer...which I doubt.

Pray I find my camera! I miss it and it the SD card has a bunch of pictures of Elijah I never took off.

I had my dental appointment Monday. I turned down the root canal after finding out it was an additional $950 and took my 50/50 chance I would need it by the end of the week, praying God's mercy and healing, but willing to accept what He chose was best. I had 2 hours of work done, it was not fun. I was told the pain would be intense for 2 days and ease off. I got home, the Novocaine wore off and I felt GREAT. I never had pain...ever. Still don't. Can't explain that one. I was supposed to call the dentist yesterday and update him on my pain and possibly find a breastfeeding friendly painkiller(Thanks for the link Kristi!) but when I called I had to confess I felt better than I had in weeks. Thank you guys for your kind emails and offers. I had two offers of meals the next day(which I had to turn down!) I am so thankful for a great bunch of friends.

New appreciation..

For my shower. I just took a long hot soapy shower. It was the highlight of my morning. We're back from camping, BUT guess what is missing? My camera. So...there will be "text only" additions until further notice.

2 minute update.

We had a BLAST at the church campout. Free gourmet coffee outside the P's motorhome next door(push one button and after a plethora of assorted noises out came this amazing coffee in my cup! Can you tell what was the highlight of my "vacation"?), one bee sting, no rain, lots of bicycle riding, lots of edifying conversation, campfire songs, teaching, happy children, 28 trout caught by 5 different boat loads of children taken out with my hubby, holding my hubby's hand on walks.

My fully packed trailer is staring at me from the front yard. It is 4:52pm Monday. I went to the dentist today after suffering tooth pain for two weeks. I suffered more tooth pain at the dentist today. I left with him saying "I'm worried about you, would you call me Wednesday and let me know how you are doing? We can go back in." He was writing a prescription for painkillers when I asked him if it was safe when breastfeeding. Being a father of 6 himself, he bit his lip and said it will come through the milk and go to the baby. I had him crumple the prescription. Hmmmm...They said the next 48 hours will not be fun so no blogging.

Family picture

Paul has his 20th class reunion in a couple weeks. They called and wanted an update and a photo...a photo? A recent photo? Hmmm...The last family picture we have has a baby Micah in it. So before church this morning I ran and put a bench in the front yard for us to sit on and a table for the camera. The camera took about 8 pictures with this being the nicest, obviously a quick fix, but I am sure it will look nice for the class memory book. Thought I'd share.