Sidelined for Jesus

I shared in my last post about falling and scraping myself up pretty badly. As a runner, it is hard to let yourself be down for very long. I was recovering well and saw no reason not to be out running. Besides that, I had an important race coming up. It was the official kick off race for our running team, Calvary Chapel Running Team. 

So this past Wednesday I was out doing one of my training runs. Since my last 5k (3.1 mi) race had been so difficult to complete I had decided to clock a 5k on my own working on endurance more than speed. I was near the end of my 5k and still doing well and feeling very proud of myself when it happened again! Even as I was going down I was thinking to myself, "OH, NO!! NOT again!!" 

I'm pretty sure it was either the same location as the first fall or very close to it. As I sat there gathering the strength to get back up and assessing the damage, I felt overwhelming discouragement. I just wanted to sit there and cry and cry. I was also feeling angry. I'm not real sure who or what I was angry with but I was MAD!!!

I did manage to get up and limp home again. Even tried to run for a short way. Yes, I'm THAT hard headed! Quickly realized that my injuries were to much for that. Once I got home and got a good look at my injuries, I realized that my left knee was in pretty bad shape. What had been just a minor bruise after the first fall was now swollen about twice it's normal size and had very limited range of motion.

Since then, I've been doing my best to stay off that leg, keeping it elevated and icing it. After 4 days fighting depression, discouragement, and boredom that knee is still swollen and painful. So much so that I stayed home from church in order to keep it propped up. Praise God that our church broadcasts the services live over the internet. There was a special speaker who is a special friend to our church, Daniel Henderson. I'm sure that his message spoke to many others as well, but it was one of those that felt like it was especially for me. You can hear it at: http://www.ccstpete.com/living-word-media/teaching/index.cfm?tape_id=GS3352.

Of all things, the message was titled, "Don't Just Do Something! Sit There!" That's precisely what I'm being forced to do. I guess I'm one of those who is so stubborn that God has to sideline me to get my attention! You've heard of the proverbial frying pan to the head! After hearing this message, I have a new purpose to my recovery. I'm convinced that God wants to use this time to teach me to pray effectively. Not those boring, struggling to stay focused, God here's my list of requests prayers, but reaching the heart of God, worship saturated prayers.

At this point, I have no idea how long my recovery will be, whether weeks or months. I need to see the doctor for some kind of prognosis on that, but I'm going to try make the most of this time sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Blood, Sweat and Tears! All part of a typical homeschool week!

I don't know about you other homeschool moms, but I've been about as busy as a toddler in a room full of nick-nacks! We haven't been without our share of blood, sweat and tears either! Literally.

Last Thursday I was out running when I stumbled and fell. Running is not supposed to be a contact sport, but I guess I was trying to make it into one! I scraped myself up pretty good! Ended up having to take several days off from running to recuperate. My road rash is still healing and my left knee is a sickly shade of yellow and purple, but I got back out there yesterday. Trying hard to take it easy. Not something I do well!

That same day, I got word that my dad's brother died. He had been fighting a 2 year battle with cancer. I'm glad to be able to say that Uncle David had a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. He performed the wedding service for MyHero's and my wedding. In his last days, he had taken to having a weekly church service for all the family in his home. Even my dad, who had not been to church in years, attended. What a wonderful legacy to leave!! He will be greatly missed by many! I can't wait to be able to visit with him again in heaven!! Please pray for my Aunt Debi and my cousins and their children as well as the rest of my family. They will be grieving for some time yet.

This week I have been plagued by migraines. They have made it difficult to monitor school progress. Yesterday, I was helping RoboBoy with his school work when I got slammed with a migraine. It had been gradually coming on for an hour or so, but suddenly became unbearable. I told RoboBoy that he would have to do his best on his own with his school, then I took my prescription and went to bed. So far today I'm feeling better. Such is the life of a homeschool mom!

Off and Running!

We have now been back to school for just shy of 4 weeks. Each day has not been without it's struggles, but I'm very proud of the consistency we are displaying! At this rate, this may turn out to be one of our best school years yet.

I have to give a shout out to Mark Berg who runs the new math practice site that I've found for the kids. It is called Math Facts Pro and is only $5 per year for 5 students! Yes, you read that correctly. That's $1 per student. It is geared to teachers who have a class full of students but works great for homeschool moms. 

In fact, after some e-mail communication with Mark yesterday, he shared with me that his wife homeschools their children. Makes perfect sense! It seems that homeschoolers are the ones who usually have the ingenuity to invent such programs and then make it affordable for all.

Besides being affordable, I like the fact that this program, while going over the most basic of math facts, does not make my kids feel like they are being treated like babies.

I feel like I have FINALLY found a way to remediate my children's lack of math skills without having to hire a tutor or spend hours with each child going over flash cards!

We were using another online math facts practice program that was free. However I became frustrated with it after two weeks of the site being down. I decided that it was time to scrap that one and find something else. I'm so glad that I did because now we get to support another wonderful homeschool family while using a program that more perfectly suits our needs!

We are still using Time4Learning for Fashionista and RoboBoy. They are using it for Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions and Social Studies. RoboBoy still needs my assistance when he "does school" on the computer. He has a hard time focusing when there is a lot of text to be read. So I set aside time to sit and help him through it. We are both learning a lot. LOL

How is your school year starting out? How long have you been back? Have you realized that you need to make any changes in curriculum?

Planning for the New School Year

It has not been a fun week to be me! Well, it actually started over night Friday. During that night the headache I'd been fighting for nearly 2 weeks blossomed into a full blown migraine. The problem was that I didn't have any of my medication for it. Uuuugh! It was nearly 2 days and 3 nights of migraine pain off and on. When it was bad just turning my head made me feel dizzy and nauseous.

Times like that make me wonder why God allows me to endure such pain. I know He has a purpose for it. Haven't been able to figure it out yet, except that it allows me to appreciate the times when I feel good so much more.

Now that I'm feeling better, I have been working on more lesson planning. My goal is to start school back up August 19th and so far we seem to be on track for that. It's looking to be an interesting year.

ManBoy will be in 10th grade, Fashionista in 8th and RoboBoy in 7th. I am working to get all three kids back to grade level in math so this year we are focusing on some specific remedial math skills. We will also be placing great emphasis on cementing those math facts.

Here is a breakdown of the curriculum we will be using this year and which kids will be using each:

• "Exploring World History" by Ray Notgrass - ManBoy
  (This incorporates Language Arts, History and Bible in one curriculum)
• www.time4learning.com - Fashionista and RoboBoy
  (They will be doing Language Arts and Social Studies)
• "English from the Roots Up" - All three
• Key To Fractions Workbooks - All three
• Key To Decimals Workbooks - All three
• Answers in Genesis "The Astronomy Book" - All Three

Although ManBoy is now in high school, I'm not worrying too much about following the prescribed college prep courses with him. He has his heart set on becoming a baker and so that is where my focus is for him. I'd like to see him go to a trade school for that, but not at all sure what direction that will take. It would be nice if he could do some sort of internship with a cake decorator or something. His personal plan is to get a job at the local grocery store bakery as soon as he turns 16.

With Fashionista getting so close to entering high school, I'm beginning to think college prep for her. She has expressed interest in becoming a fantasy writer and already practices writing her own books. She hasn't totally made up her mind yet though. Whatever she chooses, I'm fairly certain that it will entail a college degree which means that now is the time to begin preparing for that.

RoboBoy is still in that blessed grace period before we have to begin seriously thinking about how to prepare for his future. He has declared that he wants to be an Explorer when he grows up. Not sure how he intends to make a living that way, but it does sound like fun!

I just finished updating and scheduling the chores each of my kids will have throughout the year. The Lord has convicted me lately about becoming so slack on teaching them good work habits. I'm just praying that He gives me the endurance and consistency I need to make this next school year a success.

What are your plans for the new school year? I'd love to hear about them! Also, please go check out the other blogs in this Blog Hop!

It's NOT You, It's Me

It's hard to believe that we are already nearing the last days of summer! Or at least of summer vacation. Having survived the past week of VBS, Fashionista has begun her last week of 5-day clubs for the summer. I'm frantically trying to pull together lesson plans in preparation for the looming school year. I knew this summer was going to be a whirlwind but I did not expect it to take the kind of toll on me that it has.

It seems that especially lately I'm finding myself feeling more ASPIE than normal. (For an explanation of what Aspie is you may want to read my former post, Hi, I'm Dee and I have Asperger's Syndrome) I'm feeling like I just want to climb up into myself and shut the rest of the world out. Perhaps this is a result of being forced out of my house and into the presence of people all summer long, which is something that I find absolutely exhausting. I think this weekend was the first time all summer that I was allowed to stay home and not have to go anywhere.

I guess I'm feeling depleted of I'm not even sure what. Opportunities for inner contemplation? That thing that I have to tap into which allows me to be social despite how unnaturally that comes to me? Whatever it is, I'm feeling totally drained of it. Even talking on the phone is feeling like a gigantic chore to me. 

Hopefully, the cessation of 5-day clubs and getting back into a school routine which will not require me to be out of the house and around people so much will help my Aspieness to retreat. In the meantime, I'm sorry to all of you who have been feeling like I'm mad at you for some reason. Try to remember that it's not you, it's me.

What To Do With All These Books?

Having finally finished updating my personal database for all our books, I've started listing them on Amazon. My goal was to be able to list them in bulk but after wrestling with making that happen for a whole day, I decided that it was easier to just deal with listing them one at a time. 

I got about 40 some books listed that way. This morning upon checking my email, I realized that one of my book had sold. Yay! Time to get it ready to ship. I have flat rate boxes, no problem. Oh, good grief! It costs more to ship that way than I charged for the book! Scrap that idea! Ok, so what are my other options??

A trip to the post office later and $1.49 spent on a padded mailer, then buying postage, I think I made a whole .48 cents on that book! Uuuuugh!! This is NOT going to be worth all the trouble I'm going to!

So what do I do with these 200+ books?? Trying to decide if it will even be worth my time to mark them all and attempt a yard sale. I'm having trouble getting to all that I need to get done as it is! I just want these books out of here! I may just take the whole lot to the Salvation Army and be done with the mess!

What are your thoughts??

Encouraging Progress in a Difficult Subject

This past week was July 4th so Fashionista had no 5-day clubs. It was nice to have a little respite from getting up so early every day and running around town playing chauffeur. This week we get to do it all again! Only this week Fashionista has afternoon clubs. This means that I don't have to leave the house so early to drop MyHero off. Fashionista doesn't have to be at the CEF office until noon.

We had our annual homeschool evaluations on Friday. I was quite nervous about these because we struggle with math. There was no need for me to be concerned however. All 3 kids made improvements in their scores over last year. ManBoy's score went up nearly 3 grade levels! We still have a long way to go, but I'm greatly encouraged by the progress made.

My kids are not liking it but I'm making them work on their math facts over the summer. They think that they know them, but it's always good to keep them fresh! We will be covering some new territory in math this coming school year so this will help them to be able to comprehend the new material more easily.

I'm starting to feel the pressure to get prepared for the new school year. Need to nail down what curriculum we will be using, I know most of it, but some is still up in the air. Also need to set up lesson plans and all that stuff. 

One of the things I plan to use this next year is, English From the Roots Up. It's an oldie but a goodie. I've had it sitting on my shelf for a while and rediscovered it while clearing off bookshelves. I think it is finally time to put it to work. It should help to improve spelling and vocabulary for my kids.

I would also like to get Fashionista enrolled in a class with www.time4writing.com. She loves to write fantasy books but needs a lot of help with her grammar and mechanics.

I still have all those books sitting in boxes in my kitchen as well! I have GOT to get them listed on Amazon. I'm feeling like my summer is filling up with too much to do and too little time to get it all done! I'd better get busy!

First a couple questions for you! We all as homeschoolers seem to have at least one subject that we struggle with. What subject is it for you and your kids? If you don't homeschool then what was your tough subject in school? How do you deal with this difficult subject? Have you found a way to make it less of a struggle?