March pics

Jonathan and Madison along with some of the youth from church presented the Living Stations of the Cross this weekend...







Hairdo-in' at the park...

A visit from Anjali...


Some Disney faces...




Some cool dudes...






Some nerds (it was "nerd night" at AWANA...Jake won for his age group!)



Jake's last basketball game...



"Jake age" St Patrick's Day activities...

High School Prep update

I have been eating, sleeping and breathing thoughts about high school courses lately. Everytime I find myself with a free moment (which isn't very often) I think, "Oh, let me think about high school!" The thing is I'm excited about the courses! I guess in a way I'm living vicariously through my kids (kind of like I do with Theatre!) I don't know about you, but in college specifically, I was thrilled when the new course listings came out. I just love that kind of stuff. In my early days of parenting I always picked up those adult ed class brochures, and I'm just realizing they don't have a ton of that around here (or maybe I just haven't looked lately)(maybe I should start looking again). I took an herb class in CT when Madi was a baby. The Friday of the Homeschool Convention is literally my second favorite day of the entire year (of course Christmas is #1!). Yes, I am a curriculum junkie! (Aren't all homeschool moms?) A few weeks ago, I was getting a little stressed with the thoughts of, "my first baby is almost grown" etc. When a friend mentioned taking it slower and easier with her kids next year, I got a little envious thinking that it is too late for that for us. But the thing is we've been fairly slow and easy all along and Jonathan is still prepared for high school. Mike and Jonathan weren't not nearly as "into" this high school planning as I am, but when I made them come up to the computer and look at some of the virtual classes offered, Jonathan got pretty excited about it. He'd still prefer Rosetta Stone for Spanish (Caryn, he might be coming to your house sometimes to hang out and try yours), but he's on board with the idea of taking in virtually. He was very interested in some of the other courses offered (like economics, and different computer, career, and business classes). He caught on to the whole prerequisite thing, and so he's thinking maybe he'll take Geometry before Algebra 2 (because it is a prereq for a computer programming class). So the bottom line is, he's now involved in the planning and making it "his own". Although right now he's downstairs playing rockband, and I'm pretty sure he's not thinking about it at all, and I'm here on a Sunday afternoon (when I could be napping) blogging about it. I guess that's a mom for ya!

Buried under emails

Eye yi yi! (is that how you spell that?) I'm getting buried over here! I feel like I can no longer keep up! As if the schooling and dishes and laundry and constant stuff and...and...and...weren't bad enough, now I am seriously getting behind on emails/facebook messages and all things computer related. On the one hand I guess that is good because it means less time on the computer and more time living life. The downside is, I've turned into one of those people that doesn't respond to messages. I have good intentions, but often after I read an email it is not currently the time to reply (as in I have to find the answer or I'm in the middle of something else and multi-tasking). By the time I get back to the computer there are now 50 more things demanding an answer and the original thing is lost in cyber world (ie not on the current computer screen). So if you've been waiting to hear from me regarding a great opportunity for the kids, or a family vacation, I'm sorry for the delay. And if you've send me a heartfelt or funny forwarded thing, I probably read it, but most likely will never comment on it.

A huge focus for me right now is planning for Jonathan's high school next year. Another big one is the health of my family. We're on a roll with the spinach/berry/kefir smoothies and going broke on really good vitamins and supplements. I'm also doing pretty well as far as getting to daily Mass (not necessarily DAILY, but usually 3 times a week). This is in addition to my Faith Study which is winding down (I don't want it to end!). There's more, but basically my point is if these things are coming ahead of computer time that can't possibly be a bad thing. In the meantime, I appreciate your patience if you are awaiting a reply from me!

My own quick takes

1. So far the "school day" for the kids has looked like this...Daily Mass, hang out with friends (this included playing pool, kickball and chess). I had to pick them up from there to take them to PE and on the way Jonathan and Madi filled out their NCAA March Madness brackets. We are nothing if not well rounded!

2. I am vowing that we will do actual schoolwork from 2-6 today!!

3. Mike has been away since right after the play Sunday afternoon. He comes home tonight...hooray!!

4. I had to pay bills this morning...I hate that job and relinquished it to Mike right around the time that Jake was born. With Mike being away it became my job. I got a paper cut on my lip while licking an envelope. I REALLY hate that job!

5. We are going to Disney with friends tomorrow. Those same friends are moving away in a few months and I'm very sad!!!

6. I think yesterday's bottom three on American Idol was right on, and I'm good with Lacey going home. Are we the only ones left who watch this show? I still love it. David Cook was on last night:)!

7. I learned this week that when we have a certain carsick prone friend with us that he should not sit in the way back...especially if we are driving on the road that has a lot of speed bumps. Ask me how I know this!

I just realized that I've used an excessive amount of exclamation points in this post.

Thoughts on next year

I've just spend literally HOURS in the computer looking at schooling options for next year. Jonathan will be a high schooler! This is a little daunting. Not so much the work as the idea of high school and the transcripts etc that go with it (not to mention the fact that college will be right around the corner). The thing is, he's definitely ready, but I'm not! How can my first baby (the teeny-est one) be in high school?! Not a week goes by that someone doesn't ask me the typical "do you plan to homeschool high school" question. For years this was theoretical, now it's really coming up. The thing is, I'm starting to realize that I'm not very good with change. Well, maybe I should back up a minute here. I mean nothing is REALLY changing, we will still be homeschooling next year. We're just going to need to document more and have a more school-y course of study mindset. It's not even like I'm starting from square one. We know what he's doing for math (Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2) and science (Apologia Physical Science), so there are two big subjects down. I'm pretty sure we will be looking at a Foreign Language next year (and thinking it will most likely be Spanish from Rosetta Stone). I'm pretty sure with all he does at Theatre, both on and off the stage, it won't be hard to document a high school credit there. Where I'm getting confused is in the History/Faith/Literature area. Are these three courses or one? What makes it high school credit worthy? {if you're getting bored with this, go ahead and stop reading...I'll never know...I'm doing this for my own sanity anyway}. Somethings I might consider are the history from here and the grammar/composition and morality/faith from here. I'm linking to these so that I will be able to find them when the time comes. I also liked the looks of this booklist. The planning for Jonathan's year then gets wrapped up in the planning for Madi's. The thing is they are sort of like two peas in a pod and I'm not sure that I'm ready for them to do everything separate. They are doing more separately this year than they have in the past as it is. Not to mention I'm spending an awful lot of time on this, but ultimatley whatever we decide will be decided as a family. I had been planning all along that the two of them would use Story of the World vol 1 for History, but now I'm having second thoughts. For one thing in all my searching I can't find any recommendations on how to beef SOTW up for high school. Another possibility is that Madi may do this next year. Just to shake things up even more, I'm about 85% certain that Jake will go off the board entirely and do this next year. So basically, I've spend countless hours thinking about this and some more in front of the computer, and I don't really know what next year will look like. Another fly in the ointment is that it is possible Jonathan may actually take a class or two at the local high school. There is also the option of taking online classes. Soo much to think about!!

While I've been researching and contemplating. The kids have been playing with W and D from the other side of the fence. From my place at the computer I can hear some very funny conversations (not to mention the rockband songs!). Jonathan explained to W that we are in the 21st century, not the 19th. Jake and D were playing some form of house and part of the dialog went like this...A and S are here with us now, but we only have one bed so you and A will sleep on one side and S and I will sleep on the other. D was also very impressed thinking that Jake is a wiz at making up songs, but Jake admitted he didn't actually make up the Jedi song or the Alice in Wonderland song. Just another day at Winchester Academy!

More grease pics

Grease is the word...

OPENING NIGHT... Chick-fil-a performance

Pictures

Yesterday, under a severe thunderstorm warning and potential tornado warning, I hung out while the kids had (indoor) PE because I didn't like the idea of being away from them in dangerous weather. We only ended up with heavy rain, but it was fun watching them, since it is usually a "drop off and run" activity. They were playing a game where they all had Disney character names on their backs and they had to guess who they were by asking others only yes or no questions.


Last Saturday we went to Disney (that night everyone wanted to go!) and leaving the park was a madhouse, so we opted for the resort boat that would take us to the Polynesian and from there we could walk to the parking lot. As luck would have it, we were right on the water for the Saturday night lighted boat parade...COOL!!


Digging...

Helping to paint the Grease set...

Jake at the Berenstain Bears play...