Great quote

Read this quote today in a book called American Voices.  It's a quote from a presentation given by David McCullough in 2005. 

"Nor was there ever anything like the past.  Nobody lived in the past, if you stop to think about it.  Jefferson, Adams, Washington---they didn't walk around saying 'Isn't this fascinating, living in the past?'  They lived in the present just as we do.  The difference was it was their present, not ours.  And just as we don't know how things are going to turn out for us, they didn't either." 

Such an thought provoking idea.

Along with this quote from the same source:

" The laws we live by, the freedoms we enjoy, the institutions that we take for granted--as we should never take for granted--are all the work of other people who went before us.  And to be indifferent to that isn't just to be ignorant, it's to be rude.  And ingratitude is a shabby failing.  How can we not want to know about the people who have made it possible for us to live as we live, to have the freedom we have, to be citizens of this greatest of countries in all time? It's not just a birthright, it is something that others struggled for, strived for, often suffered for, often were defeated for and died for, for us, for the next generation."

May we never forget what went into making this country.  The literal blood, sweat, and tears.  May we never take lightly their intention in developing our government the way they did. 

Two kids in high school----YIKES!!!!

So I now have 2 kids in high school.  How did that happen?  I'm excited about this year.  And they are excited about this year (well one is anyway :-)  ). 

Love our new curriculum.  Almost made a big mistake, but God was gracious and allowed me to see my wrong curriculum choice before we were 3 months into the school year.

So, for this year we are using:

*Notgrass Exploring America history, literature and Bible.  We used Notgrass Exploring World History.....liked it so much we decided to continue with his American History.  We all enjoyed our first day.

*Writing will be Essentials in Writing.....this is a curriculum I found late last year and the kids love it.  Short video lesson that very clearly breaks down the writing process.  Teaches writing by starting off with a review of grammar and punctuation, followed by writing sentences, paragraphs, essays, and research papers.  So glad both of the kids like this one!

*Total Health to fulfill that health credit

*Apologia Physical Science and Apologia Chemistry.  Should be a busy science year!

*Rosetta Stone French and German

*The book and study for I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist

*VideoText Algebra.  Found this one last year as well.  Very good explanations.  Kind of pricey, but buying the online version saves some money.  And, "Algebra" actually includes Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Algebra 2.  And my kids like it.  Always a huge plus. 

So, we're off to the races.  Sad to think how close we are getting to the end of this journey!

Ahem, shall we try again?  Life has changed drastically, again, since my last post.  Truly though, I do want to keep up a blog, mainly because I want our friends and family to know what's going on in our lives.  So, ahead I go.  This year is turning into a great year for us in school.  Mainly because I decided to s.i.m.p.l.i.f.y.   I just love the idea of doing unit studies, and doing all sorts of school planning and putting together all sorts of interesting projects for every week of the year.  I love the idea, but that's just not me.  And really, it's not the kids either.  So, back to basics for us.  Our new favorites are:  Notgrass Exploring World History, Essentials in Writing, Spelling Power, Wordly Wise (actually I have loved this one from the beginning), Apologia Science, Rosetta Stone Foreign Language, and literature to go with the time period we are studying (done to Total Language Plus Guides), and VideoText Math.  And as the weather gets warmer, outdoor time exploring nature and nearby historic landmarks. 

The kids are thoroughly ensconced in youth group at church, Civil Air Patrol, and Enrichment Classes, volunteering in the nursery at church, babysitting, hanging out with their friends, going on youth retreats, etc, etc, etc (where do they find the time?)   And I continue to be a pediatric nurse.  Life is trucking along.  Don't want to move so fast that we miss the blessings along the way.  So I'm going to try....one more time.... to keep this going.  Hope to see y'all soon!

Another Year----Again

Little belief that I will do better keeping up my blog this year than in the past.....but I can always hope.

Have loved this summer----maybe because we actually took a summer. What a concept. We'll go back as soon as the teacher is ready....but she isn't ready yet because, well, she just isn't. This summer has been a wonderful time to refresh, relax, renew.

I've hardly seen the kids-----Adam has gone to Bear Branch, Kentucky for a week for a mission trip, a week at his Dad's, and a week at the beach with friends. Abby went to camp for a week. Hmmmm----do I get to go away for a week? Probably not. Oh well.

In all seriousness, we will be starting back to school in a week or 2. Looking forward to this year. The kids are getting older.....doing more independently. Chose some new things that hopefully will work better for us. Plus we'll still be doing History and writing with friends. Everything is better with friends :-).

Now if I can just clamp down on the computer time during the year and ramp up the family time. Hmmmmm....that might be my next post----ideas for family time.

Later tater!

Major Change of Location

Well, the kids and I have moved back in with Grandma and Grandpa. We've gone from a 1500 sq ft apartment to 2 12x12 rooms. Makes life interesting for sure. But there is such freedom in the simplicity of the huge purge that I had to do before the move.

So, what did we bring with us? Hmmmm, well, books and bookcases, and all of our homeschool resources of course. Had to bring the important things after all. (Oh, and our clothing thankfully).

We are settling in----finishing up the year. Love reaching the end of the year of curriculum and realizing that we have covered everything I intended to even with a big move.

And the prize at the end of the year? The homeschool conference of course. The kids and I cannot wait to go.......workshops and the book fair-----oh, love it, love it, love it......even the kids are planning what workshops they want to go to and what they want to buy for themselves at the book fair.

Even in our new smaller-for-us location, I have to say----homeschooling just gets better and better every year. Oh how I thank God for the privilege of being able to do it!

Hmmmm, maybe for the 2010-2011 school year I'll actually keep up with this blog!