Homeschool or Catholic School?

Where should Diva attend middle school...that is the question.  We are close to making a decision, but really want to know that we are following God's chosen path for our little family.

1) - homeschool: easy enough, keeping the status quo, can challenge her when necessary, more one on one, ability to follow her lead, we LOVE using Seton, more time with Mom

2) - Catholic Middle School - we always planned to send them to middle school, more opportunties, more independence, great curriculum, school is able to deal with her individual needs, she wants to attend

There are many more reasons for both choices, right now we are close to a decision.  She will attend the middle school next Tuesday as a 6th grader for a day.  She is very excited!  In the morning, Hubby and I (and 3 little girls) will have a meeting with the principal answer some final questions.

Please pray that we make the right decision for Diva, for our family, and in obedience to His Will.

Homeschooling in Iowa

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, we are now living and homeschooling in Iowa. Unlike Illinois, Iowa actually cares what I teach and if/how my children learn. This has been somewhat stressful for me. I have to send in test scores at the end of the school year. This of course means that my children must take a test. LOL They have never been tested in that manner before, so it should be interesting.

Next year to avoid this silly testing, my girls will all be enrolled with Seton Homeschooling. They are accredited. I teach and grade almost everything, there are a few things they test. Then I send the grades to them, and Seton sends me a report card. I turn the report card into the school district.

One thing that is a BIG positive about homeschooling in Iowa, is dual enrollment. Diva is enrolled at the local elementary school, for violin lessons only. She attends school on Monday 8-8:20 am lol. She does not appreciate the time, but loves the teacher.

School

Well school is starting soon, the end of Aug. to be precise.

Diva is a second grader, but first she will finish up her 1st grade Math book. She has requested that the entire year be devoted to Abe Lincoln. I am pretty sure that her sisters will not go for that LOL. She would also like to learn to write cursive. Hopefully the left to right progress of all letters will assist her in keeping from reversals.

Curly Girl is a first grader. She wants to learn about dinosaurs and bugs and stuff.

The Wondertwins will be preschoolers again, who are along for the ride.

We are also participating in Classical Conversations this year. This program will be a wonderful way for us to stay on top of things this year.

Homeschooling - the Spring Edition

Curly Girl does not like to come inside and complete her school work. Today, I took the work to her. Here we are in the fort of the swingset, reading.

Lent 2009

Lent begins tomorrow. As a family we are preparing for this special time, mostly with discussions. Lent is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) that are between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

Preparing our home. We are preparing our home for Easter. I plan to complete my first ever Spring cleaning and purging before Easter.

Preparing our hearts. We are preparing our hearts for Jesus. Diva has requested reconcilliation tonight. So we will be going to that, followed by Mass.

What to Give Up? Traditionally Catholics fast from something they love during this time of preparation. As a family we are fasting from meat and eating out. Diva is fasting from candy and gum. Curly Girl is fasting from juice.

What to Add? As a family we will pray the rosary, at least 1 decade daily. We will attend Mass on Tuesdays as often as possible. We will "put away" the alleluia (as soon as I make one to put away).

With all of that, our regular life stuff, and medical appointments, I think that is all that I can handle as a Mommy.

Bahraini clothes

Here is Diva modeling the clothes that Bill sent from Bahrain. First she is dressed up as a Bahraini boy, and after are pictures of the girl clothes. Bill sent us these for our geography boxes, that have yet to be started. We also received some more casual Bahraini boy hats to wear when the ones below are not worn. Also in our continent boxes, from Bill, are Bahraini coins and coins from the UAE. Thanks Bill!

Letter L

Our letter for last week was L. We made leaf cookies and frosted them. We also made leave pictures. We gathered the leaves, placed them on contact paper and covered with more contact paper. The girls had a lot of fun.

For the next 2 pictures, turn your head sideways to see our human Ns.

Letter N

This idea was taken from No Time for Flashcards. We are studying the Letter N this week, and needed a creative way to make a page for our alphabet book. So, we tore up newspapers and glued them to the N on the page. On the back we glued 9 Neckties.

Wondertwin C

Wondertwin A

C working hard with Curly Girl in the background.

In the background in A working hard.

Curly Girl is very proud of her picture. She loves art.

Halloween Craft Fun

First up - Glitter Pumpkins!


Below are the girls with their pumpkins covered with glue and glitter.
What fun!

Diva

Daycare Child

Curly Girl

Wondertwin A - dressed as Batman

Wondertwin C

First Nature Walk of the Fall

Here are O and K collecting nature items to take home and look at more closely. Everyone had their own bag, and they all collected a lot of fun stuff.

Sketching some items and maybe looking more closely at something else.

The "gooses" at the lake, according to A.

Anyone know what kind of fungus this is?

All 7 kids! In front are Diva with Daycare Child (she really needs a new name), middle is Curly Girl, backrow is Wondertwin C, K, O, and Wondertwin A.

Diva holding a grasshopper. This she said was her favorite part of the day.

Diva picking up an earthworm.

Look closely at that worm, so you all can sketch it later.

My kids are gross

So, I have been sheltering my girls from some realities of life. One being that worms can live in the food we eat, more specifically peaches. Today the wondertwins wanted to help me cut the peaches. I warned them, and Curly Girl who soon joined us, about the worms. Diva showed up to do this too. As soon as I mentioned the worms.....

1) all 4 girls ran away screaming and vowed to never eat another peach
OR
2) all 4 girls started cutting peaches quickly to see who would get the first worm and then proceed to fight over it

Yes, my dainty little girls did number 2!!!!!

After fighting over the 2 found worms, they named the worms (Chrysilis - because she looks like one when she hangs AND shakey). Then they put them in a jar with a peach. Wondertwin C dubbed them her "bwest fwend."

I guess maybe I underestimated my girls.

But...........eeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww - there are worms in my kitchen by choice.

Big Changes

We have made so pretty major decisions lately. First of all, Teen will be returning to her family and public school in the fall. It was too hard for her to be away from her Mom and Dad for long periods of time. Second, we have decided to homeschool Diva and Curly Girl. We were all set to send them to Catholic school, when things fell apart, we dicerned that God was telling us to keep them home. Lastly, the Wondertwins will be attending 1/2 day preschool at the public school down the street.

So pretty big changes going on around here.