What We Have Been Up To

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I posted on Facebook the other day that I happened to glance up at the calender in my kitchen and it was still on May.  When we left (the first time) it was still May.  I can't believe June is already almost gone.  It has been pretty busy around here. 

Most of you know we went to Dauphin Island for a week on vacation.  We loved, loved, loved Dauphin Island.  I wrote a series of blog posts about our vacation there and I when I look back at those it seems like forever ago and not just a few weeks that we were there.

On our way back from there we fond out that Art's mom was critically ill.  We were home for a day and then loaded back up again to take the children (except the baby) to my parent's house and flew to New York the next day.  We spent 6 days up there with most of that time being spent in the ICU waiting room.  Art's mom did start improving before we had to leave and has continued to show steady improvements.  She is doing much better than anyone expected, although she is still in ICU and has a long recovery ahead of her.  We are planning a trip back up there for all of us (20 hour drive) in a few months.

We flew home on a Sunday, picked up the children (except Chelsea who had a 4 H camp that Thursday in Little Rock that my dad offered to drive her to for me so they kept her) and drove 4 hours home getting us here at 11:00 pm that night.  That week was VBS for our church.  We missed Monday because I was too tired and had to get to the store because I hadn't shopped in 3 weeks.  The rest of the week we went to VBS and I helped with the preschool class.  VBS went pretty smoothly.  The children learned a lot, had fun, and we raised money for the local soup kitchen and Christian Health Clinic.

Chelsea got home from one 4 H camp on Friday, then headed to the District Competition yesterday (while she was gone we went to a friend's and had a play date.) She won 1st place in her category, Fashion Review, for the dress she made last fall.  She also won 1st place on her journal.  Today she heads out to Quad County Camp and will be gone until Friday.  People that think that homeschoolers have no social interaction should spend a week at my house. 

In the middle of all that chaos, we have been working on several reviews.  I have posted a few over the last week or so.  In case you were wondering the reviews I used to post as TOS Reviews are now posted as Schoolhouse Review Crew.  Same company (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine) but a new website and name for the review team (that I am so blessed to be a part of!)  You can find the new website here.  In addition to the ones I recently posted we are working on several others including: Lightning Literature, Apologia Who Is My Neighbor, Christian Keyboarding, Knowledge Quest Time Maps Collection, a board game called Jeepers Peepers, and we will be starting several more in the next week or so. 

My wonderful husband is working extra hours to make up the time he missed while we were gone to NY.  He has not seen the children all week and won't until Friday.  He leaves before they get up and comes home after they are in bed. We are also trying to get the pool filled so the children can use it.  It is a slow process because we have to check for leaks.  Temperatures will be above 100 degrees this weekend and it would be nice to have the pool ready to go.

Now I must shut this computer down and complete a few household chores before we have to leave to take Chelsea to camp.

How Do You Determine Grades in Your Homeschool?

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How do you determine grades in your homeschool?  This is a question that I have been asked both by families who do not homeschool and other homeschooling families.  It's also one of those questions that, if you are homeschooling, there really is no right or wrong answer to.  What works for my family may not work for yours, but I will address how I handle "grading" in my homeschool.

I actually do not do grades or tests at all until High School.  Why?  I don't really see the purpose of testing or assigning grades in the younger years.  Our state does not require us to document grades.  I do not test my younger children because the majority of our work is completed altogether.  The purpose of testing is to determine if a child has mastered a subject area.  When we are working together, I know if the children do or do not understand what we are doing and I address that as we go along.  In subjects that they do on their own (like Math and Latin) their daily work shows me what they have mastered and what they need to continue working on so there is no need to take tests.

When my oldest started High School, we had to start keeping track of her grades for her High School Transcripts.  The idea of giving grades honestly was kind of scary at first because I want her transcripts to be as honest and accurate as possible but also don't want to get caught up in the importance of one particular "grade." Does that make sense?  I didn't want Chelsea's focus to be on memorizing answers for the sake of getting a good grade on a test.  I want her to do the work and learn the material for the purpose of increasing her knowledge.  What I discovered is that many homeschool high school curricula give suggestions for grading their course.  Sometimes I follow the suggestions, and sometimes I don't, but it is nice to have a guideline to follow especially when a course may not be easy to assign a grade to, like Art for example (I did follow the guidelines from Artistic Pursuits on that one.)  I do not grade day to day assignments although we do keep all of them.  I do grade tests, papers, and labs and use those scores to create a final grade for the course and enter those onto her transcripts.  For me, grading papers is harder than grading tests, but I also follow the guidelines for grading papers that were included with out literature/writing curriculum.

So while I think that at times assigning grades is necessary, it is not that important in the grand scheme of things.  To me, it is more important to create a love of learning atmosphere and keep the focus on that then how many A.B, or C's we have earned that year.  

Review: Where Lilacs Still Bloom by Jane Kirkpatrick

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paperback 367 pages

It's been awhile since I could actually sit down and read a book.  I have had this book sitting on my night stand for awhile now and today I was determined to find the time to finish it today.  I was very glad I did!

Where Lilacs Still Bloom is a story that is based on a real person and real events.  Hulda Klager was an immigrant from Germany with only an eighth grade education.  She has a gift and a desire to create something beautiful.  She starts out wanting to create a crisper, easier peeling apple for pies and develops a passion for plant hybridization.  She wishes to create different colors of lilacs, and also lilacs with different numbers of petals.  Though she is at times at odds with her people in her community and even on occassion her family, her dedication and determination continues to drive her.  Even when the flood waters threaten to destroy her garden more than once and her family faces several tragedies, Hulda's work to create something new and beautiful still carries on.

" Beauty matters....it does.  God gave us flowers for a reason.  Flowers remind us to put away fear, to stop our rushing and running and worrying about this and that, and for a moment, have a piece of paradise right here on earth."

I loved Where Lilacs Still Bloom!  It is a wonderful story of a courageous, dedicated woman who desired to use the gift God gave her to make this world more beautiful.  It is a wonderful story of a family, who through good times and bad, drew together and supported each other and a woman's dreams.  Many lessons about faith, love, and life are woven through the pages of this book.  One of things I loved the most was the love and support Hulda received from her husband, Frank.  In the beginning of the book, Hulda's father tells her to keep her plans a secret from Frank.  " Frank discourages you.  I see it Hulda.  He dismisses your interests if they go beyond your children and him."  But, Frank proves those statements false over and over again.  Even though he doesn't always understand everything Hulda does or why, he always supports and encourages her, often making sacrificing his own wants for hers.  Their love and support of each other and their family continues to carry on throughout the book.  It was beautiful to read.  Where Lilacs Still Bloom is one of those books that I am better off for having read.

I received a complimentary copy of Where Lilacs Still Bloom from Waterbrook Mulnomah for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation. 

Camping Anyone?

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This week's topic for the Schoolhouse Review Crew's Blog Cruise is Summer Camping.  We love to go camping!  I thought this might be a great opportunity to tell you why.

I have never been interested in tent camping.  For one thing, summer is very HOT in Arkansas (I think we are topping off at 105 today) and most tents do not come with built in air conditioners.  Then there is the whole sleeping on the ground thing that the thought of is not real exciting to me.  But honestly if it were spring or fall and we got a few really good air mattresses I would go tent camping.  Our favorite times camping have been in a motor home.

When you have a larger than average family, vacations start to become a bit more challenging.  Every place you go requires more than one hotel  room (double the expense) and splitting up the family.  That and the rising cost of gas had us looking into and thinking about ways we could take some local, family friendly vacations.  We love fishing, swimming, hiking, bike riding,  and have several beautiful state parks around us that offer free educational programs all summer long.  We did some research and decided to buy a small motor home and do some camping.



We loved going camping!  Campsites are fairly inexpensive and we were able to take one trip a month from April-October.  I loved the convenience of having the motor home.  We could store everything we needed in the motor home and every time it was time to leave again we just had to prepare and load food and clothing.  The motor home was air conditioned, had a microwave, fridge, and TV (very nice to have when it rained or to wind down right before bed) and a bathroom.  We had a wonderful time camping at Lake Catherine, DeGray Lake, Devil's Den, Beaver Lake, Parker Creek, Branson MO and even made two trips to the beach once to Panama City Florida, and once to Galveston Texas.  Art and I even took a camping trip just the two of us once.  We fished, swam, hiked, rode bikes, learned a lot about nature and wildlife around us, played baseball and frisbee, and cooked smores around a campfire.  It was wonderful!

Our motor home was designed to only sleep 6 and seven was pushing it.  Soon, there were about to be 9 of us and we made the decision to sell it.  We still did some camping by staying in cabins at one of our favorite state parks, Lake Catherine State Park.  The cabins were really nice!! and only cost around $80 a night.  But, they only slept 6 so our family had to rent 2 which only allowed us to make one trip instead of a trip once a month.  We still got to cook out and do all the wonderful outdoor activities.  Find my blog post on it here.  We really miss our camping trips and motor home and are hoping to buy a pull behind camper next year.

Camping is such a wonderful, economical, family friendly activity  You don't have to sleep on the ground to enjoy it, although many people do.  You never know if you'll like it unless you try it!  You just might surprise yourself.  I know I did!

Review: 4 Days to a Forever Marriage

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112 page Hardcover

Author Bio:

Gary and Norma Smalley have been happily married for more than 40 years. Gary is a well-known conference speaker, best-selling author, and president and founder of Smalley Relationship Center. And for years, Gary has shared anecdotes of Norma (and their relationship!) with audiences across the nation.

Publisher Summary:

 Key choice for any relationship - love or anger? Which will you choose?

• Reveals the physical and psychological impact of managing two key elements of any relationship: love and anger
• Effective strategies to enhance, maintain, or even restore your marriage
• Filled with over 300 marriage and family tips gleaned from personal experience and hundreds of other successful relationships
• Valuable lessons of communication and nurturing relationships with kids and grandkids.

Every relationship is a series of decisions that either strengthen your bonds or tear them apart. Learn two powerful choices to solidify and energize your commitment to each other for life! Using insight from relationship experts Gary and Norma Smalley, you can begin living a more intimate and loving relationship that honors God and each other. In just four days, you can get your relationship in balance and start reaping emotional and spiritual benefits. Let God transform your marriage into the safe, loving, and lasting connection it was meant to be!


 Choose love or anger.  Sounds pretty easy doesn't it?  It is not however as easy as it sounds.


4 Days to a Forever Marriage may be a small book, but it is full of practical step by step marriage and family tips that will strengthen your marriage. The book is written by a husband and wife team with both perspectives throughout the book.  The book is written in a way that you can use it along with your spouse and has places for both of you to answer questions or write down insights for each day's lesson.  But, it does not have to be read with your spouse and is something you can do on your own too.  Each of the 4 days have a different topic: The Power of Loving Words, Better Communication and Resolving Anger, Connections Through Affection and Intimacy, and Finding Treasures in the Trials.  Within each of these categories, the authors give real life situations that they have been through and practical ways for you to strengthen your marriage.  Let's face it, marriage is not easy.  Saying you want a better, stronger marriage is easy to say, but not always easy to do.  Whether you have been married one day or 40 years marriage takes a lot of hard work and you will find many helpful strategies within this book to make your marriage better, not just by reading once but by referencing over the years.

Purchase at Christianbook.com for $12.49 by clicking here.

I received a complimentary copy of 4 Days to a Better Marriage from New Leaf Publishing Group for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation.