A hiking hubby!

John is so cool! I say that becase I totally mean it!  I think my husband is the coolest!  He loves being outdoors, loves challenging himself and he is a woodsy manly man! John and his friend Jeff went up to North GA for three days and two nights to hike the Appalachian Trail.  They started at the real "start point" for the trail (it goes all the way to Maine from Springer Mountain near Amicolola Falls in N. GA).  They hiked, camped on the trail, pottied in the woods, boiled water for mixing up their freeze dried food, and purified their water from the streams.  Some of the hiking was straight up.  It rained the entire 3rd day which was kind of a bummer b/c John said it was a really pretty part of the trail. They met some vey INTERESTING people.....some that they swore were running from the law, some that were hiking the entire trail at once, some that looked like they had lived on the trail all their lives.  They  came across men called "trailrunners" that volunteer to sit at specific points and take note, keep track of those passing by.  The trailrunner at the top of Springer Mountain was this old mountain man with glasses on, no lenses in the glasses and a patch on one eye, and John said he couldn't understand a word the man said!  They learned that everyone has a "trail name".  The man that they hired to take them from their car to the start point so that they could then hike back to their car had a trail name that he went by on a regular basis..."cool breeze."  Jeff named John...UNO and John named Jeff..The Hammer.  It was a great memorable experience for them.  Next time Harriet and I are going with them...maybe her and I and the kids can hang out at a cabin and meet up with them at times...John and Jeff figured out if they did about 1 week a year they could do the whole trail in 25 years.  WOW!

Quote

I like this quote about blogging and I think it is so true of us that blog:

"That’s the beauty of blogging: you just jump right in whether you know anything or not! "

Confessions by Pioneer Woman!

Our Pet Corn Snake

This is the corn snake that hangs out in our back yard in the ferns and poison ivy...eating mice I guess.  We watched him all day long! 

My thoughts so far....

For about 4 months now I have been researching homeschooling curriculums...and it is very overwhelming.  It could seriously be a full-time task...reading all there is, interviewing people, viewing cataloges on the internet.. and it is very overwhelming..especially someone that is new to all the homeschool lingo...

CC--Classical Conversations
CM--Charlotte Mason
Unit Study
Living Books
ABeka
Lap Books
Classical Approach
Worldview
Evaluations
Test Book
Co-op
Life Group
Copy Work
Rhetoric
Dictation
Recitation
Saxon

and the list goes on and on....

So here is what I know so far about what we may and may not do, what I do and do not like, and what I have come up with so far.

I don't think we will be doing a co-op...at first I was all about it but now after researching the ones out there, I find that they are there for social interaction and the ones that aren't and actually do lessons well,...I think i can do at home...and I'm not sure I want to teach other people's kids...I'm not sure that is what I imagined when I decided to homeschool.  Now I would be intersted in a field trip kind of science/nature study group...because then we could also do research at home about what we saw outdoors.  I would also be interested in a book club type of thing so that Emily can talk/discuss books with her peers.

Math-I'm doing staight up, everyday math...something repetitive and tried and true...Most likely Saxon for third grade.

Science..we are going to do some type of nature study because that's what I like...we will be outside exploring and then bring that inside to do research and reading.  I think I like living books so we will read about nature using living books...maybe use some of Charlotte Mason type stuff...

History/Geography is where I am waivering...a book called Story of the World has been recommended to me by several people and they said to start using Volume one and use the Bible alongside that.  Sounds cool to me.  I, myself, have always been intrigued with how the Bible intertwines with our History...The Bible is our History!  But sometimes it is hard to see the timeline...I have a book calle the Bible Timeline written by one of my best friends' mom..it is amazing!  I want to incorporate this in our study and then I figured we could use that to incorporate Geography.  The problem I see is this:  It will take us forever!!!!! to get to say American History...and I am super interested in that too...we would be studying ancient history for forever...still figuring on this!

Grammer/spelling/language arts--Emily has a very solid foundation in these areas.  I may stick with ABeka for this because I have someone that has offered me free books...again ABeka is tried and true and usuer friendly.  Although, I had someone just today say that another curriculum for spelling/grammer is amazing and I will be checking that out. 

The pioneer woman recommended some books to study art history in which I am interested in. 

John and I did decide that a part-time option at CCS or the Boulware school is not for us at this point...maybe later on.

I have been reading a book called 100 top picks in homeschooling curriculums and it explains the different philosophies and curriculums...I came out scoring high in Unit Study, Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Ecletic...those were my top four when I took a quiz about my views, ideas, likes, dislikes, needs...

I think I will end up in the ecletic category but my only fear with that is that when I am pulling from all these different resources that I am shooting too high and I will get bogged down...I mean, Can I really do all of this!  I need some sort of plan, guide, etc. 

From what I understand...when you follow a curriculum by the book....(ie: buy 3rd grade ABeka) then the teacher manual gives you your plans.."read this page and do this work sheet on this day"type of thing...That seems so boring to me and one of my favorite things about choosing to homeschool is that I can be flexible and pick and choose and we can spend more time of studying art history if that is something Emily finds exciting but I feel the need to complete and move on and have a means to the end...so I am getting advice and have just this week visited some curriculum websites to start maybe purchasing a book or two....I'm sure this will all change over time and our needs as a family will change.  John warned me when taking my "quiz" in the book to grade myself fairly and accurately on who I really am and not on a fictitous woman that I think I should be..good advice honey! 


Emily will continue with ballet and piano.  We will most likely sign her up for an art class and she may do Petite Players during the year.  She will continue to do church choir and if she wants, I wouldn't mind signing her up for a sport at CCS but she will have to pick art or sport (take turns)...We have lots of friends that homeschool and we spend a lot of time with friends so I am not worried about the social part at all....

We will also do Bible as a family ....so excited about this (John is in charge of this)

This all sounds great but oh so overwhelming and I know its not all doable at once...and I know that the nice perfect picture I have in my mind will be scribbled on in no time....most likely Day 1 of homeschooling!

Who ya gonna call.....????

So John left today to hike the Appalachian Trail with his buddy Jeff Brewer.  They left at 6 am from Madison and drove to Woody's Gap in North Georgia which is actually where their end point will be.  A guy named "cool breeze" is picking them up at Woody's Gap and taking them to Amicolola Falls at the base of Springer Mountain where they will start the hike.  Apparently the approach trail to the start of the Appalachian Trail is wicked!  They went back and forth about whether to do it or not...even my Dad knew of its torture!  The approach trail does not technically count as part of the AT so they can't count it on their "miles logged on the AT" if that sort of thing is important to one...which it is to John and Jeff.  To a hiker, outdoorsy type like my husband...the AT is very cool and kind of a status thing!  So once at Springer mountain they will hike everyday, all day, with a very heavy pack on their back (I couldn't even lift John's). They will sleep on the side of the mountain, cook their freeze dried food with water that was boiled on a little mini burner, eat plain rice, granola, and purify their own water from the stream.  They even have bio wipes for pooping in the woods! 

At the very same time my beloved husband is out of town, my parents are riding on a Baptist bus with a bunch of other Prime Timers from our church headed to Savannah, GA to visit the historical district and eat at some awesome restaurants.  They have never done anything like this and I'm so excited for them....

But how dare they all leave me at the same time!!!  I mean who am I going to call if my car breaks down, the AC at our house blows up, we have a huge leak that I can't stop, the car won't start, etc etc.....the choices left being my 87 year old grandparents, John's Dad who just had heart surgery, or my brother who would certainly do anything he could do to help me but his car is too small to carry my whole family and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how to change a tire (no offense...that's just not his thing) although I will add my  brother is great at getting a bird out of the house...been there done that with his help!.....so it got me thinking about who I would call in the above circumstances...because I am a helpless woman that does not want or desire to be a single mom or a "I am woman, hear me roar" type of girl....John was trying to teach me something the other day...and I said to him, "I don't want to learn how to do it, I just want you to do it!" 

So I thought and thought and decided I would call Paul Connell...the very trustworthy husband of my friend Ann...he is a deputy and a "save a girl in her time of need" type of guy and I'm pretty sure my friend Ann would lend him to me in an emergency....I am also pretty sure he is fairly handy....for goodness sakes he is babysitting my two oldest tonight along with his three oldest while Ann and I go to a homeschooling thing...Hopefully, he woudn't mind helping a gal out and at least that makes me feel better while the two most dependable men I know are out of the state!  And John Daniel told me he would take out the compost for me.....because he knows I hate that!  It smells!

This Week

John went back to work on Wednesday night and guess what happen Wednesday morning......we noticed the hot water heater was leaking...which is the second time we have had this happen.  John said he guessed it was time to get a new one.  Time for me to freak out!!!!  I was leaving for work.  John had to be at work at 6:30.  UGH!  But it all worked out and it didn't cost us an arm and a leg....just an arm!  John and Molly went to home depot bought a new one and stuffed it in the van....

When I got home from work, John drained, detached and took out the old one, pulled up some old tile that was around it, pulled the new one out of the van (I helped but dang those things are heavy!), got it ready to go in, and when John's Dad got off work he came and helped get the new one installed....We had hot water when the kids and I got home from church!  I was prepared though to give them what I call and pits and privates wash!  So thankful for my husband that didn't sleep for over 28 hours to get that done!

John Daniel lost his first tooth this morning...he was brushing his teeth and spit it in the sink, luckily it didn't go down the drain!

Emily attended "take your child to work day" with John (who may I add had not slept the day before due to putting the hot water heater in, all night due to working, and then stayed up to join her back at his work all day to do promo and stuff for the event).  John said she did great, had to speak in front of a group, helped Daddy with a demonstration, and even helped and assisted with getting kids in and out of the ambulance during a "tour"...she is usually so shy that it surprised John when she started ordering kids around and telling them what they could and could not touch! 

I'm taking Emily along with Ann and her girls to CCS's production of Little Women tonight.  Should be a great time and I love that book!

I just spent $200 at the grocery store but bought some really healthy stuff, whole foods, and some organic....cooking, cooking, and cooking! 

My yummy semi-organic dinner!

I thought what we were eating was Organic but come to find out....I have been deceived..(no surprise there)..the labeling of some of my products was confusing to my simple mind but it was so yummy and very healthy....the pictures really don't do it justice.  I am in the process of trying to break my camera so John has to buy me a fancy camera to take pictures for my blog like the Pioneer Woman does....

Lean (vegetable fed) beef, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, onions, carrots, water chesnuts, asian whole wheat noodles in organic (not sure about that but that is what it said) Hoisan Garlic Sauce.  The kids asked for seconds!