What's Happening/Our 2 Week Schedule.

So this week the kids are in Vacation Bible School (VBS) and due to the cold/bronchitis I now have, I have been banned from volunteering at the nursery. This has given me an extra 3 hours in my day to spend with Anthony and my thoughts on scheduling school for the remainder of the year. I haven't been so great in keeping with my routine for a couple of weeks due to slowness on behalf of my pregnant mind and the race to keep up with housework.

But I have stayed on top of our basics (math, phonics, writing) and we are plugging along. This week has actually been a great school week for us. It seems that since the kids are at VBS for a given time, we are crunched to get stuff done for the rest of the day. We get home at 12:30pm, eat lunch, and then Anthony goes down for a nap. During this time I enforce a one hour quiet time, just to give me some time to rest (I tend to be getting sleepier as my pregnancy progresses!). After the quiet hour is over, we jump right into our lessons. So far I have had no complaining or whining. It must be a miracle! We are done by 4:30pm, which then turns into TV time for 30 minutes followed by some dancing or music listening while I prepare dinner. By 5:30 dinner is done and we eat! It's great!!

I'm not sure how our transition back into school work in the mornings will turn out next week, but I have high hopes. I have the next 2 weeks planned out and we'll be busy from morning to late afternoon. This should be fun for everyone since we will be working on our prehistory/dinosaur unit after our quiet time. This means projects, art, and hands-on learning!! After our dinosaur unit is over, I'm not sure in what direction we'll be headed in terms of afternoon activities. I'm taking a lead from Konos and keeping all afternoon lessons to be hands-on learning and fun. It will make our morning seatwork more satisfying to finish since we will all be looking forward to something different in the afternoon.

Click on my link to see what my 2 Week Dinosaur Unit Schedule looks like. As you'll notice, I have left out some subjects such as music, art, and literature. We'll be taking a more relaxed approach to these until our unit is over.

Adding Konos to Our Schedule.

Being the curriculum junkie that I am, I recently purchases Volume 1 of Konos. Not sure if you know, but it is considered to be the "Granddaddy of Unit Studies." I fell in love with this while at convention and hearing Wade Hulcy (one of the creators) speak. It seems like a perfect fit for anyone with young children, since it is a complete hands-on way of learning.

The problem now lies in scheduling it into our own curriculum. For the time being, I am not ready to drop what we are doing and switch entirely to Konos. I am planning on using it as a supplement to what we are doing now. I am currently in the process of reevaluating what we want to do and then looking through the GIANT volume and picking and choosing the activities we want to incorporate. This is quite a daunting task!

I am setting a goal for myself, however. I plan on having this done by the end of next week. Otherwise I am bound to drive myself crazy. Part of the difficult task is finding something online to help me with the planning. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish this and then I'll be able to put it all on my schedule and show it off! Wish me luck!

We Are Staying!

It has been an exciting week so far. This Wednesday, DH matched into his specialty and it seems that we are staying where we are. We are not moving! At least not for 4 more years, after that who knows! I was a little worried and excited; but I knew that whatever the outcome, it is all part of God's plan. And if there is one being that I trust, it is God!

So now we can finally take a deep breath, and dig our feet in the dirt! It will definitely benefit us in that we don't have to worry about selling a house, buying a house, or even packing! Now we can look forward to more home improvement projects, updated appliances, and some fun extras. Not only that, but we will be able to get settled into homeschooling without having to worry about looking for a new group or get used to new laws. It seems that things just worked themselves out!

Well, with all my cheer it is difficult to see that there is a small downfall to staying where we are. I will continue to be far away from family. Something I've hated for the past 8 years. Thinking about all the moments that we are missing together really gets to me. I'm not sure why fate has kept the distance between us so far! But my only consolation is that we remain as close as ever regardless of how far away we are. It is in this that I know God's hands are at work. I have complete faith and although I miss my family dearly, I know that everything has a reason.

Camping Was a Success!!

We returned from our camping trip late in the day this Sunday. It was a great success! The kids had as much fun as we did and were upset when we started packing up our tent for the trip home. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Father's Day!

We were able to get lots of stuff done with the few days we were in the mountains. After getting off to a rainy start (it rained A LOT on Friday night when we arrived), we woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday! In the morning we enjoyed chocolate pancakes, eggs, and sausage. We then packed some snacks and headed to Linville Falls for a hike. It was great to have all the kids walking together while the dads carried the little ones on their backs. I was surprised that I was able to keep up and I felt refreshed after our hike was over. I highly recommend visiting the Falls as it is a beautiful sight!

After hiking, we visited Linville Caverns where we had a small picnic by the stream. The kids loved climbing on the rocks and eating on our blanket. I'm not sure they fully enjoyed the caverns, but we parents thought they were great and our tour guide did a wonderful job of narrating! It was also a nice escape from the hot sun outside, since the temperature dips to about 54 degrees once inside the caverns.

Of course, as we headed back to camp, Isabella and Anthony dozed off in their car seats and we let them sleep while Marco and firend Ethan played. All the while, DH was itching to get some fishing in and once the little ones woke up...we headed back out to do some fishing! It was great to cast out and the kids got all wet chasing minnows in the river. Unfortunately, although the fish were biting, we didn't catch anything. Tummies were rumbling for food so we gave up and headed back to camp.

We were lucky to have a great outdoor kitchen with our cabin, while the tent was set up nearby. Once we got back from fishing, we started the fire and had fun roasting hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert (Smores!!). It was truly such a great experience for the kids to sit around the fire holding a stick with their dinner/dessert on it! Their faces were beaming!!

Sunday began with another great breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and toast. We packed up our tent after a while of relaxing and watching the kids run around. We couldn't just leave the beautiful mountainside, so we decided to head back to Linville Falls for another hike and picnic. This time we took the longer route and headed to the top overlook to get a better glimpse. It was worth the extra effort and we all enjoyed the views.

I'm extremely grateful that we decided to choose this as our Father's Day gift! It not only proved to us that we can head to the outdoors with the kids, but that doing this type of family activity strengthens the bond between us and creates lifelong memories!

Getting Ready for Our First Camping Expedition.

Tomorrow we will be off on a new adventure...camping!!! This will be the first time for the kids and DH; I haven't gone since I was a teen. We will be heading out with some friends and their two young kids as well. This is all a part of a Father's Day weekend getaway surprise, so the dads don't really know where we are headed. They are just in charge of packing the cars! The nice thing we have going is that we could easily be heading to the beach or to the mountains. But where exactly...nobody knows (except us moms, of course!).

The kids and I are really excited and I've been working on getting things all squared away with camping gear and food. We are not sure how the toddlers will handle sleeping in a tent, so we did reserve a small cabin where my friend and I will be sleeping with them. I don't expect any problems, but I'm still trying to prepare by packing some small comforts from home.

On top of our secret mountain retreat, we are planning on making a visit to some popular caverns on Saturday along with some fun hiking trails and fishing. I'm not sure how I will handle it, being 7 months pregnant and all, but I'm feeling completely wonderful and the thought of "roughing it" doesn't scare me in the least. Having medical professionals at hand is a plus and always puts me at ease!

For the time being, I'm making sure to pack extra batteries for the camera and some extra film for the kids' Polaroid. There will be plenty of opportunities to catch something exciting on film and I will be sure to post some pictures here!

A Year From Now.

I wonder how things will be a year from now. I got to thinking this while I planned our first grade curriculum. Not that Marco is ready for first grade by any means, but I like to have things lined up so that when we do get there I don't have to stress too much about it.

In one year we will no longer be schooling just one child. Marco will be in first grade and Isabella will be doing her own kindergarten thing. Anthony will be well into his "terrible twos," and we will also have moved from being a 5 member family to a 6 member family. How will our lives be different from today? Will we be a well-adjusted, homeschooling family or will we turn into a house full of crazy children (and adults!)? Will we be planning a move out of state or settling into the thought of living here for a few more years?

It's hard to plan our lives so far in advance. At least for me it is. So many things are going to be happening within the next few months that will ultimately affect the direction of our future lives. It seems that we have reached a point in our path that will put many things into place. Thankfully, we know we are never alone as we tread through these waters! Thank you God!

Strawberry Picking.

This was fun! We went strawberry picking not too long ago and the kids had lots of fun. Anthony decided that it was best to just pick a spot, sit down, and munch on some fresh strawberries! This is definitely something all kids should do!