It's been 10 days...

It's been 10 days since my last post but I feel like it has been 100. Greg took the laptop with him to Waco for 2 days and the other 8 have just been extremely busy. To start with, LG did start an all day pre-school. She is going 3 days a week and in all honesty, I can tell a HUGE difference since she has begun. She is truly being stimulated and the schedule is great for her. Abby is still swinging away at Golf. I think she is doing great. However, she LOVES swimming. That is her all time favorite past-time.
I have been looking this week at different home school curriculum for the fall. I will have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener this next year and I need help scheduling. My friend and I met with another home school mom this week and she brought all of her books down and walked us through her "stuff". She uses A Beka .
Now, not to offend anyone...I have always said that I would never use this material. I'm not really sure why. I think that for a long time it was the only thing on the market...so everytime I talked with who was home schooled they would say, "Oh, we use A Beka." I'm not sure why I walked away from it...because I really like it. I think maybe it's because some of the students that I encountered, who were home schooled as kids, did not seem to know how to "interact with ideas" well. I honestly think that it has more to do with the family than the curriculum. It's like a friend of mine says, "If the parents are weird, than the kids are going to be weird."
Anyway, I will continue to do the history that we are doing now, probably 3 days a week. And, I will continue with Latin...probably 2 days a week. I really liked the workbooks, teacher's guides, etc....But the selling point was that it has the daily lesson plans already done for you- and it has a joint schedule for a Kindergartner and 2nd grader- if you are school for both of them. I am so pumped about that!!! I am finishing this year feeling like I have left something out. I know from talking to a couple of teachers around here that that is normal even if you are teaching in the classroom.
I am really enjoying the time that I am getting to spend with the kids while we are reading, doing math...etc. I feel like I am making an investment in them that is more than money can buy. It is really hard when we have a "battle of the wills"...and I have thought, "If she were in the classroom, she would not be talking to her teacher this way." The good thing is that - when she does lash out at me or want to be defiant, I can deal with her heart immediately. If her heart is not dealt with...she has gained nothing.

Plus the fact that I have to take a difficult look at my own heart when I find myself being easily angered, wanting things done to suit me rather than an alternate "just as correct" way or impatient.

I have some funny stories to write as soon as I can block off a chunk of time to write them. Here's a preview:
1. "No sir, I want the DYSON and you can either come out to my van and get my credit card to pay for it or I will buy one online today." ( I bought it...and love it....but the ladybug bean bag did not survive.)

2. "Mommy,why are wedding dresses white?"
"Well," I said, "Because it stands for purity."
"Mommy, What is purity?" she ask while looking at a "princess" dressed in a white wedding gown.
"It means that you're not out kissing alot of boys before you get married." (maybe not the exhaustive definition.)
"Well...." "I...um...."- "What does pink stand for?"

more to come-