Today is a migraine day

I made a decision recently.  Migraines aren't going to ruin my life.

I know, it seems like I should have made this decision a long time ago.  I've been getting them since college.  And thanks to medication and learning what my body wants when I start to feel a migraine coming on, they are not nearly as bad as they used to be.  But they still knock me out.  If I get a migraine, it's a guaranteed three days until I feel normal again.

Having said that, most of those three days are spent in a sort of "functional" migraine, as I call it: I can do stuff (clean, cook, teach the boys) but if I let myself get agitated or stressed, it gets worse.  Of course, NONE of my daily activities agitate or stress me, right?

 But what I realized in the last few months is that I use my condition as an excuse.  I can't volunteer for that - what if I get a migraine?  I can't have people over for coffee - what if I get a migraine?  And God does not want me to live my life on what ifs.

I have prayed, asking God to take these headaches away.  I prayed this with complete faith that it would happen.  It hasn't.  But what has happened may be better.  I have learned to do what I can do while I feel well enough to do it.  I waste less time doing silly things with no eternal value.  I'm not saying I waste NO time, just less.  I have learned to take time to slow down when I need to.  I am trying to reach out to other people.  And I am learning not to feel sorry for myself.  Just reading about what Paul went through in the Bible is enough to make me feel like a petty whiner for complaining about a migraine headache, even when it's really bad and has me vomiting and in so much pain I can't sleep.  This is my thorn in the flesh, and really, it's just a tiny little one.

Time4Learning.com

Recently I was given a free month of Time4Learning.com in exchange for a review.  I was really excited about it, because I'd seen so many positive comments about it in the past.

The first thing I discovered was that time slows down in the Time4Learning universe.  And not in a good way.  After signing my two youngest up on the website, I received a message saying it would be (trying to remember here) either 24 or 48 hours until the account was active.  A week later it still said the same thing.  Just when I was ready to call customer support, the account finally went live.  But I was already ten days into my free trial.

Now the good news: the boys really liked it.  They weren't interested in the math section, so we did quite a few science, social studies, and reading lessons.  The lessons were cute, although somewhat repetitive.  The quizzes at the end were EXTREMELY repetitive.  The animations/stories are what really sold the kids on it.  We were all laughing out loud at some of the discussions between the animated characters.  There was also a lot of interactive clicking involved in the lessons, which keeps the kids engaged and learning.

So overall, I was pretty happy with the website.  I would definitely consider adding it to my curriculum for next year.  It would be great to let the two younger ones do some of their work online while I work with the older two.  I don't know that it's complete enough for a stand-alone choice, but I liked what I saw.

Language Arts - My Personal Choice

Here's the thing... You're going to notice a big difference in tone, style, and amount of unrestrained gushing when I get to the curriculum choices I am currently using and love. It's only natural, I suppose. You have been warned.

My personal choice for language arts is the Learning Language Arts Through Literature series (LLATL). I have used every grade level now except 1st and their American Lit course, and I love them all. This is what I was looking for when I got so frustrated at having separate grammar, spelling, usage and literature books. It's all here in one handy volume. All you need is the teacher book, the student workbook, and four or five novels a year. It's pretty affordable, especially if you can find the teacher's manuals used and get the novels from the library.

PROS: Everything is broken down to daily lessons, for 36 weeks total. All language arts subjects are covered in one book. The literature is maybe not the best known, but it's all good.

CONS: The literature is not the best known out there. I have supplemented with additional books that I want my kids to read. The Gold Level (British lit), however, was fantastic. I didn't add a thing.

Language Arts, Part 3

The next year, I bought some used Bob Jones University Press books. They included several textbooks and workbooks for each grade. Again, there was so much work, I felt like we spent half the day doing language arts. I guess if you're stuck on BJU, it's okay. It seemed very thorough. It went into sentence diagramming and a good amount of grammar. But it was just too much.
PROS: Very thorough, good for those who like a classroom approach
CONS: Too much work per child, especially if they are not close enough in age to use the same books.

Language Arts, Part 2

The next language arts program I tried was K12. I really liked it. It was thorough from a grammar and spelling standpoint, and there were a lot of interesting stories to read. However, again there was so much work involved, it just felt overwhelming. While I would highly recommend their phonics program (worth the price if you can afford it), I don't think I would use their language arts again.
PROS: very thorough, no scheduling required
CONS: very work-intensive - there's grammar and usage, spelling, vocabulary, plus phonics for early grades, plus literature. It's also expensive.

Language Arts, Part 1

The first language arts program I tried was Alpha-Omega's Lifepacs for 1st grade. In short, I didn't much like it. There was not a lot of substance as far as I was concerned, and it cost way too much for what it was. Fortunately, I was able to sell my teacher's guide the next year and recover some of the cost. I don't think I would try AO again for language arts.

PROS: Nicely laid out, easy to follow, no planning involved. Good for parents who don't like to spend time planning.

CONS: Not advanced enough for my 1st grader, too much busy work.

Here we go again

I have had an almost irrestible urge to blog lately. It seems like it usually comes in the middle of the night. I'm trying to fall asleep, and the same thoughts keep going around and around in my head and I think, "Tomorrow, I'm going to get up and write about that." And then I don't. And yes, this has been going on for a long time. I don't know if you'd call it writer's block or what. But I feel like I need to work through it. So I think what I'll start with is reviewing curriculum I've used. I like talking about things that have worked for me, and maybe it will help someone else who has a question. Then I can move on to less structured topics. So tomorrow, I'm going to start with my favorite subject, Language Arts. In the meantime, tell me what's worked for you?

It's an app, app, app, app world

A couple of months ago, my dad decided to get an iPhone and pass on his iPod touch to me. Like I needed something new to take up my time.

I instantly became addicted to it. I know this is a big shock to you all, knowing how much I hate technology and all things new and cool (cough cough).  Yes, I am my father's daughter.  Anyway, it is undoubtedly one of the coolest things ever and will accompany me everywhere I go for many years to come.

The one thing I didn't really know much about before I got the thing was "apps."  I thought apps were the things you got before dinner (ba da boom).  Who knew that my favorite thing to do with my new iPod would be browsing the app store for FREE STUFF?  Because, as I may have mentioned once or twice before, I love free stuff.

There are so many cool free games available, it's scary.  I've found a few I really like.  One of them is "Alchemize", a game where you match colors and gradually trade up until you get to gold.  Alchemy - get it?  Anyway, it's horribly addictive and I have been know to lose hours at a time to it.  And I Still. Haven't. Won.

Another fun one is "What Song?" which uses your own music to play a sort of "name that tune" game.  The faster you get the right answer, the more points you get.  It's fun, my only complaint being it doesn't ever seem to end.

I have a neato shopping list app that remembers everything I've entered previously, so the next time I want to buy it, I don't have to retype it.  Nice.

I have an app that lets me send unlimited text messages to any phone.  Free.  So if you want to be texted, just send me your cell #.

And then there are the podcasts.  The Lost podcast, the Vampire Diaries podcast, and on and on and on.  So many podcasts, and all free!  I'm listening to Jay and Jack on the Lost podcast as I write this.

So, do you have an iPhone, or iPod touch, or iPad?  What are your favorite apps?  And more importantly, are they free?

LOST

Take a minute to go back and review my LOST analyses from past years. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Are you back?

Now you're probably wondering why I have not commented on LOST thus far, in its final season, when so many important things are coming to light and the end is only five episodes away.

Short answer? I have no clue. I would, however, like to point out that I was 100% right about something that NO ONE else predicted: I said that, despite his being dead, Charlie would play an integral part in the plot. And this week, boom! It seems that good old Charlie gave Desmond the push he needed to do... whatever it is Widmore is going to have him do. And that will turn out to be the most major event of the series.

Score one for me.

That is all.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I won't tell anyone how young you are!

The saga continues

So this morning, the maid service goes over to the rental house. They call me to ask if I know there are roaches. Um, duh. The lady who gave me the estimate says she doesn't remember seeing any. I hadn't realized she was blind. Anyway... This is an actual quote from the owner of the company: "This house is too dirty to clean."

So now we are stuck cleaning it ourselves. I understand their concerns: they don't want to carry the bugs to their other clients' houses.  I've had the same concern.  Every time we go over there, we leave our shoes outside when we get home and we wash our clothes on "sanitize".  We have thrown away lots of stuff that looked decent because we didn't want to bring it back to our house.  Now, we will have to buy a dedicated set of cleaning supplies to use only there, and to throw away when we're done (maybe including a vacuum, although we've already thrown away all of the carpet).

I am just dying to call that woman and tell her that her house was too dirty for a MAID SERVICE to clean.  That's got to be embarassing.

Oh, fishy, fishy, oh!

Yes, I know it's bad for me.  Yes, it will kill my diet if I let it.  But no, I can't resist it.  It takes me back to my youth, when it didn't matter what you ate, it only mattered that it tasted good.  When no one had ever heard of trans fat.  When cheese on something was a good thing.  When the more sauce came on a sandwich, the better.  I give you the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish!

These things are normally somewhere over $2 each, but right now they are 99 cents.  I had two last night.  Yes I did.

Tenant troubles part... okay, I've lost count

We recently had to ask a tenant to move out. Number one, she couldn't afford to live there on her own after kicking her husband out. But number two, and really the main reason, was that she was filthy. We're talking cockroaches by the thousands, dog poo on the carpet and walls(!), cobwebs in every corner. Disgusting.

Now, we were very fair to her.  We gave her plenty of time to find another place, and she did.  We weren't nasty about the situation, just firm.  And how does she repay our kindness?  By leaving piles and piles of garbage in our house.  Old furniture, bags of who-knows-what, table, chairs, two refrigerators complete with rotting food, and let's not forget my favorite, the broken deep freeze.  So now we have to clean all of this stuff out of the house before we can even begin to clean it, paint it and recarpet it.

I really struggle with this as a Christian because I want to show compassion to people who are getting divorced, have three children to care for, haven't found a job yet, and probably won't even be able to afford her new apartment.  But am I enabling her if I just let it go?  I have a judgment against her, which means I can legally collect the debt, but is that the right thing to do?  What about her husband, who gave us the security deposit to begin with?  Doesn't he deserve something back if he didn't cause all the damage (though he certainly caused some and had to have known about the rest of it)?

The fact is, she is costing us literally thousands of dollars, not including the new carpet we were going to have to put in regardless.  And I feel entitled to get some of that back, even if it means having the sheriff tag her belongings and sell them at auction.  And yes, I'm angry about it.  I'd like to take all her trash and dump it in her new front yard.  But I'm sure that would be illegal.  It's fine for her to dump it on us, just not vice versa.

Marriage Monday!

Want this button?
Welcome to Marriage Monday! This month's topic is all about celebrating Valentine's Day every day of the year.

First, a disclaimer up front: Hubby and I do not technically celebrate Valentine's Day.  Which is to say we don't buy presents, give cards, or make it a point to go out to dinner on February 14.  But as I thought about those things, I realized that we truly do make a point to do these types of things all year long.  So I present our top ways to make the spirit of Valentine's Day last all year long:

1. Presents.  Yes, presents, even when it's not a special occasion.  Maybe your husband doesn't bring you flowers for no reason.  But maybe he picks up your favorite flavor of ice cream while he's at the store.  Maybe you don't buy him a new watch he doesn't really need, but maybe you make that phone call for him that he can't make because he's at work all day.  Any way you slice it, it's all about giving.
2. Touching.  Give him a back rub while he's paying bills.  Lean on his shoulder while you watch t.v.  And don't let him leave without a hug and a kiss.  It's all the little things that keep that physical connection going, especially when you don't have the time or energy for... you know.
3. Time alone.  Try to get at least five minutes a day alone with him.  At least.  That's an order.  Lock the door if you have to.
4. Talk.  If you went on that Valentine's Day date to a fancy restaurant and sat there staring at each other across the table, what would you talk about?  Talk about that kind of stuff no matter where you eat dinner tonight.
5. Pray.  This is actually next month's topic.  Couples need to pray together.  Maybe this doesn't sound terribly romantice but God is the author of romance and marriage.  Is there any possible way He won't bless your marriage when you share it with Him?

Here's wishing you and your spouse a happy Valentine's Day, every day of the year!

Lady Liberty

Over the weekend, we drove to New York to pick up a van we bought. I thought you'd like to see some pictures from our stop in Liberty Park. Enjoy!

Put the pencil down!

When my oldest son was five, he hated the idea of me teaching him anything.  He didn't want to learn his ABCs, how to write numbers, or anything else.  So he spent a year in public kindergarten, learning what his alternative would be if he wouldn't let me teach him.  And he chose to be homeschooled after that.

Now, I have another five year old, my youngest son.  And some days I almost wish he didn't want me to teach him.  Almost.  But mostly I am awed and amazed by how quickly he picks up on things.  He just turned five in December, which means if I were sending him to public school he wouldn't be allowed to go to kindergarten until this coming fall.  However, here at home, he is doing first grade work, and blowing through every workbook I get for him in a matter of weeks.  He's doing simple addition and subtraction and just started doing two digit addition.

As far as reading goes, he is on the same level as my seven year old (who admittedly is behind where I'd like him to be, but I learned with the oldest that you can't force somebody to read).  He often will read something on a sign or a book just by using the phonics skills he is learning.  He is hungry for knowledge, and it's an amazing thing to behold.

My biggest problem is that he won't leave the school room.  He wants me to teach him all day long.  And I have to get him to understand that as much as I love seeing him learn, I'm responsible for three other boys and their schoolwork, too.  I can't spend all day with just one of them.  Next year my oldest starts high school and it's only going to get harder to cram all four of them into each day.

All I can say is that I hope I always have this problem with him, with one change - that he'll work on it independently!!  If he can do that, he can go through as many grades as fast as he wants.  And I can work with the boys who actually need me sitting right there with them or they don't get their work done.

Snow!

I'm sitting here watching the snow blow across my front yard.  I still get that same thrill I got as a child, waking up and seeing snow falling, or looking out the window in the morning and where there was brown grass is now a blanket of white.  Love it.  Last year we had none and I felt like we missed winter completely.  And as I've said on many occasions, I love winter.

Now I'm going to refill my hot coffee and sit by the window in my nice warm house and watch the snow.  Oh, I didn't say I wanted to go out in it, did I?

Here I... recline

I've been sick for a few days now and as I reclined here in my bed with my new laptop, something occurred to me. After four years as an English major, including one very intense semester in Advanced Grammar, I still, STILL, don't remember how to conjugate the verbs "to lie" and "to lay". Am I lying in bed, or laying in bed? Did I lie down or lay down last night?  I have no idea.  I used to know.  In fact, we had to correctly conjugate one of those two words to be admitted to an exam once.  But now?  Gone.

For almost every other tricky grammar thing, I have a mnemonic device.  I love sharing them with my class.  But when it comes to this one, my memory fails.  I guess this is where being a writer comes in handy.  Why use a word I don't know when there are so many lovely synonyms out there?

And so I will set my computer down, curl up in my bed, and peruse my thesaurus.  And if anyone out there has a handy mnemonic device for me, please share!

New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year, everyone!  I know it's been a long time and for that I apologize.  The three of you who were still reading this must have wondered what happened to me.  Actually, you're probably all on Facebook, so you already know what happened to me.

Anyway, I'm not really sure why I haven't written in a while.  It's not that I didn't have anything to write about.  So much happened this past year!  I won't bore you.  Some good, some bad, but 2009 kept me hopping.  And I have even more planned for 2010.  I guess I lost my creative mojo for a while there, but I think it's coming back.  The brain cloud is dissipating and I'm ready to write again.  I'm going to be playing with my template a bit, too.

This evening, Hubby went out for pizza because I've been sick and didn't feel like cooking.  In fact, we had planned to go on a weekend trip, but I had started to feel bad on Wednesday and called it off.  We didn't go to church this morning either.  Anyway, he went out for pizza and the fuel line on the van came off.  Imagine if we had been on the highway somewhere, with the kids, in this cold weather!  Or even just somewhere between church and home this morning.  Hubby called a friend who picked him up and brought the pizza home, then took him back to the van, and then followed him home again just to make sure he made it.  It will go to the shop tomorrow.

Sometimes we fail to take notice of the little ways God cares for us.  We take for granted that we will get safely from point A to point B without incident, when in reality it's amazing something doesn't happen to us.  It reminds me of that old Amy Grant song. "Near misses all around me, accidents unknown, though I never see with human eyes the hands that lead me home."  So, thank you, Lord, for the head cold that kept us home.

At Home With Friends

When I worked for a major symphony orchestra, I got to attend every performance. I loved being surrounded by beautiful music, and I loved those moments when the sheer passion of the musicians created something so extraordinary it brought tears to my eyes.

When I was given a copy of Joshua Bell's new album, At Home With Friends, to review, I discovered it is full of those very sames types of moments. You see, Joshua is well known for holding ‘musical soirées’ at his Manhattan residence – parties with musicians, actors, comics and authors who get together just for the sheer joy of sharing their art. So with this new album, Joshua fulfilled a life-long career dream of recording a CD of instrumental and vocal duets with an amazing roster of musicians and friends. And the love of their crafts shines through on every track.

Even if you're not a fan of classical music, this CD is well worth adding to your collection. It's simply gorgeous.