Lazy Lazy Lazy

Yes. I am a lazy person. I have not blogged in months and months and months. I have had so much going on to blog about, too. I just haven't felt like it. I haven't been writing in my diary either. At least I don't get paid to write my blog. I'd be in big trouble then. 

Worst part is, I have no excuse not to be blogging! I broke my foot around August 19th and have been pretty much sitting on my tush for weeks and weeks. I have a million other things I could have been doing while being laid up in bed. Making many many menu plans. Creating the World folders for the kids out of my old NatGeo magazines. Drawing. Reading. The list goes on and on....

Truth is, I have a really bad twitter addiction going on right now. For those who follow me on the twitters, or via facebook, you may be saying "No Marla, you've barely been using your account. I think you've updated twice in two months!" Well, I have more than one account. Let's leave it at that. I'm hoping that once I'm out of my cast I will be getting back more into the swing of things and using twitter less and less. 

Here is a brief update of what the kids and I have been up to the past few months. We decided to take the Summer off from any school and during August I decided exactly what curriculum we would be using for math and language arts then made the purchases for what we needed. My friends Angel and Steve got hitched at the end of August and asked Trent and I to be part of the wedding party. It was an amazing ceremony and Trent made an adorable little ring bearer. I felt slightly ridiculous because at that point I was in a cast, but I had a lot of fun anyway. I'm so happy for my friends!

Trent and I started his curriculum around the third week of September and he has been doing very well with it. We are using Veritas Press Museum Phonics kit for his language arts and Horizons for math. It is so nice having everything all laid out for me to teach him and I never expected our school time together would be as much fun as it is. We both really seem to enjoy doing the work together. 

Even though the Phonics Museum is bible based, I'm still using it and just cutting out a lot of the more religious parts to make it more secular. Otherwise, this program has been great! It incorporates music, art, history, sights, sounds, activities, writing and critical thinking to teach a child how to read and write. The last time we had a school day, I gave Trent his first test and he got an A on it! 

The math curriculum we're using has been great, too. I got all the manipulatives to go with the workbook and Trent has very much been enjoying using those. I only let him use the manipulatives when we are doing school, otherwise I'm sure he would get bored with them. I'm really like Horizons because it is repetitive enough that he is learning the material without getting boring. 

I've also been trying to include Hunter in Trent's lessons, but he's not always interested. I really need to figure out what I can do with him while I'm working with Trent. It's been difficult because we've mostly been doing our school time in my bed. It's so hard for me to move the materials around the house, and my bed is the only place that really stays neat and tidy during the day. 

The kids and I also joined a homeschool co-op that meets every Friday. I volunteered to be the preschool teacher since Hunter is in that class, though I haven't been able to plan much for them. That's ok, though, because for preschoolers the most important thing they can be doing is playing with each other. Trent is in the kindergarten class and has made a really good friend there. I'm also making some good friends as well. I really need that in the area I'm in, because all the friends I have made are either a little too far away OR their kids will be attending public schools. I don't plan on severing any of the friendships I've made, I just need to make sure I'm branching out in ways that will be beneficial to myself and the kids. 

Anyways, the co-op has been a wonderful resource for all of us. This group is only just being put together now and I'm really hoping that it is going to work out and will continue. I know I am very committed to it for as long as we are homeschooling. 

That's about all that has been going on. My cast comes off tomorrow and I find out whether or not I will be needing to have surgery done on my foot for the bone to heal properly. Wish me luck!