I wasn’t even going to post today.† The last few days have been rough.† I got news Wednesday that our show is being pushed until January 2013.† 2 more months.† Through Christmas.† I was simply devastated.† I seriously laid on the floor and wailed.† Do you know what made me get up? My sweet girl laying beside me telling me everything will be ok.† I have tried to find a job, I have put in applications but to no avail.† I don’t want a career, I want a temporary job.† My boss is trying to find another show that we can put our trailers on for a couple of months. Please pray.

As I was looking at our pictures of this past week I realized that we are so blessed.† Yes it is hard and yes I get worried, but we are here.† I read a passage early in the week that has resonated with me for days.
Matthew 6:25-34
^25†ìTherefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ^26†Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ^27†Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^?

So yes I am worried, I can’t help but worry but I am also learning to trust God.† After all, He has been with us this entire time.

Friday night we were invited to the movie with some really great friends.† We saw “Hotel Transylvania” and it was so cute.† I really enjoyed it.

Saturday was all about filming “Little Josephine”.† They had to film the dance and then the rest of the scenes.† Keilee hasn’t done her green screen shoots yet.† Should be in the next week or so.

The dance…

It was really, really cold when we first got there.† Actually it was a little cold all day.

The cameraman let Keilee film a couple of scenes. She was thrilled to be behind the camera too!† She also found a dog to play with…of course!

Monday at Co-op Keilee made Halloween cupcakes and then they made mashed potatoes and hash browns.† They are concentrating on Thanksgiving side dishes in her Cooking class.

We learned about what you have to do to become President, we did a lesson on Fibonacci from a great link from Jenn at Little Homeschool on the Prairie.† We also watched a GREAT video about this.† It is in 3 parts and is one of my Favorite Resources.† The girl doing the video actually works for Khan Academy.† Keilee read tons of little books on the iPad about animals, and she did some Halloween crafts.† We get GREAT free books for the Kindle from Free Homeschool Deals.† Sign up for their newsletter and get them EVERY day.† Another “Favorite Resource”

The weather has been gorgeous this week and we have spent so much of it outside.† We have sat outside to read, walked Nomad and took bike rides.† October is one of my absolute favorite months.

Keilee dragged out her sewing machine and tried to make it work.† Unfortunately it is beyond help I am afraid.† So she sewed clothes for her Monster High dolls by hand.† I had wanted to get her a sewing machine for Christmas…..

Keilee has had practice 3 times this week for Little Women.† It is going wonderfully.† Last night they had a photo shoot for posters and advertisements.

We also went over to some of our best friends house for Taco Soup, Halloween movies and a visit to Cry Baby Hollow.† Cry Baby Hollow is one of our local legends.† Supposedly a woman threw her baby off the bridge years and years ago and if you visit and leave candy on the bridge it will be gone the next day.† There are also legends about hearing crying and hand prints on the back of the car and if you put your car in neutral it will roll uphill.† Great fun was had by all!† Although there may or may not have been screaming during the movie.

I am blessed by great friends both near and far.† Homeschool Moms in my area, neighbors, homeschool friends far away who have sent me emails and been so wonderful, my best friend who sat on the phone with me last night and cried with me about my situation.† I will get through this. I forget that at times.† It has been such a long 4 months and the end of the tunnel is not here yet.† But if I look very hard I can almost see the light.† Thank you to everyone who has left me comments and emailed and prayed for us.

Now I am off to see what all of you have been up to!

Happy weekend,
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

ìAll who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.î† ~Martin Luther
ìI go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.î†-?John Burroughs

Happily linking with
Mary @ “Collage Fridays”
Susan @ “Favorite Resources”

†So yes, I am starting out the same way I have for 7 weeks. PUSHED AGAIN.† I wasn’t even surprised to tell you the truth.† You get used to disappointment when it happens time and time again.† I called my Dad and he did give us the money to pay our bills for 3 weeks. I have NO extra money but I will have electricity and internet/phone.† I have no clue what God has in plan for us and I try desperately every.single.day to see the beauty and love and wonder.† This gets me through so much:
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”

I just have to trust and believe. So I am….

We spent a day with our dear friends Melea and Maggie.† They took us to eat and then we spent the afternoon at their house.† Maggie is playing the little girl in the movie Keilee is in.† Keilee has been helping her with her part. Maggie is like Keilee’s little sister.† They love each other so much.† And I love Melea so much.† Film making is so very different than plays.† Everything in plays are BIG and over stated.† Not so for films.
Saturday was a long day.† We filmed from 12-6.† Keilee’s role is ‘green screened‘ in so she just has to deliver her lines and not be on camera yet.† She is a fairy.† A 2″ fairy!† We can’t wait to start filming the green screen parts.† I got to help make sure all the shots she needed were actually filmed…all the different angles and all the different characters.

Sunday after church we filmed the ‘cave’ scene.† Then off to record the soundtrack for the song.† This has been such a great experience for Kei.
Monday was Co-op.† I think Keilee is feeling better about it since she dropped Spanish.† She has so much fun at Co-op and so do I!† Great people make such a difference in your experiences.

Keilee did Math Tuesday for about 2 1/2 hours. She is really enjoying what she has been doing.† I love that she can take her time and really get into it and not have 4 more subjects to get to.

She also has practice 3 times a week for “Little Women”.† She is already ‘off book’.† She is the only one of the main characters that are so far.† She memorizes things CAT QUICK.† It is crazy.† This is a new theater group to us and we are both loving everyone and the way it is going.

In Science we are learning about Science and Archaeology.† We learned the 3 tests that a document must go through to be declared ‘authentic’.† We had great discussions about different scenarios.† Then I gave her an assignment.† “Write a document that tells an inaccurate account of something in History”.† She wrote about JFK [whom she is fascinated with and has been for years].† She wrote it all wrong.† We talked about what would have happened if her account was the ONLY one that survived.† We talked about how things can be very hard to get exactly accurate when the event happened thousands of years ago.† It was a great lesson.† Of course she had to get ‘authentic’ in her paper.† She said it was found in a house fire.

WE also got out the Halloween decorations and Keilee decorated the house and yard. We just love Halloween around here.† We also painted pumpkins.† We had the best day!† We spent hours on the patio painting pumpkins, talking, listening to Librivox recording of “Fairy Land of Science”.† Did y’all know that you can take a pair of computer speakers and plug into your iPhone?† We do that all the time. iPhone speakers just aren’t very loud.† It was just a wonderful day.† The acorns are falling fast and furious too.† They are VERY loud on our patio.† Sounds like bombs going off.† Keilee swore she saw a squirrel run through the yard dodging them left and right!

1.† Our sweet Nomad.† He is such a blessing to us both.
2.†† We saw this BEAUTIFUL tree on the way home from Co-op.
3.† This was the CRAZIEST thing!† This squirrel was stuck on the brick. At first I thought “how silly” but he was there 4 hours later.† I finally took a stick and helped him down. Poor little fellow.
4.† Keilee saw a dead squirrel in the road, [probably the one that I scared down…heart attack?? ;)]† She wanted to get it and dissect it! I told her NO WAY!† She made do with watching one on YouTube and then printing out the skeletal system and internal organs of a bunny.† Of course she had to get her Webkinz to go along with the lesson.

I have a few links to share for my “Favorite Resources”.
1.† Concordia University has free art lessons for 1-7 grade.
2. Freely Educate has a link for 100 free Henty ebooks and 20 free Henty audio books.
3.† Ann Voskamp has some AMAZING links on a page I found while perusing her site the other night, at 3:30 in the morning, when I COULD NOT fall asleep. Check it out, I’ll bet you find something you will love!
4. Librivox I am sure most of you know about Librivox.† Audio books in the public domain.† They also have Podcasts.† You can play them on your iPhone too.† [Use those computer speakers! :)] We listen to either a book or a podcast every night before bed.

So there you go, another great [mostly] week at Homeschool Girls.† And almost like “The Little Engine That Could” I keep telling myself, “We will be fine, We will be fine, We will be fine”.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

ìI’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.î† ~ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Happily Linking up with
Mary @ “Friday Collage“
Susan @ “Favorite Resources”

My boss called to let me know that they have POSTPONED our start date again.† This time it is pushed to the first of November.† I didn’t handle it well.† I cried and yelled a bit and told God that ‘OK I am tired of this and I need some help here”.† Keilee had just gotten into the shower and I had a good cry.† After her shower I went into the bathroom and she had left me a note on the mirror.

And just like that, I was fine.† Because she is right, we WILL make it and it will be OK.† And I was so thankful for my girl and my God.

Friday we went to Skate Day.† We have gone to Skate Day since Keilee was 7 years old.† She always has such fun skating and I enjoy talking to the Moms that I don’t see often.† This year a really great friend of Keilee’s started homeschooling and they were there for the first time.

Saturday was the Fiddler’s Convention.† We go to this every year.† This year there was walking around and no buying, except for one little thing for Kei’s Halloween costume but we still had a blast.†† There was fiddling and clogging and tons of great crafts.† Sophie went with us this year.

People amaze me with all their talents.† We saw so many crafts we loved.† I could have spent tons of money!

Monday was Co-op.† This was the first time Keilee had her cupcake class instead of Spanish. She was a little sad but she had fun making cupcakes.

In cooking class they made Pumpkin muffins with strudel topping.† Her teacher likes cooking healthy and is always giving them tips to make recipes more healthy.† Kei has great friends in Co-op and I am SO glad we decided to do it this year.

1.† “Little Women” practice.
2.†† A house near us that has lights to go along with a radio station.† We parked across the street and listened to “Thriller” and “Let’s Do the Time Warp”. So cool!
3.† Knitting and more knitting.† Keilee has learned to make hats with her ‘in the round’ and double pointed needles.† She has made 4 hats this week!

We made doggie treats for Nomad Wednesday.† It was really fun and strange to bake something that wasn’t for us!† He LOVED them.† Keilee decorated the ‘cookie jar’.

We bought a book at the Used book sale at the Fiddler’s Convention.† We paid 50¢!† It is called “Science Smart” and Keilee has loved it.† It is one of my Favorite Resources this week. One of the first ideas was to make a ‘bird hide’ and she wanted to make one.† She dragged tons of limbs to our backyard and starting working on it.

She worked on it 2 days and once it was done she covered it and took her iPhone and my camera to sit and wait on some squirrels.† She was out there about an hour and finally got a chipmunk and squirrels that came.† She got some fabulous pictures!

Our “one subject a day” is going great.† Kei did a lot of Math on Tuesday.† Wednesday was Science and she did a report on “Laika” the first animal in space.† She did a oral report for me with a Power Point presentation to go along with it.† It was very sad that Laika died within the first 10 hours.† I always learn something from her presentations.† Thursday we learned about The Spanish- American War which apparently either I had never knew or totally forgotten.† She has read so much this week, worked on “Little Women” and “Little Josephine” which begins filming this weekend!† She has spent a lot of time on an App that she loves called “Train Conductor“.† We have listened to hours of podcasts.† One of our favorites this week is “Stuff You Missed in History Class“.† Podcasts are my other Favorite Resource.† If you haven’t checked out all the great ones for the iPhone and iPad you should!

A wonderful surprise this week was a package from Jessica’s daughters.† Grace and Lilah sent Keilee a jar full of sea glass!† She was so excited.† She and I spent some time looking up ‘sea glass’ and learning all sorts of stuff about it.† Grace also asked her if she wanted to be pen pals.† She has already written the letter and is now working on a little gift to send them.

Whew!† Our weeks look crazy when I do our Friday collage!† I think it is that I take pictures of EVERYTHING!

So a little bad but mostly a great week.† We have a busy weekend planned.† I hope wherever you are you find the time to laugh and love and get outside.† Pretty soon it is going to be too cold to do that!

Happy Friday!
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“We can think of ourselves not as teachers but as gardeners. A gardener does not ‘grow’ flowers; he tries to give them what he thinks they need and they grow by themselves.”† ~John Holt

Happily linking up with
Mary at “Collage Friday”
Susan at “Favorite Resources”
Savannah at “It’s a Wrap”

We are doing Co-op this year.† It is the first time Keilee has sat in a room with other students on a weekly basis since she was 6.† I wanted her to start with some ‘fun’ classes but she wanted to take Robotics and Spanish I.† Spanish I is a high school level class.† She is in the 7th grade and 12.† She had to get special permission from the teacher to be allowed to take it.† I finally relented and told her she could take it.

They have had huge amounts of homework.† [It is so funny, every time I type “homework” my fingers automatically type “homeschool”. ]† 6-8 hours a week of homework.† She is very conscientious about doing it and has made nothing but ‘muy biens’ and ‘perfectos’ on it.† The kids in her class are mostly 10th and 11th graders.† I have tried to get her to drop it but she has begged to be allowed to continue.

2 weeks ago they had a pop quiz.† Her first ever test since we do not test.† She made a 66 and was devastated!† Oh you couldn’t have told she was upset in front of her friends, but I know her.† When we got into the car she was so upset.† She didn’t want to take this class anymore!† That afternoon she changed her mind again and begged to be allowed to take it.† I have tried to talk to her about it, making her realize it will only continue to get harder.† The teacher is fluent in Spanish and expects a lot from the kids.† As she should.† But Keilee is 12.

They had a test last week.† I told her that she had to make a 85 or better to stay in the class.† So she studied, and studied some more.† She made note cards, she wrote the words over and over.† Hours of our week was spent studying Spanish.

During the week I had made my mind up that she was going to drop it.† My main reason was because there was no way I was letting her take Spanish II in 8th grade.† We have heard that is a brutal class.† In a couple of years she would forget everything she ever learned in Spanish I. She thought that everyone would think she dropped it because she was too young and did badly on the test.

The test was last Monday.† The teacher was supposed to email their grades.† We heard nothing.† Last Friday her teacher emailed me.† Keilee made a 99 the HIGHEST in the class!† A class of 15, 16 and 17 year olds!† Plus the teacher scaled the grades so she made a 107.5!!† She was giddy. I was proud of her but I had made up my mind.† I told her I wanted her to drop it and that was that.† I think a part of her was glad that I made the decision for her.† She had been very stressed about the the amount of homework they had.

It is hard at times to be a single Mom for many reasons.† One reason is that I don’t really have someone to bounce ideas and things off of.† I did call my best friend and my brother and they both agreed with me.

Now Keilee is taking a cupcake class.† She was a little sad because she wasn’t in Spanish on Monday. But she was proud of herself too.† She knows that she could have done great in that class and it will still be there in a few years.

I have never been a Mother who would say, “If you start it you must finish no matter what”.† Sometimes ‘quitting’ is the smartest thing to do.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

ìQuitting is not giving up, it’s choosing to focus your attention on something more important. Quitting is not losing confidence, it’s realizing that there are more valuable ways you can spend your time. Quitting is not making excuses, it’s learning to be more productive, efficient and effective instead. Quitting is letting go of things (or people) that are sucking the life out of you so you can do more things that will bring you strength.î ~Osayi Osar-Emokpae – Impossible Is Stupid

In Our Life This Week:
I hereby deem the first week of Operation “No More Checked Boxes” a success.† Keilee said it was the best week she has had in a long time.

This week just felt right. It flowed like I have been wanting our weeks to flow.† There was no stress or rushing.† I loved it and so did Kei.

We decided to go the Fair Friday night and were both disappointed.† We basically paid $10 to walk around in a circle.† There was no prize winning pigs or pies or blue ribbon cupcakes.† I think our fair isn’t big enough for things like that.† Next year we have a lead on a real, honest to goodness “Country Fair” that we are going to attend.

Monday was Co-op. We are still making some decisions about Spanish.† I help with Keilee’s cooking class so I am able to take pictures!† They made a breakfast casserole. The Teacher asked who had peeled potatoes and only Keilee and one other girl had done it.† When they began peeling Keilee was seriously done minutes before the next closest one! Who knew she was a peeling connoisseur!† She has been peeling and chopping for years.

My Mother collected aprons and I have them.† Every week Keilee takes a different apron to wear in cooking class.† I love this connected thread between my Mom and Kei.

For Science I had bought this book at a Thrift store that she wanted to work on.† It is about Keilee’s favorite subject, Animals.† The first lesson was about Asymmetrical, Bilateral and Radial shapes in the animal world.† She also did this really cool poster.† We were actually surprised at how small the Mammal Kingdom was in comparison to all Animals.

Then we watched Brain Pop and the video of the day was about Invertebrates and Bilateral and Radial animals.† We couldn’t believe it!† Then I was looking on YouTube and found a Crash Course Biology episode about the same topic!

In History we learned about the horrible conditions that factory workers lived with during the turn of the century.† We read in our “History of Us” book about Andrew Carnegie whose first job was a Bobbin boy in a factory in New York.† Then we read “The Bobbin Girl” that I had checked out from the library a couple of weeks ago which led to watching a documentary about the Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 in NYC.† Flowed, I tell you it just flowed.

I saw a really neat calendar on Instagram that was free on Se7en’s blog† site.† I showed it to Kei and she decided to make her own. I really liked how she ‘hid’ the word OCTOBER in the drawing.

Britney came over Wednesday and they made cupcakes.† I had seen this really cool ‘Tootsie Roll’ flower and they decided to make some for their cupcakes.† I think things got pretty silly at the end of the decorating.† Like a cupcake with ONLY icing…

Keilee LOVES documentaries.† She is always telling me something and I ask her how she knew that and she says, “A documentary on Netflix”.† Here are some lists of the best Documentaries on Netflix.† Of course read before you let your kids watch.† Netflix Documentaries are my “Favorite Resource” this week.

Documentaries about Cities
Various Documentaries
75 Must Watch Documentaries on Netflix

Along with all of this we had play practice twice, Kei knitting and crocheted every day, she read her book for hours, she listened to Beethoven and Elvis Presley while doing some drawing, there was cartwheels and acorn gathering and so much more.† I loved this week so much and so did she.

A link to share:
I would like to share a link. This is an article written by Salman Khan of Khan Academy fame.† Read it and see what you think.† My first thought was…”Hey this is HOMESCHOOLING”

I spent MANY hours this week on the phone with my best friend Carla.† She is moving this week and we can’t wait to be able to visit them in the Spring.† I am over the moon that we have reconnected and get to talk so much.† She is cracking me up with Pinterest.† She LOVES it and she hates any kind of social network.† She calls me saying, “Karen WHY is this person following me on Pinterest, make them stop!” Too funny.

Next week we are hoping for more of the same.† This weekend we have some awesome places to go that we are really excited about.

Until next week…
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

ìYou can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.î† ~ Clay P. Bedford

Happily linking up with
Mary @ “Collage Friday”
Susan @ “Favorite Resources”
iHomeschool Network @ “Homeschool Mother’s Journal“

The weeks just fly by don’t they?† I can not believe September is about over.† We have had a great month even though I haven’t had a job.† God’s blessings are just amazing.

I love these Friday Collages because they are a great way for us to go back and see what all we have done during the week.† Thanks so much to Mary at Homegrown Learners for hosting them!

I saw this experiment on ehow about making pennies shiny that Keilee wanted to try.† She got some really dirty pennies and added them to vinegar and a teaspoon of salt.† She let them sit for 5 minutes and we could not believe how shiny they were!

Keilee is convinced she could not possibly go to public school for many reasons.† One is that she couldn’t get puppy hugs whenever she wants!

We learned about the Industrial Revolution this week.† We watched some YouTube videos and Keilee picked an inventor to make a notebooking page on.† He invented the sewing machine for soles of shoes!† She had a list of about 6 and said he was the most interesting of all the choices!

Keilee has been making iMovies this week.† She started a puppet series called “Fantasy Village”.† She has worked so hard on it.† She has made 3 so far and each one of them is about ‘learning’ something new.† I love this because she is writing the script and researching the topic. This one is about light bulbs.† If you have a chance drop by her YouTube channel and watch.

Yesterday we went to an apple orchard.† It was a little hot but we had a great time and really learned some things we didn’t know about apple harvesting.
They have 2o varieties of apples and had stations set up where we learned things about the growing and harvesting of apples.† We even got to try 4 different varieties.† Keilee’s favorite was the “Ambrosia” and mine was the “Fuji”.

They had lots of yummy things in the gift shop.† Keilee tried some Apple ice cream which was SURPRISINGLY good!
We rode with Gina, Brit and Cody and had such a great time not only at the apple orchard but the ride to and from.† Field trips are always better with friends!
One of our plans in the upcoming weeks is to read more Historical books.† I found a really good site with list of books dividing by time periods.† It is my Favorite Resource this week.† Historical Fiction site.† If anyone knows another site with books listed by time period please let me know.

In play news Keilee has had “Little Women” practice twice and it has gone amazing.† It is a small cast and most of them know a lot of their lines already.
Even though the weather got a little warm this week, Fall is in the air.† We plan to enjoy it to its fullest!† The fair is in town and we are going to try to go one night this weekend just to walk around and get the whole ‘fair feeling’.† We haven’t been in a couple of years and Kei wants to go this year.† Hope everyone has a magnificent weekend and enjoys whatever part of the country you are in!

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

ìBecause they are mean is no reason why I should be. I hate such things, and though I think I’ve a right to be hurt, I don’t intend to show it. (Amy March)î ~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits.” — Henry David Thoreau, Wild Apples

Happily linking with:
Susan at “Favorite Resources”
Mary at “Collage Friday“