I was asked the other day when I was going to update my blog.  Well, better late than never.  What has been happening during the month of August???

We have had two birthdays. Bonnie is now 14.  Can you believe that?  14!  Yesterday Todd took Bonnie up into the mountains to practice driving.  She drove the '88 Ford Truck.  Believe me, if she can drive that truck she can drive any automatic vehicle.  Other than being a bit timid about pressing down on the accelerator and the brake she did ok, until it came to backing the truck up.  Then she put the truck into a ditch - a big ditch.  Fortunately there was cell phone covered in that ONE SPOT in the mountains and Todd called me to come up with the Blazer and the tow chain.  By the time the boys and I arrived someone else had happened by and pulled them out.  Todd had Bonnie drive the truck back down the mountain (Can we say mom had a few panic attacks about that one.) and survived.  Of course, Todd asked me if we had any valium in the house. lol

Todd's birthday is today.  We made him a turtle cake and plan to go out this evening for dinner.

In the area of school..., all of our books arrived this week.  This is our curriculum for this year.

Bryce's main focus this year will be the Saxon Phonics Intervention Kit.  Bryce is still struggling and we have been encouraged that if we focus on this particular program that we should see improvement.
I do have math, science, and language for him to work on as well.  But Phonics and Math are the two that we must hit everyday.
Math - Abeka 5th grade
Science - Abeka 5th grade (We did 4th grade Abeka last year because I already had it.  He loves science so I think he can handle the higher grade.)
Langauge - Abeka 4th grade.  (This is going to be a challenge for him, but I want him to give it a try.)

Brian will be doing the following:
Math - Abeka Pre-Algebra
Language - Abeka 7th grade
Science - Apologia Physical Science

Bonnie will be working on the following:
Math - Saxon Algebra 1.  Bonnie did Abeka Algebra 1 last year but there were parts that I did not feel confident in. Todd felt that she was ready to go on to Geometry but I feel I made the right choice by having her doing Algebra again.  I chose Saxon because I understand it is very thorough and has a lot of review built in.  I also purchased the Saxon Teacher.  This CD-R set has an instructor that works the student through every problem in the text.  This takes a lot of pressure off of me.  There were times Bonnie needed help and I did not have the time to help her.  Now she can sit at the computer and use the Saxon Teacher to go over the work with her so that she can check her work out.

Language- Abeka 9th grade.  We did not want to use Abeka.  (Bonnie is convinced the people at Abeka hate her.lol) However, we decided to stick with what we know.  We have been using Abeka for five years now.  We know their system and expectations.  I did, however, by their teacher's key this year to make sure we are doing everything right.

Science - Apologia Physical Science.  Here I made another additional purchase.  I bought the DVD-R that goes with the text.  Now the students sit down with the computer and Jay Wile will instruct them on what they are to do, it encourages them to take notes, and goes over experiments and questions and answers.  In all reality, they are listening to the on-line classes that Apologia has recorded.  Once again, Bonnie and Brian can sit down with the computer and listen in to their science lecture and hear further detailed information on the subject they are reading.

Tapestry of Grace is still our core curriculum.  This year we are in Year 2 which covers from 400AD to 1789.   That is, the fall of the Roman Empire to John Adam's presidency.  I am really excited about this year.  TOG covers history, literature, writing, geography, fine arts, church history, and government.

Well, that is our school year.  We plan on starting next week.  I plan on the kids starting math and language on Monday, and then adding the rest of the material on Tuesday.  All the schools start on Tuesday here so they will be on track with everyone else.

In the area of our vehicles....., the truck and Blazer are still working.  We had to replace the battery on the Blazer but other than that it runs.  The van is parked until we can figure out what is wrong with it.  sighh.....

In the area of our NC house....we still own it.  We currently have someone looking into it.  They have been sending us questions all week and we have been giving them all the information we can on the house.  We would covet your prayers in this matter.  Hopefully, they will make an offer and we can sell this house soon.

In the area of our church...., Awana is starting soon so that has consumed a lot of my time, getting ready for it since Todd and I are the commanders this year.  We have added to our church the Sidebottoms.  Jennifer S. has taken over our music and we are enjoying her addition to the Worship team.

Of course, there is more to tell.  Like, Todd taking off at five in the evening to go on a hike that lasted nine hours instead of the four hours he intended.  Brian and I taking off on bikes and biking all over Black Bird Island and having a blast,  Playing in the ice cold river.  Walking through the trails on Black Bird Island and finding fresh bear scat.  Sitting through a whole day of classes on being a child-care provider (which I have decided against), forest fires filling the town with smoke, tragedies on the river claiming the lives of a tourist rafting and a kayaker,  and more.

I will leave it here for now and will do better to keep you better updated.  Until then.....