Sum, Sum, Summer Time!!!

Okay once again time has just gotten away from me. I will have to go back when I have some downtime (ROFLOL, what is that???? not sure what downtime is anymore). Who would have thought that homeschooling 1 would be so time consuming? I guess you could say that busy is an understatement. My health for the past year has also played a huge part in my downtime. I have another blog about that subject, so I will digress. Lil' Man has grown so much this past year. He turned 8 in May. Hard to believe. He had a Phineas and Ferb birthday party with his friends at a local park. We did some science experiments, in addition to the just plain playing and having fun. We finished up Sonlight Core C at the end of May. We will be doing Core D in the fall. We have been wrapping up all our other curriculum as the summer has progressed. I am a stickler about finishing all the workbooks and completing all the assignments. We basically school through out the year, a littler lighter in the summer time. I like to do a bridge program with him, to help keep things fresher for him. This was recently shown to be a positive thing to me, we took off the first 3 weeks of June for a surgery and recovery time for me and then we had company. After just 3 weeks of being off, it was just way to hard to regain focus and get back into the rhythm of things for Lil' Man. He finished his 2nd year of tap dancing in May. He took his first year of Piano this past school year. His teacher offers summer classes for the months of June and July, so we continued with them. He'll have August off. Swimming Lessons are planned for this month. He is in a Bowling League for the summer. So far he's been enjoying that. This is his first experience without bumpers. He's also been taking a monthly 2 hr Monart Workshop for pretty much the past year (only missed 2 months -- 1 because he didn't want to draw bugs and the other because there wasn't enough interest). We're going to be beginning a lapbook next week about Chocolate. We are looking forward to that. Of course there will be tasting the different types of chocolate, cooking with it and we are even going to be making chocolate from scratch (found a really neat Make Your Own Chocolate Kit). Who says science has to be boring? He is signed up for another year of Tap. He finished up Sparks (Awana's) and will be starting the TNT (Truth and Training) Awana's Series in the Fall. He completed 2 Awana's book last school year. He was so excited to have made such an accomplishment. We have been doing History Pockets this summer also Life in Plymouth Colony and Native Americans, while we have been reading American Pioneers and Patriots. I choose to do a summer history lesson with him because he was so upset when we end Mystery of History vol. II. We are looking forward to starting Mystery of History vol. III in the fall. Of course he was also upset when Math-U-See was completed. Luckily, we had a few other Math workbooks to complete. This seems to have kept him happy. However those are almost completed now too, so I will have to print of worksheets from Math-U-See's website. Well that about it in a nutshell for an update. I hope to be able to go back and put in some more specific updates from the past year. God Bless!

Catch Up

Have you been wondering what we have been up to? LOL! So have I.....no actually September and October were busy months for us.
Edward started out bowling again this year but after only 4 weeks in, we ended up pulling him from the league. We did this because we had a situation happen that we felt wasn't healthy for Edward to be around on a weekly basis. I feel bad because he loved it so much but we wanted to do what was best for him and not cause him un-do stress. I am trying my best to take him once a month or more, it would be easier if our towns Bowling Alleys were open more during the week.
Edward is now almost 12 weeks into his 1st Semester of Young Child through Kindermusik. He will be receiving his glockenspiel in about 3 weeks.
Edward started going to Awana's 2 Wednesdays ago (this coming Wednesday will be his 3rd week). He loves it and so do we. He has to memorize Bible verses and so many other wonderful things. It is a great experience for him. He has a little vest and has to earn badges, and receives jewels in a crown for memorizing his verses. I was so impressed the first week he had to say the American Flag Salute on his own with no help...he recited it perfectly word for word. We start every school morning with reading our Bible, doing our devotional, calendar work, saying the Flag Salute, the Christian Flag Salute and the Bible Pledge. It was just amazing that he after only 1 1/2 months into our school year was already able to recite it word for word. He is such a bright little guy.
Edward is still participating in Monart Classes. He drew an elephant 3 weeks ago and we were just amazed by his drawing. I will have to scan in some of his drawings and post them on the blog. We didn't have Monart Classes this last week. He only has 2 more classes this session and then nothing until mid-January.
Edward just finished up his 2 month long tap dancing classes. He loved it and desires to take more lessons. He is also asking to participate in Soccer, I just need to find acceptable places for him to participate in these activities.
I am still busy teaching the A to Z Animal Science Class for the K-2nd graders in our homeschool co-op, I also am the editor for the weekly newsletter, always am making something for the weekly luncheons and shuttling Edward to his extra activities.
Kirk is busy with work and coming home to play with Edward.

Another Thompson Family Update

I just noticed that it has been 15 days since I have blogged....like others I use my blog to communicate with family and friends who live a great distance from us and are unable to share in our daily lives. I also use it as a way to keep record of our lives. I plan to print out my entries and make keep them for Edward to share with his children and their children.

We have been very busy this month preparing for the upcoming school year. Edward will be starting Kindergarten in just a few more weeks. Public School officially started here (also in OK and TX) last Thursday. I think that it is just to hot out and still to summery for kids to be cooped up in a class room. We will start our school year the day after Labor Day. Edward is looking forward to school. We will be using Sonlight this year for our curriculum, along with Horizon's Health (K), Math-U-See (primer), Character First (series 1), and A Reason For Handwriting (K). We will also be learning some Spanish this year using Teach Me Spanish CD. Next semester we will be learning some French using the same series. Then I plan for him to learn Hebrew the first semester of 1st grade. We aren't learning to write any of these languages yet, just what they sound like in familiar childrens songs. When Edward gets to 3rd Grade we will use the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Series to learn these languages more in depth. We will also be working on America Sign Langauge this year too. We are also going to be using Tatras to an extent to learn to read, this is also known as Vertical Phonics. I have heard good things about this. Thank you Renee for showing me this program...you are always so kind to share.

Edward starts Kindermusik Young Child 1 tomorrow. He starts Homeschool Bowling League on the 4th of Sept (he rocked during summer league...he bowled a high game scratch of 105, a high series of 196 and his game average was 81...he was 2nd highest in game average and in high series, would have been in high game scratch if he would have just bowled a 107 or better game. Not bad if you ask me). This will be our last year for summer bowling league. Next summer he and I will go bowling once a week together. He will be moving up that fall to the Batnam's League which is sanctioned and doesn't allow bumpers. We will be working during the summer to get use to bowling without bumpers, with out the distractions or pressure of being on a league. Plus there were somethings that I saw during summer league that I just don't want Edward to be around or see. I think a break will do us good and we will see about doing a summer league in 2010.

Our Homeschool Co-op starts on Sept 5th. I will be teaching 2 classes this semester. A Arts and Crafts Class for Pre-K to 2nd grade and an A to Z Animal Science Class (this is a curriculum that is through our local zoo) for K to 2nd grade. My Arts and Craft class is only 6 weeks long. The A to Z Animal Science Class is actually 2 semesters long, so I will teach that class all school year long. I am looking forward to it.

I just have to share what we are having for dinner tonight....stuffed head of tenderloin (as seen on one of Edward's Favorite Food Network Shows; Good Eats), this is stuffed with crumbled blue cheese....Kirk's mouth has been watering ever since he saw the show so I thought I would fix it for him. We will also be having Parsley and Chive Mashed Potatoes, Broccoliflower and Purple Cauliflower (we haven't had either of these so I thought they would be fun to try), butter and egg dinner rolls, and for desert petite strawberry shortcakes. Is your mouth watering yet? I will have to let you know how this dinner turns out. One night I also plan to make Swedish Potato Balls (Kroppkakor) for Kirk. His mom's parents use to make them when she was a kid and he remembers eating them when he would go to visit them. He has been talking about them. I also have Swedish on my side of the family, I think it would be great for Edward to taste some Swedish style foods. There a Swedish Community here in Kansas (Lindsborg....aka Little Sweden) that has a Swedish Festival (Svensk Hyllningsfest) once a year, I am hoping we will be able to go in either 2009 or 2011 (it's only done every uneven year). It is in Mid-October.

It is different with Sebastian gone, we all miss him so much. Thank you all for the well wishes and condolences. It has taken some getting use too. So far Bear and Storm seem to be dealing with it well.

We are off here over Labor Day weekend for a mini family vacation in Nevada. Pray everyone comes home in one piece and no one tries to amputate any of their body parts.

We wanted to wish Happy Birthday to Jim, Mom T (Kirk's Mom), Oma Du (my Grandma), Paige (our beautiful neice), and Charlene, who all have birthdays in August. Also Happy Anniversary to my brother and his wife.

For those praying for us, please remember that Kirk goes at the end of next month to see the Urologist. Will keep you posted.

Are We Camping?????

Oie Vey!!!!! I feel like I am on a very bad camping trip right now. No dishwasher right now. The kitchen sink, down stairs bathroom sink, shower/tub combo and toilet will be unusable after tomorrow. We are eating off of plastic solo plates, using plastic silverware and really lightening up on cooking at home to alleviate having to washing dishes. Unlike camping though I have no room to move around....ah but I guess that is what it would be like to camp in a fifth wheel with a husband, a 4 1/2 yr old and 3 dogs....huh? Only about 5 to 6 more weeks of this madness. They are roofing the new addition today, demolishing the back half of the kitchen, updating the electric (guess they broke a gas line while I was gone earlier), & doing some clean up of debris today. PTL!!! This isn't one of those projects where it will take years. Our contractor is great and things are moving along smoothly. The addition is over half way done....just need siding put up outside, wired for electricity, dry wall put up and wood floors put down, interior and exterior doors hung....wood floors also need to be put down in the new laundry room, then the upstairs will be complete. This is the first time I have ever been in this type of situation. I can say it is a very stressful one. So many decisions to be made.

Newflash from the Thompson Household

I am in the middle of cleaning the house so the maids can come in and do a deep clean, so we can start off the year in a spic and span environment. He and his daddy are going to have a boys weekend this weekend, so I can get the main parts of the house clean without Edwards "help". He tends to go behind me and re-mess up what I have already cleaned. I have our upstairs all done. Going to do the Entryway, Kitchen and downs stairs bath today.
Still working on catching up the laundry from when I was sick in July. Now my brand new washer is coding on me that its having issues with draining, so I will have to have a service repairman come out next week and fix it for me. It is frustrating. I can get a load or two done then it starts to act up on me. So that is making it even harder for me to catch up on the laundry.
Next week, on Monday, I have an exterminator coming in to do a spray, he'll come every 3 months and do it. Then on Wednesday, the Maids are coming in to do a deep clean. Plus I hope to get the repair man in to fix the washer next week. Kirk is going out of state next Friday for the 3 day weekend with his dad in Las Vegas. Then things get really exciting for me. Edward will start school either the Tuesday after Labor Day or the following Monday. However Friday the 31st, we will be attending our first Homeschooling Co-op class. He is going to be taking a Storytime & Music Movement Class for 4 to 7 yr olds. I have volunteered to do a P.E. class for Preschoolers and Pre-Kindergarteners.We will also be doing Kindermusik again this year, however the classes will be on Tuesday Mornings. We will be joining the Homeschooling Bowling League on Thursdays this year, instead of participating in the bowling league on Friday and Saturdays. This is the first year that he can join the HBL at the bowling alley. We will be joining the Homeschooling Monart class on Fridays too, a lot of the children from the Co-op participate in this class. Edward will learn to draw using all types of mediums. He will be learning about famous artist this session, like Van Gogh and Gloria O'Keefe. If you would like to learn more about Monart or what see what types of things Edward will be learning you can go to www.Monart.com . He will be learning actual drawing techniques. I am pretty excited about this class for him. I plan to do homeschooling Monday through Friday from 9:30 to about 12:30/1:30. But that is just a general time for now, because with the new Horizon's Preschool Curriculum that we bought through Alpha Omega, I am not sure how long each section will take, I used their time line but after a couple of weeks I should have a better idea of how school will take us. I want to allow Edward time to be a child too and have free time to enjoy too. So as you can imagine our lives are about to get extremely busy and exciting. I will scan Edwards first Monart Picture that he brings home, to share with you all.
Well that is us in a nutshell.

Down for the count

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this the past 2 weeks but I have been extremely sick. It started 2 Thursday's ago when I woke up with a sore throat. I thought it was just allergies so I didn't pay much attention to it. By night fall, I was running a temp of about 103 and had the chills bad. Saturday found me running over a 105 temp, so off to the ER we went. They said I was extremely dehydrated and needed to have an IV of fluids. I was told I had a Urinary Tract Infection and a Sinus Infection. I was sent home with antibiotics, thinking okay I will be great in a few days. Wrong, by Wednesday I was in to see my own Family Physician. They took chest x-rays. When she showed them to me I could see that my lungs were full of fluids and I am just a layman at this stuff. Diagnosis, Walking Pneumonia. Trust me I would never wish this or any form of Pneumonia on my worst enemy. It is awful. So I was prescribed a 2nd antibiotics, still had to take the first ones because they were for the UTI and the new ones wouldn't help with that. The timing for this sucked, I was suppose to go get Regan the first Friday that I was sick but of course not wanting to get her sick postponed that. So now I will get her this Friday but she will only be able to stay for 1 1/2 weeks and not 2 now. I feel so bad. At least I am starting to feel better. Praying for no relapses, trying to take it easy but get the house back in order before I go get her Friday.