6 month old, housework and school

It's been about 6 months since I posted. Needless to say, life with a newborn and 5 children total is a beautiful but busy blessing! (Say that 10 times fast!) Little guy turned 6 months last week. He is so sweet and has the best little smiles and giggles that light up the room. Wednesday he had a lip and tie clip/revision. He's been doing amazingly well, but hates the stretches we have to do with them. I don't blame him. I hate doing them too him.  The first few months were very rough because of the ties, but life is much better lately and we're so thankful for him.

We have settled in to our new duty station and been here a year now! We have come to accept it, and don't hate it as much as we use to. We have made some great friends and have enjoyed spending a great deal of time working on home improvements- the joying of owning our own home. We have a new priest (after being without for a year) and he is absolutely wonderful. We don't enjoy the trips to the city. And when we're looking at medical needs, the multiple trips a week, which we're currently looking at- followups for little guy and appointments for my health. But, we're trying to make the best of it.

As for our house. My husband and son have laid concrete to extend our driveway/make a basketball court. We've torn down an awful fence and overgrown trees, put up a beautiful new fence and painted it, and leveled out the backyard and planted grass that is now coming in quite beautifully. We have also put up a swing set for the kids, and plan to do a bit more in the back yard. They also installed new windows in all of the basement windows and installed a ventilation fan in our basement bathroom. And redone a lot of electrical in the basement. And installed a ceiling fan in the kitchen. I'm sure there's more we've done, but those are the biggest things! As I said, our new home has kept us busy.

This past fall, the kids were playing soccer. Three different teams kept us incredibly busy. Zach's team was undefeated and Hannah's won all but one, which they tied. Abby had a great year learning more and spending a lot of time running the ball down the field with her long legs. Now they are all in basketball, and that's going to be interesting. We practice every night of the week, and then games are on Saturdays. There are 2 days where all 3 play at the same time, at 3 different schools, and many days have double headers for some of them! Jon is coaching Hannah's team, so I'll be dividing up between the other two teams. Should be an interesting 6 weeks ahead.

And then, there's homeschooling. I usually like to do a post of what we're using and what's working for us. I definitely feel this year has been going much better than last year. My number one goal has been to remember that this is my job, this is how I support our family. So I've been trying to get up and get dressed nice, and even trying to get up before the kids. Some days that's harder than others with Max, but I'm trying. I'm also trying to do a morning devotional with my coffee each morning. I've been reading A Catholic Woman's Book of Days and A Gracious Space. The first is very short, like 2 minutes to read and just give me a bit of scripture to think about each day. The second is a great one to encourage any homeschooling parent on their path. It is not particularly religious, but really great.

Zach is in 5th Grade. His studies this year include Teaching Textbooks 5 and 6. He is almost done with 5, and then we'll be doing 6. (Which i still need to purchase eeks!). Hannah is in 4th and doing Teaching Textbooks 5. They are both using Seton Religion 5 and Seton Health, Typingclub.com, and BraveWriter for writing. I have also been assigning Saint books for both of them this year.

Abigayle is in 2nd and preparing for First Holy Communion. She is using Seton Religion 2, and then her and I are doing The King of the Golden City with CHC's guide and Preparing to Receive Jesus by CHC as well. She is using Math 3 from Teaching Textbooks, Seton's English and Little Angel Readers for Reading. WE are blowing through this finally, so we may have to find something else for the end of the year. We are sort of using All About Spelling, but I have a hard time actually doing it with her, and it is really too easy to begin with, so we'll see what I do about that.

All 3 of the older kids have been in a PE class through the parks and rec, which is about to end. Then we will be doing a drama performance with the local homeschool group. We are using Catholic Schoolhouse art and science for all which I love, and we've been doing a weekly poetry tea time- fancy tea set with snacks and poetry. They all have 30 minutes of piano and reading each day. And then we are still using Connecting With History/RC History. And reading Saint stories each week.

My husband helped me create an excel document to keep up with our assignments for the year, and I created a weekly assignment sheet that has been incredibly helpful as well for each child. Overall I feel this school year is going much better than last year!

Across the top is the subject. Along the side is just the days of the year. The blue is what we've completed. Each child gets a tab at the bottom. 

This is an example of weekly sheets. 'other' includes practice, appointments, meetings, etc. 

an important lesson I heard and am trying to hold tight to this year.

Why his birthday is special and explanation of his name

Maximilian's story of his birth date and his name is one that is very special to us. Normally we've named our children with a Biblical name followed by a Saint middle name, but this time we switched it up.

Max was born on April 21. When I first heard the date, I thought "That date is important, but I can't remember why." We looked to see if anyone else was born that day, threw the date around, and could not come up with a reason it was important.

However, we realized 2 days after his birthday was the Feast of Divine Mercy. Now THAT day is special to us for many reasons. First, on the Feast of Divine Mercy, 2008, I joined the Roman Catholic Church (After finding out the day before we were pregnant with Hannah.) Divine Mercy has always been special to us for that reason alone. Then, the week of Divine Mercy, 2015, we were in Rome, where Z&H received their First Holy Communion from their uncle in St. Peter's Basilica. Again, making Easter week/the feast of Divine Mercy special for us. Then last year, the week of Divine Mercy, 2016, we were driving to Poland, which would be one of our greatest vacations in Europe. I'll come back to that more in a minute...

While in the hospital, about 3 days after he was born, it all of a sudden hit me why April 21 stood out in my mind. Those that knew us when we were engaged will recall that we had a wedding date set, but we realized that it was pointless to wait 4 months apart, and changed the date. In my church growing up, the marriage prep took several months to complete, but in the Catholic Church we were getting married in, it took 1 weekend. We completed that one weekend in August before Jon deployed, and so we changed our wedding date to January, for right after Jon got back from his deployment. (Six days after he got back to be exact!!) However, our original wedding date... you guessed it! April 21!

On our trip to Poland, we learned about many of the great Saints of the Catholic faith. St. Pope John Paul the Second had always been one of Jon's favorites, and we really learned more about him while in Poland. We also learned a great deal about St. Faustina, who Jesus gave the image of Divine Mercy to, with the words "Jesus I trust in you." And finally, St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Maximilian Kolbe is the patron Saint of families and the prolife movement. Born in 1894. He joined the Conventional Franciscans and eventually founded The Army of the Immaculate One with the goal of bringing about the conversion of sinners and enemies of the Church, through the intercession of Mary. In 1918 he was ordained and promoted Mary throughout Poland, and eventually opened monasteries in Japan and India. He opened his monastery as a hospital for those in needed, including hiding 2,000 Jews from German persecution, during WWII.  In Feb. 1941, the monastery was shut down and he was sent to prison. Three months later he was sent to Auschwitz. During his time there, he led prayers with the other prisoners and remained calm. Three months after arriving, some prisoners escaped, and others from his cell block were picked to die of starvation as an example to others. One man was picked and he cried out "My wife! My children!", and Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place. After two weeks of starvation and dehydration, Fr. Kolbe was still alive, so the guards gave him a shot of carbolic acid. He died on August 14, 1941. He was canonized in 1981 by Pope John Paul II, and the man he gave his life for survived Auschwitz and was at Maximilian Kolbe's canonization.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz and see the cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe died. His story, and his sacrifice was one that we found amazing, and therefore we named our son after him.

As for Jude, it originally did not hold any special meaning. We were really wanting to use Maximilian, so kept throwing out names that might work with it. Jon threw out Jude, and I said Hmm, I like it. The more we thought about it, several things stood out. It was a Biblical name. St. Jude is also the patron Saint of helpless causes (and let's be honest, we seem to have many of those at times). and finally, Jon has an Aunt Judy that he really respects and looks up to, so it was honoring a family member.

The name seemed perfect, but like a big name. I was afraid to name him such a big name until I saw him. Therefore, we reserved telling people this was his name, until i had the chance to see him. And when we did, and people commented on his size, being a big boy, I felt that he could handle his big name.

Maximilian Jude

On April 21, at 12:52pm, Maximilan Jude was born, weighing 10 lbs, 6 oz and 21.75 inches long. Here is the birth story.

I had a c-section planned due to previous c-sections. It was scheduled for 37 weeks because my last delivery, I was told at 38 weeks that I had a uterine window (the uterus was very thin) and it was recommended to deliver at 37 weeks, so we did. In most of my other deliveries, there had been something wrong, so my prayer leading up to it was that I would have as perfect of a c-section as possible, with no complications for him or me. I knew it was possible this wouldn't happen, but I was asking.

On the drive in, Jon and I prayed the rosary together. This brought me a huge peace heading in. As soon as we arrived at triage, everything moved so fast. Scrubs for Jon, gown for me, figuring out my insulin pump, and the worst, trying to avoid a low blood sugar while not eating. I kept dropping, and suspended my pump, but I was very concerned that I was going to get low, and no one was giving me an answer of what we'd do. Thankfully, I stayed within perfect sugars and never had to worry about it. We brought holy water, planning to use it, but never had the chance and forgot. I was assigned a personal nurse, Janette, who would stay with me until I got my own room. She was wonderful and I felt we really got to know her throughout the day.

About 12:15 they wheeled me back. I had been at such peace, until we came around the corner and saw the big huge surgery doors, and Jon was sent to wait in a little corner until it was time for him to come in. Then the fear and anxiety set in. I tried to remain calm. The worst part is usually getting the epidural. I had a nurse standing in front of me, whispering calming things, telling me i was doing good and breath in a sweet, kind voice. She was just what I needed, and I know God had a hand in that. The epidural set in, I laid down, and everything moved slower than I expected. I heard regular chit chat in the background, and thought it was weird. It took about 20 long minutes until Jon came in, but I remained fine. One of my big fears is I always throw up on the table. I told the nurse anesthetists this, and they were amazing. At one point, I felt like I might. He put a bag up near me and told me to take some deep breaths, he was working as fast as he could. By the grace of him and God, I never threw up.

They began the surgery and it felt like forever. I kept asking Jon if they were to him yet, and he said no, they were cutting still and taking their time which was a good thing. Finally, I heard a "Here he comes." They pulled him out, and then that beautiful, lovely, first cry. I had asked for delayed cord-clamping if possible, and the doc kept asking for the time so he could cut. They delayed almost 45 seconds, so that was cool. I had asked for him to be pulled out slowly (gentle c-section) but that didn't happen. Not a huge deal. He was suppose to come over and do immediate skin-to-skin. First they took him to wipe him down and do his apgars. Thankfully, I could look to my left and see what they were doing. I don't think it was like that in my other c-sections. I could see a chunky baby with a head full of curly hair. (Which we now think was curly because of the fluids, etc. After washing it seems pretty straight). But, he was starting to turn blue. His apgars were 6, 7, and 8. They made the decision he needed to go to NICU. They brought him over, and I got to give him a few kisses before him and Jon went off, but did not get to hold him. My arms were not tied down (at my request) so I did get to reach up and touch him.

They finished me up, and I just laid there. At one point, I can't remember when exactly, maybe when he was already out, I felt my anxiety rising. I had told Jon that his job was to help me pray if I got to that point, but he was with Max. Therefore, I started repeating "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world." over and over. Jon thought something was wrong and came over, and I told him I was just praying, trying to calm down. It really helped and I was thankful I had that game plan. "Memorized prayers" that this Catholic convert has struggled with for the win! ;-)

They took me to recovery with Janette, my nurse. While in there, I did great with ice chips and moved to 7up. THen I threw up. This happened a few times, but not too much or too hard, like I had with Beka, so I was thankful for that. Finally I was well enough in recover that I could go see my baby boy. They were going to take my bed down to NICU. I asked "What happens if i have to throw up in NICU?" they said that's fine, just tell them and they'd get a bag. I was so thankful to hear that, because I avoided seeing Beka for so long because of vomiting, as I thought it was a huge no-no in NICU. He had been on CPAP for about 3 hours, and when we arrived, the nurse said she had good news and bad. They were able to take him off the CPAP (YAY!!!), but his blood sugars had dropped, so they gave him an IV of glucose. They also allowed me to try to nurse. He wasn't really wanting to, so the nurse was wonderful and took a syringe of colostrum I had pumped, squirted it on the nipple, and he was a bit more interested.

Eventually, it was time for me to head to my room. At this point, we still hadn't settled on a name. Jon thought for sure I'd know after seeing him, but i told him no, I needed to see him and be with him without being all drugged up. When I got to my room, i was still throwing up a bit, so they gave me fenegrin, and that helped within 30 minutes. I was finally able to eat and keep food down. It appeared that the c-section had gone as perfectly as possible. No throwing up on the table, I stayed awake and alert, very little throwing up afterwards, no headache or shakes. I was very thankful.

Time to head back to see the baby. Again, I tried to nurse a bit with little success (I only had colostrum still). They were still working on his sugars. By the grace of God, a nurse in the mom-baby had told me on a phone call prior to going in that she'd had a mom bring in pumped milk from her SIL because she'd anticipated low sugars. I have 3 nursing friends, so asked one of them if they'd mind pumping some milk for me. Bless her heart, she did. I came in with 12 oz of donor milk and about 10 mL of colostrum. The nurses were all so happy and proud of me. I kept pumping as I could, and even though he was on a glucose drip for approximately 48 hours, we avoided any formula. (I would have used formula if necessary, but preferred not to) By the time the donor milk was almost gone, my milk had come in and they could hear him guzzling it, and no longer required me to supplement. I am so incredibly grateful for my friend and her generosity to me and our baby. I kept asking if the nurse that gave me the great advice was working, but she didn't seem to be while I was in mom-baby.

He was born Friday afternoon. By Sat evening, we had settled on the name Maximilian "Max" Jude. It was a name we were pretty sure about, but because it was such a "big" name, we wanted to see him first. Everyone told us he's a big boy, he's a tank, etc. and it just solidified that the name was right. By Sunday afternoon, we were both moved to mother baby ward. I was so grateful to finally be sleeping in the same room with our new baby. Sunday night went great. I felt like this was the life with a newborn.

Monday morning, about 6am, they did a bilirubin test, and he was high. He was put in the light box immediately. I went back to my room, to the bathroom, and just sat down and sobbed. I felt like we couldn't catch a break. The c-section had been so perfect, but my poor baby kept having issues. Was it because we delivered him at 37 weeks? Was it because of his size? Did my diabetes play in to it? I decided/suggested to J he go home for Monday night. He was out of clean clothes, our 3yo was really struggling, and if the baby was going to be on lights all night, I wouldn't need his help, so he went home to spend the night.

He was on the lights until midnight Monday night. Afterwards, they decided they needed to do a car seat test. While they don't normally do one on a 37 weeker, he was presenting with signs of a 36 weeker, and the nursery staff felt it was appropriate. So, J lugged our large convertible car seat in (Graco Extend 2 Fit) and everyone was shocked it wasn't a bucket seat. Unfortunately, when the nursery staff did the test, he had low O2 at a few times, and they told me he failed. We would not be going home first thing in the morning. Again, I cried. They couldn't tell me what it meant further until the NICU staff reviewed the strip in the morning, and the docs decided what to do. We waited around anxiously for a long time Tuesday morning, until someone came in and said that the NICU docs reviewed the strip of paper and he did fine and we could go home! We were finally discharged about 3pm on Tuesday afternoon, after being there since Friday morning. This was by far the longest birth experience I've had.

In good news, because I was there so long, I had plenty of time to rest and recover. I feel like this recovery has been very easy, and much, much less painful than my last one. My last pregnancy, the doc recommended that I could get pregnant again, but I had a uterine window (thin uterus) and he would deliver at 37 weeks, which is why we delivered that early. The doc said there was no uterine window this time! Miracle. <3 He said everything looked really great inside, so I was incredibly glad and grateful to hear that. All of the staff we encountered at the hospital (in the city, not on base) were amazing. I have zero negative things to say about the hospital or staff.

We were very, very grateful that my mom was able to fly out, and stay with the kids the entire time we were in the hospital, and be here a few days after. It would have been a much bigger challenge without her. I can't sing her praises enough!

All in all, even though he had lots of struggles the first few days of his life, I feel incredibly at peace with his delivery. More so than any of my other births really. Abby's is a close one as well, but after the struggles I went through with B, it was nice to be at peace with everything regarding him. I knew that the things we were facing were all 'fixable' and I held on to that. We are all now settling in to being a family of 7 and his siblings just adore him. He's a very easy going baby, as long as you feed him when he starts giving hunger ques. He hates his diaper changed, but he has a bad rash, so it's understandable. We are very thankful for our sweet Max and the blessings he's bringing to our family.

Six months in Idaho

In a few days, we will hit our 6 month mark of living in Idaho. I still can't say I like it here honestly, but I've come to accept it. God has given us a good group of friends that we know we can count on in an emergency, and are incredibly dear to us, and of course, we'd be there in an instant for them as well. I do love our house, and what we've done and are doing with it. Most of upstairs is painted, and pictures are all hung. Jon has replaced 4 out of 5 basement windows. Now we're working on the outside projects. We've cleaned up the yard and are about to lay seed in the backyard. We bought the kids a basketball hoop for Easter, and we bought a picnic table as well. The kids have made friends in the neighborhood and are enjoying being able to ride their bikes and scooters a lot more than they ever did in Germany. But all in all, we all really, really miss Germany and know a large part of our hearts are still there.

Aside from that, in less than a month, we will be welcoming a little boy in to our family. I realized I never posted on my blog that I'm pregnant with baby number 5. Thankfully this pregnancy has been a very smooth one thus far, and I'm praying it stays that way. My biggest prayer is for a 'normal' delivery, unlike all the rest I've had. And even though we're only a month out, we do not have a name for him yet.

In December, we also welcomed a kitten in to our home. She arrived on the Feast of Guadalupe, and therefore, the kids chose the name Guadalupe, or Lupe, for her. Today, she is at the vet getting surgery, and well, the kids have asked about 50 times when we can pick her up. They clearly miss her.

During the winter, DH was gone to Arizona for 2 months. During that time, the older 3 were involved in the parks and rec homeschool PE day. Once a week, they'd meet at the gym and do some sort of sport, and they loved it. We have also signed the 3 of them up for soccer. The season basically goes all of April (practice in March). Crazy mama due with a baby in April said yes haha. Thankfully they all practice the same nights, totaling only an hour and a half each night, 2-3 times a week. They'd been begging to play for about a year and a half, but we moved during the last season, so I felt that I needed to. They are loving it.

Hubby and kid 1 and 2 have joined the choir and love that as well. Kid 1 is also serving at Mass again, and you can tell he loves being back at serving. Our little homeschool group (4 families) are leading the Station of the Cross this week, and the kids are excited about that opportunity.

Kid 3 has been working hard on learning to read and understand math this year. She wasn't as fast to pick up on reading as the first two, and within the past two months, you can see the lightbulb has clicked for both reading and math, and she is just reading everything. You know your kid is ready to read when they ask you what everything spells or tries to sound it out. Their sweet wheels are turning trying to decipher everything they see. That is where she is and my mama heart is so proud and beaming, especially when I caught her reading to kid 4 the other day. Kid 4 is keeping busy during school with Alex Toys crafts. They are awesome, because the whole craft is prepared and ready, and she just pulls one out and does it while we do school. Strongly recommend them for toddlers!! I feel like we're doing pretty good with school. Don't ask me when we'll be done though, because I have no idea. We're just trekking along, and when the books for each grade are done, I guess we'll be done. ;-) I sat down last night though and wrote out my list of what we need for next year, so at least I sort of feel prepared to purchase the things we need.

As for me, I've just been growing a baby, teaching, and cleaning. I recently caved in to the rave of Norwex clothes, and have become a bit obsessed. DH was skeptical, but seeing how much I'm staying on top of cleaning now, he's cool with it haha. I keep thinking I'm going to make sheets for our new son, and our godchildren, but I never get around to it. DH went shopping with the kids recently and went ahead and bought him some sheets haha (I guess he didn't feel the hot pink and black zebra print sheets were going to cut it haha) I have been working on doing shutterfly photo books as well, trying to finally have photo books for our family. That's kept me a bit busy.

That's an update on how life has panned out in the 6 months we've been in Idaho. While we don't love it here, we know God has us here for a reason, and has a plan for us. Until we know exactly what that is, we just take each day at a time, and do the best to enjoy life in the simplicity and mundane life we now live, and focused on each other and Christ.

Our Homeschooling in 2017

Today, I had a friend over and we dove in to all of my homeschooling curriculum. I realized, she's one of many lately who have wondered what I use, what I like, and what works for us and doesn't. I've written a post like this in the past, but as many things do, life has made me change many things. At this point, I"m really happy with what we use, so here is what we use and why we like it:

Math - Until this year, we have used MCP Math. (Side note, that links to Cathy Duffy's website. If you're doing any curriculum research, check out her site, as she compares almost every curriculum and gives you a great review on them.) I have really liked this MCP Math, as it requires little to no teaching. There is a teacher's manual, but I've only used the manual with kid #1 in the very beginning. It became more helpful with grade 3 when checking the answers.

This year, I decided to try out Teaching Textbooks. I had seen many people rave about it, and decided it was an easy option to use in the middle of our overseas move. Conclusion: We love it. It involves a lecture teaching the lesson to the kids, and many problems to solve. I can log in and see their grades. It's also easy to pass on to the other kids. There is a limit of 3 times, but then you simply call the company and they reset it for you. There are books that can go with the CDs, but I found them not useful or necessary.

My complaints about it- It's on a CD. So that means #1 and #2 are taking their cd in and out of the CD drive every time- meaning it's prone to getting scratched over time. Also, if they start on one computer and switch to another, as we recently had to do, the grades do not transfer. Teaching Textbooks does not start until 3rd grade, but I've heard it's about a year behind compared to public schools, so in the future, I will start TT 3 with my 2nd graders.

Religion- For years, we used Faith and Life with the Teacher's Guide. I loved it. The teacher's guide had so much 'more' to it to really help my children apply what I was teaching to their lives. However, by the 3rd or 4th year I was teaching it, I really felt like i was just repeating everything year after year. Yes, repetition is important, but I was now bored teaching it. And... I now needed to teach 2 years instead of just 1 (Kid 1 and 2 were learning at the same grade), and it just wasn't happening any more.

So, I decided to try Seton Religion. I felt that something was better than nothing. These are simply workbooks, by grade. The older two read the lesson and answer the questions each day. We hadn't done much religion last year, so I purchased grade 3 for both of them, even though they're in 4th. We are a few pages from the end, and I just ordered grade 4. They also have a review page at the end of each week, so last night I typed up all the 3rd grade review questions, and plan to spend next week doing a religion game with them, to see how much they really grasped. I also just ordered the 1st and 2nd grade for kid #3, and we'll start doing that together, as I haven't done much religion with her yet. (However, since we live the faith constantly in our home, she is getting religion in many other ways.) These books run about $15, and cannot be passed on. Seton also has a Bible History book that looks good, but we use another program for History that I don't want to quit, so I have not used their Bible History.

Grammar- I have tried grammar books from Catholic Heritage Curriculum or Seton in the past, but having a strong back ground in English, especially with a degree in Public Relations, I never truly felt that grammar was being taught through these programs. Then I discovered Fix It Grammar and I love it. First, you pay $19 for the teacher's book, and then you get the download to print the student book, for however many kids you have. We print them and put them in a 3 ring binder. Each day has a sentence that the student then diagrams, marking nouns, verbs, adjectives, contractions, apostrophes, etc. After so many lessons, they learn a new part of grammar, Each new piece they learn comes with a grammar card that they keep in an envelope and look back at for reference. After diagramming, they get their notebook and rewrite the sentence in their notebook, the correct way. When the entire book is done, in theory, they would have the story written out perfectly. Also, each lesson has a vocabulary word, so they also write the vocabulary word and look up the definition. Therefore, through this program, they are getting vocabulary, grammar, research skills and handwriting. The lessons are done with one sentence per day, 4 days a week, but I usually have them do two lessons a day.

Typing -  This year I decided the older two were old enough to start introducing basic typing skills. I've seen too many adults do the hunt and peck typing, and wanted to be sure they know how to have proper typing, knowing the home keys and able to look at the screen or a book or a teacher while typing. So, we began using Typing Club and it's been great- and free!

Spelling - In the past, I have used spelling books from Catholic Heritage Curriculum or Seton. However, I felt this method of memorizing spelling words wasn't working for kid #1, and we needed to figure out a good phonics based program. I had it narrowed down to The Writing Road to Reading with this guide or All About Spelling. I went with TWRR for this year. Long story short, I've come to realize, it's just not working for us. I like the idea behind it, but it required teacher prep and teaching, and it just wasn't happening. So, I just bought All About Spelling, like it arrived this week. However, I've only heard positive things about it from others, so I think it'll be great for us.

Science- Let me be honest, I hate science. This makes it incredibly difficult to teach. I've tried science workbooks from a few companies and found them boring or dry or I simply didn't want to teach them. This year, I decided to jump in on Apoligia. My biggest caveat in recommending this is to let people know it is young earth based and Creation based.  know not everyone believes that, so I throw that warning out. I believe God is the Creator, but I don't believe the earth is only 6,000 years old. However, we make it work. We talk about how this is a theory, and there are other theories as well. The reason I like this program is I can teach it to all of the kids, no matter their grade level. There are notebooks that go along with it, and the older kids get a notebook that is more involved. This year, we chose to do birds, because someone had given me an Apologia birds book, and I felt that it was very little money lost if we did not indeed like it. We haven't done much, due to the move, but so far I like it better than anything else we've tried.

Art- This year I decided to start using Catholic Schoolhouse's Art program. We haven't done much, but it's super simple and easy and I can do it whenever we have an extra moment to do a bit of art, and all the kids can do it. I actually like a lot of what I've seen of Catholic Schoolhouse, but have only purchased this from them. They do offer a full curriculum.

Reading - With kids 1 and 2 I used Little Stories for Little Folks, which I really liked and had planned on using with all my kids. However, a few years ago, I enrolled in St. Thomas Aquinas Academy and they had me using Little Angel Readers, which I completely fell in love with. This program has one teacher's guide, 4 books, and then 4 workbooks. The guide and books can be passed on to each kid (**Side note, if you plan to do that with curriculum, get contact paper and put it on your books to preserve them**) and then I purchase each of the workbooks for $9 for each kid. Each book builds on itself, and it includes sight words, vocabulary, some general phonics, spelling words, handwriting, hands-on spelling (Making words out of tiles), and even some small art projects. There are some things i pick and choose, like I don't always do the art projects, or if #3 is having a rough day with it, i won't make her write the spelling words 3x each, etc. But I love this program, and we will be done with book 1 for kid # 3 tomorrow and we're all super excited!! (It's been a long road for this one)

Music -  Kid 1 and 2 are in the choir. They also previously took piano, and it looks like on Monday, we're starting it back up! I'm not sure who's more excited. I am waiting until #3 can read a bit better before starting lessons with her, as she's not as interested it seems.

Physical Education - Sometimes during our day, we will stop and do some videos from GoNoodle to get us up and moving and get the wiggles out. We also just joined a homeschool PE program through the local parks and recs program, getting us out of the house once a week in these cold winter months. The kids have loved the one class they attended.

Writing - Someone gave me a box of these Writing Prompt cards, level 2. So, a few weeks ago, I started pulling one out once or twice a week, and making the older two write an essay based on the prompt.

That's a lot for one blog post, so I'll end there. Soon, I will write a blog post on our history program, which is my favorite part of our homeschooling day honestly. I'll also share some of the curriculum programs I've explored, and what other supplemental things we use in our family to help us learn, especially about our faith. Feel free to ask me any questions about the curriculum I've listed.