Thankful Blessings

Thank-you Judy for hosting this Meme: Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings.

1) I'm thankful that my DS's MRI went well. We still are waiting for the results, but he did really really, well. The MRI did cause us a bit of a headache, but it's done and he did extremely well. The hospital staff told us they never seen a child do so well!

2) That I have opportunity knocking on my door. I've been approached (via email) by a software company to do a review of their product. (More info on that yet to come). They asked me to do the review because they came across my blog: Catholic Christian Homeschooling! I'm NOT being paid for it, but I'm still thankful because it is an opportunity to do something that I like to do!

3) That I have the opportunity to go to TX with my sister. She is back from Afghanistan. She did a 14 month tour of Afghanistan. She's home now and will be station in TX for at least the next 12 months. She's here in IL to get her 20 month old son, and later today we leave with her and her son to TX. We are driving down and then on Monday, my kids and I are flying back to IL. My sister and her son will be staying in TX. So I will be gone for the rest of the week...

Brooke has announced Rediscovering Catholicism Winners

Brooke has announced that the following people have won copies of Rediscovering Catholicism:

Karen
Maria
Colleen
Shawntele
munchesmom
mamajuliana
June

PLEASE VISIT Brooke's Blog to claim your prize!

Why can't they tell the gender?

This is so very frustrating! I don't know if other parents have this issue or not, but I wanted to share. So in April and over last winter both kids were sporting longer hair-dos.

Here is Exhibit A:

This is DD and DS together back in April of this year (2009)

This is DS by himself back in April 2009.

Now that it is summer they both are sporting shorter hair dos.

Here is Exhibit B:

This is DD by herself, earlier this week.

This is DD and DS together. This picture was also taken earlier this week.

Now over the winter and even in April we were getting comments like oh what cute girls, or if out to eat what do the girls want. It didn't matter what DS was wearing he could be in a very "boy" outfit and because of his longer hair he was labeled as a girl.

Now that DD is sporting a shorter hair do she's being called a boy. Just tonight at the restaurant the hostess that sat us, took our drink orders, and asked us what do the boys want to drink! DH just looked at me in discuss. Our DD was wearing the same shirt short-sleeve stripe shirt that she's wearing in the picture above with a jean skirt with flowers and pink shoes. It doesn't matter she can be in a "girly outfit" and will still get labeled as a boy now that her hair is shorter.

It just frustrating! period! I just don't understand why there is gender confusion when it comes to my kids. Beside making my DS keeping his hair short and my DD keeping her hair long, I don't know what I can do to stop the gender confusion!

It doesn't matter what clothing they are wearing, people are just looking at the hair! UGH!

Outside My Window....

Okay so I may not have mountains, but I have rainbows!
Actually both pictures are of the same rainbow.

Yes, I do read them all!

If anybody takes a look at my profile they will quickly realize that I follow a LOT of blogs. (341 and counting to be exact). I'm always on the look out for more blogs! I'm truly enjoying reading blogs by other homeschoolers! How?

Well to be honest I use google reader. Every blog that I follow automatically shows up in google reader. My google reader subscription count is actually higher because NOT all blogs have the followers gadget.

Anytime a person makes a new post I know about it because it shows up in my google reader, thanks to RSS feeds! So I really viewing all of the posting from Google Reader. What I do is read the title and the first few sentences and if I'm hook I'll read it all. If I want to comment on the post then I'll click on the link provided from my google reader to get the post/blog so I can comment.

How much time does it take? Well it just depends on how many new postings there are and how many of them have me hooked! To be honest many people only update their blog once a week and others only once a month. Using google reader also takes the guess work out of who has made a new post and who hasn't! For the most part I can go through the new postings in about an hour. Yes, I know an hour is a long time, but when you are viewing over 400 blogs/news feeds an hour is not that bad!!

Thank Goodness for RSS feeds and Google Reader!

Review: Come and See Genesis

Title: Come and See Genesis

Author: Fr. Joseph Ponessa, S.S.D., Laurie Manhardt

Short Description: This presents the 50 chapters of Genesis in a 22 chapter, easy to use, workbook complete with commentary, questions, and guide on how to present the material in a group study setting. The Come and See series is especially designed for families to do together and is ideal for use in the classroom, home study, or parish catechesis program.

Review: One of the very first things I do when I get a book of this nature is to check for a Nihil Obstat and an Imprimatur. I was very pleased to see that Come and See Genesis had both! This material is fit and sound and in line with the Church teachings, which is very important when taking on a Bible study.

The book is an easy to use workbook that is written in a very simple, clear, but yet educational format. The questions at the end of the chapters are good discussion starters and add value to the study especially in a group setting. I should add at this point that you will need a Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to go along with this study; however this should be no surprise to anyone that is serious about studying the Bible. If you do not have a "Catholic" Bible or Catechism of the Catholic Church then one can be bought through the Catholic Company.

According to the description the Come and See Series is especially designed for families to do together. This statement is true if your children are, in my opinion, 13 and older. My kids are younger and this material, even though it's written in a clear and simple format, is beyond what they are be able to handle or comprehend, because of their young age.

I was disappointed that I was not able to share this with my children. On the other hand if your children are older (13 and up) this could easily be used as a family study. If you homeschool this could easily be used as your religion curriculum for your Jr High to High School age students. I recommend, at this time, that each student or person participating in this study has their own copy of this workbook.

If you're interested in learning more about Come And See Genesis then be sure to check out the Catholic Company. For more reviews about this or other products from other bloggers then please click here.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of Come and See Genesis by the Catholic Company in order to write my honest opinion of this product for this review.

Homeschoolers and College

The post "(Catholic) Homeschooling 101?" started a discussion about college admissions and homeschoolers. It came to my attention that each individual college had it's own rules when it came to homeschoolers and college admission policies. I know that the state laws regarding homeschooling varies state to state. Do the college rules vary because of the state laws? Or is something else at play? One of my readers seems to believe that the college rules have very little to do with the state laws and after surfing the web I'm in an agreement with her.

First thing I learned is that thanks to the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 colleges and universities that receive federal funds are prohibited from requiring homeschoolers who seek federal financial aid to take a GED or an ability to benefit test.

The Second Thing I learned is that the National Center of Home Education has a rating system for college admission policies. It is a 4 tier rating system.

1. Tier 1- Admission policies similar to National Center for Home Education’s Recommended College Admission Policies: These colleges typically required a parent’s transcript, general standardized achievement testing, and/or the review of a portfolio of the potential student’s materials in place of an accredited diploma. (List of tier 1 colleges)
2. Tier 2- GED required in place of, or in addition to, any of the Tier I requirements: Many of these colleges based this admission criterion of a GED on a federal requirement for financial aid in the Ability to Benefit. However, this federal requirement no longer applies since the passage of our home school amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1998. (List of tier 2 colleges)
3. Tier 3-Standardized achievement test scores (i.e. SAT II) required from home school, but not traditional high school, graduates: Colleges who ask homeschoolers to take extra standardized exams, and colleges requiring home schooled students to score higher than traditionally schooled students on standardized achievement tests or entrance exams. (List of tier 3 colleges)
4. Finally there's the 4th Tier. Colleges in the 4th tier do NOT accept homeschoolers. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of colleges on the list, there was only 1 college that will not accept homeschoolers. One college out of hundreds!!

Of course none of this information should replace anything you have been told by a college's admissions office. You need to contact the college or colleges that you want to go to and talk to someone from the admissions department. Many colleges have admission counselors that solely work with homeschoolers. So when possible you will want to work with that counselor.

My kids are several, several, years away from college. I was interested in where the discussion was going and so I did some minor research on it. Personally, I think it's great that several colleges are listed in the tier one category.

Those listed in the tier one category aren't necessarily better then any of the other colleges; they are just ones that fully accept homeschoolers and acknowledge that homeschooling is a legitimate schooling option. I say that because they don't require homeschooler to provide any more info then your average public school student.

EDIT ADD: I've also noticed that the list is not a complete list of colleges but it's a start. Just another reason for why you should contact your colleges admissions office.

First MN; Now IL: Grass Spiders

Margaret in Minnesota @ Minnesota Mom posted pictures this week some "spider webs" in her grass. It just so happen that today I happened to see similar webs in my yard. In the course of snapping the pictures I even saw a small cricket type animal hop on the web and a spider jump out of nowhere to get it. Let's just say these grass spiders do indeed move very fast! I wasn't able to catch the movement or spider on camera. It disappeared as fast as it appeared.

Below are the pictures of the webs that I found in my yard.

(Catholic) Homeschooling 101?

I came across a tract from ETWN entitled: Catholic Home Schooling written by Mary Kay Clark. The article is basically a 101 on "Catholic" Homeschooling. While there are some very good points and ideas that I never thought of before, like having a philosophy statement, there are other things that are leaving my scratching my head and saying what?

If you do not enroll with a Home Study School, you must decide on a name for your Home School. Obtain a post-office-box address; have stationery printed with the name and address. Be sure not to include "home" in the name of your school. Official school stationery is needed to order textbooks, teacher's manuals, answer keys, tests, examination copies (to look over for 30 days), sample texts (which you may keep), and publisher's catalogs.

The above is an example of one of those statements that left me scratching my head and saying "what?". I do have a name for our homeschool, although I rarely used it. In fact the only time I've used it is when filling out the papers for Pizza Hut's Book It program. (Remember I've been homeschooling since June 2008). I do NOT have Official School Stationery and I certainly do NOT have a P.O. Box. I wonder how many homeschoolers have these things and if they would agree with the author that they are a MUST have in order to get textbooks, teacher's manuals, answer keys, etc.?

I will say in the author's defense that the tract was written in 1983. 26 years is a long, long, time. If anything, perhaps, this is an indication of how far homeschooling has come! We now have excess to vendors (Christian, Catholic, Secular), curriculum, books, websites, software, catalogs, etc all with a click of a mouse. Maybe, we should be grateful of how far homeschooling has come.

Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway (Second Chance)

Hello Everyone!

Brooke @ Tending To Truth asked me to let you all know that she has 10 copies of the book Rediscovering Catholicism that SHE is trying to giveaway!

If you would like to try again to receive a copy of Rediscovering Catholicism then PLEASE VISIT Brooke's Blog and make your entry today! Brooke is asking that you leave a comment on HER blog by Monday July 27, 2009! Good Luck to everyone!

Brooke I was happy to help you out here! I wished I had more to give then just my 2 copies; So I'm hoping that those that wanted this book will have a better chance of receiving a copy from you!

MRI: Nightmare

This whole business with the MRI is turning out to be a nightmare. My son (8) needs one done because of his toe walking. I finally was able to schedule the MRI today. I tried a few times yesterday, but the hospital didn't have the order. It turns out the Dr. office had our insurance info wrong, they had us a HMO when we really are an PPO. So once that was corrected they were able to submit the order.

I called today and set up the time and date for the MRI. That part wasn't so bad, but that is what set off my nightmare. I found out that the DR actually wants 2 different MRIs so it's going to take 2 hours. They asked me if he could lay still for those 2 hours and I said yes....

Well I get of the phone, explained everything to my son, and he immediately started to cry. He feels that it's impossible for him to lay still for 2 hours. After spending 20 minutes trying to console him and having him watch videos on MRIs, I wasn't getting any where. So I IM DH and told him what was going on. DH IMed me back and told me to call the hospital to see if they can give him something to help him relax.

So I called the hospital explain the situation and got told that our only other option is to have DS be put under anesthesia. However in order to do that I would have to cancel the MRI, call the Dr. office and have them resubmit the order with anesthesia. Then I would have to call the hospital and reschedule the MRI for a time when an anesthesiologist is available.

So I then explain to my son that he has a second option, that they can put him to sleep. Well that made him cry even more. I've already have spend the last 2 hours trying to console him. I'm not getting anywhere. He honestly doesn't feel that he can't be still for 2 hours and the idea of going to sleep is freaking him out more, because he's afraid that he won't wake up.

He's crying, I'm crying, this is just a nightmare. Wake me when it's over.

Update: DS toe walking

As I mention last month I was going to speak to the DR about DS's toe walking. Well last Friday, I did speak to the Dr about it and he refer us to a podiatrist. Well we went to the podiatrist today. We don't have any real answers for why DS is a toe walker and what can be done about it. However, we have a better understanding of what is going on.

Images from Southwest Orthopaedic Surgery Specialitist.

It's clear that the Achilles tendon is shorten. Most likely a result of being up on his toes all the time. However the podiatrist feels that shorten Achilles tendon is the secondary caused of my DS's toe walking.

According to the x-rays that DS got done today everything is "normal", but when the podiatrist was working with my son's feet, flexing them, he felt as if there was something that was blocking my son's range of motion, besides the shorten Achilles tendon.

He feels that PERHAPS the talus bone is out of place. That PERHAPS it's a little too forward and that it is blocking my son from having his full range of motion.

We DO NOT know if this is the case for sure and will not know for sure until more medical images are taken. I have to call the hospital later today and schedule an MRI for DS. Once I have the MRI schedule then I have to call the podiatrist's office and schedule a follow up with him one week after the MRI.

If it does turn out that the talus bone is out of place then it most likely can only be corrected with surgery. Although the podiatrist also mention that they might be able to do something with physical therapy. We don't know for sure, this is all guessing right now. We just at this point need more imaging done! More imaging will give us a better understanding of what is going on. The podiatrist chose a MRI over a CT scan because he said the MRI would give us a better picture of the soft tissues. I will provide an update when I have more answers.

Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway winners have been announced. See this post here for the list of winners.

VBS and General House Keeping

This week we are going to be doing a FREE At-Home-VBS program thanks to Holy Heroes. We are supper excited about this! Especially seeing our pen-pals will be doing the same VBS this week. They are in PA and we are in IL, but thanks to Holy Heroes and the internet we get to do VBS together. I got the first email for this week and as promise it was load with all kind of fun things for the kids to do. At the end of the week I'll post an update on how things went.

Now the General House Keeping: First you may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog to Catholic Christian Homeschooling. Catholic Christian Homeschooling reflects my url better and this is important seeing I'm considering getting my own custom domain. This isn't going to be any time supper soon, but it is something in the works. You may have also noticed the custom banner. That is something that I made with photoshop. I'm not very good with photoshop, but I'm happy with the results. I hope you like it.

Also, in the right hand side bar you may have noticed the Yahoo Messenger Pingbox, that was added this weekend. This widget will allow my visitors to chat with me LIVE assuming I'm online when visitors are visiting my blog. If I'm online just enter in a nickname and start typing right there in the widget. I'll see your message and will type back assuming I'm not busy at that moment. :) Oh and it's a private chat (IM). This means the only people that can see the chat would be me and the visitor that I am chatting with.

Rediscovering Catholicism Winners have been announced. A list of winners can be found here.

Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway Winners!

Above is the video I made of me drawing the names for the Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway! Thank-you to everyone that took the time to enter!

Today's winners are Theresa N. and Ericasauarez. Theresa and Erica PLEASE use the contact me link at the top of the page to send me an email with your mailing address so I can mail you the books!

I need you to send me the email by July 23rd, 2009. Failing to send me an email by July 23rd, will result in forfeiting your prize!

FYI to everyone: This is the last post that I will make UNTIL July 23rd. The reason for this is because I want this post to stay on top until July 23rd so Theresa and Erica will have a fair chance at claiming their prize! Of course if they BOTH contact me prior to July 23rd then I will carry on as usual and resume my normal postings! LOL

Once again Thank-you to everyone for entering and for being readers/subscribers to my blog. Theresa N. and Ericasauarez please send me an email using the contact me link at the top of page to clam your prize!

Aquasaur Gone!

Well we woke up this morning to discover that our little Aquasaur is dead.

At first we didn't think any would hatch and the pack was a dud, because there wasn't any swimming around within the time frame the kit gave us.

Then on June 14th we were surprised to see this fairly large Aquasaur swimming around. Looking back we estimate that she was there for about 1 week prior to our discovery.

This Aquasaur shed it's skin several times and even laid eggs for us. We did find a way to harvest the eggs, but we lost them. We placed them on our window sill to dry out and a big gust of wind came and blew them over, so now we will have to order new eggs.

She lived for about 35 days! Which is right in line with what our little kit said. It said they would live for 30-90 days.

Welcome Home Mommy!

I came home to this welcome sign! It reads "Welcome Home Mommy!"

I had a very good little birthday weekend in the Detroit, MI area, shopping, late night talks and movies, a pig roast, and other good food. Time to just sit and relaxed, it was a very freshening weekend. I'm very thankful for my BFF for putting up with me over the weekend. :)

As much fun as I had it's good to be home! The winners for the giveaway will be announce tomorrow so stay tuned for that!

Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway Closed!!

The giveaway has officially been closed now. I WILL announce a winner on July 15th. The reason for the delay is because I'm leaving on a Jet Plane and I don't know......

Anyway Winners will be announced on July 15th!!

Aquasaurs Eggs!

As you may know DS (8) was given an Aquasaur kit for his birthday. We thought we had bad eggs, duds, until we were surprised to see one lone Aquasaur swimming around in the tank. We name that lone Aquasaur Spectacular.

Since we found him her we have been taking care of it like we are suppose too. Feeding it, changing the water regularly, etc. Well today when I went to change its water I noticed a few eggs. Perhaps, we will have new aquasaurs soon!

New Aquasaurs? Are you crazy? You just have one Aquasaur!! Well as I explain in the one post Aquasuars are really Triop Longicaudatus. Triop Longicaudatus can reproduce by parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male.

We have eggs so we will see what happens...

First shedding, Now the possibility of parthenogenesis.

EDIT ADD: I just realized that the eggs have to FULLY DRY OUT before they even have a chance to hatch! How do I collect the eggs? Where do I store them so they will dry out? Think, Think, Think....

IMPORTANT! Children's Web Site Under Attack by Identity Thieves

From Fox News:

The popular Web site Neopets has a reputation for being kid-friendly and kid-safe. It has been hit by Internet pirates, according to Christopher Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Communications Inc., a California-based Internet security company.

The scam takes advantage of kids willing to pay big for a "magic paintbrush," the rare and pricey item that lets kids change their pets' colors.

They're sent a seemingly innocuous e-mail or private message on the Neopets bulletin boards telling them about a secret Web site that will let them make their own magic paintbrushes — without having to spend precious points for them.

But when the child clicks on the link for more information, malware — software created to damage or penetrate a computer system — is automatically downloaded and installed on their home computers.

Not only does the child never get the anticipated paintbrush, the malicious software then is in place to wreak havoc with his or her parents' financial data by culling private information from the now-infected PC.

Passwords to banking sites, account information, Social Security and credit card numbers all become fair game.

"The overall aim is hoping a child's parent does [online] banking," says Boyd, a security expert. "The child is being used as a launch pad to get to the parent."

PLEASE PASS THE NEWS!!!

Source Fox News!

Instant School Room!

Okay, in this clip it talked about a "home office" but I'm sure the same principles could be applied to make a "school room".


Watch CBS Videos Online


I've mention before how I don't have a school room. Now if I only had a dinning room! LOL Or maybe I can use the same principles, ideas, to my kitchen! Kitchen at Night and Weekends, Official School Room during the day!

Or seeing I store things in my living room, perhaps I can get some kind of cabinet that would be more suitable for the living room and "hide" our school things!

Wheels are spinning!

Related Reading:
The Process of Being Organized Part 2 Spreading Out- by A Mountain Mom

Just Over 24 Hours Left! Enter Today!

Reminder the Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway is still open! As of now we have 17 entries! If you would like to enter then PLEASE DO SO TODAY! All entries must be posted BEFORE 5:00 pm, July 9th! (That's central standard time by the the way)

I do have comment moderation on, but I can see what time the post was made. I will accept all post that are time-stamped BEFORE 5pm July 9th. So as long as you make the post before 5pm you are good! (Even if they aren't visible before 5 pm).

As I mention in the post: Not going to be a great day, I'm leaving for the weekend, so I'm a little busy, thus I may not get all of the comments up and approved before Thursday Night. So I wanted everyone to know that it's based on when the entry is made, not when I make it visible!

NOT going to be great all day!

That is what my DD (7) told me this morning! Actually this was her full statement:

He (Daddy) does know how to make sandwiches, but that's NOT going to be great all day!

I'm leavin on a jet plane I don't know when Ill be back again on Friday bound for MI and I'll be back on Monday. One of the things I have to do TODAY to prepare for this trip is to buy some food for them to eat while on gone. It has to be simple things my lovely DH can cook, make.

I asked him for some ideas of what he thinks he can handle. He told me just to get some stovetop stuffing. My DH in his bachelor days would eat a box of stovetop stuffing for dinner! That would be his whole meal a box of stovetop stuffing!

I just turned to him and said "After over 9 years of marriage you haven't learn anything? Isn't there some simple meal that you can handle?"

So just lets say I'm worried about my kids and what they will be fed over this coming weekend! So PLEASE give me some tips, advice, simple meals, that my DH can handle for this weekend. After all DD has already said that eating sandwiches ALL DAY is not going to be great!

The Budget!

I know this really has nothing to do with homeschooling, but it was a WOW video for me so I wanted to share it.

Don't Be Afraid: Speak Your Mind!

As homeschoolers we have had to stand our ground so to speak. I've seen people that are not afraid to stand their ground, or speak their mind when it comes to homeschooling. So why are we so afraid to speak our mind when it comes to other issues?

Little Johnny Doe has a potty mouth and a bad influence on my children, what can I do? My acquaintance Janey said rude things about my kid, how can I handle it? My relatives despite my request still feeds my kids junk food?

Oh for heaven sakes, speak up! If little Johny is a bad influence then don't allow Johny to hang out at your house. If your acquaintance is saying rude things about your kids then tell them that it's not acceptable. Tell your relatives NO!! Why is it so hard??

I know it's hard because we have been spooned fed by SOCIETY that we should live and let live. You know believing that other people should be allowed to live their lives in the way that they want to and that we shouldn't interfere with it! When will people stop eating this garbage!

Look when something is wrong, then speak up! It really is the Christian thing to do! Don't be afraid to speak you mind! If little Johny is a bad influence then tell little Johny that he is no longer allowed on YOUR property, or go talk to his parents. Let them know about the bad things that Johny has said or done. If they don't want to deal with it fine, but that doesn't mean you have have to let him on your property.

If Janey was a half way descent person then telling her that her rude comments about YOUR children is not acceptable shouldn't be a problem. If it is then it really isn't a worth wild friendship!

God has entrusted you with your children, so speak up, don't allow others to give them food, or things that you feel is inappropriate. Yes, I know that it's hard when it's family, and family tends to have more of that live and let live mentality. However, letting live would also mean that THEY would not infringe on your rights. It is a two way street you know! Think about??

As I said it's a Christian thing to do! Often Mathew 7:1 is quoted:

Judge not, that you be not judged

But what about John 7:24

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment

Or Lev. 19:15

You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

When judging a person we are not making a judgement on the state of their soul. Only God can judge someone's soul. We can how ever make judgments on people's behavior and we can act accordingly, assuming that we are not being hypocrites.

We can't tell someone not to say rude things about our kids and turn around say rude things about theirs. If our kids have rude behavior, then we need to correct it before dealing with the neighbor kids. We can't get on someone for feeding our kids junk food and then turn around and feed junk food to our kids or feed it to other kids.

If this still doesn't sit well with people then keep in mind every time we VOTE we are casting judgment on the person we are voting for and NOT voting for; most Christians do not have an issue with voting.

For Further Reading: Judge Not?

Homeschooling Help

In the menu bar above you will see "Homeschooling Help". I have compiled a list of sites that I have found helpful. What kind of sites?

Sites that offer free computer software, free curriculum, resources for educational standards and standardized testing. Also educational (free) web-based games for kids, drama (free plays for kids to do), and many more!

I will be adding to the list as I come across other helpful sites.

Thankful Tuesdays

I will admit that I haven't done this for the last few weeks. There have been several MEME that I have ignored over the last several weeks. It's not so much that I'm busy, I just didn't feel like doing them. Thank-You Judy for hosting this MEME.

Five Things I'm Thankful For:

1. My sister is STATE SIDE! Her tour 14 month tour, Afganistain, is done. She will be here in a few weeks to get her son. She has do a whole bunch of evaluations and other things before she can come to IL to get her son. Right now she's in TX.
2. That I will be able to do some traveling myself this coming weekend. Not will I be turning 30 over the weekend, but I get to spend it in MI with my friend and her family.
   
3. That my kids are healthy, active, and just down right funny! It's so good to be able to laugh!
4. That our septic seems to be working fine. We've had some issues last week with the pump alarm going off. So we had my step-dad come up over the weekend and take a look at it. He thinks everything is fine and that we just had a "floater on the floater". (His words, and if you aren't sure what he means, let me know and I'll explain it better.)
5. I'm thankful for you! I'm thankful for each and everyone of you that takes time to read my blogs. I'm thankful for those that take time to comment. I'm just glad that you are here and that I can share apart of my life with you all!
   

Over 2,000 visitors!

Almost 5 months ago to the day I put sitemeter on My Adventures Into Christian Homeschooling. I really did it as a way to help track how many visitors I have.

I just hit the 2,000 visitor mark! That's about 400 visitors per month; 13 visitors per day! That's so awesome! Not to mention the fact that I have over 30 followers and over 40 subscribed readers!!

Thanks for visiting, being a member, or subscribing to My Adventures Into Christian Homeschooling!

Reminder: Rediscovering Catholicism Giveaway!

This is just a reminder that the giveaway for the book Rediscovering Catholicism ends this Thursday, July 9th. There is still time between now and then to enter!!!

Internet Explorer: Operation Aborted

I know that several people are having issues right now with various websites and blogs when using Internet Explorer. I know that this blog "My Adventures into Christian Homeschooling" is one of the sites that is now effected by this blogger known issue.

The following is from Blogger's Known Issues for Blogger Blog:

Some users are seeing an 'Operation Aborted' error message when trying to load their blogs from Internet Explorer. We're looking into this and will update this message when we have a fix.

This is something that has gone on for months! And there doesn't seem to be any fix in site. Sure they (blogger) suggest I remove the followers, or move it down the page, but I've tried those things and it's not working!

Not only that but I now know that other non-blogger sites, such as THL (The Homeschool Lounge), are having similar issues when people are viewing their site via Internet Explorer.

So I'm HIGHLY suggesting to all my readers to use Firefox. The issues are only associated with Internet Explorer so using Firefox will solve the issues not only with blogger sites, but with others such as THL.

Bank of America: Free Museum Admission

I came across this information from Happy Hearts At Home. I thought it was worth sharing here because it could save some of you some cash!

If you are a Bank Of America Cardholder then you can take advantage of their Museum On Us Program. Each card holder gets FREE general admission to more then 100 museums nationwide.

All you need to do, on selected dates, is present your Photo Id and your Bank of America Card and general admission is FREE. Please check out Bank of America's website for dates and museum locations.

Thomas Jefferson Method of Homeschooling

I've heard of Eclectic, Unit Studies, Charlotte Mason, School At Home, Unschooling, along with many others. However for the very first time this week I heard of The Thomas Jefferson Method.

In my quest to find out if Michael Jackson really homeschooled his children. I came across this CBS Early Show Clip. In this clip this homeschooling Mom talks about how she can complete her child's 3rd grade requirements in ONE month!!


Watch CBS Videos Online

Wow, being able to teach your child's education requirements in ONE month, is this to good to be true? Or how about their reading level going from beginner to high school in 100 hours? Honestly I'm on the fence. I really don't know if it's possible.

I did do some research on the Thomas Jefferson Method had have discovered that as long as the Seven Keys are being used, parents are setting an example of studying, and children are being taught using the Phases of Learning as a guide, it is Thomas Jefferson Method.

Is anybody more familiar with the Thomas Jefferson Method? Can any body offer any insight, tips, comments. I'm very interested in this....

Edit Add: Book Notes~A Thomas Jefferson Education (Thanks Shawntele for sharing this with us)

30!! Oh My!

It's JULY!! My birthday is around the corner, and when it get's here will be officially saying good bye to my 20's! I'm turning 30!! What day is it?? Well, I'll give you a clue: I'll be spending my B-day on a airplane. Hint: take a look at my calendar! LOL