PMDD

I told myself that if I ever started a blog, I would be completely honest. Life in our family is fun. I enjoy homeschooling. I enjoy my kids. But for two weeks out of every month, I am ridden with anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. I question whether I am a good mother, whether I am a good wife, and whether I am a good person. I fight just to get out of bed every day. I thought this was normal, but my gynecologist thinks it is PMDD. She prescribed an antidepressant that I take for only those two weeks. I've been taking it for only two days, but I am hopeful that it will help me.

I know that so many women feel like I do but they are too afraid to say so because it would mean admitting defeat. It would mean admitting failure. It would mean admitting weakness. I felt the same way, but after discussing it with my doctor, I think it is best for me and my family for me to try the medication and give my family back the mom and wife that they need. It's not weak to take care of yourself. It's not failing to admit you need help. You're not defeated when you're fighting. You're not defeated unless you give up.

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from The Lord, which made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1, 2

Repentance/Forgiveness/Restoration

    My husband and I took a parenting class called "Growing Kids God's Way" a few years ago and we really picked up some wonderful advice from the class. One of the topics of discussion one night was repentance/forgiveness/restoration. We use this tool regularly in our home and people comment endlessly about how well our children get along. When one child is wronged, that child is encouraged to tell the one who wronged them that they have hurt feelings, etc. The person who committed the wrong is then supposed to ask forgiveness. The key words to be used are "forgive me", "I was wrong" and "I'm sorry". They should also name the specific wrong behavior. We use this specific phrase "I'm sorry that I (hit you, yelled at you, broke your toy, etc.). I was wrong. Will you please forgive me"? The children are then expected to hug and perform a kind act to restore the relationship to what it had been previously. I have had them make tea for the other sibling, purchase something new if they have broken something, or read a story to a younger sibling. I sometimes have a hard time with the restoration part. We are always looking for new ideas for restoration. I'd love comments with more ideas!

More Sabbath Activities

    Our family chooses to set aside one day per week for rest (more on that here). My 9 year old informed me that she is getting bored on Sabbath, so we sat down together and made a list of things she thinks would be fun AND appropriate to do on Sabbath. Here's the list:

Read missionary stories
Read or listen to the Bible
Find interesting ways to help others (ideas provided here)
Reading or listening to character building stories
Hiking
Boating
Biking
Turn Christ's parables or object lessons into games
Make our own object lessons using everyday objects
Reenact Bible stories with others or puppets
Role playing
Play character building or Bible trivia games
Watch Bible-based movies (we love these)
Bake cookies for neighbors
Paint nature scenes
Volunteer in soup kitchen
Doing nature or bible crafts
Visit or talk to the elderly
3-D pictionary (make Bible scenes with play dough)

Portfolio Books

    An easy way I have found to keep track of work completed in homeschool is doing a portfolio book. At the beginning of the year, I let Abbie choose a wide three ring binder. I put a sticker on the spine with the grade number on it and I buy dividers for the inside. I divide it by subject and I put the pages that get completed into the book every day after I correct them. Then Abbie knows where to go to look at corrected papers and she also has a comprehensive view of what she has done every year in homeschool. I even try to include art projects or photos of projects whenever possible. In the front pocket, I keep the notebook pages that I tear out of my notebook (more on that here), which keeps track of what we've done and how many days we've attended school, just in case anyone comes asking.

2013 - 2014 Homeschool Year

    I'll admit, I am probably not normal. There probably aren't that many people like me who will be reading this and that's OK. This year I decided to homeschool the way that works beat for ME and not depend on the opinion of others as to what will work best for MY kids or MY family. I've been homeschooling for 4 years, so I have experience in choosing curriculum and I know already what works best for my eldest (Abbie). I am looking forward to finding out what works best for Anna.
    This year I decided to do trimesters - I divided the year up into 60 day increments. We will school for 60 days then take 2 weeks off. When we are finished with our 180 days, we will take a summer break. I planned only the first 60 days so that I have the freedom to change anything that doesn't work well for the second or third trimesters. I wrote my plan in a spiral bound notebook. Each day when we complete our work, I pull out the page and write the date the work was completed on it. I keep it in Abbie's portfolio book.
    Our curriculum choices for this year include Horizons Math 6 (Horizon math is ahead of other curriculums - Abbie worked in Saxon 1/2 last year and 6 is where she placed on the Horizon placement test); The Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times) used with the Student Pages purchased separately (This is our second time through this - Abbie started it in first grade), and Sonlight's timeline book; Rod and Staff's 4th grade English book, Building With Diligence; Spelling Power (this is a multi- grade book which includes a placement test); Word Ladders by Scholastic (Grade 4); Vocabulary from Classical Roots (this builds vocabulary exponentially!); and for science, I have invented my own curriculum for this year. I subscribed to The Young Scientists Club for experiment and content ideas and then I matched these up with books from our local library. For Bible, I purchased bible lessons from our church and we are going through them at home. We also learn one new hymn and one new praise song each week. For writing, Abbie narrates her history and writes reports on her science subjects. Her English book provides copy work for her to do and I make her do handwriting when I find a letter she is forming incorrectly.  For reading, she chooses books from the library, we have read aloud time and I assign reading that goes along with what we are learning for history. I have art projects that go along with our other work and Abbie takes violin lessons from a local music academy (WNC Music Academy). Anything else that I feel we need, I add in during free time. Since we only spend 3-4 hours on official school per day, we have a lot of time to pursue other interests.
    I plan to post a lot about homeschooling this year, as I have had many people ask me about what I do.

Like mother, like daughter

We were out to eat at a local restaurant and Anna ordered hush puppies as a side. She started eating and said, "Mmmm! These are good hush dogs!"

This is especially funny to me because when I was younger, I would always confuse things that I was trying to remember. Most people know the story of Eli and Samuel from the Bible, right? I had a little friend named Eli and I was forever trying to call him Samuel just because I used that Bible story as my mnemonic device. To see my own child doing the same thing without knowing that I used to is just too funny!

Surrogacy

If you followed my blogs at all before, you know that I carried twin girls for a couple in Italy. They stayed in the US for 6 weeks after they were born and then went back to Italy. They are now almost four months old and they are getting big! Their mom just e-mailed me a photo of them and I am going to share it here with all of you!

Aren't they just the sweetest babies?