Curriculum

I'm surprised to be as far along as I am in this homeschool journey. I was able to talk to someone who is already homeschooling and she gave me a whole bunch of information. What was encouraging to me is most of what she had given me I had already looked into in my own research. She uses the curriculum I was more drawn to and loves it. I kept Maddy home on Friday for a couple of reasons. One, I forgot to give her the rest of her medicine Thursday night and was scared she might pick up strep again. I know that isn't likely, but hearing her in that kind of pain just broke my heart. The second reason is I had way too much work to make up that it was best if she just stay home. It got me to thinking that there is really no real reason for her to be in daycare anymore if I am going to homeschool. Why not go ahead and homeschool her in preschool to get used to a schedule, instead of waiting for her kindergarten year. It made total sense and in that moment I was dead set on pulling her out. After sleeping on it I was more confused. My gut tells me to go ahead and pull her out, but my nerves are saying to wait lol. I have to turn in a two week notice thing at her school and since she is in dance as well I would be turning in a two week notice there too. Even though I would still be paying for those two weeks, I highly doubt I would send her. The amount of melt downs we have where school is concerned is just not worth it. I asked her if she would like to go to school with her friends and she said yes. Then I asked if she wanted to go to school with all her friends or stay home and have mommy for a teacher. She said she wants to have mommy for a teacher at school. I explained that if I were her teacher she would no longer go to her school with her friends anymore. She decided she wanted to stay home and let mommy be her teacher. That is still not fully decided. I will not get to try out the curriculum if I do keep her home now, so I've been thinking about which curriculum I would start out with. I am leaning towards sonlight for preschool and then switching over to My Father's World for Kindergarten. I got my Sonlight catalog today and I think it would be good to use for preschool. My Father's World did not really have a good reading readiness program in their preschool curriculum. I have so many decisions to make that it feels a bit overwhelming at times and scary because this is her future...I don't want to mess it up. I know homeschool is what is best for her, but choosing which way to do homeschool will be the challenging part. I have found which group I will belong to as well as what school I will umbrella under. I have a feeling as she grows we will be experimenting with different curriculum's and interchanging them. I am so very excited to start this process, but there is nothing I can do now until I either dis-enroll her from her daycare now or wait until next summer for the curriculum fair. I did make my first purchase, which is a huge calender for the days of the week as well as what the weather is like today.

 Luckily I have worked in a school before and worked closely with kindergarten, so I am hoping her kindergarten year will be a breeze. I have worked with all elementary grade levels, but I spent two years in kindergarten so I feel more comfortable with it.

Apart from choosing the best curriculum for Maddy my only other concern is if I will be able to get her to listen to me as a teacher. She is so spirited that I am afraid we will spend more time learning to listen than we will actually learn about the lesson lol. I know God has put this on my heart so it WILL work out, but I think it will be very challenging in the beginning. This is where we are for now. I won't write about homeschool again until she is officially staying home all the time or until next summer when I turn in her "intent to homeschool" forms.

Homeschool

I am so incredibly excited to say I am 99.9% sure I am homeschooling Maddy. It's amazing what one encouraging talk can do to show you that yes, you CAN do what you wanted to do all along. I feel so very overwhelmed at the moment and very anxious and like I have no time to figure anything out, but that's just who I am. Maddy does not start school until next year, I have one year to figure this out. The biggest concern is choosing the best curriculum for her. I know it will be a christian based curriculum, but there are just so many. I've narrowed it down to a few from what I have found online so far. I am finding it is definitely more expensive than just sending her to a public school, but knowing WHAT she is being taught and HOW is worth it to me. I started looking into what is her "zoned" school in our school system. I specifically prayed to live in an area that our house is zoned for because it had the best ratings. In looking at the website I was not really THAT impressed with what it had to offer. I'm sure the school itself is great and I am NOT knocking public schools, but I just know it isn't best for Maddy. I feel schools have too much of a say as to things that are taught and not taught and allowed and not allowed and then of coarse attendance. In our state if your child has 5 or more unexcused absences, and they do not have to be consecutive, it is required they call a social worker and some other organization to have me investigated. So if I can't work a vacation into the allotted days off school than we would just be tough out of luck...I don't like that. I don't like that prayer is not allowed in school. I don't like the science curriculum in public schools as I do not believe in evolution. I do not like the required reading list books. If I'm being real honest, I don't like the peer pressure either but that is something that she needs to learn to handle as there can be peer pressure anywhere. I want to equip her with the tools and resources I feel are best to create a godly/biblical foundation.

Right now I am feeling so very excited to prepare for this journey, but I'm sure I will feel nervous about things along the way. I'm a little nervous as to what the laws are in my state, but I have found a little bit of information to help. I'm also trying to figure out which homeschool group would be best to join as there are also quite a few of those. I have one that I am leaning towards, but again I just don't know. Right now I am not making any concrete decisions...just brainstorming. I do plan on working still as I have to have an income to support us. I have read that she only has to attend 4 hours of school a day for 180 days. I think that is something that can be worked with as far as my work is concerned. I have definitely felt like my life would be changing in a big way next year, but not once did this cross my mind. I wanted to homeschool, just felt it was out of the question, but it's really not. If you homeschool please share any tips or information you have as I am a fish out of water where this is concerned lol. Some of the curriculum I'm looking into is Sonlight, A Beck A, Alpha and Omega Publications, My Father's World, and ABC Jesus Loves Me. Next summer I will attend a curriculum fair that will have several vendors there and I can actually look through the curriculum and then decide which is best. I am also going to be praying for God to direct us and show us which path we should take. It's nerve racking because this is her future. I want the absolute best for her and will do whatever I need to do to give that to her. I am documenting several things at the moment, some I will publish right away and others I am saving for when the time is right. My blog is going to be all over the place, but luckily my blog is just a place I come to write about our life and this is something major going on in our lives. I plan on documenting every step of this journey from brainstorming to actual steps I take. For now these are all the ideas I have come up with so far, so it's time to end ;p

Happy Tears

I have done nothing but cry this week, but they have been happy tears. I feel so silly crying when I don't know these people, but my emotions run pretty high. I have still been so Disney focused lately that I decided to watch Disney vacations on youtube. I have watched all the movies I could on Netflix. I started out watching Adam Rucker, but then found other people's vacations that turned into surprise Disney vacations. That is when the tears started. It's amazing to see these small kids light up, ask their parents if they're serious, then burst into tears because they are so happy. This one in particular had me all emotional because not only was the kid so extremely excited and in tears, but the mom was also crying watching her daughter be so ecstatic. A lot of the kids asked how they could afford to take them because it cost so much money. I thought that was so sweet of them to think of the parents. I don't remember what my favorites are or were, but I will post one or two here.

The only one of these I have seen is the last one. It makes you happy and sad all at the same time. One of the play lists had a Disney proposal, so as I was laying in bed I decided to look up Disney proposals and of coarse I cried even more lol. I will share a few here...

The last video was not actually in Disney World, but I thought it was just SO sweet...I was bawling like a baby lol. If you are a Disney fan like me definitely go check out YouTube to fill the void, but be prepared to cry if you run across these types of videos lol. I will end with a Christmas Disney video that just melts my heart :)

I can't wait to get to Disney...obviously :)

Midweek Random Link Up

I am so excited to finally make myself sit down and write this Tuesday night so I can participate on Wednesday. I absolutely LOVE midweek randoms and have plenty of random thoughts myself. I've been following Megan for 2-3 years now and love reading what she is up to. She is who is hosting the midweek random link up, so go check out her blog.

I will start with something that I think is pretty exciting. Today was a big day if you live in Chattanooga, TN. The president of the United States of America came here to give a speech about his five point plan on helping the middle class grow. Raising the minimum wage was huge hit in our town...well...for those that attended the speech. Only Amazon employees and government officials were allowed in. Amazon came to Chattanooga two years ago. Amazon is a HUGE company, but I've heard it is a horrible place to work. America needs more jobs and needs employers who are willing to give people a chance, but I also think they need to be cognizant of how they treat their employees. I don't want to go off on that rant, so I will share my pictures. I did not see in person Air Force One land here in my hometown, but watched on my laptop as I worked thanks to the local news station. Despite how I may feel about our current president, it was so neat to watch THE PRESIDENT and Air Force One land right here in my town. That just doesn't happen every day. They showed all the law enforcement involved and talked about snipers being in place and pointed out the secret service and of coarse showed the motorcade...I got teary eyed. I may not like who is in office, but I do respect the office.

The quality is horrible because it was taken from my phone from the computer. My little town is definitely starting to make itself known on the maps lol.

Speaking of phones, I got me a new iphone. I was really trying to wait until the iphone 5s came out, but mine decided it wanted to quit charging every now and then. I actually went a couple of weeks or so without a phone. It felt odd at first, especially when driving but I got used to it quickly. Now I don't know what to do now that I have one. It was time for my upgrade and I wasn't sure what finances would like in September so I bit the bullet and went for it. I don't notice much difference from the 4s. The biggest difference to me is the weight...the iphone 5 is SO much lighter than the 4s. I got me a good otterbox this time since I dropped my old one pretty bad. I think that is why it quit charging. Soon after it got dropped it would only charge if the battery died completely. Anyways, here is what my otterbox looks like.

I had the otterbox commuter series for my 4s and it really did a decent job of protecting my phone. The casing never cracked...only a couple of knicks on my screen. I like this one better because the phone sits in an actual case and is completely covered and then the outer shell goes over that. If I mess this phone up then I'm just doomed no matter what case I get. I really want to get the life case and have ever since I heard about Matt and Julee Turner. Julee's husband, Matt, died unexpectedly one night. He had the life case in case anything happened to him. On his phone he had written a letter to Julee as his last goodbye. The phone survived a head on collision with a pole I think it was and then a fire. I thought it was a good idea to write your last goodbye on your phone and then have it protected by the case and have wanted one ever since.

Yesterday I noticed our house was warmer than usual. I generally have the air off throughout the day because I freeze. I noticed I didn't need to turn it off yesterday and in fact I was a bit warm. I felt the air and realized there was a problem. It wasn't cold. I went to look at my a/c unit and saw the fan wasn't turning like it normally did and there was no loud noise coming from it...just a humming sound.

I went to look at the thermostat and it was registering 80. The good thing is I rent so my landlord SHOULD fix it, but I had no idea what I did with the lease. I need the lease so I can get the number to call him. Today I spent my break looking for that silly lease and at the very last minute found it. My mom brought over a fan that works wonders until time to go get Maddy. It's 11:42 p.m. right now and I am sweating...I need air!!! Poor Maddy was sweating up a storm too and she was in a tank top and shorts and was laying down. I took off her shirt because it felt like it was creating the most heat and had her take her socks off. She would often go stand in front of the fan...I don't blame her one bit!

The last picture I posted on Instagram :) I have a feeling it will be a week or so before we have air again...please pray for us!

I have more random thoughts, but this post is getting a bit long so I will save them for next time or maybe five on friday. I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL week and hallelujah for hump day :)

What Is Your Assignment?

God really does work in mysterious ways. I knew back in May that my life would probably be changing in the near future. I am pretty sure I am on that journey now and have been since the beginning of July. I wish I could remember exactly when our pastor started talking about this, but it really wouldn't surprise me if it was the beginning of July, although I don't think he was here during that time so I don't know lol. Anyways...our pastor has been talking a lot about our assignment from God. His exact question to us is just what my title asks...what is YOUR assignment that God has given you? He keeps preaching that if you can do it on your own then it's not from God, but if you can't do it on your own then it probably is from God. What I think is about to happen is definitely NOT something I can do on my own. Things are starting to become a little more clear and I get excited but that excitement ends up in fear. These days I've been scared first then excited later lol. When God tells you to do something it is never something that is easy. He wants you to step out on that limb, or out of your comfort zone, and rely on Him for everything. Stepping out on that limb is just so unbelievably scary and I feel as if He has told me it's time to take that leap. The past two Sundays I have left church knowing that I am on my journey for sure to doing what God has told me to do and that what I am about to learn in church I will need to take that leap. I wish I could go into detail about what I mean exactly, but I do know a couple of people read my blog that I do not wish to share this information with for personal reasons, therefore, I am being as generic as possible. If you do happen to read this I ask that you please pray for me as I leap into this journey. I hope you all had a great weekend :)

All Things Disney

I really wish I was writing this because I already had a Disney vacation booked, but that is not the case. I have had Disney on my mind for a while. I knew as soon as I had Maddy that I would definitely be taking her to Disney World at some point. Her first year we didn't take any vacations. I knew it would be extremely difficult to take a baby on a 7 hour drive and I also didn't have finances at the time to take her anywhere. When she was around 18 months I took her on her first trip to the beach. She was ok with the water, but hated the sand. For her second birthday I took her on a cruise to the Bahama's. It was so neat because the day we set sail was her actual birthday. That trip was also her first plane ride. Last year she started talking about airplanes and how she had never been on one. I knew she wouldn't remember that trip, but I do tell her all about it and show her pictures. I also knew that when I took her to Disney, I wanted her to remember it. I've been looking up costs and I might add it will be a VERY expensive vacation when we do decide to go lol. Trying to plan in advance has got me Disney fever something awful. I am a huge Disney lover! I was looking through YouTube videos trying to find the different Disney hotels and stumbled across video heaven lol. This guy, Adam, is a Disney fan as well...he actually used to be a cast mate and has made a ton of videos of his trips to Disney. I haven't quite watched them all, but pretty close. He is quite comical and I really enjoy his other videos that are not Disney related. His YouTube link is here if you want to watch.

I love the look on Cinderella's face as "Miley" shows her a dance.

If you are a Disney lover too then go subscribe to his channel :) If you have any suggestions for budget friendly Disney hotels please let me know. I don't want to spend tons of money on a hotel because we won't be staying in it long, but want some neat stuff at the hotel in case Maddy needs some time to chill out and regroup.

Staycation

Last week I had myself a stay-cation. Let me rephrase that....I was SUPPOSED to have a stay-cation, but ended up working every day except Friday. I had big plans of getting our house cleaned and organized since I never got to take time off when we first moved. I am so tired of our house being a cluttered mess! Of coarse since I was looking forward to this huge task, work kinda got in the way. I kept Maddy home Monday and Friday that way Tuesday-Thursday I could clean. I knew I would have to work Monday, so I got up early to get a start on the day. I woke up around 6 a.m. and Maddy woke up around 9 a.m. Once she woke up I quit work because it's very rare we get to spend real time together. I had plans of taking her to her second movie. We went to see Monsters University. She was SO excited to be going back to the "golf" so she could eat more popcorn. I wish I could get a video of her saying popcorn, but oh well. I'm really not sure why she keeps calling it the golf because the week we went to her first movie I kept saying the movie place with the big screen. My only guess is that in the movie (Despicable Me 2), there is a scene where the minions are playing golf. I guess that scene stuck in her mind and now the movie theater is forever called "the golf." We got us a 2013 bucket so we can get pretty cheap refills. There was an 11:45 a.m. showing so that is the one we went to. I was a tad bit nervous taking her by myself because I wasn't sure if she was so good the first time because she had her cousins and nana and pops to show her how to act lol. Luckily there was hardly anybody there and the people that were there were either moms or dads with their young kids. Once we sat down Maddy got started on her candy. The concession stands were the only part she almost went crazy on. The first time we went my step dad got everybody their snacks, this time Maddy went with me and could see all the goodies that were there. I splurged and let her get some candy to go with her popcorn and drink. She didn't eat much of her candy before she was asking me to hand over the popcorn bucket lol. This time she actually sat in her own seat instead of on my lap half of the time and then the other half she wanted to cuddle up with me. I loved both Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University, but I think MU was my favorite. Maddy did extremely good and she even laughed at some of the funny scenes. I am so happy she loves movies as much as she does...I can tell I will end up broke taking us to the theaters lol. It's hard not to go to every single movie that is ok for Maddy because it's been almost 4 years since I've been to a movie...I feel a little deserving lol. Anyways, after the movie we went home to change because it went from cool to extremely hot just like that. We did some shopping and then went home. Tuesday I worked and cleaned a little. Wednesday I just said forget it lol. I did work a little bit and then went around town with my mom and then church. Thursday I walked a bridge in our town called the Walnut Street Bridge. I really wanted to go the park, but it was flooded and closed. Friday was the only day I didn't log into work. Me and Maddy met up with one of my friends and had lunch at chick-fil-a during their "cow" day. If you dress up like a cow you got a free meal.

On the back of her shirt was a tail...it was just so cute! I snapped a picture of her before she transformed into a cow.

I forgot until I saw my pictures that one of the things we did was got her a Minnie Mouse puzzle. It's a 24 piece puzzle and she can do it all on her own...it's pretty amazing to me.

I forgot to snap a picture of it finished....I will add it later...maybe lol

I have a lot of little random things to share, but will do so in another post. While on vacation me and Maddy had a great bonding time and I still see and feel the affects from it today. It's amazing how my love for her just continues to grow and grow...it keeps on growing even though I think sometimes it can't grow much more. I plan to write about her first movie experience in more detail and some youtube things I've found that I love. I hope you all are having a great Friday and enjoy the weekend!!!