We are busy in school trying to stay caught up. Does anyone else have this problem…UGGHHH It’s feels as though we’re always behind. Our life is so busy, from sports, to school, 4-H, house renovations and 8 kids in general. I am really liking our Monarch program through AOP. It really helps me not have to be so one on one with everyone all day, because that’s just impossible. Our kids math have slacked in many ways, from switching curriculums every couple of years to missing out on some key foundations. I came across a math program from a blog I follow, it’s called Quarter Mile Math http://www.thequartermile.com/ I’m using it for practice and refresher for the kids. It’s a little hard to understand at first and it’s not a teaching program, more of a practice. So far it’s fun for them, it’s not a lot of flair but basic typing in the answers to the problem,  racing their car or horse against their times. I started with the basics, making them go back and start with adding, sub, multiplication and division, so that they get a stronger foundation before they keep advancing into harder math. Second thing I did was purchase the Math U See http://www.mathusee.com/ program for my K and 1st grader. It’s start from scratch and works on one concept at a time. It only comes with one manipulative which are blocks.. I like that. I have done Bob Jones and other math programs and there were SOOOO many manipulatives you had to keep on hand it was overwhelming. It has an easy to follow DVD with each lesson and the 2 younger ones I am hoping get a stronger foundation in Math than my older ones did. I really wished I had understood this early on in homeschooling. It makes so much more sense. I need EASY!!

Like I said we are busy, kids are in full-blown basketball right now, we have many games coming up. If you home school and your kids are interested in sports, all over the country there are all kinds of home school groups and sports programs you can get involved in. Also there is Homeschool regional tournaments and Nationals events. We have Nationals coming up in March that are held in Springfield Mo. We will have a record-breaking year with over 60+ Varsity teams from 30+ states. It’s 5 days and even if your child is not on a team, you can register them with a USA team. http://nchclive.com/ this is the link for more information. They have, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball. Of course these are different times of the year also. It’s all very exciting and there are scholarships and scouts at these events.

We are enjoying our new school room..I promise I will get pictures and a blog soon..I know I’ve promised before .

My last post I mentioned maybe getting to go to the Homeschool Moms Winter Summit.. Well I didn’t go. I wish I could have, but didn’t find out about until late, and trying to fit into the schedule with a husband whose always gone, didn’t work out either. Maybe next year.

We are done with birthdays for a little while. Trenton is almost 10 months old..I can’t believe it. He’ll be 1 in April..:( Nursing is still going very well, he is eating solids and he has 3 teeth cutting 2 more at the time. He pulls up everywhere and stands for a second, but not walking yet. He’s into everything from pulling out all the drawers and getting into cabinets and wanting to play in the toilet. “disgusting” … I do have a toilet lock, but when you have 7 kids using the toilet and leaving the doors open and lid up, it’s hard to make that work.

After my last post on “natural ways to help with thrush” my oldest daughter went through a bad case of cellulitis/staph, it was her 3rd in 9 months, the first 2 times we did the routine antibiotics, hot packs and so forth. This time I did not want to destroy her system again and we tried some natural ways to get through it, and we did.. I of course would have taken her to the doctor if I felt she was not recovering. Thank the Lord it did. We used a combination of many things, including… garlic, Calendula tea packs, tea tree oil, my healing salve, water, and pineapples… If you want more information you can contact me. Or just google it.. I read a lot of home remedy sites.

Since we went through that, my 4-year-old this week was eating pineapples and within minutes of eating them broke out into horrible itchy hives from head to toe.  Actually from toe to head. I gave her Benadryl and it went away, at midnight they came back and again yesterday… (mind you, none of my kids have food allergies or have ever responded like this to anything) I took her into the Doctor. They were not completely  convinced it’s a pineapple allergy, since she had a 2 day virus last week with fever, they believed it was her body fighting that off, only to find out also while they were examining her she had a double ear infection.. Go figure! MOM OF THE WEEK RIGHT THERE!! (she was in no pain and no symptoms) LOL .. Also to find out this was the same type of reaction that happen to my niece on my husband’s side from eating pineapple years ago. Everything I’ve read on pineapple allergies online, sound just like what she’s doing. The doctor said to be safe to keep her from them for a couple of years and then introduce them slowly. We shall see. I am tempted to have her tested for allergies. I don’t like the “maybe, could be” answers. So if anyone reading this has any advise, I would love to hear it.

With all that said…told you I was busy..lol

If you have read my post before,or if you are new ,our son Trey is a childhood Cancer Survivor. We are due to leave in 7 days, Jimmy ,Trey, myself and the baby will be  flying into NYC  where we go every 6 months at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center  for checkups and scans . Please keep him in your prayers as this will be 5 years since chemo.. He completed his last cycle in Feb 08′ and had his last surgery in March of 08′ .. Thank the Lord for my sister-inlaw who will be driving in to stay with the kids while we are gone. If you’d like to follow-up or know how things went before I get back on here. I keeps his updates and journal at www.prayfortrey.com We will also be meeting with his long-term effects doctor, who from here until he is an adult will be seeing once a year.

Thank you all for reading my blog, I have hit 1 year since I’ve been blogging. I don’t write all the time, I wish I could do more, but as it is my husband is always asking “when are you going to write again?” Love Him !!