Summer Goals

A couple of weeks ago I posted some things that I wanted to accomplish while on summer break. Well, I am happy to say that I have finished 2 Bible online courses (for 4 credits). Also, I had posted about having to write curriculum objectives for 3 subjects. Well, I've completed 2 of those subjects. Hopefully, I will finish the other subject by the end of the month. I still need to get to organizing the downstairs bedroom. I guess this is the one big project that really needs to happen before I start school again.

I need to also try and get Amber signed up for some swimming lessons. She finally seems receptive to the idea. I've been dragging my feet on taking care of this the last couple of weeks. I have started one final online course and that should be all I need for my certification process for the school that I am at.

I love having the free time to do some of these things and not feel so rushed like during the school year. I just pray that my class next year is good and that it is an easy year.

First Homerun!

Well, it finally happened... Josh finally hit his first homerun this past Saturday. I wish that I was a good mom and had taken a picture or recorded this monumental first, but I didn't! Jim didn't get a chance to see it either because he had promised to take Amber to Florence before we knew about this tournament. Josh has come so close to hitting it over (especially recently). We celebrated by taking him out to Red Robin restaurant. I had never been, but it was really good. They ended up winning the tournament last night- it was a long weekend of baseball. They start playing another tournament this weekend to try to advance to the state playoffs.

Love that dog!

Here is our little "Angel". She is the sweetest dog- she loves giving us kisses, and tries to please us most of the time. She definitely is a "mommy's girl"- she loves to snuggle with me.

Readaholic

Well, Amber has turned into a reading "machine". Being a teacher, I know how important it is to continue to read over the summer to maintain and not fall behind at the beginning of the year. I encourage my kids to read each summer, but last year I didn't sign them up at the library for the reading program (I did this 2 years ago and the kids charted their times and got prizes for reading). So, I signed Amber and Josh up on Friday and she's already read 6 hours!! That comes down to 1 hour a day. Now, let me just say that anyone can read to her, or she can read or listen to books on tape/cd. Josh keeps pointing out how this is unfair, but he is going in 7th grade while she is only going in 1st. Amber is reading about 40 minutes on her own though, so she's doing her part:-) It's been nice being able to take the time to do this every day with her.

We had more drama in the neighborhood today with a group of boys that keep accusing Josh of things. I'm so tired of this and summer has just started. I'm about to get into a knock down, drag out fight with these little boys! If I'm arrested, you'll know why!:-) I know my kids aren't perfect, but I do trust and believe him and so far he has proved to be trustworthy. While these other boys are constantly getting in trouble- they are definitely earning a bad reputation in this neighborhood. Hopefully, things will cool down tomorrow...

new look

I decided to try something different with the way this blog looks. I would have loved to have a flute, or yorkie on my blog, but didn't see either of those choices. This was what I came up with. I'm not sure how I like it because it's hard to see the pictures with the music in the background. So far, in my few days off, I have managed *not* to work on my curriculum stuff at all, but I did sign up to take an online course. I still need to get some Bible credits, so I found a place that is free!! If you'd like, check it out: www.christiancourses.com. You can do this for pleasure- they have quizzes at the end of each lesson. They have all kinds of topics to explore as well. I need to take two of these in order to get the credits that I need.

Father's Day was good (except I've been tired all weekend). We got Jim a sports watch and a gift card to Lowes. Jim has never worn a dress watch and now I've discovered that he would like a dress watch. That makes me happy- I never thought he would get tired of sports watches:-) Also, I wanted to try and pick out a gas weed eater for him at Lowes, but I am totally clueless and after about 15 minutes of looking at the different options, I decided that it would be best to let him pick out what he would like. Hopefully, this week will be a productive week for me. I need to concentrate on curriculum, and starting to organize the downstairs bedroom.

First day of summer for me...

It was nice to sleep in a little today. I cleaned the kitchen, washed clothes, and folded clothes. I also took Amber to the library tonight. It's amazing how much you can get done when you feel rested and when you're at home to do it! I am always so overwhelmed during the school year and can barely stay afloat with all of the requirements at school and then family "stuff"- like for us it was baseball for both kids. Jim has cooked and cleaned and maintained the house all year because I can't. My desire and prayer is that I will be able to spend a little more time at home sometime in the near future.

Unfortunately, even though I am finished with school, they (the school) gave us some work to do over the summer. We are rewriting our goals and objectives for each subject area (since we are a private school, we have to do this ourselves). So, I have Science, Social Studies, and math to do. I finished science, but am a little stuck on social studies (not really my strength in teaching, but I do see weakness that I would like to enhance). So, I will be typing away at my computer for a while on this. Well, that's about it for now...

Champions!

Josh's team won the championship game this morning. This team is in Matthews and the league has 12 teams- 1st place out of 12 is not bad! This is the first time that Josh has been on a team that has won it all. He came close when Jim was coaching him (when he was about 7).

The game was *not* an easy win. It wasn't Josh's best game today hitting or pitching. He and another boy were a little down in their spirits. The team persevered though and that takes a lot of character. Josh hit the ball on his last at bat to help our team get the lead.

So, the regular season is finally over (it all started in February). Now, Josh will continue to play with 2 of the boys on our team for the All Stars. He starts practice for this next week.

Summer Break-Yeah!

Well, yesterday was our last day of school. It's a good thing because the kids were "done". I spent yesterday and today cleaning out my room and reorganizing my storage cabinets. I like doing that- kind of weird but I would rather do that than work on the computer.

I feel like I should say something profound about reflecting on this past school year, but the only thing that I can think about is what I'd like to do differently next year. I'd like to do more writing next year with the kids. I hope that I left these children with some tools that will help them be successful next year in 3rd grade. I have 4 that will not be returning to our school and I'm really going to miss seeing them.

We have teacher workdays through Wednesday of next week. We have some major computer work to do on revamping our curriculum (fun, fun:-( Next year, we're looking at 20 students in each 2nd grade class (it was hard fitting 18 in our small room this year). Should be interesting.

I can't believe how incredibly hot it has been the past few days! We had graduation tonight for our seniors and we were all fanning ourselves waiting in the foyer. Jerry Falwell's son spoke and challenged the seniors- his message was short and to the point. I always cry at graduations- I'm not sure why- maybe it's thinking about Josh graduating in 6 more years. Speaking of Josh: he plays in the Championship tournament tomorrow morning for his league in baseball. Should be exciting. I'll update later.

Amber

Here are some pictures of Amber from T-ball and from her Kindergarten graduation the other night. Right now, we're getting ready to go to Josh's end of the year baseball party. Mom, hopefully you'll see these pictures and tell Joey to take a look too.