Good Friends & Good Times

Today was Friday school. And that in itself was great. The fact that I didn't sleep well last night - wasn't. Last night I was such a big ol' grump. Felt bad about it too. Here Rod was - at home and I didn't want to spend time with him because I was mad at him. I knew it, I just didn't know what to do about it! I'm still struggling with the fact that he's at work. I miss him.

One of my issues, is that he took part of the load while at home. Now that he's working - it's all back to being mine. It was an adjustment for him to be home, now it's a adjustment for him to be working.

Talked to a couple girls at Friday school. Got lots of great feedback and support. I am truly thankful for the community that I have there. The love for one another that we have. I know most of that is what you personally make of it, and I have put a lot of effort into loving the people that the Lord has given me there. I truly value them and am thankful that they are a part of my life.

I was trying to get out of my grump-age this morning when I saw Jessie and she told me that she was really missing Nick. He's deployed for a couple more months in the Navy. I was struggling, and had to reach my hand out to help someone else, that it got the focus off of myself.

Made espresso - kissed Rod off to work - hung out and ate Safeway chicken in the gym - helped with lunch cleanup - loved on friends - got bag of clothes for Julia!! - Josiah went to Cade's for the night

Later I came home and took a really long nap. Amanda called to see if I remembered that Jessie wanted to take me to see a concert in Bellingham tonight. I was asleep, she finally got ahold of Rod. Rod & Amanda figured out that if we got a sitter, and if Amanda watches Jessie's kids.. that Rod could take Jess & I to Bellingham! So that's what we did.

When Rod talked to me about it, my first inclination was that I didn't want to go. I haven't seen Rod all week and when I do he's doing homework. My bad, my first thought wasn't to take care of a friend who really needed me! I'm glad that the Lord had plans despite me! I'm always learning.

When Rod came up with the solution that he would go with us.. I knew that Jessie would be okay with it. Jessie gets the concert and some adult time, Zindra gets Rod. We're all good!

We had a fantastic time of course. It made me realize that I need to get out and do fun things more often with good friends. It was good for all of us to spend time together and have a few good laughs and talk about old times. Talk about current issues. Be there for one another - hold one another up.

I am constantly amazed at how much easier life has been because of the love of my friends! It doesn't make the issues easier - but knowing that there is someone there who really truly cares, really truly loves, really truly supports me, my family.... I feel blessed. And I am so grateful when I get the opportunity to return the favor.

All About Spelling Review

Over the last few months there have been different posts on our google group related to spelling curriculum, asking these types of questions: Which program do you prefer? Which one really works? Which one have you been successful with?

Many of you know that my 10 year old son, Josiah, has finally got the hang of reading. I love to read and sincerely want to pass that particular love on to my kids!

For ages, despite multiple reading programs, I was having a hard time teaching him to read. Now, he IS reading. Josiah is finally at the point where there are times I think he's gone to bed, and he's in bed reading!!! After years of struggling teaching him to read, I was almost ready for a hallelujah breakdown. That was, until, I realized that just because he could read - did not mean that he could spell.

I'd looked through and tried other spelling programs. So many of them are list oriented. Yet with a child who wasn't reading well, I was having a hard time. He couldn't read the lists to learn how to spell! He was more or less doing copywork. More often than not, I just gave up.

Then as a TOS homeschool crew product reveiewer, I received the All About Spelling (AAS) program to test! It has probably been the most exciting and life changing product that I have reviewed as of yet!

All About Spelling does a few different things:
*The kids use little tiles to spell on a magnetic board - which is fantastic for the tactile learners
*It's interactive
*It's a program that is easy for the parent to learn how to teach
*It's homeschool friendly
*They have great customer service
*It's affordable ($25.95 to start)
*AAS has a one year 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

All About Spelling is a spelling program that REALLY works! I'm not alone! I personally have friends, Sandi & Traci, who use it with their kids - and they love it too!

Visit the AAS site to order or to get your free report on "The 20 Best Tips for Teaching Spelling."

All About Spelling has recently come out with materials on homophones - look for my review on that in the near future.

Snowboarding & White Chocolate

Josiah went snowboarding today. Somehow I felt like I should have been disappointed that neither Rod or I went with him... A friend of his, from Friday school invited him and a couple of buddies to go. His dad took them. It was the first time for three of the four boys. They rented gear and took a group lesson. I was really proud of Josiah giving it his all - after all, I know how hard it can be to learn a winter sport! I skied for years!

(photo: Josiah snowboarding, Feb 25, 09. Mt. Baker. Photo by B. Knowlton) In the photo, which I just love - Jos is sporting his mom's ski jacket (I realized yesterday, He doesn't have one!), his hat was made by Grandma Nelson, the ski pants are my brother's old ski pants from when Zane was in High School and Jos has on Rod's goggles, gloves and wool socks.

Today I went and hung out at Jessie's. I took over snack food (grapes, cantaloupe and apples) which all were gone shortly after preparation. 7 kids and 2 adults can really go through the food! I asked Jessie to make me an espresso (she makes the best!) and she said she didn't have any white chocolate :( So I took her car :) which was very fun to drive and went to Dick's Restaurant supply (after a phone call to verify that they have it) to pick up 10 POUNDS of white chocolate powder! Why? Because. There is no other really good reason to purchase that much white chocolate.

I gave most of it to Jessie and took the rest home to put into a couple of small containers. Whenever i'm over, she always makes me a white chocolate mocha with peppermint or something, and it's the least I can do - to chip in on the cost of the goods. (Although she paid half.) It was $33 for the chocolate. We quickly justified that that really was only 8 or 9 full price mochas at a real espresso stand :D

ALEKS.com Product Review

For higher education
for K-12
Homeschool and
for Independent study
Grades 3 & up.

ALEKS is the next gen in homeschooling. ALEKS means (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces). A "smart" program that changes with the student. Student begins by taking a smart test - a test that changes the depth of the questions based upon the answers, right or wrong, that the student gives.

There are two sides to the program. The student side that the student does the work in, and then the parent side where the parent can see the students progress.

Your student keeps track of where they are in their program through a pie graph called QuickTables. It has the different skills from the grade level that they test into - levels that are filled in in the pie graph. Levels that are not complete are clickable - which links off to the next set of questions. The program remembers where the student leaves off. It also tells the student what percentage of the skill level is complete. It had easy to understand explanations of each of the problems.

The parent directed part of the site is where you log into and see the progress of your student.

My son, 3rd grade, loved this program! I loved the progress reports.

ALEKS is an online program that I could use as my children get older. I feel that consumable inexpensive textbooks are working for the grade school levels of math that I am teaching with our kids. But, I can see using this program when my kids are in the older grades, doing more difficult math concepts that I have not done in years - or am just not familiar with.

The only drawback to this online program is the cost. It's $19.95/month, $99.95 for 6 months or $179.95 per year. Homeschoolers tend to have multiple children & they also tend to be single income families. It may not be financially feasible for families with 2 or 3 kids, grades 3 & up, to pay aprox. $180 per year per child for math-only curriculum. (They do give a discount for multiple children.)

Like I said before, I loved seeing my son's progress & loved the program! If it is something I could afford, I would seriously be tempted to use it!

Subjects taught - Math grades 3-6, Middle School, PreAlgebra, Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, Precalculus, Trigonometry, Prep for GED, Chemistry, Accounting, Business Math, Statistics and MORE!

High School students can get credit for certain courses, click here for more info.

For a one month free trial of ALEKS, please email me at zindra"at"yahoo.com.
One month free trial

Alphabet Alley Review

Alphabet Alley is a fantastic christian company that produces christian toys. They have games, stickers, wooden toys and magnetic toys. It's also very easy to navigate.

Alphabet Alley sent me two products to review. The Noah's Ark Go Fish and the Two By Two Matching Game. What I really like about their products is the characters that are portrayed in the materials are warm, kid friendly.

The Two By Two is a christian version of a memory game. A couple of things that I really like about it, there are fewer tiles - making it an easier game for the younger ones. The tiles are also really thick, and unbendable.

These two products are the favorite games of my three year old, Julia and my six year old, Jaden.

You can visit their site at www.alphabetalley.com

Magnetic toys, games, wooden toys, stickers and more!

Looking on their list of where their products are available, The Old Schoolhouse is listed as one of the places that you can purchase Alphabet Alley products!

The Weekend

Friday School was fantastic this week. It might of had something to do with the fact that I didn't do much work :D Sometimes that just happens. Jay & Heidi SJ were in town so I had a little bit of a chance to catch up with them. I don't usually get to go to chapel, but since Jay was leading worship, I did. I miss the days where he was the worship pastor at EBC.

Randy, Jay and I sat and talked about database stuff for awhile during block A. Block B, I couldn't get back to the espresso machine to save my life. I ended up making coffees block C. It's kinda like riding a bike. Haven't done it for weeks - and somehow you just remember how to do it.

Rod's classes went good. Robert & Rod's teen class they talked about some basic things that they need to know as they get older. Rod and I have a hot button for focusing on teaching people people skills. How to look someone in the eye, how to shake someone's hand. How to make someone feel like you are listening to them. I think I need to practice that one better with my own kids, personally!

Rod's planning on teaching the kids how to tie a tie at some point. One of my pet peeves, is guys who don't know how long their tie should hang.

The teens in the techno sketching that I talked to... were surprised at how hard the class was. I'm sure that they'll get used to it, but I love to give them a good challenge anyway. Hopefully, we'll come up with some sort of challenge, so that at Display night we can give out an award or two. They love to be acknowledged for work well done. They also really like to win. It makes them work better :D

Chess is chess. Although this time, we waited to order the new students chess sets. It's been a problem, trying to remember how many times each student has taken chess. We get these cool bag tags for the students - each time they take chess - after they win their first game that term - they get their bag tag. This time Josiah will get his King. He's pretty excited about it. I think Jed's due for his bishop (Jed started a taking chess later, when he was in the first grade). Next week they start their round robin.

A couple of the Moms at Friday school asked me to ask if we could have a 1st grade class, like we have a K class next term (fall 09). I think it's a great idea. I'm really hoping that the board thinks it's a great idea. One reason, I'm not sure that Jaden is really ready for "classes." It would also give more room for kids in big kid classes. Thinking about it, praying about it.

We had a good weekend. We realized today that we need to redo the brakes on Mom's white van. Maybe later in the week. Today we went to church at The Gathering. That was nice. Jaden wants to go back there. We've been going to churches all over, I guess we eventually need to settle on one :D

Spent the afternoon at Jessie's. The kids are always asking to see her kids. We had chili (hopefully I won't be able to smell that all day tomorrow). Rod sat in the kitchen with us moms and listened to the chatter while doing his InDesign homework. It feels so good to see their family. Refreshing. I feel better than when I arrived. Jess is one of those people who has truly made a difference in my life. I know I've told her, but somehow I just feel the need to SHOW her.

Jess really got a kick out of how Rod was able to sit in the kitchen with 3 moms and listen to us chatter. Relationships are important to Rod, and he knows that relationships with Jess & Rosemarie are important in my life - so he just listened. I'm sure he got lots of insight into the whole world of a woman :D

Rosemarie's husband showed up on their Harley. He gave all of the willing kids rides on the motorcycle. You'd be proud, I let my kids ride. I'm just not much of a motorcycle fan. All of the kids really enjoyed it. Should have sent Rod out with the camera.... Why do I always think of things after the fact?!

Rod was able to get quite a bit of homework done this weekend. Two InDesign projects today. We took a look at what's left - due in a few weeks. He's on track better than I realized. I'm glad he figured that out, it gave me peace about the whole thing. I mean, he is working full time, commuting AND going to school full time! I sincerely hoped that his schooling wouldn't suffer! He has to work hard to get it done, but he's getting it done!