Helpful Charlotte Mason Sites

• http://www.milestonesacademy.com (LDS CM)
• http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/charlotte-mason-quotes.html
• http://www.squidoo.com/CMbasics
• http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com/
• http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/materials/Charlotte_Mason_Materials.htm
• http://www.amblesideonline.org/
• http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/

For those of us CM users, I have a small list of available sites that you may find beneficial.

Friends Make Up a Family

Years ago we were friends with another family from our church, but lost track of each other after a time. Well God brought us all back together again a while back, and we have connected again more like family than just friends this time. They have 7 children, and 1 grandson. We have 9 children and 6 grandkids now. They also homeschool and live in the country, just 20 minutes away from us. You should see our two families when we are all together for a picnic or BBQ! It's quite a site! We have a wonderful time though! Here is a picture of the lunch line when we only had "some" of our kids here the other day. We try to get together at least once a week so the kids can all hang out and play, and us moms can chat all afternoon. :+)

Studying Electricity with Dad

What started out being a desire to "tear something apart and put it back together again," ended up being a fun simple lesson on electricity! Our 8 and 11-year-olds, Colten and Noah, tore apart an old toy cash register that no longer worked. Here a a couple of things dad showed them how to do...

An Old Fashioned Ant Farm

As a child, my best friend, Linda (yes the same Linda that I have been friends with for 36 years now), and I used to make ant farms. I'm certain that this must have just thrilled our mothers! Ha-Ha! We became the Ant Farm Queens! We had some of the best, and only, ant farms around! :+) Well with homeschooling, it allows us to do things like make ant farms, hatching butterflies, raising baby chicks, etc. When our older kids were younger, we made an ant farm then. Now that our younger kids are of that age where ants are interesting (especially red fire ants!), we decided to make another one. Here are the pictures of our recent ant farm...

Zoo Time!!

Well we have been to the zoo twice already this spring. I am so thankful for being able to use part of our school money to buy a zoo pass again this year. We have had a wonderful time both times that we have been there, and the weather has been nice both times. Here are a few of the pictures we have taken while there. Enjoy! :+)

A Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia

About 3 weeks ago, I decided that I had procrastinated about going to our doctor long enough, and that I needed to find out what was wrong with me because I had been dealing with pain in my muscles, joints, ligaments, etc., for over a year now. The pain was getting worse and worse. There had to be a reason, right? However, there had been so much going on in our lives (like 3 new grand babies!) so taking care of myself wasn't my highest priority. :+) Well I went in and explained my symptoms, she ran a bunch of tests on everything from my thyroid to checking for arthritis. My low thyroid came back fine with the medicine I am already on, and it is not arthritis. However, I do have fibromyalgia. I have all the "tender points" that this disease has, as well as the "fibro fog" that makes me forget some things (so lists are becoming a necessity for me), the sleeplessness, the Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) which makes me absolutely crazy many nights, and of course, the Chronic pain that comes with this disease. Some days the pain is so bad that I can barely move. Some days I hurt so bad that I want to nothing but cry. However, my doctor started me on a medicine geared toward Fibromyalgia called Savella. I have finished my two week titration pack, and am now on a full dose of it, morning and night. I pray that it helps!!! Living with chronic pain is not something that I thought I had in my future. However, what I have always assumed was my "mono achiness" as I called it, (since I have had it since I was a Junior in high school), I assumed that this was just that stuff getting worse for whatever odd reason. Well, now we know what it actually is, and I know what I can do to better control it and hopefully reduce much of the pain.

Chicks Again?!

We are blessed this year to be able to have gotten baby chicks again! 20 of them! Our kids each wanted to put in a little of their savings toward buying them, so we decided it is as good a time as any, and a great way to start off spring!!! We started with them in the house, in an old playpen with a heat lamp, and then moved them outside this past week to a coop we put together just for them.