Anders here: This week I did about 5 pages of Greek Review. I had my first mandolin class in Tallahassee. I finished my Eng. science book and 5 reader books.

Branch: I finished the first 9 lessons in Hey Andrew 4. I have to remember a lot now. I finished about 6 reader books and a few lessons of math. I'm going to release my pigeons to fly in the spring and hope they come back to me. We have had ice on the water outside the past few days. Teresa said it might snow a bit down here, but Daddy says that it would probably melt quickly if it did.

Josiah: I did 12 pages of Greek this week. There's been an owl coming to my chicken pen and it has killed 3 chickens. I can't wait till the weather warms up so we can plant potatoes.

Stennes: I'm doing badly in my Greek. I didn't do any at all this week. Some animal ate my cabbage and kale, so I'm going to put a rabbit fence around my garden. I'm making a big compost pile for when I plant potatoes.

The Girl: I am in lesson 9 of Hey Andrew 4. I need to work more on Latin. I have 2 new rabbits. They eat a lot. I have a whole big box now of craft stuff for me to stay out of trouble when I'm not doing school. I can't wait until we have another tea party.

Mean Ol' Mama: This has been an extremely challenging week for me. I have had so much paperwork, etc. to finish for the College. My first 2 classes were Thursday, and the first class is packed with 28 students who need TONS of help, so I'm going to be earning every penny this time.
I'm disappointed with how little we did in school this week, but it was hard to go from 8:00 - 8:00 on the computer and expect the kids to accomplish much on their own. They finished up a bit of reading, but instruction time from me was almost non-existent. Hope to do better next week.
The cool weather has been quite a change for us down here, and I have enjoyed wearing long sleeves for a change. I did a good bit of grocery shopping yesterday (from a very long list) in hopes to make teaching 2 nights a week more "logistically friendly". Supper has to be ready before I leave, so I'm trying to avert disaster any way I can. There's still a bit on my list to purchase, so perhaps today I'll finish it up.
I'm thinking we'll go back to the kids' checklists for schoolwork, so they can know what needs to be accomplished each day before they're "done". Any bit of structure at all is very beneficial for our crazy family, you know.
I have to give some thought about Latin for Branch and The Girl. I think I'll do what we talked about, Becky, and do a combo of Latina Chritiana with slow, easy Henle. We'll see.
Thanks for your good posts, kids. You're an encouragement to us down here.

Kajsa: I'm almost done with my Greek book. I don't remember how many pages I've done. I set goals for myself. Some days are better than others, the more I do the the better my attitude is (sometimes). This week I read a book called Follow My Black Plume. It's about a Boy named Mark and it is based on Garibaldi and the making of the Italian nation. In Math my goal is to do at least two lessons a day. I'm practicing guitar every day. One time I practiced so hard that I got a blister on my middle finger. It's gone now and I have a huge callous. We have three feet of snow and it is rarely above zero degrees. Today we went winter clothes shopping. After school I do research on the sun.

Hi Everybody! Wilson here. I have been working harder at school this past week. In Greek I will be taking the second review, I have completed chapter exercises 8 and 9. Greek is hard, but it isn't as hard once you understand your lesson! I also completed the book The Prince and the Pauper and the play Our Town this past week. I have started on an interesting book called York and the Great War. A few subjects I want to work even harder in are Logic, Latin and Geography. Before I go I want to tell you some stuff I recieved for Christmas: RISK the board game, a How To book on comic strips and a dart game. Bye

Hi, Rachel here. I did thirteen pages in Greek. Mom ordered my 3rd Greek book and I can't wait until it comes. I will learn and study but go through it fast. I read in my reading box Dear Mr. Henshaw and I'm reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I did a lesson in math and History and English. I also did alot of dishes this week. Well, that's all for now.

Hi all, Rosie here.
This week I did seven pages in my Hey Andrew! book, and one page in my Greek Bible copybook. I did one page in Geography and two pages in English. For reading I read Sebastian Bach and The Pushcart Wars and now I'm reading Call It Courage. In Latin I did four pages, and in Math I did four pages. That's all for now, Bye.

Rebecca: Hi there. Thanks for the call and also for this wonderful plan...we need the accountability. I'm so glad to say I have been able to order some of the books we've been needing and they should be arriving soon. We had fallen off of our Memory Box time and I'm planning on getting going with it again. We missed piano this week due to the weather, but yesterday we got the piano tuner out and so that is sounding much better. The kids enjoy practicing on it even more. I've started back with helping Robert a few hours a week while Judy is at work. We are keeping busy...and trying to keep warm!

Schedule for 2010

Week 1 - Greek
Week 2 - Latin
Week 3 - Instruments
Week 4 - Writing Assignment
Week 5 - **open**

Please post anything you'd like, but make sure you mention the focus of the week. This is a guideline to strengthen our progress in these areas during 2010. Please post your Writing Assignment (final drafts only, please) on the 4th Friday by midnight. This will give the other students all weekend to read through the writings.

Writing Schedule:

January - poem - any length, meter/style, subject
February - book report
March - complimentary letter (to a person or company)
April - 5-paragraph Persuasive Essay (choose a topic with mom's help)
May - letter to the editor about a current issue (think about actually submitting this)
June - limerick
July - 5-paragraph How-To essay
August - short story (main character/problem/solution model)
September -letter of complaint (you may have to make-believe a problem for this one)
October - 5-paragraph essay (choose a topic with mom's help)
November - **free writing*** (choose what you want to write this month)
December - 5-paragraph essay: "What difference does Christ make these days, anyway?"

We're looking forward to sharing 2010 together with you all. Let's have fun, work hard, and really make this the best year yet. Celebramos!

sorry we have not been writing

Hi, Wilson here. We have been slow on our school through out fall and early winter but were getting better now. Im still doing Keys:Geometry and am now in book 7. I am also reading the Prince and the Pauper. I'm enjoying my science book and trying to work harder on Greek and Latin. We are redoing the girls bed room, the living room, the kitchen and entry way. My birthday was recently here and I'm now 15 years old.

Hi, Rachel here. I have not done much school lately. It's getting colder up here. I'm thinking of starting a buisness for shoveling out people's side walks. For school I am reading Baby Island. I didn't get my new Greek book. In math I'm going a little slow. We can't really play king of the hill yet in the snow, but we can go ice skating on the ice with out falling in(the ice is in the field). Well, that's all for now. bye bye.

Hi everyone, I'm so happy that Chistmas is almost here. Yesterday I went bell ringing for the Salvation Arny at 8:00 with Rosie and then we went to Judy and Robert's. She invited me to the Refuge, thats like a church and a place to eat and other stuff. Robert would like me to try out for the band. So I'm practicing, practicing, practicing so much that my fingers hurt, that makes it hard to type. I am catching up in Math and Science, and trying to keep up with Latin and Greek. These past months I have been writing poems for our church. I enoy it a lot. Last weekend the youth group and I went to a concert in Grandforks. We listened to Toby Mac. I've heard him before on the radio but he sounds better live. For the Chistmas program at our church we are doing "A Night In Bethlehem". We are going to turn the basment into Bethlehem with stores and workshops. I'm going to be a scribe. The snow is here. Now we are "Walking in a Winter Wonder Land", and I LOVE IT. Time to go Bye.

Hi, Rosie here, I've been going slow in Latin and Greek, but I'm going much faster then I did in the Fall. I did some Math this week and History and English. The snow was pouring outside today. I've finished one reading book and am now going on to another. That's all for now, bye.

My turn! Thanks for calling Tonya...it was a bright spot. We are busy with the house as Wilson said. It seems we never get very far. Well, we'll soon finish up in the girls' room (I think I've said that before), and then we will move onto the entry way. So much to do. School has been trying for me, and the kids have been struggling with getting things finished. That said, the kids still love playing piano. I enjoy hearing them practice every day. Eddie is so fun...and really keeps us on our toes. I have been baking bread, trying out some new recipes and tweeking others. Wilson loves Tibetan momos...so I just had to make them for his birthday. As we didn't have any wonton wrappers, and jogging over to the Chinese store at the last moment isn't an option, I made them myself. That was fun...so much in fact that I tried my hand at hand-pulled noodles the next day. That was fun too, even if it wasn't a success. We had quasi-chicken and dumplings. It happens that we had one left over roasted chicken thigh in the fridge and the cut up "noodles" made yummy sliders. Watch out Economides there is a new "economom" in town. The dish was a hit, and as I actually remember (sort of) the "recipe" they all want it again. Dad is looking forward to a huge pot of pinto beans and broth tomorrow. Then he wants chili from the left overs. Can you tell I have been spending time with my cookbooks lately? It's soon time to start dreaming through the seed catalogs too...and I admit I fell asleep with my Ball Canning book last night. Ufda. Now if only I could bake a Greek prepositions pie and Latin conjugations cake for the kids we'd be set.

Well, we've had a busy two weeks. Lots of performances, College stuff, friends visiting, etc. Just the "normal" routine for us. School has been sporadic, but the kids have made good progress in some areas. Our plan is to school hard next week and take Christmas week off, at least unless MOM's patience runs adrift, which is always a definite possibility.

Anders: I just helped Levi clean out the pig pen and put fresh sand and peanut hulls in. I may have some chicks hatch next week. I bought 2 white hamsters, named Belgium and Pickett.

Branch: I bought 5 pigeons and I built a shed with Daddy to keep my stuff out of the rain. I finished Hey Andrew Book #3, and I'm going to start #4 next week. I planted rye in my garden as a cover crop. This is the first year that we have had a little Christmas tree.

The Girl: I finished Book #3, too, and I'm begging MOM to start #4 now, but she won't let us till next week. I was Mary in our Christmas performances, and I had to wear a curtain valance for my veil because Teresa & MOM are so silly. I'm doing lots of planning with MOM for next year's school. I hope to cook more and do more handiwork. I have lots of projects that I would like to do, such as: finish my cross-stitch piece and finish a small doll blanket with Teresa.

Stennes: I have made peace with Algebra. MOM let me use a calculator, which sped up the lesson quite a bit, and I still learned a lot. I'm working on my small greenhouse and I'm almost finished, but it looks like a mess. I'm going to make a "run" on my chicken pen to enlarge the buff Orpington flock. Daddy and I ordered a needle bearing for the transmission in the tiller, and we re-designed the throttle. Now it works very well.

ChubChub: I do my bit of school every day.

Josiah: I have been reading MOM's Henty books and not reading the books in my Reader Box like I'm supposed to. I helped Caleb and Levi put up a fence for Caleb's goats. My little roosters eat about 30 pounds a day. I play cello now in Port City Strings, and we had our first concert last week. I jumped from Saxon back into Algebra, and I'm learning a lot. I get the cast off my arm next Thursday, which will be nice.

MOM: We miss you all sooo much. I want to sit alone with Becky in a quiet, cozy room with rich hot chocolate and luscious snacks. We could put the kids upstairs with some games (educational, of course!) while we stayed downstairs and perused tons of free books sent to us from some fabulous homeschool publisher (Galore Park, anyone?). While getting a pedicure, of course. We could even invite Teresa to come down and share the spoils. Then...out of the cozy room to eat lunch prepared for us by a hitch-hiking-Third-World-type cook who just happened to drop in. The house has been thoroughly cleaned and totally re-organized while the lunch meal was being prepared. Oh, and don't forget! Next year's planning has all been done for us, the kids are biting at the bit (begging to begin, really), and everything is structured and prepared. We just show up and smile sweetly at the beginning of each school day. Okay, SLAP ME!!!!! This is getting too dreamy....WAKE UP, TONYA!!!

Are we behind in posting or what? Like I said this morning on the phone, we've been running in rectangles again (and hitting every corner!!).

Tonya's life: I've been busy wrapping up my job, doing a bit of training for essay scoring, working with the kids on school/instruments/etc. We had three performances this past week, and one next Tuesday. After that, Christmas performances. We really need to do more schoolwork, but Life Skills/outside jobs/performances/animals & gardens/etc. are important, too. We just need to find a good balance. Right, huh?

The Girl now: I'm in Hey Andrew #3 and I hope to be finished in 12 more days! Mommy and I have a new cookbook for cookies. I have 9 cookbooks in my own collection now. I got my room really clean today. I have to memorize my speech for the Christmas performance. I'm going to be Mary.

ChubChub now: Today I played swords with the big boys and I hit Branch. I have school books now. I'm super-happy I'm 4. I hope my big brothers don't mess up their room again. [Taken from his mouth directly. Then he asked, "Was that a good enough speech?"]

Stennes now: The kale, cabbage, and turnips in my garden are doing well. One of my Buff Orpington hens went broody and hatched 8 chicks. She takes good care of them, and I let them free-run. I have been painting a lot for Mean Ol' Mama and I'm about to go work with my uncle for a few hours. Last night I took a hunter certification class. It was easy because the DNR man gave all the answers before we took the test. I'm fixing up a large Craftsman tiller that we bought (falling apart) for $25.00 at a yard sale. It was a really good deal, and I have it running moderately well right now.

Branch now: I planted some spinach and turnips in my garden about two weeks ago, and some small plants are growing now. I'm hoping to buy some chickens soon. Last week at a yard sale I bought 6 chicken feeders for $1.00 each, and so I have plenty of feeders and a really good pen, too. I have been practising my violin, and I am learning Christmas songs with the other partners in my ensemble group. I have gone fishing about every week; I caught 2 bass. Stennes painted a wall with chalkboard paint, and we have fun drawing on it. I drew ChubChub playing a guitar.

Anders now: Last night I passed my hunter certification class with 94%. Daddy has been buying a few guns lately, and I'm saving my money to buy one, too. I haven't decided which one yet. I have to wait till I'm 12, so I have 2 more years to decide. I've been helping Pop work on his chicken pens, and I put 15 eggs from my chickens in the incubator.

Josiah now: I ordered 50 Jumbo Rock Cornish roosters. They weigh 4-6 pounds in 9 weeks! Pop had one that was 22 weeks old and weighed 14 pounds dressed (as in gutted out, not wearing a dress). I am working with Daddy on a big chicken pen for my roosters. My cabbage, lettuce, and sweet peas came up. I also planted kale. I bought a 12-gauge shotgun, and I have gone deer hunting, but I haven't shot one yet. Last night I passed my hunter certification class with 100%!

Rebecca and kids, we're going to scream down here in Georgia! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Did you hear us? We're running in circles trying to get things finished for the Fair. Mean Ol' Mama is working at the College (almost down to the testing time, so there's lots of pressure), Stennes has been "Fair-ing" and busy work for MOM, Josiah has been memorizing for Fair and trying to juggle a new instrument, Anders has been memorizing and improving his Life Skills at home, Branch has been trying to figure out why everyone keeps giving him more "go-fer" jobs to do, The Girl has been trying to entertain ChubChub during all the hullabub, and ChubChub has been a rascal. Another AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! We'll be glad when the 10th is over and the Fair will be behind us. Pray for us. We're running in so many circles that our circles are now squares because we keep hitting corners. Definitely an UFDA month for us.