Pregnancy update

I had an appointment with my midwife and an ultrasound this week so I thought I would update on how things are going.
I am 32 weeks along now and have gained 22 pounds so far.. Now I am fairly indifferent to that fact. I have gained with my pregnancy's as much as 55 to 60 pounds and as little as 15 to 20 pounds. Cant say I did anything different with each pregnancy and I figure my body gains what it needs and it can all be worked off later.
The ultrasound was primarily to check the position of my placenta, which was Very low and close to the cervix as of the last check. If it were to remain too low a c-section would be necessary. Thank goodness that is not the case and no c-section in sight! Miss. Alyssa is looking to be around three pounds right now and the ultrasound tech said that is right on. Now if she will just move to a head down instead of a head up possition we will be ready for delivery=-}

FIAR and lapbooking

We are a family that loves unit studies! For those who don't know what a unit study is let me explain. In some teaching methods everything is separated and has nothing to do with anything else that is taught. You have a Math book, a Science book, a History book, an English book and so on. With a unit study approach you fit several subjects (History,Science,English,etc.) into/around a central theme.
Example: We could do a unit on Birds. For Science we will learn about types of birds, there habitats, breeding habits, what they eat and so forth. For English/Language I will have my son write a story about his favorite type of bird, going thru the writing process doing pre-writing, a rough draft and a final product. For Reading I would hit the library for some books on birds. For a preschooler maybe they would be sesame street books with Big Bird. History we might learn about birds that are extinct and how or why they became so.
One of the best things about doing units is that you can teach to several age levels at one time. For our unit on birds when my 2nd grader is writing his story about his favorite type of bird my kindergartner can be practicing tracing/writing/identifying the letter "B" and learning that "b" say b-b-bird.
While my 2nd grader is doing a worksheet identifying the parts of a birds wings (anatomy) my kindergartner can be coloring a picture of his favorite bird and talking about the birds beak and what he uses it for again anatomy just on his level.
This year we are using a curriculum called Five In A Row, FIAR for sort. It is a unit study curriculum. All the units are based off of classic children literature.
In the books we have read we have swam down the Yangtze river in China with a duck named Ping taking time to learn about rivers, China and ducks. We have played a Japanese weather telling game with a little girl named Mako and taken time to learn about Japan, islands and meteorologist. We have read about Madeline and learned about her home in Paris, France. Learning about Authors and Illustrators and writing our own poetry.
We are experiencing and learning so much this year and we are doing it all together!

I LOVE homeschool

I am sure that more than half of my posts on this blog have been about how much I love homeschool, but really I just love it so much! I cant imagine doing anyhing else, or why anyone would for that matter!!
For anyone else who homeschools they can relate to the interesting situations that come up around "back to school" time. I hear all about how "little Sally" cried for 20 minutes on her first day of kindergarten but mom was just "sure" it was normal and somehow good for her. Or how "Billy" came home this week saying five new words that were NOT exceptable but mom was just "sure" it was normal and he would get over it. Or how after being back to school for a week the teenager in the house was trying to dress like a street walker and had to be checked each day before leaving the house, but again mom is "sure" that this is normal....
When did all this crazyness become "normal"?Yet I hear about how MY children are missing out on such important adolescent experiances! Yeah right like what? The ones listed above?!
I dont mean to sound bitter or holier than thou But a girl gets a little cranky when she has to sit and listen to every "public" school parents back to school bliss(woohoo I get rid of my kids for most of the day) and there problems (listed above) and yet no one asks us about school and how its going. I honestly think they dont ask because we dont have anything to complain about!
For example I always get a little grin when I ask a friends child if they are looking forward to school starting and I hear all the whining, grumbling and complaining about how much school stinks. When said friend asks my child in return if they are looking forward to school starting (and again half the time they dont even ask!) The response they get is generally something resembling this
"Yeah I cant wait, homeschool is so awesome! We get to learn about X,Y, and Z this year I cant wait!" =-}
We all need a good rant now and then and THAT was mine!

some pictures recent

I just wanted to put up some pictures of the kids and I. =-} I am getting pretty big and I still have two months left!! =-}

Finally Settled in!!

I am totally exhausted BUT we are finally settled into our apartment!!! The furniture is in, the pictures are on the walls,the internet is (finally) hooked up and homeschool is back in session!
Homeschool has gone really well so far. Both boys are doing great and still asking for homeschool! Gotta love that!
I was so proud of myself today. I did a few things that typically are my hubby's job. I hooked up our web cam, our new phones AND programed the universal remote! =-} I am very proud of myself.
The kids birthday party is this weekend and I will post lots of pictures afterwords!

I have been a total slacker!!

I feel like a total slacker as far as my blog goes lately! I havent posted anything worth reading and no pictures what so ever for a good bit! Now in my defense in the last two weeks I have hit my sixth month of pregnancy with baby number four. I have sent my soldier off for his second deployment, this time to Iraq AND I traveled from one coast to the other with my three kids, the cat and my mother!! Hahhaha ok now I dont feel like such a slacker!!
Things here this past week have been pretty good. We all miss Daddy terribly and that can cause some tantrums, and not just from the kids! We are trying our best to settle in to a house hold that isnt ours, into a single room shared between me and all three kids. But to be honest its not been as bad as I expected!! We have done this before. So I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. Although there have been some rough days and my patience is no where near its normal, things really are going well.
We move into our own apartment the 31st of this month and I hope to post lots of pictures of the new place and us getting settled back into a routine and into homeschool for the year.Between the 26th of August and the 29th of September all three of my rug rats have a birthday so we will also have lots of birthday photo's to post as well.

On the road

As of Monday the kids and grandma and I will be on the road heading for Ohio. Its a fairly long drive, about four days. I am not looking forward to the long trip but will be happy to be settled in Ohio for a few months =-}