It is officially summer!

Last week we finished our school year. The kids will have school during the summer, but it will be greatly reduced due to baseball, swimming and piano lessons, and just plain having fun in the sun :) I have been working on our summer schedule and today was our first day trying it out.

We will be working through the following books:

Ann Voskamp's- A Child's Geography Explore His Earth

Apologia Zoology 1- Flying Creatures (We won't finish this book during the summer, but will continue it during the coming school year.)

Story of Orchestra

They will also be working on Spanish, French, grammar, paragraph editing, spelling, and map work.

We have also started a new reading program for the summer. The boys are being challenged to read for 5 hours each week. Monday through Thursday are designated as "no screen" days, which means no TV, computer, wii or Nintendo ds.

But if they read for one hour than can earn thirty minutes of screen time (up to one hour per day) on those days. For example, Asher read for two hours today so he earned 1 hour of screen time. While Joshua only read for one hour and has earned thirty minutes of screen time (he has baseball tonight and would not have more than thirty minutes to play).

In the past the kids would watch cartoons in the morning (30 minutes or so) and then play wii or watch cartoons at 3:30pm (we do not allow the TV on during the day). So they were watching more than an hour of screens per day, which I hated. Now they are watching less and reading more, which I love :)

Thin Whole Wheat Pizza Crust :)

I found an awesome, healthy pizza crust recipe :)

My entire family LOVED this pizza crust (except for Elliana, who does not eat pizza). The bread sticks were good as well. But the pizza crust was just amazing!

Thin Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Ingredients

· 1 teaspoon white sugar (or honey)

· 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

· 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

· 1 tablespoon olive oil

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1 tablespoon basil

· ½ tablespoon oregano

· 3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

2. Place all ingredients into bread machine and start the dough cycle.

3. Divide dough in half.

4. Roll out half of dough into a thin pizza crust; bake at 500 degrees for 4 minutes.

5. Remove pizza from oven, add toppings, and then bake until cheese is melted.

6. To make breadsticks with remaining dough: form into breadsticks and bake at 450 degrees for 3 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush breadsticks with melted butter, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and kosher salt. Bake an additional 4 minutes.

Tough Week!

I took the first three days of the week off. I have not taken more than one day off of training in a very long time. I headed back to the doctor and was told that I had laryngitis, pink eye, a sinus infection, and bronchitis. All at the same time! I have never felt so weak, tired and just plain awful, ever, in my entire life!

I decided to slowly work my way back into my normal routine. I attempted to run the day after I was told I was sicker than was originally thought, not a good idea. It's a bad sign when you feel like you're drowning while running. I ran the next day and felt great, gotta love antibiotics!

My totals for the week are actually pretty good considering the time I took off-

Swim- 1.25 miles

Bike- 96.6 miles

Run- 10.48 miles

I was not able to bike 60 miles on my birthday. I was not completely healthy and the weather man predicted thunderstorms (which never came!). I did have a great birthday and did my own triathlon at the gym (1400yd swim, 25 mile bike, and a 3 mile run) and I even got the road bike out later in the day :) All this activity allowed me to eat a huge piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!

My Heart Broke A Little

Elliana was invited to her first princess dress up party. She was so excited to get all dressed up in her princess dress and see her friends. As I was getting her dressed in her pink (of course) dress and adding all her needed accessories she said some things that surprised me and almost made me cry.

She kept saying over and over "I am going to look so pretty!" I of course agreed with her. But I hesitated and my heart ached when she was looking at her dress and said "I hope they like it."

She is only four years old and she is already worried about what others will think of how she looks. I knew that this day would come. But honestly I thought I had about 5 years to prepare myself and her for these issues. I took this time to tell her yet again that she is the most beautiful girl in the world and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, we know she is wonderful.

Later that night I stumbled across a song that is my message to my beauty. I wish every mom would express these things to their daughters. It is a harsh world and they need to know that they are amazing, just the way they are.

(disclaimer- I dislike the lyric her laugh "is sexy", so I sing it her laugh "is silly")

Great Read!

Why Would Anyone Be Crazy Enough to Homeschool?

Training Summary

I am currently a very sick women. I have laryngitis, a sinus infection, pink eye, and a cough.

Not good...at...all.

I don't remember ever feeling this awful. Luckily all this came about at the end of the week and I only missed one workout.

This coming week will be a different story. I am not sure when I will feel well enough to get anything done. I am hoping to hit the gym tomorrow morning, maybe.

My totals for this week:

Swim- 4.43 miles

Bike- 123.2 miles

Run-5.32 miles (the workout I missed was a long run)

Weights- 50 minutes

My plans of a sixty mile ride on my birthday are starting to dwindle. I hope I can be well enough, but I am not going to attempt a four hour bike ride unless I feel close to 100%.

Great Math Resource

It is difficult to find a good math program. It takes some time to discover if it is actually working for your child. And what works during one school year may not be the best option for the next school year.

And sometimes, like what happened to me this year, you buy a program that is useless. Apparently the fourth grade level of Teaching Textbooks is actually for 3rd graders. After each lesson I was becoming suspicious that the work was way to easy. I ended up stopping all other subjects and spending a week getting him caught up. I found a few great resources to help me during this time.

I bought some 4th grade Kumon math books. Each books contains hundreds of practice problems.

I also found some math books by Sylvan that are just amazing. In fact I purchased the next set for both boys to use throughout this coming school year. They contain regular practice problems, word problems, and much more.

Finally I like the DK math book. It has lots of practice problems and good instruction.

I think the key to math success is practice, practice, practice. I can remember making math problems for myself in high school. During car rides I would work on Pythagorean theorem. Not sure why I found this entertaining, but I loved it! In the last several months we have adopted a new math schedule. We work on our normal math lesson each day and every other day we also spend about an hour practicing old concepts and working on new ones.

Blessings

It's May! Great Training Week :)

Had a great week! I have three weeks left to train for my first triathlon of the year. After those three weeks I will taper for a one week to ensure that I am well rested and injury free.

My totals for this week are (drum roll...)

Swim- 3.81 miles

Bike- 106.83 miles

Run- 16.48 miles

It was a fun week and I am so excited to tackle the Tri-Shark triathlon in June!

I am contemplating a 60 mile ride on my birthday. This would be a good training distance for my century in July and a great birthday present to myself :)

if you have a son, you need to read this...

Click on the link below:

for the Mother of Teenagers who aches but a bit

Time to Celebrate!!!!

A one sided conversation that occurs DAILY in our school room:

"Sit down and do your work"

"Sit down and do your work"

"Stop playing with toys and sit down and do your work"

"Sit down and do your work"

"What did I say??"

"Sit down and do your work"

"I am not kidding, you are so close to being in really big trouble. Sit down and do your work"

"The cat does not need you, sit down and do your work"

"Do you realize how close you are to being in really big trouble? Sit down and do your work!"

It seems that I spend more time disciplining than I do educating. Add these daily conversations to the endless list of household chores and you have one very frustrated and worn out mom. It is very easy to start to doubt yourself.

Then there are the good days. Everything seems to fall into place and it is all coming up Amy. Yesterday was one of those days. Yes, I did go through the above conversation..yet..again. But the day ended on a very good note. We received our standardized test results.

I debated in my mind if I should share the results. I don't want to be rude and brag about my kids and their accomplishments. But I think their scores reflect not only their abilities but the power of homeschooling. And honestly, I am so proud of them! They work really hard and I am going to brag about them!

I am not going to list all of the data, just one part that is easy to understand. Their test results are used to determine what grade level they are at in each area. I will list that number (if it says 3.5 that means they are at a third grade fifth month level in that area)

Joshua (who is currently in the 4th grade)

Reading-9.8

Word Study Skills-9.7

Reading Vocabulary-PHS

Reading Comprehension-9.2

Math-5.8

Math Problem Solving5.7

Math Procedure-6.3

Language10.7

Language Mechanics-PHS

Language Expression-9.2

Spelling-7.5

Science-8.9

Social Science-10.0

Listening-PHS

Thinking Skills- 7.4

Basic battery-9.5

Complete Battery-9.5

PHS means Post High School

I am so proud of Joshua! He is doing such an amazing job :)

Asher (who is currently in the 1st grade)

Reading-5.9

Word Study Skills-6.3

Word Reading-3.6

Sentence Reading-3.8

Reading Comprehension-5.8

Math-2.1

Math Problem Solving-2.4

Math Procedure-2.0

Language-3.2

Spelling-4.1

Environment-3.4

Listening-2.8

Basic battery-3.6

Complete Battery-3.5

Asher did AWESOME! I am so proud of my little guy. I took out Joshua's 1st grade test and Asher blew him out of the water. I am so excited to see where Asher is in 4th grade :) I love that he is at a 5.9 reading level and his reading comprehension is a 5.8! He is not only reading well he is comprehending what he is reading!

When I have those tough days when I doubt they are learning anything at all I will remember these scores. It may not seem like we are moving forward. But each day I am only seeing one small part of the journey.

Love These Kids!

Grilled Salmon

We have never been a big fish eating family. But Aaron and I really want to make healthy eating choices. We decided to step out of our comfort zone and try salmon.

I found a recipe for what looked like a yummy marinade and gave it a try. It turned out fantastic! We have made this recipe twice so far and the second time was even better than the first. The trick was marinating it, putting back in the freezer, and then taking it out to thaw in the marinade.

Grilled Salmon (from AllRecipes)

Ingredients

• salmon fillets
• garlic powder to taste
• salt to taste
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Season salmon fillets with garlic powder, and salt (I just put this in the marinade).
2. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and olive oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (after this amount of time I put it in the freezer, took it out the next day to thaw in the marinade)
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. (I cooked ours 10 minutes on each side and served it with a baked potato)

Thinking of my Boo

I was driving home from the gym this morning when a new song came on the radio. I was immediately taken back four years and one month. The night my darling daughter was born and the week that followed.

I have never been so close to losing such a huge part of my heart. It was apparent the morning after she was born that something was wrong. She was taken from my room and I did not get her back for an entire week. During that week she failed test after test. A sonogram was done of her heart, doctors from other cities were called and everyone was making guesses as to what was causing my daughter to be so ill. I spent many hours in the nursery holding my baby girl praying she would get better. I am forever grateful that my little Boo turned the corner and we were able to bring her home :) She is now a happy and HEALTHY little girl and I simply adore her.

Crazy Training Week

I worked very hard at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday I ran 7 miles in the morning, swam 800 yards in the afternoon, and then ran 3 more miles in the evening :) That night I found out I would be running on a relay team for the Illinois marathon, on Saturday.

Typically you taper the week before a race. This allows your body to heal, be well rested, and avoid injuries. I was a bit sore on Saturday but I was excited to run! I normally run 7 miles at a 9:20 pace. I pushed myself really hard and ran at a 8:45 pace :) That is a PR for me (personal record)!!

My distances are low this week because I took it easy on Thursday and Friday (before the race).

Swim- 1.48 miles

Bike- 49.6 miles

Run- 16.78 miles