Anniversary

Today is J.R. and my anniversary. He surprised when when the flower delivery man pulled into our driveway. He got me roses and a beautiful Willow Tree sculpture.


This is what it said on the box...

ER Visit

We spent last night in the ER. When Jacob was in the NICU waiting for his esophagus repair he had a feeding tube put into place in his abdomen. After his esophagus was repaired the feeding tube was removed. The hole was suppose to just form a scab and close up. Well it didn't. There was a little scab there but it never went away and closed up. Friday it started to look red and swollen, and by last night it was looking worse. We decided to take him to the ER because I did not want to wait twelve hours to call his pediatrician in the morning. The ER doctor said he has cellulitis which is an infection under the skin and he prescribed Jacob anti-biotics. He said if it doesn't look better to make an appointment with his pediatrician. They may have to pop it and clean it out. Since he is a baby they may have to have a general surgeon do it. It doesn't look any better yet...

Kitchen Makeover!

I have been wanting to paint our kitcen orange for a while now. I finally convinced my husband and we did it on his day off on Monday. It was a little scary seeing the color go up, but when we were done I was happy. It looked good both ways but I just needed a change. Here is the before and after.

Scary Morning

We had a very scary morning yesterday. At five in the morning I woke to Jacob's ear piercing cry. He never cries like that so I knew something was wrong. I went into his room and it was full of smoke and a horrible smell. I immediately grabbed Jacob and ran and woke up my husband. It turns out the humidifier in Jacobs room was having some sort of electrical problem. We think the motor was burning out. The whole room smelled like burnt electricity and was all smokey. I was so worried about Jacob breathing that horrible smell in. Everyone was OK but we were so lucky we did not have a fire or that one of us didn't get electrocuted because the floor was wet by the humidifier. After washing all his bedding and clothes, wiping things down, and shampooing the carpet you can still smell the smoke.

I set up the play pen in our bedroom until the smell in his room is not so strong.

Rude Nurse

Tuesday Jacob had his checkup with his pediatrician to make sure he is gaining weight good. He weighed 10lb's 12oz's. His pediatrician was very surprised that he had gained that much and said he wasn't expecting that big a weight gain. He is now at the 5th percentile and is actually on the growth curve for his age!

Jr and I have decided to hold off on Jacobs vaccines just like we did with Mya. With having multiple children in the family with neurological disorders we do not want to take any chances vaccinating our son at such a young age. Im not getting into the whole debate here...but there are many doctors in the U.S. that recommend waiting until 18 to 24 months to start vaccinating, especially when you already have children with autism or other neurological disorders. America is the only country with that pushes so many vaccines at such a young age...and we have some of the highest rates of developmental and neurological disorders. The Danish people have a much more reasonable vaccine schedule and they have low rates of autism...hmmmmmm. I know the risks of the diseases we vaccinate against, and I am so grateful that those diseases are under control. But there are HUGE risks to vaccines as well if you research. We do plan to get Jacobs vaccines, we are just waiting until he is older to start them.

Anyways, while at the doctors office I had a nurse inform me before leaving that we HAD TO start his vaccines TODAY very rudely. I told her no and she hatefully told me that she was going to get the doctor again to come talk to me. I told her I had already discussed this with our pediatrician and she slammed the door so hard the walls shook. I was so mad because I had Mya with my and Jacob was sleeping in my arms. Some people are so rude, I do not feel comfortable going back to that doctors office again.

Here is a random picture of Jacob. He fell asleep in his swing and I was about to get him out and decided to snap a picture (that is why he is unbuckled). The room is dark and I had the flash on.

Weekly Report Jan. 11 - Jan 15

Jeremy

Math U See Beta- Lesson 8 (skip counting by 10, learning value of dimes, practicing regrouping)
Online Math U See drill
Writing With Ease - Week 5
Growing with Grammar - Sentence review 1, 2 & Lesson 13
Sonlight Reader-The Beginner's Bible p. 62-77

Gisela

Math U See Alpha - Lesson 8 (solve the unknown, aka. pre-algebra!)
Online Math U See drill
A Reason for Handwriting B - Week 4
The Ordinary Parents Guide for Teaching Reading - 104-109
First Language Lessons #9 (we are dropping this, not sure what we are replacing it with yet)

Mya

Math U See Alpha - Lesson 9 (adding 9's)
Online Math U See drill
Headsprout
A Reason for Handwriting A - Week 1
First Language Lessons #9 (we are dropping this, not sure what we are replacing it with yet)

All

History
Sonlight Core 1- Week 2, Read pages 12-21 of Usborne Book of Peoples of the World, Chapter 1 of Missionary Stories wit the Millers, and we read about how the Akebu tribe does not have bibles in their language From Akebu to Zapotec.

Read Aloud
We read chapters 7-11 of Charlotte's Web

Science
Sonlight Science 1- Week 1, Read The Usborne World of Animals pp. 4-11, and pp. 3-9 of Night Animals. The kids also watched Discover and Do DVD and read about activities that can be done with Magnets.

We had a really great week and got a lot accomplished. This is our second week with Sonlight and we all are really enjoying it. The kids are learning so much and looking forward to our reading every day. I plan to add Evan Moor History Pockets in for some hands on fun. I re-did our schedule because our days were too chaotic. Here is our schedule now:

8:00 Wake-Up, make beds, dress, brush teeth
8:30 Breakfast
9:00 Math
10:00 Phonics/Reading
11:00 History
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Language Arts
2:00 Read Aloud
2:30 Break
3:00 Science

If we get done with any "subject" early, the kids get free time to play or go outside. So far this schedule is going great! My days go much more smooth now...except for the occasional interruption from the 3 month old :).

Math U See is going good for all the kids. However, Jeremy got to do a sample lesson of Teaching Textbooks 4 and he really wants to switch to Teaching Textbooks. Teaching Textbooks 3 is coming out in February and I will probably be ordering it for him. It does look like fun; I wish I could have been taught math like that.

We Switched Curriculums

Once again I have switched history and science curriculum's. We probably would have continued with Adventures in My Fathers World if I had not been gone for four weeks after Jacob was born. I had a lot of time to think during that four weeks. Some reasons I decided to switch was that I wanted more reading, more science, I did not like how the teachers manual is scripted, and even though we are christians I realized I do not want so much bible focus. I am sure we would have had a great year though had we finished Adventures.

I decided to go with Sonlight Core 1 this year. I really love Tapestry of Grace, and we previously completed nine weeks of Year 1. I love the books that are selected, the in depth teachers notes, and activities which my children love. I just figured that my children would enjoy Sonlight better this year since they are still young...and it will be easier for me to teach with a baby since the schedule is all done for me. I plan to add Evan Moors History Pockets and other activities into Sonlight since my children love that stuff. So, Sonlight is a test for us for the next 36 weeks. If it goes well we will continue with Core 2...if not we will be jumping into Tapestry of Grace Year 2.

Anyways, Sonlight Core 1 is an introduction to world history part 1. Here is a taste of what the kids will be learning this year with Sonlights Core 1:

Lay a firm mental foundation on which your children can build their understanding of history, culture, and geography.

...you and your children will enjoy a journey that traverses the globe and covers the time period from Creation to the Fall of Rome.

You will discover the amazing range of houses that people live in--from tents and mud huts, to caves and high rise buildings. You will visit villages, cities, and even underground houses. You will find out about some of the world's great religions--Judaism and Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others. You will learn about money, food, clothing, jewelry, hairstyles and makeup. But more than that, you will begin to understand the flow of world history, from the very earliest civilizations, dated thousands of years before Christ, to the closing period of Imperial Rome.

As always, Sonlight's unique world focus shines through. You will study the precursors to and earliest development of Western civilization, but you will also learn about the foundations of the other great civilizations of the world.

Our Sonlight order came yesterday so we had a great box day. You fellow homeschooling know how much fun those are. The kids were really excited about all the books we are going to be reading and quickly pointed out their favorites. Jeremy even asked if we could read books on Saturday too (Yay, Sonlight is already working). I LOVE that my children love to read and be read to. We did day one yesterday because the kids couldn't wait to get started. We read one lesson from Leading Little Ones to God, read from the book of Mark from our bible, and read a couple pages from our Peoples of the World book for history. Our first day with Sonlight went well. Today we will be started the book Charlotte's Web as our read aloud. I am looking forward to reading all the missionary stories that Core 1 includes.







Gisela can not wait to start reading Charolotte's Web



For science I have decided we are going to try out Sonlights Science 1 program. With Sonlights Science 1 program some of the topics the kids will be learning about are the human body, animals, space, how things are made, and what makes people sick. The kids are also going to be doing 92 science experiments this year!