Too lazy to think of a real title

I think I've lasted for two weeks with my Zumba for Wii.  It's an excellent workout for me.  There's just one problem.  I. Am. Lazy.

I know the 10 pounds (or more) won't just dance themselves off my body.  I did start walking.  Does it count that it was only one day, for 25 minutes?  Hope not, because I'm still feeling the effects of that walk!  Jokes, just jokes.  I know I'll get over my case of the lazy bones soon enough. 

In other news, I signed up to Google+.  I can't tell if I'm the better for it yet.  I like the idea of using it with homeschooling, but I'm not sure how I'd do that.  I'll keep researching and looking out on boards/forums to see how everyone else is doing it.

Seriously, I don't even have a real update to post.  Geez I can't wait to get out of this lazy funk.

So much for consistency!

It's been months since I've posted.  Holidays have come and gone.  We're starting the last half of the school semester.  Oh, and we have officially lived in NC for 1 full year!

Reflection time... 

I can not help to feel so grateful and happy about all that has changed in 2011 for my family.  Yeah, the obvious the hubby maintained stable employment.  Trust, we're ALL grateful for this.  Also, the little milestones are just as worthy.  For instance, Ari learned to drive and got her learner's permit!  Rodney became a soccer star!  My sweetie pie husband made HUGE leaps in his work/family balance!  Of course, last but not least, I figured out a way to be a non-traditional, traditional, secular, spiritual, stay-at-home wife, homeschooler, writer, blogger, scraper (scrapbooker), Star Wars Old Republic gamer, vegetarian, bff, and all while being unapologetically Mika!

So ready for the weekend!

I realize it's been like forever since I've written here.  There are ton of excuses and some are actually pretty good.  However, I'd rather focus on what's been going on that's worth blogging about!

This Saturday me, Ken and kids are taking a drive to Savannah!  I love Savannah and I love weddings.  Yes weddings.  Ken's mom is getting married.  I'm happy for her and can't wait to meet the new hubby.  The best part about the wedding is that my hubby is giving his mom away.  So sweet.

The kids are continuing to do well with all of their subjects.  We've started Rosetta Stone for Spanish and Japanese, both at level one.  I love their homeschooling edition because it makes the program easier to track and the kids like the amount of control they have along with the short, but effective lessons.  I would recommend it to anyone wanting to study a foreign language.

Ari passed her driver's exam and now has her permit!  She has been practicing and I've been fretting.  I am excited but terrified to let her loose on the road.  She's still my little girl, although she's taller than I am and looks very much like a teenager.

My sweetie pie son has developed into a really good soccer player.  The last game he played he tried out a new move and we were all impressed.  I love that he loves playing.  I also love to see how my sweetie pie husband lights up when our son is playing his little heart out!

I have been following Oprah's Life Class and must say I've been feeling very introspective because of it.  I appreciate Oprah doing this show.  She's always been a mentor to me, even from afar. 

I am looking forward to Halloween.  Unfortunately I have not begun decorating for the season yet, but I figure better late than never.  I'll have the house ready for the season by next weekend. 

This past weekend the family went to our first Renaissance Festival.  It was truly magical and we plan to go back very soon.  There were so many things to look at that it could become overwhelming, hence the second trip we plan to take there again.

All in all things have been going well for me and mine.  I continue to be grateful and happy.

Back to Homeschool Update

We are in week 2 and all things considered, it's been going well.  I have successfully implemented the classical approach to our homeschool curriculum and I'm quite proud of myself.  I invested months in researching the best approach to learning for each of my two sweeties.  I was nervous and concerned at first that I may have made a mistake or something equally cataclysmic, but the kids have actually expressed to me that they love how we do things now.  My heart swelled at that.

Some changes did occur however.  Rodney isn't going to work on Latin, at least in our current format.  We'll come back to it next month.  Arianna is excelling in our current Latin program.  Neither of the kids have started using Rosetta Stone for Japanese (Ari) and Spanish (Rodney) yet.  Mostly because 300 dollars wasn't an option for foreign language software.  I had some pressing issues (aka bills) that topped the list.  I can happily report that the kids will still use Rosetta Stone, just not until next month.  I am sort of grateful we didn't start it yet.  I think they needed time to get the flow of handling their core courses first.  They're doing a lot more reading than they did last year.  So far no complaints from them, which I'm also grateful for. 

I just have one final thought I wanted to express, and that is my utter gratefulness to be in the position to homeschool my children.  My husband was and sometimes still is worried that the kids education will somehow be short changed because of our decision to opt of public school.  I have found that giving him updates and reminding the kids to keep him in the loop on what they're learning helps a lot with calming his worries.  As time moves on, he has seen the changes we were hoping to make within our children by homeschooling.  They actually want to learn new things and will study on their own to get answers.  Again, I'm grateful and I truly feel this is what is best for our family.

Guess who's a soccer mom now?!

It is official.  My lovely and talented children are both playing soccer.  My sweet Ari's first game was tonight.  The coach yelled out "Good job Arianna!" twice.  This made my heart swell.  Proud mommy moment.  I know she really isn't all that interested in soccer, she prefers volleyball.  However she gave it her all tonight and I'm just so proud of her.

Tomorrow I get to witness my boy have a go of it in his first game.  I'll be just as excited to watch him.  I think I'll finally get around to adding pictures to this blog, starting with tomorrow's game!

I'll take that soccer mom title for now.  Well, until next spring when Ari plays volleyball and Rodney goes out for football.  Then I'll just be plain old mom.

Old Haunts and New Developments

Today I heard from a good friend Ken and I met while living in Georgia (the last stint).  It was good catching up and I immediately realized I don't have a good reason why I have not been calling this wonderful person all along. 

Since we're still fairly new to North Carolina, I'm still trying to forge friendships out of loosely formed patches of conversation with people I see maybe once a month.  I definitely don't want to be pushy and force myself on people, and I assume others are thinking the same thing.  However at some point someone has to step up and push casual talks to some semblance of a friendship.  I know that someone can be me, but I think I'm just plain old lazy.  I have my best girlfriends spread out over the eastern seaboard and I feel that's enough.  I get lonely for girl talk (in person), however it's not enough to fuel me to really make a real connection with some of the women I've met here.

I'm thinking I need to work on this.  There's another side (maybe the lazy one) that says I don't have anything to work on because I'm content with things. 

On another note, it is hard to believe Fall is approaching.  My most favorite season.  It's a time for new beginnings, at least that's how I've always experienced this time of year. 

My hubby and I have put out the intent that we may want to purchase the home we are leasing or another one in the community.  In typical fashion, we got back what we put out.  Our landlords asked if we would be interested in buying or some other arrangement.  I'm quite excited.  We still need to fully discuss things of course.  One main point is whether we see ourselves actually buying this particular home.  We sort of rushed into leasing it and I feel like we would enjoy something larger.

I haven't started the kids with any review this week.  I decided we would stick with my original plan and start everything the day after labor day.  Below are the kid's classes and the main spine they'll use for each subject:

10th Grade:

Logic/Rhetoric	A Rulebook for Arguments and  The
Mathematics	Saxon Algebra 2
History	The History of the Ancient World From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome, Great Books list
Language	Analytical Grammar and Classical Roots Vocabulary D
Science	Apologia Chemistry and Lab
Latin	LearnLatinOnline.com
Japanese	Rosetta Stone
Art	The Annotated Mona Lisa
Music	The Classical Music Experience:  Discover the Music of the World's Greatest Composers

 6th Grade:

Logic	Critical Thinking, Book 1 and 2
Mathematics	Saxon Math 7/6
History	The Story of World
Language	Spectrum Spelling Workbook, Analytical Grammar, Writing Strands Level 3
Science	Earth Science and Astronomy using Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and other resources/media with plenty of labs
Latin	LearnLatinOnline.com
Spanish	Rosetta Stone
Art	Ancient Egyptian Art, 2d ed. (Art in History)
Music	The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Obsessive Planner can't read the calendar properly & other fun stuff

I was under absolute certainty that Labor Day was this coming Monday.  While riding with my husband and his work colleague I realized, after they corrected me of course, that I was both so excited and terrified about starting our official full home school year that I got my weeks mixed up.  I have been on a tear prepping and shopping for school supplies/curricula.  Well, now I feel a little relieved, but bummed because all of my lessons start on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.  Oh well, we get another week to chill.  I'll have to find a way to make it extra special.  I also toyed with idea of doing review the entire week so both of my lovelies are totally up to date.  I'm still thinking on that one.  I would need to throw some last minute lesson plans together...

In my haste mentioned earlier I did find our necessary library books.  I was fortunate to score the first few weeks of books for Ari and the first week for Rodney.  I think Amazon loves me by now.  My local home school consignment store probably has me down as a regular.  I'm part of several home school groups, and even found secular home school forums and blogs to lurk (not all homeschoolers are ultra Conservative Bible pushers or run of mill Christians either).  I'm feeling so official!

Now on to domestic issues!  I purchased a Swiffer Wet Vac.  I want to say how it's the best thing ever, or at least better than a mop.  However, I have determined your floor should be thoroughly swept before using the Swiffer Wet Vac.  Otherwise it sort of pushes the dirt/dust bunny around.  I made the decision to buy one after having both a manufacture and Target coupon.  Oh yes, love my Target. :-)

I am getting more into fall decorating mode.  Last year it wasn't an option to decorate because we were not in our own home yet.  However this year, I think I'll splurge more than ever.  I already have my eye on a few things I saw at Pottery Barn.  I get my ideas there and then shop elsewhere for a much cheaper price.  Frugality is my middle name!

Oh gosh, almost forgot to mention the kids had their very first soccer practice.  Rodney did well and Ari tried.  Ari trying is a big deal.  She isn't exactly in love with playing soccer.  She told me she can get over it and just play, just give her time.