Our {new} Classical Christian Hybrid School

If you've read this blog for more than my worksheets, you know its been a really crazy year.

 A massive ear surgery for my #3.
A move to a much bigger city.
A high risk pregnancy.
A preemie NICU baby.
A surgery for this mama with a slow recovery.

We did have a heads up for most of this, but getting settled here has taken time.
We still have boxes to unpack.

Wait.....Did I say we??  What I really meant to say is I still have boxes to unpack.

In anticipation of our move, I quickly started to look for a Classical Conversations group for my family.  This is a really big city with LOTS of choices, so I thought it would be easy.  The problem....no one (within a reasonable driving distance) had room for 4 kids.  There were some start up groups close by, but in our past CC experience new groups hadn't really provided much of a class for my oldest one or two.  Part of why we do CC is for the community aspect.  I want that for all my babies, not just the younger ones.

As I started expanding my options of what to do, I found something else.
I feel like I'm "cheating" on Classical Conversations.
Its not that I don't love CC....because I do.  I am still going to have my kids listen to the CD and memorize all the wonderful facts for Cycle 3, but we aren't part of a community this year.

Instead....we are trying a hybrid or blended model school.
This is Classical Christian school.  My babies will be there 2 days a week (without me) and home 3 days.  We were able to secure spots the last 8 weeks of the spring 2014 school year and I fell in love with this place.  I loved the wonderful teachers and staff.  The kids.  The families.  The curriculum.  I even loved the break this mama got those two days.  I was able to go to Doctors appointments, unpack, cook, clean and still homeschool my kids.  It was perfect.  So perfect, we are back again this year.

I did struggle with this decision, but I know for right now...for this time in our lives...this is right.  This is what we need.  I feel good that when I leave my kids those two days, I don't worry.  It is very evident that these wonderful teachers love the Lord and love my kids and that makes my heart so happy.
Even better, my kids love it!

Homeschooling, for us, is something we take on a year-by-year, kid-by-kid basis.  This might not work forever and it might not work for all my kids....but for now it works for our family

Placenta Accreta and a premature baby....we are finally home!!!

This is not my normal kind of post, but I wanted to update you on our life.  It will help explain why I have not posted in a bit, and why I'm a little behind in getting the Cycle 3 resources up.  Thanks for being patient...Cycle 3 will begin posting soon!

Its been a crazy few weeks, but we are all home and recovering nicely.  Our baby boy was born at 34+ weeks and was in the NICU for 2 weeks.  I went into pre-term labor during my week of "pre-surgery" watch on bedrest IN the hospital.  After trying to stop it, they were only able to delay it until morning.  My C-Section (and removal of part of my uterus) lasted about 3 hours.  I was awake to see my sweet boy and hear him cry before the NICU staff whisked him away to attend to his respiratory distress.  My Doctors then put me under to complete the surgery.  We were hoping that it wouldn't come to my needing a full hysterectomy, and thankfully it didn't.  They only had to remove the portion of my uterus that the placenta was adhered to (the accreta part).  I came through with blood loss, and narrowly missed needing a transfusion!  At one point, right before they put me under, I asked my husband how many people were in the room.  He lost count at 16...and that was before more came in.  

I have a lovely vertical incision this time (4 bikini incisions before this) that is proving to take a little longer to heal.   They've suggested for me not to drive for a few more weeks, but not sure how I'm going to work that when I have 4 other kiddos in various activities plus follow up appointments and weight checks for the punkin.  

I'm thrilled with the Doctors, Nurses and entire staff at Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women!  During the 3 weeks that I/we spent there, we were cared for by many people.  How do I thank them all for taking such great care of us???

If you are interested in reading the whole story, I'm posting that on my family blog and will leave a link here when its all written down.  I've learned so much about Placenta Accreta in the last few months, in addition to preemie babies and the NICU.  I'm in awe by the men and women that handle all of this on a daily basis.  

I am so thankful for our God who unexpectedly moved my family to the Houston area.  He placed me in a location that is top notch in providing the care that I needed.  We had no idea that when we were told we were being relocated that we were moving to one of the top hospitals in the nation that handles the type of high-risk pregnancy that I would soon be diagnosed with.  We truly have an awesome God!

Happy Summer

Well, we are all moved....mostly.  Still a box or 10 laying around, but I'm cutting myself some slack and  will pick away at the last bit when I can.  We are still trying to wrap up our 180 days of school.  Taking a month for Christmas, a month to move and random days here and there has put us a wee bit behind.  

I do have a deadline though (other than school starting in the fall! ;)

I check into the hospital on July 2nd.  Baby Boy's birthdate is scheduled for July 9th.  

Nervous and excited!!!

Excited to meet this surprise gift from God.

Nervous that he will be born at 34 weeks, but trusting Him to get me (us) through.

Anyhoo....we (I) have less than 8 weeks to finish up school, get all the freezer meals made, house settled, baby stuff bought....ya know...all the normal preparation.

(Re-buying baby stuff cuz we were done....or so we though....so I had given everything away!)

In the midst of all this, we want to enjoy summer!  Its a bit hotter (and more humid) here than we are use to so I'll be hanging around the A/C as much as possible.  

I've been told that people here just sweat.  

Get used to it.  

I figure its a great excuse to not do my hair and makeup.  

Sounds good to me!

We are going to have an exciting summer, even if we have no real plans....other than having a baby. :) I've "pinned" a handful of fun stuff for the kids.  Partially to have things for them to do while I bide my time away in the hospital, and partially to keep them busy when we get home and I'm recovering.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer planned! 

Or is it y'all?  

We are Texans now I guess. ;)

Moving week is here....

Over the next few days our home will be packed up and we will be heading South.

We are saying our final goodbyes and finishing up our last day of CC for the year.  

Having so many kiddos, I'm finding it hard to find a CC group in Houston that can fit us, so we will continue on with Cycle 2 on our own at home.

This move is bittersweet.

We love the small town feel we've enjoying the past 6 1/2 years, but are excited for the options available to us in a big city.  We will miss our friends terribly, but will enjoy this new adventure!

I'm signing off for a couple of weeks until we get a little settled in the new house.  

I will have a new homeschool room to show in the fall and I'll be posting Cycle 3 sheets beginning in August.

See ya on the flip side!

Our world has been rocked.....

It might seem as if I had abandoned this blog for a bit, but really....I haven't.  December was a bit of a rough month for us and we are still recovering.  

In addition to the holiday's and weeks away from home visiting family in Washington and Alaska, a few thing happened.

1.  My 6yo son had to have what we thought was a routine Cholesteatoma removal surgery on his ear.  (There is a more technical name for that and all of the other minor surgeries that ended up happening. Neither can I remember half of them, nor can I spell them.)  After what was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour surgery turned into 6 hours, we found out how much damage had actually been done.  He was such a trooper and is recovering wonderfully.  In a few weeks we will find out the extent of his hearing loss in that that eat but expecting it to be moderate to severe.

2. We found out we are moving from out comfy small town where we have been for the last 6 1/2 years to the #4 biggest city in the US....Houston.  This is a wonderful job opportunity for the hubs, so we are now on the search for a house and preparing to sell ours.

3.  We found out we are (big surprise) expecting baby #5.

So....as you can see in the midst of the exhaustion and nausea from pregnancy, preparing to move to another state and trying to keep my children educated....everything else in life has been put on pause.

Oh yes....and #4 decided she really wants to start school.  So we've finally and officially begun Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week.  We've dabbled in it this past fall, but now we are digging our fingers in and going for it!

I will catch up on posting review sheets and curriculum info.  I promise!  I will also post about our curriculum changes in addition to my links between Classical Conversations Foundations Grammar memory work and the Essentials Charts.  

Hope your year has been a little more boring that ours!