Today we are celebrating the Epiphany! We have been moving the Wise Men around our house in anticipation of them visiting Baby Jesus. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some pictures to post about our celebration!

It's BITTER cold here in sunny FL today. It dropped to the 20s again over night. Brrrrrr.

I found a Dulce de Leche coffee recipe from Ree at the Pioneer Woman for an afternoon/early evening drink which I envision drinking by the fire with a good book this evening!

Stay warm today!!!

Brrrr! and back to the grind...

We've had some brisk, chilly mornings here in FL the past few days!!! We even had a low 2 nights ago of 31 degrees! It's the chilly mornings that make us really appreciate being homeschoolers this time of year as we sit at the table in warm jammies drinking hot cocoa!

We have begun to implement more religion into our homeschool curriculum as Catholic homeschooolers. I'm a HUGE fan of Dawn at the lovely, lovely blog By Sun and Candlelight. On her sidebar she has fabulous Themes and Plans for each month of the year and we have printed and used them. They are wonderful! Dawn is truly a blessing to the homeschool community, especially to those of us who are Catholic homeschoolers and appreciate nature study. And a NOT MISS is a truly amazing post she did a while back titled "A Year in a Baker's Kitchen" with a generous amount of seasonal baking suggestions (with linked recipes). O.M.G.

Currently I am trying to decide upon a formal catechism course to implement. I'll probably go with Seton. Maybe... Magnifikid looks like a fun follow-up to weekly sermons. Right now we use a lot of the educational plans supplied on Catholic Mom written in Lisa's blog.

Tomorrow is the traditional celebration of the Epiphany so we have been moving around our Wise Men in anticipation of their visiting Baby Jesus tomorrow. My plan is to make a King's Cake with a hidden baby in it. We plan to present Baby Jesus with 3 small offerings from each child and also I think the Magi will leave our family 3 gifts ;)

Have a wonderful day!

More ideas to GO GREEN in 2010

One thing I would really like to put into play this year is COMPOSTING. I have never composted. Ever. But I will this year! There are so many resources and how-to's on the internet, I'm sure I can do this.

Here's a blurb from the PlanetGreen website with 25 New Year's Resolution to go green in 2010!

25 New Year's Resolutions for Going Green in 2010

Make a change in your life for the planet.

Fri Jan 1, 2010 10:30 AM ET

It's that time of year when we make promises about how we'll change ourselves in the upcoming new year. We look for ways to make a change in our lives, hoping better health or a better job or less stress. Some resolutions are small, others are big life-changing challenges.
New Year's resolutions are often broken, especially if they are hastily made without thinking through the logistics. But if you take a few moments to think about what you want for the upcoming year, you're more likely to choose realistic commitments.
Going green is a great way to start off the new year, but it's such a broad term that the specifics of how you'll go green could end up taking a back seat to daily life. Instead of making a broad generalization, choose a few specific ways to green your life in 2010.
Not sure where to start? Naturally Savvy has 25 suggestions to get you started.
General
1. Banish paper and plastic bags from your life. Always carry at least one reusable bag with you and it will soon be as routine as grabbing your keys when you head out.
2. Switch your monthly bills to e-billing. Even if you print them out at home, you'll eliminate the postage carbon footprint and reduce paper use (no envelopes and annoying "special offer" inserts).
3. Before you throw anything away, ask yourself if you can use it in a new way or if someone else could use it.
4. Recycle anything and everything you can. Even if you have to drive items to a depot once a month, it's worth it to save raw materials.
Home
5. Start composting -- it's simple and you get free fertilizer.
6. Install a gray water system.
7. Paint only with no-VOC formulas.
8. Switch to an electric kettle for boiling water. Electric kettles use less energy than their stove-top counterparts, and there are stainless steel options available if you're wary about boiling water in plastic.
9. If you're replacing appliances in 2010, pay a little more for the most efficient Energy Star models -- they'll save you money in the long run.
10. Build a rain barrel to get free water for your garden and plants. (Tip: In the winter, collect snow, scoop it into a pail, and bring it inside so it can melt and be used for watering indoor plants.)
Transportation
11. Walk more, particularly if your destination is less than 30 minutes on foot. It's good for your health and the environment.
12. Take public transit. Students often have a transit pass included in their fees, and some cities even have free public transit, so use it!
13. If you can live without a car, do it. In most cities, the cost of a transit pass is still less than you'd shell out for insurance, gas, and maintenance or car payments.
14. If you must take a taxi, call the company that has a fleet of hybrids or electric cars.
15. In the market for a new car? Choose a green hybrid or electric.
16. Buy a bike, or build one at your local bike shop. While other people are stuck in the snarl of rush hour traffic, you'll breeze by and be home much more quickly.
Food
17. Go vegetarian one day a week. The livestock industry is a huge greenhouse gas emitter.
18. Eat organic -- it may not be nutritionally superior, but it's a lot better for the planet.
19. Refuse to buy foods that are unnecessarily packaged, such as fruits and vegetables.
20. Annoyed by excessive food packaging? Tell your grocer or the manufacturer. Fire off an e-mail or write a formal letter expressing your concern. (As a rule, every letter a company receives represents about 50 people of a like mind.)
21. Grow your own fruits, veggies, and herbs.
Fashion & Beauty
22. Commit to buying green fashions -- think organic cotton, bamboo, hemp and other sustainable, natural fibers, as well as recycled fabrics.
23. Switch to all-natural cosmetics. A good rule: If the ingredients list looks like a lesson in chemistry, steer clear; if you're stumbling over Latin, you're looking at the names of plants.
24. Switch to a nail polish brand that is made without toluene, DBP, and formaldehyde. (Piggy Paint, London, and American Apparel Nail Lacquer are a few options.)
25. Shop at secondhand and charity shops before hitting the mall or your favorite boutiques. You can usually find some great gems.
These are just a few of the ways you can commit to going green in the new year. Just remember: It can be a challenge as you adjust to a new way of thinking, but it's worth sticking with it.

And we're UP and alive and back to blogland.

2009 sucked. End of story.

2010.. wow. If you start at the bottom it can only go UP, right? Please?

Ringing in 2010 I have made personal resolutions:

• obtain my hospice certification
• run (I'd say half-marathon, but let's be serious). So.. "run."
• Get the kids actively golfing, swimming,playing tennis (this costs money, which I have not have, but am praying fervently TO have).
• learn to knit
• find my way back to Church, become a better Catholic

Our family resolutions are:

1. Keep to our "family" nights...Tuesday family movie night, Wednesday family "read together" night, Friday pizza night, Saturday "souper Saturday" soup and game night, Sunday church as a family
2. Go GREEN

I have a lot "green" ideas to go with what we already do and what we plan to do but the *best* list of ideas and the best concept I've seen is at the HipMountainMama blog and the "One Small Change" idea. Love, love, love. Gosh, sometimes don't you just see something or read something and bells whistle, lights flash and you think "OMG that's it! I have to be part of this!" Go...read.. do. I like to think that we're part of a new generation that wants to heal, heal ourselves, heal our planet... and this is a step on that staircase.

And after reading the HipMountainMama blog I'm ready to move to the mountains of somewhere and have 3 more kids and become more crunchy. (Of course the realistic side of me would need a 7-11 close by and a really decent hair salon. And a good mall.) But seriously, I am striving to become more self-sufficient, every time I buy something I now think "Can I make this myself for a reasonable price, hopefully cheaper..."

Looking forward to big things, big changes this year....

A boardmate of mine on one of my ASD parent boards saw a conference by Tony Atwood yesterday. In her cliff notes from the conference one thing jumped out at me:
For people with AS, the degree of stress or the degree to which they will "withdraw" is directly proportional to the number of people present in a given setting.
I want to scream and shout that this is further validation of what we experience with Cam. Having him in a large classroom setting or even a large Karate class BOTH proved to be unsuccessful... he simply could not get past the various forms of input/external stimulation going on around him.

Which leads us to the quandary of what to do about school again. Schools around here are CROWDED. We opted to enroll J in our local feeder school which as I said in an earlier post is HUGE. It had almost 1000 kids last year and with the various school closings and rezoning around here it's expected to be more this year. And taking into account what our experiences have been with Cam AND what Atwood said... it simply would not work for Cam. And with limited choices we have around here even our local private schools are busting at the seams. And truthfully, the only Cam had addressed in public school was speech therapy twice a week. At least during homeschool (where he excels academically) we CAN work on critical thinking skills, social skills and this year Brain Gym exercises. But we HAVE to find an active homeschool group local which is proving VERY difficult.
All of this is so frustrating for me personally in the sense that we know our only option right now IS to homeschool. Not that I don't love homeschooling him but the truth be told, we're completely broke. We need me to work but I don't know how this would be feasible unless I give up sleeping. I'll have C and B home this year because we cannot afford preschool for B. Which is OK, it makes working with C a little bit of challenge but it works out. We've done it before. So whenever I get the $ to take boards here in FL and IF (hopefully) I pass I'm hoping I can work weekends (maybe 7p-7a) but since J works on Saturdays...there goes any hopes of sleeping prior to going in to work.
Blech. I did YEARS of night shift and ultimately it just made me sick. I'm a morning person so it was not conducive to my system LOL. Unfortunately we need the money and I need to homeschool C and still have B home. So it should be interesting.
I'm TIRED of people telling me it will work out. Because you know what, it hasn't. We're barely making ends meet. We need basics... shoes, pajamas, clothes, our plumbing fixed, dental and doctor appointments. Hell, gas in my car.
((sigh))
Sorry. I'm just feeling like there's no way out right now. It's been tough since March and it has just continued to go down hill.
How this post turned from my Tony Atwood story to this... I have no idea. I apologize for my stream of consciousness.

Forgot to add a new Signature Pic a PS Pro

friend made for me.... How sweet is this?

HAPPY 4th of JULY

And Happy Belated Bday John. My dh turned 41 yesterday.!!! Ok yeah, I'm slowly approaching the 40 club (ah hem, I'm still 38) but he entered it last year. It's just all too weird. I still think we're 29 and 32 (ages when we met). But I guess that's how it is with a couple, you always see your partner as he/she was when you met. Weird huh?

In a hUgE move yesterday... we enrolled J (5yo) in our local public school Kindergarten. It was a move made with a lot of hesitancy and kinda last minute. Most people here do not seemed to be pleased with our HUGE local feeder school (K-5). It's big and remember, I'm from Philadelphia so that's saying a lot. But private school is not financially feasible this year. So I keep telling myself "It's K, it's K." C will be homeschool ed again. I did give J the option to homeschool but she WANTS to go to school. Her only requirement for school is more. little. girls. LOL. She wants friends. So we're enrolled (fingers crossed as I say this).

J was VERY excited to see a picture of her teacher on what will be her classroom door and even more excited to see her supply list. I had to explain all day that we have more than 5 weeks before school starts to purchase what she needs. :) She's been homeschooled very casually since May. Right now she' s on Explode the Code 3 and we've JUST started Horizons Math K (so she's doing simple addition and basic time). I'm not pushing her, she's 5. We do what she wants, when she wants. But reading, reading, reading, reading and lots of library trips are pretty much the rule of thumb around here, something we have to do.

And ... our first cheerleading meeting is THIS week already! Yay!

B's preschool plans our off the plate because of finances so we'll do some letter sounds and some preschool-type stuff probably with PreK Sing,Spell, Write and Read. Little man at 2 y 9 mo is not reading like his brother at this age but is learning letter sounds. He's a smart little guy... knows his color and shapes. But the biggest advantage we have with him is he loves, loves, loves to be read to. It must be his favorite thing (beside his Thomas trains, shows and VeggieTales shows of course). He'll be 3 in October and we desperately need to put him in some kind of sport...something. He's a monkey!

C... his homeschool curriculum is pretty much the same for this coming year. I just planned our week yesterday. We're going to attempt a 5 day a week schedule but since Daddy is off on Mondays I am volunteering at J's class as room mom on Monday so ... we'll have tinkering to do with C's homeschool schedule.

Math -- 2 pages of Math Workbooks daily (alternating Horizons 2 and Singapore 2a) with Singapore Intensive on Thursdays and Challenging Word Problems on Fridays.
Reading - the GOAL is to read at least one-half of an hour daily and do Reading Detective on Fridays.
Language Arts -- (notice I'm breaking this up separately into reading and writing and THEN LA) We'll continue to use Daily Paragraph editing on M,W, F. Continue using First Language Lessons (FLL) daily which I like because it includes memory work and some copy work. I'm thinking of adding in Harp and Laurel Wreath for additional copywork and poetry/memory work. We'll move on to Spelling Workout C this year and do one chapter a week (2 pages one day, 2 another and the 3rd day a spelling test). C LOVES spelling because he's a natural speller.
History - Continue with SOTW 3 days a week. This year I'm adding in Daily Geography.
Science - We'll finish Evan Moor's Read and Understand Science then either move on to the next grade OR (more than likely) move on to Critical thinking Through Science . I would really like to use Neoe Science this year but it's out of my budget.
Handwriting - We'll probably go back to D'Nealian or Getty Dubay Italic.
NEW THIS YEAR we're adding in:

• Daily Brain Gym exercises (I saw that a ASD school here in FL uses them and if it works for their classes of ASD kids, we'll try it ...)
• Writing using SWB's Writing with Ease if I can get my hands on it. I was on the pre-order list with PHPress. But we'll start whenever we get it. Writing is going to be C's hardest subject. He really lacks abstract thinking so putting his thoughts down on paper is tough, tough, tough....so MAYBE we'll start this in January... ????????
• Social thinking(site is down so I can't link it). This is a program I've wanted forever but a fellow poster on an ASD parents board I belong to raved about the program so .. I'm sold. If there are only 2 things we accomplish this year they are: improve C's social skills/pragmatics AND teach him beginning writing.
• Latin-- probably start with Minimus or PL. Not sure when... maybe January. I need to get other goals met first.

Now if only a windfall of money would come my way....