The Big Switch .... To Seton Home Study

To switch or not to switch that is the question!!

I have been searching and questioning this whole process for about a year now. 

The first time I talked to my husband about homeschooling he was of course 100% on board.

Yet we still struggled with if we should home school or send them to a private Catholic School. 

I wanted to send them to a private Catholic school however I couldn't find one that fit with my needs and wants. Along with my husbands needs and wants for our children's education. 

Most of the Private schools in the area we live in had common core. That was NOT something that was acceptable to my husband and I at all. So we looking slightly into online Catholic Schooling. In which our children would be home with us but they would get books and a lesson plan from a Private Catholic school. After some time of searching I felt like " what was the point when I could just full on home school the kids. It can not be that hard since I see people doing it all the time." 

BOY WAS I WRONG! 

Home schooling is not as easy as I thought it would be. Though we did enjoy is most of the time. There was a lot more work to be done on my part. Just coming up with what we should and should not have our children learn was harder than I thought it would be. There are so many options out there for what your child can learn and different ways to teach it all. 

When I found out I was pregnant I didn't think it would effect our home schooling at all. I was again wrong and I learned the hard way. 

So after doing a lot more research and truly looking into all of the different options we have for our children's education. 

We think we have figured out the best way to go about this coming up year. 

After a long talk and the kids also researching the school on their own. We all decided to sit down and vote about it and check again and again to make sure we could afford it.

We are very Happy to be making the BIG! 

Switch to a Private Catholic Home Study Program. 

Where out children will be able to get a great education along with having some of the fun educational things we enjoy doing. 

The school is accredited and it is awesome from what we have learned.  

I do not personally think it is a homeschooling program. It is no different ( okay in my opinion better than ) the k12 public school at home option that some states have. 

We pay a tuition just like any private school, my kids turn in their call work and do testing and its graded by the school. 

They have a school song, uniforms, a teaching staff, a honor code, books and a lesson plan for each child. The best part is they have options of what classes they take. 

They are hands on and we can not wait to start!

We wrote a list of everything that we wanted in a school and this school has just about everything. 

The only thing missing is that there of course is no sports for our kids to play. However we have found many different things for the kids to do sports wise. 

We could not be happier and are so greatful for everyone who has contacted us to give us your opinion of different schools. 

We will be doing the full year round schooling and the kids are so excited that they have already started. They are doing so many things trying to make sure that their 4th and 5th grade years go as awesome as they want them to. 

I look forward to sharing the journey with everyone. I will post more about how Seton is working out. For our family as we go along. 

-Stephanie

Taking Time For My Family

Hi Y'all 

I just wanted to say thank you for all of the love and support that has come from every. I am having a difficult time with my current pregnancy. 

As many of you already know, if you have read my past blogs. 

We have lost many pregnancies while trying to have another baby. 

On November 25th 2015 we found out that we were expecting our beautiful rainbow baby. 

As difficult as this has been dealing with so much through out these past few months. 

( just to name a few )

-Threaten Miscarriages

-Bleeding for no reason

-contractions

-dilation

-Bed rest

-Being told that there was something wrong with our baby's heart

-changing doctors

-fears of him being born too early

We are so blessed to know that we are almost to the end of this journey. 

So far our little " Monster Butt " is going strong. 

We are weeks away from the date we have set for him to be born via C-Section. 

As the doctors are saying that there is no way for me to attempt a VBAC. As my body with my past births failed to progress in labor even with being given medication to help me progress. 

I will be taking some time off to get my home and family ready for the birth of our sweet little BOY!

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. 

I look forward to many more exciting things that have yet to come and sharing it all with y'all.

-Stephanie

Home School and The Army Wife Battle with in!

One Of my best friends brought this question to me. 

How Do I handle the battle of being a home schooling mom and a good Army Wife?

How do you define your self?

By the job you do?

By the things you love?

By who you believe you are in your heart?

By the actions you take every day?

I am a house wife, a writer,blogger, mother, Army wife and home schooling mom.

Do these things define me?

Honestly yes they do, in my life this is who I am and what I do every day. I never thought that  I would be in the middle of a battle between being a home schooling mom and Army wife.

I have read enough Army wife books to know that I need to be out there helping other wives. Supporting them and helping them when they are in need. 

However how do I do that when I am being a mom 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There is no free time or down time in my week. 

There is no time to take classes and learn what I can do in order to help other wives.

 I know there are tons of volunteer opportunities with in the Army for the wives. 

However how do I find the time to volunteer when I can't even find the time to use the restroom with out kids beating down the bathroom door?

I knew that home schooling would take up a lot of my time when I first started thinking about it. However I thought the benefits for my children out weighted the negative. Now I am dealing with the never ending battle with in myself. To be a better Army wife and to home school my children. 

Can I really be the Army wife I feel like I should be while I am home schooling my kids?

Am I a bad mom if I were to do something differently to help free up some of my time?

How do I learn to balance the two with out sacrificing one of them?

Can I really do both?

In my opinion it all starts with getting organized. If you want to write your own homeschooling curriculum or if you want to go with a program that does that for you. Then you need to decide what kind of Army wife you want to be. As well as what a " good " Army wife is in your mind. There are always ways to do anything in your life that you want to do. It is all about what is important to you and how organized you are or want to be. 
I don't feel like there is a set plan you can follow no matter how your children are home schooled. Use your resources they have child care for most Volunteer positions I have seen. Make friends with other local moms and baby sit for each other. Search out your local baby sitter groups. Every post has a baby sitter page, though some are a little more strict on how you go about finding a baby sitter or becoming a baby sitter. There are always other moms willing to help another Army wife / Military wife out. 
If you can or can not do both be a homeschooling mom and a good Army wife. That is all up to you in the end and no one can say that you can or can not do both. 
There are support groups for just about everything out there. I am not going to say that they are all the best or give true " support."
However they are out there all you have to do is look. 
Decide what you want to do and don't let anyone make you feel like you can't. If working moms can work and raise a family then homeschooling moms can be the Army wives they want to be. 

Females To Be Added To The Military Draft?

I am sorry but what??

Is this a joke?

I do not in any way shape or form agree with all females being added to any Military draft that might happen in the future.

I get some females  want to be " equal " to men and think they should be able to do everything a man does. 

However not all of us want that!

( I am only speaking for myself )

I personally do not want to be any part of the draft. I don't want to be a combat anything. 

I feel like Military wives and those wives of wounded war vets should NOT be added in any draft. 

Having my husband away and taking care of my children on my own is hard enough. Military life is hard enough with out the thought that all of us wives. Might be fighting right there along with our husbands. 

Military wives are said to be a anchor for our troops who are deployed. Loving and supporting them while they are gone during training, the long work days, deployments. Where the soldiers have to miss out on everything going on back home. 

What happens to all of the kids when both of their parents are deployed?

I know that there are tons of  dual Military families out their. 

I respect each and everyone of those families. 

However that was something that they got to decide on their own. 

They were not forced to join the Military.

What about the kids who have already lost a parent or to those kids who only had one parent to start with?

What happens to them when their last parent gets sent off to war all because of a choice someone else made for them?

 To think that I might be drafted and my children could be parent less. All Because someone out there decided that they wanted to be equal to a man. 

I am sorry but NO that is not right at all. 

Just because some want that " right " doesn't mean that every female does. 

All these men who are saying that females should be forced to be added to the draft. Would they send their wives into war?

Would they have their children missing both parents?

How many of these Military officers & men will find a loop hole so their wives are safe from going to war?

I get war is not like it once was, females can fight right there along side of a man. 

If females are forced to be part of the draft how many females will end up getting pregnant just so the Military can't draft them.

Why is it everyone is wanting to push females into the front lines of war but what about the registered sex offenders?

Females are fine to force into the draft but will sex offenders be part of the draft?

I have read online there are always people asking if some one who is a registered sex offender can join he military. 

Under weight people will they be added into the draft?

What about over weight people? 

At this point the Military will not allow sex offenders,under weight people, and over weight people into the Military.

Where do they stand when it comes to the draft? Are they going to get a " get out of jail free card?" Simply due to their past or the numbers on a scale?

Why should females who do not want to go to war and be away from their children be forced into registering for a draft?

When there are tons of people who want to join the Military but are rejected every day?

What about the people who are mentally ill? 

Who are Bio polar will they be allowed to join up if their is a draft?

Where is the line drawn at?

However in my opinion there should be limits to this possible draft.
To be clear I do not agree that single parents, Military wives, Wives that are care givers to their wounded husbands or Gold Star wives  should be added into the Military draft.
 Not now and not ever! 

Home School Back Up!

I know that like other moms, I find sometimes I am just burned out. 

I need some help and as much as I know there are home school groups out there. 
That are meant to help I just feel out of place with them.
I don't like feeling like I am not able to care for my own children's educational needs.
It's as if I am being judged by everyone I come in contact with. 
I know that might not be true at all. 

However I am so blessed to have a family and friends who have reached out to help. 

My  younger sister has now offered to help me out. 
She will be video chatting with my children and helping with their spelling list. 
She will handle all of their class work when it comes to spelling. 
My kids can video chat with her at any time.

It takes so much off of me when I don't have to worry about their spelling class work and test.

My kids needed a way to be able to have more time with their Aunt and this gives them everything they have been asking for.

I never thought that I would be reaching out to my family members and friends.That I would be the woman who wants out side help. 
Yet here I am questioning why there isn't a free or cheap way get help. 
There should be with as many home schooling families as there are. 
THEN I found it!

A free site that my kids are loving that actually is FREE
It is all about home schooling and helping us parents out.

The site has daily things posted for each kid to do. From Reading, science, history, math, English, and everything in between. They have elective classes that are so wonderful.
classic books online for the kids to read.
Spelling list and you can start at day one or work from any of the 180 days. 
Each grade helps the child explore so many things and honestly I could not love it more. 
My kids love the school so much that they fight to be able to do class work on SATURDAYS! 
Here is the information on the site. I highly recommend you check it out. 
It doesn't matter if  your child is home schooled, in public or private school. If you want to help your child keep up where they were or catch up during the summer time. It tracks everything and keeps it in on simple location. 

Great for home schooling as all of your records can be kept in the same place and you can simply print it out if need be. 

DiscoveryK12

At War With Your In Laws

I have been married for 2 and a half years. 

From the start my in laws have not liked me in any way whats so ever. 

No matter how much I try I just can not get those people to like me.

I understand I was married and had two kids with my ex husband.

I understand that I am not a perfect person. 

I could understand if my in laws were the kind of people who have been married forever and had two kids and divorce had never happened to them.

However that is NOT the case! 

My father in law was divorced with two kids when he remarried my Mother in law. 

They decided to never have kids of their own and so my husband and his brother were the only kids. 

They did not have full custody of the boys when they were growing up.

So for my in laws to tell me how to raise my children. Well this is driving me crazy. My in laws think that I should  not being home schooling my children. 

When I say my in laws well my father in law is the kind of man who doesn't have a back bone. 

My mother in law runs everything when it comes to my in laws. 

She believes that " home schooling is not a good way to teach children. That we to put our children back into public school where they can ' learn the best.'

That the children need to be able to learn from a real curriculum." 

She goes out of her way to not only tell me face to face what her opinion is. 

She goes out of her way to post it all over every status I post that has to do with homeschooling. 

Making sure that my whole world knows just how awful she believes home schooling really is. 

We have been " at war " before over pretty much everything. From their wanting my husband to divorce me. 

To their opinion on if we should or should not have more children.

Every topic from Christmas dinner to buying

 a house has caused a war. 

My husband is the kind of man who doesn't care about what his family thinks or says. 

Home Schooling is the one thing that my husband and I both believe in. The only way I would want to put my children back in public school is if we got moved to Texas.

As Texas does not have common core and we very much dislike common core. 

We have shared links and explained why we think home schooling is better than any public school. 

I feel like I am all alone in this never ending battle against not only my in laws but everyone. 

I feel like everyone wants to attack us over our choice to home school. 

Our kids love home schooling, they enjoy being able to have a say in what they learn.

I never had an idea of how much drama we would have to go through just over deciding to home school.

These wars will never end I know that no matter how hard we fight. Their will be another battle right around the corner just waiting for us to think we can breathe.

I have read other blogs and books that all say that you have to stand up for your self. 

That their will always be people who want to fight with you for the   decisions you make. Some battles are worth fighting and some battles aren't.

I haven't been a home schooling mom for as long as some of those out there. However I know my kids are getting a great education. 

I know that even through the hard days it is all worth it. 

Watching my children grow and explore the world around them. Seeing the excitement in their eyes when they learn something that blows their minds. 

Those moments makes all the fights with my in laws and random strangers worth it. 

This battle is far from over, it may never be over. 

That is okay with me because I will never back down.

I will never allow anyone to try to make me feel bad for not wanting my kids to deal with common core.

I am proud of how my kids are turning out and the relationship I have with them. 

Home schooling might not be for everyone but right now.

 It is for my family at this point in time. 

New Year New Plan!

2015 

was all about:

 Our family

Starting our home school Journey

Having a baby

learning what its like to be together as a family.

It was filled with ups and downs

With tears of pure joy and heart breaking fear.

It was not the year I thought it would be but it was surly one heck of a ride. 

 2016!

Here we come!

This year I am going to hit all my goals.

1. Watch my family grow.

2. Have a beautiful healthy baby in July/August

3. Get my house in order

4. Save money each month for our big family vacation next summer.

5. Have a closer relationship with my little sister NeNe

6. Get in shape after I have the baby

7. Grow my home business

8. Have a closer relationship with God

9. Pay off my car

10. Be a better home schooling mom

I have learned in the past not to set too many goals for a the new year. That when I do I never seem to go through with hardly any of them. 

This year I decided to keep it simple and try to stick with the most important things in life. 

My family, my future, and  God!

I am also having my kids make their own list  for this year. 

I want them to learn to set goals in their lives and to work hard to reach those goals. 

 I don't know what this year has to offer my family and I. All I can do is hope, pray and work hard to have the life that I and my family wants. To show my kids that you cant be the person you want to be with out hard work. 

There are so many things I want to teach my kids this year. 

The first step for me is always making a list and deciding what I really want. 

Today is the first step in a long line of  steps I am going to take. I can only hope a year from now I am stand where ever I might be.

Proud of myself for completing all of my goals.

Bring on 2016 and all it has to offer!