2019 Update

Oh, what's new here?  Let's see...
Oh yeah- we are planning a wedding!

The Giant will graduate in May, and in September, she's gonna marry this guy! 
There's a lot more I could say, but not today!

Vegetarian PotPie recipe

I don't know what's gotten into me this week, but this is my second blog post after nearly two years of silence.  But I thought that The Giant's friend Maddy might like to know this recipe and this is a good way to share it.

A long time ago, my mom-in-law gave me an ANCIENT vegetarian cookbook published by the Seventh Day Adventists. It's from the 70's at least and it has a lot of miracle foods in it, which really isn't my jam but we got attached to this in our early days so I still make my version, and it's yum.  The pot pie isn't in the cookbook that I know of but the crust comes from it.
This amount fits into a 9x13 lasagna pan.  Takes a little over an hour to make.

Whole Wheat Pie Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup regular flour
1 tsp salt.
Stir with  fork.
In  separate bowl or a container with a lid, mix:
1/2 c. oil
1/2c. very cold water
Stir or shake until emulsified.
Mix into dry ingredients.  Stir with a fork until a dough forms.  Roll out into a large rectangle between two sheets of lightly floured waxed paper.

Turn the oven on to 350.

Filling:
1 10-12 oz. pkg frozen mixed vegetables
3 10 oz. cans cream soups- potato, mushroom, mushroom with roasted garlic, whatever combo you like
1 10-12 oz. pkg frozen chik'n like food- I like Quorn niblets but other brands work fine.  You might want to cut them into smaller pieces.
About 1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder if you used plain soups

Mix these in a bowl and plop into crust.  I mix them right in the crust, but that's a delicate process.  Have at it if you want to.
At this point I put the filled pan into the oven to start cooking the filling.

Before it goes into the oven

In a bowl, mix with a fork:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt

Melt in microwave for 50 seconds or stovetop:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

Add butter to flour mixture with
1 1/2 c. half n half or whole milk

This will make a soupy substance.  Take the pan out of the oven and pour the goo onto the top of the warm filling.  It will be soupy.  Not to worry.  Turn the oven up to 425.  
Bake for 45 minutes until the biscuit topping is golden.
To serve make sure you cut through the bottom crust with  sharp knife.
Serve with cottage cheese on the side.

Enjoy!

2018 Update

Many things have changed in our life as a family recently.  I was here on the blog to find a recipe (1 of 3 available), and I thought that while I am here I would leave this little update.  Maybe that will keep them from shutting down the blog while I am not looking.

Current situation(s):
We bought a house a year and a half ago.  It's been a pain.  We discovered it had no roof under the steel and rebuilt it with the help of some friends.

After we moved, I got a job at the Fort Ann School, with the help of a friend.  I am thankful for that opportunity.

In May, I was hired by Saratoga Hospital as a part time medical coder.  I had been working through coursework for a coding credential, and took a test in August 2017.  It took me almost a year to get a job with a credential and without experience, and I had started to get nervous.  But just in the nick of time God provided and I love working there.  It is a long commute, and if we had known when we bought the house that I'd be working nearly an hour away, maybe we wouldn't have bought this house.  So, I bought a Prius to make up for the added miles I'd be driving.

Todd is still working at the South Glens Falls bus garage.  In January, he was asked to take a full time job there.  It was a mixed blessing, because even though he now had a year-round job and a 40- hour work week, even when school is out, he took a pay cut.  He's also working with Sound Solutions of Saratoga and DJing weddings and other events.  He's busy in a good way.

We also continue to run Just Beautiful, our fair trade pop-up gift shop.  It mostly runs around the holidays, and this season may be our last-with my new job and less free time it's hard to dedicate whole Saturdays to vendor events where we don't move a lot of product.  So that's tapering down, and we will see how this holiday season goes.

Hannah is in Los Angeles, CA.  The two older girls had a fun but fast cross- country road trip in August to deliver her and her car, Moon Unit, to film school.  We just watched her first 5 minute film, andc she's working on a longer one.  I'm not sure if I can show it to you though so not posting a link here.  This is her last semester in college, and is like a study-abroad program.  She will graduate in December, at 20 years young.   She had an internship this summer that led to a job offer, so she'll most likely be back in Albany by the new year.

Bekah graduated homeschool in May and is now a Culinary Arts student at SUNY adirondack.  Stop at their restaurant in downtown Glens Falls on a Thursday (after October 11th) and she will make your lunch!  We are so grateful and astounded by all the friends who turned up for her graduation party and celebrated with us, sending her on her way to college.  She works at Bistro LeRoux in Queensbury in a couple different jobs and loves it there.

Asher is in the 10th grade.  I definitely need to update his picture on this page.  He's 15, and his interests include fruit trees and bees, piano and reading reading reading.  He's considering college majors in the engineering field and taking some CLEP tests for college credits this fall.

Serah is in the 6th grade.  This year is middle school!  It's a little bit of a test for all of us to keep her on track when I am not home with her and Asher as much.  So far, so good.  Her favorite subjects are literature/English.  Serah is playing soccer with the local recreational league. That keeps us busy until October.

Perspectives.  Is on hold for a while.  I found last semester that I couldn't be a class coordinator and do a good job as Area Mobilizer at the same time.  So thinking about a class for next Spring, I didn't think I ought to be responsible for it.  And the other trained coordinators in the area are also not at a place in life where they can do that job well and not sacrifice time that their families need.  So, we are not running a class this spring.  That doesn't mean we will never run another one here, but it means that we're taking a break.  Another factor was the small size of the class we had last time.  It seemed clear to us that a sabbatical was in order- but we will still talk about and promote and be in prayer for a future class when God says that it is time.  It boggles my mind to think about all the people we influenced, motivated and even sent to the field from the 5 classes we were able to have in NY and VT so far- more than 70 lives impacted.  I don't believe that's the end of what God is going to do through this class in the Upstate area.  Stay tuned.
And if you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

NYS Vehicle Safety, NOT Lemon Laws

This year, I had the pleasure of learning about New York State Vehicle Safety laws.  It occurred to me recently how much I appreciated having some help along the way, so I decided to write down my experience so that someone else could benefit, as well.

About this time last year, I finally agreed with Todd that it was time to look for a new car.  Some of you may remember that we bought the Saturn at a bank auction back in 2010, when I crashed the Suburban on the Thruway.  Tricia and big SUV's don't mix, and we no longer had a camper, so it was back to minivan land.  But Todd never liked the thing.  Among his complaints: it is terrible in the snow (true), it drops snow all over your seat when you open the door after a storm (also true), and it doesn't like to re-start when it's still warm from the last time unless you pump the gas pedal a little (also true, but who cares?  It starts).  Anyway, last winter we reached the point where I began to suspect it would start costing too much to keep it on the road (things underneath started to need repair), and it was time to go.  We decided we would go shopping with our tax return money.

Todd loves to shop for cars and let it be said he has a heart for underdogs.  So we ended up at a very small dealership that shall remain nameless for the time being.  One guy operation.  They usually sell mostly handicapped vans, but they had a regular Honda Odyssey on the lot.  We liked it.  I noticed when we test drove it that it surged a little while waiting at lights/stopping, but I thought it was a quirk of the car.  It did everything else.  It was actually a little older than the Saturn, but it had fewer miles and a Honda was supposed to be a more reliable high-mileage vehicle than a Saturn.  We weren't finding anything newer that was still in our price range.  After two trips to this place that is further than I wanted to go, we bought the thing (third trip required for pickup).

We were happy for about a week.  It didn't take long for us to notice that the van had a shudder at about 2,000 rpms and 25-35 miles.  It wasn't something we would have noticed in a test drive because we took it out on open road, not puttering through town.  We called the dealer; he agreed to our having the surging bit fixed, and then he asked us to bring the car back so he could have the transmission looked at.  He took it to a big dealership,  He had them flush the transmission fluid, which can sometimes temporarily fix a shudder in the torque converter, but not always and not for long.  It was also clear on the proof he sent me that he didn't actually ask them to look into the problem we had described.

I took the car to Saunders Transmission in Argyle, who confirmed that the torque converter was the source of the shudder and said that the transmission might be ok for a while, but could also fail totally without much warning.  Super.

The dealer offered to take the car back, but he wanted to give us back less than we had paid for it for "mileage" since we had been driving it for a few weeks.  We were willing to do that, but he wanted something like $700.  We pushed back, and he ended up saying he wouldn't take the car back at all, the problem wasn't that bad, and we could file a complaint with Vehicle Safety if we wanted to.

One of the men I work with happens to be retired from working for the DMV and he coached me through the process of filing a complaint against the dealer.  He was also the one who told me I didn't have to let the guy take any money for mileage at all.  He said that when he worked that job, he would only let the complainer pay mileage if the person was a troublemaker/being difficult.  The bill of sale that the dealer signed actually warrantees the engine and transmission for 30 days, and we had proof from Saunders, etc., that we had identified the problem within 30 days.

Over a weekend, I had looked into it and decided that we weren't covered by lemon laws.  Lemon laws in New York State only apply to cars with less that 100,000 miles, and this one had 118,000.  Sigh.  But my co-worker said No, no, no!  He told me to go back to the DMV website and look for a form called VS-35.  Aha!  With this form, I could make a complaint against the dealer based on that 30-day warranty.

So, I filled out the form and mailed it in.  I mailed it around April, 2016 after the work had been done to try to rectify the problem and we had failed to reach a satisfactory agreement with the dealer.  We were conflicted about this, because we didn't really feel that he had known the car had a bad transmission, and tried to sneak it past us.  I felt like maybe he just didn't have the cash handy to buy the car back, being a small dealership.  I didn't want to be a jerk about it, but...I need a safe car and this was not cool.

Luckily, we had not just sold the rusty trusty Saturn.

 We had listed it, but not sold it.  Instead we ended up fixing the wheel bearings and the brakes to make it safe to take on a summer camping trip, because we didn't trust the Honda.  We basically stopped driving the Honda at all, because we didn't want to be stuck paying mileage for whatever we did do.   Over the summer, Todd just drove it to work on occasion to keep the brakes from rusting up.  Meanwhile, while we were camping the Saturn developed a large crack in the windshield that grew at an alarming pace.  We discovered the windshield could not be replaced, because the crack originated at a hole in the frame, and no body shop wanted to fix that part of the frame, considering it too risky,  *Sigh*

Now, if you're paying attention at all you have noticed that I wrote up the complain in April and we were camping in the summertime.  Yes.  The only response I got from the DMV was a preliminary fact-finding call about a month later, and the person who called said that they would forward this to the actual inspector, and it might be six weeks.  Over the spring, the gas pedal also got stuck so that the van gained speed as long as I wasn't pressing the brake, but it came out of that when I kicked it. (Yikes!) In July, I saw my co-worker and his wife at the mall and he gave me a phone number to a local office to call and check the status, which I did.
The inspector assigned to my complaint very nicely looked it all up and told me that it would probably be another six weeks before he got to me, as he had x number of cases before mine and there were only x inspectors at his office, with 15 counties between them.  That was in July.

I got another phone call in SEPTEMBER.  So 5 months had elapsed and we had basically had zero use of this car, while paying registration and insurance on it and continuing to keep the tan van on the road.  We were pretty happy to see that inspector when he finally came to our house one morning to evaluate the car.  We also began to suspect that the dealer had told us to "go ahead and complain to vehicle safety" because he knew we'd have to wait months for resolution, and probably thought we'd have disposed of the car by then.  Well, he played the waiting game with the wrong person.  Todd and the inspector went for a ride in the Honda, the inspector took photos of my file full of proofs, and Todd sent him a file of text messages from the dealer showing the conversation that took place.
The inspector agreed that the complaint was valid (cue angels singing), got in touch with the dealer, and called me back with an offer.  The dealer would a acquire a rebuilt, warranteed transmission from a shop in Brooklyn (the one in New York City), and have it installed locally.  We could bring the car back to him and he'd get that done.  If we agreed with this, the Inspector said, it was the best resolution he thought there could be.  He couldn't really force the dealer to but the car back if he was offering to fix it.  So we agreed.  That was September.

We managed to watch a parade from the back of the van during the few days we had it.  

The moral of the story:  If you buy a used car and it has problems, document well in the first 30 days.  Make a complaint on a form called VS-35, found here.  Be prepared to wait.
Upstate New Yorkers, have you ever wanted to drive to Vermont to buy a car and been told not to because there are no warranty laws over there to protect you?  Well, now you know what the warranty laws in New York will do for you. Not a lot unless you have time on your hands, which most of us don't if our car goes kaput.  DMV inspectors are extremely under-staffed.


And.  We still own both vans.
The rebuild has failed.  Twice.  The Honda has been in Brooklyn since Thanksgiving.
Now instead of a shudder at 25mph, we had a van that dropped out of Drive into Neutral when we slowed down at lights, and even just in traffic.  So NOT COOL.  The dealer is now 10X as frustrated as we are because he has put, he says, $3,000 into fixing this van and it's still not right (he did fix the revving at lights throttle issue).  At last call he said the shop in Brooklyn was denying a problem, and he told them to replace the transmission anyway.  I actually called the Vehicle Safety inspector again a few days before Christmas (co-worker said to) because I was so frustrated that my minivan was still lurking in a shop in Brooklyn and nothing was being done.  My complaint had been closed (during the first two days we had the van back and it hadn't yet tried to kill me in traffic), but he would give the dealer a call anyway and find out what was up.  It sounds like he did that and then actually had a Brooklyn inspector give the shop down there a call, too.  We were supposed to possibly get the car back today, Dec. 30th.  No sign of it.  We've put less than 3,000 miles on the van in 9 months, all the while paying for registration and insurance on a van we couldn't drive.

Family Update- Part I

Because we had for so long written these letters for our family, friends and prayer supporters to tell you of our progress towards the mission field, it’s tempting to stop sending them now.  We’re still the same people though, with the same loves, and we believe you still care about us, so here’s an update on what we’ve been up to. 

In 2013 we attended Annual Conference with our mission agency, and at that Conference, we resigned.  Each time our resignation came up on the agenda, something happened that pushed it back, hour after hour.  By the time our team voted to accept our resignation, I had become a teary mess and headed back to my room to clean myself up. 

It hurt to walk away from WEC for a number of reasons.  We loved that location and the people at the sending base, and wanted to walk alongside them as they elected new leaders and moved ahead in key areas.  More than that, leaving WEC sealed the fact that we’d given up on our dreams and plans to live on a foreign mission field.  That HURTS.  One sweet friend who went through Candidate class with us and happened to be on the sending base that week, back from her first assignment, saw me on campus watching the kids and asked me how I was.  I answered politely that I was “fine,” but she didn’t accept it.  “Don’t lie,” she said, smiling.  “I know you’re not fine.”  How I appreciate that God sent a sister who had recently seen her share of pain and disappointment, with whom I could grieve honestly. 

But we have moved forward in our grief, and I even visited the WEC campus again r last winter and again in the fall, something I thought I would never want to do because of my grief.  Psalms 147:3 says of God, “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.”  Later in verse 11 it says, “The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.” 

That is what we have had to do in the past two years since we made the decision.  With no idea where to turn with our gifts, talents and desire to serve God and see His Kingdom grow, all that we could do was hope.  We hoped that God had better things in store for us.  That He didn’t simply keep us home because we are not adequate to the task of missions or because, as some have said, my Mom was about to get very sick, or for our kids’ needs...rather, we simply had to believe, to hope, that He had a better plan for us.  I will ev

en say that those nearly eight years since we sold our house and became nomads for Christ, bounced from job to job, and even had a terrible, major truck & camper accident, were not wasted but parts of His plan and purpose for our lives.  We may never understand how He will use those things to shape us, although I see glimmers sometimes. 

More than two years have passed, and I do wish I were writing today to say that, aha, we see it now and know where God wants us to go and what He wants us to do.  But we don’t see or know.  How we’d like to!  We’ve run up to a few more dead ends looking for God’s will.  I won’t pretend it’s easy to live like we do right now.  We continue to grieve.  We’re in a better place financially that we had been in quite some time, but still rely on Todd’s parents letting us use this house, to make ends meet.  We’re thankful for the jobs & opportunities God provides, but still long for more meaning and purpose in the daily grind.  I hope that as I write you can hear my heart as I try to balance gratitude and trust with this longing for meaningful work and a home of our own.

2014-2015 Homeschool Reveal

Here we are, at the planning stage of a new school year!
Actually, my planning probably started last March, when I had tax refund money in my pocket and catalogs arriving in my mailbox.  But in another sense, I'm making very few changes this year, so there wasn't as much "plan" to it as usual.  Nevertheless, here it is:

The Sleeping Giant is the one who is Changing.it.up this year.  I'm being cheated of my last year at home with her as well as her last year of school, because she's decided to finish early *and* she's doing half her stuff in dual enrollment.  I'm teaching her hardly anything!  :(

At the start of the year in July she had two English credits left to get, both of which will be taken at the College.  Intro to College Writing happens soon, in Summer Session 2 which starts in two weeks.  She'll take another English credit in her Spring semester at the college.
She also has two History/Social Studies credits left to get.  One of these is the combination of Economics & Government, which she'll take at our local co-op, whether she wants to or not!  I'm thankful that this teacher makes this class available, and I enjoyed the one I sat in on (I didn't help) last year, so I think that will be great.  Her books for that aren't shown in the picture, because I don't have them yet.  The second History class is going to be a Western Civ. class in the Fall semester at the college.
That takes care of the things others are teaching her and her requirements.  I was going to let her stop taking Math and Science now that she has accomplished what the State of NY requires, but she decided on her own that colleges would want more, so she's taking more.  Teaching Textbooks Math has worked really well for her and for me; I don't do anything, which is in an improvement over re-learning algebra so I could discuss it with her a 10 pm, which is when she likes to do math.  That arrangement just wasn't working for me!  This series allows her to work at her own pace and on her own, and her grades are better.  Special thanks to my friends, Katrina for allowing us to try hers and Susan, for selling me the next one in exchange for Chinese lessons.

For Science, the Giant has also decided on her own to take a shot at Physics.  We picked Lifepacs.   I have some experience with Lifepacs and I while I didn't love it, I feel like it would be ok to use for a self-motivated older student for some electives, which is what this is at this point.  I had to spend some money on materials for experiments, but I didn't mind doing that because experiments are what makes Science fun.
And finally, because she realized that colleges want 2-3 semester of language credits, and because every year we try to do Latin and don't, she's doing German by herself with Duolingo and other resources we're picking up at the library.  Her goal here is to eventually take a CLEP test.
Hannah will be continuing with Violin lessons for music credits, and needs two half credits of gym this year.  Her Hapkido commitment has always been enough for her to get the half credit each year, but since she's trying to do two years at once, she applied for some financial help to get a Y membership so she can take up Yoga or some other classes.  

Just for fun She's also doing PSAT and SAT prep books as time allows, because those tests are looming in the fall of this year.  The idea of graduating a year early and doing two years at once came upon us just this spring, otherwise we probably would have taken the PSAT last year.  Live and learn, this kid is my experimental one.

The Girls who Loves to Be Blogged has a light load this year.  Her interest in athletics (soccer and tae Kwin do- she'll be a 2nd degree black belt by spring) made it hard for her to get her classes done last year, so I made this first year of high school a no-electives year.  She will be playing soccer with a local Christian school Aug.- Oct., and the rest of the time spends 6-10 hours a week at her do-jang.  I'm all for letting them focus on things that they love, but some coursework is required and I want to see her be successful in the classes she does take.  So, her load this year is English, History, Science, Math, and Gym.  That's it.  If she's doing well, I might throw in her Health course in the second half of the year (another NYS requirement sometime in high school).

Let me just say here that when I decided to switch to Tapestry of Grace as the core of our homeschool, I envisioned having everyone do it together all the way through.  Just as it makes me sad that The Giant is doing her History and English credits at the college this year, it also makes me sad to say that Tapestry just isn't quite working out for The Girl.  Tapestry is a literature-based curriculum; the Girl is not a big reader.  More importantly, she's not an independent learner. She's a social learner.  What?  And, worse for me, she doesn't like history.  *Sigh.*  Anyway, this past year she participated in an on-line co-op via Tapestry for History, Literature and Writing.  We've been with this co-op for three years.  By the end of the year I became convinced that she wasn't learning much.  I don't mean to criticize any of the other families in our co-op; this is just a learning style issue.  If they were here live and in person, she probably would have done better, but it was just too easy for her to tune out in the on-line environment.  And so, I'm making some adjustments to my beloved Tapestry.

Speaking of Tapestry, we're coming back to Year 1 this year.  This will be my first repeat of a year.  I will have one LG student and 2 dialectics, which is also a first for me.  I'm already getting a little confused checking over my book lists because I am so used to getting ALL the books for every level, but that's all changed up this year.  The books you see are just a sampling of the ones I have purchased and currently have out from the library. As you can see, those stay the same when I switch from The Girl to The Mayor.

So, for History we are continuing with Tapestry of Grace, but I will lead the discussions at home with The Mayor.  They will both be in dialectic.  In the picture are some of the books that are part of our history studies.  The Girl will be doing her Writing/Literature at our local co-op with the same teacher that teaches The Giant's Econ & Govt class.  We had a chat and she said that I can sub in some books from Tapestry lit when the kids have a choice.  We will also start our Tapestry year about a month sooner than co-op begins, so The Girl can start and finish the year with my selections from ancient history.  I am hopeful that a live class full of her friends will be beneficial for keeping The Girl on track this year.  This is my plan for doing Tapestry but seeing her get a little more work done.  For Science, she'll be doing Apologia Physical Science at local co-op.  For Math, I've got the Saxon Algebra 1/2 book but I've also got some concerns about finding time to sit with her every day while she works through it.  If someone wants to volunteer for that job, they can have it.  This year that we've just finished was a tough one for math, and that's all I am going to say about that.
Gym class is more than satisfied by the hours she spends in soccer and tae kwon do.

The Mayor, as I already said, is moving from Upper Grammar to Dialectic this year.  He's a big reader so I'm hopeful this will not be a big deal for him.  We'll have weekly History discussions with The Girl. He's also doing the on-line co-op for Literature at the Dialectic level.  To round out his English class, we will be using Rod & Staff English 6, and we'll use that for Writing as well.  I have been skipping the Writing portion of Rod & Staff or using it only to supplement the Writing assignments in Tapestry, but he finds Writing such a struggle that I am just going to stick with Rod & Staff Writing this year.  Even if he just has the impression that it's easier, because I am not sure that it is, it might help his attitude.  The final piece of his Language Arts pie is Spelling Power.  Tapestry also includes a Church History component that he will do, but I'm also teaching a church history class in local co-op that he wants to participate in.
For Math, he'll be in Saxon 8/7 (we use older versions, I believe Math is Math and I'm too cheap to worry about the newest edition).  What else?  For Science he will be doing the new Apologia Chemistry and Physics for Elementary ages.  This will likely be his last year in the Elementary series and he has done all of the Apologia series except Land Animals.  He'll be doing General Science next year.  Finally, The Mayor will continue Chinese Studies with the Go! Series 200 book.  I teach that, and this year we had another student come study with us, but that student is going to a private Christian School this year and won't have time for this.

The Little Princess is getting serious in her studies now that she's in second grade.  We are about 1/3 of the way through the Saxon 2 Math book.  She finished Explode the Code 4 this year and is a pretty stellar reader at this point, so I don't plan to continue with Phonics.  She's also about halfway or more through Rod and Staff Spelling 2, so once she finishes that we will move to Spelling Power.  She's very excited to be in the Rod & Staff 2nd grade English book this year.  (As an aside, I think starting from the beginning is the only way to do Rod & Staff- it's a pretty intense series, although I will admit we skip some of the lessons that seem to be geared toward addressing redneck grammar issues like double negatives, etc.  You could possibly start it in 5th grade, but no later than that if you want to use the upper level books.  Some people I know also recommend doing half a book per year after 5th grade.)  She definitely needs to do more writing this year, and I also got her a handwriting book.  In addition she will participate a bit more with Tapestry this year, completing maps and reading in her Bible.  I think I will be using Story of the World, which is an Upper Grammar alternate resource, with her for much of it because my library system is short on ancient history resources for her level.  For Science, The Little Princess will use Apologia Botany, which dovetails nicely with Tapestry Year One, as well as taking part in a Science class at local co-op.  That reminds me, she's also participating in a US Geography class, a missionary heroes class and God's World News class at co-op.

Finally, just for balance I am including a picture of all the teacher's aids and guides that I will have on my desk.
It's missing the math guide for The Mayor because we're still using it for The Girl, and after I took the picture I turned around and saw it on the hutch.  Perfectionist, I ain't.
The purple binder is where I store about three weeks at a time of Tapestry notes that I'm using for planning and discussions. It goes back and forth to the library with me because it has the book lists in it.
For my next post, I might show you my color-coding madness.

Summer Opportunity Overseas

We recently got a request for Todd to come along for a tour or two in Turkey this summer.  He is beyond excited to be able to accommodate this request at least once.  The official dates are a little “soft” at this time but it will be about June 23rd– July 9th.  The tour begins in Diyarbakir in the south near the Syrian border.  Todd has been there once before.  The artists for the tour are a hip-hop/rap group CTZN .  Yes, they will share the gospel with rap music.

A skilled soundman is a great thing to have for a hip-hop tour,  as it’s a genre with specific needs.  But there’s a second important role Todd will play this time, as well.  They like to have him drive the tour/equipment busses, and this year that ability is especially needed.  One of our other team members is temporarily without the commercial driver’s license required to drive the van and his licensing test has been delayed.  Since Todd’s been driving a school bus this year, his New York State CDL allows him to drive that van while in Turkey. 

A second tour is available to him in August.  This is with NLM, No Longer Music, a rock drama group that has been going on these tours for years.  He would run technology and help drive for that tour as well.  Whether he goes on that trip depends on whether he can get the needed time off from his summer job, and whether we can get the necessary financial support.  If you’d like to help, please let us know.  We’d also like to hear from you if you would consider going along as an artist or crew member.

These tours are often nebulous things.  Dates change and weather, politics and  public opinion change rapidly.  The team will need to be flexible and ready at all times.  A list of prayer requests can be found on the left.

The Perspectives Class

In my last post (we won't talk about how long ago that was), I mentioned that I was working towards coordinating the Perspectives class.  Things are moving along for the class to happen in the Fall semester, so I thought it would be good to tell a little more about it.

Just a few years ago when we were chatting with some leaders at our missions sending agency, we talked about our feeling that the Christians of our part of NY misunderstand mission work somewhat.  They are somewhat more supportive of what we call need-based ministry- work that cares for felt needs of people who are poor, oppressed, hungry, handicapped, etc.  We felt some resistance to the nature of our music ministry, which focuses more on sharing the truth of the gospel with those who are spiritually poor, oppressed, hungry and yes, even handicapped.  In addition many will argue that the need is so great here at home, we hadn't ought to go overseas to do ministry at all.  Our leadership suggested that we try to get the Perspectives class to come to the area, because it could address some of those concerns and help to broaden the understanding of kingdom work.

At that time, I looked into bringing the course to the area but it seemed like too long and intimidating a process.  For one thing, neither of us had taken the course, although we were familiar with the core teachings.  To coordinate one has to first take the course at Certificate level, which costs some money and takes 4 months.  So that idea was scrapped and we tried to start a Bible study which taught some of those principles through other means.  That was not well attended, and let's face it, Todd and I are not gifted Bible study leaders.  That's why we were trying to go to the mission field in support roles!  But I digress.

A couple of years later, I suggested to the pastor at our new church that we ought to see the course run here.  He agreed and asked if I would do it, but I said I couldn't because the process was too long, and we were hoping to leave for the field.  When that didn't happen, I volunteered myself and the church supported me to go down to Lancaster, PA (that was a long drive all by myself!) and train to be a coordinator.

The job turned out to be a bigger one than I had realized.  My original start date as I mentioned in the last blog was January, but it quickly became clear that we could never do the work required in such a short time period, and at Christmastime.  Undaunted, I have pushed forward, formed a committee, and am about to submit our plans for a fall course.  That's where you come in.

This class is for everyone who loves God.  Although it started as a way to prepare young professionals for the mission field, it's purpose has expanded.  It will train you to be a better pray-er, welcomer, sender and mobilizer.  It is for pastors and people training for ministry, and they can earn M.Div credit for it.  It's for missions committee members, for parents & friends of missionaries, people who have friends or neighbors from other countries, for people who think God is worthy of worship...it's for you.

I don't consider myself a leader.  I've taken gifts inventories- as much as I'd like that gift to show up, it doesn't.  This shows in choices I've made- I don't volunteer myself for leadership, but for service.  For this class though, I am serving by leading.  I got the training, and I have spent the last 10 months, working to build up a support base and a committee.  I'm leading meetings.  I am approaching all sorts of people.  I even went to Potsdam with my friend Kelly last fall and taught one of the sessions for their Perspectives class!  I'm excited that I have formed a great committee and am starting to see some energy around the idea of the class.

I still need help, though.  One position we have not yet filled is that of Prayer Coordinator. Perspectives is a spiritual exercise, and it challenges students to make life change based on what they are learning.  We need it covered in effective prayer.  It would be best if we had someone dedicated to presenting the class for this.  And of course, you can pray for us.
Next, we need students!  Please help me promote the class.  If a member of my recruiting group can come and speak to your Bible Study, adult Sunday School class, missions committee, quarterly meeting, etc., we would love to!  We have a great line-up of instructors for you from all walks of life.  We need to fill the room (it seats 40) to keep our costs for the class reasonable.
Finally, if you can't commit to take the class this time, consider donating to make it possible for someone else.  I have already had young people tell me that they'd like to take the course, but don't think they will be able to afford it (it's a steal at $275 when most college credit courses are $500).  We're not set up for donations yet, but if you let me know I will get you that information when it becomes available, or you can just let someone know you'd like to help them privately.

Please take 2 minutes (you've made it this far) to watch this video and understand more about the course.

What next?

Since we decided that we would not be going overseas (to stay) in the near future, we have both had to seek out a new place in the world.  We need an identity here as well as an income.  For six years or more our identity has been "Pre-field missionary," and we gave up another life to be that; a house, good, or at least adequately paying jobs, schools, etc.  Since then we've been nomads, one foot out the door at all times, borrowed house, temporary/occasional jobs.  That's not enough anymore.  It was never really enough, but because (we thought) it was short term, and God provided in other ways, we were satisfied with it.  It was even exciting.  Now, Todd needs to rebuild his career, and he can't go back to the main one he left.  So, what are we going to do?

Todd took a job working nights at a convenience store.  It doesn't pay much, but it's a job and he thought it would leave him flexible for other things.  Then he also went back to work at the amusement park.  That also doesn't pay much, but at least it's somewhat in his field (sound)- he's a Supervisor in the entertainment department, and he has a lot of fun and a nice tan (on his face anyway).    He is also still participating in the Ministry Apprenticeship Program at our church, and currently having mentoring meetings on the subject of coaching others.
He's also exhausted, and it's not enough.

He spent the spring in training (mostly unpaid) to drive a school bus for a nearby district as a substitute.  A few weeks ago, we was offered a permanent route.  That's pretty exciting because though it's still part-time, it pays nicely, and the schedule allows him free time for other things, too.   School bus driving is not what Todd always dreamed of growing up to do, but not many people can say that they are doing what they always dreamed of doing.   One of those other things is a seasonal leadership job that would go through the end of the year, but he hasn't accepted it yet, so I'm not going to publish it here.

We are excited about God's provision for our family.  If you pray for us, please pray for Todd to have skills at juggling all these various responsibilities.
And then there's me.

I am also working on training for a new position, but I am a long way off from it becoming paid employment, so I am not going to describe that here.  I am however working on a mountain of other new projects, and I thought it would be fun to share about some of those.  They are all meaningful things that I'm pretty excited about, and I could use your help with most of them.

https://class.perspectives.org/psp/about.html

Are you familiar with the Perspectives course?  It's official title is "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement."  This is a 15-week, college credit-level discipleship course that seeks to prepare and mobilize people for involvement in mission work, whether they go, send, pray, welcome, etc.  It covers the Biblical foundations for mission work, historical information about it (most of it fascinating!), strategic and cultural information.  Many people say that it "ruined them for the ordinary."  I took the course on-line through the spring and summer, and in July I went to Lancaster, PA to be trained as a coordinator.  With that, I can bring the course to the Glens Falls region in January-May 2014.  It should be a multi-church effort!  Recruitment now open for members of my coordinating team- I need a prayer coordinator, an instructor care manager (there's a different instructor each week, some from out of town), a registrar, recruitment manager, etc.  Its going to be a lot of work but it's a happy burden to me because I know that this class has eternal impact on the people who take it.  Interested?  You can find out more at https://class.perspectives.org/psp/about.html and please, let me know if you want to help or take the class.  I've become friends with the coordinator of the Perspectives Course taking place in Potsdam this fall, and we can sit in on a few classes up there for a preview.   And please pray for me and my developing team!


Another thing I have gotten involved in that makes an eternal impact is Better Way Imports.
Better Way is a home party-like company.  I am helping to market fair-trade items made by women who have been trafficked.  It is a ministry as well as a small income stream.  You can help by scheduling or attending a party- which I prefer to call an Awareness Event- or making a purchase. It helps to get the word out about human trafficking, and it provides women an alternate way of making a living.  The items I market are unique- bags, jewelry, stationery, journals and other items made from recycled fabric or textiles, sustainably made paper, etc.  It makes me very happy to be involved in something that helps women and children in far-off places, many of whom are victims through no fault of their own, and are finding love through the programs that rescue them and train them in these enterprises.  As a plus, the items are beautiful!  You can check them out at my facebook business page,Better Way Freedom Fighter- Tricia.  
And if you're a fan of the chocolate home parties I was doing last year, don't worry- I'm still available for that, too.

In addition to projects 1-4 above, we're about to start another year of homeschooling and we are in high gear now that The Little Princess is 6 and in the first grade (she got about halfway through traditional "first grade" materials last year, so don't ask her what grade she's going into- it confuses her) and reportable to New York State.  I don't really care about NYS- the point is the "baby" of the family is doing school, too. I am teaching two classes at our local co-op this year (8th grade General Science and high school cooking+) and tutoring one boy in Chinese along with my own boy- all of which is a new experience as I haven't been lead teacher before.  For any of my readers who are classical home educators, I've got a lower grammar students, an upper grammar student, a dialectic student and a rhetoric level student. So, as a friend of mine says, I have a lot of plates spinning.  I definitely drop one from time to time.  Although there are moments when I feel too busy, I mostly feel occupied, in a good way.  Most of this is exciting, can't-wait-to-see-what-God's-gonna-do stuff.  Some of it even lets me feel like I am finally using my college degrees (International Politics and Sustainable Development & Missions and Intercultural Studies), which is nice.

I'm happy to be able to share this information.  Back in March when we went before our church to explain our change in plans, Pastor Ken asked me what's next for us, I didn't have an answer.  At ALL.  We were still wrestling with grief.  And of course we still are- one doesn't set aside 16 years (today's our 16th anniversary, and we were headed for the mission field all along) of working for one goal overnight.  It hurts and we don't understand. So of course it helps to plant a new vision.  We've been encouraged by others' who've laid a hand on our arm and told us their story of loss and re-direction.  I feel confident that we haven't really lost anything; it just doesn't look like we hoped it would.  It's gonna be ok; maybe even more than ok, especially you walk alongside us.  Thanks.

Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

I used to be a recipe cook, but recently I have gotten more creative (brave?).  I tried something today that turned out nicely so I thought I would share my "recipe."  I made this up after scrolling through half a dozen on-line recipes, but it's not really based on any of them.
The occasion:  it's my oldest daughter's 15th birthday and she has some friends over for games.  We were talking about what to have and of course pizza was suggested; it always is.  So was mac and cheese because my mac and cheese is awesome.  Hence, macaroni and cheese pizza!
I used a refrigerated pizza crust, which I normally wouldn't do but hey! it's been a week.  So, I spread the crust on a greased pizza pan and sprinkled it with some shredded mozzarella cheese.

Then I made an abbreviated version of my usual scratch mac and cheese recipe.  Cooked enough macaroni to make about 3 cups.    Melted half a stick of butter, then stirred in about a teaspoon of salt and ground mustard and about 2 Tablespoons of flour.  I didn't measure the seasonings or flour- at this point you are aiming for a wet paste consistency.  Then I added a Tablespoon of parmesan cheese and a cup of milk.  When that made a nice soup I added two cups of mozzarella- this is where is got different from just being awesome mac and cheese, for which I use cheddar.  Mozzarella goes on pizza!

Anyway I cooled that mixture some and spread it on the crust and baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  I considered putting bread crumbs on the top, but we don't have any, so I didn't.
 The kids said it was pretty good and they ate it all so I don't have a pic!  If you try this, let me know what you think!

Changing Paths- For those who don't get our newsletter or facebook posts

Sadly we are sharing with you, our supporters, that we feel it is not in God’s will & timing that we go to the foreign mission field as a family in the near future. As missionaries we willingly agreed to a financial policy which in a nutshell reads “We make no appeals for funds.” We’ve never made our need a focal point of our ministry presentations because we believe that God will move upon hearts to support us independent of our asking. In light of this, we must admit that since He hasn’t so moved over the course of six years, it appears not to be in His will that we should go right now.
We are not quite ready to decide upon meaningful next steps, but we intend to stay as involved with TACO as we have been. We will talk to leadership at our missions agency in the next few weeks about what our technical relationship with them will be; but they will remain in our affections!
We know that missions is a good thing and that TACO is a good thing. We even believe that we are a good thing; as much as any person is any good before God; our marriage is good, kids are good, and our relationship with our church is good. All of these things are very good. It a mystery to us that these things don't come together in the way that we had hoped. But after six years, and especially this past summer of working ardently to raise support to go to the field where we felt we could best use our gifts and talents, we find ourselves no closer. In addition, the nomadic and flexible lifestyle we have lived has begun to wear on us. Our savings safety net is dangerously depleted. Our children have sacrificed friendships as well as material needs and wants. We, Todd and Tricia, separately found ourselves ready to find regular employment for some time.
Although we don’t regret the choices we made over the last few years, we feel grief over the loss, at least temporarily, of this dream, which have nurtured since before we were married.
If you have given to us financially we are so grateful for your support and encouragement. Thank you for investing in this ministry! You have been a great blessing to us with your prayers as well. We hope that you will continue to support the work as the Lord leads and as we are able to participate in events.
Please continue to be in prayer for our family as we reconsider and wait for direction . We want to continue to honor God with the challenging decisions we have to make.

War and Upstate NY

I really enjoy planning field trips that match up to the topics we're studying.  I don't like them to be "special events" that don't make sense- I just love to weave them in.  We live in an area that's a gold mine for a family studying colonial history up through the revolution- in fact, there are historical markers everywhere if you're looking for them.  We made quite the sport of it last spring as we were studying the revolution and the area is littered with "George Washington slept here" type signs.  The street at the end of ours is Burgoyne, crossed by Ethan Allen a mile away- and a range of other names I never recognized as historical until this year.  We're also in the near vicinity of the setting for the novel The Last of the Mohicans, the upper Hudson Valley, and the foothills of the Adirondacks.

So, imagine my disappointment when I figured out that all of the fun historical sites we could visit would be closed until after our school year had ended!  We had a very lame winter last year, so I couldn't even tell myself that the ground would be wet, etc...but none of them would open until mid-May.  So, I wound up cramming visits to all these sites into just a few days.  Until then, we contented ourselves with hunting down historical markers.  Now, I will cram them all into one blog post (long overdue) as well.

 This is one of the homes of Philip Schulyer, who was a general in the Revolution.  Part of the Saratoga National Historical Site borders on the property where my mother grew up, although the house isn't there anymore.  It's in the village of Schuylerville, site of a battle called the Turning Point in the Revolution.  I have passed it many times, and toured the battlefield park as well, but I don't remember ever going on the tour of the house before.
We got lucky that day because we walked up to the house and got a tour guide all to ourselves, while seconds behind us a school bus had pulled up and the kids were headed our way.  The guide said we got their first.  I was happy not to have to share the small spaces or the guide with a group of students.  Midway through the tour, we became exhibit B as they all gaped at us coming down the stairs.  (Ohh, homeschoolers...)
I couldn't take any pictures inside, but a few interesting features I can recall I would like to record.  One is that the sitting room of this house (windows to the right in this picture) boasts original wallpaper on one of the walls.  The others have been made to match it.  Whoa!
Another interesting feature was the little beds. If you've ever been to a historical home and noticed the short beds, perhaps you have been told or guessed that "people were shorter back then."  But according to our young guide, who I really liked but whose name I can't remember, people weren't shorter.  In fact Philip Schuyler was almost as tall as George Washington (who didn't sleep there, though he visited), 6'4".  But they slept sitting up in those days due to some sort of superstition.
The other striking element to me is that the floors in the public areas were lined with a rattan-like coverings which turned out to be the packing materials from the crates of fancy dishes (china) the Schuylers had had shipped over from, well, China.  Reuse and recycle!
One other interesting fact I picked up was that Schuyler's wife was of the family Van Rensselaer.  There are plenty of Dutch names up this way, thanks to the original European colonizers.  But Van Rensselaer is a name associated with another historical building, of which you might find pictures on this blog, and a certain number of my readers might be familiar.  It was a fun little connection to make.  They had 15 children.

 From there we moved on to the Battlefield Park visitors' center.  We found very friendly and outgoing staff, as well as a bookstore stocked with all the books we had just read for our unit.  They also sell a nice supply of local goods like maple syrup, honey and recipe books.  We watched a movie there about the Turning Point and then we played with their hands in exhibit of soldier clothes and a tent like the soldiers would have camped in.  After that, we toured the battlefield.  That costs extra, but I was determined to do this right.  We had brought a picnic, so we found a nice spot to sit and eat.  We were met by another friendly and outgoing interpreter, a retired to teacher who happily told us all about the site.  He also gave us directions to a spot on the lake in Ticonderoga where we could find a heron rookery, but I regret we didn't get there this year.  He also told us that there might be birds' nests in the cannons, which might have become the most memorable fact of the day for the Boy.

I regret to say that once you've seen one grassy field with a cannon on top of a hill, you've pretty much seen them all.  Getting in and out of the car for each redoubt quickly got old, so, we rushed through the remainder of the park.  We had one more stop to make.

 No visit to the Saratoga National Historical Park is complete without seeing this:

 And climbing all the steps to the top.  This was our second trip up the monument, which was 200 steps and is covered with murals of battle scenes.  The view form the top covers the battlefield, the Hudson River on its way to Albany, hills dotted with cows and trees, and a military cemetery with a walking trail.  From there we ran to meet Daddy at a Ben & Jerry's.  It was the last day to use our Groupon.

In mid-June we attended our first re-enactment.  I see more in our future.  This one happened at Bolton Landing on Lake George, and was a French and Indian War event.  British soldiers on land met with French, wearing blue, who arrived by ship from the Lake.  They battled up the hill and then the British beat them back down.  

 There were also Scottish bagpipers and soldiers, and some Native American re-enactors acting on either side.  It was very well-done and the battle lasted about 20 minutes.  Afterwards we were able to visit  the re-enactors' tents, as they were encamped for the weekend.  We learned that the first step in becoming a re-enactor is to pick a war, and then to pick a side, and get the clothing made.  Apparently when we have done that, we can just show up!  It does sound like a fun way to spend a weekend or two each summer.

One of the displays we enjoyed was that of a lady who does costuming and speaks at schools.  We also saw food preparation, and a few vendors had displays for sale.  I thought the pewter chess set was something special.

What do you suppose the marker below is about?   I thought it was about the battle that was being re-enacted, but it isn't.  It's another "George was here."

Another day, we went to Crown Point, NY, another National Historic Park.  Crown Point is on Lake Champlain, a spot that the French and English vied for for years.  I never knew, growing up, just how important this area had been during colonial times.  Though familiar with some of the Revolutionary spots, I didn't realize the trade importance of all those waterways and the richness of fur, lumber and stone that made it worth fighting for.  Although the Hudson River and Lake Champlain aren't attached, and the canal system hadn't been invented yet, the waterways were still the easiest way to transport goods at the time.  So, this spot where we live, just before the Hudson becomes un-navigable, was very important. 

At the Crown Point Site there are remains of both a French Fort (St. Frederic) and a British one, which became an American one during the Revolution but wasn't very important by then.  There isn't much left of Fort St. Frederic, but I took a picture anyway.

As at Saratoga, our trip began with a picnic.  It was a very hot day, so we were excited to pay the small fee and go into the museum to watch a movie about the site.  It was an interactive display that lit up in red flames when it told about the fires that had destroyed the various incarnations of the Fort.  After we toured the museum, which is filled with artifacts pulled from the ashes, we met a man dressed in full French regalia.

There is another site between home and Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga.  We didn't visit there because it costs more than the others and wasn't in the budget.  It is nearly a 2 hour drive to visit these.  I am glad we did though and wonder whether the next time we visit this period of history, I should try to align it better with the seasons so that we can visit the sites at the right time.  

Next Year's Homeschool Plan-Reveal

It's that time of year again, when homeschool moms like me are making their choices for next year.  Actually, I think I'm a bit late in posting this, as I rounded up most of my choices around income tax refund season.  I am convinced that the curriculum companies plan their sales in March and April for two reasons: families are flush with income tax refunds, and burned out and looking for a change at about the same time of year.  But I digress.  

I'm listing my plans for this year.  Perhaps my plans and my explanations of my choices will help you.  We'll start with the Little Princess; her plan is the simplest.  It's a continuation of what we have been doing this year.  She just turned five on Wednesday, so, as far as I am concerned she is ahead of the game at about halfway through kindergarten.  This year, she's been doing about 2 pages a day in Explode the Code 1, and a Saxon Math K lesson every few days.  

The same math book is here because she isn't done with it yet, and she's now working in Explode the Code 11/2, which is supposed to be supplemental.  I didn't know that when I bought it, but considering her age, I think it's a good idea to take it slow.  She'll finish 2 before the year is out, and it's marked Grade 1!  The other reading book you see here is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  We used it this year, and got up to Lesson 25 or so, but the Princess got resistant to it and so, rather than doing battle, I went back to the workbook.  I had dropped the workbook because she was resisting reading sentences, and she's over that now.  So I have learned that switching these out is good, at least for her.   The other reading instruction here is a Between the Lions tape, which I check out at the library as a supplement to whatever we are learning in Reading.  I've also got a Sid and Sam book in there, which is just something I had out of the library for her to work on a few weeks ago when I took the picture.

The real backbone of our homeschool is Tapestry of Grace.  This year we will be doing Year 3.  I only have a few Tapestry books at her level because I don't buy them; there are too many good selections at the library.  What you see here represents the era we are covering- the 1800's- from president John Adams up to William McKinley.  I bought the Abraham Lincoln paper dolls at a going out of business sale locally, and truth be told, they are for me.  

Since I mentioned it, I will tell you where I got all of these books, because learning how to find good books (Tapestry books) cheap is very important to any reader who's a Tapestry user especially.  And I know I'm not the only homeschool mom on a budget!  So...Library, of course.  Number one source!  The only thing I bought new was the Explode the Code workbook.  100 Easy Lessons, Westward Ho! and the others came from Homeschoolclassifiedads.com, Amazon.com or moms selling at curriculum fairs or Yahoo! Groups.  The Abraham Lincoln book by D'Aulaire and the Cherokee book are "found" books- I just had them around or got them out of a free box somewhere.  To do this I had to have a pretty good idea of what we were going to be looking for.

Science is not represented here.  My plan is to have her listen in on her brother's lessons from Apologia's Flying Creatures.  He loves to read to her if she will listen, or I will read to them both and she'll have a coloring sheet.  Handwriting is covered in Explode the Code, but if we need more I will get them from donnayoung.org.  That site also has pages here to go with 100 Easy Lessons.

Now for the Mayor.  I've already mentioned his Science class.  He did part of that book last year, but our local co-op is doing it this year, so he will finish it.  I plan to supplement his Science with materials about the scientific discoveries of the era we are studying in History- the steam engine, the cotton gin, light bulb, vaccine, etc.  

For math, he will continue with Saxon Math.  We were given a full set of older edition Saxon tests a couple of years ago, and although he finds it tedious, it's a strong program that we will continue with.  Math takes him hours every day, but I don't think it's the program's fault.  One problem is that he's ahead of his age, so he's writing out problems with an 8-year old hand that isn't really ready for so much writing.  I hope that this issue improves next year.  

For English we use Rod & Staff; which is an intense program.  It's not hard for The Mayor though because he's been doing it since first grade.  I used the entire Rod & Staff curriculum my first year homeschooling, and English is the only thing I still use.  Now, with the acquisition of Grade 4 this year, I have a complete collection grades 2-8.  We also use Spelling Power, and I got the 4th edition for $3.00 at a curriculum swap this spring.  Writing Aids is a handbook that comes with Tapestry of Grace, and I will use it to teach writing that covers topics from History class.  The rest of the books pictured here, as well as quite a few on our Kobo e-reader, are for History class.  The Mayor will enjoy the activity book, which has word seaches, crosswords, maps and recipes from early America.  Likewise he will enjoy the Oregon trail computer game, which has been revised just a little since I played it in junior high.  

The Girl isn't studying Apologia General Science this year.  There's a very small group her age at our local co-op who are going to take another year to get ready for this book.  I don't know yet exactly what they are going to do.  She's continuing with Saxon math, which she's doing well with this year.  I think the continual review in Saxon is perfect for her.  She got about halfway through Rod & Staff 6 this year because we had to finish 5 and her book was late arriving for 6 (through a used curriculum site).  That was my fault for not following up with the seller.  But Rod & Staff English isn't a program where you can skip the end of the book; it gets more complex each year, so we're just going to work our way through it.  I change up the order of the lessons so that the writing lessons complement the genre we're learning to write.  I also did the Capitalization and Punctuation chapters for everyone in March last year to make sure they were ready for their standardized tests, since that was a weak spot last year (we hadn't gotten to that chapter yet!).  She will also use Spelling Power as well as Wordly Wise 6 for vocabulary development.

One other thing we added this year is a Health book.  I got it at our local sale, and I didn't really shop for it because it's not a major subject.  She'll have to do about two chapters a month.  

For History, she has Oregon Trail and the Kobo like her brother.  I got the bundle of Yesterday's Classics for the Kobo, which we have accidentally nicknamed Bob, and they will share that.  We'll also listen to some of those selections from librivox.org, while in the car.  I am thinking about playing some of the selections from the past year over the summer to bring the Girl up to speed on the Dialectic level readings, because she's moving up this year and it is going to be a challenge.  The thing I am most excited about here are the missionary biographies, some of which I can borrow from church and some that I got at the local sale.  They are inspiring to read, and close to my heart.  She also has a workbook on the Constitution, which I got from paperbackswap.com.  Streams of Civilization 2 is there (found that on a "free" table), for those weeks when I can't find the sources Tapestry recommends.   We are doing our History and Literature with an on-line co-op again.

The Giant will move up to Rhetoric this year as a 9th grader.  It's a great deal of reading, but fewer different books.  I bought a bunch of them from another Tapestry mom a few weeks ago who was finished with Year 3.  That was a great find from a Yahoo! Group.  She will not be doing the Government track, just 1/2 credit US History and 1/2 credit Western Civilization.  

Like her sister The Giant has an Abeka Health book that she will need to do about a chapter a week in this year.  New York requires a half-credit in Health.  

For Science, The Giant will do Apologia Biology at our local co-op.  I got the book and the CD at a sale in April at a very good price.  I still need to order the dissection tools and specimens for the 4 dissections they will do this year.  She's not real excited about that.  She got about 2/3 through Saxon Algebra 1/2 this year and will finish that before continuing on to Algebra 1.  

There's no Rod & Staff book for the Giant; she's reached the stage where they focus on writing and we have Writing Aids and associated resources.  One interesting thing for this year is that I offered to teach all the Rhetoric Level Writing in the on-line co-op. I have four students besides my own, and I'm excited and a little nervous about that.  I have not decided yet which level(s) of Writing Aids to use, since I have 2 10th graders and 2 11th graders in addition to my 9th grader.  She doesn't use Spelling Power either but has Worldly Wise 9.

There's one more subject in that photo and it's Latin.  I'm stubbornly using Ecce! Romani because I used it in high school myself and I like the inductive approach, especially for Latin.  We did about 8 Chapters this year so we'll just pick up from there.  In addition, Fine Arts aren't really pictured but she will be studying them along Tapestry lines as well as taking a Drawing and Painting Class at co-op.  

I realized later I should have taken a picture of all the teacher's guides I will be using.  I'll be managing quite a bit with a student in each of Tapestry's 4 levels, teaching a little one how to read for the first time and helping two transition into new levels.  This is one of the reasons I like Tapestry though; although they are at different levels they are all on the same subject in History and can be combined for many things, such as geography.  But I still have to correct three math notebooks, two health books, English worksheets, etc.  I do get scattered.  We'll get behind schedule, but one of my goals this year is to do more of the hands-on projects that we love but didn't seem to find time for last year.  Check back in the Fall to see if we also get a chance to blog it!