The Byrd Academy

January 15th, 2008

  Todd:  His business is still trucking along okay.  It's a little slow, but just when we start to panic, we get a job.  God has certainly provided during these difficult economic times!  He's also fixing a friend at church's 67 Camaro.  He's like a little boy working on that thing!  It's in our garage and is kept covered when he's not working on it.  We're not allowed to touch it as we walk by...

Me:  I've been a very busy knitter this month!  I had a lot of orders for hats, mittens, and scarves, not to mention the family gifts that I made.  I also started a new quilt project just for myself.  It's a celtic letter "B" that's going to be a wall hanging over the couch.  I've included a picture attachment of it, in case anyone's interested in seeing it.  Anyway, I've been really having fun with that!  I'm thinking of doing a family crest too.  I seem to go from project to project.  I was going to start a quilting class here at the house for the girls who are 9 and up, but I think I'm going to help a little bit with making costumes for the Shakespeare play, so I'll put that on hold for a while.

Michael: Is doing "okay" in public school.  His science, technology, literature, grammar, and history are going very well.  He's got B's in most of his classes.  And then there's the math.  It is devastating to see your child go from a 98% average in math at home to a 70% at public school.  I had a meeting with his math teacher and the student counselor yesterday where they explained to me that they are teaching all of the concepts at the same time and are not revisiting them again in that year.  So the next time they'll see them is next year (no review)....where because they have combined Alg 1, Alg 2, and Geometry and are teaching them at the same time freshman year, and so many children are flunking, that they didn't even give them a math grade this past quarter.  They're just going to work with them through the year and give them one grade at the end.  Because they changed the way they teach math, the children who are starting 6th grade are fine, but the children starting the new program in 8th and 9th are having a difficult time.  Its a good thing I put him in now, where he can get used to it.  So anyone out there considering putting their kids in public school in high school, are in for a rude awakening.  His math teacher doesn't like it at all and has a 9th grader who has been struggling!  Anyway, after our meeting, I felt a little better.  If he doesn't pass the CRCT, then he'll have paid for math summer school.  The bus actually picks you up at the house in the morning and drops you off at noon.  They'll get three hours of math during the summer.  If he just squeaks by, then I have the option of paying for summer school.  That's our government for you! I can't tell you of the parents that I've met who are paying for tutoring right now.  Mediocrity is perfectly fine.  For grammar, he had worked so hard on learning the mechanics this year at home and his teacher told him that they don't concentrate on that anymore.  Figures....Heavy sigh...

Hannah:  Hannah has had a blast having some time off!  We've jumped right back into our "odd" numbered month schedule, which consists of math, poetry, grammar, art, typing, spelling, writing, spanish, and piano.  For math, she is using Teaching Textbooks.  I've jumped her up to 5th grade for that and its going incredibly well!  For poetry, she just reads any poem that she wants from the book of 1000 poems that I have.  It's not important to me that she study one person or type of poem right now.  I just want her to get used to reading it.  Language arts is still trucking along really well with Analytical Grammar.  She's learning so much!  For art, we've finished up Michelangelo and are going to be moving on to Renoir.  Art for us is very laid back.  We mostly study a person peripherally and try to copy some of their work.  We're using All About Spelling (Kim P recommended it) and are getting ready to start the 3rd book already!  She knows the majority of the words from the beginning books, but I thought it was important to review the spelling rules.  And to do that, we had to start at the beginning.  It is a little frustrating for her because she feels like the words are beneath her, but she understands why we're doing it this way.  I think the 3rd book will be a little more challenging for her.  It was still shocking to me when she would get words like "brake" brack.  When I asked her to recite the "long vowel" rules, then she immediately saw her mistake.  THAT'S what I LOVE  about this spelling program.  She's also doing a lot of writing with Writing Strands 3.  It's not heavy heavy writing, but it is helping her put her thoughts on paper, and that's what's important to me.  We're still using Power Glide online for spanish. 

Katharine Rose:  She's still doing tap/ballet, games and activities, and story time at Timothy in woodstock.  She LOVES it!  The Storytime class uses the Before Five in a Row series and she has been having a lot of fun with that.  The teacher does a lot of lapbooking, which I'm going to attempt this year with her.  It seems like a lot of fun.  She's also been getting to get together with her best friend Samantha.  They are so funny together!  I just love to sit and listen to their conversations. 

December 2008

This month we have been pretty busy with school, shopping, working, sewing, and knitting.  Then the month took somewhat of a dive when Michael got sick... 

We started out the month going to the Bethlehem Walk at First Baptist Church in Woodstock.  We had a great time and they do a fantastic job of recreating how things were in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the live camels, llamas, sheep, goats, and other animals that were there.  They got to taste some unleavened bread and bought some fruit with their shekels that they were given at the gate.  They had to be careful not to draw the attention of the guards though!  They'll take you away if you're not careful!

Mama & Papa Byrd came with Paige & Eric & the kids and so we got to see most of it with them.  The kids always enjoy spending time with their cousins and grandparents. I highly recommend this to anyone who would like to give their kids a realistic view of life back then for their kids at Christmas time. 

We had our neighborhood Christmas lights on the 14th.  Its always nice to see the neighborhood lit up with lights along the road.

This is where the month started to go a little down hill.  Michael started feeling badly on the afternoon of the 14th.  He was coughing and had cold-like symptoms.  I made him go to school on Monday, but by the afternoon he was feeling pretty crummy.  He got a fever that night.  By Tuesday afternoon he looked really bad, so I took him to the Dr.  She did a blood test to check his white count, did a strepp test, and a flu test.  They all came back fine.  She said he had a virus and just had to work through it.  He did have quite a bit of nausea, so she gave him something for that so that he wouldn't get dehydrated on top of it all.  Poor little Pooky Bear.  So he missed the entire week of school.  His teachers were great and he didn't have a lot to do that week anyway other than a couple of tests.  They said he could do those when he got back.  He didn't go to his dad's that weekend because he was still pretty sick, but he started feeling better by the 24th.  By then, Katharine, Hannah & I had gotten it, had fevers, and were feeling pretty rotten.  The girls were feeling a little better for Christmas Eve, so we did make it to Christmas Eve service, but we ended up not going to Curt & Michele's that night, because I still had a fever and wasn't up to it.  We didn't go to Paige & Eric's the next day either.  The kids just had a quiet day at home enjoying their presents.  All in all it ended up being a very quiet time.  Sometimes its not such a bad thing to be forced to rest.  We hadn't gotten to go see Santa because Michael was so sick, so we had done that on Christmas Eve at the last minute.  Katharine was very scared of him, so the whole family ended up getting their picture taken with Santa.  We never did get to go ride the Pink Pig.  That was the first time we didn't ride the pig!  Hopefully next year we won't have any illnesses! 

November 2008

Well, it's been pretty interesting around here this month.  We went to Disney World with Todd's family this past week.  The kids really had a blast.  Todd and I had dinner reservations set up for us and little Katharine Rose at Cinderella's Castle Tuesday night, which is the best day to go to Magic Kingdom because of the parade and fireworks.  The Christmas lights were all lit up and it was just a magical place to be. 

 

I have to tell you a story that chokes me up a little bit every time I tell it.  We went to the Magic Kingdom on Monday morning.  You can imagine how challenging it is with 12 people.  Just making sure that everyone is on the same potty break is tricky.  Anyway, Snow White usually sits right inside the gate on the right, but we were trying to get to a couple of other things and couldn't stand in line for the length of time that we would have had to to see her just then.  We decided we'd come back later.  So the rest of the day was pretty un-eventful and my sister-in-law's family and my mother-in-law had left because the baby needed a nap, and Todd, Hannah, KayRose, Pop-Byrd, and I were wandering back toward the front gate, when I noticed that there were only 3 people in front of where Snow White stands.  I asked the photographer when she'd be back, and he said 5 minutes.  So of course, we jumped into line.  Now you have to know that my father-in-law is a wanderer.  He's the worst person to take with you to a crowded place, because he wanders off and you're constantly left looking for him.  It drives Mama Byrd crazy!  So Todd went to the bathroom, Pop Byrd wandered off to some rocking chairs about 30 feet away, and Hannah went with him.  I was trying to keep an eye on both of them, when Pop Byrd caught my eye and told me that a park worker had asked Hannah if she would like to meet a special princess.  the worker was taking Hannah into the building, so I had him come over and take my spot in line so I could follow her and find out what was going on.  I was a little worried when KayRose and I went into the building and couldn't find Hannah.  When I told a worker in there what had happened, he pointed me to some rooms off to the side and in back where they said she went.  Well, when I went into the room, there was Hannah having a private meeting with none other than Cinderella herself.  So both of the girls got to meet her and spend a few minutes with her chatting.  It was the sweetest thing you've ever seen.  Katharine walked right up to her and gave her the biggest hug and told her that she was going to be eating dinner at her house.  Cinderella was so great with the girls.  She knelt down and talked so quietly and sweetly to them.  It is really a magical place where dreams really can come true.  It made the girls feel so special and It is something that we will never forget!  Then when we went to Dinner at the Castle Tuesday night, she remembered little Katharine Rose.  It was truly a magical time.  So I told Mama Byrd that she can't ever complain about Pop Byrd wandering again, because if he hadn't wandered over to the rocking chairs, the worker wouldn't have met Hannah!  Check out the photo album with the pictures. 

 

 

Now about school and other things:

 

We've changed a couple of subjects and moved a couple of sub jects.  We're still doing our school in blocks.  It seems to be going pretty well.  Here are the particulars for all of us:

 

Todd - He's in "MIGHTY HUNTER" mode.  He loves to go deer hunting, so he goes every weekend that we  don't have plans.  And I am under a serious request to have as few plans as possible until deer hunting is over.  The remodeling business has slowed down some, but we've got a couple more prospects, so hopefully that'll keep us trucking along.

 

Shirley - I've been working a lot more hours on my dealership work.  I've finished the service department schedule, and have moved on to the body shop.  I enjoy the challenge of fixing accounting problems, and dealing with insurance companies is quite the challenge.  I've also been knitting and selling a lot of hats, mittens, and scarves.  My little side business is keeping me in spending money, which is a big help right now!

 

Michael 13 - He's doing "okay" in Public school.  I was not very impressed to find out that he gets a 100 on every math homework that he does, regardless of whether he gets any of the answers correct.  So if he bombs a test, he still passes the course.  Heavy sigh....Isn't that just like Government School?  Anyway, he's struggling a little bit in math.  I've found out that some of what they've covered this year, Michael did last year.  Other parts of his math are completely new to him, so he's done poorly on a couple of tests.  They do it in a totally different order than we were, so we've got to catch him up with what they've covered this year that we hadn't already done.  At least the over lap of what he did last year, will help him catch up faster.  The good thing is that their math book is on line and it has interactive problems that they can work.  He seems to like it.  As much as he can anyway.  His other subjects seem to be doing well.  He really enjoys his science, history, and technology classes.  Theyre a little more fun and keep his interest better, but he's gotten in trouble with me for not turning in a few assignments, which earned him zeros, so I've given his cell phone to his sister, which was the meanest thing I could think of to do. mwhawww haww hawww (evil laugh).  Its about to drive him crazy trying to earn it back from her.

 

Hannah 9 - She is doing really well this year.  She has done so well in math, that I bumped her up to 5th grade math.  We're using Teaching Textbooks, which she loves.  Their software is interactive, so she just types in her answer and it grades her immediately.  If she gets it wrong, it tells her where she went wrong.  It has a grade book and everything.  What a fantastic curriculum.  We've also switched her spelling curriculum as some of you have heard me talk about in another blog.  We've switched to All About Spelling.  She is on book 2 and is progressing rapidly through that.  Its amazing how fast she has grasped the rules.  Of course, she is a "rules" girl.  ;o)   She's having a little bit of trouble with grammar, as certain words can be an adjective or a noun, depending on how they're used.  She likes words to fit into a nice little box.  Analytical Grammar makes her think a lot harder about what job the words are doing.  I'm a little nervous about taking the month off, so I'm thinking of taking an hour a week to recap grammar and spelling rules during our "off block" month.  Timothy classes end Dec 2nd, so I'll be looking at the new schedule to figure out what we're going to do for the winter classes.

 

Katharine Rose 3 - Little KayRose is still having a blast with her "letter of the week".  We did "Cc" last week, in anticipation of her visit with Cinderella.  She is really doing great on her letters and loves doing "school" like a big girl. 

 

October 2008

October blog

September 2008

September update.

8-15-08 Our 10th Anniversary

Well, this weekend was our 10th anniversary so we decided to spend it touring the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.  We had a great time touring the house and grounds.  I really never realized how big the place is.   It is three miles from the front gate to the house!  It used to be 125,000 acres!  It is just full of amazing history, which Todd and I both are very passionate about.  We've always wanted to go and are really glad that we did.  We got a few pictures of some views, but we weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside.  Of course, we had to sneak a few in....;-)  All in all we had a great time and are really glad we went. 

8-11-08 School Starts

     Well, after doing nothing more than math this summer, we've officially started doing school on the rest of our subjects.  Michael is doing Teaching Textbooks for math, Lightning Literature for Writing and Lit, Analytical Grammar for grammar, and Apologia Science for Physical Science.  Hannah's doing Saxon Math for math, Writing Strands for beginning writing, Junior Analytical Grammar for grammar, and Jennie Fulbright's Zoology 1 Flying Creatures for Science.  They're doing more than just the subjects that I've mentioned, but that's the meat and potatoes portion of it.

     They're  also doing some classes at Timothy Ministries at Woodstock Baptist Church.  Michael's doing his Physical Science class there (Praise Jesus) and he's also taking Strength training.  Hannah's taking a Beautiful Girlhood class, which teaches girls about having good self-esteem and seeing themselves as perfect in God's eyes.  I LOVE it.  She's also taking a Beginning violin class, which she seems to enjoy so far, and lastly she's taking gym.

     Little Katharine Rose is taking three classes.  Tap/Ballet, which is the cutest thing you've ever seen, Games and Activities, and Story time.  She is so impressed that she's going to "big girl school" as she calls it.  She really enjoys playing with the other kids and getting to play games with them.   

8-5-08 Michael's First Job

Michael got his first job!  Michael wants to raise money for his youth group 3D conference held at Disney World this January, so we sent out a flyer (Download Mortimer.doc ) to a few neighbors to try to drum up business. 

Mrs. Moran lives down the street and told him that he did a great job and that he shouldn't have any trouble getting more customers based on how good her yard looked.  What a great compliment!  We're so proud of you Pooky Bear!

 

8-1-08 Bald Cardinal

                             What in the world?  I was looking out the window and low and behold, there was a female cardinal....COMPLETELY BALD! I looked it up on line and it said that every now and then, a bird will get infested with mites and they will lose all of the hair on their head.  Poor little thing!  This was definitely a first for me!

7-26-08 Mama & Papa Byrd's 50th Anniversary

Paige & Eric and Todd & I had a lovely anniversary party for Mama and Papa Byrd on the 26th.  It was their 50th Anniversary.  They are such wonderful people and I can only hope that Todd and I will still look at each other the way they do in 50 years!  They are such an inspiring couple. 

The party was held at Paige & Eric's house.  There was plenty of food and wine and there were a lot of people who came from out of town.  It is always great to catch up with the North Carolina Byrd's as they're such a great bunch.  There were also a lot of familiar faces from church.  The kids had a great time riding the tractor that Todd had refurbished.  Ron did a great job driving the kids around and giving them rides on it.  They were completely worn out by the time we went home that night.