An Ortlieb Family Short Film - 5 Stars!

Turn up your speakers, make it full-screen by clicking on the bottom right of the video screen (if your computer can handle that) and ENJOY!!!

A New School Year, A New Way of Learning

Here we are beginning another school year...well, I can't really say beginning since I haven't really officially started.  September is usually just too nice of a month to lock ourselves indoors and study.  Typically, we get going in October.  Ok, maybe November.  Hey, October is a tough month for our family with all the birthdays, our anniversary, Columbus Day, Halloween, etc.  And then in November there's Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season.  Well, we definitely most absolutely start by the middle of January.  Oh, the joys of homeschooling!

Anyway, I have been mentally and physically preparing for homeschooling the boys and as they are in the early years of their education, it's a whole other ballgame than homeschooling a middle/high schooler.  It takes much more dedication, motivation and effort on my part as teacher.  But I've been very excited about the direction we're headed and the first lesson about homeschooling is this:  if momma ain't excited about teachin', then the kids ain't excited about learnin'.  I've collected a few books on different methods of homeschooling, but I'm knee-deep in learning about the Charlotte Mason method and think I really am a Charlotte-Masonite at heart.  "Charlotte who?" you may ask. "And what does she have to do with homeschooling?"  She was a British educator in the 1800's who revolutionized education by believing in a liberal education for all, not just the rich class.  She firmly believed children were whole persons deserving of respect and should not be talked down to nor read dumbed-down books.  She was a big proponent of using "living" books (books written in a conversational style that sparks interest in a child) rather than using dry factual textbooks for all subjects.  She avoided busywork and developed the study of nature as a key component of education.  She focused on using narration as a tool, believing if a child could explain back to you in detail what you or they just read, they are developing stronger thought patterns and exercising their focus and attention.  After all, if a child can teach something back to you (or anyone), they most likely have a firm grasp of the material.

I really love the idea of using living books for my children.  Since I have always been a book nerd and hope to raise such, I love the practice of reading classics to my children and having them learn to appreciate them as well.  I also like the inclusion of music and art appreciation in the CM method and hope the boys can grow up knowing the masters of art along with well-known composers of music.  Since it only makes logical sense to me, we're also planning on going through history starting in Genesis and going from there using a CM handbook from Simply Charlotte Mason (love this website!) called Genesis Through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt.  The other thing I love about the CM method is most of it can be free by using the internet, the library, etc.  After all, their education curriculum will mostly include classic and vintage books to read.  You may ask what we do for some subjects such as science, grammar or math.  Living books can be found for science (books on such things as plants, insects, animals and bios of scientists and inventors) and grammar tends to come naturally with reading good books (though one can go over the grammar rules in the older grades).  Math is typically the one subject that needs to have a supplemental curriculum (we use Math-U-See which uses manipulatives in the early years).  I did purchase a science curriculum that looks fun and easy for their early years, but I plan on being very relaxed with it and am hoping to put more emphasis on the nature study than going through the textbook.  We also have already begun listening to the audio stories of the Jonathan Park series which teaches creation science in a very entertaining way.  So many fun things to teach and learn!

So I kind of lied when I said we hadn't even started homeschooling.  We have.  A bit.  A couple days a week we do something.  We've started to try to get into a routine of sitting down after breakfast to read our Bible story and go through our catechism.  Catechism? Yes, and we love it!  The boys are doing impressively good with it.  We came across a little catechism book for kids with cartoons at the last homeschool conference. Every time we sit down to do Bible, the boys learn the questions and answers  in the book thereby learning the very fundamentals of the doctrines of their faith.  At this point they have memorized and can recite each answer to every question halfway through the book.  (My favorite question and answer they've memorized and somewhat understand is: "What is sin?  Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God."  Yes, they actually know that and will repeat it if you ask them.)  We're also hoping to start a Scripture Memory System suggested by the CM website that will help us to hide God's Word in our hearts. 

We also have started handwriting by using the curriculum A Reason for Handwriting which appealed to me as it was learning how to write (print and/or cursive) by copying Scripture.  I'm not sure how CM it is for them to learn and practice their letters, but for now it's working and the boys are liking it enough to continue. 

Charlotte Mason was also a big believer in teaching the discipline of good habits.  Through short lessons, narration, the study of virtues, etc., the children will learn good habits of attention and good character as well as maintain their love of learning.  On the subject of virtues and good habits, I'm hoping to use a book I picked up at the homeschool conference called For Instruction in Righteousness.  This very thorough, jam-packed instruction guide includes every vice under the sun along with the verses that speak about that particular sin and the blessings/cursings that go along with avoiding/enacting that sin.  I hope to use the book not only as a teaching tool for homeschooling but as a discipline tool as well.

So that's our homeschooling plan for this year in a nutshell.  Being a veteran homeschooler now for 6 years, I understand things can change quite easily and drastically - curriculum can be abandoned, methods changed, new ideas brought forward - but I hope to implement the CM way into not only our studies but our life as well for isn't that the point of education?  That one becomes the other and vice versa?  Happy learning!

An Apple a Week...

It's been awhile since I've updated you on the results of my HCG protocol.  It has now been about 11 weeks since stopping the HCG drops and going into the maintenance stage.  I have maintained the weight loss for the most part though I continue to have one steak and apple day a week.  I've been told this is not typical and that I may be eating trigger foods (foods my body doesn't tolerate well) so my body is having a hard time keeping the weight permanently off without that little bit of extra help.  Trying to identify the trigger foods has been hard, but I continue to be treated for allergies/sensitivities to foods (thanks to AATC) and have recently been treated for sugars and grains (including the biggie, wheat). I'm hoping eventually these triggers will clear and I won't have to continue with my weekly steak and apple regimen. 

I continue to enjoy my smaller dress size and my feeling of health and vitality.  Inspired by a friend's photos of her amazing weight loss of over 40 lbs. (Congrats, Teri!!!), I'm including a picture of one of my before-and-afters so you can see the difference even just from the back.  If you're even considering doing this diet, I would not hesitate.  The program from Pure, Simple Health just announced an amazing end-of-summer special - just let them know I sent you.  I would highly recommend taking advantage of it.  Good luck!

My First Steak and Apple Day

Maybe it was the doughnut I had Friday morning.  Or maybe it was the banana and walnut pancakes my husband lovingly prepared on Saturday morning for the family. Or maybe it was the amazing and plenteous Greek food I pigged out on Saturday night with all my girlfriends (Opa!).  Maybe it was everything put together, because today I woke up for the first time over my two pound limit. {gasp!}  When one completes the HCG diet, one is instructed to carefully and religiously weigh oneself every morning before breakfast. If one's weight is more than two pounds over the recorded weight on the last day of the vlcd* stage, one must perform a "steak and apple day."

"As long as their weight stays within two pounds of the weight reached on the day of the last injection, patients
should take no notice of any increase but the moment the scale goes beyond two pounds, even if this is only a
few ounces, they must on that same day entirely skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the
evening they must eat a huge steak with only an apple or a raw tomato...

It is of utmost importance that the meal is skipped on the same day as the scale registers an

increase of more than two pounds and that missing the meals is not postponed until the following

day. If a meal is skipped on the day in which a gain is registered in the morning this brings about an immediate

drop of often over a pound. But if the skipping of the meal - and skipping means literally skipping, not just

having a light meal - is postponed the phenomenon does not occur and several days of strict dieting may be

necessary to correct the situation."1

 

So here I am having my first steak and apple day because this morning I happen to weigh 0.4 ounces over the allowed weight range. So no breakfast, lunch and snacks for me today. I did make myself some iced tea this morning and have been trying to drink as much water as possible.  My highly anticipated steak is right now defrosting, and my Macintosh is cooling in the fridge.  Let's hope there's not too many of these days ahead of me...

* very low calorie diet
1. Pg. 36 of Pounds & Inches by Dr. Simeons

Update on the HCG Diet

It's been over three weeks since I ended the vlcd* stage of my HCG diet (eating only 500 calories a day while taking HCG drops), and I thought it time to update you on where I am now.  I've finished step 3 of the diet (the maintenance stage) which is slowly introducing all foods back into my diet while staying away from carbs and sugars.  About one week into step 3, I must have overdone the introduction of fats into my system as I suffered my second gallbladder attack ever.  Knowing that a common causation of gallbladder attacks is losing a major amount of weight (or gaining it) quickly, I should have been more careful about what foods I was eating.  The attack sent my body into a 24-hour fast and more weight loss, however I've regained the weight lost and am now very careful about what I eat.  After a thorough check-up (including a complete blood panel done), my doctor has declared me healthy and is impressed with the progress I've made.

Besides the "forced" fast I experienced, I'm happy to say I have yet to have a "steak and apple day" as my weight has never gone over the two pound mark from my last weigh-in over three weeks ago (and this with eating some carbs within two weeks of ending the vlcd - hey, what else is one supposed to eat when they can't have fats (i.e. eggs, cheese, etc.) on top of everything else because of gallbladder issues?).  I may have introduced carbs and even some sweets into my diet one week earlier than I should have, but I haven't had any negative repercussions from this yet.  With that said, without my health issues/concerns, I would have stayed strictly within the guidelines for the maintenance stage as recommended.  This diet is certainly not one to cheat on even a little bit so if you're going to do it, do it right!

The HCG diet journey may have been a mentally tough one for me, but here I am down 20 pounds.  With 31.5 inches lost (yes, a couple more inches lost since I last measured), I'm three dress sizes smaller.  Many have commented on my weight loss and ask me how I feel about it.  Of course, I feel wonderful!  But looking at photos of myself now, I finally recognize myself.  It was very hard to mentally accept the old me in past photographs and facing the reality of what I truly looked like was always a surprise (I'm really that big? Nooooo!).  In the photo above, I'm wearing a dress I last wore on my wedding day (it was my going-away dress).  All I can say is it's nice to have me back

P.S.  I'm trying to muster up the courage to post some before and after photos of me so you may be able to convince me for solely scientific purposes to mortify myself by showing you my before and afters. :)