Long Overdue Update...

Apparently blogging is not easy for me, since I've failed to be consistent at all. However, I'm going to attempt (again) to rededicate myself to regular family updates on this site.

Since my last post everything has changed... multiple times.

2008 has been a difficult year for us, along with everyone else it seems. James experienced several months of unemployment. Job searches were stressful and took far too long. In June, he took a job in northern Utah which required a move for our family. We found a beautiful (YELLOW) home to rent in Saratoga Springs right on Utah Lake. We enjoyed the beautiful views of the mountains and lake. We loved our kid friendly neighborhood (especially Micah who was able to spend every afternoon outside playing with friends). We were able to get Tori enrolled in a charter high school that seemed perfect for her because of both their high level academics and their exceptional elective classes. All our kids quickly made friends and made themselves at home. However, James' job didn't work out so well. He decided that it would be best for him to leave that particular company after only a month of working for them and begin the job search again. Another month of unemployment. He was then offered another job with a company that wasn't his first choice of a job, but was an available job (something is better than nothing). After a number of things worked out for us (small miracles), we started thinking that maybe we would be able to stay put for quite some time. However, about 2 weeks after he accepted this second job, he got a phone call from a company in St. George offering him a job. We didn't really consider it at first because we didn't want to move our family yet again. However, after a while we decided we should at least look more seriously at this option in case it was an offer that was too good to pass up. After a lot of thought and discussion and prayer, we finally decided that we would head back to St. George. Everything fell into place. We got a home conveniently located to James' work (he even comes home for lunch everyday!), we love our neighborhood, we are enjoying our ward (in spite of the fact that it's also Shelly's parents ward... hehehe), and the job seems to be going well. So, for whatever reason, we needed to leave St. George for a few short months and then return.

Additional news:

Shelly & Emma finished up their summer tour. Emma cried for a week straight (NO JOKE... she couldn't sleep or eat because she was crying constantly. It drove James and Shelly crazy!). Although they both miss their summer "family", it is really nice to be home full time as a "real family". Shelly is especially enjoying the chance to be a full time mom for a while.

Although Tori had to leave her fabulous school up north, she is enjoying the opportunity to be partially enrolled at the local middle school. She is only taking two classes (theater & seminary), but it gives her a chance to enjoy a different learning environment and a different teacher. As far as her core academic classes, she is taking high school courses through BYU Independent Study. She studies online, submits assignments, takes tests and receives grades and transcripts from BYU just like a regular high school. Their academics are great, and she can finish her classes as quickly as she'd like. In addition, because she is partially enrolled in traditional school, she can still take electives and enjoy some of the "high school" experience. The perfect solution for her!

Emma is being home schooled this year. We had already kept her home for the year when we were up north, so we decided to continue the rest of the year as we'd planned. With one minor change. When Tori went to enroll in a theater class, we decided to enroll Emma in a couple classes as well. So, she is taking two classes as well (theater & film). What perfect electives for our little "drama queen".

Isabel is also being home schooled this year. She was very sad that she couldn't go back to George Washington Academy now that we are back in the area. However, since we'd already purchased curriculum and gotten our schedules set, it just didn't make sense to change everything mid-year. So, she gets to stay home and do school with her mom for the rest of the year. Maybe we'll look into GWA again next year. She's also asking when she can get back to karate. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can get that worked out soon.

Although Micah wasn't quite old enough to start kindergarten this year, he was anxious to have school just like his sisters. So, Shelly purchased some books for him and decided to see how he would do. No pressure. If he liked it, great. If not, he would be no further behind. He has completely taken off! He is doing 1st grade math (easily), enjoying science (we're learning all about insects right now), just finished up a unit study on ancient history (although honestly, we're not sure how much he actually retained on that subject...), almost completely finished with his handwriting book (the one that was supposed to last all year), and is doing really well with learning how to read. He loves doing school and, as long as that's the case, we'll take advantage of it!

So, we know this post is primarily about school options. However, since moving, we haven't gotten involved in much else. So school pretty much rules our lives.

Hopefully the next post will be a little more interesting...