New Year -- New School Plan

We are two days into our new school schedule--so far, so good. However, I have learned to not count on 2 days being a predictor for future days. Tomorrow will throw a wrench in our day as it is the day I have staff meeting and Snickerdoodle (a/k/a "The Daughter") has riding lessons right in the middle of the day.

I have started using a workbox system for DS #2. He seems to be liking it. He likes to work through the numbered boxes. I have to find stuff to put in each , but that makes it more exciting.

DS #1 is using his new history curriculum. We LOVE it. I wish that Notgrass would come out with curriculum in every area. But I still have Math-U-See.

Snickerdoodle is working hard on her science and Starting Points. She is getting a head start on her assignments for Starting Points and, as usual, I am very proud of her.

The husband and I got to exercise together yesterday and today, first thing in the morning. We hope to continue that. I actually made the kids breakfast both mornings--no cold cereal, although we love cold cereal. But the point here is to keep tummies full until lunch time so we don't get derailed by scavenging for food.

Hope we can keep it up. It takes 7 weeks to form a habit, right. Yikes! Two days down, 33 more to go.

Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

"Hi, my name is ****, and I am a recipe-a-holic"

*I don't use my real name on my blog, so . . .

I have a bit of an obsession. I LOVE recipes. Used to be I would surf the web and e-mail myself recipes. Matter of fact, there are eleven pages of recipes in my recipe folder on my e-mail account. Now, well, now I have Pinterest. I should make a resolution to actually make the food represented by these recipes, but that will never happen. I use them occasionally, but I will never get around to using them all. I will say, it is a much cheaper hobby than some. I get to enjoy the wonderful looking food and I don't gain a pound. But, seriously, it is a little crazy.

*sigh*

Next Year Will Be Different

Christmas day has come and gone--yet still let's keep the spirit living on.

From Thanksgiving weekend until now, my life has been a whirlwind of holiday activities and the business of regular life. I finally feel I can breathe--at least for a day or two before I have to dive into the second half of the school year.

We had a good Christmas, but not a wonderful Christmas. The kids are happy. The husband and I are happy, but I am left with a feeling of unease. Things will have to change next year.

Next year, we will focus more on the reason for the season and the beauty that comes from such reflection. Top on my list is to take my children to a live performance of Handel's Messiah. This year I only heard a small snippet of The Hallelujah Chorus in the lobby of a hotel. I do not think that is sufficient, and besides my children do not even know what Handel's Messiah is.

Next year, we will open our immediate family gifts with just our immediate family. I love to take our time opening gifts, savoring each one whether it belongs to you or not. We open one gift at a time and enjoy each other's receipt of the gifts. Alas, our family is growing and there is too much noise and confusion. We love to open gifts with everyone else, but we don't have to share in ALL of the opening. We will exchange gifts with our loved ones and open those gifts together. The gifts that my dear husband and I exchange and those that we give to our children will simply be enjoyed with the ones with whom we share daily life.

Next year, I will start planning in advance--12 months in advance to be exact. That is exactly what I am doing with this post. I do not want December 1, 2012, to creep up on me without a solid plan in place. Lists need to be written and edited throughout the year. December is an extremely busy month. The first weekend of December this year, I was in charge of our children's Christmas program at church and while it is so enjoyable to see the children up on the stage putting their spin on the program that has been laid out for them, the planning and execution are stressful. Even though it is in the Lord's service, it is still stressful. The second weekend of the month, we had two parties to attend. They were very enjoyable and we had a blast, but it was still activities outside our own family's celebration and they were the source of more hurrying around. The third weekend of the month, the children had sports competitions and DS#1 got the opportunity to attend his first ever lock-in. We were shuttling kids back and forth--very early in the morning, I might add. Making sure tummies were filled and all necessary items were in the possession of whomever might need to possess them. In the middle of that, I took a beginning photography class (the location of the aforementioned hearing of The Hallelujah Chorus)--it was wonderful and I am so glad I took it, but again, hurrying around.

Then, low and behold, Christmas week was upon us. Our tree was not up. I was in a state of confusion as to exactly where we were in the month. Now THE DAY is over and something just doesn't feel right. I felt like I was swimming through mud trying to bask in the joy of the season--the reason we celebrate. We attended a Christmas Eve service at a church other than our own for the simple reason of my wanting to just enjoy the service without thinking about work. It was a change--it was very different from what we were used to, but I think I captured a little of the blessing of Christmas; still I want more.

Next year, things will be different.

Homeschooling--Finding Curriculum that Works for You

We are in our 9th year of homeschooling. We (and by “we” I mean “I”) have floundered from year to year. We started homeschooling because we simply did not trust anyone else with our children. We do not agree with/like a lot of the things public school teaches and we did not want to submit our children to the public school's version of these things. Our thinking then morphed into “We can provide a better education for our children at home.” I still agree with that. At home we can tailor their curriculum to fit their learning styles and interests.

We started out using Abeka. I had a 3 year old and a nursing 1 year old in addition to my kindergartener and I needed easy. I thought easy was something that told me what to do and say and when I should do and say it. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Abeka homeschooler. But God had different ideas. I was introduced to Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. God tilted our homeschooling world and set it to spinning. We ditched the “drill and kill” Abeka math. Don't get me wrong, Abeka is a great curriculum and children gain a wonderful education with it. However, for us, it just wasn't working. I didn't see the point in frustrating my children with 20 long division problems at one sitting. I discovered Math-U-See. Thank God for Mr. Demme, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Please, please, PLEASE come out with Science-U-See, History-U-See, Grammar-U-See, etc. Math-U-See is short, simple and to-the-point. I have learned so much, like, WHY we do what we do in mathematical operations. I have had several “Ah ha moments” with this curriculum.

Then we turned to our grammar program. We had a few false starts. Learning Language Arts Through Literature sounded wonderful, but after a while it just got too boring and tedious. Then I discovered Easy Grammar. O.K., so maybe there is a Grammar-U-See, it is called Easy Grammar. And, boy, is it easy! I actually enjoy looking for parts of speech in sentences. We did deviate for the daughter this year and went back to Abeka grammar, but I wish we hadn't. There have been several occasions when I have said to her, “Get rid of the prepositional phrase, the answer will jump out at you.” I mean, giddy excitement on my part to discover that simpler really is better. Grammar should be grammar, not art class. (Unless you are the artsy sort, then, by all means, turn grammar into art.) I can't stand trying to draw all those lines to put parts of speech into their correct place. I am referring to diagramming—I can't abide it. We will do a little bit of it at some point because I want my children to at least know what people are talking about, but for now, I am all about getting rid of those prepositional phrases and going on a noun, verb, adverb (you get the picture) hunt.

I did find Science-U-See. It is called, get involved in a science co-op. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful lady who is teaching the daughter and several other children using Apologia science. I have some science stories that I will share soon. Science and I don't get along so well.

History-U-See? Well, probably that would be Sonlight. But I have a slight problem. I fall asleep during read alouds. Not polite when someone else is doing the reading. Downright troubling when it is I who am doing the reading. I love the concept of Sonlight, I simply struggle executing it. Hey, I'm a busy mom. I stop moving and start listening to a voice droning on and on, and my body thinks it is nap time. Bad, bad mommy-teacher.

My conclusion: find a curriculum that works for you. Better yet, find a curriculum that you can work with. You and your children will be happier. They will learn. Life is our classroom.

True Confessions

Somehow I tell a better story than I write. Maybe I am out of practice. Maybe it is the fact that when I verbally tell a story, I have a live audience. But I want to be able to transfer that skill to paper (or computer screen as the case may be). I thought I would give it a shot here. Try to write out the story of my day as I would verbally tell it. Maybe it will stretch me a little and get me back into the practice of writing.

My morning started like most mornings. Up by 6:00--check e-mail, fold a little laundry. Presumably I would get to exercising by 7:30. Nope. I do not like to exercise. I do not like it here or there, I do not like it anywhere. Even though I make myself actually do it 4 to 5 times each week, I do not usually enjoy it. I may enjoy parts of it, but never the full session. It is just one of those things that has to be done.

So I did not get around to exercising until 9:30--procrastination, baby! DD and DS#1 were awake by this time. They got their breakfast and got to work on the assigned school work. DS#2, still in bed. Not a bad thing for the rest of us. The house was quiet. We were all doing our thing. All of that changed at 9:45. DS#2 woke up. Within 5 minutes he was asking me for the keys to our vehicle. Why? Evidently he had left some of those teeny, tiny DS games in the truck. You know the ones. The things that are approximately 1" by 1.5" and cost upwards of $35.00+. Who came up with that design?!!! Someone who does not have children, that's who! Silly little things. Back to the dilemma at hand. I informed DS#2 that we had taken the vehicle to be washed and vacuumed the day before and that any of those little, teeny, tiny games that had been there before probably were not there now. So off he went to look. He didn't come back in the house and he didn't come back in the house. DD and DS#1 went out to look with him. They returned with empty hands. By this time I am lying on the floor trying to do my prescribed exercises and remain very calm at the same time. I did not succeed. I marched into DS#2's room with trash bags in hand and started filling them with everything I could. Visions of zero Christmas presents flashed through my head. And I mean zilch. Lucky for the son, I calmed down and I found the games during my pitching spree.

The good side to this story is that DS#2's room has needed serious cleaning for quite a bit of time. That was taken care of. Probably he will get Christmas presents. Although, his DS is now residing in my room and may be there for quite some time to come.

News "Headlines" That Actually Made Me Smile

I typically tend to avoid the news--in print, on the radio, on television, on the internet. But occasionally I do scan the headlines and I found two clips that made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. I am SO tired of all the bad "news" out there. We have enough bad that happens I long for reports of the good and happy. These two clips fit the bill:

Elmo's Voice and Girl Calls 911

Books I Enjoy - I'm WAAAAY Behind

I did not set out to be behind. I really did want to keep up on this quest, but life got in the way. And, really, for me, life was the point of doing the 31 Dayers project. My life, more specifically. So, I am going to throw in a random post about a book I enjoy.

Here's the thing with this particular book--I haven't actually finished it yet. I have a strange relationship with this book, and I will explain.

Last month, I had the opportunity to go to a Women of Faith event. It was my first trip to Women of Faith, and although I enjoyed it, it was a little out of my comfort zone. You see, I grew up in a church that did not really embrace such gatherings. The ins and outs of that life experience are topics for other posts. However, I did glean some wonderful bits and pieces from the event.

One of the speakers was Andy Andrews. Now I have to admit that his presence caused a little bit of distress for me. You see, one of the main reasons I decided to go to WoF was because Tim Hawkins was supposed to be there. So, on Friday morning, the hostess of the event got up on stage and launched into an introduction. What I caught was, "We do not allow many men to come to Women of Faith . . . this man is really funny and entertaining." To be perfectly honest, I missed a lot of what she was saying because I was sure it was Mr. Hawkins. Imagine my immense disappointment when it was NOT Mr. Hawkins. So I had a little bit of a let down to surmount. To the stage came Mr. Andrews. I had no prior knowledge of this particular person, I only knew he WASN'T Tim Hawkins. I tried to settle in and listen to him, truly I did. But he was all. over. the. place. In his speaking and physically. He moved around the stage constantly. He was up and down the stairs meandering around the audience who were seated on the floor. He would start up the stairs, then turn around and run back down the stairs. And his speech--he seemed to jump from one topic to the next, and he just wasn't double yourself over and laugh funny like the aforementioned Mr. Hawkins. To compound the problem, my friend, who was sitting next to me, really wasn't enjoying Mr. Andrews and that constantly reminded me that I wasn't enjoying Mr. Andrews.

I decided that during his talk would be a good time to take a bathroom break--before the crowds of ladies converged on the concourse. Mr. Andrews completed his session and there was a break. When we all returned to our seats, there was a question and answer session with Mr. Andrews and Patsy Clairmont (LOVE her!). Bless his heart, but he was still all over the place--verbally only this time as he was seated. He would start a line of thought then jump to something else, then jump again. My friend was still not happy and I was just confused. Then it dawned on me. He behaved in a manner consistent with ADD. Ahhhh! THAT I could work with. My little boy behaves in a manner consistent with ADD. And my friend has had that experience with her son. Once I pointed out this fact, we both were able to settle down. Mr. Andrews was making points that connected, it was just necessary to flush out the connection. He is such a passionate person and just has so much information he is excited to share.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with a book. I will tell you. Imagine my surprise when I found that the only book I really wanted to read from one of the WoF speakers was written by a speaker at the conference whom I did not really enjoy listening to. Yup, I am currently reading one of Mr. Andrew's books. And in hindsight, I realize that I did enjoy what he was saying, I just had to change my frame of mind. The book is The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success.

I am not really going to talk a lot about the book, because I think it is something each reader should experience without any prior knowledge--that is what made it interesting to me.

As far as Mr. Andrews goes, he has my respect and admiration. He really is quite the storyteller and does have wonderful, wonderful points to make. Sometimes it is good for us to have to dig through and find that nugget of information that we really need in our lives, he gave me that opportunity.

By the way, I have reserved 3 more of his books, and I am going to have to order The Butterfly Effect. Unfortunately my library does not own a copy.