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This week my dear friend is celebrating a birthday. I have a great card that I made with a women's group while my kids were in VBS last week. Now I just have to find the time to write something in it and send it out. I bet one of the most frequently asked questions of homeschool moms is, "How do you do it all?" Of course, we all know the answer to that one: We don't! Sometimes our houses are not as neat as we'd like. Sometimes our kids don't get a bath as often as we'd like. Sometimes we don't get to catch up with extended family and friends as often as we'd like. Can anyone relate, or is it just me? But today reminded me that it's usually the busiest people who figure out ways to accomplish more! We all have little secrets and tricks to squeeze more out of the day, and one of mine is finding small pockets of time. In my purse, I have a ziploc bag with some notecards (including the birthday card for my friend), a pen and some stamps. My husband was home today, so I got to go grocery shopping by myself! While I waited on the very long line, I pulled out my ziploc and began to inscribe my friend's card. As I wrote, it occurred to me that not only was I "creating" more productive time in my day, but I was alleviating some stress because I didn't feel the slightest bit irritated by the pace of the very long line (unlike some standing around me). When I got into the car, I wanted to remember to sit down and post this tip, so I pulled out my handy little spiral notebook, and as I was scribbling the reminder, I realized that this too is a great tip for staying organized! In my purse, at all times, is a small spiral notebook. I get them at the Dollar Store. I like the ones with a plastic cover (for pocketbook durability), and a little pocket on the inside cover so I can keep deposit slips, important receipts, checks, or anything else of significance that I pick up during the day. Throughout the day, I jot notes in the book: things I need at my next trip to the store, a phone number or website, notes to myself, the name of a good book that someone recommends, a Bible verse that I hear and want to meditate on, etc. In the evening (or early the next morning), I take out the notebook, file away any important things in that little front pocket, follow up on anything that I've jotted down, and make a to-do list for the next day, right there in my little notebook. Because I keep a running list of groceries (along with my weekly dinner menu) in the notebook, I have a good head start the night before shopping day, when I have to write out my complete list for the week. Hope my little ideas bless someone out there in cyberland! |
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Summer officially begins tomorrow, but in our family it started this past Wednesday when we took our first summer field trip to the Land of Make Believe amusement and water park in Hope, NJ. See some snapshots below -- there's no pics of the water park because we didn't want the camera to get wet! Monday will begin the summer schedule. For the first three weeks, we have VBS in the morning, home for lunch, a few hours at the Town Pool, home for a late snack and water break, late afternoon lessons, dinner and bed. After the first three weeks, we'll have early morning lessons, two hours at the town recreation program (arts and crafts and some sports), home for lunch and then the same afternoon schedule. Wednesday continues to be "shopping day" when all the errands and grocery shopping gets done, topped off with the night at church. Monday is the usual summer field trip day. As a kind of large family, we've found memberships to be the best Christmas gifts of all. We are members of zoos, museums, botanical gardens and children's museums. This makes for great weekly trips at little to no cost! Although we don't carry a full academic schedule through the summer, we do keep some things in place. The kids still have to do all the same chores and the older ones still need to have their own devotions. Plus, we still have a family prayer time where we stick to a weekly intercession schedule (Mon - Salvation for people we know, Tues -- Ministries/Missionaries, Wed -- Leaders (from dad and the church to government heads around the globe), Thurs -- friends & extended family, Fri -- the people in our home, Sat -- our house, yard and neighborhood). All the time in the car in the summer provides great opportunities to pray together! For summer lessons we do reading, math, Bible verse memory, spelling, Latin vocabulary, nature journaling and literature. Our trips and literature sometimes offer history, art, theater, music and science, but we don't do anything formal in those subjects. Our evenings are pretty tightly scheduled through the summer as well. Mondays after dinner I go to the library from about 6 - 9 to work on next year's curriculum. Tuesday nights after dinner we write letters together as a family (mostly to commend great service at stores, to lawmakers, to soldiers, etc.) and then we watch a movie, take a walk or play a game. Wednesday is church. Thursday is another night at the library for me, but only after we take about an hour-long walk. Friday is always Family Movie Night. After being out on a trip most of the day, we're usually tired. Saturday morning is my time for paperwork, email, etc. My husband often works during the early part of the day, and then we spend the rest of the day at the Town Pool. Saturday night the kids go to bed early, as Matt and I prepare for the Sabbath. And Sunday is the day of rest! We LOVE the summer! And we're all so excited that it's here! Here are some pictures from this week's trip...
Matt and I made T-Shirts with our initial on the back
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"On the Front Porch" is having a blogging contest! This gives me the opportunity to write about how much TOS means to our homeschool. Finding the current issue of The Old Schoolhouse in my mailbox is like getting a letter from a pen pal when I was 10-years-old! I run into the house, forsaking all other mail, and do the first "flip-through" to catch a glimpse of all the goodies in store for me this month. Then TOS takes up residence in my big Barnes & Noble bag that poses as a purse. From that moment on, I'm on the lookout for opportunities to begin my journey from the front cover to the back. Each day affords snapshot moments to take in a few paragraphs -- waiting for my coffee to heat up in the microwave, on line at the post office, sitting at the bank drive-thru window, a quiet moment in the ladies room (blush blush!). The TOS journey lasts about 3 weeks. In lieu of a bookmark, I use a post-it so I can make notes of anything I want to research or follow up. As soon as I'm done with the read-through, I set about "digesting" the issue. First I grab my well-worn TOS, along with my magazine tote -- a Whole Foods Shopping Tote Bag with a 3-ring binder, pens, a scissor, some envelopes, stamps, and page protectors. While Matt and I veg-out on the couch, I go back through the magazine and cut out any articles I want to archive in my 3-ring binder or mail to a friend. I also keep handy my Brain Book (a little spiral notebook I carry around everyday for to-do lists, shopping lists and ideas that I need to follow up) so I can make notes of things I want to try, books to read, things to look up on the Internet, etc. Whatever is left of the issue goes in a milk crate with the other digested magazines and catalogs. The kids use these for projects. TOS is like a monthly homeschool convention tucked right into my daily life! Thank you, TOS, for all you do. I can't imagine this journey without you! |
Posted in Proverbs 31 Woman
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Whew! I think this has been my longest blogging hiatus. Nothing catastrophic or monumental has kept me away; it's just been a matter of scheduling. I run an all-women, online investment company, and I've spent all my computer and reading time working on that. We just finished "Rule #1" by Phil Town. Amazing book for anyone even remotely interested in the stock market. Easy for even the novice to grasp and written in a conversational tone that keeps it flowing from the first to the last chapter. I didn't plan to make this entry anything more than a quick letter of explanation for my prolonging blogging absence, but now that I'm on the subject, this might be a great tip for other homeschooling moms! In the image of the Proverbs 31 woman, a group of 13 women in five different states, including little me here in New Jersey, formed an LLC and opened a private Yahoo message board to learn together and invest together. After a couple of months of talking, thinking and planning, we all met at the beginning of last August and drafted an Operating Agreement. Part of the agreement is that each of us sends our Treasurer $50 a month. We now have more than $4,000 to invest! All of us came into this knowing little to nothing about the stock market, but we each agreed to read a book, share what we learned and combine our efforts to dig out great companies at great prices. We use our combined financial resources to purchase stock. With the economy in a slump, this is a great time to buy companies that are on sale! Thirteen women began as stock market rookies, and almost a year later, we can talk shop with the big boys! What's more, we're making money for our families right from home, working at whatever time fits best into each of our unique schedules. As the net worth of our company grows, we hope to branch out in the next few years and explore other investment opportunities, like real estate, foreign markets, e-commerce, commodities, and maybe even a little venture capital (one day!). If anyone out there in the abyss of cyberspace would like more information on how we got started, send me a message. I'd be happy to share more about our experience. Now it's back to mommy world... |
Posted in Journal Page
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I truly believe that one great key to success is waking up early. Jesus did it. The Proverbs 31 wife did it. But I struggle to consistently rise early. I can do it for a time, but them something shifts, and I backslide.
So here’s the schedule I’d like to shoot for: 5:30 am – Wake Up (Bathroom, make coffee, set up Bible Study) 6:00 am – Bible Study and Prayer 6:45 am – Journaling/Blogging 7:15 am – Wipe Down Bathroom 7:30 am – Morning Walk 8:00 am – Shower 8:30 am – Make/Serve Breakfast 9:00 am – Make Bed, Kids Morning Chores, Laundry 9:45 am – Set Up for Morning Lessons 10:00 am – Begin Morning Lessons Can I do it? I don’t know, but I’m committed to praying my way through. |
Posted in Journal Page
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So I've been out of touch for a little while. Nearly two weeks ago, as I was carrying a basket of laundry down the stairs, I slipped and fell, fracturing three vertebrae in the lumber area of my spine. Needless to say, I've been laid up. The first week I laid on the couch most of the day, taking pain medication around the clock. This second week seems to get better everyday, and although I'm still careful not to bend or lift anything and to rest when I feel tired, I'm finally walking around and able to do somethings. For all the moms out there, you can only imagine the amount of work that is awaiting a mom of five little ones. Paperwork is piling up almost as rapidly as the laundry. The fridge is crying to be emptied and wiped out. That bathroom is longing for some Comet and a bit of good, old-fashioned elbow grease. And our projects are sitting in a box by the computer, collecting dust. We still have many packets to mail out for our 50 States Project, Christmas cards to prepare (which will probably become New Years cards), pictures to take, gifts to make, a whole house to decorate... It seems God's plan for this season was different than ours. |
Posted in New Habits
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Well...as you can see from my New Habit Ticker, I'm njot doing so well. Last week, I woke up three days before 6:00 am, but most other days I woke up between 6:00 and 7:00 am. Still progress, but not quite hitting the mark. This weekend I came down with a nasty cough and cold, accompanied by a sweaty, achy fever. Needless to say, I wasn't so eager to be the Proverbs 31 wife! Today I slept the latest of all. The baby seems to have caught this illness, and she was up for a good portion of the night. She fell into a sound sleep when Matt left for work at 6:00 am, and I decided to get some rest right beside her. I'm feeling a little better today, so perhaps tomorrow I can climb back on the ladder to developing this new habit! |
Posted in 50 States Project
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We spent lots of time this weekend putting together the next 50 packages for our 50 states project. We're almost ready to ship them, but we've run out of printer ink again, and we're waiting for a friend to bring us more Salt Water Taffy from one of the Jersey shore towns.
She should be stopping by later tonight, and then we can get back to work. I had hoped to get all the packets out before Thursday, but that's looking implausible at this point. Hopefully we'll wrap it up by the beginning of December. In the meantime, we've started receiving some packets back from the first shipment we sent out. I'll tell you, it's like Christmas has arrived early at our house! Each family's unique perspective and creativity is shining through, and we are just feeling steeped in blessings. This is so much fun! I've also begun work on the 50 States Curriculum. I've sent out emails to about 30 restaurants in the northeast, and a few have replied with great enthusiasm and delicious recipes to include in our study! I can't imagine we'll have it ready before the summer, but the process is shaping up to be fun and exciting. For anyone still interested in helping us meet our goal to find at least one child in each of the 50 states to tell us more about his or her state, we still have not found anyone in the following states: Delaware, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Washington D.C. |
Posted in New Habits
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I've heard it said that it takes 21 consecutive days to program a new habit. I want desperately to become a Proverbs 31 woman. She's my role model. The Scriptures don’t tell us her name, but I like to call her Shefar (She who is Far Above Rubies), and I want to be just like her. One of her habits that I've yet to firmly establish is rising early every single day. So I've added a ticker in the sidebar to track the goal of waking everyday before 6:00 am for 21 consecutive days. If I miss a day, I'll have to go back and start the ticker over again. "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." --Proverbs 31:15
Riseth is the Hebrew word “quwm.” It means “to come on to the scene” and can also be used for “becoming powerful.” That’s how I want to wake up! I want to arrive on the scene of each day with renewed strength and power. |
Posted in 50 States Project
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We got our first batch of packets out this week, and we plan to do another 30 this weekend. I just need to pick up another box of manilla envelopes, more post cards, and a new color ink cartridge. Our goal is finish the mailings by Thanksgiving. Can you even imagine what fun it will be every day at about 10:30 am when the mailman arrives?! We are so excited to "meet" everyone and see what life is like in their state, through their eyes.
In the meantime, this project seems to have taken a whole new direction. The moderator of the Notebooking message board informed me that the resources I was using, which had been shared by a well-meaning mom, were infringing on copywrite laws. Many of the respondants to our project asked me to share materials with them, but now that I know about the infringement, I am unwilling to pass it along. My wonderful husband, Matthew, suggested that we put together our own resource. We have since teamed up with dear friends in the state of Florida, and together we are working on a 50 States Unit Study that we hope to make available by download in the next couple of months. In addition, Matt made a great, poster-size, black-line map of the U.S. so we could color in each state once we comepleted everything on the checklist.
We are in talks with a local printer to see if it would be possible to have a similar map professionally printed on a matte-finish poster, so it could be easily colored in. We're also talking to them about printing some flashcards. The husband of our Florida friend is an artist with some experience in graphic design. He's working on a blackline map and state flag for each state, and his wife and I are putting together a recipe and craft project for each state. Any thoughts? Ideas? Advice? We're pretty excited about this project and hope that it will be of great help to other families. Stay tuned for details... In the meantime, we're busy working on our project, and truly falling in with this nation, state by state! |
Posted in Journal Page
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Jesus said it’s easy to love those who love us, and it’s easy to do good to those who do good to us. He challenged us to love those who think the worst of us and to do good to those who mistreat us.
In the same way, it’s easy to stay focused when all of our ducks are in a row. It’s easy to walk in patience with our children when the house is clean, the dishwasher is empty, the laundry is under control, the lessons are prepared, and the dinner is in the crock-pot. But one challenge that almost every homeschool mom faces from time to time (some of us more than we’d like) is to stay focused and patient under less-than-desirable household conditions. On the days when I awake to a dishwasher full of dirty dishes and a pot in the sink, various items on the dining room table (where we eat all of our meals and do most of our school work), Mount Washmore awaiting me in the laundry room, a bathroom just begging to be wiped down and mopped, and a mess in the kids rooms…you’ve awoken to this kind of day in your house, right?…on those days, it’s hard to stay focused. I want to throw myself into the housecleaning. And I want to chat with a friend while I’m tackling it all. Every so often, I want to take a break and check the email, maybe read a blog. But then the kids have an argument, and they need me to intervene. All the fruit of the Spirit needs to bloom in me at that moment, but the truth is that my heart is turned in another direction, and it takes diligence to turn it back toward them. It takes self control to recognize that once the dishes are clean and ready for the next meal, a load of laundry is the machine, and dinner is mapped out, it doesn’t matter if the bathroom isn’t as clean as I’d like. It doesn’t matter if the kid’s bedrooms are messy or if my room isn’t dusted. What matters is putting my focus on the children, their character training and their education. Maybe that’s easy for some, but it is not easy for me. Moreover, at the end of the day, I need to remember how much I don’t like functioning in a home that isn’t as clean and organized as it can be. So I need to forgo the time on the computer, the couch or in bed with a good book, and get the house in order, so I don’t have to be so challenged again the next day. Most importantly, on those challenging days, I need more than ever to stay connected to the source of all wisdom, love, patience, long-suffering and self-control. And for some crazy reason, it’s during those days that I seem to struggle the most in my own flesh. So today, being one of the challenging ones (as Mondays often are), I vow to do what’s necessary and leave what’s not. I vow to set a deadline for the morning cleaning and stop when the deadline comes. I vow to pull out an index card containing a Scripture to memorize, and carry it with me as I work, and I vow to stay connected to my God through quiet prayer as I work toward restoration and recovery. It’s going to be a good day. |
Posted in 50 States Project
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Last winter my daughter, who is now 8 ½, received a subscription to Highlights Magazine Which Way USA. About once a month, a puzzle book and map for two different states arrives in the mail. As we were going through the books and maps, I thought it might be exciting to find at least one child in each of the 50 states, who could tell us a little about his or her state. Who knew this would give birth to an amazing and enormous unit study that’s sure to span a couple of years?
First we made a list of all the kids we knew in other states and put together a packet to send to each one. The packet contained a picture of our daughter, Skyler, a few pictures of interesting things in our area, a blank questionnaire for the recipient to fill out and return, Skyler’s answers to the questionnaire, something from nature here in New Jersey, a piece of Salt Water Taffy (first made and sold in Atlantic City, NJ), a NJ postcard, two word puzzles with interesting NJ facts and famous NJ natives, and a welcome letter and page for referrals of other kids in other states. Meanwhile, I found some wonderful resources on the notebooking message board to augment our study. I wish I knew who put this together so I could give her credit, but someone offered a robust package of state flags, craft projects and recipes for each state, blackline maps and images of state postcards – all for free! From this, I put together a checklist for each state: q Finish Which Way USA Book q Read about and color in state flag q Fill in blackline state map with major rivers, highways, state parks, and so on q Cook a food from the state q Fill in state information sheet (this includes all the major facts such as state bird, motto, song, when the state entered the Union, etc.) q Do craft or activity for the state q Listen to the state song q Request and receive literature from Chamber of Commerce q Receive a completed package from a child in the state My beloved husband, who is a far more talent drawer than I, hand drew a blackline map of the U.S. on a large posterboard. And what an amazing job he did! We hung it up in the living room, and each time we complete a checklist for a state, Skyler colors in the state. We’d been going along well, until we reached the end of our list of friends and family. Even with the referral pages, we just were not getting the response we’d hoped for. A few families got excited about the project and sent us some amazing things, but many never returned the packets at all. Last week I decided to put it out in cyberspace. I logged on to a few of my favorite message boards – HandsofaChildTalk, LiveandLearnPress, Notebooking -- and requested that anyone who might be interested in helping us reach our goal of finding at least one child in each of the 50 states, send me their address and contact information. Can I tell you, I was FLOORED by the overwhelming outpouring of enthusiasm from around the nation! We received well over 200 responses (so many that I lost count!)!!! Somehow, amidst the excitement, I forgot to send a request to another of my favorite boards (Lapbooking_Made_Simple). I still have a small handful of states without a contact, so perhaps I’ll check with that group. Originally, I had hoped that I’d be able to get all the packages out by this weekend to those who were interested, but given the response, it looks like this may take a few weeks to put together! The postage alone is going to be costly, but it’s so worth it! I can just imagine the excitement that will fill our home over then next couple of months as the return packages start pouring in. We decided that since we had the contacts, we’d send a few packages to each state. For one thing, we know that unexpected things arise and confuse even the best-laid plans. So if we send more than one package to each state, we’ll stand a better chance of getting each state covered. And if we do receive multiple packages from various states, we’ll get to see those states through the eyes of different families and different experiences. What a great blessing to be able to connect with others like this! The study has incorporated so many different facets as we’ve gone along. When we studied New York, we put together a series of survey questions, each with multiple-choice responses (What is Your Favorite Thing to do in New York City? What is the Most Famous Site in New York State? What is Your Favorite NYC Museum?). We also threw in one fill-in-the-blank question: Name a Famous New Yorker in History. We tracked responses for men and women, New Yorkers and Non New Yorkers, and made predictions about what we thought the outcomes would be. Then Skyler set out with clipboard in hand to survey friends, family and neighbors. Once the results are all in (we still have a few left to ask), she will learn a few ways to graph the results. The survey results, along with the pages she completes, a scrapbooking page with the items she received from the state native, photos of our cooking and craft projects, and highlights from the Chamber of Commerce package are all being stored in a giant 4” binder (we will surely have a few of these when this project finally wraps up). And just when I thought I had it all figured out, along came some GREAT resources from NotebookingPages.com. To augment our study, we’ll also include an introductory section to our project that looks at the U.S. as a whole (national anthem, symbols, flag, bird, and so on), plus we’ll take a brief look at national monuments, parks, and memorials. In the midst of all this excitement, someone on the message boards referred me a postcard exchange. My five-year-old is very excited to begin receiving his own mail! And I found a homeschool exchange board that offers a variety of opportunities, one of which is a Flat Stanley network. My older son is going to work on that. Moreover, one insightful mom recognized the enormous trend in 50 states studies, and she founded a message board based solely on the sharing of information and resources related to this subject! Wow!!! Who knew one little subscription would launch such a journey? I’ll be sure to keep you posted on our progress and evolution. By the way, following is a list of the states we are still missing. If you're interested in participating, please send me an email. Thanks again to everyone who has reached out with such amazing grace and enthusiasm! Alaska, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Washington DC, Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming |
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I love the fall. It is by far my favorite time of year. I love the colors of the trees and smell of a wood-burning stove. I love the earth tone decorations and clothing that make their first appearances this time of year. I love how the smells of cinnamon, apple and nutmeg welcome us indoors from the colder, brisker air outside. I love the sound of leaves crunching on the sideway beneath our feet. I love to bake muffins for breakfast, and to cook soups, breads and squash for dinner. I love the fall.
But amidst the beauty and the gentle traditions that prepare our hearts and minds for the coming winter, the holiday season and the new year, stands the one obstinate, stubborn, mean spirited antagonist that threatens to tarnish my beloved autumn. Its name is Halloween. With its ghoulish yard ornaments of death, murder and witchcraft, defacing the beauty of the harvest time of year, images of grim reapers, chainsaw murderers, ghosts and ghouls displace the bounty of pumpkins, corn, hay bales, scarecrows and mums. How could people be so deceived? Like the spectators at the old Roman gladiator fights, people’s hearts have become hardened against the gore of Halloween. My children and I love to take long walks. Especially in the fall, when the oppressive heat of summer is tucked away until next year, and before the sting of winter looms, we love to spend time outdoors. We often do our reading around the corner at the little park. The kids play on the playground, while I sit with each child one-on-one under the pavilion practicing their reading. Dad’s business is Seamless Gutters, and the fall is a time for gutter cleanings. So like his little foot soldiers, we blanket the town this time of year with flyers offering discounts to town residents. Along the way, we collect leaves, sticks and other treasures of nature for our nature journals, fall crafts and even for Christmas presents (my daughter is making her cousin a twig dollhouse this year). But block after block, my tender little ones are disturbed by the images of Halloween. On the day of Halloween, we enjoy looking at the different costumes, as we go about our day. Yesterday I took them to a farm, where we picked pumpkins, drank apple cider, ate caramel apples and the kids played in a small corn maze. Afterward we came home for dinner and handed a piece of candy and a Bible track to each trick-or-treater that stopped by. Right after dinner, my husband returned from work, and we went to the movie theater (our usual Halloween tradition). It’s a lot of fun to have the theater all to ourselves. There are no lines to wait in, and the kids can be as talkative during the film as they like. We usually get home just after all the trick-or-treaters have left the streets. I’m glad it’s over, but I wish it weren’t such a spectacle to deal with each year. It’s really challenging to teach my children how to be discerning and righteous without being judgmental and critical. But now that it’s behind us, we can focus on Thanksgiving. Today we begin our Unit Study on the First Thanksgiving. The older two kids are doing a study on The Pilgrims and the younger ones are doing Turkey Time, both from In the Hands of a Child. We’ve scouted lots of great books from the library, gathered paper and folders for our lapbooks, and we’re off to a fresh start. God Bless America. |
Posted in Holidays
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Recently I downloaded The 12-Week Holiday Planner from Dandelion Seeds (Thanks Amy!) E-book: 12-Week Holiday Planner for the Christian Family - The Glorious Coming Devotional - Holiday Open House Combo Set
Since then I've been eagerly plugging along. We created our gift list and decided that for the stock gift (you know, the one thing you make a bunch of for neighbors, acquaintances, piano and art teachers, etc.), we'd make white chocolate macadamia nut cookie mix in a jar with a wooden spoon attached. We made our card list and had our graphic designer make cards for our Seamless Gutter business contacts. We also found out that he can print our annual newsletters for about the same cost as we usually spend on printer cartridges but without the wear and tear on the printer and the exhorbitant time committment!
Today, I came across this great checklist if you're having guests for the weekend from Malia Russell (Her site, Homemaking911 seems to be chock full of great resources). I printed it out and added it to my 12 Week Planner.
This is fun stuff...
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Posted in Journal Page
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I’ve come to notice that there are two kinds of Mondays in my house, and which one it turns out to be depends on the Sunday before it. The first kind of Monday, and the far better one for sure, welcomes me before dawn with a clean house, a plan for the day, homeschool lessons prepared. On this Monday I wake up to a quiet, sleeping house, greeted by the delicious smell of automatically brewing coffee. I spend the early hour before the sun peeks out alone with my God, followed by a refreshing shower. I toss in a load of laundry, and make breakfast for the kids. After they eat, I cheer them on to their morning chores, and prepare the table for lessons. All the meals are planned and ingredients on hand. After dinner, I read to the children, pray over them and kiss them goodnight. Matthew and I settle into the quiet of the evening, and spend a couple of hours snuggled together. Like a deep cleansing breath, this kind of Monday nourishes and refreshes our family.
But the refreshing Monday does not ever happen by accident. It’s born of focus and discipline throughout the weekend, staying on top of laundry and housework, and diligently planning lessons, copying pages and sharpening pencils. It’s the direct result of a deliberate Sunday night preparation, complete with clothing set out for Monday morning, automatic coffee pot prepared, alarm clock set and an early lights out.
Then there are the other Mondays. A day of recovery, I suppose, with lots of laundry, dishes, cleaning, organizing—putting together the pieces left strewn about over an unfocused, undisciplined weekend. I can usually be found still in my PJs come dinnertime, exasperated that the whole day is gone. There were no lessons to speak of, save those caught by observant children who hope to have fewer days like these in the future. On these Mondays, I usually wake up when the kids do, or even after one or two of them. I shuffle downstairs and sigh at the sink full of dishes, heat up a cup of coffee left in the pot from the afternoon before, and begin to work with little direction. I remember to make breakfast when the kids complain that they’re hungry…and the rest of the day just happens to me. These Mondays usually end with me at the computer planning or preparing for something (a birthday party, holiday, unit study). Something about that planning helps me recover and refocus.
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As I wade through an enormous to-do list, preparing for the upcoming school year, I realize that there is so much I want to do (but hardly enough time). How will we fit it all in? Especially now that I have two "new students." Seth, our five-year-old, and Sam, the three-and-a-half-year-old, will work together on a Kindergarten curriculum. Griffyn and Skyler will add Spelling Power, Latin, Writing Strands, Typing, and French. My rough draft thoughts on a schedule look like this. Monday, Wednesday, Friday ~ Core Curriculum Bible Study Math Reading Handwriting Spelling Latin Literature Tae Kwon Do Tuesday & Thursday ~ Enrichment Curriculum Character Training Typing French Science Unit Historical Literature Social Studies/Geography Unit 50 States Study Daily Special Monday Cooking Tuesday Sewing Wednesday Pioneer Girls/Royal Rangers Thursday Music Friday Family Night (movies, games, projects, etc.) Saturday Woodworking with Dad Daily Disciplines Devotion and Worship Journaling (blogging) Letter Writing Walking I’d also like to create a binder of art projects (and stock the back porch with the supplies) and games/activities. Once I get through this, my mind is turning toward: Preparing fall activities and decorations Griffyn’s Birthday Christmas gifts, cards and daily advent activities My brain is rather crowded! |
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Last year we spent enormous amounts of time in the car. So I have a lot of ideas to share. J Happy Driving!
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Oh the guilt of a neglected blog! I just took a peak at my poor, languishing blog, and I was floored to see that my last post was on March 31! Could it be? That's more than a quarter of a year. Where does time go? I want so much to make good use of this space, but I just haven't found my blogging groove. Lord, give me insight; give me inspiration; and give me voice in this writing venue. Let me glorify You, God with my words. Amen! |
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An article in this month's newsletter for our local support group...
Next to God, who knows your child better than you? We homeschool our children for so many reasons, not the least of which is offering them God’s best. You are the expert on your child, so who better to educate and train your child than the ultimate expert, right? The Holy Spirit, experience, and God-given intuition work together to help us accurately predict how each of our children will react in any given situation. What you may not know is why they react that way. Understanding your child’s basic personality (and your own), along with their unique learning styles can dramatically enhance your family relationships and your homeschool success. This month we will explore the framework of human personality to lay the foundation for understanding who we are and how we learn. Be sure to tune in next month when I cover the fundamental learning modalities. Ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC), often referred to as The Father of Medicine, is credited as the first to note four basic personality types or temperaments. He dubbed them "Melancholic, "Sanguine", "Choleric", and "Phlegmatic" after various human body fluids, which he believed influenced personality (black bile, blood, yellow bile and phlegm). Since then, many have revised the names and expanded on the definitions, but the basic four temperments have remained as the framework for understanding human personality. I’m quite sure most of you have heard of these in some form. A 1958 landmark paper entitled, "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" (MBTI) assigned the letter combinations SJ (Sensory Judgement), SP (Sensory Perception), NF (Intuitive Feeling), NT (Intuitive Thinking). Twenty years later, David Keirsey, in his best-selling book, “Please Understand Me,” assigned a patron Greek god to each personality type: Epimethean, Dionysian, Apollonian, and Promethean – known as the Keirsey Temperment Sorter. In 1998 “Please Understand Me II” offered up the more descriptive titles: Guardian, Artisan, Idealist, and Rationalist. A favorite in the Christian community, Dr. Gary Smalley and Dr. John Trent, related the temperaments to the four animals Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and Beaver. My personal favorite, and the one I’ll use here to explore each temperament, is the DISC model put forth by American psychologist William Moulton Marston in his 1928 work, “Emotions of Normal People.” (Here’s a little trivia—Marston and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, a.k.a. Sadie Holloway, created the comic book character Wonder Woman!) For those who may be familiar with one of the other models, you can refer back to this table as we go through each personality type.
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