Nov. 17, 2009 - 3 Month Food Supply
My family decided that we wanted to work on getting a year's supply of food stored up. We have never done anything like this before. So, I started looking into it. There are so many websites out there, but I couldn't find one that helped step by step. I needed a starting point.
Then I found Food Storage Made Easy. There are clear step by step instructions or "Baby Steps", to help you get from point A to point B. It takes you from Emergency Prep to a Year's Supply of food. Right now I am working on my 3 Month Food Supply. There is a great excel spreadsheet to use and even a video tutorial on how to use it.
I still don't have my 3 month supply, but as I am working on it, I have been saving a lot of money.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Sep. 15, 2009 - Do The Next Thing
Ok, I am soooooo not a planner. I am not organized either! But I am a homeschooler with a 4th grader and 6th grader. 6th grade brings a lot more school work than 5th grade did. I thought, how on earth was I going to keep on track and be organized enough to get us through both kids’ material.
As I was trying to come up with a solution, I received my "Homeschool Minutes" newsletter, and the subject was Lesson Planning. I was truly hoping to find something that could help. With each entry I felt more and more overwhelmed. Then I arrived at Todd Wilson’s (The Familyman) entry. He let his wife address this topic. What she suggested changed my hectic homeschool life!
'Do the Next Thing' lesson plan.
Instead of scheduling lesson or activities on certain days (and not doing them when I had them scheduled), I am using a 'Do the Next Thing' plan. I went through each of my children's subjects and made a "Do the Next Thing' for each one.
I was going to do this in a trial basis, so I planned out 25 lessons to be completed in an 8 week period. I will use
This has been a dream and will be permanent! We no longer have to fail at following scheduled lessons or feeling as if we are always behind. I let the kids decided what subjects they want to do each day, as long as they are progressing enough through the list in each subject.
For the subjects that don't need lesson planning, I use a daily grade recording worksheet from The Schoolhouse planner. I list the subjects and then we just checkmark what days we spent working on each one.
Thanks to 'Do the Next Thing' Lesson Planning, I am looking toward the upcoming years with less apprehension.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Jul. 7, 2008 - Stick to It
I start each year with such good intentions. I have all these plans of what I'd like to accomplish with both children in each subject and where I'd like to see them academically by the following summer. I am not sure if we ever get to the places I thought we would. I actually think that we end up in a totally different direction.
I am very easily distracted and we do find such wonderful things to do, so we end up losing track of the things that we started off doing in the first place. I have tried so many things to keep me on track, and each year I succeced a bit more.
I really hope that this year I can stay more focused on the things that I really want my kids to get through. Make a plan (at least a basic one) and stick to it.
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Oct. 20, 2006 - We Found A Homeschool Group!
We went our entire first year on our own, knowing no other homeschoolers... having no support at all. Just a lot of people wondering what the heck we were doing, and even more doubting our decision.
Late August we joined a local homeschool group and we couldn't be happier!! We have made some wonderful friendships, both my children and I. And the few times that we have met in a large group, it has been great for me to hear all the support from the "veteran" homeschool moms!! We also found out about endless activities that we had no way of knowing about before. We have been so busy in the last few months; the kids can't wait for a day to stay home and do nothing but read! Ha ha But it has been absolutely wonderful!!
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Aug. 25, 2006 - Doubt and What I Know Is Best
We are now entering our second year of homeschooling, and it is almost as nerve-racking as the first. I want to make sure that what we have been doing is what we should be doing and make sure that that is enough! Sometimes I am so full of doubt! We are, I would say, primarily unschoolers, and for my son (9 in Oct) that works SO wonderfully! The doubt comes mostly with my daughter. She has a totally different learning style and I am not sure what will work for her. Some think she should be reading by now, (she is 7 in Nov., but her brother read at a much earlier age) but I haven't pushed reading at all. I read to her all the time. If she wants to play word games or 'what starts with letter B' we do, but she was resisting actually sitting down and reading herself. I figured when she was ready she would read, right? That is how it worked with my son. And it seemed to me that when kids were developmentally ready for things they just did them.
Even though we unschool, the kids wanted to 'start school' on the same day as their friends. So we went to the library (it had been a while, as we had been out of town for over a month) and the kids and I just piled up the books. My daughter and I sat down later to work on sight word flash cards (hey, I thought I'd give it a try). She was not very interested, but read a few words with me. Then I got out this cool phonics chapter book and she (with very little help) read 14 pages of the book!!! She just sat and READ them!!!! Up to this point she hadn't even read those little tiny 3 word, 5 page books. So, when my husband got home, she was so excited that she sat down with him and read all 32 pages of the book! He was looking at me the whole time and we were sharing a 'what the heck?' look! ~ What a great day!
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
May. 22, 2006 - Organization!
UGH!!! I read great tips, activities, and projects both online and in many books and magazines, but when time comes to use one, I have NO idea where I saw it!!!! I frequently jot down notes while reading or online, but need some system to find what I am looking for. For example, we were working on multiplication and I knew that I had seen activities to help learn the concept and a trick for doing nines, but it took me hours to find the info I was looking for! Grrrr
So, I am considering typing
and printing all of my notes out and putting each idea on a note card and then
putting them into page protectors. Then
in a binder have them in labeled sections.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
May. 7, 2006 - First Blog
Ok, here is my first blog! This is our first year at homeschooling. I have 8 year old, Logan, and 6 year old, Isabel.
We haven't found a homeschool group that we like yet. But find lots of things to keep us busy during the week.
I am not sure what else to write at this point, so that is it!
