July is heading out the door, the school year is about to begin!
Looks like the kids books and stuff will be showing up at our door next week. School will begin on August 28th or September 2nd depending on what is going on. We are supposed to be doing something that weekend so it all depends on how I am doing.
I keep saying that I am going to quit writing here because I have other blogs that I tend to on top of a few websites. I don't talk with as many people here as I do at those other sites.
I am working on some nursery items for a friend!! I love the fabric theme she chose and I am excited to see it all finished!! I will post a photo as soon as I get one of the nursery...it might be a little while though.
Trying to keep on top of the house. Watching the British show "How Clean is Your House" has been a real motivation...NO, my house has never been as dirty as these people's homes but that doesn't mean that there aren't any nasty jerms running around here. ; )
This Summer has been pretty mild...Thought I was going to keep school going through the Summer but it just hasn't happened. We have been walking with a small group in the mornings...would love to do it every morning but I don't always have a ride.
The Lord gave me a little gift yesterday on our walk...
This is the second leaf with a heart in it that I have come across this year!!! The Lord is so awesome!! The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was "Even the rocks cry out!!" I think that is from one of our worship songs we sing in church. His love is all around us!!!
Well off to clean up the mess in the kitchen and then to start dinner if I can find something to put together.
I nearly forgot---so here's an open invitation to any Doehill readers in the Knoxville/Maryville TN area. Friendship Baptist Church is having Homescoming Sunday this week---July 27. We'll have our Sunday service, dinner in the fellowship hall, and no service that night. If any of you get to come, please look me up---just ask for Gin.
Oh, I just got an email from Nancy over at Homeschooling Is Life. She's posted pictures up of what she and the kids entered at the fair this year. I insist you stop reading this blog RIGHT NOW and go read this entry:
"Nesting" doesn't quite cover the urge to completely re-organize around here before the baby comes. It's not just me--even hubby has caught this fever. While he's working on finishing the garage, shed, planning to re-do the kitchen and bathroom floors and painting the inside of the house before the big day, I'm sewing, crocheting, and having a "TOTAL PAPER MAKEOVER." A total physical makeover wouldn't hurt, either. Yikes, it's time to renew my driver's license photo and I just realized looking at the old one---I'VE HAD THE SAME HAIRDO FOR TEN YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding my last post on homeschool organization. I certainly didn't want everyone to think I had detailed lesson plans done for the year, or even the next few weeks. NOT SO! Real life creeps in too easily and can upset overly detailed plans. We have orderly textbooks for some subjects [ admittedly I may play fast and loose with the teacher's guides/lesson plans with those] and general goals for everything else. I just try to have a notebook to keep plans, grades, attendance, and lists together for school.
Our weekly goals include books to read and lessons to cover in various subjects. I purposely leave time at the end of the school year with no plans at all in case we need to play catch up. Our textbooks have very detailed plans, but the subjects I plan out myself don't. For example, we have a very relaxed and informal approach to reading. However, both children love to read, we have flexibility in this subject, reading isn't turned into a chore, and the older student has consistently tested very well in reading skills.
On another front in my never-ending battle against clutter and disorganization, I've added a new section to my planning notebook. Sewing patterns! Why I didn't I think of this before? I've often trusted my memory too much when I find a good sale on material. I've tried making a list on notebook paper with the pattern number, a brief description of the pattern, yardage, notions and such. but would look up the pattern at the store to view the picture anyway. I needed the pictures. So, my six year old daughter was given the job of copying the front and back of my sewing patterns using our printer/copier. Now I have a picture and all the details for each to carry in my planning notebook.
My planning notebook is simply a three ring binder with paper and tab dividers--but no calendars. After years of trying to keep everything in one notebook, I have found a small purse size calendar to work the best for me. The big planning notebook is where I put prayer requests, household information [clothing sizes, what type battery the cordless phone uses, printer cartridge numbers, etc. ], running to-do lists, book lists, sewing patterns, grocery shopping/meal planning forms, our church's prayer chain list & address directory, and lots of blank paper to write, doodle, and plan. It stays at the house or comes with me on shopping trips only.
Since hubby has the home improvements well in hand, the school plans are good to go, and the house is being decluttered, all that's left is to get baby-ready again. One side of my daughter's dresser has been cleaned out to make room for baby clothes. It's time to set up the baby bed and get the linens out of storage. The baby stroller and car seat need cleaned. Whew--I'm glad I kept eveything from the last time. A friend is bringing by a changing table next week. Now that will be oo-lah-lah, considering I just changed the other babies on a towel on the bed!
Besides diapers, wipes, and rash cream, the only new purchase I'm planning on is one of those dirty diaper storage thingys. I know I'm not being environmentally friendly here, but I have NO desire to put dirty diapers in my washing machine, bath tub, or even Great-Granny's cast iron wash kettle. Yes, I've read all the "dangers" of disposable diapers, but I'm a decent enough mother to not let my child sit in a dirty or wet diaper forever!
I have great respect for folks that do the cloth diaper thing and are back-to-nature kinds of people, but I'm not one of them anymore. We were "back to nature" when it wasn't "in" for financial reasons. I like modern advances in technology that allow us to have indoor toilets [didn't have that where I lived when I was younger], washing machines [Mom didn't have one until I was in middle school], dryers [didn't get that until I was nearly out of high school], central heat [ carrying wood and emptying the ash bin were not my favorite after-school activities], and reliable electricity. It's kind of like the story a tour guide in Charleston once told me. She drove a horse and buggy giving tours of the city and upon telling her Grandmother of her new job, heard , "But honey, our family has worked for years trying to get out from behind a horse's rear!"
So there you have it----Doehill this week in a nutshell or nutcase as the situation warrants. Speaking of nuts, I just made the best cake. It tastes like a peanut butter cookie. Here's the recipe:
Nut cake:
Don't preheat the oven, but do grease a 12 cup bundt pan and set aside.
Cream two sitcks butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Be sure you use real butter not margarine.
Chop in the blender [ on low or you'll have peanut butter] 2 1/2 cups mixed nuts. [about 1 small can]. Add 1/2 cup flour to the nuts and set aside.
Alternately add 6 eggs and 2 1/2 c. self rising flour to the butter/sugar mixture. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, then fold in nuts.
Spoon batter into the pan, bake at 300 degrees for an hour and half. Cool and unmold. YUM!
Narration is a cornerstone of a Charlotte Mason homeschool. But looking at the results of the poll on my Narration Helps page, a lot of us simply forget to do it! I could use reminders as well, so I created some simple bookmarks to put in all the books we're reading.
Some are standard rectangular styled bookmarks, and some are the corner pocket type (seen above).
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Jul. 25, 2008
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The State of Education: The Future Has Arrived
Posted By
Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
“The homeschooling movement in the United States has reached a level of institutional maturity that few could have predicted only a decade or two ago. A massive infrastructure is in place, from curriculum companies to social groups, catering to the millions of people who engage in homeschooling.” - Thomas E, Woods, Jr., Crime Against the State: Why Progressives Hate Homeschooling
I wonder if many of today's homeschoolers can really understand what an incredible phenomenon, even miracle, the growth of homeschooling over the past two decades is.
My first year homeschooling -- 1985 -- I had never even heard the term. I met my first fellow homeschooler during my second year of teaching my children and started a homeschool group that same year.
When my oldest son reached fourth grade, I discovered Saxon Math. The program started with the 65 book. The 54 book was in the test-marketing stage and I was part of the target group for the test. My copy was completely handwritten. Each chapter was stapled together and added to the pile of other chapters.
I coordinated the first curriculum fair in my area that invited actual publishers (prior to that, families would get together once a year to show their curriculum, which is still a good idea). Hundreds of the companies that set up at fairs today did not exist twenty – or even ten – years ago.
The most common response I encountered when people discovered I homeschooled was: “Is that legal?” Today it’s: “I know someone who does that.”
Even the word “homeschool” has evolved. During most of my homeschool years it was two separate words, and while many parents said they home schooled, you never heard a child say he or she home schooled, but rather that he was home schooled.
In some ways, I think this last thing may be the most important bit of progress. While my children have always been self-educators, they never used the terminology of self-education: I homeschool.
Maybe it would be good for us to impress upon our children the full potential of those words used by a student: I homeschool. I take an active role in my education. Education is not something I just wait for someone to do to me.
This is how we produce those “lifelong learners” the teaching industry is so fond of talking about and so loathe to actually empower.
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Jul. 25, 2008
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Freebie Finder - WorkSheetWorks.com
Posted By
Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
WOW! Here is one of my new favorite FREE websites!
http://www.worksheetworks.com/ is an unbelievable site with so many great customizable features I have just scratched the surface as to what it does! So far I have made customized handwriting sheet, word searches and maps. The site says it has over millions of combinations and I believe it does!
My 7 year old daughter is thrilled with the handwriting sheets. She can tell me what she wants to write, we type it in and out comes a handwriting sheet in cursive for her to practice with! She was also thrilled when I made her a word search that included words about her American Girl doll Felicity! (Felicity, horse, patriot, revolutionary war, etc.)
If you have a kid like mine who cannot get enough "schoolwork" this site is going to be a favorite for you too!
A couple of days ago I mentioned the website http://www.worksheetworks.com/the kids and I have been having more fun with it so I thought I would show you the cute little copy work they did practicing their Awana verses this week.
My 7 year olds Awana verse.
My 4 year olds Awana verse
Both my 7 and my 4 year old can’t get enough of this site!I was thinking this might be a fun way for them to write letters to some of their friends in Las Vegas. They can tell me what to type and then they can do the copy work to make them personal.I can’t believe this is FREE! YAY!
Posted By
Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
We are half way through summer!This is the time of year when homeschool parents start planning for the Fall.This time of year can also be a great time to start working on some fun review items with your kids to get them ready for the new school year.Here are some great Math items we just added to the schoolhouse Store.
25 Engaging, Reproducible Stories with Math Problems That Build Early Math Skills. Kids read easy and adorable math stories, then solve companion word problems! Reinforces addition, subtraction, shapes, patterns, time, money & more!
Reproducible easy-to-read stories and activities that invite kids to add, subtract, measure, tell time, and practice other important early math skills.
Reproducible, Easy-to-Play Learning Games That Help Kids Build Essential Math Skills
Play Hickory Dickory Clock, Pocket Change, and other games to build skills, such as time, money, patterns, and more!
Welcome to my blog!! I am a wife to a wonderful husband and mom to 2 beautiful children whom I adore. We chose to homeschool our children when our first child was just 2 years old. That was 9 years ago! It was the best decision we made!! We love homeschooling and all the wonderful every day challenges it brings. This blog is my attempt at keeping a journal of our many adventures in homeschooling. Enjoy!
