All my faithful followers have probably flown the coop by now...

I am retiring from this blog.  Perhaps one day I will start another one, but for now, I will be blog-less.  Thanks for reading!

Carrie

Posted in Random Thoughts

I really am suffering through this time of year.  I can't stand it!  I am starting to feel desperate.  I might go tanning, just for some "sun."  And I don't go tanning.  But see, I am desperate.  First, I will try to remember to take my vitamin D; maybe that'll help.
So that being said, my whole life is sort of out of whack.  The house is a mess!  It's so unorganized and that makes me twitchy.  We have been having school, sort of, now and then.  Well, maybe 2 or 3 days/week, which is fine with me right now.  But everything else is falling apart.
I made a decision this weekend that I am not going to let this depression best me!  So I plotted out my week, and we'll see how it goes.  I managed to drag my sorry self into the gym yesterday, and again this morning.  I can't remember the last time I went two days in a row!  Going to the gym will definitely help me feel better.

Monday:
LR
clean playroom with kids
3 loads laundry  (one done already)
gym  (done)
prep dinner (we'll be out late for dance, so no time to cook when I get back, just reheat)
sort clothes  (done)
put kids' clothes away
school
kids' zones (they each have an area downstairs they have to clean (just the floors)

Tuesday:
3 loads laundry (yes, I am behind, and have to wash comforters too, thanks to my cats)
sort clothes from yesterday (into each kids' dishpan, to be put away)
tidy our room
put clothes away
gym
zones
boys' room
school
bath
sew AWANA patches

Wednesday:
3 loads laundry (yep, I have that much, esp. wash S's AWANA vest because it's so yucky--how does he do it?)
sort yesterday's clothes
kitchen
library field trip
K and V's room (very scary black hole in there)
zones
school
AWANA verses
AWANA
pack lunches for Thurs.

Thursday:
up to 3 loads laundry (whatever's left)
sort yesterday's clothes
DR (dining room)
work a little in basement
homeschool class at the library
school (at library with the other kids not in the class)
put clothes away
gym


Yes, it's a lot.  But not really.  Even the "big" projects, like cleaning the girls' room, won't take more than an hour.  Well, "work in basement" could take all day, but I know I don't have a lot of time and I at least want to take all the stuff I've piled up to get rid of out to the garbage for Friday.  It really does help me a lot to have goals to work toward.  I definitely get more done when it's all written down.  I'll let you know how it turns out!

Posted in School Daze

We are post-Super Bowl bliss here in Pittsburgh!  J was up far too late, so we had a pretty light day today, as even I am having a little trouble concentrating.

We read 2 books today about music:  Zin Zin Zin a Violin (one of my all-time favorites) and How We Make Music.  This is in anticipation of a trip to the orchestra next week to see Peter and the Wolf.  We have a few other titles to read.  They are about what an orchestra looks like, how it is laid out, etc. and we will talk about proper behavior.  Cross your fingers!

Today we talked briefly about cave art.  We looked at the picture from the cave of Lascaux  in France.  Then the kids drew pictures of horses, like they saw in the cave painting.

We watched disc 2 of Dinosaurs, Genesis and the Gospels from Answers in Genesis.  Again, the kids loved it!

We also read a book on ancient India.  We talked about how the ancient Indian civilization, like all the others we have studied, grew up around a river.  We discussed what that would mean (fertile soil, farming, settlements).  K and J noticed that ancient India had a lot in common with ancient China.  They thought that had to do with their close proximity to one another.

A good school day!  Now it's time for dance class!

Posted in School Daze

We had a lovely day today learning more about dinosaurs.  Yes, it is the science unit that never ends, but who cares!?  Not me.  I love dinosaurs.  Especially since I grew up in public school, and was taught, and believed, lies of evolution and millions of years.  So it's like I am learning it all over again, and I'm fascinated!

Today we watched the first disc in Ken Ham's Dinosaurs, Genesis & the Gospel.  I wasn't sure how it would go over, as it's largely lecture with a few songs thrown in.  My kids loved it!  There is a built-in quiz and they actually paid attention enough to answer all of the questions.  So hooray!  I was afraid they were too little for it, but they weren't.

After we watch part 2 of the DVD, we are moving onto learning about individual dinosaurs.  That could take forever!  I guess I'll have to pick out a few.  And by a few, I probably mean, say, 10.  Is it bad that I'm 32 and love dinosaurs?  It can't be....  Anyway, for this part of the unit we are using Dinosaurs by Design.

And I was thrilled to learn today that the local natural history museum has 1/2 price days for kids through the end of February.  So I think we'll finally go look at some bones.  I feel like they have a good foundation now for what is truth, and what isn't!

Posted in School Daze

I spent a while fiddling with the new camera and it still won't work right for me, so I have to ask Hub about it.  Until then, we must suffer on without pictures.

Today J and K read through all of their LLATL words that they've learned so far.  J and K each picked out 10 words for the other to act out, which was quite funny.  They each took assessment 1 for LLATL, and both did well.  So yay, we are moving on.

J did one page of MUS.  In his defense, he had to write the numbers 0-100 so it took him quite a while, poor thing.  I know he knows them, but he does need some practice.  But we will not be doing every page of that lesson; his hand will fall off.  K did 2 pages of MUS.  Her lesson was on tally marks.  She finally had a eureka moment and now really understands counting by 5s.  Thank goodness!!!  There was no crying from anyone during school today, not even mommy!  Ha!

S did one lesson in Singapore Math, on the numbers 1-5.

All we have left today is a little science (dinosaurs) and AWANA verses.

Right now the kids are watching Word Girl and all is right with the world.

Posted in School Daze

I really am not using the blog to its potential, so I am going to try to write more often about what we are doing since I am horrible at other forms of record-keeping.

January 20

We started our day by looking online at a bit about what happens on inauguration day.  Then we completed a worksheet about it and watched the inauguration.

J took a test on MUS lesson 5 and got everything right, but could not complete test 6 in anything resembling a reasonable time, so we are going to lesson 6.  He also did 2 timed drills; the first took 4:05 and the second 1:55.  What an improvement!  He then did about 10 minutes of drill on the MUS page while waiting for K.

K took a torturous hour to do 2 pages of her MUS.  It is so frustrating because I know she knows the answers; she is just soooooooo distracted.  Some days I can deal with it and other days I want to bang my head on the table!  At any rate, she did finish and did a good job.

We finished nearly a whole week's worth of LLATL.  We will do a little bit more tomorrow to finish it up.  We are really behind on the LLATL.  I don't know how, I just keep doing other things, just reading whatever with them.  Which is fine.  I am not too worried about it.  But I did spend the money, and I do like the program, and so do they!  So I want to do it.  Really, I want to finish school around the beginning of May, and we are on track for that.

We read 1/2 of Growing Up in Ancient China by Ken Teague (thanks for the suggestion).  It's at just the right level for the kids!  I wish I could find more that is age-appropriate for ancient China, as we are all quite fascinated!  I have done some online reading and will share that with the little darlings.  All the kids made paper lanterns today as well.  J & K learned a bit about the lantern festival celebrating the births of babies in the past year, and S did it just for some cutting practice.

I want to post a picture of the kids with their lanterns but we are having technical difficulties.  Grrr.

Posted in School Daze

I am finally preparing for an actual school day tomorrow!  We've had school a few days here and there since Christmas, but now we are finally going to get back into the swing of things (or else)!

I just requested about 50 books from the library.  They love homeschoolers, I bet.  We are job security.

So, tomorrow we are going to be doing a whole week's worth of LLATL (well, I am going to pick and choose from one week of lessons), some MUS, a bit of Ancient China (we are making paper lanterns as well), and we will watch some of the inauguration and talk about it.  I am actually so excited thinking that my life might be returning to normal after holidays, company, and about 2 weeks of assorted illnesses!

Posted in Random Thoughts

Please explain the whole super-extravagant kids' birthday party to me.  Seriously.

I heard from a friend in one of the local school districts (not mine, but maybe true there also?) that if you invite one friend from the class you have to invite them all so as to not leave anyone feeling slighted.  Really.  Can you imagine?  You would even have to invite the mean kids, I guess.

So I suppose because of the sheer size of the party, because everyone does everything the government says about what is best for raising YOUR kids, they have to be something gigantic.  Heaven forbid that you don't one-up the other kids' moms.  You don't want your darling being the butt of jokes, I guess.  Like a cool party would stop that.

What happens if you don't invite all the kids in the class?  Will they arrest you?  Suspend your child?  It's preposterous.

My son, J, turned 7 today.  And his mother, *gasp*, is having his party at home.  There will be a cake, some soda (a big treat) and he invited 4 friends to come over and play Xbox with him.  Now, don't get me wrong, he definitely isn't complaining!  He will have a good time with his friends, I will chat with the parents, and fun will be had by all.

I suppose I am showing my age now:
When I was young...... my parents invited a couple neighborhood kids over for a pinata and musical chairs on the patio.  There was cake and ice cream and that's it.  No goody bags.  No hired entertainment.  And those are great memories!!!

I'm just complaining because as I was searching out a game to play within the theme for his party (another thing we never had as a kid, but important to my son, so whatever), I kept finding things on the Internet where people rented halls, and people dressed up to entertain the kids.  ARE YOU KIDDING?  My kids are just lucky they made it to their birthdays alive.

Posted in School Daze

As you may recall, we're studying ancient history this year in our homeschool.  So far we've covered Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.  Now we are starting on ancient China and I don't know anything about it.  Well, I've been reading about it.  It's actually very fascinating!  But anyway, has anyone ever studied ancient China, and if so, can you share some resources?  It seems to be hard to find information.  The kids were pretty excited about it today, so I want to tap into it!!

Posted in Austerity Program 2008

As my one or two faithful readers may remember, this year we have been trying extra-hard to live a life of thrifty-ness.  We even did this before it became "cool" due to our lovely economy.  Where is my bail-out, by the way?  Anyway, even though more and more people are fighting me for the boys size 7 jeans at the Salvation Army store, we are still managing to stick (mostly) to our program.  I will admit that my grocery budget has about doubled since the beginning of the year.  I used to squeak by on about $200/mo. (please keep in mind I am not counting the half cow that is in the fridge), but now we are close to $400/mo.  At any rate, apparently, this is still pretty cheap.

This week has been VERY atypical, as Monday we had leftover sloppy joes from the freezer (free), Tuesday we went out (hooray!) to Lone Star on Kids Eat Free night (I might add, kids no longer get a free ice cream with their meals, tragic!) (about $35), Wed. we ate at AWANA (we had to bring mac & cheese for 12, cost $2.50), Thursday we ate at my aunt's house (free), and tonight we are having bean & cheese burritos (about $6, with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch).  So even though we dropped a bunch of money at Lone Star, we made up for it the rest of the week.

As for our long-term plans, we are still on target to pay off all credit cards by spring.  I just paid another one off this month.  Hooray!  We do like to go out to eat, so we use the Amex to buy gas and use the Amex points to get gift cards for restaurants, then I pay off the card.  What a deal.

We did not go on vacation this year (waaaaaah!!!) which was very hard for me to accept.  But ultimately, it was best for us, even though poor over-worked Hub couldn't have gone on one anyway.  Maybe next year?  We are planning a 2 week vacation in May but it isn't set in stone yet.  I am not really sure we can afford it.  It's not worth it if I have to run up a credit card to do it!

We recently received 2 lovely boxes of great clothes for the kids from a dear friend (thanks!!!  you know who you are), so I rarely have to spend money on clothes.  I have been losing weight and I am lucky enough to have a friend who gave me some clothes to get me through for now, though I am going to have to get a belt!  (but I am NOT complaining!)

It is Christmastime, and I have been shopping all year long for the kids.  I started right after Christmas last year, and have been keeping a box for each child up in the spare room.  As I buy something, I put it in the box.  Some people say, "how do you know what they want?"  to which I say, "they want what I give them!"  But that's just me.  Maybe I am mean?  It's not like we don't listen to them (for example, K has her darling heart set on a snow globe (just in the last 3 or 4 months) so I did go out and find her one (on Christmas clearance (already!) last weekend for a mere $4).  Let's face it, it's a great year for thrifty shopping since retailers are desperate for our dollars!  I also braved the post-Thanksgiving crowds and got GREAT deals on Black Friday.

All in all, we had a pretty good austerity year.  I definitely am "the weakest link" as Hub is quite good at holding onto a dollar if necessary.  Me, not so much.  But even I am getting better.  I am trying to always remember, "do we need it?  or do I want it?"  "do we need it RIGHT NOW?"  "can I borrow it?"  We'll see what 2009 holds.