I am a huge fan of The Schoolhouse Planner.  When I got it, I saw that they were offering monthly themed modules as an add-on.  Quite honestly, I wasn’t interested because I thought that for $7.95, they were expensive to buy each month.  (I freely admit it, I am a cheapskate!)  However, now that I have seen them, I have completely changed my mind.  They are such rich resources packed with so much information and so many neat learning activities that I now believe they are a bargain!

November’s module is called Amusing Mathematics. 

Wait… did you say “Amusing”?  Mathematics?  Yep, really! The great thing about this module is that it is all about finding fun math stuff! For instance, did you know that with a quick math puzzle you can make all of your friends and family think that you can read their minds? Have you ever guessed a person’s birthday by asking them to do math problems first?  This module even shows you where to find a great trick for guessing how many siblings someone has! All of these puzzles are so much fun to do and will have you enjoying math in no time!  But wait! Number tricks are not the only way to have fun with math; also learn how to do tangrams, work a sudoku puzzle and even learn faster methods for multiplication! The module covers a wide variety of math topics for the elementary student, each with fun activities and humor.

While it is designed to be used with the Schoolhouse Planner, this module is a unit study all in itself.  You can read more about it for yourself by clicking here.  Even if you don’t own the whole planner, you can use this ebook to make math fun for your kids.  I feel like it has helped us to get out of a rut with math, and it has shown my kids that learning math can be a lot of fun! 

The first time I saw the tagline for Homeschool Library Builder, “Fill Your Bookshelf without Emptying Your Wallet”, I knew it was going to be right up my alley.  One look at the site told me I was right!

Homeschool Library Builder is a online bookstore founded by two homeschool moms who each have four children, a love for great books and a desire to help fellow homeschool parents.  From the user-friendly website to their helpful services, Homeschool Library Builder is geared toward serving homeschoolers and others who use excellent literature to educate. 

The site offers new and gently used books for all ages at affordable prices, giving people an opportunity to build their own home library.  They stock titles used in literature-based curricula (Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, Ambleside, Five in a Row, Beautiful Feet, and others), as well as those useful for a wide variety of unit studies.  I loved that you can search by specific curriculum or by category, and I also loved that they stock a lot of the out of print titles that you tend to find in some literature-based curriculums.  They also offer fundraising opportunities for groups, a frequent buyer program with discount incentives and opportunities to help others by purchasing books designated to their “Helping Hand” program.  They are also committed to helping other family businesses, and offer free promotion for their own homegrown products or services through the website and online newsletter!

Go to www.hslibrarybuilder.com and take a look around— while you are there you may want to take advantage of their awesome “Bin Sale” where they have books for just $1, $2, $3, and $5!

Homeschool Library Builder satisfies both my taste for great books and great deals, so I love it!

Did you ever dream of getting a horse for Christmas? You can get a sneak peek of our Fall issue and see Nancy Carter's first horse! Oh, and she's not the only one sharing her childhood pictures. You'll see photos from the 50's through the 80's.

But, you'll need the Fall issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine to go on this walk down memory lane.

Plus, do you like to create holiday memories? The brand new TOS holiday E-Book can be yours, too. It's all about the fall and winter holidays - mainly Thanksgiving and Christmas. But it's not even for sale yet. This is your chance to get it first  - for FREE ($12.45 value)!

Normally when a person subscribes, their subscription starts with the upcoming issue which can take a while. But, TOS thought about that when they planned their  Fall Special.

If you subscribe now with their Fall Special, you'll get

Almost 50% off the cover price for 2 years The current Fall issue as soon as it is ready

6 Bonus gifts

12 months of Teacher's Toolbox, which contains a FREE E-Book every month PLUS, the new E-Book, Homespun Holidays for FREE!

This is over $250 worth of product for only $39!!

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE NOW!

I have been inspired lately to get back into bulk cooking/cooking for the freezer/whatever you want to call it.  I have done this for years off and on, I tend to go in spurts.  I will plan more specifics later, but for now here is the basic plan:

Monday:  Pork pot roast in crock pot

Tuesday: Roast chicken- bulk cook chicken and bulk cook potatoes

Wednesday:  Beef and Chicken Tacos (Bulk cook Taco filling)

Thursday:  Bulk cook Pasta dishes and Apple dishes

Friday:  Pizza night, make bulk pizza dough for freezer.

Saturday:  Leftovers

Sunday:  Bulk cook pork

Sorry the recipes aren't here and this is boring, but I just wanted to get the bones of my plan down!

To join in Menu Plan Monday, visit www.orgjunkie.com.  Have a yummy week!

I promised to post updates on my self-control challenge as I am striving to eat less, exercise more, and get enough sleep.  I will post updates on Sundays, and will recap my previous week, post progress of weight lost, and will post targets for the next week.  So, here goes!

EAT LESS- Since beginning this week, I have started just trying to be conscious of when and how much I eat.  I am trying to only eat when I am physically hungry, and then eat moderate amounts and stop when I am no longer hungry (not until I am feeling full or overfull).  My success so far is just that I am more conscious and that I have started to follow this plan.  This week, my action step is that I will write down an eating diary- when I eat, what I eat, and how hungry/full I was before/after eating.

EXERCISE MORE- I haven't even started making a plan for this part, much less doing it.  While I am enthusiastic about changing my lifestyle, I don't want this to be short-lived, so I am trying to make small changes I can live with over time.  Right now, I am not ready to add a work out in to my schedule.  My action step for this week will be to keep a time log, so that I can begin to track my time in order to figure out where in my schedule exercise will eventually fit.

GET ENOUGH SLEEP- I really, REALLY need to go to bed at a decent hour!  I have not yet done it, and I admit it is 100% a self control/disclipline issue.  I get the kids to bed and then I get working on stuff and don't stop... also, I enjoy the quiet house.  The price I pay, though, is that mornings don't go smoothly and are not productive because I am staying in bed as long as possible and wake up tired.  My action step for this week is going to be to be in bed by midnight every single night.  I know that sounds late, but it is nothing compared to what I have been doing!  (OK, to be honest I will have to start that tomorrow night, because I am already up past then now!)

Progress:  I only weighed myself twice, so this may not be accurate, but the second time was 3 pound less than the first.   We'll see, I don't tend to buy it, because in the past I have had a VERY hard time getting the scale to budge AT ALL, much less 3 pounds in a few days.  I have a feeling it was just a normal fluctuation.  Maybe I should weight daily and then average from week to week?  Ideas/ opinions on that?

Another related action step for this week is that I am going to pray specifically for the Lord to help me to develop self-control.  It is listed as a fruit of the Spirit, and therefore I know I cannot expect to develop it on my own, but that if I remain in Jesus I will bear much fruit!  So I figure that will be the key to the whole thing!

I just read this and was really convicted.  I was tiny until the middle of college, when I put a few pounds on, but was still a size 6 when I got married.  3 children later, I am not even close to that, and find myself needing to lose about 60 pounds to fall into the middle of the healthy weight range for my height.  I gained a HUGE amount of weight with my first baby, and on the high end of normal with both boys.  I am carrying a large amount of the excess weight right around the middle, which is very unhealthy, and I know that even though I have no related health problems yet, it leaves me at high risk.  Also, my dad is not overweight and yet he had a bypass at 53.  So, I need to lose this weight.  I have gone through kicks, diets and exercise kicks, but Tammy is exactly right in saying that what has been missing is self-discipline.  I know what I need to do, I just haven't done it yet. 

So, here is what I need to do, in a nutshell:  1.  Eat less.  2. Exercise  3.  Get enough sleep.  Of course, I could get really detailed with it all, like I need to eat more veggies, less carbs, make a lot of rules, etc.  But really, it boils down to those three things. 

I can't imagine living on a strict diet the rest of my life, counting calories.  I can't imagine that I will continue to do a diet or exercise that is complicated and hard to follow for long with all that I already have to do.  So, it boils down to keeping it simple and just simply being self-disciplined to eat less, exercise, and get enough sleep.

I should make a goal to report my progress every week on my blog.  Let me think about a day of each week, and I will do it for accountability.

Here’s the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
List 6 unspectacular quirks you have.
Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them.
Leave a comment on each blog to let them know they were tagged.

1.  I can curl up my tongue in thirds, kind of looks like a lasagna noodle or half a flower.  It is really weird.

2.  I cannot stand to see or hear spitting.

3.  I remember things by the way they look, almost like I took a snapshot of them in my brain.  Like I can visualize where a particular passage I am looking for in a book was on the page.

4.  I have a weird obsession with Crest Amazemint lipgloss at the moment.

5.  I feel VERY strongly about politics, but have not posted anywhere on the internet about my opinion despite the fact that I find multiple things per day that infuriate me and that make me want to comment back. (Not due to grace and/or humility, rather, I think I am a chronic people pleaser! )

6.  I love to sleep, but I never want to go to bed early enough to get a good 8 hours.

I don't quite know who to tag, if you want to do it, great!  I would love to see Jill and Angela do it, and any of my other friends who want to!

For you, Mommy....

I really enjoyed this meme hosted by the Simple Woman.  If you would like to participate, click the button at the top or click here.

On a sad note, I have a cold.  On a happy note, I am feeling like life is getting more organized and doable!  If you want to read more about that, you can go to my other blog here.

So now that I am actually getting some things done, I am feeling inspired to do more projects that have been in the "someday" category for a long time.  So, this is going to serve as the reminder list for me to come back to when I have project time.

Things I would like to get done:

• Declutter my house.  We live in a very small house, and we have TOO MUCH STUFF!  I would love to get it down to just what we need, use, and love.  I would like to do this before Christmas and the two birthdays in the two weeks following, because we are always overwhelmingly blessed with toys and new things coming into the house then!  (And if you have seen Madame Blueberry, I don't have to tell you what packing more stuff into an already packed house would cause to happen.  Ugly.)
• Learn more about gardening and yard upkeep, what needs to be done when, and start to beautify my little portion of the great outdoors.  This is one area that has been totally neglected in my overwhelm with life.  It is in BAD shape, and I would like to get it looking NICE so we can enjoy it!  I would also like to be able to do square foot vegetable gardens next spring with my children, so that is something to work towards!  This is a project that I need to figure out how to do without spending a lot of money.  Ideas are welcome!
• Write a business plan and actually START my home based photography business!
• Desgn and open my new website.  (Idea is done, but I am not releasing it yet because I want it to be a surprise!)
• Start piano/music lessons for the kids.
• Clean the basement and rearrange it to be more of a rec room for our family.
• Move the boys into dd's room and dd into the other bedroom, which will require painting both rooms and assembling a loft bed at the very least.

Ok, that's all I can think of right now because I am already bowled over with the scope/number of projects I came up with in 5 minutes!

I have been away a while, and am happy to say that I am back and things are going really well!  I have missed blogging a lot, for a couple of reasons: 1.  I really enjoy writing.  and 2.  I really enjoy getting to know so many neat women!

School started at our house in early September, and I quickly found myself with the old overwhelmed feeling.... feeling like I was just buried in things to do and that none of it was getting done.  After pouring it all out to my wonderful Gilbert, he suggested that I implement more structure to our day.  So, I made some chore charts and daily routine charts and tried it... and after a week, it has made such a difference!  Our house is so much more orderly and neat, learning is actually happening, and I have even seen a major reduction in behavior/disclipline problems!  Praise the Lord!  I am praying that I can keep it up and not quit!

I have also taken on a fun new project- I am part of the TOS Crew, a focus group for The Old Schoolhouse magazine who will review and spread the word about some homeschooling products over the next few months!  I am excited to try everything and to get to share it with other homeschool moms!  Stay tuned for my first review coming VERY VERY soon!  ( as in, a few minutes from now! ;) )

Blessings for a wonderful fall!