I always wear long skirts, but my girls have pants and they prefer them. There are some occasions when they aren't allowed to wear pants.
Honey: Can I wear pants today?
Me: Do you have clean pants?
Honey: I can't find any.
Me: You can't wear dirty pants, so if you don't have clean pants, then I guess you can't wear pants. It's not my fault you don't have clean pants if you took them all off the wrong way with the underwear stuck on them, and you won't turn them right side out so I can wash them.
Honey goes off pouting.
A few minutes later, I hear her walking down the hall crying and hollering.
Honey: I'm NOT wearing a dress today, so if I can't wear pants, I guess I can't wear ANYTHING today. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!
I considered saying "You'll probably get pretty cold if you don't wear anything." But I decided instead to pretend I didn't hear her. A little while later, I told her "You're still in your pajamas?!! You better go get dressed in a hurry!" and she did.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
One Dollar Breakfast
I haven't felt very well this morning, so I've been dragging. But don't worry. Sissy has been doing it all. She got dressed and did her chores. Then she fixed her own hair beautifully. Next, I heard Punkin screaming, while Sissy calmly repeated "I've already started, Punkin, I'm going to finish. Punkin, I've already started and I'm going to finish." She was trying to fix Punkin's hair. I finally intervened "Oh, just leave her alone!". Then she was chasing down Honey to fix her hair, which she finally accomplished after a mini-battle.
Finally, while I was tiredly nursing the baby, she came to me with a notebook and pen, and said "If you want to eat any of the breakfast I am going to make, you will need to pay me one dollar."
"What are you making?" I asked, quite interested to know, since we are very low on groceries at the moment.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well, there aren't many choices, because we don't have many groceries."
Anyway. She ended up making a peach smoothie with some frozen peaches, a bit of sugar, and some milk.
Immediately afterwards, Honey came in, distraught. "Mama! She says I have to give her a dollar!"
"Don't worry, I'll pay for you." We went and got a dollar out of my wallet, which I gave to Honey, and she gave to Sissy.
A few minutes later, they were looking for a pen. It seems that Sissy needed to write down how much money she'd made.
Now she's four dollars the richer, and I think I'm going to encourage her to spend a few dollars on something nice for the family soon.
By the way, just in case any of you were wondering: I don't charge my kids for breakfast.
Finally, while I was tiredly nursing the baby, she came to me with a notebook and pen, and said "If you want to eat any of the breakfast I am going to make, you will need to pay me one dollar."
"What are you making?" I asked, quite interested to know, since we are very low on groceries at the moment.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well, there aren't many choices, because we don't have many groceries."
Anyway. She ended up making a peach smoothie with some frozen peaches, a bit of sugar, and some milk.
Immediately afterwards, Honey came in, distraught. "Mama! She says I have to give her a dollar!"
"Don't worry, I'll pay for you." We went and got a dollar out of my wallet, which I gave to Honey, and she gave to Sissy.
A few minutes later, they were looking for a pen. It seems that Sissy needed to write down how much money she'd made.
Now she's four dollars the richer, and I think I'm going to encourage her to spend a few dollars on something nice for the family soon.
By the way, just in case any of you were wondering: I don't charge my kids for breakfast.
Friday, October 4, 2019
Day 3
Potty training Punkin.
Day One: She learned that she could delay bedtime by saying she needed to go potty. Over. And over. And over.
Day Two: She learned that if she squeezed out a few drops every 10 minutes or so, she could earn LOTS of jellybeans!
Day Three: We switched to underwear, which have remained dry since we put them on at 7:30 this morning (so nearly 5 hours). She's gone potty some, but I've been rewarding dry undies instead of potty in the chair, so she's not spending all her time running over to push out a little dribble. But no accidents! So cool!
I'm still prepared for her to lose interest, and if so, we'll just switch back to pullups. I don't like to do so, but it's just not worth putting our family through misery if undies aren't remaining successful.
Day One: She learned that she could delay bedtime by saying she needed to go potty. Over. And over. And over.
Day Two: She learned that if she squeezed out a few drops every 10 minutes or so, she could earn LOTS of jellybeans!
Day Three: We switched to underwear, which have remained dry since we put them on at 7:30 this morning (so nearly 5 hours). She's gone potty some, but I've been rewarding dry undies instead of potty in the chair, so she's not spending all her time running over to push out a little dribble. But no accidents! So cool!
I'm still prepared for her to lose interest, and if so, we'll just switch back to pullups. I don't like to do so, but it's just not worth putting our family through misery if undies aren't remaining successful.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Wa-wa
Punkin says "Wa-wa" for "water".
Today, heading home from Piano Lessons, I was singing.
...And if you'll drink this water,
You'll never thirst again!
There is a river
That flows from God above.
There is a fountain
That's filled with His great love.
Come to this water;
There is a vast supply.
There is a river
That never shall run dry.
As I finished, I could hear Punkin in the back seat singing with all her little heart
Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa!
Today, heading home from Piano Lessons, I was singing.
...And if you'll drink this water,
You'll never thirst again!
There is a river
That flows from God above.
There is a fountain
That's filled with His great love.
Come to this water;
There is a vast supply.
There is a river
That never shall run dry.
As I finished, I could hear Punkin in the back seat singing with all her little heart
Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa!
Thursday, September 26, 2019
A Quick Recap of September 2019
This has been a busy month and it's not quite over yet!
We drove 1200 miles and spent most of a week camping, hiking, and spreading ashes with my family for Dad's memorial. Then we made the long journey back home.
We tried to recuperate for a couple days, but also had to do the kids' beginning-of-year reading tests, pick up some curriculum that had finally arrived (4 weeks after ordering) and attend the quilting meeting and piano lessons. My sister and her husband got back about a day and a half after us, and she also had to take a couple days to try to recuperate. She has made that 1200 mile trip a couple of times lately, having moved here very recently before the memorial took place.
After a few days had passed, she and I canned peaches together over the course of a couple different days, and with many of the peaches being on the verge of starting to go bad. That was a big job in itself!
And before we were quite finished, my Mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and sister-in-law's-boyfriend arrived after an 1100 mile journey. The boyfriend spent the week at somebody else's house - the reason he'd come out was to hunt anyway, so he was out in the mountains most of the time. My sister-in-law spent a few days with us and a few days with her best friend, who also lives in this area. My mother-in-law spent basically the whole week with us.
During that week, we also got started on school. A bit of a juggling act since I didn't want to waste a bit of the time we had with my MIL, but also a necessity to accomplish. At the end of the week, I looked at our accomplishments and was pleasantly surprised by all we were able to accomplish in spite of that!
This week, we've had to run here and there every day so far, although yesterday's running about wasn't until my Man got home and we went to a viewing. After we got home, I just wanted to go straight to bed, but instead I pushed everyone through baths and hair-washing, sent them to bed, and after feeding/coddling/lulling the baby to sleep, at LAST I took a bath myself and then headed for bed.
This morning, I amazed myself by having chores, breakfast, etc. all accomplished AS WELL as a little of our school, a load of laundry, and popping a load of dishes into my recently acquired and much-loved dishwasher, after which we left for this morning's funeral early enough to stop and pick up the sympathy card I'd previously forgotten to purchase. I did not attend the graveside or potluck dinner afterward, as I had a previously scheduled appointment with the HQC from the Charter School. After she left, having informed me that I had more curriculum ready, the kids & I headed up to the campus once more and got our books. We came home, I took note of this batch of 18 books (I have a list on which I'm keeping track of everything ordered and what is not here yet).
Then the kids had their (required) pleasure reading and piano practice (they alternate who is doing which, since both subjects take about the same length of time), and then I got dinner in the oven because it takes 2 hours to cook, and then I sat down with a (large) cup of coffee and the computer, and have been cold-heartedly ignoring the sad baby (she is falling asleep and hates that) while I write and try to imagine myself staying awake in church tonight.
Tomorrow I have the leave the house once again to do some banking, plus hoping to spend a bit of time with my sister, then Saturday my Man has plans, then Sunday is Potluck after Church. Monday will begin another week of school (and hopefully not much else!), and end an extremely busy month!
I hope October is a little calmer. I intend to heavily prioritize sleep once we get through this weekend.
We drove 1200 miles and spent most of a week camping, hiking, and spreading ashes with my family for Dad's memorial. Then we made the long journey back home.
We tried to recuperate for a couple days, but also had to do the kids' beginning-of-year reading tests, pick up some curriculum that had finally arrived (4 weeks after ordering) and attend the quilting meeting and piano lessons. My sister and her husband got back about a day and a half after us, and she also had to take a couple days to try to recuperate. She has made that 1200 mile trip a couple of times lately, having moved here very recently before the memorial took place.
After a few days had passed, she and I canned peaches together over the course of a couple different days, and with many of the peaches being on the verge of starting to go bad. That was a big job in itself!
And before we were quite finished, my Mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and sister-in-law's-boyfriend arrived after an 1100 mile journey. The boyfriend spent the week at somebody else's house - the reason he'd come out was to hunt anyway, so he was out in the mountains most of the time. My sister-in-law spent a few days with us and a few days with her best friend, who also lives in this area. My mother-in-law spent basically the whole week with us.
During that week, we also got started on school. A bit of a juggling act since I didn't want to waste a bit of the time we had with my MIL, but also a necessity to accomplish. At the end of the week, I looked at our accomplishments and was pleasantly surprised by all we were able to accomplish in spite of that!
This week, we've had to run here and there every day so far, although yesterday's running about wasn't until my Man got home and we went to a viewing. After we got home, I just wanted to go straight to bed, but instead I pushed everyone through baths and hair-washing, sent them to bed, and after feeding/coddling/lulling the baby to sleep, at LAST I took a bath myself and then headed for bed.
This morning, I amazed myself by having chores, breakfast, etc. all accomplished AS WELL as a little of our school, a load of laundry, and popping a load of dishes into my recently acquired and much-loved dishwasher, after which we left for this morning's funeral early enough to stop and pick up the sympathy card I'd previously forgotten to purchase. I did not attend the graveside or potluck dinner afterward, as I had a previously scheduled appointment with the HQC from the Charter School. After she left, having informed me that I had more curriculum ready, the kids & I headed up to the campus once more and got our books. We came home, I took note of this batch of 18 books (I have a list on which I'm keeping track of everything ordered and what is not here yet).
Then the kids had their (required) pleasure reading and piano practice (they alternate who is doing which, since both subjects take about the same length of time), and then I got dinner in the oven because it takes 2 hours to cook, and then I sat down with a (large) cup of coffee and the computer, and have been cold-heartedly ignoring the sad baby (she is falling asleep and hates that) while I write and try to imagine myself staying awake in church tonight.
Tomorrow I have the leave the house once again to do some banking, plus hoping to spend a bit of time with my sister, then Saturday my Man has plans, then Sunday is Potluck after Church. Monday will begin another week of school (and hopefully not much else!), and end an extremely busy month!
I hope October is a little calmer. I intend to heavily prioritize sleep once we get through this weekend.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Camp
My family was able to spend most of a week at "Camp". We went to my childhood camping place, a place way up in the mountain and away from everybody except a few hunters. My Mom and most of my siblings went up to camp Sunday, and my Man & kids & I followed Monday. One sister wasn't able to get there until Thursday.
We spread Dad's ashes here and there about the mountains he had so loved to bring us to each year.
It was sad & fun all mixed in together. I think the benefit in waiting 19 months after he passed away before being able to accomplish his request, is that we were able to find more enjoyment together at camp. Which is what he wanted, I think.
I'm glad we got to go.
I'm glad my kids got to experience that camp once in their lives.
I'm glad for the time with my family.
I'm glad it is now done.
We spread Dad's ashes here and there about the mountains he had so loved to bring us to each year.
It was sad & fun all mixed in together. I think the benefit in waiting 19 months after he passed away before being able to accomplish his request, is that we were able to find more enjoyment together at camp. Which is what he wanted, I think.
I'm glad we got to go.
I'm glad my kids got to experience that camp once in their lives.
I'm glad for the time with my family.
I'm glad it is now done.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Planning Progress - Almost Done! 2019-2020
I'm happy to say that my school planning is basically complete! I'm SURE it will have to be tweaked once we get into it, but it's so much easier to tweak a plan that's not exactly working as well as anticipated, rather than starting from scratch and feeling the futility of weeks spent treading water.
I had done a lot of back-and-forth in my mind about whether or not to enroll with the local charter school again this year. We did last year, and did not the year before. There are pros and cons for both choices, and I was really on the fence about it. I was leaning toward not enrolling with them, and had almost made that my final decision, but I wanted to discuss it with My Man first. We talked about it together, and decided we WILL school through the charter this year. It's such a relief to have that plan made! Everything else partially hinged upon that decision!
I have chosen our resources for the year, and have the list in to the school to purchase for us. There are some odds and ends we will need to purchase for ourselves, as well. The biggest thing being a home weather station, as I want to dedicate much of our year to a simple weather study. I'm basing this off of a weather journal we kept for a year or two while I was being homeschooled. I look back on that time with such fond memories!
I will have the kids' chore charts ready after I buy more laminating paper. I didn't realize I only had 2 sheets left. And then I tried using them on one chart and accidentally messed it up. It has all these little wrinkles at the top and I can't seem to get them fixed. I know these charts work because we tried them for a couple weeks about a month ago, and the only problem was that I had to print a new one each day for each kid, and then we had old ones all about the house not making it to the trash. We decided we'd laminate them and use dry erase markers to check them off. (We did have to make tweaks, of course, but that is done now and I feel confident in their continued success.)
I have a similar checklist for myself that includes all the basic things, which I'm hoping will keep me on track instead of stressed out. I've also made a school checklist with info about how often during the week we should do each subject, and for how many minutes at a time. I am very much a fan of Charlotte Mason, but I have to say that my weekly plan does not exactly reflect her suggestions. I have read extensively on the idea of following her timetables exactly, and was stressed that I couldn't seem to do so no matter how hard I tried. I have come to peace with this, and I am pleased with my current intentions.
I have on another sheet a simple, easy-to-read plan of the morning schedule. Just another paper to help us see where we should be at any given time. This is the only paper that actually says "Do this at such-and-such time", and it is very general. (For example, it says simply "School" during that time period, instead of "Math" followed by "Literature" etc.)
I have a few other small things to get in order, but this has been for the most part, a pretty relaxed planning period. Just a little here and there and I've seemed to pretty well get things accomplished! I think I'll be able to easily knock out the rest well before time to dive back in to school (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself...).
I am very excited about the coming year! I am also very excited about our vacation weeks!
And the thing that I am the very MOST excited about is something that I have NO basis to gauge whether it will be successful or not. But I THINK I'm going to be very pleased with the results! It solves several problems at once in what seems to be a simple solution. Here are the problems:
- Many of the women in our church (including some homeschooling mothers with their children) meet every Tuesday for lunch and quilting (Park Day during summer vacation). We love attending but:
- It is difficult to fit this in while also keeping up with the school agenda. I don't want to go to a 4-day week unless absolutely necessary, but 5 days isn't strictly necessary to accomplish our goals either.
- Especially since I also have to get groceries at some point in the week, which is such a huge job! It has to be done either with 5 kids in tow, or at night when they are in bed and My Man is watching them. Neither way is fun.
- And we also need to fit in piano lessons at some point!
- And I absolutely DO NOT want to have to leave the house more than one "business day" per week. Not unless it's of an evening with my Man.
The resolution:
Alternating Tuesdays. We'll have a school Tuesday and a shopping Tuesday. On School Tuesday, our workload will be lightened a bit to make the time for our friends. On Shopping Tuesday, we'll go to ONE of the two stores I mainly frequent, and purchase 4 weeks worth of groceries from that store. The next Shopping Tuesday, we'll get 4 weeks of groceries from the other store. I also intend to experiment with the "Pick-up" feature: shop for the groceries online, and then just let them load the car and go home and deal with the groceries. As far as piano lessons are concerned, I can't tell you HOW HAPPY I was when the piano teacher texted me last weekend because she was working on the schedule. She had a slot for us, and was asking if it would work for us. But she also noted that if Sissy was going to start this year, then we would need a different slot instead. I told her we plan to have Sissy start. So she asked if Tuesday afternoons would work, from 2:30-3:30. This is THE VERY BEST time of the week for us to go to lessons! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thrilled! We'll be able to leave the quilting and go straight to lessons. When lessons are over, we'll arrive home in time to get supper going and complete our evening chores.
I am SO excited about this! I'll let you know how it goes. I hope it is everything I imagine it to be.
I had done a lot of back-and-forth in my mind about whether or not to enroll with the local charter school again this year. We did last year, and did not the year before. There are pros and cons for both choices, and I was really on the fence about it. I was leaning toward not enrolling with them, and had almost made that my final decision, but I wanted to discuss it with My Man first. We talked about it together, and decided we WILL school through the charter this year. It's such a relief to have that plan made! Everything else partially hinged upon that decision!
I have chosen our resources for the year, and have the list in to the school to purchase for us. There are some odds and ends we will need to purchase for ourselves, as well. The biggest thing being a home weather station, as I want to dedicate much of our year to a simple weather study. I'm basing this off of a weather journal we kept for a year or two while I was being homeschooled. I look back on that time with such fond memories!
I will have the kids' chore charts ready after I buy more laminating paper. I didn't realize I only had 2 sheets left. And then I tried using them on one chart and accidentally messed it up. It has all these little wrinkles at the top and I can't seem to get them fixed. I know these charts work because we tried them for a couple weeks about a month ago, and the only problem was that I had to print a new one each day for each kid, and then we had old ones all about the house not making it to the trash. We decided we'd laminate them and use dry erase markers to check them off. (We did have to make tweaks, of course, but that is done now and I feel confident in their continued success.)
I have a similar checklist for myself that includes all the basic things, which I'm hoping will keep me on track instead of stressed out. I've also made a school checklist with info about how often during the week we should do each subject, and for how many minutes at a time. I am very much a fan of Charlotte Mason, but I have to say that my weekly plan does not exactly reflect her suggestions. I have read extensively on the idea of following her timetables exactly, and was stressed that I couldn't seem to do so no matter how hard I tried. I have come to peace with this, and I am pleased with my current intentions.
I have on another sheet a simple, easy-to-read plan of the morning schedule. Just another paper to help us see where we should be at any given time. This is the only paper that actually says "Do this at such-and-such time", and it is very general. (For example, it says simply "School" during that time period, instead of "Math" followed by "Literature" etc.)
I have a few other small things to get in order, but this has been for the most part, a pretty relaxed planning period. Just a little here and there and I've seemed to pretty well get things accomplished! I think I'll be able to easily knock out the rest well before time to dive back in to school (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself...).
I am very excited about the coming year! I am also very excited about our vacation weeks!
And the thing that I am the very MOST excited about is something that I have NO basis to gauge whether it will be successful or not. But I THINK I'm going to be very pleased with the results! It solves several problems at once in what seems to be a simple solution. Here are the problems:
- Many of the women in our church (including some homeschooling mothers with their children) meet every Tuesday for lunch and quilting (Park Day during summer vacation). We love attending but:
- It is difficult to fit this in while also keeping up with the school agenda. I don't want to go to a 4-day week unless absolutely necessary, but 5 days isn't strictly necessary to accomplish our goals either.
- Especially since I also have to get groceries at some point in the week, which is such a huge job! It has to be done either with 5 kids in tow, or at night when they are in bed and My Man is watching them. Neither way is fun.
- And we also need to fit in piano lessons at some point!
- And I absolutely DO NOT want to have to leave the house more than one "business day" per week. Not unless it's of an evening with my Man.
The resolution:
Alternating Tuesdays. We'll have a school Tuesday and a shopping Tuesday. On School Tuesday, our workload will be lightened a bit to make the time for our friends. On Shopping Tuesday, we'll go to ONE of the two stores I mainly frequent, and purchase 4 weeks worth of groceries from that store. The next Shopping Tuesday, we'll get 4 weeks of groceries from the other store. I also intend to experiment with the "Pick-up" feature: shop for the groceries online, and then just let them load the car and go home and deal with the groceries. As far as piano lessons are concerned, I can't tell you HOW HAPPY I was when the piano teacher texted me last weekend because she was working on the schedule. She had a slot for us, and was asking if it would work for us. But she also noted that if Sissy was going to start this year, then we would need a different slot instead. I told her we plan to have Sissy start. So she asked if Tuesday afternoons would work, from 2:30-3:30. This is THE VERY BEST time of the week for us to go to lessons! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thrilled! We'll be able to leave the quilting and go straight to lessons. When lessons are over, we'll arrive home in time to get supper going and complete our evening chores.
I am SO excited about this! I'll let you know how it goes. I hope it is everything I imagine it to be.
Monday, July 15, 2019
Percolating Some School Plans
I'm disappointed in myself for taking some time off during our spring/summer school term. We should have been able to finish this week, but instead we have to continue this week and next week, as well as doing a little extra each day. It's not the end of the world, but how I wish we would've stuck to the plan. It was entirely my fault, not the kids'. Well, and we did get sick and that threw us off for a couple weeks. So I shouldn't blame myself entirely, either.
However, I'm looking forward to being done in the next two weeks! I'm working a little here and there on plans for next term, and enjoying that. I'm kinda wanting to be DONE with this term's school, but that's because of how excited I am for next term, and I want to make sure I have everything laid out for a very successful term!
I'm actually working on some plans for the whole year, because it doesn't make sense to only plan one term. It's more like a term + a year, since I consider our school years beginning in January with the new yearly schedule I laid out for us a few months ago.
The main thing I'm excited about is my history plans. The history we have done so far in our homeschool journey has felt a bit off, and even quite a bit disjointed-feeling to me, to tell the truth. But I'm feeling really good about my intentions.
I plan to study 1800-1900 United States history, as well as a special look in particular at the history of our state in that time period. I still need to find the specific resources I'll be using, but I have an idea of what we'll be covering:
Westward expansion - Lewis & Clark, Oregon trail, California & Klondike gold rushes, and the addition of territories and states
Immigration during this time period
Civil War
Indian relations
Highlighting some of the inventions/inventors of the time
And of course numerous smaller aspects of this time period
Also, I'll need to choose composers, artists, & poets that correspond with the history rotation. I already have a couple of ideas on each of these, but will be looking into more. I think I may know what I want to use for a history spine book, but I'll want to check further into this as well.
At the moment, however, I'm trying to get an idea of a schedule down on paper to see how and where everything is going to fit. I've just begun to mess around with that. We have quite a list to try to accomplish.
In no particular order -
Daily:
Bible reading
Copywork
Math
P.E. break
Spanish
Piano practice
Free reading
Short Nature Walk
"Science" (nature books)
Literature
Weekly:
History (twice)
Biography
Geography
Art (twice)
Artist
Composer
I have additional notes on these for myself, and how to fit it all in. It seems that Son should be able to complete a reading every day, Sissy should be able to complete a reading every day, and I should complete a reading every day in addition to reading a few verses from the Bible every morning. I will also do any reading involved in the less literature-based subjects, such as art, composer study, spanish, etc. The children should also do "free reading" for about 20 minutes each afternoon, that is based from my selections for free reading (so I might choose 15 books per child for the year, and then they can choose what they want to read - but they must read from these selections for about 20 minutes per day).
Hopefully this will all work out well. I am enjoying preparing. I'm hoping that my "little-by-little" work will mostly get the plans ironed out by the time we take our break in two weeks, and then maybe it'll just take a couple days of concerted effort to get all the finishing touches planned and start ordering resources. If THAT works out like I want (I'm trying to be realistic, though...), then I hope to spend the rest of the break cracking down on some things that need changed around the house in general. Decluttering mainly, but also "spring" cleaning so maybe everything will just feel a little more fresh and prepared when we begin next terms work. (Beginning in August - so not too much of a break!)
Come to think of it, if I'm being realistic, there's not a whole lot of chance that I'll be that close in the next two weeks. We have a wedding to attend this Saturday, and possibly having company who will be in the area for the wedding. Then the next Saturday is our Hayride Weekend, which will be very busy. Last year our family didn't have company except one of my sisters, which was okay because we came down sick that week. But the year before? We had a houseful! So far we don't know if we'll have anyone here for this year's Hayride Weekend, but we probably will. These events will be fun, but very busy! Especially on top of trying to go ahead and get our school term finished up, because I think it would be better to do school during this busy time, and still get our break as planned (almost - just one week shorter). The alternative would be to say "Forget this!", and leaving the school behind for now, start it back up again much sooner than planned. I just don't think I'll be happy with myself if that is how it goes down. So instead I'll keep plugging along, and look forward both to our break, and to a more well-planned year to come!
However, I'm looking forward to being done in the next two weeks! I'm working a little here and there on plans for next term, and enjoying that. I'm kinda wanting to be DONE with this term's school, but that's because of how excited I am for next term, and I want to make sure I have everything laid out for a very successful term!
I'm actually working on some plans for the whole year, because it doesn't make sense to only plan one term. It's more like a term + a year, since I consider our school years beginning in January with the new yearly schedule I laid out for us a few months ago.
The main thing I'm excited about is my history plans. The history we have done so far in our homeschool journey has felt a bit off, and even quite a bit disjointed-feeling to me, to tell the truth. But I'm feeling really good about my intentions.
I plan to study 1800-1900 United States history, as well as a special look in particular at the history of our state in that time period. I still need to find the specific resources I'll be using, but I have an idea of what we'll be covering:
Westward expansion - Lewis & Clark, Oregon trail, California & Klondike gold rushes, and the addition of territories and states
Immigration during this time period
Civil War
Indian relations
Highlighting some of the inventions/inventors of the time
And of course numerous smaller aspects of this time period
Also, I'll need to choose composers, artists, & poets that correspond with the history rotation. I already have a couple of ideas on each of these, but will be looking into more. I think I may know what I want to use for a history spine book, but I'll want to check further into this as well.
At the moment, however, I'm trying to get an idea of a schedule down on paper to see how and where everything is going to fit. I've just begun to mess around with that. We have quite a list to try to accomplish.
In no particular order -
Daily:
Bible reading
Copywork
Math
P.E. break
Spanish
Piano practice
Free reading
Short Nature Walk
"Science" (nature books)
Literature
Weekly:
History (twice)
Biography
Geography
Art (twice)
Artist
Composer
I have additional notes on these for myself, and how to fit it all in. It seems that Son should be able to complete a reading every day, Sissy should be able to complete a reading every day, and I should complete a reading every day in addition to reading a few verses from the Bible every morning. I will also do any reading involved in the less literature-based subjects, such as art, composer study, spanish, etc. The children should also do "free reading" for about 20 minutes each afternoon, that is based from my selections for free reading (so I might choose 15 books per child for the year, and then they can choose what they want to read - but they must read from these selections for about 20 minutes per day).
Hopefully this will all work out well. I am enjoying preparing. I'm hoping that my "little-by-little" work will mostly get the plans ironed out by the time we take our break in two weeks, and then maybe it'll just take a couple days of concerted effort to get all the finishing touches planned and start ordering resources. If THAT works out like I want (I'm trying to be realistic, though...), then I hope to spend the rest of the break cracking down on some things that need changed around the house in general. Decluttering mainly, but also "spring" cleaning so maybe everything will just feel a little more fresh and prepared when we begin next terms work. (Beginning in August - so not too much of a break!)
Come to think of it, if I'm being realistic, there's not a whole lot of chance that I'll be that close in the next two weeks. We have a wedding to attend this Saturday, and possibly having company who will be in the area for the wedding. Then the next Saturday is our Hayride Weekend, which will be very busy. Last year our family didn't have company except one of my sisters, which was okay because we came down sick that week. But the year before? We had a houseful! So far we don't know if we'll have anyone here for this year's Hayride Weekend, but we probably will. These events will be fun, but very busy! Especially on top of trying to go ahead and get our school term finished up, because I think it would be better to do school during this busy time, and still get our break as planned (almost - just one week shorter). The alternative would be to say "Forget this!", and leaving the school behind for now, start it back up again much sooner than planned. I just don't think I'll be happy with myself if that is how it goes down. So instead I'll keep plugging along, and look forward both to our break, and to a more well-planned year to come!
Friday, July 5, 2019
Fireworks
There was a pretty small crowd at church last night. Church didn't last very long and afterwards, we made the short drive to our favorite place to watch the fireworks, inviting some friends to go with us. It was fun. I still enjoy fireworks, and the children LOVED THEM! On the way over, we would see an occasional firework go off here or there, and the kids were so excited they were semi-hyperventilating over them. It was adorable!
After the grand finale, there weren't any fireworks going, so Honey asked me "Are they done?" I told her yes, there wouldn't be any more. Immediately another one lit up the sky. After a couple seconds of contemplation, Honey, in a very soft voice, started giving instructions: "Guys! Silence. We have to be silence. If it's silence, they'll do another one." SO CUTE!!!
On the way home, the kids conversation centered around how stars don't like the fireworks, and how fireworks don't like music. The latter stemmed from my Man & I quietly singing a hymn together. After the kids tried to get us to "Hush! The fireworks don't like music!" we finally felt it necessary to inform them that fireworks aren't living beings.
It was a wonderful evening. (I sure am tired today...)
After the grand finale, there weren't any fireworks going, so Honey asked me "Are they done?" I told her yes, there wouldn't be any more. Immediately another one lit up the sky. After a couple seconds of contemplation, Honey, in a very soft voice, started giving instructions: "Guys! Silence. We have to be silence. If it's silence, they'll do another one." SO CUTE!!!
On the way home, the kids conversation centered around how stars don't like the fireworks, and how fireworks don't like music. The latter stemmed from my Man & I quietly singing a hymn together. After the kids tried to get us to "Hush! The fireworks don't like music!" we finally felt it necessary to inform them that fireworks aren't living beings.
It was a wonderful evening. (I sure am tired today...)
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Exhaustion of Motherhood - When the Babies are Young
I'm tired. I'm always tired. I was telling someone the other day "That's just a part of motherhood!" She replied "You'll just be tired for the rest of your life, right?!" We were interrupted at that point, so I wasn't able to answer her with "Well, that's not exactly true..."
My mom (mother of nine children in just under 13 years) had told me that her friends had told her that it would get better after the baby was about two years old. She couldn't quite believe them. But she was always expecting again by the time hers reached about two years old. She told me that when my baby sister was about two, there was a huge change! I knew it must be true, because she'd told me other things like that and I had later proved them. But it didn't change the fact that I was still tired.
About 3.5 years ago, I had a two-year-old and no baby coming. I had so much energy! I got so much done! For now, I want to enjoy my little ones (and of course, bigger ones). I need to remind myself that I won't always be tired. And I need to get to bed earlier, because my exhaustion doesn't have to be as much as it is.
But not tonight. Tonight is church, and if we're out in time, then watching fireworks. It's a special day, and I want to celebrate our nation's birthday with my family.
Oh. And Sissy finished her learning-to-read book yesterday, and we went to the library and got her a library card according to the long-standing promise. (This promise began when Son was going through that book). Now Honey is asking for reading lessons.
My mom (mother of nine children in just under 13 years) had told me that her friends had told her that it would get better after the baby was about two years old. She couldn't quite believe them. But she was always expecting again by the time hers reached about two years old. She told me that when my baby sister was about two, there was a huge change! I knew it must be true, because she'd told me other things like that and I had later proved them. But it didn't change the fact that I was still tired.
About 3.5 years ago, I had a two-year-old and no baby coming. I had so much energy! I got so much done! For now, I want to enjoy my little ones (and of course, bigger ones). I need to remind myself that I won't always be tired. And I need to get to bed earlier, because my exhaustion doesn't have to be as much as it is.
But not tonight. Tonight is church, and if we're out in time, then watching fireworks. It's a special day, and I want to celebrate our nation's birthday with my family.
Oh. And Sissy finished her learning-to-read book yesterday, and we went to the library and got her a library card according to the long-standing promise. (This promise began when Son was going through that book). Now Honey is asking for reading lessons.
Friday, June 7, 2019
2019 Update
The About Our Family page is updated for 2019. A lot has changed since I first wrote it in 2016! Next up: pictures of the new kitties; Ash, Goldy, & Black Susan the Second.
Friday, April 5, 2019
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