Well, I'm still working away when I can. Is anyone else still with me? You know, I go to other ladies' blogs, and I see so many Mr. Linky's just overFLOWING with participants. It's the exercise thing, isn't it?;-) I know. I don't want to exercise either. Especially when I'm seeing no results. I just don't have an hour a day to give in order to see the results I would like, but I still think it's important to be at least moving. Is anyone else still with me?
Buehler. Buehler.
For Today...Darin and I are still reading St. Bartholomew’s Eve by G.A. Henty. This was one of the kid’s favorite history read alouds last year, so I wanted Darin to hear it. He’s slowwwwly warming up to it. There’s a lot of set-up at the beginning.
I am hoping...to get my desk cleaned off this week. That would include making a schedule for Ben’s Greek studies. Those books will stay here until I do.
I am creating...plans….seems my brain never stop, but my body does. ;-) I make more plans than I could ever accomplish in 24 hours.
I am hearing...Sophia playing with her sippy cup on the floor. She's learning to drink from it, but loves to play with it more than anything at this point. Jack is out in the backyard hitting something with a stick.
Around the house... Monday is coming in like a lion. I’ve had a minor cold this weekend that left me tired out, so the normal chores I do on the weekends did not get done. The important thing was that breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served, mostly thanks to Darin. What a guy he is.
One of my favorite things... is going for a walk around the block with Darin after the kids have gone to bed. Our dog, Joy, walks along with us.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Ben has an orthodontist appointment, Sophia has her 9-month well-check, I’m hoping to meet a pal at Starbucks for a long overdue chat about life, and Darin and I are going to a 40th birthday party. Should be fun.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
We just started using Apologia's Elementary Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. One of the activities is to make an ocean box. You line a box with blue paper, and as you study a sea creature, you make it out of clay or whatever you want, and then add it to your box in the position it would go in the sea. That would be in the Sunlit Zone, the Twilight Zone or the Midnight Zone. I'm using this with three kids and the thought of three boxes floating around our house just totally irritated me. I hate clutter, and yes, I would have considered those boxes clutter, rather than a teaching tool. That's me....big clutter freak! I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before that I LOVE to throw things away. ;-)
Anyway.....We actually only have Ben with us for this study for a short time. Soon he will be off on his own, doing his own science studies. Kinda sad for me. He's 13 and in 8th grade now. I figured it's time to cut the apron strings and send him off on his own history and science studies. It's been a wonderful time schooling the oldest three together in history and science. It's hard to believe that they're all growing up....
Back to the boxes.....my idea was to line our hallway wall with blue paper and let all three add their animals to that. When I mentioned what I was going to do, Ben immediately wanted to take over the project. I was good with that and I'm so glad he did it! I would have just put blue paper up on the wall and been done with it, but he went a lot farther and made an island, the continental shelf, the sunlit zone, the continental slope, the twilight zone, the continental rise, the midnight zone AND of course, the abyssal plain. It is so neat! Here you can see his work. He's so kewl. ;-) You can see two little angler fish down in the midnight zone. And up top, courtesy of Finding Nemo, the E.A.C., dude.
Here are the things I got at CVS on mine and Darin's date night. We really know how to party. ;-)
3 Revlon Nail Polishes - 3.99 each
2 XTreme deodorant - 2.99 each
Tom's of Maine Toothpaste - 5.29
subtotal: 23.24
I used:
3 coupons for the nail polish. $2 off ($6 total)
2 coupons for the deodorant. $1 off ($2 total)
$4/$20 CVS coupon
$10 ECBs
My final total was 1.24. How kewl is that? And I earned 14.50 in ECBs!
Lately, I've had a lot of people tell me they don't need to do the CVS thing because their family is not as big as mine. A family of 7 definitely has its challenges, but to me, getting stuff for free and nearly free seems like an across-the-board thing! The whole reason for the CVS journey is not just for the adrenalin rush of getting stuff at super cheap-o prices. Although really, that would probably be enough to satisfy most. ;-)
Seriously, the main goal is to outfit your home as cheaply as you can so you're not spending all your dough needlessly. When we need body wash here in our house, we simply go to the cabinet in my bathroom and grab a bottle. I don't need to stress over adding that expense to our budget that week. I've already got it, and I got it for free, or nearly free. There's nothing in that that keeps it exclusive to large families.
Give it a try! Go to Crystal's Money Saving Mom blog and read CVS 101 and get started ASAP! :-)
Blogger Friend School is in session! The ladies there are leaving it open this year, so you can join-in at any time! Here is the first assignment:
Assignment: Take time this week to write about you and your feelings of trials and triumphs with homeschooling. Touch on when you first heard about the concept of home schooling and whether you tip-toed into the idea or just jumped in and never looked back. Share your schooling as a child and how you compare it to what your goals are for your children.
I love homeschooling. I have from the first minute I understood that it existed, which was when I was 28! Honestly, I had never, EVER heard of homeschooling until 1996. I was working part-time at a bookstore after our first son was born. Being a new Mom, during my breaks, I would wander over to the “Parenting” section of the store and browse. There was a tiny little section of about five books on Homeschooling. The first book I read on it was the Colfax’s Homeschooling for Excellence. That was it for me. From then on, we were going to homeschool. My Husband gave me the ol’, “I went to public school and I turned out all right!” Then he thought about it and remembered a few more details of his life as a public school kid, and reconsidered. ;-)
Looking back on my own time in public school, I am just sad. Things weren’t always easy in my own home life, and I spent all my time in school trying to work through all of that. And the working-through was uncomfortable. Silly, but intense fighting with my friends, poor decisions, poor grades. Don’t get me wrong. I was a pretty good gal, had lots of good friends, was considered “popular,” but it was a struggle. It would have been nice to have a little more adult guidance. I did get that later on in high school when I went to a boarding school. That probably saved me in a lot of ways.
Anyway….we are beginning our 9th year of homeschooling, and I hate to say this because, well, you know, it’s the “saying it out loud” thing…..but I’ve never felt burned out and ready to give it up. My regular prayer to God is to give me His vision for me as a wife, parent and homeschooling Mom. And I pray that A LOT. After all, I am the Mom of five hard-heads. God is so good and has held me steadily in His hand through all the frustrating moments, hours and days, and I never want my life to be different. God made me for this!
My goals for my children have changed over time. At first I didn’t really have any goals. Like a true control freak, I only wanted to be the one to have a say in what my kids studied. I still like that control, but now my goal is just to raise them to be servants of Christ. That’s really hard because that means I can’t really put my faith in a curriculum to do that for me. I have to be the example every day. Ugh. I constantly fail, and a lot of times I don’t WANT to do what I need to do to be an example. So many people say they could never homeschool, but I believe it’s because they don’t want to enough. That’s the way I feel about being that example sometimes….that I don’t want to enough. I think of this verse often to encourage me: Ezra 8:22 “…the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him.” When I remember that, I know that I can continue. J
Here’s our new table for our littles. One of our new purchases this fall for school, and quickly labeled “Kid’s Coloring Table” by my older ones.
Outside my Window...it’s a nice day outside! Darin and the boys are going to get to work on the fence today. Darin thinks it will go pretty fast. There are no gates on this side of the house, so there’s nothing special to worry about. In two days we will be having some rain, thanks to Hurricane Gustav!
I am thinking...and wondering if we can actually do all that we have planned for today. I’m excited about the day just because Darin is home. I love having him here with us. He brings a great sense of humor to everything he approaches and that always helps to soften my edges.
From the learning rooms...no schooling today! Lydia got her Teaching Textbooks last week and has been doing math at odd times since then. She’s so excited about having it and I’m letting her go! Who am I to stop her from doing math? ;-)
This week I will work on making lesson plans for Ben’s Greek studies. Also received those books in the mail last week, but know that we will all flounder with it if I don’t make a plan.
I am thankful for...my new grand-niece! I am now a Great Aunt four times over. Two boys and two girls. Aren’t I too young to be a Great Aunt???? ;-)
From the kitchen...I’ve got some yummy stuff planned for this week, and am most excited about the Butternut Squash Soup that I’m gonna make.
I am reading...added More Than Dates & Dead People to my stack this past week. I’ve only read the first 2 or 3 chapters, but it seems more like a book trying to convince me that history is fascinating, which I already knew. ;-) I’ll keep reading. I’m sure there’ll be more.
I am hoping...and praying for a chore breakthrough around here. We have been trying to get the kids to the point where we don’t have to lead them by the nose to every chore. Ben has it down, but the other two that do chores get distracted easily. I know this is not something that can be done overnight. It takes a lot of training!
I am creating...the beginnings of my new skirt today! My pal, Rachel, is coming over this afternoon to help me get started. So excited!!!!!
I am hearing...the boys follow Darin around the house, sharing in his work. All three of them. I love, love, love that!
We have some friends and the husband has quit his corporate job to go a new direction. He wants to do something where he can be more available for his boys as they grow up. Who knows where this will lead him, but he is searching God for direction. I pray that God would be glorified through his brave decision.
I read on the No Greater Joy website a few years ago about this family who basically lived in a bus. They were not Christians, but the parents spent all their time with their children and had won the hearts of the children because of the investment of TIME they made in their lives. When they did become Christians, the children followed their lead without hesitation. Makes me wonder where the closest bus in the woods is….
Around the house... it’s busy today. Jack just sat down to practice his piano, Darin and Henry are looking for their shoes so they can head out to Home Depot to buy fence stuff. I think Ben is going, too. The girls are quiet. Lydia is cleaning her room, using this list from Growing in Grace magazine as her guide. Sophia is asleep.
One of my favorite things... is all of us working and cooperating together. I love it when our family is working as a unit and having fun doing it.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... getting back into the swing of school. We also had last Friday off because Darin took that day off. We went to the Dallas World Aquarium. A birthday present for the kids from my mother-in-law. It was great. The kids loved it!
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
It's been a weird last week for me. I didn't get in much exercise. I've been extra tired.....I thought I might have been pregnant, but I took a test and it was negative. In the past, I have done a little reading about Virgin Coconut Oil and remembered that it is supposed to help with energy levels and weight loss. I went back and read all that again, and decided to go for using the oil as a supplement to see what would happen. Some people take it straight up and I tried that, and yuck! I gagged. ;-) So I mix mine in a cup of hot chocolate and drink it down in ladylike sips. The crazy thing is that yesterday was probably the worst day for me. I felt so worn down and tired and had a headache. But after I had tried the oil straight up I noticed about 30 minutes later that I was starting to feel better! I had more in my hot chocolate later and today I feel SO MUCH better. So I'm looking forward to getting back into the exercise groove this week. Don't get me wrong....I'm still not 100% because of the oil, but I do feel a lot better.
I hope you all are having a wonderful Labor Day! We are doing just that around here - laboring. ;-) Lots to do!
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