everyday snapshots

Olivia's First Holy Communion

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:46:00 +0000

What a wonderful day! Olivia celebrated her First Communion. I was so proud of and happy for my girl.

The weather I was not so happy about. It was 60 degrees and raining all day long. The temperatures are unheard of for this time of year. The rain was just a pain. There was a professional photographer for portraits and at the Mass, but my original plan was to take Miss O outside during the waiting time between portraits and Mass and snap some pictures of my own. Unfortunately the rain foiled that plan, as well as an opportunity for decent light inside as well. What we have instead are phone photos after church.

Olivia and Fr. Gallagher after Mass.

And yes, those are casts on her feet. A few weeks ago she had surgery to correct shortened achilles tendons. She spent three weeks non-weight bearing. For the past week-and-a-half she has been in these walking casts. She has another week-and-a-half to go before she is completely done with casts! She really has been a trooper through the entire ordeal, even to the point of limping through First Communion.

The kiddos and I at lunch.

Monday Musings (on a Wednesday)

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot.

It is a balmy morning on the back porch, and I can hear sprinkles starting on the awning. We have still been running cooler than normal in the temperature department -- much too cool to swim yet. At some point summer will likely come on with its usual vengence and burn us to a crisp, but for now I am going to hold out hope that we can just hover around 90 this summer instead of 100 since we have been running 10 degrees behind since January.

Around the House
Back porch is lovely and freshened for the season. I planted containers of pretty goodness and washed away the last of the pollen. I have been enjoying my morning coffee here most mornings, and we had dinner out here last night. Mosquitos are already horrible in the evening.

From the Kitchen
I got a new stove!! And refrigerator!! Took me a while but I finally realized late last fall that the oven just wasn't working right. That began a parade of repairmen (unit too old to fix), indecision (are we moving in a few years, do we invest in something nicer, gas or electric), and finally carpenters (old hole was too small for new models). And I finally have a wonderful, double-oven, electric free-standing range. Hubby threw in the refrigerator for good measure (nice french door over freezer with an ice maker). Now to cook something...

Homeschooling
Mostly math. With MUS, which I am coming to appreciate so much. I still need to blog the math saga of the year. Other than that we just aren't doing much. John is finishing his Singapore Kindergarten Essentials. Olivia is finishing All About Spelling. In some ways this year has been about survival and at the moment I am hanging on by my fingernails.

On the Blog
I am reviewing a couple of things at the moment. Should have those reviews up soon. And thanks to those who supported my curriculum sale. I still have some things available, so click on over and email me if you see something that strikes your fancy.

Fitness
Bought a used stationary bike. Have not used it. Ok really it is for Matt, but you would think I would hop on and ride a bit with it sitting right there. Nope.

Plans and Schemes
This week has been nice and quiet. I am liking that. Last week was insane, and I do not exaggerate. The highlight this week will be Olivia's First Holy Communion on Saturday. Both of us are really excited.

Reading and Crafting
The crafting has been nil. Baby girl blanket still unfinished. Maybe I need a smaller project? The reading on the other hand:

The Abolition of Man: Oh this one hurt my brain, but it was good. Highly recommended. Read it for our Classical Moms book club last month and the discussion was fabulous (and then disolved into stories about kid poop before it was all over. What can I say? Moms of little kids).

The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours This one was wonderful. I can't say enough good things about this book. I finally understand what the Liturgy of the Hours is all about. Which makes praying them (well not all seven) so much more enjoyable. I'm a nuts and bolts kind of girl and this gave me exactly what I wanted -- the history and a breakdown of each and every hour telling exactly what was what in the prayers and why it is included. Short read and I read it on the Kindle app on my phone.
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. This one just came yesterday. We are studying the Middle Ages next year, so I am reading up. This was suggested on a forum as a good place to start.
The Hidden Art of Homemaking Also arrive yesterday. Cindy's book club intrigued me.

Saying Yes
Only because I am being badgered to death. I need to find the joy again in my "Yes!"

A Memory

This is our Valentino. Val is twelve, and we are not sure how much longer he is going to be with us, so we are enjoying every day we have him here. Photo by Thomas on the iPhone.

I don't know why the fonts in this post are wonky. The more I try to fix it, the worse it gets. Please excuse.

The Great Used Curriculum Sale Spring 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:12:00 +0000

All prices are postage paid unless otherwise noted. All books are in good condition unless otherwise noted. Paypal preferred. Contact me about availability and payment at pkbarnhill @ gmail dot com (remove spaces and replace dot with .)

Edited for availability 4/18.

Math on the Level $175 - All five books are included and complete, but the spiral binding has been cut off of the books, and they have been three-hole drilled to fit into binder(s). They come with cover pages and plastic covers on front and back. The record keeping book comes in its original binder.

Miquon Set - $25 ppd Includes: First Grade Diary, Notes to Teachers, Lab Sheet Annotations, Green Book, Yellow Book, Purple Book (note that the Orange, Red and Blue books are not included)

The Unifix Teacher’s Manual $3 (will reduce if purchased with something else)

Addition Workbook, Games and Song CD $5

Read Any Good Math Lately by Daniel Whitin and Sandra Wilde $3

More Story Stretchers $3

The Toddler’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner $3

Phonics Activities for Elementary Children $4

The Frances Study Guide $3

Workjobs for Parents $7

The Liturgy of the Word with Children by Katie Thompson $20

Children Discover the Mass by Mary Doerfler Dall $7

History Links Unit Studies for Catholic Families Unit One General Studies $8

History Links Unit Studies for Catholic Families Unit Two Creation $8

Celebrating the Church Year with Young Children $20

The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions $14

Stories for the Homeschool Heart by Patti Maguire Armstrong $9

Have Fun, Learn Stuff, Grow by David Albert $9

Child’s Work by Nancy Wallace $13

Teaching Your Child to Love Learning (Project Based Learning at Home) by Judy Harris Helm, Stacy Berg, Pam Scranton $3

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas by Linda Dobson $8

Getty Dubay Italic Teacher’s Edition $5

Language and Thinking for Young Children by Ruth Beechick $4

Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl $7

Beyond Five in a Row 1 (comb bound paper cover) $11
Dr. Beechick’s Homeschool Answer Book $6

Homeschooling and Loving It by Rebecca Kochenderfer $3

Seasons of a Mother’s Heart by Sally Clarkson (old edition) $3

The Educated Child (old edition) $8

Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk $9

A Picture Perfect Childhood by Cay Gibson $18

The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson $4

Unit Studies Made Easy by Valerie Bendt $12

La Clase Divertida Level 2 Complete -- never used $60

God’s Zoo CD (still shrink wrapped) and God’s Zoo DVD (still shrink wrapped) $8 for the set

Postage Not Included on the Following Dent and Bent Items

All items are perfectly useable. Will package, figure postage, and let you know a total. Can also be bought in conjunction with other items for much reduced postage rate.

Saxon Math K TE ONLY (Coffee stained on edge of pages. Face of pages fine.) $3

Saxon Math 1 TE ONLY (Coffee stained on edge of pages. Face of pages fine.) $3

Free with any purchase

Reader Rabbits Reading Software (for older PS operating systems) Age 4-6

The Way of the Cross for Children

Feed My Lambs Bible Verses Music CD

Oh What a Beautiful Day: Morning Time for Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 03:34:00 +0000

We have been doing Morning Time around these parts for a couple of months now, and I have to say that it has become my absolute favorite part of the school day. We have had some things that we do first thing in the morning all year long, so unofficially a kind of morning time has really been happening since the fall. Then we added in the idea of reading aloud during that time and a full-blown Morning Time was born.

What Morning Time looks like at our house:

Prayer - This is part of the rhythm of prayer I have been working on. We have settled into the daily Invitatory Psalm and a Morning Offering. After the contemplation talk from the convention last week I would love to start lighting a candle here. Note to self to remember to add that.
Hands - The kids know the day is about to start when I tell them to "find something to do with your hands." Activities include: puzzles, pattern blocks, play doh, a drawing lesson from me (they then embellish), impromptu art, stickers. They do this during the rest of Morning Time.
Poetry - After prayer, the first thing we do is recite our poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. It used to be just us reciting them, but I picked up the CD last week at the convention, and I started the week off playing the Andrew Pudewa recitations while we recited along. It was slowing us down, so on Thursday I decided to go without (was going to do some days with and some days without). Olivia immediately asked for "that man" back, so Pudewa it is. The good news is I can crochet during poetry if Mr. P is doing the the leading of the recitations.
Memory - This is where we review our memory work from Classical Conversations. If we are going to be in the van during the day I sometimes skip this part and just review in the van.
Virtues - We review our We Choose Virtues card and verse and sing our virtue song (more about virtue songs later -- I have some exciting news to share when I am able). We love these little cards and the resulting discussion.
Faith - We spent much of our faith time with sacrament prep this year. That is winding down, but we are still reading from Jesus Our Life and discussing a few times a week. We need to get back to our Loyola Kids Book of Saints as well, now that the bulk of sacrament prep is behind us. (Another note to self there.)
Flash Cards - We have been working on some math flash cards during this time.
Reading - After all else is done I read aloud. Sometimes I read things for science or geography; sometimes I read the latest library books; sometimes it is a favorite picture book; and this week it has been stories for our new (and absolutely fabulous) My Book House series of books. Everyone (Thomas included) has been enthralled by every story we have read so far. I read as long as I have everyone's attention and no one (read: the three-year-old) is melting down.

Morning Time takes anywhere between one to two hours to complete and there have been quite a few days where it is the only school we get done for the day. Because it is so rich and varied, I am okay with that, on the occasion it happens.

If you think this sounds good and are looking at some further research, here are some of my favorite Morning Time resources:

Cindy's Morning Time Posts
Morning Basket from Wildflower and Marbles
Circle Time with binder organization from Simply Convivial

What about you? Do you have a morning time or routine at your house?

Be sure to visit Trivium Tuesdays for more Classical Homeschool inspiration.

A Liturgical Plan and a Simple St. Joseph Celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:51:00 +0000

I have a confession to make. I am a bit of a liturgical year failure. I want to acknowledge the cycle of feasts and fasting and celebrate the seasons, but honestly I really don't get much of it done outside of Advent. Maybe it is our non-crafty ways, but I have been on a quest to find ways to celebrate our faith that are simple and meaningful to my kids.

So I am currently developing a five-point plan. Because the plan is in its early stages, I can't really speak to all of it right now, but I will share some thoughts on where I am going.

Create a rhythm of prayer
Celebrate the year with simple, meaningful traditions
Attend Mass and adoration often (i.e. more than once a week)
Create sensory reminders of the Faith in the home (appeal to visual, auditory, etc)
Study the Bible, lives of the Saints, and the catechism on a regular basis

If you like this idea and have some things to add, I would love to chat with anyone via email about this. I think multiple heads are better than one.

Watching the amazing donut machine with friends.

So one of my current projects right now is to create a list of feasts and seasons in the Church year and plug in activities for the days that I think are simple, doable for my family, memorable, and meaningful. Now I will admit that most of the time the meaning comes from the discussion, and not from the sweet treat we consume. The treats and fun activities are the memorable part. The list is a work in progress right now, but I wanted to go ahead and start by celebrating the feast day of St. Joseph.

Here is what we did:

Adding our own sprinkles. The people at our local Krispy Kreme are so sweet.
After the kids asked about the sprinkle process they brought out a couple of
donuts for the kids to practice on.

Waltzing Matilda's St. Joseph coloring page.
Prayed The Presentation mystery of the rosary and discussed the Holy Family's obedience to God's law in that mystery. Talked about how we can be obedient to God.
Sang the "St. Joseph" song from Sing Bible Prayer Songs.
Asked St. Joseph's intercession for our family and especially for Dad who could not be with us today. (Speaking of, if you are near your dad on this day taking him the donuts and eating them together would be a fun idea.)
Visited our local Krispy Kreme and ate donuts in celebration of the feast. (As best I can tell the idea of eating donuts comes from Italian celebrations where Zeppole is a traditional food for a St. Joseph feast. We Americanized it.)

Now I want to point out that there was so much more we could do to celebrate the foster father of Our Lord, including daily Mass attendance, but we did what I was able to do. And we created a memory and attached it to the celebration of this saint. And I am going to let that be enough. We can always grow into more later, but sometimes the best thing is the thing you can accomplish.

Great Homeschool Convention Recap 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:17:00 +0000

Olivia wanted to weigh-in on her favorite part of the trip.

I wasn't going to go to the homeschool convention this year. There were a number of reasons -- one of which was the fact that I had kind of "been there, done that" -- but in the end the opportunity presented itself, and I decided to take it. In hindsight I am so glad I did.

My first convention year was two years ago. That year I was overwhelmed and overjoyed to be there. I wanted to do everything and see everything and ran myself ragged with the experience. Last year I was still focusing our education to more of an unschooling bent. I took in the conference with that filter in place, focusing on learning styles and vendor-hall purchases to entice kids to learn.

This year, I attended the conference from a state of rest. Our focus around here has been decidedly classical all year and that is where we plan to remain. To that end, I attended far fewer lecture sessions and visited far fewer booths in the vendor hall. I was not tempted to make purchases that did not fit with my philosophy or be swayed by the latest and greatest idea. I am sure of the path I am on (though I am constantly hashing out the details of its refinement), and it felt great.

So as I did last year, I will offer a recap of the sessions I attended and the purchases I made; just in case anyone is interested in that sort of thing. This post I am focusing on the sessions. I am going to present my biggest take-a-ways and a line or two from my notes as well as my overall impression of the talk. I don't want to ruin a talk for anyone else.

We had first-rate seats for the second classical panel.

How to Get the Education You Never Had: A Crash Course on Classical Education (Martin Cothran) We came into this one about 20 minutes late and ended up sitting in the back of the room (big mistake -- tons of hall noise). Martin Cothran did give us a list of the five most important books we should read and some notes on how to work up to those. I ended up chatting with him later in his booth about the topic and this ended up being one of my biggest "take-a-ways" from the conference -- I have to stop reading books on how to educate classically and start reading classic books.

Designing Your Own Lit Program -- a Scope and Sequence Workshop (Adam Andrews) Arguably one of the most talented speakers I saw, Adam Andrews keeps you on the edge of your seat no matter what the topic. There was a bit of trickery in the titling of this session, but it was very valuable nonetheless. In fact a main theme of this talk -- it is better to teach little and teach it exceptionally well than to teach much poorly -- became a running theme in a number of the sessions I attended.

Why We Believe in Classical Education (Chris Perrin, Martin Cothran, Andrew Kern, and Andrew Pudewa) This session was informational and just a hoot to attend. These four guys played off of each other. You could tell from their interaction that they are old friends, love their topic, and really want to share it with the homeschool community. I was enjoying this so much, my notes are a little sketchy. I do remember CS Lewis and GK Chesterton being mentioned repeatedly. There was also a focus on imaginative literature -- we don't begin thinking about things in the abstract. The imaginative literature can make these abstract thoughts real to us and to our children. Classical education in a nutshell is the focus on the seven liberal arts and the great books.

Conquering Corrupt Culture by Raising Christian Communicators (Andrew Pudewa) This was a hard session. My biggest take-a-way -- throw out the TV. Right now I am surviving by the TV, so this is hard to hear, but it is something we have been discussing in our home for a while. I see a huge reduction coming soon. Ditto on video games. The talk was about much more than that, though. Depressing at times and a hard call to action, it was probably the most useful talk for the Christian family.

How to Teach Classically When You Weren't Educated Classically Yourself (Chris Perrin, Martin Cothran, Andrew Kern, and Andrew Pudewa) I guess word got out after the first of these sessions, because this one was standing room only. We were fortunate to have front row seats. I did not enjoy this one quite as much as the first one, but that could have been because I had Olivia in tow -- the children's program was closed for lunch -- and she was not quite as excited about the talk as I was. And it needed to be longer -- both of these sessions could have been twice as long, and I still would not have been bored. A few great nuggets were for us to lead the way as parent and teacher (read those great books yourself), work up to those books by reading the really good books to your kids, don't wander through the convention hall thinking, "What can I buy for my kid?" but instead, "What can I buy for myself?"

The Recovery of Contemplation (Chris Perrin) I have never heard Dr Perrin speak before, but you can bet I will again. This was by far my favorite session of the entire conference. We left the classical panel sessions thinking that this was all great, we were in agreement, we know we need to read great books for ourselves and for our kids, but still what should this look like in our homes? This talk helped to start to answer that question for me. A few notes: to acquire a skill should be a long, patient journey instead of a crash course; you must take time before truth and beauty in order to know it; if you are going to pass-on beauty then you are going to have to know it yourself. This talk is so rich. A few practical suggestions to these ends: change your decor, play beautiful music, take long walks, create a rhythm of prayer (Liturgy of the Hours), light candles, find the rhythms of study and play (rest).

But...but...but...What About Grammar? (Andrew Pudewa) AP called us die-hards for attending this session as the last one of the conference, and I think he is right. Of course it was totally worth the wait. A very practical and enlightening workshop, a few things jump out from my notes: grammar is a logic stage activity, not a grammar stage one; teaching grammar through composition corrections is ineffective (instead make the corrections yourself and hand it back for them to recopy); the best way to teach grammar is through a foreign language; grammar IS important (The War Against Grammar by David Mulroy).

So my three biggest take-a-ways in summary:

Spend my personal reading time reading the good and great books.
Read good books to the kids in great quantity.
Align the home atmosphere with truth, beauty, and opportunities for contemplation.

More blog posts coming soon about all of these things and my purchases.

I shared this on Trivium Tuesday. Click over to see other Classical Homeschooling ideas.

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:19:00 +0000

Wow, we have had our coldest weather all winter this week. Kind of nice, but I am really ready for spring.

Around the House
Cleaning ladies came today. Man, can't beat that with a stick. Regardless I still have things that need to be done and little time to do them. I think April is going to have to be my big project month.

From the Kitchen
Not much. We have birthdays this month -- lots and lots of birthdays. Matt's is the 12th, John the 13th and mine is the 18th. I do believe some treats are in order. Other than that, the end-of-winter menus have me uninspired.

Homeschooling
Morning Time continues to be the highlight of our day. We have been struggling a bit with spelling, so I am reconfiguring that a bit. Mostly I am elbow deep in planning next year. Math on the Level has really been working for us as well. We have good days and bad days in math, but the learning is consistent, no matter how grumpy we can be about it. We have been working on adding with regrouping and telling time.

On the Blog
I have ideas, but little time. Drafts on vintage readers, hosting a telling time party, and our version of morning time are in the works.

Fitness
Maybe I should just take this category off???

Plans and Schemes
Oh geesh. This week has no end. Doctor's appointments on Wednesday and Thursday, the orthodontist on Wednesday, must get the van serviced. We are participating in the MS Walk on Saturday with the Frontier Girls. (Anyone want to donate $3 for a chance to win a Nook Tablet?) Add to that our regular round of gymnastics, CC, and a playdate and we are full up. Then next week we have a birthday party and the homeschool convention!

Reading and Crafting
Been working on a baby girl blanket (which I started for Olivia before she was born!!), but I am beginning to wonder if I will ever have anyone to give it to (provided I finish it, of course). Am working on Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child for our Classical Moms book club. I'm only on the ~~first~~ sixth or seventh chapter, and it is still fantastic!

Saying Yes
Too much Wii!

A Memory
A little Cheerio math.

Booking Across the USA :: Alabama

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:00:00 +0000

I am pleased to be participating in Booking Across the USA, a collaborative project of over 50 bloggers who are sharing picture books and activities from every state.

"Alabama the Beautiful" is a state tourism slogan from a few years ago, and Alabama certainly is that. From the white-sand beaches of the gulf to the rugged, craggy foothills of the northeast, the landscape has beauty in spades. But the real beauty of Alabama comes from its people. I am not claiming that Alabama folks are perfect, but when it comes to overcoming adversity, you won't find better examples anywhere -- Rosa Parks, Heather Whitestone, and Marva Collins all hail from our state. So when I started looking at books for the Booking Across the USA project, I knew focusing on an Alabama personality would be the way to go.

Helen's Big World

It seemed fitting to focus on the personality engraved on the back of our state quarter -- Helen Keller. Born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, a childhood fever left Helen blind and deaf at the age of two. Through the patience and perseverance of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and much hard work, Helen learned to sign, read, write and eventually talk. She graduated from Radcliff college in 1904 and went on to become an advocate for the deaf and blind and a political activist.

My search for a good book on Keller was plagued by insipid children's biographies. Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller. This is a beautiful book. It is over sized with large illustrations that fill the pages to the edges, effectively drawing the reader into Helen's world. The book tells the story of her life and is interspersed with her own quotes, lending an authentic look into Helen's thoughts on her trials and successes. Unlike other children's books, this one does touch briefly on Keller's later social activism. It does not mention specifics, so while it is true to Keller's legacy, it does allow families with younger children to focus on her triumph over adversity without having to discuss meatier topics if they do not desire.

Activities

Our activities with the book focused on the senses and information about the communication of the deaf and blind. We briefly discussed the use of braille and took turns running our fingers over the raised braille title embossed on the cover of the book. Next we turned out attention to the finger alphabet. There are sketches of the alphabet on the back fly-leaf of the book, but I also downloaded a set of finger alphabet flash cards from ABC Teach. We reviewed each of the letters and then took turns finger spelling the names of family members.

The flashcards provided clear diagrams on the finger spelling alphabet.

O-L-I-V-I-A

Our next activity focused on "seeing" with our fingers. For this the kids each donned a blindfold. I provided a number of small household objects for them to feel and guess. They identified most of them pretty easily, but the chalk did stump Olivia. Eventually, she employed the senses of smell and taste as well to try and figure out what the strange object was.

Smelling the chalk to see if the extra sense would help with the identification.

Sometimes we would get stumped, but that was part of the fun.

Even More

Adventures from the Book of Virtues: Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan (YouTube Video)
Helen Keller Kids Museum Online
Helen Keller Activity Book - Made in conjunction with Animated Hero Classics, but works fine as a stand-alone activity.

Now Book It!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers who are Booking Across the USA today for more fascinating books and activities. There is a giveaway on the Booking Main Page an some of these other ladies are offering giveaways as well. Check them all out!

All 50 States for Booking Across the USA Blog Hop, A book review and crafts, activities, or freebies are included in each post. All the posts were live on February 25, 2013.
Booking Across the USA Host: Growing Book by Book	Alabama Blog Post by Everyday Snapshots Blog	Alaska Blog Post by Little Wonders' Days Blog
Arkansas Blog Post by Homeschooling in Arkansas	Arizona Blog Post by Simply Kinder	California Blog Post by Juggling with Kids California Blog Post by The Outlaw Mom
Colorado blog Post by Learners in Bloom Colorado Blog Post by Living Montessori Now	Connecticut Blog Post By Teacher Park Blog	Delaware Blog Post by Mama Miss
Florida Blog Post by the Teaching Stars Blog	Georgia Blog Post by Fabulously First Blog	Hawaii Blog Post by Teaching with Style
Idaho post by True Aim Education Blog	Illinois State Post by Growing Book by Book	Indiana State Post by Teach Pre-School Blog
Iowa Blog Post by Surviving a Teacher Salary Blog	Kansas Blog Post by KCEdventures	Kentucky Blog Post by Chicken Babies
Louisiana Blog Post by Your Child's Next Book and Project Blog	Maine Blog Post by Country Fun	Maryland Blog Post by Picture Books and Piourettes
Massachusetts Blog Post by Mama Smiles Blog	Michigan Blog Post by Play Dr. Mom	Minnesota Post by the Wise Owl Factory Book a Day Blog
Mississippi Blog Post by Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk	Missouri Blog Post by Ready, Set, Read Blog	Montana Blog Post by The Honey Bunch
Nebraska Blog Post by The Good Long Road	Nevada Blog Post by Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Crafts Blog	New Hampshire Blog Post by Elementary Matters
New Jersey Blog Post by The Pleasantest Thing	New Mexico Blog Post by The Enchanted Homeschooling Mom Blog	New York Blog Post by What Do We Do All Day Blog
North Carolina Post by the Realistic Teacher Blog	North Dakota Post by ND Health Works	Ohio Blog Post by the Smart Chick Teacher Blog
Oklahoma Blog Post by Herding Kats in Kindergarten	Oregon State Post by Journey of a Substitute Teacher Blog	Pennsylvania Blog Post by the Land of Once Upon a Time
Rhode Island Blog Post by Smiling in Second	South Carolina Blog Post by Cookies and Kiddos	South Dakota Blog Post by Wise Owl Factory Book a Day
Tennessee Blog Post by No Monkey Business	Texas Blog Post by Curls and a Smile Texas Blog Post by Kid World Citizen	Utah Blog Post by Teach Beside Me Blog
Vermont Blog Post by Vermont Moms Blog	Virginia Blog Post by Once Upon a Story Blog Virginia Post by the Freckled Homeschooler Blog	Washington Blog Post by Home Learning Journey
West Virginia Blog Post by Great Peace Academy Blog West Virginia Blog Post by Mamas Like Me	Wisconsin Blog Post by Reading Confetti	Wyoming Blog Post by No Twiddle Twaddle
USA Blog Post by the Corner on Character Blog

More US Geography from Everyday Snapshots

Playful US Geography
More Playful US Geography

Heartfelt Homeschooling

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:38:00 +0000

We started our homeschool year great -- better than we ever had, in fact. The kids were learning tons, making progress, we were having fun (the regular protests and groans notwithstanding). Then we hit Thanksgiving and lost our momentum. December dissolved into bouts with sickness and the holidays, and then January found me worn down and in survival mode. I was a prime candidate for February burnout.

Add to that this is our first year of having to track attendance for our state. I now have to look at our days and determine which ones are enough to count as a "school" day and which ones are not. Sometime between the end of November and the end of January our homeschool became a series of tasks for us to complete each day -- a math lesson here, a phonics workbook page there, and not much else to recommend it, simply so I could mark the day on that attendance sheet. I would pile Olivia's work into a stack and hand it over first thing. When she completed the stack, the day was done. I even contemplated typing up a list she could use every day to check it off. Second grade is not too young to do that, right?

And yet, it didn't feel right. It felt too much like school-at-home, and I have no desire to recreate what I seek to avoid. So I did what any self-respecting homeschool mom does, and I thought about drastically changing course. Maybe the kids needed more freedom? Maybe we needed to do some delight--directed learning? Maybe we should try a new curriculum or drop things from our schedule? Maybe we should have more fun!

Even as I talked these ideas over with a friend, I knew in my heart that abandoning the methods that had made the year start so well was not the answer. What we needed in our homeschool was not less (or more) structure. What we needed in our homeschool was more heart.

So instead of throwing off or reinventing math altogether, we added more games and took away some of the worksheets. One day, during an addition lesson, I told Olivia that she now had the skills to add a number as long as our driveway. Disbelieving, she said, "Can we try it, Mom? Old, "checklist mom" would have responded with a no so we could finish the list for the day. New, "heartfelt mom" said, "Sure!" Outside we went. The boys played in the balmy late-winter weather (God blesses us) while I wrote out the 10ft long problem for Olivia to solve. And sure enough she did. One thing lead to another and before we knew it, we had also completed spelling with sidewalk chalk as well. We were on our way.

Next, I stepped back and took a hard look at the difference between the reality of our days, and the priorities I was giving lip-service to with my friends. Sure, I said reading aloud was important, but we had been doing hardly any of that. We never seemed to have time after the checklist was done. So I moved that to first during the day. I explored the concept of morning time, and though ours looks different than Cindy's, it includes those things that I feel should be priorities. Some days we do this on the couch, other days we busy our hands with pattern blocks or play doh, but it gets done, it gets done first, and sometimes it is the only thing we get to and that is okay too. It beats the checklist and probably has more value.

One day this week I had an errand I needed to run that would take most of the morning to complete. We all loaded up in the van, and in the space of an hour-and-a-half, we prayed, recited memory work in verse and song, appreciated music through the fun, loud signing of songs from Beethoven's Wig, and listened to a chapter or so of Peter Pan. In between all of that, we discussed everything from cows to classical music. The rest of the day dissolved into one thing after another, and we never sat at a desk or put pencil to paper. Still, it was a very good "school" day indeed.

I'm finding it appropriate that the symbol of ~~homeschool burnout month~~ February is the heart. That symbol should be a reminder to me that learning must come from me, not from a curriculum. There is no heart to checklists, workbook pages, and textbook chapters. Heart comes from big goals, literature, music, poetry, saying yes, and learning together. It's a great message for February or any month of the year. A message that turns a great year into the best one ever, the whole year through.

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:29:00 +0000

Cold days this week. Loving my fireplace. Ready for spring.

Around the House
I got about ten bags of clothes sorted, three big bins of craft supplies sorted AND got all of the upstairs table cleaned off. Yay. Next step is to do some small decluttering (kitchen drawers, bathroom cabinets) and sell curriuculum.

From the Kitchen
Anything but wheat. I gave that one up for Lent. Of course I am still making it for the kids, but not for me. Makes Fridays interesting, but other days are pretty doable. Lunch today was cheeseburgers on lettuce leaves.

Homeschooling
A great day today. Getting up and getting started makes all the difference. I was praising the kids for their cooperation and asked what they thought made today good. Olivia said it was because we did geography. Well then, more geography! We are also starting our day with Morning Time and really focusing on the things that are important.

On the Blog
Anything would be nice, wouldn't it? Watch later this month for a Booking Across the USA post. It's going to be a fun project.

Fitness
I thought about exercising this morning. Does that count?

Plans and Schemes
Going to be a fun week. Not much out of the ordinary -- playdate with new friends. We're also having an It's About Time party on Friday. A bunch of us are getting together to play games and learn to tell time.

Reading and Crafting
No crafting lately. Am working on Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child for our Classical Moms book club. I'm only on the first chapter, but so far it is fantastic!

Saying Yes
Lenten Sunday milkshakes yesterday.

A Memory
This is what happens when you insist that your Valentine's Day cake pop is really a lollipop.

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:22:00 +0000

Weather was beautiful today! High was almost 70, and we even did school outside.

Around the House
I'm just going to put this out there so you can hold me accountable -- I am sorting clothes this week. I have about seven or eight bags of kids' clothes in the garage that need to be sorted. This week. Ask me please.

From the Kitchen
Fajita lettuce wraps tonight. Stuffed portobellos last night. Both yum. I have also found a homemade chicken nugget recipe the kids love.

Homeschooling
A great day today. We are focusing on relationship over box-checking and it has been really nice. We don't get to everything every day, but what we do get to is enjoyed even more. I am working on a more in-depth post.

On the Blog
That homeschooling post. Some math games. And more photography.

Fitness
I am going back to low, low carb. I need to wear my Fitbit but haven't pulled it out to charge it yet. This week.

Plans and Schemes
A pretty calm week overall. We have nature study on Friday. Olivia is going to see a specialist on Thursday about her toe-walking. This means a day in the car for just the two of us. I am going to look for an audio book we might both enjoy -- any suggestions?

Reading and Crafting
I've been working on a baby blanket off and on. (More off, honestly.) It was one I started when I was pregnant with Olivia (don't judge). I have lots of pregnant friends. Now if I could just finish it before summer. Think pink! I started The Mysterious Benedict Society but have yet to get very far.

Saying Yes
School outside. More math games.

A Memory
Someone got braces last week. I think they only add to the cuteness.

Manual Mode Monday 1.28.13

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:43:00 +0000

I am joining Sarah in trying to take a manual mode shot and post it once a week. No promises on regularity.

I took this one while working on my macro shot assignment for this week. 50MM ISO 400 f/2.8 1/160. This might be manual focus too.

You can link up your manual mode shot at Sarah's.

Photography Challenge :: Weeks 1, 3, 4

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:18:00 +0000

My good friend Debbie hooked me up to a fun photo challenge. I am going to try and keep up with the one photo a week pace. So far this is what I have.

Week 1 :: Self-Portrait

Needless to say this was quite painful to do. In fact I so hated the idea I just sat by the window, held the camera at arm's length and hoped for the best. I do like the texture of my hair.

Week 3 :: Winter

Yep, winter here is brown, and I really wanted to capture the brown-ness of it all with this shot.

Week 4 :: Macro

The challenge this week was to take a macro shot without a macro lens (actually you could use a macro lens if you had one, but most of us do not). Here's the article I used to help me out. I was actually pretty pleased with this one. I shot it at 300mm from about five feet away.

So where is week 2, you ask? Yeah, the theme for week 2 was "peace." I am really trying, but right now I've got nothing for that one. *sigh* Maybe it will come.

Seven Quick Takes Friday :: The Posts I Could Write If I Had the Time Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Sorry I have been MIA. It really wasn't my intention to leave you hanging high and dry here. I have a litany of excuses I could offer (including a bout with the flu -- for everyone), but honestly "really busy" just about covers it. So for your enlightenment on what has been pulling me away, below are seven blog posts I could write today if I had the time. Maybe over the next few weeks I will get the chance to write the full versions.

1) Heartfelt Homeschooling - Our days had devolved into checking off a few boxes by doing worksheets, and we had lost our enjoyment of learning and each other. I recently totally switched up our priorities and things are improving rapidly. We are still working out the kinks and finding a routine, but a post is in the works.

2) Potty Training 101 - Told you I've been busy. My methods revolve around waiting until after age three, heavy bribes, and a naked bottom, but it works pretty quickly. We're at a week and for all intents and purposes good to go. (A related post to this one would be "Dealing with an Irrational Three-Year-Old." I have no tips for that, just frustrations. I am convinced that the perfect torture for Mr Spock would be forcing him to babysit a three-year-old for a few hours. A more illogical creature there never was.)

3) How to Survive with Your Husband Away - Matt has been away a lot this winter. It makes for exhausting days when he is gone. Unfortunately I am becoming an expert, and might have a tip or two to share on how to make it survivable.

4) Math with Games - And I mean completely with games. Our math issues have been documented this year. At this point, I have totally abandoned traditional curriculum and am back to Math on the Level -- except we are completely covering the concepts by playing games. And it is going amazingly well.

5) How to Start Your Own Classical Co-op - Oh yes. A few other local homeschool moms and I are collaborating on our own co-op for next year. It's a huge project, but oh so fun to plan, especially with my talented partners. And it is going to be an awesome co-op if I do say so myself. I can't wait to share all of our ideas. (See? Busy. Really busy.)

6) Be a Force for Good in Your Local Homeschool Community - I think this is important, though it can be exhausting at times. I do think that if there is nothing exciting going on for homeschoolers in your community, then it is probably because no homeschooler has ever asked. So I ask, a lot. Right now I am working with our local library to get some homeschool programs started. We are in the early information-gathering stage, but I have high hopes. We have some exciting field trips planned for spring, and friends and I are also venturing into learning parties for kids. Our first one is filling up fast and is all about learning to tell time. I can't wait to share it with you. If it goes well, I want to do another about money later this spring and who knows what else we might do...

7) Confessions of a Whole Foods Kitchen Newbie - I am really making an effort for us to eat less processed food and more real foods. We are making baby steps in that direction, but I am feeling so much better about the foods we eat (most of the time). So I am doing things like grinding wheat, baking bread, and I even tried my hand at making butter (not really a sustainable practice in cost or effort, but it was neat to try).

So there you go, the seven blog posts I could write if I had the time. As for the requisite photo? Yeah, I haven't had time for that much either these days. My last iPhoto import was from St. Nicholas Day -- December 6. That is just shameful!

Visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

Virtual Curriculum Fair 2013: Still Loving Language Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:08:00 +0000

Raise your hand if you were not ready for this morning. Me! Me! In fact, I have been running about two weeks behind in everything since last month. About to middle of last month to be exact. The day we started falling like dominoes with the flu, and strep throat, and ear infections. Which explains why the blog has been so quiet. Why you got no Christmas or New Years greetings. And I apologize.

But we now that seem to be (mostly) on the mend, I did want to try to participate again in Susan's Virtual Curriculum Fair, but I have to be honest that this week is going to be somewhat of a cheat. It was only in October that I wrote about how much we love, love, love PAL Reading and Writing and how we are using them in our home. So the first thing I want to do is direct you to that post so you can read all about it. (Don't worry; I'll wait right here for you to return.)

There now. And every word still rings true. We are now at the start of the second semester, and we are still loving the program. Olivia finished part two of the writing and within the next week or so (once Mama has had a chance to get her stuff together and look over part three), she will begin the last portion. I have a feeling she is going to fly right through it with great enjoyment.

I gave John a little review quiz of his words last week -- one of the few schooly things we got done, and he remembered most of his words. I think after a few days he will fall right back into it as well. I am also going to spend some time with him doing specific exercises to strengthen his fine motor muscles and see if that will help him move forward with writing.

Other than that, we are still loving and using the program in exactly the same way.

I did want to share a few pages with you from Olivia's who/which project in part two. The assignment was to make an ABC book (over a period of about a month), making one page a day. She learned the who/which form and then as she made the pages we also talked about dress-ups like adjectives, -ly adverbs and strong verbs. We chose animals as her topic, since that is what we are studying in science this year.

I invite you to visit the other bloggers participating in this week’s edition of the Virtual Curriculum Fair:

Building Blocks of Education--Learning to Read by Kristi Kerr @ The Potter's Hand Academy
Finding Our Way Through Language Arts by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
How Does a Unit Study Teach Language Arts? by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
Our Language Arts Adventure by Linda @ Homeschooling6

2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words: The Language Arts by Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road
Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me
Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Language Arts by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Writing Help in a Critical Thinking book? by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings
Virtual Curriculum Fair: Foreign Language Immersion in the Homeschool by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch
Formula for Reading by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness
Words and Learning by Annette @ A Net In Time
A Custom Designed High School English Credit by Tech Wife @ A Playground of Words
Word Play by Lisa @ Golden Grasses Loving Language Arts by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
Learning Language Arts ~ 2012-2013 School Year by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World Virtual Curriculum Fair - The Language Arts Department by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Playing with Words: The Language Arts by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy: The Story of Our Life
Playing with Words: Language Arts by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs and Curriculum
What Language Arts looks like in our house - Are we doing it right? by Hillary M @ Our Homeschool Studio
Getting lost and finding our way in Language Arts by Piwi Mum @ Learning and growing the Piwi Way

Quiet

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Am participating in the circle of quiet today for those lost at Newtown.

Read Jamie's excellent post about Newtown here.

Holy Innocents pray for us.

A Prayer To The Holy Innocents

Holy Innocents, you died before you were old enough to know what life means, pray for all children who die young that God may gather them into His loving arms.

Holy Innocents, you were killed because one man was filled with hatred, pray for those who hate that God may touch their hearts and fill them with love.

Holy Innocents, you experienced a violent death, pray for all who are affected by violence that they may find peace and love.

Holy Innocents, your parents grieved for you with deep and lasting sorrow, pray for all parents who have lost young children that God may wrap a warm blanket of comfort around them.

Holy Innocents, those around you certainly felt helpless to prevent your deaths, pray for all who feel helpless in their circumstances that they may cling to God for courage and hope.

Holy Innocents, you who are now in Heaven, pray for all of us that one day we may join you there to bask in God's love forever.

Amen.

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:41:00 +0000

I am beginning to think that I have hit my wall. Our family has been facing some challenges this year, and I have been trying to push on through, but for whatever reason December is just hitting me hard. I just feel overwhelmed. I don't know if it is Christmas or the duration. I am kind of hoping Christmas, because that will be over after this month. Our challenge has a few more months to go, and I really don't want things to continue this way. I am hoping some down time around the holidays will help.

Around the House
Christmas decorations are half up, but the kids are wanting more. Hopefully tomorrow we will get enough to make them happy. We also got a new bedroom linen set in the master bedroom. It is a beautiful brown and blue comforter combo. Very rich looking.

From the Kitchen
More good stuff. My sourdough made some yummy waffles yesterday, and I plan on using it for pancakes in the morning. Since I am trying to cook more things from scratch, I am making some pretty detailed menu plans and trying to stick to them. Would love to write a blog post about it, but I'm not promising anything.

Homeschooling
Still not back in the groove. We barely got math and reading done a couple of days last week. I was not planning to take December off, so I really need to get back with it this week and salvage the month. I am fine with scrapping the extras (like our geography studies) as long as the basics are getting done.

On the Blog
What blog?

Fitness
Pass

Plans and Schemes
BUSY! CC today, gymnastics, party tomorrow, orthodontist appointment for Olivia and mom's night on Wednesday, party, visitors AND Frontier Girls on Thursday, park day on Friday, two basketball games on Saturday and the parish picnic on Sunday. See why I'm feeling overwhelmed?

Reading and Crafting
Still - No more progress on Olivia's hat. I need some evening energy! Have dropped the ball on reading Laura Berquist's Teaching Tips and Techniques. Need to get back to it as it has to go back to a friend. Things are picking up with Father Elijah: An Apocalypse. Starting to get really interesting. This is where I have been focusing the bulk of my time. I ~~am supposed to~~ need to start Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin this week as well.

Saying Yes
Decorations, milk shakes, a new iPad app. Not enough, many more no's than yes's. My stress makes me a bit of a shrill.

A Memory
Look at what we found in the backyard. I don't know what it is, but we saw it two or three different days out there and it's pretty cool.

Wordless Wednesday :: Blender Wheat-Berry Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:29:00 +0000

Fireplace weather is gone this week. We are back in shorts. *sigh*

Around the House
It's beginning to look a lot like... Advent! How I love this liturgical season of preparation. I will admit that part of my love stems from the fact that I can put off fooling with all of the Christmas stuff for a couple of weeks. (I'm such a Grinch, really I am.) My mom (who loves all thing Christmas decor and has a tree in every room -- I do not lie) has said she will come put up the tree. So whenever she gets around to it... Which is good, because it also allows me to procrastinate taking it down until after Epiphany.

From the Kitchen
Oh so much! Let me see: a friend loaned me her grain mill, and I have been making bread in the new bread maker. I made homemade pop tarts (yum) and marinara. I began a sourdough starter, which so far is bubbling along nicely. I can't wait to make something with it in a few days. I pureed Thomas's Halloween pumpkin now that it is no longer needed as fall decor. Then today I wanted chicken noodle soup and decided it would be less trouble to make my own noodles than to drag everyone out to the store to buy some (This is an introvert thing. I am sure it will be lost on extroverts.) So I did and it was easy. And very yummy.

Homeschooling
It is so hard to get back in the groove after the holiday. We kind of bumped along last week. Am hoping this week will be better, but we all have a winter cold and are dragging a bit. We shall see.

On the Blog
I still owe you that post on France and some Christmas ideas. Hope you are enjoying the book list printable, though.

Fitness
The holidays are already doing a number on me. I have a love/hate relationship with Chic-Fil-A's Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes.

Plans and Schemes
Not a bad week. A play date tomorrow (a friend is giving me a tour of her whole foods kitchen!), basketball practice for both kids (but a game for only one, thank goodness), friends over Wednesday, Frontier Girls, and hopefully a low-key weekend. Oh, and St. Nicholas Day is this week. That one is always so much fun. There will be shoes and candy and cookies.

Reading and Crafting
No more progress on Olivia's hat. I need some evening energy! Still reading Laura Berquist's Teaching Tips and Techniques. Kind of moving in and out of this one. Still working on and enjoying Father Elijah: An Apocalypse. I am supposed to start Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin this week as well. Always more books than time.

Saying Yes
At some point I will relent on the decorations.

A Memory
Here's my soup from today. Please excuse the poor iPad photo. It was so good.

Once Upon a Time: A Reading List for K-2

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:49:00 +0000

If you are anything like me you are always on the look-out for a good book to read to your little ones. We love a good story with rich or funny pictures. I have a number of online sources I use for book recommendations, but I tired of constantly returning to various websites looking for new titles. I decided that I wanted to compile a reading list into one document. Then I decided since I was going to the trouble, that I should just make it a pretty checklist and share it with everyone else.

So without further ado, here is Once Upon a Time: A List of Read Aloud Ideas for K-2. My part of this project simply involved compiling titles from my favorite web sites: Teaching the Classics, Institute for Excellence in Writing, Five in a Row, and Angelicum Academy. The genius behind the selections is all theirs. I will take credit for the genius of the little check box beside each title.

You can download the PDF document here.

A few notes:

This was quite the undertaking, and the electronic sorting process I used grouped all of the titles starting with "the" under the Ts. This aggravates me to no end, but not enough for me to go back and manually sort them. So there you go. If it really bothers you, I am sorry.
If you find a mistake, please let me know so I can fix it. Once again, many books, few brain cells.
Finally, I do have a grades 3-6 book list in the works. Hope to have it up here soon.

Monday Musings (on a Tuesday!)

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:21:00 +0000

We've been building a fire in the fireplace. Love this!

Around the House
It's so clean. I love the day the cleaning lady comes! Of course I am looking to start weaning myself off of that -- the cleaning lady is only for this particular season of life. To that end I am rethinking chore lists for the kids and myself. Implementing new chore routines are about to become the big deal around the house in December.

From the Kitchen
We are eating-from-the-pantry. I just had so much stocked away, but kept buying more. This week I made menus based on what we had. Last night it was potato, cheese and broccoli soup and tonight dressed pinto beans and rice.

Homeschooling
It was nice to have a break. It was so nice that we got nothing at all done last week. The break was nice. (Did I mention it was nice?)

On the Blog
The Around the World :: France post will go up this week. Also check back for a peek at some Christmas list ideas.

Fitness
Pass. If I can get through the holidays with my pants still fitting, I will consider it a success. I always get extra motivated in January. I am counting on it.

Plans and Schemes
Back to the busy this week. I hope to sneak away to a movie with a friend tomorrow night. A meeting on Wednesday holds much promise. The kids are gearing up for basketball season. Is it bad that I am wishing it was all over already? My entire bit of Christmas shopping, minus one lone item which I will get at the store this week, is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for pay day, and me to push "buy." The kids want to put up Christmas decor -- I do not. I think I am going to trickle it out a little bit at a time to preserve Advent as much as possible. I really can't wait for "Christmas break" later in December when most of our activities will stop for about three weeks.

Reading and Crafting
Started Olivia's hat. Still reading Laura Berquist's Teaching Tips and Techniques at Sarah's recommendation. It's good, and I am feeling the need to take notes. I also finished a Haystack Full of Needles, A Catholic Home Educator's Guide to Socialization, which I do recommend (even for non-Catholics) and enjoyed, but didn't find ground-breaking in any way. One or two good ideas there. Thanks to last week's recommendations I started Father Elijah: An Apocalypse and am enjoying it very much so far. The major action hasn't started yet, but it is already intriguing. I also watched the BBC version of Emma this week. Very enjoyable, and I highly recommend it.

Saying Yes
We will get out the Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer toys this week. And we will get peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes from Chic-Fil-A. That one is an easy yes for sure.

A Memory
Love this face from a couple of Christmases ago (when I actually had light to take pictures with!!)

Homeschool Boot Camp :: Indulge Sometimes and Roll With It

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:01:00 +0000

This is an update post for my Homeschool Mom's Boot Camp. My boot camp challenge was to have school started by 8:30 each morning. You can read more about how it began and updates here (read from the bottom up).

Boot camp is still going pretty well here. Honestly, we are on a bit of a hiatus for Thanksgiving week. My school calendar says we are taking Tuesday-Friday off this week, though I do have plans for the kids to do some math on the computer and such. I don't have any Thanksgiving activities planned. Bad mom, but I suppose they will survive. I also don't have plans for us to jump up and start early every morning. So we are relaxing.

When brings me to my first tip today. I think it is important to indulge some of the time. I have designated Saturday as our indulgence day around here. Since we are getting up and getting moving every other day of the week, and that is against my ~~natural~~ preferred state of starting the day s-l-o-w-l-y with as much quiet time as I can muster, on Saturdays I try to indulge in starting slow and enjoying all of the morning activities we really like (cartoons, involved breakfasts, computer time). And it feels so good! Actually I enjoy the activities even more now that we are doing them much less. In fact, this past Saturday we stayed in our PJs until 11:00. Of course this only works if you have nothing planned on Saturday morning.

For the update, last week went well up until Friday -- which brings me to my second tip for today. I got seriously off-track on Friday due to circumstances out of my control. There was something that popped up right as it was time to start school, and we took the time out to take care of it. Then it took hours for us to get back on track. First, I seriously need to think about not letting one little thing derail me for so long (personality flaw). Secondly, I am glad that I took the time to do what was important without getting all agitated about not "meeting my boot camp goal." (Another personality flaw that I handled better than the first.) So, my advice is to roll with it. When things don't go just as planned, don't get upset, just go with what you've got.

The next challenge will be to see if I can get right back to the discipline of boot camp after a few days off. Tuesday morning will tell the tale on that one.

Be sure to stop by to visit other moms who are participating in The Homeschool Mom's Boot Camp.

The Planted Trees
Teaching Stars
The Crimson Covered Farm Life
Learning How Much I Don't Know
Wild Roots
Plant, Plant, Electro...What?
Explorations in Learning

Monday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:37:00 +0000

Fall has finally arrived. Loving this cooler weather.

Around the House
So since I was cleaning out from under the couch anyway, I decided that I would rearrange the living room furniture. We have a big sectional, which we love, but it limits our furniture arranging. I just flipped it around the other way. I really like it, because I can now see out the window when I sit on it. The big drawbacks are that it is not as good for traffic flow and the part with the recliner no longer sits right in front of the TV. Going to keep it that way for a while, though, just for a change.

From the Kitchen
As I type this (at gymnastics) my new bread maker is making bread at home. I picked it up on Craig's List for all of $18. It looks brand new. I hope it works great, because I have big plans for it.

Homeschooling
Starting early has been working wonders for us. We had plenty of time and so much fun with our France study last week. We are doing a very relaxed week this week due to Thanksgiving. I told Olivia we would spend some of our time working on Frontier Girls badges, and we may do some Dreambox, audio books, read alouds, and memory work. That sounds about right.

On the Blog
It's been sparse due to my lessened computer time. I do have a few ideas I would like to share. Hopefully will get some posts done with the relaxed school schedule this week.

Fitness
Pass. If I can get through the holidays with my pants still fitting, I will consider it a success. I always get extra motivated in January. I am counting on it.

Plans and Schemes
Trying to slow down a bit here. I have lots to do tomorrow, but John only has basketball practice. That is our last scheduled event for the week. I have a meeting, a couple of grocery stores to visit, and a movie night out with a friend later this week. Then Thanksgiving at my Mom's house on Thursday. Yum.

Reading and Crafting
No crafting yet this week. I still owe Olivia a hat I need to get to. I am currently reading Laura Berquist's Teaching Tips and Techniques at Sarah's recommendation. It's good, and I am feeling the need to take notes. Boy I need to read some fiction, but it will take something really compelling to grab me. Any suggestions?

Saying Yes
We rotate our toys, and it us quite an undertaking. I said yes to that this past weekend. It is always a quiet few days after the toy rotation, which is nice.

A Memory
John intent upon his owl pellet.

A Trip Around the World :: United Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:52:00 +0000

What we read:

"Dick Whittington" from Mini Stories from Around the World (Mini Classics)
Tom Thumb -This was not the greatest version of the story, but instead what my library had. The kids did ask for it more than once, though (shrug).
Children's Amazing Places Encyclopedia (Children's Encyclopedia) -- selections about places in the United Kingdom.

How I totally blanked out on all the great British literature is beyond me. We did read a little Shakespeare during our poetry tea time, but I could have done so much more here and for some reason (life) just did not.

What we did:

Placed flag sticker and entry date on passport. (Flag stickers and passports from Expedition Earth)
Daily located country on the world map. Reviewed capital. Reviewed all countries and capitals learned so far.
Watched The Little Travelers British Isles.
Completed United Kingdom coloring page from Around the World Coloring Book
Geography Songs Song #1 British Isles Song.
Made a stained glass-style painting from our Home School Art Studio Program DVD.
Had a tea party with scones and cucumber sandwiches.

The Homeschool Mom's Boot Camp:: Keeping it Simple

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:25:00 +0000

So when I first envisioned the Homeschool Mom's Boot Camp, the idea was to spend time blogging about how I was getting things done -- the ups and downs, the ways I was motivating myself. Over the course of the first nine days I have come to three somewhat startling conclusions:

When something makes such a huge difference in your life it doesn't take much external motivation.
It's not nearly as complicated as I made it out to be (somehow things never are).
It is hard to blog when you are not getting on the computer.

Genius material there I tell ya.

I had this whole system planned out where I was going to give myself colored stones in a pretty jar for meeting my goals. One color for getting to bed on time. Another color for starting school on time. A third for leaving the computer off. I found the idea somewhere online (sorry, can't remember where), gathered the stuff from around the house, and even took a photo for the blog post. Then I realized, I didn't need that external motivation. It feels great to get started every morning. So far the success I feel from not wasting time and being completely done with our day early is all the motivation I need to get us going on time. This change brings immediate results. It's my favorite kind of change!!

Which brings me back to my list of items I had to do in order to be successful. I have found over the past nine days that if I do just two of those -- going to bed by 11:00 and leaving the computer off in the morning, then all of the rest of them fall into place. I do not need to lay out clothes or worry so much about tidying up. There is plenty of time to do those things, because I am up and not distracted. I did spend some time making and freezing breakfast food like waffles and pancakes so we are not eating cold cereal every morning. That allows us some variety (and frugality) without me having to mess up the kitchen before school, but mostly I just have to focus on the two biggies and keep it simple.

I do miss my morning time, especially the time I used to spend blogging. I find that our afternoons are busy (too busy I am thinking), and by the post-bedtime lull I am often just too dead tired to form a coherent thought. So unfortunately I am not getting much blogging done about this (or any) topic, but ~~some times~~ every time living life is much more important than blogging about it.

I intend to finish out my boot camp strong and then start focusing on more areas where small changes can make a big difference in our lives. How is your boot camp coming?

Be sure to stop by to visit other moms who are participating in The Homeschool Mom's Boot Camp.

The Planted Trees
Teaching Stars
The Crimson Covered Farm Life
Learning How Much I Don't Know
Wild Roots
Plant, Plant, Electro...What?
Explorations in Learning

Do you have something you would like to change in your home or homeschool? Join us for the challenge. Be sure to leave a link to your blog in the comments, and we will add you to our participant list.