Our homeschool and my oldest's public school starts tomorrow. I'm not ready yet. Not ready because my oldest is going to high school. Not ready because there was a whole bunch more stuff I was going to get done this summer. Not ready because I am still trying to clean up and declutter.
Plus, I have a ton of laundry to do. (Edited on 9/10/08 to change "please" to "plus.")
Oh well, it will be okay.
"Just take the next step," is what my husband always says. Just do the next thing.
So, I'm off to do some laundry and figure out what we'll have for breakfast. (Not that I usually do that, but I am trying to be better about planning our menus.)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Cleaning out and straightening up
I have been going through our things, trying to clean out some clutter. Some of this "clutter" is things that others could use--we've just grown beyond them.
I have auctions on ebay under the name boughttoomuch. Lots of homeschool stuff.
I have books on Paperback Swap under the name leahintexas. I have 13 books that I will mail today.
I have got to make more room from some of our current homeschool choices. We are doing Ambleside Online years 3 and 5 this year.
However, I think I am going to resolve to make this a year that we "use what we have." Not that I won't buy anything (I already have bought a few new things), but I really need to either use it or...sell, swap or give it away.
It seems I go through cycles. I haven't been willing to get rid of some of this stuff for a while, afraid that "we might need this...". I'm moving to a position of wanting fewer things around and having more willingness to let things go. I'm sure this is related in some way to my spiritual and emotional life, but I don't really have much time to ponder it now!
I have been praying that God would help me be a better housekeeper and want to be a better housekeeper. I just started praying that God would help me add beauty to my home, inside and out. That doesn't come naturally to me, but I really long for it. I'm not talking about things, but more about the arrangement of things, order, cleanliness, and small touches that make a home seem warm, harmonious and inviting. Sometimes I think this is such a small thing and how could God care, but then I remember the world He created for us. He didn't have to make it beautiful, but He did!
I also need more beauty in my spirit.
There is always something to work on!
I have auctions on ebay under the name boughttoomuch. Lots of homeschool stuff.
I have books on Paperback Swap under the name leahintexas. I have 13 books that I will mail today.
I have got to make more room from some of our current homeschool choices. We are doing Ambleside Online years 3 and 5 this year.
However, I think I am going to resolve to make this a year that we "use what we have." Not that I won't buy anything (I already have bought a few new things), but I really need to either use it or...sell, swap or give it away.
It seems I go through cycles. I haven't been willing to get rid of some of this stuff for a while, afraid that "we might need this...". I'm moving to a position of wanting fewer things around and having more willingness to let things go. I'm sure this is related in some way to my spiritual and emotional life, but I don't really have much time to ponder it now!
I have been praying that God would help me be a better housekeeper and want to be a better housekeeper. I just started praying that God would help me add beauty to my home, inside and out. That doesn't come naturally to me, but I really long for it. I'm not talking about things, but more about the arrangement of things, order, cleanliness, and small touches that make a home seem warm, harmonious and inviting. Sometimes I think this is such a small thing and how could God care, but then I remember the world He created for us. He didn't have to make it beautiful, but He did!
I also need more beauty in my spirit.
There is always something to work on!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
1930s Marital Scale
 | 73 As a 1930s wife, I am |
Some of the questions were hard to answer because things have changed so much.
I scored higher than I thought I would. I haven't felt very much like a superior wife at all these days!
I need to work on a few things:
Doesn't want to get up to prepare breakfast. (Sometimes I do, most times it is everyone on their own!)
Dresses for breakfast. (Used to do this daily, then got sloppy about it.)
Good sense of humor--jolly and gay. (See below about whining and complaining.)
Has pleasant disposition in the morning--not crabby. (I am not usually crabby and I am sometimes pleasant, but most often I am just quiet. I think. I need to pay attention to how I am appearing to others.)
Neat housekeeper--tidy and clean. (Could be better!)
Often whining and complaining. (I have gotten into the very bad habit of complaining)
Puts cold feet on husband at night to warm them. (I really don't think he minds; he invites me to.)
Well, that's enough. Plenty to think about!
The Narrow Road
Out of the 20 (some sources say there were 19) kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, there were zero good kings.
Out of the 20 kings of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), there were eight good kings. (Not perfect, just good. Still sinners.)
That's one in five.
(My info is from my study Bible and something I remember from the Walk Thru the Old Testament seminar our family took years ago.)
Out of the 20 kings of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), there were eight good kings. (Not perfect, just good. Still sinners.)
That's one in five.
(My info is from my study Bible and something I remember from the Walk Thru the Old Testament seminar our family took years ago.)
Homeschool plans and planning
We primarily use Ambleside Online for our homeschooling. AO is a Charlotte Mason-based plan. Here is what I am planning for this school year (August 2008 through May 2009).
I will use the AO Year 5 (1800 to 1920 up to WWI) recommendations for my 12-year-old seventh grader for:
History and History Tales
Natural History
Geography
Science
Tales and Literature
and Free-time Reading
and AO Year 3 (1400 to 1600) for my 10-year-old fifth grader for the same subjects.
In addition, I will add in the TruthQuest commentary for History, using Age of Revolution II (US/Europe, 1800-1865) and the first part of Age of Revolution III (US/Europe, 1865-2000) for AO Year 5 and Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration (1400-1600) for AO Year 3.
I have come up with my own poetry rotation from AO's suggestions and the girls will study the same poets. This year we will study Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Emily Dickinson.
For Language Arts I will use:
KISS Grammar, the Third Grade Workbook. We worked through the Second Grade Workbook last year.
For studied dictation, we will use (for the first time!) Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason, Book 1 and Book 2.
The girls will also be expected to give oral narrations, write some narrations and do copywork.
The Bible Study Guide for All Ages will be what we use for our Bible Studies. We are in the second volume and will go into the third volume sometime during the year.
We will have what I call our fine arts rotation, which includes studying a composer and his or her music, an artist and his or her artwork, a play from Shakespeare and a life from Plutarch (Our Young Folks' Plutarch) for each term (there are three terms per school year). We will learn a hymn a month and I hope to incorporate awareness of and attention to a habit a month, also.
I hope to use a plan I developed for Nature Study out of the Handbook of Nature Study, which is different from what AO recommends. (That is, the order of study is different. AO also recommends the Handbook of Nature Study.)
Math: We will stick with Developmental Mathematics, with some enrichment thrown in (DIME Blocks, for one and Hands-On Equations for another).
For Foreign Language, we will use Rosetta Stone for Spanish and The Latin Road to English Grammar for Latin for the older daughter.
They will continue with violin and some piano.
Okay, that is what is planned. We'll see what really happens!
For example: we have had the same Plutarch's life for, oh, a year now! (Cringe...) We have it scheduled for once-a-week. We don't get much done at each weekly time period (there is so much to review and the language is so dense). We skip weeks.
Another example: I have had The Latin Road to English Grammar for two years now and hoped to start it last year with my older girl.
A third example: we almost always get behind in our history and literature readings. I am hoping that won't be such a big factor this year.
The last three years we have had some major interruptions to school and I am hoping that we do not have them this year.
Also, I really need to look after my own needs of exercise, good food and some personal time so that I don't use school time for other things (including reading the posts on the AO yahoo groups and blogging!)
To Do:
Plan the year, incorporating the TruthQuest readings.
Make a loose daily/weekly schedule.
Look at last year's math and the placement tests and order the math booklets.
Begin Latin so that I am ahead of my daughter.
Double check that I have the books we need.
Print the KISS Grammar Third Grade Workbook.
Print out the poetry selections from the AO website.
We begin on August 25th!
I will use the AO Year 5 (1800 to 1920 up to WWI) recommendations for my 12-year-old seventh grader for:
History and History Tales
Natural History
Geography
Science
Tales and Literature
and Free-time Reading
and AO Year 3 (1400 to 1600) for my 10-year-old fifth grader for the same subjects.
In addition, I will add in the TruthQuest commentary for History, using Age of Revolution II (US/Europe, 1800-1865) and the first part of Age of Revolution III (US/Europe, 1865-2000) for AO Year 5 and Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration (1400-1600) for AO Year 3.
I have come up with my own poetry rotation from AO's suggestions and the girls will study the same poets. This year we will study Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Emily Dickinson.
For Language Arts I will use:
KISS Grammar, the Third Grade Workbook. We worked through the Second Grade Workbook last year.
For studied dictation, we will use (for the first time!) Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason, Book 1 and Book 2.
The girls will also be expected to give oral narrations, write some narrations and do copywork.
The Bible Study Guide for All Ages will be what we use for our Bible Studies. We are in the second volume and will go into the third volume sometime during the year.
We will have what I call our fine arts rotation, which includes studying a composer and his or her music, an artist and his or her artwork, a play from Shakespeare and a life from Plutarch (Our Young Folks' Plutarch) for each term (there are three terms per school year). We will learn a hymn a month and I hope to incorporate awareness of and attention to a habit a month, also.
I hope to use a plan I developed for Nature Study out of the Handbook of Nature Study, which is different from what AO recommends. (That is, the order of study is different. AO also recommends the Handbook of Nature Study.)
Math: We will stick with Developmental Mathematics, with some enrichment thrown in (DIME Blocks, for one and Hands-On Equations for another).
For Foreign Language, we will use Rosetta Stone for Spanish and The Latin Road to English Grammar for Latin for the older daughter.
They will continue with violin and some piano.
Okay, that is what is planned. We'll see what really happens!
For example: we have had the same Plutarch's life for, oh, a year now! (Cringe...) We have it scheduled for once-a-week. We don't get much done at each weekly time period (there is so much to review and the language is so dense). We skip weeks.
Another example: I have had The Latin Road to English Grammar for two years now and hoped to start it last year with my older girl.
A third example: we almost always get behind in our history and literature readings. I am hoping that won't be such a big factor this year.
The last three years we have had some major interruptions to school and I am hoping that we do not have them this year.
Also, I really need to look after my own needs of exercise, good food and some personal time so that I don't use school time for other things (including reading the posts on the AO yahoo groups and blogging!)
To Do:
Plan the year, incorporating the TruthQuest readings.
Make a loose daily/weekly schedule.
Look at last year's math and the placement tests and order the math booklets.
Begin Latin so that I am ahead of my daughter.
Double check that I have the books we need.
Print the KISS Grammar Third Grade Workbook.
Print out the poetry selections from the AO website.
We begin on August 25th!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)