ick

SO that was a nasty cold virus.  It took all five of us out.  I am still really, really, really tired.  :(

I have been thinking about some things while we have been sick.

One - what worked for us and what hasn't worked for us this school year?

Two - why is my house always messy?

Three - a sermon by Paul Washer called "A Sermon That Has Angered Many".

Four - how can I read the Word so that I then think on it all day?

So - one - what worked for our school year so far?  The lay-out of our day works really well, when medical conditions cooperate.  I have three kids with varying special needs, so some days...ok a LOT of days are really, really tough.  Making sure I have a routine down that flows is really important.  

This year I used Saxon Math with two of our kiddos.  This is our first time trying Saxon, we have tried just about every other curriculum out there it seems, but Saxon is working really well for them.  Our Language Arts is working really, really well...except for writing.  We struggle here.  I am going to order these for the summer and come up with a different game plan for the later summer/early fall.  We school year round, but our focus/intensity changes with seasons.

I heard about an awesome idea from Modern Mrs. Darcy.  I am hit and miss with reading her blog posts, but I am SO glad I did not miss this post about how to track what you are reading.  I found THE neatest idea.  I LOVE the five year, one line a day journals.  My husband ordered two extra for me this year, so I grabbed one and started using it to capture what I am reading and what I am reading to my kids.  Genius idea.  SUCH a neat way to track.  Reading aloud is so incredibly special and important to us, I am so glad I have found a way to keep track of where we have been :).

What hasn't worked?  Planning.  It is so hard to make lesson plans because we might have a great morning and a horrible afternoon, or we might have a great Monday, hard Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then a great Friday.  My planner arrived last summer with a LOT of printing errors and it made it hard to use, then I had a great idea to do weekly lesson plans, instead of planning the year out...yeah, not one of my best ideas.  It made for so much extra work.  So next year I am going to color code my lessons plans.  I will write the year master list out with a blue or black pen and as we go through, as we complete each lesson plan I will color it in with a colored pencil, so at first glance I can see, "Oh we got through Monday's lessons, but Tuesday's afternoon subjects need to be completed before we go on to Wednesday's afternoon lessons."
 
Two - I have no idea how to balance housework with everything else we have going on.  My idea to focus on one room for March did not go as planned.  I procrastinated and then we got sick :(.  I need to tackle this and I need to get a plan in place that works.  Any ideas?

Three - still chewing on this sermon and reading "The Curate of Glaston" by George MacDonald. As I sort my thoughts I will write more about this later.

Four - I am thinking of ideas to keep the Word before me all day, not just in my morning reading.  Any ideas?