Thursday, February 28, 2019

I just lost my ENTIRE post

 I am SO frustrated right now!!!  Thankfully I copied and pasted this to an email right before I hit publish.  I am out of time to see if the spacing is correct, I hope it is, either way, here is my post:

I sat down here to post yesterday, but then got called away...repeatedly.  So last night I set an alarm on my phone to write today and here I am with about five minutes to spare...

Yesterday we finished The Wolf Princess.  Oh my...this is such a LOVELY book.  I was so wrapped up in this story that one day, earlier this week, we paused so I could fix dinner and I was momentarily stunned to find myself in my own home having to fend for myself instead of being tucked away in a Russian palace, deep in snowy woods.  After reading this book, I want to learn to speak Russian and immerse myself in the rich, deep history of the Russian revolutions.  I want to know Sophie and Ivan in real life.  This is one of those rare gems that you just absolutely will cherish the memory of listening to the story and trying to unravel the mystery.  Some days, we would get in our car and drive around town just so we could listen to it over the speakers.  There was something so enchanting about being tucked into a smallish space and having Beth Kent's voice surround you. (the story is written by Cathryn Constable but we listened to the version narrated by Beth Kent).  Alas, I truly feel like I bid some very good friends goodbye as we turned off the speakers late yesterday.  There was a moment of clapping, and of exclamations of what a good story that was, but ultimately there was silence.  The realization that today would come and we would not be in such a hurry to finish Science or History so we could get to the good stuff.  😍

I am trying a new idea for lesson planning this year.  I had some Moleskine notebooks (the extra large, soft papery type of covers).  I watched a video on creating your own prayer notebook and decided to give it a go with the notebooks I already had, but also decided to make one for my lesson planning.  I glue sprayed the front of the Moleskine and used thick scrapbook paper to cover it.  I used a tab punch to make my tabs (using the scrapbook paper for this too and my label maker) and taped them on, but the best part?  I googled ideas for making your own lesson planners and found a teacher that thought of the BRILLIANT idea of using washi tape to created the grids for writing your plans in them.  I had the BEST time prepping this book and already have ideas for my next one.  Here are some sample pictures before I filled in all of the squares.  I date them when they are completed and color in the squares lightly with different colored pencils as we complete them.  The dates are to match with our file folders for the week if I need to pull out samples for appointments,  but the colors are for being able to see with a quick glance where I am in our quest, but also because it's pretty :).






For our read alouds, I draw boxes and number each box for the number of chapters in the book, then I shade them in as we read them so if I lose my bookmark (happens a LOT), I know right where to pick up with the story without having to thumb through and figure it out.  I also on the backside of the page list all of the audiobooks we have going and jot down a date under it for every time we listen.  If it's longer than 15 or 20 minutes of listening, I count it as a day of listening.  However, if it is shorter than 15 or 20 minutes, I do not count it, unless we do that several times in one day and it adds us to equal 15-20 minutes.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Where I am right now...

Do you ever feel like a turtle trying to run down the middle of a trench filled with peanut butter and molasses?  That is what I feel like right now.  Absolutely paralyzed by the sheer volume of all that I have to do in a day.  My house is a mess, I cannot find the read aloud when it is time to read aloud, we ate fast food again last night because I forgot to plan for dinner, and I have gained too much weight.  Again.  I just can't seem to make much, if any, forward progress on too many things.

I am reading a book from the library right now called Atomic Habits and he said something that really struck a cord with me: a lot of our goal making is centered around just that - the goal, the end achievement of weighing x amout of weight, or running that race or this race, or getting the house cleaned up so that so and so can come over...on and on it goes.  But when you reach the apex of what you were shooting for, more times than not you end up back where you began or even further back from where you began.  This perfectly describes much of my life.  Why is that?  Well, when I put my thoughts together regarding this book I will hopefully do a post about it.

We made beef stew (in the crockpot) this weekend, homemade chicken fajitas (in the skillet) on whole wheat tortillas, and a creamy garlic chicken and squash dish (in the Instapot).  On Monday I made whole wheat snickerdoodles - they weren't bad, and yesterday I made fudge.  It was really cold with heavy gray skies here, so I decided that we needed a batch of fudge.  My thighs did not need the batch of fudge, but I enjoyed it anyway.  There are really only a few months out of the entire year here that are good for baking (it simply gets TOOOOO hot!), so I tend to take full advantage of the cooler months 😉.

For one on one time today, we are working on antecedents and personal pronouns, integers and multiplication for one person this morning, multiplication and division and then reading and discussing a chapter of Sense and Sensibility for another, and addition and subtraction and the Barton Method for my youngest.  This afternoon, instead of art class with friends, we are going to find out what atoms and molecules have to do with DNA, who were the first scientists and how did what they did then affect what we do and know now.  We are going to read some more about George Mueller and read another few chapters of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and listen to our audio book The Wolf Princess.  OH.MY.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this audiobook.  My oldest child chose it with her Christmas money and 💗💗💗 I am really glad she insisted that we listen to it!!  Then, if time permits, we will do a bit of history and find out how Islam became an empire, read the rest of the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" and hopefully write some responses to what we read.  If we don't get to that today, we will start tomorrow's afternoon session off with history, the fairy tale, and the writing assignment. 

In the middle of all of this, I need to clean my house, like seriously, desperately need to clean it, I need to finish reading a report from a neuropysch test for one of my kids, I need to finish reading Atomic Habits, work on a prayer study I am doing, figure out dinner, and help my kids through rough spots and meltdowns, take care of our pets, do some laundry...it just never ends. 

But, as I typed that last paragraph, I realized that while many of these things can and do bring frustration, they bring an abundance of joy.  These days are precious and treasures of the rarest beauty.  I love getting to homeschool my girls. I love to read reports and get new ideas of how best to serve and help them and I really, REALLY love read aloud time! 

Hope you have a beautiful Wednesday!

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Well hey there...

This week is one of those crazy weeks where we are running to and fro, lots of doctor appointments, a class with friends, lessons...*sigh* I cannot wait until Friday when I can crawl into bed and know that the weekend is here and snuggle with my dog(s) and my man and watch a movie with my girls.  Oh and drink a cup of piping hot, hot chocolate.  With whip cream on top.  Definitely with the whipped cream! And some chocolate shavings.

But until then...this week is in full swing...

I have been intrigued by the idea of habit stacking for a while.  I have these goals I want to meet, but with the chaos of our lives, it seems almost impossible to meet even a single one of them.  To that effect, I signed up for a waiting list at our library to read this book called Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear.  Have you heard of this book?  I was put on a six week + waitlist, but to my surprise, on Sunday evening (just three weeks after I put it on hold!), I got a notification it was ready and waiting for me!!  Yippee!!!!  Before even beginning the first chapter I realized something...

I realized that I am sad that I have let my blog go.  It isn't about the blog per se, it is about the bigger issue this realization pointed to: I have basically stopped writing.  I love to write stories and notes and to journal...but I realized this past month that pretty much the only writing I do anymore has to do with lesson planning or in the making of charts/index cards for our homeschool and one or two lines in my five-year diary. 

I have gotten out of the habit of writing. 

I am one of those people that needs to write.  I learn better that way, I memorize a TON better after I write it vs. reading it to myself or out loud.  I process life better that way, even if it is boring or humiliating or makes me roll my eyes at my own stupidity...I live life better if I jot down my thoughts and dreams and experiences along the way.  I pray better, I am a better wife, mom, teacher...

I think it is because I always have so many words tumbling around in my heart and if I don't spill them out onto paper through ink or a keyboard, then they roll and rumble inside of me, usually creating a mountain out of a molehill.  My sweet husband is my soundboard, my safe place.   I will talk and talk and talk and he will listen patiently to all of my words gushing forward...he is awesome.  But I realized this morning that I still need to write these words down in order to organize them, process them, and either let them go or use them to spring from where I am to where I want to go.

So, in the interest of habits, I want to create a small one.  I want to commit to meeting here at this blog each Wednesday morning, and I want to write.  It may be boring or whiny or somewhere in between, either way, I want to commit to the habit of writing at least one morning a week and I have picked Wednesdays.

I hope your week is awesome, I hope we survive ours - ha!