My Homeschool Mother's Journal - February 1

In my life this week… I turned 42. Dudes, I turned 42. It's crazy. So I was fortunate enough to start my celebrations last Friday with an afternoon at a homeschool mother's tea with 5 friends. We went to dinner afterward and it was really good sitting and talking with co-workers. And I found out Heidi St. John is hilarious! Saturday the kids and I went to the mountain to play in the snow with my parents and youngest brother & family. Saturday night we celebrated all our family's December, January and February birthdays. DH and I left the kids with my parents and went home. Sunday our plan had been a date day. We started off pretty good with breakfast at a local diner we had never tried; Top O Hill and it was very good. Our next stop was Lowe's and this is where the plan went off track. We were only going to buy the new bathroom sink I wanted with the money his parents sent me for my birthday. But we found a wall cabinet for half price and some beautiful new light shades for my kitchen:

I had birthday money to cover the sink and wall cabinet, but not the lights shades which we really wanted because our old ones are migraine inducing for me and I won't allow anyone to use those lights. So we decided not to go out to dinner and use that money for the lights. And then we had to go home because all this had to fit in our car and there was no room to put the children. [It is moments like these that I really miss my mini-van.] DH and I went home unloaded the car, replaced the light shades and pulled out the old sink before picking up the kids. Not the plan, but a good day nonetheless.

Photos to share…

ODD working on drawing a cherry blossom tree. I am amazed at her ability and so thankful for all the time she has to spend on her art now that she's not in public school. We were just talking about that last night.

My happy reader! [YDD]

In our homeschool this week… we had a good week, but it was not as typical as our last 3. Monday, ODD experienced day 1 of her first period which gave rise to an unschooling day. YDD did a bunch of subjects [math, poetry, science and reading], but ODD just read in her room most of the day. Tuesday was my birthday and art class, so they put in half a day. Wednesday was our only normal day because I decreed Thursday reading day, and even I got to spend 4 hours reading.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… re-writing your day's plan or schedule does NOT mean learning has to go out the window. I keep track of what the girls do after they've done it and as I look back on our week, they got a lot of learning done even though little of it was our normal plan. I use iCal to plan ahead; that is done in red. I can re-arrange to accommodate appointments and so on. Once they complete things, I track that in iCal with pink for ODD and purple for YDD. Having this visual record of what we did really really really helps me stay sane about what we did all day. Without that, I tend to forget what exactly we did and freak out at the end of the week. You know the "OH MY THE HOUSE IS A MESS WE DIDN'T DO ANY MATH WHAT THE HECK DID WE DO ALL WEEK?!?!?" freak out.

Favorite resource this week... Yes Graphics Printing Company aka Woodburn Printing I took my Story of the World Activity Guide in this week and they change the binding for me. And here's my favorite part: cost $6! This is what it looks like now:

I am going to take Volume 2 in to be re-done soon. I love this new binding.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Wednesday a local homeschool friend was getting some 'tude from her boy and thought he just needed to run around outside, so we met them at a park. And I'm happy to report that running around outside for an hour and a half was just what her boy needed - no more 'tude! And this is why I love knowing local homeschoolers.

My favorite thing this week was… getting DS into Programming 2 this second semester. He wasn't going to be able to take it until he decided to drop Japanese [very mature decision] and so I asked if he could add it.  He was thrilled when he found out he was in. Told me I rock. Oh and I also rock because I got his speech therapy teach switched. It's not often I rock twice in one week with this child!

We're reading… I managed to read 2 books this week! All fluff, no non-fiction. I don't seem to have balance; it's either all one or all the other. I haven't read much by Lisa Kleypas, but I enjoyed these and have another of hers on hold with the library.

These are the titles ODD has been reading this week. She's enjoyed each but didn't find Sleepy Hollow scary.

This is what YDD has been reading. The Dragon in the Library is book 3 of a series which she says is awesome. She's reading it on the recommendation of a friend. It's a bit below her reading level, but good so she's happy. And she called The Wind in the Willows "meh".

I’m grateful for… the luxurious abundance of time that homeschool gives me.

I’m praying for… friends. A long-time friend of mine experienced a shooting 3 houses down from her home. Her husband went to try and help. There is such devastation in the wake of this event. I'm praying for my friend and her family and the victim's family and the shooter's family. It's a hard complicated situation that will impact these people for quite some time to come if not the rest of their lives. I am so thankful that while I can not get up there to see her, I can communicate online and more importantly, I can pray for her.

I rewarded my kids this week by... taking them to play at the park with a friend. They got all their work done so we could spend the afternoon playing.