One of Those Days

It has been one of those days at my house. I had such high hopes for today, but I fell flat on my face. I got the kids to bed on time last night. I laid out all of their school work, and I had all of the dishes done last night before I went to bed. Then I could not sleep. Then Katie Beth ended up in our bed. And that was the beginning of it all.

I had a day of Seth getting into make-up, marathon laundry, trying to get the kids to work, and trying to get the house cleaned up.

At the end of the day, I am minus a tube of lipstick and an eyeshadow compact. The kids finished all of their schoolwork. I did not get their read aloud read to them. Almost all of the laundry is washed and folded. The kids did not eat processed food for lunch or dinner. And the house is still a wreck!

I managed to not drink a coke in all of the chaos today. I was about to break down and have one, but I sat down to fold my mountain of laundry and I watched Dr. Oz. He talked about getting rid of sugar and syrups to lose weight. So I never fixed that coke. But I had already eaten a Reeses and I lost count of how many graham crackers I had.

What I Have Been Doing

For the past week I have been cleaning out bedrooms. I started in my daughter's room. I have been wanting to paint her room, but it was so messy that you could not walk through it. We spent one day cleaning out and organizing all of her stuff. That night when I was giving kisses and hugs, my son asked if we were going to do his room the next day. I think he was a little jealous. He usually has the cleaner room of the two.

So, the next day we spent on his room. I thought his room would be easier, but it was actually harder. He had a bunch of little things that were very hard to classify. When it was done, he was glad.

After I had finished their rooms, my room was the messiest in the house. I tried all week to work on mine, but I had one big problem. The baby. His crib is in our room. I work the best while he is asleep. Finally on Saturday the kids had a birthday party to go to. I put Seth done for his nap in the pack and play in the living room and my wonderful husband took the other two kids to the birthday party and I had uninterrupted cleaning time. I was really embarrassed by how much dog hair was on my carpet and my comforter. I had taken my comforter off of my bed to take to the dry cleaners, but my dogs had decided that it made a good bed. One of our dogs is a Chow/Golden retriever mix and she sheds so bad in the summer. After all of my cleaning I finally took my comforter to the dry cleaners today.

In other news. I finally got all of my curriculum ordered. Today Grant's reading books came in and I am really excited about them. I have switched him to Sonlight for reading, but had to order them off of ebay. It took a lot of patience for me to wait until I found all of the books together and at a price I could afford, but I think this reading will be better for him. Last year we did Abeka reading. I love Abeka, but I think he was bored with it. When I started checking books out of the library for him to read, he started reading better. I think he will do better with reading real books instead of readers.

So, my plan for curriculum this year is ABeka for phonics, language, math, and spelling. Getty Dubay for handwriting. Math- U- See for Katie Beth's math. 100 Easy Lessons for Katie Beth's reading. Sonlight reading 2 for Grant's reading. Sonlight Core K for history. Some lapbooks and experiments in a bag for science.

I am still working on putting together our Bible. Last year I used a devotion book that Grant had and their memory verses from Awanas. This year I bought a book called Polite Moments. It is more of a character training book. I think I am going to focus on a "trait" a week and find verses to go with that "trait". I will write about how this goes when I start putting it together more.

In other other news. Our upstairs air conditioner is out again. This is the third time this summer. I am trying to be thankful in all things. I am trying to look to the positive. I put Seth to bed in his pack and play and I am going to go upstairs and clean bathrooms. I usually put this off for fear of waking him. Since he is not asleep up there, I know I will not wake him.

Off to clean bathrooms!

Science Swap

I am terrible about planning science experiments. When I do get around to planning them, I then realize that I do not have all the supplies, then I forget to put the supplies on my grocery list and I never buy them. So I was really excited when one of the mom's in our homeschool group put together a science swap this summer. At the homeschool conference I went to, I bought several science experiments in a bag from a company called Holy Cow Science, but if I participated in this I could get even more science experiments already planned.

To participate in the Science Swap, you had to plan a science experiment in a bag. You were to put all the supplies you would need to perform the experiment in a gallon Ziploc bag with the directions for the experiment and make enough for everyone in the swap to have one.

Eight families participated, so we made up eight bags of an experiment called bobbing raisins. We all met at a park and the mom that coordinated the swap had eight bags setting out and we put one of our experiments in each bag.

My kids were pretty excited to have some experiments to do and I was really excited to have experiments that I did not have to plan or gather the supplies for.

Michelle Duggar

I was so excited to meet Michelle Duggar! I love the way her and Jim Bob show their faith for everyone. They are not afraid of what anyone thinks, but God and I believe God has blessed them for that.

Our homeschool group has monthly meetings for the moms called Renews. A couple of the moms in our group know the Duggar's because they worked on the Duggar's political campaigns. They asked Michelle if she would come and talk to our homeschool group. It was one of the best attended Renews we had ever had.

Michelle was great! She was just like she is on TV. She is very sweet and down to earth. She was very encouraging. Unfortunately only Grandma Duggar and the baby came with her. The rest of the family was in Tennessee helping the Bates family build their house. I would have loved to see in person how all of the kids interact together.

What I learned. The one thing that she said that really struck me was that I do not have the right to sleep. She was talking about how at night the older kids come in her and Jim Bob's room to have talks with them. She said that sometimes the girls will talk until 2 in the morning and that she does not have the right to sleep when it is so important to spend that time guiding her children. It really made me think about all the things that I think I have the right too and how I feel offended when I do not have those things. I am a sinner only saved by grace not by what I do, but by what Jesus has done for me. Since that is true why do I feel I have the right to have all the things I think I need. Only Jesus know what I need and the only thing I need is Jesus.

Oh, and I hate the way I smiled in the picture, but it was the only picture I had of me and Michelle.

School Work

I am trying to decide what to do for Grant's school work next year. He is not doing as well as I think he should be. Is it that I am biased because of my background? Sometimes I think being a teacher messes me up with homeschooling. I have seen what good readers the ABeka curriculum can produce, but at the same time I also know that not everyone learns the same. I also fear that if I switch curriculum, we will miss learning something or I will mess what Grant has already learned up. I know that different phonics programs teach in different ways.

Next year already worries me. Katie Beth will start Kindergarten and Seth will be more active. I will have to figure out a better schedule for everyone.

Here is what I am thinking for each child. Grant: Sonlight for reading and history, Explode the Code and ABeka for phonics, ABeka for Math, A Reason for Spelling or Abeka for spelling and ABeka for handwriting. I am not sure about science.
Katie Beth: Just about everything will be ABeka. I may add Explode the Code and we just started 100 Easy Lessons. We probably will not be finished with it when we start school next year.

I just started Katie Beth on 100 easy lessons. She is so excited about it. She will be my one that loves to do school, if I keep reminding her that I am the teacher.

They Are Here!!

Look what the UPS man brought today. We know what that means. It is time to start school!