December is Approaching

In keeping with my quest to simplify my life (and enjoy the process) I have decided to simplify my Christmas holidays.

While I LOVE wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue, and tape, I plan to buy only one roll of wrapping paper this year (red, from Hobby Lobby, as soon as they put it on sale), and to use all of the paper I have from previous years.  I also do not plan on buying any ribbon.  I have enough.  And if I run out of a particular color, I will just use a different color.

I also love buying and wrapping gifts for my husband, children, family, and friends, but this year I am putting a limit on myself.  Three gifts per person.  I tend to get "just one more tiny thing" for my children and nieces and nephews each year…..as I visit cute gift shops or our Celebration Village (a one-stop shopping extravaganza here in Tupelo, held for a few days at the end of October).  Limiting my purchases will also simplify my wrapping.

I got out my Christmas binder the other day.  I had already put in a divider for 2014, so the next thing I have to do is to print out a master gift list template.  (With 3 spaces beside each name!)  This is just a list of every single person that I will be giving a present to during the month of December.  It includes family, friends, teachers, hairdressers, etc. As I purchase or make each gift, I record it on the list.  I also include a column to check off when the gift is wrapped. I keep my list each year, filing it behind the appropriate year. I also keep a separate list of gift ideas (crafts, baked goods, cute things I see online or in a store).

One last thing that I am changing for this holiday season is to not have my sibling store.  It has been a good thing…..but this year I am asking my children to give handmade gifts to one another. I will help Leah and Sam plan their gifts, and assist them as needed.

I have fabric that I purchased last year for special gifts for my family…..and I never got around to even starting the project.  I plan to do it this year!

My birthday (September 16) marks 100 days to Christmas Day.  I am not sure what day it is today in the countdown, but it's not too early to at least think about your holiday plans.

Really Going To Start Blogging Again

Hello.

I have a friend on Facebook (an internet, email group friend, not an "in real life friend", although I know that we would be friends in real life if we lived in the same town) who recently shared a link to this blog post.

While reading her post, I found myself agreeing with some of her points.  I have definitely gotten out of the habit of blogging for a variety of reasons.  I began this blog over six years ago, and until this summer, I have posted fairly regularly.  But this summer I got writer's block. What do I have left to say that I already have not already said? Why I am even blogging?  That, along with the fact that I feel my life getting more and more complicated rather than simpler, which is what I crave, has kept me from blogging.

From the beginning of my blog, I have purposed to keep it upbeat and positive.  Not that I don't have my share of problems or that my life is perfect, but I want to be encouraging, not depressing.  But there is always that balance.  I don't want to appear as someone who has it all together, because I certainly don't. I strive to serve a perfect God, one who created me in His image, and I try follow his commands daily.  I also fail daily.

So that's the struggle.  How to blog in a realistic, encouraging way without painting a false picture of total success.  Since I have not been able to figure that out over the last couple of months, I have just stopped writing altogether.  Now I don't want y'all to think that I am having some kind of mid-life crisis or that I am in the middle of a major personal or family catastrophe, because it's nothing like that, but I have been overwhelmed for a few months.

Parenting older teens and youngish children is challenging.  Logistically, emotionally, and even physically--even though I though parenting the newborn, toddler, and preschooler combination was physically exhausting too.  Older children require more brain cells to parent--papers to edit, relationship troubles, teams, meetings, music lessons, and practices, to coordinate, and so on.  I have repeatedly told my close friends that taking care of older children is so much harder in some ways than when they were small and my biggest tasks were changing diapers, fixing sippee cups, cleaning up endless messes, and buying groceries with small children in tow without losing my sanity.

I am so thankful that my older children are all Christians.  All of my children are precious gifts from God, and I treasure them.  Somewhere along the way I have become a slave to the tyranny of the urgent.  I am looking for ways to slow down and simplify.

I truly hope to get back to blogging on a regular basis.  I hope I have something that you want to read, and maybe getting my thoughts down on paper (or on the screen) will help me as well.

Please comment with any topics you would like me to write about.  :)

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

An Easy Crock Pot Recipe

This time of year I have to use my crock pot to prepare supper on both Tuesdays and Thursdays because we have cross country practice until 5:00 or 5:30, and then we have to drive home after that. I found this recipe over the weekend on My Plant Based Family Blog, (click here for the original recipe). Below is my version of the recipe---I increased the ingredients a little bit, and the end result was perfect for my family.

Easy Crock Pot Mexican Casserole

• 1 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 12 oz. + 1 6 oz. can of tomato sauce (I am not sure of the ounces of those cans….it was one big and one small can)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp cumin
• 1 quart pinto beans (I used the beans that I canned this summer. You could use two store-bought cans of pinto or black beans, but drain and rinse them well before adding.)
• 1 bag frozen corn

Just dump all ingredients in the crock pot, stir to combine, and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 on low. I served this with tortilla chips, and if I had taken the time to make it, a salad would have been nice to have as well.

Enjoy.

It's My Birthday!

Today I turn 45.  I am sure that I look 45, but I don't feel 45.  Most days I still feel like I am 25, until about 3:00 PM, and then I lose steam…..if I get a cup of coffee, that perks me up, but then I cannot sleep at night, and then I am tired in the morning when the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM, and so the cycle goes….

Anyway.

Today is going to be a fabulous day!

We actually began our celebration last night after supper. Jimmy and the children presented me with two beautifully wrapped gifts with instructions to open them "right now". So I did.  And I was given marvelous presents:  a huge bag of M&Ms, a bag of Hershey Kisses, and the movie Moms' Night Out.  Fun!  Our whole family (minus our college student) gathered in our den to eat chocolate and watch the movie.  Even the third time, that movie is hilarious!  Jimmy and the boys had never seen it, so it was fun to hear them laugh too.  Jimmy even stayed awake for the entire movie!

Today we will celebrate with a birthday lunch at a Japanese restaurant, and then this afternoon we will be watching Julie and Clay run in their first cross country meet of the season.  I slept in this morning, and I don't plan to run or do (much) laundry today.  My children and husband are so sweet to make this day special for me.  I intend to enjoy every bit of it.  Sam and Julie are in the kitchen right now preparing breakfast.

I read the book of Philippians this morning.  This verse stood out:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

Philippians 2:3-4

I think this verse can apply to numerous areas of my life.  From my service to God to my relationships with my husband, my children, and my family and friends.  Dying to self is difficult.  Yet Jesus commands it.

For this my 45th year and for all the remaining years of my life, I aim to keep the following verse in the forefront of my mind:

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:14

My Fun Weekend

We had a fun, uneventful, but very enjoyable time together this weekend.

Lori and I met Julie for supper at our favorite Starkville restaurant, Oby's.  But before we decided for sure that's where we wanted to eat, we considered a couple of more places.  Julie's daddy, who lives in Starkville, suggested the Dawg House if we wanted some place different.  So Lori and I asked the (young) guy who was checking us into the hotel if he recommended the Dawg House.  He looked at us, thought a moment, and then said, "Well……I am not sure if the Dawg House is where you ladies want to go…..it is a Friday night and all…..there will be lots of college students there…..you MAY BE TOO MATURE FOR THAT CROWD!!

What did he just say?

Did he mean mature as in "too old"?

We weren't sure.  So we just opted to dine at Oby's, and we were not disappointed!  We enjoyed our yummy sandwiches and fries, and we talked and laughed and talked and laughed (and drank lots of sweet tea) until we were almost the last people still in the restaurant.

When we arrived back at the hotel, the nice young guy at the front desk asked us where we ended up going for supper.

I told him, "Oby's.  With the mature crowd."

He sheepishly grinned.

Lori and I talked until about midnight, and then Saturday morning we met Julie and Jean Ann at the Kim C. Gee Race For Awareness at 8:30.  Lori and Julie did not bring running/walking clothes, and we already knew that Jean Ann was just going to spectate, so I decided to just watch too!  

 Jean Ann, Me, Julie, and Lori.

Young college girls!

As I expected, we shed a few tears when we saw Kim's husband, mother, sisters, and children.  But it was so good seeing all of them.

After the run, we all went to the Phi Mu house.  We were let in by some college girls, and we promptly told them, and everyone that we ran into, that we were among the first girls to live in that house (not that long ago).  We gave ourselves a tour, and we found these cute letters in the chapter room.  They were begging for a photo!

young college girls again

We wandered up and down the halls of both floors, and we found our photos in the huge composite pictures lining the walls.  Yes.  Everyone had big hair from 1987-1991.  We visited the rooms that we lived in.  We admired the improvements that had been made.  And we celebrated the news that the house was going to get a facelift and some renovations soon.

Julie and Jean Ann had to leave after this, but Lori and I enjoyed one more meal together at the City Bagel before heading back to Tupelo.  

It was a good visit.  We really missed our friends who could not join us. 

But don't worry---we talked about them!  (all good things, of course)  :)

Moms' Night Out

Tonight and tomorrow as well, I am having a Moms' Night Out (although I don't foresee Jimmy and my children, nor my friends and I doing any of the following:  a.  ending up in jail, b.  visiting the ER, c.  going to a super nice restaurant, or d.  bowling.)  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  (have you seen the movie, Moms' Night Out?)

Anyway, one of my college roommates, Lori, is picking me up this afternoon, and we are headed to Starkville.  We are meeting another friend, Julie, there, and then we will joined in the morning by Jean Ann.  Many of my other dear college friends were invited to this event, but as it is with husbands and children, they all have various and sundry commitments, and so it is just the four of us.

Blast from the past--Lori and I in college!

(When I showed these pictures to Sam this morning, he said, "Are y'all wearing wigs?" 

No, son.  It's just the early 1990's hairstyles!

We really don't have any specific plans for the evening except eating (probably at an old college favorite, Oby's) and then talking and laughing, catching up and reminiscing, and I am sure also shedding a few tears.  

Tomorrow morning we will participate in the 8th annual Kim C. Gee 5K Run For Awareness.  

This race is memory of our dear friend (and one of my college roommates too), Kim, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer back in October of 2006.

Here is a picture of Kim and me (in our wig hair!) back in the day.  I think we had the same hair at this point in our lives…..permed, teased, etc.  We were also the same exact size, and we shared lots of clothes.  We were roommates in Hathorn Hall, our sophomore year, and we lived on the Phi Mu Floor. Fun times!

The next year, my junior year, Lori and I roomed together, and Kim and our friend Stephanie lived across the hall.  More fun times.  We were among the very first girls to live in our brand new Phi Mu house, along with Geri, Caren, Sharon D., Kim N., Jean Ann, Sharon B., Julie, and others.

Later, after we graduated, we (about 12 of us) were all in each other's weddings, and for a while we got together for bridal showers, baby showers, and just to visit for fun about once a year or so for several years. And when Kim got sick, we got together too.  And then we all gathered for Kim's funeral……
Now, at least some of our original group make it to Kim's 5K Run each year.

It will be good to see Kim's mother and the rest of her family.

And it will be so good to laugh and cry and just be with dear old friends!

Hello

The Johnson Family is still alive and doing well.

I have been reading lots of books in my (non-existent) spare time, and so I have not made time for blogging.  Some for pleasure, and some for my children's school.

I made a major change in Julie's (12th grade) English plans, and that has required even more reading for me.  (It's a good change…..I'll share about that later).

We miss Olivia.  Missing her does not mean that her being far away at college is the wrong thing, but it just means that we miss her!  A lot.  I am still trying to send her some sort of mail--a letter, card, or package on most days.  And of course we talk, email, and text daily.

I ran the Tupelo 13.1 Miler last weekend.  It was a fun race, and Leanna and I were very happy with our time.  We got a very cool shirt and an even cooler medal.  I have tried to maintain 30 miles per week for the last month, and our official marathon training (my 6th time to train!) begins next Monday. I am crazy for training for another marathon, but I am crazy anyway, and at least I will be crazy and fit.

My swimming pool water is as green as our grass.  I have never in had water this color for so long.  I have done everything I know to do to it, but without any success.  If I can ever find/make the time to go to town, I will take a pool sample to the pool place and let them diagnose my water.  Yuk!

Chemistry is hard.  Clay is doing chemistry this year, and it is hard!  Jimmy has volunteered to be his tutor, and he spent a good bit of time last weekend studying the first two modules and teaching and explaining all the concepts and math portions to Clay.  Clay told me that he spent 7 hours practicing the math problems for the test!  And he made an A!

I cooked spaghetti squash for the first time last night.  It was good.  I just halved it, scraped out the seeds and pulp, sprayed a little olive oil mist on it, salted it, and baked in on 375 degrees convection for about 40 minutes.  Then Julie scraped it out into strands with a fork.  Delicious.

That sums it up.  We have finished several read aloud books over the last weeks, and we began reading Farmer Boy last night.  That is one of my favorites!

One more thing.  I bought a Smash Book.  Its theme is the months of the year.  I am not sure what I am going to put in it, or if I will ever even put anything in it, but I have wanted one for a while.  So I saw this one on clearance at JoAnn's last week, and I bought it.

What's Going On

Here is the short(ish) version of a long story.

I left on August 15 with all five children, in a fully packed vehicle with a carrier thing on top, hours of audio books and 3 new DVDs.  We arrived at Olivia's college 13.5 hours later.  What a trip!

We spent the night in a hotel, and moved Olivia's things into her dorm room that Saturday morning.  I was greeted with a wonderful surprise and a most unexpected blessing--Olivia's roommate and her mother had moved all of their things (Olivia's too) out of storage and into the dorm room.  It was all there.  Waiting for us to unpack.  I cannot express what a delight that was!  Olivia is in the same dorm room with the same roommate, but they had to move every single thing out of the room for the summer.  We stored most of it in a climate controlled basement storage area of a nearby dorm.

I stayed for 3 more nights there, and spent the time unpacking Olivia, buying her some groceries and a few items from Target, and then, one by one, all of the children except Leah came down with strep throat!  Olivia was first, and her case was the worst, because it was two days after her throat began hurting until she began treatment.  I found a Walgreens walk-in health clinic, and she was seen by the nicest nurse practitioner.  Next was Sam, then Julie, and on the Wednesday we arrived home, Clay.  So far, neither Leah nor I have a sore throat and Jimmy was here at home the whole time working…..I figure that if we were going to get it, we already would have.

Since Olivia was feeling so badly, and since she was contagious, I bought her school books for her and ran all of her errands.  She was beginning to feel somewhat better when we left for home on Tuesday afternoon.  We took her to an Indian restaurant for lunch before we left.  Yum.

We drove halfway, and stopped for the night in a hotel.  Then on Wednesday morning we got on the road early and arrived home about 2:00 PM.

We were so glad to be home, but we are already missing Olivia terribly!

We did school Thursday and Friday, and then Friday afternoon we traveled to Jackson to attend Jimmy's 20th year medical school class reunion.  We met my daddy along the way, and he took the children to my parents' house.  Jimmy and I joined them later Friday night after his reception.
We spent the night, ate lunch with them today, and then came back home this afternoon.  Home again!

We will get back to school next week!  I had budgeted these days for travel when I made my original home school year calendar.  So it's all good.

Except that we miss Olivia.

A Smooth Homeschool Day

Is there such a thing as a smooth homeschool day? What about a smooth day in general?  While no day is perfect, I believe that we can takes steps to encourage a day that flows fairly smoothly.  Now this does not take into consideration the inevitable mishaps, but having a routine in place creates stability in your day.  Children thrive with the security of routine.  You don't have to be a drill sergeant or a tedious clock watcher with a timer, but finding your own personal rhythm to your own school day, and then teaching and implementing the routine to your children, will make for a productive day.  (Well, on most days!)

I wrote a post for Real Life At Home (formerly The Homeschool Classroom) three years ago entitled, 10 Ways to Make Your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly.  This article sums up my thoughts about creating a rhythm to your homeschool day.

We completed our 6th day of homeschool for this school year yesterday.  Fortunately, the schedule/routine that I created for us to follow is working smoothly.  When Julie begins her online college courses later this month, I may have to adjust our routine slightly….it depends on how well our internet provider cooperates with the online classes!  For the first few days, she may need me to help her navigate her courses, and I will have to make allowances in my routine for this.  The younger children will be comfortable with their schoolwork by this time, and I am hoping that they will be able to work independently while I assist her.

Olivia will be going back to college soon.  We are slowly packing her up.  Thankfully I saved the master list that I typed for her last August, and now it's just a matter of putting items in boxes/bags/suitcases/ and checking them off the list.  We stored a lot of her things at her school, so we do not have as much to carry this time.

My blogging will be sporadic as I adjust to the hours of marathon training, homeschooling for 7 hours a day, the children's extra activities beginning, and keeping the household running as well.

Have a great day!

"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness."

Proverbs 31:27

Your Scheduling Questions Answered

Do you plan your group classes together first? 

I only do Bible with all of my children together.  They are welcome to listen to each other's Sonlight books, but Bible is the only thing that I require all of them to be with me at the same time.  I choose our Bible time based on what time I think all children will be awake, fed, and through with their chores.  I also take into consideration if I am training for a marathon or not, and realistically what time I will consistently be home from running.  Over the past several years we have had our Bible time anywhere between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.  This school year our Bible time is at 9:00 AM.  I have on my schedule to do writing and chemistry (when needed) with Clay (10th grade)  from 8-9.  I am making sure that I am through running by 7:45.  Julie (12th grade) is working on her online classes from 8-9, and Leah and Sam are eating breakfast, doing chores, and beginning their independent school work from 8-9.  We do our Bible lesson from 9:00-9:30.

How do you plan to be with each child at a certain time during the day and not cross over onto another child's time? 

I plan very carefully!  :)

I highly recommend reading and implementing the scheduling methods in Managers of Their Homes (MOTH), sold at Titus2.com.  I also have learned many tips which I use on a daily basis from Teri Maxwell's other books (sold on the same website), Managers of Their Schools and Managers of Their Chores.  I used to use the sticky tack and the huge spreadsheet that is included in MOTH when planning my new school year schedule.  Now I just pull up my last year's schedule and delete, add, and rearrange blocks in the table.  Then I rename it, save it, and print it out.  

But actually it's way more involved than that!

It takes a little bit of trial and error to get it all work out, but now I pretty much follow a similar schedule from year to year.

Here is an overview of my current school year schedule:

• 8-9:  work with Clay; Julie does online classes; Leah and Sam do chores and begin independent school (using a laminated checklist that I have prepared)
• 9-9:30:  Bible with all
• 9:30-11:00:  Clay and Julie work alone; I assist Leah and Sam with all schoolwork except science and Sonlight
• 11-11:30:  science with Leah and Sam; Julie and Clay work alone
• 11:30-12:30:  school with Clay (check all his work, go over algebra, etc.); Leah and Sam finish up any schoolwork needed, Julie work alone (or she may be done by this time)
• 12:30-1:30:  lunch.  I check email, attend to laundry, clean the kitchen, etc.
• 1:30-3:00:  Sonlight with Leah and Sam.  I am doing 2 Cores.  I do one Core and then the other.  I alternate which Core I begin with each day.  Clay and Julie finish up any school work and then have free time.
• 3:00:  I check Julie's schoolwork (really not that much, and I usually do it before this time.
• extra activities, errands, housework, laundry, etc.
• 5:00:  cook supper, kids do evening chores

Which leads me to these last questions.

School takes all day. When and how do you fit in all of your cleaning? How do you divide your chores with your kids and when do they do them if school starts around 8am? after school? 

We have very specific chore charts and lists.  The children  have before school chores (things like bring dirty clothes, pet care, make beds, etc.) and they also have evening chores (things like tidying different areas of the house, both inside and out, putting away clean laundry, taking out trash, etc.)  In addition to these daily chores, each child has weekly chores (things like dusting and vacuuming their rooms, cleaning out my vehicle, taking the trash to the road, cleaning bathrooms, etc.).  I divided my housework into areas and jobs, and everyone, even my 8yo has work to do each week.  I do not assign a specific day for these weekly chores to be done, but they must be completed by Saturday night.  I assess fines for any chore not completed by Saturday night.  Thankfully, I rarely collect any money!  I also do my fair share of the housework--the jobs that no one likes to do and the jobs that take the most time.  I usually do my housework 2-3 afternoons a week or on Saturday.

So, no, my house is not completely clean from top to bottom on any given day, but the whole house is cleaned once a week--just not all clean at the same time.  
I will add, that I do have a housekeeper that comes once a week and cleans my main floor.  That is a huge help, and I am very grateful that I have this help.  
My children are hard workers!  Jimmy is a hard worker too, and we just seem to keep the household running.  Our house is  never "magazine perfect", but it's homey and for the most part clean and orderly.

One last tip:  We pick up all the clutter every day. 

Our First Day Of School

We started our 2014-1015 school year bright and early Monday morning….about 7:30 AM.  I had a special breakfast ready.  (Normally our breakfast is self-serve).

I shopped at our local teacher supply store a few weeks ago, and I bought several products with the same apple theme/print.  I had fun planning our back-to-school celebration with these apples things.

Here is the table…..I copied a table I had seen on Pinterest….with a few modifications.

 I hot-glued green felt pieces cut out like leaves to the red plates. On the right are two pieces of chalk tied with ribbon.  The chalk is for writing on the placemats!  Another Pinterest idea!  I spray-painted old vinyl placemats with chalkboard paint.  It took three coats, and some of the placemats wrinkled up, but I had 5 that turned out fairly smooth, so I used those for the children's place settings.  I taped an alphabet letter initial on each child's cup, and I made a place card using white card stock, red paper, and the apple stickers that I bought.

I made this banner by glueing some of the apple cutouts and the black letters on a banner I bought from Hobby Lobby.

Here are the children enjoying their breakfast.
Then they drew on their placemats.

After breakfast, we had our annual back-to-school treasure hunt.  I had 9 clues that the children took turn reading and figuring out, and then for clue #10, I typed up 5 separate clues, one for each child, which led to the treasure.  This year's treasure was a pack of Sharpies for everyone except Olivia, who got Frixion erasable pens.

One last thing before actually beginning our schoolwork was to take the first day of school pictures.

We began school later than what I have planned for regular school days.  I think it was 9:00 before we started.  We did our Bible lesson and worked on other school work for a while, and then we took a snack break.  Again, this is a first day of school treat---normally, snacks are self serve too--when you are hungry.
Both snack ideas were from Pinterest.  Jimmy made the popcorn sacks (out of notebook paper), and he helped me get the "chalk" out of the straws.  (I melted white chocolate candy discs, sucked them into a straw, and froze them until they were hard).

We did more schoolwork after our snack break, and then I had one more special surprise for the day:  homemade alphabet soup.  (I had put it in the crock pot earlier in the day).

We continued with our schoolwork until 4:00 that afternoon!  It did not take all of my children until 4:00 to complete their work, but it took me that long to work with my children and check their work.

And then I canned a batch of tomatoes!

Some Planning Links And Ideas

First, some answers to one reader's questions.  (I'll get to the healthy meal planning and preparing in another post).

When you plan, do you plan by starting with your oldest first and working your way down?

If you mean my actual planning out my lessons for each child, yes.  I begin with the oldest, and completely prepare his schoolwork.  Then I move to the next child, and so on until it is all done.  This cannot be done in one day.  At least not for me.  I typically take at least one day per child.  One reason it takes so much time for me to plan each child's year is that I am planning for the entire school year. 

 I look at our calendar and mark all of our days off, vacation days, etc.,  This year I used a form that I found at TeachersPayTeachers.com.  After marking all weekends, vacations, holidays and such, I figured out which day we would need to begin in order to get 160 days of school squeezed in.  We will begin August 4.

Next, I look at the curriculum and plug in assignments with dates that correspond to my calendar.  I only do this for certain subjects.  For subjects like math and grammar, they know to simply complete the next lesson.  

Here is a sample of one of my plans:  Notgrass World History for my 10th grader.  This is printed on one page, and given to my child to keep in the front of his notebook.  He checks off assignments as they are completed.  I have a similar plan already typed and printed for second semester.  I like to do the entire year before we begin, so I don't have to spend every Sunday night getting ready for the next week.

You will notice that the dates do not reflect a traditional Monday-Friday school week.  They are dated to include 5 days that we will do school.  My children do school for 80 days each semester, but these 80 days are not in 16 straight Monday-Friday weeks.

World History

August 4,-December 15, 2014

• Each school day complete one lesson in the textbook.
• Omit the Project assignments at the beginning of each unit.
• Do complete the Bible and Literature assignments at the beginning of each unit.
• After each day's lesson, complete the questions in the Student Review Book. Answer the questions in a notebook
• Please give me the answers each day to check.
• At the end of each unit, please take the Quiz. The quizzes will be in your Test Binder. You may use your notes or your book to help you with the quizzes. You will take the quiz on the same day that you finish the last lesson in each unit.
• After units 5, 10, and 15, you will take an exam. You will need to complete a study guide and study for the exam during the week of the units prior to each exam (units 5, 10, and 15). The next day you will take the exam, and then begin reading the next lesson. The exams can be found in your Test Binder.

Aug 4 - Aug 8	Unit 1	Oct 31 - Nov 10	Unit 11
Aug 11 - Aug 15	Unit 2	Nov 10 - Nov 17	Unit 12
Aug 19 - Aug 27	Unit 3	Nov 18 - Nov 24	Unit 13
Aug 28 - Sept 3	Unit 4	Nov 25 - Dec 4	Unit 14
Sept 4 - Sept 10	Unit 5, study guide	Dec 5 - Dec 11	Unit 15, study guide
Sept 11 ***	Exam 1	Dec 15 ***	Exam 3
Sept 12 - Sept 19	Unit 6
Sept 22 - Sept 26	Unit 7
Oct 8 - Oct 14	Unit 8
Oct 15 - Oct 22	Unit 9
Oct 23 - Oct 29	Unit 10, study guide
Oct 30 ***	Exam 2

For my high-school children this year, I created plans like this for world history, economics, American Government, Spanish, and IEW.

Here is a sample of Teaching The Classics (IEW).  This is a 5 week or 25 school day course.

Teaching the Classics

08/05/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
08/06/14	Finish DVD.
08/07/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
08/08/14	Finish DVD.
08/11/14	Read "The Ransom of the Red Chief" by O. Henry. Complete Homework Lesson 1.
08/12/14	Take Lesson 1 Quiz. Review homework.
08/21/14	Watch DVD (60 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
08/22/14	Finish DVD.
08/26/14	Complete Homework Lesson 2.
08/27/14	Review homework.
08/28/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
08/29/14	Finish DVD.
09/01/14	Complete Homework Lesson 3.
09/02/14	Review homework.
09/03/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
09/04/14	Finish DVD.
09/05/14	Complete Homework Lesson 4.
09/08/14	Review homework.
09/09/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
09/10/14	Finish DVD.
09/12/14	Complete Homework Lesson 5
09/15/14	Review homework.
09/17/14	Watch DVD (45 minutes). Have notebook and student book.
09/18/14	Finish DVD.

Here is a link to an article I wrote for The Homeschool Classroom  (now called Real Life At Home) in 2012.  It explains how I homeschool multiple aged children.  You can click here to read this post.

Planning for my elementary aged children does not take as much time.  We use Sonlight, so that is all planned out for me.  I have used this curriculum for years, so all of my books are already labeled.  I did order my final new core this summer, Core E, and I had to insert the lesson plans into the binder.  I also had to purchase about 10 new books, so I labeled them and added them to Core E's bookshelf.  (I had previously done the combo D/E core, so I had a lot of the books).  

For elementary Apologia science, I just looked at my school calendar and determined that if spend 6 school days for each chapter, we can complete two of their courses this school year (botany and astronomy). I am not sure if this is a good idea or not.  I will see as the school year progresses. So I copied the suggested schedule that is included in the Apologia student notebooks, and wrote the dates that we needed to complete each chapter by.  Again, this took me a little bit of time last week, but I have saved myself many, many minutes throughout the year.  Anything I can do now to save me time once we actually begin school, I do it.

I will answer the other homeschool planning questions over the next few days.

A Trip to the Zoo

Monday our family and our friend, Jessica, visited the Memphis Zoo.  Even though it is July, we are having a "cool spell" here in Mississippi, and the weather was really nice.

We spent our time in one side of the zoo, and so I plan to take the children back soon to visit the other side.

We began by watching the sea lions show, and then we ate lunch.

 Lunch at the "Cat House"

 Seeing the elephants.

Olivia reminded us of the difference between African and Asian elephants.

(I can't remember which kind these were!)

After lunch and the elephants, we watched the grizzly bears being fed.  There were three bears, and right before feeding time, there they were, heads up, waiting for the food to be dropped!

 "I'm hungry!"

After being fed various fresh fruits and then a hunk of frozen fruit in some sort of popsicle, these bears were ready to play!  I think we stood and watched these two bears interact, chase, and play for at least twenty minutes.  It was quite entertaining.

We visited some more animals, and then posed the children for a picture.

 Sam, Clay, Leah, Olivia, and Julie

Our last stop before heading back to the car (well, the next to last stop……Leah and Sam wanted to visit the huge gift shop first) was to wade in the stream.

After leaving the zoo, we went to Target.  Because of course if we go to Memphis, we have to visit Target!  We all had an afternoon snack of Starbuck's coffee (and Icees for Leah and Sam) while we looked all around Target.  We were able to get a few things that Olivia needed to take back to school, so that was productive.

Yesterday I canned more tomatoes!  Actually I made 9 pints of spaghetti sauce out of that batch of tomatoes.  Tomorrow I am canning black beans, and probably on Saturday I'll have more tomatoes ready to can.  And that will be it for a while.  I plan to put all my canning paraphernalia back in the basement---it's all on my dining room table right now.  We start school next Monday, and I don't think I will have time to can anymore.

I'll post homeschool planning links and tips beginning tomorrow---at least that's my plan!

Planning, Not Canning

Yesterday I spent every spare moment that I had planning for our upcoming school year.  I thought about blogging the process, but I did not want to take the time out yesterday while I was working.  I hope to finish it all up today.

I also redid our chore charts and made a new school day schedule.  I was concerned at first that there was no way to fit all subjects in the day, but I think I have a workable plan.  It requires that we begin at 8:00 AM.  That is not a problem, except that I also crazily signed up for a marathon in December.  So, I am not sure how I am going to get a long run in and still be ready for school at 8:00 AM.  Thankfully, the long run is only once a week, and I can do it on Saturdays sometimes.

Our outside the home activities this year are the same as in the past.
Piano:  once a week--Julie, Leah, and Clay
XC:  twice a week--all children
art:  5 times each semester--Leah and Sam

Hopefully I can write or republish a series of posts regarding school planning and scheduling.  What topics would you like covered?  Leave me a comment, and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

Canning and Planning

That's the theme of my days lately.  I canned pinto beans today.  7 quarts.  I have learned that I prefer to can in pint jars instead of quarts, because my pressure canner will hold 19 pints, but only 7 quarts.  However, I bought a case of quart jars, and I want to use them.  I think I have 5 or 6 quart jars left.

Kelly asked me last night (while Jimmy and I were eating supper with Kelly and Lynn) why was I canning all this food.  "Are you preparing for some world-wide disaster?"  I told him that I didn't know why I was doing all this canning.  Well, the tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and it's either can them or let them ruin….but for the beans…..I can't remember why I thought that buying 75 pounds of dried beans and canning them was such good idea.

Except that they taste so much better than the cans you buy in the grocery store.  And I hope that I am buying myself some time when school starts---it's a lot faster to open up a home-canned jar of beans and reheat them than to remember to soak dried beans overnight, and then either cook them all day in the crock pot of watch them simmer on the stove top for 2 hours.  I think I will be glad come fall.

I just made a Final School Planning To-Do List.  It is as long as the piece of paper in my notebook!  And I did not even itemize the things to get Leah's and Sam's school ready.  Once I get all subjects planned, organized, and ready for each child, I will tackle the huge project of creating a daily schedule for us to follow.  Going with the flow does not work for me!  I am not a slave to my schedule, but putting in all on paper and seeing how it could possibly work in a perfect world gives me a goal to aim for.

I'm going to work on my school list now.

Canning and Complaining

I drove to Nashville and back yesterday to pick up Olivia and Julie.  Since I was in the car for over 8 hours, and half of that I was alone, I did not have that much opportunity to complain!  It's easy to not complain when you don't have an audience.  Or anything to trigger the complaint.

On the way home, when we had about 85 miles left, all of a sudden there was a huge tree in the road.  So of course, the first thing I did after I stopped was to take a picture of it!  :)

This gave me an opportunity to complain……I did not say anything while several complaining thoughts went through my head.

This is going to make me late getting home…..I have so much do when I get home…..I will be late cooking supper…..I have no idea really where I am nor how to get to a road that will leave me home…..I have to can tomatoes tonight……

But instead I just turned around, headed in the opposite direction, got off the Natchez Trace, and waited for my GPS to reroute itself.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Nothing.

So we drove a couple of miles south on this unknown highway (because I knew that my home was south of where I was!), and then I pulled over into a parking lot and let my GPS do its work.

Finally.  It gave me a path home.  After about a 20 mile detour, we ended back on the Natchez Trace, headed south, with about 71 miles to go.  All in all, it really was not that much out of the way.

We were later than I planned getting home, but thankfully, Julie volunteered to cook supper, and I began the process of canning tomatoes.  I canned 9 pints.

Today I am canning pinto beans.  7 quarts are in the pressure canner right now.  I am going to can beans one more day this week, and tomatoes as needed, and then I am done canning for a while.

I have got to get my school plans finished and all of my things organized and ready to go.  I shopped at our teacher supply store today and bought some really cute things for our Back to School Celebration.

Oh.  On my drive to Nashville, I finished The Giver.  What an abrupt ending!  But I saw on Amazon that there is another book that should wrap things up.  I can't remember the name, but I will be reading it. We finished The Cricket on the Heath on the way home.
I am reading The Cat of Bubastes as a pre-read for Clay.  My older girls and Jimmy have all read it, but I wanted to so I could discuss it with Clay.  I am almost finished reading Carry On Mr. Bowditch (and that book is so sad!) with Leah and Sam, and I began reading to everyone The Phantom Tollbooth this morning.  We are also listening to The Candymakers in our car.

Lots of reading going on over here!