Where I belong

Last year I chose a phrase to try and live out as a sort of goal or mantra for myself. Choose joy. After Josiah died I found that it was much easier to keep myself super busy. Occupy my time fully, downtime was the enemy so to speak. For the most part, it worked. on the one hand being busy constantly though does not allow much time for sadness to drift in. On the other hand it didn't allow for much joy either. I found myself going through the days in a pretty contented manner, but inside something lacked.

I hadn't noticed just how far my heart had drifted.

At the beginning of March we closed our resale shop and the kids and I are home full time again. During one of the first weeks I posted a picture to Facebook of my kids surrounding the dining room table doing their schoolwork. I sat at the end of the table with tears in my eyes.....feeling complete joy. Joy that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.

I think that having the store and being so busy was a good thing for me for the time. ...now though,...

Being home is good. Really good.

Maggie

 

September 23rd, 2014

 

Magdalena Rahab was born

 

weighing in at 7 lbs 13 ounces

 

 

Countdown to baby

It's starting to sink in that I'm due to have this baby in 6 1/2 weeks!~

I'm feeling the need to start preparing (I know you're thinking I should have thought of this sooner, right?) We already have most of the necessity things like a bed, car seat, Ergo, blankets, clothes and such so my list of 'needs' are more centered around what items we'll need as a family. Things we use everyday that I can stock up on so we won't be running to the store. 

This is what my list looks like (in addition to diapers & wipes): 

• Paper towels
• toilet paper
• paper plates
• plastic utensils
• garbage bags
• shampoo/conditioner
• toothpaste
• laundry detergent & dryer sheets
• dish soap

And also some pantry items that will make life a bit easier like: 

• bottled water (our well water isn't that yummy)
• powdered Gatorade (for the hubs)
• extra jars of peanut butter & jelly
• Coffee k-cups
• granola bars
• fruit snacks

I decided when making out my menu plan this week that I'm going to try and streamline our breakfast & lunch options as well. I narrowed it down so the kids will have just a couple of options. 

Breakfast: Pick one~

Instant oatmeal (2 pkt limit each) 

or 

a ziploc with 1 cup dry cereal & a granola bar

Lunch:  ~Mom picks which and adds a fruit & veggie, will be same for all kids each day~

Hot dog

Cup o noodle

Beef & Cheese burrito

Quesadilla

PB&J 

I know those are not at all the healthiest choices, but I'm going for easy and cheap.

I'll also be doubling as many dinner recipes as possible to put the extra one in the freezer. Making ahead muffins, burritos (breakfast & lunch varieties) AND try to get caught up on the laundry...ha! That won't happen, but I can dream! 

Not your typical get ready for baby type stuff now is it? :) 

School year 2014-2015 - The plan

Yesterday I sat down and worked out a plan for the upcoming/fast approaching school year. My plans are always more of a goal, as in, it's a rough draft that gets tweaked as we go along. :)

Here goes:

Amanda - 9th grade (I have a high schooler!!!)

Notgrass World History which covers three subjects: Bible, Lit & History

Ctc Math Algebra 1 (https://ctcmath.com/purchase/homeschool/) - this is something new we're trying this year for most of the kids...give me a few weeks and I'll come back with a review for you!

Apologia Physical Science

I've heard that Notgrass is heavy on reading, but my girl loves to read so we may add in some other independent reading with book review papers as well.

Kenny - Grade 8

Ctc math Algebra 1

Language arts - Saxon writing / grammar 8
                         CLP building spelling skills
                        Independent Reading list (read book, write review/response paper) 2 books per month

Apologia Anatomy - we've tried to complete this one twice now and it just never got done. So THIS is the year we WILL do it. :) He will be working with Stephen, Jessica & Abram as a group for this and history.

Mystery of history - as group

Code academy - computer programming

Bible - CLP studying God's word

Stephen - Grade 6

Ctc math - 7th to pre algebra

Language arts - Saxon grammar / writing 7
                         Explode the code 8
                         CLP building spelling skills
                         Wordly wise 6
                         Independent reading - 1 book per month with review/response paper

History & Science - as group

Code academy - computer programming

Bible - CLP studying God's word

Jessica - Grade 5

Ctc Math - she just finished up Saxon 6/5 so I'm assuming she'll start at level 6

Language arts - Wordly wise
                         CLP building spelling skills
                         Climbing to good English grade 5
                         Independent reading - 2 books per month (of mom's choice)
History & Science- as group

Elementary Spanish class (hosted here at our store)

Bible - CLP studying God's word

Abram - Grade 3

Ctc math

History & Science- as group

Language Arts - Climbing to good English grade 3
                          Wordly wise 2 & 3
                          Pathway & Abeka readers to read aloud to mom
                          Handwriting/ copy work out of above readers

Bible - CLP studying God's word

Elementary Spanish class (hosted here at our store)

Noah & Kathleen - K-1st grade (I'm teaching these two together, hoping that works well!)

CTC math or Singapore 1A & 1B - I'd like to use the online math but I'm not sure if I'll love it. They need the handwriting more hands on at this age so we'll see.

Language arts will be a combination of : Alpha phonics, Explode the Code, Evan Moor's Phonics Fundamentals & handwriting/copy work.

All together

On the drive to and from our store (approx 15-20 mins.)
we'll listen to audio: 2 days/week for history
                              2  days/week for Science
                              1 day - literature audio book          

Memorize 1 verse of scripture per week & keep a file box of all of them for review

We'll add in a bunch of other random things that I think are 'school' but won't count to actually write down in the plan. Educational games, documentaries, life skills (cooking, chores, safety skills, etc), workouts at the gym, swimming, entrepreneurial skills from working at our store and much more. :)