I was out of town during the family holiday, so as I’ve been trying to get back in to the school mood during this week, I did not have time to plan a themed busy bag this week. It’s amazing, though, to find such a variety of activities for Strawberry to enjoy regardless of theme. I made a bag of miscellaneous fun for her! Here’s what I included.
Continue readingI cannot believe it is already time for another week in review. This week has been fun! I am still enjoying a much more relaxed homeschool, and it is doing great things for my stress levels. I believe Raisin enjoys it too. This week can be summarized as “PLAY.” Continue reading
It’s very late on Thursday, but I did want to get this up for you today, a Teaching with Technology post for the homeschool teacher!
Although today’s featured site is not one used in front of students, it does provide assistance for the homeschool parent (me!) in preparing lessons, planning for the future, and getting commiseration on the difficult days.
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Here’s a website we use for making history timelines: Tiki-toki.com. Continue reading
As I gathered with family for Christmas, one word kept going through my mind: PEACE. Even though my parents would soon be leaving for a foreign country, far from me, I felt sweet peace. Even though I usually feel a bit of trepidation with the coming of a new year, I felt calm peace this time. As I watched my kids interact with cousins, interact with each other, and laugh over new presents and potential, I felt loving peace.
This year, I will focus on peace. I will find the things that bring me peace and celebrate them. When things go wrong, I won’t complain. I won’t whine or yell. If my depression and anxiety flare up, I will still find a way to find peace. It will be a great year.
Those were my thoughts for the new year. That is my goal for 2014. Today, however, everything went wrong. The nasty cold my husband has had for a week (I let him rest, I took care of the kids, I played games and watch holiday movies and visited family) finally decided to come visit me. This morning I woke feeling run over by a truck. My head hurts, I feel faint, I can’t talk.
So naturally, today I forgot all about that wonderful New Year’s resolution. I yelled. I didn’t care. I slept and let Paul and Caroline watch movies. I cuddled Caroline through the early stages of her cold and I took a two-hour nap.
And then, when my son yelled at me around dinner time “This is the worst day ever!” I remembered.
PEACE.
This is a year for peace. So I cuddled him and Caroline. We talked about how Paul will be baptized in just a few months. I asked him for help as I try to get better. He then helped a little. I think there still were tears. It was a boring day with a sick grouchy mama.
But I’m not going to beat myself up for this one lousy day of the new year. Really, it was not too bad. I spent it with my kids. I actually got food on the table for everyone. And tomorrow I’ll probably feel a little better.
The hot bubble bath helped. This year, I’m going to find those peaceful moments and embrace them. I’m going to take care of myself and make this year a great one.
Last year, tragedy once again shook America as word of another violent school shooting spread. Let’s remember to live in hope of a better world.
I found inspiration from this video. I hope you do too.
Yesterday morning, I babysat for two of my friend’s children, her baby and her kindergartner, while she helped her daughter’s preschool class. Raisin recently read a Magic Tree House book about Pompeii, and we’re doing a brief book report on it in two weeks for a Ancient Rome/Italy day at co-op. So I decided to let Raisin and his friend make a play dough volcano together. Continue reading
My son has been learning about American history this year, and every week he has had one sentence to write as copywork and handwriting practice. He has written these sentences in a primary-grade lined book with a section on the top of each page so he can also illustrate it. The idea is that he learns about history and also has a book for reviewing all the things he has learned.
Last week, he lost his notebook.
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It isn’t just my mother-in-law who is a pro at the sewing machine. My mother is too; she offered to make the curtains for Caroline’s bedroom! Here’s a video of the day she finished and we put them up.
March 19, 2012
Caroline 3 weeks, five days old.