Wishing everyone a...

I am looking forward to starting a new year! We've decided on one more week of vacation (gotta love homeschooling flexibility) to give our library time to re-open and all our holds to come in. Plus, we have a lot going on with friends this week!

Yes, I have resolutions for the New Year, although I prefer to think of them as goals.

1. Keep up with the diet and exercise I've been doing. Today, I haven't been too careful, but it is a once-a-year holiday! Back to South Beach tomorrow. I did do my exercise though - I'm using the Couch Potato to 5K program, and just re-started this week. I'm roughly 17 pounds down since Thanksgiving, which is the absolute best I have done in years! I find that the whole family is eating more healthfully with me watching everything so closely.

2. Keep the housework up. I tend to live in what the FlyLady calls C.H.A.O.S. - "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome", so before Christmas, I cleaned like a maniac! My goal now is twofold: keep it clean, and then tackle another part of deep cleaning once a week.

3. Focus on saving money and paying down debts, which means actually sticking to the budget. We're trying to follow Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace plan in 2012.

4. Getting, and keeping, homeschooling more organized. Since we're trying a more structured format once again, and I work, we have outside commitments, etc., organization is key. I'd like to have a weekly plan, know where all the supplies are, know where all the library books are, and things of that nature. This goal actually ties in nicely to the housekeeping goal.

5. Focusing more on Cricket's reading. We're having her assessed for some issues sometime in January/February. Maybe this will help with her reading, maybe not. Either way, I want to dedicate myself more fully to getting her really reading.

I figure these five goals will lead to a lot of other good things. For example, just 17 pounds lighter, and I have a ton more energy, enough that I played baseball with M and the kids for an hour and a half this week. Having more energy means I can do more. Healthier me also seems to equal healthier family! Having the house cleaner means I can organize it better, which in turn means we will know where that exact art supply is, and I will have time (and the place) to make homemade play dough, or these cool trilobite cookies! Financial peace will allow us to build more of a savings account, and getting more and more out of debt all the time is a great feeling. We can also teach our kids financial responsibility. With homeschooling more organized, we'll be more likely to follow through with it, and we may even get to all the fun projects I am always planning! And if Cricket could really read, I think she'd enjoy it a lot more, plus it would just make so many things so much easier.

I think my goals are pretty realistic. I don't plan to lose a million pounds, do a triathlon, re-make my entire home, or get Cricket up to a college reading level in 2012. Nor so I plan to be completely debt-free, or have a gigantic savings account. Of course, all that is a bit exaggerated, but then I have tended to exaggerate my goals in the past!

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?

And a lovely Christmas was had by all...

The kids are happy with all their gifts, I am happy with mine, M loves his. We had family over for a delicious meal, we went to see insane Christmas lights....






We read stories, watched a few Christmas movies, ate leftovers. And now back to real life! I am happily planning next week's homeschooling, since I have decided a loose plan is better than no plan. The house is still surprisingly clean, although there are scraps of wrapping paper lingering about, and a few dishes to catch up on. After two days of indulgence, I am back in the saddle with my diet too - sauteed kale and a baked egg for breakfast, a London Broil marinating in the fridge for dinner - and am trying to convince everyone that we need to go for a walk around the local lake this afternoon. I do have to go grocery shopping, but I don't plan on going to any other stores. Oh, and there is laundry to do... all the getting-ready-for-the-week stuff!

How were your holidays? Do you have to head back to normality tomorrow too?

Yule Gifts...

Happiness is a new book

Naturally, the new book is very absorbing. Believe me, I know from experience!

And Matryoshka dolls are very absorbing too!

The hug I got from Cricket, and the squeal of sheer joy? Priceless. (Oh, this shows most of the dolls... there is an even smaller one!)

It was a lovely Solstice... fire going in the fireplace, roasted pork tenderloin and a fantastic salad (salad made by Bug), and we finished up the evening with me reading aloud from The 24 Days Before Christmas before bed (L'Engle is one of my all-time favorite authors). Today we're off for a wonderful winter celebration at our favorite Park Day. Good friends, good food, good times. This weekend, we have family coming over tomorrow, and then Sunday is just for us! I won't be back on my blog between now and then, so I'm

Blessed Yule!

The Shortest Day

By Susan Cooper

http://www.thelostland.com/index.htm

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Rethinking and Restructuring...

It seems that a good break of a couple of weeks or so is a perfect time to reflect on what we have done thus far in our academic year, and to look ahead at what we would like to accomplish in the remaining weeks before summer - I am not the only one doing this, as I was in fact inspired by a friend to rethink! For counting purposes, we've completed 16 weeks, and have 20 left to go, more or less.

My thoughts...

Bug:
In language arts, I am happy with The Sentence Family, and I like Igniting Your Writing very much. However, we need more consistency with IYW! I also need to be more consistent with spelling... The Natural Speller is a great resource, and I need to take more advantage of that. I am debating if I should use Spelling City... I am reluctant to add to his computer time, or if I should simply work with him on paper each week in this subject.

Mathematically, I think we need a little more consistency too. We've hit a block in Life of Fred, while we brush up on division skills. I'd really like to be more organized with the living math approach. I am thinking maybe a Monday Library/Living Book math day, Tuesday and Thursday worksheet/workbook days, and Wednesday for LOF or perhaps Murderous Maths, then Fridays for Family Math.

He's doing well with studying for the National Mythology exam, so I have no concerns there.

I think he's ready for a little more challenging work when it comes to history and science. He is very much intrigued by prehistory, so I think we'll start off January with
The Early Human World.
the Big Bang, evolution, and a bit of earth science (fossils and all), maybe dusting off an older book/video list, then move into The Early Human World and archeology. I'd eventually love to work with him right through the entire Oxford World in Ancient Times set, since it covers civilizations we have barely touched on, like Ancient China and India, South Asia, and more. I would really love to start using The Story of Science at some point too. Science and history all tied together! We could even tie in our living math with something like this program.

Yes, I am trying semi-organized history and science again. I can't help it!

Cricket:
We're still making slow progress with reading, but I have a feeling that something is about to happen with this. She finally said, just yesterday "I want to be able to read"... something I have been waiting for the past 3 years to hear! So again, consistency (that seems to be my word of the moment, doesn't it?) After the holidays, we'll be moving to the second level in her box of leveled readers, at long, long last. So daily practice. And daily practice with Word Families, and/or Explode the Code.

Mathematically, she's doing well. She even took her Developmental Mathematics book with her to bed the other night, crazy girl! I think she'd thrive with the more organized approach I mentioned above. And I want to do more LOF with her, since there are a number of the elementary level books, and she does well with them.

We're still covering world cultures to some degree, but I'd like to bring her in on the science and history studies I am considering. I am considering the best way to do this, since I think some of the materials Beetle and I will be using might be above her head a little. Hmmmm... any suggestions? I'm reluctant to use Story of the World, but it might be the best option, along with supplemental library books. It is just that the Oxford books will offer so much more depth than SOTW does. Maybe just supplemental books for Cricket? I don't know.

So there you have it... my rethinking and restructuring. It will be interesting to see what the new year brings!

An award!

I am thrilled to get the Versatile Blogger Award, so thank you Pam over at Everyday Snapshots! Now, in accordance with the rules, here are 7 things about me, and then 7 blogs (new to me) that I'd like to nominate also.

1. We don't have cable, so I watch TV through Netflix. I had heard a lot about the show Glee when I still worked at a grocery store, and was constantly bombarded by magazine headlines, but never watched it. Now I've finished season 1, and I'm hooked! My other "embarrassing" show is Grey's Anatomy, which I watch online each week.

2. In winter, my fingers are always cold. Through a co-worker, I discovered these lovelies, and now my hands stay remarkably warm! I wear them all the time. It is honestly an addiction.

3. I am a terrible housekeeper. I am a great cook, and I think a very good mother, but housekeeping? It tends to fall by the wayside far too often. I am one of those people that rushes around cleaning like a mad fiend when people are coming over. And I dislike it very much. I wish I were a better housekeeper, and I strive to be... I just get so busy with other stuff.

4. Coffee is my all time favorite beverage, with tea coming in at a near second. I love coffee... the way it smells, the way it tastes... I drink it strong, with no sweeteners, just a dash of half and half. I am loving a couple of new-to-me teas that I discovered though.. both from Stash - the Meyer Lemon (so, so delicious with a little stevia!), and the Licorice Spice, which is like dessert in a cup (without having to add any sweeteners).

5. One of my favorite things about the holidays are all the pretty, twinkly lights. I love Christmas lights (my favorite term for them is fairy lights). The kids and I love to get in the car with a thermos of hot chocolate for them, and a travel mug of tea for me (sometimes coffee) and just drive around to look at all the pretty lights.

6. I've been on a fairly strict diet for just over three weeks. No grains, no gluten, almost no dairy, very limited fat, and very limited eggs. Partly to clean out my system, but as a side benefit, I'm losing weight. 16 pounds right now to be exact. I plan to start incorporating more foods at the end of the week, now that my system seems pretty well cleaned out. That way I can see what my trigger foods are - those that make me gain weight, or simply not feel as well as I should. For some reason, this diet is easier than I thought, and I'm sticking to it better than I have to any diet in years! I feel tons better too.

7. I go through phases where I don't read a lot, and then I read heavily, like a book a day. I am one of those people who can't set a good book down. I would rather read sometimes than sleep, although I usually regret that in the morning.

And now for the seven blogs...

1. The Firefly Files - while it hasn't been updated in a while, it is truly a lovely blog, and is new to me!
2. Sage Parnassus - I like the tone of this blog, and the variety of resources used, plus it is very pretty!
3. A Small Tribe - fantastic photography (and more)!
4. Fairly Odd Mother - I like her humor, and her honesty in writing.
5. Freeflowing Ways - I like the relaxed approach, and all the lovely photos.
6. Almost Unschoolers - I like this blog because of all the hands-on, and well, because we're almost unschoolers!
and finally,
7. I Capture the Rowhouse - an eclectic blog that is fun to read!

Dickens Faire 2011...

A delightful time was had by all! The kids, M, and I think we might go again next year, in full costume, for even more fun!

And I got a lovely birthday gift, compliments of M...

Weekly Wrap-up of Sorts: 12/12-12/16...

It has been a lovely week. Each day we are up early, since I work mornings, and so we get to see amazing sunrises like the one in this picture from my phone. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area! It has also been a cold week--frosty ground; icy car; kids layered up in mittens, scarves, and jackets for their morning car ride to their Nonna's house.

What have we been up to this week? Well, Bug has been reading away. He's now reading Redwall, which I think he'll really enjoy, and he is about to start The Early Human World, which I think we'll read together. He was looking through an old book of my dad's about prehistory, and I remembered we had The Early Human World tucked away in the bookcase, so I think it is time to bring it out! I know he'll be excited about his upcoming gift books: The Throne of Fire for Yule, and the Percy Jackson set for Christmas. Yes, we celebrate both holidays... the more the merrier!

Cricket and I are enjoying her books as well. We read some more in Erik and Britta, we read Peter and Lotta's Christmas, and we read a very interesting and clever book of poetry, Mirror Mirror. Each poem is read twice, once from beginning to end, then with all the lines reversed.

Together at bedtime, we have been very much enjoying this book...

It is well written (naturally... I mean look at who the author is!), and full of loveliness and goodness without being saccharine. I am sorry we're almost done, especially since I haven't yet chosen our next book, although I'm thinking maybe The Squire's Tale? Any suggestions?

Besides all the reading, we're getting ready for the holidays. I did most of the shopping already, primarily online, though tonight M and I are going out, sans children, to pick up a few last gifts. The kids made their gifts for their dad and I this week... tie dye shirts! We have an awesome friend that set up a park tie day afternoon. I'll have to post pictures. The kids did a shirt each for themselves, and then did a shirt each for us. We also need to finish cleaning the house, which, being that we're home so much and using everything, always looks cluttered. And we want to make gingerbread cookies. We're watching Christmassy movies and things, like The Simpsons Christmas Special, How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the Boris Karloff version), a few versions of The Christmas Carol with this one being the favorite, and more. Beetle had another piano lesson this week, and is on the last two songs in his third book! He has gotten a lot better about practicing lately too.

I feel really good about my decision to drop any formal science and history studies. I'd rather read to the kids, or have them watch a documentary on a topic they're really interested in than try to have them follow someone else's dictates. This week, they've been watching a series of science videos that's pretty fun: The Science of Disney Imagineering. And we're learning a lot about the Victorian age, gearing up for this weekend's trip to the Dickens Faire - very exciting! I remember loving it as a child, and am hoping they'll enjoy it as much as I did. Both are dressing up for it, so I'll be sure to get some good pictures.

Let me see, what else did we do? Well, Cricket read another reader to me, the last one at this level and then she moves up. I am having her read them each 4-5 times during the week to build fluency. We did some math-- hands-on measuring after reading Measuring Penny, and a bunch of pages in their Developmental Math books. The kids basically have four points each to hit daily... Bug needs to read (never a problem!), do some math, write, and practice piano. Cricket has phonics work, reading, handwriting, and math. Everything else, and there's a lot of everything else, is gravy! We haven't made much progress with our Spiral Scouts projects lately, so I am planning to really ramp that up after the holidays. We're also planning a New Year's camping trip with a friend. It'll be very cold, but what better way to start a new year than on a mountain, outdoors?

Hope you all had a good week too!

A Bi-Weekly Wrap-Up: 11/28-12/9...

It has been a good, and fairly full, couple of weeks. I decided to stop pretending that we were (or are for that matter) going to do organized history and science studies, so we have felt more relaxed. With just reading, writing, and math as basics, they have found plenty else to occupy themselves! I did adjust my Curriculum Page to reflect reality.

Here they are working together to disassemble a wireless router (yes, an old one)

I think they worked on this for an hour or so, carefully sorting each piece into a divided plastic tray. Although they never did get it apart all the way!

There has been math. This week we used Life of Fred and Developmental Mathematics. I like the simple and clear layout of the latter, as do the kids.

Here Bug is working out a Life of Fred set of equations. He had to find the number of seconds in an hour, a day, a year, and 31 years, which, in case you're curious, is nearly one billion!

We started using The Sentence Family. That's Bug's work above, with great sentences like "I ate three green beans today." (declarative) and "Did the aardvark ever dance the polka?" (interrogative)

And Cricket wrote things like "I have a dog." (declarative), and "Do you know where the train station is?" (interrogative). I did notice that her sentences focus more on the story and the artwork, while Bug seems to write fairly random things.

Cricket drew some leaves on the whiteboard, outlining real leaves and then detailing them.

And of course we read a lot!

Besides all that, Bug is still working on learning computer animation. He also formed a Greek Mythology Club at our Park Day, complete with little booklets that he handed out with Cricket's help. Cricket has been a constant helper in the kitchen, and we're enjoying learning about Sweden as our country of the month. Both wrote letters to Santa, Bug worked on spelling, and Cricket read another reader to me.

We have one more week before winter break... some more math, some more reading and writing, more phonics for Cricket, and of course more fun!

Don't forget to go check out other homeschooling blogs at the...

A reason to clean...

Yesterday we were cleaning the family room, getting prepped for the holidays and company. Under Cricket's desk, there is a large box, where I had stored a miscellany of books that I had scored a few years ago in a Craigslist deal. I bought several bags of books when another mom stopped homeschooling, sorted through them, sold a few things, donated a bunch, and put these away for someday use. Anyhow, Bug asked me if we could go through the box, to "see if there's anything exciting in there", so sort through it we did, and I found all kinds of books I had stocked away, books that were ahead of them then, but perfect now.

Among other finds, we came across:

Several levels of Developmental Mathematics
A nice, simple little grammar guide/workbook called Practice Exercises in Basic English
Several grade levels of a guide/workbook called Science Made Simple
Top Secret Guides to about ten different countries, which will be handy for Cricket's world culture studies
A McGraw Hill middle-high school workbook on biology

So I started thinking about how we could use some of these resources. I really like the simple, one-topic approach of Developmental Mathematics, so I may have the kids do a page or two a week to boost their basic skills. With the biology book, I'm going to use it as a reference guide to enhance our nature studies. As for Science Made Simple, again, a guide to various topics, and maybe a few hands-on experiments, a worksheet here and there. I think I might hand off the English book to Bug and see what he gets out of it.

Lesson learned? If you have boxes of books "waiting", go ahead and go through them! I did put some of it back for upcoming years too, so we'll have another treasure hunt through the box in a year or two.