Friday, July 30, 2010

It's almost time...

...for back to school. Or as we homeschoolers like to say "NOT back to school!" {grin}

Everywhere you turn you see "back-to-school" specials and sales. I have to admit, it makes me giddy! I LOVE shopping for school supplies! It was my favorite part of back-to-school when I was a kid. And now as a homeschooling mom, it's even more exciting. I just love looking at all those supplies and imagining all the possibilities! And the deals aren't bad either. I mean, lets face it, when else can you get spiral notebooks for 10 cents? Or, heck, even a FREE backpack?

Of course all these sales mean something else as well. It's time for the "Not back-to-school blog hop"! This year it will be hosted at Heart of the Matter. Here is the schedule for this year:

  • Monday, Aug 2 – Friday, Aug 6: Curriculum Week
  • Monday, Aug 9 – Friday, Aug 13: School Room Week
  • Monday, Aug 16 – Friday, Aug 20: Student Photo Week
  • Monday, Aug 23 – Friday, Aug 27: Day-in-the-Life Week

Not Back to School Blog Hop

I'm looking forward to participating and giving a little "peak" into our school life. Hope to see some of you there as well! =) For more information (and to participate) visit Heart of the Matter.

Blessings,
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sweet Shot Tuesday 7/27/10

Since I shared the cute film strips of each of the kids on Friday, I decided to get a little more "artsy" with my sweet shot today. I just love Little P's hands. They are just so chubby and cute! And, yes, his sister's painted his nails :-) I guess that's what happens when you're the only boy!


For more "Sweet Shots" visit Darcy at my3boybarians.

Sweet Shot Day

Blessings,
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Monday, July 26, 2010

Menu Plan for July 26th


Here is my plan for the week:

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - BBQ Chicken, potato wedges, corn on the cob

Wednesday - Hamburgers/hot dogs, fries and salad

Thursday - Pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans

Friday - Chicken Alfredo, broccoli

Saturday - Tacos/burritos, rice and beans

Sunday - not sure yet.

For more menu plans, visit Organizing Junkie.

Have a blessed week!
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Friday, July 23, 2010

And My Other Beautiful Girl


Last one, I promise................Well for now anyway :o)

Blessings,
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My Beautiful Girl!


Had to share more :o)

Blessings,
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My Little Man


Just couldn't resist sharing :=)

Blessings,
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sweet Shot Tuesday 7/20/10

This week I'm a little behind in downloading pictures. I have several on memory cards, but I have yet to take the time to move them to my computer {sigh}. So, here are a couple of "sweet shots" of my kids taken at my cousins wedding.



For more Sweet Shots visit my3boybarrians.

Sweet Shot Day

Blessings,
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Monday, July 19, 2010

Homeschool update


I haven't posted any school updates here for quite a while.

The reason?

I haven't really had any updates {sigh}. This last year has felt really LONG, but at the same time, we only managed to finish 17 weeks of school.

Why, you ask?

Well, mostly because this last pregnancy, delivery and recovery were all really hard on me. I get HUGE when I'm pregnant and that makes me whine {*insert sheepish grin here*}. And the delivery and recovery were really hard this time. I can't explain why, but it took a lot out of me. Plus, I've basically been an emotional basket case since about 4 or 5 months pregnant (just ask my poor husband). I feel like I'm coming out of it now, but..........I still have my bad days.

So, even though I did not intend for it to happen (and tried not to let it happen), school kinda got put on the back burner. I tried to school all through December, but there are just too many things happening that month and, without intending to, we took most of the month off. Then baby came in January and we (intentionally) took that month off. I tried to get back into things in February, but that didn't work. Then March. Then April. Then May. I think your starting to get the picture {grin}. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we didn't to any school. It was just hit or miss. No structure. No consistency. I just got further and further behind. I tried to assure myself that it was OK, I'd just school through the summer and get caught up.

Then, I hit the brick wall of burnout..............at full speed.

I know what you are thinking, "how do you burnout when you're not really doing anything in the first place?"

Well, the best answer I can give is, it's a weight thing. No, no, no. Not how much weight I have (or haven't) lost, more of a weight-of-the-world-on-your-shoulders type thing. The more days I took off, the guiltier I felt. And the more overwhelmed I became.
  • We are so far behind, how will we ever catch up?
  • I'm not doing enough, my kids are hopelessly behind.
  • We wont get to have fun this summer because we have to catch up on school.
  • I'm not cut out for this, I'm ruining my kids, I should just put them in school.
These are some of the things that went through my mind on a daily basis. I was ready to throw in the towel.

Then we went to the OCEAN conference. I was very inspired by David Hazell's lecture, "Help, my homeschool is chaos!". I came home encouraged and ready to take it all on again. I was stuck on one of the things David had said. He had explained how they started their school year early, in July. That way they were ahead from the get go, so it was "OK" when they had a day that didn't happen. I sounded like a great idea! It was exactly the type of thing I needed to implement! But then I remembered how far behind we were and I got discouraged. All those statements from above started running through my mind again. After all, I was already soooo far behind, how on earth could I get caught up, much less, get ahead?

Once again I was right back to feeling overwhelmed. Feeling like I was ruining my kids. Ready to throw in the towel.

My husband (bless him!) was desperate to encourage me. But I was convinced he couldn't understand how I felt so his attempts at encouragement just added more weight to my shoulders. Now I felt like I was letting him down as well. What I really needed (but didn't realize it at the time) was for him to give me "permission" to take a break and re-evaluate. He did eventually suggest that (that's why I now know that's what I needed {grin}) and I felt like some of the weight was lifted.

Then I jokingly made the comment to hubby "Maybe I'll just say we're doing ECC* for next year, then we are 17 weeks ahead!"

He latched on to that and told me it was a great idea and he thought that's what I should do. As I pondered it further, I decided it was a pretty good idea. MFW doesn't do grade levels, so it really didn't matter what grade I used it for. I could just as easily use it for 4th grade as for 3rd grade. It really was just a matter of changing my thinking and choosing to consider myself ahead for next year instead of behind for this year.

So, now that I've had some "official" time off and I've changed my thinking, I'm ready to go again! I've been drooling over back-to-school ads (I get a high from shopping for school supplies! I know, I'm weird, but I've accepted that!) and we've decided our "official" back-to-school start day will be August 9th. And the best part is.............

...I'm excitedly looking forward to it!

Blessings,
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*Note: For those of you who don't know, we are using My Father's World (MFW) curriculum. It's a unit study type approach that you cycle through every five years. Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC) is the first year of that cycle. For more info, visit their website.

Menu Plan for July 19th


Well, it's been a while since I've posted my menu plan. I have had a plan, I just haven't gotten around to posting it. But this week I decided to take the time and post, so here it is:

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Potato bar

Wednesday - Beef tips over rice

Thursday - Split pea soup (I don't do much soup when it's hot, but Peanut has been begging for this!)

Friday - Crock-pot potato salad for a potluck

Saturday - Sub sandwiches (or something else easy to pack 'cause we'll be at a street dance)

Sunday - Not sure what the plan is yet.

For more menu plans, visit Organizing Junkie.

Blessings,
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sweet Shot Tuesday 7/13/10

I have a million things I should be doing right about now, but decided I really wanted to post a "sweet shot" for this week. I did the photography for my cousin's wedding on Saturday (note to self: you do NOT want to be a wedding photographer!). These are some of my favorites so far:

For more "Sweet Shots" visit Darcy at my3boybarrians.

Sweet Shot Day

Blessings,
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