Today's entry will be a review of a fantastic product created by the makers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (TOS).
The Schoolhouse Planner is a digital planning book of 247 pages, chock-full of helpful, useful information, forms, and inspiration. It is such a large document, and so full of so many wonderful things, that I will have a hard time telling you about all of them... Your eyes will start to gloss over dreamily... And best of all, it is a PDF document, but you can type in it and SAVE the changes you have typed into it! You will see why this is so wonderful as I tell you about it.
Articles: So far I have read inspirational articles on teaching math, the importance of teaching foreign languages, and how to use unit studies. Articles I am still looking forward to reading on teaching Geography, Solving Science Struggles, communication, "Hands-on" History, Chore Training Tips, how art enriches our lives, and Homeschooling through High School.
Recipes: The Planner is divided into months of the school year, with a two-page-spread calendar for each month which can be printed (pages back-to-back) and put into your 3-ring Planning Notebook. Between each month there are, among other things, yummy recipes for you to try out.
There are information pages on famous composers and artists, countries and capitals, the Periodic Table, United States and state capitals, U.S. Presidents and their wives, a history timeline, 7 Wonders of the Ancient World and of the Modern World, important U.S. documents (such as the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, etc.).
Forms: This is where the type and save feature is really wonderful! The Planner has in it so many, many wonderful forms. There are forms for annual plans, yearly goals, curriculum planning, courses of study, a twelve-year planning page, recording sheets for curriculum recording, yearly grades, daily grades, progress reports, crafts completed, and on and on. For the 12 year planning pages, you can add to it/adjust it each year. The other forms can be filled in and saved, and reused each year, enterring the changed information for each new year.
There are pages for descipleship records, Bible reading and memorization records, audio/video re and book reading logs, field trip planning, nature journal pages, Science lab sheet pages, and website and vendor information pages. There are actually also resource recommendation pages in each month's section throughtout the entire Planner.
There are pages to comple important personal information such as phone number and addresses of contacts, information for babysitters, family health records, schedules and reminders of homekeeping chores for mom and for kids, daily and family chore charts, many different formats for chore charts. There are pages for budgeting, financial inventory, gift budget, prayer journal, Bible reading, important dates to remember, garden plans and checklist, inventory of major appliances and electronics. There are pages for keeping track of things borrowed or loaned, vacation plans, pet health visits, agift wish lists, and on and on.
Improvements I would suggest for the creators to make to The Schoolhouse Planner:
Table of Contents: I would like to see the Table of Contents linked to the rest of the document so that when the reader points the cursor to an item in the TOC, one point and click would take the person immediately to the desired page.
Table of Contents, again: The contents is listed by order, but page numbers are not given, so I have to scroll through the entire document to find out where something is and I can't just enter the page number into the top of the form where there is a nice little feature to do just that to get to the page you want...
Two-page calendar spread: It would be very helpful if page two of each spread said somewhere, even in very faint print, what month it went to. Repeatedly I am second guessing if my printer has messed me up, as I try to make sure that page one of November is on the back of page two of October, etc.
Calendar (again): I would like to see the calendar pages presented in a changeable format, so that this resource can truly be used year after year. In other words, the place where it indicates on a calendar that August 14th, for instance, is a Thursday, should be typeable so that next year it could be changed and used to have the dates for August of 2009.
Overall, while this was a long, yet brief, overview, I just want to say what an awesome resource this is. For it's price, I personally would have appreciated having a hard copy given to me with a compact disk included, which would have the pdf document on it. I'm not a super computer whiz, so I don't know if a document that size would fit on a disk in pdf format, but it was just a thought.
So, everyone, go to The Schoolhouse E-Store and download the free sample pages to peruse, and think about investing in the wonderful resource for your homeschool (link below):
Today Mama's cookin Bison Chili. Okay, okay, you can make this with your meat of choice, but Mama's makin it with ground bison. Mama's makin this to go in the freezer for two meals sometime in the future, but Daddy's gettin home late tonight, and it looks like Mama might just serve the first dinner from this chili tonight, since Mama doesn't much like to cook dinner twice in the same evening.
Here's the recipe. This is a CORE recipe on the Weight Watcher's plan:
2 pounds ground bison
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 15- ounce can tomato sauce
non-CORE optional ingredient: brown sugar
Brown meat with onion and green pepper in large Dutch oven; add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer over low heat for 2 hours, or in a crockpot for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve hot with fat-free sour cream, and for non-core eaters, shredded cheddar cheese.
Serve with salad. For 2 Weight Watcher points, cook up some hot muffins (in paper baking cups) and crumble into your bowl of chili.
Also a great meal in the following ways:
Stuffed Baked Potatoes: Bake potatoes and serve covered with steamed broccoli, Mama's chili, fat free shredded cheddar cheese, and fat free cheddar cheese.
Chili Dogs: (not CORE) Cook up some Hebrew National all-beef hot dogs and serve in hot dog roll, smothered with Mama's chili and more chopped onions and cheddar cheese, with baked beans and saurkraut on the side.
So, as a way to do this, you can
Eat chili for dinner, and place the left overs in a heavy-duty freezer zip-lock-bag, mark it either "Stuffed Baked Potatoes" or "Chili Dogs", and plan to serve it for dinner two weeks later (so the family doesn't feel like they are eating "leftovers".
Using a Once-a-Month-Cooking mentality, make up the whole thing and freeze 6-cups-worth in a gallon-size freezer bag marked "Mama's Chili", and the rest of it bag in a 1-quart freezer bag and mark it either for dogs or stuffed potatoes.
Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my madness today. I love to serve this with a Hot Muffin recipe I will have to post later. While I was posting this Daddy called, and he plans to swing by a Vie de France store and pick up some salad and French bread to go with tonight! He spoils me so!
Greetings friends, family, and other readers! I am gearing up for a brand new school year and a fresh, more thorough year of blogging.
I am going to begin my new year of blogging by reviewing a product which I was recently given the opportunity to review, The Old Schoolhouse Digital Magazine.
I have been a subscriber to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for years; it is my favorite magazine. In 2007, when The Old Schoolhouse launched their digital magazine, they offered (and still do) a free sample download for people to use to look over the magazine. I downloaded the magazine and looked it over, but did not give it a thorough perusal, because most of my magazine reading occurs where my laptop cannot/does not go. I often find time to read in a short, warm bath, or when I sneak away to a basement bathroom where I might steal a few moments of respite before returning to my responsibilities.
However, recently TOS asked me to review their digital magazine, and to write up my review for others to see. So, receiving a current copy, I immediately looked it over, and this my review.
First, obviously, it is still true that I will not be taking my laptop with me when I take a bath, and it is not with me when I sneak away to that powder room for a few minutes break. The digital copy does not come WITH the hard copy, so if I only subscribe to the digital copy, I do not have that wonderful glossy magazine to enjoy, to touch, to smell, ...you know what I mean...
That being said, here are the things I liked.
TOS Digital Magazine is internally linked. From the moment I saw the front cover, I was amazed. Where the magazine cover tells you some of the articles within the magazine, they are linked! I point my mouse to the topic, I click, and it takes me to the article! Whereas in the hard copy, if I am interested in an article on Charlotte Mason mentioned on the front cover, I then have to flip to the Table of Contents, find the page number of the article, and then find that page. I must be somewhat ADHD when it comes to this, but frequently I never get to the article I was interested in. I'll start flipping pages, but get distracted by a different article or advertisement, and suddenly my time to look at the magazine is gone and I never got to the initial article I was interested in! ::sigh:: So the Digital Magazine helps me because I can quick click to the article and read it.
TOS is also internet linked throughout. If I am reading an ad or an article about a company or product, and there is a line that says "Find us at www.TryOurProduct.com", the website is linked. You just point and click, and you are there.
There are "Selection" buttons across the top of the screen. With a click I can go to the Contents page. With a click I can get thumbnails of all the pages within the magazine. With a click I can search the entire magazine. The settings can also be adjusted, so my poor, aging eyes can be assisted in reading print that might be difficult for me in the hard copy of the magazine. One click to the "Links" button gives me a list of all the links on the page I am looking at. One click to a non-linked spot of any page causes the page to immediately zoom in, so you can get a big view of whatever you are trying to examine, such as specific photos or craft instructions, etc.
There is a series of page turning buttons to turn one page at a time, or to turn to the very first or very last page. Or you can turn each page by clicking on the bottom right corner. I love this way of turning pages on the digital magazine.
Now, one of the most significant reasons I like the Digital Magazine now is that I spend a lot more time on my laptop computer than I spend in my warm bath or in my secret get-away. If my little student is spending 15 minutes finishing his math work for the day, I usually have my laptop open. Any time I want to I can open my magazine and read for a few minutes. That makes it much more accessible than my hard copy magazine. Sad but true confession, I am currently fighting a wave of clutter not only of my own 29 years of wedded parenthood, but clutter inherited from many deceased relatives. Each item of some obscure sentimental value ends up parked for awhile while the decision is being made on whether or not someone can part with it now, and what way to part with it.
My digital magazine is not cluttering my basement desk or coffee table, nor is it in my bathroom getting splashed while the dear child plays the soap-bar game, or sits doing business, reaching for whatever is within reach while sitting there.
So The Old Schoolhouse Digital Magazine gets a big thumbs up in my household, and I am looking forward to jumping back into my latest copy to look more thoroughly into the articles that I haven't yet gotten the opportunity to fully appreciate.
Happy reading, friends. To take a look at the sample TOS Digital Magazine, follow this link:
To save friends time looking, I am going to list links of free paper models you can download, print out and construct. Here we go (in no particular order):
My friend Karen Solomon, Support for Homeschool Yahoo Group, just posted these great teacher appreciation offers. I thought I'd put them here for others to also see, and so I can delete the other email and not lose the information. Here it is:
OFFICE DEPOTฎ > Office Depotฎ is hosting the 13th Annual Teacher Appreciation > Breakfast. Stop in for free breakfast, a free tote bag > (while supplies last) and 10%* off everything all day. Visit > www.school.com and click on "Star Teacher Program" to find the > breakfast near you. Not a Star Teacher yet? Visit your local > Office Depotฎ store to sign up today! > Note:*10% instant discount is not valid for purchases from > www.techdepot.com, purchases of Gift Cards, computers, wireless, > satellite, Internet or shipping and mailing services. Quantities > limited. While supplies last. > > MICHAELSฎ > Michaels thanks teachers for inspiring creative young minds every > day. Come to Michaels August 20th through 26th and receive a > teachers-only 10% discount off of everything in the store, including > sale items! (School ID may be required.) Also, enter online for a > chance to win a $1,000 Michaels gift card, a classroom full of cool > Crayola products, or other great prizes! Enter at Michaels.com between > August 19th and 26th. For more information about the Michaels teacher > appreciation event, visit www.michaels.com > > WAL*MARTฎ > Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will be hosting Teacher Appreciation Events > throughout the country from July 21 to July 31, 2006 at more than > 3,000 locations. The Wal*Mart Teacher Appreciation program, now in its > 9th year, is designed to help kick off the school year by showing > appreciation to America's teachers. > > Each teacher who attends the event will receive a gift package > containing samples from Crayola and other manufacturers of > school-related supplies (while supplies last). For more information, > contact your local store or visit www.wal-mart.com > > STAPLESฎ > Teachers are invited to celebrate the new school year at Teacher > Appreciation Day events in Staples stores nationwide. The first 200 > teachers at each event will receive a free canvas goody bag, teacher > planner, and valuable coupons. Find the event near you at > www.staples.com/teacherday (Teachers may be asked to > present school ID.) > > OFFICEMAXฎ > OfficeMax is hosting Teacher Appreciation Events in the last week > of July and mid-August, depending on when school starts in your area. > Teachers can call their local OfficeMax store or 1-877-OFFICEMAX, to > find local dates and locations. Visit OfficeMax.com to find a > store near you.
I was reading AllisAlley, and the song she had posted really hit me hard today, but it also ministered to me. So, I thought I'd post it here as well and let you all enjoy it. Blessings to you, my friends!
Third Day - Cry Out To Jesus From the album Wherever You Are
To everyone who's lost someone they love Long before it was their time You feel like the days you had were not enough when you said goodbye
And to all of the people with burdens and pains Keeping you back from your life You believe that there's nothing and there is no one Who can make it right
Chorus: There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus
For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on Theyve lost all of their faith in love They've done all they can to make it right again Still it's not enough
For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains You try to give up but you come back again Just remember that you're not alone in your shame And your suffering
Chorus:
When your lonely And it feels like the whole world is falling on you You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus Cry to Jesus
To the widow who suffers from being alone Wiping the tears from her eyes For the children around the world without a home Say a prayer tonight
Oh, and anyone reading this entry today, please remember to pray for Emily throughout the day today as she is having surgery. For more info, click on the link to the right.
Not that I have time for this, but I'm thinking of transitioning my blog colors to something more blue-ish, more in keeping with the fact that I am homeschooling a boy. (I have an 11th grade, too, but she mostly homeschools herself...)
Today I did next to no estate work. Hubby took today. I manned (woman'ed) the homefront. Swept kitchen and laundry room; loaded and ran dishwasher; read to both kids from Understood Betsy, folded towels; dried yesterday's darks, ran another load of darks... Outside the rain did pour. I cleaned old food out of the fridge, made my bed, did some blogging, did some bank business, and the rain did pour. Took daughter to activity at church; hubby got home with groceries, and I put them away. The boy went outside and got all wet, the dogs got all wet, my house got all wet, and the rain did pour. Made dinner, served it, ate it, put away, and the rain did pour. Hubby put boy to bed tonight, I went out, got a Starbucks and a Blockbuster movie, and drove home again, and the rain did pour.
There are new posts on CrystalStar's blogspot. Click on the "Pray for Emily" button for an update, and please, please pray for Emily (and her mom and dad, Crystal and Scott). They are going through a very difficult time right now, and hope is shaky right now...
Boy, who'd a thunk March would be so busy for me? And when I'm so busy and don't take notes, the end of the month comes and I'm left asking myself, "Where did the month go? What did I spend my time doing?" And since I didn't blog through it, I really don't remember... (Signs of aging!...)
Anyway, last night was our homeschool co-op end-of-unit Sock Hop (Tapestry of Grace, Year 4, Unit 3, approximately 1950-1975, included 1950's and we made the '50's the theme for our end-of-unit celebration!). My daughter and I each made poodle skirts for the occasion, shopped at thrift stores to find genre-appropriate sweaters to wear with the skirts, raided my jewelry left me by my grandmother and my husband's aunt and grandmother, and dressed up in penny loafers and bobby socks, pony tails and poodle skirts... I don't have any photos of myself, but I can post a photo of my skirt and a photo of my daughter in hers, as soon as I get them downloaded to my computer.
My other daughter came for the event from college (25 or so miles away) and brought a friend, and my 6 year old went as a 50's 6-year-old, in a cowboy outfit with the hat and a vest, stick horse and popgut (provided by college-sis). Dad went as dad. Jeans always look like jeans, right? A fun time was had by all.
6 yo has a cold, though, so I'm home from church with him right now. Well, guess I should get off the computer for a bit and do motherly things for a few. Blessings!
Sorry I am short on entries right now. My state requires annual reviews of the homeschool program, and my review is tomorrow night. I haven't kept my records very up to date, so I am getting things ready for my review.
My poor son... Day after day, time after time, he goes into the hall bathroom and uses it without closing the door. His sister, grossed out, screams, "Close the door!!!!"
So, today I'm coming down the hallway and I hear the door to the bathroom closing slowly, quietly... Suspicious that he is has scissors or something and is cutting his own hair (again) or cutting the shower curtain (again) or something like that, I slowly open the door and quietly say, "What are you doing in here?" As you have no doubt concluded by now, he was doing what he was supposed to do: closing the door before he used the bathroom. Poor boy.
He can't win. If he leaves the door open, we want him to shut it. If he shuts it, we want to know why. When he starts coming up and announcing, as we are talking to the neighbor or sister or talking on the phone, "I'm going to go potty." We're all saying, "TMI!" (Too much information....) He just can't win!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! Unbelievable! I went to take my daughter to her co-op, and the temp. is, like, 65 degrees, headed toward 75 for the day. (Don't feel bad, northern states. Just come visit, if you want!)
DD was so delighted with the weather, and ds (6) was so funny... We walked out the front door, and he had put on his winter coat,... He stopped, and put both hands up, palms up, like to check the weather, and said, "What?!!!" And he shed his coat and threw it at me like, "I'm not going to need this!" and whooped and hollered on his way to the car!
So, we figure to spend some great time outdoors today. Finally we'll get in a good CM nature walk. We listened to a cardinal's song, while we sat in the car waiting for dd to get there. Why do I have so much trouble remembering which song goes with which bird? I'll take my digital camera with us on our walk, and we'll try to keep track of the birds we see. Hopefully we'll be able to note more than just how much trash we pick up! (That was the notable notation in my blog of our last significant nature walk...)
I'm itching to get in the yard and bag those leaves and find that yard. (Yeah, we must have only bagged 200 bags worth of leaves in the fall. What were we thinking? We needed to continue bagging after the temperature had reached 20 degrees...)
Well, I'm definitely not going to spend all day on homeschool blogger today, so I better get off to my laundry and such, which really needs to get started before I can go outside and "play".
I just learned of the death of one of our fellow homeschooling moms, and wanted to ask everyone to be praying for the dad and the children. Missey (at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HeartSchooling was expecting the family's 5th child, and was visiting the doctor for a stress test that she had been getting regularly through the pregnancy. The test revealed that the amniotic sac had leaked to a dangerous level, so she was immediately taken for a c-section. However, amniotic fluid leaked into her blood stream and caused a bloodclot which caused her death. She has gone to be with the Lord, but has left behind a shell-shocked husband, a newborn, and four other kids.
You can find more information at Christy's blog, http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Christy, and and Missey's blog, http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HeartSchooling, by reading the comments that have been added since her entry yesterday, before her appointment. She was a member of the AmblesideOnline community, and was a part of, I think, numerous YahooGroups. I think more of us than we realize have probably known her in receiving advice and encouragement. Please, let's remember to pray for this hurting family.
I am trying to get webmaster Aslan to change my URL to Diana123, because I am not happy that I started this blog using my name. So, if it gets changed, it will change automatically on any of you'all's "Friends" lists. Don't be alarmed if that new name just shows up; it will just be me.
Now, POLL:
I am not getting many comments from my recent humorous posts. Thank you very much to those who did comment that they enjoyed them. For the rest of my readers, I was wondering, have you enjoyed them? Are you offended by them? Do you like my humor? Should I crawl back into "Fluttering FlyBaby" mode and just talk about housework and homeschooling?
I am really interested, so if you read this and can take the time, please let me know.
[Lord, I'm really swamped! I could sure use an excellent wife...]
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
[About that, Lord... I'm just not up to the task! And... no lack of gain? Actually, we just seem to major in spending all his money, not helping him to gain...]
12 She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
[I know some women who seem this way, but frankly, God, I've been guilty of doing him some evil....]
13 She looks for wool and flax,
And works with her hands in delight.
[Yes, Lord, I've brought home the wool and the flax... I've got about a 10'X10'X2' storage area full of the fabrics... I guess, mostly, I've accomplished the first part of the verse but failed to get the projects made, although it is with delight when I manage to...]
14 She is like merchant ships; [Are you calling me fat?]
She brings her food from afar. [Giant? Safeway?...]
15 She rises also while it is still night, [Not if I can help it!]
And gives food to her household, [Gotta love cold cereal!]
And portions to her maidens. [About that, Lord... I've been looking for those maidens for years! If I could just find them, I could get so much more done every day!]
16 She considers a field and buys it; [No way! Do you know the price of a field in this area?]
From her earnings she plants a vineyard. [What earnings? I just spent my money buying a field!]
17 She girds herself with strength, [Do they sell that in the clothing department at Wal-Mart?]
And makes her arms strong. [That's from carrying babies and groceries, right?]
18 She senses that her gain is good; [No, Lord! I was trying to lose weight, not gain it!]
Her lamp does not go out at night. [Now you're talking my language. That's why I can't get up in the morning while it is still night...]
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, [I didn't inherit the family distaff...]
And her hands grasp the spindle. [My sewing machine doesn't have a spindle, just a bobin...]
20 She extends her hand to the poor; [Is that, like, to show them that I don't have any money to give them?]
And she stretches out her hands to the needy. [Would that mean my 6 year old? or my 16 year old?]
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household, [Nah, we all love the snow.]
For all her household are clothed with scarlet. [But I look terrible in red! And I can't my daughter to wear it either...]
22 She makes coverings for herself; [I wish I had the time...]
Her clothing is fine linen and purple. [Lately I go more for gray polar fleece...]
23 Her husband is known in the gates, [We don't have any gates...]
When he sits among the elders of the land. [If he sits down, I don't think he's ever gonna get up again...]
24 She makes linen garments and sells them, [She must have more time than I do, since she's got those maidens cleaning her house and homeschooling her kids...]
And supplies belts to the tradesmen. [I haven't seen any tradesmen looking for belts...]
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, [Are those sold at Wal-Mart too?]
And she smiles at the future. [It's gotta be better than today, maybe...]
26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, [Usually it's wiser to keep my mouth shut...]
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [Like, "Please stop hitting the dog with that stick!"?]
27 She looks well to the ways of her household, [I'm looking, Lord, but there's not always something I can do to remedy the situation...]
And does not eat the bread of idleness. [I work pretty hard, Lord, but I feel kinda idle when I'm blogging...]
28 Her children rise up and bless her; [mostly only if I sneeze...]
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
29 Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all." [I don't remember him saying exactly that...]
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, [That's good, cause I left it behind about ten years ago...]
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. [I do well to fear because, in spite of His grace, I've still got a long way to go...]
31 Give her the product of her hands, [Is this a curse? or a blessing?]
And let her works praise her in the gates. [Those works are kinda few, Lord. I'm still looking for those maidens. In the meantime, I gotta go now, Lord. The 6 year old has a play date, and the 16 year old needs more driving time towards her driver's license...]
I hope to make this humerous, while bringing truth to light about the real life of a home school mom!
At about 9:30 a.m., the mom decides it is time to get ready to exercise. She plugs her 6 year old into a computer phonics game and goes to put on exercise clothes.
She sees the bed and remembers that she needs to strip the sheets on her bed. She strips the sheets.
She goes to use the bathroom, so that the old, saggy female plumbing won't give her trouble while she is exercising, and she gets sidetracked playing "Jawbreaker" on her Pocket PC. She finally gets up and gets dressed.
She heads downstairs to the treadmill, but halfway there remembers the sheets sitting on the bed that need to go in the wash, so she goes back and gets them. On her way, she sees the tissues that her allergy-prone child has discarded on the carpet, and picks them up and throws them away.
She gets the sheets and goes down and sticks them in the washing machine. While she is at it, she folds the stuff in the dryer and takes it up and puts it on her bed. Since she is upstairs again, she goes into dear son's room and strips his bed as well. While she is in there she puts away his toys, throws away stray tissues, and puts away clean clothes that are sitting on his dresser. She takes his sheets downstairs, and makes sure that she has her hair clip, her MP3 player, and her water jug. She dumps the sheets at the washer and then goes to the treadmill.
She turns the treadmill on and sets it to run Program 1. Seems easy. It's for 30 minutes, and that's what she wants. She starts out the warm up and walks for 3 minutes, and then she sees her dear son poking his head around the corner. She stops the treadmill and asks him what's up. He says the computer locked up. He rebooted it but needs help getting back into Studydog.
She walks upstairs and shows him how to get back into the program, and gets him into it. While she is in the kitchen, she empties the dishwasher and loads the things that are in the sink. She goes back downstairs to the treadmill. She sees part of a sewing project has fallen behind the treadmill, and she squats and squeezes and gets to where it is and picks it up. It is the sleeve to a size 6 months sweatshirt. Her son is now six. ::sigh:: She turns the treadmill back on.
The crazy treadmill does not seem to understand what she wants to do (remember, she selected a pre-set program). The crazy thing keeps changing pace, changing to an inclined ramp, no matter how many times she reduces the speed and puts the ramp back to level. It seems convinced that she should go 6.0 miles per hour. She knows that she will get an inflamed knee if she goes that fast, but it speeds up every 60 seconds anyway.
Dear son is back again. He says big sister kicked him off the kitchen computer. She turns the treadmill off again and sets him up at the downstairs computer, by the treadmill, to play Studydog again. She turns the treadmill on again and is finally able to finish her time on it, with her son resting his foot against it the whole time, giggling because it tickles his bare foot as the treadmill turns.
She turns the treadmill off and closes it (so dear son won't play with it), and goes to check the washer. There is very little time left on the cycle by this time, so she goes into the sewing room to do some pick up while it finishes. She picks up the construction paper that is all over the floor from dear daughter's birthday card project last week. She also picks up pins from daughter's sewing project, and ignores the mouse droppings from whoever had the pet mouse out last.
The washer turns off, and she transfers the sheets to the dryer and starts the next load. She goes upstairs to shower, but since she is still sweating, she puts away the clothes that she brought upstairs earlier. As she reaches the bottom of the pile, she is glad she put them away, because her shower towels were in this load, and she is going to need them.
She goes into the bathroom to shower, and resists the urge to clean the bathroom first. She turns on the water and hops in. She shampoos, conditions, and starts to shave limbs. By this time the water is no longer hot. Remember, she just started the second load of sheets in hot water - necessary to kill dust mites in an allergy home. By the time she finishes shaving the water is truly 70 degrees--not her idea of a good time.
She gets out of the shower and gets dried and dressed. She starts to dry her hair, and daughter comes in to remind her that she needs a ride to work. Hair finished, it is now 1:05 p.m. Daughter is supposed to be at work at 1:00, and it took 3 and 1/2 hours to exercise and shower.
That's why homeschool moms don't usually bother trying to exercise.
So, I was setting some things up in my Homeschool Tracker last night, looking at my MOTH schedule, when I realized that I really do't have the rest of the year planned out for history and science for my K plans. I have all these things swirling around in my mind (KONOS, Good Science, Usborne's My Body, Tapestry of Grace...
So I ended up staying up late last night trying to plug things into my Homeschool Tracker . Then during the night, JD woke up having bad dreams... So this morning I was really wasted. I stayed in bed late, JD stayed in bed late. Scratch my timeschedule for exercise and QT. I got into the kitchen and the dishwasher had not been run by the person who did the kitchen last night. Scratch my schedule for unloading the dishwasher...
So, basically, while it's good that I've got this MOTH schedule done, I can see it's going to take me a bit to get ON it! I've had my breakfast... that's good. That was on the schedule. At least I did SOMETHING on my schedule!
Now I am off to tackle some more of it. Still planning to have my quiet time; strip and wash sheets off two beds; exercise, shower; swipe and wipe bathroom; homeschool JD for Kindergarten (a lot of it is on the computer--he loves his Study Dog phonics right now...So I'll plug him into the computer for awhile, after I get him dressed, and put him on homeschool autopilot for awhile while I work!
Everybody, please remember to be praying for
Candice who had her 13th surgery yesterday to try to help her recover from a flesh-eating infection, as well as
Emily, who has cancer and is having surgery tomorrow, Tuesday.
Well, I sure am sore today from yesterday's bowling and treadmilling!
Attended early church this morning, and did visitors' registration table for Children's Ministry, 2nd service. Got gas, Starbucks, and came home. Friend/neighbor called me over and blessed me with some games and clothes she doesn't need any more. Will sort through them later and try to get rid of the ones I probably won't use.
Hubby blessed me with a special gift (which I won't mention what here, so you don't envy me!...), but that was so nice of him! Thank you, Sweetie! And now he's gone off to finish my grocery shopping! He's such a great guy! Teen daughter is off to lunch with some friends, and ds is off to a movie with another friend, and I'm actually by myself for a bit! What a surprise! So...
I'm going to take some ibuprophen for my exercise aches, and I'm going to go downstairs and transfer laundry and start the next load, and I'm going to do some of my paperwork... Oh yeah, this is supposed to be my day of rest... Well, I'm not convicted that God wants me to be swamped tomorrow because I didn't do some of this today... So I'm going down to do some activities that are restful because I am alone right now... Or maybe I'll change my mind and read a book for awhile, I'm not sure. Anyway, hope you all are having a blessed day with your families.
