RandomShares

Well, apparently I’m not meant for blogging.  Try as I might,  just can’t stick with it.  I love that I’ve made so many friends here at HomeschoolBlogger.  And I hope that no matter how “on again, off again” I am at blogging you’ll still consider me a friend, too.  I have a blog at blogger – www.sharitysblog.blogspot.com .  There’s not much there at the moment, but it’s ready in case I decide that a “third times a charm”!  I hope you’ll find me over there.  It just seems to be easier over there for now.  I have several non-homeschooling friends at blogger, as well as many from HSB that have switched.  Blessings! 

I’ll give this blog a couple of weeks and then delete, as I don’t want to take up HSB space.

I always thought fingerless gloves were sort of funny looking.  And why would you wat your fingers to freeze anyway?  I just never considered the practical side.  How many times did I have to take a glove completely off in order to have the use of my fingers?! 

So finally ”getting it”  I thought I might like to try a pair out this year. I used this pattern from Lion Brand.  They looked like they’d be difficult to make, but these were super easy.  I turned these out just yesterday evening.  It only took about a half hour each.  I need to work on my fan stitch though.  I think it’s too loose in between each fan.  I tried holding the yarn a little tighter but it still wanted to stretch.  Not sure what to do about that.  If anyone knows please tell me.  Probably just practice!

   I still think they’re pretty cute though!

I hope that’s how you spell that title! 

I’ve been so busy, I’m losing track of what day it is!  I was all set to join in with Shani & Co. for Tackle it Tuesday, but “hello” – it’s not Tuesday anymore!  haha 

Anyhow, after 8 years I FINALLY cleaned my ‘self cleaning’ oven.  For some reason, even though it was self cleaing I was still intimidated.  I started the process yesterday by cleaning the glass, I wasn’t sure if that would get cleaned in the cycle or not.  wow, my poor hands look like dh’s after changing the oil in our trucks!  If I wasn’t such a germ-o-phobe I’d go get a manicure. 

I waited until today to actually set the oven to clean since I could leave the windows open all day.  Plus, I wanted to be home in case something went wrong.  It ended up working out great.  I just had to wipe down the inside with a damp cloth after it cooled down.  I also scrubbed the racks since they couldn’t go through the cleaning cycle.  Again, yucky looking hands and nails.  The oven looks great though!   Why did I wait so long?!?!

I’ve been doing a lot of sewing lately.  More baby stuff and a fall table topper.  Trying to finish up a crochet shrug, hopefully by next week.  I have some felt applique in waiting, a little fall penny rug kit I saw in a catalog.   

I was able to finally start adding to our lessons this week with poetry and typing.  Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for Braden, 12 yo and Typing Instructor for Kids for Brock, 9yo.  I’m just using what I have on hand for Poetry this year.  We are reading  A.A. Milne’s When We Were Very Young.  The boys rolled their eyes when they saw that it was a “Pooh Bear” book.  Oh well, they’ll get over it, I suppose, and be better for it!    

Getting things together for our garage sale this weekend.  This was supposed to happen back in the spring.  I’ll be so glad to finally get rid of all the clutter.

Braden – Using Rational Numbers from Systematic Mathematics  , and also Life of Fred. 

Brock – Practical Arithmetics with a subscription to The Math Worksheet Site.

I really like Systmatic Mathematics, this is the second module we’ve used.  I like that we can watch the teaching video and then print out, or in some cases reprint worksheets.  It seems to give the why and not just the how and plenty of practice on each topic.  Plus, if it works out for Brock we won’t have to buy anything.  I know sometimes different kids need a different approach, but I can always hope!  I also wanted to give Life of Fred a try.  Braden likes  that it is written in story form, sometimes amusing and a little more relaxed than “real math”.  It does seem to cover each concept quite nicely though. 

For Brock we are using Practical Arithmetic, which is going very well.  I’m very pleased with the order the topics are covered.  There are a lot of problems to copy down though, which wasn’t working out for Brock.  It seemed to cause frustration and was the subject of a few of our meltdowns.  I debated about it, not wanting to cater to any laziness, but went ahead and subscribed to The Math Worksheet Site.  I’m able to print out worksheets that go along with the lessons in he book.  I still have him copy down problems from time to time, too, but he likes the worksheets.  He even asks for them.  There are also days we just work our problems out orally or on the whiteboard.

Math meltdowns seemed to rule the day at the beginning of this school year.  Feeling my usual tendency to blame the curriculum and then change the curriculum, I really prayed about this situation.  I felt we had some good material, but something was missing. 

Well, after much prayer and thought, I realized that something was ME!  I needed to be a little more patient, needed to apply myself a little more to the lessons and actually get in there and in some instances re-learn the math right alongside my boys, especially Braden my 12yo.  Math has never been my strong suit, so I suppose I was hoping the curriculum would just teach it for me.  Things are much better now that I’ve gotten my attitude straight   Oh, if I’d just learn to ALWAYS pray specifically in the first place!

Well, I did!  I actually finished on day 89 of the read the Bible in 90 Days challenge.  I think I’ve said all this before but it was truly an awesome experience and we were asked to check in one last time. 

The challenge, although fast paced, really helped me to soak in the Bible in a way I never had before.  I plan to go back now and study the things I didn’t quite understand and also get started on a few books I had to put aside.  There was no way I could have completed this challenge while keeping up with all my other reading – and I’m used to reading a few books at once!  But this demanded my full attention, and rightfully so. 

Thanks so much to www.momstoolbox.com for the excellent accountability and encouragement!