WISDOM WEDNESDAY

"A wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish woman one tears hers down."  Proverbs 14:1
Building as in cleaning, teaching the children, sticking to a schedule, and having an attitude of  thankfulness and grace.
Tearing down as in being lazy, letting school fall behind, not staying on schedule, and not being thankful or gracious toward husband and children.
I am talking to myself, here.

Meghan is doing a better job of sticking to school work!

TEACHING TUESDAY

  What am I going to teach my girls today?  Hopefully, the fact that I am going to get a root canal done will teach them to have better dental hygiene habits then I did as a young person.  But seriously, when the day is done, and they lay their heads on their pillows, what will I have taught them today?  Hopefully, that they can trust me, that I will be there for them, most of all, that they are precious to God and He wants to bless them. I often forget that He wants the same for me; I don't do the best He knows I can with what He gives me.  He loves me just as I love my girls, only better.  I have an awesome responsibility to teach them about loving God, being thankful, and "chasing joy".  I admit I have been lax in this job, but maybe today, "the first day of the rest of my life", I can begin to improve.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS IN A CEREAL WORLD

  Making breakfast together is one of the things that brings the girls and I together.  For the second morning in a row, the girls have gotten up reasonably early enough to help me make breakfast; turkey sausage casserole yesterday morning, and blueberry muffins today.  I've found this is one thing that the girls will really make an effort to get out of bed for.  (Yeah, I know, I thought "Come on girls, let's do spelling" would work too, but it hasn't so far).  

  I believe at the heart of this activity is the fact that we are spending time together, doing something for one another as we share what we have planned for the day, and maybe something funny that we dreamed the night before.  There is a feeling of accomplishment and being needed as one breaks eggs into a mixing bowl or gets silverware out to set the table.  This seems to set the mood for the whole day, that the day is going to bring more togetherness, rather than a feeling of being rushed or left alone that just grabbing a bowl of cereal while mom posts on facebook or grades papers would bring.

  Yep, we need to make this a morning tradition.  And I feel so blessed that homeschooling allows us to do this.  What about those mornings when we might be a little more rushed?  Then they can pour themselves a bowl of cereal, and I will sit down next to them with my cup of coffee while none of us wonders when the bus is going to come. :) 

Planning and Accountability

  I hope to make this blog about my accountability to my daughters as we go through our homeschooling journey this year. I guess I should make that my accountability to God; I have to answer to Him for what I do or do not teach them.  We are going to start on September 3rd for the 2012-2013 school year.
  Starting tonight, I am having Rachel get into bed at nine o'clock.  According to her body, she needs twelve hours of sleep, and I want the girls up absolutely no later than nine in the morning on school days.
  As far as curriculum goes, I looked over the Saxon Grammar and Writing I had purchased for Meghan, and decided to purchase the same for Rachel for her learning level.  There are schedules printed near the front of the Teacher Manual for each day's work, which makes it so much easier for Teacher Mom!  So, that means I can scrap three of the books I was going to use for Rachel for Language Arts--less "busy work" for both of us!  The girls will also both be using Saxon Math and Sequential Spelling.  We will start our History/Science with "Life in the Great Ice Age", a somewhat Biblical account of  "cavemen" (gotta start printing off those study guides!).
  I am excited about the new school year because I believe God has given me a new perspective on what I need to teach and how I need to go about it.  God is awesome!  The main focus (I hope) will be my time with them, learning along with them what God wants for our lives.
  I almost wish that I hadn't allowed them to sign up for acting and dance classes, because now I sense the impending doom of feeling rushed to get to classes on school days.  But if we start early, I think we will be okay and I can avoid the guilt of not having done at least the majority of what I had planned for us to do each school day.
  Oh!  And reading!  I have printed from the internet a list of what I think is a pretty good compilation of  literature to read through the school year.
  Since Meghan is off in Florida with my sister right now, my big plans for tomorrow are to go through her piles of craft supplies, scrap papers, things that should have been thrown out months ago, etc, and organize or throw out each item.
  My thoughts should be of going to bed right now, especially with sinus troubles, so here I shall leave you until my next post.

So, summer vacation is for swimming and camp and READING FOR ENJOYMENT, right?  Well, then why do I still not have any time to read the library books I have checked out or the stack of used books I bought at a discount price on my nightstand?  Gotta schedule that in every day this summer break!

  I need to stop telling this blog what I need; or rather, think I need.  I said I needed to write more about Rachel, and I got it.  Or at least more to worry about where she is concerned.  The only thing I am going to write about the situation right now is that we will get through it by God's love and grace.
  I found Saxon Grammar and Writing for sixth grade at a used homeschool curriculum sale, so that is Meghan's Language Arts for 2012-2013--yay!  Never used, maybe just barely looked at, for the low price of $25.
  I'm going to be on the hunt for a literature program for Rachel.  We already have her grammar, vocabulary, and spelling taken care of.  And of course, both girls will be in Saxon for math.
  Not sure when we will take up the new school year.  We have a lot of living to do in the meantime; the pool, dance camp, church camp, doctor appointments surrounded by shopping, a trip to Aunt Karen's in August.  And lots of love!

BEGINNING OF THE END!

Yesterday, we began our final three weeks of school, after being off for two weeks.  Didn't mean to take two weeks off, but life happens.
  I treated Meghan's spelling in LIFEPAC like Sequential Spelling, and that seemed to work.  I bought Sequential Spelling and Easy Grammar for her for next year.  Still not sure what else to use for her for Language Arts, researching and praying about it.  I DO know that I want to get back to reading aloud to the girls for the rest of this year and from now on!  I am going to start reading a biography about Corrie Ten Boom to them today.  I love the closeness we have at reading time and Bible time.  I am wondering if it is a waste to have such a literal, matter-of-fact thinker like Meghan answer discussion questions about literature.  It has brought me to tears in the past.  These posts usually end up being so much about Meghan; I need to try to write more about Rachel.
  We are going to see the new Madagascar movie on June 8th as our end of the year treat!

  Rachel's curriculum from Timberdoodle came today; she can start on the Language Arts section as early as Monday.  She has grammar, spelling, editing, and vocabulary-- four texts that will make up her Language Arts.  We may start her History together as well, Mystery of History Vol. 2 for both girls.  The girls will continue in LIFEPACs for Science for the rest of the schoolyear and then begin with the new curriculum in the 2012-2013 year.  I'm thinking textbooks for everything will be the way to go for us from here on out.
  I am behind schedule today due to oversleeping and having a headache, but we can still make it a good day.
Thanks to God for giving me a new beginning every day.

CHANGES NEEDED

  I wanted to post something while at the library, seeing as I have been wanting to blog and our computer will be down for a few days this week.  I have been working on a schedule for myself, and then will make foreach of the girls.  Hopefully, this will help us to actually get done most of the things we need to do each day.  I'm not the kind of person who can keep a list in her head; I have to have something written on paper to guide me and keep myself disciplined. 
  I have already ordered curriculum for Rachel for next year, and will probably let her start on it before this schoolyear ends.  She is already finished with this year's Language Arts.  And the history in her next year's curricululm will be for both of the girls, and I am not happy with the way Meghan's history is going, so we may get started on that before the year is over as well.  We decided to stick with Saxon for math; I like the incrementation, and both the girls voted to keep it.  Maybe they arejust tired of me switching curriculum on them so often. : ) 
  Okay, time to humble myself and admit that I have been trying too much to do this on my own; I have not been using the prayer to ask God for guidance in scheduling and what to teach the girls.  I didn't do it with Matthew either.  Stupid. 
  So, will be doing a lot of prayer and evaluating what we are doing and maybe stop doing it, add to it, subtract from it, or doing something new all together.  Gotta take a deep breath and remember why I wanted to start homeschooling in the first place.