Talking Out Loud

Excuse me for a moment. I'm just going to talk out loud. lol ;o) I thought I would type up a quick post of my ramblings.

Well I said yesterday that I needed to 'be super efficient with my time' today. Was I? Not really. Well maybe. I did get 2 loads of laundry washed, hung out, folded and almost put away. :o) Husked corn, blanched it and got it done and in the freezer. And a few other things that I won't bore you with. (I can hear the 'Thank yous' now.) lol :D

I sent for a handwriting book for my son. I'm so glad that it arrived last week so we will have it for next Tuesday. It's called 'A Reason for Handwriting' I really like the format of the book. It turns out that the school(closed) that we borrow books from had the Teacher's Edition, so I was pretty happy about that.

Since we began homeschooling, we've only schooled 4 days per week. Monday - Thursday. This year my son said he wants to do 5 days, Monday - Friday, so he will be done sooner. I agreed, but I will not get to settled in a 5 day routine until I see how he is liking 5 days. 4 or 5 is good for me. We'll see.

We are planning to go to town soon and I want to get few more things I need for the portfolio. I thought it would be best to wait until I had pictures to go with it. So I want to be sure I have the things I need. Caleb has decided that he would like a lime green binder for his portfolio. Hope the store has one in stock. If not, blue is his next pick.

Stay tuned for more homeschooling posts in the next few days. I'd love to hear about any homeschool plans that anyone else is working on.

Time Flys !!

My intentions were so good. Really and truly they were. I made a list of homeschool topics I wanted to share. Partly because I thought someone else may benefit from my ramblings and also because it will help me get things planned out and thought through before we start school next week. But here it is nearing midnight (I should be sleeping) on Tuesday and I don't have one post typed up that I had wanted to. Of course there is always tomorrow. ;o)

Speaking of tomorrow. I have so much I need/want to get done tomorrow. I have to make a trip to the bank and post office to run couple of errands, blanch some corn so I can get that into the freezer for winter, laundry and possibly help my husband & brother-in-law hay.

I helped hay today too. I drove the tractor (a first!) while they and Caleb loaded the wagon. Then I helped unload it into the barn. Fun, fun. Really I don't mind at all. I'll just have to be sure to be super efficient with my time tomorrow.

Now I'd better get to sleep or I will get nothing done. lol ;o)

The Craft That Started It All...And Held It All

While we were at campmeeting Caleb had crafts every afternoon, Sunday - Friday. Well except for the one day he didn't go because he and some other boys were playing a game of baseball headed up by one of the moms. That was fine with me, as another mom who was also watching and I had a great chat about books and DVDs. Sorry I'm rambling. ;o)

Back to the crafts. They always make such great crafts and he has a good time. The tricky part is finding a place for it in the cabin with out it getting lost or squished, and then wondering how we are possibly going to get it home intact. I was so happy this year that the first craft was a gift bag that they got to decorate and personalize. Then as each craft came back to the cabin we would gently add it to the bag. Caleb always knew where is crafts were and we made sure the bag was packed carefully in the van when we came home.









And of course he chose blue, which was no surprise as it is his favorite color. :o)

Another Day, Another Tidy

Today I decided to tackle the homeschool shelf in the closet. It was one of those shelves that if you just happened to pull out the wrong thing.....everything would come tumbling out! ;o) I' am so glad that I didn't procrastinate about it. It's funny but I'm not as much of a procrastinator as I used to be. I'm so glad too because it feels great to have that all tidied up and organized. So I can cross that off of my 'To Do' list. :o)

So what did I happen to find? Well I was happy to find a container that looks like it will be perfect for holding the homemade liquid laundry soap I plan to make. Yes you read that right. ;o) I got the recipe from a fellow blogger and have everything I need to make a batch. That will be a post all on it's own. I also found some items that we no longer need (or have doubles of) that I am going to pass on to another homeschool mom. Caleb will be happy when he sees that I have found 2 science kits, 2 Christmas craft kits and a craft magazine. Not mention all of the packages of loose leaf, duotang covers, and notebooks! :o) I turfed a bunch of stuff that was not usable to me or anyone, and was just creating clutter.

I am so glad it is done! Now to tackle the master bedroom. Stayed tuned! lol ;o)

A Bit About My Day

Wow, 2 posts in one day. That's very rare indeed!

The days are getting cooler here. I hung out one line of laundry and it took pretty much the whole afternoon to dry. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze so for that I am very thankful.

Caleb & I took some time this afternoon to clean out his drawers. I had tackled his room before his birthday party but it looks like I neglected the drawers. Anyway that job is now complete. We have a big pile to add to the bag of clothes we are giving away. Now to tackle the master bedroom. UGH! I'm sure it won't be such a big job but it feels like it's going to be a doozy. Oh and then there is the game cupboard/homeschool closet. I hope to get this all done before we start back homeschooling in a few weeks. Then I will only have my daily chores to keep up with.

My plan is to compile a very complete portfolio. I found this list which will be a great help in making sure I include everything that I want. The biggie for me will be to not get fixated on the list and portfolio and in turn become a task master. lol ;o) I'll be sure to keep you all posted on that. :o)

Tonight for supper, we had new potatoes, an english cucumber and our first taste of corn from our garden. Yummy! We'll enjoy it at a few more meals, share some and also freeze some for winter.

How was your day?? :o)

Fun Jonah Craft

Finally I am gettting around to sharing some of the crafts that Caleb made this summer at campmeeting. He made lots and had a fun time making each of them. Today I'll share the Jonah craft he made.

The kids cut out a whale shape from craft foam. ( the brad shown there is to hold it together because the craft foam was too small and 2 peices had to be used.)

On the back they taped a party favor thingy (what's it called??)

On the very end of the party favor thingy (still can't think of what it is called) they taped a picture of Jonah. So, when they blew on the party favor, it looked like Jonah was being spit out of the whale. You may be able to see it if you click on the picture to enlarge it.
Caleb says in his best british voice (as if he were anchoring the BBC news) "And in 3 days Jonah got spat out of the whale." lol ;o)

Homeschool Open House

I was surfing through some of the blogs I visit and found this Homeschool Open House. There are alot of blogs signed up to share a bit about their homeschools. Over 200 now I think!!! That's alot!

I am homeschooling our son age 9 and going into grade 5.This will be our 3rd year of homeschooling. We will start our 2007 - 2008 school year in just a few weeks. Truly though I think we are always learning lots of new things everyday. I guess when I say school year I'm thinking getting the text books out.

I should say that we are blessed to borrow textbooks from the church school that he used to attend and is now closed.

Here is what we are using this year.........

Bible - My Bible First

Math - Journeys in Math 5 (I've looked for a website to share, but I found nothing. The series was published by Ginn & Company in 1987. Great Math book. They don't make them like this anymore. lol ;o) I did find one on ebay for $99.99 Not sure if that was a typo.)

Reading - Miracles & Milestones Another oldie but goodie. :o) I tried to link to it, but couldn't. You can find it at Adventist Book Center, by doing a search of 'Miracles & Milestones'.

Grammar - Building English Skills Again this is from the 80's, but very good! Sorry I couldn't find a link, but if you google it you should be able to find it.

Canadian History - We'll read our way through Canadian history with the help of this reading list

Science - We'll use a mixture of resources such as Considering God's Creation, Usborne books, Creation Illustrated magazine and the Internet.

Phys Ed - Bowling weekly (all year), skating weekly (October - Feb/March) swimming weekly(March/April - May)

Life Skills - household chores, etc.

I feel like I am forgetting something. lol ;o)

Now to visit those other 200+ blogs. :o)

What to Post About??

I haven't posted anything in a while and I can't think about what to post about. I think I'll sit down and write up a bunch of ideas. While I was away I could think of lots but of course no computer. :P

I still haven't loaded my pictures on to the computer yet, so that'll be a little project for this week. I want to be sure to share the crafts Caleb made while we were away. There may be some ideas others will find useful for VBS or church.

The peas were ready in our garden when I got back. Actually they were a bit too ready. I did get some prepped for the freezer. No pictures of that though. :o( We have really been enjoying eating the other veggies from our garden, like potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, and beets. Yummy!! :o)

I am looking forward to starting school again. I've been going through Caleb's math text to make an outline that we can follow. I'll have to do that for grammar and reading too. All that could be a post in itself. lol ;o) I am thinking of starting a separate blog for sharing our homeschooling days with family. Our family is very supportive of us homeschooling (I think we're the only ones they know)and it would be a great way to include them. I still have to think on that.

Anyway enough rambling from me. lol :o)

Book Purchases

I bought this book while I was away on vacation. I had no intentions of buying any books for me, only one for Caleb that I had picked out before we left. Well, when it comes to books I am weak. ;o) I bought it. lol :o)

Each time I had a little free time, I would grab the book and read some more. I didn't think that I would get it all read before we left for home, but I did. Now my mom is reading it.

At the back of the book there were some other books that were advertised. Ironically I had purchased one of them too. ;o)

It's called "A Practical Guide to Discovering God's Will". I haven't started reading it yet, but hope to start it soon.

So much for planning to NOT buy any books. lol :o)

Caleb used some of his birthday money to buy a couple of books. He picked them out on his own, and they look like he made good choices.

Click on the book covers to read more about them.

Home Again, Home Again

It is great to be home!! :o)

We left on July 26th and just got back on Sunday (August 5th). It is always nice to get away, but it is always nice to get back home too. :o) Caleb & I were both homesick for Daddy since he wasn't able to go with us. :o( And he of course was really missing us too. But now were are all back together. :o)

While we were away I was making mental notes about all of the different things that I could blog about when I got back home. Now I think I have forgotten most of it. lol ;o) I'm sure it'll come back to me.

Caleb did some very nice crafts there, so I have taken pictures of those to share.

I bought a book while I was there and read the whole thing before I got back. I've lent it to my mom and now she is several chapters into it. :o) I'll share a link to it in another post.

Anyway, it is so nice to be back. Now I'm going to go check in on some other blogs that I missed while I was away.