When You Just Don't Understand

This has been a tough week.  We had a funeral for one great-grandmother.  The other great-grandmother suffered a badly shattered broken leg and high risk surgery.  Princess L has been under the weather for three days.  We've had some difficult issues going on in our family.  And just tonight I learned some shocking news that makes me want to shout "Why God?!  It's not fair, God!  What are you thinking, God?" 

For me, when I just don't understand, all I seem to be able to do is cling to that which I know from my experience.  I'm beginning to think, however, that it is the clinging to what I know through experience that is keeping me from growing.  If God were in a nice neat box, and if His plans lined up with mine, and if I were faithful to that which I know I ought to do - perhaps I would understand.  But God cannot be contained, and His plans are beyond understanding, and I can never be faithful enough.  So I am left with my prayers and questions, and instead of clinging to my experience, I will cling to the Truth - the Word of God.  And His promises are new every morning, and His plans are to prosper me (and my family and friends) and not to harm us, and He is the same yesterday as He was today and will be tomorrow.   The LORD giveth, and the LORD taketh away.  Blessed be the LORD!

Kid Funnies - Yet Again

Yesterday, the little two princesses were playing with the 5 year old neighbor boy.  They all decided to put on a play (as that is what my big two princesses were doing with his older sister.)  So the girls went into their rooms to put on costumes and he ran home to get his super hero costume.  For some reason though, he ran back to our house and decided to change in our bathroom rather than just putting it on at home.  After a minute I hear the bathroom door open and he walks out - in his birthday suit.  Princess M came out of her room at just that moment, took one look at him standing there facing her and said, "He has a toe on his butt!"  I think you can gather what she was looking at.  I quickly ushered him back into the bathroom and Princess M ran into Princess L's room and repeated, "(Name withheld to protect the guilty) has a toe on his butt!"  And Princess L looked at her and said, "Now (Princess M), you know you should not make fun of him like that.  You might hurt his feelings!" 

Our First Week of 2011/2012

Well, today we completed the first week of the 2011-2012 school year.  My mind is awash with things we need to change!  Actually, I knew going in to our schedule there would have to be some changes and I'm surprised we don't have to make more.  Here is our first week in pictures (thought I'd amaze some of you that I actually remembered to take pictures!)

Here is Princess M (who gets my time first thing in the day) making her letter of the week - an 'A'.

While I was working with Princess M, Princess S was doing this:

Notice, she isn't using the chair.  She has a thing about chairs - either she avoids them or finds ways to sit on them that no one has ever thought of before.

Later, she was doing this:

This was also our first week back to piano after an eight week hiatus.

While Princess S was on the piano, Princess L was working with me.

Meanwhile, Princess M had some room time.  She decided to make herself a new bed using a clothes hamper.

Princess E was working independently during these morning hours.

After lunch, Princess M got the idea that the play house needed washing.

Princess L lost another tooth - her fifth.

Also after lunch, Princess E had an open house meeting for her online class.  She was learning how to use the software and the headset and microphone.

So that there was less noise in the room while Princess E was online, I had Princess S go through some math review flashcards with Princess L.

Finally, Princess E had to do three science experiments this week.  The first, the top photo, was testing density.  The bottom photos are to show what a chemical reaction is.  She was really enjoying them - but her clean up left a bit to be desired.

We only did half of our subjects.  We will not be doing TOG for another two weeks.  So we are easing into school.  But, I think it was a good first week.  Now we're gearing up for the second.

"Not" Back to School Blog Hop - School Room Week

I've posted photos of our room last year, and to be honest not much has changed.  I purchased a three level book shelf to put next to my desk.  I've had to add baskets to my Ikea Billy bookshelf in order to accommodate more books.  I've moved around a few posters.  The biggest change really has been lowering our desk tables and using regular chairs instead of stools. 

Here is the front half of the room.

A close up of my desk area.

 

Another addition this year is milk crates.  Each princess has a milk crate that contains every thing that they will need for school (Princesses E & S) or that I will need to do school with them (Princesses L & M.)  The two pictured here are for Princess L and Princess M.  It is next to our library book basket.  Also in the shot is a bin with file folders and page protectors, our file bin that has all of our TOG student sheets divided out by week and level, and our Math-U-See blocks.

A close up of the book shelf and Accountable Kids boards.

 

Moving around the room, we have our couch for reading (or napping.) 

(I have no idea why the above picture won't center on the page.)  Our second book shelf is mostly for notebooks.

Next we have our desk tables.  Yes - there are only two of them.  For now, Princess L and Princess M will only be working at the kitchen table with me.  Princess E and  Princess S use these desk tables - some of the time.  In reality, they are all over the house - which is one reason for the milk crates.  I have no idea how I'm going to work this room out when we have need of four desks.

(You will notice the other two milk crates under the table.  Princess S was on a red kick - and has picked out red everything this year.  At least we'll know which stuff is hers!)  Finally we have our piano.  I got rid of the shoe rack that used to hold our workboxes.  It became badly needed as it's primary job - as a shoe rack in our coat closet.  So I moved this wheeled plastic file cabinet out of my bedroom and filled it with learning toys and activities that I can pull out and let Princess M do when she gets bored.

Truth be told, we school anywhere in the house that we can.  I've got a few princesses that have to sing while they work, a princess that cannot have any noise when she works, and all of them seem to be unable to do any work at all in their bedrooms.  So it is always a compromise for someone whether we have it quiet or have singing going on.  Thanks for taking a peak at our little slice of the world!

2011/2012 Curriculum Choices

Well, I sorta jumped the gun in order to join this blog hop.  I've been posting these plans over several weeks.  So I figured I'd just link up to my posts.

I have four girls:

Princess E is 12 and going into 7th grade.  Plans for Princess E are found here.
Princess S is 10 1/2 and going into 5th grade.  Plans for Princess S are found here.
Princess L is 6 1/2 and going into 1st grade.  Plans for Princess L are found here.
Princess M is almost 4 and going into preschool.  Plans for Princess M are found here.

For anyone who doesn't want to take the time to click through for details, you can click the Curriculum tab up at the top.

Homemade Student Planner

I searched and searched for the perfect planner. Or at least, for the planner that I had in my head. And I just couldn't find it. So I decided to create my own student planner for my eldest two princesses. Here's what I did:

 

Had to stick with a patriotic theme.  It's one of my favorites.

The first page lists her computer information for sites she needs for school.  It lists the daily meeting agenda we will follow.  I found some neat plastic dividers with folders on each side.

The first section is an annual calendar and monthly calendars that are specific to our schedule.  I got these from The Old Schoolhouse Planner.  I bought the e-book version that is editable.  Yet even with all the choices, I still had to create my own pages!

The next section has our individual lesson plans to schedule from.  I still use HST+ to schedule from.  But because my goal, which is described in the Tapestry of Grace curriculum, is that they will be able to schedule their own work, I am trying something new this first quarter.  I printed out the list of assignments that they have for the first quarter.  They can decide how much of each subject to schedule each week.  They can follow my suggestion which will give them an even amount of work each week, or they can go hog wild with one subject and finish the quarter's assignments in four weeks and have five weeks off if they so desire!  As I said, it's an experiment - so I'll let you know how that goes.

The next section has the pages they will use to fill in their schedule.  Each page is individualized to what they will be using this year.  Our week begins on Friday, and I included a column for the weekend in case they decide to schedule some work on the weekend.  (I know, I know - a homeschool mom can dream, can't she?)

The next section is for their Grammar program to check off the sentences as they complete them and correct them.

The last section is an informational section that I thought might be helpful to them.  It is again from The Old Schoolhouse Planner.

They are actually quite excited to begin using these.  This will be a second year for Princess E in having her own planner and scheduling her own work.  Princess S will be learning this skill this year.  My prayer is that it will help them both to be a bit more organized, and that I will be able to focus more time on my younger students as a result.

The Best Ideas Come in the Middle of the Night

So because it came to me in the middle of the night, the other day I had to act on it.  So take a look at what I ordered to come as a notepad.

Bathroom Cleaning Checklist

I ordered these from Vistaprint. Princess E and I got a good laugh when, after I placed my order, they conveniently offered me my design on a t-shirt. And while we laughed about it, I seriously considered it. Because you know they are going to misplace the notepads.

I ordered two fifty sheet notepads, one for each bathroom, and I will attach a pen on a string to the back of the notepad. Then when they do their bathroom cleaning chores each morning, they can check off each chore as they do it. No more excuses for not "remembering" all of the steps.

I'm considering designing one for cleaning each room of the house.