Tackle it Tuesday–1.10.2012

I am starting a few new blog memes this year which I am really excited about! I am going to be approaching Tackle it Tuesday a little differently this year. On Tuesdays I will share a list of things I would like to tackle in the coming week as well as share how much I actually accomplished from the previous week’s list. I will also post a tip or share how I tackle specific things in my home and family. I hope you enjoy reading these posts and that they help, encourage, or inspire you to tackle something important to you!

Since I don’t have a last week’s list to work with, today I will share something else. If you have been reading my blog recently, you know I have recently returned to college to earn my BA in English, as a first step towards becoming a college professor. Over the holidays, I fell into the temptation of procrastinating many things, including my own schoolwork. This resulted in less time and effort put into my work, which I promised myself I wouldn’t let happen (hey, we are all human after all).

With the new year, I am determined to get back into my previous routine of finishing my work at least a few days before it’s due, taking notes on my required reading, and putting forth my best effort. That started this week (my school week runs Tuesday through Monday).

Last night I read half of my required chapter and copied and pasted the most important sections into a Word document. Most of my class texts are Ebooks, so this makes it a little easier on me in the note taking department. This morning, since I had to wake up before eight to babysit, I finished my chapter and my study notes before 10am. I also chose my topic for this week’s writing assignment, and completed some prewriting. The paper is due on Monday. This evening, before I go to sleep, I will write my required discussion responses, which are due Thursday, and study for my quiz which is due Sunday. I plan on having all of my classwork finished before the weekend so I can get started on next week’s work Saturday. This will get me back to my starting schedule of completing my work the weekend before class.

In addition to catching up on homework, these are some additional tasks I would like to tackle this week:

• Help the boys get their room organized (again, I just did this a month ago)
• Make a dent in Mt. Laundry
• Finish reading one book I’ve started on my Kindle
• Bathe the dog

I know that doesn’t seem to be a very ambitious list, but with homeschooling, babysitting four days a week, and this writing class, I don’t have much time for extra stuff this week.

Leave me a comment and tell me what YOU are tackling this week!

Blessings,

Cassie

NOT Back to School Blog Hop – Curriculum Week

I am SO glad that HOTM brought back this blog hop, it was so much fun last year to see everyone’s posts and get to know them better! This week starts week 1 of the blog hop, which is curriculum week. This is pretty good timing for me, as I just finished choosing the rest of my daughter’s books for the year.

What’s that I said? Daughter?! YUP, It seems that we are adding a third student to our little homeschool this year, my 13yo stepdaughter is joining the fun! She will be doing 8th grade, but we are treating this year as a transition year for her and we are focusing on filling any gaps she may have from struggling in public school the past few years.

Since she is the oldest, we will start with her!

Jasmine – 13 – 8th grade

• Math – Saxon 8/7
• English – Rod & Staff English 6
• Literature, History, Geography, Religion, Writing – TOG Y1 Dialectic
• Science – BJU Space & Earth Science 8
• Latin – Galore Park Latin Prep 1
• Logic – Critical Thinking Book 1 & 2
• Spelling – Spelling Power
• Vocabulary – Wordly Wise (2 books a year)

Drew – 10 – 4/5th grades

Note: Drew is in some 4th grade work still, we are working on getting him caught up this year. He struggled a bit last year, but he is really taking off now! I try not to put too much emphasis on the grade levels of texts we use, especially since many of the programs we use are advanced compared to the typical public school equivalents.

• Math – Saxon 5/4
• English – Rod & Staff 4
• Literature, History, Geography. Religion, Writing – TOG Y1 UG
• Science – Logic stage Biology ala The Well Trained Mind
• Latin – Latin’s Not So Tough Levels 2-4
• Logic – Building Thinking Skills Level 1
• Spelling – Spelling Power
• Reading – BJU Reading 4
• Vocabulary – Wordly Wise (2 books a year)
• Penmanship – HWT Cursive Success

Isaiah – 8 – 2nd grade

• Math – finish BJU Math 2 and start Math 3
• English – Easy Grammar 2
• Literature, History, Geography, Religion – TOG Y1 LG
• Science – Time4Learning
• Spelling – All About Spelling Levels 1-2
• Phonics – Finish 2nd half of BJU Phonics 1
• Reading – Finish 2nd half of BJU Reading 1 and start BJU Reading 2
• Penmanship – Peterson Directed Handwriting (current review)

And of course, we will be trying lots of great new products out in our homeschool thanks to the TOS Homeschool Crew. Which means that this “iron clad” plan (ha!) will probably go through various changes as the year goes on. But then again, when do I ever stick to my original plan?

Make sure to check out the other participant’s blog hop posts here, and don’t forget to join the hop yourself, too!

Blessings,

Not Me Monday 7.5.2010

I am not allowing my children to stay up past their bedtime, for the second night in a row, do they could go outside with Daddy and set off bottle rockets. Nope, they are all tucked in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

I did not skip schooling today because I neglected to prepare the boys’ assignment sheets last night. Nope, I am always prepared and ready for the day and we always get our schoolwork done on time.

I also, most definitely, did not spend our usual school hours redesigning my blog and repeatedly telling my children to stop talking to me right now because I am trying to concentrate and cannot hear myself think. Nope, I always listen attentively to everything my children have to say. I would never dream of telling them to stop conversing with me.

Nope, not me!

Homeschool Blog Hop #12

SO this week there is no preset theme for the hop, which means I get to be creative and come up with my own!
This evening, I feel like writing about all the big changes that we are about to embark on. I have posted previously about what kinds of changes we are going through – having another baby in February and becoming an Army family – but I have a lot of thoughts, emotions, and concerns that I haven’t shared.
First of all I am THRILLED to be having another lil one on the way! But I am also really worried. I’m not even going to sugarcoat things – getting through Joey’s first 6 months was really tough. The entire first year or so of his life presented a lot of challenges for me, but those first 6 months were especially tough on me. When I gave birth to Drew, I was 20 years old, full of energy and confidence. I was also alone, but we won’t go there for now, lol. But everything seemed so much easier back then. When Joey came along, I was 28 years old, more mature, and much less energetic, lol. It was so hard to get through everyday before he was sleeping through the night. There were nights that I held him and cried with him out of sheer exhaustion and frustration.
Now I am 30, and I will be 31 when our new little blessing joins our family. Joey will be a few months shy of his 3rd birthday, and the way it’s looking he will also still be in diapers. My husband will be two states away, completing his AIT training, and I am going to be one very exhausted, stressed out Momma!
Another scenario I encountered after Joey was born was homeschool related. I knew it was going to be challenging to homeschool with a baby/toddler, but man was I in for a complete shock! Those first 6-9 months, I fought for every single completed workbook page. I don’t know how to describe our schooling during that period of time other than to say – it was the single most frustrating and challenging era in our homeschooling career. We are STILL playing catch-up from the ground we lost during those months.
Granted, I am now equipped with the experience and knowledge to not allow it to happen again, but every baby is different and our entire family is going to be going through a lot of changes during that time. I would think it’s pretty obvious at this point that without my husband here to help me through, I am going to be relying on the Lord a whole, WHOLE lot to get us through every day.
Now we will address the second part of the coming changes – which is actually a whole lot of little changes, but we will get to that. With hubby joining the Army, we are looking at 4-5 months of training where we will only see him a handful of times, and rarely get to talk to him on the phone. That’s not my main concern though, seeing as how later on down the line, we are going to be looking at much longer periods of time where he is away overseas.
A lot of the changes that are coming as a result of his enlistment I am really excited about. Our finances are going to improve a lot. We are going to have top of the line health, dental, and vision coverage that isn’t costing us a dime. We are going to be able to build up retirement funds (which we have been unable to do up to this point) and provide college funds for our children through the Montgomery GI Bill. We are going to be able to improve our overall quality of life, have job stability, and get to travel to and live in different places all over the world! The only drawback to all of this is that we will be spending considerable amounts of time without my husband around, all while he is off on dangerous missions and such in another part of the world.
We are going to have to adjust to life without him when he is away and I am going to have to hold down the fort and make a lot of decisions without him. I do not doubt our ability to grow together and stay together as a family through all of this. I know we are strong enough. We have been through a lot and are better for it. This situation will be no different. Don’t misunderstand, I know it’s not going to be easy. It will probably be the single hardest thing I have ever done. But we will get through it!
Right now, I am getting through each day by looking forward to all the little blessings that are coming our way and by being thankful for those blessings we have already been given. I am focusing on the good, and we will deal with the bad when it comes. I have taken on the frame of mind that I am determined to sit back and enjoy the ride, regardless of whatever bumps and detours we encounter along the way!
Sorry for the long. rambling post! Blessings,

Weekly Wrap Up – Pregnancy Update Week 7- Hello Blog Walkers!

What a title huh? I haven’t been blogging very regularly, and I have a few things to cover, but fortst of all I would like to say HELLO! to all who are visiting my blog through the TOS Blog Walk! This is the 4th week of the walk and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I have been visiting my fellow crew member’s blog every week and have been adding you all to my subscriptions as I go. You can check out the other TOS crew members’ blogs here:

1. King Alfred Academy
2. Confessions of An Organized Homeschool Mom
3. Curriculum Reviews from Oak Creek Farmhouse
4. I Can't Decide
5. My Life on A Taffy Pull
6. Losing My Tale
7. Made in His Image
8. Serenades and Solace
9. Our Village is a Little Different
10. SisterTipster's Tell'n It!

Well this week was pretty slow as far as school goes (it is the summer after all), but we have still had a very busy week. Last Saturday we went to our local fireworks display and I got to try out the fireworks setting on my new Canon Powershot…

As you can see, it’s a tricky thing to take good fireworks shots. I had to hold the camera very still, and being that I neglected to bring my tripod along, the photos came out a bit blurry. Oh well! I am sure I’ll get better shots next time.

Also this week, my hubby made a trip to MEPS to sign his Army contract and take his oath. So the kids and I, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law and her kids were all there to watch the swearing in ceremony and take pictures.

We are all very proud of him! It has been a long process for him to get to this point (because of needing a dependent waiver for such a big family) but now he is officially a member of the US Army! Actually, his official status is US Army Reserves, until he reports to basic training in November. It’s a relief to have this part of the process finished and know when and where his training is going to be. Unfortunately because of his delayed entry status, he is going to be in training over Thanksgiving, but will get a few days leave for Christmas. When the baby comes, he will be in AIT, so he won’t be able to be here for the birth. But that’s ok, I have a lot of family and friends who will be there, and though his presence will be missed, that’s the sacrifice you make sometimes to be a military family.

Speaking of pregnancy, my spotting has really decreased this past week, and I even have has a few days where I have had no spotting at all. No more bright red bleeding, so that’s been a huge relief. As far as we know, baby #5 is still doing fine and hanging in there. My next OB appointment is at the end of July, so we will know more than and I am hoping to have another u/s scheduled then so we can see what’s going on with the hemorrhage and that second sac they spotted. Until then, I am taking it easy and taking good care of myself.

The last major event of this past week was not a pleasant one. Drew, once again, got poison oak from climbing trees. Uuugh! Will this child ever learn?! The worst part of it is, we didn’t realize it until one whole side of his face was covered with a red, swollen rash. It was pretty bad for a few days, but then we started him on Zyrtec, and it seems to be helping him a lot. We are also cleansing the rashy areas with Tecnu soap daily and applying Caladryl as needed to help with the itch. He’s looking pretty good today and hasn’t complained a bit, so I think it’s in the process of drying up and healing, THANK GOD! I really hate dealing with poison oak/ivy. I have already told him now multiple times NO MORE CLIMBING TREES!! LOL Luckily it didn’t spread to much and it hasn’t been contracted by anyone else in the house, so I am counting my blessings.

Next week is the last week of our summer term, then we are taking 2 weeks off before the “official” start of our school year. Drew will be spending those 2 weeks with his grandmother (on his Father’s side) on the east coast, having fun in the sun and swimming in the ocean. The rest of us will be here. Boo hoo! Just kidding, he really looks forward to these summer visits and has been counting down the days. This will be his first time flying as an unaccompanied minor, so I’m a little nervous. But I know he will be well taken care of and he has flown several times before, so it’s not a new thing for him. Please be praying for his safe arrival next Saturday afternoon!

SO that’s about it for our week! I hope you had a great one and are spending this holiday weekend with people you love! Have a blessed week!

Small Talk Six – 6 Most Useful Sites – 5.22.2010

It’s Saturday again and that means it’s time for another six item list to be shared! Today’s topic: My 6 Most Useful Websites!

Let me start by saying, what?! only SIX sites?! This is gonna be tough, but I will do my best.

1. Most Useful Social Site

Facebook wins this category hands down. Yes, I have had a MySpace in the past, and I just don’t like it. Facebook has better apps and games and is wayyy more user friendly. Even my grandma has a Facebook!

2. Most Useful Homemaking Site

I LOVE A Christian Home!! There is no end to the information and encouragement you will find on this site, from homemaking and cooking, to large family logistics and parenting, you can find it all here!

3 thru 4. Most Useful Homeschooling Sites

OK, this is a really hard one because I have several places on the web I read faithfully. BUT as far as variety of content and writers, my first choice just HAS the be Heart of the Matter online magazine. Not to mention the awesome conferences and contests you can find going on all year long. I have had the privilege of working with the HOTM team for the past year and they are a great bunch of ladies!

I can also frequently be found browsing through the reviews on the TOS Homeschool Crew’s Blog. being a confessed curriculum junkie AND a highly analytical, researching kind of gal, curriculum review sites are one of my best friends (along with catalogs, which I will get to in a moment) and I love the opportunities to hear about new products from people that have actually used them in their homeschools.

5. Most Useful Shopping Site

One of my favorite activities as a kid was browsing through the newest JC Penny toy catalog, marker in hand, circling and initialing all those wonderful things I just couldn’t live without. Now that I’m all grown up (snicker) I use Amazon.com to look up information on items I am considering purchasing and sometimes (if I’m lucky) I even get to look through a few pages of books I am considering as additions to our home library. But my favorite feature of Amazon has to be the wishlist feature! And the best part? They even have a Firefox add-on that I can use to add any item on any site to my wishlist! What could be better? I also love that I can get unlimited FREE second-day shipping for one low price per year.

6. Most Useful Recipe/Meal Planning Site

This is a recent find for me, but it takes al the guess work out of grocery shopping and meal planning on a budget. Menus4Moms is an awesome resource for busy moms, frugal moms, health conscious moms alike! There are several different subscription options, and all of them are very reasonably priced. Each plan comes with a weekly e-mailed menu plan, complete with detailed recipes and a grocery list that even has your estimated cost for the week. Of course, I am learning how to maximize my savings by perusing sale ads and using coupons to get rock-bottom prices.

I would love to share a list of couponing resources that I use, but there would be wayyy more than this six item list can hold, so I will save that for another post!

What sites on the web make your life easier?

Blessings,

These are a few of my favorite things – Blog Hop 5.18.2010

Yes, it’s time for another Homeschool Blog Hop! This week’s theme is “My Favorite Things”

Of course the top on my list is JESUS! In a very close second are these characters:

  And in no particular order, here are some other things I am pretty fond of…

 

My laptop and internet connection…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My awesome bread machine that my Mommy got me for my birthday…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cell phone with internet access…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOKS, BOOKS, and umm, more BOOKS!!

 

 

Yes, I could go on and on, but then I would sound more and more materialistic, LOL. Which I am totally NOT!! This was a fun meme to do, can’t wait to see what other things people love! Make sure you check out the other bloghop posts below…

Blessings,

Homeschooling without a school room - WFMW – 5.19.2010

When we moved here last November, we went from having a separate dining room to a combined living/dining room. I didn’t have enough room for my desk, filing cabinets, and all my bookcases. So we made due with what we had and after 6 months we finally have a workable space to learn in.

I have always liked having a set place to homeschool. A place to keep all of our books and materials. A place where I could hang my whiteboard. A comfortable, roomy area to spread out our work on the table and dive into learning. Sure our last school room was also our dining room, but it held all of our school things easily without overcrowding our space. This has been a very different experience and it has taught me to think about the things we really need and use everyday and how to keep those things close-by without taking over our living space.

So how have we adjusted? Our dining area holds our table and chairs, and a large cube style bookcase. I also have space on the wall to hang our pocket chart and our whiteboard. Our bookcase holds all those important items we need to be able to grab as we need. On the top of my bookcase I have 2, 4 drawer plastic towers that fit just right. These hold all our craft supplies, manipulatives, flashcards, and school supplies in a compact, out-of-the-way manner. Next to that I have a stack of plastic letter trays that hold printer paper, card stock, colored paper, graph paper, etc. Next to that is where my wonderful, awesome Epson wireless all-in-one printer has it’s home. The cubbys in the bookcase are a great way to divide the different things that are housed there and keep related items together and make them easy to find. Each boy has a cubby that holds the things he uses every day, workbooks, texts, notebooks, binders, and schoolboxes. One cubby hold little stackable trays with all of our markers, pencils, crayons, and colored pencils, as well as the markers for the white board. I have 3 teacher cubbies where I keep important papers (in a fabric basket) and all the teacher manuals etc we are currently using. Then the rest of the cubbies are filled with various fabric bins and plastic trays holding other things we use on a regular basis.

My desk, filing cabinets, and tall bookcase are upstairs in my bedroom. It’s not ideal, but it works for now. I am rarely up there sitting at my desk these days. Pretty much everything I need is downstairs. This area sadly is rarely clean and organized, and when it is, it doesn’t stay that way for long. The major reason is because I just don’t get to spend a lot of time up there. I am going to be reorganizing this space so that the boys can take their independent work up there and work on it in a quiet place.

I gave up the ideal of a “normal” looking home years ago. When you walk into our home, it is evident that we homeschool. We make no attempts to hide it. In fact, I am quite proud of our school area and how it looks. I put a lot of work and thought into making it our perfect space. I am a firm believer that with a little bit of ingenuity, minimal investment, and lots of hard work, you can make any space work for you. You just have to get creative and try some new things.

It works for me!

Blessings,

Homeschool Blog Hop #6

Theme For The Week: 10 Random Questions

Time for a bit of fun this week. Just copy the 10 questions below and enter your answers after each one of them for this week's blog hop.

1. What time is it right now? It is Wednesday at 7:37pm
2. What are you wearing? Cotton Capri’s and a hoody 
3. What is your mood? I’m feeling pretty tired and grouchy 
4. What is one thing your children learned today? Sometimes it’s better to just take a day from lessons to enjoy the sunshine!
5. What did you (or are having) for dinner? We had pizza at 3, and the kids are at church eating dinner there, so hubby and I will prob just piece around
6. What's one book you are currently reading? Don’t Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman
7. What behaviour (in people) is the most common but also the rudest? Lack of common courtesy
8. What can you see out of your nearest window right now? The sun going down, the parking lot
9. What are you currently praying for? A peaceful home
10. What is your favourite hot beverage? Dark roast coffee with vanilla creamer

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Weekly Wrap Up 3.14.2010

I know, I’m a little late but hey – you know me well enough by now to know that I am rarely ever on schedule for anything, LOL!

We had a fun, full week this week. Let me begin by sharing how our first week with our redesigned workboxes turned out. If you haven’t already read about my recent tweaks, you can find that post here. For a brief recap, I ditched the boxes and and am now trying out a much more compact version with file folders. Everything went pretty well last week. We actually used our schedule books (we had long abandoned out schedule strips as the boys kept forgetting to use them) and they helped us stay on task throughout the day.. I also noticed there was a lot less up and down movement from the table, since most of what the boys needed was right there on the table in front of them. We are utilizing a “holding station” for those items that don’t fit neatly into a file folder, but so far we have only had to use it for a couple of things every day. Both of the boys seemed to enjoy using these folders and we got everything done this week we had planned (even though we took Wednesday off because it was Drew’s birthday). There are still a few things I would like to eventually change, but they will have to wait til I can purchase a few things.

One of our TOG related projects this week was to make our own 10 commandments stone tablets. This project originally suggested cardboard, but I didn’t have any boxes large enough so we used poster board. I had the “stones” cut out ahead of time. The first day I mixed up some gray craft paint, and the boys painted their stones front and back. Originally, I was going to have them write the commandments out with a sharpie, but our gray ended up too dark for that. So instead we used chalk! It worked perfectly, although the boys had a hard time writing neatly because all the chalk was in little pieces.

We also watched 4 movies this week about the patriarchs. We watched Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. It was nice to have a fun way to reinforce all that we had been studying. Joseph was the unanimous favorite.

We were also blessed to have a couple of 50 and 60 degree days last week. It was so nice to have the sun pouring through the windows. Of course, we could not sit inside and let all the beautiful sunshine go to waste, so we spent quite a bit of time outdoors on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the older boys ran around like crazy kids the whole time and I didn’t manage to get any good pictures of them, but I did get a few of Joey.

The boys have made friends with a couple of girls that live in the complex. Wednesday night, the gorls invited them to a neighborhood outreach at a church within walking distance. So Bobby walked them over and got information from the adults running it. Apparently, they host this outreach several nights a week for area kids. Apparently, not may parents get involved because Bobby said they looked shocked to see a parent there. They provide a healthy dinner for the kids (complete with dessert) and set up games for them and open the gym. I promised the boys we would allow them to go as often as we could. They said that since they didn’t know Drew was coming and it was his birthday, they would have a cake for him this coming week!

Drew’s grandmother came from Myrtle Beach to visit him for his birthday. She arrived Saturday and will be flying back Monday afternoon. Drew loves hanging out with her and she always spoils him with eating out and movies and such. Tonight he is spending the night with her at her hotel, as he usually does when she comes for a visit.

So that pretty much wraps up this past week. I am sure I am forgetting a few things, but I am getting sleepy and having trouble keeping my eyes open! The spring forward thing messes with me every time. Hopefully I’ll be back on track in a few days. Hope you had a great week!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Friday Follow 3.12.2010

Yes, it’s time for another Friday Follow extravaganza! Not familiar with Friday follow? Go here to check it out!

I wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to all the people that visited my blog a couple of weeks ago. I spent quite a while clicking through the linky’s checking out other blogs through the week and I found some real treasures!

While you are visiting, why not grab my button to share on your own blog?

Here is the code:

<a href="http://inhisimageacademy.blogspot.com target="_blank"><img src="http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/simpsonslovejesus2007/blog%20pics/myblogbutton.jpg" /></a>

 

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful weekend!

 

This week’s Friday Follow is sponsored by…

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Weekly Wrap-Up 3.6.10

My blog has been pretty dead the past few weeks. I have no excuse for you other than to say I haven’t felt much like writing anything lately. I have had lots of ideas for posts, they just have not made it to a finished product.

Wondering what’s been going on the past few weeks? There has been no shortage of events in our home, from toddler colds to crafts. Here are some highlights…

We have been doing weaving projects for Fine Arts, here are some pictures of the kids working on theirs

:

They are not finished yet, they had to be put up out of reach one day, and I have neglected to remember to get them back out.

I have also redesigned our Workbox System. I just wasn’t getting the boxes filled every day and it has been a pain trucking things up and down the stairs to get them ready. We have been using daily workfolders while I spent time trying to figure out how to make our workboxes work better for us. Here’s what I came up with:

 

I used materials I already had on hand. These are bankers box file holders that I painted. I could not get the kind of coverage I wanted with he craft paint I had, but they do look better then with no paint at all. This system uses file folders instead of boxes and is more compact and will sit on the table next to where the boys are working.

 

 

This part of the system I cannot take credit for in any way shape or form. I got the idea from Sheri at What’s in the Box? She made weekly schedule books and you can read all about it on her blog here.

 

 

 

I was originally going to make my schedule books just like hers, but then I realized how many velcro coins I would have to use. SO instead I used her printables to make a reusable daily grid. The left page will have the day of the week and the date written in with wet erase marker. I am thinking I will use the 6 boxes on the left hand page for chore cards.

 

 

Here is a view of the folders inside the box. I taped the numbers onto each tab and placed a coin on each folder to hold a Work With Mom card when needed. Things that are too wide to fit into these folders will but put in a “Holding Station” box with post it numbers on them. There will be a “Holding Station” card in the folder that tells them they need that item from the box to complete the work. You can also get those printables from the link I shared above.

 

This page (on cardstock) is a temporary addition. I plan on printing and laminating a more permanent one with reminders to make sure all their materials are put away for the day (yes, this is an issue in our home). As they finish each folder, it will go behind this divider, and this “happy” is what they will see when they are done for the day.

 

I know, not very pretty to look at, don’t ask me why I didn’t paint the backs also, I just didn’t. Anyhow, attached to the back of their box is a baggie to hold their schedule numbers and Work With Mom cards as they complete each folder. I have not yet decided if we are going to have an “inbox” as we did before, or if I will just have them place completed pages back into their folders when done. I will probably do the inbox, it worked well for us.

 

I have also figured out a way to utilize my wonderful Homeschool Tracker Plus program with TOG, and I am devising a way to use it in streamlining my workboxes also. I will keep you updated on that. To wrap up the school stuff, here are our plans for the coming week:

Lesson plans - 3-8-10 -

I will be back to share more pictures and news about what we have been up to soon!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Friday Fill-Ins #163

1. Pickles are absolutely necessary on a good burger.
2. When it’s cold outside, I’d rather be at home.
3. The snow is sooo 2009.
4.  As long as it’s warm, I am totally at home in nature.
5. It's 5:16 PM; that means I should definitely be done with lessons by now.
6. A free housekeeper/personal chef is hard to find.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to bed early, tomorrow my plans include school makeup day and Sunday, I want to have a romantic dinner with my hubby!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Follow Friday – 2.12.2010

Ok, I’m trying something new in order to get to know people better all over the bloggyverse! Please consider joining in, you can never have too many friends!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Not Me Monday – February 8th, 2010

Ah Yes!! It’s that time again, time for me to air my shortcomings to the world without really admitting anything! What did I do this week?

I did NOT spend the whole weekend planning and prepping for school. That would just be overkill!

I did NOT power clean my kitchen and living room in 45 minutes Sunday evening before bed because I neglected to get anything but planning done for two days.

I did NOT vacuum at 11:45 pm after all my kids went to bed because I am a bit obsessive about crumbs and paper scraps all over my carpet, and I just couldn’t rest knowing it was in need of a good sweeping.

I did NOT feed my husband and kids Pasta Roni for dinner Sunday because I neglected to plan ahead for dinner. Nope, not me, I made a 5 course meal containing all 5 food groups!

I did NOT forget to replace the trash bag in the kitchen garbage can and repeatedly throw garbage in it anyway. And I did NOT have to dig it all out and place said trash in a bag by hand (ewww).

So what didn’t you do this weekend?

Blessings,

: ) Cassie