Ramblings...

You poor neglected blog. So much potential. I just allow you to sit here, waiting, hoping, longing for words to fill your “Text Here” box. I know. You miss me. I miss you too. I have so much to share with you, the list of awesome places we explored while in the states, the list of awesome things I want us to do before we leave this island, my strategy for homeschooling while moving, and the various things I’ve done on the homeschooling front from changing our morning meeting board to exploring a Letter of the Day curriculum. So much to share with you. And then there is the blog giveaway series, oh sweet neglected blog giveaway series. You two can blame FB, for it is a lover that has proven hard to shake. But I will shake it, for us!

Until then though enjoy this video featuring A Perfect Circle's cover of John Lennon's Imagine:

Well it’s a New Year! So of course my first post is about our 2012-2013 plans. I just love planning! I can’t help it; I’m always thinking, planning, and plotting.

Here is a rough draft of our 2012-2013 Plans:

General Disarray:
Language Arts- Harcourt Language Grade 3
Math- Saxon Math 4
Science- Science Fusion Grade 3 (have you all heard about this science curriculum for homeschoolers! I can’t wait to try it out! Finally, a secular science homeschool curriculum I can be excited about!)
History- Early Modern Times (a collection of supplies that have yet to be determined)

Professor Chaos:
Language Arts- Hooked on Phonics (starting with grade K and then moving on from there all the way up to grade 3, General Disarray got through within a year but I’m not going to make the assumption that Professor Chaos will. We will move at his pace to ensure acquisition of his reading skills).
Math- Saxon Math 1
Science- Science Fusion Grade K
History- Early Modern Times (he will be working with his brother, since we follow the classical method for history so when we get back to ancients for General Disarray it would coincide with when Professor would be starting Ancients. Allowing for one subject that flows between T.B.M., decreasing the amount of history planning I have to do, only planning for one time period at a time makes my life so much easier).

This year also marks our last full year in Japan so we are going to make the most of with plenty of field trips and festivals in the works to help round out our school year.
There will also be a continuing of things currently in the works, like our Monday activities, and possibly an increase of a few other activities.

Time4Learning Supplement or Core Curriculum? I’m currently debating this. We use Time4Learning as a supplement right now, but T.B.M. enjoy it greatly. In fact it’s one of their favorite resources out of everything we use. The Spouse doesn’t think that there is enough in the program to make it our core; I can see where he is coming from. I think it has potential though, with good supplements it could probably be our core curriculum. For any of you parents who use Time4Learning do you use it as a core or a supplement?

Also grab your yarmulkes!



I’m so looking forward to our annual feast!

Latkes, Sufganiya, and Challah OH MY!!

This past weekend we enjoyed some holiday music; I introduced T.B.M. to The Chipmunk Christmas album, and assembled our Christmas tree! T.B.M. had a blast with it this year, the older they get the more they enjoy our traditions (like picking out a new ornament each year) and decorating our tree. While putting our ornaments on the tree General Disarray noticed some tassels in the bag. When I graduated high school I received an additional set of cap tassels. I wasn’t really sure what to do with the tassels and one Christmas decided to just toss them on our tree. Since then, each year, I toss them on the tree. This year General Disarray got a hold of them before I could and he was perplexed by them.

He inquired about them and I told him they go on a graduation cap and I received those when I finished high school. He seemed ok with that answer, commented that it wasn’t an ornament, and tossed it back in the bag. He grabbed a “real” ornament and came over to the side of the tree where I was hanging stuff and quietly asked “Will I graduate high school”. I told him that I had planned on him graduating from our homeschool. He said “Ok” and then paused, thought about what I had said, and then said: “You didn’t work with your parents?...You didn’t do school at home?” I told him that I wasn’t homeschooled, I had to attend public school (he had assumed that my high school was a homeschool). After telling him that he placed the ornament on the tree, looked at me and said “I’m sorry you weren’t homeschooled mom”.

As he walked away to grab another ornament I couldn’t help but smile a little. I often worry if I’m ruining their lives. There are enough negative voices out there to plague any homeschooling parent with plenty of doubt in their choice-a choice many of us have thought long and hard about-. Then in one brief moment my son assured me that yes, we have made the right choice. He felt sorry for me, sorry I couldn’t spend the day getting to know my parents, I couldn’t enjoy my sibling the way he does. I couldn’t enjoy my dad’s weekdays off or days when his work schedule allowed him to actually be home (and awake) during the day. The very things I use to explain why we homeschool to other people my own children see as positives, and in that one moment General Disarray taught me that his and his brother’s opinions were the only ones that should matter.

They are happy at home. And it’s about time I stopped worrying about what they may be missing and enjoy what we aren’t missing, time with each other.

I've been so busy with holiday prep and now General Disarray's birthday that this poor blog has been neglected. So here, have some holiday cheer! See I still love you too!

I do most of my cooking at home, which requires a large amount of recipes to keep things from getting boring. While I have a rather large, and constantly increasing, collection of cookbooks I don’t use all the recipes in them. I have a select few from each that I frequent, as well as recipes I’ve found online, which makes for a LOT of recipes. The ones from online I usually write down or print to use later, and the ones from the cookbooks just get looked at when I need them-which means I have to remember revisions for each one or write them in the book (something I don’t always want to do because I may need to get rid of the book one day)-.

Having a cookbook out isn’t always practical depending on the amount of counter space I have at the moment or the amount of mess I’m making. The paper copies are too flimsy to stand on their own as well as the paperback books and the hardcover books are just too darn bulky. I’m sure many of you understand exactly what I’m saying. Sometimes just getting the recipe in a place where you can properly read it can be a major pain in the butt and hinder your cooking.

I’ve been thinking for a while that I need a better, more organized way of handling my recipes, but what? I wasn’t sure until I was clicking around on Shutterfly the other evening. There in the photo books section were two very cool books you can make, and they were recipe books! One is just the simple book with recipes and pictures, the other is a more glamorous version (which is what I intend to go for, because I want what I’m reading in the kitchen to put me in the mood to cook up something good!).
Not sure how I’ll do up my recipe book(s), I’m leaning towards combining it with my meal planning so each book would feature a month’s worth of meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks(at least two of those a day)). I can do up at least two to four books (yes I have that many recipes!) and alternate between the weeks in each one so I have some variety for us each month. It’s something to mull over while I pull together all the recipes I have.

I’ll share a peek at the final product when I get it. How do you keep all your recipes organized?

And this is why we call him Professor Chaos.




I think it might be time for mommy to go back to only using the computer in the evenings once the little ones have gone off to bed. Unless I want to spend some more time getting glitter out of well…everywhere!