1-
The car is cleaned out, the bags are packed, the saxophone we are delivering is in the car. We have hotel rooms, maps to (almost) everywhere we will be going, and Charlotte seems to be doing a little better today.
2-
Things I still need or want to do before we leave: reassemble car seats (had to wash the disgustingly sticky cover on Charlotte's!), unload and reload dishwasher, finish up Kindergarten with Eva (just testing on Math and Religion, and all her grades will be completed!), fold three loads of laundry, put away all laundry, make beds, drop off dog at MILs house and mooch lunch (so I don't have to dirty my kitchen), require a nap from the girls (since we'll get to our hotel tonight around midnight!), and possibly mow more of our yard. Then all I'll need to do is wait for hubby to get done with work, and then we can get going!
3-
Moved up on the cleaning list (when we get home, of course!) steam cleaning the carpet in the girl's bedroom, the office end of the kitchen and the living room...all areas affected by Charlotte's current illness. I might as well do the carpet in the bathroom while I'm at it, and I'll definitely need to do a major cleaning of the toilet inside and out.
4-
Because I am a dork (or at least, that is hubby's thought on the matter) I have set up a spreadsheet to track home school curricula that I am interested in looking at this summer at the regional Catholic homeschooling conference. I've decided on what we will be using for Phonics (because Eva loves Seton's phonics program), Science (because I found a great deal on the CathSwap yahoo group on a secular text suggested by Kolbe academy), P.E and homemaking (because I already bought the books!) I'm totally undecided on what to do for history/geography, spelling/English/handwriting, art and religion. I have a pretty good idea what I am going to do for math and Spanish.
5-
In the adjusting to farm life department, I have figured out how to plan dinner (or supper, if I was a proper farm wife...since dinner is lunch here, and I just end up plain confused!) Here's my new rule: I will delay serving the evening meal until 7:30 if hubby is still working. At 7:30, the girls and I eat whether or not hubby is home. If hubby is home earlier, I will serve dinner earlier, but that's not been an issue the last few weeks. In fact, yesterday he told me at about 5:30 that he should be home by 6:30, so I planned dinner for about 7 (he's never home when he says he will be) so naturally, his dad needed some help with something, and the girls and I started eating at 7:30 without him.
6-
We've had LeapFrog Math Circus out from netflix for over a week now...who knew the girls would like it so much!?! So, they are now watching it for the last time before we stick it back in the mail on our way out of town. I got Charlotte the LeapFrog Talking Letter Factory for Easter (because I make use of the DVD player to get Eva's schoolwork completed...Charlotte can choose a VeggieTales or other short and educational video after she is finished with her "class") I may have to look into getting more LeapFrog videos, because even though they make me want to poke my eyes out, they are very popular with the girls.
7-
Speaking of things that make me want to poke my eyes out...I have a bunch of papers sitting on my desk that I really need to get done, and soon...but I'd rather poke my eyes out. I have a 401K and a PERA (Public Employee's Retirement Association) account that I left with my last (and only) career-type job (which I left in 2002...) Late last year, I opened up and IRA, and I need to get both the 401K and the PERA account transferred into it. I doubt the two have much more than $500 combined, and the sheer amount of paperwork to get them transferred makes me stabby. But, since the account addresses have to match, I either need to get it all taken care of before our PO Box in town comes due (because we don't plan on renewing it) OR, I'll have to change addresses with all three companies involved, then wait for the addresses to be the same again and THEN fill out all the papers...Maybe I should be working on that now, rather than complaining about it...but complaining is definitely more fun!
More quick takes over at Conversion Diary!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Small Successes
My small successes this week:
1-
I have not lost my mind or my temper with Charlotte being sick. She's thrown up twice, two nights in a row (first night on her bed, her wall, and the floor in two rooms...second night on her dad...at least it wasn't me!) Her temperature reached a high of 104.6 last night at about midnight. She's back down to 101 this morning...but I am really hoping she gets better really soon, as we are supposed to drive out to Iowa for our Godchildren's first communion and baptism this weekend.
2-
I made 120 meatballs and a meatloaf this week, put 4 meals of meatballs in the freezer, served meatballs once and meatloaf once, and sent the leftover meatloaf home with MIL so that she could feed FIL who has been planting and spending most of his time in his tractor (when something is not broken down, that is!) I now have two lasagnas, two bags of taco meat and four bags of meatballs for those days when I just can't handle making a meal. My kitchen hasn't completely recovered yet...
3-
I broke down and agreed to purchase a riding mower...since we no longer have a mower, and with 2.2 acres, it's too much to mow with a normal mower (and hubby got rid of his hand-me-down 20 year old mower before the move). My original plan was to borrow MIL's mower. Also, I used the new mower...which is the first time in my 30 years of life that I have EVER used a mower of any kind...you see, I was raised that mowing was a men's job (of course, I was also raised that laundry was a man's job, and my dad did mine in college until I got married, so no commentary on traditional gender roles!) Of course, farmers seem to think that women should do the mowing, at least occasionally (such as planting season, when you don't see them for 14 hours a day...and that's if you are lucky and they come home early...) Now, if I can just find the time to go out and mow for several hours, I might be able to get part of the yard that hubby wants mowed before we leave done.
More small successes at Faith and Family LIVE!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Quick Takes Friday - my 400th post
1-
Not really surprisingly, since I do my quick takes far more often than I blog about anything else, today's quick takes happens to be my 400th post. I started this blog while I was pregnant with Charlotte, so I would guess it's been close to 4 years since I first started....so I average 100 posts a year.
2-
As mentioned below, hubby and I have been contemplating what to do for Eva's school next year. Well, we have come to some decisions for next year. We won't be sending her into the public school, but we also are not going to re-enroll with Seton. When Eva and I were doing school the other day, we ran into some frustrations with her math lesson. As much as I love a lot about Seton, my pet peeve about it is that they don't provide much in the way of information for me so that I can teach the subjects to Eva. That's really not a problem for me in any subject but Math. I am really terrible at Math, which people don't expect because I have a college degree in Accounting...let me let you in on a secret...Accountants love calculators! So, when I started looking into other math programs (some of which are pretty pricey) I looked at the price of 1st grade enrollment ($490) and then added up all the books that would come with enrollment that I might use, which totaled $103.25. So, I am going to be picking and choosing from curriculum this year. So, anybody have any great recommendations?
3-
We have been cleared to host an exchange student next year. The exchange company is still waiting on some paperwork from the high school, but our exchange student was accepted by the school board, and we passed our background check and reference check. Our exchange student will be coming from Vienna, Austria, so it should be a big change of scenery for her. MIL also has an exchange student coming...he's from Germany and is the little brother of her last exchange student. Now we just have to get the basement guest room livable!
4-
Countdown to our trip to see our godkids...T minus 7 days! Our goddaughter will receive her First Holy Communion on Saturday, and we'll gain a godson on Sunday. We are so excited to see them (and the whole family!) but are not particularly looking forward to the long drive/short weekend part of it!
5-
I've been trying to get my housework under control, but in our move, I doubled the amount of house to clean, and lost about 50 percent of my household help (hubby just doesn't have the time to help that he used to...) so, first I tried getting back into the whole FlyLady thing, and that didn't work very well, so I decided to try the Sidetracked Home Executives file card system. As of now, I have all my cleaning cards done, and they are filed and ready to go...the question is, will I get them done today? Only time will tell (and yes, I know I'd get more cleaning done if I were on the computer less...but it's my only tie to the outside world!)
6-
MIL was teasing me the other day that I'll have trouble homeschooling Charlotte because she won't be interested in anything unless it was princess related. My immediate response was that we could just do a bunch of unit studies involving princesses, but then, in my researching curricula yesterday I found some nursery school resources from Angelicum Academy: in Art - Cinderella shapes, in literature - the Red (Blue and Yellow) Fairy Book(s), and in Language Arts - Snow White pre writing skills.
7-
For Easter, we got the girls the Dogma Dogs CD (thanks for the recommendation, Whimsy!) and it is a little too catchy, if you know what I mean. I find myself wandering around several days after listening to the CD in the car singing the songs to myself. I have to admit (though hubby thinks I'm a dork because of this) I really like the song "21 Ecumenical Counsels", but the whole CD is pretty fun!
More quick takes at Conversion Diary!
Not really surprisingly, since I do my quick takes far more often than I blog about anything else, today's quick takes happens to be my 400th post. I started this blog while I was pregnant with Charlotte, so I would guess it's been close to 4 years since I first started....so I average 100 posts a year.
2-
As mentioned below, hubby and I have been contemplating what to do for Eva's school next year. Well, we have come to some decisions for next year. We won't be sending her into the public school, but we also are not going to re-enroll with Seton. When Eva and I were doing school the other day, we ran into some frustrations with her math lesson. As much as I love a lot about Seton, my pet peeve about it is that they don't provide much in the way of information for me so that I can teach the subjects to Eva. That's really not a problem for me in any subject but Math. I am really terrible at Math, which people don't expect because I have a college degree in Accounting...let me let you in on a secret...Accountants love calculators! So, when I started looking into other math programs (some of which are pretty pricey) I looked at the price of 1st grade enrollment ($490) and then added up all the books that would come with enrollment that I might use, which totaled $103.25. So, I am going to be picking and choosing from curriculum this year. So, anybody have any great recommendations?
3-
We have been cleared to host an exchange student next year. The exchange company is still waiting on some paperwork from the high school, but our exchange student was accepted by the school board, and we passed our background check and reference check. Our exchange student will be coming from Vienna, Austria, so it should be a big change of scenery for her. MIL also has an exchange student coming...he's from Germany and is the little brother of her last exchange student. Now we just have to get the basement guest room livable!
4-
Countdown to our trip to see our godkids...T minus 7 days! Our goddaughter will receive her First Holy Communion on Saturday, and we'll gain a godson on Sunday. We are so excited to see them (and the whole family!) but are not particularly looking forward to the long drive/short weekend part of it!
5-
I've been trying to get my housework under control, but in our move, I doubled the amount of house to clean, and lost about 50 percent of my household help (hubby just doesn't have the time to help that he used to...) so, first I tried getting back into the whole FlyLady thing, and that didn't work very well, so I decided to try the Sidetracked Home Executives file card system. As of now, I have all my cleaning cards done, and they are filed and ready to go...the question is, will I get them done today? Only time will tell (and yes, I know I'd get more cleaning done if I were on the computer less...but it's my only tie to the outside world!)
6-
MIL was teasing me the other day that I'll have trouble homeschooling Charlotte because she won't be interested in anything unless it was princess related. My immediate response was that we could just do a bunch of unit studies involving princesses, but then, in my researching curricula yesterday I found some nursery school resources from Angelicum Academy: in Art - Cinderella shapes, in literature - the Red (Blue and Yellow) Fairy Book(s), and in Language Arts - Snow White pre writing skills.
7-
For Easter, we got the girls the Dogma Dogs CD (thanks for the recommendation, Whimsy!) and it is a little too catchy, if you know what I mean. I find myself wandering around several days after listening to the CD in the car singing the songs to myself. I have to admit (though hubby thinks I'm a dork because of this) I really like the song "21 Ecumenical Counsels", but the whole CD is pretty fun!
More quick takes at Conversion Diary!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Go check out the carnival of homeschooling...
being hosted this week over at Home Spun Juggling, the theme: The Cartoonist's Desk.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Isolated Homeschooling
I have to admit that I am not dealing well with our transition to isolation. Being suburban born and raised, I felt fairly isolated just living in a small town, and now we are 16 miles away from the nearest small town.
So, I guess it is no surprise that I am having more days where I contemplate putting the girls in public school and getting a job (not that there are any jobs in our area that really appeal to me, anyway). I worry about Eva being so isolated, since she is so social.
Hubby and I have been discussing the public school option for a little while, but when we think about the pros and cons, homeschooling is still winning at the moment. Here's our general thoughts:
Public school pros: Eva would be around more people throughout the week, and would have some playmates other than Charlotte.
Public school cons: Eva would be exposed to more peer pressure, would probably be bored in a lot of classes, she might have to repeat Kindergarten because of the cut off dates (I am hopeful that the school wouldn't give us problems since she is enrolled in Seton, so she would be a transfer, but I just can't guarantee they wouldn't fight me on it), she would be away from home for about 9 hours a day, 5 days a week (so if we take out sleeping hours she would have around 4 hours a day at home, and would probably have homework to do during those hours), she might feel even more isolated come summers and school breaks because she would be missing her school friends.
Homeschooling pros: Eva is doing very well with her school work, she works hard and gets done with her formal school work quickly, she has time to be a kid and play, she is around to play with Charlotte, we can take a day off to travel and can take MIL to her doctor's appointments in the city, she gets to see daddy at lunch time (we aren't seeing much of him this time of year...he won't be home until their bedtime tonight), Our school and sleeping schedules can change with the farming seasons, we can slow down on school work if she is just not getting it, we can speed ahead on things that she gets quickly, she has my (almost) undivided attention.
Homeschooling cons: The girls are home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY and I don't get much of a break, the girs tend to fight with each other as the day wears on, planning school can be very draining, and I can get very frustrated if I can't seem to get a concept across, being a little bit type A, I worry about whether or not we are succeding at school.
So, what do I do to make our lives less isolated? We go to town every Monday for Eva's (private) piano lesson. We also go to town twice a month for storytime at the library, which the girls love (I really wish more moms came to it though...it was so much fun in our old town to see all my friends at the library's weekly story time...but here, most kids are brought by their grandparents/daycare providers...) Eva also goes into town every Wednesday to Relgious Education at church with grandma. I wonder if maybe I am projecting the isolated thing on her, because she seems to get along great wherever we go.
I have contemplated getting her involved in Girl Scouts, but the nearest troop is around 40 miles away. I have contemplated starting a Little Flowers group, but then I'd have to start it...I don't know of any homeschoolers in town with younger kids, and I am pretty sure we are the only Catholic homeschoolers in the area...none at the local church, anyway.
Hubby wonders if we should put her in some sort of organized sport, but those only really exist for little kids in the summer months. I am concerned about how often they would practice and have games...I don't relish the thought of driving to and from town every day of the week, but I might be willing to give it a try.
So, if you have ever homeschooled in an isolated area (or were homeschooled in an isolated area) what are your suggestions for getting through it? I am sure in a couple of years, I'll feel much more at home and have some sort of community feeling...I'm just not sure how to do so in a small town while not sending my girls to the local school.
So, I guess it is no surprise that I am having more days where I contemplate putting the girls in public school and getting a job (not that there are any jobs in our area that really appeal to me, anyway). I worry about Eva being so isolated, since she is so social.
Hubby and I have been discussing the public school option for a little while, but when we think about the pros and cons, homeschooling is still winning at the moment. Here's our general thoughts:
Public school pros: Eva would be around more people throughout the week, and would have some playmates other than Charlotte.
Public school cons: Eva would be exposed to more peer pressure, would probably be bored in a lot of classes, she might have to repeat Kindergarten because of the cut off dates (I am hopeful that the school wouldn't give us problems since she is enrolled in Seton, so she would be a transfer, but I just can't guarantee they wouldn't fight me on it), she would be away from home for about 9 hours a day, 5 days a week (so if we take out sleeping hours she would have around 4 hours a day at home, and would probably have homework to do during those hours), she might feel even more isolated come summers and school breaks because she would be missing her school friends.
Homeschooling pros: Eva is doing very well with her school work, she works hard and gets done with her formal school work quickly, she has time to be a kid and play, she is around to play with Charlotte, we can take a day off to travel and can take MIL to her doctor's appointments in the city, she gets to see daddy at lunch time (we aren't seeing much of him this time of year...he won't be home until their bedtime tonight), Our school and sleeping schedules can change with the farming seasons, we can slow down on school work if she is just not getting it, we can speed ahead on things that she gets quickly, she has my (almost) undivided attention.
Homeschooling cons: The girls are home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY and I don't get much of a break, the girs tend to fight with each other as the day wears on, planning school can be very draining, and I can get very frustrated if I can't seem to get a concept across, being a little bit type A, I worry about whether or not we are succeding at school.
So, what do I do to make our lives less isolated? We go to town every Monday for Eva's (private) piano lesson. We also go to town twice a month for storytime at the library, which the girls love (I really wish more moms came to it though...it was so much fun in our old town to see all my friends at the library's weekly story time...but here, most kids are brought by their grandparents/daycare providers...) Eva also goes into town every Wednesday to Relgious Education at church with grandma. I wonder if maybe I am projecting the isolated thing on her, because she seems to get along great wherever we go.
I have contemplated getting her involved in Girl Scouts, but the nearest troop is around 40 miles away. I have contemplated starting a Little Flowers group, but then I'd have to start it...I don't know of any homeschoolers in town with younger kids, and I am pretty sure we are the only Catholic homeschoolers in the area...none at the local church, anyway.
Hubby wonders if we should put her in some sort of organized sport, but those only really exist for little kids in the summer months. I am concerned about how often they would practice and have games...I don't relish the thought of driving to and from town every day of the week, but I might be willing to give it a try.
So, if you have ever homeschooled in an isolated area (or were homeschooled in an isolated area) what are your suggestions for getting through it? I am sure in a couple of years, I'll feel much more at home and have some sort of community feeling...I'm just not sure how to do so in a small town while not sending my girls to the local school.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Small Successes
My small successes for the week:
1-
I filled out an application for our family to host an exchange student for next year. Not sure if that makes me nuts, but if all goes well, I will be parenting a teenager and dealing with the public school system for an entire school year.
2-
We did a lapbook for school! (Well, actually I've done a bunch of lapbooks in the last two weeks because I helped MIL with her CCD program's Lenten fair, which was a lapbook thing this year) Before last Easter, I printed out a lapbook for little kids, and I meant to do it with Eva...just somewhere in there, I forgot and lost it...then it turned up during Advent (just like the Advent wreath coloring page usually surfaces during Lent)...when I packed, I must have packed it well, because it turned up during Lent this year, so all last week, we did an activity or two per day, then did the last couple of things and assembled the book on Holy Saturday...we also colored Easter eggs that day, so double success!
3-
I caught up on laundry for a day this week. I had all four of my laundry baskets sitting around with folded clothes all last week, and when the girls ran out of clothes in their drawers, I still didn't put stuff away...it took a whole day to get the laundry still in baskets put away, and all the clothes washed...and of course, right now there is a load of hubby's work clothes hanging out in the dryer, a basket of folded clothes in the living room, and at least a load of clothes (not to mention some grungy sheets on the girl's bed) waiting to be washed that I don't think I'll be able to get to today...I was caught up once this week!
More small successes at Faith and Family LIVE!
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