A New Springtime

Planner Party Sept. 11-13, 2015

 There is a craze of planning on the internet lately! some very talented women have found a creative way to bring planning to a whole new level. I have been following Help! Mama Remote, she is a talented lady who shares her love of planning, Bible journaling, etc.

I am trying to set up the weekly pages according to our homeschooling classes, dinner making @ 12:00, and the kids soccer practices and games. I will also include Dr. appointments and special family occasions as well.

The process includes using washi tape, scrapbook paper, stickers, stamps, markers and pens. It can be kept simple or made as elaborate as you want! I t is a great way to use up scraps from previous scrapbook projects!

 These cute soccer stamps have been a fun addition to the spaces where I write in my kids sports dates. I picked them up at A.C. Moore about $2.

That is my spread for this upcoming week, hope you enjoy it! Happy Planning!

 

 

Home Grown

 Our little Malcolm is making so many strides especially since he has his siblings of various ages to inspire and instruct him in his everyday endevours. He has so much stimulation and support from all of us here at home that he is confident when it comes to being out in the community. Over the years of homeschooling, I have come to realize we have the ideal situation when it comes to so called "peer group" situation. I am not a believer in same age peer groups because I have seen the negative effects and dependency it can cause on children. It is not a realistic situation for real world communication, for when do we ever encounter a group made up only of one age on a day to day basis once we have left the school system. Hardly ever.

There is so much co-dependency these days and I find many people are afraid to reach out to others and make new aquaintances, I feel this is because we become complacecent in these "peer groups" and do not become comfortable with reaching out from that same age group approach. Children are especially impressionable at these young ages and become attatched to these type of settings. What I am finding is that younger ones strive to become more like the ones they are surrounded with and if that entails people of different ages they will have a repitiore of ideas and ideals to strive toward. I also find that older children of middle and high school age grow and become strengthened by being a mentor and example for younger people. This increases their confidence and sense of responsibility rather than  just trying to fit in with ones of their own age.
I am in awe of the interaction that I see on a daily basis when it comes to the benefits of homeschooling. When I was called to this vocation, a little over 14 years ago, I could never have guessed at how blessed our family would be and that we would be given such a special gift by God.

I have had my blinders removed and seen the glory of God Himself! He has given us a pure gift and has shown us by being open to life and educating these children according to His laws and His ways is a contradiction to the world. Family is the first and foremost community and from there we are called to go out to build up society not the other way around. Taking apart the family and sending them many different directions when they are still young and influentual is not the ideal situation. To have a father, mother, brothers and sisters in the home who can nuture and build up their children in love gives them and their offspring the confidence they need to become "successful" and loving citizens.

To have each other and teach each other in a home environment is just like homegrown fresh veggies.  God has always provided for us and we are not rich by any means. I believe if we live simply and humbly and strive to live in His ways by His commandments, even though we fall short of his glory He will help us along the way! 

( Malcie signing 'star')

Having a large family, a special little boy with Down Syndrome, homeschooling, and my Catholic faith have  shown me so many wonderful eye opening treasures. It shows me that I do not have to follow the crowd or the main stream but to follow God, Jesus Christ Himself, who is real in proof that in following what He says to do brings true eternal life and happiness beginning with us right here and now.

 

 

 

 

 

New Kitchen Floor Complete

The kitchen floor is finished and everything is back in its proper place.
I am so thankful and pleased with the way it turned out. It was a challenge to keep it all together in the chaos of rennovation but it is all worth it in the end.
It is a great feeling when the job is complete and order is restored. Peace and tranquility return to the home in an even stronger manner.
The cleanliness and newness of the floor adds a new sense of comfort to our home environment.

Keeping Track

  There is so much to do within our day, may household chores and many questions to be answered. I try to keep a certain order each day so things do not get out of hand. I like a neat and tidy house, of course it's not perfect but it is clean and tidy. Everything has its place.

 

 My monthly calendar is one of my most important resources. It sits on the windowsill in front of my desk where I can easily access it throughout the day. I keep track of doctors appointments, early intervention therapy, sports events and important reminders. Each child is assigned a different color highlighter, making it easier to distinguish which person has what event.

 I use a daily chart for keeping track of the kids lessons plans. They each have lesson plans fron Catholic Heritage Curricula but on this single piece of paper, I can keep track of what each child has done for that day. They have to report to me what they have done in each subject. This helps both them and myself visualize what has been done and what else needs to be completed.
 Taking pictures of the kids doing there work is also a good way to show what work they do throughout the year. As they get older though, they can tend to become a bit camera shy. Here is one of my silly geese, trying to hide her face.
Sometimes if I am lucky, I can get a shot without anybody knowing. Here  is one of my 7th grader working diligently on his school work.
 Of course, I can always get great pics of the younger ones, they are not a bit intimidated by being captured on film.
They are just too cute and irresistable and they know it, why wouldn't they want to be photographed!
I just can't get enough of this lil' guy and he keeps us smiling and laughing throughout the day!
 Keeping track of daily appointments and school can be a challenge but having a good calander and a good daily lesson plan chart helps to keep us organized and allows us to get through each week a bit easier.  Having a records of our life through pictures is also a great way to look back and see some of the many happy moments and accomplishments in our lives.

Praise the Lord,Our New Homeschool Classroom

  I have been homeschooling now for seventeen years. My nineteen year old son is beginning his second year of college @ Our Lady of the Elms for Sports Management. He has left the nest and that left us with an empty room. It was a bittersweet moment but I am sure Our Lady of Guadalupe is going to continue to take care of him. She is the patroness of our homeschool.

 This is how the room looked before, army green was the color chosen by its last occupant. He  was always into army guys, etc.

 I had other ideas,  a bright color that would remind us of outside. I had almost a whole gallon of paint left over from the mudroom project so I decided to use that. My mother and I prepared, primed and painted the room together. It is awesome to have somebody to work with. The conversations we had kept us going. It was a lot of fun planning this together.

After many Pinterest browsing sessions of other homeschool classrooms and a totally stimulating and fruitful trip to Ikea this is the finished project. I wanted the room to be an open airy space utilizing it the best way possible. We needed to get 5 desks in it and a place for lil' toddler girl. This room is 12' x9'.

This is what we came up with for lil' tot. It is in front of the closet but we will not need to access it very often. Most of the books the kids will have already at their own desks.

The desks purposely face the wall because what I have found is that the older the kids get the more they tend to want their own space. Doing school over the years at the dining room table had
sufficed but it always got a bit cluttered and crowded when 5 kids with different grade levels had their things spread out.

This spring DH got me this great printer and I have definitely used it ten times over. The bottom two cube bins hold all masters and workbooks that need to be copied. The metal racks and the desks are from Wal Mart and surprisingly very sturdy.

I used two of them one on each side of my desk. Having easy access to the things I need for the day is essential to keeping the day running smooth and less chance of any chaos. The paper tray on the top shelf to the left will hold my copy of the week's lesson plans. The kids will have their own copy at their desks.This way I can keep track and check off what is being done. Bottom magazine holders are for homeschool catalogs, answer keys, colored cardstock and one for ideas I come across for future learning or organizing. Middle shelf holds a series of books on the countries and a few science anatomy books.

On my desk top are two baskets,this one holds: phone books and daily devotionals.

The second basket, holds my spiral bound/ seven pocket folder notebook. In it I have all current event type papers: sports schedules,  current doctor info., machine instructions, bills due, and master & copies of our daily fill in school work sheet.

Most important item on my desk though is my reminder of Mother Theresa, it helps me to remember to love. It is easy to get caught up into everyday business and forget the whole reason I have been called to homeschool in the first place, to pass on the love of God.

This shelf holds some of the hands on activities for this school year. Of course on top sits the globe,  a tool we use every day and our best friend, the pencil sharpener. Next, is another globe but it's a 3D puzzle that the kids will work on. A metal punching kit I picked up in a pile of free stuff and SMATH game for multiplication amd division practice. The bottom shelf is for lil' toddler girl, easy to reach and just for her.

We have two bulletin boards and DH is working on fixing my free stuff dry erase board.

I can never have enough bulletin boards. I need to be able to put up visual reminders of things I love and my daily activities. This is the kids soccer practice schedule for August.

Last, is this cafe rodand curtain hooks with clips, an idea I saw at Ikea, it will be for displaying some of the papers the kiddos have done.

I am so happy the work is finally done on this room. I am thankful to my mother for all of her support and help she gave me to complete this project for our family homeschool. I am greatful to DH who showed me how to put in anchors and  use levels and drill bits. I am thankful to all mighty God for blessing us with a new work space. I ffel like I am writin a speech for an academy award, but that is exactly how I feel. I feel priveleged to get to be a part of a wonderful Catholic family who has come through many trails and years of challenges. For me this classroom is an award that I am so happy to have and hope to be able to use it for the Greater Glory of My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

What's going On Summer 2012

The kids are pretty good at entertaining themselves inside and out. They have found many things to do so far this summer.

Our old swingset seems to be a standard classic when it comes to summertime relaxation. I am going to call it "Old Faithful" because it has been used over many years as our family has grown.

This was Malcolm's first swing time experience and he really seemed to enjoy himself.

This young lady is looking so grown up this summer, she reminded me that we have pictures of her on the very same swing that baby boy was using. How time flies.

Sister and brother created some facial masterpieces a week ago. All of the kids took a shot at it. One looked like the Hulk, had a beard and someone had a butterfly face.

My reader girl has been devouring books, she read 55 of the Rainbow Magic Fairy Book Series this school year and hasn't stopped yet. She is participating along with her siblings in the "Dream Big" summer reading program. Here she is standing next tothe poster we created as a family for our local library. Read On!

This book inspired me to set up some papers for the kids to write some summer-themed acrostics. I just cut up some small papers with the words from the book going straight down the side and they filled in the rest and decorated them with some stickers.

Of course it was easy to do the word BEACH our favorite place to go!

A bit of sewing is always on our list, I wanted to make some handmade toys and weed out some of the commercial plastic junk so here is what I was inspired to do:

A seahorse puppet. I am working on a starfish, and plan to make an octopus, sandollar, a whale and a fish.

We have also been able to enjoy the beauty of DH's garden. He has been blessed with the gift of growing such wonderful lucious flowers but not only does he produce flowers

he grows all kids of veggies for us to eat.

We are so blessed to have so a wonderful home where we can do so many wonderful things. Inside or or we have many opportunities to be creative or just relax. Summer is a great time to reflect on being content...

he sure is!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angry Bird Makes Happy Boy

The boys have been into the game, "Angry Bird" lately.  They have been winning the stuffed animals out of the claw machines at the grocery store. Being so generous they have been sharing them with baby Malcolm and he seems to enjoy exploring them.

Although Malcolm has Down Syndrome it doesn't hinder him from getting in on the current trends or  the current intrests of the other kids in the house. As a matter of fact he makes all of our endevours even more interesting.

The boys were so excited to let me know that he was quite entertained by the soft, big-eyed ackward looking creatures! He has even tried using them as teethers.

Angry birds make baby boy very happy...

and I can't think of a better use for them.

Even The Sea and the Wind Obey Him

The other day we had several tornado watches in our area, the kids and I were at home and we got a warning call from DH and a caring neighbor. We watched the weather reports on our local tv channel but more importantly we prayed a prayer against storms. We made the sign ofthe cross (t) after each sentence in the prayer below. I was at peace putting all I had in the hands of God. The tornado did not hit our town but there was much devastation a few towns and city east of us, about 15 minutes away. We are praying for all of those affected.

 Later, in the evening, as the sun was setting we had another bout of bad weather.

 

The sunset was beautiful but the clouds looked feirce.

 
DH , I and the kids were watching the clouds and it began to get darker and darker...

 

and even darker.

  

The clouds were swirling around each other looking so unsettled and upset. I was glad when the storm finally passed by.

Prayer Against Storms

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace. +
God became man, + and the Word was made flesh. +
Christ was born of a Virgin.+
Christ suffered.+
Christ was crucified.+
Christ died.+
Christ rose from the dead.+
Christ ascended into Heaven. +
Christ conquers. +
Christ reigns. +
Christ orders. +

May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning.+
Christ went through their midst in Peace, +
and the Word was made flesh. +
Christ is with us with Mary. +
Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the
Generation of Juda, the Root of David, has won. +

Holy God! + Holy Powerful God! + Holy Immortal God! +
Have mercy on us.

Amen.

 

Week's End and Vacation Wrap Up

Thursday, was a busy errand running day. Household supplies and groceries needed to be replenished so we headed out the store and did our weekly shopping.  By the time we got home, it was time to make dinner. 

I am not the best or most creative cook but my kiddos do like my homemade macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. We had some sliced cucumbers and/or raw carrots on the side. My kids would rather eat raw veggies than cooked.

 I want to make dinner more interesting. I tried this once before using some recipes from the internet and some of the things the kiddos enjoyed others they balked at. My Dh likes routine so if I made five dishes the same each weekday he wouldn't mind. I think I tend to get bored with the same old things so I get discouraged.

Since I am a Martha Stewart fan, I decided to buy this "Everyday Food" magazine to try and put a lil' pep in my kitchen step. I am enjoying looking through it and next week I will attempt one recipe for dinner and one dessert . Of course I will blog about it if I pull it off. Say some prayers.

Later, in the evening I treated my self to a trip to the Christmas Tree Shops and got a few fun summer decor items.

The cute glass jar candle holder and the star fish dish were what I came home with. I filled a jar I already had with some fish tank gravel and a few shells from DH's aquarium stuff. I think it may be a bit premature for summer decor but was inspired by this new Pottery Barn summer catalog. 

 Friday, is the last day of our spring vacation and Hubby surprised me by talking half a day.

The kids got to decide where they wanted to go and unanimously they chose the Williamsburg Country Store. It is a cute lil' shop with candy and all kinds of fun things to look at.

We all sat on the picnic table and ate our sweet treats and enjoyed the spring sights and sounds.

Lastly, before we headed home we stopped at JoAnne's Fabrics and I picked up some journal goodies, some paint ( color: sea foam) and my good ole' white thread.

These stamps & stamp pads are wonderful and they are only $1 each. They are great for card making and journals.  They also have them in sea shells and beach themes. I have been picking up a few each week. You can find them at Michael's and JoAnne's. I can't wait to do some more projects!

Well that's a wrap up of the last two days of our spring vacation. It went by too fast but it was great. We actually didn't accomplish our reading so that will be incorporated into our school schedule next week.

We did manage to get the preparations done for our sun painting project but we still have to do the actual painting. Maybe over the weekend.

I enjoyed my time off and I also loved reading posts of what others did during their vacation.

Computer Down

 I haven't been blogging at all for the past month because my computer is out of commission. Hubby finally got around to disconnecting the machine and is getting ready to send it out. I have been able to get supper ready on time a lot more since the I haven't been able to blog. I know that is a good thing but at the same time it hasn't given me much time to reflect on my life. I do need some personal time and I use my blog to keep an account of all of the precious moments and blessings I have in my life.

 It has been a blessing to me as a, stay at home mom, to be able to share and read about other mom's and their families. Since I haven't been writing it has been difficult for me to appreciate my vocation and to remember that I do have a valuable role as wife, mother and homeschooler.

 The time off of the computer has aloud me to see how much I miss writing and sharing and that is has been a gift from God to me. I hope to be back on-line soon and I hope to hear from you all soon.