Our Homeschooling room.

I thought I'd take a moment to share our homeschooling room. Disregard the fact that I haven't blogged in a month. Losing my Nana hit me hard and then we rolled into normal life, blogging got left behind for a while. I plan to be more consistant, hopefully. We've moved 4 times in 18mos. We went from a 2000 sqft house,we didn't homeschool then. To a 900 sqft apartment, where we first started homeschooling. We were around the kitchen table and used a closet and a hutch for storage. It was tight but do-able. To a 1200 sqft town house, again around the kitchen table using a hutch and a chest for storage. To our current rental, 1400 sqft with a family room.

 In the tank is our pet corn snake, she was given to us by another homeschooling family, who got her from another homeschooling family. All keeping data and observations. Above are the ABC in cursive and script along with a 100 chart. The bookcase doesn't hold any homeschooling books.

This is a view of my cradt area and a hutch we use for extra stroage.

This lone shelf next to the tv is a work in progress for my craft supplies. I have a lot of yarn that isn't going to fit there. I think mostly this will house scrapbooking and fabric.

This is our main homeschooling storage. The two top bin totes are from 31 Bags and hold puzzles, games and playing cards. The shelf under them with the green bins holds coloring books, math manipulateves, Dry white boards and leveled reading books for my youngest. next level holds a bin of flash cards and sentence wood block things. Also a white tote that has all of our History curricula/books. The last shelf has craft supplies, and science kits.          The other shelf has paper on the top shelf, and fossils along with some connects. The shelf under that holds pencils, erasers, crayons, markers etc. The 2nd to last shelf has two file bins. One for each kid. The front half of it holds work organized few months and the back has extra workbooks, answer books etc. Between the two is graded work that needs to be put in their portfolios. The bottom shelf has curriculum for next year and a few grades ahead.

This is the girls work table. With some maps next to it. Sometimes one girl will choose to work at the kitchen table and one here. Often both of them here.

Lastly you see one of their pink bean bag chairs. We went with those for the portability. It's not a large room and having a sofa would eat up a lot of space. This way if they aren't using them we can move them out of the way and they have more floor space to play. Both girls have reading nooks in their rooms where a lot of our fiction books are kept.




*** Lastly if when you find some spelling and grammar mistakes know that I wrote this up in 10 minutes prior to running out the door with 2 very excited Girl Scouts.

My first Freebie!

A couple of weeks ago, pretty much once we got settled into the new house and I could remember the address, I started signing up for freebies. I found them on a few sites.

• The Money Saving Mom
• For The Mommas
• Cha-Ching on a Shoestring
• Freebies 4 Mom

I'm sure you could plug in the term "freebie" in to any search engine and find a ton more. These are the few I've been going to.

So here it is my first Freebie!

It's a 20 count of Bayer Advanced Aspirin along with a coupon for $2 off an 80 ct bottle.

I had to "like" their page, and fill out my address. It's something I'm comfortable with doing. As for the company I think they make a solid product. *

I'm looking forward to seeing what other freebies show up in my mailbox!

*Disclaimer I'm not being paid to endorce any product and while I did recieve this product for free anyone could have by clicking on and requesting a "free sample".

Rolling with the week.

My husband has taken the last two days off from work to help me process the loss of my Nana. I went back and forth with trying to decided to fly home for her funeral yesterday but ultimately decided to not go. I saw my Nana in August and I said good bye then and I'd like to remember that last time with her.

Yesterday we had a pretty typical homeschooling day. M is really coming along in phonics and B can't wait to be done with test prep. She takes her state assessment tests next week. An interruption in our day but a requirement of our state for grades 3 and up.

I've been trying to follow along with The Money Saving Mom's schedule for 30 days to a more organized home. But last week I think I got 3 of the 4 assignments done. And two of them were because I had already "done" those sometime in the last week and I called it "good".  I'll see how today's assignment goes.

Time goes on

It's been a rough week for me here. No sooner had my Mom flown home then we got word that my Nana was dying. We knew her time was short several weeks ago my Mom, who takes care of the nitty gritty of managing my Nana's care spoke with the doctors. Nana was showing less and less inclination to care for herself, not eating and just getting ready to go home to Jesus. They projected maybe 2 months but it turned out to be more like 3 weeks.

I take comfort in the fact that my Nana knows Jesus as her personal savior, that I'll meet with her again and that I got to really know her. I'm the youngest grand-daughter and the second youngest grand-child. I spend a lot of time with my her. My next closest cousin who I was raised with is 6 yrs older than I and my mom was a single mom, working full time and going to school. Nana filled the gap. She paid for dancing lessons for me when I was little for a number of years and took me to lessons. My love of musicals, swing and jazz comes from her.

I went home last August and visited my Nana, like I always do when I go home. I came back to Washington from the East Coast pretty sure that would be the last time I saw her. She isn't gone yet but she passed into a coma yesterday and based on medical info I hear (and with a nursing background, I'm able to get a really clear picture) her time is short.

 My Nana had five children but due to circumstances surrounding being a single mother of five children in 1957 she placed her youngest child up for adoption with a family who had provided childcare for her while she worked. Through the years my Nana lost contact with this family. Several years ago I found my Aunt of all places Ancestry.com. I try in my spare time to compile family history and on a message board posting I had placed 4 yrs earlier my Aunt found me. I just wish we had founder her before my Nana had a massive stroke in 2000. One of my Nana's greatest wishes has been to be reconnected with her daughter.

Most of the week I've gone on with normal life, I lucked out a bit on the 4 weeks to a clean/organized home over at Money Saving Mom. Most of the challenges this week are things I did last week as just part of life so I'm calling it good. I had this one moment on Tuesday homeschooling the kids when I burst into tears and my youngest, age 6, gave me a hug and her stuffed cat. Now her stuffed cat is well loved, she even offered to let me sleep with it. I'm giving myself grace to just let things be. I'm keeping the laundry going, the house picked up and all but beyond that this week I'm just going to be quite, reflect and enjoy a glass of wine.

Slow start Monday: Day 11

I started today with a cuppa tea (Earl Grey Cream) and a to do list.



Things to do

• Morning Routine
• 15 Minute Clean Up
• Clean out Silverware Drawer (Money Saving Mom's task)
• Reschedule Drs Appt.
• Clean Out Front Hall Closet
• Make Tuesday's Dinner
• Homeschool

I got off to a decent start I did three loads of laundry (though I still need to get that all put away so maybe not a stellar moment) I cleaned the bathrooms and mopped the floors, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the counter tops, polished the kitchen table and then I sorta stalled.

My Mom called. Now she just left yesterday to go back home to the East Coast so I was expecting her to call but the subject matter wasn't exactly what I had expected my Nana is in a decline and the doctors don't think she has much longer on this Earth. She's 89 and had a massive stroke 11 yrs ago, she never really recovered from it and over the years her mental faculties have been declining. Several months ago she stopped aiding in feeding herself and several weeks ago she started to refuse food. She doesn't have an infection, no cancer, no major illness, just done. I'm the youngest Grand-daughter by 7 yrs. I spent huge chunks of my childhood with my Nana.

I took a while to just sit and cry. My youngest daughter gave me a hug and offered me a snuggle with her favorite  well loved stuff cat, Meow Meow.  A huge offer indeed.  Cleared my eyes and got on with the rest of the day.

Homeschooled the kids. Miss M (pictured above) is working on her phonics online.

Then set to the task of cleaning out the Silverware Drawers.

Before

And After

So I got that done and um.... yeah that's it. I kinda just said I'm done for the day. Gave my sister a call, who lives on the East Coast and just kinda talked to her about our Nana. I'm not sure if I'll go home for the funeral, when/if she passes away.  I never got around to a 15minute clean-up, still need to do loads of things on my to-do list. But I'm just going to let it wait. Nothing on that list can't be done Tuesday and I'm giving myself the grace to just be.

 

Gotta Goal, Gotta Plan.

It's the dawn of a new week a fresh start. My Mom just left to return home after a week plus visit with us. It was lovely to have her here for a holiday and my birthday something that doesn't happen every year. The girls enjoyed spending time with her, hearing stories about their mom when she was a girl and just the slowing down that happens when a grandparent is visiting.

With the start of the new week I've set about making some goals. Some of them are carry over from past weeks, ones that just didn't get done due to (insert excuse here).

• Organize master bedroom closet.
• Clean out and organize front hall/living room closet.
• Unpack random box of junk. It was the last one I packed up before we moved.
• Organize lower shelves in Homeschooling room, where our actual workbooks/text books are
• Work on Continuing Education Credits for Nursing Licence.
• Fill out Order form for Curricula next year.
• Unpack books.
• Get Rid of 7 things a day this week.

I've already got my Menu Plan for the week up.

And lastly I've had this verse stuck in my head, on my heart for the last few days. I blame a song we use to sing in youth group. Hope the start of your week is a good one.

Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (KJV)

We Gotta Eat: Menu Plan for the week.

I took a look at our pantry and freezer and made up my menu for the week. This week is a pretty typical week for us: No house guests, no birthday parties, no bunco night or craft night hosting.

Monday- Venison Burgers with French fries and homemade applesauce.

Tuesday- Chicken Pot Pie with Sweet Potato Crust form the book "Mama's In the Kitchen, Weird and Wonderful Home Cooking 1900-1950" By Barbara Swell.

Wednesday: Baked potatoes with crumpled Bacon and cheese. Raw Carrots and Home canned spiced applesauce.

Thursday :Creamy Chicken Enchiladas with Salad and Corn Bread (I made this for my Bunco Night last week and the Kids asked me to make it this week).

Friday: Pasta with homemade Italian Sausage and lentil red sauce. A side salad and garlic bread.