Today was our first official day off of school. Mondays are always off, so that wasn't anything new. Today brought the first taste of real freedom. My kiddos were quite happy with a walk to the park and playing with cousins! I was quite happy with naptime following this adventure!!! =) We are still continuing writing, as Dude seems to be having a bit of trouble with his dictation, and that needs to be remedied before we try to move on to the next level in that subject. Thankfully, that means less than 20 minutes a day! Am I the only crazy one that goes a little nuts when summer comes around? All of the sudden, I've jumped on about 5 projects that I've been plotting to do. Quilting has suddenly come alive again in my household, after a roughly 8 month dormancy. Yesterday brought new bookshelves and storage boxes to the kids' room to replace the small set of shelves that was in there. The shelves were bought, assembled, and filled all within the span of the afternoon and evening! Today I started filling a couple of those boxes to help clear out their closet. This summer brings lots of changes in preparation for next school year as well as a new baby! Here's a couple of shots of the project - one showing the old and new bookshelves side-by-side, and the other showing the bookshelves all nicely filled and organized! This change in furniture is only the bare beginning of the preparatory work for moving around the other two extra rooms of the house - the study and nursery, soon to swap places. First up, the kids' room had to be cleaned up and organized, and I needed to see how much was moving out of the current study and how much will move into the new study. I also have to prepare their closet for a third child's clothes to be stored in there. Scoot's already been sleeping in the big kids' room, but I haven't yet moved her clothes out of the nursery. It's time! Ironically, the quilting is also part of the moving process!!! I've had projects piling up that I want to do, with fabric that I want to use for them... and I'm about to have a good bit less space. Time to use it up! Monkey is getting a "big girl bed" quilt that I should have made a couple of years ago. The last of that fabric got cut this evening. I"m also working on a surprise for a friend, which will alleviate an entire large bin's worth when done. Along with this is also a project started last summer, with the intent of a Christmas present for Monkey. Time to finish that up and get it out! Or put away for this coming Christmas or birthday. =) I also have a few quilts for our bed that have been waiting in the wings, so they've come up front and center. Even the Principal has a surprise buried in this mountain of stuff... keep an eye on my other blog for updates on my projects! =) Here's a sneak peak at one of my projects going on: Besides all of this, I finally feel like I'm beginning to get a bit of a handle on the kitchen and laundry, too! Maybe by the time we start back up in July I'll have a good system down, and a much better organization system in place along with that new schoolroom/study!
So, tell me, am I the only one that goes a bit crazy when school is out and lessons no longer are taking up many of the hours of the day? What do you do when school comes to a close?
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Yep, you guessed it! If you've read our "About Us" post, then you may have noticed in the introductions of Scoot that I said "currently bringing up the rear." There was more to that! I'm about to head into that not-altogether-unknown-territory so many homeschool mamas have gone through - pregnancy and homeschooling! (Followed quickly by a newborn and homeschooling!)
For us, this will be a first! When Scoot was born, we were not yet formally schooling Dude. He was still in his preschool time, with no set schedule or curriculum. Our time was much more free to arrange. Am I nervous? Oh yeah. This is certainly new territory, and homeschooling is a lot of work. So is a newborn. Balancing the two should prove interesting! What are my plans? As of now, we're 4 weeks away from the end of our current school year. The countdown to "summer break" is on!! We'll take a couple of months off, and around July I look to start "next year." Yes, that means we're going to more of a year-round schooling schedule. We've been headed there anyway, since our self-employed household tends to run on a different schedule than the "typical" family schedule. I hope to accomplish around 2 months of school (taking us through August), maybe take a couple of weeks off in there, and then school from mid-September until about the middle of October. Baby #4 is due on the 30th. At that point, we'll see how I'm feeling. Any mama reading this will understand that the end of pregnancy isn't exactly the time you feel like doing a whole lot of intensive work, especially anything that requires a great amount of patience. Homeschooling does. Therefore, I think we'll just take that time off, and resume once the baby is around 6 weeks old and some sense of sanity has been regained in the house! =) That means around the end of November/Middle of December we'll pick back up where we left off, working up until at least mid-December (closer to Christmas if the baby comes around due date), before we break for a couple of weeks around Christmas. I don't want to take too much time off, and lose ground in our studies, or lose discipline in our school habits. Both of those I've seen take place after extended breaks! I've also been playing around with the idea that I've seen of either 4 weeks on/1 week off or 6 weeks on/1 (or 2) weeks off for our scheduling outside of around the baby's arrival time. I'll have to get my new calendar soon and see if either would work out! Of course, I'll work to keep you posted and updated on what actually happens. Pregnancy is unpredictable, and even though I'm (mostly) out of the throes of morning sickness, I'll have to take whatever else gets thrown at me along the way! What do the kids say, you ask? Well, the girls are just excited about a baby. Dude, upon hearing that a new one was coming, said in desperation, "I hope it's a boy!" And then, flinging himself backwards upon the carpet, "I'm surrounded by GIRLS!!!!!!" Well, he obviously has strong feelings on the subject! The Principal? Believe it or not, he's rather hoping for another little girl! As for me, I really don't have a preference one way or the other. Just a warning - don't hold out for a gender announcement in the next couple of months! We have waited until birth with all 3 of ours so far, and plan to do the same with this one. We, of course, now have sets for the baby's room in both girl and boy prints, so we're set either way. We are just praying for a healthy pregnancy and a smooth labor and delivery, with a healthy, happy, baby and mama at the end of things! =) |
Mother of Dude, Monkey, and Scoot... and a new one on the way!I think that about sums it up! :) Before shopping online, be sure to sign up for ebates and earn money back at many, many online stores!
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August 2014
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