It’s that time of year I suppose.  I just got our standardized tests in the mail, so we’ll get to them in the next week or 2.  The math and spelling books are nearly finished and the spring weather makes it hard for the kids to concentrate.  We still have at least a month to go–but it’s nearly summer and that makes everyone feel a bit lazy.

So of course, I’ve been planning our next school year.  I’ve decided I need to take it a bit easier on myself next year–I’m going to let someone else do all the planning for a change.  So, we’re going to use Sonlight.  The twins will be using Core 1+2 and Annie will do Core 6.  We’ll use the Language Arts too–everyone’s at a different level, so we’ll be doing LA 2 w/regular readers, LA 2 w/advanced readers and Annie will do LA 6.    I’ve been lucky that I’ve gotten quite a bit of it used.  I can’t afford to buy SL new, it’s always been out of our price range.  We’ll be sticking with Math U See–the boys will be doing Gamma and Annie will be using Epsilon.

I’m still working out what we’ll use for science.  Science has always been our weak spot–not because no one likes it, but because it’s always the easiest to drop when things get busy.  So, I want to use a program.  I’m leaning towards R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey for the boys.  They want to do Earth and Space.   I’m hoping they come out with the Level 2 stuff really soon, because I can’t find anything I like for Annie.   Science is such a pain–I don’t mind a Christian slant, but I don’t believe in a young earth, and it seems like ALL the science programs out there are young earth.  There aren’t many secular science curriculums that aren’t either really expensive or textbooky.   I keep looking at NOEO, and they seem like my best bet, except that it’s a bit expensive.

I’d like to do more nature study–again, a weak spot.  I happened upon a really nice site that has great nature study guides.  It’s called Shining Dawn Books and they have a large variety of nature study guides–everything from birds to erosion.   The guides are sold as e-books and they’re pretty inexpensive.  I bought the Pond guide to try it out.  It looks really nice, and I’m hoping that now that the weather is nice, we’ll get outside more and explore our pond.

I’m looking forward to next year–I think it’ll be a fun year, and it’ll be really nice to not have to do everything myself.  Especially since I’ll be schooling with a toddler in the mix!

In honor of Earth Day yesterday, the kids and I finally tried out the first kit we received from Young Scientist Club.  Our kit was about recycling, which made it perfect to use on Earth Day.

Our project was to make recycled paper.  Now, this didn’t come out quite as we’d imagined.  They wanted us to use the paper to make labels for recycling bins.  We already recycle, and didn’t really need to make the labels, and honestly, I don’t think our paper would have held up for labels anyhow.  It was fun, but the kids were a tad disappointed that the paper wasn’t what they were expecting.

tearing up the paper

We measured 1 cup of shredded paper

Then we soaked the paper for about 5 min.

After running it through the blender, we drained the pulp on a screen

Annie sponged off the excess water

Dinoboy rolled it flat

Finally, we dried it out in the sunshine.

It was fun, but I’d like to try it on a larger scale, and with different types of paper.  We just used some regular printer paper with some bits of colored paper that they provided.

We also did an experiment on composting, which I’ll report on in a week when it’s finished.  And to finish off Earth Day, we planted a tree in our yard.  The kids even decided to name it.

Meet Bruce the Spruce.

And of course, we also spent plenty of time just playing outside.  We were blessed to have an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday, so we took advantage of it.

I have been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and it’s really convicting me of feeding my kids junk for lunch.  I started doing that because I was so tired when I was pregnant, and it was just easier, but that isn’t really much of an excuse anymore.  So, I’m trying to make healthier meals.  It’s a work in progress, and I’ve got some picky eaters, but I do what I can.

Monday

Spaghetti and Meatballs, Garlic Toast (made from leftover homemade bread)

Tuesday

Ham and Cheese Stromboli and coleslaw

Wednesday

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Peas

Thursday

Chicken Spaghetti, Garlic bread

Friday

Leftovers

For healthier lunches, I have stuff to make quesadillas with beans and cheese, tuna salad, dinner leftovers, the always popular pb & j, and roll ups (which basically consist of cream cheese, chopped up veggies, refried beans and some seasonings, rolled up in a flour tortilla).

Breakfast remains a not so healthy free for all, with the main staples being pop tarts, cold cereal and trix yogurt (the only yogurt the twins will eat).  Oh well, at least the other 2 meals are healthy, right?

I just realized that I haven’t posted a single thing since Easter!   I guess I’ve been so busy around here, I just forgot all about my blog for a while.   My father was in town visiting the week after Easter, and then this past week Cutie started getting her molars in, which means my once happy, sweet, content baby is now extremely cranky and won’t sleep at night.  So far I can only see she has one molar in–I’m hoping the rest come in quickly so we can get back to sleeping at night.

We’re getting to the end of our study of the American Revolution–it took us 2 months, but I feel like we were able to cover it pretty well.   I’m pleased with the Time Traveler’s kit I bought.  I like having little projects for the kids to do to go with our studies, and I really like not having to come up with them on my own.  Annie is really enjoying it–the twins are ready to move on to something else though.  Gamerboy really wants to do oceans next.  I’m thinking we’ll have to fit in reading Pagoo. Other than that, I haven’t planned at all yet.

It’s also getting to be the time of year when I need to order our tests from Seton.  I always dread it–which is silly, really.  The kids always do really well and they all actually enjoy taking the test.   But it always makes me nervous just the same.   I try to do our testing in early May, so that I can get everything in well before the deadline, which I think is July 1.  The sooner it’s done and out of the way, the sooner I can relax and enjoy the summer.

Happy Easter everyone!

I had many big plans for Lent this year, but I found that a couple weeks in, I started  to feel burnt out.  I tend to overwhelm myself with ideas and information, and, as always, I overdid it.  I ended up doing nothing at all, and feeling very guilty.  And then I received Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Michael E Gaitley, MIC for review from The Catholic Company. I was so blessed by this book.    It’s meant to be a do-it-yourself retreat that can be done in a weekend.   I, and I’m sure most people, don’t have a whole weekend to be alone and read a whole book straight through uninterrupted.  However, this is the sort of retreat you can do in whatever little snippets of time you can find.  And it is EXACTLY what I needed this Lent.

This book helped to understand many things that just hadn’t really occurred to me before.  The first half of the book is the actual retreat–which is really a retreat about mercy.  It uses excerpts from the works of St. Therese and St. Faustina to explain how we can console the heart of Jesus.  Now there’s a concept I’d never considered–that Jesus is continually suffering and needs to be consoled.  Michael E. Gaitley explains this beautifully, and in ways that anyone can understand.  You do not need a degree in Theology to understand this book.   Even a tired, frazzled mom can get so much out of it.  I especially loved the meditations–I’m a very visual person, and being able to “see” Christ as I was praying really helped me to focus.

The second half of the book are appendices containing Rules for the Discernment of Spirits (for little souls), excerpts from the Diary of St. Faustina, and references and notes.  It’s not essential to the retreat to read this half of the book–it’s more for afterwards, to help you continue–sort of like you’re Fourth Day, (for those familiar with Cursillo.)  This book could really be you’re entire Lenten sacrifice.  In fact, I think I’ll be rereading it next Lent.