Making Weekly Lesson Plans

how do you prepare for homeschool on a weekly basis? I'm sitting down now, on a Sunday night, to write out my lesson plan for the next week:


(I promise I didn't stage that photo, it's just what I was working on when I snapped a pic with my phone.) We use the My Father's World curriculum for kindergarten, which I truly LOVE. Shiloh has learned so much from its focus on Biblical principles and she's reading on an almost first grade level! I'm not a fan of the non-math and have to supplement on my own with that, but I'll make another post about that later.

For now, I keep a large planner. I go through the curriculum handbook and write down all of the activities as well as the credit hours earned. I also keep a running total of hours in an Excel spreadsheet that I update periodically. I would like to say that I update it weekly as I should, but I'm not that organized yet. Every month or so, I'll go back through the planner and update the spreadsheet so I can see if we need more hours in a certain subject or area and I try to plan accordingly.

Luckily, Shiloh's in Kindergarten. that means, that 1) I'm not even required to log my hours, even though I do because I'm paranoid and 2) she only needs half of the hours required for first grade for Kindergarten, so I know that she's getting way more than is necessary at this point. So, really, this is a try-out year where we're just beginning to get our stuff together. And that's okay, I think I'm really beginning to get a feel for how our own homeschool should work.

Next, after I write out our lesson plan, I gather all worksheets and materials needed for that week. If there are still items that I'll need, I make a list and determine to go to the store on a certain day to get said items. Now, if I were really prepared, I would do this several weeks or months in advance so I knew what items I needed and I already had them. Like I said, not quite there yet. Week by week is where we are at this point. ;o)

For example, this is our "homeschool hub" where everything school related is stored.



Our house isn't exactly large and we don't have a basement area in which to conduct school. Therefore, our school space is the kitchen table. This file cabinet sits in the corner of our kitchen area, right next to the table. That might seem frustrating or in-the-way to some people, but it works for us. I don't think it's altogether unseemly when everything is put away, if we had an actual 'decor,' the cabinet isn't so hideous as it would clash with it, and it's just so darn convenient to have everything right there. I keep file folders for all of her school work and all materials that we use on a weekly basis here and now that I'm watching a baby in my house during the day, having a different "out-of-the-way" place to do school wouldn't make much sense -- we'd just end up at the kitchen table anyway.

So, we have our folder that we look at every morning in which I've put all worksheets we'll use for the week as well as any other papers or small charts that we use consistently such as her Blend Ladder, ABC Chart, 100 Chart, etc.

I'm still getting the hang of this, but I'm enjoying it immensely and Shiloh is really doing so well.

For those readers who homeschool, how do you organize/plan your lessons? Do you have a set space where you teach every day? Do you keep your plans on the computer or in a planner? Any ideas for how to streamline lesson planning?

What I'm Reading. Plus a Picture.

"Thinking Parent, Thinking Child" by Myrna Shure

I rented this from the library and I've heard positive things about it. We'll see. We're going through a very difficult phase with Shiloh right now and I could use all of the help and extra insight I can get. I'm not sure if it's independence, more self-awareness or just plain stubbornness, but it's a daily challenge.

I've grown accustomed to reading Christian parenting books almost exclusively in recent years, so it's a little difficult to look at this book through those eyes. I'm just in the first bit, so I'm not giong to judge it on that point just yet, but it's just... different. At any rate, I'm not a fan of the book cover. Maybe things like that don't matter to you, but they drive me crazy. The cover image sends a pointed message -- the father is lagging behind with his hands in his pockets while the mother is enthusiastically leading the way. As our brother James would say, "My brothers, this should not be!" (Js 3) As the spiritual leader, the father should be leading the charge and setting the example, not the other way around. Again, it's just a picture. Not a big deal. But it bothers me. Then again, what doesn't...? ;o)

One of the main points of Shure's method seems to be asking children to think about how what they're doing makes them feel and how they think it makes you feel. You're encouraged to ask your children if they can think of a different way to solve problems, the goal being to help them arrive at their own solutions, thus being more willing to carry them out. I completely get the logic. Today, Shiloh was making a slew of bad choices. Very calmly, I asked her to maybe think of some other ways she could solve the problems she was having. "Can you think of a different way to get what you need right now?" I probed. She glared at me with all the hatefulness of a 5 yr-old tantrum and said "No! I like THIS way!!!" ..... Yeah. It's a work in progress. I then proceeded to yell back and after much goings-on, sent her to her room. I had this book in my hand whilst doing so. And yes, I see the irony in that. Like I said, I've only read the first bit. ;o)


"The Raw Food Lifestyle" by Ruthann Russo

Seems to be a good introduction so far. We've been on and off about this for awhile. The benefits seems so numerous and in conjunction with many of our beliefs about health and nutrition, but, admittedly, it's a very difficult lifestyle change.

We're already vegetarians and have been for five years now. We've been vegan, but added dairy back into our diet for a season and are now addicted to cheese again. :o( Shiloh is comfortable with eating many different kinds of food, has never had meat (unless on accident -- think gelatin in fruit snacks given by teachers, friends, etc) and didn't even have dairy until she was 2.5 years old. She eats very well and a wide variety of foods, is always willing to try new things, so I don't think a raw food diet would be a challenge for her at all.

Us, on the other hand...

Our goal is to eventually be at least 80% raw. At that point, a person can reap all of the benefits of going completely raw while still indulging in some cooked food on occasion. That's where I'd like to be. We began our "raw journey" in the fall and it was FABULOUS. I loved it. Avocados, bean sprouts, fresh foods, non-processed, it was amazing. Then it got cold. And so did I. It was really difficult for me to avoid comfort winter foods such as potato soup, chili and even just plain old mac n cheese. I missed it terribly and was freezing all the time. I understand that there are certain "warming" foods that you can eat to prevent this, but it just wasn't the same. It was a difficult transition, and Rick and I both eventually reverted back to our default vegetarian diet. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up and spring is close and we're planning our garden, I'm hoping to get "back on the wagon" and try again. We'll see how it goes.


This picture is just about one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

This past summer, we had to put down our dog Dallas. He had been with us since Rick and I were dating, was the BEST dog. He had an incredibly sweet nature, was just 100+ pounds of furry love. He was a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix and was 12. He had many health problems and had become incontinent. Shiloh was very attached to him.

She still gets very upset about him having died and will periodically cry about it in the most random of times. In the car the other day, she was having one of these times and we told her to think of where Dallas might be now. She searched around in the car and found some crayons and paper and drew this picture.

It's Dallas with his "weird crazy" hair smelling a flower. Because that would make him happy. And he's in heaven, and heaven is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he is completely surrounded by shining stars everywhere he looks and he's always happy.

I love her.

She said that she wanted to hang this in her room so that any time she was upset she could look at it and know that Dallas is happy and she wouldn't miss him so much.

:o)

this is my problem. i'm way too black and white. very rarely do i see shades of grey in anything or anyone. it nearly kills me to deviate from my routine. "if everything just goes according to this plan, then i know how everything will turn out and i can control it all."

except, also very rarely, does anything go according to plan. my problem with this is that i see point A, and i see point B, and i see the straight line you take to get from A to B. i do NOT see nor do i understand, the detour that you take off of the straight line and you somehow end up cleaning up a 5 yr-old's poopy accident when you were supposed to be doing your homeschool lesson. again, nearly kills me. even though i know that one of the perks of homeschool is being able to do your lesson whenever. i can do the lesson later, i know that, when we have more time. but i don't want to do it later. i want to get it finished now and i want a 5 yr-old that will stop playing for two seconds and go to the flippin bathroom! i would be less angry if i came home one day and found that someone had broken into my house than i am when she has an accident b/c she didn't want to stop playing. seriously.

i love being a mom. potty training is the worst thing in the entire world, i hate it. period. you feel like you have to go, you go. it's worth the 30 seconds it would take to jump up and use the bathroom now than wait and have a huge mess to clean up that takes 20 minutes. and worst of all, it completely ruins my plans!!! the baby only sleeps sporadically in the morning and we don't have much time to finish school. but, instead of doing school while the baby slept, i was cleaning up a poopy accident. and we didn't have time for school. *deep breath*deep breath*deep breath* ... *sigh*

now, on most big things, i can go with the flow. our car dies. okay. nothing i could have done about that, we'll fix it when we can, whatever. the dog throws up. ew. i'll clean up, they're probably sick, okay. but when it's something that is able to be controlled, it kills me to have to deal with it!

i really need to work on that. and be more flexible. and probably nicer, too. :o)

I. Am. Stressed. Out.

we woke up this morning to frozen water pipes. completely frozen. we think we know where the problem is and we're working on fixing it, but for right now, none of the faucets work, we can't flush the toilet, etc.

this makes me angry. as if my house wasn't already a mess, i now can't do my dishes, do laundry, etc.

i have many things to do before we leave for kentucky on thursday that are compeltely on my shoulders. hence, the messy house.

it's driving me crazy.

and now, no water.

continuing to drive me crazy.

i knew that i was in no state to be civil, so i sent the kids to their rooms to play this morning until i got breakfast ready in order to avoid the inevitable meltdown. from me. it just so happens that i have a certain five-year-old who, much like her mother, refuses to listen to reason most times and resists what she doesn't understand. like, 'why do we have to be in our rooms unless we're in trouble?' she followed me around the house asking 'why? why? why? why?' and i totally yelled at her.

like bigtime.

like, the inevitable meltdown. from me.

needless to say, i feel like a pile of crap of right now and pretty much the worst mom ever. so i apologize and tell her that i'm not really mad at her, it's not her fault, i'm stressed out b/c of the water, etc. and she's awesome, says "thank you for apologizing, mom" and goes back to her room.

and then, i hear her singing a song. she sings nearly nonstop as it is, but the song she was singing was God gently reminding me of something very important:

Give thanks, Give thanks, with a happy heart.
Give thanks, Give thanks, with a happy heart.
God has given us all we need.
With thanksgiving, sing with me...
Give thanks, Give thanks, with a happy heart.

and, again, i am shamed by my shortsightedness and unwillingness to see how blessed i truly am. and that there are millions upon millions of people whose daily lives embody this crisis, and i've been without water for two hours.

*sigh*

God must love me a lot to tolerate me like he does.

Shirt Re-Fashion for Shiloh

i thought i'd share this "upcycle" that i did last night. i was going through my closet and realized that i NEVER wear this shirt. it's made of pretty nice material, it's a decent design, it just doesn't fit me quite right and it's a little uncomfortable. soooo, i decided to give it a new life as a dress for shiloh.



she wore it to church this morning.

i trimmed some off of the sides and separated the bust from the bottom of the shirt to get rid of any bunches. then, i sewed them back together. next, i sewed the two overlapping bust pieces together so they wouldn't gap (and wouldn't be indecent!). because the material was so stretchy, after i re-connected the top and bottom sections, the fabric still looked sort of stretched in places and bunched, so i added a belt made from some scrap brown fabric i found in my stash. i tacked it in the center back and tied it on loosely, so that it hung down a little bit, but gathered all of the extra bunches that were a little unseemly (or unseAmly -- get it? hah! yeah, okay, i'm corny.).

anyhoo, she liked it quite a bit and had no problem posing for the camera in her new dress.




it's been awhile since i've sewn, and now i've caught the bug again. i'm going to go through my closet and "give-away" piles and see what else i can refashion. :o)

Wha....?

this is sort of craziness, i think, and i am waaaaay confused.

okay, so i got a call today from my licensing worker. she had discovered that i had a blog and that there was some inappropriate information on it.

let me just say, first, that i love my licensing worker (especially now that she reads my blog! ...... i'm just kidding -- i think tricia is awesome regardless of whether or not she reads my blog!). and i'm not upset at her in any way over any of this. she and i had the same understanding before all of this came about, but apparently we were mistaken. blah.

a person whom i came across in the foster care system requested to be a friend of mine on facebook. i confirmed it. on my facebook page she saw a link to my personal blog. she went to it. apparently, she was very displeased with what she read and called my foster care agency to complain!!

i've had to remove two posts that contained obscure references to my current and past placements.

now, i WILL admit that i had, some months ago, posted a very funny picture of a baby we had in our care, without thinking much about it. i shouldn't have, i realized my mistake, and i removed it as soon as i became aware that it was still up.

then, i get a call back again later today that says not only was THAT the issue, but that this person was upset that i wrote in another post about receiving placements as well as their ages. .... yeah.

so, now i'm not supposed to even mention that i'm a foster parent? ever? am i never allowed to say that i have 4, 5, 6 kids in my home? am i never allowed to mention that shiloh had fun playing with "so and so" today? am i never allowed to suggest that i'm tired from staying up all night with a ghost baby that lives in my house? please!!

foster parenting is a MAJOR part of my life! how on earth am i supposed to "hide" it?

i mean, whatever. it's just a blog post. i'll take it down, fine. but i specifically asked this question when i was in my licensing classes b/c my husband and i are both bloggers, albeit inconsistently. we had a personal blog at the time where we shared photos with our out-of-state family and friends and wondered how that would work with foster children. the workers' answer was that we were not allowed to post pictures or use real/full names, for obvious reasons. completely understand.

which is why this is so irritating! i love being a foster parent. i go to every team meeting, every court date, transport to every visit for every one of my placements, and i'm going to get in trouble over this?! there are people out there who stick their foster kids in the barn to sleep (for real!!) and i'm going to get in trouble over this?!

i'm not the only blogger to discuss foster parenting, by the way. i have many blogs on my blogroll in many different areas of the country where they discuss specific cases, use names, and some are even so bold as to post pictures. *gasp* i'm not going to name them here b/c i don't want someone going to their page and causing a stink in their lives like this has caused in mine.

so frustrating. if they ask me to remove a picture or name, i understand. i send many pictures of our kids to friends and family via email and our blog and it may happen accidentally. i have no issue whatsoever with removing any inappropriate confidential information. but to go so far as to say that you're upset that i even mention that i'm a foster parent....?

so, anyway. in this hypothetical world, i'm a hypothetical foster parent and will be going now to make dinner for my hypothetical foster children, in addition to my one biological child, who apparently is the only one that's worth mentioning.

(p.s. -- i'm sure i'll come back and apologize tomorrow for the rant, but for today, i feel it's justified. i'm just a little miffed.)

Success!!!

I made soap!! okay, well, i didn't really make soap. i made the melt-and-pour kind, where you buy the base already made, then you melt in down, add your own fragrances and colorant, and put it into the mold of your choice. but, still! a few hours ago, there was no orange soap in my house, and now there is! i made soap! :o)

if you think you're seeing things in the soap, it's because you are. i thought it would be weird to put things in the soap as it was hardening, just to see it what it would look like. not sure why. i rummaged around in the kids' toys and found a few very small things that they would never miss (until they see them in the soap!) to put in there. i used way too much fragrance and colorant, though, so i'll need to scale that back next time.

i've got some lye, shortening, and everything else i need to make the REAL kind of soap, though, that needs to cure and set and that will burn your skin off while you're making it if you're not careful. i have a recipe that supposed to produce this really rich, creamy, soap that you can use for the shower. i'm interested to see how that goes!

second thing i made today -- quilt and pillow for shiloh. in the st louis area, it takes fifty years to get to wherever you're going, it seems. you can't just "run out to the store" and grab a thing or two, you'll be gone for half an hour, at least! the kids are always wanting to take pillows and blankets in the van, then they leave them in the van, then they don't have pillows and blankets inside to use, then they find some more, then the next time we leave, they want to take more pillows and blankets in the van... it's a vicious cycle. so, i'm making them both pillows and quilts that STAY.IN. THE.VAN.

i let them choose their fabric. i LOVE this cool flower print that shiloh chose.


(sorry about the lighting -- it looked much better through my camera!)

closer look at the fabric:

and shiloh refused to pass up an opportunity to have her picture taken, of course:


tyler's is a fighter-jet print with a black backing. i'm still learning as far as quilting goes. with shiloh's, and her friend katelyn's that i did awhile back, i did a super-easy wavy line to quilt the front, batting, and back together. i'm going to try a diamond patterned quilt with tyler's. we'll see. i haven't yet ventured into the quilt piecing and designing or anything, yet, though. i just learned how to make mitred corners (although, they're not even really mitred, just made to look that way!).

anyhoo, i'll get better. it was a fun day of making things, though! :o)

LIke Dandelion Dust

i was sort of speechless when i saw this trailer. it's an important movie, i think, and i hope that it captures the real experience. while we haven't been through an adoption yet, we're intimately familiar with the social care system and how warped it can be.




i'm dying to see it, but a little freaked out to see it, too, b/c i know i'll feel nervous and be all emotional. what do you think?

Spirited Shiloh?

So, today, I was reading Always and Forever Family, and I came across this excerpt from the book Raising Your Spirited Child. I read over the broad characteristics of a "spirited child," and went to amazon.com and bought the book immediately. (note that in the above picture, i caught her jumping around on the furniture, so she's in mid-air, signing 'i love you' at me).

1. 
   

1. Intensity:
   The loud, dramatic spirited children are the easiest to spot. The don't cry, they shriek. They're noisy when they play.
   But quiet, intently observant children may also be spirited. They assess each situation before entering it as though developing a strategy for every move; their intensity is focused inward rather than outward.
2. Persistence:
   If an idea or an activity is important to them, spirited children can "lock" right in. Getting them to change their minds is a major undertaking. They love to debate and are not afraid to assert themselves.
3. Sensitivity:
   Quickly respond to the slightest noises, smells, lights, textures, or changes in mood. They are easily overwhelmed in crowds by the barrage of sensations.
   Every sensation and emotion is absorbed by them, including your feelings. They'll tell you that you are having a rotten day before you realize it yourself and even scream and sulk for you.
4. Perceptiveness:
   Send them to their room to get dressed and they'll never make it. Something along the way will catch their attention as they walk by and they'll forget about getting dressed. They notice everything - the latest oil spill, the white feather in the bird's nest, and the dew in the spiderweb. They're often accused of not listening.
5. Adaptability:
   Spirited children are uncomfortable with change. They hate surprises and do not shift easily from one activity or idea to another.

These are the common characteristics of spirited children but there are another 4 characteristics that are "bonus" characteristics.

1. Regularity:
   Figuring out when they will sleep or eat is a daily puzzle for parents of spirited kids who are irregular. It seems impossible to get them on to any kind of schedule. An eight-hour night of undisturbed sleep is a mere memory lingering in your mind from the days before their birth.
2. Energy:
   Not all spirited kids are climbers and leapers. But they do tend to be busy - taking things apart, exploring, and creating projects - from the time they wake up until they finally fall asleep.
3. First Reaction:
   A quick withdrawal from anything new is typical of many spirited kids. Any unfamiliar idea, thing, place, or person may be met with a vehement no. They need time to warm up before they're ready to participate.
4. Mood:
   The world is a serious place for some spirited kids. They're analytical, picking apart experiences, finding the flaws, and making suggestions for change. Their smiles are few and far between and they may be prone to whining.

The "Bonus" characteristics are not common to all spirited kids, but if your child possesses any of them you will need to be even more enterprising. You're not only living with a child who is more, but you're also faced with the exhaustion of life with a kid who is energetic, needs little sleep, expresses a strong resistance to new situations and things, and shares fewer rewarding smiles.

Really, Shiloh is an incredibly happy child and smiles a lot. I get a LOT of rewarding smiles, so I don't think that really applies. But every other characteristic, though, describes my little girl. I know that I, myself, was a spirited child and that Shiloh has my exact personality with her dad's spazoid-ness thrown in. And while it certainly doesn't make me love her any differently or less, for goodness sake, I truly believe that spirited children are more difficult to parent that their counterparts.

I'm excited to read this book.

In other news, Rick is en route to Nashville, TN right now for another week of training. He'll be gone til Saturday afternoon, be home that night and leave Sunday afternoon for CA for yet another week of training. I'm so glad that he's learning more about what he loves, but i'm also looking forward to when he's done and we can finally settle in for the school year.

Anyhoo, here's another look at my spirited child:


love.her. and those smiles really are the best. :o)

not been up to much...

...just doin' summer-y things. :o) this summer, we've gone swimming A LOT. everyone is super tan, especially shiloh, who never seems to burn! we've been camping, to a water park, to kentucky, on hikes, done tons of coloring and painting, and let's not forget the old' faithful, McDonald's playland, for those rainy days. :o)

we've enjoyed the summer off from accepting new placements, but are now back to taking in more. we've added our name back to "the list" and listed our vacancies, and we'll see what happens! i wouldn't expect any calls until the beginning of the month, though. still praying for that special child(ren) to come up for adoption, though. we've let all the social workers that we know aware that we're looking to adopt, and we're just waiting for God's timing. while we have no problems at all with international adoption, we just feel wrong every time we look into it. nevermind the financial issue -- if God's will was for us to adopt internationally, he would make a way -- it's just that every time we try to forge ahead with a "plan" to seek out adoption, we feel God gently pushing us back, telling us to wait. but waiting is so hard!! ah, well. He knows best. in the meantime, we'll just keep doing what He's called us to, and take in children as they come, helping them get back to their families. we're getting pretty good at it by now, i think! and i think shiloh is starting to understand it better, although she definitely longs for a permanent sibling. *sigh*...

anyhoo, that's that. here's some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks. our other kids, tyler and rachel, aren't in these b/c we can't post pictures of them publicly while they're still in state custody. rachel is gearing up to go home within the next few weeks, and we're still not sure how long tyler will be with us. his case keeps dragging on...

first of all, here's shiloh at an impromptu photo shoot i did with the kids at a local park. they all looked so cute one day, that i couldn't pass it up! shiloh wouldn't stop laughing, though!



shiloh and i on the back deck. i was taking some pictures of tyler's new haircut, and of course, shiloh couldn't be left out. she wanted to take a picture of us both:





okay, not sure if you'll be able to see them or not, but there are two teeny tiny frogs in there. at the beginning of the summer, we left for the weekend and came home to about three hundred tadpoles that had hatched in our pool. we kept some and watched them turn into frogs. they've got an actual mini terrarium-type thing now, but this was our makeshift one until we got to the store. they literally sprouted legs overnight! the picture is sort of sideways and it's blurry -- sorry! there's one stuck on the right side, near the top and a little green one sitting on that big rock in the middle. they're still only about a half inch long! the kids had a good time going out back and finding rocks for them. :o)





rachel and lump. just thought this was funny. i can post it b/c rachel's face isn't showing. the reason i took a picture is b/c , as spastic as lump is, he actually let her cover him up with a blanket! i took three or four pictures before he moved. he must have been really tired or something... (notice the baby is walking in shiloh's dress-up high-heels. diva in the making...)


...wonder where she gets it? :o) here's shiloh dressed up in snow white the other day. she had to dress up her dog. that dog is actually my dog that my mom got me from Build-A-Bear. when rick and i got married, we had a beagle named Penny Lane, so mom got me this, and I loved it. I soon discovered Mom's odd sense of humor, though, when I pressed its paw, expected a beagle bay, and heard a cow moo instead! she thought it was hilarious! weird.... ;o)

this is our current beagle, Ruby, in "her" spot in front of the window. she likes it b/c the afternoon sun comes in and makes that spot all nice and warm. :o)

all righty, that's it for now. the kids are chasing each other around downstairs with a giant orange bouncy ball, our licensing worker just left after a home visit, the baby just woke up, the dogs need to go out, and i need to leave to pick rick up from work! gotta get! :o)