Homeschool Mother's Journal + ♥Day in the Life♥

In my life this {month}…

planning for Elli's 6th birthday
winter, snow, cold {too cold for me!}

In our homeschool this {month}…

3 R's and Sonlight ~ keeping it simple so I can focus on other things this month.
Sonlight highlight: Reading Little House in the Big Woods, eating pancakes with real maple syrup and rolling Eliana's hair in rag curlers.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

be intentional. Sometimes school just happens around here, but when I make a conscious effort to do school, it surprisingly gets done earlier and easier and I feel better about it.

I am inspired by…

Becky Higgins {Project Life}

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

boys' dodgeball tournament at the Y
movie theatre with oldest two boys to see Lincoln
YMCA for the boys - working, refereeing, and playing
Church
Costco and shopping in the "big" city
Build-a-Bear for Elli's 6th
my sister's to see her and her family {and her two grand-babies!}

My favorite thing this {month} was…

Eliana's birthday. We had a fun day with a Build-a-Bear theme.

What’s working/not working for us…

is: life-school with Bo and Elli. Both love to help in the kitchen.

Elli is making pancakes by herself from start to finish.
She only needs help getting the cast iron griddle on the stove
and we've had many pancake breakfasts and dinners!

Questions/thoughts I have…

Wondering how/when blogging changed for me. I think need to blog about something that I need accountability in because then, I am motivated to blog and that is when blogging benefits me the most. For the last few years it has been Five in a Row. . . but FIAR is not my main curriculum anymore and I don't need accountability for Sonlight ~ the schedule does that for me.

Some things I am thinking about:

Tot School for Boaz.*
Project Life pages for my Before Five in a Row album {so in love with this project but I am still working on years '10, '11 and '12 for my family albums}.

*I decided to focus on this and forgot all about my post! I've been printing and laminating and ordering things since last week and I am excited. We had our first day of intentional Tot School this week!

Things I’m working on…

ideas for Bo for Tot School. He is my first BOY to do tot school with and he is very different than Eliana. He is also a challenge in that he is a very busy and active boy, and he is not talking as she did at this age. {I decided what I will do!}
Project Life
FAM charting {Fertility Awareness Monitoring}

I’m reading…

Taking Charge of Your Fertility
through the Bible using the KJV Listeners Bible on my phone ~ love it! I can listen and read at the same time ~ nice for those times when I need a free hand.

I’m cooking…

homemade pizza
chicken fried (deer) steak with gravy
tacos/burritos with cilantro lime rice (think Qdoba!)
Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread
pancakes with maple syrup and turkey bacon
boiled potatoes and cabbage (with butter, s/p, and vinegar)

I’m grateful for…

a package of hand crafted teas (with very fun and creative names) and herbal iron tonic in the mail from a dear friend.
trials from my Heavenly Father that are meant to grow me and guidance from Above
friends that willingly bear my burdens ~ not only offering to pray with me, but looking up information for me and offering advice and suggestions. So, so thankful! ♥
grace when I get behind on answering emails ~ I am slow slow slow in getting to my computer these days... I read from my phone but I don't like to reply from it.
a new kitchen faucet
a new fridge and dishwasher on order

I’m praying for…

God's will in my life.
His grace to be sufficient.
health and safety for family and friends.

Some Day-in-the-Life photos to share…

Taken with my SLR, these are for my first spread in my Project Life 2013 album, filtered with Instagram, though I decided not to use Instagram for the spread
(decided I will just use iPhone photos for Instagram pics in my album).

{January 3rd, 2013}