I Really DON'T Have It All Together

In my ladies Bible study last night we talked briefly about how we often try to act like we have it all together.

We want to seem as if...

we have perfect children 

our house is always spotless

we always cook nutritious hot meals for our families

we are perfectly organized

our hair and makeup are always perfect

our homeschool is completely successful

we never yell at our children

we don't lose sleep over finances

and we never, never, ever, get stressed.

We have it ALL together!

Why do we do this?

I think in our nature to want people to respect us and think highly of us. We don't want them to see our weaknesses, only our strengths. I think this is especially true of moms, and maybe even more so of homeschool moms. Are we really doing anyone a favor though, by making them think we have it all together? Perhaps we might be better served by letting our weaknesses show ~ just a bit. And perhaps we might serve others better, by showing them that they don't have to be perfect.

So, here's my confession...

I do not have it all together!

I wake up each day and cringe at the size of my laundry piles. I do cook healthy & nutritious meals for my family, but not every single day. I might seem organized, but as you can see in the above photo, it's a struggle. Every minute of the day, it's a struggle! I do lose my cool with my children. I seldom wear makeup, and am lucky if I get to brush my hair on days when I'm not leaving the house. Our homeschool has problems and some days I wonder if I'm really cut out for this afterall. I DO lose sleep over our finances. And yes, I do get stressed (I'm just better at hiding it!).

My kids on the other hand, they are perfect. Aren't yours?

Ok, so maybe they don't behave perfectly all the time, but I love them anyway!

Randomly Wednesday

Our sweet Suzy had surgery yesterday to prevent any future accidents. She's recovering in her crate where she can be quiet and peaceful without Memphis driving her crazy! Pretty soon she'll be running around again though and ready to go for walks with Ben and Luci.

Our caterpillar's arrived today. The kids were worried at first because they weren't moving. But since they got here they've moved all around their little cup. I was a little frustrated with myself for not thinking about the fact that Ben will be gone for part of the butterflies' metamorphosis. He'll be in Washington D.C. for several days, but should make it back home in time to see them emerge. 

Along with our caterpillars, the kids also got a book on gardening. My mom sent this really great book for the kids to read and hopefully help them along in their gardening. We are planning to put down a small flower bed on the side of our house for them to tend to. Gavin is planning on giving a vegetable garden a third try after two unsuccessful years. 

My new Sonlight catalog also showed up on the mailbox today. (Today was a great mail day!) I spent my lunch break browsing through the catalog and love what I see. I think the decision to change Core names to letters was brilliant! This will make it so much easier to emphasize the point that Cores are not grade-specific. Good job Sonlight!

I got the Instagram app on my iPhone this week and I LOVE it! This app is so much fun and turns boring iPhone pics into fun pictures. Got an iPhone? Get instagram.

It's time to think about some new bookshelves. Our current bookshelves came from Target, and while they seemed like semi-decent bookshelves at the time we purchased them, they are just not holding up under the weight we put on them with all of our books. One of them is close to falling completely apart and dumping hundreds of books on the floor. I'd really like to see about making our own versus buying more particle board bookshelves. Have any of you ever made your own bookshelves? Do you have pictures? On your blog perhaps? Do share your ideas!

Don't miss out on a great giveaway to celebrate my 300th post! Click here to be taken to the giveaway and thanks DesignerBlogs.com for kicking in half of this prize!

Top Ten Posts and an Anniversary Giveaway

 

Today's Top Ten Tuesday makes my 300th post here at Homeschool Musings. So, to celebrate that milestone I'm sharing the Top Ten posts. Be sure and make it all the way to the end for a special giveaway!

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2010~School Room Week

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2010~Curriculum Week

Homeschool Is Not For Sale

Ben's Amazing Race Birthday Party

Organizing A Sonlight Binder

Fairy Gardens and Friends

I Am Not the Woman I Planned to Be

Building Accountable Kids

Burns, Cakes, & Stuff

101 Uses for Paint Tape

Now, for the good stuff! A giveaway!! 

I'd like to giveaway, to one lucky winner, a $20 gift certificate to DesignerBlogs.com where you can get your own blog makeover! You can use the gift certificate to purchase one of their  pre-made designs or as a start on a custom makeover. Thanks to Designer Blogs for kicking in half of this great prize!

You can enter this giveaway two ways, but you must leave a comment for each entry.

1. Leave me a comment letting me know your a follower.
2. Blogging about this giveaway on your own blog (and leaving me the link in a separate comment)

Entries will be accepted until midnight, Thursday, March 31, and the winner will be announced on Friday morning. Good Luck!

Four Inches

This morning I turned to see Luci at the kitchen counter getting herself some grapes and it struck me suddenly how much she has grown these last few months! She just looked so tall standing there and it seems like just yesterday when her head barely reached the top of the counter. We measured and she's grown four inches since last October!

Monday's Mini-Goals

I've been working hard at figuring out how to teach time management and personal accountability to my oldest son and in the process have learned that I could use a good bit of help in that area too. Often times when we start looking at all of the things that we need/want/must do it can get overwhelming. Large goals can seem monumental and giving up just seems easier. I think breaking it up into smaller, more manageable mini-goals might help to make it more doable.

Personal Goals
This week I really want to get back into the habit of spending time in the Word daily and writing in my prayer journal. The last couple of weeks seem to have derailed me and I am missing that quiet time each morning with my Savior.
I also want to get back into my routine of working out at least 4 times this week.


Household Goals
I want to tame the laundry beast that's taken over, clean the cabinet doors in the kitchen, and organize the utensil drawers.


Homeschool Goals
In our homeschool this week, my first goal is to check work daily! I also want to do something fun at least once a day and incorporate art at least once this week.

If you'd like to share your mini-goals for the week I'd love to read them. Please leave me a comment and a link if you do!

Blog Audience

The Stats feature on blogger just fascinates me. I love to look and see who my readers are. Not surprisingly, most of my readers are in the United States. But what does surprise me is how many readers I have from around the world. The countries highlighted in green on the map above are the ten most frequent countries that make up my blog audience (since last May).

United States

Canada

South Korea

United Kingdom

Germany

Australia

Japan

Russia

Ukraine

France

But I've also received visits from people in Iran, Nigeria, Israel, Lebanon, Ireland, Kuwait, Poland, and many others!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #2

 

In my life this week...
I got a blog makeover this week and I LOVE it! I used DesignerBlogs.com and was very pleased! If you need a blog makeover I highly recommend them.
In our homeschool this week...
Spring always makes it hard to be indoors doing school, so we took school outside a few times this week. It worked out really nice that we reached the unit on insects at such a perfect time of year for being outdoors.

The boys have been working on research papers for a few weeks now and they're working on the final stages now. Ben chose to write his paper on the beginnings of the railroad in America (are you surprised?) and Gavin chose to write his paper on the causes of the Civil War (again, are you surprised?). Gavin's topic was rather ambitious, but he was very eager. Yesterday while he was working on his outline he was trying to explain to me that some of the issues were hard to put into words. To get his point across he said, "This complex topic was a lot less complex when I knew less about it." Haven't we all felt that way at times?
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
It seems like we've been on the go all week long. The only day we stayed home all day was Monday. Any homeschool 'socialization' skeptic could take one look at my family and be convinced that socialization is not an issue! Between karate, piano, church, and homeschool activities our kids have more friends than we can keep up with.
My favorite thing this week was...
Luci noticed her brother typing his research outline on the laptop and asked if we could set her up to write on the computer as well. So we set her up with a Word window and just let her go. Every now and then she would ask us how to spell something, but for the most part she attempted it all on her own. Here is her finished product, completely unedited by me (think phonetically and you'll be able to read it):

A Princess

Wunse apn a tim ther wus a princess her nam was Luci. She liked to go outside and pick flowers with her friends. and then they sit and hav tea, Then they go in hr room and play with her toys. Then play outside with a ball then go to the car and go to the park and pik up rocks and slid and go to the car, then the stor get grosheys then go to the casl to slep becus it wus bed tim. The necs day was Sunday and she wet to the church she wet to her sndescol. Then she wnt to bed beycas it was bed tim the necst day was munday at nite tim luci had to cook bycas it was her tarn too cook tonight like too cook. they end

What's working/not working for us...
Right now things are working pretty good...
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
I need to hear from homeschoolers of teenagers. How do you teach time management? Can you teach time management or is it an innate skill?
A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
This is a photo of the elusive creature known as the teenage boy. This creature doesn't like to be photographed so the photographer must get sneaky. To get this shot I had to position myself at a window, quietly open the window so as not to give myself away, slip the camera out of the window through a small hole in the screen and click.

More Insect Fun

Did you know there are 18,000 kinds of grasshoppers in the world? And that the longest grasshopper is an astounding 11 inches long? 

Did you know that dragonflies are the fastest flying insects, flying at speeds of 50 to 60 miles per hour? 

This past Christmas Ben received an insect model kit from a family member and he's been anxiously waiting for the time to come when he could pull it out. It took us a bit longer to get to the insect unit than I'd planned, but we finally made it and he couldn't wait to get started. Since Luci and Ben are studying insects together, of course she wanted to participate, too.

This model kit is made by a company called Bloco Toys. Each model is built using thick foam pieces and round plastic connectors.

The models were a little complex for Luci, but with help she managed to put together the grasshopper...

while Ben put together the dragonfly. I was very impressed with how well he could read and follow the instructions. He said it was all thanks to his Legos. I'm not surprised!

These insect models are great for showing the parts of an insect -- the head, abdomen and thorax.

We've got more insect fun coming... we just got a butterfly kit in the mail today from my mom (aka Maw Maw) and we'll be sending off for our Painted Lady Caterpillars!

Another Thing I Like About Homeschooling

There are so many things to like about homeschooling.

I could write about all of the academic advantages. Things like being able to teach my children in the way they learn best, working at their own individual pace instead of a classroom full of children, and teaching with a real love for learning as the goal instead of just making a grade on a standardized test.

Or, I could write about the flexibility homeschool provides. We aren't tied down to a school calendar, or typical school hours. We have more freedom to enjoy spontaneous zoo trips, spring days, or off season (cheaper!) vacations.

I could also write about the advantages of being able to freely include our spiritual beliefs in our homeschool. God, as Creator and Lord of all, is interweaved throughout our entire curriculum.

But, today,  one thing I really like about homeschooling is what it does for our family.

The boys had gone outside for a creative writing assignment and Luci wanted to go out to do her math worksheet. I found her and Ben sitting side by side and I paused to watch for a while as they worked. 

Every now and then Luci would let out an exasperated sigh, which indicated her math was frustrating. Ben would lean over and help her through her problem. 

I loved seeing the interaction between the two of them as they worked side by side. I wish I could say they were always this sweet with each other, but I'll take the sweet moments as they come! 

New Look

Notice anything different?

I purchased a pre-made blog design from DesignerBlogs.com as a gift to myself for my birthday. I highly recommend DesignerBlogs.com if your considering a blog makeover for yourself. There are a variety of pre-made designs & basic templates starting at just $10 or you can splurge for a custom design if it fits in your budget.

Let me know what you think about my new look.

Top Ten Things I LOVE About Spring

Ice Cream in the Park

Moon Watching on the Back Porch

Azaleas in Bloom

Taking Science Outdoors

Tank Tops & Flip Flops

Green Everywhere

Bird Watching from our School Room

Curriculum Catalogs

Taking Readers Outside

The Oldest Teaching the Youngest What He Knows About Gardening

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

 

Over the last several weeks I've enjoyed reading various blogger's entries for The Homeschool Mother's Journal weekly link up, hosted by Sue at The Homeschool Chick. I decided to join in this weekly meme beginning this week.

In my life this week...
I celebrated my 38th birthday this past Friday. I cannot think of a birthday I've ever enjoyed more! My family and friends made me feel very loved and appreciated and I am so grateful to have been so blessed! 

In our homeschool this week...
I didn't intend to take Spring Break last week because we're planning to take time off in April when Ben goes to Washington DC and the following week when we have plans to do some work on the house. Things changed though and we ended up taking most of the week off. On Wednesday Luci had a few friends over to plant Fairy Gardens and on Friday we had an Ice Cream Play Date at the park with homeschool friends. It was the kind of homeschool week where, while I might wish we'd gotten more school work done, I'm grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling so that we can enjoy the pleasures of the changing seasons. 


Places we're going and people we're seeing...
As I mentioned, we had a couple of opportunities this past week to visit with homeschool friends. We also had an opportunity to see some race cars this weekend at our church. Some of the drivers who race at our local speedway brought their cars out for the kids to look at and climb into. They loved the cars and also enjoyed getting their flags signed by the drivers. 

My favorite thing this week was...
going shopping with birthday money and getting to the dressing room with an arm full of clothes only to discover that everything I'd picked out to try on was a size too big! 

What's working/not working for us...
The new schedule sheets I started making several weeks back have been wonderful! I've made a few changes in the way we use them, but having everything, for all three children, right in front of me makes it so much simpler! 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
It's curriculum catalog season! Last week I received 5 homeschool catalogs in the mail. I love perusing the curriculum catalogs, even for curriculum companies that we don't use. It helps me in being sure I'm making the right choices for my family. I've got a soon-to-be-eighth-grader and plans for the coming year(s) are weighing heavy on my mind! Can I really handle homeschooling a high schooler?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

A Fairy Garden...

Investigating Insects

Luci and Ben started their investigation of insects this week. Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, whether you find them interesting or consider them pests, insects are an important part of our world.

Albert Einstein is reported to have once said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would have only four years of life left."

I, for one, am glad that God included insects in his design!

Our module on insects began today with a basic introduction to insects, which included, among other things, the fact that insects are cold blooded. This means that when the air is warm their bodies are warm and when it is cold their bodies are cold. When they get cold their bodies start to slow down.

To demonstrate this the kids were supposed to capture an insect in a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. When it dawned on the kids that they were expected to catch the insect themselves, which might mean TOUCHING a bug, this was their reaction:

Ben cringes at the idea of touching a bug.
Luci laughs at the absurdity!

After turning over a few things in the yard...

and looking, with great hesitation, through a couple of bushes & plants...

they enlisted the help of their daddy, who declared that he didn't know what this world was coming to that two kids couldn't go out and catch a silly little bug.

In no time at all he caught them a bug.

They observed how quickly their insect flittered about in the jar...

 and then put it in the refrigerator to chill.

And exactly as they expected, the insect slowed down to where it was barely even moving. A few hours later they put the jar on the table to let the insect warm up a bit. It's moving so fast now that it just looks like a blur in this photo.

More insect fun to come in the days ahead!