Organizing School Papers~the Preliminaries

Why, oh why, have I waited so long to really start doing this right? We're getting ready to start our 5th year of homeschooling (if you count preschool~and I do) and I've had school papers, etc. in boxes, folders and book bags all over my house. It's been driving me crazy, but it seems like the past few years have been so hectic (what with all of our moving!) that I haven't taken the time to stop and organize. And the thought of it all just makes me cringe.

And now that we are getting ready for another move I've decided that some preliminary organizing MUST be done first.

First I got out these cute and appropriately named *keepsake portfolios* that my mom had personalized for the kids (a few years ago). I've blurred out their names, but you get the idea. They've been basically empty this whole time. Every time my mom asks about them I just mumble something lame about working on getting their stuff together. Pitiful, just pitiful. But this week I was determined!

Out came one of my favorite tools~our label maker! What a handy little gadget! I made labels for K4 through 2nd grade....then I ran out of tape:) But that's okay because my oldest has just completed 2nd grade and that's as far as I needed for now.

Finally came the gathering and sorting. This seemed to go on all. day. long. In fact, it did go on all day long. And some more of the next day. But I knocked it all out~kicking myself the whole time for not doing this (actually very simple) task sooner. Well, it would be simple if done on a regular basis and not every 5 years.

Like I said, these are the preliminaries. Now that I have their papers, art, play bills, programs, etc., all filed into the correct year I can properly begin their school scrapbooks.

But that's a job for another day.

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

my blessed life

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