Our First Day of the '14-'15 School Year

Well, today was the big day at our house~the first day of school!

Overall, it went fairly well and we accomplished all on our lesson plans for the day. It's going to be a challenge to get Mr. B back into his groove (if he ever really had one!) and really we're all still working on getting into the school groove again. It takes a few days, right?

We did have a yummy breakfast of Eggo bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches though and the kids liked their new school year goodies.

It may not look like I got them much, but we really didn't need much in the way of supplies this year. But getting a new notebook is fun and cute erasers are always irresistible. Then there are the necessary snacks plus a fun new folder with printouts of all kinds of fun info (states & capitals, countries & capitals, reading lists, etc.). I look forward to adding to it throughout the year.

I did remember to "schedule" a Brain Break today and it was fun! I've so got to remember to incorporate these often!

Finally, we wrapped up our day by taking the kids to the Lego store's free build for the month and then to Bob Evans for their free meals. (Can you tell we like deals? haha!) It was a fun way to finish our day though.

I'm glad to the "big first day" over, so we can move onto really getting into the swing of things again. It usually takes us a week or so but that's okay.

Now if I could just start getting myself to bed a little earlier!!

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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