Book Sale Proceeds

Well, that was fun!

At the RVHEA Used Book Sale, my table raked in about $300 in a short three hours. My girlfriend, a fellow homeschooling mom who was sharing the table with me, and I split the proceeds fairly evenly. We did keep a detailed list so we knew exactly what each of us made and exactly which things sold.

Now for the what did I learn section.

First, vacuum your car, farm your kids out for the day of the sale (after they help with the car) and have everything priced and packed up in the sections you plan to display them in. Set up needs to happen fairly quickly and it was so nice to be able to plunk bins on a table, lift the lid and be pretty much ready.

We received a lot of compliments on how organized our table was. That's kind of scary when you look at who you're talking to (me, not Friend).

Second, people begin shopping while their kids - the ones they didn't farm out - set up their table. So there we were, labelling bins by subject, still carting things from the car while elbow wrestling with early bird shoppers. Next time I go, I'll bring a kid to bolster our forces. This time, there was no room in the car. That may have had something to do with letting my husband pack the car...

Third, this particular sale seems to be busy for the first hour and a half. Then traffic really tapers off. If I go again, I will be prepared to drop my prices on non-curriculum-y things at this point. I felt really bad for the shoppers who trickled in a half hour before sale end. Most of the tables had been packed up and there was a steady stream of stuff begin packed out to waiting vans in the parking lot. Poor form, me thinks.

Weird things I noticed: We arrived at the venue about 20 minutes early. The parking lot was full. Homeschooling moms are all about getting the deal! People were trying to sell really, really old resources in some cases. Or they were trying to sell off hundreds of things (books, VHS) in a large Rubbermaid tote. I wasn't prepared to dig. And if I was, I don't think I'd be paying what they were asking for the dogeared, torn stuff they'd tossed in there in the first place. These people also brought a lot of things home. Toys, story books and other colourful things (K'NEX, etc.) that can be classified as 'manipulatives' or 'learning activities' are kid magnets. I'm not ashamed of the sales I made due to begging children.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. I turned the flash off and was operating one handed as I usually had one hand in the book bins holding up a stack for someone who was flipping through them. As a vendor, I haven't really come up with a solution for the one-arm shopping situation. You see a book you want, you have to hang onto it, leaving you only one hand to pick through the rest of the things you want to look at. OH well, it makes opportunities for pleasant chit-chat. Oh, and I was so busy I didn't even think twice about negotiating prices with people. "Will you take three dollars for this," a lady asked me. I replied without even thinking, "No, but I'll take four." Sold. Easy peasy.

So I don't think I'll go back for the next sale in September, or even the one next Spring. But I think I would for sure go in a couple of years once I had a good selection of sale-worthy things saved up.

Next big project: Kitchener-Waterloo Conference this weekend...

♥Bonni

Fundraising For Me

All year I have been fundraising by throwing my spare change into this biscotti container. Sometimes, I've even had a $5 or $10 in my wallet for a week or so...or I washed a bill in the laundry and claimed it...and into the container it went.

B and I sat one evening and rolled. We rolled until we hit $309 and ran out of nickel rollers. I'm using the money to attend the Kitchener-Waterloo Home School Conference.

I know not everyone is a conference person, but I am. I leave the conference feeling motivated. I like bringing home hurriedly scrawled notes of good ideas. I like hearing the authors of a program/curriculum/method talk about how to implement a subject into your homeschool. I know it's a sales pitch. But don't knock it until you've heard Donna Ward talk about Canadian History.

This conference will be a special trip for me. I'm making a weekend of it. I'm carpooling with a fellow-homeschooling-girlfriend. I'm staying in a hotel. There might be evening entertainment or a yarn shop or a cafe visit or who knows what!? I'm taking suggestions. (Please keep in mind it's totally possible that I will ignore all advice and choose to hole up in the hotel all weekend reading stuff I've gleaned from seminars and new books I bought at the vendor fair.)

My fundraising has been particularly successful since we gave up Tim Horton's coffee. There are definitely greater amounts of change present when one doesn't make an almost daily trip there.

Further fundraising happened at my birthday party a couple of weekends ago when my family contributed a few bills to my efforts. They don't get the whole homeschooling thing, however, they understand being excited to go weekend adventuring. Remind me to blog about my siblings' weekend stopover in Paris, France to be at the Tour de France finish line one year.

The fundraising will continue the weekend before my conference at the annual RVHEA Used Book Sale. I've totally stepped out of my box and I've booked a table at which I will attempt to sell the books and things I'm done with. I need to make more than $20 to cover gas. However, to this event I am also carpooling!

I just had to share. Thanks for listening.
♥Bonni

Christmas...Finally Packed Away

I'm embarrassed to admit that Christmas has been hanging over my head. Hopefully my procrastination will make someone feel accomplished...on the ball...or at least seasonally aligned.

It's March 1 and I still have garland on the stairwell. I've been telling myself...and anyone who asks...that it's 'Winter-y', not necessarily 'Christmas-y'. Then I nonchalantly move my hand to cover up the Season's Greetings - From Our Family To Yours! on the hanging ornament.

And here on the hall shelf, I still have 'Winter' things going on. Snowmen...that's not Christmas-y, right?

<--- This is why things have been languishing upstairs. This is the overflowing Christmas bin...and basket...and bag. It's all clogging up my laundry area. Which is causing the ironing to get behind...

See how one too-small-bin can throw a wrench in the works?

So today I finally got to it. I emptied a larger bin whose contents could be streamlined to fit in the smaller bin....

...and made a bigger mess.

But in the end, all is well. Christmas is packed away in the larger bin. I feel better.

Note To Self:

Hello Self. Wonderful Christmas we had this year. And that bit we did sticking to a school schedule really paid off as the kids and I have really appreciated these last two weeks of 'school holiday'.

Just a thought, Self. When planning your Science curriculum, peek ahead and see exactly what the required elements of each unit are. It may have been prudent to discover back in September that the Biology unit we've been planning on starting in January (tomorrow!!) requires a number of natural elements found in the warmer months here in this corner of Canada.

The beetles, ants, worm and pond water teeming with microscopic life are currently in short supply. The chapter on 'Releasing Your Butterfly' is not likely to turn out well anytime in the next ten weeks.

Self, may I suggest we do the Physics unit and then tackle the Biology unit in the Spring?

Now, don't we have some things to print? Gather? Prepare?

Project Korknisse!! 2009

I thought I would put the word out now, while we're all full of great ideas and intentions for next Christmas. If you have any extra corks kicking around, or if you feel like saving some and putting them to good use, I'd be happy to arrange to take them off your hands.

I'm hoping to knit up a load of these cutie little Korknisse guys as ornaments and gift toppers for Christmass 2009.

I didn't make ornaments this year. Now that Christmas 2008 is all wrapped up (ouch...punny, no?) I have discovered that I missed making ornaments for everyone. So I'm planning ahead.

Let me know if you can help me out. There might even be a 'Thank-You Korknisse' in it for you!

♥Bonni

Laundry Mondays

For a little more than two months now, Mondays have become Laundry Day.

I ventured onto this new scheduled task for one reason. Time. I was constantly interrupting my day to move the laundry forward. Usually I would remember that I was mid-way through a load of laundry at the most inopportune times: read aloud, making lunch, on the way out the door, bedtime or - the worst - when B was tromping through the house looking for clean jeans when he should have been on his way to work.

It seemed as though I was constantly doing laundry. Every day I would have to traipse down to the laundry area in the basement and get a load going. Then, I would have to remember that I was doing laundry. More times than not, I would get through 2ish loads a day. A day!! First, that's a lot of laundry. Second, that's a lot of forgotten laundry. Wrinkled laundry. Unfolded laundry. Laundry sitting in the dryer, or worse, the washer. All in all, I was doing 11 or 12 loads a week.

If that's not scary enough for you, this should do it: I haven't yet counted in the bed sheets and linens. Who feels like doing beds when the laundry rooms always backlogged?? It's pretty bad when the 9-year-old boy is seen bringing his sheets downstairs because they need a wash. This is the same 9-year-old who insists he only needs to shower every two weeks because the sweat he works up at hockey and soccer is enough of a wash for him.

12 to 15 loads per week depending on if the beds got done. That seems excessive when you add it all up.

So, Mondays are now laundry days. The laundry sits, sorted, in hampers in the laundry area until Monday morning. I wash, dry, sort and fold everyone's clothes. I've been managing it all in 4 loads: whites, colours, darks and denims. By the end of the day, the washer is empty, the dryer is empty, shirts are hung, socks are paired and everything is ready to be put away.

Savings? Less water, less hydro, less time. I'm doing 1/3 the laundry. I'm using the dryer less as I refuse to let the wet stuff pile up while I wait for the dryer to completely dry every load. Damp things can be hung. I know that if I can just get the laundry caught up on Mondays, I can forget about it for the rest of the week.

This means that bright and early on Tuesdays, I wake up to a row of empty hampers. Well, I would if I woke up in the basement. But I don't. I have to schlep my sleepy self down there to get to the clean clothes I washed, dried, sorted, folded and left there yesterday. What better time to change the sheets than when I have a totally available laundry area? So, Tuesdays have become Linen Day. I wash the sheets. And towels. And facecloths. And dish towels. And if I get ambitious, I'll do the dog's blanket. She sheds a lot.

In the space of two days, I do 6 - or 7 if a duvet or comforter needs it - loads of laundry. Fully half of what I was not really accomplishing very well before. Everyone has clothes that are clean, everyone has a bed that is fresh and the best part is the freeing feeling of not having to think about laundry until Monday rolls around again.

First Blip

Today was interesting. After being so schedule-oriented the last few weeks, I thought I would be more upset when things came undone. Perhaps I was waiting for the first hiccup.

Today I met with a lady who may be interested in teaching a few homeschoolers some French. I can't believe how nervous I was to 'interview' someone. You'd never guess I used to hire people with regularity. I have some logistics to work out before anything official in the way of French Lessons develop, but it was a start for sure.

Otherwise, here's how our day unfolded: B was up and out early on to head 'up North' for a work meeting. It was garbage day, so I cleaned out the leftovers and got that to the curb in time. The kids slept in a bit - even R who was up at 7 but then went back to bed - until I woke them at 8:30. After a quick breakfast, we did our morning chores and the daily housework. I started laundry and then promptly forgot about it for the rest of the day. At 10, another homeschooling mom and I met with the potential French teacher here at the house. After our meeting, the kids emerged and we prepped a bit of schoolwork before lunch. R bolted through a couple of pages of handwriting practice while I pulled out an ancient edition of Trivial Pursuit. My 'checking for pieces' turned into an hour-and-a-half game. I can't recall the last time K actually sat and played a board game with anyone. We talked about making a game to go with the Trivial Pursuit to participate in a Geography Game Project being spearheaded by another homeschooling mom.

Lunch was a quick pan of ham and eggs. K and I cleaned up. R packed the skating bag. We walked over to the rink and met friends for an hour of skating. Today the kids played with mini-sticks on the ice which was a nice change for them. Technically, we skate during 'Parent and Tot' time and no sticks are allowed on the ice. However, the rink staff are happy to give us a bit of breathing room. I think they're just happy that some people are attending the day-time skating session.

After walking home, we discovered that B was home from work. Our plan had been to hit the books for a couple of hours after skating. R had a stomach ache and went to his room. K curled up with a book. So B and I caught up and hung out for an hour. I made a hot drink and read a bit while the kids continued to hang out and get their own things done. Dinner was late - 7:30. B and I cleaned up. R showered. K was on the computer doing her RPG game. The kids had a bit of tv time before bed. B and I talked a little about how to work out the French thing. It'd be nice to pay the teacher a decent amount, have an ideal-for-all-involved sized group while keeping things affordable for the homeshcooling families.

After the kids turned their lights out at 9, B and I went our own ways. I'll go read in bed between ten and eleven. If I manage to stay awake, B and I will watch some Sci-Fi 'till midnight. Then we do it all over again tomorrow.

Well, actually, tomorrow needs to be a lot more productive. I want to know that I can have a day where I fall off the schedule, yet I manage to pick it back up without too much trouble. We'll see what happens tomorrow....it's always an adventure when we all have a busy day planned.

Checking In...

I've been so focused on staying on schedule that I've not been doing anything else. No knitting, no creating, nothing.

I suppose I'll be posting some 'A Day In The Life' because I have nothing else of interest to blog about.

Let's Recap September:

• Sept. 1 - Family BBQ at Chuck's new house.
• Sept. 2 - Officially 'Back to Homeschool'
• Sept. 3 - Kids to RCMP Musical Ride with Uncle B and Aunt K. Some School books arrive.
• Sept. 6 - Birthday dinner for Grandpa at my parents'.
• Sept. 7 - Homeschooler's Family Picnic
• Sept. 8 - CHEO
• Sept.10 - CHEO again. Green Light for R on all fronts. Register for Indoor Soccer Leagues.
• Sept.11 - First Hockey practice for R.
• Sept.13 - Community 'Treasure' Hunt. Cleared out some basement clutter.
• Sept.15 - Daytime skating starts. Price went up 300%. Yikes.
• Sept.18 - Hockey again. Coffee & Chat at local coffee house with homeschool moms.
• Sept.20 - Dog to the Kennel. We're off on a late season camping trip with B's boss' family.
• Sept.21 - Home Again. Packed a lot of fun stuff into an overnight trip.
• Sept.22 - Treats after skating with friends.
• Sept.23 - Grandma M. visits from MD, USA.
• Sept.24 - Belatedly begin our weekly library visits.
• Sept.25 - Belatedly take R for a haircut. Why are 2 dinners required on hockey nights??
• Sept.26 - Dentist appointments (and a convenient excuse to go shopping) in the big city. Family dinner with family friends. Wine, good company and dessert. Awesome.
• Sept.27 - K's grandparents visit. R off to a friend's birthday party.
• Sept.29 - Interview potential French teacher.

Everything school-wise is on the anticipated track. R's math hasn't arrived yet. The kids are doing Science, History, Vocab and French more or less together. K is doing two math lessons a day, WriteShop and is working on improving her handwriting. R is doing some printing every day (under duress), some math practice here and there and his reading is really taking off. He even read a joke from the Reader's Digest to me today. Out loud.

I've organized the first of our monthly field trips. I've tracked down a potential French teacher. Now I just have to find a location to hold our French gatherings.

September's momentum is holding for now. I'm fairly impressed.

Back-To-School Thoughts

I was thinking about how much I hate the Back-To-School pressure. You know, the kind you find when you walk in to your local retail store and you are bombarded with 'essential' school supplies immediately as you walk through the door. The racks and baskets and shelves and bins full of individually-packaged-with-bonus-eraser items and piles of colourfully displayed paper holding systems that always look better on the shelf than in your home.

It's pressure that says you need to be preparing. You have to be ready. You simply must not fall behind. Everybody is doing it. I'm so gullible.

This week I am feeling a wee bit of triumph. This year I did it on my own schedule. I ordered our books 'late'. I organized our schedule 'late'. I have not yet shopped for seasonal clothes for the kids. I have not yet filled our calendar with extra-curricular commitments. And that's all ok.

It's Looking Decidedly Schoolish In Here

As September marches on, things are looking more and more schoolish in here. It's a bit of a stretch considering the last couple of years where my focus hasn't been on accomplishing certain benchmarks or paper production, rather I was more apt to be a little too relaxed.

It's a good stretch, though. The Principle and I are on the same page more frequently. And all homeschooling moms know that when the administration is working together, program delivery becomes almost easy and those little program recipients catch a ride on the enthusiasm and motivation and interest and learning lightbulbs are lighting up for all of us. Well, at least on the Good Days. And if it's not a Good Day, I've been doing this parenting thing long enough to know to declare a Flexible Day if a Good Day seems unlikely.

So, although I know there will be challenges and roadblocks, detours and 180° turns, I'm still looking forward to this school year. Yes, books were ordered late, but I've had a good time delving into them one at a time. The kids have enjoyed the feeling of finishing off books and resources we've had on the go over the last year. Some perverse part of me enjoys making use of lists and schedules and copious amounts of sticky notes - they're reusable!! September has had this undercurrent of expectancy and excitement as I've photocopied and planned. I like it.

For French, We'll be using some L'Art de Lire, Rosetta Stone and French Coach for DS.

We're trying out Vocabulary from Classical Roots for Language Arts. I'm not really one for a spelling program, preferring the kids to pick up their spelling as their reading comes along.

Science is proving to be interesting. We've done the first lesson of Real Science 4 Kids in the Chemistry 1 book. I read, the kids listened and then had a million things for me to look up on the 'Net relating to the lesson. That's what I like. I don't really care if they take away from the lesson a complete understanding of the lesson objectives. Just that they are interested and inspired to think, play, discover. I expect we'll get through Chemistry 1 by Christmas, Biology 1 in the New Year and perhaps we'll get to the Physics 1.

Geography: Province by Province is a Donna Ward resource. After hearing her speak a couple of times, I really like her approach to Canadian Geography and History. The lessons are short, sweet and to the point. They're not too in depth, but give enough information to have plenty of jumping off points. We're going to take those jumping off points in the direction of read alouds. I hope to get around to posting a list of those read alouds here on the blog later in the year.

For History, we'll work our way through SOTW 2, most immediately. I hope to buy the last two of the series for the shelf in the near future. The kids really like the map work for some reason. And for kids who don't 'do' colouring, they seem to work away at the colouring pages while we read/review quite happily.

Math is plain ol' Saxon. 3 for R, 5/4 and 6/5 for K. K is absolutely convinced she 'isn't good at' math due to a misplaced comment from someone a number of years ago. From her comments about the ease of 5/4, hopefully she'll realize her mathematical confidence and ability soon.

K and I are going to putter through WriteShop 1 this year. Her writing is wonderful and copious. She's requested to learn a couple of technical writing skills. She's expressed a curiosity about journalistic style. WriteShop seemed to fit both our styles.

That will be our main core with bits and pieces added in for good measure. We're tossing in some handwriting practice on the request of both kids. R would like to learn cursive and K would like to improve the look of her handwriting. R has requested 'Mysteries, Puzzles and Illusions' so hopefully I'll be able to come up with something fantastic for him. I'm really mourning the loss of our local children's librarian who would have been a great help on this front....the City fired her. I'm planning to be able to have more regular get-togethers with the local homeschoolers come hell or high water. There's already some great things in the works on that front. I'm still waiting on R's math pages to arrive as well as our Medieval timeline - my personal cut-and-colour-and-paste project. As September passes into Fall, all the pieces will fall into place and we'll find our collective groove.

I'm really looking froward to spending this year with the kids.

What I Didn't Do On My Summer Vacation

Didn't get around to organizing the shelf, folks.

And here it is in all it's messy splendor. Of course, I snapped this pic about half an hour into the sorting process.

If you look closely, you can even see the little sticky-notes I put up to help the sorting process along. Helpful little do-dads, those sticky-notes.

After I had sorted, I re-homed.

After I re-homed, I filed and stored.

After I filed and stored, I recycled.

After I recycled, I started on some lesson planning.

And that's where I am now. Lesson planning with sticky-notes. Handy little do-hickers those sticky-notes.

Knitting Revelations

My knitting habit has been badly stalled. This is due to a few factors, but mostly I've hit a block. I have all this stashed yarn and mountains of patterns that were given to me by a retiring knitter, yet I don't know what to knit with it. The scary part is that K and I have purged this stash twice! The previously purged yarn has been passed on to the Red Cross Volunteer Knitters in our town. They appreciate it. They actually knit with it. It's better for them to have it. I've done the same thing with my embarrassingly large collection of patterns. I've purged to the Goodwill. Twice. There are still too many patterns in my bin.

So yesterday, in my basement, with Christmas decorations still floating about waiting to be put away, I got ambitious. I purged almost all of the yarn and nearly all of the patterns. I soothed the hoarder in myself by justifying with the Internet: any pattern I liked and wanted to keep, I had to look for on the Internet. If it was there, I had to get rid of the hard copy. I was ruthless. I tempted the shopper in me by promising myself purchases: once I found something I loved and wanted to knit, then I would purchase the yarn I need. I have recycled half of the patterns and I have bagged up the rest to donate. There is a large green garbage bag full of yarn sitting in my hallway ready to haul to Red Cross today.

To impede any second thoughts, I immediately filled up my knitting bin with the Christmas decorations. It is furthermore known as 'the Christmas bin' and it occupies the only space available for said bin. I am happy with this new organizational step I've taken. There's peace with my decision and there's anticipation. I'm very much looking forward to finding the perfect thing to knit. Or crochet. Because I kept all of my needles and hooks. And notions. I wouldn't get rid of everything! What a small amount of space my knitting supplies now occupy on an alternate basement shelf.

I found the yellow cloth bin after my purge and I've managed to fit all of my kept yarn in it. There's one ball of crochet cotton, as I like to make snowflake ornaments. There's enough Irish Aran wool to make a sizeable project, so I kept that. As well, some unlabeled fine cream coloured wool. It's very soft so it must have some cashmere or angora or something of the sort to it. Again, enough to make a project of some sort. The two blue balls are washable acrylic but feel like angora, so I kept them. They match my winter coat, so I might get a pair of mittens out of them if I ever get ambitious. K liked the red, leftover from her Santa hat, so we kept that as well. Then, there are various skeins of an acrylic boucle. On my to-do list is to scour the pages of Ravelry to see if I can find a pattern to use it up on. I'm thinking Christmas gifts for my poor, struggling siblings and their significant others.

Oh, but I'm not done yet! So, the stash is pared to next-to-nothing proportions. I have no room to expand my new small collection, as the shelf space is re-assigned. What else can there be, you ask? Check out these new websites I found.

Ravelry Ok, it's not new. If you've not yet signed up and you are even just interested in sticks and string and knotting it together, sign up! There is a treasure trove on inspiration and instruction.

Mason-Dixon Knitting A knitting blog that is hilarious to read. They are leaps and bounds beyond my personal knitting ability, but they are entertaining and for me, that's motivation.

Organized Knitting This is a new blog, spun off from a Ravelry group. If you have any voyeuristic tendencies at all, you'll enjoy seeing people's personal solutions to knitting chaos. If you have no knitting interest whatsoever and are more to the OCD side of the spectrum, you'll enjoy all the pictures of bins and baskets and labels. I'm not totally sold on this blog yet, but as it's new, I'll keep checking in (with Google Reader, of course) to see where it goes.

Sock Pixie A blog, yet more. This is a mother-daughter team that sells sock yarn. I haven't bought any yet, but the colours they use are reason enough to stop by and poke around. Free patterns are regularly posted in case you're interested in trying out some fancy foot work. Sock Pixie has just recently posted two of the cutest baby slipper patterns I've come across.

Ok, now I'm done.

Virtual Furniture Is Moving

In my unsatisfied quest to shuffle things up around here, I have dabbled where the techy-wannabe's should not.

It all started a few months ago when Doc mentioned that she uses a feed reader to wade through all the 384 292 495 sites she likes to keep up with. Clever, I thought. I thought I might even like to set me up one of them new fangled do-dads.

I did a wee bit of reading and nearly fell asleep because that is the particular physical response that occurs when I try to understand technical things that are beyond my simple reasoning abilities. Normally, I avoid such situations by having B explain them to me....which quickly turns into him just doing it for me. That's why I married him. You know how they normally say that necessity is the mother of invention? Not so. Just marry your Tech Support Wizard and you're all set. Ahem.

However, one of the reasons I began a blog was to expand my technical proficiency. So, I decided I must persevere. And boy, gee whiz, Wally, waddayaknow!!

I found this wondrous tidbit at Blogging Basics 101. Not only does the video explain what the feeds are, but it also explains how to set yourself up with a reader. Nice. So, I've set myself up with bloglines. It doesn't really appeal to me visually, but I must admit, I've got some favourite blogs subscribed to and does it ever make my morning blog-crawl super fast!! Now that I've been using it for a week or so, I think I may pop over to Google Reader and see if I like that reader better.

So, although no makeover is apparent here at Bonni's, I am still re-organizing and cleaning out bookmarks. It's refreshing like changing the furniture around and vacuuming places that haven’t been vacuumed since you last changed the furniture around is refreshing. Really. Now, if only I can figure out this feedburner thing...

Been Feeling Lost...

I've been feeling lost lately. I think it was mostly due to the fact that I was not diligent in keeping up with the family calendar during October. This leaves me scrambling and at loose ends when various things like swimming lessons and soccer practice crop up. It's silly, really, as the sorts of activities I usually record on the calendar are the type of thing that crop up week after week at the same time.

So here we are at the beginning of November and I am all caught up with our family calendar. I can't believe how much of a communication tool it is. I just noticed last night when we had company stop by unexpectedly to invite the kids out on Saturday afternoon. The kids immediately ran to the kitchen to see if we had anything scheduled for the weekend. See? Even if I am organizationally challenged, hopefully some of my meagre efforts will stick with the kids as they grow older and scheduling becomes more of a necessity in their lives.


Tools of the Trade for Inquiring Minds:

A Really Big Calendar With Spacious Squares...this allows for stickers as well as paranoid notations that may not be necessary for regular people. If you write everything down, you may trick yourself into thinking you have a booming social schedule. Of course the practicality is that you probably won't show up for soccer practice as it's ending if you're diligent in recording the correct times for these things.

Expandable Folder...this is a dollar store find. Four files for a dollar. In this particular folder, I keep sticky notes, stickers, labels, etc. The little folder next to the big blue one is filled with little stickers. Stickers make planning our month fun for the kids. Really. It's not like I have a sticker fetish or anything.

Stickers...these will make each entry on your calendar noticeable. The kids like choosing a sticker that represents their soccer or swimming or hockey. I usually try to have one for library trips, homeschooler meetings and field trips. You need stickers for a calendar in order to keep track of engagements. Not just because you have a sticker fetish. Geez.

So there you have it. Part 1 of my regular scheduling habits.

Just popping in...

Just popping in before popping out.

After a good Thanksgiving weekend (and a full week of no lesson-ish stuff) we're back to the daily grind. Had some good conversations with the kids today regarding priorities and moderation. I even made notes on the chalkboard as to what we're working on this week.

It occurred to me that as soon as the warm weather hints that it's on it's way out, we tend to hibernate. So today we all made an effort to get outside with the dog before our day got away from us.

The kids and I began reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today. They're pretty excited about getting into it. I'm unsure as to how I am going to be able to continue with it as a read aloud. I'm going to give it a try, though.

I set an 8am screen shut-off limit. I'm not terribly popular today. However, to be popular, I find I must sit amidst mindless programming for too many hours of the day. There was the expected roaming and moaning (Raiden...) and a little squabbling over couch space resulting in a couple of kids reading on the floor. There was also some hauling of toys from the basement, some sibling read-together time, a nice chat over lunch and a mutual tidy-up before Brian came home. Not too bad for a day in which Pokemon had to be missed.

Swimming and soccer tonight for the kidlings. To make both on time, there is some fancy kid wrangling across town and back again. It's ok though. Brian and I will enjoy a relaxed coffee while watching the kids do their things. It's great that they have found activities they enjoy.

Warm Fuzzies and Clean Cupboards

I accidentally clicked on my stat counter this evening. It appears that even though I have not blessed you all with recent updates of my life and happenings, you have still been checking in. Thanks for the warm fuzzies, folks, as inadvertent as they were, I'm sure. So, here I am, yet again, gracing you with my virtual presence. Not sure which direction this is going to go. Bear with me.

Life is moving in fast-forward. Schoolwork is a write-off this week. But that's ok. I'm rolling with it. Nothing will be accomplished by fitting 6 days of The Schedule into one. I know this and I'm trying to roll with it. Did I mention that I'm tying to roll with it?

A wonderful day last week: We invited friends over for lunch and a visit. It was a great time. J1 is 11 and he and Raiden are like two peas in a pod. Sport nuts all around. If they're not playing something, they're watching a game or sorting out their hockey cards. The had a fun time playing mini stick hockey in the bedroom and Harry Potter SceneIt. J2 is 8 and he and Kori are very much alike. They like their space. They draw together - yet apart. They take turns with the Playmobil. They don't speak much; they do their own thing. But after our friends leave, Kori is always so glad that she and J2 were able to spend the afternoon together. Kori and Rai chose the lunch menu according to what they thought their friends would like most (sandwiches, fruit and dip, chicken nuggets and jello). They both were up early and spent considerable time helping each other tidy up their rooms. It was a good day.

This week we were in Ottawa on Monday. Raiden had his follow up ultrasound at CHEO. Kori came with us this time and wound up with a better appreciation of the goings on of a day at CHEO. Both kids were mentally wiped by the end of the day. For those who are wondering, there is no change in Rai's left kidney. The Urologist was a little more insistent and suggestive about solving the problem (intermittent UPJ Obstruction) rather than trying to catch it by ultrasound mid-episode. He agreed to one more 6 month period of observation or waiting until Raiden has an episode before we discuss corrective surgery (aak! I almost said it out loud!). Looking forward to that. I think Brian needs to come to the next appointment with us. Oh, and we found the cafeteria this trip.

Tuesday I distracted myself in the kitchen. I moved my new dishes in and did a Spring Clean of the cupboards. My efforts then spread to the pantry, fridge, under-sink cabinet, microwave stand, drawers and recipe book collection. That resulted in a trip to Goodwill to drop off the cast-offs and the grocery store to restock.

Wednesday my wonderful Mother-In-Law and her marvelous husband came to visit. They took the kids and I to lunch, shopping and then we came home in time to meet Brian who had left work early. We hung out 'till dinnertime when Brian's brother's family joined us. It was a full house but a great visit. My in-laws are so generous; they spoil us silly. I am really looking forward to our Christmas visit with them. Wait...that sounds wrong. You know what I mean, right?

And that brings us to today. I am so proud of my kids. Kori started indoor soccer tonight. It's her first foray into organized, team sports. She is the youngest (2 months to 10) in a group aged 10 - 12. She confidently told her coach she had never played before, confidently took up her position as assigned, tried hard, supported her team mates and finished off the evening in a good mood. I don't know what I was worried about. I am so happy I didn't 'force' her to play something earlier. For the whole practice/scrimmage, Raiden surfed Kori's bench and gave her pointers. He clapped at the right times and restrained himself enough so as not to interfere in the game or on the bench. Kori ended up with a couple of jammed fingers before the half. If anyone had asked me before the game, I would have told you that Kori would refuse to play out the game; she'd want to go home. Au contraire! She took a quick break and played out the rest of the game. She had such a good time and I'm so proud of her for dealing with so many things that used to set her off. I never would have thought her up to playing a new sport in a gym, with the lights and acoustics she used to adamantly refuse to endure, in front of bleachers full of peers and parents, in a too hot space, with hurting fingers and with her little brother hovering and giving 'pointers'. Good on her.

And now you're all caught up. I'm having all these philosophical thoughts lately, however I am too restless to impart my wonderings for all to read. Instead, I will add some eye candy. Here we have an organized cupboard:

Doesn't it make you feel all contented and ready to take on the world? You know it does. Try it. Go do your kitchen cupboard. I'll be watching for your pictures.

After...A Week Later

Ho-ly! A week has passed. A WEEK! A week. How'd that happen?!

September is wrapping up and I'm still feeling somewhat organized. How'd that happen?!

The kids have each begun one of their two chosen activities. The organized chaos of hockey has ended as 60 kids have been divvied up onto four teams. Now there is only 30 small people on the ice at any given time. Workable. I worked the kinks out at swimming and Kori is happily swimming in a small group of 4 kids. She is in level 3 and the other children are in levels 4 and 5. This is good as Kori can see the more advanced skills demonstrated, she has more instructor time and she even likes the kids in her class. Extra-curricular Utopia.

October is shaping up as well. Doesn't it look organized? I like stickers. It makes scheduling easier. Really. Both kids will start soccer in October. I've heard from Kori's coach, but not Rai's.

I like October. I like to go to the apple orchard. I like all the pumpkins and squash and gourds. I like coloured leaves. This October, I want to knit and do some final bits of canning. Someone please remind me of these goals before the end of October, will you?

Before...

My September calendar has been looking a little naked. There's a good reason for that, though.

The kids had their choice of 2 activities to sign up for this Fall. Hockey for Raiden and swimming for Kori were givens. I am so happy that Kori has finally found something that she likes to do.

The kids made their choices fairly quickly and easily. They chose to forgo their Cubs/Guides and do indoor soccer instead. This will be Kori's first foray into team sports.

So we were all set with our choices. The only drawback is that scheduling is a bit delayed. We never hear what the hockey schedule will be until the absolutely last minute. It makes scheduling other activities very difficult. I tried not to stress about it this year. Indoor soccer is marginally better. At least we know that Kori will be playing on Thursdays and Raiden on Tuesdays. Start dates are up in the air.

Things have worked out not too badly. The hockey schedule has been posted 6 whole days before we 'need' it! Monday: hockey. Tuesday: swimming, Rai's soccer. Thursday: K's soccer. We try not to schedule anything on Fridays and I particularly like having Wednesdays off as well. Wednesday is a good library/errand/grocery day.

So I am off to fill up my calendar. I feel so grounded when I have a full calendar.

Back-To-School

Last weekend, I put together some supplies and a few friends and I got together to cut, fold and tape. We explored a few projects in my Lap Book Handbook. It was a fun project to prepare. I thought it would help stem some of the Back-to-school shopping pressure. You know, the I've got to be ready! panic that the advertisements tell you you're feeling. Not so. I'm very easily pulled in.

Of course, our Saturday afternoon get-together was great. Good conversation, great company, lots of paper and tape.

But it got me to thinking about the whole Back-to-school shopping situation. If I'm not careful, I fall into the whole If I don't go shopping I won't be ready! trap. As homeschoolers, many of us don't do the back-to-school thing. Or at least, we say we don't. Some of us stay out of the stores. Some celebrate with a Not-Going-Back-To-School Picnic. Some of us mark the return to a school-at-home schedule. Some celebrate the end of Summer and the beginning of Fall.

Whatever it is each of us do, I think we would all agree that this is a time of change. Change I can deal with. I do find it annoying that everything is Back-To-School. But I can understand that it's easier to market to the masses, so I'll let it go. I can buck the system, but I'm not up for fighting the masses.

So, this is me, embracing the seasonal change. As I'm sure you've guessed from previous posts, I'm making a valiant effort to prepare for our school year. Part of me expects it to crash and burn, after all, we're not the most schoolish people I know. Another part of me is excited. The kids are reminding me of the work they're planning on doing. They're helping with the planning. So I'm going to assume an 'if I build it, they will come' attitude. To date, I've built Language Arts, 2nd Language, History/Geography, and Canada Studies. I'm halfway through a Reminder Read Aloud List (if I don't write down the books I think the kids will enjoy, I forget what I'm looking for at the library and they choose Pokemon and Babysitter Club books - which I refuse to read as read alouds). The last thing I need to build is a list of science resources to go with the custom-built science outline we've made.

Along with our new school year comes outside activities for the kids. And the updating of the seasonal wardrobes. But, I'll save those adventures for another blog.

Whatever the change we're preparing for at this time of year, I think it's important to keep perspective. Our perspective is to enjoy the time we have with our kids. To encourage them to be confident, independent little beings as they grow up, to enjoy exploring new things and to help them learn to work for what is important to them. If I can keep that in mind, then Back-To-School pencils and binders are inconsequential.

Winding Down and Wrapping Up

Here we have a rare creation: Raiden's play-doh dinosaur. He's not a child who is a 'creator' of objects using squishy stuff. He was quite proud of this little green number, though, so I was sure to snap a picture of it as soon as we got home.

Rai made his dino-buddy at one of the summer's last library programs. Soccer has wrapped up as well. Same with swimming. Kori will be off to her grandparent's this weekend to enjoy a 4-day stay. That is always a sign that summer is winding down.

School planning is coming along. I have a good idea of what I would like to cover in most areas. If it happens, great. If not, that's ok as well, as long as we're interested and busy with something. I've devised a daily school schedule in order to keep me on track. The kids are normally fairly easy going. If I don't keep them moving forward, they're happy to settle in and do nothing. Some days, that's ok. I'm hoping that with my planning, those days will be a treat - few and far between.

Now that I have a guideline (scope & sequence, if you prefer) I am collecting resources and making lesson plans. I have also started a read aloud list. I'm scared to delve too deeply into planned read alouds as there are not enough days in the year to get through even some of the books that we'd like to get to. But a few selections I don't want to forget about, so on the list they go. I'm only buying one pre-planned resource for a Canadian Studies. I'm well stocked with pre-planned materials for math and history and all things language arts. I'd like to focus most of my creative effort on pulling together activities/lessons for science, read alouds and language.

I am excited about area homeschooling events that seem to be in the works. It's always nice to be in the 'loop', even if the loop is of your own design. This weekend a few of us are getting together to cut and paste. Actually, we're going to try creating some of the ideas in Cyndy Regeling's book.

A great Homeschooler's Picnic is in the works for the day after Labour Day. I'm so glad someone (Thanks Lyn!) took up the reins of that project. The kids are very excited.

September's field trip will be to the International Plowing Match. It looks to be a huge production and I will say I am glad it will be a guided field trip. I could just imagine the kids and I walking through the displays. It would be the blind leading the blind. We are such city dwellers. I'm to be planning October's field trip which will be - hopefully - to the local newspaper. A couple of other ideas are in the works as well. I'll brag about them if they end up working out.

And so goes the season change. I know it's still summer, but it has been much cooler this last few days. Everywhere we go it's 'Back to School'. There are even Fall-looking hay-bales out at some of the area stores. I shouldn't even mention it, but the Hallowe'en things are out at the Dollar Store. Doesn't it make you want to go off the grid and just enjoy the seasons as they come? I'm all for looking ahead and planning for whatever is coming next, but let's keep things manageable, people.