Happy First Day of Fantabulous Fall!

Does it get any better than Fall? I'm really not sure.

Leaves change colors, the glow outside is a little more golden, we emerge from our cocoons of air conditioned homes to feel the crisp of the northerly winds, we start baking because....well, just because, and the best part of ALL.....Fall Decorating!

I love the pumpkins, gourds, ghouls and fall leaves gracing our doorsteps, and table tops. This means mulling spices simmering on the stove to get me in the mood and practically wishing the weather to dip into the 80's....

{Well, it is Texas...we don't see Fall weather until the end of October to early November. So, I'll take the 80's over 93+ any day.}

Fall is fabulous and I decided even though pumpkin shopping is scarce, I couldn't wait. So until my beautiful blue pumpkins come in....we have more hues of orange.

Have a Great First Day of Fall!

I can't wait to get my blue pumpkins to add to the fireplace hearth. The orange pumpkins will go on our back patio....ahhhhhh, it's so close to finished. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, ha...my family is now laughing if they are reading this!

 

I found this chalkboard print from Pinterest...the bummer is I forgot to pin it after I printed it...sorry!

I'll try and find it and pin it to my Fabulous Fall Decor Board.

 

 

Had to try this idea I found on Pinterest. I had the hat and a plastic pumpkin in need of help. The handwriting could be better...but, oh well, hopefully no one stares at for too long...grin!

 

 

 

Our schoolroom Fall additions.

 

On our ottoman in front of the sofa.

 

 

Landen working hard, but loving the touch of Fall in our schoolroom.

 

It helps to add a bit of historical significance to the history of All Hallows' Eve and witches. I'm glad we were able to visit Salem a few years ago. It really was neat to learn more about, well...a sort of shameful part of our American history.

Our little skeleton has played a pirate, just a skeleton, and now a colonial gentleman. Hmmmm, I wonder who he'll dress as next year? We love him!

 

The patio is getting there....the marshmallows may have been too premature...it's not quite cool enough and yes, the chocolate is missing because, they too melted...oops! I just get too excited and too ready for Fall weather activities... like s'mores!

Happy Fall and Fantabulous Fall Decorating!

When my blue beauties come in, I'll update the photos. See you soon!

 

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Meet Miss Bonnie!

Our new baby West Highland White Terrier or Westie, Miss Bonnie! She and Mr. Darby made immediate friends. She is only 5 months old, and we feel very lucky that she is smart and a fast learner. She has made our home feel complete.

I had to share a few pictures of her first week with us.

Posing for prosperity.

 

Every time we go into the kitchen, they think it's for them.

 

We love how they both stretch out on the cool floor, with all fours out.

 

And of course I had to try some jewelry and clothes on her! Mr. Darby is just so relaxed. It has made her transition her very easy. We just love our little Scottish Canine Clan :-)

And...I guess something is in the air! My Dad added a new Boxer puppy to their family. So so cute!! This is the picture the breeder gave them. Hopefully, we will get better pictures of her soon.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

~ I did want to also say, that many prayers are being said here, for the families in Colorado effected by the flooding.

 

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How Do You Plan Your Homeschool?

Well, Summer is over....well, Summer break is. Texas doesn't start feeling like Fall until the end of October.

Nevertheless, Cottonwood Academy has been back in session for 3 weeks now. Last year we started after Labor Day, but this year, we started earlier because my husband surprised me early with the announcement that for my 40th birthday in October, we are going to see my family in Honolulu. I haven't been back in 14 years. I haven't seen my grandparents in 10 years, since their visit to Texas. So...woooohooo!! We are getting to take advantage of homeschooling by getting a vacation during the school year at lower prices.

 

This meant that I had to carefully plan out lesson plans...well, I thought it did. The planning turned out to be only two days of real planning. I was glad it went smoothly and so far the boys love the schedule.

I get asked, as I discovered...like many homeschooling Moms, how does a homeschool day work?

~How long is the day?

~How much time do you spend on each subject?

~How many days a week?

~How many subjects do you personally teach?

I finally feel like I can answer these. Last year I was the one asking them..panicking about those questions, and agonizing over whether or not I was doing it right, even half way through the year. So, if this is you, don't panic, don't stress! I know it's easier said than done, but when people say, "You can't mess up!", they really are right.

Once you have found your curriculum, picked out your literature, sport/extracurricular activities for the year then the planning begins.

NOTE: This may not work for everyone, or you may have many children at all different ages, so the planning for each day will be different than ours.

"How long is our day?"

It depends. I know that's not helpful, but it's realistic.

We get up between 6:30 & 7 and they make their beds, do their morning chores and eat breakfast. Then, we usually begin at 8-8:30. However, today it was 9AM, because I got new medication and apparently it made me really tired and I had trouble getting up. This is the "reality" part...sometimes things happen and health comes first. Turns out they slept in too. So, no big deal, we started later.

"How much time do you spend on each subject?"

I have told the boys 25-30 minutes per subject; but, math may be longer for extra review or History because I get really into it {smile}. We generally have 30 minutes for lunch; but, I sometimes read literature during that time, so it ends up being a working lunch.

So far we have been finishing up around 2PM, so a total of 6 hours. Yes, they end earlier than public school and accomplish a lot of material, with one-on-one attention and I'm able to go at each child's pace. Which for my boys, has put them a year and 2 years ahead in learning.

"How many days a week do you homeschool?"

Well, last year we did 4 days a week. It was great! We finished the year 2 weeks before their public school counterparts and also started school a week later. But, this year I wanted less of the time crunches we felt daily last year. Trying to finish up a subject quickly to make it to P.E. classes, Science Lab Group, etc.

So I went crazy researching. I kept hearing and reading about so called "flex-days". This is a day that is "flexible", that allows for extra curricular activities and doesn't interfere with core curriculum (Math, English, Science, etc.). Looking at our calendar, Tuesday was our busy day. We exchanged P.E. for golf this year, we already had piano lessons at our home Tuesday mornings and Science Lab Tuesday afternoons.

So, I sat down with the times and looked at making Tuesday a "flex-day". I was thrilled...it worked!!

Typical Tuesday "Flex-Day" Schedule:

8-9AM- Morning "Brain-Pop" video(fabulous app for all subjects), "This Day in History" (another great app), these total less than 10 minutes. Then, they do their Daily Warm-ups for Math and English, (again less than 10 minutes). Then, with the leftover time in the hour, we have time for review on the weeks lessons, extra help, or even time to discuss the next weeks revisions if needed.

 

9-10AM- They working on their typing program.

10-11AM- They have 30 minutes each piano lessons. While one is getting their lesson, the other one is studying their Spanish, with workbooks, flash cards, and the Spanish program Mango FREE through our library.

11-12:10PM- We read our literature, eat lunch, and get ready to go to golf lessons.

12:30-1:30PM- Golf lesson for both

1:30-1:45PM- We run home clean-up and zip over to Science Lab

2-3PM- Group Science Lab

This "Flex-Day" allowed me to really focus on the core subjects the rest of the week and also have plenty of time for what I call the "enrichment" part of school. This is Art, Music, Foreign Language, and any other electives, which for us is Typing and Golf.

 

The boys at their golf lesson. They're the 2 smaller people with a coach :-)

Last weeks Art lesson was the history of Origami. The best part of this lesson, was using the book my grandparents in Hawaii had given me when I was 7.

 

On, the question of how many subjects do I personally teach, question....I read to them the literature. Not that they couldn't read it themselves, but being that I have a 5th grader and a 7th grader, they are at different levels of learning and vocabulary. This way, I can expose them to books they wouldn't normally gravitate towards, (therefore broadening their literature and vocabulary horizons), and we all read it together.

{Some examples are the "classics", like Mark Twain's books, Swiss Family Robinson, etc.}

Then, I can point out vocabulary words they possibly haven't heard or used, and put them up on our board. Also, I have a great opportunity to really go over the material, (what the author was trying to convey, how we as a reader would react if we were the character, etc.). My boys are both audio learners, so this is a great way to get more information to stick too! Plus, I also found they asked more questions and felt compelled to research new things they were learning from examples in the books, such as historical accuracy or historical political questions, etc. Therefore, again broadening their knowledge.

I realized last year, that I should have looked at each literature selection I wanted for the year, and use them as additional teaching tools for history or holidays. For example, "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" centered around the 17th century, it could have been read during the months when we were studying Colonial America. I realized the lost opportunity to make real connections to a mental time line. We all know that stories always help us remember key events. Now by using literature along with the curriculum, hopefully the curriculum will stick in their minds, just THAT much more.

This year, I started completely over with U.S. History, reselected literature, looked at Holidays for the year, and then organized it all.

We started with "Hawaii's Story" by Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani, because of our Hawaii trip. I wanted the vacation to also be educational. What better way to learn about Hawaii, then to listen to Hawaii's last queen tell her history, of her islands and her people. I divided the number of pages by days we had before the trip and that led to how many pages to be read each day.

 

I did this with "A Christmas Carol" too. I wanted to make sure we started it and finished it by our Christmas Vacation. So if there are deadlines to meet for your literature choices, this works well.

I also planned art, informational videos, and other fun items I have collected over the years, around each of these themed spots in our curriculum. It has already proved to be awesome! I went through Brain-Pop (an amazing app for all school subjects), family genealogy, and educational games, that would correspond with our literature, history, and science.

Only three weeks in, and both boys have said the extra tools I'm using, make it much more interesting. In my opinion, by using many different learning tools, the new information then becomes concrete knowledge.

We are on our way to a great year! Here's to wishing you all a great school year too!

Happy Homeschool Planning!

 

 

 

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Motivational Monday: Moving On...

Sometimes I find myself stressing about people in my life, homeschool goals, personal goals, cleaning goals, daily goals, etc. etc. Some are really big, some are really small; but, as we all know, it adds up! Then, it starts showing in how we handle things emotionally and even scarier, physically. We get tired easily, more wrinkles, weight gain, etc.....it's not good!

But then I find myself asking "why?"

I usually talk myself off the "stress" ledge pretty quickly, or call in reinforcements like my husband, who always sees a silver lining or solution, or one of my favorites...girl time with my sister & friends, which usually is an instant cure through laughter.

But, it never hurts to see inspirational or motivational quotes like these. They remind us, life is short, it's ok to say no, to people and things in life that stress us out.

It sure isn't easy to change how we are hard wired. Especially if you worry a lot like me. I know I've blogged about this before. But, I know I'm not alone!

The first step in healing, is sometimes letting go. This can be expectations of ourselves or from others, friends, family, and even situations. I find myself at times second guessing lost relationships with friends/family, or just life choices, like jobs, schools, favors asked of me etc. etc.

It's never easy to say NO or let go...

Then, you remind yourself that God has a plan. Everything happens for a reason. You wouldn't be who you are or where you are without life's, trials, tribulations, joys and twists and turns. But, sometimes God's plan is for you to not sit and let things just "happen". He wants us to help and heal ourselves. Just like a parent helps their child grow and mature, by letting them make mistakes and learn from them.

This is difficult to embrace at our very low moments in life; but, necessary to heal and move on.

I know some of you are saying things like...so does saying no to home-room-mom or no to volunteering at church count? The answer is YES! If you over extend yourself and it makes you stressed out, which you take out on your family and friends, then your overtired and get sick from lack of sleep, worrying about deadlines or pending events, stress, etc....YES, it counts. We need to take care of ourselves before we can tend to others needs. I think this kind of stress is thought of as a "girl thing"...but, admit it guys, this is you too! Saying no to the favor a friend asks, or volunteering for the little league. I'm not saying to say No. Some people need that in their life. I'm saying, say No when you know it's going to be too much. Don't say yes out of guilt or trying to please others. Say yes because it pleases you and life has time for it!

So remember, life is what YOU make of it, not what happens or is done to you. So stay positive, keep giving,(of yourself), to others and loving the way you want to be loved in return, and it will come back to you! Make time for life. Never give up on YOU...God hasn't!

 

Stay Positive, find things that make you Smile and Breathe.... Life is too short to stress.

Happy Monday & Much Happiness and less stress for us ALL!

 

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Homeschool Summer Field Trip

During the summer here in Texas, normal temperatures are in the mid 90's. the weatherman said we were in a cold front last week at 91*. i think that spells it out.....it's HOT!

Keeping kids entertained can be difficult, when playtime outside is cut down drastically due to extreme temperatures. So every summer my sister and I try to find fun to do with the kids. It's nice when it can be educational too. Now that I'm homeschooling, I look at all activities differently. So when my sister Heather suggested we visit McKinney for the day, I was game.

McKinney, Texas has been named in the top 10 places to live three years in a row. The historic McKinney Square has been said to be the place to visit; due to its historic buildings, small town feel and charm, as well as great shops and restaurants. Adding to that charm, is Historic Chestnut Square Village.

http://www.chestnutsquare.org/

Chestnut Square Village is a collection of historic homes. This village was a dream of two ladies in the 1970's. Not unlike many historic neighborhoods across the country, old homes were being torn down or becoming so unkempt, they needed to be torn down. Seeing this happening in McKinney, these two ladies mortgaged their own homes, to save a couple historic ones. The rest as they say is "history"! Their dream came to fruition and flourished. {I sure hope I got the facts right! It's hard not to get distracted by the beautiful homes.}. There are several historic homes, general store, school house, and chapel.

Now the neighborhood around Chestnut Square is seeing revitalization too. Huge old trees line the hilly and winding streets. The neighborhood echoes a time gone by, of people sitting on their porches, sipping lemonade in the hot summer, watching children play under the shade of the trees and a time when everyone knew everyone. How could you not fall in love with Old McKinney, after an afternoon here?

Well, Tuesday we did just that....fell in love with all that Historic McKinney had to offer.

Chestnut Square offers all types of tours; private, group tours, haunted tours, and even Christmas Holiday tours, complete with docents dressed in period clothing and all the homes dressed for the Holidays. You can even rent some of the facilities for parties and weddings, including the historic Chapel.

We were fortunate enough to get a private tour, because no one else came in for a tour yesterday. We think it's because of the advertised heat. But, "psssst...it's air conditioned!". So, not only did we get a break from the heat, but we got a history lesson and plenty of time to ask as many questions as we wanted. So much of the tour, we were able to touch and feel and get really up close to the antiques on display. From antique wallpaper, children's clothing, wedding dresses and shoes, antique pianos, pump organs, china, etc. etc. stories of family relations to Jesse James, Civil War heroes, and the stories of the local Dr. and Blacksmith. We were so enthralled, we lost track of time and went over time by an hour. If that tells you anything...you won't be bored and the docents enjoy getting questions and nswering them. From ages 6-39, all were entertained. This tour also includes the largest collection of ice cream machines in the country, mascots Chester the cat, as including Collin & McKinney the miniature goats. The tour ended with us in Dixie's general store and bringing home some great souvenirs of times gone by.

I always tell my boys, and I'm sure I've parroted it on my blog a few million times too, you can't appreciate your present and future, unless you appreciate and know the past. Our local, state, and national history is so important. Historic villages such as Chestnut Square, not only preserve historic homes, but our local history. I was so glad Heather thought to visit Historic McKinney, and so were the kids. Having a wonderful lunch at Square Burger didn't hurt either.

If your in search of a fun & educational, family, school, or homeschool, field trip, Chestnut Square Village and Historic McKinney Square is a must! Be sure and block out enough time for the tour, lunch, shopping, gelato (smile) at Paciugo, and driving around drooling at the restored historic homes and those homes waiting to be lovingly restored.

Here are a few pictures from our tour...

These two I borrowed from their Facebook page...adorable and friendly Chester as well as the Dulaney house, both part of the tour.

Here are a few pictures showing the walls that still have fabric, most likely cheese cloth, that would have gone over the boards to protect the wallpaper from the house shifting. Some of the walls were made from the packing crates used in the move to Texas. The docent explained all of this to us. I was so fascinated with the walls.

 

 

Original oil lamps that have been converted to electric.

Children's clothing: It was dark in this room and the flash really washed these pictures out...but, I wanted to show them anyway. The detail of the mother-of-pearl buttons was so sweet on the boys black velvet outfit.

 

 

Calling cards...so sweet!

I loved this story..."Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite", was a saying from beds being made of rop ties. You had to keep them tight or you would end up on the floor with bugs and more specifically, bed bugs...YUK, but yet so interesting!

This old steamer trunk, in tact, just made me drool. I loved it! The lithographs were so beautiful.

 

The color....Oh the color! And of course a beautiful corner built in, in the great kitchen/hearth room.

Preston, reluctantly posing by the fireplace, so I could show the scale of this fireplace.....HUGE, and the beautiful original color.

My boys and my adorable niece and nephew, on the steps of one of the many homes and buildings.

Hopefully, this will inspire you to visit and appreciate your local history. Have fun in Summers last Hoorah, before school starts, and thank you for letting me share our summer homeschool field trip.

 

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Motivational Monday: Do you Worry?...Too Much?

Sometimes I feel like that's all I do...WORRY! Do I have everything for this coming school year?, Did I forget something?, Do we have an appointment I'm forgetting?, Did The kids take their vitamins?....Did I take mine?....ugh!! (I joke about the vitamins...all Moms out there know what I mean, it's all the little things that add up to one BIG worry!)

There is NOTHING life pressing, nothing critical, nothing devastating. So, why do I worry so much? What can I do to make myself stop worrying. Then, I realized it's the "pending".... Things pending, are things to be done, to be organized, to be cleaned, etc. etc. etc. drives me NUTS!!!

Then, I came across this on Pinterest. I am a huge believer in making your own destiny. Making your own happiness, even when times in my life it felt like there was no hope, I still had faith that with God's help and me DOING...I could get out of any sticky, awkward, or horrible situation life handed me. There was always hope!

I grew up Catholic and our family motto was "hand it over" as in, hand it over to God. Whatever your belief, sometimes we have to just let go, and believe in ourselves and if you believe in God, then also hand it over to God.

Yet, I still coped with heavy situations by worrying and planning, then more worrying and planning. But, when I saw this, it really hit home. We can't change the outcome!

However, through the toughest moments in my life, when there seemed to be NO hope, I knew I couldn't change the outcome, but with effort, I could change my future.

I wasn't a victim anymore! And, I was no longer a victim of my life circumstances!

So, now...fast forward, I have the best husband of 13+ years, two beautiful, loving, kind boys, a beautiful home, and wonderful friends and family. Why worry? Worrying is toxic. It turns into me not sleeping, constant frustration, dissatisfaction, and ultimately a state of unhappiness.

I decided I needed to stop worrying and take care of me!

I'm eating better, exercising, and trying to remind myself that "pending's" will get done, no matter how much I worry. Life will go on if I forget an appointment, kids vitamins, etc. etc.

Life goes on... So we might as well relax, take one day at a time and only worry about living a good, honest, loving life! The rest will fall into place.

Happy Motivational Monday! Have a good evening, relax, and stop worrying! Believe in yourself and remember, God is there........

 

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