Wow! What a strange tide that has turned in my house. It has been almost 2 weeks of being thrown into a strange transition period. I'm not sure how everything just kind of became a "fruit basket upset" but it has. It's been a while since I blogged anything interesting, so I thought for the sake of Check In...I thought I would, well,
check in. I'm not going to go through the motions of a Homeschool Mother's Journal, but, I think I will give you all an idea of some of the inner workings of our house.
1. No. The adoption profile isn't done. I still haven't even started! Why? I can't put my finger on it. I'm just not "there" for some reason. With both Kayley and Maggie I felt this strong push to get my ducks in a row...but...for whatever reason, I'm not feeling the push behind me. Yet. Several of my friends are expecting...one friend just got an adoption placement. I even went to a babyshower a few weekends ago. While I feel that it is "time"...I'm just not feeling a sense of urgency. And, I think that is ok.
2. I have bitten off more than I can chew. I've backed off of a few of my commitments so I can make more time to focus on my family, homeschooling, and church. I will sorely miss book reviewing. I do have a few still out-standing, but I haven't taken on anything new. Whew. That feels good. I was also supposed to be a subject/content writer for Molly (Econobusters.com). I can't. I just don't have time. I am still an independent consultant/product reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Mag and I will also still be writing for Latter-day Homeschooling.
3. I've decided to completely change our curriculum. Kayley is smart. Wicked smart. I am doing her an injustice with the curriculum we are using. So much of it just become "busy work" for her. Instead of using a traditional textbook-type curriculum for 2nd grade we will be using Living Books. (OH! I am SOOO excited). Following a Charlotte Mason style we will be using Sonlight. Learning history and geography through Literature. Hello! This is the way I wish I had learned in school! I administered a few assessments to her to see where she was. No wonder the poor girl was bored. She tested at a 2nd grade reading level and 3rd grade in math! We are looking at Teaching Textbooks (3rd grade) for Math, or maybe Singapore. We need something more challenging. She has asked to learn cursive so I am searching for ideas there as well. All of these changes become overwhelming and quite time-consuming.
4. Maggie has been sick. Again. She gets this recurring mystery fever every 6 weeks or so. She is crabby for 2 or 3 days, runs a high fever...and then --it's gone. Nobody seems to know why.
5. The weather has been awful. I'm thinking we need to invest in a storm shelter. My heart can't take the stress and strain of freaking out about tornados. Last night was another sleepless night as I lay awake watching the radar and listening to Southwest Missouri Skywarn net on the police scanner. Every so often the weather radio would go nuts and shave another 6 years off my life. I think my stress-hormones are exceptionally high today. And I am SOOOO tired!
6. There are piles. EVERYWHERE. I am gathering clothes, shoes and toys to be consigned in our spring Rhea Lana sale. I'm gathering books, books and more books for our new curriculum (this took hours and hours of shopping by the way). I'm also gathering out-dated curriculum to re-sell at our used curriculum fair. Oh, there are piles of laundry that needs to be done. Piles of furniture I want to refinish. Piles of papers that need to be filed. Somehow I have started drowning in piles and no matter what I do, instead of the piles going away, they just keep getting moved from one place to another.
7. I'm teaching primary sharing time all month. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching... even teaching kids is ok. lol. But, I'm all Type A. A serious perfectionist and I spend ALL week stressing about my lesson. Thankfully I just need to teach this Sunday and then I get 1 month as a floater, then a month of conducting before I teach again. Whew!
8. My diet is going...nowhere. Oh. Wait I said I wasn't going to diet. Well, I joined WW about 2 months ago...I've lost, maybe 5 pounds? Not much. Because the eating right/exercising bit seems to take a lower priority. Higher priorities right now include: sleep (which is why I can't drag myself out of bed early enough to get it done), homeschool, chores, rearranging my piles, sleep, keeping my kids from beating on each other, and sleep.
There are not enough hours in the day. Seriously? Where does the time go? I blink and the day is OVER. I would love to kick back and read a book, but if I stop moving for even 5 minutes I start getting awfully sleepy.
Well. That is it. Where we are today. How are YOU doing today??
