Latin? What Latin?

In this previous post, I said I hoped our new addition of a Latin curriculum would be productive.

Update: We don't do it.

We do memorize our CC Latin, though. [Thunderous applause, please.]

The End.

Confession of Projectophobia on Project Day

I have projectophobia, a fear of projects.  Glue and paint make me nervous. Hearing the word glitter triggers hypertension.  The finished - or half finished - product usually starts out in a place of honor and then migrates around the house until it is so old that nobody cares that it is finally thrown away.  For these reasons, I usually choose flat projects that can be notebooked or adapt projects to Legos.

In spite of my projectophobia, or maybe because of it, today is project day. Instead of our daily work (except math), we are doing projects.

We made a statue of Alfred the Great from Story of the World Middle Ages.

Alfred the Great
"The land ravaged by a fearful enemy from which he delivered it."

 We used butter and flour to simulate the lava hardening into rock on the surface of Venus from Exploring Creation With Astronomy.

We used flour and pebbles to simulate asteroids making craters on Mercury, also from Exploring Creation With Astronomy.

My irrelevant misgivings (we will not get our daily work done, which will show up at the end of the year; there will be extra messes to clean up, which takes time; etc.) are outweighed by the kids' delight.

At least there is no glitter.

Worry Confession

Last night I realized that The Husband was right about Mother Worries.

I had talked to three piano teachers that day and was lying in bed discussing (mostly with myself) which piano teacher we should choose.

"Does high cost mean high quality?  Is the expensive one going to expect too much at recital time from my shy child?  Is the less expensive one going to require enough from my child?  If not, I might as well teach him myself.  Then again, I will probably be surprised at how effective the less expensive teacher will be, especially since he has plenty of parental support at home.  Really we can't afford the more expensive lessons, especially at first.  But then if we want to change instructors someday, how am I going to break it to the teacher after we have been to her house every week for a year or two?  I will just have to tell her...blah, blah, blah, etc., etc.

The subject was worn out, but I kept discussing it until The Husband started laughing.

"You haven't even started piano lessons yet, and you are worried about how you are going to quit them!"

He was right.  My excessive thinking ahead (worrying) is the emotional equivalent to voluntarily stepping onto a mountain train with no brakes.

Worrying is not only sinful; it is stupid.

Notebooking Confession, List of Insect Photo Sites, and a Moral

Instead of drawing pictures to go along with all the narrations in our Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day Junior Notebooking Journal (Apologia), we print photos from the Internet.

Just in case someone else out there has a first grade son with a slight pencil allergy...and just in case that someone needs permission to take a shortcut for the sake of a parent/child relationship, here are a few good insect photo sites:

National Geographic
The best way to search for an insect or animal photo is to use the search box in the top right corner.

InsectIdentification.org
We found a great picture of a molting cicada.

Alex Wild Photography
Our favorite. Before I printed, I checked their conditions for image use, and it specifically allows students and teachers to use the photos for educational purposes.

To print the photos, I use the Windows Snipping Tool, save the photo in a folder I labeled "insect study," then print in wallet or contact paper size, depending on the space in the Notebooking Journal. Very simple.

Finally, the moral: Thing1 began illustrating some narrations without complaint after we began printing most of the pictures. It is amazing how much a kid (and his mother) can accomplish when he (or she) is not overwhelmed.

Coupon Confession

WARNING:  If you are under the impression that I am an ideal keeper of my home and a frugal manager of our family's finances and would like to stay under this illusion impression, please stop reading now.  You might find the text below outrageously shocking.

I quit clipping coupons, and I threw away my homemade organization system.

Too much clutter.  Too much time. 

The savings were great when I was vigilant, as I was for about a year.  It is still hard to buy things like razor cartridges, snack foods, etc. without coupons because I know how cheap they can get.  But I started measuring the cost of those "cheap" items by more than currency around the time I started planning for this school year.  The time and attention it took to get those deals was costly for me, especially when I was faced with the time-consuming and higher-priority homeschool.

I was relieved to finally make a conscious decision to stop trying to get back into it, but I still had a guilty feeling sometimes, especially when I went shopping and when I read blogs of good wives who seem to do it all.

Ironically enough, the encouragement that I needed to finally let go came from Money Saving Mom, a coupon queen!  Her article, Lower Your Grocery Bills Without Clipping Coupons, was great.  I shop at Aldi's.  I use a menu plan.  I'm okay.  I need reminders like this to help keep perfectionism (which, for me, equals guilt) from rearing its ugly head.

Maybe I will be able to clip coupons again someday.  In the meantime, I'll just keep on doing my best with what I've got to work with at this moment.  I will also assign that nifty Sterilite container (the old coupon box) a more meaningful purpose.



Shared with WLWW.

Confessions

I don't fold wash cloths.

I don't fold the boys' bath towels or hand towels.

I don't fold boys' underwear.

I don't fold dish cloths and towels.

A year ago, I decided that I would rather have clean towels unfolded in a basket in the bathroom where they belong than unfolded in the laundry room where they don't belong.

It works for me.

One day when I don't have little kids to teach, feed, clean up after, and be entertained by, maybe I will start folding again.

Shared with Works for Me Wednesday.

Confessions

I spent half of last night on a pallet on the floor in my bathroom with a coughing, vomiting 3-year-old.  (The steamed-up bathroom was the only thing that calmed his cough a little.)  On most days, this might have been gross.  But last night it was not, which leads to my confession.

I have hired my sisters to take turns coming for two hours a week and help with my weekly "Quick Clean." (For my fellow flybabies, this would be my version of the Weekly Home Blessing.)

It makes me happy.  And relieved.  And energized to do Zone work throughout the week. 

Thank you, Husband of mine, for insisting we work this into the budget.  I don't deserve you.

Or maybe I should say I'm sorry for letting the house get to the point that you should insist we work this into the budget.  No.  The other way sounds better.  Thank you.

Confessions

My refrigerator smells like something died in it.

There are no clean wash cloths or hand towels in the boys' bathroom.

We only followed our schedule one day this week.

And I still took a nap today.