OK, we're back on regular school schedule this week, and we're starting Term 2 which will be 8 weeks long. My new reading rotation topics include: parenting, education book, education articles/blogs, spiritual, and classics. I will also be listening to audio lectures (Introduction to Orthodoxy series from St. Spyridon's Church, and "The Historical Jesus" from the Teaching Company) My goals for this week: * Couch to 5k 3/7 * Banish Fat Burn Metabolism or 30 Day Shred 2/7 * Yoga 5/7 (desperately need to relax my tense jaw!) * Audio lectures during running * Reading rotation 5/7 * Daily devotions 7/7 * Plan Home Ec lessons for DD, to start next Friday * Figure out how to have school somewhere else on Wednesday, as the water in our apartment complex will be shut off for repairs that morning. Completed today: * C25K Week4 Day3 * Intro to Orthodoxy, Lecture 1 (first half) * Daily devotional reading * Simplicity Parenting Ch. 4 (first half) What I would love to have happen this week is for DH and I to finally make a decision about which city we will live in. We moved here at the beginning of the year for a new job, and we've been in an apartment while waiting for our previous house to sell. It closed a month ago, and we're still dithering about which of two cities we want to commit to (nicer/more community opportunities/35-40 minute commute vs. not quite as nice/few community opportunities/5 minute commute). I think that this is what is causing my jaw clenching and resulting headaches.

Thanks to a PP for mentioning Bart Ehrman! I had forgotten that I have his course from the Teaching Company titled "The Historical Jesus." I've moved it up closer to the top of my "To Be Read/Watched/Listened" pile.

Thanks for posting about this, OK Family! I was just pondering how to incorporate my DD's request to "learn to cook" into our school plans, and these suggestions are great. And now I'll add sewing as well.

I purchased some of the myth books by Roger Lancelyn Green, part of the Puffin Classics series. So far DD has only read the Egyptian Myths book, but I have the Greek titles on deck for when we reach that section of SOTW. From what I have seen of your posts about your DD, I think that my DD is similar in both reading aptitude and sensitivity. The Egyptian Myths book was not too challenging, and did not trigger any sensitive reactions. Here's the link to the author's page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Roger-Lancelyn-Green/e/B000AQ6MLA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1410378787&sr=1-2-ent. I should also note that I have only skimmed the books, but have not completely pre-read them myself. So take my recommendation with that in mind :)

The "doing well" part is that we got everything completed today, while the "needs work" part was that it all took so long that we didn't really have time to do anything else fun. On to the weekend!

Tomorrow is another day. That about sums it up. School went about as well as could be expected with a whiny, clingy 3-year old. He is now napping, DD is actually complying with working on a chore that I assigned ( :svengo: ), and I am going to do some of my own self-ed reading, accompanied by chocolate.

Doing well: * I got up and did my morning routine before the kids got up - 2 days in a row, yay me! * We finished school by noon(ish) Needs work: * I need to do a better job of keeping the kids focused. I'm going to try some scheduled play breaks during school tomorrow, and see if that helps to keep them from drifting off into play when I want DD to pay attention.

Doing well: I got up early, did my devotions/exercise/shower, and got us all rolling on time this morning! Yippee! Needs work: DS was pretty disruptive today. Training him to entertain himself during school days will be a long-term, ongoing project I expect. Also, our air conditioning quit working this morning. The maintenance guy came to investigate, gave a diagnosis, and left saying he would be back later when the unit defrosted. It's 93 degrees, and we're in a 3rd floor apartment with a 3 year old, so I can't safely open all of the windows. I believe that it is time to go out for some ice cream :cool:

Going well: * We started our year on Aug 11, so we already have the first three weeks of a 6-week term completed. * DS is doing a better job of cooperating with school time, but we did have a potty accident/bath right in the middle of history today :willy_nilly: * DD is really improving with her narrations. Needs improvement: * We're not getting started in a timely manner in the morning, and it starts with me. I've really been slacking about getting up and doing my devotions/exercise/shower before the kids get up, and it's making everything late all day. I need a kick in the backside! :ohmy: My goal is to get out for a nature walk this afternoon. The weather is looking iffy for the rest of the week, so it needs to happen today or tomorrow. Today is supposed to be lower 90's, while tomorrow is forecast to be upper 90's...

For the upcoming week (Sept 1-5) I need to: * rotate library books for history and science (we picked them up yesterday) * do our nature walk in the first half of the week, as the weather looks iffy starting Wednesday * update our memory notebooks * read ahead in history and science to identify key words/terms * continue reading ahead in The Handbook of Nature Study to prepare for upcoming nature walks The list could go on, but that seems like a big enough chunk for now. I'm headed to the self-education accountability thread, and then I'll get to work on updating memory notebooks while DS is napping and DH/DD are still out at the waterpark.

Glove box or glove compartment.

I'm in - and I am OK with either joining the existing blogger threads or starting our own. I don't have a blog, and I don't think that I would feel guilty about not having one. I'm sure that if I tried to start one that I probably wouldn't get more than two entries completed before abandoning it!

Welcome to the boards, Kim!

Welcome to the boards!

I loved Long Way Round, but gave up on Long Way Down after 2 or 3 episodes. Hopefully you'll enjoy it more than I did. A man who wears kilts, rides a motorcycle, and has a Scottish accent - what's not to love? ;) Ewan sometimes shows up to motorcycle races in the US. I saw him (from a great distance) at either a World Superbike or MotoGP race at Laguna Seca 9+ years ago. Happy Back to School to you, EL!

There was some discussion about this on the Piedmont Homeschoolers Yahoo group in the last couple of days. One of the members had heard from the NC DNPE that they would probably not be sending out any requests for information from homeschoolers this year. Also, other members reminded everyone that it is not required to send anything in once you have registered your homeschool, you are only required to keep test scores, attendance records, and immunization records on file in your home. I registered our homeschool today. Once they confirm receiving our diplomas, we'll finally be official :)

We started on Monday as well, but it's been so busy that I didn't have a chance to post on this thread until tonight! Ah, Day 3 and we're already "behind!" I'm learning how to keep my 6 year old moving through her work without letting the 3 year old disrupt the whole day. I believe that there will be some schedule tweaking in my weekend plans.

Oh, that is fantastic! Thanks for the reminder of my Anne-obsessed childhood :)

Thank you all for contributing to this thread. Reading it has helped me to understand some things that are happening for me now, and I also now feel more forewarned about what is to come. I thought that I was just waiting around for the hot flashes and irregular of periods to start! I've also resolved to start writing down my female health history for my DD so that she is forewarned as well. For those of you who have read the Susun Weed book referenced upthread, how much practical information is in the book? I'm looking at the preview on Amazon and I'm seeing a lot of narrative-type writing that doesn't seem particularly helpful *for me*. I am interested in alternative/natural remedies, so is it worth wading through or skipping over the narrative to get to the "how-to" parts of the text?

:rofl: Nicely played!

Thanks for the information about the workbook! :thumbup1:

By "just the book", do you mean the seminar workbook for Teaching the Classics? I'm like you, I'd rather read than sit down to watch videos. Thanks!

We just went on a fire station tour a few months ago, and they had a pole. Three of the firefighters demonstrated using the pole for the kids, and I was interested to note that they all used a different grip/technique! My 2-year old is still talking about it :)

Thank you! :)

I went to sleep the other night with some ideas for how to use the bullet journal for homeschool planning, but I had forgotten all of my ideas by the time that I woke up the next morning! I keep telling myself to get my personal bullet journal going before starting a new one :)