Journey to Excellence

Something on your October calendar that makes you smile? Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. 9 glorious days of Florida starting October 4th. Food for the soul or music for the soul ... which camp are you in? Tell us why. If coffee counts as food then I would say food. Because, coffee. What are two or three things you've learned recently as a result of an online search? The proper winter care for newly transplanted hydrangea root balls/plants; which Tieks flats I want to splurge on with my Christmas money this year; and, the cat characters that are in the various Warriors series of books by Erin Hunter (for my 10 year old). Share your favorite game day recipe. You can describe it, post the how-to, or add a link to the actual recipe. Just plain old chili with hot dogs and/or frito chili pie. Just basic and simple. What are your five essential steps for creating the perfect morning routine? Wake up two hours before a...

For today ...  Tuesday, September 29, 2015 Outside my window ... it is a beautiful fall morning, cool and crisp with sunshine sparkling on the dew on the leaves. I am thinking ...  that this is going to be an inside pj day all day. We have been going, going, going. Eli was sick for a few days, still coughing his head off, and I am not feeling good today. Tomorrow is our super busy day of the week, I mean ridiculously, super busy. And I just need a day of quiet. I'm not even going to get out and exercise today. I am thankful ...  for the freedoms of homeschooling. I am wearing ...  green Missouri "Home" t-shirt and striped Victoria Secret pj bottoms. I am creating ...  piles of things to take on our trip to Florida. I am going ...  back to bed for a while. I will finish this Daybook later. (And I did. I got up at 7:30 a.m., went back to bed at 7:45 and slept until 10:00. And I still feel cruddy.) I am wondering ... how much we are actually...

I have got quite an opinion about homeschooling. I think a home education is superior to a public school education. There are a lot of reasons why I feel this way, and I will cover some of those reasons this week. We started out our week with a visit from Aunt Julie and Uncle Milton (Rick's sister and her husband of 30 years .. Happy Anniversary!!). So Monday and Tuesday's schoolwork consisted of family time, board games (a new WWII era game called "Memoir '44"), educational video games (see below), a historical movie (see below), and reading. We still accumulated some school hours, although not as many as a regular school day, but more importantly we accumulated some valuable family time. If the kids were in public school they would have missed out on time with some of their favorite people. The Hard Topics Do you let your kids study the hard topics? World War II has some pretty tough stuff for us to learn. I do not believe we should water down the ...

What have you 'fallen for' recently? Fall boots. I have bought 3 new pair in the past several weeks. Now if the temps will just cool down so I can wear them!!! What's something you're 'squirreling away' for later? Pizza coupons. When you buy a pizza from Casey's you get a tear-off coupon on the box. When you collect 10 coupons you get a free large pizza. We hardly ever buy pizza so it takes us forever. But my mom cleans our town's City Hall and the policemen throw their pizza boxes away without keeping the coupons. She takes them for me when she takes out their trash. That helps us get free pizzas faster! How do you like your apples? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Cooked? Apples are one of the superfoods for fall ... how often do you eat an apple either plain or as part of a favorite recipe? What's your favorite variety? I like a nice, crisp apple, dipped in either homemade fruit dip (cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla) or dipped in almond butter...

For today ...  Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Outside my window ... the house is looking great! Rick worked hard on Saturday and Sunday almost finishing the trim painting, and I worked to clean things up (knocking down massive amounts of cobwebs, lots of sweeping, etc.). We even planted some of the peony roots from my grandma's peonies that were transplanted to my mom and dad's, and some tulip bulbs. Things look fresh and new and pretty! I am thinking ...  about how behind I am on everything. We had a fabulous visit from Rick's sister Julie and her husband Milton, but it did, in fact, get us a bit behind. That's okay, we'll get caught up. I am thankful ...  for the time spent with Julie and Milton. It was their first time visiting our home here in Missouri, and I think their visits will now be more regular. We had fun playing board games and just sitting around talking. They also got to go see Brynne play volleyball, which meant a lot to her. I am wearing ...

Holy Exhaustion! Yep, we're in the full swing of homeschooling and life around here! Whew! We are doing some great work. I am just astounded at how much both Eli and Brynne have matured in their approach to their schoolwork this year. I look at them several times a day in awe at how independent and responsible they have become. Constitution Day Did you know that it is now a federal law that if you are a governmentally funded educational facility that you HAVE TO present a "program" about the constitution on Constitution Day ? That pesky government. As an educator, I don't like being told what I have to do. But, I do enjoy doing what I get to do. On the heels of the second Republican Debate on Wednesday night, I threw together some impromptu lessons on the Constitution to study on Thursday (because a reminder of that day is, in fact, something worth doing), and it was a hit! We started out with our beloved CNN Student News  because we knew Carl would be tal...

For today ...  Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Outside my window ... an Amish buggy and large trailer just went by loaded down with pumpkins for the auction this afternoon. I'm not quite ready to put out pumpkins yet. Mums, yes. But I want to wait a couple more weeks for pumpkins. I am thinking ...  about how I wish I could just go back to bed. I am tired and already feeling cranky today. I am thankful ...  for fall weather, scents, and colors. I am wearing ...  black Jockey yoga capris, a workout tank, and my Brooks. I am going to walk to the park and then run the mile loop once. Maybe that will help my mood. I am creating ...  a glorious NOTHING! (Well, other than weekly lesson plans for school.) Sometimes I get worn down from all the big creating events. I am going ...  to be taking the kids on a little side trip to Atlanta while we are in Pensacola next month. We are going to stay at the Omni Hotel and tour the CNN Headquarters. We will be ...

Simple Homeschool has been hosting guest posts about the hardest part of the homeschool year for different mom educators. Now they have opened it up for a link-up. Homeschooling for me is rather easy because it caters to my strengths. I love to be at home. I love to plan. I love to teach. I love to learn. And I love being around my kids. Really, it's not that hard. We school year round so we can put in regular breaks. We don't usually experience burnout because a break is always on the horizon. We have worked out a daily schedule that works best for us, allowing the kids to stay up a little later at night and sleep in a little later in the morning. Homeschooling is not hard. The hardest part for me is just ME.  I am an introvert. I laughed when I read another mom say on her blog this week that her favorite day of the week is Monday because the members of her family all go away. Before homeschooling, I always used to feel that way, too. I couldn't wait until Mon...

This was another good week, but I sure was a lot more tired! It is probably that the euphoria of the first week back wore off a bit and the reality of full homeschool days hit. Lots of activity. Lots of learning! We had school on Labor Day because we has just come back from an extended break in August. Yesterday I posted about our Spiders theme day . It was a surprise to me that both kids said that they actually prefer a regular ol' school day to a theme day. I can really see how they are growing and maturing in their education. That's a good thing, but kind of makes me sad that a few bells and whistles doesn't do the trick anymore. The Basics Each week I'll give a quick update on the subjects where we pretty much just do a lesson set a week. In grammar we completed four days of lessons from IEW's Fix-it Grammar , The Nose Tree ; we learned three-syllable words in spelling; math had us subtracting fractions with like denominators and then simplifying; wr...