Blogging Through the Alphabet (Favorites Edition) ~ F is for Florida State of Mind

As you know, my parents have a house in Pensacola, Florida. Since they purchased it a few years ago, the little kids and I have been able to go there for 7 to 10 days a couple of times a year. It always astonishes me how at peace I feel when I am in Florida. I'm just in a completely different place emotionally when I am there.

Thankfully my kids are homebodies and not real interested in running around all the time. We have a few places we like to visit, and we love to go to the beach a couple of days. But we are usually all tuckered out by early afternoon and ready to head back home for some dinner and showers.

Our routine is to sleep until 9 or so in the morning. The kids play while my mom and I take a long walk. If we are going out for the day, we try to get moving around late morning or just after lunch. We head out to our destination for a few hours or to the beach. We try to get home by about 4:30 in the afternoon. We fix an easy dinner, sometimes go for another walk, and the kids take their showers. We are all pj'd and ready for bed by about 6:00 p.m. Then the kids head to their bedroom to play and my mom and I settle into the living room for some t.v. time and reading. We sip hot tea and relax until bedtime, which is usually fairly early. And then the next day we do it again.

Since the house is clean when we arrive, the only cleaning we need to do during the week is as we make messes. We sweep here, vacuum there, or throw in a load of laundry.

While in Florida for a week I typically read about three novels. I try to do that at home but other things always seem to win my attention. If I get through one book in a month at home, I am doing good.

Every time we come back from Florida I swear I am going to keep my Florida State of Mind. I determine to simplify our home and belongings and activities. I try to get us home and settled for the evening by 6:00 p.m. and head to the couch for t.v. and reading time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's just not possible all the time.

Before long I find myself back into the rush of regular living and longing for another trip to Florida. There is just nothing like it.

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

A Thomas Jefferson Education "This Week in History" ~ Schoolhouse Review

Talk about a GOLD MINE! A Thomas Jefferson Education's This Week in History by Rachel DeMille is her "labor of love" ... and I absolutely LOVE it! " This Week in History is a daily resource that brings your home school or classroom to life." For just $9.99 per month, you can log onto TJEd.com and click the "This Week in History" link to obtain many, many, many resources tied to specific events that occurred in the upcoming week in history. Or even better, you can receive the summaries and links to ALL resources right in your email Inbox each week! It doesn't get any easier than that! What does this really look like in real life? Each week, I receive an email from Rachel DeMille that sets out each date of the coming week. Under the date, there are listed anywhere from one to several events that occurred in history on that date. THEN there are ALL kinds of things to do related to that event, such as books to read, websites to visit, ac

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Journey to Excellence

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