Perfect Paula

I read through a fabulous homeschool curriculum guide which reveiws the author's 100 top picks for curriculum. The first several chapters are dedicated to understanding and choosing our own education philosophies, methodologies, goals, and understanding the teacher's and student's learning styles (that can turn out a little tricky and sometimes they clash).

In the learning style section we learned there are 4 basic learning styles: Wiggly Willy, Perfect Paula, Competent Carl, and Sociable Sue. While I had at least a few characteristics checked off in each category, I had every single one checked off under "Perfect Paula". Here are those characteristics:

• Likes everything neatly planned ahead of time
• Likes to follow a schedule
• Is not very good at coming up with creative ideas (as evidenced by my post below titled "I'm the Party-Pooper"
• Is comfortable with memorization and drill (If you're reading this I probably could recite your address, phone number, and birthday)
• Gets upset easily when children don't cooperate (the Lord has been really working in me on this one)
• Worries about meeting requirements
• Prefers to teach with preplanned curricula
• Is more comfortable with "cut and dried" subjects than with subjects that require exploration with no clear answers

As for Annie, I would have to classify her as a "Wiggly Willy" but I definitely think she'll grow into a Perfect Paula as I see her frustration when things don't go as scheduled. Although, she is extremely imaginative so who knows. I have no idea yet about Bekah. My prayer is that I will be sensitive and flexible so my children can receive from me.

I'm The Party-Pooper

The other day I was telling my friend, Nettie, that the one thing I dread hearing from my kids is "Will you play with me?" I know that sounds horrible, but imagining and coming up with creative stories is major work for me. I welcome questions like, "Mommy, will you read to me?" or "Can I help you cook?" but just don't ask me to play. I love to watch my kids play and have fun. It really does look like fun...I wish it came easier to me. I better work on this. I don't want to be a perpetual party-pooper

Curriculum!!

I'm so excited!! Yesterday I received the first part of the curriculum I ordered for Annie to begin kindergarten. After much research I chose to go with My Father's World for all the kindergarten subjects except for History/Social Studies. Separately I purchased a workbook called "The American People and Nation" from Christian Liberty Press. I can't wait to start teaching it! I was already impressed as I paged through and saw how dedicated the content is in teaching the true Christian principles our country was founded on as well as the dedication to Scripture memorization which correlates with each chapter's content. I was also impressed with the breakdown of the pledge of allegiance to help the children understand the meaning of what they are saying. I don't remember understanding what I was saying in elementary school.

Now my job is to figure out what field trips will be appropriate as we make our way through our lessons. This will be fun!! I feel so honored that I will be my girls' main teacher, imparting all of this wonderful knowledge to them.

My classroom (okay dining area) :) is slowing filling up on the walls. I have a small dry erase board up (I need a bigger one), a world map, a U.S. map, and the days of the week pinned up. I hit Target for some school supplies (scoring at the Dollar Spot) and have to make a trip to Costco and the school supply store to finish my supplies shopping. On Thursday I should be receiving the rest of the curriculum I ordered. Woo Hoo!!!

Prospective Schedule

This will highly likely interest nobody who will read this post, so please feel free to not read this if it bores you. :) Its really for me to utilize and adjust during the upcoming school year. I now realize the need to begin labeling my posts.

Here is my proposed schedule for us once our 1st homeschool year rolls around:

5:00 Shower, get dressed, do makeup

5:30 Devotions

6:15 Do my hair

6:30 Make Jose's lunch, put away clean dishes from previous night

7:00 Wake kids, kids get dressed, do hair, wash faces, eat breakfast, brush teeth

8:00 Start chores with kids' help: make beds, tidy up house, clean bathrooms, vacuum, dusting, sweeping, do 1 email check

9am - 12pm School time!! No phone calls made or received, no internet/email, and no TV. At some point take a break for P.E. and snack

12:00 Lunch, run errands

1:30 Read together with kids - Bible, devotional, and other books

2:00 Naptime for kids, reading time for me as well as finish up chores and review lesson for the next school day

4:30 Start dinner **Goal** Include children in cooking lessons and teach them to set the table for dinner

6:30 Dinner

7:30 Bathtime

8:30 Bedtime for kids

Saving the Planet...One Baggie At A Time

This may seem pretty small, but I am trying to do my part to go green. I'm not super involved in saving the Earth, but lately I have been recognizing that I need to do my part in taking care of this temporary home the Lord has blessed us with. Thankfully we have a recycling program in the city we live in so its pretty easy to contribute that way. I've been making sure to turn lights off when we aren't using them and keep the water useage at a minimum. My latest effort is to stop using plasic baggies. Since I started selling Tupperware I learned that it takes 100 years for a baggie to break down in the landfull. I'm proud to say that its been 3 weeks since we've had a box of baggies in our house. I still have freezer bags but I'm trying to find a replacement for those. I don't really know why I'm posting about this. :-)

Six Word Memoir

My good friend tagged me on her blog to think of a six word memoir to describe my life. I've been lazy and haven't thought of many clever phrases. The only one I could come up with to describe my life, or at least what I desire my life to reflect, is one I thought of last August when I began this blog...look at my blog title. :)

"In Him, Through Him, For Him" ("Him" being God)



Its my turn to tag a few bloggers. I tag:

Nettie
Leti
Corinne
Jessica

And my dad - please post in the comments section. :)

My Un-Birthday

My dad does something pretty neat for both Annie and me. Since our birthdays are in January, right on top of Christmas, he celebrates our 1/2 birthdays. So every July I get my own personal birthday celebration with my dad. Last night he came over and took me to Las Campanas (mmmm!) We enjoyed good food and good conversation. He also gave me a cute decorative box with new stamps and an ink pad and money for scrapbooking. Yay!! I'm so looking forward to begin scrapping and I have the date set next Friday night to begin.

Thanks, Dad!!