My life in review

Ok last week I reviewed a character curriculum and this week I'm doing a review of my life. I like to take a look at what I've been doing every few months and decide whats working and whats not working and needs to be changed.
 
  Oh where do I start? I know.. lets start with whats not working.. this computer for starters is a piece of junk because it shuts down at anytime it wants to and is missing keys. So it makes me want to pull my hair out when I'm using it. Not much I can do about that though because my budget doesn't allow for a new one. Next....my calendar that I made for the kids yeah not working either. I guess I'm just not that structured.  I want to be but I just can't. So I took it down. Maybe I'll just hold on to it and try it again in the future. OK what else??? I had to change the Princesses curriculum because it was so not working. She is just not a workbook kinda girl and now I'm leaning more on visual learning techniques. All the boys did great with Abeka but its not for her. I've been going back to basics with her and adding a lot of hands on things. Speaking of the Princess, her room was not working for me either. So I changed it around a bit, purged some of the toys and clothes and bought a few new totes for organizing and now it's under control. I could write a whole post on that alone. I have a few others projects just like that one that need to be tackled.
 
   Alright enough of that. Whats working for my life right now. Notice the right now part of that sentence. That's because I know that whats working for me now... might not work for me three months from now. My morning calendar routine is the first thing that comes to mind. Loooove it! It has saved me so much time having everything up and ready in the morning. I don't have to go over each thing individually with each kid and we've made it into our routine.. so the kids know what to expect every morning. This is what my dining room area looks like. We do most of our school here.

My other favorite thing that has been working is this folder. It has 8 slots inside and I labeled them Monday-Friday and then I keep things like reading books and completed worksheets in the other ones. Every Friday I reload it for the following week and I'm all set to go.

Next is my exercise routine. I'm just happy I've been able to be consistent with it. I just completed three months of Chalean Extreme. I really wanted to add some weight training to my routine and I'm so happy I did. I really see a difference in muscle definition in my arms and back. I also lost some of the fat on my abs. This week I'm starting Insanity and that's a 60 day program. I'm hoping that when I'm done I'll have lost the last bit of weight I want to take off. That'll bring me to January and then I'll be starting my marathon training, which goes till race day at the end of May.

So that's all for now. Hope your all having a fantastic fall....my favorite time of year by the way. Have a blessed week!

We Choose Virtues Review

A few weeks ago I was chosen to review "We Choose Virtues". Maybe you've came across them online. We choose virtues is a set of tools to help aid in developing good character traits  in young children ages 3-11. It's designed to be used for a brief amount of time everyday. This can be done at home by a parent or in school by a teacher. It can even be used as a conversation starter at dinner time. The idea is to imprint these characters in the child over several teachable moments found in your everyday life experiences.

There are 12 characters that are covered:

1. Attentive
2. Content
3. Gentle
4. Kind
5. Diligent
6. Forgiving
7. Obedient
8. Patient
9. Perseverant
10. Helpful
11 .Self-Controlled
12. Honest

I really loved how each character began with "I am". For example: "I am" Kind.

 The characters are adorable and the cards are vibrant in color and made of quality material. There are several products offered that range from posters and flashcards to entire teachers kits.You can check out all the different products here http://www.wechoosevirtues.com/shop.  There are also some freebies offered on there site to go along with materials. There is a  Family-character-assessment. and a Kids-memory-verses-bible-hero es-and-truths list.

You can find there current promo codes here https://www.facebook.com/wechoosevirtues

I made the cards into part of our morning board routine. The kids were very excited about adding something new. In addition to the cards I added a Bible hero or Truth and a memory verse that went along with the character of the week.

I also have the opportunity to share some of these awesome materials with one of you. I'm giving away a set of "We Choose Virtues" Flashcards

To enter to win, please leave me a comment stating which virtues that you think are most important for a child to learn and an email address for me to contact you if your chosen. I'll post the winner on November 5th.

~This Moment~

-A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special,    extraordinary moment. A moment that I want to pause savor and remember.

If your inspired to do the same, leave a link to your "moment" in the comments for all to see. Inspired by Soule Mama.

~This Moment~

-A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special,    extraordinary moment. A moment that I want to pause savor and remember.

If your inspired to do the same, leave a link to your "moment" in the comments for all to see. Inspired by Soule Mama.

3...2...1...Begin Self Destruction

 

  I could never understand how as humans our natural instinct is to survive but yet we do the stupidest things knowing it's going have a negative effect on our lives. I'm not talking about an unforeseen outcome hear. We do things that we know we'll be sorry for... but we feel the need to do them anyways. These things pop up in all the areas of our lives. In our relationships with others, our daily diets, and in our spiritual lives.  It's those words that we did or did not say to a friend or family member that we knew as they left the lips were wrong to say. Or the moment slipped by and we remained silent.  It's that donut that we ate after a perfect day of diet and exercise. It's jumping on the computer when we know that we should be opening our Bibles. It's the things that you continue to beet yourself up over even though you know that it wasn't your fault. What is it that causes us to do these things? I think it's selfishness. I think that our need to fulfill that immediate need or want is so great that we tell ourselves "I'll deal with it later" and enjoy the moment. It's the child in us that refuses to grow up. It's the devil whispering his poison in our ears. I would like to say that being aware of these things that I'm going to change my ways but we all know that it's not true. worst of all I know that it's not true. So all I can do is pray. Pray that I'll make the right decisions at the right time.

~This Moment~

-A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment that I want to pause savor and remember.

If your inspired to do the same, leave a link to your "moment" in the comments for all to see. Inspired by Soule Mama.

A new year

It's been a busy last few months of summer filled with water balloons, birthdays, camping and marathons. But as some of you homeschoolers may know summer is also a time for regrouping and planning for the following school year. So I spent most of July picking out a curriculum and mapping out my upcoming year. This year my oldest Prince will be a Junior in public school and the other three kids will be home with mommy. Prince number two will be in 3rd grade, the Princess is in 1st and the youngest Prince is starting Kindergarten. So in an attempt not to pull my hair out to make all this work smoothly....this is what I came up with.


All these charts will be interactive and will cover the things that we will go over every morning.
I'm going to hang them up in my dinning room/ school room.

 There are little velcro dots on the boards for the kids to put the days of the week and the weather outside.

 Almost everything is laminated so they'll be durable and you can write on them with expo markers and then wipe them clean the next day.


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These are some of the pieces that I made which also have velcro dots on them to attach to the boards

 This board is just a bunch of plastic pockets tapped on it so that I can switch out the posters through out the year. 

I like to give credit where credit is do. Most of this stuff I found from various web sites like: www.homeschoolcreations.com They offer so many different free printables and links you could easily get lost for days or even weeks.

Last but not least is my schedule for the year. I probably wont stick to it like glue but it'll give me something to shoot for. It's mostly for the kids to get an idea on how much they have left and have accomplished through out the day. My stuff like housework, exercise and meal prepping isn't on here. I'm planning on putting an analog clock above it too so they get some practice telling time as well. The little clocks are all laminated so I can change the times if needed during the year.

Phew...OK, I'm tired all ready. :)