On My Mind

:: Ann Voskamp's guide to Simple Homeschooling



:: The Spring Pallette Sewing Challenge hosted by Colette Patterns



:: Potential Valentine's Day Projects to do with the boys



:: Designing Your Own Masters from Simple Homeschool



:: Have you met Princess Lasertron and her "Have this Party" series? We have plans to try out the popcorn bar party if we can actually find a night when it's not pouring snow!

What is on your mind lately? Share the link love in comments!

Popcorn + Marshmallows =

YUM!

Okay, so maybe melting marshmallows and butter to make sticky popcorn isn't the healthiest thing to eat, but it seemed to be the perfect way to pass the time on a{nother} very cold snow day.

We received another 12+ inches of snow on Tuesday and spent much of yesteray huddled together watching movies and reading books in between the handful of students that were brave enough to venture out for lessons. The popcorn and mug after mug of hot chocolate certainly helped our moods!

Saturday = Art Day

Saturdays are the only day of the week where the adults don't work and the whole day is truly our own.

I usually spend Saturday mornings catching up on housework while Brian and the boys run errands, but in the afternoons we have fallen into a routine of making art of all kinds.

The boys were gifted some paint by number boards and Ender spent a long time hunting numbers down.

We also experimented with mixing yellow, blue and red tempras to give us secondary colors for finger painting. Ezra had never done that lesson with us, and it was fun to watch Ender get so excited to share his experience with Ezra. Ezra guessed that all the mixes would result in more red since red is his favorite color. Ender would put his hands on hips, shake his head and say, "you can't get red from that!" in his fake exasperated voice.

We also experimented with painting with cotton balls. Ezra figured out that you can rub the paint on like a paint brush and even mix colors on the page instead of in the tray...

And Ender was quick to use the cotton balls to make dots on the page as well as toothpicks for lines and "coloring", which he decided didn't work very well.

What have you been making lately?

On the Last Day of January

Outside my window... More cold and deeper grey as we await a storm that should start this afternoon and go through Wednesday, maybe even longer. They've predicted another 10-15 inches for our part of the city- at least the last 16 inches melted mostly over the past 5 days...


I am listening to... Jason Ingram's Forever Reign. We rehearsed this last Thursday and played it in the Sunday morning services and I can't get the simple melody out of my head... Our new worship pastor spent the last 2 years in Australia at Hillsong and even though he's only been with our church for about 6 weeks he has brought some amazing music to us and the collaborations with our worship director and the new pastor are so heart-changing.

I would embed, but it's disabled on this video: Hillsong Forever Reign


I am wearing... jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie and more socks than I have feet.

I am thankful for...

God's faithful provision, always right when we need it

Family that comes together whenever anyone has a need

Great books to keep company with in the evening

I am thinking... ahead to first grade for Ender next fall, just starting to get some loose plans rolling around in my mind. We're also thinking about spring and summer and how schooly we'd like to be during that time. I'm considering just keeping up math and having him read to me for 10 minutes or so every day- so basically 20 formal minutes a day and letting the rest of the time go. Not that we're doing a lot of super formal work...

I am reading... Redwall and eagerly awaiting One Thousand Gifts which hopefully will be here on Friday!

I am creating... I'm almost done with the sleeves for Poet's Pullover with mods [Rav link], Leyburn socks are on the go, and the new Spillyjane mittens, Camilla.

Always learning... we're hanging out with basics- handwriting, math, reading, and faith this week, and maybe next week too depending on regular life stuff.

 

Around the house... the boys have started a regular morning chore schedule- (make bed, brush teeth, get dressed- sort of thing) with a chart and it's working well for now. Who knew a chart could be so inspiring?

I am planning... not much til after Friday. This week is full of ice and snow!

Towards a growing faith... trying to gear up for a longer section of Scripture memory- do you think I can really handle a whole book this year?

I am praying... for the job interview Brian has on Friday.

 

One of my favorite things... Peppermint Tea for breakfast. Mmmmmm....

A few plans for the next week... Mostly staying warm! But after that, teaching the lessons who do decide to brave the weather, keeping up on the house, hopefully finishing a project or two, praying about the direction we want schooling to take in the spring and summer months.