One of those days….Oh Bother

Ever have one of those days, out of the blue, that just sneak up on you and you feel….well, blah….and do not have a single ounce of motivation to do even the most trivial things? Yeah? Well, this is one of those days for me.

Just feeling apathetic and wanting to do nothing that is really productive and yet feelling totally guilty that I”m not and overwhelmed because I know it just means I’ll fall further behind… oh bother.

I’m just focusing on the little guy today… he seems to be under the weather with this cough he has….it seems to be monopolizing his days. He’s able to sleep, thank goodness. But it does really give him a challenge come bedtime to do so. He just coughs and coughs and coughs….but finally , once sleep comes, it stays….until morning when the cough strikes again. Mid day doesn’t seem so bad but the poor guy is not happy. Trying to get the liquids in him as they seem easier to do than solids, cough wise. He loves honey so he’s getting spoonfuls of that (helps hide the echinachea taste as I put a few drops in of that). He’s getting the vitamin C as well. I’ve tried a homeopathic cough syrup but I’m not sure that’s really helping this time. Since I’m not a homeopath it’s obviously hard to judge whether certain things will work or not…. My homeopath is out of the office today at a conference so….. we’ll wait…maybe we’ll hear from her soon (fingers crossed).

Yesterday I made sushi again. Or shall I say Sushi slop? I don’t know what happened to my rice. I made sushi yesterday to make up for the sushi slop I made the day before for my daughter’s birthday. While it seemed a little better it just wasn’t right and I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I’ve made sushi before. Same rice. Same recipe. I’m not sure what is different…other than the obvious ending result of slop. The taste is fine….but….really not all that desireable with the consistency of the rice.

I should be planning the menu and making a grocery list… It’s one of those days where it’s hard to think though. This overcast sky isn’t helping. I should also be planning next week’s school schedule for my son. I’m not real motivated for that either. I am somewhat motivated to go over there and grab a few cookies that I made last night. Yes, I think I can manage that one….. and then…. well…maybe I’ll try the menu thing. Ugh. Or maybe I’ll just get out the ingredeients for tonight’s dinner…. Tonight is Quinoa and Spinach Soup. Oh, and I should get the bread dough out of the fridge if I want warm bread with that, shouldn’t I?

Ah yes, it really is time to stop procrastinating. But I did get this post done…lol…that’s an accompllishment, right? Oh, somebody tell me that it is!

Finding Time….How do they do it?

So I had a conversation with my sister today…. it was nice to hear from her and it got me thinking about a topic I often think of in the middle of the night. I think of lots of things in the middle of the night. Actually, not so much anymore….after working with a homeopath and taking some homeopathic remedies and a bit of magnesium, I don’t lie awake so often. But one of the big topics in my mind that this conversation brought to mind again is the things I want to do for myself just because I want to and never find the time to do…. like finishing my toddler’s quilt (it’s pieced together but yet to be sewn), reading more than just a daily devotional (if that), and writing….mainly blogging for now.

I think about my writer friends….well, former writer friends whom I hardly hear from anymore because they WRITE and frankly, for the time being anyway, I don’t. So not so much to converse about there, you know? And I think about those food blogs I read from time to time….. I soooooo love those food blogs! (Food Renegade is my favorite!) And I think….. HOW DO THEY DO IT?

How do they find time in their schedule to do it? Some of them, I know, send their kids off to the public school. I won’t do that. I keep mine home where I feel they belong and do the job of providing them with a well rounded moral education myself. Some of them (writer friends) aren’t cooking things from scratch and have much more time on their hands from that. But some of them DO homeschool. And some of them DO cook from scratch. And some of them (though not so many) DO do both. HOW?????? Of course, I realize most of them have kids more in the same age bracket. They aren’t struggling to graduate a senior and raise a toddler too. But still, I feel, there MUST be a way to find that time for myself?? There MUST be a way to set aside a half hour a day or at least a couple hours a week to read, write, sew…things that don’t really NEED to be done but I so desperately WANT to do just for my own bit of sanity??

It’s not from lack of trying. My excuse used to be lack of sleep. But I really am catching up with that now and so the days are going smoother and homeopathy has given me a sense of inner peace and a brighter outlook and a bit more energy. Yet I still struggle to work into the day anything that might actually be just for me and not really me doing the things I want to do for others. Getting up at 6 allows me to do my prayers and devotion time, get a load of laundry done, feed and medicate the dog and maybe even start a batch of green smoothies before the little guy gets up but that’s about all. The rest of the day is preparing breakfast for me, my little guy, snacks, checking and planning school work, doing some reading and activities with my toddler, making meal plans, making meals, reading with my older son, lunch, dinner, and some extra laundry, grocery shopping, errands, curriculum planning, nose-wiping, cuddling, etc. All of this goes on until about 5:00 when we eat as a family. (I LOVE that we eat as a family) Then it’s shower time and down time with the toddler to prepare for bed around 7:30 so I can maybe watch a TV show or play a game with the older kids before bed…. I aim for bed around 9 but never seem to get up there till 9:30…. wash my face, brush teeth, etc. have a little nighttime chat with one or both older kids and lights out MAYBE by ten but usually 10:30. So where do I fit it in???

I don’t know. I really don’t.
Sigh.

Trying to Add a Link to 10 Great Ways to Get Noticed in Blogging

Okay…so I’m going to try this link thing and see if it works.
I often take a look at people that mark that they “Liked” my post. I don’t always follow them though as much as I love their sites becasue I simply don’t have time to read that many blogs. I already don’t have time to read the very few that I do follow. But this one caught my eye and I’d like to remember it for the future when I have more time to dedicate to blogging.

Ten Great Ways to Get Noticed in Blogging
http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/10-great-ways-to-get-noticed-as-a-blogger/

So now you have to tell me…..did it work??

Homeschooling and English

There’s lots of things swirling around in my mind again today but for this post I’m going to briefly talk about one. English.

English is a very general term. It covers a variety of subtopics: Literature (my favorite), Writing (my favorite— ooops…did I already have a favorite?), Spelling, Grammar(my least favorite), research, speech, vocabulary and ??? am I missing something?

Literature can be covered in so many ways and so can writing. Those are the parts of the curriculum I focus on the most and the rest generally fall into place at some point. If they don’t, well, we can skip a year! LOL.

I’m thiking about stretching a ‘one-year’ American Literature program (Anthology) into two years, meaning he only has to do half of it next year, leaving lots of time to read full books – biographies, historical fiction (American history as he will be studing American History as well), classics and other books of interest. The hard part (and yet, fun) is coming up with the list… and deciding how many will be required. I’ve got lots of thinking to do. I am having trouble finding an actual list of historcial fiction books that are on American history and written at the high school level. So if any of my followers here have a recommendation, I would love to hear it.

Well, that’s all for today. I am REALLY tired. I’m calling it an early night….before I accidentally delete any of this AGAIN (it’s happened twice). Who knows if I’ve even made sense here….to tired to reread and edit! Goodnight!

Thomas, History & Enlgish and Lent

Those are the four things taking up space in my brain today: Thomas, History, English & Lent

Thomas is the train. I am going to attempt (with the help of a wonderful neighbor) to make a queen size quilt for my toddler’s bed. “Queen size?” you ask. Yes, well I didn’t want to go out and buy a brand new bed or lose the potential guest bed that we have. So yes, he looks quite small in that bed – which is a good thing as he is growing and this makes him stay smaller in my mind

History & English go together. Or they might be seperate. I’m not sure yet.
It’s time to start thinking curriculum for next year already. I start now because it takes me forever to make a decision. This year all I really need to decide on is high school classes for my oldest son, though I can’t seem to resist looking at classic book lists and preschool fun things for my toddler…. I know there’s no need for anything formal yet – but he is progressing so far already without making much effort that I can’t resist at least wanting to buy some fun games and books!

For my older son, I already have math and science figured out. It’s history and english that are the mindbenders. First, because he’s not really interested in them so I want to not only challenge and teach him something but I’d like to make it interesting or at least not as ‘boring’ as he usually finds these subjects. There are combined curriculums that take historical fiction and wrap them into a literature and history course. Those ar tempting other than to pick that curriculum you need to go with the text and the books they select and not always do I think their book choices are the best. I’ve actually debated on forming my OWN curriculum for history by somehow selecting about 200-300 or so ‘facts’ about American history and making up a list of questions and sources he is to use throughout the course of the year to find the answers to these questions. In the meantime, he would have to check with me the accuracy of what he finds and study them throughout the year to take a test on about half of those (of which I randomly choose which ones to test him on). Obviously these wouldn’t all be things like who was the first president? But things he would really have to read something to find the answer to or really commit some things to memory for the test. I’m thinking this would really make him learn the material vs. just reading a chapter at a time from a text, answering some questions in an essay or a test and then moving on and forgetting most of what he covered. The biggest problem with that is me coming up with the material and source list for him to use. I’m thinking of putting some polls out there to the public (here) and friends to see what facts or information they think should be included. What do you think? Good idea or bad?

For English I’m thinking maybe pick a 10th or 11th grade literature anthology that goes with a curriculum and just have him do half this year and half the next. That way he’ll get in the literary vocabulary and get a good introduction to answering questions about literature in the manner a text would teach it but also have enough time to read further books of fiction, historical fiction involving American history that I select and some biographies too. Then I can throw in some SAT vocabulary, a little grammar and still have room for a good writing program of some sort (need to pick that one too!).

As for Lent, it is approaching. I know, my non-orthodox friends are scratching their heads and thinking “What…didn’t it already start?” No. In Orthodoxy, we still follow the old calendar and the timing of Pascha (the traditional word vs. Easter which is a western christianity term) is still determined according to the cylce of the moon and the Jewish Passover. This is actually our fast – free week. Next week is a ‘normal week (fasting only on Wed and Friday) and then we have one week of abstaining only from meat products and then, on March 18th (a Monday not Wednesday like the Catholic Church) Lent begins and we follow a strict fast. Every year is different for us according to our needs but a traditional fast means abstaining from all animal products (meat, eggs, dairy, etc.) olive oil and wine thoughout all of Lent…with a few exceptions on oil and wine on a few select days. Naturally pregnent women or nursing mothers and small children are not expected to follow this. Which is why it’s different for us every year. I’m not nursing anymore but we do have a 2 year old (who will be 3 soon!) to consider. So I’m not sure exactly how strict all of us will be. I do plan on eating salmon at least once a week and we are allowed spineless seafoods though I’ve never been one to think eating lobster or crab should be done during the fast…but remember, Orthodox Christianity was formed in 33 AD…and at that time those foods were not considered the delicacy they are today.

Oh well… I think that’s enough for one day! Wow…that’s quite a bit of unrelated topics all put together isn’t it! Well, that’s my brain for you! Have a delightful day! And if you have any suggestions on how to approach that history idea or any other suggestions, I’m all ears!

Try Try Again…

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything….
so long I had trouble logging on since I almost forgot my password!

I’m not making any promises to myself at whether I’ll keep posting or keep up with it according to any particular schedule because I know I’ll just frustrate myself…

so here’s this:

I’m working on planning our curriculum for our oldest son for next year and a schedule for doing homeschool evaluations at the end of this year and that got me back to one of my favorite sites:

http://donnayoung.org/index.htm

I have not yet figured out how to post a link here other than traditional copy and paste…. if someone wants to give me a hint on that it would be much appreciated.
But I thought, why not share this with other homeschoolers who might read this blog?

It’s a great source for blank forms….calendars (which I used today) of all sorts, planners, handwriting sheets and so much more! It’s put together by a homeschool mom.

My son is startting high school next year.
In PA that means he must do the following:

4 years of English (which is to include language, literature, speech and composition)
3 years of Science
3 years of Social Studies(to include Civics, World History, and History of US and PA at the secondary level)
3 years of Math (to include general mathematics, algebra and geometry at the secondary level)
2 Years of Arts and Humanities

That’s 15 credits.
Of course, most complete more credits than the minimal, especially if they are aiming towards going to college or some other form of higher education.

I know my son will do Biology next year and probably take part in a lab offered through one of the homeschool co-ops in our area….and he will do either Geometry or Algebra II and I know which curriculum I want to use for that. But the rest is up in the air. I am researching US history curriculums and English curriculums. If anyone wants to share what they used and why or why they did not like it, I’d love to hear. There’s so many out there. We’ve already completed Analytical Grammar which is an awesome grammar program so I don’t feel his English courses need to be heavy in that….want something to emphasize good literature and writing. We have used SOS in the past for history and may end up doing that again but wish I could find something that would be at least interesting to him….not sure it exists! He’s just not a history buff. Maybe we should do history with litereature….but then I feel that most of his reading would be on history topics and then I’d have less opportunity to introduce him to some other really good classics. Of course, I have four years to do that….
So many things to think about!

Catching Up….random thoughts

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted…and when that happens I seem to put it off more and more because, well for one – lack of time and… I just can’t decide what to post about.

Things are getting better. I’ve been fighting the depression after the miscarriage and I believe I am winning…but it is a slow process and now I am faced with overwhelming anxiety trying to catch up with everything I fell behind in.

But here’s some of what’s going on:

My toddler is reaching the milestone of being potty trained. He still has accidents, but most of the time he runs off to the bathroom on his own to use it all himself…calling me all excited like when he has accomplished the task! He gets 3 little pieces of candy… Sundrops — very similar to M&Ms but without the artificial dyes and such.

My beloved daughter has been accepted to the college of her choice … IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania). It is a great school for her chosen Major (Criminology) and, I think, a good fit for her personality and personal needs. It helps, greatly, that the kitchen staff is very willing to work with her dietary needs in avoiding all the artificial ingredients necessary to stay healthy. It is also where her father and I met and fell in love. Visiting the college campus when we did was very beneficial to us… giving us time and a place to reconnect. I look forward to visting her there and meeting up with dear friends as we did the weekend she toured the campus.

My husband and son went hunting for junior season but did not get anything. This means the freezer still has room in it and that they will go out to face the cold in December in hopes of finding venison to nourish our bodies through the winter (after the advent fast of course).

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the advent fast. My heart and soul is not in it this year. We never, as a family, fast as much or with as much vigor for the advent fast as we do for the Great Lenten fast…but I do usually try to at least stay away from meats a good deal. I think this year we may have a bit more meat but will try to incorporate a few more vegan meals each week in addition to our usual fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I have learned how to make perpetual broth….it is fabulous! I’m still not sure how to put in a link here, but I’ll type the info:

It’s from Nourishedkitchen.com If you put nourished kitchen and perpetual soup into your browser, you’re sure to find it. http://nourishedkitchen.com/per%5Betual-soup-the-easiest-bone-broth-youll-make/

It’s basically using chicken bones from roasting a whole chicken (which my family loves….just wish a chicken had 3 or 4 legs – haha! ) and using those bones in your crockpot, adding some s & p, some simple veggies and water and keeping it on ALL WEEK! Each day you take about half out, drink it or use it in a recipe or freeze it and add that much water back in. This is a continual process. I have lots of chicken broth in my freezer now and had great uses for it throughout the week.

Well, that’s all I have time for today. Hopefully someone can benefit from the perpetual soup idea! Enjoy!