"WHAT'CHA BEEN UP TO?"

I'm glad you asked. Goodness, what a busy week it has been. We took the kids to Indiana Beach last Sunday for our annual "KICK-OFF/SEND-OFF" celebration. We kicked off our homeschool year as we said goodbye to summer. We stayed at Jellystone Park in a rented cabin. I can't say enough good things about a Jellystone campground. It's the only one we've ever stayed at so I can't say whether they're all like that, but let me tell you, this Jellystone park is absolutely meticulous. Not a bug to be found in the cabins, bathrooms or showers. Not a cobweb. Not a dirty counter, floor or toilet anywhere. Spotless. Perfectly maintained landscaping. Not a chip of paint anywhere. The pools are exceptionally clean and well maintained. I'll try to post a few more photos when I get a chance, but here are the bunks in the back room of our cabin.


The kids swam in the heated pools (they have a wonderful kiddie pool in addition to the deeper pool), roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, and then we all walked through the amusement park at night so they could see the lights. The next day, we enjoyed the rides, paying an unbelievably affordable homeschool rate and standing in virtually no lines. It's AWESOME, I tell you. Here's what the parking lot looked like when we arrived about 20 minutes after the park opened.

As you can see, there might have been 10-15 cars there at the time.
Sweet mother of roller coaster rides!
And there's such an oh-so-cool way you have to enter the amusement park. It's via a very long cable suspended footbridge (the park sits on an island). Sweet!


Anyhoo, the plan (uh hem) was to start school on September 2nd. I'm somewhat of a fanatic about that because of how it was when I was a kid. School never started before Labor Day. Ever! And really, C'mon! Is summer reaaally over before August ends? I think we both know tha answer to that. ;)

But alas, in the great ball game of life, you're bound to handle a curve ball now and then. And so it was. Carl has had the same work schedule for a year, with Sunday/Monday off. We were able to attend church together as a family, something we greatly value. And I was able to count on a consistent homeschool plan. That is, until the schedule changed. It came about very recently and suddenly, forcing me to rush our start date. We began this past Thursday.

This is our fifth year of homeschooling and I have never had to work from a "rough draft" time management schedule until now. People, that plan had more patchwork on it than Dolly Parton's coat of many colors (and her mama made that for her, mind you). But guess what? I had some prayer warriors lifting my homeschool situation up to the Lord for me and He was so very faithful to listen and answer. It went off without a hitch, three days in a row. Perhaps, dare I say, the easiest start yet. Here's a glimpse of the school room just minutes before my kids showed up for day one.


We're so enjoying the focus of our year too. Creation to the Greeks. We're also studying Greek word roots, celebrating Jewish feasts, and digging in to creation science, just to name a few. The kids are working diligently, not wasting time transitioning from subject to subject (thanks to an early start, two timers, a functional rough draft for time management and an interest in the subject matter) and we're finishing by about 1pm every day. LOVE it!

Plus, teacher-mom learned a new vocabulary word already. Can you say "delegation"? I knew you could. I devised a chores chart for each child with the goal of teaching them to serve joyfully as to the Lord. And they are. They LOVE their chores chart. Okay, "for now", I realize. But you can bet I'll be drinking it in 'till then. They have always done the obvious; straighten their rooms, bring laundry down and put their own clothes away, help with dishes, etc. But now we have someone changing cat litter, gathering garbage, sweeping the kitchen floor, dusting, vaccuming the family room, wiping down sinks and mirrors, organizing the book shelves, and moving laundry from the washer to the dryer. I'm not paying allowances, but they are earning points toward a goal they've each selected. Olivia wants movie tickets. Reece, a frisbee ball. And Cierah, a princess Barbie. It'll take 84 points to reach that goal and they can only earn one point for each day they complete chores without my having to nag. They're in charge of their own destiny, lol.

As for homeschool, the other day I went to the library to gather a two week supply of "living" books for two grade levels (we put these books in a basket and assign the kids 15 minutes of independent exploration of them during book basket time. Most titles compliment our science and history lessons and I include content that is at, above and even a few books below their reading level. I can't tell you how this one activity alone has fostered a love for reading in my three oldest children.)

After I finished at the library, I headed to a thrift store to pick up a few utensils to use in science this year. They were all stored in large, shallow bins at the back of the store, filled to overflowing with every fork, spoon, or knife imaginable. Because there were so many and I was looking for some specific items, I decided to pick up the bin and place it on the floor for easier searching. That's when it happened.

CRASH!
BOOM!
BANG!

The bin, you see, was somehow fastened to the metal shelving it sat on (my guess is with a big ol' carriage bolt or the like).
And when I tried to use all my strumph to lift it, the overflow came crashing toward the floor.
Toward my feet!
Did I mention there were knives the size of jackhammers in that bin?

Ever see the movie Dodgeball with Ben Stiller? Yeah, well...there I was, doing my version of Patches O'Houlihan:
"If you're going to become true dodgeballers, then you've got to learn the five d's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!"
I tell you, forks and knives were threatening to hack off a toe down to the nub, so Sheesh, I surely looked like one of the misfits from Average Joe's gym as I danced out of the way, just like they did when Patches fired the tools at them.

Toni