Sanity During School

Some days, you just need to take extreme measures to keep your sanity during school. Today may have been one of those days. A knitting project and an Arnold Palmer made the day better. In case you're wondering, that's a "Neck-Down Cabled Baby Sweater." We won't talk about the fact that started this project in June and just divided the sleeves yesterday. We also won't talk about the fact that I have only completed one knitting project since I've lived in Alaska. I must do something to change this.

Trailguide to Learning

We are using Trailguide to Learning's Paths of Settlement this year. It's one big huge all inclusive homeschooling program. Well, maybe not all inclusive. You so have to add math to cover all of the bases. We are finishing up lesson 4. I love how its broken down into manageable parts to do each day. I love how everything is all right there for me. I just open the book and go. I will say, it's a ton of printing. You can order the student note booking pages already printed. I didn't do that this year. I will next year, most definitely. We've enjoyed the books we've read so far. I am using the middle school supplement for Mikayla. That way, the curriculum works for all three of the kids. Katie does her own thing, considering that she is in high school. I've heard (or read) that some people don't think it's a heavy enough curriculum. Personally, I think it's plenty. There are a number of enrichment activities to assign, as well as additional reading and websites to peruse. If I assigned every single thing there is to choose from, our school day would be way too long.
Another thing I really like? Our science is actually getting done. Since its written into the curriculum, it's easy to just move on to the next thing and get it done. We've made a rain gauge as well as done some other things to learn how to observe weather.
Want to know what my kids favorite part of Paths if Settlement is? Cooking. They love choosing a dish out of "Eat Your Way Through the USA" to go with whichever two states we learned about that week. I will admit, I don't stay as on top of the cooking as I should, so we are a little bit behind in that area, but they remind me about it daily.
If you're looking for a way to change up your homeschool, look at Trailguide to Learning. I think you'll love it!!!

Long Time Coming

Many years ago, when we first started talking about coming back to Alaska (probably even before that), I told Mike I wanted a grizzly bear to hang on the wall. At that time, we didn't even have a wall to hang it on. Now we do, and it's a good thing. This beauty came home with my husband yesterday. I can't wait until he's ready to hang on our wall! It'll be a while. Apparently it can take up to a year for the taxidermist to finish with it!!!!! I will have to work hard to be patient for that long.

A Year of Changes

I didn't realize until I logged onto my blogger app that it had been a year to the day since I had last blogged. How awful is that? It's been a busy year. We bought a house, Mike returned from Afghanistan, Devin graduated from high school, plus many other difficult things that I don't care to relive through my blog. However, I need to blog again. My husband likes it when I blog. Plus, I am horribly behind in my scrapbooks. Don't you think an active blog is a good way to keep track of what we do as a family? Lord knows I can't remember what I did yesterday much less 6 months ago. If I actually take time to blog, I'll be able to go back and look!!!! So, we will see how this goes. Right now, Benjamin is at his violin lesson. It is a sunny fall day, so I'm sitting in the truck with the windows down listening to him play. Thankfully his teacher left her door open so the sound comes out nicely!!! I am enjoying some "me" time. I brought a stack of books and my knitting. A glorious day indeed.

Mobile blogging? Yes, please!!!!

Someone told me you can blog from your phone. I'm testing it out...