Ironic Adventures
   

February Missions

Well, let’s see how thing went…

January Missions Accomplished:

  • Personal
    • make moring time each day, even weekends {I tried really hard! I didn’t do so hot the last half of this month with getting up, in all honestly.}
    • pray verses for the boys
  • Marriage
    • pray daily for Jon
    • think of a special V-day surprise/plan
  • Parenting
    • yell less {I still yelled this month, but I think it was less – lol!}
    • work on being more patient with Micah’s melt downs…try things to divert him before they get too big
  • Homeschooling
    • stay ahead on prep
  • Homemaking
    • stick to a meal plan
    • keep up the new cleaning lists/schedules
  • Friends/Family/Ministry
    • send 2 real {snail mail} letters/cards
  • Blog/Online Activity
    • post book review for tyndale
    • keep up a plan and actually do it! {minus a few glitches in life that kept me from following through mid-month, at least I am planning things regularly now.}
  • Co-Op
    • Finish Lit & Comp lesson plans for winter (by 1/3)
    • Make lesson plans for Lit & Comp Spring Q
    • create nametags & binders for new families (by 1/10)
  • Bec’s Fiber Fetish {my business}
    • complete 10 {small} hat bases
    • complete 3 ami toys {shooting for: a small girl bear, a jellyfish, and a mushroom}
    • make shopping list for needed yarn colors
    • order 9mm triangle safety noses & 6mm black safety eyes from 2020 on etsy
    • research American Girl doll head size for “doll & me” hat sets {ask Melinda @ Co-Op to bring in her daughter’s doll to test?}
    • find {big} bloggers willing to do reviews of BFF products
    • register & pay booth fee for the Lavender Festival in July ($ due by Jan 31st)

On to my February 2013 Missions!

  • Personal
    • make moring time each day, even weekends
    • pray verses for the boys
  • Marriage
    • pray daily for Jon
    • carry out V-day plan
  • Parenting
    • Count to 10 before reacting
  • Homeschooling
    • print out 3 weeks ahead
  • Homemaking
    • make a GFCF meal plan – find some good recipes we ALL like
    • make to-do list for new house (yes – we’re moving!)
    • gather boxes
  • Friends/Family/Ministry
    • send 2 real {snail mail} letters/cards
  • Blog/Online Activity
    • Post 2 book reviews
    • Candy Land ABCs & Math Printables
    • Work on Creating an Easter/Spring Pack
    • Find bloggers to review BFF
  • Co-Op
    • Grade 3 papers a day
    • Read 20 minutes a day from the book I assigned
  • Bec’s Fiber Fetish {my business}
    • complete 6 {medium} hat bases
    • complete 3 small ami toys
    • Do INVENTORY!!!

I’m linking up at:
Mission of the Month

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a little something

I like playing around with the computer. And so enter my weekly blog plan. Now, this is not a big production. It’s short and simple. Very to the point. I don’t need a lot of extras because I’m still small and no one is throwing their products at me for review. One can continue to hope though.

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You’ve got a place for a title, a spot to note any link-ups you’re joining with the post (because as far as I know that’s the only way for us small folks to be seen and get ourselves out there), and a social media sharing checklist. There’s also space to write notes for each post. That’s it. All in a colorful and clean layout. I made it for me, so it’s very clean and super simple. And rainbow. Because, well, I still love Rainbow Bright.

Now, I’m sharing it with you: iA weekly blog plan. This is a zip file which includes a rainbow of colors.

So go! Print. Plan. Write. Enjoy. And tell me if you do!

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Family Job Charts

This is our Pinterest inspired new Family Job Chart System! It was a lot of work, but so fun to make, and now I feel really inspired to do my housework and all the other jobs I have). Hopefully the boys feel the same way. If this mornings excitement over “flipping” their job is any indication – then this is a sure hit to no more fuss over room cleaning! :-)

I used some scrapbooking paper to create 3”x3” cards and then stuck on a job to each card. Then I laminated and hole punched them. I got cork and hooks and…TA-DA:

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When someone has completed their job, they flip the card over. This way mom and dad know the work is done – and it offers a little fun for chores!

I had originally planned to use push pins to put up the jobs, but the cork was too thin and the pins wouldn’t stay in well enough for me to not worry about them being all over the floor at some point. But I love the look of the cork background, so it all worked out in the end! A set of little clear 3M Hooks comes in 24 – the perfect amount for this little project. :-) Unless you have more than 4 charts…lol.

For the boys I hang morning jobs (feed Samson, brush teeth, make bed, etc.), and then later I put up their evening jobs (setting the table, feed Samson, clean bedroom, etc.). And of course if I have other things for them I hang those too (help with laundry, fold towel, clean up outside toys, dust, Mom’s Choice, etc). I made a zillion cards, I was having WAY too much fun cutting paper – it must be therapeutic! I cut a 3” x 6” piece and folded it in half so I could have design on the back too. (So, a 12”x12” paper gets you 8 cards, if you were wondering).

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IMG_0413 I even did them for me and The Geek as well. I am keeping all of ours on the hooks , all the time. Just moving the ones for the day to the top. (I keep the boys’ cards in a old wipes container, sorted by type/boy in envelopes, on top of the fridge so they have only one card on each hook…less confusion for them.)

Now I feel so organized! It feels good to turn around a job I’ve completed – it really does! I am sure I have more than 6 jobs a day…but this helps me feel good about doing them all!

And now I can go turn around “Blog” for today – go me. :-)

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Homeschooling in My Living Room, Part Two

So now that you know the beginning of our story, here’s what our life has quickly become through pictures of our “school room,” aka the living room/dinning area. It’s a crazy life, but it’s really wonderful!

Then (actually these are from December 2011)…

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Here are the NOW photos of our little school house…I took these while we were on break and I was preparing our house for starting Kindergarten. Our school has grown a lot from the beginning in September!

IMG_0018 IMG_0014 IMG_0015 The dinning area on one side.

IMG_0019 The other side of the dinning area and part of the living area.

IMG_0016 IMG_0011 IMG_0013 I made “stations” with mini pocket charts for more movement. Thing Two like to play in all of them with his matching games. Then there are our “workboxes” of a sort. The boys like the structure of boxes and it is a fun way to move from thing to thing.IMG_0077 Did this Nifty DIY Shelf Organizational System with Jars and Bins from the Dollar Tree, a camera, MS Word (for Mac), and contact paper. Makes me feel happy to see this all in its place and so clean looking!IMG_0020 Our Weather Station and Virtues, also the “entry” to “Mommy’s Area.” Using the many shelves and file cabinets for school storage and an Ikea shelf we sectioned of the corner of the living room into a space for me to work on school and store books and supplies.

IMG_0021 The view from “inside” “Mommy’s Area”. You can see our school wall through the middle of the “wall” I tried to create with shelves and file cabinets.

IMG_0022 The Ikea shelf is my best friend. It USED to be filled with my crafting supplies, but now it mostly houses school books and resources. Looks messy? Yes, because I face the book and binder spines out to the rest of the house. So, it looks much better to people coming into the house from the front door. :-) Well, that and  my area was messy when I took these pictures, but there’s no sense in falsifying the usual state of things for the blog, right?! No one really lives in the pristine state they post in pictures – it is impossible! :-)

That’s a picture of what our homeschool is like living in an apartment. It is possible! But you do have to give up your house…especially if your doing elementary ages. I want school to be visual and fun. I don’t want the boys to “miss” any of the fun they might have at “regular” school – so I brought the classroom experience into the house: complete with posters, bulletin boards, centers, and pocket charts. We’re blessed to have a good space even without a devoted school room.

Simply said: they love it!

…and I do too!

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180 Day Attendance Tracking Sheets!

In Washington State we aren’t required to file our Intent to Homeschool until age 8 (for most kids this is 3rd grade). However, I like having all my ducks in a row, so I am going to begin keeping track of our school days now, in Kindergarten. We may not be required to report yet, but I want my own records, just in case. You never know what the government will do next – so it’s always good to be prepared. If anyone should ever question the early years, I will have it all documented and filed away. If we ever were to move to a state with an earlier documentation date, recording now will be beneficial in so many ways. Did I mention I like being prepared? I was a Girl Scout, after all. :-)

So I made up a little (it’s 2 pages) 180 Day Attendance Tracker. It’s simple enough to get the job done. Feel free to grab it and use it too. I’m feeling too lazy to put up a thumbnail pic – but I assure you it is as awesome as it is useful! It includes blanks to fill in your child’s name, grade, the calendar year(s) you’re tracking, and section for notes. I am writing the date (m/d) in each square that we have school. But you could also just check the boxes off.

Enjoy!

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