Stress Reliever

This has been one wild week.

With all my running around lately I have to look for every opportunity to relax.

The best thing I have found to relax me quickly is a massage.

I have been bribing my family to give me massages. I've also been known to use cold hard cash to motivate some of my family members. I think they are getting sick of it though.

I would love to have one of the New 2009 Takemi Select 3D Jade Melody 12000 Comfort Masseuse chairs offered by Takemi Select Wholesale Outlet .

Maybe I can convince my family to pool their money and get me one for Christmas? Not too sure about that one. I can dream right?

Hurricane Ike Mystery Ship

With all of the bad news surrounding Hurricane Ike, I thought this bit of news was pretty interesting. Especially if you happen to have any history or Civil War buffs in your family.

Apparently the hurrican has unearthed a Mystery Ship from the Civil War. You can see all the details and photos here.

It's Not About How Much You Learn

After making the decision to be a pretty relaxed homeschooling mom, I was confronted with a shocker.

First it was my son who asked for a schedule after I announce that there would be no schedule this year. I kind of expected this from him. He is by nature a very organized person. He was always in bed by 7 and up by 6. This child has to have a routine or his world feels a little out of control and chaotic.

On the flip side is my daughter. She has always been more of a free spirited person. She does get things done, just at her own pace. Nothing wrong with how she's made. She is more spontaneous and goes with the flow. This child would sleep til noon everyday if I let her.

So I was quite surprised last week when she asked me to give her a schedule for school.

I know that she is extremely busy right now. And she has more to be responsible for than she ever has. So I figure that by having a schedule she can unload the burden of being totally responsible for what she should be doing each week.

It will be easier just to know what is expected of her and do it. Plus, as I was looking through her work I noticed that she was expecting way too much from herself everyday.

I am not about how much she can do in a day, but how much has she learned in a day.

Disorganization

Now that we are settling into the flow of another school year I am slowly working on getting things more organized around here.

But first I just had to get rid of some of the exta stuff we have. I can't believe how much stuff can be attained in such a short time. I mean I am pretty sure we just did this a year ago.

But sure enough if desperately needs to be done all over again.

I am going through all of our school stuff and trying to group everything according to the subject it belongs to. I want to clean out my file folders since they are a wreck.

I have a filing cabinet next to my desk that I have used to save every neat idea or paper that I think we might use one day. This is actually a good idea.

However the problem is that I am so unorganized in his area that I do not even know what is in there. And if I leave it the way it is, I might as well just throw it all out because I will never think to check for anything in there. So I need to refile everything and relabel everything.

I am also thinking about other ways I could keep things organized so that each of the kids know what stuff belongs to them. Also where to find it. Right now everything just gets thrown on whichever shelf is the least full. I have two bookshelves by my desk. I was thinking of using one for all the miscellaneous books that everyone uses.

On the other bookshelf I would like to assign a shelf to each person. Maybe using a label maker would help everyone to know whose self is whose.

Hopefully I'll be more organized by Christmas, this is the time when I generally get a bit disorganized.

Settling Into The Flow

Today was a stay at home day.

Well, at least until about 4:30, at which time I will be running to pick up my daughters teammate and take them to their volleyball game. Afterwards I'll be rushing home to attend a bible study on the book of Acts that begins tonight.

I think it is really great to be able to stay home all day long. Uninterrupted school time can go a real long way.

Plus my laundry is almost caught up from the beginning of last week. I am slowly getting things marked off of my to do list from a month ago. And dinner is in the crockpot. It is a great feeling.

I guess we are settling in to the school time routine.

There is a natural flow that is taking place.

The Love of Denim

Denim has been a good friend to me over the years. I love it. And since homeschooling I have noticed that there appears to be the same general love of denim amoung many homeschoolers.

I lean towards denim jeans myself. I love my blue jeans! But I have seen many homeschoolers who wear the traditional denim jumper, as well as those who opt for denim jackets. There is just something familiar and comfortable about a great fitting pair of jeans.

I am always looking for a great sale for jeans. you see, I am not the only one in my house who loves their jeans. Denim crosses all the boundaries between the ages.

Kalene cannot seem to get enough of them. And can I just say that Teen Clothes are not cheap at all. And it does not help that teen girls want lots and lots of them.

So I am very happy mom when I can find Discount Clothes for her that she likes. She really likes the very popular skinny jeans right now. And, although I informed her that we used to wear those same jeans when I was a teenager, she still finds them to be the coolest things on earth.

I found a new clothing site online that ha wonderful discounts on all of their clothes, but especially on the jeans. They have really Cheap Jeans ! 85% discounts.

I found this pair of skinny jeans regularly priced $185.00 marked down to $13.80. First of all let me say never ever would I pay almost $200 for a pair of jeans. But under $15 is all right with me!

BFS Assignment #102

This weeks Blogger Friend School assignment is a great one.

The assignment is to do something kind for someone and then post about how it made you feel.

Unfortunately it is really easy to get so caught up in the goings on in our own lives that we can become oblivious to the people around us.

This assignment is a reminder that it is Gods heart for us to show his love and kindness to those who are hurting or in need around us.

For starters, a smile can go a long way for someone who only gets harsh looks all day.

Simply taking the time to have a real conversation with an elderly person who may not have anyone else to talk with.

How about offering to babysit for a young couple just starting a family.

Bringing pizza to a single mom and her children.

It does not have to cost you anything financially. Sometimes I think that just giving financially is the easy way out.

It's a lot easier to hand a homeless man a few dollars as you're walking away and not even look at him than it is to treat him like a human being a have a real conversation with him before handing over your money.

It makes me feel real when I do simple acts of kindness. It is how God created me. Whenever I am doing God's heart I feel really alive. But the best part i that it keeps me from becoming too self-absorbed.

Isaiah 58:6-14

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

A Head Gasket Fixed My AC

I finally have my car back after being stuck without one since last Saturday.

I had two major problems with my car. The first one is a pretty bad oil leak, and the second is that I have been without air conditioning for two summers now. Of course the oil leak is much more serious according to my husband. So the air just had to wait.

Rich and my brother in law have been working on my car on and off for a while now ruling out each possible location of the leak until they narrowed it down to my head gasket cover.

This job was huge. It involved taking practically everything out from under the hood and setting it on the ground in order to access the head gasket cover. Well, it appears that all is well now.

And as a bonus my brother in law is pretty sure that he fixed whatever was wrong with my A/C compressor while he was under there. I'm happy about that although summer is now basically over. But I'll be ready for next years heatwave. No more ponytail wearing everyday.

Homeschool Freebie ~ NASA

Nasa is offering another great freebie to add to your school days. We sent for this one last year and it as a lot of fun.

They will send you two packets of Basil seeds. One of the packets has been flown in outer space. We didn't do the experiment exactly the way they have it set up. We sent for the seeds and grew both to see if there would be any adverse effects to the seeds flown in space and exposed to no gravity.

I won't give away our findings and ruin it for you. Send for your own seeds and let me know if you've done the experiment and what your findings were. This is a fun and painless experiment.

Go ahead and check out NASA's Plant Growth Challenge.

BFS Assignment #100 - Oh What a Feeling

The topic for this week's Blogger Friend School assignment is to tell about our feelings going into this new year.

I am so excited for this year. Since pulling Kalene from school in fourth grade thigs have changed a lot. We were all very excited about homeschooling in the beginning. Until it actually happened.

That first year of homeschooling I did everything in fear of what could happen if someone found out. I wouldn't let the kids outside before 3:00. In fact we wouldn't even answer the door before that time. Looking back I realize that I put the idea that there was something wrong with homeschooling into my children.

I spent the next 2 years trying to convince my kids that we weren't doing anything wrong. Richie was easy to deal with because he had only gone to one year of preschool. Kalene on the other hand decided it was her job to prove to me that homeschooling was a bad choice and wouldn't work.

One day, a cuple of years ago, I explained to her all of the details that led up to us knowing that God wanted this for our family. I think that she realized that day that there was no way we could ignore what God was obviously leading us to do.

Last year was the first year that we all began to really enjoy this adventure we were on. I was a bit nervous because it was the first time I'd have a highschooler. I was worried a little about doing something wrong.

But I was foolish because I wasn't trusting that God was orchestrating this show. I was trying to make it happen which is why I was nervous and worried. It was an awesome year in so many ways. God really showed us a lot of things. Oh, and the kids learned some academics as well.

Going into this year I am very excited. I can see that each of my kids are on a path that God has laid for them. And it is exciting to see where it will go. I am looking forward to spending time learning together. And I know that even if we have some struggles, it is all for His glory!

Learn With Movies

I love to use movies in our homeschooling. It is a harmless way to help our visual children to "see" what they've been learning. It is also a great way to get dad involved. Plus you'll be pleasantly surprised how watching movies about stuff your children have just learned about will spark discussions. They may identify with something they are seeing in the movie that they've learned about.

We recently watched a movie called Crusades which was about a boy from the future who gets transported to the time of the Crusades. Well, we just so happened to have learned about that time period the week before. So it really helped to see how superstitious and simple minded people were back then. And also how those in charge could use religion to control the masses into doing whatever they wanted as long as they said it was Gods will.

Anyways I wanted to share with you a wonderful resource for teaching using movies.

Netflix is the world's largest online DVD movie rental store service, offering more than 8 million members access to more than 100,000 titles for a flat monthly fee. They offer more than the average video store. Not to mention all of the educational titles they have to choose from. You can choose that plan that is right for you.

The plans start at $4.99 a month. And shipping is free. There are no due dates and no late fees. You keep the movie until you're done with it. When you're finished with the movie you just stick it in the envelope that they provide and drop it in the mail. Once they receive the envelope back they'll immediately send the next movie you have chosen. And you can cancel your subscription at any time.

Another cool thing about this company is that Netflix lets you rent, watch and return DVDs from home - Try free for 2 weeks .

Check it out to see if this is something that would work for your family. Go ahead and Rent movies from Netflix!