Hoo-boy! If you are looking to stock up on clothes for next year, now
is the time to hit the stores. It seems as if everyone has things 75%
off or more.  At JC Penney’s today, I got polar fleece sweatshirts
for the boys for $3.47 each (marked down from $24). At B. Moss, I got
Libby three great skirts for $10 each!  Target had a ton of stuff
also.  I was able to find the good doctor a nice half-price sports
coat in just his size.  He looks quite GQ!

Libby had her first flute lesson tonight, and I was thrilled at how
well she did. I sat in with her and did my Bible study.  Her
teacher, Susan Kroeker, is a professional flutist (flautist?) and said
that Libby was better than 85% of her beginning flute students! 
So, for a first lesson, it was a B+! 

Today we wore ourselves out watching the babies and toddlers and
preschoolers at Apples of Gold, the monthly mom’s Bible study at our
church. Today was a calmer day than many, but my kids left feeling
exhausted today! Maybe they were just tired to begin with.  
The Papa John’s pizza and soda for lunch didn’t perk them up
enough.  We did have the yummiest salad there. It was just a
typical salad with some sort of Italian-like dressing, but it also had
Crasins (cranberries) and tiny nuts of some sort mixed in. Boy, was it
yummy!

As to the Bride/Pride and Prejudices, I loved the new one. I don’t
think you could find a wrong place to laugh in the India one. 
It’s funny all through it.  How can you take a movie seriously
when they have a 200-plus African-American gospel choir belting things
out on the beach on risers during an “Aren’t we falling in love” type
scene?

Could everyone give me some book recommendations? I’m feeling a bit of reading burnout.

Tameasa raises a good question. Is it my routine or the children’s which needs changing?  In this case, it’s really the children although usually it is mine.  I just found areas which were lacking.  But, I also am making some changes to the day based on needs that I see. One of them is the return to scripture memory by song.

A few years ago when we began using LeeAnn Rubsam’s excellent and easy devotional book, Character Building for Families, she suggested scripture to memorize to go along with the character trait being studied.  “How will we ever memorize all of Philippian 2:3-15?”  I know that I tend to remember song lyrics really well. I can sing you all of my seventh grade choir songs (not that you’d want to hear me crooning “Come Saturday Morning”).  I bet that you can sing along with the 80s (or 90s!) station pretty well yourselves.  So, we began making up tunes to fit the exact words from the Bible.

It became easier, however, to pick a hymn which mostly fit the scriptures instead of trying to make our own. For example, we learned Romans 12:5-21 (NASB) to the tune of “And Can It Be,” and Ephesians 4:25 to 5:4 to “I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”   Right now, we are learning Psalm 31 to “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” and are having a daily devotional from that Psalm. 

Last night, I watched Bride and Prejudice while waiting for the good doctor to make his way home from fog-filled Philadelphia.  (He wound up flying to Harrisburg and renting a car and driving the rest of the way!) Here’s a review, just in case you were curious.

“As I’m a big fan of Pride and Prejudice, I like to watch movie versions of it. I heard reviews of this film and thought, “Uh-oh. I won’t like it.” But, it turns out, I did enjoy it!

This movie is really a musical sent in India which might be enough to send some of you running for the drama section at Blockbuster. I thought so as well. It irritates me to have characters in movies burst into song at vital moments of the plot. Thankfully, these musical numbers don’t interfere with the plot but provide an entertaining glimpse of India and what they can do with choreography and some jazzy music. I liked one song and dance scene so well that I watched it twice. (The one at the party–women are like kites…) Plus, the main characters never sing a love song to each other, which always feels a bit sappy. (There are only five or six songs in the movie. Don’t expect the format of Chicago!)

The story line is that of Pride and Prejudice except everyone has Indian names (of which I do not know the correct spelling, so I’ll refer to characters by their Austen names). The characters are the same, except there is no “Kitty.” Also “Catherine de Bourgh” is Darcy’s mom. But, it all fits well.

This film is pretty mild compared to other PG-13 films I’ve seen. Unless there were suggestive lyrics in some of the songs which I just didn’t catch, the only objectionable parts occurred when her sisters are teasing “Lizzy” about “Mr. Collins.” They sing about reasons why he might be worth marrying and one line is “Wonder if he’s good in bed?” Then there is a five-second shot of “Mr. Collins” in tight undies and a shirt lying on a bed letting out a growl. Also, “Lizzy” sings that she wants a man who will look at her intelligence and not “at her rack.”

sesquipedalian: (adj) given to use of long words.

What a wonderful, sunny day!  It certainly is the January thaw here in PA.  The children and I and Linda and Jordan W. went for a walk (or electric scooter ride in the case of some!) around our 2.25 mile neighborhood loop this afternoon. We were all in shirt sleeves by the middle of it, and the kids had peeled off their sweatshirts in favor of t-shirts.  I actually wound up walking 3.25 miles, most of it with my three-pound hand weights. I’m amazed at how much easier it is to carry those weights and to jog and to walk in only the past two weeks!  Linda was impressed when I tossed Rachel on my back and carried her part of the way (uphill) and was still able to hold a conversation (between huffing and puffing, of course).

Tonight the older boys have youth group, and the remainder of us will either grade timed essays (for AP class), play computer games, or watch the Dora the Explorer movie.  You can guess which children will do which activity. Jordan W. and Carolyn Z. will also be here.  I’ve got Bride and Prejudice lined up to watch after I put the kids to bed.  I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I’m thinking it won’t be my favorite movie ever. I watched Clueless last night and enjoyed it, despite the drug and sex references, because it is modeled after another Austen story, Emma.  And, for all of you who want to have a copy of A& E’s Pride and Prejudice, starting next Wednesday, it will be airing in six segments on A&E from 7:00 am to 8:00 am.  Fire up those video recorders!

The good doctor is on his way home from his two-day stay in Washington, DC.  He was doing some consulting for some group about Algebra.  He didn’t know much more than what I just wrote when he left for the trip.  He reported fatigue and hunger.  You see, he was staying in a fancy hotel–$189 a night (gratis, thankfully)–and the food was just as fancy: salmon, cheddar mushroom soup, etc.  Poor man, he just wanted a burger!  

Saturday is the bi-monthly ladies’ prayer meeting.  (Does bi-monthly mean every other month or twice a month? I mean the former with that term!)  This will be my first time to go, and I’m looking forward to it. I enjoy praying with others and sharing concerns and helping to shoulder burdens.  After the prayer time, I’m going out to breakfast and to the library. Although it’s a great morning for me, it’s not such a warm welcome home to the good doctor!

I’ve been re-evaluating what needs to be done in our school. What started out at the start of the year as a really long day has become routine and not challenging.  So, I’ve been thinking about what needs changing.  I’ve added a different spelling approach, moved the vocabulary tests to once a week (instead of every other week), and I want to begin lecturing from the Apologia Science book. It will be a better opportunity for Nathan and David to study, and it will give them the chance to take notes, something which homeschooling doesn’t usually provide. Also, instead of typing all their writing assignments, the children will now be required to handwrite certain ones.  They need more practice in writing quickly and in cursive. There are so many things I would like to do or to add, but I know that trying to do too much will lead to cranky kids and a cranky mom.

Tonight, we were watching a movie (which I reviewed below).  I noticed in the credits that Jim Henson’s Studio did the puppet work. I commented, “Oh, the same guy who does the Muppets does this show.  Well, actually, he’s dead. It’s his studio.” Libby piped up and said, “Oh, I wondered if they’d just stick his arm in the puppet and hold it there.”  We all howled.

Tonight the kids and I head to Lock Haven to watch Penn State wrestle.
I’m not a big wrestling fan, but my boys are. But, I get to go out to
dinner, which makes it worth the trip.  Libby (11) is planning to
take along her crocheting.  The boys are unaware of this pink,
puffy yarn coming along and will probably be mortified!

I got a real chuckle today on the way home from Art and Music when
Rachel (6) was chatting about how her friend Abby was teaching her how
to cross her eyes. “You don’t know how to cross your eyes?” exclaimed
an incredulous Libby.  “Michael, did you hear Rachel doesn’t know
how to cross her eyes?”  “What? You can’t cross your eyes? Geesh!”
answered Michael.  I guess somehow I left eye crossing out of the
daily curriculum.

How many of you can’t cross your eyes? How about rolling your tongue?

I thought I’d share some more things that make my life easier. Many of them are homeschool-related, but you can adapt them.

1. Earn Video Game Time.  My children have to earn minutes in order to play video games (computer, Game Boy…).  We have a whole system for how to earn time. Basically, we reward the kids for things we want them to do–good math grades, doing chores, Bible memory, etc. When they earn time, I write the minutes in a checkbook register with the date and the reason they earned the time. When they spend, I write the negative and the date and what they played.  The extra info helps me if I forget to write something in and makes fewer arguments over “Mom! That 10 minutes was from YESTERDAY!”

If you’d like to see what earns computer time at our house, go here, but ignore the ??. The little bullet circles didn’t transfer correctly.

2. Daily checklists for school.  This idea came from Mary Lynn Hartman who doesn’t even know she’s being cited, I’ll bet.  Instead of constantly asking, “Did you do your chore? Your math? Your English?” to four different children, I just ask, “What do you have still to do on your checklist?” or just look at the list myself.  The kids know exactly what they have to do each day and can work ahead by just doing the next lesson in the book.  I give the writing topics each day, normally.

Another bonus is since Pennsylvania requires that homeschoolers keep a log to show 180 days of instruction, I just write the days of school on my checklists, and when it’s time to put up new checklists, I just three-hole punch the old ones for an instant log of days. 

If you’d like to see a 7th grade and a Kindergarten checklist, go to sample daily checklists.

4. Speaking of boxes, I was heartily sick and tired of everyone always asking, “Mom, where is my geography book? Where’s the history book I was reading? Where’s that paper you gave me with our science project?”  So, I got some boxes which sit on our bookshelf.  Michael and Libby keep all their school books and current personal reader in them. It’s cut down on frustration immensely.  I’d tried each child having a space on a shelf and many other ideas, but none has worked as well as these $1.50 plastic boxes! 

5. The Chore Chart.  We have a big house and lots of kids. We have much to do to keep things in some semblance of order.  So, we have a chore chart.  Each weekday, the children simply have to look at the chart to see what to do. We actually have two versions of the chart so that chores get reassigned every other week.  We tried chore circles, drawing slips of paper for weekly chores, and assigning the same chore all year. This plan has worked best for us.  Click here to see our chore chart.

Well, I suppose that’s enough to either bore you or interest you.

If you will notice, I’ve added a title to this blog. Just the first way that I’m keeping resolution #5.