For this, I am grateful

So, we are 3 days into homeschooling.

And the fact that it hasn't been traumatic for either of us... for this, I am grateful.

Curriculum that has easy, simple, less than 5 pages of instructional guides for lessons... for this, I am grateful.

Gonoodle.com, for this, I am grateful. It gives my energetic and silly girl a time and way to express all that is within her.

Crayola, for this, I am always grateful.

For the grace that carries me thus far, that has met my fears, all my inadequacies and all the places that within me screams, this is SO FAR from who I thought I was/am/would be, I am grateful.

....

We've had a great 3 days so far. We are still learning what works. We are still SO FRESH at this, that I am not counting chickens or eggs or even assuming we have a basket.

But we are succeeding, for this I am grateful.


........
For this school year, I chose a variety of curriculum - all the homeschool experts who claim internet space advise this is not the best approach, but who am I to listen to people who have done this forever? I chose widely so that we could match our lessons closely to the 2nd grade Georgia Standards, so that if this doesn't end up working for us, that if Hayley were required to "test in" upon return to public school, she would be closely aligned with material that her grade-level classmates are experiencing.

What We're Using:
Sonlight for Science, 2nd Grade
MathUSee Beta
Sonlight for Language Arts, Phonics, Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar (I did this differently than the "Core" package because I wanted to align with state standards, so we went a la carte with LA books)
Gallapode for Social Studies - GA standards for 2nd grade are extremely focused on GA history, land forms, historical leaders, etc and this came recommended from a public school teacher friend.
Abeka Handwriting - this we are using as supplemental activity, I bought the numbers, manuscript and cursive student tablets.
Lots of Pinterest Searching for DIY arts, drawing for kids, etc.
GoNoodle

First Day of School! First Day of School!

If you didn't read that in the voice of Nemo (or Marlin if you prefer) from Finding Nemo - I'm going to need you to go back and read again.

What's that you say? That's not a picture of your darling children in their First Day of School outfits with their little dated signs and fresh out of the plastic bookbags and lunchboxes?

Nope.

That is the picture of my newest Thirty-One product...holding... my instruction guides and standards... for homeschool.

That's right.

I just survived my first day of (home)school with Hayley!

And I think we might just like it.

Because one whole day makes me an expert and all.

NOT

#notdelusion #dayoneisalwaysbest

The Summer of 30

Well, nothing like a looming "First Day of School" tomorrow to get me rambling and reflecting.

First things first, I've decided that turning 30 - something I was NOT thrilled about most of my end-of-28-I'm-29-years - is some kind of invisible life cycle change that has no definite kick or symptoms or outcomes... other than all of a sudden, things are DIFFERENT.

During this summer of 30, I bit a 10 year old bullet and did this:

Yup - that's me with braces.. and rubber bands ... and YES THERE IS A REASON THAT KIDS HAVE THEM. Y'all, those top braces were NO JOKE... it took almost a month to get my teeth accustomed to them without soreness, tenderness and cold sores in my mouth. Then it was time for the bottoms, which THANK YOU JESUS, were waaay less traumatic of an adjustment. I still spend ENTIRELY too much time after meals cleaning between and around brackets and have a new found HATE relationship with ALL THE FOOD that is complicated to eat or involves much too much cleaning afterwards. 

In the most profound of news, my general junkiness/lackadaisical attitude towards home organization has evidently become a THING OF THE PAST with the onset of The Summer of 30.

People - this is my kitchen cabinet for tupperware - AND NO I DIDN'T JUST DO THIS - it has been this way OVER A MONTH.  

Also - THIS is our "new" closet in our extra bedroom/office that was UNWALKABLE... ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK... #theJUNKcloset... it was where everything ended up from all the other closets - out of season clothes, things that needed prepping for consigning, toys and games that I'd taken away or stashed away from the girls, extra linens, Christmas nativity, keepsakes without any other place, it was a HOT MESS.

A hot mess in which a SHELF BROKE under the stress, in which case, I pulled EVERYTHING - and I mean EVERYTHING out and convinced Michael we needed to TOTALLY revamp that closet since we don't use that room for a bedroom and don't intend to anytime soon, so the need for "hanging clothes" shelving was NOT vital... So I took down the old shelves and we bought new shelves and I bought a LOT of containers to beef up the ones I already had - and y'all, let me tell you, when I had ALL the things out - it took up the entire floor of the office/hall and half of the living room - it was a TORNADO of STUFF!

But now - now it looks like this -

    

Labels still to come... trying to decide how I want to do that since some of these large bins will rotate seasonal clothes - which answers that question - I will just label them "out of season" clothes.

SWEET.