A cozy, happy morning...

It's 10:52 am. Most of the schools near us are closed today or will be closed tomorrow. You know, a few (or 12) inches of snow and they get all wimpy about opening their doors. ;) My kids have been doing their work since they got up and are taking a late breakfast break of bacon and eggs and a kid tv show. This break follows Evan's own P.E. regiment (I do believe he can do over 100 sit ups and 50 push ups. HE'S SEVEN.), Justin's cookie baking break, several chapters of Jigsaw Jones read by Evan on the couch (in our jammies) and 15 minutes of absolute bliss where I stood by the stove frying bacon, listening to Justin explain a worksheet to Evan while Corinne colored paper doll clothing. All of this happened before 11 am and includes the two youngest kids following me into the snow drifts at 8 am to "help" clear the fluff off of the driveway before it piles up to my waist. And even though the house is quite messy and the laundry is beginning to form legs of its own and I probably won't get a shower in before the baby that I watch in the afternoons comes over, I am quite happy in my cocoon...

Today? Today is a good day.

Off and running!

Justin did half of Monday's work tonight before bed so that he could have more free time tomorrow.

Love it. LOVE IT.

I am really excited about a new book I picked up at a Borders that was going out of business. It's called Painless Life Science and seems to be written in such a way that Justin can cover a chapter a week and we can do a review and/or test at the end of the week to see how much he retains. It was 40% off (score!) and looks to have enough chapters for the rest of the year's curriculum. Plus, I was able to read the first few chapters and understand it without "knowing" everything. To me, that means that Justin will be adequately challenged without being overwhelmed. As I looked for a link for it, I saw that the author has several other books in the series. I am DEFINITELY going to keep it in mind when I look for new curriculum for the kids! I'll let you know how it works out!

Crud.

I am in a desperate need for someone with some Mozilla Firefox experience!! I had about 45 bookmarks for homeschooling sites alone (not to mention an additional 20-30 for personal use) that are now GONE from my Bookmarks on Firefox!!! AND!! I can't even put bookmarks on anymore, so I am screwwwwwed for finding my good sites for printing worksheets and such! HELP!

Really, if anyone knows ANYthing about this, I need the help. What did I do wrong? Do I have a virus? Can this be fixed for free (because otherwise? I can't do anything about it...)???

Crud. I had so many plans on getting ahead on curriculum and lessons for January and now I'm stuckstuckstuckstuckstuck.

Homeschooling Physics on a Budget 101

"Ok, guys. Listen closely... That sound you heard when the champagne cork popped out? That was the pressure from the fermented alcohol that your mother is going to ingest!! What do you think causes it?"

(Dang, I look ragged...)

See? Every thing is a possible learning tool. Just a little creativity and a glass or two of wine goes a long way...

The End

Oy. Today was not one of those stellar days. Today was not a day I felt all rosy and content in our little homeschooling family. Today, I yelled and stamped my foot and acted like an all-around child. Today I showed them exactly how to NOT behave. Sooo... a learning experience? Right? Yep. We're calling it that and we're calling it a day.

Thank God today is almost over. I am off to put together a few projects for next week so that we don't have a repeat of today on Monday.

After I have a glass of wine, that is...

23 days and counting...

The paper chain has been made. The countdown has begun...