Things I’m digging these days

May 3, 2011 by Sarah

My friend made a website that I think is really well done; it’s clean-looking, has fun stuff and deep stuff and even though it’s created with home educators in mind, I think everyone would enjoy pieces of it.

Home School Visual Resources

Here’s a reading curriculum that I’m buying for Sadie. The cool thing is that I love Charlotte Mason’s ideas on how to go about teaching reading, but she writes in a flowy sort of way that makes it hard to just sit down and implement her ideas. So, I was in the shower thinking about it all (yes, the shower is where I do my best thinking– you know why?– because it is quiet in there!) and I realized that hey, I could put together a curriculum to make it easy to implement CM’s reading instructions and ideas. But then I thought, wait, surely someone else out there has had the same thought as me and already accomplished such a task. And then I go later in the day to check my email and notice that someone on the Ambleside group is asking about a new curriculum put out by the Simply Charlotte Mason people called Delightful Reading and wondering if it is any good. I quickly go to check it out and am thrilled that I can just fork over some money for someone else’s hard work and just have fun teaching Sadie to read.

Another really cool piece of curriculum that I’m excited about starting is called Mapping the World by Heart.  It’s geared for children in grade 5 and up, so we won’t start it until Moscow– well, that’s not the only reason, the real reason we aren’t starting until then is because we already have plenty to do!– but I love the whole idea of it and being a foreign service family, I think it will add a wonderful dimension to the kids comprehension of the world and its cultures.

As I am not currently able to do any gardening, and I’m currently really missing it, I am super excited about the farmer’s market that will be starting up this Tuesday afternoon. Yea!!!

Along the same lines, not having a home to update, paint, move furniture around etc. has made me waaaaaaay too interested in HGTV lately. It’s really bad because I am diverting so much creative force into people who can’t even hear the great advice I’m giving them.  I had to find a new outlet for that part of me.  So, I bought some embroidery thread and needles in order to pursue learning a skill that will hopefully prove fruitful one day. I also got some for the big kids so we can learn it all together. My question at this point is what will we do with scraps of fabric with ladybugs and flowers on them? And I wonder if it is possible to embroider designs like robots and airplanes? hmmmmm

I’m really digging having a housekeeper come once a week. A lot. I love the fact that we have to get the house completely picked up before her arrival. I love the way the apartment smells when I walk in the door. I love that the sink looks pretty and shiny after she’s been here. I hope I can afford someone to come when we’re in Moscow, because it really makes my life easier to know that on Monday afternoons the house will be clean. And it’s more time I can devote to things like school work and sightseeing excursions, etc.

My final like for now is this funny, funny, funny video that Travis sent me, courtesy of “Woffie.” Enjoy!

P.S. I wrote this blog before the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. That too is something that I think is a good and just thing, but the gravity of it is sitting heavy with me. Maybe more later, if I can take a long enough shower in which to gather my thoughts.

SHARE THIS POST