The Gifts People Give You

I love gifts.

I'm okay with surprises. Sort of. Not really.

Anyway the other day my mom stopped by and had a little giftie for me. This isn't unusual for us. We are both thrift store shoppers and if a deal is too good to pass up for the other we take it. Because how can you go wrong with $.99 butter bell? So gifts for no occasion doesn't really merit a pause for thought. Unless...

My Mom: I saw this and thought of you.

Me: What part of this? 

My Mom: The whole thing. The canning, the gardening. It looks like there's a good article on recycling.

Me: Uh, thanks.

I'm still having a bit of difficulty finding my way to hippie acceptance for myself. It's nice to have a diagnosis, but the label still furrows my brow. Then to realize that people, your family in particular, thought of you that way all along? It's a bitter pill to swallow, my friends. A bitter pill indeed.

Of course I've read the magazine cover to cover. I wonder if they have a digital copy? Seems a shame to waste the paper.

/lainey 

A Working LOL

I do accounting work. Sexy, no? Well, it pays the bills (or in our case improves the quality of our life).

Generally accounting is pretty darned boring and when I see something in a client's notes that makes me smile, let alone laugh mah fool head off, then it must be shared.

Seen on the memo portion of the check: Another BS tax. Can't argue with that expense account.

How Mommy Got Her Groove Back

Yeah, not so much.

I'm really lousy at this consistency thing. I have plans to write. I even create drafts, take pictures and start the post, but the final execution eludes me. I guess I like the doing more than the recording. Shame that.

So let's catch y'all all up in one big swoop.

In homeschooling we finished up our 5th and 7th grade years. Over the summer our plan is to work 2-3 days mostly reviewing. The majority of our time will be project and goal based. For example the boys have set goals for the number of laps they'd like to be able to swim. Right now their endurance is lacking (they come by it honestly, my endurance is in the negative) and they want to improve. Dad has been lead on this class.

We are also doing a unit on the summer Olympics. We'll thrown in a dash of World Geography as we review the countries the Olympic participants' countries.

They boys have been doing a course on American Government. We thought it was timely with the elections this year. Dad has been doing a current events lesson about 2 times a week. The news is always a great teaching opportunity.

I've decided on our curriculum for next school year and when I say decided, what I mean is my current plan of action. Decision sounds so final and it's hard for me to commit (I've been married for 20 years, I think that's enough commitment for one lifetime.) for fear of making the wrong choice. That and I'm just a bit of a procrastinator.

Anyway, I've been ordering curriculum little by little. Definitely one of the down sides of homeschooling is that we pay for what we learn. I've tried to looks for what I want as inexpensively as possible, but sometimes it's just easier to buy what I need outright. When we have the funds, of course. So the plan:
8th Grader - Math U See, Winston Grammar, Cambridge Latin, American History and Geography unit studies and P.E. (golf or fencing).
6th Grader - Math U See, Spectrum Language Arts, Computer Science: Code Academy, Art (glass class) and P.E. (golf).

Of course all of it subject to change.
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