Fun Friday: Random Things

Today, I'm supposed to share 10 random facts about myself. So, without further ado, here's the list:

1. I'd rather organize than clean. (Yes, I copied this from Jennifer. And I quit reading her list because I didn't want to be influenced further! It's uncanny how many things we seem to have in common.)
2. I don't like to dress up. When I lose 100 pounds, this might change. For now, I prefer denim skirts and shirts that hide a multitude of flab...if possible.
3. I rarely enjoy talking on the phone. I used to spend untold hours on the phone. My, how things have changed.
4. I'm scared of escalators. I will walk far out of my way to avoid one.
5. I have eaten alligator tail, squirrel legs, and frog legs, among other "exotic" foods. Tasted like chicken.
6. It's hard for me to sit still and do nothing. I have to be reading something, fidgeting with a phone, toying with my hair, etc. Horrible habit.
7. I went to college. For 6-8 hours.
8. I hide it well, maybe too well at times, but I am an extremely timid person.
9. I shot a gun once at Grandpa Brewster's house. I missed the target. Shame about Grandpa's neighbor's horse.....*
10. I...um....I--don't, well, that is to say..... Aw, ferget it. (gulp) Okay, here goes. For those of you who don't know, Idon'thaveadriver'slicensebecauseIchickenedoutandneverwentbackafterIfailedmyfirstdrivingtest. And now you know.

Now click over to Cherish the Call for more fun facts. :)

*Oh, and though I did miss the target, I didn't really shoot a horse. ;)

How We Homeschool

I hesitate to even participate in the "How We Homeschool" thingy, because I feel like the least of the least among such able homeschool mothers as my fellow bloggers. :) But, here goes.

As of right now, our homeschool is extremely flexible and pretty much unstructured. My older children work on the basics, mostly independently, while I assist my younger daughter. We work on Bible, History, and some science together. I use a multilevel curriculum for these subjects, which I'll explain in a minute. In the meantime I try to keep my youngest child, a rambunctious boy, out of trouble as much as possible. To help with this I'm planning to put together a bin of "school-time-only" toys, puzzles, art supplies, etc, that he can work on during school. I've done something sort of similar to that but I haven't been very consistent with it. To be honest, he has spent far too much time watching something on the computer just so he'll be quiet and let the girls work. :( I know, I know. Shame on me. I'm working on it! I want to start working with him more as well. He's shown some promise and I think he'll pick up fairly quickly. 

Working away from home. Love flexibility!

I was clueless about homeschooling when our oldest child was ready for Kindergarten. I relied almost completely on the recommendations of a friend who was one year ahead of me on her homeschool journey. (I don"t know what I would have done, would do, without the help and support of other homeschool moms.) I was under the impression (and had been warned by someone) that I needed to stick to one line of curriculum. I have since found out that mixing and matching works just fine. I tried some completely different angles this year and they seem to have helped a lot. I've learned through trial and error what works for us, and I've learned that you cannot go by what works for other families. One mother I talked to thought that a certain curriculum was the best there was. It didn't work for us. At all. We're all different, and our children learn differently. Learning to be flexible and creative when choosing curriculum is important.

Just in case you're interested, here's a list of what we use:

For our multilevel subjects:

Mystery of History  Love this so far. It's multilevel with lists of activities/seatwork for different ages. It's very biblically-based.

Apologia Science.  My oldest daughter will start General Science soon, but will also work on Apologia Astronomy along with the younger ones, working in a higher-level notebook.

Who is God? series (Bible). This book works for all three of my children and I'm very pleased with it. 

For my 4th and 7th graders:

Growing with Grammar

Soaring with Spelling

A Beka Reading. Mainly A Beka reading books, (I have some of them already and can find most of the others on their reading list at the library) as well as other books that I think will be good for them. My 7th grader is doing A Beka Literature as well.

For my K-1st grader:

She's still working on some of the A Beka Kindergarten Reading Program. She'll start on Rod & Staff 1st Grade Reading, Phonics, and Penmanship soon.

All three girls are doing Math U See. So far I love this program!

I supplement (or will supplement) with:

Drive-Thru History DVDs

Science DVDs Moody Bible Institute has an excellent set called The Moody Science Classics Series. (You can see previews of the DVDs at Moody's site. We actually bought them through Vision Forum during a sale event. Incidentally, I'm a Vision Forum affiliate. If you'd like to order anything from them, please feel free to use the link here on my blog! ;))

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett

Besides the Basics:

The girls are taking art and violin lessons from a wonderfully generous and incredibly talented young lady who attends our church. I'm so thankful for her! As far as P.E., um, they play outside or run like wild things through the house. :) We don't do anything structured with that. I probably should, I know.

In my dream-school, I'd also have them learn Latin. Sigh....

Note: I always try to buy our curriculum as cheaply as I can. I'm especially thrilled when I can find nice, used curriculum online for a fraction of the cost of the new stuff!

And that's how it goes at our house. There's a LOT of room for improvement, but I'm thankful for how God has helped us this far!

You can check out the other "How We Homeschool" post here. 

How We Do Our Laundry

In case you haven't picked up on it I'll just blurt it out: our lives are far from normal right now! (Whatever normal is.) I won't even try to explain. Just trust me. :)

Today, I'm supposed to tell you how we do laundry. Well, okay. It's humbling, but I will.

My husband, bless his heart, hauls the laundry to the former parsonage across the street and washes and dries it over there because we don't have a washing machine or working dryer in the house in which we're staying right now. It's very sweet of him to do this for me. Isn't he wonderful!? There are reasons for this. I'm not just being lazy. :) Still, I appreciate his help more than he knows! Anyway, when it's all washed and dried he hauls it back home and the girls and I put it away.

And that's how we do laundry. For now.

I do want to share two things related to doing laundry that I would never want to go without (not counting my hubby):

Shout stain remover. This stuff is A.Ma.Zing. Really. It's worth every penny.

The Honey-Can-Do 3-Bag Mesh Laundry Sorter. 

Don't you just love the name? :) This laundry sorter isn't pretty, but it sure is a time-saver. I wouldn't want any other hamper! So simple even the little ones know how to use it. Towels/washcloths in this one...lights in that one...and darks in that one. Voila! Laundry all sorted. 'Sides, these bags are easier for my hubby to lug across the street than a bulky laundry basket. ;)

(Oh...here's a totally random reminder. Don't forget to clean your dryer vent no less than once per year to avoid causing a fire.)

And that's that. 

How 'bout heading on over to Cherish the Call to see how Jennifer tackles laundry?