Monday, January 28, 2013

Homeschool Home

I was looking for pictures online of other homeschoolers' schooling spaces. I couldn't find much! Lots of people post ideas for homeschool rooms, usually from Pottery Barn Kids catalogs and other such too-perfect-to-be-reality places, but I want to see actual homeschoolers who are making their homes work for them. This might be because most homeschoolers I know don't have a specific room for schooling, but make their spaces work for them in all kinds of ways. We use our living room/dining room area, although school branches out into many other rooms in our house too, ha!

Today, after switching a couple desks around, I decided to take some pics of our multipurpose living and dining room area.

This is my "teacher desk"...
The big metal 60's desk above was a found object (found on a friend's stoop, destined for the dumpster.) I painted it with leftover wall paint (see left wall in photo below). We were using it for a crafting/sewing space for the girls (mainly Natalie), but she really needed some drawers. And, when I plan school and have the laptop and books open, I really needed more surface space. So we traded today. The one front drawer is just fine for me and the smaller desk fits better in her sewing nook anyway:
Here's where some of the schooling action takes place, although we do a lot of reading and Internet exploring cuddled up on the couch.  The huge map is from IKEA. We put "story disks" on the places where our studies lead us. Five in a Row uses these story disks, but we make our own with the blank ones they provide when we divert to other unit studies.
Today we put a story disk on Mexico! We've had some fun studying Mexico; I plan on putting a little post together of the ideas I've used. 

We use the little chalkboard easel a LOT.
I have plans to turn this huge tray into a lazy susan, which will make it even cooler!
 The coffee table sees a lot of schooling action too.
And, without doubt, one of our favorite spots in our entire house--our record table. This has become a beloved hobby for our little family, both collecting and listening to records. I highly recommend you get a record player--it's education, fun, culture and so much more, all in one! :D
 There's a new little thrift store by us that has hundreds of records for 49 cents each!! It's so fun digging through them all, since all five of us look for different kinds of things.

Our home decor has evolved a ton over the last few years as we've delved deeper into homeschooling. It's important to me that these rooms be highly functional, but still pretty to look at at the same time. If I have to have a trash can, why not make it a cute, red, polka-dot one, am I right? ;)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Reno

I had the chance to visit a very close friend in Reno last weekend. I've talked about Jenn here before, but to recap--Jenn and I met when I was newly married and living in Georgia, just before both our husbands deployed to Iraq in 2003. It was a friendship planned by God, we are both convinced. I do not know how either of us would have gotten through that time without each other! Ten years and six children later, we try to see each other every year or two.

Jenn turned 35 and her husband bought me a ticket to visit as a surprise for her birthday!! I was SO excited and it was sooooo hard not to give away the surprise, especially after they got a call in December telling them they'd been chosen to adopt a little boy (they already have two girls, also adopted).

Before I went, I made the new little guy a present. This is McCall's 6719, a brand new pattern.


He liked it, he cuddled with it and took off with it, it was super cute :)
 But, I couldn't very well not bring presents for the girls too! They had gotten some 18" dolls for Christmas so I pulled out some of my new patterns and made an outfit for each of them. These are both from McCall's 6573.


 Me and Jenn
 We also managed a few family photos, despite the freeeeezing temps! Isn't their family such a picture of the gospel??

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in hm before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  --Ephesians 1:3-6


Monday, January 7, 2013

baby doll runway

My baby girl Layla turned six on Friday. SIX!! Get out! I remember when I was pregnant with her (she was due Dec. 30), I wanted her to be really (safely) early or really late because the further from Christmas, the better! She was 8 days late and the extra incubation time grew her into the cutest 9 pound, 2 ounce dimpled and smiley baby you have ever seen :) Now, I'm so glad she was that late because I have just a little smidge of extra time after Christmas to plan her birthday.

I try to work on her gifts before Christmas. This year, I had suggested to my mother-in-law that she would love the Travel-with-me baby Cinderella doll she had seen at Target for her birthday. Since I knew she had gotten her the doll, I set out to make doll clothes for her. After she opened them, we had a fashion show so Cinderella could model her new outfits and I could take pictures :)





 Natalie made her a tutu! I grabbed a "tulle spool" that I already had and showed her how to cut strips and tie them onto elastic. It's super cute :)


 This doll is a new favorite, for sure :)
 I also made her this doll carrier backpack, for which I've had the pattern for about a year, with Layla in mind. I decided to make it while she's still little enough to love dolls!

 I finished the insides with bias tape because there was just a lot of raggedy edges in there.

 Here are the patterns I used. The McCall's one is from the '80's. My mom passed it along to me years ago and it turns out she actually used it to make clothes for my favorite doll, Upsie Baby, when I was little. Aw :) The Simplicity pattern is still in print, though. The clothes are for 15" dolls, though and Cinderella is 12, which is why I didn't make any of those clothes. If you want to find clothes for smaller dolls, there are still a few out there, just look for the ones that say "doll clothes in three sizes".

It's a good thing doll clothes are one of my favorite things to make because Natalie is getting an 18" Our Generation doll for her birthday (because there's no way I'm paying American Girl prices!!
The number of patterns out there for these doll clothes is astounding. I started my collection with these three:

I can't wait to get started!! Those outfits in the middle are adorable--the pattern includes the boots too. Soooo excited!!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

reading

Looking back over what I've read in the past couple years, my reading has taken a major turn toward the classics. For several years, I didn't read much fiction at all, even though I've always been a lover of stories. It is so difficult to find good, meaty, non-crass/non-filthy fiction by modern authors, though, which is part of why I just didn't bother there for awhile (the other part being that my kids were little and I had precious little time to read during those early years of their lives).

Then, a couple years ago, I read all of Jane Austen, one after another. I then moved on to The Count of Monte Cristo (my favorite book of all time ... so far ;) and I was completely hooked on classics! So, 2012 involved an ecclectic mix of books for me, but my favorites and the ones I remember best were definitely the old ones.

Here's a Goodreads screenshot list of books read in 2012:

covertitleauthoravg ratingratingshelvesdate readdateadded Down_arrow
The Hobbit
4.17
didn't like it it was ok liked it (my current rating) really liked it it was amazing
Dec 29, 2012[edit]
Nov 25, 2012
The Moonstone
3.87
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
not set[edit]
Nov 25, 2012
Mortal (The Books of Mortals, #2)
4.09
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
not set[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
Forbidden (The Books of Mortals, #1)
3.97
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
not set[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
Emily's Quest (Emily, #3)
4.08
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
Nov 25, 2012[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
Emily Climbs (Emily, #2)
4.11
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
not set[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
Emily of New Moon (Emily of New Moon, #1)
4.08
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
not set[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
A Tangled Web
3.87
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
not set[edit]
Oct 20, 2012
The Westing Game
4.03
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
Jul 30, 2012[edit]
Jul 25, 2012
Anna Karenina
3.98
didn't like it it was ok liked it (my current rating) really liked it it was amazing
not set[edit]
Jun 30, 2012
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
3.89
didn't like it (my current rating) it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing
not set[edit]
Jun 14, 2012
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
4.43
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
not set[edit]
Jun 14, 2012
The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, #1)
4.01
didn't like it it was ok liked it (my current rating) really liked it it was amazing
Jul 25, 2012[edit]
Jun 14, 2012
A Celebration of Children
4.14
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
Oct 20, 2012[edit]
Jun 14, 2012
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine, #1)
3.71
didn't like it it was ok liked it (my current rating) really liked it it was amazing
Apr 09, 2012[edit]
May 11, 2012
North and South
4.10
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
Jul 25, 2012[edit]
Apr 25, 2012
The Night Circus
3.99
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it (my current rating) it was amazing
not set[edit]
Apr 25, 2012
Clearly, I did not like Middlemarch, haha!

I also read Dracula this year. Loved it. After that I started looking into the history of vampire lore and it is pretty interesting. And I read The Hunger Games trilogy, which was obviously amazing.

This year, I have plans to read more classics! I'm currently reading James Michener's Chesapeake (very good, especially since I've been teaching U.S. History this year) and then I want to read Les Miserable, before I see the movie. And The Great Gatsby, also before seeing the movie.

You can see all of my Goodreads here. I'd love for you to "friend" me! I often pick books based on the recommendations of my Goodreads friends. I also joined a reading group on Goodreads, called Classics without all the class, which you too can join. Should be fun, although I know reading every month's selection won't be possible. They also have a podcast, which you can find on iTunes under the same name. I hope to get to January's selection, but I definitely want to read February's since there is a new movie out that I've heard is great!

Speaking of reading, I snapped a shot of my little bookworm this morning. This is the kid who fought me every. step. of. the. way. and made me think I just wasn't cut out for homeschooling when I was teaching her to read. Ha! Look at her now :)