A Plan Of Action For A New You In The New Year

So a few days ago I posted about my goals for 2019. I’m not waiting until the New Year to get started because there is no time like NOW to get started on these goals. You don’t have to wait either and you can follow along with me on my journey to finding a simpler, happier, and better functioning lifestyle here in our little cabin.

It’s so easy to get discouraged with LIFE at times, I know because I’ve felt myself falling into a HUGE pit of discouragement lately. It feels like I just keep hitting walls in so many areas of LIFE and I just don’t know how to get past them. The one thing I do know is the GOD is in control and if there is something in my way HE can help me overcome it.

I also know that a lot of times our failures come from inside of ourselves. We get unhappy with things and want to change them but sometimes the change must come from us first. This can be hard to do and sometimes it can be hard to admit that we aren’t PERFECT.

Over the holidays so many people are posting pictures of their families. Many of these pictures seem to show PERFECT homes and families but behind the scenes can be a different story. In reality LIFE is MESSY in so many ways. I can tell you that my LIFE is MESSY for sure with so many kids and special needs not to mention that we HOMESCHOOL and LIVE in a TINY CABIN. Boy can it get MESSY. Don’t let those pictures get you feeling depressed or down. You can follow along with me, a normal (well, somewhat normal depending on you definition of normal) Momma, as I tackle some of this crazy mess we call LIFE.

Continue reading “A Plan Of Action For A New You In The New Year”

Happy St. Nicholas Day 2018!

**This post may contain affiliate links to products we use.

Well the countdown to Christmas has officially started here. The kids are super excited after St. Nick stopped by sometime late last night. They had left their stockings on the table before bed and woke up to a big surprise!

They had been talking about our previous St. Nicholas Day celebrations and how they forgot to put their stockings out last year… Oops!

Don’t worry… that heater was not on ‘HEAT’ as we only have the flames going this morning  but it has been doing great job at keeping us warm and cozy so far.

St. Nick did not disappoint with a variety of small toys, coloring books, and other holiday items plus a tiny bit of candy. He also left a couple of new books and a holiday music cd for them. They are looking forward to a midday snack of gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa too!

He didn’t forget about the grownups either and even left a small gift for Nanny J and Papa O. He left Momma some much needed kitchen items, some holiday jewelry, and CHOCOLATE!

Santa had even decorated a little bit and put these cute covers on the chairs.

And he must’ve met up with the UPS man at some point to grab our new Advent wreath for us. It had been stuck in delivery status as the driver couldn’t locate our house.

It is so much prettier than it looked on the internet! I had a hard time deciding what color to get but thought this was a good choice even though it isn’t the traditional Christmas colors. Now we are just waiting for the candles to arrive. After all this excitement it was time for breakfast:

This year I added the chocolate chips to the pancakes while on the griddle for our Santa Claus PancakesI forgot to pick up some fresh strawberries and blueberries so we made do with what we had here. I also didn’t realize that Mr. Jacob had added a couple of extra chocolate chips to Santa’s beard… lol!

The kids thought they were cute and very yummy. Later on we will be watching a few videos about St. Nick and taking a little about the history of Santa Claus.

If you want to check out some other activities please see St. Nicholas Day 2016 for some additional links.

Happy St. Nicholas Day everyone!

Don’t Keep This Secret!

As many of us know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month but you may not be aware that it is also National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic abuse is often one of those things that we keep silent about because of a stigma that goes along with it.

Some just accept it as a normal part of life while others refuse to admit what is happening. It can happen to anyone regardless of race, gender, or social status. It can also happen in a variety of ways that we may not even be aware of.

Here is one story:

High School Sweethearts

There was a young girl who married her high school sweetheart. They were happily married for a while. Then after the second child came along things began to change.

She didn’t know what was going on but somehow she was always made to feel like it was her fault. His words were sharper than any knife and would cut her deeply time and time again. Continue reading “Don’t Keep This Secret!”

Help! I’m Drowning, Or At Least It Feels That Way…

I started out this morning with over 2,000 emails which was a bit overwhelming. I had cleared a few hundred of them on Saturday but it barely made a dent in the pile.

Then today as I was catching up on emails and such I happened to see that we have HURRICANE MICHAEL headed our way. Just another thing to add to the list of things to think about. While we are not on the coast nor have we been put under the ‘State of Emergency’ the counties right next to us are so that means we do have potential to see some damage. This also means that we need to make some emergency preparations and be prepared for when the storm hits. As we have learned in the past the storms don’t always go along their predicted path.

**Update: The state of emergency has been expanded from 26 counties to 35, including ours, since this post was written. Our prayers are going out to all of those in the affected area as well as the first responders, National Guard, and all of those working to keep everyone safe. Continue reading “Help! I’m Drowning, Or At Least It Feels That Way…”

Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Resource List

**Although I try to provide as many FREE resources as possible this post may contain affiliate links alt no extra cost to you. We may earn a small commission, if a purchase is made through these links, which helps to support our blog and our family. Thank you!

We read Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography before starting our study.

NOTE: My kiddos were 5, 6, 9, 11, and 15 at the time we created study unit. Some ideas may need to be changed/adjusted for older kids.

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or topic simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.


Introduction:

We have been using the Little House on the Prairie Books for our homeschool this year and my kids are loving it. I have scoured the internet for resources to make our learning experience as fun and exciting as possible. This series of posts is a compilation of different resources we have found and used in our home. Please note that some of these may have been FREE at the time I found them and prices and/or availability may have changed. Feel free to leave your own links in the comments section below.

I also want to take a moment to thank all of these wonderful people who put together so many wonderful resources for all of us to use with our children. I know that many hours, blood, sweat, and tears went into these projects but your work is greatly appreciated!


Answer Key found HERE**ANSWER KEY password: momsrock (highlight blank area)


Language Arts:

We will be completing this Lap Book project as we read through this book.

Reading:

We will be reading the noted selection for the week as well as discussing what we have read. I may come up with other questions as well. Kids are curious and I know we will have many questions which may lead to some research in other areas.

We will also be working on reading through a few books, see Kirby’s Kids Grade by Grade Homeschool Reading List , for each different grade level. The older kids will have some independent reading while the younger ones will have a mixture of read alouds, read alongs, and independent reading.

You should keep a record of the books read. You can do this in a notebook or using this printable HERE.

Handwriting:

I did not list handwriting in the weekly work tasks as my kids are using the Spencerian Penmanship for handwriting and will practice this every day.

Vocabulary:

We will be doing various activities for this area. We will be looking up definitions, matching words, putting the words in alphabetical order, and a variety of other activities.

Writing:

There will be a variety of creative writing ideas as well. I have tried to vary them and offer choices to help encourage writing. We will also be doing various writing assignments in some of other areas as well.

Check out PRINTABLE WRITING PAPER- TWENTY FREE TEMPLATES FOR KID’S WRITING for some FREE writing resources!

Other Activities:

These are just some of the other activities that I am incorporating into the lessons with my kiddos as we are all at different learning levels. I put these in here to keep me organized so I don’t ‘forget’ something.

I will add links to worksheets I find or make as we go through the unit. For a general guideline of skills your child should know by grade level click HERE.

I have pulled a lot of the material from the book for the worksheets listed down below.

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:

Other resources used:

The younger kids will also have access to various Read-Along books and puppet books. I will update links to those as we go along.


Math:

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

Note about Ray’s Arithmetic Books: These can be a little confusing at first but the Parent/Teacher guide is so useful! I have found that the books are in order as follows:

  • 1st/2nd grades: Ray’s New Primary Arithmetic
  • 3rd/4th grades: Ray’s New Intellectual Math
  • 5th/6th grades: Ray’s Practical Arithmetic
  • 7th/8th grades: Ray’s Higher Arithmetic

I have used a lot of the examples from the book to create the worksheets you will find listed below. **ANSWER KEY password: momsrock (highlight blank area)

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:


Social Studies:

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:


Science:

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:

  • We will also be studying different lessons from Mystery Science which is a site that the kids LOVE! We have found a lot of FREE lessons on this site. (You do need a membership to access all of the site.)
  • YouTube can be a great resource for educational videos.
  • Itsy Bitsy Bear Book via KidZone
  • We will also be studying different lessons from Mystery Science which is a site that the kids LOVE! We have found a lot of FREE lessons on this site.
  • FREE Zoology Lessons at Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool.
  • FREE Physics and Chemistry Lessons at Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool.

My kids also enjoyed reading:

 Bears on the Brain (Science Solves It!)


PE/Health & Safety Resources:

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons ideas with these links:

We often have some ‘Free Play’ outside whenever the weather allows as well.


Life Skills:

This area contains our lesson plans for a few different areas that I have included with our ‘Life Skills’. You will find lessons on cooking, cleaning, and organization as well as bible memory work and character training. All of these will go together to help raise our children into the responsible and caring citizens of tomorrow.

You can find a FREE printable log for keeping track of memory work here:

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:

We will be focusing on OBEDIENCE this unit. If you don’t have the book we used you can go HERE and download a lesson plan guide to use in your home.


Music, Arts & Crafts:

These lesson plans include Music, Arts, and Crafts. Choose one or two ideas/day as desired.

Many of the ideas have been pulled from the following resources:

You can also find FREE Lessons with these links:

We have also bought the following books/products for use with this series:


Remember: These are the lessons and activities that we used while doing this study but you can do anything your heart desires to make this a great adventure for you and your kids!