Goal Setting

I recently bought some materials to help me plan upcoming school years. I recently read a blog post by Sarah Mackenzie at Amongst Lovely Things: Rigor, Diligence and What We're Setting Out to Do.

It was SO inspiring and really struck a cord with me. Sarah explains the differences between a restful school year and an easy school year, between a rigorous education and a diligent education; differences that I had never really though about.

She also led me to many other resources, including Pam Barnhill at Everyday Snapshots and her ebook, Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace (only $7.99!).

So far, I am really loving Pam's book. It is helping me to organize our school year in a more formal way, such as writing a mission statement for our homeschool, which I have always wanted to do. It has also helped me use that mission statement to begin writing goals for Joshua and Noah that are connected to our mission.

Below, I share what I have filled out so far on the Goal Worksheets from Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace.

These worksheets are going to help me so much. I will be able to refer to them throughout the year to see if we are staying on track. Also, I will be able to look back on them at the end of the year and see if my goal setting was realistic or if we tried to take on too much, helping me to set even better goals for the next school year. Thank you, Pam!

A Mission Statement for Our Homeschool

While planning our upcoming school year, I decided I wanted to write a mission statement for our homeschool. This will help me stay focused on what our vision is and help me make decisions that will support that vision. It will help me to make priorities and manage our time based on the values set in our mission statement. Here's what I came up with . . .

You Can Draw Bible Stories for Kids - My First Giveaway!

This post contains affiliate links. More information is available at the end of the post.

You Can Draw Bible Stories for Kids is a wonderful book for children which I recently had the honor to write a review for. You can read the review here. We have really enjoyed this book and my boys ask to use it all the time!



Well, now it's your turn to get a chance to own a copy of this book during my first free giveaway. This book will be a new, simple and fun way to help your children learn and experience Bible stories.

This giveaway will run until 8 pm on Friday, June 20th. There are three different ways to enter. You can like Mamma Vintage on Facebook, subscribe to the Mamma Vintage mailing list or leave a comment here.

Enter Below and Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in this post are 'affiliate links.' This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products that I believe in and personally use. Your purchases through these links help support Mamma Vintage. Thank you for your support!

My First Review! You Can Draw Bible Stories for Kids

This post contains affiliate links. More information is available at the end of the post.

Folks, this is exciting. This is my first review!

A couple of months ago, I received an email from Sandy Silverthorne who has published a book with Harvest House Publishers. He gave me a description of his book, You Can Draw Bible Stories for Kids and the web site. He wanted to send me a free advance copy for possible review!

This is the first time someone has sent me a free product to review because of my blog. This is exciting for me! I have received a lot of positive feedback about my blog in the past year and have recently decided to give it more time and energy and to try and do more with it.

I have been doing a lot of reading about blogs. When it comes to reviews, professional advice always says the same: only review products that you really believe in and that you would naturally use.

It was meant to be that Sandy Silverthorne sent me this particular product as my first to review. It's perfect because it meets a need in homeschooling that we already had!

As part of our faith lessons, several times I have read a Bible story to the boys and asked them to illustrate it. This hasn't been very successful. For the most part, they couldn't think of their own ideas of what to draw and would just copy the illustration in the book. They both really like drawing, but are not confident in their stills yet. They get impatient with themselves and want to be better at drawing than they are. This doesn't make for a very fun lesson. For that reason, I hadn't done this in a while.

Silverthorne's book uses this same idea, but helps the children form new cartooning skills. It gives simple instructions, taking the fear and frustration out of drawing for my boys. They enjoyed the Bible story as well as the characters they learned how to draw. They had fun!

Enjoying our lesson

Joshua proud of his work

Even Teresa was interested :)

Overall, the lesson was a great success and we will definitely continue to use the book as we read Bible stories. If you are looking for a new way to make teaching your children Bible stories fun, I would definitely recommend this book. The book was released in February and so far, has five stars for reviews on Amazon.

We enjoyed the product so much that I WILL BE HAVING MY FIRST FREE GIVEAWAY SOON, giving away a free copy of this book. Stay tuned!

Thank you, Sandy Silverthorne!

In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in this post are 'affiliate links.' This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products that I believe in and personally use. Your purchases through these links help support Mamma Vintage. Thank you for your support!

Making Decisions

Sometimes I feel incapable of making the decisions I need to make for our family. Every choice has advantages and disadvantages, and sometimes I can think myself dizzy through all of the options and still not come to an answer.

I am currently trying to make a large decision about homeschooling for our family. I shouldn't say "I." I should say "we." For of course Jason and I will make this decision together. We have been doing a lot of research, reading, discussing and praying. But in the end, although I will have Jason's input, he will basically trust me to make the final decision because I am really the one doing most of the homeschooling. Of course I appreciate his faith in me. But do you ever feel like you just wish someone else would make your decisions for you?

For the past two years, we have been enrolled in the Edmonds Homeschooling Resource Center - Edmonds Heights. It has been wonderful. We have met a lot of other wonderful homeschooling families, which was our main goal when becoming enrolled. Joshua has taken some fabulous classes - Spanish, American Sign Language, Legos, Math and Science. He has enjoyed them all and has made some good friends.

However, one of my main frustrations has been the amount of time this has taken out of our schedule. All of these classes were electives. They're great and all, but after reading The Well-Trained Mind, I began to realize that I need more time to teach the basics and teach them well. ASL and Lego class are fun and all, but they become a hindrance when they are taking up my time to teach math, reading and writing.

There are only so many hours in a day and I am continuing to realize and become more adamant in my need to be very selective in what we do with our time. I simply cannot justify spending hours a week on electives when I don't have time for the basics.

Last week I became aware of another program. It is another A.L.E (Alternative Learning Experience) that supports homeschooling families called Meridian Parent Partnership Program or MP3. It provides much of the same support that Edmonds Heights does, except that it also has an extension program, meaning that we do not have to take classes on campus. We can have their support and do all of our learning at home, supplementing with outside lessons and tutors just when we think it's necessary.

We will still have an advisor who will help us to create a Student Learning Plan. We will still have a lot of support from Washington State and will have assistance in understanding homeschooling laws and with student assessment.

We would also have more freedom and more time. But we won't have the community that we have at Edmonds Heights. Joshua has made friendships with many of the children he has had several classes with. I can see the advantages of both scenarios. Edmonds Heights gives us more of a community, but it takes away from our time to be teaching important subjects. MP3 doesn't offer the community, but gives us more freedom and time.

What's more important? How do I decide between the two?

Well, right now I am just buying myself some time. Both Joshua and Noah are enrolled in Edmonds Heights for the fall. And tomorrow I am mailing in the registration forms for MP3.

I have also talked with the boys a lot about it and asked for their opinions. I've let them know what we are considering, how things would change and how we would make it work. They seem to be accepting of the idea of change.

If I had to decide right now, I would choose MP3. I feel like it will be easier to make up for the disadvantages of MP3's program than it has been for me to make up for the disadvantages of Edmonds Heights' program. I can more easily create and work on friendships and community for my children than I can create more time. If we decide to go with MP3, I will make a large effort to stay in touch and continue to nurture the friendships that Joshua (and Noah and I) have made at Edmonds Heights.

When it comes to decisions like this, I am comforted when I remember that nothing is permanent. If we make the switch and don't like it, we can always switch back and that's okay.

It's just too bad that homeschooling and life do not come with instruction manuals :)

Waiting for Sunrise

SO many moms have made the assumption that because I homeschool my children, I have enormous amounts of patience just oozing out of me.

Let me clear this up right now - absolutely not!

Image via Wikipedia

And that was especially not the case yesterday. Although I had made some of my all-time best efforts to prepare for Monday morning, I also forgot to set my alarm. I slept very poorly the night prior and our morning got off to a very late, chaotic and sluggish start.

And then, I spent over an hour battling with Joshua so that he would complete two pages in his math workbook. Two pages. This could have taken him ten to fifteen minutes if he'd had a decent attitude.

On a side note, I would love to hear how other parents, homeschooling or not, deal with children that won't do their school work or do it at a sloth-like pace because of their attitude. I can't be alone with this dilemma. 

I did not handle this with patience. Not by a long shot. In fact, my Lenten resolution to not yell was completely abandoned. (My tiredness sure didn't help!)

Sometimes when a day turns out like that, I have a hard time letting it go. I feel like just throwing my hands up in surrender. "I give up!" I want to yell. Yes, yell. I know, I know - I'm working on the yelling.

I didn't quite give up. I called Jason in tears. I reached out to a few other homeschooling moms I know. I prayed. And it's only by the grace of God that my heart softened, my spirit sighed and I was able to apologize for my yelling and forgive the boys. (Yes, Noah was being quite the handful too.)

Sometimes our best efforts are not enough. Though this can be so frustrating, it is God's intention. If we could do it all, if we never struggled, then we might not understand our need for Him.

Also, as cheesy as it may sound, we are given the continuous blessing of the sun setting and rising again, of a new day.

Today I get a fresh start :)

Mother's Day Out?

I recently spoke about a book that I am rereading, A Mother's Rule of Life.  I read it a few years ago, related to a lot of it and found many really helpful ideas.

One idea that I did not really relate to was the idea of a Mother's Day Out. Holly Pierlot, the author, explains how every other week she has a Saturday to herself. She is able to leave the house and the children to her husband and come home only when she is ready, feeling rejuvenated for her role in motherhood for the next two weeks. While this all sounded fantastic three years ago, it seemed luxurious and not like something that was necessary in my life at the time. Honestly, I may have even judged her for this "indulgence."

Times have changed. When reading this book now, I think this concept is one of the ideas that has spoken to me the most. It no longer seemed like a luxury, but a necessity.

What's the difference between then and now? Well, we have three children now. Homeschooling requires more time and energy then it did then. And while we are still active in Engaged Encounter, I have also taken on a more active role in our parish.

For several months now, I have felt a strong need for a break. A real break. Not just reading for seven minutes while I eat a sandwich before I do the dishes from lunch. Jason recognized this need in me, perhaps because I mentioned it several times in tears. Jason understands and is a compassionate rock of strength and love for me. It was he that first suggested that I get a "day off" before I even began rereading Holly's explanation of it.

Even though I feel that this is a sincere, very real need of mine, it still makes me feel guilty. I know so many other moms that don't get days off and they seem to be handling motherhood just fine. Many of them have more children than I do and are also homeschooling. I also feel guilty that I need to devote one of our weekend days entirely to myself. It seems selfish. Jason works hard all week too. What about Father's Day Out?

Of course, if Jason expressed that he also wanted days scheduled like this for him, then we would make that happen. But Jason doesn't need to get away from the house and the children like I do. He's happy to be home.

Jenny says that I'm not allowed to feel guilty about this and that she is my advocate. What a nice thought!

For now, I think we will try to make a Mother's Day Out scheduled once a month. That seems sufficient. But maybe if I was homeschooling five children like Holly, I would need this every two weeks like she does.

So today is my first official day off. What will I do with myself? Well, I am starting with my first zumba class with a new friend. I am also hopeful to get some reading and writing done. Maybe a little shopping. I will be going to Confession and perhaps to evening Mass. And I will end the day by getting a drink with Jenny.

Sounds like absolute bliss. Thanks, honey - I needed it :)

The Spelling Bee!

Our Joshua made me so proud this week. He was in his first spelling bee!

I was astonished that he wanted to participate at all. This boy clung to my side at his first soccer practice in the fall of 2010, crying the whole time because he was so nervous to try. Joshua also refuses to go to Children's Liturgy during Mass because this requires him to stand in front of the congregation for a blessing before the children are dismissed. Two Christmases ago, he attempted to sing with the children in the front of the Church, but then ran back to the safety of our pew. 

I really thought that this would also be the case at the spelling bee.

A few weeks ago when I tried to explain what the spelling bee would be like, he responded enthusiastically, "I've been waiting years for this!"

No worry on his part or mine was needed at all. Joshua absolutely rocked it! With each word, he stepped right up to the microphone and spelled each word clearly and with confidence. Afterwards, I asked if he was nervous and he answered, "Nooo," with eyes that said that this was the silliest question he'd ever heard. Noah was so inspired that he wants to try it next year.

In a couple of weeks, Joshua will turn seven. In the past couple of years, he has grown so much! It's so great to see your children surprise you and try things you never thought they would. Makes me wonder what's next!

Happy Friday!

Bad Days

Sometimes I feel like a bad mom. Sometimes I can't be around them anymore. Sometimes by the end of the day, I am so utterly exhausted and I really, desperately need a break.

This is what my kitchen regularly looks like. Dishes to be washed. Food to be put away. Toys to be put away. Mail to be sorted. Broken toys. Toys that need batteries. The wine in the back is sounding pretty good :)

Did my mom have days like this? If she did, I sure don't remember. I just remember homemade cookies, pot roast and how she was such a fun Girl Scout leader. Maybe my kids won't remember my bad days either.

From this side you can see the open Diet Coke can and the kitchen table that is covered with two different art projects that still need to be cleaned up.

The past few weeks have been especially difficult; I have two large events for two different ministries that I volunteer for (and love) in the next three weeks. Furthermore, Veronica has been sick a lot, making her especially cranky and confusing. She has perfected a high pitch, screechy, pissed off yell that gets under my skin. I don't always respond lovingly or maturely.

When a day like this comes along, it can be difficult to tell if I am just really tired or if I'm getting sick. Thankfully, Jason has a very receptive radar for when I have a particularly rough day. When a day like this comes along, I retreat from our usual family dinner and eat alone on the couch in front of the TV. Not my best mom moment, but sometimes it seems necessary.

Right now there are two loads of laundry that need to be folded, dishes that need to be washed and children that need to be bathed. I could probably use a shower too, because that hasn't happened today either.

Do you have days like this? How do you handle them? How do you avoid them?

Here I am at the end of a tiring day, without makeup or a shower. I have retreated to the couch for the evening, writing on my blog, grasping with both hands for a little sanctuary.

Cooking With the Boys

 

Last year, Joshua received this cookbook for his birthday. It has been a huge hit and we've made lots of recipes.

It's been great for the boys and for me too. There's a reason that this blog is titled "Mamma Vintage," with the Italian word for mother. Although I'm not Italian, the culture and food of Italy have a special place in my heart. Pretty soon I'll have my sons rolling out the pasta and whipping me up some cannelloni! :)

The boys now even prefer their popcorn to be Italian - with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and parmesan cheese. Yum!

 

This past week, we made "Best-o Chicken Pest-o." It was a simple recipe and the boys were able to help a lot. We improvised some with the ingredients we had on hand. Joshua was not a fan of pushing the pesto underneath the skin of the chicken thigh; he let me do that part :)

Both boys are learning to peel garlic for me. What a huge help that will be! I've probably spent an entire year of my life peeling garlic!

Veronica was showing strong interest in what the boys were doing (like usual) and was very hurt when she was made to leave the room. Can't wait till she's helping out too!

What are you guys doing? Can I help???

As a homeschooling mom, these moments are priceless. I've been making a stronger effort to create  times like these, and it's definitely been worth the effort.

How do your kids "help" around the house?