Happy New Year Activities

This has been a lazy couple of weeks for me. I had wonderful intentions of taking down the Christmas Tree, organizing my closet, and cleaning out my pantry. But then I thought, why get ahead of myself?? I probably need to leave some of those resolutions to be completed in the New Year, right?? Exactly! :)

So in an effort to avoid becoming a total couch potato, I prepared some homeschool lessons on the New Year for the kids. Addison is still out of school this week, and Trey and Lindsay and I were technically out too. But I hate leaving a learning opportunity hanging out in the wind, so I took advantage of lapbook kit I found on CurrClick.

We are learning about different New Years customs all over the world, how ancient customs, traditions, and rituals are similar and different from those of today, and we're making some resolutions for ourselves in the New Year.


Today we started working on a time capsule! I can't wait until it's complete! We will include the following items and bury it in the backyard.

list of our favorite things / foods

newspaper

pictures of us throughout 2009

list of purchase prices for items like stamps, gas, milk, etc.

a poem that Addison wrote this Christmas

a letter to our future selves

list of goals/accomplishments from 2009

pictures of how our house looks today

We will draw a map and put it in our family scrapbook so that we'll remember where we buried our time capsule, and we will open it again in 2020. It's an understatement to say that we're excited about this project! The kids can't wait to break out the shovel and start digging! Let's just hope the dogs leave it buried and don't scatter our poor time capsule all over the yard!

Trey and Addison with our almost-completed Time Capsule

(Lindsay snoozed through the whole thing!)

Welcome!!

In light of the New Year, I have decided to bite the proverbial bullet and make a few resolutions. The first is to simplify my life. My previous blog was actually supposed to be about my gift basket business, but it quickly morphed into a homeschool blog because that's how I spend most of my free time. :)

Since I've decided to simplify, I've decided to cut some things completely out of my life, and the gift basket business is the first thing to go. I just don't have the time for it anymore. I know there are other homeschool moms who are able to run a business at home, stay organized, and still manage to cook dinner for their 8 children...but I've finally faced the fact that I'm not one of them. :) So I thought I would begin a new blog to focus on our homeschool lesson plans, fun craft ideas, field trips, family updates, and other various ramblings of mine.

So...since this is the first post of this blog, I'll share a little snippet of our family story. I have been married to my husband for 11 years. We live in Texas, and have 4 children (hence the title of this blog): Tracy (15), Trey (10), Addison (9), and Lindsay (4). I've always wanted a large family, and I'm so very grateful that I've been blessed with one. (PS...I'd secretly love to have more!!)

I quit my job in law enforcement in 2008 so that I could homeschool our son. If you haven't read up on the effects of ADHD medications on a child's heart, PLEASE do the research BEFORE you give them to your child. Thankfully, I can say that Trey's condition corrected itself after he was taken off the meds, but then he was left struggling in school. He came to me one day with tears streaming down his face, after a long day of being bullied by those who used to be his friends, and asked me if I would homeschool him. My brain kept telling me that we couldn't afford to do without my salary. My heart couldn't tell him no. Somehow the rest of the story is history.

We just moved into the house of my dreams, complete with a wonderful homeschool area (as soon as we get it finished), and a POOL! Ya heard me! Woo hoo!!! Pool-schooling for us next summer!! :)


This week, Trey, Lindsay, and I are happy to have Addison join us in our homeschool lessons. We are learning about early New Years customs in the United States and around the world. We are also making a New Years Lapbook, of which I'll post pictures when we're done.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and I pray for health, happiness and blessings for all in the New Year!