Ever feel like layin' around ...

How many of you feel this way today after a night of NYE partying? I have felt this way all month ... Mr. Flu Bug came to our house in December. He was still wavering around up until late last night. What a way to ring in the new year. You know there are some relatives - you enjoy their stay for a little while but after a while you are ready to show them the door. We did not enjoy his stay and wanted to show him the door as soon as he reared his ugly head. I didn't feel the need to be kind to him, but in my weaken state, I had no energy to boot him out. So I am not sure what happened but he stayed and stayed and stayed ... up until late last night. Making us miss our church's New Year's Eve Party. The girls were disappointed, so I got out some supplies for crafting, they ate snacks and when Daddy came home we played Spongebob's Monopoly. However, we were in bed early and did not ringing in the new year at midnight. There will be plenty more parties and plenty more new years to ring in ... when the kids are older ... I just want to make sure Mr. Flu Bug is in a galaxy far, far away at the time. (And to think people in this house got flu shots ... I am glad they were "free".)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention more about our homeschooling efforts. I guess because I started this blog when we are on "holiday break" that I am not in the mind frame to comment. But we are studying The Prairie Primer featuring Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books. Since beginning HSing we have always been literature based AND studied units. I like it that way ... last year we did Before Five in a Row (B4 FIAR) and Five in a Row (FIAR). I have not totally put that aside, because I still implement some of the philosophies with PP (using other books as tag-a-longs). But this year we started PP in Sept and actually took a vacation to LIW homesteads in DeSmet, South Dakota and Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Since we are from Missouri, my husband and I have been to Rocky Ridge, but the girls have not ... I am sure since it is on the way to Branson, we will make it down there sometime ... soon. Anyway, it is going to take us 2 years (which seems to be OK and is suppose to be the norm for younger kids) to complete the series. We take our time and we also use other studies that might be of interest during the season we are in or further study something that might be mentioned in the books series that PP does not necessarily go more deeply into.

My oldest is especially into animals, so we have made a few animal lapbooks. Our most recent animal one was of bears - grizzly vs. black. She still will point out different bears and their difference when one comes on TV. There is a reality series on bears now, but I heard it was kind of gruesome, so I really don't want her to watch it given her age. The last lapbook we made was on Veteran's Day and how we are proud Daddy is a veteran. We even made a special paper for our church's Thanksgiving table featuring that along with "Proud to be an American" song. Our next lapbook will be during the month of January (this month ... man, how time flies) on winter and especially snowflakes.

I love lapbooking. For those who do not know what it is ... it combines reading, scrapbooking and researcing into one little packet. Almost every area of HS can be used in the lapbook from writing to literature to science to math, etc. I love to work on them with the girls ... even though it is time consuming and at this time it is mostly my work ... I really try to involve them in the process as much as possible. My oldest really takes to them and what is so great ... is they can be read over and over and over after they are completed. We've made one on Eagles after a trip she took with Daddy to an Eagle Day at a local park, several on FIAR books we did last year ... I love doing the research and then passing the information on to the girls. I have learned so much from this ... actually from homeschooling in general ... my parents would never have had the time or desire to HS us ... but I might have done better in school had I had the opportunity. I do much better with hands on learning. They are so correct when they say "kids learn better through play". I forget where I saw it ... I think in an blurp in the current issue of Children's Ministry Magazine they say that kids do better intellicutally and academically when they learn through play. Amen to that! Yeah for play and Yeah for HSing!

OK my day is frittering away and I need to get on the ball to help purge and pick up ... even if we have passed the 2007 tax season for donations, we just started a new year of tax donations for 2008 so it is never too late to purge stuff. Another quote from the office for the new year ...

[Jim comes in dressed as Dwight]
Jim Halpert: Question. What kind of bear is best?

Dwight Schrute: That's a ridiculous question.

Jim Halpert: False. Black bear.

Dwight Schrute: That's debatable. There are basically two schools of thought--

Jim Halpert: Fact. Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Dwight Schrute: Bears do not... What is going on?! What are you doing?!
Jim Halpert: [dressed as Dwight] Last week I was in a drug store and I saw these glasses. Uh, four dollars. And it only cost me seven dollars to recreate the rest of the ensemble and that's a grand total of [calculates on watch] eleven dollars.

[Another day, Dwight comes in dressed as Jim]

Pam Beesly: Hey Dwight. You look really nice today.

Dwight Schrute: Pssh. I look like an idiot.

[Dwight's immitating Jim]

Dwight Schrute: I'm Jim Halpert.

Jim Halpert: Spot on.

Dwight Schrute: Yuhh, little comment, mmmh.

Taken from The Office Quotes Season 3 Episode 20 Product Recall