Every day

I found an interesting meme over at Owlhaven’s blog. http://owlhaven.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/every-day/ She got it from another blog who got it from another blog.    I thought I’d try my hand at it.

The challenge is to take the following quote and personalize it to make it your own. 

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

So here is the Amblin parapharased and personalized version:

“Every day, at the very least, one should laugh with those around you, hug the ones you love, read a portion of a good book, and, whenever possible, show compassion to those in need of it.” 

It was fun to do this :)  Let me know if you play along!

Moving Tips…Works for Me!

It’s Works for Me Wednesday at www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com  I usually participate in this each week but have had about 4 weeks where I’ve not been able to.  Glad to be back!

My tip this week deals with moving.  Since we are moving across country in just 4 weeks (AHH!!), my mind has been on that topic quite a bit of the waking hours!  I have moved countless times in my life.  As a child, I watched my mom pack us for 11 moves before I turned 18.  We were a military family.  I helped on quite a bit of those “packs” as I got older.  Then, with my own family, we have moved 4 times.  Most of our moves, we have been blessed to have a moving company both pack us and move us.  So, I’ll speak to that situation with a few tips towards making the process go more smoothly.  So, without further ado :), here are “Amblin’s Moving Tips” (say that with kind of a echo in your mind for maximum effect LOL)

 1) Empty your trash cans.  Yes, they will pack your trash if you do not.  LOL

2) Designate one bathroom a “no pack zone”.  Move everything that you wish them to pack out of this room and put in the other bathroom if you have one or in another area if you do not.  Put a large sign on the door that says “DO NOT PACK THIS ROOM PLEASE”.  Tell the crew chief that this room is not to be packed.  In this room, you will put your suitcases packed with clothes you need for the trip, some snacks, diapers, small toys, etc.  Anything that you wish to take with you on the trip to the new home.

3) Label each room with a sign on the doorjam to that room that gives it’s name.  For example, “MBR”, “BOY ROOM 1″, Family Room”, etc.  Show these to the crew chief.  Ask him to have the packers label the boxes with those names.  Then, save the labels when you are all moved.  Bring them with you to the new home and place the labels on the correct doorjam for each room.  This cuts down on movers asking “Where do you want this?”

4) You can go to www.bhg.com and use one of their tools provided to arrange your room furniture.  Simply enter the dimensions of the room, add windows and doors, and you can then place standard size pieces of furniture in the room.  My plan for this move is to do this, print out each room, and place that on a wall in the room so that the movers can know exactly where I want each piece of furniture.

5) Arrange for the new home to be cleaned professionally (including carpets) BEFORE furniture is delivered. 

6) Have someone available to help watch the children.  Moving day is chaotic and little ones can really been thrown off routine, etc with all the activity.  In addition, they need to be given a safe place to play out of the way of the movers.  I usually designate an area of the family room for a Play Zone. 

7) When the movers are packing up and loading your stuff into the truck, tell them you want beds and their linens packed last.  In that way, they are FIRST off the truck in your new home and you know right where each linen box is.  I also have a box of toys loaded last as well.

Well, there you go.  Works For Me!

Homeschooling week 3 year 3

It’s late at night and everyone is tucked in bed asleep.  That’s when I find time to do quite a bit of my writing here at the Amblin blog.

I thought I’d share a bit about what we’re doing homeschool-wise this year with Mr 12 and Mr 3.  I ordered a rather eclectic curriculum this year and am so far very pleased with it.  We are doing:

Saxon 7/6 for Math—So far I REALLY like the review in this.  My son isn’t sure he does…but I think it will be very good for him and for his math skills.

 Christian Light Education Reading 6 — I love this curriculum for Reading Comprehension so far.  This is an area where Mr 12 needs some more practice and I really am seeing progress with this so far.

 Wordly Wise — This is for vocabulary.  It’s solid and my son enjoys it.

Winston Grammar — We have always used Shurley Grammar but I am finding that as we increased in grade level, it was getting more confusing both to learn from and to teach.  I decided to go with Winston Grammar because it is hands-on, easy to use, and does a good job of teaching grammar. 

Explode the Code 8 — We’re just using this for occasional work on suffixes.

I picked up a writing workbook at the homeschool convention this year.  The name escapes me right now but I’ll post it later.  I LOVE this curriculum and most importantly my son really loves it.  He has enjoyed every exercise so far and really seems to be enjoying the process of improving his writing.

Great Adventures in Science (Tools and Technology) — very informative, fun, and utilizes notebooking which we love around here!

Story of the World 3 — This is hands-down my favorite history curriculum yet.  We are learning a lot (both of us!) and really having fun with it along the way.  It utilizes narration which I love as it gives Mr 12 extra practice daily in writing.  It also has a lot of hands-on activities and a wonderful way of making history come alive.

Rosetta Stone German — Mr 12 chose this for an elective this year

Typing — still working on finding the best curriculum but we have one we’re using for now

Spelling — Still using Sequential Spelling and still liking it. 

 So that’s what Mr 12 is using for homestudies this year.  I am using a combo of stuff with Mr 3.  Lots of Montessori activities around the home, some of my friend Jodi’s curriculum (Naturally Three), and some of my sister’s preschool curriculum that she is working on putting together.  We use it very loosely in two 30 min segments each day. 

Tomorrow I’ll post our new school schedule in case anyone is interested. ;)  I also plan on doing a “Day in the Life of the Amblin Family” later in the week.  Stay tuned!

One of my favorite songs ever (I’m gonna be)

I just found this on YouTube.  It has been a favorite of mine since it was released years ago.  AND…big bonus…the singers are Scots! :) The Proclaimers

Have a listen if you’d like:

 

PS…In case you’re wondering, the movie clips are from “Benny and Joon”.  This song was the main song from the soundtrack.

How daddies handle carsickness

So, my husband was out with some of the boys this weekend running errands etc.  One of our boys (who shall remain nameless) has trouble with carsickness.  Apparently, while running errands, this child got carsick.  Everywhere. All over himself. And the floor mat of the van.  I was not there but apparently it was quite the cookie-toss.

My husband, being the creative man he is, drove immediately to a carwash.  Not to wash the car…nope.  He powerwashed our son! (with the low setting to avoid hurting him)  My son said it was hysterical standing in the little drive up spot where you put your car and having daddy spray him down.  Then, said son rode home minus the outer layers of clothing after Daddy power-hosed the carmat as well. 

Too Funny!  And, may I say, quite creative!

Tree bites?

Mr 3 was playing outside with me today.  We were throwing the frisbee back and forth and just enjoying the great weather.  A few minutes passed and Mr 3 went up to one of our trees to retrieve the frisbee at its base.  As he stooped to pick it up, his nose brushed the bark of the tree. 

 ”Mama, that tree just bit me”, he exclaimed in a shocked voice.  Then he laughed and went on playing!

On moving, new homes, and homeschool

Phew…I know it’s been quiet around here and I apologize.   I have had such a crazy month that I’m just now resurfacing to find the computer and blog.

We went on our househunting trip (42 houses in 1 week makes for very tired mom, dad, and children).  Thank goodness for my wonderful mom who came with us to watch children, listen to me obsessively discuss the “short list” of houses, and in general fret about which house was best.  We seem to have picked a house and plan on making an offer today.  There is one issue that concerns us that we need to address before we make the offer.

Then, of course, we have our current home which just went on the market this week.  (after much cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing).  It looks so great!  I wish I’d done this much earlier (the decluttering part at least).  Why is it that type of home-sprucing-up only occurs just before a move?  We’ve had quite a few showings but no offers yet.  It’s only the first week so no worries there.

And of course, the school year started this week as well.  The middle children are off to school and Mr 12 started 7th grade homeschool!  Mr 3 is of course home with me as well and we’re doing Montessori as well as my friend Jodi’s Naturally Three curriculum.  Love it!

 All this makes for a busy mama.  I’ve got some tips and things I’ve been doing recently that have really helped our home stay organized, clean and ready to show despite homeschooling.  I plan on sharing those as well as our homeschool stuff next week.

 One of the changes I’ll be doing is blogging every Mon Wed and Fri.  I hope that will help me to be able to continue to write here and still get all my other  things done as well.