2009 Schoolhouse Planner

The Schoolhouse Planner

If you are looking for a place to keep track of school and home then you will want to check out the Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse. This is one of the most thorough organizational tools that I have seen offered for the homeschool family.

The planner is 375 pages offered in a pdf format for only $39.00. It is organized into 4 sections. The table of contents divides each section topically. The first section is divided into months of the year. Within each month is a topical study to do with your students. These studies include reading material and hands on activities and projects. A list of supplies is even provided. There are also recipes for each month. I love the recipes. They are simple and are made with down to earth ingredients.

The 2nd section is entitled Miscellaneous Educational Information. In this section, you will find the answers to common questions you and your children ask. There is a list of the US Presidents, kitchen conversion chart, periodic table and famous artists. In total there are 14 different resources to refer to in this area.

The 3rd section is entitled Home School Forms. Everything you need for your school year is in this one spot. There are planning forms, curriculum sheets, field trip logs, co-op registers, grade charts, attendance checklists and the list goes on. This section holds over 100 forms. The best part is they are all in one spot.

The final section is Household Forms. It contains over 50 resources. I think my favorite is going to be the two forms that refer to garden planning. On top of the resources offered are 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 calendars.

The planner is purchased through The Old Schoolhouse Store for $39.00. After purchase is complete you are able to immediately download the pdf. No waiting! My favorite part of this system is that I can print the pages that I know I will use. I personally went through all of the 375 pages and printed the ones that would be useful to me; three whole punched them and put them in a 3 ring binder. In the past when I purchased hard copy planners, there would always be pages that I would not use. The Old Schoolhouse Planner is something that I have been able to customize to fit my needs resulting in no unused pages.

My favorites from the planner are the month at a glance, recipes, grocery list page, monthly menu planner, and log pages for books, videos and scriptures memorized, attendance checklist and the gardening planning sheets. I believe that every homeschool family could find this offering from The Old Schoolhouse Store to be something that could suit their organizational needs. This is my first year using the planner but I can already tell I’m hooked.

If you would like to check it out for yourself go to:
The Schoolhouse Planner

Cousin's Day

I love Cousin's Day! My mother decided last summer that Tuesdays would be Cousin's Day. She would take my 3 kids and my sister's 3 kids and she would spend special time with all of them together. My kids LOVE Tuesdays. They enjoy being with their playmates and being at Nanny's house. I have embraced this weekly holiday. Last summer I was still working full time so Cousin's Day was a day that Miss Anna didn't come to the house, but I worked. This year I am using Tuesdays for myself. I am getting caught up on things around home, doing errands, and enjoying the quietness of my house. I savor a quiet home. Don't get me wrong, I do love the noise that my children bring into our home, but just a few hours of stillness refreshes my soul. My friend called me this morning to see what I was up to today. I reminded her of Cousin's Day. She said she wished she lived near family so her children could do things like this. I am thankful for my parents and Croix's as well. Besides the fact that they help support us as parent's by having the kids over, my children know the daily lives of their grandparents. They see or talk to them nearly every day. Years ago Croix and I begged the Lord to call us to the mission field, but the opportunity never opened up for us. I think I understand why. For such a time as this it is important for my children to know their Mamaw & Papaw and Nanny & Papaw. The bonding and the fellowship they have playing with Cody, Callie, Cage, Wyatt, Ashlyn and the newest baby Lincoln is a priceless gift. They will be bonded forever to these special members of our family.
So today I say thank you Lord for Cousin's Day and for Family the is nearby!

Burden or Blessing?

So yesterday's post was about everything going on in my life right now. All of the things that are keeping me pretty busy. I was starting to get a little overwhelmed when I thought about all of the activities and planning for the next few weeks. Today I had a new thought as I was pricing yard sale items for our youth group fundraiser. Here's the thought.....I can see my full calendar as a burden or a blessing. If you've been checking out my blog for long you know I'm going to choose blessing.
What a privilege it is to be able to serve the kingdom of Christ. Croix and I are taking the students to Myrtle Beach to share the gospel of Jesus. Yes, there will be some relaxing on the beach but that is not the point of the trip. As I was anticipating all that I was responsible for in regards to the trip, I decided I was going see each phone call made, each meal planned, each dollar collected, each student prayed for, each pair of pants marked, each text message sent as a blessing from the Lord. He has layed out some divine encounters for his glory the 1st week of July and I don't want to see the process of getting to them as burdens.
What about you? Are you bogged down by all of your responsibilities right now. Are there things that you could get rid of in your life that would give you more breathing room? Are there activities that God has called you to that aren't really your cup of tea, but you know you must be obedient? Or maybe are you like me and you love serving the Father in the capacity that he has put you in but many times the privilege gets overwhelming? Whatever your situation is, decide today to see things as blessing instead of burdens.

Vacation is really over now!

Ok I have to admit it. I have been neglecting my blog. And Facebook and Twitter. So now that it's out in the open let's get on with it. Things have been busy on the Hodges Homestead. Our garden is planted. Well we have a black berry bush that has been waiting to be planted for 2 weeks, but other than that everything is growing nicely. That includes the weeds too :) !!!
So we went to Florida the first of May. Now it's June and we have been enjoying a relaxed schedule, but it's time to get back into a groove. I have too much planning to do not to get in a groove.
We leave in 2 weeks for our summer mission trip to Myrtle Beach. Yes, I know it sounds like a vacation and I'm sure we will squeeze some time in at the beach but it's a mission trip for a reason. The students will be sharing the gospel in a nursing home, Boys & Girls Club of America, foster shelter and a troubled boys treatment center. What an opportunity for so many to hear and see the love of Christ. I can 't wait to see the impact the trip has on the teens as well. There's lots to be done to make sure that we are ready to roll on July 1 when we head south.
Then we get back and have a week off before VBS! At Central Baptist VBS is one of our biggest community outreaches of the year. Croix and I are teaching first and second graders. We just received our materials yesterday.
3 weeks after bible school we are hosting our first ever DiscipleNow teen weekend. I can't even explain what an amazing discipleship weekend this is going to be for the kids but I know it's going to change there lives. I can't wait to see God's hand move! There is lots to be done to make sure everything is in place for the deal and so I'm working on that as well.
Finally something that I'm super excited about is that I have been chosen to be part of the The Old SChoolhouse Crew. It's a group that reviews products for homeschool companies. I am honored to be a part of the crew. I love to write and I think God has blessed me with this opportunity.
With all of that shared and I am so thankful to have had May and the first of June to rest and rejuvenate after a great school year. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer putting my energy towards Croix and the children, ministry and writing. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Summer is Refreshing!

It's been so hard to find time to write on this blog. I have been enjoying my summer days so much that I haven't wanted to make the time to write. We started summer break early since we were leaving for vacation. Last week we were getting re acclimated with being home. This week we are working on some summer projects.
We went camping for the first time last weekend. Then yesterday the children and I spent most of the day in the garden. I'm sore from all of the hoeing and planting. We have lettuce coming up and we had some with dinner last night. It was our first harvest from our first ever garden. How exciting! Last evening we hauled junk from the barn to the huge dumpster that is next to the house. Our roof is getting replaced this week and we have been wanting to clean out our barn so we are taking advantage of the dumpster that the roofers are using. It feels great to get things cleaned out and our barn ready to use. Croix has all of the posts ready to build new fence. We are replacing the current fence so that we can bring the horses over from his parents.
Today I took the kids to Buffalo Trace for a picnic and playing in the park.
Such freedom! I love it. I love being home and present to the activities of home and the children. It's what I was created for. I wish it hadn't taken me this long to figure it out.

Vacation!

We wrapped up school for the year yesterday and we are leaving for Florida today! I am super excited to spend 10 days away with my gang. This will be Lijah’s 1st trip to the beach so it should be a fun time. He’s walking now so I will be getting plenty of exercise. Croix asked me if I was prepared to have sand EVERYWHERE.
I am so thankful as we have finished school. I have a lot to reflect on and I want to share with you, but I have too much to do to get out the door. This has been an amazing journey as I have left corporate America and returned home and I have lots of tid bits to share about what I’ve learned the past few months. I haven’t had much time to blog so I’m looking forward to doing a little more of that this summer.
Stay tuned for more of me after vacation!

Saturday!

A Perfect Saturday

It has been a while since we had no agenda for a Saturday. We knew that we were going to have to make some “no agenda” Saturday a priority if we wanted to get our garden started and our fence done so that we could bring our horses home. Well today is the first day and I am absolutely loving it. I just stole away for a minute to look up a recipe online and so I jumped on here too.
I have decided I’m going to start making my own cleaning products. Not only because of the cost but also because the fumes of the products gag me. I wanted to find some things that would be more gentle and safe for the whole family to breathe. I found some recipes that use everyday household items like vinegar, baking soda and rubbing alcohol. I made a window cleaner this morning and it works as well or better than my normal window cleaner. I’m still looking for a recipe for a good disinfectant spray that I can use on countertops and the baby’s high chair. So I made those things this morning.
Now I’m going to work on some of my plants that need to have already been started in the house. This is our first year for a garden so I’m learning as I go. I’m going to trim the tall decorative grasses that I have outside. Pick up sticks in the yard. Mow for the first time. Help Croix cut cedar fence posts. One of our friends is coming to till the garden this afternoon and I might get to plant so seeds that can go right in the ground. Wow! Just listing all of those things makes me SO Excited! I love getting the things at home accomplished that aren’t absolutely necessary but that bring me joy!
Have a great Saturday!