A New Year is Upon Us

   This summer has flown by.  We have been so busy, and we were still working on last year's school work as well.  It's so hard to believe that in less than a month we will be back in school.  I spent the month of June evaluating myself personally, as well as the things that did and didn't work in our home and school last year.  I've been convicted that I lack self-discipline, and that most of that comes from my health and weight slowing me down.  My endurance is so low these days, and that affects so much of my life.  I devised a plan, and have spent July putting that plan in place.




      First up, PHYSICAL HEALTH.  I have known my weight was a problem for a long time, but it has gotten so that it is hard to do much throughout the day.  I get tired very easily, and my back and joints hurt constantly.  Carrying around so much extra weight HURTS!  We joined the local gym and made a low carb menu for July.  I'm already seeing some changes, and I'm certainly feeling the difference in my energy.  I'm excited to follow this through and to spend the next year getting healthy.  I have about 100 lbs to lose, so it's going to be a slow process.




      Depression has been a constant battle for me since I was in Jr High.  I have to fight it each and every day.  Over the past year, it had gotten so bad that I had to be medicated for it.  I didn't want to have to resort to that, but I NEEDED IT!  A lot of my depression had to do with some situational things that I couldn't control, so I spent time working those things out as I could.  I had a lot of resentment and bitterness that I had to let go of.  In May I found that the hurt had lessened, and I was able to get through my day without the medication.  Each day is still a battle, but I know that getting up and getting myself together for the day makes a huge difference.  I began wearing makeup daily again, and even decided to join Younique to get                                                   a discount on my makeup.  This has proven to be pretty fun!


      Another thing I knew I needed help with was the day to day function in our home.  Staying on top of chores, and teaching the kids to do chores without being told is high on my list.  I find that in order to maintain order within the house, we have to have systems in place that make that easy.  With Gabe and I sharing much more of the kids' activities and appointments, the big kids much more independant with chores, and a need for me to be more organized, I decided to make a family command center wall in the hallway.  I still have a few finishing touches, but for the most part, it is ready to go.  The clipboard is for the verse of the week, the cookie sheet is for the chore list.  It'll have a column for each room, and a list of everything that must be done in                                                       the room for the day and week.  Six magnets at the top will have                                                             names on them, and Gabe and I will assist with everyone's chores as                                                       needed.  The black canvas is for our menu each week.  This should                                                         make life a lot easier to maintain for us!


      We stuck with the same curricula this year, so planning for the new year was really easy.  Elijah and Levi both got a planner and will take time on Monday morning to write down exactly what they need to get done each week.  I made my own planner, and have scheduled out our lessons for the year for science and history.  I've begun writing in our verse of the week, and song of the week.  These will both be used in our Morning Basket time, as well as for copy work.  Our classroom has become very minimalist, and I LOVE it!  Charlotte Mason and Montessori have been great for us!!!



   I'm so excited about the coming year.  We have no new babies on the way, no moves on the horizon, and nothing major coming up that we know of.  God may certainly have other plans for us, but for now, this is all we know.  It should be a wonderful year!

Note:  I will have a follow up post with classroom photos and a curriculum list for this year.  I don't recall all of the sites that I got my planner pages from, but if you are interested, you can find them on my Pinterest board.