1
The new school year begins next week and stores are advertising Back to School sales. After completing the massive deep clutter and clean in the first couple of weeks after Bella’s birth I knew we didn’t need to purchase much in the way of stationary. Therefore yesterday we went ‘shopping in our cupboard’ and consequently spent barely anything for Back to School. Rather jubilant about this ‘clever idea’ and boasting to our children that it was a cheap way to ‘kit out’ for the year, they wisely pointed out I had a false idea of economy, we did after all purchase the stationary originally.
2
If you glance to the top right hand corner of this blog you may notice a difference….yes? Finally after 5 years I have updated my profile picture. I’m rarely in photos, I’m usually the one behind the lens, however Anna Maria happened to capture a photo of me last week and as a bonus one I was happy to share. I wonder if it will take me another 5 years to update.
3
Every now and then I re-read some of my childhood favourites, lately I’ve revisited a Nancy Drew and an Abbey Girls. Remember them? Loved these books as a young teen but now…. well Nancy Drew’s plots are so manipulated and unbelievable, no guessing left it’s all clearly ‘spelt out’…. and the Abbey Girls, for girls in their late teens and 20s they are very babyish and the characters are so sensitive and all that girl love, isn’t it time to love their man, he seems rather out in the cold.
4
Had a lovely day out shopping with my girls yesterday, part of our remit was to find a summer robe for Anna Maria. We walked into a specialised shop and tried to explain what we sought, I said, “We’re after a brunch coat, but they’re probably not called that anymore, what are they called now?” Apparently they are still called that, at least in the specialised shops. I recall my mum and grandmother calling summer dressing gowns brunch coats. What do you call them?
5
Spent a fair amount of time planning for the upcoming school year over the last fortnight. Reviews for last year are done, overview for this year and outcomes are done, specialised weekly plans for term 1 for our highschoolers are done, only have to plot weekly plan for our three primary children, which won’t take long. Such a relief to be on this side of it all, our plan is to start back next Tuesday. What I’m really hopeful about is our new ‘expectation’/weekly plans sheet, I’ve liberally borrowed my friend Jen‘s layout ideas. In my determination to not let the weeks slip by I’m planning to meet with each highschooler at the beginning of and the conclusion of each week, these sheets will help us in discussing and tracking. Feeling really hopeful this will work.
6
This is Jem’s first official school year and Einstein’s last, both ends of the spectrum. This morning I was thinking about how we never really did a great deal of pre-school work with Jem, nor really with Jack Jack, can’t say we did alot with Jelly Bean either….can’t even remember as far back as the others. Fact is I’m not so good at juggling highschoolers, primary and infants, and preschoolers. If anything has to be ‘dropped’ its pre-school work. We haven’t done craft in years, not much anyhow, nor pre-letter recognition nor maths formally and yet somehow Jem starts ‘Kindergarten’ next week able to count to 100 by 2s, 5s and 10s, he can read the hour and half hour on the clock, and he can…. he starts with a whole lot of skills not formally taught. Perhaps it’s time I tossed this particular guilt cloak away, permission given?
7
I purposely keep my blog reader around the 30 mark, this enables me to consciously ‘grow a community’ to have time to visit and comment. Periodically I add a few new blogs to my reader, I’ve found the best way to do this is to only add a couple at a time, this way I have time to ‘get to know’ the ‘new kids on the block blog’. Talking about finding new blogs it’s time for the Sheenazing Awards, I’m still stoked (yes, I just dated myself;) to be nominated as Best Blog By A Mum, be sure to head over and check out all those awesome blogs.
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