A great deal on copy/printer paper

UPDATE: I ordered this late Monday night, and received it today (Wednesday) about 4 pm. The Office Depot delivery man asked me as he was setting two boxes in my entry way, "Was there a sale on this paper? I've been delivering alot of these boxes today."

I saw this deal on another blog tonight (Life in a Shoe), and had to go put in my order. This is a great price on copy paper - and it's delivered! My total was $16.37 for 5,000 sheets - that's 10 reams - of copy paper. You can go to Spoofee.com for this and other deals.

Spoofee will tell you to:

1. Click here to go to Office Depot.
2. Search and Add 345603 ( Price : $5.59 ) - Buy 10 of these
3. Search and Add 429266 ( Price : $0.29 )
4. Coupon Price : -$31.00 | Code : 73649244
5. Coupon Price : -$10 off $25 | Code : 44141777
Final Price : $15.19 Shipped

This price doesn't include tax, which brings the total to $16.37.

Also, they have a good deal on the Logitech remote we have that many of you have suffered envy over. Spoofee tells you how to get this programmable remote for only $60! (We just priced this for my in-laws, the best price elsewhere was $99).

CompUSA has the Logitech Harmony 659 Advanced Universal Remote for a good price.

Pricegrabber Price : $110 ~ $120 Shipped

1. CompUSA Price : $89.99
2. Mail-in Rebate : -$30.00 (Exp 03/17/2007)
3. Recommended to choose in-store pickup to save on shipping.
Final Price : $59.99 After Rebate

I have found a new site to add to my internet wanderings!

Sunday Sums

TODAY Hailey was sick, so I stayed home from church with her, also keeping Lauryn home as well. One of the projects I'm currently working on is a roster/directory for our church, including pictures and everything. I'm having a couple of problems though. For some reason I can't get the pictures to print on the directory pages. I'm also trying to figure out a way to hide the ages of all the adults - I have a feeling some of them might now appreciate my advertising their ages in a church wide directory! So if you are a member of our church, please be patient, I am working on it!

'TIS also the time of year for one of my most dreaded chores: folding away last season's clothes and getting out this season's. Although I must admit, getting out the spring/summer clothing is much easier than getting out the cold weather things - there's so much more flexibility in the fit of dresses and shorts than in pants. I also love that the spring/summer clothing as a rule lasts longer around here. My girls are awfully hard in the knees of pants, so I am always grateful when we can put the pants away for several months. They don't look so much like ragamuffins in the warm weather! :)

It is also quite an organizational issue to figure out exactly what clothes will fit 5 girls, ranging in ages from 10 to 2, but who are only roughly 2 years apart. This means that we basically have someone in every size from 6x to 16, plus a 3T. Add in that there is no standardization of sizes, so if a shirt says it's a 10-12, it may in actuality fit my 5 yo. So I have to do a lot of "here, try this on." Needless to say by the time I go through folding away all the cold weather stuff, sorting through t-shirts, pajamas, shorts, swimsuits, jeans, pants, Sunday dresses, everyday dresses, tops, outfits, shoes, socks, etc. and figuring what needs to be purchased - all this times 5 girls, this project usually takes me the better part of one week (or two). So once it's done I always feel a triumphant sense of completion. I know, I know, sick, huh?

THIS week and next the girls have a break from scouts - it's time for the spring break backpacking trip and as we aren't taking part of the trip, we are off. Usually we take two weeks of "spring break" from lessons: one in February, one on April. But this year my MIL is expecting to have surgery around the 1st of May, and we are trying to finish up the school year by then. So we are just taking days off here and there, but are trucking right along. I am also beginning to look ahead to what I'll need to order in the next few months. We usually start a new school year right after 4th of July, going pretty much year round from there. And I LOVE the planning and organizing of the curriculum, combing through the phone book length Rainbow Resource catalog, planning out my year. I also love to look back at what the girls have accomplished over the year nearly completed.

Kelly now has me completely hooked on Sudoku! Not a good thing! Well, I'm sure everyone will be expecting supper soon, so I better go. Enjoy the later sunlight everyone!

Estrogen Overload

Today is Friday, and for a treat, we invited several of the girls' friends over for a good bit of the day. So all total there were 10 girls here today - my five, plus an extra 4 yo, 2 extra 8 yos, and 2 11 yos.

Brynna, Hailey and Abby were playing in the room which looked like the debris field from a Mattel factory explosion.

Kora and Aubrey's guests were all playing horses in one way or another all morning. This is a constant theme around our house.

Lauryn felt a little left out, and would sneak upstairs whenever possible.
But mostly she kept me company. After lunch the little ones went down for a nap and the older 6 went outside to play on the swingset and play tag.

We have alot of very happy girls at our house right now. :)

Homeschooling at the Academy, Part 3

After the girls finish math, we take a long lunch break, at least an hour and a half. We eat, tidy the kitchen, and the girls practice piano.

1:00 - 3:00 - This time is set aside for history and geography, writing, literature, and science - but not all on the same day. Mondays and Tuesdays are for history and geography. Wednesday we wrap up history for the week and start their writing assignment, which is usually related to the history assignment. Thursday and Friday are science days, and they also work on the writing assignment. The literature they work on throughout the week.

Geography is not really a separate subject - we just study the geography of whatever area we are reading about in history that week. Literature is also tied to the history - they read book written during the time, or written about people or events of the time period. We are studying Greece right now, for instance, and last week Aubrey read The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (about Eratosthenes) and Kora read Archimedes and the Door of Science. The girls all study the same time period of history, reading books and doing work on their own levels. This week Kora and Aubrey each read biographies on Alexander the Great, just on different reading levels. This year in science we are studying Botany (see right hand sidebar if you want to see what we use).

Fridays are a little different around here. We go to the library, and the girls do science, have piano lessons, go over Latin and Greek vocabulary and chants, and we alternate doing a little music and art appreciation: one week we do music, the next art, etc.

As for Hailey and Lauryn, they mostly do what they would do if their sisters were off at institutionalized school all day... they play and generally make a mess of the house. :)


But they also listen to me reading books, help me with laundry or making cookies, play games, etc. One thing that amazes me is how much the younger ones pick up from listening to the older girls. I've read teachers from the one room school house days write about this same phenomena.

The rest of the day is spent reading, playing, doing corrections, chores, dinner, and any evening activities. So except on unusual days, the girls spend about 5 hours (8:30-11:30 am and 1-3 pm) on academic pursuits (Aubrey actually doesn't spend this much time as her work load is lighter) plus time for corrections, which usually takes no more than 10 minutes. No homework in the evenings or weekends either. Plus we can take off whenever we want or need and not only during the summer. We wouldn't trade it for all the quiet, clean houses in the world!

Homeschooling at the Academy, Part 2

OK, I have to admit that I am a little surprised at some of the reaction from part one of this. Remember, this is not a blow by blow of what my day looked like yesterday. Just an outline of the general routine we have. OF COURSE there are interruptions, discipline issues, breaks for water and bathroom, pleas for help because of incomprehension. From my limited experience with other people's little boys, my girls aren't near as rambunctious (most of the time - they do have their moments), but girls seem to be worse about dawdling, staring out the window, and delaying the inevitable. But my older ones have finally figured out that they aren't going to get out of the work, so it is better just to hoe in and get it over with.

Which leads me to a question I had about not taking breaks. They do take breaks, but usually short ones before lunch. They go get a drink of water and go to the bathroom, or maybe change out loads of laundry, but we keep them short. I've tried a more broken up schedule, school for a while, then a 20 or 30 minute break, but it just doesn't work for my girls. They get into playing and then feel completely oppressed that they are ripped away from it just when "we had a really good story going." They would rather get all the work done and be through with it for the day. We do take a long lunch break both for eating and for piano practice.

Also , remember that this is just the time we have set aside for school. The girls know "school" time starts at 8:30. They know what their assignments are and start going down the list, so to speak. They take however long for each one it takes. But some don't take long. Dictation takes about 5 minutes. Kora's logic exercise (which she considers the most fun ever, she'd do them all day if I let her) takes 10-15 minutes. Spelling usually 15-20, grammar varies widely. Aubrey can often finish in 15 minutes, Kora takes 30-40 depending on the assignment.

Which leads me into the Latin and Greek. I had a few comments about that (although not in the comments section, as SOME people seem to be shy about posting on the blog). Aubrey is going through a very simple, beginning book that is meant for her age. Kora is in her third year of Latin, and she really likes it. She seems to have a talent for the languages, and wanted to do more. This fits in with our classical mindset, so Kelly and I talked last summer about it. We debated on adding Spanish (for obvious reasons) and Russian (we have Russian speakers in our close family, but I couldn't find any Russian curriculum for younger than high school). Koine Greek has a couple of things going for it: it is the language of the New Testament, and would make it easier to learn Russian in the future.

Plus - AND HEAR ME ON THIS - we take it very slowly. She is taking two years to go through the Latin book and over a year to do the shorter Greek book. We have "Greek days" and "Latin days." Mondays and Tuesdays, she spends a few minutes (about 10) going through Latin vocabulary and chants, but does a full Greek lesson (which takes about 30 minutes). On Wednesdays and Thursdays, she goes through the Greek flashcards and says her chants, but does the Latin lesson (same time frame). Even I am not insane enough to do two languages full tilt. Fridays she only does vocabulary cards and chants for both.

One last thing - the Greek curriculum is FABULOUS. It is called Elementary Greek. She is in Year 1. It is very well done, and virtually self-teaching. It comes with a cd that pronounces everything, a textbook, and a workbook. There are three years available; we plan on having Kora take four years (5th through 8th grade) on the three books, since she is doing Latin as well. If you are at all interested in learning Greek or having your child take it, I highly recommend it. Very parent-teacher friendly.

Well, I hope I haven't dug my hole even deeper. :) Part 3 will be more about my routine, I promise. And Kristen, no virtual tomatoes, please. ;)

Homeschooling at the Academy, Part 1

For the next several days, I thought I would publish a series of blog entries on what a typical homeschooling day looks like at our house. While all days are different in reality, I thought a glimpse into the normal routine might help some of the visitors to this blog. We have quite a split in the readers here - our families and family friends for whom we may be the only homeschoolers they know, and our church family and friends here, most of whom homeschool. But I get alot of questions from the first group, mostly along this lines of, "So what exactly do you guys do?" or "So how do you teach _____ ?" I don't expect these posts to address every detail, but I thought a glimpse into our lives might help our families and those of you who don't homeschool understand us a little better. So my homeschooling friends, please bear with me and don't think I am saying this is the way it HAS to be. This is just the way it is in our house, this year. This could all change next year.

Smith Academy for Girls
Current enrollment:3 (with 2 more in our pre-school department)
grades: 5 (Kora, age 10)
3 (Aubrey, age 8)
and K (Brynna, age almost 6)

5:00 - Yes, our day starts at 5 a.m. And no, there will be no pictures from this part of our day. I'm up, but it ain't pretty. Yes, I know this is disgustingly early, and no, I am not a naturally early riser. But we do this to have time to work out before the day really starts. From 5 until about 7:45 a.m. is set aside for exercising, making and eating breakfast, and showering. Kelly exercises first, showers, and is usually off for work around 6:30 to 6:45 while I am still running on the elliptical.

7:10 - Kora and Aubrey get up and get dressed, make beds, and read Bibles.

7:30 - Kora and Aubrey come downstairs, bringing any laundry from their room and bathroom that is to be washed that day, and start eating breakfast. Brynna and Hailey get up, get dressed, make their beds, and come down for breakfast as well. Lauryn gets up usually between 7:45 and 8. I get her dressed, make her bed, and bring her down for breakfast.

8:00 - Kora and Aubrey begin morning chore time. They unload the dishwasher, start laundry, clean the downstairs bath, etc. The other three are still finishing up breakfast.

Kora and Aubrey dusting the entertainment center.

8:30 - Lessons begin. From 8:30 to about 10:30 is usually Language Arts and foreign languages. Kora and Aubrey both do their grammar, spelling, dictation, and Latin assignments for the day. Kora also does a Mindbender (beginning logic exercise) and Greek.

Here's Kora using the dictionary for a grammar exercise.

Aubrey copying this week's spelling rules.

Brynna is still working through her phonics book, but we should finish that up next week. Today she was reading sentences like "The psychologist helped Eugene conquer his fear of spiders." She then has a page of copywork (handwriting), a page of math, and a spelling assignment. Her work generally takes about an hour.

Brynna copying sentences for handwriting work.

10:30 - Usually this is about the time the two older girls finish up their other work and start their math. This is not a hard and fast time - there's no bell ringing to tell them to change subjects. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that you work at your own pace. There's no waiting for everyone else to finish. When the girls finish one lesson, they put it in the pile for me to check, and move on to the next. Sometimes they are starting math at 10, sometimes 10:45. But this is about average.

Kora: Saxon 7/6 (sixth grade book); Aubrey: Saxon 5/4 (fourth grade book)

And this post is long enough. I'll continue about our day in part 2. If you have a question about something, please leave a comment, I'll be glad to answer. If you look over on the right hand side of the blog, there is a section on the curriculum we use if you are wondering.

Spring (and the in-laws) are on their way

This morning as we were driving home from the library, we saw the first bluebonnets of the season. Here in central/south Texas, nothing says spring like the wildflowers. I think I have a special affinity for bluebonnets, not really because they are the official flower of Texas, but because they remind me of my grandmother. My maternal loves bluebonnets. She has even planted some in her backyard, just outside the window beside her favorite chair. Every spring they take over more and more of their backyard but they are so beautiful. I can't look at a bluebonnet without thinking of Grandmama.

The wildflowers also remind me of the spring when Aubrey was 2. She couldn't say her l's yet. And she always called any yellow wildflower a "lellow bonnet."

And Kelly's parents are on their way down to San Antonio as we speak! My MIL is now on a three week rotation of chemo, and this concoction of chemo drugs in not near as hard on her body as the first round was. So she feels well enough two weeks after a treatment to come down for the weekend. Kelly's brother and family will also be joining us for the day tomorrow. This will be the first time since Thanksgiving that the grand kids have seen Kelly's parents, and the first time since she started chemo and lost her hair. My girls are very excited about seeing Granny and Granddad. We are thankful that she has something of a reprieve between treatments now.