Setting TOG Up

I am going to update my blog often with how Tapestry of Grace is going. I'm going to be honest in my opinions and be "real". So here goes...

I have opened Unit 1 (there are 4 units in Year 1). I went to the TOG online forum and found a link under "Setting It Up" that explains options of setting everything up and detailed list of what to buy. It's a little overwhelming. I printed it off and went to Sam's Club. I know they have the best prices on page protectors and 3-ring notebooks. Some TOGers put page protectors on the whole year's worth of curriculum. It sounds like a good idea in theory, you know, to protect your major moolah investment. But considering you have to buy 1000 page protectors...then you have to put the pages in them. Oh my gosh. I had decided to just page protect the first Unit. Then when I get done with the unit, take them out, and put Unit 2 in there, and so on. Last night I started on putting Unit 1 in the page protectors. Good grief!!! That was a sloooooow process! And frustrating, too!! The pages don't go in there smoothly. So I got to Week 3 before I gave up for the night. Gonna try and finish today.

The Loom CD that comes with it is good. I like how you can print off the Student Activity Pages from it, instead of making copies.

I haven't even looked at the Writing Aids CD yet. Or the Map Aids CD. LOL! Like I said, it's all a bit overwhelming. I really wish I had decided to do this way back in July!

While Waiting, Part 2 or.."The Dog Ate My Homework"

While waiting on my new curriculum yesterday, it actually came!

Unfortunately, the UPS guy didn't ring my doorbell or knock. And we have a 6-month-old Golden Lab mix PUPPY outside! Can you see where this is going?

Another package came from Vision Forum of a set of DVD's on How To Disciple Your Family. No knock or doorbell on that one, either.

So Preach gets home and finds the two packages. I immediately hear him yell "HONEY!" (that's our puppy's name, not a form of endearment for me) followed by "It's time for that dog to GO!" I reply, "Haven't I been telling you that for MONTHS?" He brings the two boxes inside which now have TWO HUGE HOLES in them where our dog had CHEWED them up! That was close to $400 worth of stuff in those two boxes that she decided to eat. I shakily open each box, and thank you God, she had not reached the "goods" in either one. Whew!

After that little debacle, I inform Preach that I looked up reviews on Target for that chest of drawers, and most people said it took hours and hours to put together, all the parts were numbered wrong, and the bottom drawer was a pain. So we ditched that idea pretty quick. We went to Ashley Furniture, and find beautiful children's furniture for really cheap, even cheaper that my favorite furniture discount store in town. So now we just have to decide what will fit in her room.

Then we went back and forth to Target and Lowe's trying to decide what shelving we could do for Princess's room. We end up with those ClosetMaid cube things, you know, with the 9 cubby holes that you can buy those fabric drawer things to put in? We got 2, and are going to put them together under the big window in her room. I really hope it will hold her toys. She really doesn't have that many TOYS as much as STUFFED ANIMALS. (imagine me rolling my eyes right here)

Okay, off to look at my new Tapestry of Grace curriculum!

While Waiting..

So while waiting on my curriculum to arrive, I thought I would expound on happenings in my life.

* Fall-out from The Fall: From my fall down the stairs, I got a lovely purple bruise from my knee to my ankle.

* Knat Parts: Unforunately, I never found the other knat wing in my ear. I still have hope that he (she?) was a one-winged knat. I have this fear that when I die, *they* (whoever *they* are) will find a 50-year old knat wing in my ear. Or my head. Or wherever your ear-holes lead to.

* We are re-doing Princess's bedroom. We've been trying to decide what to do about a chest of drawers. Spend a lot or spend a little? I found a cute white one at Target yesterday. The only fly-in-the-ointment (just a little *gnat* humor, ha ha ha) is that it comes in a tiny flat box. Hmmmm...I guess that means "some assembly required". Considering it took Preach TWO HOURS to assemble a cheap-o Target bookshelf , I wonder how long it will him to assemble a complicated chest of drawers? Hmmmm...Well, since he's the one wanting to save some money, then I guess I will sit back with the stopwatch.

* You Might Be a Redneck...if you try to save money by spray painting brown wooden blinds white. Haven't tried it yet, but gonna do it once the weather clears up. Hope it works.

Decision Time

After months of poring over curriculum catalogs and websites, I have made my decision on what curriculum to use for this school year. And the winner is.....Tapestry of Grace! Preach helped me out with this decision, and he felt that this one would best help us fulfill our homeschooling goals. This curriculum has a lot of teacher prep. Most people order it at the end of the school year so that they have the whole summer to prepare! So I'm just a wee bit behind on that part. I think I've just got to take it slow, and not try and do everything all at once. And if I end up not liking it, I can always return it for a refund. They have a great return policy.

It was really hard to hit the "Buy" button, though. It costs a lot of money. But you can re-use it over and over as your children get older. If you had a lot of kids, it would be really economical. I only have 2, but we will be able to use Year 1 two more times after this year (if we stick with TOG), so that's really a good deal. You just have to buy the books for each year. I will hopefully use our library some and since I am always looking for used books and going to used book sales, surely I can find some books cheap.

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed...

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Today was one of those days.

Preach was working from home, so I decide to try and show him that I don't just lay around all morning in bed. I get up, pour me a cup of coffee, and walk down the stairs. Somehow, I can't even remember how, I slipped and fell down the stairs. My coffee flew out of my hands, my leg was twisted under me, and slid down about 4 stairs with my DH and DS staring open-mouthed at my descent. Oh my gosh, the pain! My leg hurt so bad! And all I could think about was my back. (I had back surgery 2 years ago for a ruptured disc) While sitting on the steps crying, I apparently screamed out "I hate this house!". So Preach helped me to a chair. While I sit there bawling my eyes out, Preach is vigorously scrubbing the floor and walls where my coffee flew, and Prince kept saying over and over "We never should have moved to this house" (he's a little obsessive-compulsive worrier). Princess slept through it all.

Now for the even better part of my day...

So I lounged in bed most of the day. Then while reading, my ear felt funny and I felt inside of it. Immediately I felt FLAPPING WINGS inside of my ear!!!!!! No, I am not kidding. I even told myself that I was crazy and tried to ignore it. It flapped some more. I told myself it was just my hair that had gotten in my ear. (Yeah, stray hairs love to FLAP!) Finally I just couldn't stand the suspense anymore and went and got a Q-tip. I dig around and see a couple of black flecks. I poured some peroxide in my ear, then dug around some more. Sure enough, I found a wing and some unrecogizable gnat parts. Yep, a bug had flown in my ear. The even sadder part is that I never found the second wing. I can only hope that a one-winged gnat flew in there. ::sort::

I keep saying I never should have gotten out of bed this morning....but I guess that bug would have gotten me anyway. :)

Rejoice with me....

Rejoice with me...our 8 1/2 year old son was baptized this past Sunday, by my DH! We had so many friends and family come for this precious event. I can't even begin to describe how much that meant to me. Some drove a long way to get there. Others came to church who hadn't been in church for a long time. My DH preached a fiery sermon on the Great White Throne Judgement from Revelation. It was a beautiful service! My little Prince now has his own spot saved for him in Heaven. He is the son of a Holy King, a Prince among men, a sinner saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. Amen.