So with the new school year upon us, I’m trying to get myself into a better routine. Except that switching from an 11:30 pm bedtime/7:00 am wakeup time to a 9:30 pm bedtime/5:30 am wakeup time is easier said than done. Why I decide to undertake such a monumental task in the span of, oh, 2 days, is not something I have time to ponder. Apparently it’s just the way I do things.

You know, once upon a time I was actually organized. Oh how I long to recapture my youth. It’s not that I don’t try to get organized–I assure you my intentions are stellar–it’s just that I always. get. interrupted. That and the fact that after having children my days are suddenly only 19 hours long and not 24. Not sure how that happens but it does. Yep, the days get shorter, the hips get wider and the boobs get longer. And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: having babies in a nutshell.

Good night.

So we’re eatin’ lunch today and here’s what my 5-year-old busts out with:

Him: “Grandmas are moms without rules.”

Me: “Oh, where did you hear that?”

Him: “Nowhere, I just thought of it.”

So I’m trying to get things organized around here before the school year overtakes us.  This morning we were in my daughter’s room.  She’s 8 and is just entering the “tween” stage.   Oh my. This gives me a little stress, but that’s another post.

Regardless of how much the two of us need to stick together in a house with 4 other males, sometimes I’m baffled at how different we are.  Whereas I’m forever looking for stuff to get rid of, she likes to keep EVERYTHING.  She’s particularly partial to itty, bitty pieces of paper (what is it with girls and paper??), miscellaneous crafts she made last year, various notebooks and writing instruments, anything that grandma gave her (the girl WILL NOT throw away anything grandma gave her) and small, porcelain whatnots you might find at the garage sale of a 90-year old.

But today she rose to a whole new level.

I noticed a pair of athletic socks laying on her floor.  They were balled up so I assumed they were hers.  “Peanut,” I say, “put your socks in the sock pile.”

“Oh, those aren’t mine.”

“Oh,” I say, somewhat puzzled. “Who do they belong to?”

“I don’t know.  Here are three more pairs,” she says as she shows me the rest of her stash.

“They’re not yours?”

“No, I just found them so I thought I’d start a weird guy sock collection.”

So I have this issue. (As if you didn’t know that.) I talked before about my people-pleasing tendencies, but now I’ve kicked it up a notch by having them WITH MY OWN CHILDREN. (Caps were probably not necessary there to get my point across because if you stop to think about it for any length of time, you can see how disastrous this is.)

Here’s me: Trying my darndest to put into practice all the great parenting advice I’ve collected–you know, like setting healthy boundaries and providing a reasonable amount of structure and whatever else they say will help you raise the next president. You probably don’t have this problem, but my efforts at parenting often means someone in this house doesn’t get precisely what they want at the exact moment they want it…which, around here means someone might just flip their lid…which means I either (a) begin to second-guess myself mercilessly, as in, “Was I being totally reasonable there?” or (b) immediately and suddenly am transported back to fourth grade when my goal in life was for every single person in the whole wide world to like me, really, really like me. The psychological, inner-child circus going on inside my brain really hampers my positive parenting techniques.

But I’ve always been this way. When something goes wrong, I generally figure it’s my fault. When someone’s mad, I’m sure I did something to make them so. Even when good things happen, I excel at pointing out how they could’ve been better had I not [fill in the blank]. Do you realize how sick this is? Sick, people. I’m sick.

And now God wants me to raise children who are unhappy with me on a daily basis? Nice. Real nice.

Our oldest two have made good progress in swimming lessons this summer, but I’m considering forkin’ out the cash for our younger two to do this. If they ever fell into water, it would be the best money we ever spent. From the ISR (Infant Swimming Resource) website:

The idea behind Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) was born in 1966 when its founder, Dr. Harvey Barnett, was just 18 years old. As an active lifeguard with a passion for water safety, Barnett witnessed the tragic aftermath when a neighbor child drowned. At that moment, he vowed to do everything possible to ensure not one more child drowns…To date, ISR has 788 documented cases of children using ISR techniques to save themselves from drowning.

I stopped blogging between May 2007 and July 2008.  Following is a list of posts explaining my absence:

• My dark year of the soul
• The bright spot in my dark year
• My rock bottom

Check out all the posts covering multiple subjects in the Homeschooling for Free series.

1. KidsHealth - health info, games, recipes, resources & activities about kids from birth to adolescence; sections for kids, teens & parents
2. Women in Science - biographies of women who made a difference in science
3. Science News for Kids - “Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials.”
4. The Yuckiest Site on the Internet - learn the science behind all kinds of disgusting things
5. Newton’s Apple - science videos on a variety of topics; easy to use
6. Cavalcade o’ Chemistry Free Stuff! - worksheets, labs & posters
7. Neuroscience for Kids - information, experiments & worksheets about the brain
8. Nature Journal - an informative article explaining how to keep a nature journal; lots of tips and ideas
9. Science Projects - “projects using household materials, and quick and easy demonstrations”
10. ZOOM Science - lots of science activities, projects, tricks and experiments
11. Eternal Sunset - current sunset webcams, global view of where it is day/night, more
12. World Sunlight Map - see where the sun is rising and setting in real time
13. eNature - wildlife guides, ask an expert, games, local nature, more;
14. Table of Constellations - get facts and diagrams of each constellation
15. Astronomy for Kids - basic facts about astronomy; lower elementary
16. Toys & Simple Machines - make your own
17. Big Dipper - learn to read the sky
18. National Geographic Kids - videos, games, activities about animals
19. Science NetLinks - lots of resources; catagorized by grade and topic
20. Anatomy Dissections - for the future doctor; WARNING: real cadaver

Know of any more?  Share the love & leave em’ in the comments!

Check out all the posts covering multiple subjects in the Homeschooling for Free series.

1. Countries & Cultures Coloring Pages -multiple pages for several countries
2. Xpeditions Lesson Plans - geography lesson plans organized by grade; by National Geographic
3. Colouring Book of Flags - printable black & white images of just about every flag in the world
4. The Learning Calendar - “history-based activities”
5. Free Blank Outline Maps of the Countries and Continents of the World - basic outline maps
6. Geography Online Games - learn maps, countries, capitals, landscapes
7. Netstate.com - in-depth information about the 50 United States
8. Outline Maps - easy to use site, well-organized; downloadable maps from all regions of the world
9. Map Puzzles - test your knowledge of countries and capitals; click and drag online; no downloads
10. United Nations Cyberschoolbus - get an inside look at the UN, current events, ways to get involved in global causes, how Model United Nations works, more
11. Investigating the First Thanksgiving - “You are the historian” and it’s your job to find out what really happened.
12. National Museum of American History for Kids - various games and activities to do at home that pertain to American history
13. History and Politics Out Loud - don’t just read famous speeches, listen to them
14. Encyclopedia Mythica - “the award-winning internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion”
15. This Day in History - searchable by subject
16. US State Unit Studies - activities & projects for each state
17. 50 States Book List - a list of books for each state
18. WorldAtlas - “maps, flags and geography facts”
19. Test Your Geography Knowledge - covers countries, states, oceans, etc.
20. A Book in Time - book list arranged according to historical period
21. Online American History Textbook - for middle/high school
22. Mr. Dowling - “browse the world”
23. Best of History Web Sites - “annotated links to over 1000 history web sites” and more
24. Internet History Sourcebooks Project - public domain historical documents
25. The Library of Congress Lesson Plans - organized by theme
26. History & Social Studies Lesson Plans - searchable by category and grade level
27. EconEdLink - economics lesson plans; K-12; searchable by topic
28. 192 UN Recognized States in 10 Minutes - test your knowledge before time runs out
29. 50states - info about the 50 states and capitals
30. Worldmapper - re-sized territories according to subject
31. Bio4Kids - few dozen biographies of famous people

Know of any more?  Share the love & leave ‘em in the comments!

Check out all the posts covering multiple subjects in the Homeschooling for Free series.

Art

1. OnlyPencil Tutorials: Tips and Techniques for Pencil Drawing - be sure to check out his portfolio too–AMAZING!
2. Famous Paintings Art Appreciation Lessons for Kids - activities, bios, worksheets and more
3. Smithsonian American Art Museum: Interactives - videos & interactives on various topics
4. Chronological Art Lessons for Art History
5. Famous Artworks exhibition - organized by date/era
6. Masterpiece Art Instruction Free Art Lesson Plans - “projects, lessons and ideas for teachers”
7. The art of sharpening pencils - for the serious artist; ways to sharpen and the pros and cons of each; WARNING: beware of the disturbing doll’s head pencil sharpener
8. How to Read a Painting - “a quick way to approach and appreciate a painting”
9. Drawspace - in-depth drawing lessons (beg, int, adv)
10. HomeschoolArts - art lessons (various media)
11. Draw and Color with Uncle Fred - step-by-step cartoony drawings; lower grades
12. Chronological Art Lessons - for art history
13. Art Sites for Kids - kids’ art, galleries & museums, art lesson

Dance

1. The Dance Store Online - Ballroom and Latin dance instruction

Music

1. Dr. Estrella’s Incredibly Abridged Dictionary of Composers - basic info as well as other resources/links; search by date or name
2. The Music Rack - downloadable sheet music, staff paper & resources
3. Classics for Kids - a radio program featuring one composer each month; great way to get a general overview
4. Classical Magic - 6-year schedule to learn 128 classical music melodies
5. Piano Lessons - printable
6. Online Piano Lessons - with audio
7. Music Theory Workbooks - downloadable
8. Blank Sheet Music - printable staff paper; customizable
9. Online Guitar Lessons - in-depth
10. San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Site - learn about orchestra instrument

Photography

1. Beginner’s Guide to Photography - “for computer geeks who want to be digital artists”
2. Photography - galleries, tips & bios from National Geographic

Know of any more? Share the love & leave ‘em in the comments!

Check out all the posts covering multiple subjects in the Homeschooling for Free series.

1. BOOK IT! - read books, get pizza…what could be better?
2. Lookybook - read picture books online
3. Easy Chapter Books - a list for children who are “ready to graduate out of Readers but…not yet ready for full-fledged chapter books”
4. 100 Books Every Child Should Read Pt 1 - for the early years
5. 100 Books Every Child Should Read Pt 2 - for the middle years
6. 100 Books Every Child Should Read Pt 3 - for the early teens
7. 25 Ideas to Motivate Young Readers - ways to make reading fun; elementary
8. Folk and Fairy Tales from Around the World - search by region
9. Picturing Books - a site about picture books; resources, information, lists, etc.
10. Reading Aloud - hints, tips and ideas for reading aloud to any age
11. Index to Children’s Book Authors & Illustrators - search the list of authors and illustrators to find info, bios and other resources related to them
12. Girls Voices Literature Database - collection of literature with positive female characters
13. eBooks for Young Readers - a selection of popular classics; original images
14. EasyFunSchool Literature Units - activities & ideas to supplement various books (scroll down to find the book titles)
15. Page By Page Books - “read classic books online;” search by title or author
16. PinkMonkey.com - online literature summaries, book notes, study guides
17. FreeAudio.org - “audio books on libery and freedom”
18. Kids’ Corner Story Books - “featuring Beatrix Potter”
19. AudioBooksForFree - adult section and children’s section
20. Free Classic Audio Books - MP3 and M4B for iPod
21. Free Christian Audio Books - Spurgeon, Torrey, Moody, Brother Lawrence, more
22. Database of Award-Winning Children’s Literature - searchable by era, grade, reading level and anything else imaginable
23. 1000 Good Books List - organized by reading level
24. The Great Books - “provides Christians with a detailed, chronological reading list;” grades 9-12
25. The Great Books List - by era; advanced readers
26. 100 Best Books - organized by age
27. Best Online Classic Children’s Books - by genre
28. Storynory - audio stories for kids
29. Project Gutenberg - 1000’s of downloadable books from the public domain
30. No Fear Shakespeare - Shakespear’s works side-by-side with modern translation
31. LoudLit - “literature for your eyes and ears”
32. Historical Fiction Booklist - catagorized by era
33. 19th Century Schoolbooks - 140 schoolbooks from Nietz Old Collection; searchable

Know of any more? Share the love & leave ‘em in the comments!