Pictures added to post below to explain planner better.
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First of all, in my series of posts about our school plans, has to come the planner. It hasn’t been long since I went back to carrying a large purse/planner because I just love having everything with me, all the time.
I have SO enjoyed working with my planner and getting it just right. You know how often I’m in thrift stores, and it is really fun to look through books, papers, and the bag/purse section of the store to see what I can find to enhance my planner. The purse planner above started out as a 2-dollar cloth-covered notebook, though the actual notebook part had been taken out of it. Still, the zipper was in good shape, it had room for credit-size cards, and I liked the bright colors. As Gru says in Despicable Me, LIGHTBULB. I knew my notebook would fit right in and I imagined using something to make a strap and maybe adding a purse part to the planner somehow. Basically, visions of glue sticks danced in my head. I ended up finding two belts in complimentary colors in Goodwill, and a small satiny purse planner to glue to the front. (Note: fabric takes glue better and holds better than a small purse made from vinyl. I should know.) The belts are the kind that are just fabric with no holes and have the metal rings on one end, so I hooked one to the other and glued them across the “bottom” of the planner and then glued them up the sides, gluing one on one side and the other on the other side, thus ending up with an adjustable strap!
I found that the reproducible planning page provided in the Five In A Row manual was the perfect size to cut in half, hole-punch and put in the planner. I made copies, front and back for 8-10 weeks of lesson planning. Since I work at home three days a week, I love having everything with me in my purse planner, all the time, so when I’m out shopping or running errands, if I think of something to write down for school, I can do it immediately and not have to re-write when I get home. When you are working and homeschooling, every minute counts.
I made pretty dividers by using pictures from old magazines that inspired me, laminating them and hole-punching them. The small notebook you see me holding to the left holds weeks worth of lessons once they are done. I keep the pages in my purse/planner until the week is over and then transfer them to the notebook that will be a permanent record of what we did. (I do realize that a purse planner can’t reasonably hold a year’s worth of lessons all at one time. ) The goal is to keep our current eight weeks of study in the planner at all times. More about that in the next post or two.
The planner has sections for shopping, routines, school, to-do, addresses, etc. It also holds one or two things that I just love to read over and over because it helps me stay on track.
So there you have it: The Planner. It makes sense to me and it works for me. And now I’m always on the look-out for cool paper that I can hole-punch and use in my planner binder. Or cloth-covered notebooks that can be turned into a purse planner with cool belts. Stay tuned.
PS – This planner is indeed 5-1/2 x 8-1/2. I am adding some more pictures to help explain how I did this. Now I’m looking for fabric-covered notebooks everywhere I go so I can make another one!
Important to note that one strap is glued on one side and the other strap on the other side, for balance. I wanted to show you the board I made for pin display at the farmer’s market.
Also, I’ve created a page with pins on it and will try my best to keep it updated. I love Etsy but between actually making pins and keeping up with life, it’s pretty labor intensive to keep Etsy updated with inventory. In a perfect world, where I don’t have to do transcription, it would be easier. In the meantime, the tab A Bit of Birdsong at the top of the page will take you to some of my pins. Today’s a work day! Enjoy this day.
I was asked the question last night, and I don’t mean the “will you marry me” question, but rather this question: “Mom why do you have to take pictures of every creepy-crawly thing?”
I just have to. And if you have to have a reason why, I can give you one. The zoom shows you things you can’t put your face in close enough to see, though I would do just that if I thought I could without getting bitten on the nose. You can see the hairy legs on the spiders. You can see all their eyes. You can see their pretty colors. You can see what feels like emotion to me, the human, when you can see a praying mantis face enlarged x20.
This big spider lives somewhere around my front porch, but it does not come out during the day. I had to go out with the flashlight and light up the web and take the picture. Can you imagine a close-up of this in natural light? Wow.
In World Beagle News, Annie Banannie, a.k.a. Fatso Beagle, continues to snuggle up behind her owner while her owner churns out the medical notes for people just like yourself. Where would the faithful transcriptionists of our country be without their beagles? One can only imagine.
Annie closes her sleepy green eyes with just a soft touch and a kind word. Is there a better heating pad for the back than Annie? I think not!
On a final note this morning, I was all set to wear a fun new pin to the Farmer’s Market today, but alas I was not able to go. One of my sons needed to be somewhere and since I’m the mom, and since the carpenter had a prior engagement, well, there you go. I’m off to type! Enjoy this day.
It’s where my mind has been lately. I’ve been working on more dolls for the farmer’s market. When I start working, I sort of have no idea what will be the end product. Well, I know it’ll be a doll, what size, etc., but the body and face and hair take their own shape as I work, and then based on that, I dress them and fill their arms with whatever matches.
This little boy is made from a different kind of clay and thus the end result is a bit different from what I’m used to. I like him, though, and am trying to figure out what his large red basket should be holding. Peppers? One son suggested tomatoes. One son said a pig.
I sat in my favorite purple chair this morning and drank coffee and looked around the room. This past week I put into jars a lot of the potpourri that I’ve had bagged up in the blanket cupboard.
I keep a large round metal tray always full of things drying. Things from the garden. Lavender, rosemary. Rose petals, buds, and hips. Mint. All sorts of things. Some things hang for awhile, some things go right on the tray. I also add dried orange, lemon and grapefruit peel. Cinnamon sticks from Christmas. Sometimes I spice it up with a few drops of essential oil.
So the bags in the cupboard will be refilled over time, while the jar has a pretty scoop that I can use to scoop out potpourri for my little electric potpourri crock.
I’m cleaning today, working on crafts and just enjoying being inside. It’s so hot outside, I worry about the men and women who work out in it, including my very own carpenter.
Just popping in for a quick hello this morning afternoon. My how the time flies when we’re having fun!
I’ve been working on pins all week. And enjoying life with four kids, my own Wild Kingdom, of sorts, and continuous housework. It’s a wonder I have a mind left at all.
Figure into all of this that in the background of things this week, my van began to make a faint screeching, clicking, whining, scraping sound on and off. I was so tempted to call Click and Clack to find out what they thought, but then today I found out on my own. On the road. I was out running errands before work and the belt that apparently winds around the alternator and does something for the power steering came loose completely. It’s like the clouds opened and a bright light shone down on my van engine. It went back to sounding like a finely tuned machine, just as my power steering went out and I had to wheel up into the bank parking lot looking like a driver from the 1940s, pulling on that steering wheel with all my might to make the turn. Thank goodness I still have some tone left in my upper, 40-something-year-old arms.
I called the carpenter man and he showed up to make arrangements for the van to go to the shop and me to go home. And hopefully it won’t cost but a couple of hundred to fix it. I’ve been driving all week wondering what in the world was wrong, how bad it would be, and how much it would cost. Let’s keep our fingers crossed today that all ends well, because I want to need to see my mom in the morning at the farmer’s market.
Then, I’ve been lamenting over not having enough creatures in the garden when I noticed this morning that droves of them are building right near the front door. How convenient for a certain creature-picture-taker I know, who now only has to crack the front door to get creature pictures. Don’t tell the carpenter man about this.
I hate to tear apart a community, but I suppose I’ll have to remove both freshly constructed homes and take them away from here. They should be happy. It beats the carpenter’s Raid. May you have a blissfully chaos-free day. Lynn She lives down the lane and helps care for the goats.
Only she’s not holding a goat yet! I’ve not made a goat before. How does one fashion a goat from clay? Keeping trying, I say!
She’s a tomboy for sure, and has the tiniest little…scrape? Scar? At the corner of her mouth. Maybe from flying down the lane on her bicycle? It’s one of the things I love about making figures from clay. There are no two the same and they end up with little qualities that make them real. Well, almost. Today’s a work day, so I must get busy. If I can just make it through today, then I’m off for a few days. I think I can, I think I can. Any ideas on names for the little girl waiting on her goat?
Where have I been? I probably wonder about that more than anyone else. The days fly! There is more to do than I can do! And yet I manage to somehow like this busy life that I have.
I’ve been working on a board/stand on which to hang all of my brooch-pins for the farmer’s market. It’s coming along, if I do say so myself, which I do.
This is my current favorite! Seems like out of every batch I make there’ll be one that I just LOVE. Well, this is my current favorite pin. Just so you know. I love the bright blue and the tiny touch of red. The little shoe strikes a chord too.
As I continue to work on the pins, I learn, and learn some more. I find little ways to make them better and more durable. I find myself saying, “Ugh, was I really not doing that before?” Or, “Oh my, was I really including that in the pins!” Seems that the littlest changes make a big difference! I love this learning experience that comes with making things.
And I love the little birdie! It is A Bit of Birdsong, after all. So that’s where I’ve been. That and a million other things. I kept thinking on Tuesday and then on Wednesday that I’d get a second to pop on here and say hello, or post a picture or two, but the days went by like a blur. I really must refine my schedule for my days off! We are trying to get used to having a violin lesson for Michaela crammed right in the middle of the week, and it’s been a huge job for the entire family to try to keep the vegetable garden watered (from our water barrels) during this intensely hot and dry few weeks we’ve had. And meals. And laundry. And errands. And… I know it’s the same for us all. There are more things to do today to prepare for Saturday morning. I have to make up a little sign with prices and finish up a doll I’m working on. I always feel I need to make more pins. I’m nearly out of business cards, so that’s on the list as well. I better get busy! I hope your day is happy!
I know some of you are longing to see baby bunnies…Carol?
Just like his mama, this one laid his ears back so that he looks ear-less.
And here’s one of my favorites! I love that gorgeous honey-colored coat and then just a touch of gray around the face. So sweet! This one is very active and he’s hard to catch!
But he will come right to the open door for food! Bunnies are that way. Once again, they are not always cuddly creatures who like to be held close (though some are) , but they can be very friendly, and they know our voices and our hands.
Food please? Food? FOOD PLEASE? They all come running to the door and then they run around in circles, waiting on pellets or fresh greens from the garden. They love fresh greens!
Nothing like having your mother trample right over you saying, “FOOD FOOD!!” Well, she does sort of look like she’s getting a hug in there too. Michaela and I are trying to learn the art of determining if a young rabbit is male or female. It is NOT easy. Even for those who have done it for a long time. We think we have the males and females separated, all except the little black one you see next to Coco, but he’s the runt and very shy, so we thought we’d leave him with her a week or two longer than the others who were separated about a week ago. They’ll be 7 weeks old tomorrow. How times flies when you’re having fun. On an Etsy note, I’ve enjoyed working on pins and pendants (had a request for those) this past week.
I love working with the clay. Well, I love working with many types of media. Sure makes it hard to get to the work desk, which I have to do today. Enjoy this day!
Yes, it’s the fairies and friends post! (Whatever that is.)
Into the shop this morning went a new brooch pin, adorned with an image from Edmund Dulac. It’s from a fairy print, of course. There. We have the fairy part of this post covered.
For the friends part, I know I’ve not yet shared a picture of those of us who met up at the North Carolina Homeschool Conference and got supper at the Mellow Mushroom. From left to right, it’s me, Hollie, Rebecca, Adele, Leslie, Angela, Bo, and Jackie. What fun we had! Some of these ladies I see regularly in person, and some I have known for years on line (through Five In A Row) and finally had the privilege to meet! The Mellow Mushroom was unbelievably packed and there were some who couldn’t wait it out. We were sorry to see them have to leave! A few of us ended up ordering takeout from the MM and going back to the hotel and eating at two large, quiet tables in the lobby. It was a wonderful place to talk and carry on about conference and homeschooling stuff! Now. On another “friends” note…
It wasn’t a field trip or a co-op, but as sort of a last outing of the school year, our homeschool group met to share a potluck lunch and say goodbye to one of our families who is moving away. Oh how they will be missed! It was a wonderful (if bittersweet) time. If you can’t tell from the kids’ red faces, it was hot! It did not, however, slow the children down! This is only a small fraction of the children who were actually there that day. I am puttering around today, working in the garden, trying to get supper together (I must share my notecards soon), making more pins, cleaning a bit and just enjoying a day off. I hope you are having a wonderful day!
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I am a 40-something-year-old mother of four delightful children, have been married for 22 years to my carpenter husband, and live in a 1921 farm-style house. I find the most joy in my garden, growing and harvesting herbs and flowers and caring for our pet rabbits. I have a 21-year-old son, a 19-year-old son, a 16-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly (and very funny) 11-year-old daughter who is homeschooled. I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I'm a book lover, bird lover, gardener and aspiring herbalist. I seek no help for my thrift store addiction. I do medical transcription from home part-time.
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
I would
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for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
