NO school on Mondays!

There should be a rule - No school on Mondays!!

How did our teachers deal with us on Mondays? If I was anything like my children I should have just been sent to the principal first thing every Monday morning. It is especially bad after spring break (or any break). They were bouncing off the walls today. Everyone talking at once, goofing off, playing, bugging each other, etc.

Today was just a nightmare. Just when I got Elianna down for a nap and thought I would be able to quiet them down and get everyone sitting and working quietly (like all the pictures show), they started talking about a project. John decided to do a Revolutionary war diorama and the girls want to make one for the African Savanna. I know I should have been thrilled but I just wanted them to get their math done!

So tomorrow we go looking for blue and red plastic army guys and little animals. I never seem to do fun things with them so I am determined to let them do this and have some fun along the way. We WILL DO math first!

Of course I will post pictures!

Spring Break

Our spring break is over. How did that happen. I had big plans for this week. I had intended to...

1. Catch up on laundry.
2. Sort the girls clothes.
3. Buy some summer shorts to go with girls shirts.
4. Find my flower beds (by taking out all the weeds).
5. Plant some vegetables.
6. Put together the basketball hoop that has been sitting in our garage forever.
7. Did I mention the laundry?
   

But what did we do instead?

1. Went to the beach with friends (got burned).
2. Cleaned our house.
3. A few loads of laundry (never enough).
   
4. Played games.
5. Made jewelry and worked on Etsy Team stuff.
6. Played with friends.
7. Went to a farm/petting zoo.
8. Played Wii at a friends house.
9. Played....

Yep! A common theme this week was play. I guess that is a good thing but it doesn't help the laundry situation or the yard.

I did get a lot of jewelry made each night and even got to bed before the AM hours, most of the time. I sold some things right after I listed them. That is encouraging.

I realized today that I better start stashing some money aside for next years curriculum. Could have something to do with getting the new Sonlight and Winter Promise catalog all in the same week. I will not be able to purchase books without a lot of sales. I love the challenge but I am starting to get tired. Need to find that second wind. Thought I would get it this week but really needed two weeks off.

I wish I knew someone who was really good at marketing that could tell me the next step. I am trying so hard and yet feel like I could do better. Just let me be creative and leave all the other stuff for someone else to do.

Bye Bye spring break...

I need to quit making things I want to keep!

I really don't wear jewelry very often considering how much I enjoy making it. I do keep making these items that I want to keep though. It could cost me a fortune if I kept them all. Maybe if I put aside the colors I love so much and used some others, I wouldn't be so tempted.

I had to get right to the computer and list this one or I would have ended up tucking it away in my own jewelry chest. This is the perfect size to put a picture of all four kids in. I tucked a fun bead in to add some color but it can be taken out and a picture added. So fun! May have to make one more!

First sunburn of the year!

Yes! You read that right. Today we had the first day of spring break and I received my first sunburn of the year. A friend and I agreed yesterday that we really should have our play date at the beach with the kids. What originally started as two moms with six kids turned into eight adults and sixteen kids. We had a great time. There was a friend for everyone. Just wish I would have remembered the camera.

I love these first beach days. It reminds me that I need to pull out the stuff from the back of the van and repack with summer fun items. Time to pack in the beach umbrella, sand toys, and extra towels.

I still managed to have energy tonight to make several things for my Etsy shop and hope to get some sleep now so I can do some spring cleaning tomorrow. Unless of course, someone calls and says they want to play!

Support of homeschooling in the state of California

If you are in support of homeschooling as a choice for parents, call
Governor Schwarzenegger's office at

916-445-2841.

If you want to read more about this first here is a link.

It's entirely automated.
Press "1" (English),
then "2" for legislative bill.
Then the recording asks if you are calling regarding ACR115 -
press "1".
If in favor, press "1". That's it. It took all of 15 seconds.

Please take the time to do this and send this to EVERYONE you know.

Thank you,

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

State Capitol Building

Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: 916-445-2841

Fax: 916-445-4633

Local office: 619-525-4641

Local fax: 619-525-4640

e-mail: governor@governor. ca.gov

Unproductive but fun!

Our school week has been anything but productive this week and I can say the same about my jewelry making time. I took the weekend off of making things because I was just tired. Too many late nights and busy days in a row. I realize that I am not in my 20's still, but wouldn't it be nice to function at 100% with only 5 or 6 hours of sleep! I would get so much more done in a day.

It was my son's birthday on Monday. Yes, we seem to have holiday babies. John waited around a couple extra weeks just so he could arrive on St. Patrick's Day. That was 10 years ago. Wow! My baby is 10 already. What happened to those years? A friend took some pictures a couple of weeks ago, so here he is. All ten years of him! Here are a couple fun shots of his sisters too.

As far as our school week. Well, just too many fun things to do. There is never school on a birthday day. I figured it would be a lot more fun to have school vacation on our birthdays, than on a past president's birthday. Then there was roller skating today with other home schoolers. And Friday is the Easter party with our park day group. Who says we are anti social? If I had any more social things going on we would end up never getting school done. As it is we will be doing a couple make up days next week when all our friends are on spring break.

The earrings are done!

I finished up the earrings for the giveaway last night (or should I say this morning). I want all the winners to know that if I didn't come up with something you love please go to my etsy shop and pick another pair and tell me which one you would prefer. I really want you to be happy with what you get and excited to wear them.

I went by the length, style and color combinations you mentioned you would like to have. I hope you all like them and if you have not sent me your address yet, please send it to oceanbreezeblog@yahoo.com

For Rebecca...

For Zeph317...

For Mommy Lynda...

For Janette....

For Momlakes...

New Earrings

I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of people who won earrings from my "contest" or earring giveaway. I thought it would be nice to post the names, so you can see that there were actually winners. ;) If I have their forum screen name that is what I am posting, otherwise I am posting their first name.

It appears there are winners both from the Sonlight forum and the Homeschool Library forum. I look forward to getting these done over the next couple of days and slipping them in the mail by Saturday. So be sure and check back for pictures soon. I will photograph them so you can all see what they won.

The winners are:

zeph317

Momlakes
Rebecca
Mommy Lynda
Nettiville (Janette)

Congratulations to you all! I will be doing another giveaway in a month or two. Hope you all had fun and thank you all for the great input and suggestions. I loved reading your responses.

Earring Giveaway

Yes, today is the day my children got to pull five names out of the hat to see who would get the free earrings. I have contacted the winners and am waiting to see how they want their names listed before listing them here. I will also be posting pictures of what I make them so check back. Hope to have them done and listed in a couple days.

I am sorry if you didn't win a pair. I will do this again sometime. May even give some bracelets or a necklace away. Should we have a poll?

What is new?

I love these colors. Just can't seem to get enough of these wonderful blue and dark aqua colors. I am staying up way to late and having way too much fun.

We start them early!

If you are looking for the earring give-away. Please scroll down. It is still going on until March 7th.






I caught these pictures yesterday. She started off at the bookshelf and it was so cute to see her sitting there "reading" that I just had to grab the camera. Of course it wasn't so cute picking up all the books she pulled off of the shelf in a span of 5 minutes. I had to stop eating my Bon Bons, get up, and put them away.

She loves writing too. Her favorite thing to do lately is to lay down on the floor and "write" like her big sisters.

It thrills my heart that she is so interested in books already. We do have to keep all pencils hidden when we are not closely watching her, because she likes them both at the same time and that can become a disaster. She is my FIRST child to write in a book. Yes! Out of four she is the only one.

SHE - Schooling at Home Etsians

I am so excited about a new venture. I just sent an email off to Etsy (on line market where I sell my jewelry) yesterday to officially start a home school team on Etsy. Basically, teams are groups of people sharing a common bond that join together to support one another in whatever way they decide. I thought how nice it would be to join together the home schooling moms that sell their items on Etsy. This is a great way to support our fellow home educators.

Many, if not most, of us are in single income homes and we are just doing whatever we can to help out. For some, selling their products might make the difference between having books and curriculum for the next school year, or not. I am just starting to think about the books I need for next year. I will begin to put money aside for them now or we won't be getting them. I am so grateful for the talents God has given me and it feels good to be using them again.

So... look under my jewelry pictures on the sidebar and you will see our Etsy Team's items. This is just a sample from each persons shop. If you click on the item you will go directly to their shop. We will continue to grow and so check back often. We also have a blog where we will have give aways and information about the various members of our team. If you are interested in seeing the blog you can find it here.

Well, better get to work or I won't have anything new to show for my time.