Don’t Worry…

Streaming Courses at Compass Classroom

(This post contains affiliate links.)

I love Compass Classroom courses—we actually own most of them already. We went through part of Visual Latin a few years ago (such a fun way to learn Latin) and have completed Grammar of Poetry. Emily is taking Dave Raymond’s American History and Word Up! this year, and we have Economics for Everybody on the shelf and are hoping to get to it soon. I’ve heard that the Old Western Culture courses are wonderful, too. The courses are resonably priced to start with, but I’m really excited to share that they now have a streaming option for these courses.

The streaming options for these courses range to $5 to $12 each. And better yet, there is a mega-homeschool option that gives your family access to 6 courses for $14 a month!  That is a really great way to try out a course to see if it’s right for your child before making a bigger financial commitment.

This week only—until January 27, you can get your first month of any course, or even the mega-homeschool bundle for only $1.

I love Compass Classroom courses—we actually own most of them already. We went through part of Visual Latin a few years ago (such a fun way to learn Latin) and have completed Grammar of Poetry. Emily is taking Dave Raymond’s American History and Word Up! this year, and we have Economics for Everybody on the shelf and are hoping to get to it soon. I’ve heard that the Old Western Culture courses are wonderful, too. The courses are resonably priced to start with, but I’m really excited to share that they now have a streaming option for these courses.

The streaming options for these courses range to $5 to $12 each. And better yet, there is a mega-homeschool option that gives your family access to 6 courses for $14 a month!  That is a really great way to try out a course to see if it’s right for your child before making a bigger financial commitment.

This week only—until January 27, you can get your first month of any course, or even the mega-homeschool bundle for only $1.

Cleaning out the Pantry

My pantry has always been an organizational challenge. The left side of the pantry cabinet is really a broom closet—just a open cabinet with no shelving. Other than a magnetic strip on one side to hold small tools and some hooks on the other side to hold a few other things like extension cords and dog leashes, I’ve never attempted to do any organization of it. It held a carpet cleaner, and dog food and potatoes on the floor.

The right side of the cabinet has shelving, but since the cabinet is 11 inches wide and 20 inches deep, it was easy to lose things in the back.

Above the pantry is another cabinet with no shelving, used to store rags, dog towels, and unopened cereal and chips. You can see that this all was a mess!

With the help of a few stackable shelves and Basket Organizers from Amazon and some plastic drawers that I pulled out of our pop-up camper, I was able to make this space so much more useable.The pull-out baskets help me access cans from the back of the pantry and the shelf and basket units that I put in the open cabinet give me so much more storage space.  I wish I’d tackled this project long ago!

FREE! Hey Mama Homeschool Planner

Do you need a planner to finish out this school year? For this week only (until Jan. 18), the “Hey Mama” Schoolhouse Planner 2015-16 is free. This 178 page, downloadable resource includes  weekly and monthly planning pages, attendance and goal setting forms, inspirational “Hey Mama” quotes and lots more. And you can’t beat free!

Blow Up Art

We recently visited a wonderful exhibit, “The Tsar’s Cabinet,” at our local art museum featuring porcelain of the Romanov  family. It was beautiful, and fascinating to learning about…the royal family had full services (for hundreds of people) for each home, palace, cottage, and even yacht. Dozens of pieces were on display as well as some porcelein figurines and eggs. Every piece was hand painted. Unfortunately, I neglected to take any pictures.

There was another exhibit at the museum that day, though, featuring blow up art? Who knew that inflatables could be considered art! It was pretty fun to see, though, and stretched our concept of “art.”

My Word for 2016—Kind

It has been my practice over the past few years to pick a focus word for the year—some quality that I would like to encourage in my home or to work on as a personal quality. Words that I have chosen in previous years include “joy,” “love,” and “hope.”

This year, my word is “kind.”  I actually didn’t think long about choosing my focus word, because I have been under conviction over the past few months to intentionally be more kind. I don’t think others would ever characterize me as unkind, but I want develop into a person who cares more about others and who is careful not to speak unkindly about others.

My goals are to:

• Not participate in, encourage, or listen to gossip. To think the best of others.
• Look for ways to bless others, whether it is a word of thanks or encouragement or an action that helps someone.
• When others are harsh or unkind, to respond with kindness (especially with my family members).
• Be less self-focused. To be more aware of others’ feelings and needs.

Do you have a word for the year?