Week 1 Update

Okay, so I have a couple of things to update you on.

First, I wanted to tell you how the new diet and exercise thing is going...you're supposed to be keeping me accountable, remember?

So I'm pretty happy with how this week went. I'll remind you of my goals:

Goal: 1700 Calories a day
Application: I kept a food journal using this free site and was under 1700 calories every day but yesterday. I was doing pretty good yesterday, but hadn't gotten around to adding up my calories yet, when we decided to grab to-go food for dinner. It wasn't fast food, but I'm afraid it probably put me over my calorie intake and didn't want to enter it in to find out. We're going out to dinner tonight, and I'm really going to try to do better by pre-entering in the journal what I'm going to eat to make sure it falls into the right amount of calories.

Goal: Drink lots of water
Application: I am really bad at this, but I was quite happy with my progress in this area. I have been drinking about 4 glasses a day...not where it needs to be yet, but better than none. However, yesterday I only had one glass. I'll keep working on it.

Goal: Exercise for 45 minutes, 5 Days a week (3 days of cardio, 2 days of strength training)
Application: Okay, so this went pretty well. I did exercise 5 of the 7 days...though it was hard to get in a full 45 minutes and impossible to get in 45 minutes straight. This week, I'm going to focus on increasing the intensity of the workouts and try to find ways to divide it up during the day.

Weight Loss: 3 lbs. Not too bad. I'll take it.

You maybe haven't noticed, but I generally only show pictures of me from the shoulders up. So let me take a deep breath....





















The picture on the left was taken on Day 1 of the diet, and the picture on the right was taken at the end of Week 1. No real physical difference...except that I'm out of my pajamas (no symbolism intended)...but I didn't expect much change here in one week.

Some exciting news... my husband has decided to join me in this effort to lose weight and become more healthy! I'm happy for us and the changes this will make in our family.

SO, it was also Week 1 for "Back to Homeschool". I spent the week between Christmas and New Years reworking our schedule and evaluating our goals for the year. I was very happy with the way things went this year. We were actually able to accomplish everything I wanted to this week except for a couple of minor things on Thursday, when I took half the day off to gather information and raise awareness about the impact that the new Consumer Safety Improvement Act will have on the homeschool community. Improvements have already been made to the act this week, but more improvements still need to be made to ensure that the homeschool suppliers that we know and love do not have to close their doors on Feb.10th. This is very real. I have spoken with homeschool suppliers that are extremely concerned...so please look in to this, pray, and contact your legislators to ask for an amendment for small businesses to be made immediately.

So here is how we are fitting it all in:

Bible: I am reading each day from a Bible story book and we are using a combination of Bible Songs by Twin Sisters Productions and Bible Story Songs.

Phonics/Grammar Studies: On Mondays and Wednesdays G8 is using The Bridge to the Latin Road To Grammar and A6 is doing phonogram review and dictation. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they both are using All About Spelling. On Fridays, they both write in their Writing Journals. This Monday, I am going to take a break from our regular phonics program with E5 and begin using Rocket Phonics each day. (Review to come.)

Reading: Each child is expected to read or look at books independently each day. We also read aloud each day. I am reading to them from The Boxcar Children Series and Chad is reading The Truth Seekers Mystery Series to them in the evenings. Our history includes lots of read alouds as well.

Math: G8 and A6 are using Math Mammoth daily. E5 and H3 are MathTacular 3 times a week.

History: Beautiful Feet Early American History 3 days a week.

Science: Nature Study and Creation Club. All the kids will be taking some sort of science classes at co-op starting next month, but I am still looking for something simple I can do with all the kids once a week. I a very weak in science and is one area I really want focus on improving for next year.

Art: Spears Art once a week and I'm very excited to incorporate Artistic Pursuits which will arrive soon!

Music Studies: I'm getting most of my ideas from this site. This week we listened to Peter and the Wolf online and reviewed instruments with these flashcards.

PE: Yeah, really. We're using Homeschool PE...Help for the PE Challenged Mom and loving it.

On Saturday's I'm working through Lessons in Responsibility for Boys with G8 and Home Ec with A6. A6 is also doing sewing projects using the Grandmother's Hope Chest Series.

Well, I think that's about it! This has been a long post and honestly my brain is too fried from staring at this computer screen to think of a less abrupt ending...so farewell for now. Pin It Now!