A New Year, New Beginnings

I love the new year.  I do like to have a resolution.  The way I see it, if you don't set a goal, you have nothing to reach for. My goal this year is to drink more water.  I'm going to start with re-filling my tervis tumbler 3 times.  I think it's 10oz. so that would be 40oz. of water a day.  I don't know what they say you should drink, but that would be about 30oz. more than I currently drink.  Improvement is the point, not perfection.

With our homeschool, we are looking at 3 month goals right now.  The huge Catholic Curriculum Fair is the first weekend in April.  Ruth will be ready for her 4th grade books.  She already uses some 4th grade materials and she's in 5th grade Maps-n-Charts book (geography).  So we wll be concentrating on wrapping things up for her during these next three months.  I also will be planning some two week, in depth studies for her.  She loves Greek Mythology so we are going to expand on that with history of Greece and some astrology.  We will put together a greek menu for dinner to complete the series and I'm looking forward to that!

I can't help but feel restricted even by the little bit of school Jane does outside the home, at the co-op.  We have grown so accustomed to moving at our own pace that I feel held back by the co-op.  I need to ask Jane how she's feeling about it.  This semester she continues with Biology at the co-op and begins two new semester classes, Speech and Writing and Organization Skills.  Both taught by the same guy that taught her Logic and Memory Skills classes.  She also is starting a sewing class at a co-op out in Chesterfield.  She is NOT excited about it.  I am struggling to get her to keep an open mind.   She has a new portable machine (a nice one, not a toy) and a beautiful carrying 'bag' that reminds me of Mary Poppins' carpet bag.  They're first project is a binder cover for a 1" binder.  By the end of the semester, though, she will have made some "simple" clothing.  The class is taught by a master seamstress and is FREE.  It's out at the Pillar Foundation which is funded by several families.  Their focus is on aiding parents in educating their children and they offer, for free (plus cost of materials), mostly history, economics, and civics courses.  I plan on Jane taking some of their economics and civics courses.  There is a link to their website at the bottom of my blog.  I think I like them, I know I respect what they do, and we will see after our first experience with the course offering.

So, I'm going to be working a lot this month and I'm STILL recovering from my cold, but I am embracing all the promise that new beginnings bring!