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Have any of you girls ever had a 2 week span that you got no school done? The first week all 3 of my dc had a horrible cold along with not sleeping bc of the colds. Then I got the cold at the end of the week and it didnt get better till the middle of the 2nd week. then when i did feel well, i ended up catching up on a weeks worth of cleaning etc. Then i got a stomach bug the end of the 2nd week and just now finished catching up on the cleaning etc from the weekend! Then i went upstairs to their toy room to find there was no floor just toys, which i had spent 3 hours a month ago organizing it so it was easy to clean So i took 2 big trash bags and preceded to pack up a bunch of toys that are obviously too hard for them to organize and said i was donating them, because we have gone over this a gazillion times. then i helped them reorganize what was left! I had an afternoon of hollering and being mad bc im its pms time and i feel so disorganized and unproductive the last 2 weeks! What a long post! Sorry just had to get that off my chest. In the mean time, i have been searching ebay to find the readaloud books we need for beyond. we just decided to switch to hod this month, so we have only got the economy pkg, and will do our own emerging readers and beyonds read alouds, i did find some good deals on those, so maybe it will all work out! Any encouragement is appreciated!

Heather

Hi Heather,

I know what you mean. We have been sick and I am just overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done and it's causing me so much stress I am about to lose it lately. So I seriously can understand where you are coming from. I didn't do school today either. I spent the day doing much of the same thing you are doing trying to find read alouds cheap. I want to use the Extension pack books from Bigger as read alouds so I set out trying to find them thru Paperback swap, the library, or last Amazon. And I also didn't buy the read aloud pack from Bigger either so I'm trying to find those and wouldn't you guess it. Paperback Swap doesn't have but 1 of them and the library doesn't have very many of them either. My Amazon bill is getting a bit to high for me also. My shipping cost is more than double the cost of the books I'm buying.

So I recommend trying Paperback Swap. You can get the books free that way. You can check out the 30+ books I have listed at
http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/membe ... 1lV0ZBT1U9 List some of your own books you know you don't want anymore and you get a bunch of credits to request books. Then go to town searching with the ISBN numbers and request what you can that way.

HTH!

Heather,

Yes! I've had weeks, in the not-so-distant past where I got nothing done. We have had appts., Mommy sick and exhausted (early pregnancy), organizing and cleaning to do for showing the (rental) house, etc. We have another 2-3 weeks of that starting next week too, because we are moving and I plan to take a sufficient amount of time off before getting back to school. The kids will do english, math, handwriting, and we may have our own read aloud here and there, but HOD will wait for us until we get back on schedule. When we first moved here justover a year ago I did not take enough time to get organized, so we spent the entire year struggling with being organized and searching for things we needed. My hope and prayer is that I can take the time now to get things in order, then we'll be able to easily catch up because things will have a 'place', KWIM?

It is easy to get frustrated when things don't go according to schedule, and to begin to feel you are behind. I am one who struggles with this. However, I am learning s-l-o-w-l-y that life happens and it is much easier to "roll with it" as my dh says. Children get sick, moms get sick, and cleaning has to get done (especially if you're behind on that due to illness). I say take a deep breath, make a list of priorities, and start checking them off. Is there laundry that just CANNOT wait? Do you need to organize the toy room some more? Do you need to spend time just reading to your children? Can any of these be done in increments? Or are you ready enough to jump back in with schooling? If anything that you need to get done is going to stress you out until it is completed, I would go ahead and do that...take school more slowly until you're caught up. Once you get the things on your list done to your satisfaction, then get right back on schedule. You'll probably find it easier to stay on track and maybe even 'catch up' on some things since you'll be able to focus completely on the task at hand. And I need to take my own advice here.... I hope thathelps encourage you some. I know others will be along to offer their support and suggestions, as well.

Oh Heather, I really feel for you. It is so hard when you have a couple of "those" weeks!!
Please know you are not alone

I wish I had some wise, profound words to give you that would make it all better, but most of the time I feel just like you do. I tend to pray lots and lots, every time I feel like I am about to lose it, or straight after I have just lost it (this usually involves some about of crying, and asking for forgiveness )
I also try to be gentle with myself and lower my expectations/commitments. I have been finding my PMS is getting worse as I get older, so I have actually started to mark it on my calendar so I know that I may need to be especially kind to myself, slow down with school, and especially outside commitments. I find if I am not exhausted, I do not get as mad at the children. I have found in the past I have given, given and given to things outside of the home, then had nothing to give my family . So now I am learning to enjoy my home, and give my family the "first" of my energy, rather than the scraps. I know that sounds terrible to confess, but I keep reminding myself that life is a journey and when you "know better, you do better"

Please know that I am praying for you.

Here’s a beautiful verse, I love thinking about it when I am feeling overwhelmed and/or anxious

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Phil 4:4-9

Remember to look for all the little lovely ways in your day to “rejoice and be thankful”!!

Thank you for being brave enough to share you heart with us

I will be praying for you and you have a bit of a "fresh start"

Love Deb

P.S I love how the above verse says "the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds" I love the thought of my heart being guarded by God

Oh Heather, yes. I have had times when life has stolen the opportunity and the joy from our days just with the business and overwhelming when will it stop stuff. I am so sorry. But I want to say it is Ok if you need a few days more to just get your life peaceful and settled. Gosh I do that all the time. You just need to sometimes. My dh was telling me forget about have to's right now just do what feels good to you. I needed that permission. I am not sure I will do it but I needed permission to do what ever I need to do to get peace. So I just want to pass that on to you as well. We all need that sometimes. My thought is I may take a few days to only do HOD, just the actual program and skip LA and Math that sounds so wonderful to me. And I love what I am using there it is just so much work with my dd that struggles and I need a little escape to just love on my kids. Just HOD alone sounds like a wonderful detour for me.

So whatever you need to get settled for you maybe a little time to settle that with no pressure would be good. I will tell you this when you start with HOD that will actually add some peace to your life. It is a wonderful easy program. I know you will love it.

[quote="anointedhsmom"]Hi Heather,

My Amazon bill is getting a bit to high for me also. My shipping cost is more than double the cost of the books I'm buying.

I find that the shipping on Amazon adds up fast. Another thought is to order a few at a time from HOD. You could look in your guide to see the ones that you would need for xx amount of weeks and then re-order whenever necessary. You would pay a small shipping fee each time you order, but you would have the benefit for only paying for a few books at a time. This may work for the books that you can't find on paper back swap. HTH

Hi Heather! I'm so sorry that the past 2 weeks haven't been that great for you and your family. I've had weeks like that too. I don't have any advice for you, but I will be praying for things to get better!

i had never seen the book swap thing, so i checked it out, and it sounds great, so i joined and posted my 10 books, got 2 credits for joining, and already have 2 of my books mailed so i wiil have 2 more book credits. I have already bought my books off ebay, but i am for sure going to keep this is mind for the kids also. it is like getting a new book for under $3. And when your looking for a specific book, it is very handy. So thanks, Heather