T-tapping and me....

I was asked to talk about my exercise and what I do.

I use a program called T-tapp. I think it is the best thing since sliced bread! I used this program several years ago and for SOME reason I stopped. I don't know why. I need variety in every area of my life and the only reason I can think of as to why I stopped "tapping" was because I didn't have enough different routines. Now I'm back, and I'm NOT leaving. T-tapp uses comprehensive compound muscle movements. There is no jumping or hopping. It works your core muscles in ways similar to pilates. You never need weights either! It makes LONG muscles and works from insertion to insertion, not only the belly of the muscle like using weights. You can be working your arms and abs and legs and tush ALL at the same time!!! Check it out...I think you'll really like it.

As to my results thus far, I have lost 28 inches. I probably could have lost more during this time period (from Oct 15 through April 25), but sometimes my eating habits aren't too great. :) I've been eating healthily but sometimes splurge a little too often.

There are some great success stories on the T-tapp website, so check those out. They really are REAL people like you and I....I "talk" to them all the time on the forums. Another reason I really like T-tapp is because ANYONE can do this....men, women and children. There are even workouts for those that have "more" to lose.

I joined a group on the site called "Habit Formers"....accountability for your exercise. I need that. I am usually an "all or nothing" person and this keeps me going through those "nothing" times. The leader of that group is Carol. She is one of the trainers and she is a homeschool mom. Carol went from a size 14 to a 0.

I encourage you to give it a shot! All you've got to lose is inches, and you can see many improvements in your health. There are exercises that you can "Try before you buy".

I hope to "see" you there.

Poetry and reading......

Everyone has me intrigued with reading poetry. Poppins , Mungo, and others are incorporating poetry reading into their schedules next year. I remember loving poetry when I was in school. I never could interpret it but I loved the way it sounded. I loved writing it. Now to decide which poet's works to study. I may go with one from the list on Tanglewood. Dickinson and Stevenson have some very nice poetry. It would save me the planning just to go with this. Hmmm....we'll see. My personal favorite is e.e. cummings.

Today is a sick day for us.....hey, if the public school children can have excused absences, then we can too! Popeye said that he would sign the "excused absence form" for us. Sweet Pea 1 isn't feeling well today. It just came on him suddenly yesterday evening....slight fever and achey legs. He ASKED to go to bed at 6:30 so I KNOW something is up.

Here is a cute little poem that I really like. Maybe because I have boys?

The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay

There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

What is it with Thursdays?

I'm so lazy feeling today....thank goodness I've adopted this thought of just Latin and Math be the center of our education. Get the basics down and let the rest fall where they may.

A riddle for you: Which side of a gorilla is the hairiest????

I'll let you ponder on that a bit and post the answer later.

Planning.....

I'm in the midst of planning for our new school year to start July 11th. I love this part of homeschooling. But then it also seems so monumental to me. Do I write everything down in a planning book? Do I just make a planning sheet for each subject for the whole year? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Each year I read the different posts on my favorite sites and then try to decide which one will REALLY work for me. Procrastination is in my blood and I'm married to a procrastinator too, so sometimes I just have to dig deep to get it done.

I did receive a big box of books yesterday....so pretty and new and just gorgeous! I just love to sit and look at them on my shelf...silly, huh? Nah!

Finally completed the re-vamping.....

I hope nothing happens to my blog this time! I think I like the looks of it better this time. I wanted something bright but then I wanted something "Classical" looking. I think this is good. I hope to add more little things along....like one great lady told me "content is most important, then looks".

Now you may ask....

WHAT do cats have to do with Classical education? In a word? NOTHING! :) I just happen to like cats (you can see the pix of my sweet kitties in the photo album on the sidebar). Also I'm not too imaginative when it comes to naming blogs or what have you. I figured I would combine two things that I like and here I am.

Today is going well. As usual, I stayed up too late and got up too late so any type of "time schedule" is off, but it is working out well. We will have the main subjects completed by lunchtime and the rest is just icing on the classical cake. We are really enjoying our Latin studies. Prima is working out so well for us. Even Sweet Pea 2 is picking up some words here and there. Although I doubt I can get the little guys to use "Mea Culpa" anytime soon! LOL At least for everything we do I can say "Deo Gratias"....for those that don't know Latin...Mea Culpa = My fault and Deo Gratias = Thanks be to God.

Something weird is going on....

In case you tuned in to look at my blog today, something crazy happened! It was there one minute and then gone the next! All of my code had disappeared in template! So I think I'll be changing the password and starting over....sigh. Check back later.

It wasn't so good after all...........

granted it was partly my fault. But I think Sweet Pea 1 learned something. Mondays are always hard for us to get started back to school after the weekend and ESPECIALLY hard after having a little over a week off for our break. You'd think I had learned my lesson by now, but alas, that is not the case. We did a few lessons this morning and a little playing, a little piano practice and a little more playing. Then wouldn't you know? The neighbor child came home from school early!!!! Well, life isn't life without playing with the Mad Child all day! (so sarcastic!) So since SP1 had not finished his lessons nor piano practice, things got awfully hairy. I've never seen so many tears and such an attitude. I took care of the attitude. That just left the tears. But a hard lesson to learn is a good lesson to learn.....always get your priorities straight and THEN you can play to your heart's content. Or at least until dinner time.

So, guess what time we will be finished with our lessons tomorrow? I'm SURE it will be quite early. ;)

Today is another day....

The last 5 weeks of our school year start today. I'm so burned out and tired. Ready for a BIG break. We did take all last week off which helped some. Since I'm so intrigued with Latin and math being the center of our education, I might just cut back to just that along with reading and piano for another week and see how I feel. Sweet Pea 1 fights me tooth and nail when it comes to our spelling program. I think that is part of the reason for my burn out. He says "I never get time to play". I have reminded him how he would have a lot less time in regular school. I think he is just ready for a big break too.

I decided this year that we would go to a pretty much year round schedule with breaks here and there (about every 5-6 weeks or so) and it has worked out nicely. We will be finishing up one week after the public schools here do. I had really intended on going about 2 weeks past that, taking 4 weeks off, and starting our new school year July 11. I will have all the required days in for the State reporting so I think instead of my original plan we will take 6 weeks off and start our new year July 11. We can still read (which we always do) and that is some of the best learning. Teach them to read and then can learn forever.

I'm so proud of my boys...

Sweet Pea 1 and Sweet Pea 2. It seems that SP1 knows just the way to get up front at all activities he attends! That landed him and SP2 with their picture in one of the local papers! ALSO they will have their picture in a magazine in June petting a 4 year old alligator. This happened at the Earth Day celebration at a nearby nature park.

Popeye is taking them now to work on their own nature project....our backyard. SP1 was to figure out how many stepping stones we need and SP2 gets to figure out how he wants to design the flowers. What a guy that Popeye is!

Getting started

Here I am....jumping on the blog bandwagon. I never thought I would do this, but I started thinking that I spend so much time on the computer and need a place to type up my thoughts. This might just be the thing.

I really feel lost.....I don't have a CLUE how to make mine look so cool like everyone else's...I guess I'll just click around and figure it out.

So much to do toward the end of this homeschool year and planning for the next one. I think taking 6 weeks off will be just right vs. the 4 weeks I originally thought.