Hodgepodge

I've been away for awhile. Not away from home, but away from blogging. I've been keeping up with my favorite bloggers, but I just haven't had the motivation to blog for myself. Sometimes it just requires too much effort to sit down and put my thoughts into words. Not that I am some profound thinker/writer. The problem is that I am rarely profound, though I would like to be. Anyway, after a full day of homeschooling, cleaning, cooking, and whatever else happens to be on the agenda, I just don't have the energy to write. But I will try to do better about blogging more frequently. (I find that this is a common theme on my blog!)
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Anyway, I've been busy. I managed to get through the holidays without driving all of us crazy. It was a fun time and I wasn't really ready to get back to the routine. Since we started school again, I've also been teaching that geography class that I mentioned before. It's going well so far, for the most part. I am basically creating the class from scratch so I have to spend a fair amount of time each week in research and making activities. I want to make the class fun, so I keep trying to come up with fresh ideas. This week's class was the best so far. We were talking about Italy and some of the surrounding countries. Since the Olympics are beginning this week in Italy, I decided to do a Geography Olympics in class. I divided the class into teams and gave them a question. The first person to race to the board and write the correct answer earned a point for their team. They had a blast! I even game them some paper medals, which I thought that they might think was kind of lame. However, they all seemed to be quite proud. Of course, everyone got a medal, regardless of whether their team won. Anyway, it was a fun class. Now I just have to figure out what to do next week...and the week after...etc.
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I've also been helping the girls sell Girl Scout cookies. For some reason, and it's not something they really inherited from either of their parents, these girls love to sell. Maybe it's the challenge, maybe it's the chance to interact with lots of people. I don't know. But each year, they set out to surpass last year's numbers. Now last year they sold 408 and 503 boxes. That is a lot of cookies. Their goals this year, you ask--508 and 600. I don't know if I can take it. I keep trying to explain that they don't have to surpass their goals by 100 boxes--just a few more will do. They don't listen. Anyway, they have taken orders and they each have passed 450 boxes. They will probably get a few more orders, as well as sell at cookie booths at local grocery stores. I don't know whether Emily will reach 600, but I think it's safe to say she will pass last year's number. (Sigh). Now we have to deliver them all! Please pray for me!