Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day (Apologia) Review

Grace-Filled Writer

I have heard such wonderful things about Apologia Educational Resources for all ages and I was thrilled when the opportunity to review one of their courses came my way! My girls love all things science: books, experiments, projects, research…for them it is pure pleasure. I have always been partial to learning about the seas. I, like so many other kids, thought being a marine biologist would be the coolest job ever when I was a kid.

What is it about the ocean that captivates us? The creatures are mysterious on many levels. They have different qualities than us land lubbers! Just the fact that they breathe underwater is enough to make most kids dream of having fins of their own!

There are two items needed for a year’s worth of science curriculum: The text book and a notebooking journal for all students participating. The text book costs $39.00 and the notebooking journals are $24.00 each. One of the beautiful parts of this curriculum is it covers a wide age range including kindergarten through 6th grade. For a high quality science curriculum which keeps God as the Creator, I feel this price is well worth it.

I was impressed with the simplicity of Apologia’s Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. The introduction contains a simple, thorough explanation of the logic behind the scope and sequence as well as a complete breakdown of the types of activities the students will work on with each unit. The Step-by-Step guide follows giving further clarification of how to teach this course. Finally you find a list of supplies followed by the table of contents. I also love how often Scripture is incorporated into each lesson.

The photographs for each section are stunning. They captivated my daughter at first glance! For each chapter students complete experiments, narration (retelling what the story is about in the students’ own words), notebook pages, and a continuing ocean box project. Some days I read aloud to Rose and other days she read to herself. She did well with comprehension both ways.

Rose’s favorite chapter so far was the one on sharks and rays. I read this particular chapter aloud to her this week and she loved coloring the pages at the beginning of the chapter. I’m not sure why, but I have found my girls all listen better when I read if their minds are engaged in drawing or doing another quiet activity at the same time. I thought it was great she only colored while I read and took several days to finish it.


One of my favorite aspects of this curriculum is picking out favorite facts and recording them in the Junior Notebooking Journal. Rose loves science and she really loved recording what she found in her journal. She has gone back to look at her facts several times! I also love the extra cursive practice she is getting! Rose would tell me the facts, I wrote them in cursive on the board, then she copied them into her journal.

I’m slowly working towards Rose doing all of her work in cursive. This was a great transition step into more cursive. I was so proud of how neat her cursive is already! After the students finish their facts they get to draw a picture of what they are studying in the box beside the facts. Rose loves this because, as I said before, she loves art. I love how this science course incorporates so many different aspects of learning.

The older students have their own notebook. This is great for families who want to combine their children for learning science. This won’t work for us for a few years, but when all of my girls are old enough I really like this option.

I have heard wonderful things about Apologia, and I was not disappointed! This is an excellent science curriculum grounded in Scripture. To see more reviews of this great curriculum click the link below!

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 2: Review and Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer
Having three young girls to teach every day means I have had to train them all from day one to be somewhat independent because I have to work with each of my girls independently. This is not too difficult for Rose (2nd grade) and Beth (kindergartner) but Grace (Pre-K3) is entirely different. She’s in the beginning stages of this training.
You might wonder how this works with one so young. First of all, she sits right beside me while I teach her sisters, but the activities I give her require minimal participation on my part except for showing her how to do the activity. When she was two we used the idea of busy bags, although they weren’t in bags! Now that she has progressed academically far beyond what I expected for her age I’ve had to get a little more creative. Having challenging hands-on-manipulatives are a key element to this training.  
I love the activities made by Julie from Make, Take, & Teach, especially the Cookie Sheet Challenges! The entire Cookie Sheet Challenge series focuses on early literacy and mathematical concepts. I am thrilled to be able to review two of these sets over the next two weeks and giveaway a copy of each to one blessed reader! 
Grace surprised me one day a few months back when she showed me she recognized numbers all the way up to 20! I was expecting to be teaching her this skill, not having her show me she already knew it. Then she proceeded to look at the number and use counters to match the number. What do you do with a three-year-old, or any age, who has already mastered these skills but is still too young to move into other areas of math? Julie has created a wonderful, hands-on manipulative which is challenging my little smarty pants while not delving into some of the more complex areas of math! Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 2 focuses on number order, recognition, and other early math concepts. 
All you need is provided in the downloadable pdf file available at the Make Take Teach, Teachers Pay Teacher’s store for $5.25. You provide the paper, a printer, magnets, and cookie sheet large enough to place a piece of standard letter sized paper. Full instructions for creating these manipulatives are also included. Rather than gluing magnets to printed numbers, I opted to purchase two packages of magnetic number sets from our local dollar store. I also like using photo paper rather than card stock. The pages last longer and gives a laminated feel without the expense of lamination. 
Grace couldn’t wait to get her hands on these. I had everything sitting in the schoolroom the night before I planned for her to start using them and she begged me to get them out! There are many activities included. The first pages she worked on were number recognition. I like that the words are written under the printed number so she can begin to associate them together. Several pages like this are included in the set with numbers missing so eventually the student is putting in all the numbers!
Another activity that Grace really enjoyed was using counters. Students are intended to find the matching number word for the digit, but since Grace isn’t there yet I just had her match the numbers and count using her star counters. She loved this and counted so well! This is her finished cookie sheet. She’s very proud of herself! 

There are many other activities included to help students learn to count all the way to 100 as well as remembering what numbers come before and after one another. These can be used in so many ways for several different ability levels.

I was snapping pictures while she worked, but except for changing the pages and a simple explanation Grace worked completely on her own. This is an excellent example of how I train them to work on their own. I used to just try to get Grace to play on her own in another room, but that failed miserably! She of course wanted to be with everyone else and like many younger siblings wanted to do school like her big sisters! Manipluatives like these from Make Take Teach have been the answer for how to meet her needs.
Now for one of you to get to win this set! Yay!!!!
(And check back next Monday for another Cookie Sheet Challenge giveaway!!!!)

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Disclaimer
I received Cookie Sheet Challenge 2 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Week in Review: January 28 – February 1

Grace-Filled Writer

We are finally…FINALLY…back to regular school around here! Christmas break lasted longer than expected. While we’ve done some basics and had a lot of fun with some unique field trips, I am incredibly grateful to be back to our Heart of Dakota curriculum. Now, without any more waiting, here is our week!

(I got a little picture happy. I’m just so excited to be back on routine!)

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 12

This week we studied about Samuel. Grace enjoyed our finger play this week for the letter J which retold the story of Hannah and Samuel. This also taught her the days of the week in order which she learned very quickly!

Grace constantly asks how to spell words because she hears her sisters do this. She just writes some lines and has been happy with that. Until this week! She started copying letters when I wrote them down for her with good precision for her age. (Don’t you love Beth’s quirky face in the background?)

We did several Do-A-Dot pages for J as well. If you are unfamiliar with Do-A-Dot markers you should try them out! I bought mine with a coupon from a craft store to make them pretty inexpensive and all three of my girls love them! There are some really neat art projects you can do with these as well.

I also finished up making a few manipulatives. I found this idea on pinterest and it has been in the back of my mind for several months now. I pulled out some Easter eggs and my sweet Grace started working on matching lower case and upper case letters!

She still loves her workbooks from Rod and Staff. I can’t believe how much her tracing skills have improved! She takes more time now thinking about the answers and looks forward to doing a page every day. I can’t say enough good things about Rod and Staff! They showcase a simpler time and way of life. I love that about these books.
We are also very excited because Grace is now fully potty trained! It has been a long journey, but after 7 1/2 years of changing diapers this season is ending. We celebrated by going out for pizza (my husband usually makes it homemade). 
Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 17

Beth has benefited the most from our regular schedule. She tends to not know what to do with herself when we aren’t doing what we normally do and ends up pestering her sisters to pieces! We studied about Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection, His ascension, and Pentecost. She was much more focused on our history readings than she had been before Christmas. I think she’s starting to grow into her schoolwork more.
One of the highlights for Beth was practicing telling others about Jesus and how to become a Christ-follower. She practiced by telling her pony, who she happily reported later decided to become a Christian. My favorite way she described what it meant to be a Christian when I asked was, “It means that you grow closer to Jesus!”
I started a new activity this week called word ladders. Beth started with a three letter word and changed the word, one letter at a time based on the clues given. It was a great way to practice critical thinking and spelling. 
She studied her Bible verse and did an excellent job memorizing it. The verse says, “Where two or more are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” My favorite part was when she said, “midist” instead of “midst” 🙂 So sweet! 
For science we made raisins rise and fall which fascinated the girls! I love all of the fun experiments found in Little Hearts for His Glory. They are interactive and always relate back to the history we are studying. 
These are the moments I love about homeschooling. Of course we have difficult days, weeks, and even months…but getting to see the joy of learning as it happens. What an amazing blessing! 
Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 18

Rose is always studious. She is very serious about her schoolwork and tries hard to do her best. She likes the hands on activities, but gets a little shy when I pull the camera out.  
History is always fun for Rose. I’m excited because when she got to narration this week she did such a fabulous job! Narration is asking the student to retell what they just read in their own words. This is new to us both, so I wasn’t even sure how to teach this to her. She struggled to retell and especially in her own words until this week. She retold me the information about Robert Fulton, who is credited with creating the first successful steamboat. It was fun to listen! (Yes, that is an Angry Bird…and a Piggie)
We’re trying out a new Science curriculum which Rose really likes. This week we focused on sharks and manta rays. I’m not going to share too much…yet! The information is presented very scientifically, but with a clear understanding of God as Creator. The pictures are stunning! That’s all I’ll say for now because I’ll be reviewing this in another week and I can’t wait to tell all about how much we are loving it!
 You can see on the board the facts listed about the creation of the steamboat. Rose found these all on her own from our history readings. She’s working on the third book from All About Spelling. Her spelling improves constantly with this program and she is able to think through how to spell at times when she isn’t working on spelling. 
The last area of great improvement I’m seeing is Rose’s cursive. She writes 3-5 sentences about a journal prompt I write in her journal. She has been practicing cursive since last winter and I asked her to start writing her journals in cursive this year. What a beautiful job she is doing! The hardest for Rose has been remembering how to form the letters as she is writing. For now, everything else is printing, but I hope to slowly transfer her into all cursive. 
We also had a few visitors this week…
This is Ebi the Panda. She was reading Frog and Toad. 
Yes, this is a Bomb Bird and a Bad Piggie…don’t judge!
And our last visitor was Zoe, our sweet kitty! Beth in particular loves her! 
I hope you had a wonderful week as well! Be on the lookout for some great giveaways over the next couple of weeks and lots of reviews for the TOS Review Crew! We have been enjoying lots of great products and you’re going to enjoy taking a peek into what we’ve had to try out new! 

Week in Review: January 21-25

Grace-Filled Writer

This was our last week of being off schedule! I’m extremely ready to get everyone back on track. Our family has been off routine for much too long. I can’t wait to start back with Heart of Dakota again next week. I’ve really missed the structure of our regular days.

Just because we’re not having our regular school doesn’t mean we aren’t learning! Rose received Word Rummy for Christmas and we had a good time playing this game! Not only did she and Beth practice their spelling and learned a few new words, Rose also practiced her addition by adding up everyone’s scores! It was good for her to feel confident in adding the scores because she is less confident in math.
To improve geography skills we played Ticket to Ride. This is currently one of our favorites! Rose really loves this game and I think it’s a great way for her to work on map skills as well as strategies on how to get the different cities to connect. 
One last game we played was Lego Creation. I’m not sure what category Lego’s fit into, but Grace really enjoyed finding matching pieces and then building the design. I have since learned this game is not available anymore to purchase and am thrilled that my in-laws found it at a yard sale! 
Before we left Florida a good friend gave us a tour of the Hollywood Fire Department! Click the picture to read all about our fabulous trip! 
Okay…so there really wasn’t anything educational about our trip to Dairy Queen, but boy was it yummy! 
Because of bad weather headed our way at home we had to cut our trip short, but when we got home we were greeted with some wintry weather. I would have loved more snow rather than ice, but the girls had a great time with our neighbors. 
Yay for a much needed break, and double yay for being back on routine next week!
Now if I can just get the house back in order from being off routine…

Field Trip: Hollywood Fire Station

Grace-Filled Writer
Are you looking for a fun, new experience for your kids to beat the winter blahs? I suggest the fire station! We have a good friend who attends my in-laws church and happily showed us around the busiest station in Hollywood, FL. Mark truly loves his job and he was such a great guide!

This station has an engine, a bucket truck, and an EMS truck as well as two back-up EMS trucks which are mostly used for events like football games. Mark currently works on the EMS truck.

Mark took time to show the girls what was in every compartment of the engine, explain all about the different hoses, show which tools were most important to the fire fighters, and answered all of our questions. The girls asked a lot about the different knobs and buttons they saw on the truck. We also found out that the most common calls the EMS truck gets are, “I’m not feeling well,” from the elderly.

The girls even got to try holding some of the equipment and were surprised just how heavy it was!

My husband also tried out some of the equipment. He commented how heavy it must be to carry just the air tank for a long time, let alone adding on everything else. The girls enjoyed watching Daddy get fitted for a tank!

One of Mark’s fireman friends, Emmanuel, put on all his gear and showed everything to the girls. He was so nice and Rose was fascinated, but Grace and Beth were a little intimidated. It was great for them to see and Mark made sure to tell them that if they were ever in a fire and saw someone dressed like this coming toward them not to run away because they were the good guys there to help them. I had never thought about it, but for a kid in trouble who is already scared, this would be pretty intimidating.

(Daddy got in this picture because of the nervous girls!)
Beth helped close one of the compartments on the truck. She was overwhelmed and didn’t ask as many questions as Rose, but she had a great time and enjoyed herself the whole time. 
We also saw where the rescue workers hang out and eat while not on a call…
where they do their laundry…
where they find their calls…
and where they hang their equipment!

This was not only an informative and very interesting field trip for the girls, it also helped them see rescue workers as real people and I hope would help them from being scared if they were ever in need of them. Everyone at the fire station took time to come over and meet us and say hello to my girls. I love that we were able to be shown around by a friend. It made everything more personal and memorable for all of us. 
Here’s a great big, “Thank You!” to Mark and all of the other rescue workers at Station 5 of the Hollywood Fire and Rescue Department!

Week in Review: January 14-18

Grace-Filled Writer

This week can be described as…learning through experience! We tagged along with my husband to a conference at Hilton Head, South Carolina last week. Such a hardship, right?!? Our family had a great time! We always like to try to find new experiences for the girls whenever we travel and seek out kid-friendly sites, museums, and activities. While there wasn’t any formal book-learning, I would say there was a large amount of experiential learning this week!

Considering we were only visiting for about a day and a half we managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun! Here is a peek from all of our fun…

This small museum is packed with educational fun for the entire family!
Since our homeschool is Lighthouse Christian Academy I like to take the girls to any lighthouses we come close to in our travels!
The Seashore
I was so excited to hear my Rose teaching her sisters about the shore because of what she learned from science this year with Heart of Dakota!

Field Trip: The Seashore

Grace-Filled Writer

No matter what we do when we go away we strive to give our girls opportunities to experience as much fun as possible!

We were blessed with extremely mild weather while visiting Hilton Head, South Carolina. I had already warned my girls that we could walk on the beach and see the ocean, but it was probably going to be too cold to do anything else. I am happy to be wrong! While my husband was in one of his meetings I took the girls and we bought sand pails and shovels…and a few other things!

Rose, Beth, and Grace desperately wanted to get in the water, but it was way too cold. I did allow them to dip their toes in (thinking in my motherly wisdom that the iciness would cure her curiosity), but unfortunately that just tempted my girls more!

My favorite moment was when Rose told her sisters they needed to back up from the waterline because the tide was going to be coming in soon. She explained that she had been watching the water and it would soon wash away their efforts. She also created a model of what the ocean floor looked like with seashells and water on top and explained to her sisters how the water as clear, not blue, like it appears. What a blessing to hear her teaching her sisters things she learned earlier this year as we studied the seashore. 

They also chased some gulls…


And I had the chance to read…

We want our girls to recognize God’s hand in their moments, enjoy life, see everything as a learning opportunity, and grow to become friends as well as sisters. The beach provided opportunity for all of those. 

Field Trip: Harbour Town Lighthouse

Grace-Filled Writer

When I was anticipating the trip to Hilton Head Island, SC I immediately wanted to look for the nearest lighthouse. My husband and I have always been partial to lighthouses. We love the symbolic nature they have for us as Christians. When deciding on a name for our homeschool which is required by our state I emailed him a list of several options. Within just a few minutes he replied that Lighthouse Christian Academy was the winner.

The Harbour Town Lighthouse is smaller than others I have seen, but I love the beautiful pattern it is painted. As you make the trek up the 114 steps you are treated to a history of the island and lighthouse. There is a gift shop at the top with many collectibles.

Originally we planned on all making the trip to the top…but since I was still recovering from surgery I missed out on this one. I wasn’t sure how the girls would do on the way up, but my husband said they did fine. This entire post is from what I was told second hand about their adventure. I was shopping!

We made it!

The staff was extremely friendly and was kind enough to replace a ceramic ring we bought my daughter that she accidentally dropped outside on the concrete. My dear husband ran…he’s a marathon runner, so no big deal…to the top to purchase a replacement and they gave him one instead.

Back at the bottom

Although the girls enjoyed themselves, this was not their favorite outing. It did follow The Sandbox, they were tired after also playing on the beach that morning, but even without those things I wouldn’t say this was a highlight for them. My husband and I really like this kind of thing and I am disappointed I didn’t get to make the jaunt.

There are a few things to consider before taking young kids up to the top. Although 114 steps doesn’t seem too bad for a lighthouse, it is pretty tiring on little legs. Also, when you get to the top it opens right into the gift shop with lots of breakables, so be wary of little ones getting ahead of you!

Here are some views from the top…

I’m not really boat person, but these look so pretty in the harbor!
I would love to explore those islands sometime!
God blessed us with such beautiful weather during our visit!
This is my husband’s golf envy shot!







Field Trip Rating
Family Friendly: 7
Kids Engagement: 5
Likelihood to return: 3 (Unless the kids aren’t along) 

Field Trip: The Sandbox – An Interactive Children’s Museum

Grace-Filled Writer

Whenever we can we join my pastor-husband when he travels to conferences. Not only is it a chance for us to connect with other families in ministry, often within our own denomination, but we also try to take time for new family adventures along the way. I was a little skeptical when I found out we’d be traveling to Hilton Head, SC in January. The beach sounds great, but in January? Anticipating cold weather I began searching for some fun experiences for the girls.

The Sandbox is one experience for elementary children you will not want to miss! This interactive experience for kids kept my girls thoroughly engaged for our entire visit. To be honest, they could have happily stayed much longer. The museum is divided into themed rooms where children can fully interact in a variety of ways. 
The staff were friendly and welcoming as we entered, asking that we stay together as a family and make sure the kids pick up after themselves. I was pleased to see the effort which was put into encouraging this to be a family time, not just a chance for parents to have a break while the kids played. Let me tell you, we all had fun! 
Each picture is linked to more information about that exhibit. I hope you enjoy a peak into our experience at The Sandbox! 
All three girls enjoyed playing in a giant sand bowl in the Loggerhead Sandcastle room. The sand was what is known as moon sand or cloud dough. I have seen how to make this online several places, but I never imagined it could be so much fun! Since this is the first room we entered it took some time to move the girls forward to the next one. 
In the room called Builders of Tomorrow the girls tried out their skills at carpentry and construction. There is a simple pulley system as well as other kid-sized tools and activities which completely fascinated Grace. 

The Adventure was probably my personal favorite. The ocean captivated my imagination as a child and I would spend hours playing mermaids, imagining ocean voyages, and romanticizing a life at sea. I would have loved to get a better picture of this area, but my girls were all over this amazing ship! I couldn’t keep them in any one place long enough to capture their fun! One really cool feature here is the webcam. They called both sets of grandparents and waved hello from miles away! 

Onward we moved to Track The T-Rex. The girls didn’t spend as much time here, but they are more into pretend play rather than active play at this point. This was a neat experience for them to try rock climbing in a safe environment. Beth seemed to like this the best. She even posed multiple times on the wall for me as I tried to find the right setting on my camera! The kids can climb across from one wall to the next and try to reach the T-Rex at the end. 
By far the winning location for my girls was the cafe. Grace sold food to Beth, who in turn supplied the food to Rose, the chef, who cooked a fabulous meal for Mommy and Daddy on a date! We spent the most time here and this was the most difficult area to pull them away from. We had fun being on a date and Rose took our picture. 
There was a really great economics lesson in here that I didn’t even have to teach! Grace told Beth how much something was, but since Beth said she didn’t have very much money she had to ask Rose what they needed most at the restaurant. Grace also kept her shelves well stocked and Rose kept her kitchen neat and orderly. Watching them do all these things on their own really made me realize just how grown up they are becoming! 
Just beside the cafe is an area set up to be a bank called the SCTB Bank. Rose demonstrated her fabulous math and money skills by giving money in return for a check. She loved the challenge!
Other exhibits downstairs include An International Bazaar (kids can pretend to fly an airplane), Charlie’s Perfect Playplace (perfect for toddlers), and Rhythm and Hues (an artists dream room!). You are encouraged to let your child explore the areas he/she wishes and since these didn’t capture their interest we moved on upstairs.

What an upstairs it is! I believe you could visit the Learner’s Loft multiple times and experience something new each time. Some of the cool stuff in this area are a model train, a puppet theater (which is being projected onto a large tv in real-time so the kids can see what they are performing), a veterinarian clinic, another art center, a gigantic light-bright, a light table, a reading nook, an interactive train table, more books, puzzles, and games than you can imagine! The girls enjoyed this area immensely. They each made an art project to take home with them. 

The best part about this experience for me was that it has inspired me to create some new learning adventures for the girls. Here is a list of what I hope to do over the next few weeks based on what I saw my girls interacting with.
1. Laminate several over-sized checks to help learn about adding money
2. Create some moon sand/cloud dough
3. Make their art supplies more accessible
4. Build a rock climbing wall…okay…so this one won’t be happening, but wouldn’t it be cool if we could?
As I was getting excited about our visit and began searching, I came across some reviews for this museum. Most of the reviews were extremely positive, but a few negative ones caught my eye. I wanted to address them because our experience was very different.
The first complaint was that there were too many rules. I felt the two guidelines we were given were more than reasonable. I really like the Collective Wisdom listed at the bottom of this page. I wish more parents would follow this all the time! The second complaint I read was that it was not clean. Again, this was not our experience at all. Yes, the building is older. Yes, the toys and activities are well loved. However, it was extremely clean, neat, and well-ordered. I even observed some of the staff cleaning the areas which weren’t being used. 
The last two complaints were about the name, a museum and charging adults admission. I feel both are rather petty complaints to be honest. It is not a typical museum with exhibits kids cannot touch…I’m glad! My children experienced, played, and learned for 2 hours. It is truly interactive and very kid-friendly. As far as admission, I felt the price was very reasonable ($7.00 per person) for an afternoon of fun play for the whole family. 
Here are my ratings on a 10 point scale…
Family Friendly: 10
Kids Engagement: 10
Likelihood to return: 10 (Although we don’t live very close!) 
Disclaimer
We received admission for our family to The Sandbox in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Week in Review: January 7-11

Grace-Filled Writer

Don’t miss out on your chance to win a year membership to either Clever Dragons or Always Ice Cream! The giveaways ends Sunday night, so make sure you enter and spread the word!

This week was more of the same as last since recuperating is taking longer than I imagined. I’m still taking it easy, but I’ve been able to be involved in more of the girls’ normal routines for meals and bedtime and it has been wonderful. Grace asks me multiple times a day if I’m all better yet and Beth has decided she’s going to be a nurse! This long journey has helped me appreciate many things. You can read about this on my devotional blog, Vintage Womanhood.

Rose and I started back at Deerstream Learning Center. She was glad to be back and is very excited to be learning about Canada!

I didn’t take time to take many pictures, but I did snap one which exemplifies what school has looked like the last two weeks!

We aren’t back to using our curriculum as we typically do, but have continued with math, handwriting, literature and critical thinking. 
Confession: It is difficult for me to be off routine. 
I can tend to be rather scatter brained and need structure so I can maintain order between school and home. One of the many things this season has taught me is God is in charge of my plans, not me. It is completely appropriate to make plans and prepare for the future. However there must be a balance between those plans and the understanding that at a moment’s notice those plans may have to be tossed to the side.
I’m looking forward to being back on full routine again in a few weeks, but I am doing my best to live in the moment and appreciate these less hectic days with my girls. 
I hope your week was fabulous!