If you haven’t already been, stop by Montessori for Everyone and get your new downloads! I like her monthly work plans even better than the Little City plans. Very feasible! No bells and whistles but you can be sure if you cover these things you will have a good foundation upon which to add great read alouds, art/music appreciation, and notebook projects. Bear in mind when you see headings in the plan such as "long vowel/short vowel" or "synonyms" or "addition problems" you can also insert file folder games into those slots.
Oh Pretty! – Nov edition
The Pleasant View Schoolhouse reminded me of a site I haven’t visited in a long time, Cath Kidston. This online store has a very Laura Ashley feel to it. Actually more of a vintage Laura Ashley feel, the way that company looked while the founder was still alive. Makes me smile just surfing <g>
Do visit Pleasant View while you are out and about. The photography from her son (15!!) is truly astounding. (to see more click their right sidebar to visit the Pleasant View Photographer) It is another ‘breath of fresh air’ site. I find it both relaxing and encouraging. Lots of white space on both sites so they have a gallery type effect making it easy to process the different images.
So there you have it – a double Oh Pretty! : ) I will be uploading more binder inserts later.
Dinah Zike cancer update
Lapbook and manipulative fans know Dinah Zike is a household name in this industry. I just recieved this from her mailing and thought I would pass it on so as to increase the prayers heading her way:
"Dear Friends in Education,
On Sept. 1st of this year I was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Needless to say, the diagnosis was totally unexpected, very
shocking, and completely life-changing, but as hundreds of thousands
of women have experienced before me, it is surmountable! My husband,
Ignacio, has been by my side and continues to help me daily as he
does his architectural work from home, and Cecile (who has been with
me 18 years) and all the employees of my company are keeping things
moving forward as my energy level is greatly reduced.
I had a mastectomy on Sept. 20th, and I am doing very well. The
cancer had spread to three lymph nodes, but they removed 14 to be
safe. I am slowly recovering a wider range of arm movement on my left
side, but still experience great discomfort from nerve ending
damage. I hear this, too, will subside with time. The cancer was a
Grade 3 cell (very deformed and fast growing), and I started
chemotherapy on Oct. 19. I will have six months of chemo and then 5-6
weeks of radiation. I was neither estrogen nor progesterone positive,
so I will not be able to take the new oral cancer medications, but
will take an IV drug called Herceptin for a year instead. I’ve had a
port/cath implanted in my upper right chest to receive the next 16
months of IV treatments.
They say I will lose my hair within the next few weeks, and I’m
definitely going to be thinner! Ignacio says he is going to shave his
head when I lose my hair, but I’m not sure I want him to. I think at
least one of us should have hair. I’m going to get a very short hair
cut the end of this week; I’ve always been afraid to try it–now is
the time!
My cancer was NOT detectable by self examination, and it could not be
felt once the mammogram showed its exact location. Please stress the
importance of mammograms to those you love. I want to share my
experiences with breast cancer in hope that other women will be
encouraged to go for regular tests. I was scheduled to go in May, but
postponed it until Sept. I am so fortunate we found it when we did,
what if I had waited another year? Don’t wait!
I am enjoying my time at home immensely, and I’m able to write and
design! I’m currently working on and supervising the production of
new Foldable Math manipulatives, my long overdue World History book
(which is nearly ready!) and four new language arts books for
phonics, vocabulary, and spelling. I am looking forward to being home
with my family this fall and holiday season.
My workshops have been canceled until late Spring ’07(hopefully I’ll
be doing short conference presentations by late Spring, too). We will
also continue Dinah Zike Academy trainer-of-trainer sessions in
February ’07. As many of you know, my Academy is held in historic
Comfort, Texas, in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and I look
forward to working with visiting teachers just a few blocks from our
home. Check the DZAcademy website http://www.dzacademy.com for dates
and classes offered.
I thank you for your support through the years, and ask you to help
me continue to share my Foldables and three-dimensional interactive
graphic organizers with students and teachers.
My husband and I are blessed. We thank you deeply for your prayers
and best wishes, and I look forward to seeing you at workshops and
conferences in the near future.
Dinah Zike"
The Home Mgt Journal – contacts/other pages
I am jumping ahead to my Contacts….
Faith, and….
Other dividers since I have an appt this am and need to run soon. There are fewer downloads for these sections. Under Contacts I have two downloads available – the Phone Number page Download phone_number_share_page.doc . You can cut the name and number words and insert your own obviously. If you have committee meetings or whatnot you would want your contact people’s info here. I printed a second Phone contact page and have it posted near the phone as easy reference. There is also an address book page Download address_book_page.doc . If you would like additional non-illustrated filler pages simply "cut" the graphic and then ‘copy and paste’ the name/address/phone lines multiple times on a blank Word document.
Under Faith you may want to keep a liturgical calendar, feast day/holiday tips or calendar countdowns, gift ideas, prayer requests Download prayer_requests.doc , and so on. My download Download traditional_liturgical_calendar.doc follows the Traditional Catholic calendar but you can cut and paste the current Catholic calendar into the same format page and change the fonts to Edwardian and Garamond. This is a large document fwiw.
Other? Well you decide. : ) If you think of some inserts that would be especially nice to have send them my way and I will format more pages. Ok – off to the midwife to measure this baby!
Clique TV
Ok this was fun! The people who bring you Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks and Paper Crafts mags have now produced this new site Clique TV with little daily inspirational web-isodes with your favorite (or my favorite as the case may be lol!) scrap artists. Check it out!
Montessori Freebie
Someone on the montessorimakers yahoo egroup just posted this link to printable control charts for the science puzzles. They would make great templates for 3 part cards or whatnot.
Home-making Perspective
There was a wonderful reminder on A Clean Heart this week. While we are working to organize, simplify, structure our houses and schedules we must not lose sight of our true goal – making a "home". More wonderful quotes come from Secrets of a Happy Home Life published in 1894:
"There are people sheltered in houses, which are not homes."
on a home:
"It may be a fine, great house, with rich furniture, costly pictures, and all the elegance of wealth; or it may be a little house, with four rooms, cheap furniture, homemade carpets, and empty of adornment. It makes very little difference what the size of the house, or what its furniture may be. The happiness of the home does not depend on the house or on what it contains; the people who live in the house MAKE happiness, – or mar it."
and never forget:
"Few things we can do in the this world are so well worth doing as the making of a beautiful and happy home. He who does this builds a sanctuary for God and opens a fountain of blessing for men. For more than we know, do the strength and beauty of our lives depend upon the home in which we dwell. He who goes forth in the morning from a happy, loving, prayerful home into the world’s strife, temptation, struggle, and duty, is strong – inspired for noble and victorious living. the children who are brought up in a true home go out trained and equipped for life’s battles and tasks, carrying in their hearts a secret of strength which will make them brace and loyal to God, and will keep them pure in the world’s severest temptations."
Wow! Could we possibly we need more motivation than that?
The Home Mgt Journal – Housekeeping Forms/lists
Ok I think we are back on track here if a bit soggy. ; ) I have to share what a true blessing it was that we were all caught up on laundry, dishes and so on when the power went out. It is entirely possible with 9 people that two days without utilities could have meant many MANY days of catch up. As it was we were right back to where we needed to be within 24 hrs. This routine works!
Like I mentioned previously we divided the house into zones and assigned a zone per day Monday-Saturday. Sunday is a day of rest. This is the cleaning method used for over 100 years in this country as evidenced by the charming Day of the Week dishtowels that used to be standby’s in homemaker’s kitchens. My illustrated lists are here for download. You may need to combine or divide these lists depending upon the configuration and uses of your rooms.
Another resource I have been fascinated with of late is the book Home Comforts: the Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. This is not a light read but it literally explains in great detail the proper way to clean and maintain just about ANYthing you own – from your stove to your terrier. She lays out exactly how long your leftovers are safe, the attributes of various fabrics and when fabric care labels may be safely ignored, how to care for your wood floors (hint: old wives tails are not always accurate here, I learned!),when you want an acidic or alkaline based cleaner, and more. Much more. Almost nine HUNDRED pages more. For about $13 used you can’t beat this for an essential reference book. it will take you from cleaning hunches to cleaning assurances. You may not elect to do all the jobs she recommends on the schedule she recommends but when you do them you can be certain they are being done correctly.
Here are the lists in my Housekeeping Binder at the moment:
Download make_your_own_cleaning_solutions.doc basic cleaner recipes from the net and varied sources
Download bedroom_day.doc Bedrooms
Download bathroom_cleaning_checklist.doc Bathrooms
Download living_room.doc Living/family rooms
Download dining_room_cleaning_list.doc Dining rooms
Download kitchen_cleaning_checklist.doc Kitchen
Download vehicle_cleaning_checklist.doc Cars
Download emergency_quick_clean.doc emergency quick clean plan. This is actually what we do for basic daily housecleaning.
Download cleaning_grand_plan.doc This is adapted from the Cleaning Grand Plan from Organized Home. It is a LARGE document – about 12 pages. It can be used for a one-time, concentrated, whole house cleaning.
The Big Snow
If you are wondering where your journal inserts are I can tell you now – inside this computer where they have been locked for a few days now due to the Colorado Storm of ’06! We have been OUTside of here in the RV with the Ranchhands for the duration. The power went out early Thurs am and didn’t return until late last night. Fortunately we all got to sleep inside the house last night. (thank you for your prayers!!)
We are catching up and mopping up snow puddles and so on this morning. I hope to be back on track with uploads shortly. Meantime you can check out what happens when a prairie snow is coupled with 
gale force winds. The boys are standing on an icy drift that is literally as high as the fence posts. And the other pic is the INside of the barn door. The snow pushed through every crack and space in the exterior walls and doors.
The Home Mgt Journal – Design Basics and quote pages
Charlotte asked for some specifics in creating a journal from the ground up. First I used a 2in clearview binder.It has a plastic sleeve outside so you can slip a paper inside. I surfed Two Peas in a Bucket under ‘planners’ for design inspiration. Then hit the craft store. They sell all sorts of coordinated paper lines. It really doesn’t matter which you get but a set that coordinates makes all the difference imo. Then you might want to choose some ribbon, stickers, or the like to accessorize. Again if you use the same line of products it’s hard to go wrong.
Pick a font, or use my templates and just highlight them and then switch to your desired font if you wish. Mine are Word fonts which you all should have. The ones used for Elizabeth’s were AL Age Old Love from Two Peas which looked most like Susan Branch’s writing. You can download those from the store section. They run about $3 a set and will download right into your Word program.
Get a set of page protectors and make your dividers. Print off the divider labels from the last post and cut and paste to your patterned paper. You might want to mount them on a piece of solid color paper first to set the titles off nicely. Slip those into protectors. Get clear index labels to mount the labels on the sides of the divider pages so you can find them easily.
I used 12 by 12 paper to cover the front. It needed a bit of trimming but it covers it all. If you get 8×11 it won’t go all the way across. (read: cheesey!) Measure the side of your binder. Then you can print off a cover spine: Download binder_spine.doc . You can use this one but then you will want to mount it on a larger rectangle the exact size of your binder spine. If you aren’t used to changing text direction in Word it will save you that step. If you look at the top of your document before printing you can change the font and color by highlighting the text and hitting the "A" with the colors underneath right by the font box on the top toolbar.
I also printed off an inspirational quote for each section of the journals. I had seen some women’s journals with parts of Proverbs 31. I also liked some other famous quotes about order and such so I mixed mine up. After printing, these are slipped in the same page protector as the divider page – on the back side of it.
Download health_divider_quote.doc
Download housekeeping_divider_quote.doc
Download contacts_divider_quote.doc
Download faith_divider_quote.doc
That is that. You can then start printing the articles, lists, and whatnot and filing them in the appropriate sections. I would keep all of those in page protectors also unless you are including a calendar you will be writing on. In that case include a nice pen. Gold or black is motivating imo!
Next up are the housekeeping lists. Bear with me. Late pregnancy and my need to actually LIVE this are trumping writing about it. Unfortunately I know too well how easy it is to be snowed under in no time. : /
Starry Sky Journal 
