Flowers for a Family

For those of you who heard the rumors, they are true. Somewhat. Yes, we are expecting a boy. No, I am not pregnant. We are adopting a not-so-little (6-year-old) boy from Taiwan. I plan to tell the story at mamacurls.blogspot.com over the next few months because we are only a month into this process and it has already been an amazing journey. This post is not to tell the story, but to ask for your prayers and love. This little boy needs a home and family and we would love to welcome him into ours. To raise funds to cover the many costs associated with his adoption, my daughters and I are making paper flowers like the one below. We can make these 3" beauties into lapel pins or hair clips and the colors are limitless. If you can bless us by praying, ordering flowers, or sending this along to your friends, we would be so grateful!  You can place your order at http://curlsandgrins.weebly.com/cards--announcements.html. Thanks so much!

Gearing Up for Year 1 of Tapestry of Grace

In the midst of summer travel and fun, I am gearing up for our family's first year of Tapestry of Grace.  The upcoming school year will be completely different from previous years, and not just because of Tapestry of Grace (that's another conversation).  In some ways I'm sure I have gone beyond necessity, but I am an organizer who has gone too long without organizing.  This has been my list of things to accomplish this summer:
Set up record keeping system: I found Homeschool Tracker to keep track of grades, attendance, and other school related information.  It's simple to use and free.  That's a great combination!  
Sort books: I went through all of our school books and divided them into three categories: use this year, use in the future and sell/give away.  While doing this, I also listed all of the books for this year in Homeschool Tracker.
Order books: After reviewing our library, I ordered books that we needed for our upcoming year.  In addition to the Tapestry of Grace curriculum, I ordered math and supplemental language arts materials.
Learn Tapestry of Grace (my favorite step!): I spent a couple of days perusing my new materials and becoming familiar with how the system works.  I wrote out lesson plans and made folders for each week and put the necessary materials in each week for each child.
Assemble supplies: My girls and I made a list of everything they wanted/needed in terms of supplies.  We sorted through what we already had and then went shopping for everything else.  Each child assembled her binders and put the supplies away in her drawer.
Order books (part 2): Today I ordered all of the literature we will use for the first few weeks of TOG.  I had three browsers open - my local library, my almost local library and Amazon.  I searched the libraries first, then ordered the book at Amazon if neither library had it.
Wait: Now that I have everything together, I will enjoy a week off before we start.  We are all eager to begin!