The World According to Leslie

 There are a million-and-one things that go into homeschooling. Over the past four years, I have been making notes about the things we have needed, wanted, gotten, or gotten rid of in our homeschool.  Enjoy the ABCs of Homeschooling according to Leslie. (Please note that some letters may have more than one thing!   Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash A--Attitude; Art supplies; Art classes B--Books; Binders; Boldness; Bowling Balls C--Curriculum; Conferences; Computer; Compassion; Curiosity; Calculator; Classes D--Desk; Dinner; Dining Room; Decisions; Dishes E--Expectations F--Faith; Fun; Family; Flashlights; Forgiveness; Fairness G--Goals; Grace; God; Google H--Humility; Help; Home; Hot Chocolate; Honesty I--Integrity; Intensity; Imagination J--Jammies; Jokes K--Kids; Kindness; Kidding L--Library Card; Love; Lesson Plans; Learning M--Mentor; Mind; Mental Health N--Notebooks; Neatness; Niceness; Noise; Notes O--Openness; Open-mindedness; Outings; Obedience  P--Pencils; Pens; Paper; Paren

  If I have said it once, I've said it a million times, I love writing. I want to be able to make a living at it. I would love to build this blog so that it will make money. How do I do that?  There are several ways, but getting consistent with writing, planning out my posts, and getting consistent views are some of the ways.  Obviously, if I am consistent with my writing, the views will come. In order to be consistent in writing, I have to get my posts planned. I have a notebook with a list and several planned out posts. Do I actually sit and type them? NO! Should I? YES!  Here are some thoughts about planning: Needs: --Post Ideas                     Don't get me wrong; I have ideas. I just don't always write them down, and then I lose them.  --Education                    I need to learn about affiliates, web hosting, and pictures/images/videos (watermarking my stuff). I also need to learn how to change platforms from the free one I am currently using to another one that

As Chasity's high school and homeschool days are coming to an end, May 2021, I find myself reflecting on the things we have done and how they worked, or did not work for us.  One thing that we had to adjust quite often in the beginning was the schedule. It has changed a lot over the years.  When Chasity was in 9th grade, we had to play around with her schedule to get it just right for her and us. I was working part-time, and we were new to homeschooling. Oh yeah....and it was HIGH SCHOOL!!   Typically, I worked 3-5 hours a day at the daycare where my mom was the director. It was normally 10am-12:30pm (or 2:30pm), depending on the day. If I was going in as a substitute teacher in the school system, I would work longer days.  At the beginning of October 2017, I was called to cover a maternity leave from October 16th to December 1st. Then the teacher decided to stay out until Christmas break. Then, the week before Christmas, she decided she wanted a week AFTER break as well. So I was

Last week, Tony, Chasity, and I had the opportunity to help assemble bicycles for Toys for Tots.   Cougar Run Winery in Concord saves their tip money for the year and purchases bicycles to donate to Toys for Tots. Last year, they had over 100. This year, they had ALMOST 100---but they were shut down for 4 months!   Imagine what they could have done this year, if they had not been closed for 4 months!  Panoramic Shot of the Room of Bikes and Volunteers Chasity and the group of scouts she was working with assembled 46 of the bikes. That's about 1/2 of the total. They started at 6pm last Thursday, and they were done (and cleaned up) by 9pm. Three hours, 8 scouts, parents too, and they completed 46 bikes!  Tony and Chasity together worked on and completed 8 bikes. Chasity only allowed me to help once or twice. :)  She wanted to do it herself. Tony was there for assistance, if she needed it.  The hardest part on every bike was the brakes. She had to make sure they were attached and adj