The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson

This book was written by an admin on an amazing homeschool group I am part of. I cut my teeth here and learned most of what I know from admins and members (past and present). There are so many resources out there, this book will help you remember what it is really about. Take a deep breath, relax and ENJOY your children!

My review as posted on Amazon and Goodreads:

I will so be reading again! I love the down to earth tone of the book. I typically avoid Christian slanted (not “anti” just some of them get soooooo repetitive, old, and BORING) books but yours is not like that at all. It shows you and your beliefs without any of the usual “you must do blah blah blah”. Your family shines through, you even made me cry ::sniff:: I would have no problem recommending this to people of any religion or belief. Just felt like having a conversation with a supportive, more experienced homeschool mom who just wants the best for my family as she has done for hers.

365 blank pages

365 blank pages, what will you do with yours?

Me? I’m setting goals for myself and my business. Organizing and planning out the year instead of flying by the seat of my pants… although that has actually worked out OK for me so far! As I make my goals, which are always changing, I make sure it is a realistic goal and not a crazy stressful goal.

• write more
• walk more
• more “real food”
• less processed food
• blog more
• new ideas for bookstore
• new designs for TPT/Etsy store
• lift weights!!!!
• organize posts
• hug more
• have fun
• love life

Whatever you do, do it for YOU and don’t beat yourself up if you slip. Just dust yourself off and try again.

independent book stores

Friday May 29th I saw an ad for the sale of a used bookstore downtown. Monday morning I became the official new owner and quit my job and opened my own business.

WOW!

I was not even looking to buy a business, I was perfectly content with my part-time job with a great group of people.

Now here I am absolutely LOVING this change! Wish us luck on our new adventure…

change is good

Some of you have noticed a change in my pages. I have been a Beachbody Coach for a few years and I :::gasp::: quit! Now, I want to make sure everyone knows I did not LEAVE, I just quit being a coach. I love the products and will continue to use them however my focus has changed:

1. Family & homeschooling

2. Writing my book.

3. Working on my very own business, AnaMaree Designs.

The thing that led me to this decision was actually Chalene Johnson’s 30 Day Push! It helped me get my priorities in order and figure out what I really want. I am still a HUGE fan of hers and will be doing PUSH ever year or so (the only “self-help” book I have ever read, used and re-read.

I am getting ready for 2015 and when I prepare for the new year I tend to buy a new planner, some pretty new notebooks and get ready to make my lists and ideas BLAH BLAH BLAH. The last few years of setting GOALS instead of “resolutions” has been amazing. Typically my resolutions are forgotten as fast as I set them, probably because I never considered how the fit with my priorities. Now I write down my priorities and set goals that work with them. Now the end of the year is a wonderful surprise!

For example, 2014 I set 10 goals (I rewrite them every month or so, but they basically stay the same). Today I look back and realize I completed 5 goals and have 2 more 80% complete!

That feels good.

It also reminded me of why I created this blog, for myself, to see how things change, how I change. The latest changes are a perfect example of the quote I chose above as I left something good to gain something better… for myself!

If you want to know more about Beachbody or need to order, contact Erin, my friend and coach on her Facebook page or her Beachbody Page.

Good luck in all you do, and just be the BEST YOU that YOU can be 🙂

keep calm and be a writer

A few months ago I entered a contest a my friend told me about. I sent in the first few pages of my book. I Lost. Last night I received an email from them, it included score sheets from the judges and their comments. So many good things included! Even the bad was good because I can learn from it. Nobody told me to throw it away, one even said she was waiting for me to finish so she could get in line to by my book! She is my favorite, my score from her was 77/100. The worst was 34/100. All but one liked my story, she/he can suck an egg.

The most interesting thing was all but one liked a secondary character better than the main, which really doesn’t surprise me as that character had been coming alive more than any other when I stopped writing and started editing for this contest. The judge who did not like her referred to her as a “penis chaser” and that made me giggle, especially since there is no mention of sex in the pages I sent in.

I’m going to take the one piece advice they all agreed on: take some time and develop the characters before continuing the story. I told that to myself a while back but haven’t really followed through. The story is almost complete, just lacking an ending and that is because I just don’t know what they would do.

So if you hear me talking about people you think are not real, don’t worry. They are very real in my head and hopefully you will meet them soon.

now open

Tired of relying on others for my income. I want to write a book and that is still a work in progress. The thing I spend most of my time on these days is homeschooling Miss Thing. Sometimes I find things I like online and sometimes I don’t. No matter what I find I think, if only it was different in this way….

We print out a lot of worksheets. In the beginning all the colors are so fun, then they get expensive and it is no fun running out of ink every week. Besides, we have colored pencils, crayons, markers, stickers, washi tape and other craft items. Who needs color ink? So I am now making our own printables. I will grow with her and as I learn more skills. My store is open and has just a few starter items in it. I will be busy this weekend! I am starting with two of her favorite things. Do-a-dot worksheets and “pwetty papah”. Do-a-dots are like bingo markers and come in some fabulous colors. Locally you can buy them at Academic Toolbox, they are also available on Amazon if you don’t have a store like that near you. 

If you have little ones or know someone who does feel free to share my page at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Anamaree-Designs or just click the logo above! Will be lots of freebies and also adding some paid items as time goes on.

Future items will include some scrapbooking papers and planner pages.. and who knows what else!

make it happen

I finally feel like I did something. I edited the first seven pages of my book and entered it into a contest a friend of mine told me about. Now this friend is a REAL author, published and all that good stuff, basically she is very knowledgeable in what is worth the time to enter and always sends me info. This time I was able to meet the requirements by the deadline and enter. Just a small thing really, but it makes it feel real and has also motivated me which in turn unblocked my writer’s block. Feeling good and feeling like I can really make this happen.

Oh, I really do have more than seven pages. Just in case you were wondering 🙂

make them think

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” Socrates.

This quote hit home on so many levels. I now know I am doing the right thing 100% in homeschooling. I may not know how to teach every little thing in every little subject, however I can make her think. She is only 4 and she is already asking questions that send me researching for answers. Must be doing something right, she loves learning and I love helping her find answers.

To set an example I am studying a book on nutrition. I looked at certification courses, but honestly not interested in doing that for a living. I just want to know more. For myself, so I can be healthier, for my family so I can better care for them, and for others who I may be able to help. My son is my motivation for this, can’t let him know more than me right? LOL, he already does!

Our homeschool program is mainly “notebooking”. Google it 🙂 Basically, we read or do something then write and/or draw what we learned from it. No test, no time limit. Just thinking and finding answers for ourselves. A few days ago we played with balloons. Tossing, throwing, popping, blowing with our air, blowing with a blow dryer… have you done that? Try it! Balloon up, blow dryer blowing upwards under balloon. Move the hair dryer around and the balloon FOLLOWS it! I didn’t expect that to happen. You gotta try this, it was fun!

Last post I mentioned I was holding off on my 30 day PUSH challenge because I had a couple things to take care of. I have been following her goal setting system for a couple years now and when I checked a few days ago, I did not cross off just a couple things, I crossed off FIVE things! That was a good feeling, they were time consuming things that needed to be done and needed to be done first. Now that I have accomplished more than I planned so quickly I am feeling extra motivated!

The next two I am tackling are the ones I really want for myself.
1. Quit smoking (date set for June 1)
2. Write daily and get my book in order (would love to have 100,000 editable words by the end of the year).

If you are actually reading this and wondering “how on earth can this girl write a book, she has no clue what she is doing”. I got news for you.  You are right. I don’t know. I don’t care. I am learning as I go, THINKING, asking questions, rewriting. My blog? I don’t even proof, I’m saving those “yet to have learned mad skills” for my book!

getting there

I started my 30 Day Push however decided to put it off until I can focus better. Got some things on the homefront that are priority that must be taken care of. That will actually remove two biggies from my list for the year and I will be ready for a new game plan!

One is that I have made the decision to homeschool, been researching and gathering curriculum for pre-K and Kindergarten for Miss Thing. The resources for homeschool online are amazing and easy to get overwhelmed. I have narrowed it down to a few favorite go-to sites and stick with them for the most part now.

My current favorite site that is always open on my webbrowser!

Now that I have a good plan in place for that, I am working on getting my writing back on track, need to carve out an hour a day of just ME time, have realized that is not going to happen often on the computer where I prefer to “write” since my typing speed is actually capable of keeping up with my brain. So I will have to give that up and go to pen and paper many times, then I can hide and write. We shall see how this works out for me. I did get a nice pile of pretty notebooks for $0.43 each on sale so it is time to fill those puppies up!

I’ve been at a standstill in my book mainly because of a very boring and annoying character. I have decided (?) at this time anyway 🙂 to turn in into a bad guy, he is much more interesting now. Means I need to change a few things about other characters backgrounds but it is working so far.

goal setting

Yesterday I started my 30 Day Push again, love it. Always motivates me. I even have the book! I love going through the online version for the videos though.

Today was about PRIORITIES. Basically a belief that if you have balance in your life you will not resort to bad habits. Seven areas to be balanced are relationships, fun, financial, spiritual, career, environment and health. I love the fact that I have learned to focus on my priorities when setting goals. It makes no sense to set a goal if it is not in line with your priorities.

My PUSH goal I am focusing on this year becoming a published author. To do that I need to create daily time to write, learn more about how to write, edit and publish. The writing is the easy part for me. Writing properly and in a way that makes sense to every one else is a struggle for me. Editing and publishing, I know nothing about! I will take it one step at a time though, starting with writing every day.

Most of my writing I do in Scrivener, a software program I got for a good price by winning NaNoWriMo last year, I love it! I had to turn off the annoying red and green lines though so I just write instead of trying to correct every last typo, that will come later. That was very hard to give up but needed to be done to get the story out.

When I get stumped I go to pen and paper. A friend of mine who is a published author told me to write left handed (since I am right handed). I have not tried that yet, when I do I will let you know how it worked for me.

To keep me from getting lazy I wear my Fitbit Flex every day, got a part-time active job and while writing I set an alarm every hour where I take a “mini workout” break. Thanks to at home workouts I can stay on track and continue to improve my health. I track my food daily, weigh weekly and measure monthly. I can also log my workouts online but keep forgetting, that is a habit I need to get into, especially since you can win CASH just for doing so! Check out my online gym and sign up for your free membership! Would love to connect with all of you, writers, exercise buddies, online stalkers welcome too 🙂

Cheers to another year of self-improvement. Life will toss in some challenges, I’m ready. Are you?