Quote of the week…
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

In my life this week…Last week felt suffocating. The fighting, the messes, the schedule, the numbers (more about this in another post). This week I started out bright and early Monday morning with a renewed since of who I am and what a want for our life and our children. Thus the quote, “peace like a river“. I know who I am, and have always known. I just needed to remember that.

In our homeschool this week… I ordered the CAT Online version for the first time this year.  Jayden took his this week and Chloe will take hers next week.  After having done both the paper and online versions I have some thoughts and insight that I will be sharing in another blog post soon.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Sometimes the schedule you set out to keep, is not the one best suited to your children (or you)!  I have found that our son is an early riser.  I used to make him stay in his room until 8am (thus the blog title, “Starts At Eight“).  He started sneaking out earlier and earlier under the guise of schoolwork.  What I found was that in that early morning time he accomplished his work in about 1/3 of the time that it was taking him during the daytime hours when everyone was up and moving.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… The beginning of the week brought music lessons for Jayden and Chloe.  on Thursday we had a day and a mean a whole 24 hours plus of rain here so soccer got washed out.  Lucky for Ava there is an indoor arena for the horses!

The big news of the week is Chloe spending Thurs-Sun volunteering for the 2013 Wegmans LPGA Championship. Her friend volunteered last year and had such a great time that she encouraged Chloe to sign on this year.

My favorite thing this week was… The highlight of my own week is being a part of the Circle of Moms Top 25 Homeschooling Moms blogs list.

The voting is going on now and runs until June 13.  Please consider voting for Starts At Eight, and while you are there check out the other wonderful mommy bloggers and give them your love!

My kiddos favorite thing this week was… Jayden awoke to let Oscar (our Bichon) out and Oscar found a rabbit inside the garden fence.  The poor rabbit was totally spooked by the dog running and barking from side to side.  It bashed itself from fence piece to fence piece, jumping 3 feet into the air at times.  I was so worried it was going to bloody itself but after much distress it found its way back out under the fence and into the neighbor’s yard.

Things I’m working on… I have a bunch of new things to embark on with my blog in the coming weeks.  For the first time I have accepted a sponsored post (or two) and will be working out the logistics with that.

I’m cooking… Since I am back on a low calorie diet in an effort to drop the 20+ pounds that have crept up on me, I have been trying out new low calories solutions.  This week I made Ranch Popcorn.  I had 5/6 cups of air-popped popcorn which in itself is super low calorie, with some added butter and seasonings for a snack that added up to less than 200 calories.  If I had used a low cal butter it would have been much lower, but with popcorn I like real butter.

I’m grateful for…

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…