Welcome to August!
I always find the first days of August to be a little bittersweet. It’s definitely the wind-down of summer in my mind as we begin to get bombarded by back-to-school sales, tax-free weekends, and the traffic on the major interstate near me fills up even more than usual with last hurrah vacations and college students heading off.
Here in the Maddrey School for Exceptional Boys (my tongue-in-cheek name for our home school), we’re going to officially kick off our school year tomorrow. I’m excited. The boys…are a little (a lot) less so. But the joy of home schooling means I’m really only taking over an extra hour or so of their day. So it’s not a huge change in the overall scheme of things.
This year, my eldest is in 5th grade and my youngest is in 1st.
If you follow the homeschooling hashtag on Instagram (and I’m not sure why you would if you don’t home school, but still) right now your feed, like mine, is probably chock full of people showing off their school rooms. I haven’t thrown my photos up on Instagram (although maybe I will at some point), but I thought you might enjoy a little tour of our school area. That said, don’t get too excited — my decorating style could be described as “early laid back” mixed with “no thanks, that sounds like a lot of effort.”
This is the room as a whole. There’s a bookcase on the wall we can’t see. And it’s conveniently located for piano lessons, too.
To the right is a closeup of the desk where the kids and I do our lessons. Eldest gets a rolling chair, youngest does not, because otherwise he just spends all his time rolling around. (It’s an understandable temptation, but it’s not conducive to learning very much.)
Finally, we have the curriculum shelves. On the top is the 1st grader’s shelf, and below is the 5th grader. (There’s a little overlap, like science and history, but that’s the bulk of it at least.) And that concludes our little school room.
Winners this Week
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Our two gift card winners from July are Renate and Sabrina Templin!
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Specials this Week
Entangled by Julie Arduini is FREE today!
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The Back-to-School Giveaway is Coming Soon!
If you’ve been hanging around here at InspyRomance for long, you probably know about (and hopefully look forward to!) our two big giveaways each year. The second of those for 2018, our Back-to-School giveaway, will kick off mid-August. Because we know we have several international commenters and we like to share the wealth of paperbacks as much as we can, there will again be a special paperback prize package just for international readers. This year, however, rather than asking you to tell us in a comment (and then hoping we see it and update our spreadsheet), we’ve created this little form. If you’re an international reader (meaning you don’t live in the United States, just to be 100% clear on that definition from our perspective ;) ), please take two minutes and fill out this form. That way we know who to enter in our international giveaway!
Last Week on Inspy Romance
On Monday, Janet Ferguson showed us new book covers!
On Tuesday, Heather Gray talked about a new release (or two).
On Wednesday, Ginger Solomon gave us much ado about nothing. Or something.
On Thursday, Krista Phillips brought us once upon a laugh.
On Friday, Kimberly Rose Johnson talked about how the storms of life make sunny days brighter.
On Saturday, Jolene Navarro listed some of the hazards of being a writer.
Next Week on Inspy Romance
Monday: Brenda S. Anderson
Tuesday: Jan Thompson
Wednesday: Autumn Macarthur
Thursday: Shannon Vannatter
Friday: Narelle Atkins
Saturday: Alexa Verde
New Releases
August 2018
Heart Healed (The Potter’s House Books 10) by Alexa Verde
Marrying Chrissy (Brides of Clearwater 3) by Melanie D. Snitker
Seasons End (Madison Creek B&B 4) by Jackie Castle
July 2018
The Indentured Queen (Crowns & Courtships 4) by Carol Moncado
A Heart Realigned (Peacock Hill Romance 3) by Elizabeth Maddrey
A Reservation for Romance (Homegrown Love 3) (Arcadia Valley Romance 19) by Annalisa Daughety
Becoming Me (Imagination 1) by Staci Stallings
Skye (Rainbow Falls 1) by Heather Gray
Once Upon a Laugh by Heather Gray, Krista Phillips, and 6 others
La Risposta: The Answer (A Tuscan Legacy 9) by Autumn Macarthur
A Sudden Spark (The Spark Brothers 2) by Liwen Y. Ho
Merciful Love (Lavender Vale Farm 1) by Jackie Castle (re-release of Love’s Mercy)
Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.
It’s way too early for school to start again! Not that it affects me. When I was a kid, California schools often didn’t start until after Sept 9, the day California became a state. That was fine by me :-)
Hi Elizabeth, I hope your back to school goes smoothly:) Our school year begins in late January and ends in mid-December to take advantage of our southern hemisphere Summer. So August means the last month of Winter- some tantalising days of warmth, followed by plunging temperatures to remind that Winter is not finished yet!! My boys (8 and oldest turned 10 today) are really getting into cross country skiing which has helped us enjoy Winter in a wonderful new way with them.
Blessings:)
The public schools around here won’t start until like 2 days before labor day (it used to be after but they recently changed it), so I’m ahead of the game. But we finished in early May (public was mid-June) so we’re all ready.
It’s always so fun for me to see how things differ between the northern and southern hemisphere – welcome to almost spring! :)
Cross country skiing is so much fun! I’m glad your boys are getting into it.
Hi, Elizabeth!!
I’d say since you are home schooling, you probably never really stop! I am sure your children learn from you 24/7!
I live in Florida now, so kids are back to school next week. I think it’s too early, growing up in New Jersey we did not go back until after Labor Day.
Elizabeth, I hope your school year goes great…..sounds like you are very organized and an exceptional Mom/Teacher!
It’s true, we don’t really stop (and we even did a little actual curriculum over the summer because it helps keep us sane. :) )
Thanks! I’m not sure about being organized or exceptional but I try to fake it :)
Hi Elizabeth! Best wishes on your new school year. Our school starts in four weeks, the Tuesday after Labor Day. Trying to enjoy the days with the grandkids, ages 13, 10, 4.5, and 19 months. Will be an adjustment for this doting Oma when the four year old goes to school – Young Fives Program. Oma Day Care will miss her. Been watching Mini Me since she was 3 months old. Her 19 month old cousin will also miss her.
Thanks for the win to the talented generous Indy Romance authors. Best wishes as you enjoy your Sunday. Happy Writing.
Bless you for having a school room! I remember those days… 20 years ago. Now I’ve been homeschooling so long it’s just “sit down wherever”- Starbucks will do. Often it’s the kitchen table or breakfast bar.
Anyway, we don’t start school around here until the end of this month, and I personally don’t start until after Labor Day. If I’m busy on the ranch then not until after the state fair.
Aw, that’s definitely a hard transition. Hope it’s great for both of you!
Having a school room is relatively new – we were kitchen table school for a long time. And this year we’re on the road so much with activities and appointments, we’ll be doing a lot of car school.
Your school room looks great! I hope the start of the new year goes smoothly for you all!
We homeschool, although this coming year will be very different for us. Our oldest son will be going to the public school for 7th grade (because they have an absolutely incredible special needs program). So we’re going to follow along with the public school schedule more than we normally do. He begins August 27th. We’ll give it two more weeks to do some field trips and such before we jump into the 3rd grade homeschooling our daughter again this year.
There are going to be a lot of changes, but I do think they are all good ones!
“my decorating style could be described as ‘early laid back’ mixed with ‘no thanks, that sounds like a lot of effort.'”
Love it! Sounds like you and I have a lot in common. :D Our homeschooling calendar seems to change every year. Some years we don’t take a summer break at all, other times we “stop” mid-July and don’t “restart” until late September. I put those words in quotes, though, because, as you pointed out, the learning never really stops around here. I judge our start and stop times primarily by when we’re working through actual textbooks, assignment by assignment, as opposed to the spontaneous, go-with-the flow type learning that happens every day.
I’m glad you found a program that will.work for your son! Im a for figuring out what works for your family!
Yes! Very similar philosophy — learning never stops and sometimes it’s books and other times it’s not!
Your children are blessed to have a mom like you. Happy school year.
Thanks Lucy!
Having homeschooled myself, I enjoyed the pictures of your school room. We had a school room at one time, but then migrated to the kitchen table. As they got older, they started preferring their rooms, but we still checked their schoolwork at the table. Love your school name!
I finished homeschooling my kids a couple of years ago when the youngest graduated. The name for his school was the Academy of Mediocrity. But I never started until public school started because I loved being able to get stuff done over the summer and recharge – and didn’t really want to go back to school!
Hope you got some good stuff this tax free weekend!
Thanks, Becky! The school room is nice because it lets me keep the books organized and out of the way (instead of all over the kitchen table :) ) plus, the table is better ergonomics for them which has vastly improved my eldest’s handwriting. Which isn’t to say he doesn’t need to work on it more, but it’s better.
Ha! I love the Academy of Mediocrity. I suspect that’s closer to the name the boys would choose :)
I love the description of your decorating style. Gave me a chuckle.
Thanks. :)