Teacher In-Service Day

Do you remember those teacher in-service days we used to get off in school? I always wondered what exactly the teachers were up to, but I didn't really care much since we didn't have school. Today was an in-service day for me. Doing all this organizing prompted me to issue an invitation at Bible study last Friday to the other moms (all of whom homeschool). I invited them to come here and talk about curriculum this morning while the kids all played. This prompted a round of thorough cleaning (WHY is it that I am only really motivated to clean when I have people coming over?!), so really the house has never looked better than it did this morning! : ) Of course, having 15 kids here for several hours left it looking rather um . . . cluttered, but at least the underlying surfaces are clean. Anyhow, there were 5 of us, and it was so helpful to see what everyone brought and talk through different curriculum choices, discuss pros and cons, etc. I got several good ideas. There are so many resources out there that if I can't see it, I'm probably not even going to consider buying. It's just too big of a risk that we might not like it or it might not work for us, even if it is really great for someone else. The kids all played so well together--no fusses at all! That may have been a result of all the food we had to munch on. Nathan made banana bread last night, I made blueberry muffins this morning, and I had lots of fresh strawberries and grapes also. So my first "Curriculum Day" was a success, and it was just a lot of fun to get together and talk . What an encouragement!