That lingering scent is Eau de Lysol

I'm finally putting away the jell-o and saltines since the stomach virus is finally out of our house.

I can't say that I'm thankful we had a week of stomach cooties, but I have to say the forced mental break was a very good thing. Last week my brain was on overdrive getting ready for the new school year, but it's kind of hard to have a coherent thought when you're washing puke out of your daughter's hair in the middle of the night. I needed to turn my brain off and since I wouldn't do it myself it was turned off for me.

This year we're using Tapestry of Grace to study all things history and literature. TOG takes the timeline approach to history and this year we'll be studying the time period from the fall of Rome until 1600. This means knights, castles, Robin Hood, explorers... the sorts of things that are right up my 6-year-old son's alley.

The thing about TOG is that there is a ton of detail in the curriculum from history core to history in-depth to literature to geography to church history to fine arts. It's A LOT, but to be fair they warn you ahead of time that the curriculum appears overwhelming at first. They say over and over again that the key to success is to pick and choose and not do everything. The same message is repeated all over the TOG message boards. And I nodded my head every time I read those warnings because, of course, you can't do it all.

But until Monday I had every intention of doing it all.

Because I'm crazy.

And I'm afflicted with an all or nothing attitude.

Since the state would frown on nothing, that left me with all. But then on Monday night I sat down and read a warning from the author of the curriculum and there was something about this particular warning that penetrated my thick scull.

The result is that rather than starting school next week we will take one more week off. Next week I'm going to take a serious look at my lesson plans and simplify things.

I'm certain that my sanity depends on it.