End of Sept. update

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of September. It seems like each month is flying by even more quickly than the previous month. We have been moving on with school and finally, using balloons, hung up our model of the solar system. I should have taken a picture of it last Monday when we hung it up because now Saturn has shrunk and its rings are hanging by one piece of tape. (hopefully I'll get around to repairing it and post a pic one day). The kids at least repeat their mnemonic phrases of the order of the planets often so the model keeps it fresh in their minds. In case you need to remember the order of the planets then maybe their sentences will help you: My Very Energetic Monkey Jumped Sideways Under Nickie's (or Nathan's) Piano (or Planet) which reminds them of the order Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Another nice addition to our homeschool this year has been workboxes. Here is a picture.

I put the kids' assignments in hanging folders and as they complete each they move the number on the folder to the outside of their box. This system is the hot trend in homeschooling (I bet you didn't even know homeschooling had fads), but it is making me be more organized and incorporate other activities that I've picked up here and there. The kids like the boxes because they know exactly how much work they have left.
On another note, last Monday night ended up being an eventful one here at our house. It had just started to storm, and we were all sitting in the living room reading our bedtime stories when we heard a light boom sound. It sounded like something fell off the wall somewhere or hit some wall in the house. As I walked to the kitchen to see what happened, I glanced outside into the backyard and saw that one of our trees had been blown over and was laying/leaning on our roof.
By Tuesday night the tree had been cut down and the TV satellite was working again and all was back to normal. Now I still take a second look when looking into the backyard expecting to see the tree. Now our little garden will have more sun so we may see more results next year (hopefully).
On a completely separate topic from the above and my original reason for typing out this update right now before our school day was to highly recommend a book.
I have been using commentaries from Dale Ralph Davis for my quiet time in the mornings and each day I am blessed by doing so. If you're looking for a new Bible study, as my dad recommended them to me, I highly recommend any of them to you as he has several (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings). Right now I am reading through 1 Samuel and it is a highlight of my day.

Now I've gotta go fill those workboxes I was blogging about!