Weekly Wrap- Up

 

Praying for:

Strength and healing for a loved one.

Thankful for:

My family. Even on the rough days when we all get on each others nerves, I know I am blessed to have my own little family. 

I am also thankful I live in a country where I am free (for now at least) to homeschool my children. 

In our school this week:

As this was our second week of school we still took things slow. Even so, the kids did pretty well this week. Everyone is still adjusting to getting back into a daily routine and school work. 

My daughter is enjoying having her math lesson from a cd on the computer. She listens/watches the lesson and takes notes during the instruction part, then works the lesson problems on her own. So far she like this better. I still help her with the math problems when needed, and work with her to correct any missed problems, but having the lesson on the computer is quite nice for us both. 

My 9 year old son, skipped school for a day to go enjoy a local air show with his grandma, grandpa, and great grandpa. I let him take a camera of mine to take pictures. He came back with nearly 150 pictures and video of all the different planes. I was quite impressed by some of his pictures! He did a great job. 

He even has some of his photos featured over at, "Photography Amature Favorites". Take a peek. 

My youngest (5 years) has also done very well lately. He practiced his letters in a pan of cornmeal, did a little math, and read another entire book. He is reading daily out of a beginning readers book, but the other day he picked up a library book and read the whole thing. It was a little Clifford readers book, but I was pleased at how well he did! He is really enjoying this whole reading thing. 



The boys were learning about the body's muscles this week. Sit-ups and push-ups were on the daily agenda for finding different muscles. Wild Thing even made a human man doing push-ups out of the math counting blocks.



In our home this week:

The suffering of allergies is at its peak! No fun at all!

Also, we have been welcoming a new addition to the family, a little kitten. Last Sunday we ended up at the pound for their free adoption day for cats. We have talked about finding a little cat for Lady Bug for awhile. Partially because we promised after our cat, Chester, passed away last year, we would get another one, but also to give Lady Bug something to focus her energy on. Our hope is that it will help with some of her anxiety!  So far she's been so busy with kitty that she seems to be a little more relaxed. I am happy that the kitten is fitting in fairly well. The dog wants to play with kitty, but the kitty is not very interested in playing yet, at least not with the dog. Lucky, our large Maine Coon cat, is slowly accepting the kitten as part of the family. For the most part he just ignores the kitten but occasionally we will find him next to the kitten just watching. 

Changes made lately: 

I have now made it just over a month with no caffeine. No coffee and no soda! Some days have been harder than others, but to be honest it has not been as difficult as I expected. Correction, the first week was rough but after that it wasn't too bad! 

I intend to keep on this no caffeine and no soda road! It's much healthier  and I find that I am drinking far more water, also a healthy habit! 

Changes needed:

This mama has done well with the no caffeine and no soda, but I have been meaning to get out and walking or running again, but have only managed to make it out a few times. My goal was to get up early enough to spend 20 minutes doing some yoga, and then 45 minutes outside walking. This would probably be much easier if I managed to make it to bed before midnight or one in the morning. 

This week I am going to work on getting up so that I can spend the needed time on me! 

What I'm reading: 

Three books at the moment.

"A Charlotte Mason Companion, Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning" by Karen Andreola

A great book for those wishing to homeschool with more living books and natural learning when it comes to writing, grammar, and spelling. 

It's a wonderful book, especially for new homeschoolers. It offers great tips and ideas for home learning. 

"The Well Trained Mind, A Guide to Classical Education at Home"

By Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

This is another wonderful homeschool resource. Full of tips and ideas on how to home educate. I have just opened the book so I can not tell you much, other that what I have heard from others. And what I have heard form others is that it is a wonderful book. 

The last one is just for fun, "When the Morning Comes" By Cindy Woodsmall. I have found that I enjoy the Amish fictional stories, and this one I found at the library book sale for $.50, a great deal I couldn't pass up! So far, it's a great story. The Amish stories always have a great message of faith, love, and acceptance of others. 

What the kids are reading:

Lady Bug has started, "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was one of my favorites as a kid, and I feel it's one of those must read books. 

My 9 year old, who has struggled more with reading, has been enjoying the "Amelia Bedelia" books. The books are cute funny stories where Amelia takes everything very literally. So when Mr. Rogers gets frustrated with her and tells her to hit the road, she walks outside, picks up a stick, and literally hits the road. We have all enjoyed these short stories. 

My youngest, has been reading a few pages each day from, "I Can Read It, Book 1" that we bought from Sonlight years ago. Though he occasionally grabs another book and just starts reading. 

I am so happy that all of my children are now reading. I feel as though now, they have so much more available to them. 

If I can teach them nothing more than to love and honor God, and to read, I would be ok! 

Favorite Quote this week:

For those of you on Facebook, I created a FB page all about homeschooling. Nothing fancy, just for fun. I have posted so far 25 tips for homeschooling, as well as a few homeschool myths. Take a peek and see what you think. 

Homeschooling Ain't For Wimps!  

**Please note,
I am having some issues with my blog cooperating with me, may just be my computer.
So if links are not working or if things apper odd, I apologize.
I am working, in all my spare time, to get it fixed.

*And if you noticed, I had already forgotten the new screen names for the kiddos, so I am just going to use the old screen names from now on.
Daughter- Lady Bug
Middle son- Wild Thing
Youngest son- Little Man