Woah! It's the End of December!

O my goodness!  I haven't written anything on here since October?  Where did time go?

Methinks I have been a 'wee-bit' busy.

Well, I am almost at the end of our 2 week Christmas break.  Our spring semester starts Monday.  Once begun is 1/2 done, right?  So hopefully it won't be March before I write on here again.

Did I mention I'm getting old?  I can't track well with my brain.  I have to write everything down.  I feel like I need to store up energy to handle life, but don't know where to get it.  The Lord has been my sustaining power.  At the doctor on Monday, I was told I need thyroid medicine.  And miracle of miracles, it might help my brain feel clearer and fix alot of the symptoms that have been making me think I am old.  I am thinking that sounds like a pretty good deal!

Especially since 41 isn't REALLY that old.  Unless you are looking at it from a teenager's perspective.  In which case, it is positively ANCIENT!

That's my story, for what it is worth.

Week 11 - Check!

Whew!  What a busy week!  Our church had revival services Sun.-Wed. nights, and then on Thursday, I had my young moms ministry in the morning and a homeschool event at night.  Both of these were held at church too.  I love church, but I will be glad to have a break until Sunday!  :)

Needless to say, we have been a little tired.  We still took care of the basics this week and we squeezed in a few extras.  I wasn't thinking earlier or I would have taken pictures while the boys carved their pumpkins.  Oh well.  I'll try to get a picture of the pumpkins in the morning.  It is too dark now.

We are on target in all the major subject areas.  I need to be a little more diligent in art especially.  But I am making progress in faithfulness.  Thank You, Jesus!

Three more weeks and we get to take our second break!

Homeschool Share Night Projects

Seth:

Isaac:

Joshua:

Erik:

Week 9 - Check!

I haven't have the time (or the motivation) to do a summary the past several weeks.  Week 7, we were trying to wrap up for our break.  I was really ready for that break and didn't feel like rehashing the week when it was over.  I just wanted to get on with the break!  Then week 8, we had friends come visit in the middle and that was a BLAST!  But it did force us to cram extra stuff into days that were already full, so no summary.  And now week 9 has just ended.

School is running MUCH more smoothly now.  We are used to a more rigorous routine.  Finally!  We all thought it was going to kill us for about the first 5 weeks.  Now that we are 'in the swing of things', our attitudes have improved overall and I even made the older boys laugh while teaching them grammar today.  Now that's a major feat in and of itself, since grammar doesn't have much to use as a source of amusement.

I LOVE FRIDAYS!  I know I have mentioned that before.  

Today we completely switched things up.  We had prayer, then Isaac and Seth did their geography page on longitude.  Joshua, Erik, and I went over sentences they had diagrammed yesterday.  We had a good discussion about where to put several prepositional phrases.  Since we haven't officially studied how to diagram those, we just had a good time trying to guess where the right place to put them would be and why.  (That was a challenging exercise, and I, at least, had fun participating in it.  And, as aforementioned, I did manage to make them laugh, so I hope they enjoyed it somewhat as well.)  So... you've already probably guessed that studying prep. phrases will be coming up soon, and you are right!  Exciting event coming soon to a homeschool near you.  (Next week as a matter of fact.)  After that we watch Amazing Grace, a video of the history of 5 hymns:  Amazing Grace, Silent Night, How Great Thou Art, What a Friend We Have In Jesus, and It Is Well With My Soul.  It was SO good.  The boys and I really enjoyed it.  Besides that, we studied health and then we went to the library.

The rest of the week was spent covering the core subjects, as usual.  It's hard to find a lot to say about that because it's just the nitty-gritty work of each discipline.  The boys finished all their work this week, except for the older boys having to do a little science this weekend.  

Tomorrow, Robert and I will be ordering NEW windows for the house.  Trying to snug up before winter and take advantage of the tax credit offered.

Good night!

My Goal is to be a Fit Granny!

I'm using these fine woman

as a motivational example.

Fit Grannies don't wait until 

they are old to get started!

Parents are Disciplemakers

I just read the most fabulous rendition of

1 Corinthians 13 over on the blog,

At the Well

The entry is all about how education

is secondary to helping our children

to come to know the Lord and

to have an intimate relationship with Him.

SO GOOD!!!

A must read for every Christian parent!

Dad is a teacher too.

When I was cooking dinner the other

night, Robert was sitting at the table

with Seth teaching him how to roll

coins to cash in for paper money 

at the bank.  It was such a mentoring

moment that I wanted to capture

it in pictures.  So here they are:

I think that is SO awesome!

It gives me warm fuzzies!

I love this Blog Post:

My truthful, encouraging on-line friend has

a blog called, I'm Nobody Who are You?

Today she posted about the extreme LOUDNESS

of children.  And it is hilarious!!!

A MUST READ!!!

Just Shut Up! I mean, "Be Quiet, Please."

How often I want to say that very thing!!!

Week 6 - Check!

WOAH!!!  

I can hardly believe it is time to do my weekly wrap up again!

We are about to complete another week.  It flew by at light speed.  It seems it was just Monday morning, and now, it is Friday.  

I think that is because, not only have the days been FULL, but the nights as well!  Monday night was the only night we did not have an official evening activity.   Robert and I did walk over to the neighborhood store to get bread and have a little 'date' at the coffee shop housed therein.  :)  Tuesday night, we had a second brief date in the form of a steak dinner for the PSU Faculty.  (Two dates in one week is a RARITY to say the least!  FUN!!!)  Then, he was off to buy milk and pick up a boy from soccer practice, and I was off to Worship Team practice.  Wednesday night, he had class, and the rest of us had AWANA.  Thursday night, another class for Robert, another soccer practice for Seth, plus a youth gathering for Josh and Erik.  And tonight, Robert and I will be attending a dinner at church to appreciate us and other volunteers for our service, while Isaac will be attending soccer practice.  (We're being brave and taking Erik with them and then having them both walk home from the practice field, about 20 minutes.)  Finally, tomorrow, Robert and I will be attending a leadership training conference at church and trying to work around 2 soccer games.  So, on Sunday, I think a nap will be in order!

As for school, we have steadily plodded along through the week completing regular math, English, history, Spanish, Bible, spelling, and penmanship exercises.  We've made our way through the insect orders: hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) and isoptera (termites) in the 4th grade and through preparing for and taking a test in the 8th grade.  Several discussions about study skills being life skills occurred.  Isaac and Seth and I have started to make our way through The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.  It has been quite enjoyable so far.

Today, we are covering Rafael, another Renaissance painter and listening to the musical works of Clementi.  Here is an amazing video of a very small child playing a Clementi piece with NO music in front of her.

 WOAH!!!

We are also attempting to draw insects.  I found a book that shows how to form many different insects.  Joshua and Erik can take their pick.  Isaac and Seth will be attempting insects that are in the Orders we have been covering this week.

Isaac

Seth

Erik

Joshua isn't finished yet, so...T.B.P.L. 

(to be posted later)

Isaac and Seth are finishing up their 

science chapter by creating a 'Bee Book'.  

Joshua and Erik have grammar and history to work on today.  

Joshua and Erik made empanadas for a Spanish assignment:

Master Chefs - thinking in progress:

Now, let us begin:

(What looks like a peaceful process

was actually laced with much

bickering, but working was

going on as well...)

TA-DAA!!!

I'll let you know if the end result

was tasty or not!

Isaac and Seth are memorizing a new poem, A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray.  It involves a man with a pigtail trying to figure out why it stays behind him no matter what he does.  We made a 'pigtail' out of rope and attached it to a hat and tried it out.  However, I made the 'pigtail' too long, and it would NOT stay behind them like it was supposed to.  The sage in the poem just needed to grow his longer apparently!  :) 

They did finally recite the other poem they learned to Daddy, which they hadn't been able to do yet.  I will try to record it when I get the proper equipment.

One highlight for me last week was Friday night.  Robert covered a progression of styles in musical history, as driven by the African American community.  It was great!  He had to stop because we ran out of time and out of the ability to sit still and pay attention.  I think he will try a bit more later on.  I love it when I can find a way to incorporate him into teaching the boys in areas that are a natural skill for him and don't create too much extra work for him.  I think he liked that assignment.  :)

And....

they really are quite tasty!

Way to go Josh and Erik!


(Of course, with all this going on,
I have NOT tweaked my
Lesson Plans for next week
nor graded today's papers,
and therefore, of course,
have not entered them in 
the grade book either.
Oh well, I'll get there!
With the Lord's help!)