in pursuit of wild things

My week did not go as planned at the beginning. My mother extended her visit until this past Monday…she was supposed to go on Friday…and then Saturday…and then stayed until Monday. She really should have left on Friday since all she did was sit in the recliner and read books. The kids begged her to play but she just didn’t feel like interacting with anyone. The kids were bummed and I was stressed out. I was looking forward to the weekend to recover and get ready to jump back into school all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. By the time she left Monday I was more crossed-eyed and dog-tired. My mother also did not want to go to church so I had to stay home. I really missed my church family and friends.

Monday started off slow at school and I should have just done a half day but I was insanely determined to get a full day of school in since we’d had over a week off. So we schooled until 5:00 in the afternoon and we got everything done I had originally planned!!! Thankfully, the rest of the week went smoothly…mostly. We started a new vocabulary study called English From the Roots Up. I really thought the kids wouldn’t like it but they ended up loving the course. I really wanted to use Caesar’s English but I stumbled on this one at a homeschool used book sale and the price was right! I think I’ll get Rummy Roots to add to our Friday game day. We also added this free music theory class from Andrew Furmanczyk. The kids think he is hilarious and the instructor even gives homework! We watch one lesson a week and do the homework assigned. Best of all the kids think it is fun to watch and do not complain about the assignments from Mr. Furmanczyk!

This Friday was our first game day during school. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. We just get our basics in on Friday morning which are usually quizzes and exams and maybe finishing up an art project or science lab. Then after lunch we pull out some fun games for the rest of the school day. This week we played The Scrambled States of America game and the Medieval History Memory Game that I reviewed a few months ago. We all had so much fun and it was a great way to end the school week. If you can think of any fun, educational games we should add…I am all ears. I’ve got a music theory game we are going to try next week. Believe it or not they were actually excited when I told them about a vocabulary game called Rummy Roots!!! Some days I am afraid that I am turning my kids into geeks (my husband says I am a nerd)…maybe it is time to introduce them to Dr. Who…I could turn some of the historical episodes into unit studies! Yeah, that’s why he called me a nerd…but he means it in a loving, supportive way.

Speaking of my husband…he rocks! This week the kids enjoyed working at their new school desk. He took an old work bench (that was being thrown away) and fixed it up for the school room. We had been using two card tables that were just awful. The kiddos were always fussing at each other for shaking the tables when one of them was erasing or coloring vigorously. Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed listening to that…My all time favorite moment with the card tables was when Littlest stood under them and pushed one of the tables up…off of the floor and dumped everything on the floor. When I asked him why he would do such a thing he just said “I am Batman”. Yeah…my life is that awesome sometimes!!!

Today, we took the kids skating. While the crew skated I worked on lesson plans and started reading Rolf and the Viking Bow. I’ve only read the first couple of chapters so far and I think it is going to be a good read. Oldest will be reading it soon and I want to get the books read for literature before he gets to them. He will be finished with Christian Light Education’s reading curriculum for fourth grade in about a month (I have no idea why their reading curriculum is only a half year’s worth after third grade). I let him choose a few books from Veritas Press’ reading list to finish out the year. He’ll be using the comprehension guide as well and I’m sure he will need it…this isn’t going to be an easy read for him.

We’ve been enjoying a couple of TV shows the past couple of weeks: America: Fact vs. Fiction on the Military channel and America’s Secret Slang on History2. We’ve enjoyed watching the shows together and I’ve really liked learning the roots of common American slang. I think every Southerner would agree with the origins of the term “yankee”…just kidding…kinda…sorry.

new shelf

temperature blanket at two weeks

Littlest napping after Daddy left on his business trip