in pursuit of wild things

This was one of those quiet sort of weeks…life was fairly routine. We went to our first homeschool 4H club meeting. I had intended to take pictures at the meeting but Littlest was a handful. Every time I tried to keep him quiet he would tell me very loudly, “I don’t know how!” Unless I can find a way to keep him from being so disruptive we may not attend any more meetings for a while. During the formal part of the meeting the children had to vote on annual dues. I noticed Middle Boy did not vote on the matter and asked him about it after the meeting. He thought the voting should be left up to the parents who actually had a way to pay for the annual dues. He has a point there…

I’ve been making applesauce for weeks now. This week I decided to add some vanilla beans I had on hand to a pot of apples. The experiment turned out wonderful. I now have two quarts of vanilla infused applesauce. Yummy! These vanilla beans were placed in a bottle of vodka last year to make vanilla extract. When I bottles the extract this week I noticed the beans still had plenty of scent to them so I tossed them into the crockpot with the apples. I need to order more beans since that was my last bottle of extract.

The crew is settling into the routines of the new church. Wednesday night is their favorite. Littlest is very excited to be learning to play the handbells! They are all making friends. Several of their friends have come by to introduce themselves to me and have sat with us during meals. In a couple of Sundays the children of the church will lead and perform every part of the church service (except the sermon). Littlest will not be performing on handbells at this service…he is still a bit enthusiastic. I have no idea what to expect at a children’s led church service but am really looking forward with amused anticipation.

Schooling was fairly short this week since it was a pre-test and exams week. Oldest had an art project to finish up his ancient Egypt studies. He made a cartouche with his name in hieroglyphics with watercolors. The other too thought that sounded like a lot of fun so they also joined in. I let them choose their own medium and only helped them with choosing the proper hieroglyphics. Middle Boy wrote his name in hieroglyphics on EVERY assignment this week! Oldest finished typing his paper and I taught him how to add images to his paper on the computer. He is very proud of his paper and worked very hard on it. He applied all of the techniques he learned from Writing With Skill Volume 1 so far. He worked hard on the paper but I honestly am not certain if it is grade level work for his age. Maybe some of you could tell me what you think? It is in the gallery below.

This weekend I will have up a review and give-away of Their Name Is Today by Johann Christoph Arnold. This book has given me much to think about. I’ll share all of that in my review. I’ll also have an update for you on the Wibbly-Wobbly Weightloss adventure I’ve been on. I wanted to post last weekend about it but there was still a few things simmering in my mind and I wasn’t ready to sit and write. I’m ready to take things up a notch or two.

Linking up with: Weird Unsocialized Homoeschoolers