The Homeschool Mother's Journal

My husband calls this "the beginning of the end of the year" for me. That is because all four of my kids' birthdays are back-to-back starting TODAY, school starts, then it's Halloween (and I always go all-out on costumes), Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. I don't pull my head up out of the water until mid-January.

In my life this week ... Another busy week. Brynne's birthday is today and her party is Saturday. There are lots of preparations to be done, a house to clean for family, and still school lessons to prepare.

In our homeschool this week… I'd love to be doing a little reading and math facts, since school starts in 10 days, but with the birthday festivities, we'll just have to see.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… This week will be full of family and friends. I'm even going out to dinner with some ladies from church on Tuesday night.

My favorite thing this week was… all of the family time we had. When we were sitting at the zoo, eating dinner on Friday night, Eli looked at us all and said, "Our whole family is here." It made him (and me) very happy to have all of us together. It doesn't happen often.

What’s working/~~not working~~ for us… Our new little church we are attending. It is definitely working for us, even Dawson. That is such a huge answer to prayer!

Questions/thoughts I have… I am so excited for school to start! I can't wait to teach and learn and be back on, somewhat of, a schedule. I will be sad to have Eli leaving us each day to go to school. I am looking forward to the day when we can bring him home.

Things I’m working on… three more U.S. History units! I don't know if I'll be able to get them all done before next Thursday, but I am so happy I spent the summer preparing them. It will make my year so much less stressful!

Books I’m reading… Escape by Barbara Delinsky (I had to abandon Brick Lane by Monica Ali. I just couldn't get into it), More Faith in My Day by Emilie Barnes (my daily devotional).

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

A cool lightening storm we witnessed on a drive this weekend.

School takes on many forms in the summer months. Hop on over to The Homeschool Chick to see what it looks like in other homes.

CTC Math {Schoolhouse Review}

We found our groove with math this year. I found a curriculum that both of the kids respond well to and seem to enjoy (as much as one can enjoy math). We have spent the whole year learning the ins and outs of multiplication and were just a few lessons away from being ready to move onto the next year-long level on division. And then an opportunity to review the 12 Month Family Plan from CTC Math became available. To be honest, I wasn't very enthusiastic. I mean, why mess with the methods that have worked so well? When I was chosen to review the product I didn't go into it with the level of enthusiasm that it deserved. We have been using a dvd/workbook curriculum with great success. The 12 Month Family Plan from CTC Math is a web based curriculum. As we have not had a lot of luck with those types of programs, I went into this review with a negative attitude. And then my socks were knocked off by how great it is. In fact it is so great that we are going to continue to ...

Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt (Schoolhouse Review)

For the past several weeks we have been reviewing Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards from Veritas Press . As we were entering into our more easy-going summer schedule, and had just concluded a two-year Old Testament Bible course, I was happy to try out this product as it appeared to be something that Eli and Brynne could do together, alone, and would act as a review of the Old Testament presented in a different way. And I was right. Each Veritas Press Self-Paced History program includes 160 lessons teaching about 32 events in history. They are designed for children in grades 2-6, and it is recommended that the student be a minimum of 7 years of age at the time of the first lesson. What We Received We received a full one-year subscription, for one child, to the online Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt program and the accompanying Old Testament and Ancien...

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

DonettaAugust 8, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Thanks for stopping by my blog! We are in the middle of birthday festivities too! Our son's 16th birthday is today! :)

I LOVE the photo you included!! That is amazing!!

I'm looking forward to reading more of your stuff!
EddieAugust 9, 2011 at 6:08 AM
What a beautiful photo!

I don't know how you manage the birthdays - my kids are each two weeks apart starting in September and I thought THAT was bad....you must be way better organized than me. :)
Aloha AcresAugust 9, 2011 at 3:35 PM
Just stopping by to give you the latest from TT's fb page:

ALGEBRA 1 2.0 HAS ARRIVED!!!! We are getting the sets together and will be shipping all Algebra 1 2.0 orders this week! Please be patient with us as we work to get all of the orders out as soon as possible.

Looks like you'll get yours just in time. :)

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