Weekly Wrap-up ~ Headaches

In our regular life this week…

The first headache this week was, well, a headache. A sinus headache, that is! Dawson had a really bad sinus infection this past week and passed his crud along to me. I had a terrible sinus headache for a couple of days. But I religiously take my vitamins and drink gallons of green tea, so I was able to fight it off.

The second headache involved my second week in a row of car repairs. Last week it was a dead alternator. This week it was a dead throttle box and battery. The cost of those repairs made it impossible for us to afford for Rick to come home this weekend or next! We won't get to see him again until Thanksgiving. That, folks, is tough on all of us.

The third headache involved a disgruntled parent in how I am organizing the church children's Christmas program. Yes, you read that right … a dispute at church! It was difficult for me to navigate the waters of that problem, but I decided to take the high road. It was a situation I could have done without.

And the last headache will be over this week … I just finished up the second of three weeks of the online faculty orientation course I am taking. This course has stretched and pulled me in directions I didn't know existed. I have learned so much!

In our homeschool this week…

We didn't have any homeschool headaches, and that is good. I will admit that we are struggling to push through our studies this week and next as we are anxiously awaiting a week-long break for Thanksgiving!

Bible - We studied II Samuel and II Chronicles and David serving as King and his involvement in the design of the Temple. We ended with the appointing of Solomon as King and the death of David.

Grammar - This was a review week in Logic of English.

Spelling - And it was also a review week in Soaring with Spelling.

Reading - We are still reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I can't say the kids are really enjoying it very much. It's a difficult read aloud for their ages. But, we just stop often and summarize and discuss, which helps. I have also explained to them how important it is to stretch our minds with difficult language every once in a while. (Plus, I have promised we'll watch the Mickey Mouse version of A Christmas Carol when we are done!) Eli and Brynne are still reading through the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books. I have some in my Amazon cart to purchase for Christmas, and they both want the Do-it-Yourself books so they can make their own Diaries.

Writing - This week in our Write Shop Primary lessons, the kids learned about Fairy Tales. We spent some time watching some Fairy Tales on Youtube. Then yesterday I had Brynne watch The Ugly Duckling and Eli watch The Shoemaker and the Elves. After they watched the reading of the book, they each prepared a story web of the different events in the story. Then they took their story webs and wrote summarizing paragraphs about their Fairy Tales. They both worked really hard and were so proud of their end product! And I was proud of them, too! Their confidence in writing has increase so much!

Math - This week we completed Lesson 15 in Math U See which involved multiplying by 4's and converting quarts to gallons. They also continued to work on area and perimeter and word problems.

Handwriting - The kids completed five more lessons in Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success. 

Geography - No actual geography. We are still watching an episode of Liberty's Kids every day. We are on Episode 25 of 40.

Extra - The kids have one more week left of their Minecraft Castles and Cannons class. Then on November 25th they will be taking another four-week class that covers many different eras. Really, it's mostly just for fun so that they have an opportunity to continue to build with their new online friends until their new classes start in January.

And yesterday they just had to pull out the chess board. It was a perfect day for chess because we were pretty caught up on most of our schoolwork but still needed to log some hours.

Homeschool Tricks and Tips ...

Expect the unexpected. Through homeschooling, I learned of an opportunity for Dawson to work for the Minecraft Homeschool business that conducts the Minecraft classes. He is going to get PAID to play Minecraft with kids as a Head Game Master four hours per week. And the pay is great for a 17 year old. And did I mention he is getting paid for playing a video game??

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

Basketball is in full swing! Brynne even had practice at 8:00 a.m. yesterday! Yuck!! As soon as we were done we were off to bowling league.

A favorite thing this week was…

Dawson receiving the award of 'Employee of the Month' at the nursing home where he works. He received a small bonus, a certificate, and a cup filled with candy. He was honored at the staff meeting this week. It makes me proud for him to be so loved by the employees and residents of the home.

What's in the kitchen this week ...

We have been taking it easy in the kitchen this week, especially this weekend. This weekend we had some of our favorite easy foods of mini pizzas and hot/chili dogs. Kyndal's birthday is tomorrow, but she is going out with Collin for dinner. We're going to have pizza and brownies with my Aunt Rhonda at lunch on tomorrow to celebrate her birthday. The rest of the week? Looks like some open faced roast beef sandwiches, tacos and fajitas, and probably some easy Hamburger Helper on a busy night.

What we're reading ...

Mom:  I, Saul by Jerry B. Jenkins. It's a good one, so far.

Eli: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney.

Brynne: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.

Read-aloud: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Things we're working on…

Kyndal is now out of the instructional classroom at cosmetology school and in the salon taking appointments!!! She is so excited! She is already booked up next Saturday and found out a couple of days ago that she had enough hours to go ahead and start taking appointments yesterday. She had a girl from her old high school text her about doing a hair color. And she did her first haircut! She did great!

I’m grateful for …

the fact that I am not currently in labor at this moment. Nineteen year ago this minute, I was.

What's coming up this week ...

more schoolwork for me and all the kids, basketball practice, catching up on some DVR'd shows, and lunch with my aunt. And my mom is coming home from her 5-week trip to Florida!! We have missed her!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share (silly, serious or both!)…

My oldest baby has a birthday tomorrow.