We are certainly into the busy part of summer! We have still been doing schoolwork every Monday through Thursday morning, but have had to take some breaks for Brynne's sports camps. She had a basketball camp at a nearby university and started a volleyball camp there today.
We have celebrated the 4th holiday, welcomed my brother and his family back from South America, and continued to work on painting the trim on our house. And by "we", I mean Rick. It looks so awesome!!
And that doesn't include regular softball practices and games, swimming mowing, gardening, and more.
The Past Week in our Regular Life
We experienced a great tragedy when my hard drive on my laptop had a glitch and the only solution was to reformat it and reinstall the software. And you know what that means. I lost everything on my hard drive ... all my pictures, documents, everything. The real kicker is that I have an external hard drive but had not backed it up. Totally my fault for not doing so. Eli was very upset with me because he had the last four episodes of a series he has been doing for Youtube that I had not uploaded yet. He lost them and has to redo. And Brynne about lost her marbles when she learned that everything she has ever built on Minecraft was gone. I told her to just pretend that her Minecraft villages had been hit by a massive tornado. Was she going to leave it in ruins or rebuild? She is rebuilding.The Schooling Basics
Bible
Even though our review period is over, we are still continuing with our Old Testament and Ancient Egypt lessons from Veritas Press. It's a great program! I wish it wasn't so expensive or I would buy it every year.Math
The kids got a little stuck on fractional remainders, so we took some extra time over the past two weeks making sure we got the concept down before moving on.Reading
We are still reading Sarah, Plain and Tall and have started a new reading club selection called Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead. And the kids still continue to do personal reading.
The Schooling Fun Stuff
I already mentioned that the kids have a new selection for their reading club. They attend that on Wednesday afternoons. They are also continuing to learn about healthy eating and work in their community garden in their Eating Through the Garden class that meets on Thursday afternoons. This week we are adding a new class called Kids in the Kitchen where they will be learning basic cooking skills with the same teacher that leads their gardening class. Our library has provided some great classes for them this year!
The Kitchen
I explained to her that if she really wanted to do it, that we would do it. But that it would be hard and would take commitment. She was up for the challenge and I am happy to say that she has gone full blast with it! We are logging her calories on My Fitness Pal and reviewing her nutritional numbers at the end of the day to see where we could be doing better. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday we are doing Couch to 5K, hoping to be ready for a 5K in September. And on Tuesday and Thursday we are riding 3 miles on our bikes. This is in addition to trying to ride our bikes wherever we can in town, swimming, and playing softball. She is a running rockstar! I can already see a difference in her body.
The most important part is that she told me that she feels so much better with what she is eating and that she is fuller much longer with her meals. She has even started to try different vegetables! I cannot even begin to express how proud I am of her. We have discussed that wearing a two-piece swimming suit is not our goal. She understands that if we do all of this work and she has a body that is not appropriate for a two-piece swimming suit, that God made her body that way and she needs to love her body and be proud of it. We are a vessel of God and we are to take the best care of our bodies that we can. If she is doing that, then she is perfect!!
The Days Ahead
Brynne started a three-day volleyball camp today and then has a softball tournament starting Thursday night. We are leaving on Saturday to go to Oklahoma to our nephew's wedding.The Books We are Reading
Mom: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (finished), If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (finished), Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.Brynne: A Surprise for Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger.
Eli: Big Nate: In a Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce.
Read Aloud: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead.
The People and the Places
It's been all about family and friends these past couple of weeks with the 4th holiday and my brother, sister-in-law, and baby niece coming for a visit. We also celebrated my niece, Ashtyn's, 2nd birthday at a party at her house with extended family.
The Savings Jar(s)
I have put $5.68 in the change jar in the past two weeks.The Bible in a Year
I got all caught up on my Bible reading and then my computer crashed. That is where I read my Bible passages every night. I have a reading schedule set up online. And then I couldn't remember where I had set it up since it was bookmarked. I finally figured it out, but am now over a week behind. I'll get caught up again asap. With all the time I have at Brynne's volleyball camp (about 6 hours each day), I can get it done by Wednesday.The Favorite Things
I hate to even admit it, but my iPhone. I finally let my husband buy me a smart phone for my birthday. My trusty GPS had broken and I rely on it heavily, so Rick talked me into going ahead and joining the iPhone family. I must say, it's pretty awesome! I even have an Instagram account!! Feel free to follow me at @nikki_taulman.
Linking up
We are using the Veritas Press history too right now - our second time. Love it!
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