Weekly Wrap-up ~ School Called on Account of Family

I am sure many of you are like we are right now ... ready for some spring temps, getting a little tired of the school routine and ready for the end of the school year, and lack of general motivation.

We have been pushing through Spring Fever, working hard on getting Brynne ready for standardized testing, and beginning to wrap up some subjects. When we start to get ho-hum about our studies it usually means we are ready for a little science.

Watching "The Wheel" on the Discovery Channel has prompted our studies of biomes. Last week we set up a science experiment to determine which of four biomes would yield the best results in growing impatiens, lima beans, and rye grass. We have the deciduous forest, grasslands, rainforest, and desert. We will be observing the growths in these biomes for the next few weeks.

A sweet lady at our church tapped Eli on the shoulder last Sunday and handed him a crinoid stem that she had found on her property. The crinoid is an ancient sea animal, but also still in existence in many oceans today. When Missouri was underwater a long, long, long time ago, there were an abundance of crinoids. It is now the state fossil. We spent some time researching the crinoid, watching videos, and doing a crossword puzzle. We are hoping to get permission to go onto her land soon and look for more fossils.

Otherwise school has consisted of the usual grammar, spelling, reading, writing, math, and studies in astronomy, Greek mythology, and Missouri history.

This week we cancelled some school work here and there because we had an influx of visiting family members in town. On Wednesday my aunt and second cousin were visiting at my mom's, so I went for lunch and ended up staying most of the afternoon. Dawson came home for a visit yesterday afternoon and my brother and niece were visiting from Oregon. We cut our school day short that day. And today, we just called the whole day off. With big brother home for a few days, we knew it would be impossible to focus. Sometimes family is more important.

Brynne wrapped up her basketball season and we are now beginning softball practices. I am the coach this year so it is definitely going to be an interesting year! Eli is still bowling every week in preparation for state tournament in May. Brynne is also running in preparation for the Girls on the Run 5K in May.

We have such a busy summer ahead!

2016-2017 School Hours Logged: 795 hours, including 163.75 hours outside home. Plus Summer 2016 Hours Logged: 70.75 hours, including 27 hours outside home.