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.

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

A Thomas Jefferson Education "This Week in History" ~ Schoolhouse Review

Talk about a GOLD MINE! A Thomas Jefferson Education's This Week in History by Rachel DeMille is her "labor of love" ... and I absolutely LOVE it! " This Week in History is a daily resource that brings your home school or classroom to life." For just $9.99 per month, you can log onto TJEd.com and click the "This Week in History" link to obtain many, many, many resources tied to specific events that occurred in the upcoming week in history. Or even better, you can receive the summaries and links to ALL resources right in your email Inbox each week! It doesn't get any easier than that! What does this really look like in real life? Each week, I receive an email from Rachel DeMille that sets out each date of the coming week. Under the date, there are listed anywhere from one to several events that occurred in history on that date. THEN there are ALL kinds of things to do related to that event, such as books to read, websites to visit, ac

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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