Skip to main content

The Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ Summer Week 4


In my life this week ... it's been pretty much about others. Last weekend I spent the entire weekend helping my sister redecorate her living room, dining room, kitchen, and hall bathroom, and paint and create her baby's nursery. We baked and gave a sweet treat to our public school librarians. And, we celebrated Rick's birthday by throwing him a golf-themed birthday dinner. BUT, this weekend Rick and I are going away for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. And I am looking forward to it!

In our homeschool this week ... We really didn't do a whole lot in the schooling department. We read a tad bit, Brynne worked on letter writing for her Keeper's Club, we had our second Keeper's Club meeting, and the kids played the computer several times. Otherwise, we were either having fun or relaxing.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share ... We are going on a vacation next week. My personality is to make EVERYTHING educational. And I know that as home educators, we want our kids to take advantage of every learning opportunity, especially when we are in a new city. But, you know what? My kids are most looking forward to just staying in a hotel. I am NOT going to turn our vacation into an educational trip. Instead, we are just going to have FUN! Sometimes, we just need to take a fun break.

I am inspired by ... my family's interests. The things that interest them make me want to do what I can to reinforce it in their lives.

Places we're going and people we're seeing ... We visited with our public library employees when we took them some mini banana muffins as a thank you for all they do for us in our homeschool. They are invaluable to me and save me hours every week.


We saw lots of swimmers at the water park on Wednesday.



We saw daddy at his office on Thursday when we took him lunch for his birthday.


Now that Dawson is back home from working with my dad for the past two weeks, we have had teenage boys coming in and out all week. And the kids are seeing grandma this weekend when she comes to stay with them.

My favorite thing this week was ... helping my sister with the overwhelming organizational and decorating tasks she had set herself up to accomplish four weeks before her baby is due to be born. I felt so good helping her out. It was nice to do this with her, because we did not get along at all when we were girls. It's wonderful to have such a close relationship with her after all these years.



What's working/not working for us ... The panic of realizing that we are officially starting back to school in a little over a month, and I am nowhere near ready!

Questions/thoughts I have ... How much FREE play time do your kids have in a day? Do you think it's important? I have changed some of my reasoning why I think it is so important.

Things I'm working on ... getting dogs vaccinated, prepped, and ready for our vacation next week. The three little ones are getting boarded (which they will HATE), and we are taking Crusoe on vacation with us. We've never done either of these things before, so I am anxious to see how it all works out.

I'm reading ... Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach (hoping to read this whole book this weekend while I am relaxing at the Bed and Breakfast on Saturday and while on the golf cart with my husband on Sunday.)

I'm cooking ... lots of mini muffins/cupcakes for snacks. I made some yummy banana muffins on Wednesday (a family favorite, especially Dawson) and some devil's food mini cupcakes yesterday.

I'm grateful for ... my mom who will drive four hours to stay with the kids for the weekend so that Rick and I can go away for some much-needed time alone together.

I'm praying for ... one of my good blogging friends who is having some disappointing and emotional difficulties with her teenage daughter. This is a tough one, friends, because kids will be difficult if they have a disobedient spirit. I had a disobedient spirit as a girl (still do, really), so I can understand it. But as a parent, it's so hard. Other than prayer, what else can you do? Can you really make someone do what they don't want to do? We can only protect our kids to a certain extent, and then I just have to believe in natural consequences and God's love and protection (this is not saying that I do not believe in rules, boundaries, guidance, and discipline). I have had to sit back and watch my kids make mistakes (that I know are mistakes), so that they learn how to deal with consequences, and just trust that God will make good of it.

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

Our golf-themed cupcakes and place setting for Ricks birthday.




I am also linking up at Weekly Wrap-up with Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.



** Attention Last Child in the Woods participants. I will be putting up my post this weekend. We have had a busy week and I haven't had enough time to collect my thoughts on the chapters I have read. My post will be up by Sunday.

Comments

  1. I had to make a "free time rule". I have a tendency to always see the that things need to get done. Then I see someone vegging on the couch or seemingly "doing nothing", and I pounce. Now I set a timer for our work time and *also* for our free time. The boys know that I will not disturb then for trivial matters during that free time.

    The baby's room is breathtaking!!!!

    Enjoy your time alone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Free time? Well, part of homeschooling is giving my kids more time for being with family, exploring things outside school, reading, and FREE TIME. So much happens during free time and a little boredom helps the kids to be more creative and enjoy each other's company. We all need downtime!

    How thoughtful to give the librarians some sweet treats! We'll have to do that some time! Our favorite librarian moved back to Alaska a few weeks go and we've only seen the new one once. Perhaps after we get to know her?

    That waterpark looks fun!

    Gosh, I must've missed the Last Child in the Woods! :(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

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.