Weekly Wrap-up ~ Mania

In our regular life this week…

It's pretty nutty around here most days. With Kyndal in Cosmetology school, and all the excitement involved with it, Kyndal and Dawson's significant others around at various times during the week, Dawson's friends over helping him install Rick's surround sound in his bedroom, regular school, activities, my nieces in and out while my mom is in Florida, birthdays, holidays, and so much more, there is not a whole lot of relaxing going on. In fact, I steal moments absolutely whenever I can. And, that happens to be mostly late at night and in the late mornings these days. I am having an incredibly hard time getting up and on with my day. We seem to be starting school later and later each morning. And, if you know me, that wrecks havoc on my life. I am not a late-night person and typically like to get up and start my day early. But, I know that this is a season, a very short season, and before I know it I'll be back to the quiet life. Will I?

Kyndal's poster for her salon design. The photo doesn't show up all the bling involved!

In our homeschool this week…

Grammar - This week in grammar we studied comparatives and superlatives and the suffixes of -ish and -ness. We also put in some language arts practice time on IXL.

Spelling - This week's words were words starting with thr- and str-. These words were quite a bit more difficult and Eli had a little trouble with them. He was very upset when he missed one on his final test. He is a boy who wants to get perfect scores on his work!

Reading - We finished Poppy and Rye by Avi. Eli and Brynne have both moved onto Diary of a Wimpy Kids books. They each read a full one this week.

Math - This week we completed Lesson 13 in Math U See. They practiced skip counting 6's and learning how to calculate perimeter.

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

Geography - We still didn't complete any more lessons in our Road Trip USA curriculum because the kids are consumed with their Castles and Cannons Minecraft class. This week they continued working on their peasant villages and cruck houses and constructing a redstone arrow bridge. They also learned more about the Middle Ages by watching three videos and taking a quiz. The class has four more weeks and, I have a feeling, it will continue to occupy a lot of their time. But, they are learning so much and using some major creative brain cells!

And they can't stay away from Liberty's Kids. We watched another five episodes this week. Because the videos cover so much material about Benjamin Franklin, and Hope gave a tip about the FREE Animated Hero Classics videos and activity books, we spent some time learning about Benjamin Franklin this week. We watched the Animated Hero Classics video and then did several activity pages. Our lessons ranged from rhyming, to word unscrambles, to writing descriptive phrases, to acrostic poems. Most of all we learned about the characteristics that made Benjamin Franklin the innovative man that he was.

I am truly hoping to move onto learning about Vermont next week and then reviewing all of the Northeastern States we have learned so far. We'll see ….

Extra - Designing and carving pumpkins counts, right?

Homeschool Tricks and Tips ...

When you run out of printer paper, get creative and have some fun. Your kids will be excited to have a day of NO worksheets!!

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

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! Eli was Luigi and Brynne was a puppy dog. We had fun at Halloween Downtown, having hot dogs at church, and going to visit Papa who tried to give each of the kids a potato when they came in the house. They just stared at him, like, "What the heck?" Of course he started laughing and handed them their Halloween bags containing candy, a Dairy Queen gift card, and $5. Then Eli asked Papa to open one of his candy bars for him. He opened it and then popped it into his own mouth. Eli said, "What the heck is wrong with you? … punk!!" We all died laughing. It was a fun night!

A favorite thing this week was…

I finished writing my curriculum! I have been under a contract, for the past two years, to write a Business Law Curriculum for an online college course for a Christian College. The problem with these contracts is that you enter into them and then wait, and wait, and wait until the university is ready for the class to begin, and then you write it like a mad person the couple of months before.

Of course they weren't ready for it to be written this summer when I was completely free, or in the first part of the year when our activity level comes to a screeching halt. No, they needed it RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the busiest time of our year! I am a crazy woman this time of year anyway. Throw in a huge project, that required TONS of creative brain cells and time, and you have a lunatic on your hands.

But, it's DONE! I sent in the final work on Tuesday night and my stress level has decreased 100-fold since then. I find myself sitting on the couch in the evening without my computer in my lap and the couch and coffee table covered in textbooks and templates.

What's in the kitchen this week ...

We had some delish beef stroganoff one night, spaghetti another, and roast and potatoes another. Now to plan this next week. This weekend we are looking to make swiss steak, hash brown potatoes and green beans, and American Stew. Rick also requested chicken and noodles since he missed them last weekend.

What we're reading ...

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

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

Brynne: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney.

Read-aloud: Poppy and Rye by Avi.

Things we're working on…

Switching out all of our summer and winter clothes. I hate this project!! But, it's necessary when you live in a 100 year old house with TINY closets! I am looking out the window right now at a neighbor having a garage sale thinking about how badly I need to have one. My basement is bursting at the seams.

I’m grateful for …

Beautiful fall days with colorful falling leaves. The kids and I are going to get out for a walk today to go to the grocery store and library and have lunch with their DQ gift cards they got for Halloween. Our DQ closes for the season in just two days. Insert **wail!!!** here.

What's coming up this week ...

Bowling league, church, another trip to the attorney, handbell choir practice, Kyndal starting her new job at The Buckle, and schoolwork.

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

Eli's record bowling score …. an 82!

We are happily linking up this week at the following sites: