Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which we get Dumped on

This has been a crazy week of snow!  We had about 18 inches fall on Monday, and we are currently getting more snow as I type!  Monday morning school was delayed a bit just so we could dig ourselves out!  You know it is bad when you have to dig a path for your mini schnauzer so that he can "do his duty" outside! LOL

We are plugging along in school.  We have about 6 more weeks of our history curriculum and under 10 weeks for some of the other subjects. It is cool to see that we are reaching the end in some areas.

This week Zach read Edgar Allen Poe for the first time, The Cask of Amontillado.  He thought it was pretty creepy!  I told him that as far as I know all his writings are like that.  Zach is now working on writing a critique for it.

We received some of our new curriculum for next year this week!!!!  I am sure that I am the only one that is excited about it!

Weekly Wrap-Up: What do birthdays, cabbages, Shakespeare and Don Quixote have in Common?

{Monday}

Today was Zach's 14th birthday.  My, time flies!  He is growing into such a great man!  We did very little school today because it was his birthday.  But we did study about Cervantes and Don Quixote. We also watch Man of La Mancha.  We are currently starting Don Quixote (Oxford Illustrated Classics Series) to get a quick overview of this funny piece of literature!

One highlight for Zach today was that Titan finally started rolling over. He had been trying to teach Titan to roll over on command, but it wasn't working.  Mainly because Titan isn't the type of dog that like to be on his back for any amount of time.  Today Titan just started rolling over on command for Zach.  Yay, Titan!!

{Tuesday}

Today we doubled up on school to get more done since yesterday we didn't do much.  We read about another famous Renaissance write, Shakespeare and will be reading some of his plays (in story form) later with Shakespeare Stories.

{Wednesday}

Low key day.  Got school done and even got some down time in before teaching my Spanish lessons. We read Macbeth from Shakespeare stories.  Awesome!

{Thursday}

Big science experiment day!

Cabbage, carbon dioxide, and chemical reactions!

{Friday}

Today we have on the schedule to read more Shakespeare and finish up with the rest of school.  I also am getting my haircut and have the goal of making out the boys' assignment lists for next week. We will see how much gets done.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Get Back on Track

Here is a quick update on what we did this week...day by day.

{Monday}- We are still dragging from being sick, but we made it through the day!  School got done.  Housework was somewhat attended to. I even made some lunches for the week. So we are finally back on track with life (somewhat).

{Tuesday}

Nothing extremely exciting in school today except that Noah did a quick science experiment from Apologia Human Anatomy to see why the fluid around our brains is so important.  We placed an egg in a plastic Easter egg and dropped it. It cracked (no big surprise there!). Then we put corn syrup in the plastic egg and put a new egg in.  When we drop this one the real egg didn't crack! The syrup had cushioned the blow.

{Wednesday}

We attempted to make homemade marshmallows today!  It was super easy!

{Thursday}

This has been a low key day.  Zach woke up not feeling well again.  I am real tired.  We got school done...just the bare minimum.  We are calling it good!

{Friday}

Today is a complete day at home! No outside activities.  I am currently reading Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living.  After the boys are done with school I will probably start decluttering the living room.  Our house is so in need of some organization right now!

Weekly Wrap-Up: A Day in Our Lives

{In Picture form!}

{Taken January 11, 2001}

{A science experiment that didn't work well!}

{Doing math}

{How Titan does school}

{Calculations}

{Break time}

{Dessert after lunch...a novelty}



Weekly Wrap-up: Back to School

So after a three week break we are back at it. It was so difficult to start school back up this week.  Tim has been really sick. I have also been somewhat under the weather. We had such an awesome, long break that we are missing it already.

The boys started working again.  Noah has been hitting the multiplication tables pretty hard.  He is actually working in long division, but we realized that he needed a bit of a review in multiplication to make the division go smoothly. Both boys are working on memorizing Psalms 139.

I need to start looking over the history program that I have decided to use with Zach next year, Trisms (Rise of Nations). This program is unlike anything we have used before so I really needed to figure it out ahead of time to the best of my ability.  I was going to try to do it this week, but never got to it.

I started back to teaching Spanish lessons. I found out that one of my students is moving so I quickly lined up a new student who will start in February.

This week I started as a mentor for the Bible in 90 Days program that Mom's Toolbox hosts. I have about 15 people who are in my group that I am mentoring online. Then there are about six people in my church that I am mentoring also.  So far it has been an awesome experience.  I am so excited to see all these people read through the Bible and be blessed by it!

It's been a busy week!

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Ate Turkey for Breakfast!

This has been a busy week.  Between getting ready for Thanksgiving , Christmas shopping, school and other events I feel like a chicken with its head cut off (or maybe I am a turkey!).

On Monday we got through school and then I took Noah to a friend's house to work on his Apologia Anatomy. They tested for vitamin C in different juices.

On Tuesday the boys did school and then went to a friend's house to play.  I was frantically going to the store to get all the fixings for Thanksgiving.

Wednesday and Thursday were taken up with mainly school and me teaching Spanish lessons.

Friday is our favorite day of the school week! We will have horseback riding lessons for Noah. I will get to go to lunch with a friend, and the boys will finish off any schoolwork they have left.   For a special memory I surprised the boys (Tim included) with these Turkey Treats this morning!

 

Weekly Wrap-Up

This week has been a blur.  So busy...so little time to think! 

On Monday, Noah and a friend created a digestive theme park for their Apologia science.  They spent several hours constructing it. 

We have really been focusing on Bible memorization this week.  The boys are memorizing a whole series of verses.  I am trying to memorize all of Psalms 27.  I do believe their brains retain more than my soon-to-be 40 year old one.  Slowly but surely, I will get there.

I have realized that Zach hasn't been moving fast enough in his writing curriculum.  I am in the process of beefing up his lessons so that he has more to do each day.  With high school coming up on us, he needs to have his writing skills well intact.

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Read A Lot

Over the past few weeks, I have tried to put more literature in my boys' hands.  The boys read a lot, but much of it has been historical fiction as we go through Biblioplan. Zach is going to be in 9th grade next year, and I feel like he needs more exposure to different types of literature.  I am trying to read ahead of him.  I figure if I read a book before he does then we can have some opportunities to discuss them.  Zach is currently reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Noah is reading From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I am reading Frankenstein and actually enjoying it!!!  I never thought I would say that! It isn't even close to what I had envisioned it to be.

The boys and I have been studying three important cultures from the past: the Aztec, Maya, and Inca. We have been reading from Mystery of History that a friend loaned us and have been looking at photos of different items from these cultures.  It has always been my dream to visit Macchu Picchu (the lost city of the Incas).  Maybe someday I will get there!

There is another first this week.  Noah went to his first official horse riding lesson!  He is such an animal lover and has wanted to take lessons for some time.  I am happy that he is finally getting the chance!

This week in the mail I received Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+La and have been slowly going through parts of it to help me designed Zach's high school program. While I don't think I will use everything in this books some of the forms and suggestions are invaluable!

What have you been doing this week in your homeschool?

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Plow through School!

We have really stayed on top of everything this week.  For some reason we have been extremely focused and got a tremendous amount of work done.

I continue to look through materials for high school. This week I stumbled on TRISMS which is a research-driven unit study program that incorporates history, literature and composition. I am seriously considering this for Zach for high school.  I like the fact that everything is combined and that the writing program that they use is Institute for Excellence in Writing which is what we have used for many years!  I am hoping to get my hands on a copy of this program to at least take a look at it before we buy.  Has anyone had any experience with TRISMS?

So looking forward to this evening, Tim and I get an date night without the boys as they both have activities to go to! I love when it all works out like that!

Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which the Snow Comes to Stay

Sometime before the end of October we receive our first snowfall that is here to stay.  This year we didn't even make it halfway through the month.  By Monday we were wrapped in whiteness.  Our winter wonderland will last until April...such is life in Central Alaska.

This week's mail was exciting! We received this....

Noah is looking forward to doing some of these activities with a friend of his. His friend has already started the book. So our goal is to do the first lesson and then go to the lesson that his friend is working on so that they can work together.  We are going to do something like this.

I also received in the mail The Bridge (Bracken Trilogy, Book 1) and the Progeny Press study guide to it. I have heard good things about this trilogy.  Hope the boys like it. The last fun book in the mail came yesterday, The Grace of God by Andy Stanley!  I love listening to and reading Andy Stanley.  I am only on chapter four, but this book is awesome.  I received it early so that I could review it for Book Sneeze.

This week had a first in it. On Tuesday a friend took me out to lunch.  I left the boys at home. Well, during that time they had chess club.  So another friend picked them up and took them.  I was so proud of Zach and Noah.  They locked up the house, didn't lose the key, and were able to get back in when they were dropped off.  They even called me to let me know they had made it back home!  Good for them!

Today the boys are managing school on their own as I do my monthly bulk cooking session with a friend. With homeschooling and working part time, I rely on bulk cooking to get through the week.  I love having a freezer full of food!