The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Last week was a crazy, busy week full of activity that I am not used to! To say that I was exhausted by the end of it is an understatement! I am looking very much forward to this much-calmer week where I can restore some order and get my house cleaned. Besides it's going to be 108 degrees tomorrow and Wednesday with no break from the heat in sight.

In my life this week ... I would say it's pretty much "back to normal". No camps. No visiting relatives. No out-of-town trips. There are still some activities going on this week, with Co-op and church. And my husband started a new job today, so we have the excitement of that!

In our homeschool this week… We are just going to concentrate on some daily reading. We officially start school in a little over three weeks, so I just want to concentrate on a little more routine.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… We'll be seeing mostly Co-op and church friends this week. It's a week of preparation in both groups.

My favorite thing this week was… spending some time away with my husband on Thursday and Friday, and having the kids do so well so that we could do it without worry (we ruined Brynne last summer when we left her for two weeks to go to Hawaii)! I also really enjoyed spending time with my sister and niece. Going to the NKOTBSB concert with them and my older daughter was definitely a highlight.

What’s ~~working~~/not working for us… Lack of routine. It never works for us.

Questions/thoughts I have… Again, where are my Teaching Textbooks materials? I'm not too concerned about it, because if they don't get here in time I'll just have Dawson do some Pre-Algebra review on Khan Academy. But, still .. looking forward to getting it!

Things I’m working on… more U.S. History! And now I only have about three weeks to get about five units done. I am going to be busy the rest of the summer! I am also working on Brynne's birthday party that is next month. (This is exactly what I said last week.)

Books I’m reading… Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, Seasons of a Mother's Heart, by Sally Clarkson (reading with the moms in our Co-op Playgroup), More Faith in My Day by Emilie Barnes (my daily devotional).

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

This is on my husband's nightstand. A real-life-book! He doesn't like to read, and I took a chance and checked this out from the library for him. He's almost read the whole book this week. Everytime I can't find him, he's in the bedroom reading.

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.

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.

Last Child in the Woods ~ Chapters 1-4

Welcome to our book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. To be honest, I have no idea what this "study" is going to look like. I imagine that when we get together I will post about all of the things that caught my eye. And I would ask that you leave a comment, or a link to your own blog post in the comment, about what caught yours. This isn't anything formal, ladies, just a place to talk about what we have read. I have now read the first four chapters of Last Child in the Woods two times. It is just so good. Several things have specifically hit me deep, but in general I just realized that "times, they are a changin'." Things aren't the way they were when we were kids. Chapter 1. Gifts of Nature ~ "When I see birches bend to left and right ... I like to think some boy's been swinging them." ~ Robert Frost What is your definition of nature? What feelings, visions, senses does it conjure up? For me, it's not a

Aloha AcresJuly 25, 2011 at 12:53 PM
I've been wondering where my TT materials are also. Here's the latest post from their fb page:

‎2.0 Release UPDATE!!: Yes, July is upon us and many of you are asking, "Is my pre-order shipping?". While we are not shipping yet, the textbooks are at the printer and we are doing last minute bug checking on the CDs while we wait on the books to arrive. With that in mind, we expect to start shipping at the end of July.

Journey to Excellence

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