Week in Review - The Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh While Homeschooling Week

Sometimes, you just have to laugh when you're homeschooling.  While, overall, we had a quiet week here, it was also a busy week of schoolwork and, at times, all of my children struggled with maintaining a positive attitude.  Early in the week, I worked with Mason and Duncan in the Ancient History Writing Lessons course they are taking.  After going over who/which clauses again, I said that we would all write a sentence with a who/which clause in it on the board. 

• I wrote:  Samantha, who loves to drink decaf lattes, went to Starbucks to buy one.
• Mason wrote:  Mason, who is very good at art, loves to draw pictures.
• Duncan wrote:  Duncan, who likes video games, hates ancient history writing lessons.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh when you're homeschooling.  I burst out laughing when I read his sentence.  Luckily, my laughter lightened Duncan's mood and he began to laugh a bit too.  I also pointed out to him that his who/which clause was perfect!

While studying with Mason for his first test in General Science, he pointed out to me that "If I chucked this book at somebody, I could knock them out with it."  I couldn't stop laughing at his proclamation.  Yes, it IS a big, heavy book.  We made a matching game with index cards to help him study for his test.

We found out this week that our swim team is definitely putting together a group of swimmers to travel to the Grand Prix meet held in Indianapolis.  Amber will be attending this national level meet with three other swimmers from her team that have time cuts.  While Amber has a hard cut in the 50 Free which qualifies her for the meet, she can also swim two bonus events so she'll also be swimming the 100 Free and 100 Fly. She's really excited about the meet as the Grand Prix series attracts many Olympian swimmers. She is hopeful that she'll be meeting some of her swimming heroes on deck.  My husband and I will be traveling with Amber at the beginning of March to her first Grand Prix - exciting times ahead!

A great personal accomplishment this month has been faithfully making lots of yummy, hearty meals for my family.  I even tried a new bread recipe this week, Hawaiian Sweet Bread - it turned out so well that it was gone a few short hours after it emerged from the oven.

Mason and Duncan started a recreational bowling league this week that meets on Wednesday afternoons.  I'm really excited because I get to see my dear homeschooling friend there each week now through the beginning of March!

In my continuing effort to play more educational games during our school day, this week we played:

• Professor Noggin's Pets (Mason and Duncan)
• Professor Noggin's Life in the Ocean (Duncan)
• Safari Search Animal Classification Game (Duncan)
  

One of my favorite times of our homeschool days is after lunch when we all gather together for a read-aloud and history.  This week I worked through two weeks of our Winter Promise reading as we are all ready to move on to study ancient China.  I absolutely love how all of my children engage in some handicraft or artwork during our read-alouds.

Amber worked on a painting that she is doing based on the frescos of the ancient Minoans.

 Mason sketched a drawing based on the cover of a book he recently read.

Duncan worked on his new favorite handicraft - Perler bead creations.

In art this week, the assignment was to use a paint and scratch technique.  First, they drew a large, fairly simple shape and painted it in with bright colors.  Then, after the paint dried, they painted over portions of the painting again, using the hard end of their brush to scratch in various patterns.  This was the first time they used this technique and they all really enjoyed the assignment.

Mason painted Charlie, the StarKist Tuna mascot.  I liked how Mason scratched little fish designs all over him. 

Duncan painted a fabulous, colorful turtle using many different patterns on the turtle's shell.

Amber did a very opulent painting of the Gryffindor lion from the Harry Potter series.

That was our week in review!  To read about what other homeschoolers were doing this week, visit the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

52 Weeks of Organizing - Organizing My Desk

I am quite thankful, once again, for the 52 Weeks of Organizing challenge!  I know that without the organizing challenge to motivate me and hold my accountable, I definitely would not have set aside time to do a bit of organizing during my very hectic week.

The clutter on my desk has been bothering me for quite a while now.  I am often at my desk and I would like that time to feel as peaceful as possible.  It is difficult for me to feel peaceful when I am surrounded by clutter.

 
While working on this organizational project, I tried to think of solutions that would clear the clutter but would be easy to maintain over time.  As I worked through all of the things on my desk, I discovered that I had very little that I could cull - I really need the vast majority of items that I keep on my desk.  To organize my desk:

• I finally listed all of the books in the box under my desk on PaperBackSwap.  I had been meaning to do it for months.  After listing all of the books, I stored the books in another location out of the way with the other books I have listed on PaperBackSwap.
• I moved a round basket from the living room that was being used only for decorative purposes and put it to work on my desk.  I gathered up my packing tape, address stamp, iPod charger cords, rubber band ball, white-out, post-it notes, tape runner, timer, calculator, and flash drives and put them all in the basket.  Now, rather than all of those items cluttering up my desk, they are neatly tucked away, yet very accessible.
• I went through the "bills to pay" long basket I keep in one of the top cubbies.  I was able to throw out or shred some of the papers in there.  Throughout the week, as bills and correspondence come in, I put it in the "bills to pay" basket.  I process all bills and correspondence once a week when I do the payroll for our family business.
• I replaced the pen holder basket with a small crock that is lower in height, therefore, the pens are easier to see.  I also made sure that I have all of the writing utensils that I need at my desk:  pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, and a permanent marker.
• I organized the only drawer my little desk has by culling any unneeded items.  I plan to add no items to this drawer so that the minimal contents are easy to find.
• I was able to move the little basket to another area of the house, as the items in that basket fit into the larger, circular basket. 
• I emptied the paper recycling bag since it was overflowing and cleared the top of the desk.

 
 
 I am quite pleased with the results and feel much more peaceful while working at my desk now!  To read about the organizational projects of other bloggers this week, visit Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organizing. 

Celebrating Thankfulness - #61-80

Over the week-end our family gathered with extended family to celebrate my daughter's 14th birthday.

We had a lovely time as we always do when we get together.  My mother-in-law has always insisted that we get together for birthdays, with cake, to celebrate.  So, over the course of the year we get together for 6 or more birthday parties, in addition to all of the major holidays.  When I was first married, I resented all of the time that the celebrations would take but over the years I have grown to LOVE getting together for birthday parties.  I feel so close to my husband's family and am so blessed by them.  I have also grown to understand the importance of gathering together with family to celebrate whenever one can. 

61.  Getting together with extended family members to celebrate birthdays.
62.  Friends who are willing to share yummy recipes, like lasagna.
63.  A teenager who looks forward to going to church.
64.  Freshly baked bread which is gobbled up just a few short hours after it is made which reflects both the blessing of being at home and the blessing of from-scratch cooking.

65.  Kind teenagers who made my daughter feel welcome during morning swim team practice.
66.  Chlorine, even though it burns my eyes at swim meets, I am thankful for chlorine because it helps to keep the pool water safe for my children and all the children on their swim team.
67.  My wonderful husband who always packs a cooler for us and makes a great breakfast for the children on swim meet mornings.
68.  My blog.
69.  My bloggy friends.
70.  The 52 Weeks of Organizing Challenge at Org Junkie which is keeping me motivated to organize and clean all those little (or big) areas of our house that could use an organizational overhaul.
71.  Lycra in jeans.
72.  Books that can be counted on to have a happy ending like cozy mysteries and romance novels.
73.  My fabulous sister-in-law who has become one of my dearest friends.
74.  An after-school bowling league for Duncan and Mason which is a chance for all of us to see our dear homeschooling friends.
75.  Our dishwasher which is blissfully quiet as it washes the dishes...at least twice a day.
76.  Tax preparation software.
77.  The endless creativity of my children and their desire to create art in all different forms.  As I write this post, Amber is downstairs painting a picture for her room with a Minoan Fresco theme.
78.  Studying ancient history and making connections through time.
79.  Reading aloud from a wonderful book to all of my children (even my teenager).
80.  Curling up by our fireplace on our stitched-together - needs stitched again, wonderfully comfy couch.

To read about the blessings of other bloggers, visit A Holy Experience for this week's Multitudes on Mondays.

Weekly Menu Plan

I didn't write a menu plan last week and I was flailing and desperate all week in the kitchen.  This week, I'm getting back on track with a menu plan.  We are having a lot of homestyle meals this week - lots of meat and potatoes for my swimmers!

• Monday - Homestyle Chicken and Noodles, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
• Tuesday - Pot Roast with Carrots and Onions in the Crock-Pot, Baked Potatoes
• Wednesday - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Baked Corn
• Thursday - Ham and Bean Soup
• Friday - Lasagna
• Saturday - Little Caesar's Pizza and Leftovers
• Sunday - Tacos, Cheese Enchiladas

For hundreds of meal plan ideas, visit Org Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.  

Week in Review - Amber's Birthday Week!

My oldest child, my precious daughter Amber turns 14 this Saturday!  In addition to her family birthday party and afternoon at the movies which is coming up on Saturday, we took two days of school off this week so that Amber could celebrate her birthday in a very special way!  On Tuesday, I drove Amber and her best friend to a very large, indoor waterpark about a 90 minute drive from our house.  Amber and her friend had an absolutely amazing time together and I had an incredibly relaxing time just hanging out in our hotel room and in the hotel lobby.  Endless computer and book time - it was like it was MY birthday!  The fun began for them as soon as we checked in and it never stopped for the entire trip!  Amber's friend brought special monster towels for them which they enjoyed but did leave in the room.

Monday was a day filled with interruptions as well - though all were good interruptions.  Amber had a follow-up doctor's appointment Monday morning after recently recovering from pneumonia.  Our pediatrician said that Amber's lungs are clear but that it may take 4-6 additional weeks before she feels completely back to normal in the pool.  So, our morning school routine was disrupted.  In the afternoon, some dear friends stopped by and we ended up chatting with them over coffee and treats for a few hours.  While it was delightful to visit with them, our afternoon routine was disrupted as well.  As a result, my children only completed independent work on Monday.

Thursday and Friday were normal, full days of school in which we did double history each day to stay on track with the Ancient History program from Winter Promise we are using.  Due to the double history, we didn't have art class this week.  We are still studying Ancient Israel history.  I have to admit, I will be glad to move on to Ancient China and India soon.  We are looking forward to some hands-on projects when studying Ancient China and India.

In science this week, Amber is finishing Module 8 in Biology on genetics.  Next week, she will finish the chapter, study, and take the test.  From this point on, the book looks a lot more interesting to her and she is looking forward to doing the dissection labs with a friend.  Mason is still studying the history of science in his Apologia General Science course.  Duncan started a new chapter in Bob Jones Science 3 about cells, tissues, and organs.  He enjoyed a hands-on science activity in which he tried to identify different foods by smell and then by taste while he was blindfolded.
 

Next week Amber will start doing double swim team practice twice a week so we are planning to implement a much earlier wake-up schedule for Amber and me.  Hopefully, we will both adjust to our new wake-up time of 5:00 am.

That was our Week in Review!  To read about what other homeschoolers did this week, check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 3 - Clearing the Clutter from the Phone Cabinet

This week has been particularly busy with an overnight trip, so I was quite thankful for the ongoing weekly challenge at Org Junkie to motivate me to complete an organizational task.  Without the challenge, I know I wouldn't have tackled an organizational project this week!

This week, I organized a large, vertical cabinet in our kitchen that we use for phone storage, a charging center, and game storage.  While this area was neat and tidy quite a long time ago, it had definitely become an eyesore.  As well, we were finding it increasingly difficult to reach the phone, and to find the correct charger in the tangle of cords.  We also had a stack of new games from Christmas (we love games) and I wanted to store them in this space.  I accidentally cut off the top shelf in the BEFORE picture so there are five shelves in all.

 Much better!  Usually during an organizational project, I remove items that don't belong in the space but I actually removed only a couple of independent thinking games.  We keep them in one location elsewhere in our house.  Even though I added a stack of games to the cabinet, it looks much neater.

Duncan (my youngest boy) found the perfect storage container for our Mexican Train domino trays, score cards, and train hub in our basement storage area.  I moved the phone to the second shelf so it's easier to reach.  I also threw out a charger for a phone we no longer have and wrapped up all of the chargers that we don't use regularly and put them in a basket behind the phone.  The chargers that are used frequently were left out and a put a label on each one.

I gathered all of the smaller games and put them in a big basket and stacked other games beside the large game basket on the third shelf.  I gathered all of the packs of cards (lots of different cards and multiple card decks) and put them in a medium-sized basket.  I stacked more games beside the cards basket.

On the bottom shelf, I stacked the remaining games from the closet and added the new games from Christmas.

To read about what other bloggers organized this week, visit Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 3.

Celebrating Thankfulness - #41-60 - The Kindness of Strangers

This week, I am most thankful for the kindness of strangers.  On Saturday, my husband and I attended my son's swim meet.  I love seeing my children compete in the pool, and with two year-round USA swimmers - I see a lot of swim meets, but swim meets are not the most comfortable events to attend for parents.  Swim meets are very long, usually quite hot, and always have uncomfortable and often inadequate seating.  Swim parents are great people, as long as you're not infringing on their carefully guarded space in the stands.  I have often thought that swim meets would be happier events if ushers were used to seat the swim parents. 

We arrived on Saturday at a particularly bad time to find seats in the stands.  The morning session had run over (as usual) so all of the folks who were there for the morning session had not left yet and all of the folks who were coming for the afternoon session were arriving and looking for seats.  We scanned the stands looking for a space to sit.  Time and again, when we approached some empty spots we were told loudly and firmly, "Somebody is already sitting there" or "Those seats are saved." 

Imagine our surprise when we heard a complete stranger yell to us, "There's some space over here.  I'll move over and make more room for you two."  We were so happy to have seats and even more delighted that our seats had a bit of back support.  We thanked her again and again for her kindness and enjoyed the next 8 hours we spent in our as comfortable as swim meet seating gets comfortable seats. 

41.  The kindness of a stranger who moved over so my husband and I would have a place to sit at my son's swim meet this past week-end.

42.  We had some good friends stop by unexpectedly.  I am thankful that I had some yummy baked goods in the freezer that I could quickly defrost and offer to them with coffee and tea.

42.  The fellowship of good friends over a warm beverage and a delicious, homemade dessert.

43.  Sitting in one of the few places in the stands at my son's swim meet with a place to rest my back.

44.  I am so thankful that the kids on our new swim team are friendly and have helped my children feel at home on their new team.

45.  Decaf Venti Lattes from Starbucks

46.  I am thankful that I can store, organize, and order prints of my photos from the comfort of my home using Shutterfly.

47.  Getting together for girl time and scrapbooking with my good friend.

48.  The fresh-scrubbed faces of teenage girls without a hint of make-up.

49.  Boxed cake mixes.

50.  The convenience of ordering books (and just about everything else) on Amazon.

Week In Review - A Quiet Week

Overall, this week has been a quiet week.  We stayed home and did our schoolwork every day.  Two nights this week, Amber and Mason were home all evening too since both swim team and youth group were cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday nights due to the weather.  I've only left our house once all week - I love it!


But, I'm particularly excited for tonight - my good friend is coming over to scrapbook with me!  I haven't scrapbooked in years and I'm so looking forward to working on my favorite hobby with a good friend.


Now, back to the academic highlights!  Amber wrote her second of two literary analysis essays about The Scarlet Letter this week.  I've been so impressed with both of her papers.  She absolutely loved the book and that certainly helps in writing an interesting essay.  She has worked so hard on the papers, though, I wanted to share one paragraph from her paper about symbolism in The Scarlet Letter.  She has always enjoyed writing and I'm so proud of how she has embraced writing literary analysis essays this school year.

• Roger Chillingworth.  Even the name sends shivers down one’s spine.  This character is the symbol of the Devil.  Evil, all that is corrupt, wrong and wicked is what Dr. Chillingworth stands for.  Even his image in the town is built up with lies and deceit, a false identity.  Like Satan, he sneaks around peoples backs, lies, trying to seem friendly and right- but there are always clues.  Roger Chillingworth’s character is in the book to scare Hester, and to be the danger to Hester’s love.  Roger befriends Reverend Dimmesdale so that he may, when the time comes, strike.  Like a snake, his lies and prods and almost undetectable comments of torture to Mr. Dimmesdale constrict around the Minister until he can not breath- and at the end of the book, the man is crushed.  “Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth.”

Amber, Mason, and Duncan all did experiments this week.  Far and away, though, Mason's was the coolest.  First, we boiled water with red cabbage in it.  After letting it cool, we added the cabbage water to a 2 liter bottle.  Then, we added vinegar which changed the color of the cabbage water from pink to a bluish color.  After that, we dumped in the baking soda from the balloon we attached to the top of the bottle.  In addition to all of the foaming and the balloon blowing up, the cabbage water/vinegar mix changed back to the original color.  It was all very cool and very exciting!

Amber extracted the DNA from peas.  That was really cool, too - it actually worked!  In other related Biology news, Amber is quite happy to be done with the meiosis module in Biology.  She is finding the genetics module to be far more interesting to her.

Duncan looked at a leaf under the microscope, learned about pitch in sound with a hands-on activity, and made a model of a plant cell.

All of the science experiments were made easier through the use of my prepared science experiments basket.

In my continuing effort to play more educational games with my children, we played the following games this week:

• Professor Noggin's Human Body Game
• Go To Press!

We are still focusing on biblical history in History, focusing on Ancient Assyria this week.  We are all LOVING our new read-aloud book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.  I look forward to reading it every school day.  We're enjoying it so very much that I'm no longer going to try to link our read-alouds to our history studies all of the time.  We're just going to focus on reading excellent, classic children's novels and enjoying them from the bottom of our hearts.


During our read-aloud and history time, Amber worked on making beaded bracelets for her friends for Valentine's Day.  She is new to beading and I think her bracelets are turning out well.  I love when the children do handicrafts during our read-aloud times.

In art this week, the children completed a drawing lesson focusing on overlapping animal shapes.  I got out our big box of plastic animals for the lesson.  My kids used to play with them all the time when they were younger - I'm glad I kept them.

Duncan drew an ocean scene with two fish as well as two whales overlapping.  He used a watercolor wash to finish his artwork.

 Mason drew a beach scene with overlapping whales.

Amber drew a very detailed drawing of lizards with a bit of overlapping among the lizards.  She was happy to discover her box of lizards in the plastic animal box.  The plastic lizards were her favorites when she was younger.

Next week will be a hectic week as I am taking Amber and a friend for an overnight trip to an indoor waterpark for her 14th birthday.  We are also meeting good friends one afternoon to tour a local art museum. Amber's family birthday party will be next week-end as well.  I am glad that we were able to enjoy a quiet week as next week will not be quiet with all of our planned activities!

That was our Week in Review!  If you'd like to read about what other homeschooling bloggers have been doing this past week, check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.  Now, I'm off to scrapbook!

52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 2 - Cleaning Our Refrigerator

This week as part of the Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organizing, I focused on cleaning and organizing our refrigerator, a task that I had hoped to accomplish over our holiday break but did not get done.  I'm not quite sure how, but I convinced my husband to help me so with his help we cleaned our main refrigerator, the extra refrigerator in the basement, and our stand-up freezer.  Really, is there anything sexier than a guy cleaning the refrigerator?  I almost took a picture of my husband on his hands and knees cleaning under the fridge but I managed to restrain myself.

Our refrigerator really needed cleaned and organized, I felt a bit defeated every time I opened the fridge.

While we were cleaning out the fridge, I had an epiphany.  We have two produce drawers - one much bigger than the other.  For the 10 years we've had this fridge, we've been jamming all the vegetables into the smaller drawer - we always have more vegetables than fruit.  Rather than trying to stuff all the vegetables into the smaller drawer - I switched the drawers.  Now, the vegetables are in the bigger drawer!  It only took me 10 years to figure that out!  It truly made me wonder how many other small changes could be made in our home to make our day-to-day lives more convenient.

 A clean fridge is a beautiful thing!

Although the side looks just as packed as before, I did check all of the dates and throw out a few things that were out of date.  I also deep-cleaned all the pull-out shelves.

Yes, one of our refrigerator drawers is held together with duck tape.  Sigh.

I'm so happy about organizing the stand freezer as well.  We organized everything into boxes by type of food:  Pork, Beef, Chicken and Potatoes, and Vegetables.  My husband gets the incredibly sturdy beer boxes we used from work - they are like book boxes and last forever.  Now I know what's in the freezer and where it's located.

We put all of the ice cream, sweet treats, and ice packs in the small refrigerator freezer.  No more digging for the cookies!

To see what other bloggers have been organizing this week, check out this week's 52 Weeks of Organizing post at I'm An Organizing Junkie.