Friday, October 5, 2012

Our Weekly Adventures - Week 18


In my life this week....

It's another week of just trying to survive.  You all understand that.  It's a lot of responsibility to homeschool, and I allow that sense to swallow me up sometimes.  There's so much to teach our children, and only so much time to do it in.  So trying to stay on that even keel of not over-teaching the kids, and yet making sure that they have all the educational opportunities that they can.

We have been struggling this week though with some attention issues.  Holy cow!!!  Joey has been having massive mood swing issues.  He's like a giant pendulum right now and whenever he walks in the room you are not quite sure what way he is going to swing.  It's an egg shell week.  One of those weeks where we are not quite sure when the mood might not just fall through and hit the floor depending on what was said and who said it.  I can tell on his math program that it's a bad week....he has received 60s and low 70s all week.

In our homeschool this week....

The girls and I have been rowing through the book 'Who Owns the Sun?', they did not really enjoy this book.  But went through with all the activities, and enjoyed most of those.  They have both started a new reading program on Tuesday.  This level that we are in is alot of review for Lydia of sounds, but Caty is doing well also.  I told Lydia that if it's too easy, just let me know and we will advance her up into the next section so that she feels comfortable.  She's enjoying trying to help Caty learn all the letter sounds....not just the letters.  It's the Primary Arts of Language....watch for the upcoming review.

The boys have been working on a Pilgrim unit from Dayspring Christian Academy.  It's an online program that is teaching me more than I even knew about the Pilgrims!  Watch for the upcoming review on this.

Joey is struggling a bit in Chemistry.  He's working on the Periodic Table of elements....and needless to say with his other issues, understanding atomic mass numbers and counting protons, neutrons and electrons has not been easy for him.

Attention spans and grumpiness....not sure from what, has kept up from finishing our State study this week, so I guess we will have to catch that up next week.

What has been working for us....

Lots of lots of little notes.  My fibro has been causing me major issues with forgetting stuff.  I have to keep putting notes all over the place to remind myself what we have to finish.  But just because it was written down doesn't mean it gets finished...lol!

With the boys, I have been giving them an index card with all their assignments written down.  I include both independent and work together projects.  They know what is expected of them for independent projects, since the girls have more activities outside the house than the boys.  The boys are choosing to hide in the house again.  They know they need to complete their independent work by the time I get home, and I even give them a time frame.  If their work isn't completed, they lose their video games or internet privileges.  This is an ongoing struggle though.

What have I been cooking this week....

Lydia and I made a meal to go with Who Owns the Sun.  We made fried fish, since slaves would supplement their food with fish from local rivers and she made homemade biscuits.  The biscuits kind of looked like cookies...instead of typical biscuits.  But they were still good!!  The fish was super yummy, even Joey had seconds!  And that says a lot!!!!

Last night I made maple chicken with fried sweet potatoes.  It was super yummy!!!!  And super simple.  I put chicken thighs in the oven, and just added salt and half a bottle of maple syrup.  Covered with foil and baked for about 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.  Took the foil off and let brown and caramalize for about 30 minutes.  The chicken was falling off the bone.  Sooooo yummy!!!

What I have been reading.....

More tax books....yes.....more tax books and laws.  More came in the mail.  I also have been reading the Teacher manual for the girls new reading program.  I lead such an exciting life...lol!

Photos from our week....

It seems like a lot of pics of the girls this week.  The boys laid really low this week.

The girls had a tea party with our neighbor Nancy.  She has a pop-up Wizard of Oz book.  The girls were in love!
Joey's science project after 2 weeks of sitting and evaporating.  One way to get salt from water is the evaporation process.  Takes a long time, but it possible.
 The boys working on their Pilgrim unit study.
 Our meal to go with Who Owns the Sun?....fried fish, hashbrowns, hm biscuits (which turned out kind of flat).
 Lydia and Caty love their new dolls that our neighbor gave them.  Here Lydia is reading to her doll.  She is playing doctor.
 We visited the Art Museum for a tour on the colors and lines in art.  The girls then went to the Art Museum Family Center and worked on their own projects.
 Of course we had gymnastics.

 We also had a field trip to the zoo for Nature Sketch.  This month was a study on hippos.  Lydia and I studied hippos last year for World Travelers, so we didn't do much, except read some books we found at the zoo that day.
 Sketching hippos


Their finished sketches and the books we read.


That's pretty much our week.  I will have a separate post on our Rowing Adventures this week through Who Owns the Sun?.....

Linking up with other homeschool moms at Homeschool Mothers Journal.

2 comments:

  1. Lots of great pictures, but my favorite was the tea party.

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  2. Love the pictures and definately think you need some books to read for fun! I have a few for you to choose from :)

    I enjoyed your nature study pictures and window in your world.

    Hope you have a great weekend.

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