Our Weekly Triumphs and Accomplishments - Week 43

Wow, it's hard to believe that we are only 9 weeks away from the end of our school year.  I am debating about giving Lydia an assessment test this year instead of doing just a Teacher portfolio evaluation.  I know the other kids levels, but Lydia is so hard to gauge.  Some things I do not think she understands, so we go to review them and she knew the material.  Other things I assumed she knew and she doesn't remember any of the material.  But this is also the girl that can spell better than she can read.

In my life this week....

Just trying to get myself organized.  I have been completely drained this week.  I am in a funk and just cannot seem to break out of it.  I really need to start exercising more regularly.  It's just not happening the way I want it too.  The exhaustion is really getting to me and it's making it difficult to function.  So obviously I am not in the mood for exercise.  My waist is really starting to feel it.

In our school this week...

We were successful in getting all our work done.  We didn't have any extra projects this week.  I ran short on energy to do a couple of things that I wanted to with the kids.  So really want to work at getting some extra stuff into the schedule for them this next week.

Projects I am working on.....

Homeschool with Minecraft...planning...planning....planning.  We have an exciting summer class schedule starting and I need to get fall classes up and running.

Things I am cooking....

Baked chicken breast was a favorite this week.  I served them with mashed potatoes.  Leftover chicken was great for chicken quesadillas the next day.  So it was two easy suppers.  I made some chicken & Noodle soup because Joey has been battling a cold.  He insisted he needed good chicken broth to drink to make him better.  I have gotten off the meal planning wagon. I really need to get back on, life is so much easier when I have stuff planned out.  Slight adjustments are ok, but I need to stop "winging" it.
Our week in pictures.....

I set up a work area closer to where the kids are, but not in the middle of our kitchen table.  It's a work in progress.  I was tired of our kitchen table being a pile of my work papers and school lessons.  So I am trying to get set up so I can see /hear the kids for when I am online with classes and still have the work out of sight.

 We had art class.  Working with Air dry clay.

 This is an elusive picture....it's Brayden doing his schoolwork with minimal threats.

 So grateful to be part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  We got an awesome package for Caty to start using.  We were excited to get going on it this week.

 Lydia finished her first Boxcar Children early reader.  She really liked it and our library in town had the series, so we checked out a few more.  Then we cooked an allergen friendly meal from the Boxcar Children Cookbook.

 Here's are allergen friendly bacon gravy and biscuits (made with turkey bacon, coconut milk, gluten free biscuits.....it was super yummy!!)

Caty and I worked on some Hot Dots cards.

 And Lydia worked on some addition Hot Dots cards.

 Lydia's journal project this week.  She needed to break down a paper into four blocks and tell a story.  She told the story of a seed being planted.

Caty and I fell behind on her Kinderbach program.  So we spent some time catching up this week.

 Here she is putting her Dodi's house markers on the keyboard.

 We are starting to study the Revolution in History on Homeschool with Minecraft.  So the kids started watching Liberty's Kids again.  They love this series.

Lydia working on her Homeschool with Minecraft.  She was watching a video about the French and Indian War.

 We were going to Michigan this weekend with our family and stopped at a neat place on the way up.  We were thinking when we pulled up that we would be disappointed.  I mean the title on the Groupon was "Discovery Zoo".  The building looked so small.  But we had so much fun.  Watch next week for our post about our trip.

Brayden did not want to swim this weekend.  We don't know why though.   He sat by the pool with his laptop.

 But the others LOVED swimming.

 They got a surprise LEGO treat from Mommy and Daddy.  Brayden is getting into putting LEGOs together.

 Joey got a new one called  Mixel.

 Lydia loves LEGO friends.  This is a puppy agility course.  She was thrilled!

 We also visited the Michigan State University Museum.  It was GREAT!!  Watch for the upcoming blog post about our learning adventure.

 We got back to the hotel and played games in the common area with friends.  Caty LOVES playing Disney Apples to Apples.

Caty is working semi-hard on her reading....she seems to be catching on slowly.  She is choosing her speed.

Caty was really excited about something and decided to dance...dance...dance in order to try and get out of her reading lesson that day.

Linking up with other homeschool moms at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler.

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Check out our new classes and see how to use games to educate....we call it Gamucating!!!