Weavings: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - March 26-30, 2012

Shakespeare anyone?

In my life this week…
Monday started off with a visit from the exterminator. Over the weekend the ant again decided that my kitchen is their favorite place. They had gotten in the pantry and were in a brand new, sealed bag of brown sugar, open packages of crackers and then they decided my kitchen counter looked like something they needed to check out.

On Tuesday, I had to get myself and the kids up early so I could go the doctor. I needed my allergy medicine renewed, which required a visit to the doctor's office. Then I've had to go through a big mess trying to get it filled at Rite-Aid. I really just want to go back to Walgreens, where I was very happy. Why do insurance companies have to mess with things? After my doctor's appointment we headed off to the get the boys' haircut, for which they were very excited. Then we headed to the library where they patiently waited for their dad to pick them up, while I worked.

Thursday evening was spent at home instead of church. The wind had picked up and we weren't sure what would happen. The last wind storm we had knocked trees over everywhere.

On Friday, Shade took the kids to our church's Youth Convention. Since he had a full van, Chantry, Delani and I stayed home. I made them brownies and bought them a two liter of strawberry pop and we had our own little party at home.

In my attempt to be organized in my shopping trips this week, I ended up doing more running around than normal. I think I won't attempt that anymore or I need to re-think how I do things.

In our homeschool this week…
We started up our Term 3 last week and let me tell you it was like pulling hen's teeth! Thankfully, this week was much better. This just shows me that we (or maybe I) would be terrible year round schoolers since I can't handle more than three weeks of trying to get the kids back on their routines.

This week we were able to start up our Shakespeare reading of The Merchant of Venice . We have some girls from church who come and participate. We always have great fun.

Caleb has started All American History and we are beefing it up with a lot of literature and biographies. He has finished Rise to Rebellion: A Novel of the American Revolution by Jeff Shaara and is currently listening to John Adams by David McCullough. In his Biology 101 he has made it to the human body and he has started Body by Design by Alan Gillen.

Destini has started typing with Type It. She has done her share of complaining, but I don't think she hates it as much as she would like me to believe.

Chantry and Destini have a new history read, The Landing of the Pilgrims (Landmark Books) by James Daugherty. Destini is reading it on her own and writing written narrations. I am reading it to Chantry and his is giving oral narrations. Chantry is really enjoying this book, and is always disappointed when we finish reading. They also started two new literature selections, The Heroes by Charles Kingsley and The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling. The jury is still out on what the kids think of these, those Chapter Two of the Jungle Book was filled with a lot of laughter.

We are studying Jean Honere Fragonard for our new artist study and Felix Mendelssohn for our composer study.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I mentioned this before, but I think it is worth mentioning again. Xtramath--a great math drill program! Check it out.

I am inspired by…
Have you watched the "180" movie? Very touching! Check it out here.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Outside of errands and our jaunt to Portland for the doctor and haircuts, we have been pretty home bound.

My favorite thing this week was…
After telling Delani she was too big to stand on one of my decorative boxes, she announced, "But Mom, I am a big girl because I have big feet!"

Things I’m working on…
Helping Destini to sew her first crib quilt and I am also hoping to make her and Delani something new for Easter. I know, I had better get going!

I’m reading…

Check out my Reading Journal for this past week.

I’m cooking…
Homemade pizza, potato soup, and brownies with extra chocolate chips added.
I’m praying for…
My friends!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
While I was trying to take a picture of our Shakespeare group, Destini kept busting out laughing. For this pose I just zoomed in on her and waited for it to happen.

Here is just a small group of our ant invasion. Needless to say, ants are not very appreciated in our house!

Reading Journal #9 - March 30, 2012:The Three Musketeers & More

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Narrated by Michael Page

My thoughts:

I have been listening to this book on and off again for months. I had started listening to it to preview it for my son, but he ended up getting way ahead of me and has had it finished for awhile.

I really enjoyed this story, though it didn't turn out quite like I expected. In the beginning we are introduced to d'Artagnan on his way to Paris to join the Musketeers. On his way he catches a glimpse of woman addressed as Milady. As events continues he enters more scrapes and duels than can be imagined and of course three of these are with The Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. As they become friends they eventually can't make it without each other. Many adventures happen until eventually, Milady makes a reappearance and the story becomes more serious and definitely more suspenseful. Milady, or also known as the Lady de Winter, was truly a scary and frightening woman! If you want to learn more, you will have to break open the book and find out.

Playful Learning: Develop Your Child's Sense of Joy and Wonder by Mariah Bruehl

My thoughts:
In this book the author, Mariah Bruehl, is encouraging parents to allow their children to discover the world around them and gives many activities to help. This book focuses on children being young authors, enjoying reading, working with mathematics, scientific investigations, exploring art and artists, global awareness, and becoming good citizens. Each chapter begins with an introduction of the whys and stages that children will go through. Then the second part of the chapter gives and also show the different activities you can implement. Focusing on children 4-8, Playful Learning will have something for everyone. In our home we aren't that hands on, but there were things I found that were worthy of doing. With all books like this, I found some things helpful and some that weren't appealing.

James Herriot's Yorkshire by James Herriot

My thoughts:
I actually ran out of fiction books to read, so I reached in my basket and pulled out this travel book. I have enjoyed James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small series, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. Even though this is not filled with his wonderful stories, but he focuses on his many walks and drives through Yorkshire, which he gives wonderful descriptions and historical information. When I was finished I was ready to hop on a plane and go check it out. My only complaint, was that I had the mass market edition which had the pictures in black and white, when I think the edition with color pictures would have been more enjoyable.

The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

We just finished this as a read aloud and I will be reviewing it this coming week for Read Aloud Thursday hosted by Amy at Hope is the Word.