This is one of those weeks where I want to yell "Uncle!" and waive my white flag.
Some weeks are just like that.
I write a lot about our great weeks and seem to downplay the not so great weeks.
Secretly I think I want to present a front to the blogosphere that homeschooling is wonderful all the time, but we all know that isn't true.
Sometimes it's just a HARD lifestyle that requires sacrifice, determination, and patience.
So, in a week where the laundry is piled up, a husband is out of commission with debilitating back pain, and mom has a million (and one) things to do, I'm going to tell you that I would still choose to homeschool my children.
We're in this because we're living life together.
And that means all the time.
Good AND bad.
I felt inspired (at 11 p.m. Monday evening, mind you) to write Stop Telling Me Why You Can't Homeschool.
Friends: this post struck such a chord with so many of you. I'm mulling over a part two in my head.
The post was me venting my frustrations, but also I want non homeschooling families who are trying to decide whether or not to homeschool to know that they CAN DO THIS!!
Let's talk about the week:
I told the kids this would be a "back to business" week. We resumed normal studies of math, spelling, history, writing, and grammar (after a largely interest led week last week).
This style of learning works well for us. I know some people have trouble with interest led tangents, but we are inspired by them and it seems that the kids can transition between "traditional" schoolwork and a bit of unschooling fairly well.
Reading Aloud
We had some COLD temperatures (for Georgia) this week.
A lot of time was spent in front of the fire, with me reading aloud. (Wednesday was World Read Aloud Day!)
We finished Pocahontas and the Strangers - what an awesome little book this is.
We also read three of the "Who Was?" books this week:
- Who Was Neil Armstrong? (Grant is starting a little study of the moon.)
- Who Was Steve Jobs? (Dad read this one to the kids!)
- Who is JK Rowling? (Anna has been obsessed with Harry Potter for three years.)
While I read the kids were hard at work creating magazines for their friends. I was so proud of them for their creativity and determination.
I love my children so very much.
Today in the grocery store I just looked at them both and realized how enormously blessed I am to have such a close bond with them during this time.
You couldn't pay me enough money to send them away to school each day.
LEGO Learning
You know much we love LEGO learning!
This week Grant accepted his Sunday School teacher's challenge and depicted the story of Lazarus with LEGO bricks.
He also made some type of disc shooter that really worked.
Of course, one evening I pretty much lost my cool with the total MESS of LEGOS in my son's room.
{Sigh}
A happy house full of learning children is often very messy.
And the clean house patrol isn't showing up at my door any time soon, right?
Spelling Practice
I have written before about how much I love our spelling curriculum.
Spelling Workout is just a good old traditional workbook curriculum.
It combines phonics rules and interesting activites to make for some wonderful retention.
Recently we've been testing on the iPad with My Spelling Test app. I reviewed it at The Curriculum Choice this week, so you can read my review there.
Healthy 2013
Yes, we're still eating healthy and maintaining our new lifestyle.
Using Plan to Eat has really helped me to stay organized and prepared with a weekly menu plan and shopping list.
Two of our favorites this week were Chicken Noodle Soup, which I made with rice noodles, and Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes. I'm learning to omit a lot of salt when cooking, and also by simply omitting bread from my diet I feel better and am losing weight. The kids still love a big whole wheat bun for their Sloppy Joe's, but I might just have half or just the meat.
I also made the kids some yummy granola bars (using our Udi's Granola from Beech Retreat). The recipe is from my friend Jenn at Daze of Adventure.
I've been addicted to a yummy Edamame Salad from Publix - I buy it from the deli and it's my treat each day at lunch time!
Music, Music, Music
This weekend my piano students are in a festival called Federation. They play two memorized pieces and are judged for a rating.
Anna is also in the festival. She has practiced long and hard for this. If she gets a superior rating this year it will be four years in a row of superiors for her. I love listening to her practice. She loves it so much and plays from her heart.
I will be working all day Saturday at the festival. While it can be a bit hard on a student's nerves, the experience is invaluable!
Grant and I are also going to see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform. The concert is entitled: The Roots of American Music. Anna has a volunteer job she attends each Friday morning, so she won't be going with us. Grant and I are going with friends, riding the commuter train into the city, and making a grand adventure out of it.
*You can download the student guide and streaming audio for the entire concert. It would be a perfect music lesson -- and it's all FREE!
That's it for our week... next week we will be preparing to attend The Great Homeschool Convention in Greenville, SC. Please pray my husband's back allows him to travel with us. We are planning a small family vacation around this convention and have been so looking forward to the many great speakers and children's sessions, too.
Please join me for Collage Friday!
The rules are simple. Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week. Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way. Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas. This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.
*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines. {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}
