Weekly Wrap-Up: The one with the well-laid plans

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, y’all! Who started school this week? We’re wrapping up Week 3 and things are going well, so far. I even finally understood this one algebra concept that’s been giving two of us a fit well enough to explain it to the kid who was struggling with it. That’s a big deal for a math-phobic mom.

I’m not sure if it says more about Teaching Textbooks or simply the fact that algebra doesn’t have to be hard or intimidating if you have someone who knows how to explain it (the Teaching Textbooks guy, not me).

In other exciting news, I’ve hashed out the details of our government mini co-op with the other two teens’ moms and I think we have a plan. You may wonder why that’s exciting. It’s because I love to plan things, y’all. Sometimes my follow-through is a little lacking, but a well-laid plan is a beautiful thing.

homeschool plans

I made good use of my waiting room time at two doctor’s appointments on Wednesday.

I had already decided that Josh and Megan would be using Constitutional Literacy and A Noble Experiment for a government/civics class this year. Anticipating that it might not be the most fun thing they’d do (though I’ve since heard very good things about Constitutional Literacy), I asked them if they’d each like to invite their homeschooled BFFs to join us. I already had the DVDs for both courses, so their friends would just have to get the workbooks.

Everyone agreed that a mini co-op sounded much more fun than doing the class on their own. The icing on the cake was when I won Civitas, a government-themed card game from Bright Ideas Press. I’m still waiting on it to arrive, but I think it will make a fun addition to our class.

I’ve also already told Brian that I want to plan a trip to Washington D.C. this spring to culminate the study. We’re all pretty excited about all of it.

Someone asked recently if I was going to share our curriculum choices this year. I am. It’s on my to-do list. I just haven’t had a chance to update my page yet. One thing that we’re using that has already pleasantly surprised me is Chemistry 101. We’ve had it for a few years and I tried to use it as a supplement before, but that fizzled.

Mondays

Mondays are difficult for everyone.

This year, I printed off the guide book and had it spiral bound. Josh has been using it and completely shocked me earlier this week by relating an interesting fact that he’d learned. An interesting fact. About chemistry. Josh. Those words don’t usually go together. He’s even been enjoying the experiments. It’s kind of weird.

Brian and I went to a local used bookstore to kill time Sunday evening while we waited on the kids who were having a back-to-school party at church. I felt like I’d hit the jackpot when I discovered a documentary DVD set about the Titanic that someone had put in the wrong spot. I snagged it for Megan to use in her self-directed study.

Wednesday I was able to sign us up for a homeschool class at the Museum of History and Holocaust Education in Kennesaw. I am so thankful to Mary from Homegrown Learners for mentioning it to me when I saw her at the Southeast Homeschool Expo.

World War I and World War II are also on Megan’s list of things to study this year and the museum isn’t so far away as to be out of the question for a few field trips. They have a free class for homeschoolers once a month if you’re near Kennesaw, Georgia and want to check it out.

In case you missed it this week, over at About.com I talked to Shawna from Not the Former Things about Homeschooling with Dysgraphia. If you suspect your child may have dysgraphia, be sure to check it out.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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9 Comments

  1. Sounds like school is going great this year! You all sound very enthusiastic and energetic. We’ve still got a couple more weeks holiday to go before we start up, but I’m really looking forward to the year ahead. I’ll be interested to see what you do with the world wars. We’ll be starting WW1 sometime in the new year.
    Have a great weekend!

  2. Kris –
    I wanted to take a minute to thank you for hosting the Weekly Wrap Up. I have enjoyed, and benefited from, your blog for years. You mentioned today that your family is using the Constitutional Literacy course. We used that and loved it! (It’s even on the list of high school curriculum I talk about in my link today). If you’re like our study group, you will finish each lesson shaking your head, amazed at all the ways our country has moved away from following the Constitution. The group of teens started plotting to build an Atlantis-like sea bubble and start over with the Constitution again. 🙂
    Thanks again for hosting!

    1. May I please come live in the Atlantis bubble? 😉 I’m really looking forward to our little co-op. I’ve heard nothing but good things about ConLit.

  3. I love your “the one with” posts– reminds me of Friends. 🙂 Seems like you have so many great resources for homeschooling where you’re at! We are quasi year-round, but with so many hiccups this summer I think it warrants an official first day of sorts. I’m looking forward to getting back on track.

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