Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Before the First Break
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Look! Can you see it? I’m doing the happy dance! We have completed our first six weeks of school and next week we’ll be enjoying our first week-long break of the school year.
I think this year round school thing is going to be good for me us.
The week started off well with another SOAP lesson. I know y’all are probably getting tired of hearing this, but I love studying the Bible this way with the kids. We have some really great discussions and their insight amazes me.
Brian was off on Monday, so he and the kids went to lunch with his parents while I enjoyed a little quiet time at home alone. If I’d known what Tuesday was going to be like, I might have used the time to have a locksmith come and change the locks on the house. {ahem}
No, of course I’m kidding. My kids’ bickering never drives me to the brink of insanity. Let’s just mix a little PMS into that brew and you might understand why I had to stop and get myself a little treat in the form of my drug of choice (sweet tea, of course) on the way home from taking Brianna to work Tuesday afternoon.
Just keepin’ it real.
Wednesday was a little better. First, it was a good mail day:
You know what my favorite part of that picture is? The words “with automated grading”!
Then, my mom stopped by. She and my step-dad have been out-of-town for a couple of weeks and I’ve missed her. She made everybody happy because, not only did we get to see her, but she came bearing a bag of souvenirs.
Thursday we (the younger kids and I) finished up the bulk of their work (and our Art Class lesson) for the week so we could have a light Friday. I’m glad we did because Josh was able to go with a friend and his dad to the forge. Josh has been very impressed with the things his friend and the friend’s dad and brother have been making out of iron, so he jumped at the chance to try his hand at it.
Brianna has really been impressing me lately. I wish I could turn back the clock a few years because until we designed this study of World War I and World War II for her, I don’t think I have ever seen the full effect of a kid who is truly enjoying what she’s studying.
She’s been telling me all kind of interesting facts about what she’s been learning, I’m not having to nag her to keep caught up with her schoolwork, and she’s really putting her full effort into her assignments. Amazing!
Check out this cool WWI recruitment poster she designed:
It’s so exciting to see her fully and completely enjoying her schoolwork. I wish we’d done this a couple of years ago.
And, then there was today. I was exhausted last night, so I went to bed early with the plan to sleep in a bit. That went something like this:
11:00 PM – Went to sleep.
11:45 PM – Woke up for no apparent reason. Tossed and turned for an undetermined amount of time.
1-something AM – The weather radio starting blaring to let me know that there was a severe thunderstorm watch or warning or other such nonsense that I did not care about at that particular time.
2-something AM – Again with the weather radio, at which point I seriously considering tossing it out into the potential thunderstorm which, incidentally, never materialized. (I don’t think. I do think I dreamed of a thunderstorm after that.)
5:30 AM – Woke with cramps. Took meds. Tossed and turned until 8:30 AM. Gave up and got up. {sigh}
Since I was up, I worked on a blog post and replanted this lovely little guy:
He’s from a plant that was sent to the funeral home when my first step-dad passed away in 2001. It was this great, big thing that I almost let die a year or so ago. I’m terrible with plants. I was really surprised that it had survived that long.
When I was ready to admit defeat on the whole, giant plant, I went to throw it away. There was one lone green leaf and I thought that, if it was tough enough to survive the neglect that had nearly killed the rest of the plant, I’d break that leaf off and see if I could get it to root.
As you can see, it apparently liked having enough water and some indirect sunlight. Turns out that it’s one of those hardy little plants that doesn’t need a lot of water or sunlight. That’s probably why it survived as long as it did.
I rewarded its tenacity with a pretty little pot and a spot in my bathroom.
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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.
What a great poster! Sorry your week was not the best, we’ve all been there :)!
Well, it looks like a pretty good week except for last night. Hope you get an early bedtime, or nap, today.
You’ll have to tell me what you think of the Dragon Speaking Naturally.
I will. But not today. Today I am very frustrated with it, though I honestly think it’s just my computer being contrary. I want a new laptop so bad I can taste it. Have you ever tasted a laptop? 😉
Okay, I just finished writing an entire review of Dragon NaturallySpeaking with Dragon. Very cool! I spoke the whole thing with just a couple of exceptions. I really like it. If you’ve been thinking about getting it, Amazon did have it on sale for just $30. With Swag Bucks, I only paid $14 and some change for it. So worth it!
We’re in week 3 of this year, and I’m already dreaming of next year when we get to move to year around schooling. Ok…year round schooling doesn’t sound so appealing, but Paths of Exploration will be awesome!
I hope y’all love Trail Guide as much as we do. I wish we hadn’t missed POE, but we’d already done most of what it covered by the time I discovered Trail Guide.
I can’t believe you guys have been in school for six weeks! I think I starting linking up at right about that time! It’s gone by quickly for me! Thanks for your inspiration in schooling and blogging!!!!
Kristy
TheMessExposed.blogspot.com
Hi there! It’s been a while! I haven’t had any weekly wrap ups to report! This is kind of my summer wrap up! Great poster BTW!! You have an artist in the family!
Yes, she’s definitely my artist. She won first place in her age group for the state of Georgia in the National Junior Duck Stamp contest when she was 12 or so. I’m very proud of her.
Sorry you had such a bad night. Enjoy your first break! Thanks for hosting the link up. I added a gift we made for our swim instructors, thinking that maybe others have been taking kids for swim lessons this summer as well.
Hope your next week is a great one.
Oooh, I just saw that Teaching Textbooks released Algebra 2.0! I hope it’s as good as it looks! We just started Teaching Textbooks 4 this year and I can’t wait to get to the older grades (if only my little one would stay 8)!
Congrats on the plant! So the secret is get plants that don’t need much care ~ I kill every plant I touch!
Yes, that is definitely the secret. 😉
I spy art!! And those look like chalk…
Yes, we need to get industrious and try your mom’s chalk tutorials. Eventually, I’ll get it in gear enough to do that.
Last week a friend of mine told me she didn’t know what she was going to do for history because her son was interested in WW 1 & 2. I told her that I had just read on one of my favorite blogs how someone was doing WW 1 & 2. I sent her the link to your curriculum page. Long story short–she loved your choices & she ordered it for him. She said it looks fantastic!!!
On a different note…what is a weather radio?
Last question…..I have about 60 pounds to lose. I am so discouraged. I will start WW one day but then I make one “not so great choice” and then feel even worse, feel like I will never lose and just give up. I would love to lose the weight but the number is HUGE!!! Advice? And I followed you weight loss on Eclipsed & I read your recent post on Weight loss tips for hs moms. I guess my question is: how did you believe you could do it or even start?
First, yay on your friend getting the WWI and WWII guides. Brianna has really enjoyed them. I have never seen her as interested in school as she is this year. I love it!
A weather radio alerts you to severe weather in your area. Here’s a link to the one I’m going to get instead of the one we’ve got. The one I want lets you turn off non-life-threatening alerts, such as thunderstorm watches or warnings. I only want it waking me up at night if there is imminent threat of a tornado or something — not thunder and lightening that never materializes.
Finally, I didn’t believe I could lose weight when I started. I just started to prove that I couldn’t do it so I’d quit feeling guilty for not doing it. My attitude changed during that first week. I can’t really explain or describe it. I just knew I was going to succeed. I think you just have to decide you’re going to do it. And, don’t get hung up on all or nothing. One bad day, one bad choice doesn’t define you. It really has to be slow, steady, manageable changes that you can maintain for a lifetime, not sweeping, restrictive changes that set you up for failure. Hope that helps!
Wow! I can’t believe you’re ready for a break and we’re still weeks away from the start of our new year.
Not sure if you are interested but I am doing a bunch of post on WWI, my family just did a trip through Verdun, somme and Argonne forest and I have some posts written of the area up already and a couple more due next week. Also we went to Normandy last year and I have several post about that trip found under the month of June:)
Thanks! I’ll let Brianna know in case she wants to check that out.
I’m thinking more and more about your 6 weeks on, 1 week off idea…