What We Accomplished… Day #25 8/19/11

I must have missed a day SOMEwhere. This is the last day of week five and unless *I* need to refresh my math skills, that would make today Day #25, not 24 as my last post would suggest. Hmmm, will figure that out later!

This may be a long post because I am doing our What We Accomplished and Homeschool Mother’s Journal as well. I’m linking it up to Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers also.

School for 8/19/11:
Lee:
Bible: Reading (Numbers 25), verse (Romans 6:1-10), Mere Christianity (Book III, Chapter 1)
Math: Life of Fred Beginning Algebra (Lesson 48)
Science: Biology (pages 41-43)
Language Arts: Jensen’s Grammar (Lessons 59 & 60, she is a little behind and has to play catch-up)
Foreign Language: First Form Latin (Lesson 17, worksheet 3)
History/Geography: The Life of Christopher Columbus, Western Civilization (pages 301-305, she is a week behind on this and is playing catch-up)
Gov’t/Economics/Civics/Logic: Ourselves (Part II, Chapter 5)

Fox:
Bible: Reading (Numbers 14), verse (Galatians 5:22-23), Saints & Heroes (finished Hildebrand)
Math: Life of Fred PreAlgebra 2 with Economics (Chapter 19)
Science: The Story Book of Science (Chapter 9)
Language Arts: The Age of Fable (The Phaeacians [since he’s read about Ulysses many times, I asked if he recalled this part and he said, “yeah, ‘cause I remember he was naked” lol what a thing to recall!)
Foreign Language: First Form Latin (Lesson 17, worksheet 3)
History/Geography: The Story of the World (chapter 34), Around the World in 180 Days (Antarctica, page 9)
Gov’t/Economics/Civics/Logic: -
Penmanship: Pictures in Cursive (Marcus Stone, “The End of the Story”)

In my life this week…
have been inspections for the house to sell. And our sign out front actually says “Under Contract” now!

In our homeschool this week…
we have been doing quite well. There was a day (or two) where things didn’t go so smoothly but a check of *my* attitude helped to check the kids’…goes much smoother when all are on the same page.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I think simply get started is the best advice I have this week. Now if I would take my own advice, we’d be in good shape. None of us are morning people but if we do it first thing then we have *all* day to do the other things we want to.

I am inspired by…
my friend, Christy. She is just an absolutely wonderful person. God has given me such a gift by bringing her into my life.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
this week…not many or much. We went swimming with Christy and her son yesterday and it was a great time. When her daughter gets home from visiting family, they are going to come over to our house and have a game day! It’ll be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it.

My favorite thing this week was…
finding out that the house we put an offer on, accepted! And that the inspections for the house we are selling went well.

What’s working/not working for us…
Working: using the kids’ planners! Great! Last year I printed off (or wrote by hand) what they were to do each day (or I kept it in a record book and told them what to do) but it always seemed to get lost, no one knew what to do, or exactly what was expected. This year, I bought them each their own planner and *they* have to plan their week in advance. And sticking to our schedule of weeks of school, weeks off of school.
Not working: I had thought that ds would be fine going back to our previous way of doing school (before I enrolled him in k12) but he is not slowing down. Rushing through the work just to be able to mark it off at the end of the day. The purpose of education is to learn, not to have a list of check marks. I have to make him slow down. Also, dd is perhaps becoming a little tired of her course load. It isn’t ‘hard’ per se, but it is more so than ds’ and she sometimes feels that it isn’t ‘fair’. I cannot really do much to alleviate that feeling for her but I continue to support her accomplishments and to be here for her if/when (and even if she doesn’t want it) she needs me.

Questions/thoughts I have…
how do Charlotte Mason educators get such good narrations, oral or written, out of their students?? Really, how?

Things I’m working on…
time management. It is an ever, on-going struggle. Also, being more available for the kids. I am always ‘right here’ physically, but not mentally. I need to realize that just because something makes sense to *me* doesn’t mean it is going to be so easily understood by *them*.

I’m reading…
Why Church Matters, The Gospel According to Twilight, and trying to at least get started on The Maid and Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles.

I’m cooking…
chicken! It’s what’s for dinner I want to eat what we have made and not waste our left overs. With moving coming soon, I don’t want a lot of perishable food left to get rid of.

I’m grateful for…
God and His many blessings to us; being able to homeschool; having two kids that I cannot live without; the slow days and nights when I cannot sleep or when I feel that I want it to just hurry up; house sale and buy; a husband that talks to me every day although we apart; a best friend.

I’m praying for…
blessings for my friend, Christy, heartburn relief for my dh, satisfactory results for inspections on the house we are buying, safe travels for my mom, my children, heart cleansing for myself.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…