Weekly Wrap-up with Some Photos & School Notes

I’m linking up with Hammock Tracks Homeschool Review, The Homeschool Mother’s Journal, Collage Friday @ Home Grown Learners, and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
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Here is my attempt at the weekly wrap-up for us.

Sunday, we had church. There was a brunch in the morning and an ice cream social in the evening. Yeah, my stomach was not happy with me that night. There were also visitors to the church. We have a small size congregation but I think we increased that day by at least a 1/4. It was interesting for Sunday School, we discussed Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, but in terms of time. What day of the week did he die and what day did he rise? Easter is celebrated on a Sunday, what many Christians consider the Sabbath but… it’s not really. One lady, in a semi-whisper, said “who cares on what day he died and rose; we just know he did!” She may be right to a certain degree. But it makes me think how time and traditions are sometimes clouding God’s Word. Eh, moving on.

Monday, before lunch time, I hit the grocery stores. Spent way more than planned but had to get all that I did. Some months/weeks are just that way. It makes for a crunch the rest of the month but it’ll all work out. It’s also the day we usually go to Mentor; and we did. But it was a trip for naught. The family Lee babysits for were on their way to Florida. Miscommunication. We stopped by the Half Price Books store that’s just down the street from the family’s house. They have some neat stuff there! First edition books and rare books. I found a beautiful little journal that I was tempted to buy but decided against it. I buy entirely too much that I don’t need and don’t end up using. Waste of money and resources. For school I’d made the kids’ day very light so we had lots of time to do whatever we wanted. They played on their gizmos and gadgets, while I researched more ‘milks’ to make at home. I shared photos of some that I’ve made in my post on Wednesday. Oh yes, and I picked up the book The Anti-Inflammation Zone by Dr. Barry Sears, (from the library) on recommendation of my mother. I hope to write a review on my blog when I’m done.

Tuesday was an easy day, I think. In terms of school- all went as planned. Don’t really know all that happened. It was a good day? I’m guessing so since nothing comes to mind! This is possibly the day I tried to make yogurt and forgot an important ingredient. This might also be the day I started some sourdough starter. I think this is when I started really reading Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread. I picked it up for free awhile back on Amazon for the Kindle and didn’t even crack the book. I let my friend borrow it and that got me thinking about it again.

I’ve made starter before but usually just end up wasting it since it’s always been difficult for me to make sourdough bread. The book I mentioned by Vintage Remedies is very helpful in explaining how-to. I’m hoping I can get a good loaf or two from this and if it doesn’t work (this time) it’s less than 2 cups of flour so far.

Wednesday. Oh gee, another “I don’t know what happened” day lol. Oh, yes, I remember! I went to Whole Foods in Woodmere, and it took me 30 minutes. It’s 7.5 miles away. Yeeeeeahhhhh. Anyway, I got a free reusable bag since it was my first visit to the store (yay!) and I found out the store is awesome. (side note: just heard that they’ve given into the USDA’s GMO pooh) I went there looking for quinoa, which I found, but also picked up some canned wild caught pink salmon. Wasn’t a bad price. And for the yogurt mess up, I bought a small container of plain Greek yogurt. Later the kids and I went to evening church. They had Teen Discipleship and I attended prayer meeting. We had a good sized group. This is also a day that the kids’ school is a bit lighter because usually Fox has Young Marines and has to get ready for that by 4:30pm. The day was very nice, too, so I turned my garden. It has quite a bit to go for breaking down the grass and leaves we put on it back in October. It has a lot of good worms though. We also put some scraps into the tumbling composter that my dh gave me for my early b-day present. I forgot to take a photo of the composter itself, but you can see the inside somewhat in the last two pictures.

Thursday and Friday: Let’s just say the last two days have been just fine. I can’t remember the details. I know I cleaned my bathroom yesterday Oh yes, and The Weekly Barden went live this afternoon.

One puzzle finished…and flung around the room…? Ahem. He was showing that when it was all put together you could pick it up. Well, about then, it started to come apart and he had to be quick.

On to the next one! This is Lee’s puzzle. I’m not entirely sure when she got it but it’d never been opened. She started it Thursday night. The photos aren’t great because fortunately our living room gets wonderful sunlight during the day.

My latest milk: flax and oat. It’s not bad. More flavorful than rice milk but not as strong as almond. I made tuna turnovers for lunch today using the milk in the biscuit recipe. Lee said they were ‘creamier’ than usual. Interesting

I think that is about all I got for our week. We don’t have any plans for the weekend other than church on Sunday. I know I need to get the kids’ school schedules done like I did this past week. Made it much more pleasant than doing it day-by-day. Oh, another school note: I figured out the books that I’d like to have completed by the end of the school year. I shared these with the kids so that they’d have some motivation by knowing that when those are done, ‘school’ is done (as long as we’ve met our days required). I’ll go ahead and share those now:

Lee (some will be finished sooner than the others and then she can focus on the others more), Y9, 10th grade:

• The Christian Life by Sinclair (currently: chapter 11 of 18)
• Washington the Indispensible Man by Flexner (currently: chapter 22 of 52)- probably have to be read during the summer; fortunately, she likes the book
• Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln by himself (currently: 66%)
• Are You Liberal, Conservative, Confused? by Maybury (currently: chapter 22 of 26)
• War of the Worldviews by DeMar (currently: chapter 3 of 8)
• The School for Scandal play by Richard Sheridan (currently: 26%)
• The Vicar of Wakefield by Goldsmith (currently: 21%)
• Pride and Prejudice by Austen (currently: 43%)
• Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman (not started but very short)
• First Form Latin (Memoria Press) (currently: last unit)
• Advanced Algebra (Life of Fred) (currently: Lesson 55 of 101)- may have to work on during the summer
• A History of the American People by Johnson (to page 269) (currently: page 192)
• Tale of a Tub by Swift (currently: 84%)
• Traditional English Sentence Style (Einarrson) (currently: page 78 of 86)
• Ohio Study final paper, presentation and ‘speech’

Fox (same as Lee; some will be finished soon, others will take longer) Y7Lite, 8th grade:

• Mere Christianity by Lewis (currently: 108 of 190)- may have to continue into the summer
• The Birth of Britain by Churchill (currently chapter 18 of 30)
• In Freedom’s Cause by Henty (currently: chapter 14 of 27)
• Ivanhoe by Scott (currently: chapter 22, 43%)
• (Personal Recollections of) Joan of Arc by Twain (finished)
• The Brendan Voyage by Severin (finished)
• English Literature for Boys and Girls by Marshall (to chapter 31) (currently: chapter 20)
• The Once and Future King by White (currently: page 293 of 639)- can be a summer read; he likes it.
• First Form Latin (Memoria Press) (currently last unit)
• The Little Duke by Yonge (currently: 86%)
• In the Days of William the Conqueror by Tappan (currently: 74%)
• Ohio Study final paper, presentation and ‘speech’

Both are to finish the astronomy schedule we have but there isn’t a particular book (well, there are three books; one we will finish completely; the other two only parts of). When I write it down like that, it seems a lot but when I think of what they've done thus far, I know it’s not really and they can do it.

One more photo: this squirrel has been laying on that branch since I started this post. It’s taken me quite awhile to put it together. I don’t know if he’s sunbathing or what. Sorry for the poor quality; we still have plastic over our windows. It’s not quite warm enough for me!

I got up for a moment for something and when I came back, my squirrel buddy was gone.