“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” ~ Voltaire
And then she was 15. My sweet little girl keeps growing up despite my best efforts to keep her young. Books on the head don’t stop growing. Books in the head (ie: reading) don’t stop growing, either. Intellectually, she’s nearly my equal – and she’s such a better person than I ever was at her age. Proof positive that homeschooling was the best choice for us.
I’ve been busy getting all the decluttering of January done… financial paperwork piles, purging of last year’s receipts and documents, cleaning out the closets, dropping things off and selling them left and right, re-posting my curriculum that I am no longer using, organizing the junk drawer and supplies…
What have you been up to – besides trying to iron your groove out after a long winter break?
I kind of like this weekly update type of post. Do you? I love looking at other peoples’ lists and calendars. In case you didn’t know, I have a dayplanner, docket, calendar, lesson planner addiction. I’m not sure if it is a “homeschool mom thing” or just a genetic thing. I love them so. I hope I pass the infection down to my kids, too.
Now that I’m an old maid (over 40), have been married 21 years, and my daughter is 15, and we attended our fishy field trip at the Austin Aquarium today… the following major milestones are coming up within a week or so…
* the Texas Homeschool Winter Summit
* My baby’s 3rd birthday
* my great-aunt’s birthday (she’s 90-something)
* my husband’s men’s retreat with our church
Always something going on. I even got an invitation today for my husband’s 20th high school reunion. As if I needed another reminder that I’m getting older! I also had a hair fall out today that was WHITE. I’ve got quite a few of them now.
They had a birthday, Teen Court, and a field trip in the middle of their week, so tomorrow is going to HURT as far as getting homework done. Here’s what’s on the school list this week:
Bible & Character: 5 chapters Do Hard Things, 5 days of One Year Bible readings, 5 devotionals from Today is Your Best Day, 5 chapters of Eat That Frog, 5-a-day list in Gratitude Journal
Math: 2 Lessons per day VideoText Algebra/Algebra II, graded, filed
Chemistry (17yo): Follow syllabus (on your own questions, reading, lab reports, tests, class Thursday w/ lab) – using Apologia Chemistry
Physics (15yo): Follow syllabus, turn in work to teacher via email (reading, lab, lab report, worksheets, etc)
Spanish II: Follow syllabus (worksheets, flashcards, projects, memorization, quizzes & tests, class Thursday)
English II/Creative Writing: Homework as assigned in Thursday’s classes
History/World Geography/World Literature: Mystery of History (Vol 1 & 2)
Monday – Finish reading from last week, watch and return history movies from last week, Finish assignments not complete from last week, Pretest 29, L85, 85C (2 page report), reading
Tuesday – L86, 86C (read and discuss), L87, 87C (Pie Math Fun), Cards, Timeline, Maps, Quiz 29, reading
Wednesday – Pretest 30, L88, 88B (preschool activity with brothers), 88C, Movie (listed below), reading
Thursday – L89, 89C, Read book to brothers (listed below)
Friday – L90, 90C (research & art project), Cards, Timeline, Maps, Movie, reading
Saturday – Finish any leftover assignments/books
Literature List (3 due by Sunday, rest due following Sunday):
Last Days of Socrates (finish & return)
Famous Men of Greece (look up online or get at other library)
The Republic (look up online)
Nicomachean Ethics (finish)
The Book of Virtues (finish)
I Am The Great Horse – Katherine Roberts
Works of Josephus
Archimedes and the Door of Science – Jeanne Bendick
The Call to Harvest (movie by Gosple for Asia)
Count Your Way Through India (preschool book by Jim Haskins)
IMAX: First Emperor of China (1995 movie)
Ancient Civilization series DVDs from library on: Monuments of Rome, Petra, Herculaneum, & Athens
Art & Music: Work on new piano song, gather art for Etsy shop prints, contact local printers to find best priced & closest professional quality printer, contact screen printers to set up class or demonstration for our co-op, participate in daily IG photography challenge
Good Citizenship: Teen Court, Current Events Discussion
Lifeskills: Help with chores, help with siblings, go the extra mile (HONOR), help cook
I haven’t had time to continue working on the recipe cabinet, but I did use up about half of those recipes last week. Not many surprises on this week’s menu, other than we did eat out once last Sunday for the birthday girl and had Chick-Fil-A today for a treat after our field trip. Tonight was supposed to be Thai food, but that won’t be happening. We are all super tired, and cedar fever seems to be in full force with three of the big people needing medicine for allergies today and yesterday.
Morgan did end up making a cake for her birthday, though. She created her own recipe (she loves to bake), and got some input from her top taste testers (me and big brother) to make the icing even creamier. It wasn’t a pretty cake, but man, was it good. She’s calling it “Dauntless Cake” – but it doesn’t have the coconut. It has a secret filling in the middle that makes all the difference.
THIS WEEK’S MENU:
Monday: B Cereal / L Leftover Soup / D Pizza
Tuesday: B McDonald’s / L Chick Fil A / D Breakfast Night
Wednesday: B Kefir Smoothie / L Frozen Meals / D Orzo & Lentil Feta Salad, Hummus, Chips, Tea
Thursday: B Pancakes & Bacon / L Mac N Cheese / D Mee Krob, Thai Chicken Soup, Thai Tea
Friday: B Cereal or Oatmeal / L Cheese Quesadillas, Beans / D Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Green Beans (made by my 15 year old while mama has a chocolate protein shake on the road to the Winter Summit)
Saturday/Sunday, they are on their own while mama is away… here’s praying they don’t end up eating out too much.
Snack Ideas for this week:
* Chocolate Lumps (easy no-bake cookies)
* Baked Chickpeas
* Carrots
* Chips and salsa
* Probiotic cauliflower
* Vitamin C Drinks
* Yogurt and Granola
* Pickles
* Applesauce or Canned Fruit
Next week food goals:
- Look up 17 Day Diet recipes (really feeling convicted to get off sugar and start eating right again)
- Work a little on the recipe cabinet, start making my monthly planner full of recipes that we love and a master shopping list
- Sign up for Bountiful Baskets to get more produce next week if possible
- Get a pressure cooking/canning lesson and test out a Vitamix Blender at my friend’s house
- Thank you note to my buddy, Terri Sue, for her FAB probiotic cauliflower hostess gift (love!)
I made out a blog calendar for all the fun things I discussed last week about posting before now and the end of winter. I’ve been using my phone lately to keep me on top of my personal goals for 2014 with a little app called Lift. Become a Better Blogger is one of the habits you can work through. They give you plans for some of the things you want to do, and you check in each day to record your progress. It can send you an email reminder, too. I have enjoyed the blogging one, but haven’t been able to go fast enough to complete it in a month.
Where do you guys record your blogging calendars? Are you a pen and pencil girl? Or do you have an app or special tool you use to keep track of what you hope to post each day? I’d love to hear other ideas. So far, the lowest tech I can get has given me the best results.
I’m reading through Tsh’s book about simple living again, and Dave Ramsey’s financial book, and a few other productivity books. I’ve made reading one of my daily tasks instead of putting it off. I’ve LOVED all the mom-time I’m scheduling in on a daily basis. I’ve also loved all the quality time with my kids… another thing I added to my Lift reminders.
Did you know the average parent only spends like 3 minutes a day with their child in meaningful conversation? Shameful.
Anyway… I’m giving you a lot of hints about what my resolutions were for 2014. That post is on the schedule for tomorrow! Pray that I can find time in the middle of the homework and preschool whirlwind to sit down and bring it forth.
We’z busy ’round here. Every last one of us.
But it’s all good. God is certainly good. So far 2014 is looking up.
“There are seven days in the week and someday isn’t one of them..” ~ Anonymous
[ Have a great week! ]
In Him,