In my life this week… School work, seed starting, and bits of spring cleaning. And butter-yellow crocuses!
In our homeschool this week… Miss 13 finished Key to Algebra, book 7. Mr. 15 and I are enjoying the videos in Dave Ramsay’s high school course. Miss 10 has discovered that not doing schoolwork has one unfortunate side effect: the schoolwork doesn’t get done. (And how often haven’t I been surprised by the same effect applied to housework?) Miss 8 and Miss 10 now enjoy recorder duets, and that has taken a lot of time away from regular schoolwork. It also drives the dogs nuts.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing … We visited Charlemagne via a biography written by Einhard, one of his own scholars. It was fascinating, as much for the information about Charlemagne as about the peeks we get into life long ago. Wearing shoes, for example, was noteworthy. Charlemagne, like Winston Churchill and Napoleon (and me, ha!) took daily naps.
We also visited a greenhouse to get soil for starting our garden seeds, good quality soil that is used in the greenhouse itself. To my surprise, I was offered a job! Obviously manual laborers are scarce. Seeing as I already have two jobs, homemaker and homeschooling mom, I don’t really need another one, but Mr. 15 seems interested in it.
And we started walking the Rideau Trail again! I’ll post about that later when I get the photos organized.
My favorite thing this week was… the blanket of snow we woke up to. It seemed to say, “Don’t worry. Time is standing still. You’re not behind, because it really is still winter.”
Another favorite: one of our dogs loves catching balls. He has become the catcher for baseball practice. He can’t figure out where to find the ball once it’s hit, though; we need a human for that.
What’s working/not working for us… Computer games only on weekends is a good rule. Currently we are debating whether chess is a computer game or a learning experience.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… Sometimes it’s good to make a deal with your kids. Miss 13 had gotten behind on her Apologia Physical Science course, so we had two options: extend it into next year and start Biology late, like her siblings did…or drop the experiments and do one entire chapter a week. Since she’s done a lot of other experiments herself and has watched her older siblings do these particular experiments, we chose the latter option. Now she’s learning a chapter in one week rather than two and isn’t doing any hated experiments. We’re all happy.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share… We just finished reading Along Came Galileo by Jeanne Bendick. Note that Bendick, like many writers, suggests that Galileo opposed the Bible whereas actually he opposed extra-Biblical theories that the church had adopted. In any case, Galileo got into trouble for defending Copernicus’s model of the solar system (the currently accepted model). You can see an animated model of it here.
This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Sounds like another good week! The lesson your daughter learned will serve her well her entire life. If you don’t do something, it doesn’t get done. (hee,hee)
I know. It’s so basic but I keep needing to learn it over again. LOL
Annie Kate
What a great attitude toward early Spring snow! Sometimes I need for time to *stand still* for me, too, although it sure hasn’t lately:)
Sounds like a good week – and you’re a lucky lady to have the crocuses up and blooming already! Mine were just peeking, but I need to check to see if the rabbits mowed them again this spring. Hopefully not; those yellow flowers are SO cheerful!