In my life this week…
Our wonderful raspberry, tomato, and apple harvest has left me spinning. I’m so thankful for the food, but the work is a bit overwhelming.
In our homeschool this week…
We studied, learned, and tried to get used to it all again. It was not easy, and I pray next week will be better.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
- Start early. Start early in the year and early in the day. That makes such a difference in our family!
- Enjoy this time with your kids. They grow up so quickly!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
The Caravaggio exhibit at Canada’s National Gallery. It was very busy there but oh, so worthwhile.
My favorite thing this week was…
Wading in the creek, swimming in the pool, and stopping to cool our feet in a huge river. Water can be so refreshing!
Things I’m working on…
Implementing Science Roots, a course to teach Latin and Greek roots for biology and life sciences. Preserving food. Catching up on my emails. Tweaking homeschool plans and methods.
I’m reading…
Ezekiel, Science Roots, and Doing Virtuous Business for myself, and Little Women, Salt in His Blood, and Jan en Janneke in Canada aloud with the kids.
I’m grateful for …
Sunshine and warm weather. I love summer and having it stretch into fall is such a treat.
Questions/thoughts I have…
How do you fit in unexpected field trips into a schedule of work that needs to get done? This has always bothered me, and after more than a dozen years of homeschooling, I still don’t have it worked out.
Just one picture…
Here is a painting of Martha and Mary from the Caravaggio exhibit:
This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and to Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
They DO grow up so fast! And I’ve found, too, that it does work better to start early in the day. Not so much at a particular set-the-alarm time, but not let other things worm their way into the morning before schooltime.
Lovely painting you chose as your “one picture”.
Sounds like a very productive week. I would really enjoy swimming in a pool too. And I’m not sure about field trips. That’s been one thing I haven’t figured out either. I guess just double up on the next day. 🙂
That’s the trouble. Some of our kids have too much schoolwork to double up the next day….
Your question is a good one. I weigh the things that need to get done versus the educational value of the outing. Right now I am contemplating a trip to the zoo to reinforce what we are learning about aquatic mammals in science. Is it worth a whole day when they’ve been so many time before? But they would be going with different eyes this time. Glad you have the good weather for swimming. We’ve cooled off!
Yes, that is the question to consider: education value of outing versus educational value of other activity.
As Jenn said, we have cooled off. She lives one hour south of me. I’ve been able to sleep in flannel pjs for several days, though I did switch back to boxers last night because it warmed up a bit. It’s nice that you were able to enjoy some of that refreshing water for swimming and wading.
Since I’m on vacation, starting at 3:00 this afternoon, I’ve also been thinking of taking dd to the same zoo that Jenn mentioned. We’ve been there several times, but they have a new set-up for the tiger exhibit, which sounds really nice. OTOH, with the asthma that I’ve developed in the last couple of years, I hesitate to do anything that will be outside like that. I have a feeling the smells, hay, etc., at the zoo could really mess me up.
I had to chuckle at the portrait you posted. Somehow, I’ve never pictured Mary or Martha as being the type to show their cleavage! LOL!
I do hope you can make it to the zoo without asthma attacks! We have no zoo close by, but we went to a distant one last year and it was wonderful.
I agree with you about Mary and Martha. Did you notice the difference in their clothing? As the tour guide pointed out, “Mary is beautifully dressed, and Martha is…dressed.” Even the texture of the fabrics is different, although the colors echo each other.
Love the tips to start early! It helps us out a lot to start early.
Unexpected trips can throw us off. I try to have at least one light day scheduled a week so that we can make up some work that day if we need to.