In my life this week… With Sinter Klaas visiting our home next week, I have my mind going in dozens of different directions.
In our homeschool this week… We did some schoolwork, some NaNoWritMo writing, crafting, and lots of reading aloud.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Crafting goes well with reading aloud. The children embroidered, quilted, and made cards while I read.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… All the usual, as well as a salt water marsh full of adventuresome explorers (courtesy of Secret Waters by Arthur Ransome) and a dear friend from the past.
My favorite things this week were…
- Catching up with an old friend.
- The children’s prizes in the local Remembrance Day contest.
- Warm weather and green grass after the first snowfall.
Questions/thoughts I have… This week in French Mr. 16 will start learning things I last did 28 years ago. They are only vague memories now. I will need to review/study alongside him, but I cannot see how to make it work, on top of everything else. How do you deal with such situations?
Things I’m working on…
- Preparing for Sinter Klaas, which includes sewing, shopping, planning, wrapping, and being secretive…all very exciting.
- Fall cleaning and dejunking. Sewing up fabric and using stuffing is part of this, right?
- Some work for my husband. It’s almost finished, and I’m thankful for that.
I’m reading…
I finished the Old Testament again, and started 48 Days to the Work You Love, recommended by Dave Ramsey. I completely ignored the other books I was reading: Blue Like Jazz by Miller, The Reason for God by Keller, Sense and Sensibility by Austin, and Entreleadership by Ramsey.
With the kids, I’m reading Proverbs and Secret Water by Arthur Ransome. We finished Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and are taking a break from O Canada by Karla Akins.
I’m grateful for … A fire place. Food, family, and friends. Melting snow.
Just one picture… While we caught up with our old friend, we nibbled gluten-free crackers, sausages, and cheeses. By suppertime, all we wanted were the veggies that we’d forgotten to offer our friend.
This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and to Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
I love re learning with the kids! 😉
I do too, except when it promises to take a serious amount of work, like this French will. Sigh!
Annie Kate
What a beautiful tray of veggies! Reading aloud is so good for crafting and building Legos! Oh, I know what you mean and having to dig back into the recesses of your mind to relearn what we learned so long ago! I suppose it keeps us young!
Young, or old and grumpy. I’m not sure which. 🙂
Since I have 4 more children to teach this French to, I may as well re-learn it, right? It’s good for me too. I can learn it, but to be able to speak fluently using these structures means I really need to learn it well again. Oh, to be 18 and fluent again!
Annie Kate
Sounds like a great week. Glad things are going so well with you. I don’t necessarily re-learn with my daughter as she is getting to subjects beyond me. We find things online or we find tutors to help her. I just don’t have the ability to re-learn (or sometimes learn it brand new) all the time. Plus it teaches her how to find answers on her own, something she will need in life. 🙂
I’ve thought about tutors, but at his level, he’d need pretty advanced tutors and I’ve never seen those advertised in our homeschool area. And they are expensive…. But it’s something I will need to look into next year for his essays. No, I will not be able to mark essays in French!
Annie Kate
No advice for the language learning sorry 🙁 Other than a possible co op class ? I agree with JoAnn finding a tutor when they come unstuck is useful.
You are right about craft and read alounds. My kids used to build leggo when they were younger.
I love your photo. Great idea of fresh foods with a dip. I will try that next time I need to take something to a meeting etc
Thanks for the ideas during Read Aloud Time. You guys sound like us on how you forgot the vegies, that sounds like something we would do.