Weekly Wrap-Up: A Quiet Week of Lovely Moments

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In my life this week… Another gentle, quiet week with good books, good food, daily life, sunshine, flowers, weeds, and a few homeschooling thoughts.

In our homeschool this week… What homeschool? Mr. 17 works at a job all week and Miss 14 and Miss 12 work in the mornings.  The rest of the time the kids read, write, craft, play, and follow through on their bright ideas, like letting all 11 chickens out for a break and then almost losing some.  This batch of hens is full of escape artists and they are very energetic.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… JoAnn wrote that mom needs to have a summer break, too.  Since we almost always do staycations, and my husband’s favorite holiday activity is puttering around the house, I need find ways to take a holiday myself, and to give the kids a vacation as well.  Puttering around the house is not a break for us, although we do love being home.  We did buy some holiday foods to eat at home. When I suggested going out to a festival, the kids weren’t interested, but we are all going to a beach today.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Church.  Library.  Stores.  Doctors and a medical lab. Neighbors. Work. Friends.

Some of my favorite things this week were…

• Watching Mr. 17 enjoy his new smart phone.  He planned so long and worked  so hard for it, and he’s having a wonderful time.  We found an internet safety app for it  as well.
• Visiting friends.
• Watching the laundry drift in the breeze as I  came in from the garden with 14 enormous chard leaves for supper.
• Fanning the Little Misses with the chard leaves and listening to them creak!
• A whole houseful of company on Sunday.
• Cancelling our volunteer slot at therapeutic riding.  The driving didn’t work out and it was wonderful to have a break.

Questions/thoughts I have…  How can a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom take a break during a staycation?  I suppose I need to focus on day trips again, to make fun memories for us all.

Things I’ve been working on…

• Weeding the yard!  I can’t imagine we’re actually doing that, and the kids can’t either.  Since it’s been too dry to mow the last 6 weeks, we have brown grass and green weeds, and those weeds need to come out before they go to seed.
• Planning next year. The order list almost finished.  It took long because I had to finalize a few uncertain points in our curriculum decisions.
• Resting.
• Weeding out our books.  We dropped off a big box at the Salvation Army this week, and there is space on some of our shelves.
• Collecting new gluten-free recipes for quick, healthy lunches and breakfasts.

We’re watching…My Fair Lady, which was a real disappointment. Mr. 17 watched The Eagle, which is apparently very violent.  My husband is on a Sherlock Holmes kick, and Miss 14 has watched a few too.

I’m reading… Exodus.  I finished 101 Top Picks by Duffy and Only a Novel by Amy Dashwood.  I’m also reading a children’s version of the Aeneid, and Stress Point by Martin.

Waiting to be read: You Shall be Free Indeed by Ganz, Father Hunger by Wilson, and Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin (yes, I get to review that!).  I’m really looking forward to reading the last two, but haven’t enjoyed the beginning of Ganz’s book.

With the kids, we just finished Revelation.  We’ll start Genesis again today.  We’re reading Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinor Pruitt Stewart, the delightful true story of a spunky widow with an incredible gift for enjoying life.

When my husband is home for meals, we’re still reading Jeremiah.  It’s a long book.

I’m grateful for … Corn on the cob.  Cool breezes.  Health.

A quote to share… From the subtitle of Gretchen Rubin’s new book:  “Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project…”  Doesn’t that sound deliciously sunny?  

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This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and to Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.