Weekly Wrap Up: Cold Weather, Record Keeping, and lots of Movies

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In my life this week…

It was cold.  My husband, very proud of our fireplace insert, decided to do the frontier thing one night and sleep by the fire so he could put a log on every two hours.  It’s a good thing we had the oil furnace as backup, though, because it was the coldest night we’d had in years.

We learned about Skype, but none of our relatives seem to have it.  Oh well!

We’re back into sore throat and headache mode.  Poor kids.

Last weekend we celebrated the 450 year anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism.  I’ve written about this comforting and beloved catechism before, and hope to write a series of blog posts about it later this winter.

We took a day off to puzzle, watch movies, read aloud, and eat good food.  The celebration continued the next day when Miss 20 came over and made quiche for supper.

In our homeschool this week …

“Work-work-work!” Miss 15 says with an impish grin.  She finished her Apologia Biology course, which had been dragging on since the summer.  The rest of us also worked hard, learning and focusing as well as possible with headaches.  Miss 10 finished the first trimester and Miss 12 almost did.  We are, obviously, woefully behind where we had planned to be, but we’re all learning and studying as hard as possible.  “Work-work-work!” And it is going well.  Praise the Lord.

I got Mr. 17’s Omnibus marks organized using the handy Omnibus Excel calculator to divide all the work into marks for Bible/Theology, Literature, and History.  Now to do Miss 15’s.

After a gardening summer, a harvesting fall, and a busy and sick Christmas season, I’m finally catching up on Mr. 17’s transcript so he can apply to university soon.  I worked on it all afternoon today, writing course descriptions for courses that my oldest had not taken and deciding how to divide eclectic work done over the past three and a half years into ‘standard’ courses that university admissions officers will recognize.

Some of my favorite things this week were…

Being able to clean my house properly after a month of being ill, or out, or too busy.  In little spurts, due to time and energy constraints, we also are working on decluttering and deep cleaning.

Questions/thoughts I have…  My kids are getting the education I wished for so desperately as a teen.  I’m so blessed to be getting it with them now!

Things I’ve been working on…

• Homeschooling, marking, recording marks.
• Trying to keep up with the home and eating through our freezer.
• Decluttering old homeschooling supplies, shoes, and clothing.

We’re watching… Astérix aux jeux olympiques, a French movie.  Not recommended.  It is full of senseless violence and other evil.  Robin Hood, which is full of good versus evil violence.  Victorian Farm from the BBC via Youtube (no violence at all, and lots of fun), and Egypt: The Nile, Lifeblood of Egypt which frequently referenced Bible locations.  The kids watched Amazing Grace and Top Gear.

I’m reading… 2 Samuel, 7 Tipping Points that Changed the World, and 10 Christians Everyone Should Know as well as little bits of many different books and textbooks. I’m also enjoying Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice and Julie Klassen’s The Tutor’s Daughter for relaxation.

Reading Aloud… With the kids, we’re reading Joshua. We’re finished Papa’s Wife, which we all loved, and started Ralph Moody’s Riders of the Pony Express.

When my husband is home for meals we’re reading Hosea.

We’re memorizing… Psalm 2.

I’m grateful for … Warm fires.  Lots of eggs.  Family and friends.

Quote or link to share… Here are two posts that deserve your attention, the first about balance and the second about the definition of financial success. 

Here’s a quote from the second one that applies to all of life, not only to the question of housing or finances: “Whether you own or rent, your mode of housing is NOT a measure of your success. What you do with what you got in the place God has put you does.” 

This post is linked to Kris’s Weekly Wrap Up and to HomeSchool High.