In my life this week…
We had company, enjoyed a long weekend, ate lots of good food, mowed the lawn for the first time this year, and did a lot of book learning. I also took a small box of homeschooling books to the consignment store and collected a large box worth of things to pass on to a thrift store. It was a busy week, full of celebrations, rain, and excitement, like our blue fireball experience.
In our homeschool …
Mr. 18 is still focusing on the sciences, math, and languages. For the first time in a long time, he enjoyed his math for a few moments. As I mentioned before, Life of Fred Calculus is not recommended, but it’s what we have right now, and with our other calculus resources we’re making it work. The Advanced Chemistry and the Advanced Physics are nearing the end too, but since they are AP level, I’m not requiring Mr. 18 to do all of the chapters completely. For some of them he just has to read carefully and answer the review questions as part of a quiz. Usually this gives a basic grounding in the material, but I need to be careful to ensure that he understands. Some basic concepts in Advanced Chemistry’s Nuclear Chemistry chapter did not get through at all without an extra discussion.
Miss 15 has read a lot and is focusing on hands-on activities like sewing and organ playing this week, although she did manage some schoolwork.
The Little Misses are in high gear, school-wise. They are trying to finish their scheduled bookwork by the end of the month. They may not fall behind in the work that has no end, like music practice, math drill, nature study, typing, spelling, and so on, but as soon as they have finished their day’s work in all of those, I’m encouraging them to scoot ahead in the things can be finished, like language arts programs, science, What’s the Big Idea study, and Show Me Thy Ways, a map-intensive Bible curriculum.
In our garden… I cut off dozens of rhubarb flowers, fed at least a bushel of dandelions to the chickens, started freezing asparagus, destroyed a lot of Creeping Charlie, and decided to postpone my planting plans for tender plants since we’re expecting near-freezing temperatures this full moon. (Yes, apparently there is a correlation between frost and full moons, both in spring and fall.) The bees did not survive the winter, and the hives were cleaned and prepared for a new shipment of bees. Raising bees organically seems to be a very, very tricky business, but they make an enormous difference to the productivity of our garden.
Spring Stir Fry with Asparagus and Baby Radish Tops
In the kitchen… We had nettle soup—just chicken-hamburger soup with nettles added—and are starting to eat chive blossoms. They make such a pretty garnish. Of course, we’re still eating a lot of chives, too. When I wanted to plant the celery, I needed to weed out some baby radishes, so we ate the greens in a stir fry with asparagus. Yum! One morning, at my husband’s request and to our guest’s delight, we had half-pound burgers and fries for breakfast. Since we were out of rice flour most of the week, we did very little baking, but Miss 15 did make some gluten free Nanaimo bars.
Some of my favorite things were…
- Lilacs, both for their color and their wonderful scent.
- Green grass dotted with hundreds of yellow dandelions.
- Flowers, both outdoors and in.
- Starting my new blog, Embracing a Gluten Free Life. It’s not really ready yet, but I’m posting anyways, and will really spread the word once the site is ready to go.
Questions/thoughts I have… Being a wife and mom while running a home, a homeschool, a garden, and two blogs keeps me busy, and I’m looking for ways to streamline. As usual.
Fitness… Once again my average number of steps this week was 10,000 steps, but with the poor weather it took much more effort to reach that goal. I even needed to use the treadmill twice! I also restarted my other exercises, and that was good. We ate well, and I relaxed adequately, most of the time.
Things I’ve been working on…
- Homeschooling.
- Remembering to relax, eat well, and walk.
- Reading. Reviewing. Thinking.
- Gardening and yard work.
- Embracing a Gluten Free Life.
- Decluttering. To keep the house neat and pleasant, I need to declutter 10-15 bags a year, so it’s a never-ending project.
We’re watching… The kids enjoyed Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music, and some Donald Duck episodes.
I’m reading… Job. I finished Is College Worth It? and, during the power outage, I enjoyed a sweet little book by Janette Oke, The Matchmakers. Now I’m reading Pinterest Power, Mathematics: Is God Silent, and exploring the children’s series How Artists See, as well as listening to Les Miserables, an audiodrama.
Reading Aloud… We’re reading 2 Kings and Madame Curie, an inspiring book that is definitely over Miss 10’s head. Some of the most moving and at the same time funniest love letters I’ve ever read are those from Pierre Curie to his future wife.
When my husband is home for meals we’re reading Matthew.
I’m grateful for …Electricity, water, and sewage.
Quote or link to share…. An uplifting, occasionally gluten free, website of beautiful recipes and beautiful thoughts, Mennonite Girls Can Cook. (I reviewed their Celebrations cookbook this week both here and on Embracing a Gluten Free Life.)
This post is linked to Kris’s Weekly Wrap Up and to HomeSchool High.
Sounds like a great week. I love those flowers, so pretty. Sounds like you are making lots of yummy things. I hope the bees help again this year.