Three Week Wrap Up: Spring and a Completed Project

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In our life these weeks…

It’s so good to be back again after taking a two week blog holiday!  This break was necessary, though, so I could complete a massive project:

You may recall that I’ve been very busy lately with an enormous history of modern physics project. It culminated in two guest lectures at a local college.  That project is now finished, and I’m so thankful to be balanced again!  However, I’m also very grateful for this incentive to study the history of physics and try to organize it all in my head.  That’s something I never had time for as a practicing physicist and never made time for as a homeschooling mom.

The snow is melting!  The robins have arrived and eagerly hop through the patches of dead grass that are expanding day by day.  When we open the door in the mornings, we hear dozens of birds chirping, twittering, and calling.  And, in our flower bed where the dog sleeps and warms up the soil, the tulips are coming up.  We’re expecting a dusting of snow today, but it will soon disappear.

In our homeschool …

Miss 16 has been working very hard in all her subjects.  Currently, she’s focusing on math and chemistry, and is shooting ahead.

Miss 13, like Miss 16, does not like the weekly schedule I laid out and prefers to work on one subject all day long, sometimes for several days.  This is fine in some cases, but for languages and music it does not really work.  In other areas, too, I think it leads to short term learning rather than long term learning, so I will need to emphasize review.

Miss 11 has been working quite diligently, and some days she even seems to hit that magical ‘flow’ state that the psychologists write about, when the brain is super-sharp and everything seems to be going supremely well.

In our gluten free kitchen… Apple pancakes.  Corn bread.  Vegetable ham pasta.  Stampot with kale.  Cauliflower, kale, chard, peas, beans, carrots, etc.  Roast and sausages and bacon.  Chicken.  Sauerkraut.  Jalapeno mushrooms.  Lots of baking:  cookies and cupcakes and cinnamon rolls. (Miss 16 has been busy.)  Pizza.  Chicken balls, spring rolls, and onion rings.   Lots of eggs. Lots of porridge.

Some of my favorite things were…

• Working on the history of modern physics project
• Finishing the history of modern physics project
• The days the girls worked diligently
• Sleep

Questions/thoughts I have…  Every time you do something new, you learn something new.  So it’s good for our kids—and us moms, too!—to get out of our ruts once in a while.

Fitness… After more than three weeks my ankle is still stiff, and it was only a tiny sprain. That slow healing probably comes from being older.   I have not managed to walk as much as I’d planned, and have now discovered that I can’t just go back to walking 10,000 steps a day.  So I’ll build up slowly again.  Sigh!

I’ve been needing an enormous amount of sleep lately.  Usually 10 hours a night, plus an afternoon nap!  Perhaps that is because I was working too hard?  We’ll see what happens in the next week when I plan to take life easier.

Some of the things I’ve been working on…

• Homeschooling
• Studying the history of modern physics and organizing all the information
• Preparing our vegetable garden seed order

I’m reading… Matthew. I finished Superforce, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, Discoverer of X-Rays, James Clerk Maxwell, From X-Rays to Quarks, No Ordinary Genius, Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids, and, for fun, Huckleberry Hill.  I’ve also read large portions of many others:  The Soul of Science, Quantum Physics and Theology, Quantum Theory, Erwin Schrodinger and the Quantum Revolution, Planck’s Scientific Autobiography, Theology and Modern Physics, and Subtle is the Lord.  Currently I’m reading A House for My Name, The 40 Most Influential Christians, Guilt-free Living, and Pure Love:  Solomon’s Song of Songs. (Notice, no science books!)

Reading Aloud… We’re reading Jeremiah (so sad!), Volume 5 of In de Zoete Suikerbol, and Young People’s History of the Church. 

When my husband is home for meals we read Hebrews.

I’m grateful for …. Two successful lectures.  All the learning that went on this week.

Quote or link to share….    About the movie Noah:  Apparently director Aronofsky said this was the ‘most unbiblical biblical film’ you’ll ever see.  Here’s an analysis by Creation Ministries International.

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