Weekly Wrap Up: Broomball and More

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In my life this week… We volunteered at the World Broomball Championships, an exciting and interesting opportunity for all of us.  Not that we knew much about broomball before we started (we got acquainted with it in this humorous video of an amateur match) but how often is there a chance to volunteer at a World Championship match of any sort?  We got to do all sorts of interesting things, and the kids loved it.   

In our homeschool this week …  Well, we learned about broomball, writing, and Pride and Prejudice—those were our outings for the week— and we also learned all sorts of other more routine things.  We are starting to settle into our indoorsy winter routine which takes some getting used to.  I’m grateful we still have a few outside jobs to do, enough to get each of us out there for a useful half hour a day.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… You can’t do more than you can do, so sometimes you just have to decide what to ignore.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Miss 14 finished a 4-week course about Pride and Prejudice, we attended a Christian writing workshop, and we volunteered for broomball.  And then, of course, there was judo, youth group, catechism, and even a surprise birthday party.  Mr. 17 is visiting Augustine College’s student-for-a-day event.(If you’re looking for a one-year Christian liberal arts college, rigorous, relatively inexpensive, small classes, great profs, you should check out Augustine.) 

Some of my favorite things this week were…

• Digging carrots while a chicken tiptoed curiously around me
• Listening to Bryan Davis at the homeschool writing workshop.  If you ever get a chance to meet him, do.   He’s a great speaker.

Questions/thoughts I have…  I’ve begun the 21 Day Self-Discipline Challenge. Even after only 3 days it has made a huge difference to me.  How?  Well, we’re supposed to take a large challenge and break it into daily segments.  In other words, we’re supposed to decide what needs to be done each day, and in what order.  Once I know what it is I need to do to move forward, it’s so much easier to do it!  This technique is simple and so obvious, but incredibly helpful.

Things I’ve been working on…

• Getting the children and myself focused on schoolwork
• Organizing what I need to do to catch up with my teens’ Omnibus work, and then doing it
• Preparing the garden, house, and chickens for the winter
• Deciding how to set up a gluten-free blog.  Another homeschool mom asked me what the papers spread out over the table were for, and when I told her I was thinking of setting up a gluten-free blog she begged, “Do it, please!  I’m just learning and it’s so hard.” 
• Remembering to walk, eat well, and relax adequately

We’re watching… Violin Masters:  Two Gentlemen of Cremona about violin makers Stradivari and Del Gesu.  It was a beautiful, fascinating, and completely family-friendly documentary.

I’m reading… Deuteronomy. I started You Shall be Free Indeed by Richard Ganz, but nothing else.  I moved along in Omnibus 2, Omnibus 4, and The Fallacy Detective.

With the kids, I am reading Leviticus. We’re still enjoying Mary Emma and Company by Ralph Moody. When Mr. 17 is at his before-school babysitting job, the girls and I read Famous Men of Greece from Greenleaf Press. When the older three are off to catechism, Miss 10 and I read an unabridged version of Heidi, and when just the Little Misses are home, we’re enjoying Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott, a beloved book I bought to while away the hours of early labor with Miss 10. 

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

I’m grateful for … A warm fire.

Quote to share… “If someone is deceived, he is thoroughly convinced that he is not deceived….” P 81 of The Fallacy Detective by the Bluedorns.  That is such a profound saying!  I read it at a difficult time when I really needed to accept that it is impossible for me to ‘undeceive’ someone.  So sad.  But God can do it, and that’s a real comfort.

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