Weekly Wrap Up

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In our life these two weeks…

Well, Miss 11 got her new glasses, I’m getting new lenses courtesy of the optometrist (the lenses I got a couple of months ago were not strong enough), the van’s tire and insides got patched (I spent 1 ½ mornings in the Canadian Tire waiting room!), and our country water system got a major overhaul.   As well, before heading out for the big clothing sales next week, we visited our darling little thrift shop with its fabulous deal:  $20/huge garbage bag of whatever clothing fits in the bag, except coats.

I had so many partially written posts and reviews open in Word that it was tiring me out to keep track of them.  So I put an editorial calendar plug-in into my blog and now I can organize everything easily, and am no longer trying to remember what to post when.  And I bought a tiny desk-sized tower of drawers to hold the non-paper things (camera, battery charger, stapler, thera-band) that were cluttering up my desk.  Once I get through the pile of books, my desk-cleaning project will be finished.

My husband is super-busy this winter, so I’m doing some of the things he usually does and that keeps me very busy.  I’m so thankful to be well enough to be able to do that!

Thirty years ago, my high school physics teacher assigned me a project about the development of modern physics.  That’s one of the reasons I became a physicist, and this year I’m going back to that project, studying the development of modern physics and trying to analyze it from a Christian point of view.  It’s so much fun!  I read books on the treadmill and whenever I have a spare moment.  Because these books are not interesting for most of you, I’m posting reviews on GoodReads instead of here, but I will link to them.

In our homeschool …

School has been going amazingly well.  In the past, I’d try to keep all of each child’s schoolwork  on the same week in the schedule, both the things they do on their own and the things I do with them. So, if they got behind, I’d wait for them to catch up before doing our together work. Now I don’t care.  The work they do with me happens every day even if it’s way beyond their other assignments in the schedule.  Why didn’t I think of that sooner?  This works beautifully and seems to motivate the girls in their other work too.

Miss 11 finds the A Beka Health tests too challenging, so I gave her an option:  she can take  notes on the chapter if she does not want to write the tests. This turned out to be an excellent option for her.

Omnibus 1 was just not working for Miss 13, so we’re switching to Grammar of Poetry and Sketches from Church History, as well as something else for Bible.  We finished Key to Geometry 7 as well.

Miss 16 finished her Omnibus V survey of Aquinas and is now reading Dante’s Divine Comedy.  I love how Omnibus V presents these deep and difficult classics so that the students can begin to understand them and their significance, both in the past and today, while at the same time never letting the students think that they completely understand them.

Both older girls have also started reading (separately) Les Visages de France to supplement their French textbooks, and it seems to give them extra confidence in their knowledge of French.  It is difficult for Miss 13, but Miss 16 can read it quite easily.  She knows a whole lot more French than I thought she did; she’s even reading a French Agatha Christie while walking on the treadmill!

In our gluten free kitchen… Stampot, both kale and sauerkraut, with sausages.  Lots of squash, including the last buttercup from our garden.  Apple crumble and apple pancakes.  Lima beans.  Buckwheat.  Porridge.  Cheesecake.  Salads.  Kiwis.  Bananas. Cashews.  Lime flavored taco chips.  Club soda.  Bread. Salmon-asparagus bisque, turkey soup, tomato soup.   Spaghetti.  French fries.  Chicken-broccoli-cheese casserole.  Chocolate chips.  Pancakes.  Pizza.  Ants on a log. Lots of veggies.  Apple sauce.  Biscuits.  Pickled vegetables. Omelets.

Some of my favorite things were…

• Spending time with friends and family
• Meeting a new neighbor and being invited to be her horseback riding partner—I used to own horses and ride all the time but that, too, was 30 years ago.  What motivation to get strong and healthy!
• Warmer weather and the occasional sunny day
• Watching movies with the girls
• My soft, warm, comfy bed

Questions/thoughts I have… With the history of science project, my husband’s busy winter, and the continuing headaches, I’m going to be blogging a bit less.  But, since I naturally write down my thoughts about books after I read them, I will still be posting a lot of reviews.

Fitness…

Our whole family has been sleepy, one child has had a tummy flu, and there are some scratchy throats.  I still get those funny headaches, but not as often.  My average daily steps have gone below 10,000 even though I spend time on the treadmill almost every day.  I also have not done my physio exercises regularly, but hopefully the invitation to go horseback riding will be good motivation.  Miss 11 has been after me to go cross country skiing with her.  I said I would, once the icy layer on top of the snow has been covered with fresh snow, and this will be my first time on skis in many, many years.

Some of the things I’ve been working on…

• Schoolwork
• Reading about the history of science
• Planning 2014 projects and goals
• Streamlining and organizing all my planned reviews and posts
• Clearing my desk

We’re watching…  We watched Laddie, and we laughed so much!  It’s highly recommended for the whole family and is available on YouTube.  We’re also enjoying the zany antics of conductor Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.

I’m reading… Ezekiel. I finished  Thirty Years that Shook Physics, The Passionate Mom, 13 Things that Don’t Make Sense (I read carefully only the parts relevant to my history of science project) and Snow in Summer.  Currently I’m reading Total Truth (with Mr. 18), More Things in Heaven and Earth, Quantum Generations, Enrico Fermi, Ten Days Without,  and The 40 Most Influential Christians.  I’ve dropped Inside Camp X, Evangellyfish, Quantum Physics and Theology (due at the library), and Awakening Faith, a daily devotional that was disrupting my Bible reading. 

Reading Aloud… We’re reading Proverbs, Volume 4 of In de Zoete Suikerbol, and And Tomorrow the Stars, and we finished Cartier, Finder of the St. Lawrence.

When my husband is home for meals we read Ephesians.

I’m grateful for …. Successful schoolwork, the treadmill, days when the kids make supper.

Quote or link to share….  A lovely, funny movie, Laddie, from YouTube.

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