In my life this week… I’ve been mentally preparing for summer. It seems a bit overwhelming. We’re going to the prairies to visit family, we still have the garden, and of course I need to plan next year’s schoolwork.
I’m still trying to determine what to put on our ‘useful things to do and learn list’ for this summer. There are so many things to consider: how should we keep up with music and foreign languages ; which books should I assign for reading; should Mr. 16 start SAT prep in the summer; what real-life skills should each of the children focus on; how structured should we be this year…. That is my weekend project; hopefully I’ll finish it and be able to post Part 2 of my Summer Plans Series on Monday.
In our homeschool this week… Miss 13 finished Key to Algebra, Book 8, and Mr. 16 finished Singapore’s New Elementary Math 4a, as well as his Rod and Staff grammar book. I love this grammar series. Miss 18 now spends much of her time working at a dairy farm and fits schoolwork into her ‘spare’ moments.
Miss 11 has enjoyed her first week of holidays. I think that Miss 8 is now also finished the school year as far as we’ll go. That’s another decision to make today.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… We enjoyed our annual track and field day. All the moms shivered, but the kids had fun…and everyone got sunburned through the clouds. There’s something special about seeing a hundred homeschooled children interact for a day. A new mom exclaimed, “The teenagers are so nice!” And they were.
The same thing happened at our informal Friday soccer get-together. Four year olds and six-footers played together quite happily.
My favorite things this week were… Floating down the river in our life jackets.
What’s working/not working for us… Gardening and schoolwork do not mix very well. Our children help me with our garden, and do yard and garden work for two different neighbors. Although that’s great, it does cut into school time somewhat.
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… I’ve decided that Miss 8 will continue to do a tiny bit of bookwork every day of the summer, not so much for the 3R’s as for character-building. She needs to learn to finish a task properly and stop running outside to see the dogs. Of course, that means that I will be busy with her bookwork all summer. Sigh! If only she learns to do 10 minutes worth of work in 10 minutes rather than two hours, we’ll both be so happy!
A photo, video, link, or quote to share… Kahn Academy is especially for teens, but also for younger children: “Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything—for free. What started out as Sal making a few algebra videos for his cousins has grown to over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.”
This post is linked to The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
That’s so cool that your son has bees. I’ve always wanted to try beekeeping but I’m allergic to stings and that keeps me from trying it, plus hubby said no.
I hope your daughter learns quickly! Maybe you can find a good book to read while she works?
I’ve cut down our schoolwork a lot for the summer. I was feeling too much pressure between garden work and school time.
I am glad to see I am not the only one with the probably of finishing school work on time. For us it is going to check for an egg instead of visiting with the dogs. We too are working hard on finishing on time.
Blessings
Diane
LOL! So you have one like that too! And I didn’t mention ours who goes out to check for eggs…. 🙂
Annie Kate