Weekly Wrap-Up

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In my life this week…We harvested.  Raspberries, tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, parsley, lovage, celery, chives, and even apples.  Yes, apples!  For the first time ever we had a ladder by our big apple tree, and we picked about 3 ½ bushels, on top of what we’ve been eating for a month.  There’s still half a bushel way up in the tree that we could not reach.

In our homeschool this week… We all worked hard.  It will not be an easy year, but it will be a good one, I think.  The Little Misses are starting to enjoy Ambleside Online.  Mr. 16 is pleased with his writing book, and Miss 13 is excited to be learning about quarks and atoms…. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Our older children must read and report on one science-related book and one math-related book each term. (Hence the quarks and atoms.)  This is an idea we adopted from Ambleside many years ago, and it has really broadened everyone’s learning. Besides adding some enjoyment, it has also given meaning to the formal science and math that we do.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Besides seeing the driving instructor, neighbors, the chicken feed store workers, and the other catechism kids, we had a quiet week at home.  Busy, but quiet. 

My favorite things this week were…

• Eating by a campfire.  Twice. 
• Seeing the yard festooned with bed sheets.  We cover our garden with them for frost protection, and in the morning they need to dry.  They were hanging everywhere today.  It’s a good thing we live in the country!
• Cleaning out our freezers.  This is the first time in many years that I have been healthy enough to be able to do that job.  Mr. 16 was an invaluable help.
• Watching half of Henry V with Lawrence Olivier.  I’m not sure if the best part was watching the first half or realizing that the second half wouldn’t download and we didn’t need to watch it.  For those used to modern movies, the color and sound quality of this classic were disappointing, although the acting was great. 
• Discovering that Leithart’s Brightest Heaven of Invention includes a study on Henry V.  Henry V is Ambleside Online’s Shakespeare selection for the term.  It’s beyond the Little Misses, but the rest of us enjoy it.
• Watching Miss 9 explore beading.

Things I’m working on… Preserving the harvest.  Keeping ahead of the kids’ schoolwork.  

I’m reading…

Ezekiel, Science Roots, Doing Virtuous Business, and Enid Blyton’s adventure books.  Yes, I confess, when I see an Enid Blyton adventure lying around, I’m almost always tempted. I know they are children’s books, but I love them and I’m very intrigued by how they work.  What is it about these books that makes children—and even adults—want to read more and more of them?  I’m also reading Little Women, Salt in His Blood, and Jan en Janneke in Canada aloud with the kids.

I’m grateful for …

• An incredible harvest.
• Health and strength for all of us.
• Mercy and grace to cover all our sins and mistakes.
• Time.
• Sunshine and warm weather.
• Fires and glowing embers.

Questions/thoughts I have…  I need to become more intentional about praying for people, and probably about praying in general, too.  I found this excellent post about a prayer binder at See Jamie Blog.  I’m still deciding whether or not to make such a binder, or to use a notebook.  The advantage of a binder is that you can add and remove pages.

Just one picture…