The Homeschool Mother’s Journal Link Up!

Brielle had her follow-up with the Neurologist and she goes back to the Opthamologist next Monday. Hoping for some answers in regards to her eye. This just isn’t acceptable:

I also brought the kids with me yesterday to get labs drawn. I’m sure most people think it’s crazy to take your kids to every doctor visit but it works for us. It’s easier than arranging for child care multiple times a week and it teaches the kids practical life lessons about putting what we learn at home into practice in public. God definitely  blessed me with resilient children who are up to the challenge of dealing with their mommy’s chronic illness and all of the appointments that result.

MATH:

We finished chapters 10-12 in LOF “Apples”. Lucas learned about congruent shapes, graphing comparisons, continued reviewing his doubles plus 1 facts, and practiced his 2 digit addition without regrouping. Logan built ABBC patterns and learned how to play the game of War. He totally beat me every game! I think the deck of cards is rigged. He also continued practicing his calendar and counting skills. Number recognition has been a challenge with certain 2 digit numbers but he is getting better and better each day.

SCIENCE:

Continued our caterpillar observations and measurements. It was a huge week for our little guys because all 5 caterpillars entered the pupa stage of development. Now they are literally just “hanging out” until it is time to move them over to the net. We read our book and drew in our nature journals. Another favorite this year has been learning about the moon phases. The boys enjoy putting the star sticker on the appropriate moon phase of the day and then double checking at night to make sure the actual moon matches our picture.

READING/PHONICS:

Lucas accomplished his “100 books in a year” on the 18th and is looking forward to his sweet reward: a date with mommy and daddy to Chuck E. Cheese. He has never been so it should be a fun experience for us all. He also completed the phonics half of his ARFS book so Monday will be our first official spelling list. I went back and forth about moving on with the book {we just started in January} or waiting to start the spelling portion until next year but Lucas begged to keep going because he loves the activities. I guess we will see how it goes and if he continues to enjoy the second half as much as he did the first. We took a break with 100EL for Logan mainly because I haven’t been feeling great this week. I hope to do at least 2 lessons this weekend to get us back on track.

LIT:

We finally finished The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh! This week we moved on to The Wind in the Willows. We also started and completed the Magic Tree House audiobooks 41-47  from the library. Lucas has been on an audiobooks kick lately. So far this year we have finished The Trumpet of the Swan, Akimbo and the Lions, Akimbo and the Snakes, Akimbo and the Crocodiles, Charlotte’s Web, The No Good Very Bad Day, and all 13 hours of Adventures in Odyssey: The Blackgaard Chronicles {which Lucas is begging to listen to AGAIN}. Perhaps it’s time to give him my earbuds so that he can listen to anything over and over and over again when the rest of us are fine just hearing it once thankyouverymuch.

COPYWORK:

Lucas studied Psalm 33:3 all week in his ARFHW book.

Logan continued working though his R&S book “E”.

PICTURE STUDY:

We continued our pictures study of Mary Cassatt. The kids love impressionism and have been making a strong correlation between Monet and Cassatt. I think they enjoy the simplicity of Cassat and how she chose daily life as the focus of her paintings. It has been fun to see the observations they make when we test our memory after studying a picture. It seems like they all pick up on different details and their narrations sweetly compliment one another. Logan is especially fun to watch because he will close his eyes so tightly and then use his hands expressively as he describes everything he remembers.

Don’t feel like you have to finish your curriculum by a certain date. We just take it one lesson at a time. We skip what we already know and camp out in areas that we need additional review. We are on track to finish up everything around the first week of May, but if we don’t then we will just go at our own pace. I think as soon as Lucas finishes Saxon 1 we will take a week or so off to celebrate and then jump in to Saxon 2. That way the transition is seamless and we don’t have to waste time on the first 30ish lessons which are straight review. That is definitely one of the major perks of schooling year round. We get LOTS of breaks but no material is lost along the way. I also don’t feel the “pressure” of starting in August and wrapping up by May and we can work through our curriculum at our own pace.

The older 3 finished up their first Spring session of Art with Mrs. Katie today. I am excited to dig through their portfolios this weekend and take pictures for their art books. Session 2 starts next Friday. Hard to believe how fast the weeks are flying by! We are also going to Granny & Granddads this weekend which is always a big deal to the kiddos.

Meeting with my Praying Wives group last night. I always walk away from our time together completely refreshed and encouraged. These women have been walking through the ups and downs of my life for the last {almost} 10 years. There is something incredibly authentic about not having to wear a mask with these precious friends. They know me, and they love me any way.

Watching Lucas lose his first teeth! This afternoon the boys were jumping on the trampoline and Logan ran in saying he had accidentally knocked out Lucas’ teeth. Apparently he bumped his head against Lucas’ mouth where his 2 very, very, very wiggly teeth were barely hanging on. One tooth flew out and then Lucas popped the other one right out. I am not quite sure who was more excited: Logan for knocking them out or Lucas for losing his first tooth {or teeth, as it were}. There was much celebrating by all of the kiddos as they oohed and ahhed over Lucas’ teeth. I am SO glad those things are finally out! Lucas hasn’t been wanting to wiggle them lately because they hurt but his adult teeth are already completely in. At least now he has a really cool story to tell about how they fell out.

Meal planning for my next Whole30 Challenge that starts March 1st. Thankfully I have a whole group of accountability partners this go around who are silly enough to want to do it alongside me.

The Liberty’s Kids complete set. This would be a fantastic resource that I know the kids would enjoy {especially when we get to Adventures in MFW}.

 

You get a gold star if you read that from start to finish! Whew!