A fresh week...

I keep thinking it's Tuesday, but no, it is Monday, and a fresh start to the week. This week, I have plans to wrap up our study of Australia. We have a rapidly diminishing pile of library books to go through, an Australian meal to cook, and an art project planned. Then, we are off to Africa for four weeks! After that, South America. So, sometime in middle of the next two months, we plan to take a field trip HERE - there we can visit the African wing, and an indoor rainforest, and much, much more. I am so glad it is opening back up soon!

Homeschooling is going pretty well these days. I constantly am adjusting, adding, subtracting, and changing things to better suit my children. I was intrigued by Nature's Way Learning's use of the Flower Fairy Alphabet book & coloring book, so I ordered them for the Fairy, who absolutely adores them. In science, we have become so interested in the flora, fauna and geology of the place we are "visiting" that the science I had planned has gone by the wayside. We have started RS4K Chemistry though, taking it in little by little, and I have been doing some of the Oak Meadow science topics with them, with plans to do more as we are always in the mood for nature-related work. We watch a fair amount of Bill Nye the Science Guy videos too. I have asked that the Elf start writing stories, maybe one a month, as a way to get him to write. I have a list of "story starters" from his IST from a year ago maybe, that I dug out to help him get going. I am researching math games as a good way to do some math without the workbooks.

We have been making weekly library trips, and the librarians are getting to know us as the family that always has the maximum number of items checked out. I let the kids pick two books and/or videos themselves each week. The Elf is all about Eyewitness books about trains and airplanes, while the Fairy loves just about any storybook, and recently, Shirley Temple movies. I put a lot of stuff on hold to minimize looking for things when we get there, and then while the kids play in the toy area and browse for books, I go through all the held items, usually checking out about three-quarters of them, as I hate getting home and finding that yes, I could have checked out those additional items if I hadn't gotten this or that uninteresting book. There was one recently, called something like Australia in Pictures, that had little sidebar pictures and a lot of small sized text - not what I was expecting or hoping for at all!

We're getting excited about fall here, our favorite season. The kids are discussing Halloween costumes, M and I have already talked about having a big Thanksgiving dinner here. We talk about the changing leaves, and are planning what the Elf calls "crunchy walks" when the leaves start falling. We have a big bowl of apples and pears on the kitchen counter. While it is still warm here (upper 70's to very low 80's), it is definately cooling and changing seasons. The air seems crisper somehow. I have finally arranged for the rototiller next weekend, and have bought seeds at work for many of the fall/winter veggies we have planned. Now, I just have to get them started and in the ground! Some will be directly planted (beets, carrots, leeks, etc.) and some I plan to plant as seedlings (broccoli for one).

I had better go start dinner (so thankful for crockpots).