Outside My Window...
We are at last getting good rain. It is supposed to rain every day this week! We cleaned out all the gutters last Friday, so we should be good to go -- we've got one that clogs up easily due to a messy ash tree overhanging it, and then water runs down the side of the house! The Boy braved the heights to get it emptied of leaves and twigs for now.
Our neighbor took out an old, creaky, dying oak tree this week, which until now had shaded one side of the back yard. There is so much light now! We're talking about putting raised beds over there next spring, and leaving our previous vegetable garden area as a gathering/grilling/eating/relaxing spot.
In Our Home...
We have started our holiday cleaning, which is a deeper cleaning than the regular one. We started early this year, with the goal of doing a little each day. We plan to get lights up soon, put a wreath on the door, and all that. The tree we'll get in a couple of weeks.
In Our Kitchen...
It is official since the weather is chilly at night - Mondays are soup nights! Oh, I love this time of year. This week's soup is split pea, one of our family favorites, and I made plenty, so we can enjoy some leftovers for a couple of lunches during the week. The Girl and I have also been baking a lot more lately -- we made Irish soda bread (with rosemary, not currants), and cranberry-orange bread, both of which turned out extremely well. I was given two pounds of gorgeous, fresh, organic cranberries, so we are trying to use them up. Cranberry muffins are next on the baking agenda!
In Our Homeschooling...
Nothing new and exciting here, though we are going back to some previous tools/books! I am pondering some changes for January, such as having The Boy maybe use this writing guide, or, more likely, this program for the remainder of the year. I am looking at writing programs for The Girl as well... maybe something like this one? As for what we've gone back to, we are reading from K12's Human Odyssey again, currently about the early Middle Ages, and we want to use Mapping the World With Art for Sunday geography lessons/activities, instead of geography as we were doing it.
Reading, Watching, and Making...
We're trying to finish up The Marvellous Land of the Snergs! And I am trying to decide between The Story of Siegfried, The Hobbit, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as our next read aloud. And then there is Kringle, which would make a great pre-Christmas read aloud! Hmm, maybe Kringle first, and then I can choose one of the others.
We started watching Stargate Universe together. And we have a Cirque du Soliel video to watch (Varekai). M and I are looking forward to season 3 of American Horror Story on Netflix this month. And we (the kids and I) will probably re-watch the last season of Downton Abbey so we're ready for season 5 in January.
I finished, at long last, The Girl's scarf, so now I can concentrate on finishing mine.
On the Agenda...
I have my second to last class in adolescent development, and my final class in the lecture series I've been attending. I have tutoring to do, an interview for a 4-hour-a-week data entry/bookkeeping job, and catnip tots to deliver. There is fencing, a possible hike with the family (if the weather cooperates), and maybe a park day, again if the weather cooperates.
And a few Random Pictures...
From a recent family hiking expedition...
Have a good week!
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Emerson
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