A Weekly Wrap-Up!!!

I haven't done a proper one of these in ages! Let's just say that at this moment, I am glad this week is drawing to a close. It's been too full, too busy. Just too many things going on, between both jobs, homeschooling, some housework, and playing catch-up with my dad's doctors appointments (which, by the way, I am not done with yet)!

Anyhow....

This week, in our homeschooling, we:

...did math 4 times... (YAY!)

...read about Bloody Sunday in the Romanov book, and I am hoping to read another chapter or two today, introducing Rasputin to the kids...

...watched another Downton episode, and will be watching another one today...

...The Boy found a science course to try out (I highly recommend Coursera!)...

 ...read a little more in A Wrinkle in Time...

It was not the best homeschooling week, in that we did not accomplish much overall. I spent Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with my dad; Monday was packed, and Wednesday too. I'm re-configuring our schedule a little to mesh better with other expectations/obligations. The Girl started another spelling lesson, but didn't get far with it. The Boy did no writing. And there was no science. We're getting, in all likelihood, a little chance to catch up this afternoon*, but that's not really enough.

So here is the schedule I'm working on now. Math and writing/spelling/language arts are top on my list, followed by literature, then science, and then history, followed by geography. I'm not worrying about arts because they do plenty of that.

Math, Language Arts and Literature schedule:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, at a minimum, plus one other day whenever we can

(oftentimes lately, on busy days like Mondays, the kids will do math while I make dinner. This seems to work well!)

Science:

Tuesday and Thursday, at a minimum 

(plus, since the courses are done by the kids on the computer, they can work on it independently. Then, I also want to spend some time together working on hands-on projects, such as this one, which I am absolutely determined we will do this spring!)

History:

Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, plus movies on weekends or Mondays

Geography:

Tuesdays or Thursdays

So that's what I have in mind now, though I'll probably work on fine-tuning it. Okay, not probably... almost definitely!

Weekend Plans

Hiking if it is not raining too hard

Cleaning the family room, which looks sort of like a mini hurricane went through

Tutoring... I'm cutting this from 1.5 hours to an hour, as I need the time at home more than the extra $26... I think.

Watching Iron Jawed Angels, and hopefully another episode of Human Planet. Speaking of which (the latter), I've been thinking that if we don't continue with modern history in the fall, I might create a year's worth of world geography based off Human Planet, much along the lines of my Downton study: some books, documentaries, movies, etc. OR, if we continue with history based on a TV series, I'm looking at continuing the 20th century with Foyle's War, backing up a bit with The Forsyte Saga, or perhaps even going back in time here in the U.S. with Mercy Street.

I'll leave you with a picture of a recent sunset taken from the car, and wishes for a happy weekend!

*this is if it is actually too rainy for a park day, and that's saying a lot! We're pretty hardcore when it comes to our beloved park days.

Linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Tuesday Musings...

I meant this to be a Monday Musings post, but ran out of time!


...Outside My Window...
We've had plenty of rainfall lately (yay!), but are getting a few days off, for everything to soak in and dry up a little. The fields have gone from a brown so dry and crispy that it looks like it might spontaneously combust at any moment to a rich, rich green. The skies are still and gray; it is chilly out. Little pools are forming here and there, and that's where the egrets gather.

...Around the House & Yard...
M has been hard at work, between rain showers, building my patio, and some planter boxes. We'll have a really lovely seating area by mid spring! I still have olives to pick, and then trees to prune—apple, olive, and cherry. After M finishes the patio area, we'll work on raised beds for veggies. And I need to work on the front yard design a bit more.

It looks like we'll also have a pretty decent-sized plumbing project coming up... the bathtub faucet won't stop dripping. I was able to stave it off for a while with new washers every month, but that's not working as well anymore, and the plumbing is so old that it is hard to get replacement parts. We'll have to tear out old (cheap) tile, and look at relining the shower/tub walls too.

...In the Kitchen...
We had a very lean couple of weeks food-budget-wise, which was actually good in that it got me really planning and thinking again, rather than just cooking whatever popped up in our minds. On Mondays, I work back-to-back jobs and attend a class (teaching writing to ELL students), so that will officially be our crockpot night! I also have to plan out packable lunches for The Boy, when he's off on his internship all day once a week.

...In Our Homeschooling...
History, through Downton Abbey, is going very well! At the rate of 2, and sometimes 3, episodes per week, we'll finish up all six seasons by the end of our school year in late June. We'll be working on finishing up the Romanov book over the next 3 weeks, and I have some movies and documentaries planned along the way. I'm trying to not overdo my planning this time!

The junior college, well... that didn't work out as well this semester. The intro to engineering class turned out, from the syllabus, to be an intro to the field of engineering—research on types of jobs, how to work toward getting them, etc. I am sure it would be a very useful class for a potential engineer, but it is not what The Boy is looking for at the moment. So he's taking a semester off from college, to focus on his studies at home, and his auto rebuilding. Also, last semester, he was so overwhelmed that he missed a few months of fencing, which he doesn't want to do again.

And we're seeking out a science focus for him. The online robotics course he found intriguing has a lot of higher level math, and he's just not quite there yet. We'll find it.. possibly biology (though that might be good for both kids for next year) or just an overview of science?  And he found something! Imagining Other Earths, from Coursera. It is both introductory and self-paced, wich he's happy about.


The Girl is doing pretty well with her dinosaur paleobiology course, and we're making progress with spelling. Math is going very well with both kids! And we're actually doing math 4-5 times a week!

...Reading and Watching...
Besides the Romanov book linked above, we're still reading A Wrinkle in Time, and we just started The Royal Road to Romance (which sounds cheesy, but is actually a fabulous travelogue from the 1920s). I'm reading The Death of Artemio Cruz, along with my students; various articles on  multilingual literacy and writing for my own class; and A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L'Engle for fun. The Girl is still deep in the world of Harry Potter, and The Boy has just about wrapped up Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. 

Besides our Downton Abbey habit, The Boy and I are finishing Lost soon, and the kids have started watching The X-Files.

...Crafting...
I finished up another scarf, so I am in between knitting projects. The Girl has been doing a lot of clay crafting, some stop-motion, and plenty of painting recently. The Boy is working on landscapes in Blender.

...On the Agenda...
Fencing, derby (full practice schedule starts up the first week of February), college (for me), plenty of work, car repair internship, etc., etc., etc. We're always busy! Next week should be a little calmer though, as I don't have any scheduled doctor's visits for my dad (I have two this week... regular doctor and optometrist). I also want to check out Mango Languages, as our library offers access to it for free!

Speaking of my dad, we moved him this weekend. He's still in the same independent living facility, just in an apartment that is much closer to the dining room, and activity rooms. It took us (me, my sister and brother, my mom, The Boy, and The Girl) 7 hours to pack his one bedroom apartment up entirely, move it all, and unpack it again. Phew! We're hoping that between the move, the exercise classes he's started, and the physical and occupational therapy, he can stay where he is for a while to come.

I hope your week is good! I'll leave you with a nighttime picture I took of one of my mom's trees starting to bud out.

Like Puzzle Pieces Coming Together...

There are a number of reasons we homeschool... to move at our own pace, to explore interests, to follow passions, to provide what we feel is a solid base to work from... and so forth and so on. Our spring semester 2016 is coming together beautifully, and today I am happy that I can add another piece to the puzzle, or mosaic maybe, that we are creating.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know The Boy loves automobiles.

image courtesy of sodahead.com

 He's studied their history, can identify practically every make and model at a glance, has worked on my car. His goal is to become a mechanic who specializes in custom rebuilds. And now he has a tremendous opportunity. His best buddy's family is friends with a man I will call C. C is a retired electrician, who rebuilds cars as a hobby. He has invited The Boy and The Boy's Best Buddy (J) to help him rebuild vehicles this spring. So once a week, they'll be working with C for about 6 hours, starting with a 1940 Ford (Fords are The Boy's favorite vehicles). The Boy, who should be waking up soon to my text telling him the big news, will be SO excited!

On his transcript, I'll be calling it an internship, I guess?

So he'll be dropping down to one class at the junior college this semester—Intro to Engineering—which is fine with me. He's only fourteen after all. And I've asked him to find a Coursera class in the sciences. I told him too that whatever he chooses, he has all semester to finish it...we don't have to follow Coursera timelines.

And then, the Dinosaur Paleobiology course (also Coursera) has turned out to be a great fit for The Girl! I had only asked her to watch the videos, but she took the first quiz entirely of her own accord, and only missed one question! Of course, I am not making her stick to the timeline given either, but am happy if she makes it through the class by mid-June. While she already knows a lot about dinosaurs she has pretty much memorized Walking With Dinosaurs, etc.), this course is definitely adding to her knowledge base.

And, remember when she did puppy petting? There's another litter finally due at the end of the month! 

From December, 2014

...Where We're Shining...
History: Downton Abbey as the vehicle for history is a huge hit! We're really enjoying the book on the Romanovs too. The Girl and I had fun paging through Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s to 1990s.

Math: We're actually getting math done most days! The Boy is working with negative numbers, and The Girl is working with multiple digit multiplication and long division at the moment.

Writing: I do love The Lively Art of Writing. So simple, straightforward, and it really teaches excellent essay skills (plus it's cheap!). And The Girl likes both the spelling program we're using, and Practice Exercises in Basic English (grammar).

Literature: A Wrinkle in Time is one of my personal, all-time favorite books. M loves it too, so we're reading this aloud as truly a family book. 

...Where We're a Little Dimmer...
Hands-on Science: I really want to do this project, but we just haven't made time for it!

Bedtime Reading: I need to work this in before we're fully back into derby practices and fencing classes! We are only on chapter two of The Fellowship of the Ring!

Documentaries: I think we're going back to lunch time documentaries. Easy, painless way to work in some extra learning. Today, I am aiming for another episode of Human Planet. We ended up watching Secrets of Highclere Castle, an overview of the history of the family occupying "Downton Abbey" in real life. I didn't realize that it was the 5th Earl living there who funded the King Tut excavation! And his wife was awesome too.

Writing: I need to be more consistent with it. What we have is great, but we need to make sure we're using it!

Geography: We haven't started the Halliburton book quite yet, so I want to get that going. I think one of our lunchtime documentaries each week should be something geography related perhaps, such as Wild China, or How the States Got Their Shapes, or even Anthony Bourdain's travel/food shows. And something hands-on... I have Mapping the World with Art, and there are always the geography club activities.

So that's where we are, and what's going on. I like how things feel, how they're coming together, that I can see us moving forward, together and individually.

A New Year...

Here we are, in a fresh new year. I am hoping the ride will be a bit smoother than in 2015!

First off...
The Boy got all As his first semester at the junior college! He is very proud of himself, and he should be—he worked hard for those grades!

I spent the holidays sick. I got a nasty cold just before Christmas, and by Christmas day, I was laying low. It turned into a lovely (ha ha) middle ear infection, which is just now clearing up. Despite sickness though, I enjoyed my time off from work! We ended up not homeschooling over the break (no big surprise!), but instead relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. The kids loved their presents, I loved mine, M loved his. At least before I got sick, we made it out to the coast for Christmas Eve, gathered mussels for dinner, and watched the sunset.

It was, overall, a lovely holiday!


...Homeschooling... Yesterday, we started back with homeschooling. After some brief discussion of what interested the kids, and Saturday's re-watching of the movie Titanic, we've decided to use Downton Abbey as a jumping off point for history. We can watch the series from the beginning, and I'll be bringing in books, documentaries, and movies that cover some of the world events in the Downton timeline, as well as other events taking place at the time. Of course, the Titanic sinking was one of those events. In addition to the movie, which always leaves me a little blue, we read On Board the Titanic, and leafed through Titanic in Photographs.

We'll be reading The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, as an additive to our studies. I love Russian history, and have always been intrigued by Anastasia. There's a really lovely miniseries I may try to watch with the kids if they are interested enough. I'll be adding in a few movies, documentaries, and other books as the mood strikes, though I know I would like to read The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood with The Girl.

Anyhow, the kids also did a math lesson each yesterday. I am still very pleased with our math programs at the moment!

And I am reading A Wrinkle in Time aloud to the whole family, including M. Very enjoyable! I plan to make it through the whole Murry family series (4 books), then find other good books to read. I am not worried about them matching up with history. 

We also finished chapter one in The Fellowship of the Ring, which is our bedtime reading these days. The Girl has been asking that we read it for some time now, and The Boy says he really likes it. Now that series might take us a while to read!

...On the Agenda...
Homeschooling: 
More math; writing/grammar work; viewing of episode 1 of Downton Abbey; reading from A Wrinkle in Time, and our nature book and travel/geography books (when I get the geography one!); and The Girl starts her Dinosaur Paleobiology course.

Around the House: 
the house is pretty clean after I had two weeks off from work! I am still reorganizing bookcases and such, and there is some deep cleaning to be done, but it looks a thousand times better. The kids will be taking down the Christmas tree tonight, and when the current rain stops, we can take down the outdoor lights. The kids do need to finish cleaning their rooms as well.

Around the Yard: 
picking olives, at last, since we've got a bumper crop and my mom offered to brine them! Deadheading a few more plants. Pruning of the olive and apple trees in the next month. Building raised beds, tearing up the front yard... all things to look forward to in the next few months!

Other Stuff: 
I'm back at work, but just the one morning job until late January. The Boy wants to start back with fencing later this week, and derby practice starts back on Sunday, though The Girl has decided, at this point at least, no to boot camp this time around, just regular Sunday practice. Boot camp is primarily targeted at "newbies", so I get her decision. M's hours have been cut (post-holiday slow down), so he's looking for supplemental/other work. Thankfully, I had saved some money over the fall, so we're just okay there.

My dad is still in the rehabilitative center, at least until tomorrow, although the physical therapist is trying to get his insurance to approve at least another week. My sister and I found that we can move him to another apartment at his senior living facility, that is much closer to the dining room and all. Since his mobility is not what it was, I think this is for the best. We're trying to get everything lined up to make the transition back to mostly independent living as easy, and safe, as possible for him.

I'll leave you with a couple of picture collages from our holiday break... have a great week, and Happy New Year!