It's Friday! A General Wrap-Up for the Week...

I'd say this sums up pretty well how I'm feeling at the moment!

Overall though, it's been a good week. We made some good strides in homeschooling; I made it through both jobs and school once more; I didn't have a crazy appointment of doctor's visits (for my dad) on top of everything else; I kept the kitchen counters clean all week (yes, sadly that is a victory for me) and kept up on dishes; and I am having a blast planning out my front yard!

...Homeschooling Report...

This week, as part of our Downton history studies, we moved into season two, and so into World War 1. We watched half of World War 1: Cause and Effects, taking us up to 1916, which is where we are in the Downton timeline. We also read about the start of the war in The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia.

This weekend, I hope to get in one more episode of Downton, and perhaps the first episode of World War One: The People's Story.

Mathematically, we are doing quite well! The Boy completed 4 lessons in algebra this week, working with equations, variables, the order of operations, and more. The Girl did 3 chapters in Life of Fred Fractions, and two lessons from Math Essentials. 

The Boy completed lesson 2 in writing, and The Girl worked diligently on a new list of spelling words. She had to write a sentence for each word, and instead wrote sort of a This is the House That Jack Built tale (though not as long) about a chicken that went a bit crazy. 

Yesterday, I had them each read something scientific while I was at work, and then narrate it to me when I got home. The Girl talked about chameleons, and The Boy about eyesight. He and I also watched an episode of Through the Wormhole, about black holes.

Next week's plans:

More math (at least 4 lessons for each kid)

 Lesson 3 in writing for The Boy; another spelling lesson for The Girl

Some freewriting for both

Another couple of Downton episodes

More free-range learning in science, plus a (short) hands-on science lesson with a book I just ordered

More on World War 1 and the Romanovs

And finishing up A Wrinkle in Time! 

...Household/Gardening Report...

 I wrote the other day about gardening plans for my front yard, and wasn't quite sure what to do with the larger "half" of the yard, except that I want it to tie in with the smaller half, which I can already picture as complete. Then, I thought about my mom's front yard, which my sister re-did for her last year, putting in a fabulous dry stream... In case you're not familiar with dry streams, this is what they look like...

Pretty, isn't it?

So I think I will do that, kind of winding through, past the two boulders. On either side, I'll have a crazy-quilt patchwork (large-scale patches) of creeping thyme, lamb's ear, etc. Around the fenced corner of that section, I'll keep the rosemary and French lavender I have now, though I'll be removing the overgrown and shabby-looking Spanish lavender (my brother-in-law planted them, and they're not my favorites). Maybe some more French lavender, maybe some fern-leaf lavender (which I love), some bulbs tucked in here and there for spring blossoms, and a few other pretty things. 

I know it sounds like a lot, so here's my 5 minute sketch...

I think this could come together really nicely.

I hope.

And then, this weekend I'm tackling the first task in
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which is clothing. I was going to do books first, but M will be at work tomorrow (new job!), so it seems a perfect time to drag all the clothing in the house together.

...Odds and Ends...

I need to come up with a menu plan for the upcoming week, and grocery list. I plan for Monday as a crockpot day, Wednesday as a quick and easy dinner day (stir-fry works well), and I generally do something like a casserole on Thursdays, as M or The Boy can pop it in the oven while The Girl and I are at her roller derby practice.

I'll be figuring out what to read aloud after A Wrinkle in Time.

The Girl and I will almost definitely be petting puppies again tomorrow. 

I'm going to try to get the kids out for a bike ride too. And I need to do some strength training. I'm down almost 15 pounds now! I had lost a bunch of weight a few years back, but in the fashion typical of crash dieters, I gained almost all of it back. Grrrr. This time, I'm simply eating healthfully, and exercising. What a concept!

As to M's new job, you remember he went into cooking quite some time back. And has sadly found, after several layoffs, that the culinary world is unpredictable (at least in terms of employment), and that it is less enjoyable than he hoped. He still loves cooking, at least at home, but needs full-time, steady employment. So he's returning to an earlier profession, and will start a trial run tomorrow at a wholesale nursery, working with plants, and gardeners, and the like. We are all really hoping that this works out well for him... he needs something he can depend on and enjoy! And he does miss working with growing things, and the smell of dirt, and being outside.

II think that's it for now. Happy weekend! I'll leave you with a totally random picture of one of my favorite things in my kitchen right now...

linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Narration...

image courtesy of hearinghealthmatters.org

One of my favorite Charlotte Mason "tools" is the art of narration. Simply put, narration is "narration is retelling in your own words", allowing a child to tell you what they have learned. Narrations can be verbal, written, acted out, drawn/painted... so many options!

Narration is something I have used all along, and still use, even with teenagers. For example, I leave the kids notes every morning that I work. Today's note asked them to each read or watch something to do with science, and that I will expect them to tell me something about it later. That's a very simplistic approach to narration, one of the most basic. It is certainly easy to implement!

Sometimes I ask for more involved narrations, usually written. They can write a story, or a summary. The Girl writes a lot of short stories, and illustrates them. She's spontaneously made art projects that go with what she learned, such as a 3D frog life cycle collage. The Boy tends to be more straightforward in his approach—he'll write a summary, or an outline of facts. Sometimes though, he'll render an image of something he studied in Blender, and he has notebooks full of diagrams, conversion charts, and things of that nature.

Why use narration?

First of all, it naturally teaches the kids to summarize... at least a little, though as anyone who has listened to kids talk about their interests know, they can really give a lot of detail!

Secondly, telling back what they have learned cements it more firmly in their minds.

Thirdly, it is a form of feedback that can be expressed in so many ways. Tests don't generally allow as many creative approaches! And narration lets kids add in more of what they do know, even from ideas/readings/other things that may at first seem unrelated. Tests don't have that flexibility.

I'm eager to hear about what my kids learned this morning!

Ch-Ch-Changes...

 

Yes, I've done it again. Changed my blog title, etc. I wanted something that reflects the fact that this really is not just a homeschool blog anymore. It's a "life" blog. I'd like to share more recipes, gardening pictures as we rebuild/re-landscape, and things of that nature. So it feels right!

I'm sort of overhauling a lot of things right now.

 ...Around the House...
As I mentioned before, I'm reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I'm looking at approaching things (housework and organization) in a different manner than before. I've always cleaned each room as a room unto itself, separate from everything else. The author (Marie Kondo) of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up though, says to look at each category of possessions... bring out all your clothes, shoes, etc., or all your books.. from every room of the house, into one main spot, so you can truly see what you have.

I think our mountain of books might overwhelm even me.

Some critics (on Amazon) have blasted Kondo's advice to get rid of things. Personally, I think our culture puts too much emphasis on possessions. Don't get me wrong.. I love my books. But, there are many I simply don't turn to anymore. And I use the library a lot. I don't need to own so many of them, gathering dust, sitting unread.

Kondo talks about surrounding yourself with only things you love, having a home with only the things you treasure. Or, as William Morris put it,

This weekend, I plan on tackling the first challenge... books (Kondo suggests clothes first, but I'm not dedicated to following her exact advice). Not just mine, but M's and the kids too. I will not (as Kondo suggests) get rid of their things for them, but instead will involve them in the process. The following weekend, we will tackle clothes; again with everyone helping.

Other house-related work that is coming up:

New curtains for the living room

Decide once and for all if we even want curtains in the family room, or if we want it to be more of a "sun room"

Curtains for the kids' rooms

...Around the Yard...

As for the gardening, I'm in charge of the front yard, M is in charge of the back (except for the chickens, and a border by the patio), and we will all be working on the vegetable garden/beds. I'm slowly making plans for the front yard, which is in two sections, separated by a sidewalk. In one section, I have an olive tree that is thriving, rosemary (on both sides of the front gate actually), lavender, and lots of healthy lamb's ear. And weeds. I plan to dig out all the weeds, and plant some of the hyacinth bean seeds I got from a friend along the chain-link fence. I might divide the lamb's ear, and place some in patches around that side of the yard, interspersed with perhaps creeping thyme, or other low-growing perennials, in a sort of patchwork, with some Johnny-Jump-Ups tucked in here and there, and perhaps some other cottage garden flowers. There's also a space I've marked out already for a Mayer lemon tree. As for the larger half, which is anchored by a maple we put in eight years ago, and a couple of boulders, I haven't quite decided yet, except that I want it to coordinate with the smaller "half". So far, there's a matching rosemary bush, lavender, and artichoke plants, among the weeds/grass.

As for the patio border/bed, I want to put in roses, with Sweet Alyssum, lobelia, salvia, etc., underneath. I think that will be both very pretty, and will attract honeybees!

Other yard-related work that is upcoming:

Getting the beds built for the veggie garden (we have most of our own soil to fill them)

 Building a new chicken hutch and run behind M's workshop/shed

Choosing another fruit tree or two to add to our mini "orchard" (apple and cherry now, looking at Italian prune plum, and ???)

Monday Musings...

...Outside My Window...

Clear and sunny again after last week's rain, though on the cooler side again. I'm back to wearing a sweater most, if not all, of the day. We'll get some rain again late next week, I think.

...In My House & Kitchen...

I was definitely more organized over the last week, as far as cooking goes. For example, I had today's crockpot meal (yellow chicken-chickpea-veg curry) prepped and stored in the fridge last night, so I could just throw it in this morning. And I'm planning a bit better! We're using leftovers more, and more creatively, and meals seem to be pretty well balanced overall. As far as housework, I am currently reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We'll see how it goes! Glancing through it though, I think both the clothing donation bins and the local library may well be getting some more donations from us soon.

...In Our Homeschooling...

I asked The Boy to set 4 days a week for math, and so he chose Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Now I just need to get him to work through a whole lesson at a time! He's easing into TabletClass Algebra 1, so I've been letting him do problem sets A & B one day, C & D the next, but honestly, I think he could handle A-D in one day. The Girl is doing well with Life of Fred Fractions—she even handled long division fairly easily yesterday. I'm hoping to work in some extra math this week for her, though I haven't decided if it will be Math Essentials, Math Mammoth, or Key to Fractions, all of which I have handy (probably either the first or the last choice). She's also working on spelling this week, and I have some writing work set up for her. The Boy will be  working through lesson 3  oops... finishing up lesson 2 in The Lively Art of Writing.

And history is going well! As for science, well... at least they're reading things (see Reading & Watching below).


...Pondering...

Since I backed off on science, interest has ramped up. I don't think I'll be adding anything much more to our homeschooling load in the near future. Instead, I hope to allow time for exploration, and then soaking in what they have explored.

...Reading & Watching...

The kids are both reading for science at the moment: The Boy is reading Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, & Black Holes, and he and I are talking about reading Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries together. The Girl has books on animals, the ocean, butterflies, and of course, diseases (history and science!). He's still reading Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard, book 1, and she's still reading Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm reading the book mentioned under House & Kitchen above, and I am hoping to start Wickett's Remeday: A Novel this week. We're making good progress together on the Romanovs book, and A Wrinkle in Time.

We finished watching Lost together on Saturday. I have to say that the series certainly led to a lot of interesting discussions about time, nature, human nature, alternate universes, etc.! We're watching a few episodes of Downton Abbey this week (season 2), and will be watching World War 1: Cause & Effect, and we will try the first episode of WW1: The People's Story. 

...Crafting/Arts/Doing...

The Boy is teaching himself wildlife illustration from a library book, trying to expand his repertoire past simply automotive drawings. The Girl is working on acrylic painting, alongside her sculpture work. The Boy will be getting some more hours logged on his automotive internship this week too, and The Girl got to pet new puppies!

...On the Agenda...

Fencing tonight for The Boy, derby on Thursday for The Girl. Birthday planning for The Girl. M had a job interview Saturday for a job he really, really wants—unfortunately, he won't know about it until the 25th to 29th. No doctors appointments, or things of that nature this week.. just home life, work, and college!

Exercise: I am doing well with this these days. I've been strength training, and getting in good cardio (jogging, walking, biking). Definitely on the agenda!

On that note, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from last night's bicycle ride, just M and I, as the kids spent the night at my mom's house...

Have a good week!

This, That, and the Other Thing...

...What We've Been Up To...

The weather has been all over the place. Monday had a high of nearly 90 degrees! And today it is pouring. We did take advantage of the gorgeous weather earlier in the week to walk and bicycle...

And of course there has been some homeschooling. We've been enjoying reading about Rasputin and his strange ways (The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia)...

I even caught M listening in from the other room, when he said "I didn't hear that last part. Can you read louder?"

The kids have changed math up a bit again. The Girl was bored with just Math Mammoth/Math Essentials ("Can't math be at all fun?"), so we added in Life of Fred Fractions. I think a general Life of Fred/Math Essentials combo is fantastic, with Math Mammoth for any weak spots. The Boy was having issues with the explanations in Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1, so we're trying out TabletClass Algebra 1 (I think we should have gone with TC in the first place). TT works for a lot of kids, just not mine so much. Yes, switching now means a longer amount of time spent on Algebra 1, but we're okay with that.

Speaking of The Boy, he's developed a fascination with black holes. All week, he's been spouting off information about gravity, the collapse of stars, event horizons, etc. So I turned to my trusty library for some supplemental reading for him. Titles for him to browse through include:

A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking 

Black Holes: A Very Short Introduction, Katherine Blundell

 and

Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide, Clifford Pickover

There are, of course, plenty of other titles on the subject, but I don't want to overwhelm him. And while I was searching through those, I found this title: 

 Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson

This last title looks fascinating for the whole family, though I may have to fight The Boy for it! Despite the title, it's really about a plethora of information on cosmology as a whole.

And thanks to a Kindle game, The Girl has followed in her brother's footsteps and is now fascinated with disease, so we'll be reading

Outbreak!: Plagues That Changed History

From there, maybe we could go into DNA, or ??? I had intended reading to the kids from this particular title (the Plagues one) anyhow, in regards to the Spanish Flu (and our Downton History).

I also found this gorgeous book at the library, just to thumb through for entertainment...


And we were given this amazingly awesome book by a friend...

...Besides Homeschooling and Exercise...

We're prepping for The Girl's THIRTEENTH birthday! Yes, soon I will have only teenagers. Geez, it goes fast!

I'm getting better with meal planning and prepping. I was very proud of myself for preparing components ahead of time for yesterday's crockpot turkey-three-bean chili!

The Girl and I will be heading off, in a couple of weeks, to the first baby shower she's ever attended. My cousin (10 years younger than me) is expecting her first child in April.

I entered a twelve week fitness challenge that starts the same day as the baby shower. I'm nervous, but excited!

Work is going well overall. I love working with students, and am looking forward to some possible changes in the fall (more on that later).

The Boy is really enjoying his auto internship. They spent the last two workdays sanding various parts, and taking things apart to sand them. Next week, I think they get to start putting things back together again!

And there is a new litter of puppies ready for some petting, so The Girl and I will have to head off and do that!

And there's derby practice, and fencing practice of course.

And I know I wrote a big post on scheduling, but I really, really love this schedule best (with longer time frames for math these days). Maybe, just maybe, I could create a mishmash of the two?

So that's what we're up to, and what we've been doing. I'll leave you with some wisdom I got yesterday from a simple tea bag...

Another {Pencil} Artist in the House...

I've always loved The Girl's sculptures...

And her mandalas, collages, etc.

 But now, thanks to some tutorials on her Kindle and plenty of practice, she's developing a real skill with pencils!

I love this drawing, and think that it is very good! I especially like the eyes, and the fur.

Putting My Foot Down...

In the interest of actually making progress this spring, I am putting my foot down, laying down the law, making a stand... whatever you want to call it! I am purposefully trying to keep the scheduling very, very simple, and allowing for super-jam-packed-bare-minimum days.

image courtesy of movemequotes.com

Our school days:

Sunday (half-full day)

Monday (bare minimum)

Tuesday (full day)

Wednesday (bare minimum)

Thursday (full day)

Friday & Saturday: catch-up/make-up

On a full day, we will do:

Math

Language Arts

Literature

Read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

Documentary or Downton Abbey

On a shorter day, we will do:

Math

Literature

 Language Arts

And as time allows, read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

And on a bare-minimum day, we will do:

Math

Literature

Basically, my goals for each week are as follows:

Five math lessons per child

One Lively Art of Writing lesson (The Boy) / One spelling lesson (The Girl)

At least five chapters per week from our lit choice

One science project/observation each week

At least two chapters from our history read aloud each week

At least one chapter each from other rotational readings

I am hoping this is doable. I'd love to actually feel like we are really moving forward.

Now, having planned all that, I will say the most important things to me are (in order from most to slightly less important) MATH, LANGUAGE ARTS, LITERATURE

Everything else is just gravy!

Monday Musings...

Today we begin the Year of the Fire Monkey! We love celebrating holidays from around the world, though we're usually pretty low key about it, so tonight we'll have homemade Chow Mein with shrimp, and hopefully some homemade fortune cookies! If we get a chance, we'll celebrate National Kite Flying Day today too

...Outside My Window...

We're getting a preview of spring, with temperatures in the low 70s, and plenty of sunshine! Everything is green and yellow, with mustard flowers blooming in the fields, and wild calendula by the roadsides. Our trees are putting out new leaf buds like crazy, so I had better get to pruning as quickly as possible!

...In the House and Kitchen...

Normally today would be a crockpot day, with 2 jobs and school. But, I only have one job today, so I have time to cook! On the menu so far this week: Chow Mein loaded with veggies; Stuffed Baked Potatoes (one of M's specialties); and Chicken Fricassee (for Lincoln's birthday). I have a few days to fill in there, but I'll figure it out.

And I'm hoping to get some extra housework in this week. Playing catch-up is never fun!

...In Our Homeschooling...

Math is of course on the agenda for the week. And language arts! Sadly, as much as I love Coursera, and think it is fabulous, it just isn't working for us at the moment. The kids want to do science, and learn together. So we're moving back toward a shared approach to science. I think right now, we'll be focusing on birds in anticipation of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. History is going well overall, though we're behind a bit in our reading and we still haven't watched Iron Jawed Angels!

...Reading and Watching...

We're more than halfway through A Wrinkle in Time, so I am starting to think about what to read next as our literature read-aloud. I've been reading through L'Engle's books on my own as well -- her writing always makes me think, and makes me feel something, so I count that as good.

M and I are back to watching Numbers, as Netflix added a couple of seasons. I really want to watch Michael Pollan's new documentary mini-series, Cooked, which is coming to Netflix later this month. I am a huge Pollan fan! Besides that, we finally picked back up on Once Upon a Time, and The Boy and I are about a third of the way through the final season of Lost.

...On the Agenda...

Two doctor's appointments for my dad this week. One derby practice, one or two fencing classes. Work most days. One biology lecture (lecture series I am taking for fun). M may or may not have a job interview - fingers crossed! More February celebrations coming up quickly.

...What We've Been Up To...

We had our "Valentine's" celebration at the park with friends early this year, as a few of the families are heading out of town in the next week or so. No card exchange this year, just good food, lots of laughs, and some touch football!

We went hiking on Saturday at a park M and I used to hike all the time. The kids haven't been there since they were babies, so it was fun reintroducing them to it. And yesterday, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather by taking a long family bike ride!

I'll leave you with some pictures from our hike!

Monday Musings... February Plans...

...Plans for February...

Inspired greatly by Kim's post over at Enchanted Learning, here are some notes for this month!

February 2nd: Groundhog Day and Candlemas/Imbolc

We'll be watching Groundhog Day, at the request of the kids; lighting a candle in each room at sunset; and have a small-animal themed dinner/dessert, with M's family recipe for porcupine meatballs (as close as I could think to a groundhog inspired dinner), and this cute dessert idea borrowed from the blog linked above.

February 8th: Chinese New Year and Kite Flying Day

It will be the Year of the Monkey! M is a Monkey, so this will be a good year for him. It's also supposed to be good for me, decent for The Girl, and complex for The Boy.

We have kites, so we plan to head to a local park. Then we'll come home, and make Chinese food for dinner. We've never made fortune cookies, but it doesn't look too hard!

February 11th: National Inventors Day

We may read a biography or watch something on Thomas Edison.

February 12th: Lincoln's Birthday

I wonder of my kids would be ready to watch Lincoln? Thanks to this article on the former President's favorite foods, I think I might try my hand at chicken fricassee for dinner, with a side of biscuits.

February 14th: Valentine's Day

I'm glad it's on a weekend this year, so I have time to make a special breakfast... probably coconut pancakes with a strawberry sauce and some whipped cream.

Every year, we make Valentine's to exchange with our park day friends. We bring treats, and do the exchange the Friday closest to the holiday.

I'd also like to have a special dinner and dessert! And I'd like to try my hand at making heart shaped pretzels with pink salt, using the recipe from The Organic Family Cookbook for "Lotus Pretzels".

February 12th-15th: The Great Backyard Birdcount

We did this last year, and really enjoyed it. We'll count the birds in our yard of course, but might also go for a hike and count birds!

February 15: President's Day

Since we will have celebrated Lincoln's birthday already, this day will be more about George Washington for us. Maybe a book or documentary? And then, it seems he loved Green Beans Almondine, and steak and kidney pies, so that might help with dinner planning, as I have a great recipe for steak pies (minus the kidneys). Cherry-something for dessert, though if we have steak pie for dinner, probably not pie for dessert too!

February 26th: Tell a Fairy Tale Day

Definitely a day for beautiful picture books, and maybe Fairy cakes (for which I will likely use Nigella Lawson's recipe), hot apple cider (think of Snow White's poison apple), and maybe these Peter Rabbit Garden Pies!

[February does seem to be a very pie-friendly month, doesn't it?]

February 29th: Leap Day

I do like the idea of Leap Day time capsules, so we will aim to make one, to be opened in 2020. We might make some origami frogs, perhaps watch Leap Year (or at least, I might!), and I think I will make British Toad in the Hole for dinner (close enough to frogs and leaping, right?). I suppose I could make the American Toad in the Hole for breakfast too.

General Things to Do in February
Finish dormant pruning and general plant clean-up
Start some veggie seeds in our greenhouse/garden: lettuces, peas, spinach, chard, onions, and potatoes
Work on building our raised beds
Clean out the garage
Clean out the bookcases (I have to do this regularly!)

Looks like we'll be keeping busy this month!