A Fresh Week...

...Today...

I am in monthly meetings at work all day... fun!

The Boy is getting his first completed art project critiqued by his fellow classmates and instructor. He has mastered the bus ride to the junior college on Mondays! And he has Machine Tool Technology all afternoon. He is getting somewhat better at managing the homework load, but like me, tends to put off some of it until the last minute.

I finished a four page thesis exploration for my English lit class.

M has work, so I get an evening with the kids by myself. This happens three evenings a week now. It's a good time to catch up on reading aloud, or documentaries. Or play a game, like Apples to Apples (The Girl's request for tonight).

...Plans This Week...

The Boy will continue with Teaching Textbooks Algebra. So far he is doing well with it. I plan to have him start The Lively Art of Writing this week too.

The Girl will wrap up her time telling unit this week (she's gotten SO much better so quickly!), and then we will move into a review of multiplication and division. Hopefully, her language arts book will be here this week!

We watched, yesterday, another episode of Big History, this one on flight. As The Boy is going to the local air show in two weeks, and we found the documentary episode quite intriguing, we decided to go ahead and read through The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of American Aviation. We really like the way Big History links events across time and space through science--for example, if not for the process discovered to refine aluminum, the early airplane engine and struts would have been too heavy. And father back in time, the development of spruce trees in reaction to environmental changes allowed for the Wright brothers to use strong and lightweight wood.

And as we have a plethora of caterpillars and butterflies, we are reading All About Moths and Butterflies for our nature studies. We've gathered a few more caterpillars, to watch and draw/chart their metamorphosis.

The Boy is reading The Dark Side of the Universe, The Girl and I are reading Quest for the Tree Kangaroo, and I have a book written by a sky watcher/astronomer that I would like to start reading aloud (if we have time!). Maybe this week, we can go to the junior college's Planetarium, and watch the current show on the Hubble Space Telescope! We're still reading The Shakespeare Stealer too, definitely a very good book.

I've been chosen as a beta tester for the Great Courses Plus! We plan to spend a good chunk of time checking out what is available.

And we have fencing, roller derby, junior college office hours -- at least we never have time to get bored!

...Around the House, Outdoors, Etc...

There's another massive fire just north of us. This one is far worse -- it has taken out most of three towns already, and has just encroached into our county, still 45 miles north. The air quality is horrendous, and there's ash everywhere.

It is cooler this week though, so I made some simple roasted carrot ginger soup for a couple of lunches. Of course it's supposed to heat back up by the week's end.

I need to gather about a million apples this week from our backyard and turn them into applesauce and apple butter, both of which I plan to freeze... much easier than canning!

We're on the hunt for two more body/boogie boards, as we've been having tremendous fun with this sport over the summer. Both kids, M, and I all love it!

I've found a new tea to be passionate about: Good Earth's Cocoa Tango. I love the cocoa/chili pepper combination!

Have a good week!

Our First Semi-Official Week is Done!!!

Of course, there were ups... and there were downs.

On the UP side...

The Boy finished his first project for his 3-Dimensional art class. They were to make a cube, and then take it through a series of transformations.

He'll be critiqued on clean edges (check!), and a fairly logical progression through shapes, which I think he has nailed!

The Shakespeare Stealer is a hit.

Both kids are still working on creative writing projects, making me wonder, naturally, if perhaps I really should stick with the Brave Writer Lifestyle rather than try to make them follow "programs".

Working with my new schedule also hasn't been as bad as I anticipated, at least not yet. I took them with me yesterday, for my office hours, which are held in a lovely, quiet little room at the back of the giant campus library. The kids promptly ran off to the 4th floor, where there are cozy chairs in front of floor to ceiling windows, looking out over the campus, mountains in the distance, etc. They spent two peaceful hours up there -- reading, sketching, gazing.

And M got a second part-time job! Yes, I know. We are insane to be working two official (albeit all part-time) jobs each (I'm not counting once weekly tutoring for a friend), but you know what? My second job will get me closer to my actual desired career, and his should too. And truthfully, we are tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Our house needs some repairs, thankfully relatively minor; we'd love to actually have a landscape/garden; and we'd like to build some savings.

And the DOWN side...

I am over-scheduling and over-planning again. 

What it currently looks like in my head

Back to absolute basics next week, now that The Boy's math program has arrived. I already had The Girl's math on hand. I need to nail down what we are doing for writing next week, but that's it.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England -- well, it is a good book, and very thorough, but not a big hit right now. I could see reading it later, or maybe the kids will read it later, but we'll set it aside for the moment.

So, coming up...

The Boy and I want to watch some more Big History. He'll be reading The Dark Side of the Universe himself, maybe a chapter each week.

The Girl and I are looking forward to the start of The Great Backyard Bird Count in November. She says "maybe we can finish reading that bird book then. It was really good!"

We might read about the Wright Brothers (The Boy's request) and then Queen Elizabeth (The Girl's request). Or we might try this book, or this one!

We will definitely keep going with The Shakespeare Stealer!

We may start back up with Richard Halliburton's travels too, or maybe finally watch some of Human Planet.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a good weekend!