Weekly Wrap-Up Week 16

This was our first week back to school from the holidays and we eased back into things around here. Just getting up on time, getting dressed and ready, and doing any school work was a victory!

S was off Monday so...no school. Fall finally came to Texas so we raked leaves over the long weekend.

But sadly, 3/4 of the leaves on our tree have not fallen yet. So, we will be doing this again several more times.

Tuesday was the day we started school, but first we had an important appointment which you have already heard about.

And THEN we started school. This week, each day we did:

1. Sonlight (reading, history, Bible)
2. Writing
3. a math practice sheet
4. science

So we have some things to add back in to the mix next week. But it was a good start.

And hey, learning can be found everywhere, right? This is Sweetheart melting some cheese for supper last night as I peppered her with questions about turning solids into liquids.

So, what change of matter is happening right now Sweetheart? Huh? The cheese was a SOLID and now it's a ....?

Mom. Really. I'm just ready to eat OK?

Fine.

Speaking of supper and Sweetheart, she's really loving the cooking lately and I'm loving that! What do you do when your 12 year old begs to fix supper all by herself?

Well, you let her! And you get candlelight dinners!

Wednesday was my birthday and S sent me flowers!

We had already celebrated, but we went out to dinner before church. Not cooking on my birthday=happy me!

And yesterday something VERY AMAZING finally happened at our house!!

Yes! The laundry fairy came!!!!

Sonlight--How's That Working For You? (Part 1)

This is our first year using Sonlight as our "main" curriculum. I pored over the catalog for several years, but always set it aside with a "yeah, right....like THAT'S going to happen" sigh and went on about my business. It just seemed so neat and easy. It seemed like using it would give us a level of safety--at least I would KNOW certain things were being covered. Other people have thought it out before me. I don't have to come up with everything...

What happened to get us finally trying Sonlight was we got ahead of our history curriculum. I had been using The Mystery of History (very happily!) and finished level 3 last year.

Making Viking ships for Mystery of History...lots of fun stuff !

Only....level 4 wasn't finished being written yet. Written. Or edited. Or published. Which means it ain't gonna be ready any time soon. So, what to do? Well, the author suggested taking a year to study American history, which isn't covered in her world history curriculum. So that sounded like a good idea. And I knew Sonlight had an American History year (or 2) in their mix. So I really started looking at it. Could I piece it together? Could I use their booklist? Could I make my own like Carrie? Or steal all her ideas?

There was also another issue--Sweetheart was going to be starting 6th grade. I had realized a problem with our homeschool over the last year. The problem was in my curriculum choices: the sun rose and set with ME. Bible? Required me to read to them while they worked in their booklets. History? Required me to read aloud to them and they would made the timeline figure to go with the lesson. Science? Required me to read aloud to them and then direct the proper activity and journal page. Spelling? Required my teaching--on 2 different levels. Math? Required me to watch the DVD (on 2 different levels) with them and make sure they understood the lesson and sit with them while they worked through the problems.

But handwriting they could do on their own, so there was always that.

I enjoyed all these curriculum choices AND I really did enjoy all the time gathered around the table with my girls. I have great memories of those days. But there were problems after a while.

Working at the table together--many years ago!

1. Sweetheart was going to be turning 12, and starting middle school, and she did nothing independently during her day. When do I start handing the reins over? And how can I with these curriculum choices?

2. Little Bit needed more of my teaching and attention. She was still learning to read and was getting "behind" on things. Sweetheart had most of my attention in her 2nd grade year. How was Little Bit going to have my attention for what she needed when I was so......needed all the time? By everyone.

I finally talked with S about it and he listened to all my myriad of reasons and then said, "How much?" I gulped and told him. Without hesitation he said, "Get it."

WHAT? Just like that. He said it sounded good and was not too much money to spend on our daughter's education. I agree, by the way. And we would certainly be paying far more for private school. But...but..but...I'm just so frugal. I can't help it. It pains me to buy any curriculum brand new. Homeschooling can truly be done on a shoestring budget and I was one of those who liked to do that. I was PROUD of that, even. Just how much can I save? It was like a challenge and a hunt every year.

So I bit the bullet and bought Sweetheart the 2-years-condensed-into-one American History core from Sonlight. Just to try, mind you. And then we could go back to what we had been doing if Level 4 of MOH was ready by then, right? It was just to fill in the gap for this year. And OK if we liked it, I was totally going to stay with it. 

Little Bit also got Core A from Sonlight just so she would have something planned and with some type of theme instead of completely random like Sweetheart's 2nd grade year. (Our first year homeschooling)  Ha! But as you can see, she only got a few sad little boxes from Amazon to open because I totally borrowed, begged, and gathered her core. I mean, no one is going to use it after her so....well, that was before I was pregnant, OK?

Next time....how it's working for us so far!

Around the House

Over Christmas break, we were sort of productive.

Knowing you are having a baby in 5 months will do that do you. Gets you in gear.

The sewing room is in order. The bill paying desk and paperwork have been sorted out. The broom and vacuum actually go in the cleaning closet now. The laundry room is pretty organized. S cleaned out the garage and shed and back porch.

Now, for January...my Christmas present! S will be painting our bedroom this month. We picked a lovely shade of blue and one wall will be covered in white bead board. We're going for a "beach house" feel in there. I certainly hope it feels as relaxing as I want it to.

inspiration from Pinterest...

Then this will call for new bedding as our current colors of sage green and maroon don't jive with my relaxing blue and white theme. Although I still love maroon and sage green. I'll probably donate the whole set (curtains, shams, dust ruffle, etc.) to someone who needs it. We've had it 5 years and if it matched at all I would keep it.

I have no idea what I want, but this always catches my eye. 

And yes, I am quite positive we will spend several months with blue walls and maroon and sage comforter. More than positive, actually.

I also organized the homeschool cabinet over the weekend. And made lots and lots of copies of things for the rest of the year. I wanted to not have to stop and plan between now and May. Whatever school we manage to finish this year will be a miracle and I decided being prepared was the first step in making that happen. Since I was planning on going until May 28 and now my due date is May 13......obviously we won't finish every single thing this year.

And then there are the elusive quilts I started for the girls 5 years ago.....a while back. Still not done. And Sweetheart came home from a friend's house lamenting how friend's room matched. And she wants her room to match. So I should probably spend some time this spring making the girls happy with some work on their rooms. It really wouldn't take much. Just a few touches here and there.

Cause I'm thinking this summer it ain't gonna happen!

This isn't so much nesting as normal life around here though. And you can bet it will involve some furniture rearranging. You know me.

Oh, I also still need to organize the kitchen.

In my spare time.

The Big News!

Well, everything looked healthy on the ultrasound. Praise God!!! I am so happy to have a healthy baby. I feel very blessed to be able to do this again.

And of course, you want to know....

Three beautiful girly blessings. :) The nurse told S he was "destined to swim in a sea of estrogen". Ha! I had actually prayed for a boy and it took a few minutes to wrap my head around girl! The ultrasound pic is not nearly as clear as I remember the girls' being...could we be that 10% that ends up wrong? Yikes.

Very happy today. Very relieved. Very blessed.

Thank you for the prayers!

The Last Day--of Adventure!

S is off work today so...no school yet. Instead, we spent the day getting some stuff done. And some early birthday celebrating. :)

S changed the oil in my car.
I organized the homeschool cabinet and paid bills.

Folks, don't let anyone tell you different, your 40s are FULL OF ADVENTURE!

But the most important thing is, we have spent the day together and that is my favorite kind of day. We went out to eat lunch together and then went and bought me my birthday present.  Undoubtedly the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever purchased but it's OK because a child gets a pair of shoes too now! (They should, we certainly paid for 2 pair!)

I slept all night last night (9:30pm-7:00am) and felt like a new woman when I woke up. I've been back on that kick of waking up at 4am and staying awake until about 15 minutes before the alarm goes off. Oh I hate that. I don't mind waking up in the night but I like to be able to go back to sleep! I'm not ashamed to tell you I was in bed before 9:00 on New Year's Eve either. Again--ADVENTURE--IT ABOUNDS!

I'll also go ahead and tell you that S is taking a nap right now. Hey, it's his last day off. And we are, after all, adventurers.

Tomorrow is when I get my real birthday present. We're going for the big ultrasound in the morning. Wouldn't mind some prayers...the girls are coming with us and while I don't anticipate anything being wrong, it is in the back of my  head. I'm hoping for healthy most of all and also it will be fun to find out what we are having. But healthy is the #1 thing. Because if its a girl...well, I can do girls. :)

And if its a boy..well, THAT will be a really big (for real) adventure don't you think?