The Homeschool Mother's Journal #8

In my life this week...

Planning. Planning. Planning. 

We are not yet finished with this year, but I'm already planning for next year. It seems like planning gets a little more complicated every year! Is this because they are getting older? Or because there is so much more to choose from every year. 

In our homeschool this week...

We managed to get all of our boxes checked again this week! 

I love weeks like that! 

We finished Eli Whitney this week and started Lewis & Clark. Such an exciting time in our nation's history! 

Ben and Luci have been learning about bug defenses. Have you ever heard of the bombardier beetle? This incredible insect carries a chemical weapon in its body! He has two chambers that contain five different chemicals and when the beetle feels threatened he opens a valve between the two chambers that allows the chemicals to mix. The chemical reaction is such that the beetle releases boiling hot gases from his abdomen! How incredible is that?

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Last Friday we went to a RC Plane Fly-In at a nearby airport. Although we had a small group, it was a lot of fun for the kids! 

Today we have a play date at the park with our homeschool friends.

My favorite thing this week was...

The drama that Ben and Luci have been working so hard on for the past 4 months took place Sunday evening. The kids all did a fantastic job, but of course I'm really proud of my own two children! Ben had one of the leading roles in the drama with 27 lines to learn. He was AWESOME! I was so proud of how well he did remembering his lines and acting out the part of "Charlie". While Luci didn't have a speaking part, she did have some interpretive dance parts where she twirled and spinned as a flower. She also put in a lot of work contributing to the art work for the props and stage setting. 

I even have to commend Gavin, who, while he was not actually a part of Kidz Prayz, worked hard with the media team to make sure things went smoothly during the production. 

What's working/not working for us...

I've wanted to cut back on the amount of television my family watches for a long time, but as anyone who's been there knows, it's not easy to change the TV habit. Even for us adults (especially those of us who were crime-show junkies)! For the last two weeks, however, I've kept the TV turned off on school days and school nights, with just a very few exceptions for things like the news of Bin Ladin's death and the Royal Wedding (wow, are those two completely opposite types of programing). We've also drastically reduced the amount of time spent playing video games to a maximum of thirty minutes a day.

The result: My kids are finding things to do that engage their minds instead putting them in a trance. In the past two weeks they've put together almost every puzzle we own (sometimes twice), played with Legos, spent time reading or being read to, and played board games like chess & checkers.  They are fighting less, getting along better, and showing better attitudes in general. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I've noticed that my best times of the school year, the times when I'm the most motivated and at my best organizationally, is the first quarter of the school year and the last quarter of the school year. 

I really wish I could figure out how to spread that out over the whole year and avoid that hum-drum burn-out season from January thru spring-break. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

At a homeschool field trip to the Raymond Airport for a RC Fly-In all the kids got the chance to sit in a helicopter.