Welcome to this week’s edition of the Homeschool Mother’s Journal. This week we are featuring Christine from Fruit in Season.
In my life this week…
I’m amazed at how fast my summer calendar filled up. I’m kind of in mourning, LOL. With travel, kids’ activities and camps, and family coming in town to visit, there are few days for just hanging around. And I’m definitely a homebody. I’m heading to the NE homeschool convention in June with my mom and am looking forward to that, though! Anyone else coming?
In our homeschool this week…
We’re officially schooling about 3 days per week at this point and are much more relaxed in our focus. We are working on a science lapbook from Elemental Science with the younger ones, studying astronomy with activities and a trip to the local observatory (I saw Saturn in a telescope for the first time this past weekend. It was amazing!), and working through ancient history with read alouds. Monday we had a playdate with Amy and her son, and Wednesday we went on a double field trip with our homeschool group to a glass blowing studio and a chocolate factory. Mmm-hmmm. That’s what I said: “Chocolate??? I’m there!” The kids filled out notebooking pages after the field trip. I love Debra’s amazing site for the variety and quality of the selection!
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Invest in great water guns for PE. Enough said.
I am inspired by…
Convention season. This time of year boosts my motivation and I am inspired by the planning process for next year. Now to just extend the motivation beyond October….
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing:
This weekend we’re going for the 3rd time since we’ve lived in central Ohio to the local Asian Festival in downtown Columbus. It is an amazing place with tons to see and do including the traditional Lion Dance, karate and sumo wrestling (for real!), music and dance exhibits, origami and kirigami tables and artists, an extensive children’s section with crafts and activities, great food for purchase from local eateries, and more! We love it. Now if only it wasn’t going to be 90* on Saturday, I’d be a happy camper.
My favorite thing this week was…
Watching the chocolate being made and packaged at the Anthony Thomas Candy Factory. Very cool. And hey, it’s chocolate. Period.
What’s working/not working for us…
This is only marginally homeschool related (you know, gardening?) but our strawberry plants are not yielding as much as we had hoped. We have CHIPMUNKS that are stealing them all. It has become quite comical, seeing my husband wage an all out war against them. Last night at dinner he told us that he saw one of the varmints and had a “discussion” with it. Not sure what that means.
Questions/thoughts I have…
We’re about to embark upon our first of (likely) four adventures in braces. Our oldest just had his consultation. I’ve been thinking about the cost of braces and the vanity of fixing mildly crooked teeth as a societal thing. I don’t have answers, just thinking about the message it sends to our children when we spend so much money to make sure their smiles are perfect. We’re going to do it, but I’m a bit mixed about it. I wonder if anyone else has thoughts on this?
Things I’m working on…
I’m working through the Love Like Him HelloMornings study on 1 Corinthians 13 and it has been such a nice, gentle start to my morning. God is using it to link with other things in my mind and my life (don’t you love when that happens?) and I am really enjoying the focus. I talked with the children this morning about what I am learning and how God is using the study, and told them that we should try to “outdo one another” (Romans 12) in showing love and kindness. It has helped with the bickering so far, though it’s only been a day!
I’m reading…
We just finished “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” with the kids this week. We loved the book, though it did bring up good conversations about stealing. That was definitely a gray area in the story. We’re planning on getting the movie from Netflix for our next movie night.
I’m cooking…
Not much. I didn’t make a menu plan this week for the first time in forever. I did make a yummy Salmon dish with a sesame/ginger glaze, though. Kind of off the cuff.
I’m grateful for…
A good night’s sleep, which has been hard to come by lately. I have not been sleeping well because our bedroom is too hot. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I hit menopause. I may have to sleep in the basement. Or the fridge.
I’m praying for…
My church, and the many people involved in the ministries there. I’m so thankful for the community and am just beginning to feel plugged in. After a church move a year and a half ago, this introvert took a long time to really settle in.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
I saw this quote today and it reminded me of the homeschooling life: “We are all in this together, by ourselves.” ~Lily Tomlin. It it so wonderful to be in community with other homeschoolers, yet in the end we alone are the ones responsible for raising and educating our children. A wonderful and sobering call!
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Oh, gosh! Me too! It’s been pretty muggy and warm lately here in Maine…add in a 7-year-old boy-furnace and a cat and a DH…and well, I’m stifling even with the fan going! (And yes, my youngest always seems to find his way next to me at night after I’m asleep some nights.)
No, not going to the NE conference, but it looks like fun! CT isn’t that far away, but no plans for a road trip with my van up-and-down! ((sigh)) You’ll have a blast though!
I hope you enjoy that convention
LOL I like your homeschooling tip
we read “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” quite a while ago and really enjoyed it too
Braces… I understand completely your mixed feelings on this. My hubby could have used them when he was younger- only to give him a ‘perfect’ smile. His confidence never suffered without them though. My dd has braces but I argued that hers were partially for health reasons (hers were so bad that the bottom teeth were pressing on the roof of her mouth when she closed her mouth; also she couldn’t keep her mouth closed at night, which caused problems with sleeping) as well as cosmetic. I *do* think that she would have turned out just fine but with her new smile- she actually DOES smile. She had difficulty before. It did help her confidence. My ds ‘needs’ them according to the orthos and dentists but, no, he doesn’t ‘need’ them. His confidence is much like his dad’s -only barely affected by his teeth. He smiles freely and it doesn’t affect his health so he won’t be getting them. At least that’s how we all feel about it right now. He’ll be 13 in July.
It’s a tough decision and expensive! I’m sure you’ll do as you see as best for your kids. It’s the best we can do, right?
And I think there was an Asian festival of sorts near Cleveland not long ago or coming up soon. We won’t/didn’t get to go but it’s something that I would like to do next year.
Anyway- what a long comment I’ve left! Hope you have a great weekend and coming week
Braces: Oh boy! I actually got a part time job to help pay for THREE mouths full of braces simultaneously. Not fun. Ours were more than cosmetic– all 3 of our kids had major overbite and crowding issues. Teeth that didn’t have room to come in at all (and baby teeth that wouldn’t fall out!) I have 2 more kids who may need braces but I’m going to hold off if it’s not necessary. Cosmetically, sure it looks nice but if their teeth are fine, just not “perfect”, why bother? At $5000 per smile, I’m just not willing to work more hours to pay it if I don’t have to!
I remember going to the Chinese New Year festivals in San Francisco when I was a kid. They were SO fun and there was so much to do and see. Where we live now there’s not China Town area at all, so my kids miss out on all that. Sounds like you had a fun, productive week!
The Asian Festival sounds fun!! My oldest loves origami, she’d be all over that!
Speaking of my oldest.. she does have braces. We knew her teeth were bad but we didn’t know how bad until we took her in for a consultation. She had an overbite so big she could stick her thumb between teeth with her mouth closed (we knew that), a cross bite on one side of her mouth, and a deep bite (the teeth on the sides of the lower jaw scooped down like a saddle.) It occurred to me that she never really *bit* into things – apples and sandwiches, anything. She turned her head to the side and nibbled with her canines & bicuspids. And that that was why. She also slept with her mouth open and didn’t smile much. Once we learned the full extent of the wrongness in her mouth, we decided we HAD to do what we could for her, it was more than just cosmetic for her at that point.
Having said that, my middle daughter just assumes she’s going to get them, too. RIGHT. If she doesn’t *Need* them, we probably won’t.
I do have to add that I could have used braces as a kid and we couldn’t afford them. (Severely crooked tooth, top front middle. Hated it.) I grew up thinking that I needed them for strictly cosmetic reasons. But I’ve always had a lot of cavities despite brushing and flossing and now as an adult, my teeth are a MESS. My dentist tells me that if I’d had braces as a kid, my mouth might not be as much of a mess now, because I’d have proper spacing between my teeth (as opposed to too much where food can too easily become lodged.) Hm, really? My dentist makes nothing off of telling me that now, so is that true? Plus, going through having braces instills a lot of good teeth brushing & flossing habits. So maybe there’s a health benefit for them as adults if they have braces now? (I mean, I just had $2500 worth of work on my mouth and need $4500 more- braces are cheaper!) It’s something I wonder about when I think about braces for the other kids…
Hi! It is so nice to be having such a “lighter” load now that it is almost summer for us, too! I LOVE the water squirt gun idea for PE! We just used them at the lake today, but I should suggest that this week when the kids say they are “bored”! I am definitely going to do that! I have a quick question and I cannot figure out where to ask this, but what times are the new opening and closing times for the weekly blog hop “The Homeschool Mother’s Journal”? When it was at Sue’s website it was Friday through Monday and I used to be able to post late on Monday evenings (which I like to do when I have a busy weekend with my family), but the last two Mondays the link has been closed by about 11pm. Thanks for your help in this matter! I hate to miss out on my favorite blog hop!
Cooking: I find it helpful to cook more than we need for the day, and freeze the rest for days I do not have the time to cook. Crock pots are great for this.
Grateful: I recently had to rush my husband to the emergency room…he was having a major heart attack. The main artery was 100% blocked, and two other arteries were 90% blocked. He returned safely home with no damage to the heart. I am most grateful .