The homeschool mother's journal: The Lorax

 

In my life this week...It was hot this week.  It doesn't usually get in the upper 90's here in Oregon, but we stayed cool in the pool at least daily.  I'm glad for nice warm days, but I'm really looking forward to cooler days soon.

In our homeschool this week...We started some of our new books this week, and some of the old ones too!  It was nice to pick up Story of The World again, but this time I am having Aaron join us for at least the reading and whatever activities he finds interest in.  I had the impression that it's a good time to start including him, and I was right. We read chapter 7, and he was fascinated by the laws of Hammurabi.  Aaron also loves his science book, Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  I think he is really excited to study astronomy this year.  Another new thing we did this week was Speekee TV.  I just discovered it, and I'm pretty sure we're going to continue with it all year.  The boys want to learn Spanish, and I think this will be a great introduction to it.  I get an email each week called Speekee fast track with ideas to supplement the videos we watch.  This week we made sock puppets to go with the sock puppet characters Dino and Lupi on Speekee TV.

These are the puppets.  Aric's is on the left, mine in the middle, and Aaron's on the right.  I had a blast making these with the boys. 


We also made this page to put in the workboxes for Speekee TV time.

They had fun watching "El parque" again with their sock puppets.




See the puppets there on the screen! 

Okay, here's an even better picture of Dino and Lupi.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...I found this article on the blog Latter Day Homeschooling helpful, called "Assigning 'virtual' schoolwork".  I forget a lot about computer schoolwork.  That is also the same article where I discovered Speekee TV.

I am inspired by...The woman that gave us the tour on her elk farm today.  She said she has homeschooled her 4 children from the start, she has 3 graduated, and one still at home almost ready for college.  All her girls have done very well from their homeschooling.   She said she started homeschooling when it wasn't so popular, but she didn't give in to all the negativity, and she kept it up because she knew it was right.  She was very encouraging, and inspiring, and her family runs a beautiful Elk farm!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...
~We had our good homeschool friends over on Monday.  April's BFF Kaitlyn, and her sister and Momma too all came over to swim.  I enjoyed having a friend over too!
~Everyday, for 2 hours a day, this week the kids had music camp at our church.  They really loved it.  They made some fun crafts, learned some musical things and dances, and played music games.
~On Thursday we squeezed in a library trip, and Friday we had a field trip to a local elk farm.  The kids thought the elk farm was pretty awesome, and afterward we went to the river to play with the homeschool group that went to the field trip.  The river was a nice way to end a hot day visiting the elk.

My favorite thing this week was...letting the boys run through the sprinklers at the park in their clothes, while I laid in the shade of a tree reading.  I actually laid down in the grass and looked up into the blue sky to soak it all in before I got up and we had to leave.  It has been a long time since I've done that!  I felt like a kid again.  Ah, the lazy hot days of summer!

What's working/not working for us...a lot of things are working so well for us right now, but I think the reason why is because I'm trying really hard to just relax.  I'm trying hard to not over-do things, or over work them in my brain.  I'm trying hard not to worry too much when the kids do things their way and not necessarily mine.  I'm trying to relax about what we can accomplish in any given day.  I'm trying to relax when I get overwhelmed, and I feel like it's all piling up too much.  It's working.  When I over-stress myself, things don't work so well.  This is going to be a great year if I can keep it up.

Things I'm working on...still working on the curriculum line up post, almost done!  Then I'm making some changes to this blog.

I'm cooking...chili rellenos casserole (much like Mexican eggs), and grilled chicken with couscous (the kids' favorite).  Actually, I'm cooking on the grill most days lately with this warm weather.  Even bacon for breakfast on the grill!  Yumm. 

I'm grateful for...water.  It occurred to me this week as I was using water, swimming in water, and drinking water, that water is such a wonderful blessing.  I am so thankful for it in this heat!  I'm thankful for the everyday uses I can use water for, and that it runs into my home so freely.  I don't have to go far to get it, and for that I'm thankful.

A photo to share...The Lorax collage.  We watched the movie, and read the book this week.  Several times.  I have to say I kinda liked the movie.  I enjoy the book too.  We also made truffula trees with our pencils.  I also had some stickers from the craft store. 

You can see more Homeschool mother journal posts here at iHomeschool network

 Desiree