My homeschool mother's journal

Life this week...

We went on a campout last weekend with our church family, so a lot of the beginning of the week was spent recovering from that. Cleaning, unpacking, laundry, putting the camp gear away, etc. It was a fun campout though. A few pictures from our time at camp:

 We camped at "Camp Meriwether" which is a Boy Scouts of America campground, so we had a nice big eating lodge for all of us to gather in for meals. It was dry and somewhat warm. The food was delicious. The first night (Friday night) after we arrived and got settled, we had Mongolian grill. First, we gathered up all our goods in a bowl. Yakisoba noodles, veggies, and meat. We could choose what we wanted!

Then we took it out to the "grillin' guys." They mixed it all together on the grill. The meal was absolutely delicious. I had a 2nd bowl. So did most everyone else. There was a ton of food because about half the people that signed up to come on the campout decided not to come due to rain or other family circumstances. So, we had to help the cause and eat up all the food. We all ate way too much!

The next day was gorgeous with some playing on the beach. It was chilly but sunny, so still good. There was an awesome thunderstorm in the middle of the night though. You wouldn't have thought there was any bad weather at all looking at this picture!

We camped in Adirondacks. I'm so glad we weren't in tents as it rained pretty good all night. We had exactly 6 beds, and Alex insisted he have a top. He was very excited about that.

I love that we have a great group of boys around Aric and Aaron's age. They spent most of the time just running around with them. Aric was trying to hide from the camera, but Karl made sure to help him out.

That's all I have for pictures from the campout. I didn't have my phone with me the whole time, so these are pictures that Mike took. Some other activities that took place were boy scouts related. They demonstrated building fires and shelters, and there was a flag retiring ceremony. It was very cool. I had never witnessed a flag retiring ceremony (discarding an old worn-out or damaged flag).


Homeschool this week...

We started back up in Paths of Exploration. We talked about the globe a bit, and a light globe just made for an awesome lesson. It was perfect for a gloomy and rainy afternoon.

Reviews we are working on...

We've got a lot of reviews going right now, but this is one that we started this week. Channie's multiplication practice. This is going to be a great way to get a lot of multiplication practice in!

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Now that we are studying Columbus again I realized that we did some fun activities a few years ago that I blogged about, for Columbus day. I thought I'd share that post again since Columbus day is coming up for some inspiration in case you need any ideas. This year we are making a globe cake! Wish us luck!

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

Alex is playing soccer this fall, so I'm spending my Saturday mornings watching him play. He loves it, and I love watching him play. I also love the fall mornings and sitting outside. He's having a lot of fun. This picture was taken back in September when he started, but I never got around to posting, so here it is now!

Things I'm working on...

I made one of these "all about me" pendants at co-op this week. I brought them for all the afternoon kids to do, if they wanted. Almost all the kids did one, and one girl asked me if I was going to fill one out too. So I did! It was fun to work on this right along with the kids. The little girl watched me draw my self portrait, and asked if I was an artist. I'm working on that.

Random things the kids worked on...

Aaron found a free lawnmower to tinker around with. He spent several days this week looking at the engine and trying to get it to work. He started it up a few times. He also fixed the handle. His goal isn't necessarily to fix the mower itself. He wants to get the engine working and hopefully build a go-kart someday. Or something. We shall see. For now, I'm happy to see him take an interest in fixing/tinkering with it.

Alex had a stuffed animal that had a tiny hole at the seam. It has sat on my sewing table for weeks. He needed the animal for his class at co-op. He was giving a little report about sea-turtles. So, I brought the turtle, and a little sewing kit with the intention of sewing him myself before class. I ended up not having time before class, so I told him to just take the turtle and do his presentation, and we'd sew it in the afternoon. When I pulled it out to sew up the hole, he showed an interest in learning how to do it. So I taught him! With a little help here and there he did it. Then he fixed his mickey mouse at home later in the week. He's excited about learning to sew more now.

Something I accomplished...

This blog post. It's a big accomplishment.

I'm cooking...

Nothing that I'm cooking right now is interesting, but I can't get over these fall leaf chips from Trader Joe's. I need to go get some more.

Questions/thoughts I have...

I am thinking and praying about my blog. Should I continue? I am also wondering about reviews. I am not sure I'll be continuing on the review crew. It has been a great opportunity, and I have loved all the reviews we have done. I am just wondering if I need a break. This crew year is wrapping up, and I'll have to decide soon! I will keep you posted on that.

I'm grateful for...

A nice peaceful weekend with the family. We didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. We did have a date night, however!

That wraps up last week. Now time for a new one!