My Homeschool Mother's Journal: Valentine's week

Life this week...

The weeks are flying by faster than I can blink. I don't even know why. It's not like we're doing anything amazing each week. Just much of the same repeated week after week. So much to do and so little time to do it all.

Homeschool this week...

We started learning about the state of Maine. There are so many interesting things to learn when it comes to Geography. And, of course, I just want to go visit each place we learn about. I pulled out the book and map from our Which Way USA collection and he got really excited about finding facts and interesting places on the map. I just love these maps, and highly recommend them for elementary age learning. They feature a lot of important details about each state. We have about half the collection from when we had a subscription. A great subscription by the way!

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Take some time to reflect on your week. Especially if you feel like you haven't accomplished anything. You'll find you accomplished more than you think!

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

On Monday we went to the zoo with some friends...

Last Sunday was national pizza day so we decided to have a special treat of pizza out at Mod pizza. One of our new favorite places to get pizza out. So Tasty!

Today was a birthday celebration at the Oregon State Capitol for Oregon's 161st birthday of becoming a state. It was a fun and educational experience. There were cool exhibits and things to do.

My favorite thing this week was...

I discovered a new study music listen on YouTube. This hip hop one is cute and nice to listen to. It really helps my kids focus, and me too! I just turn it on during our school day when we want something to play in the background, but don't want disruptive music. The cat wagging the tail in the window is cute too.

Things I'm working on...

Getting all the pictures off my phone. I have over 2,000 photos, and it's taking up too much space. My phone is constantly telling me it's almost out of storage. That's a lot of photos, I know. On the other hand, I am not taking nearly as many pictures as I used to. I just haven't been in a picture-taking mood lately. I also don't have review items to take tons of pictures of either.

Something I accomplished...

I got Valentine's day decorations up about 2 days before Valentine's day! I almost didn't do anything. But, as I was clearing photos from last year, and going through pictures on the computer I realized I had nothing pictured from last Valentine's day. Which means I didn't do anything. Which is surprising for me. I like to decorate and celebrate. My desire has just gotten less and less each year, so I wasn't about to let another year get by. I decorated the mantle, and at least put up some hearts on the door. It wasn't much, but it was something.

What we're reading...

We listened to Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen on audio CD. It's the continuation of Hatchet if Brian hadn't been rescued like he was at the end of Hatchet. What would have happened to him if he had to continue surviving past summer and into a hard winter? It was a great story to listen to. I enjoyed it too as I had never heard it before.

I am reading a book for my homeschool mom's bookclub called Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I'm just under halfway through, and it needs to be finished by Wednesday. I might actually be able to finish this one. I haven't been able to finish one completely yet in time for book club.

Reading Before We Were Yours during Parkour by a heater. That room is cold!

Questions/thoughts I have...

How do I get more time? Or more accomplished in the time I already have?

I'm grateful for...

All these great homeschool friends and mamas from our local homeschool group.

Valentine's day card exchange--WAHF