My Weekly Notebook: 2nd week of August (last week)

Life this week...

The summer is flying by. I knew it would. For some reason I could just feel it speeding by before it even started. I started realizing today that we've not spent much time outside. At least as much as I'd have liked to. It's just been so hot, and the desire to be out in the heat is very low. I'm hoping we can get out a little more these last few weeks of summer. By the same token, I'm excited for back to school! It's just a few weeks away for us. 

Homeschool this week...

Aric reviewed the continents and the oceans and marked them on his map. It's a good thing to review!

 

I thought I'd show our current set up for daily assignments. A box with all of their work for the day. They each have a file folder for "workboxes" and the stuff that doesn't fit in the file is just stacked in with it including their daily list which is in a spiral notebook.

Aric's box

Alex's box

Mom-school this week...

Nothing to show for my learning this week, but I did watch some Heartland! Which is what inspired my desire to complete the Homeschooling with Horses Journal from The Thinking Tree Books.

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

LEGO Dots bracelets for incentives. Each assignment that is completed earns a "dot" on the bracelet. When the bracelet is full there is a special treat or reward. The child can wear the bracelet on their wrist and you can immediately give a lego piece when they've earned one according to the rules you set. It's an immediate visual for the work they've completed. They can even make fun designs!

 

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

We took some neighbor friends bowling with us. Alex had a blast. They also did the climbing wall and laser tag.

 

Things I'm working on...

Cleaning out my sewing table and finishing up some old projects. I am also working on gathering materials for some new projects. I am pretty excited to be able to see the bottom of my sewing table now. I even found my button presser foot (finally) and mended a button that fell of some pants.

Random things the kids worked on...

Alex worked on this wooden dog puzzle and he actually finished it! I say that because he's started a few of these wooden puzzles and they proved to be too difficult for him. 

 

I was happy to see him persevere with this one. Even when it got difficult. There were even some pieces that we're pretty sure weren't made quite right, but he got it together.

These wooden puzzles look cool, but they can be very frustrating.

What we're reading... 

With my horse kick lately, I decided to pull out the Billy and Blaze collection we have and start reading those with Alex. He is almost grown out of these, so I thought we should read them one more time. 

 

Movies/TV we watched... 

• A Bug's Life (movie)
• Heartland (mom, tv show)

Other thoughts from the week...

I am giving this liquid morning multivitamin from Mary Ruth's a try. It is actually not bad tasting! It tasted kinda like a smoothie in a way. I am pretty sure vitamins are keeping me alive/going each day, so I am always on the look out for a good vitamin and this one seems to be doing the job very well. Have you ever taken a liquid vitamin?

 

I'm grateful for...

Art, crafts, handicrafts, etc. The ability to create something beautiful myself.