Wordless Wednesday: Snickerdoodles

 

Thankful Thursday

 I am thankful that my birthday lands on Thanksgiving day once in a while.

Wordless Wednesday: nothing on the calendar today!

There is absolutely nothing on the calendar today for the first time in months. Perfect way to kick off Thanksgiving weekend!

My Weekly Notebook: The week before Thanksgiving

 

Life this week...

Another whirlwind of a week! It's the week before Thanksgiving and my birthday. I can hardly believe we are already at this holiday. I have one kid who's very excited about Thanksgiving and so he keeps asking me if I have a turkey and if I have stuffing and so on. I have to admit I have very little planned out for our Thanksgiving feast. I should probably get on that. I at least printed up a meal planner page!

Homeschool this week...

 Alex started a new funschooling journal, The Pirate's Pronunciation Handbook, for language arts.

 

This first page seems a bit easy for him, but this book is full of great language arts learning. At first I thought it was too young for him, but realized when I looked through it that it would be a great fit.

The challenge he had for this page was writing the alphabet creatively...

 

Mom-school this week...

I learned to knit! A friend brought some knitting things to teach me while our boys played/jumped at Defy. It was easier than I thought, but hard to get things to knit right. I kept getting too tight. Hoping to get better as I practice more!

 

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

We went on a few hikes this week with different groups. 

We joined a new to us wild+free group for the first time. Part of our time with them was spent playing/exploring along the river beach. Alex took the time to stack some rocks despite it being very cold. He did awesome!

 

The other hike was with our Monday hike group. We went to Tryon Creek State Park and hiked the N. horse loop. We even saw a horse!

 

I also took the kids on a very short walk down in Springfield when we were visiting. Alex decided to find a geocache which helped him be less grumpy about walking/hiking, and he found a rubber duck in it that we have to take to a new geocache location (it's a travel bug).

Things I'm working on...

Taking apart my Harry Potter LEGO castle. That thing is a solid 6,020 pieces and taking way longer than I anticipated. I've got about half the castle done at this point.

 

Random things the kids worked on... 

Aric decided to do some snap circuits this week. A project that is completely optional for him. He is studying electronics right now so it fits with his science/stem studies. I was happy to see him choose this on his own.

Something I accomplished...

I finished this puzzle. Why? Because Alex decided he didn't like doing puzzles. So, I finished it. I'm excited to move onto something prettier than the human abdomen. I need to figure out how to get that kid to like puzzles.

 

 Movies/TV we watched... 

Michele and I watched the new Disney movie Disenchanted. It's the sequel to Enchanted. We both enjoyed it.

Outdoor time...

Despite our several hikes outside this week, we only have about 4 hours 15 minutes outside. It was very chilly all week, so we just didn't get out much.

Games we played...

Alex played chess several nights with his dad, and a few times with me. This kid loves chess!

 

Other thoughts from the week...

Alex heard about this chocolate from a friend, so he set out to find it at Walmart this week. He found it!

 

I'm grateful for...

Art. We took the opportunity to do some chalk art this week. I am so thankful we did.

Thankful Thursday

 

 The crunch of the leaves as I walk outside during the Fall/Autumn months.

My Weekly Notebook: And Fall Marches on

Life this week...

This week definitely went differently than it was planned. By weeks end a few of us were sick and we missed a lot of outings. In the end though that turned out to be a blessing because it allowed me to focus on getting a certain task done that I was worried I'd never find time to do. This task had a deadline and I'm happy to say I got it done on time!

Homeschool this week...

The task that was to be completed this week was getting work samples in to our charter school. This is always a great time for me to evaluate what the kids have completed and what they need to be doing more of. It's also a time where I can make changes if I find that something just isn't working. Thankfully, I didn't find too many changes that need to be made. Just a lot of catching up to do, and ways that we can get things done better.

Mom-school this week...

I'm sure I worked on something, in a small amount. But, I can't remember, and I didn't take any pictures. Probably mostly just some reading.

Helpful homeschool holiday tips and advice to share...

I want to change up this prompt for the coming holiday season. I was thinking about Christmas coming up and how much we don't get to do anymore because the kids have just grown out of it. It kinda bums me out, but then it occured to me that I just need to change our activities to match their ages and stages. I need to do some more research and finding of ideas, but in my first search on Pinterest for "Christmas with teens" I found this fun list of ideas: 25+ Christmas Traditions for parents of Teens and Tweens. Maybe I can get some of those suggestions going this Christmas and still make some magic for my big kids. I thought I'd share in case there are any of you in the holiday "blues with big kids" too.

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

On Tuesday we tried out an indoor skate park for the first time. Alex really had a good time, and he scootered for nearly 2 hours!

 

After the skate park, Alex spent some time teaching a buddy how to play chess, and I learned to play backgammon with his mom! It was a fun afternoon. This was the last outing we had before sickness took over the house.

 

My favorite thing this week was...

Taking down Halloween and putting it all away because that means it's almost time for Christmas decorations!

Things I'm working on...

Ideas for an upcoming LEGO convention that I'd like to attend. I want to display something, but I'm not sure what to make. Actually, I can think of a lot of things to make, but not sure I can pull any of them off.

Random things the kids worked on...

On a whim I made this abc game on a giant sticky note and stuck it to the door. Surprisingly, Alex saw it and decided he wanted to do it. He snatched it up and worked on it while we read J is for Jack-o-Lantern (a picture book). It was a fun spontaneous activity.
 

What we're reading...

I was compiling a reading log for our charter work samples, and realized that Alex has quite a few books that he's read and is currently reading for school. I am reading most of these right along with him! It's almost time to start a new reading log. This made me happy to see that he really is reading more than I think. He doesn't care for reading, so it's definitely an accomplishment!

 

Movies/TV we watched...

I watched Enola Holmes with Michele this weekend. Alex has been watching Naruto because his buddy watches it, so he wanted to give it a try.

Outdoor time...

We got a whole 17 hours of outdoor time for October with a few hikes and Halloween. I am hoping to beat that for November, but brrrr! it's cold! 

Games we played...

Just chess! We have been really lacking in this area lately. We did play a little bit of Rubik's Race tonight (Sunday night). That's a fun game, and Alex is really really good at it.
 

I'm cooking/eating...

I made Shepherd's pie on Friday night with "soda bread" from Costco. It was delicious.

Something that worked out great or didn't work out for us this week...

Sickness put a damper on a lot of plans. We didn't get to go with our homeschool group to the fire station. I was really looking forward to that one.

I'm grateful for...

Glasses. I've had to use my reading glasses a lot more lately and I'm grateful for them every time.