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.