Homeschool Mother's Journal: In Which We Try Something Different

In our homeschool...  We tried to pick up the pace with our studies a bit this week, but I'm not sure that we were completely successful.  One change we made was to insist that everyone do their schoolwork at the dining room table or in the living room so we're all 'supervising' one another.  We suspected that for every minute of time spent working on math or history, at least one minute was being wasted with nonsense.  And let's face it, we're not going to finish early - or even 'on time' if that happens on a daily basis.  And I have to be more deliberate about following a schedule with this set-up too!  It has helped, but I hope we'll be able to transition back to our usual system once we've tweaked our work habits for the better, because it is awkward trying to teach history or science with the younger two while Spencer is a couple feet away trying to concentrate on English.

Landon and Kennady worked on Science, and we continued our look at the countries of Eastern Europe in Social Studies.  We've got our sights set on a couple of recipes to try soon.  This picture in our book about Slovenia was intriguing - we studied it for quite awhile, marveling at how clear the reflection is.

Our composer study this week focused on Claude Debussy.  And of course, everyone worked on Language Arts, Math and Bible.

Spencer's schoolwork included a number of sketches and drawings this week.  He had been waiting for some charcoal in order to complete a couple of art assignments, so he was able to catch those up once I brought home the art supplies.

In other news... We started the week by hosting a lunch meeting on Sunday for our church youth leaders.  DH and I smoked a couple pork roasts on Saturday night so we had our first barbecue pulled pork of 2012!  The rest of the week held a lot of our usual activities - softball practice for Kennady, choir practice for me, Civil Air Patrol for Landon (still no picture of him in uniform!), hockey for DH...  This morning I hauled a couple boxes of books and homeschool resources to our homeschool group's yard sale style sale.  I brought home less stuff than I left with, and a couple dollars to the good.  LOL  It is raining and chilly today, so softball practice was cancelled.  Harrison applied for at least one other radio job this week, one that would be a LOT closer to home, so we are hoping he gets that.  Or something at another station closer to home.

One of my favorite things...  my cheap reading glasses.  I now have two pair - one to carry in my purse, complete with a chain, and one pair that stays at my bedside table.  I am embracing - and rocking, I might add - the librarian look lately.

Questions/thoughts I have...  What are we going to do for vacation this year?  What can we afford to do for vacation this year?  We have plenty of ideas and possible destinations, but we have to be realistic too!

A photo/video/quote or link to share... I just love The Piano Guys.  This is the latest - a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" and I couldn't help falling in love with Jon's arrangement.

On the bookshelf...

• A House for My Name by Peter J. Leithart
• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens by Debra Bell
• The Bone House by Stephen R. Lawhead
• Compulsively Mr Darcy by Nina Benetton
• The Blessed by Lisa T. Bergren

Finished Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander.  Only one more book left in that series!  And seriously, I need to update the book blog.  Or move it.  Or something.

A parting shot...

This post is linked to The Homeschool Chick - see what different things homeschoolers are trying this week!