Homeschool Mother's Journal: In Which We are Back at Home(school)!

In our homeschool... this was our 'official' back to school week with our First Day being Tuesday, following almost two weeks of vacation.  Unfortunately we were feeling a little under the weather, so it was a real struggle to get up and moving each day. All together we covered a bit of our astronomy course, and the boys fine tuned their backyard compass, so it's now ready for us to make our observations throughout the year.

This was before the final adjustment, so it's still a bit 'off'

Landon and Kennady studied life in the thirteen American colonies prior to the Revolution, and we even had a (peaceful) tea party.  Complete with Boston Tea Party brand tea, as it turned out!

    

Instead of protesting and dumping tea into a harbor, we talked about how the colonists took a stand by refusing to buy the tea that they were so accustomed to, and instead found alternative drinks made from herbs, fruits, and plants.

You might recognize the costume - it's from the Golden Prairie Press book we reviewed. 

The kids also worked on Language Arts, Math, and Art.

In other news...  I've been working (slowly) on getting vacation pictures sorted out so I can share them.  I've only put up one collection on the blog so far, those from the Atlantic Canada International Airshow.  See them here.  But I have plenty more from Prince Edward Island, the Bay of Fundy, and a whale watching trip.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...  I'm letting the kids help in figuring out some of our daily schedule.  Spencer said he wanted to work on his math (on the computer) immediately after breakfast, while I am usually doing history with Landon and Kennady.  Perfect!  The boys helped decide what the school hours would be, and when they squandered 20 minutes of their school time today, I had them make that up during what would be their lunch break and they didn't complain at all. I think partly because they knew it had been their choice.

What's working/not working for us... still having an ongoing struggle with the alarm clocks.  As in, responding to the alarm clock by getting up.  I'm trying to figure out how best to handle it with the boys.

Questions/thoughts I have... I have some dried long-stemmed roses and no idea what to do with them.  Guess I'll stalk Pinterest until I find something I can handle.

One of my favorite things this week... my family jokes about looking forward to having Home Toilet Advantage whenever we are on our way home from a trip. You can think about what that really refers to...  LOL  But for me, one of the true benefits of Home Advantage that I really enjoyed this week was being able to have a soak with a good book in a hot bubble bath.  Simple pleasures.

A photo/video/quote or link to share...  we would like to thank Tim Hortons for being a major sponsor of our family vacation this year.

On the bookshelf...

• The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick (this is seriously a forever-long book!)
• King Alfred's English by Laurie J. White
• The Killing Way by Tony Hays
• Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clay Clarkson with Sally Clarkson

Since my last HMJ, I've finished Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, and The Song of the Siren by Philippa Carr.

A parting shot...

This post is linked up at iHomeschoolNetwork - come see who else is back at homeschool this week!