Homeschool Mother's Journal: In Which We Change Things Up

In our homeschool...  our days were interrupted and disjointed this week, or at least that's the impression I have as I look back.  We squeezed in our science and social studies and composer study as we were able, but didn't spend as much time as I would have liked on any of them. 

Spencer is supposed to be reading Humorous Stories and Sketches by Mark Twain for American Lit right now, so I offered to read most of it aloud and include the younger kids, and he agreed to that.  (Good choice, Spencer!)  So we spent some time reading that, and I'd like to finish it over the weekend. 

Landon and Kennady began learning about the Scandinavian countries in social studies, and we learned about Johannes Brahms in music.

At co-op, we spent more than half our class time playing with the catapults we built last week.  I spent some time on Wednesday night doing a few repairs and finishing up the students' catapults so they would be ready for class - and then after a few test throws, most of the students started making modifications to their catapults which eventually resulted in most of them being a bit damaged from the increased tension and torsion!  Hopefully the parents that paid for those catapult kits will understand! We had lots of fun, and the kids demonstrated that they understood how to use tension and torsion to maximize the throwing power of their catapult, and learned that there are limits to how much force can be applied before the structural integrity is compromised. 

In other news... Landon attended his first Civil Air Patrol meeting this week.  He was reluctant to go but once we got him there, I don't think he suffered too badly. ;-) We are making him go a couple more times for sure before making a decision, but I don't see a reason not to join!

This weekend is our annual Missions Conference at church, so we will be very busy with that.  We have already been busy practicing with the musician team that will be leading worship all weekend.

My favorite thing this week...  getting Landon to Civil Air Patrol and then realizing that although he wouldn't admit it, I think he liked it.
What's working/not working for us...  I am having a hard time sticking to my schedule - as in staying home on days when I don't have to go anywhere.  I will have to plan my errands better in the weeks to come so that we can maximize our schooldays on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays - the days when we typically can stay home during the day.
Questions/thoughts I have...  do we need to renew our kids' passports this year?  I think we do. Which leads me to question how much time and money that involves.  Guess I'd better find the answers before we start making vacation plans.
A photo/video/quote or link to share...

We came across this ragtime variation on Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5, and thought it was great!  I even printed out the score so I can try to learn it!

On the bookshelf...

• The Betrayed by Lisa T. Bergren
• 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
• A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

A parting shot...

This guy was pulled over to talk on his cell phone! LOL

This post is linked to The Homeschool Chick - see how other homeschoolers might be changing it up this week!