Homeschool Mother's Journal: In Which We Are Starry-Eyed

In our homeschool... overall, this week went better than last week did, so that's good news!  We worked on Write With WORLD a couple of days, and finished off another unit in History.  I'm hoping that we can stick to the regular History schedule (5 days a week) for at least the next two weeks, unless we find a rabbit trail we think worthwhile to explore!

We worked on our classical astronomy a little this week as well, but had some trouble getting observations done because most mornings were very cloudy.  The boys finally got their weekly sunrise viewing in this morning!  We are getting into the part of the study where we learn how to identify stars and constellations, so there will be some school-sanctioned late nights coming up! No objections from the kids to that.  LOL

Spencer finished up some graphic design projects and did a little work on the auto upkeep course.  I have to double-check, but I think he's worked ahead a bit in consumer math.  He has been should have been focusing on finishing his first big essay assignment this week anyway.  I hope that he'll have it complete by the end of today.

We had our yearbook picture session on Tuesday.  Only Landon and Kennady had to get their pictures done, since Spencer is a senior and we will be submitted his senior portraits for the yearbook once we get them done. Then on Tuesday evening, Spencer and I went to the first of the planning meetings for the commencement ceremony.  It is becoming real - my second child will be graduating this year!   o.O

In other news...  I missed choir this week because of the grad planning meeting.  The meeting went quickly enough that I was able to get back to see Landon's promotion ceremony at Civil Air Patrol.  He is now a Senior Airman.  I even got to put the new pins on.  (And stabbed my finger horribly in the process! This picture was taken before the puncture wound occurred, and thankfully I only spurted blood onto my own clothes after I'd walked away from center stage! LOL)

We had more vehicle repairs done this week too.  In fact, I am expecting the call from the mechanic any time now to let me know we can pick it up.  One more repair job coming up soon (the van probably needs a new computer module) and then I hope we will stay in good condition for quite some time!

Tomorrow is our day trip to Philadelphia!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice...  I was reminded by the Crew Blog Cruise this week that games can be used in our homeschools in truly educational ways.  I wrote a little about how we've used games along with our studies in my post, Game On!, and you can visit the Schoolhouse Revew Crew Blog to read other ideas too.

What's working/not working for us... DH being so flexible in what time he leaves for work in the morning!  Don't get me wrong - I love it that he has the freedom to sleep a little later these days, even if it's just 15 minutes more! But the morning routine we've had going on is one of the very few things that generally works for me, so throwing it off by even 15 minutes is making me (yes, me.  The Fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants Lady!) a little crazy.  I'm trying to get up at the same time even if he doesn't, but it's hard to do!

Thoughts/questions I have... what is wrong with my camera card?  I think I might need to buy a new one, because this one is just acting really wonky.

One of my favorite things this week...  not having a mortgage payment! We just refinanced.

A photo/video/quote or link to share...  My hubby let me know about a pretty neat download (free!) this week that I've just started to figure out.  It's described as a "free open source planetarium for your computer."  Check it out at: http://stellarium.org/#  I took a couple of pictures to give an idea of what it looks like on my computer.

It's hard to make out, but that is the meridian line in the center, and the very small white text is where constellations are labelled.  The next picture is what it looks like when I use the night view and have the artwork added to the constellations.  There are LOTS of variations!

On the bookshelf...

• Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay Clarkson with Sally Clarkson
• Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter J Leithart, with Shakespeare's Hamlet
• I Am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick
• Knave of Hearts by Philippa Carr

A parting shot...  I'm not sure why Kennady set this little display up on my kitchen counter, but I thought it was pretty cool!

This post is linked up at iHomeschoolNetwork - see what is putting the stars in other homeschoolers' eyes this week!