Homeschool Highlights - Eclipsed

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Welcome to Homeschool Highlights! 

This weekly link-up is your opportunity to share some highlights of what is happening in your homeschool and in your world each week. If you write a wrap-up post at the end of each week, like I've been doing, we'd love to see what you're busy with from week to week. If you'd like to pick a favorite post from your week that spotlights a resource or activity in your homeschool that you'd like to tell others about, we're interested in those too. I'm keeping the guidelines as simple as I can, and they will appear at the bottom of each post, along with the link tool. I look forward to getting to know you, and I hope this will be a source of encouragement and good ideas for all of us.

Grab a cup of coffee and let's get started!

Homeschool news  . . . We're not officially back to school until after Labour Day, but Kennady finished doing some review in Algebra this week, and I guess a couple of the fun things we did could be counted as field trips if I wanted to. We took a trip to the Columbus Zoo with our son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter, so that had some educational value.

We found out that Kennady is shorter than an Asian Black Bear. Shorter than any species of bear, I believe, although the others don't show in the picture. Not sure how useful that information is, but fun fact, nonetheless.

Even some music at the zoo, with African drums and this oversize xylophone.

We picnicked at a park in Columbus on Sunday afternoon, and the symphony happened to be rehearsing for the open air concert they would give later in the day. We couldn't stay for the concert, but we did sit and enjoy the rehearsal for awhile.  Music Appreciation class.

And like everyone else, we were fascinated by the solar eclipse that happened on Monday. That was a travel day for us, so I hadn't thought ahead to get eclipse glasses, but it turned out that it was overcast and cloudy where we were during that hour, so there really wasn't much to see.

Seriously. About as good as it got. We could see the crescent shapes in
reflections and shadows, but that's about it. And it did get noticeably
darker during totality. (Okay, about 80% totality)

Other news . . . We drove to Columbus last Thursday night, arriving late, but we still got a good night's sleep and then spent the next three days with this sweetheart. And her parents.

Our visit included the zoo, and a day spent at a park, as well as attending their church, playing games, eating out, and just hanging out with them.

We got home Monday, which meant back to work and our other usual routines on Tuesday.

What's New . . . we're working on establishing new schedules for the school year. I've just switched up my work schedule to accommodate co-op classes. Kennady will work one day a week for just a couple weeks into the school year, while it is still busy at the greenhouse, but we're also working on figuring out her school schedule - whether she'd be best working on every subject every day, or and what pace we should aim for. I've got most things entered in the Homeschool Tracker lesson plan, and was thinking that she could finish early this year! Not saying that's what will happen, because that would require a lot of consistent hard work, and I've just finished saying she's going to work one day a week for a little bit. But it's a great goal to have, and might prove to be a good motivator! 

Funny, Flop, or Fail of the Week . . .  Well, I mentioned that I didn't get eclipse glasses, and that was my homeschooling fail. I'd originally thought that due to work and other scheduling things, we probably wouldn't be able to see the eclipse anyway, and by the time I realized that we would, in fact, be driving during that time and could stop to watch, there were no eclipse glasses to be had anywhere. And not being at home, we didn't really have cereal boxes and all of that to make our own pinhole viewers. Oh well. As it turned out, the view where we happened to be was rather a flop! We enjoyed the pictures and video that others shared and will hope for a better first-hand look in about seven years! Ha! Another fail was Kennady's lunch on Thursday. She messaged me at work quite put out because I hadn't included a dessert item in the lunch she took along to work. So apparently all the Good Mom points I'd been earning were all forfeit because of that oversight. Go directly to lunchbox jail - do not pass Go - do not collect $200. My Get Out of Jail card was the fact that I'd sent fresh raspberries the day before and she still had some of those left in the fridge. Whew!

I'm not sure it's still happening, but these Funny Fails were shared in the spirit of a weekly link-up called Friday Funnies, Flops, & Fails hosted by Doodlemom's Homeschooling Life. If she's still hosting that, I'll link up.

I recommend . . .  joining me over at The Homeschool Post for this article about things I've learned while homeschooling my kids; and lots of other helpful homeschool articles from the other contributing writers. In fact, you should probably subscribe or follow The Homeschool Post on social media, so you don't miss anything!

And don't forget - this is the last week of Early Bird Back to Homeschool Event pricing at SchoolhouseTeachers.com! Their huge library of curriculum and resources is being offered with special savings, when you use the code HOT2017 before August 31, 2017. You get the special pricing, a free tote and the big print magazine too.

On my blogs last week . . .

Here on Homeschool Coffee Break:

What I've Learned as a Homeschool Mom on The Homeschool Post
Virtual Refrigerator - Pencil and Charcoal from the Archives
A Columbus Zoo PhotoJournal

And on my book blog, Just A Second:

Recent Reads - The Captive Maiden
Wordless Wednesday - Columbus Zoo
Teaser Tuesday/First Chapter First Paragraph - The Lightkeeper's Ball
What I'm Reading - August 21, 2017
Scripture and a Snapshot - More Than Conquerors

Just A Second is where I share book reviews and other book-related things, and update on what's on my bookshelf. This week I finished and reviewed The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson, and I've been reading:

Egypt's Sister: A Novel of Cleopatra by Angela Hunt
The Lightkeeper's Ball (A Mercy Falls Novel) by Colleen Coble

A parting shot . . .

Grab the button and link up with Homeschool Highlights!

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Homeschool Highlights guidelines:

• Your blog should be family-friendly content, and your post should include something about homeschooling.
• Please link directly to your post, not your blog's homepage.
• Please include a link in your post to Homeschool Coffee Break - you may use the graphic above if you wish. 
• Visit a couple of the other bloggers and comment or share.

An InLinkz Link-up

I will be linking up my own posts at the following weekly link parties that you may also be interested in: Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers; The Homeschool Nook Link-up Party hosted by This Chaotic Bliss and Rock Your Homeschool; and Homeschool Blog & Tell at The Homeschool Post.

  

  

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