Friday, October 30, 2015

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 8 & 9 - Welcoming in November

CORE WORK
Cate continued to work on verbs (section 3) with English Grammar 101. She wasn't satisfied with her 5 paragraph essay on medieval music, deciding to rework parts of the essay. (I'm thrilled that SHE took the initiate to polish the essay up.) She's on list 8 of her vocab building. She's reading Little Women (Alcott).

She's completed 70% of pre-algebra on Khan Academy.

Sam motored on in his Grammar and Writing Handbook. We created a list of areas we've worked on for writing a "perfect paragraph", which included one main idea, supporting sentences, a concluding sentence, capitals and punctuation, using adjectives, self-editing, and varied types of sentences. He continues to work on Grammar with Grammar Ninja  and Spelling with Grade Spelling. He conquered spelling week 4 list and is now on 5, but with each week being a challenge I've had him start making flashcards. He finished reading The Great Brain(Fitzgerald) and started Diary of a Wimpy: The Last Straw (Kinney).

He's completed 47% of math 4 on Khan Academy.

MODELING RADAR
Using a box, Plaster of Paris, crumbled scrap paper, a skewer, a ruler, and a pencil, Sam learned how radar works. I created "mountains" inside the box with scrap paper and Plaster of Paris, then closed it up. A grid was roughly drawn on the top. Using the skewer, he gently pierced the top of the box until it hit resistance, measuring the distance on the skewer with a ruler. Using 48 measurements he could roughly sketch out the "mountains" inside the box without seeing them.


INTO THE WOODS

Waiting for Cate at band practice can be tough on Sam and I. We bring along his book work, and (if THE parking spot is available closest to the school) we watch some on-line videos to go with our studies, but sometimes we just need to get out of the van and stretch our legs. I discovered a short trail through the woods a few weeks ago when Sam wasn't with us, so I brought him along for a walk this time.



BACK IN HISTORY
Cate studied medieval music last week with Easy Peasy, then finished polishing up a 5 paragraph essay to summarize what she had learned. This week she reviewed the basics of note reading and delved into early Japanese music (week 25).

Sam watched "America the Story of Us: Revolution" and  "America the Story of Us: Westward". We skipped "Revolution" somehow and had to go back in history to catch up. He watched "How the States Got Their Shapes: West Best?". He named 50/50 states on Level 1 in Sheppardsoftware US Geography, moving onto Level 2 then Level 3 quickly.

BRICK-BY-BRICK

I joined a carpool to get Jake (and 2 other boys) to STEM in late September, and Jake's dad is helping out with transportation some afternoons. It's opened up some free time for other activities. Sam joined up with the Library Lego Club this week. (And I finally picked up a book to read...) He also enjoyed some dizzy fun on the playground behind the library.


COOL COLORING
Cate discovered adult coloring pages. She enjoys coloring ones with inspirational or uplifting sayings, and has started to create a wall of her finished pages. Unfortunately the page corners are curling, so we're going to pick up thick paper to mount them on when we're in town again.


DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 69 | SAM - 67

SHOULD WE?
In a typical year we don't usually complete this many days until around Christmas break, but our summer studies have put us ahead of schedule. If you don't see a wrap-up post next week, it might be because I surprised the kids with a week off...

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

 photo 337a3ef2-b881-48f4-8a2c-9c69e457cb5b_zps8b6152cf.pngHomegrown LearnersWeird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Happy Homeschooling!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Noisy Chocolate-Covered Scary Jeans


1. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent?

I need silence. I don't like loud, crowded places. The TV isn't on for "background noise". I don't understand why people take walks with music blaring through earbuds. (What about the rhythmic, soothing sounds of nature?)  But I'm sure when the kids are off on their own I'll miss their noise (even if I whine about it sometimes).


2. October 28th is National Chocolate Day. Can't let that go by without a mention now, can we? Will you celebrate? How? Let's say you can have one of the following right this very minute... a cup of hot chocolate, a strawberry dipped in chocolate, a bowl of plain chocolate ice cream, or a slice of chocolate pie...what's your pleasure?

Photo Source

3. How do you feel about blue jeans? Favorite thing in the world to wear or nope, don't own a single pair? How often do you wear blue jeans in a typical week? Do you own a blue jean jacket?

I have a few pair of jeans, but if I had my choice I'd choose cozy,warm PJs everything single day. If only it was socially acceptable to wear them everywhere anytime...And, no, no jean jacket. I had one in the '80s though. Remember those?

Photo Source

4. Are you superstitious? If so, in what way?

I'd like to say I'm not, but I do "knock on wood" occasionally.

5. If you had to come up with a costume using only things you have on hand right now, what could you come up with? 

A ghost? I have a few dingy white sheets!

Photo Source

6. What scares you a little? What do you do when you feel scared?

Not knowing what the future holds. I am learning to trust God and His path for me and my family, Some unknowns are worrisome because they are decisions of those who don't have my family's best interest at heart. I have God, my wonderful husband, my family, my church, and children to lean on though.

7. Perhaps today will be the day I finish everything on my To Do List.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.


Join Joyce from From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Share in the randomness!

Happy Hodgepodging!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Tuesday Coffee Chat: A Long Day Done


Leslie asks this week, " The long work day is done, you arrive home and the first thing you do...?"

Time out for Mom

I've been a stay-at-home mama for 12 years. Don't let that fool you though: I'm hardly stay at home. Oh, how I wish to have ONE full day at home with no where to run to! 

Sometimes I celebrate when a snow storm is forecasted to shut down the roads...

Photo Source

So, today is Tuesday, and Tuesday is a "slow day". (After all, I have time to blog this morning. Sort of. In avoidance of more housework.) 

To Do List
Get Hubby Off to Work with Coffee and Lunch
Get Jake to Carpool for School
Devotionals
Wash Dirty Dishes
Homeschool Cate and Sam
Vacuum
Figure Out Why the Vacuum Sounds like a Car with a Bad Exhaust
Wash Clothing and Hang Outside to Dry
Wash Dirty Dishes
Bake Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Make Chicken and Dumplings for Dinner
Hard boil Eggs for Snacks and Sandwiches
Wash Dirty Dishes
Dump Trash and Recyclables off at Transfer Station
Lego Club
Pick Up Jake from Carpool
Add Clean Pine Shavings to Coop
Sweep and Mop Floors
Wash Dirty Dishes
Clean Counters
Fold and Put Away Laundry
Boy Scouts

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...Do I need to make a trip to the store?

When the day is done, I'm looking forward to changing into cozy PJs, climbing into bed (with cocoa if the kids haven't drank it all) and watching "The Voice" while crocheting.

Look at my son's afghan...


Join Leslie at Ink Interrupted for Tuesday's Coffee Chat. (And, readers, I'll try very hard to get to comments and visit your blogs this week. Sometimes the week just gets away from me.)

Monday, October 26, 2015

Journal of a Mom: October 26, 2015

THE CLOCK READS...
2:23pm

WEATHER IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS
Bright, sunny, low 40s. 

IN THE GARDEN
Leaves. Lots and lots of leaves.


LOOKING AROUND THE HOUSE
Quiet and serene with only the sounds of key strokes on a laptop.

TO DO LIST (FROM LAST JOURNAL)
☐  Clean Leaves and Pine Seedlings Out of the Roof Gutters
☐ Repair Flock Run and Cover with Greenhouse Plastic

TONIGHT'S DINNER MENU
TBD.


WHAT'S ON TV
Nada! I'm all caught up until tomorrow when I'll watch "The Voice" on Hulu.

CREATING FROM THE CRAFT BASKET
I'm back to working on Sam's shell stitch afghan in blues, greens and tans, inspired by this free pattern. I'm close to finishing it!


I'm sharing my crocheting creations over at Lucy Blossom Crafts (Mondays)Frontier Dreams (Tuesdays), The Philosopher's Wife (Tuesdays), Small Things (Wednesdays), Oombawka Design (Wednesdays)Lunamon Design (Wednesdays), and Natural Suburbia (Fridays).

I'M READING...
Nada! But I'm finally getting to the library tomorrow...

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY AND THANKFUL
Happy birthday to my sweet, hard-working, funny honey! 

I'M WONDERING...
...what kind of winter will we have. I saw a completely black Woolly bear caterpillar a few days ago. Woolly bear's are supposed to predict the severity of an upcoming winter. I've never seen one completely black. If the Woolly is right, winter will be a doozy!

This one predicts a rough start to the winter with  a long stretch of milder weather and a quick end.
Not so with MY Woolly! Photo Source

NO WORDS NEEDED

DEVOTIONAL
...I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

HHM

 I'm linking up to The Simple Woman at The Simple Woman's Daybook and to the Diary of a Stay At Home Mother at Happy Homemaker on Mondays.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Tuesday Coffee Chat: BIG Changes

Time out for Mom

Where do I begin with this week's Tuesday Coffee Chat with Leslie?

Over the last 2 years 8 months, the changes in my life have been insane. I went from married for 18 years to suddenly divorced in 64 days to unexpectedly married again just over 5 months ago, and inbetween I found the happy, content, more confident me.

But in the last year, the biggest change was marrying Tom and becoming a step-mom. 


We married on Mother's Day in a gazebo with our closest family members. It was an unseasonably warm day (with some concern of a pop-up thunderstorm). Our ceremony was traditional in vows, but unique in ceremony. Tom wore black dress pants and an olive green shirt that match the green in my spring dress. We didn't walk down the aisle, and we didn't have a best man or maid of honor. The kids played on the park fountain and playground. Some of our guests even stood during the ceremony. 


Then it was off to Tom's Mom and Dad's place for family potluck BBQ. (His parents have both passed so it was a way to feel their presence on our special day.) We mingled. We munched on burgers and dogs and salads, and of course cake.


The following weekend we went to New Hampshire for a honeymoon. We had a quiet room in the back of a hotel facing a mountain. We dined. We took a train to the top of the highest peak in New England. And enjoyed each other's company.


And soon we will celebrate our 6th month wedding anniversary!


Join Leslie at Ink Interrupted for Tuesday's Coffee Chat.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Journal of a Mom: October 19, 2015

THE CLOCK READS...
9:08am

WEATHER IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS
A sunny 43 degrees F (or 6 degrees C) is forecasted for a high today. Time to pull out the winter jackets, hats, mittens, and scarves, and turn on the furnace.

IN THE GARDEN
Leaves! With the foliage colors past peak and a blustery weekend, the leaves and pine needles have been swirling around us like snowflakes. The lawn is covered in a blanket of red and yellow crunchy leaves.


LOOKING AROUND THE HOUSE
It's clear we have a little cleaning to catch up from the weekend. There's laundry on the clothesline. There's laundry in the dryer. There's laundry in the hamper. Laundry Day!

TO DO LIST
☐ Clean the Leaves Out of the Rain Gutters
☐ Cover the Kayaks for the Winter
☐ Repair the Flock Run and Cover With Greenhouse Plastic

TONIGHT'S DINNER MENU
Chicken Pot Pie

WHAT'S ON TV
I'll be catching up with the latest episode of "The Amazing Race" tonight. We don't have cable, so I watch shows on CBS.com or Hulu.com.

CREATING FROM THE CRAFT BASKET
I finished Cate's Red Heart with Love purple and teal scoodie just in time for a cold snap to hit us on Sunday. Some places in Maine got their first snow fall! :: shudder :: Anyway, she's happy with the result, and it's sure to keep her warm through the winter season.  The pattern is free from Posh Pooch Designs HERE. I added a scalloped edge around the opening of the hood as well as made the scarf longer than the pattern called for (because my daughter wanted it that way).


I'm sharing my crocheting creations over at Lucy Blossom Crafts (Mondays)Frontier Dreams (Tuesdays), The Philosopher's Wife (Tuesdays), Small Things (Wednesdays), Oombawka Design (Wednesdays)Lunamon Design (Wednesdays), and Natural Suburbia (Fridays).

I'M READING...
...nothing! I'm book-less! I need to make a trip to the library ASAP.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY AND THANKFUL
Chocolate. And...chocolate.

I'M WONDERING...
...where do all our socks go? I have a basket full of socks missing their mates. Does the washer or dryer get hungry?

NO WORDS NEEDED
Photo Source

DEVOTIONAL
My new KJB bible arrived from Local Church Bible Publishers last Saturday, earlier than anticipated. I've already created 3 art journaling pages for it with an additional 2 from Cate. What a WONDERFUL creative way for me to study God's word!

My 3rd Page. Whimsical Owls for Proverbs. Drawn in Tracing
Paper. Colored With Colored Pencils. Tabs from Scrapbook
Paper. Stickers and Washi Tape.

HHM

 I'm linking up to The Simple Woman at The Simple Woman's Daybook and to the Diary of a Stay At Home Mother at Happy Homemaker on Mondays.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 7 - The One With Exploration

CORE WORKS
Cate completed her studies on pronouns with English Grammar 101, and received a 88% on her final exam. The next section covers verbs. With renewed vigor, she wrote, polished up and printed out another 5 paragraph essay this week on medieval music. Eventually I would like to her feel comfortable and confident enough to whip out an essay in 1-2 school days. She's reading Little Women (Alcott) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain). (She started Huckleberry when her other book went MIA. She found it under a comforter the next day...)

She's completed 71% of pre-algebra on Khan Academy.

Sam motored on in his Grammar and Writing Handbook, reviewing compound and complex sentences, improving sentence structure in personal narratives, and correcting sentence fragments and run-ons. He wrote a "perfect paragraph" about attending a Sea Dogs games to practice his sentence writing skills (as well as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and handwriting). He's reading The Great Brain (Fitzgerald).

He's completed 44% of math 4 on Khan Academy.

SCIENCE STUDIES
On Monday, Sam wrapped up Chapter 2 on the sun, and moved onto Mercury, a quick planet study. His study consisted of reading, a facts page and one modeling project with a notebook journal page. Our project was exploring the effects of meteors on Mercury, creating craters with rocks and flour, then making a planet model of Mercury with them.

Cate will finish up Module 3 on interpreting and analyzing scientific experiments on Monday.

Have I told you how much we enjoy our Apologia science kits from Rainbow Resource? Having the experiment supplies gathered and organized into baggies for us has been a blessing! I hesitated to purchase them because of the expense, but I'm glad I did.

SPELUNKING AND POTHOLING

Road trip! On Sunday, Tom and I took Cate and Sam to New Hampshire, through the White Mountain National Forest, and to Lost Valley Gorge and Boulder Caves. (Unfortunately our other kids had plans this weekend and couldn't join us.) Nothing like the fantastic foliage views along the Kancamagus Highway this time of year! Truly amazing!


BACK IN HISTORY
Cate studied medieval music (through week 23) this week with Easy Peasy, then wrote a 5 paragraph essay to summarize what she had learned.

I switched resources for Sam, and he watched "America the Story of Us: Rebels" and "How the States Got Their Shapes: East vs. West" as well as U.S. geography on Sheppardsoftware.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 59 | SAM - 59

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

 photo 337a3ef2-b881-48f4-8a2c-9c69e457cb5b_zps8b6152cf.pngHomegrown LearnersWeird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Happy Homeschooling!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Trying My Patience


1. What's something that has recently 'tried your patience'?

My van. :sigh: Something is going on again. It suddenly stalled the other day. It's ran fine since, and without a check engine light on or it stalling frequently, the mechanic doesn't have enough to go on. He could guess and make repairs, but...In the meantime, I wonder when it'll be more than just a "random glitch".

2. Do you think patience comes to us naturally or is it something you have to learn as you grow? On a scale of 1-10 generally how patient are you? (1=I blow up at the drop of a hat and 10=I've got all the time in the world).

Some of us are naturally patient and "laid back". When life throws them for a loop, they just roll with it. I'm blessed to have both a husband and an older son who just "go with the flow". They're definitely 9
s; they deal with whatever comes up when it comes up with calm coolness.  Me? Not so much. I'm a 5. I've got to work on that! Fortunately, I have 2 men in my life that keep my grounded.

3. Share about a time when you felt like you could fly. Or a time you wished you could fly. Or a time you felt like you were flying.

Oh, flying and I don't go well together. I get motion sick!

4. Your favorite song with the word fly in the title or lyrics, or your favorite song that relates to flying in some way?


5. What's in your fall picnic basket and where are we picnicking in your neck of the woods this time of year?

We just explored caves in New Hampshire this weekend, driving through the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountain National Forest. In our cooler was cold cut and cheese sandwiches, Pringles, Fig Newtons, apples, and pears.


6.  Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

Can I add mechanic? :: wink :: From the list I would say carpentry as the house needs quite a number of repairs. Or maybe plumping? No, carpentry!

7. What's something you think is too expensive to justify buying lately?

Besides a new vehicle? :sigh: Food! Feeding 3 kids is an investment! But I'm still going to the grocery store too often just the same.

8. Insert your own random thought here.



Join Joyce from From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Share in the randomness!

Happy Hodgepodging!