Mother’s Journal ~ June 1, 2012

May is over! Where did it go??

In my life this week…

We now begin our last month of the school year (and we’re ALL looking forward to the summer break! When you started getting to the ends of the books you start getting a bit antsy! PLUS.. I really need to devote some serious time to some serious deep-housecleaning.) =)

This week we celebrated my aunt’s 50th birthday with a family gathering on Memorial Day. We had a very good Ladies Bible Study meeting at church on Tuesday; I’m having a blessed and wonderful time plugging in and getting to know these ladies. Wednesday morning, I finally went walking again, after almost a month off. Boy, did that make me sore! And Thursday was blessedly spent at home. All day.

In our homeschool this week…

Several hard days and several good days this week. (Again, getting antsy..) But we are one week closer to being done with our worldview and our history curriculum. Then we can focus on finishing up our science, which we’re a little behind schedule on.

I need to start thinking about working on our “Yearbook” — I’d like to have it ready for the end of the year party. (And if I don’t get it done before I start working on next year, it’ll never happen!

This week, Little Prince knocked my socks off again. He does so little school that “looks” like school that he amazes me when he regurgitates things he picked up from listening, when he didn’t look like he was paying attention – things that I didn’t specifically sit down and “instruct” him. He’s been full of “math talk” this week, discussing numbers and math concepts aloud. And after a long while of no interest, he picked up a little set of phonics reader booklets a friend gave us, sat down with them, and started reading them to me! I knew he knew how, but it still amazes me.

Fun thing from this week: studying the brain. Little Prince made a neuron out of pipe cleaners, and we all made models of brains out of playdough (with the different lobes of the cerebrum in different colors, plus the brainstem and cerebellum.)

I am inspired by…

The ladies of iHomeschool Network. They inspire me, challenge me, encourage me.
My husband, works hard for us. (He makes me want to work harder on us.)
The ladies at church, they challenge and encourage me, too.

What’s working/not working for us…

We’ve started adding small amounts of notebooking. My kids are interested, they want to, but I’m struggling to get them to understand what I want/expect. I’m not certain how much to encourage, advise, correct, and require. This is new for us. (We keep ending up with papers that are half finished.) Princess wants to wait for the launch of the Notebooking Publisher so she can do it all on the computer. Drama Queen wants to use them like a diary (“there’s a horse in the field by our house, he’s pretty, I like him.”) And if I had her edit and revise it until there were no more spelling and grammar errors she’d probably hate notebooking real quick! And she and Little Prince both get mad when they don’t draw a picture the way they want it to look so they leave them unfinished or wad them up and throw them away. Help!
I’ve decided that I might need to DO a few myself, with them, because they learn well from physical examples..

Things I’m working on…

I’ve started printing off some things for language arts next year.

Canning season has begun for us (we small batch can regularly throughout the summer and the fall, we don’t have a BIG defined SEASON like we sometimes see.)

I’m reading…

This week I read Jimmie’s “Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum” and I’m reading her “Notebooking Success.”

I’m still reading in Isaiah! (It’s a long book!)  We’re now on Chapter 10 of “One Simple Act.” and my mom and I have decided to re-read Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ “Surrender” but this time with my grandmother also.

Plus the other stuff in my sidebar.

A few posts I read this week:

1. Upcycling for Kids
2. Trusting the Sovereignty of God for Frugal Homeschooling
3. On the Spectrum
4. There Are Days

I’m cooking…

Saturday my mom and I had a canning day. We made Mango Chipotle Jam, Strawberry Basil Jam, Yellow Mustard, and Carrot Cake Jam (only half of which – the half sweetened with Splenda – turned out. I screwed up the batch sweetened with sugar.) =(

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

As usual, some linky love. LOTS of good stuff here. Check it out:

• two calendars for June 2012 with activities each day for kids (a thematic one for preschoolers and a random activity calendar)
• My friend, Mary, from Homegrown Learners has put up her first vlog! It’s about how they use Story of the World.
• Free monthly homeschool planner from Free Homeschool Deals
• Homeschoolin’ Mama’s final post with the last pieces of her free blogging organizer pages.
• “Homeschooling Free & Frugal” – a free ebook for subscribers
• Make Your Own Summer Bucket List (Homeschool Share)
• BOB book printables (Walking By the Way)
• Copywork Lessons for Future Heroes (Also Walking by the Way)
• Printable Homeschool Attendance Calendar (Meet Penny)

Homeschool Mother’s Journal is hosted by the iHomeschool Network, check it out!