Summer Heat, DK Books, the Library ~ Weekly Wrap-Up

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The past two weeks have seriously overflowed with books. We have so many books! (I love books.) The past two weeks have also been very HOT, in spite of some unexpected Summer rain. We’re approaching the most miserable part of the summer, so, how about that air conditioner?

I didn’t take nearly enough pictures this week, I’ll have to do better next week. 😉 

Around the house…

The most notable thing that happened around the house in the past two weeks – we got the air conditioner hooked up and running! I know that air conditioning is a privilege, believe me! And it’s a privilege I truly cherish. I’ve been making use of the new found “freedom” in the house to get caught up on housework and get some organizing done. It truly does feel like “freedom.”

In the kitchen…

I have been avoiding cooking too much/long in the kitchen (as you can imagine!) But last week brought a sweet surprise — my very first stand mixer!! I was presented with a mystery box and surprised to find that I was being given a brand new Kitchen Aid Mixer. I’ve wanted one for a while! Alexander wants to break it in by making some home made marshmallows. I’m thinking it would be easier to start with some cookies. 😉 Stay tuned for pictures of yummy things made with the stand mixer in the near future….

In Our Summer School

“No Math Summer School” is almost over! We’ve continued in our study of The Young Peacemaker, The Mystery of History 2, Apologia Zoology 3, Westward Ho! Volume 1, and our Dinosaur Unit Study from WinterPromise.

To dig in to our Westward Ho! unit study we needed to make a trip to the library for books for our week. We came back with an armful of books on mountain men, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan and the like. I teased the librarian (who knows I’m doing my best to reform my “late fee” ways,) that if she let me check out the ten books for our unit study I would promise to return them on time. 😉

Thinking ahead to the upcoming year, we already have many of our books and we’re not ready yet for some of the others anyway, but I placed an order for a civics book for Catie that I’m looking forward to doing with her. It’s called “The Land of Fair Play: American Civics from a Christian Perspective” and it’s really reasonably priced with good reviews. This will serve well for an intro to government I think.

Also this week:

And if that weren’t enough books, our DK books arrived! We got a stack of science related books, mostly animal science. Arielle has already claimed the Pocket Guide to Horses and declared that she would like to have more Pocket Guides. At first glance, the Rainforest book is my favorite, I love books like these.

On the blog this week:

Samaritan’s Purse launched their “Raise a Village Campaign” for the village of Guidon Gado in Niger last week. It was a huge success as they quickly met and surpassed their goal! The Samaritan’s Purse Bloggers also pitched in with a unit study of sorts, to help introduce Niger and the Raise a Village Campaign to our readers.

Also, second and third link ups in the Back to (Home) School Carnival have gone live. If you haven’t had a moment to stop by, come check it out!

I’m Reading:

I’ve read so many things to the kids in school this week, but what have I read for  myself? Our ladies bible study is still reading through “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World,” and reading through this has been really helpful to show me all that ways that I really am a lot like Martha that I didn’t even realize. We’re still reading “Improving Your Serve” in our Sunday night study time and this has also been a great source of discussion. I also read, “Homeschool High School Writing: You Can Do It!” this week, which had a lot of good tips in it.

Good Links For You:

~ The annual International Homeschool Spirit Week is Coming! Right now voting is open for what themed days you want to see that week. =)

~  Also coming soon — our August 8th Mommy Time Party, “Fun Family Favorites.” Stay tuned!

~  a great resource, Rachael Carman’s “Character Qualities” lessons and coloring pages

~ 7 Reasons I Homeschool My Teen, at Winging It

~ The first in a series on how to use the notebooking pages and other downloads for the Mystery of History, Volume 2.

~ How to choose literature for your high school homeschool. 

Linked up with Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers; Homeschool Mother’s Journal at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler?; and Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners