The homeschool journal: ice and mud

 

In my life this week...I don't know how I did it, but this week I managed to accomplish a lot more than I expected.  I had 2 family photo sessions over the weekend.  I hadn't anticipated being asked for my photography services so much lately, but it has given me the opportunity to think a little about it, and I have decided it's time for me to grow in that area.  I have always dreamed of having a little photography business, so I'm going to start making small goals to get there.  One of the families I did over the weekend was my first paid shooting, and the other was a family that has a very special occasion so I did theirs as a gift.  I loved doing that service for them at a very special time in their lives.  It was also pretty neat getting paid to do something I love too.

Anyway, back to the week...I also cleaned out and organized our computer/school storage room.  That was a several day job, and I still can't believe it's done.  I finished today, with only a few things left to find homes for, and I am so excited that I can actually walk in the room, and have better access to all our supplies.  While cleaning out our computer room I did some major sorting of curriculum for this coming school year as well.  Seeing all the blog posts about curriculum this week really got me motivated to figure out what we want to do.  I came to the conclusion that most everything is going to be shelved from last year, and now each child's curriculum box is mostly empty ready for their new books.  Yay!  That makes me happy.

In our homeschool this week...this week was more of an unschooling week for us as I had so many pictures to edit, and I was working on the computer room and figuring out curriculum all week.  We did some fun things, and if they found some work pages and wanted to earn stickers I would dig up something for them to do.  Surprisingly they all wanted to work on stuff almost everyday.  A few times I almost wanted to bag it so I could continue organizing!

Aaron did a lot of addition worksheets.  I found out he loves adding!  Awesome, and really surprising for him.  We also did lots of reading, painting, watching olympics, and games.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...we went to Red Robin as a family on April's birthday, and of course that is always a treat.  We will also be heading to our weekly homeschool group gathering at the park on Friday morning, and after that to the homeschool bookstore to get some things on my list for this year.  That's always a fun place to spend time.

My favorite thing this week was...Editing all those pictures.  That's one of my favorite things about taking pictures.  I love editing.  I think I edited almost 70 pictures!  Glad I don't have anymore for a while though.

What's working/not working for us...having chickens is working for us.  It's so awesome to tend to them everyday, and the kids enjoy them so much.  It's neat that we are up to 3 eggs per day now too. Another thing that's great, and really working well for us is having a local homeschool group to connect with each week.  It is something we have waited for for a long time.  We have had some great activities with them, and it's awesome to be able to keep up with them all on facebook.

Questions/thoughts I have...What should I do to help Aaron learn to read?  I've tried lots of phonics type programs, but he just forgets how to combine the sounds so fast.  I discovered today that he just needs me to give him more time to figure out words!  I think I'm also going to try All about reading, for both my boys.  It seems like a great whole child reading program, and I've read a lot of great things on other blogs.  We shall see how it goes!  That's one of the things we're hopefully going to get today at the bookstore.

Things I'm working on...my attitude.  My inward attitude.  My judgements about the things going on around me.  Trying to see the positive in things, and changing my thought processes about specific things.  It is really helping me.  I hope I can keep it up.

I'm reading...Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman.  I'm only into the 2nd chapter, but already I think this book is going to be of great help to me.  Just in the introduction I could feel myself nodding my head in agreement many times, it is right along with what I have been thinking for a long time.  I really want to be a better homemaker and housekeeper, and I want my children to learn that as well.  I don't want them to be surprised like I was at how hard it really is to be here working in the home each and everyday.

I'm cooking...homemade spaghetti sauce.  I don't usually make it from scratch, but I really should.  Well, I had to for dinner this week because I started my spaghetti preparations and realized I didn't have a jar of sauce!  So, I quickly scrambled to find a recipe, and made some up.  Unfortunately I put too much brown sugar in, and it tasted too sweet, but now I'm inspired to make it homemade more often.  Hubby keeps requesting it homemade anyway.

I'm grateful for...our cancelled camping trip this week.  I am so so bummed that we had to cancel it because I love camping with my family, but I have accomplished so much this week that wouldn't have been done if we were gone.  I'm grateful for how quickly I receive direction when I pray for it, especially this week in the area of curriculum.  I prayed, thought, and started to work with a plan all within a few days.

A photo (or 2) to share...

Playing in mud and ice.  Just keepin' cool!


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Desiree