Ahh...yes.

Another couple weeks have come and gone. I ask myself, "What have we accomplished?" and the truth is, not a lot.

In the last couple weeks I have been feeling ill on and off, however it's been better the last 2 weeks. I will suddenly get so tired that I can't even direct S. without sleeping for an hour. I wonder how I can do it when the twins come!

S. also fractured her wrist last week. So in addition to dealing with her Sever's Disease she is dealing with a cast. It's been very frustrating for her.

One of the most important lessons that I think we can teach our children is the value of their family. I'm glad that S. will learn that sometimes in life you have to make adjustments and allow God to take you down a road with which you are unfamiliar. In the midst of the routine, and remember, God is a God of order, we have to learn to be flexible and look at the new lessons God has for us. They may not not be academic in nature, but above those things are your character and important life skills that many kids are simply not learning in this generation. In our local high school they have a class called "Life Skills." I'm glad S. doesn't have to take it!

So, with that said, be encouraged by what we have finished this week!

The highlight of our week was the opportunity to see a beaver, from our creek, up close. We had to have a beaver dam taken out and trappers brought in to catch the family and relocate it. We were able to witness the beaver taken out, see it up close, and talk to the trappers. They showed us what they use and told use how they relocate the family. We got to smell the musk (blech!) and learned about what can happen to the brook, fish habitat and our well water if the beavers were living there, not to mention the flood in the basement from water backing up!Almost everyday we have read from Rod & Staff 4 Bible Reader. They have made for some very engaging conversation and are reminding us that God has a plan through these struggles and is drawing us closer to him.

In math we are purposely moving very slowly. No book work yet as she is very apprehensive about anything math related. In the last two weeks we have only been doing review of multiplication and learning new division facts. I know she will feel more confident if she knows her facts. Then we'll go over the "why" behind it all.

In language we are doing alright in Rod & Staff Grammar 4 although we have missed a couple days. She is reading a lesson a day and then we do some of the oral work together. Again, I have been doing most of the writing for her unless it's simply a one-letter answer. She's doing well with it and no troubles so far!

We haven't ordered the Spelling Workout D book yet (and if anyone would like to share the word lists from the first few chapters, I would love it!) but we have been briefly reviewing her trouble words from last year. This is her idea of how to post her trouble words:


For reading, she is currently working on A Journey to the New World from the Dear America series...she doesn't enjoy it exactly but I think it's important that she be exposed to different styles and genres of writing. Even if she has to push though it. Not everything will be their favorite! But they will be better for it!

We finally finished the first chapter of Apologia Zoology 2 and have moved onto the 2nd chapter this week. For some reason it's a struggle to get through the required amount each day to do a chapter in two weeks. I will be checking out Donna Young's site but really would like some suggestions regarding this. We do a couple pages with the Live and Learn Press...and even with me doing the writing (since the fracture is in her dominate hand) it still goes pretty slow. But we are enjoying the information and she loves the lap book format.


History is going really slow. So far, from the beginning of September we have only gone through 3+ chapters of SOTW 3. No real projects, no mapwork, coloring...just reading (or listening to the CD and following along) and writing a narration. We did make Parkin (a traditional North England cake) this week, but we've not done nearly as much as I want. She seems to be taking it in and enjoying the stories, although she is consistently unhappy with what many of the leaders did. "He's a cotton headed ninnie muggins!" is her new phrase.

Geography...

uh...

I kinda forgot we were doing that. Whoops. I need to make copies of state outlines before we continue. That's what I meant to do. Yeah...

We have come up with a plan for work she can do all on her own for those times that mom is too tired to continue. She has been doing 30 minutes of art/drawing while listening to classical music, she'll play piano (with her right hand only *sigh*), read her book for 45 minutes and play online math drills with MUS. That gives me about 2 hours to nap. It works for now!

We also have met with other homeschoolers for a Friday "playdate" usually arranged around appointments. S. also is still very involved in gymnastics 3 days a week, but is limited in her work there. She's working on much strength and flexibility while doing as much of her routines as her body will allow.

So where are we headed next week? Stay tuned...it could get interesting.