My Homeschool Week

It is time once again to link up to The Homeschool Mother's Journal.  Please click on the link to join in the fun.  We have been blessed to focus Holy Week activities in the life of the Church.  My daughters just hid the Easter eggs in the yard for Patrick to find.

In my life this week...This past week it has been quite cool in Maryland for me.  In fact, today I wore a winter coat and scarf to the store to get Easter candy.  No one else had a coat on though because it is comfortable to them.  I am an odd ball.  Towards late afternoon and early evening, I can shed the coat or sweater sometimes.  Unfortunately, I've been unable to completely get over a severe head cold from about three months ago.  I've been walking around the house all bundled up in a blanket to keep drafts away from my sick feeling head.  My life involves a lot of eye drops, Blistex, Kleenex, aspirin, and throat lozenges for a while now.  It has been very difficult to accomplish much as my sinuses bother me, I'm lightheaded quite often, I get tired all the time, get slight headaches, and my hands and feet ache often.  Nevertheless, I've been pushing through the pain to get out a little and get some work done.

On Good Friday, my middle school daughter was in the Stations of the Cross play put on by the teens at our Church.  It was great and I cried almost the entire time.  The kids were all so reverent.  Even Patrick was extremely interested in the play.  My daughter was one of the weeping women from Jerusalem in the Eighth Station.  One of my college sons showed up with a couple friends too in order to see the play.  It was a nice surprise!  Here is a picture of my daughter.  She is the one in the green scarf on her head with a grey gown and white belt.

In our homeschool week...

Religion/Prayer - Morning Offering, Prayer for Religious Freedom, and Rosary every day.  Daily devotions with CBH Ministries.

Math - Adding and Subtracting Fractions:  3 Steps; Listen and take notes from Dive CD for Rounding Decimals and completed Lesson and Supplemental Practice on this topic; Completed Lesson on Probability and Chance and Listened and took notes from Dive CD on this topic; Completed Lesson on Reducing by Grouping Factors Equal to 1; Completed Lesson on Adding Mixed Numbers and Listened to and took notes from Dive CD on this topic; Completed Lesson on Circumference and Pi; Completed Lesson on Polygons; Listened and took notes from Dive CD on Equivalent Division Problems.

Writing - Edited Book Report:  'Girl of Kosovo;' Completed Dress-Ups and Sentence Starters for paper titled "Giving Joy;" Completed Final Edits and Final Draft on 'Girl of Kosovo' with the help of older sister home on Easter vacation.

Reading for Pleasure - Three books by Mary Downing Hahn:  'Wait till Helen Comes' and 'The Doll in the Garden' and 'The Witch Catcher.'

Art - Those were the Days:  Analyzed painting from long ago and compared their clothing to that of today's styles.  Designed on paper (sketch/color) what clothes might be in style in the 2300.

Latin - Translate and Answer questions on the birth and early life of Romulus and Remus; Studied family tree of Romulus and then designed own personal family tree in Latin;  New vocabulary with syllabication and accents; Make study charts for Verb Tense, First Declension, and Second Declension; Adjectives in 1st and 2nd Declension; Translate Adjectives and Nouns they modify and make sure they agree in case/number/gender.

Kindergarten:  Completed Journal Entry on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (read bible story, discuss, draw, color, letter tiles, write sentence); Math - Addition; Phonics; Science - Erosion and Soil Composition (rub rocks and observe soil) and learned why we need soil and rocks and what they are used for in our world, Volcanoes and Earthquakes change the land; Reading - Reader and Unexpected Treasures; Map Skills - Directions, Maps, Symbols, Map Keys, Boundaries.

Other places we're going and people we're seeing...Tonight we are all attending my son's girlfriend's Confirmation at the Easter Vigil at University of Maryland.  Beforehand, we will all go out together for Easter dinner.  I am so excited for this event.  My son's girlfriend chose St. Anne (Mary's mother) for her Saints name.  The priest at the Catholic Student Center is very good with the College students.

My favorite thing this week...Seeing my son discover EROSION.

Who I'm inspired by...I'm inspired by my neighbors who have nine children and they are all grown and moved out of the house now.  I was able to see their basement that has just been remodeled.  They are so encouraging as they said they couldn't afford to get their basement fixed while the kids were still at home.  Maybe someday we will be able to do the same when our kids have moved out.  It would be so nice for the kid's friends and homeschooling if our basement was fixed up.

I am also inspired by my husband because his boss wanted him to manage a new and different group of employees.  He has greatly improved the moral and productivity of the employees in his current position.  This would require a lateral move in his job position.  After he declined the offer, his boss made him make the move anyway.  (This would have been unheard of back when I was working).   He is taking the responsibility well even though it is a hard group of people to manage.  He spent four hours in discussions with two people who were not getting along.  At the end of the meeting, they were communicating much better and looking positively at working together.  

I'm not inspired by my other neighbor because he never waves or says hello.  Does anyone have a neighbor like this?  What did you do?

Things I'm working on...A historical timeline of events during the Cold War for our Co-op History Class for middle schoolers.

Questions/thoughts I have...Our dog, Abby, is getting old and has seizures quite often now - I would say weekly.  I don't think she will be with us too much longer.  Does anyone have experience with their dog having seizures?  Here is a picture of Abby.  She has one blue eye and one brown eye.

I'm reading...Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp and Finding Joy in Depression by Amanda Pelser

I'm praying for...Our country, my children, and my health - BIG TIME.

A photo to share...Here is a picture of me on one of my better days when we got out and about on a bit of a warmer day.  You can see though that I am still in long sleeved shirt and long pants.  I wish it would get warm enough for shorts in Maryland.