Our Week in Review

I’d like to start sharing each week about what we’ve done/ accomplished. Often I get to the end of the week and wonder whether we accomplished anything! I know that those of you with small children can relate!

This morning we went to a mall photo studio to get a family photo taken. We’ve been pretty good about doing this through the years, but have to keep doing it so we can get the new child in! My husband and I will head back tonight–without the kids–to look at the shots (as part of our date!)  My sister-in-law and her husband and kids offered to come over and babysit.  We said, “Yes,” of course, and had a really fun time.  When we arrived home at 9:45 my oldest son was practicing his clarinet!  He had forgotten to practice for a couple of days, and was dreading telling his teacher the truth.  So, he made sure he practiced yesterday!

On Tuesday night, 3 of my homeschooling friends came over for a nice evening of fellowship.  We’ve had this group for about 7 years.  We meet once a month for encouragement during the school year and weekly during the summer for a book club.

I used a bunch of our tomatoes on Friday to make some delicious roasted garlic and pepper tomato sauce.  I saw the pin/link first here on Pinterest and followed these directions.  It was the first time I ever roasted garlic and peppers, will definitely do that again! I don’t know about the tomato sauce, though. That was a lot of work!  Maybe if I have a machine that will cut and de-seed the tomatoes for me.

I also baked bread twice!

I did get a little sewing in, too, finishing two jetpacks.  I’ll get that tutorial up next week (I hope).

I’ve been working hard trying to get my new blog where I want it to be. This week I started on Twitter, learned how to do HootSuite, and found some great new blogs for learning how to blog as a business (Everything Etsy, Savvy Blogging, Blogging With Amy, and MomComm).

We also dealt with some sickness and rough sleeping nights (teething).  I am pretty tired and hope to get a lot more sleep next week.

Homeschooling highlights:

My 4 oldest kids started back to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) this week with their dad. This year they are studying Acts and the Epistles.  On Friday we had our co-op.  The kids dissected owl pellets to discover bones, feathers, claws, etc.  In the girls’ art class they learned about Eric Carle’s illustration style.  The boys are doing great in their drawing class, too.  I’m having fun with the preschoolers teaching music/movement.

My 7 yo daughter did a lapbook of Johnny Appleseed, and we read quite a few books about fall, apples, Johnny Appleseed, etc.  I’m still enjoying reading Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry) to the girls at night, and my husband is reading The Singer trilogy (Calvin Miller) to the boys.  We memorized a few more verses of Psalm 90 (our goal is to finish the chapter by Christmas, but maybe sooner.)  We started talking about Attentiveness as our character quality of the month–using eye contact, asking questions, body language that shows interest, etc.   For history, we learned about Noah’s Flood, the Ice Age, and how dinosaurs fit into history.  We’re still reading Adam and His Kin (Ruth Beechick).  And for science we read the second chapter in Exploring Creation with Flying Creatures (Jeannie Fulbright) about bird characteristics.  Dissecting the owl pellets was a great learning experience!