The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

This week was so, so busy. Isn't every week? I feel like I made it to the weekend and only want to relax and be lazy, but that isn't in the cards this weekend. I did get some moments to relax this week while listening to local artists performing at the Dogwood Festival three afternoons (artists performed each day, but we were only able to attend 3 times). We heard several ensembles from local schools, and today a man named Jerry Wright performed in the gazebo alone with his banjo and a sound system that he ran himself. I have to tell you, this man made my day. He was wonderful. At some point in his life, he played on a river boat, performed with a band in various minstrel shows traveling all over the place, and played somewhere in New Orleans. This afternoon, he performed music as far back as 1923 (Gershwin. Yay!), and the newest piece he performed was from Cabaret which debuted in the 1960s. At the end of his performance, a fellow former band member joined him to sing a few numbers. There are four of them left(these men had to be in their 80s). The rest have passed. They've still got "it" and I'm so glad the Pomerene Center scheduled Mr. Wright to perform today. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did my kids!

In our homeschool this week...


Monday was the most productive and wonderful school day that we have had in months. Probably since before Christmas. Really. It was the ideal school day. Even with the Dogwood Fest concert sandwiched into the middle of the day, we got everything done that I planned to do, and we had fun doing it. 

We learned this week about the causes of the Civil War. I love that this curriculum (Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers) teaches so much more than what is traditionally learned about the Civil War in most of our public schools. The projects are easy and fun. My kids are enjoying it so much, and I am also. I love history. This curriculum is just ideal for us.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...

Plan. I know so many people who fly by the seats of their pants, and, when push comes to shove, I do the same thing. However, when I took an hour to plan the details of this school week? I found that we accomplished so, so, SO much more. It's basically a visual checklist for me to see what we've done. Plus, I'm a list kind of gal. I love checking off math, Explode the Code, reading....It makes me so happy. :)

I am inspired by...

Truth spoken boldly. I wish I chose to be so bold. Why don't I?

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Lukas has a soccer game tomorrow, and, in the evening, the kids will be at church for a dress rehearsal. They're performing a spring musical on Sunday. Ava has a solo, and Lukas has a speaking part and a solo. They're excited! My parents will be coming to church with us to see them perform, and then they'll be coming to our house afterward to celebrate Mother's Day together.  

My favorite thing this week was...

The Dogwood Festival concerts were definitely the highlight of my week.

What's working/not working for us...

I decided this week to eliminate Ava's reading comprehension workbook. With vision therapy happening everyday, her eyes are very, very taxed. This was a hard decision because I feel like this workbook has helped her to improve so much in her reading skills (not necessarily in comprehension, however, since she doesn't struggle with that), but something had to go. Her spelling needs more work than her comprehension skills, so we're eliminating the workbook so that she can excel at some of the other tasks she has to do each day. Once we are finished with vision therapy, we'll revisit this decision. Her eye doctor said that her eyes are going to be extremely tired until this is done, so I feel like this was a good decision. The principal approves, and Ava is relieved. As a second grader, her school work has been taking 45-60 minutes LONGER than her 5th grade brother. Yeah. Something had to go.

Questions/thoughts I have...

The tooth fairy visited my 10 year old last week. I found myself wondering how long one should allow a child to believe in such things as the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. The world is always pushing kids to mature past childhood, and then the same world tells children it's okay to be stuck in adolescence for an extra decade. When you watch television or read any piece of modern literature, it is standard belief in today's society that a person should use the entire decade of their 20s to discover themselves. What exactly do they need to discover?

Things I'm working on...

Controlling my tongue and temper. 

I'm reading...The Lesser Hills of Kinder County by Dr. Patrick Johnston. I'm halfway through it, and I am very much enjoying it.



I'm cooking...

Spaghetti and meatballs this weekend.

I'm grateful for...

My noisy street. Truthfully, I don't like living on this street at all, but the other day I started thinking about how the upstairs of this house reminds me so much of our first apartment. That lead me to thinking about the much, much noisier road on which we lived during that year. It was the state highway that ran through Marion, IN where we went to college. Traffic slowed down in town, but, still, it was noisy! The first night I slept there after our honeymoon, I thought semi-trucks were going to come through our bedroom window! The old, rickety windows rattled like they were going to fall out of their frames. I loved that apartment. Haha! Anyway, I am grateful that this noisy street and this house that is not in my ideal location brought back some of those fun memories of our first year of marriage.

I'm praying for...

Provision.

A photo/video/link/quote I'd like to share...

"Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one." Robert E. Lee