Week in Review

Our week started on an expensive note – with our trip to American Girl – and continued on that same path through the week. On Tuesday, Katie and I had an appointment at Dinner Afare – and we made 12 dinners in about an hour and a half. We really had fun – and I was thinking that if she helped me to put things together she might actually try some of the dinners we were making. The only thing that she really turned her nose up at was Polynesian chicken – for some reason she has a prejudice against pineapple. She is quite intrigued by the pork mole wraps that we made (with the combo of tomato sauce, peanut butter, and cocoa!). Last night we ate one of our meals – beef stroganoff. Yum! We have our freezer full with the rest of the dinners. I am not sure how people manage to store what they make – we have the unique situation of having 3 refridgerators AND a chest freezer. Don’t ask.

Let’s see…Wednesday was pretty uneventful…we came in third place for trivia. It is rather difficult to split $10 between 6 people.

Thursday we have our homeschool group. Katie took the National Latin exam – as did my students. The teacher is not allowed to proctor the exam – so I got to sit around and chat with the other moms. Thursday afternoon I tutored a boy in our neighborhood for the National Latin exam he is taking today at his high school. It was pretty difficult to tutor him as he wasn’t having that much trouble with the grammar – but with the culture, mythology, and geography questions. His high school uses the Cambridge Latin program – which is a series of stories about a family living in Roman Britain. So – when there are questions on the NLE about the Roman Empire and Cincinnatus and Orpheus and Carthage, he was somewhat at a loss. And I was somewhat at a loss as to teach him these things the day before the exam.

Madalyn had a “fun run” at school on Thursday to help raise money for a new gym floor. She really wanted me to come and watch – but the timing did not work with our class obligations. She informed me that no one else’s mom has to work on Thursday mornings!

My big event was the arrival of the packages. The curriculum for next year keeps coming! I still am not sure about history – but I think I have ordered all the books that we might need for any program that we decide to go with! At the moment, I am leaning towards a cannibalized version of History Odyssey and Story of the World – with a weekly History through Art via History at Our House. Maybe.

I also finished perusing the Rainbow Resouces catalog. All 87 pounds of it. I have so many things circled or marked that we will either need to win the lottery or rob a bank to get a fraction of it. I am so enamored by those of you doing the “green hour nature challenge” that I might get guides and journals to go along with that. And I am even thinking about an Art with the masters course. Perhaps I need to grasp the reality that I like to buy and collect curriculum. I am certainly not going on a nature walk. And I have no artistic abilities and I hate crafts. What am I thinking?

The girls got a package too - from Cindy in Texas (their fairy godmother). It came complete with Christmas card and letter and a footprint on the envelope! The girls opened the box which was a Schwan's meat box. I said "yippee...meat!" The girls were not amused. They could not believe that their fairy godmother would send meat! As a gift. Finally Katie suggested that Cindy might have just used the box and there might be something else in there. Madalyn went to get some scissors, but Katie got the box open on her own...so naturally Madalyn ran to put the scissors away with all of us yelling "doooonnnn'tttt run with scissors!" The girls got beautiful flower and ribbon garlands. Madalyn decided to wear hers to school today for Relay for Life hat day.

And then another package arrived. Photoshop. I might need an intervention. Look at how thick that book is. Don’t think I am going to be reading it. Pioneer woman better get her photoshop blog up and running soon so that I can figure out how to make my pictures beautiful.

Today we spent our morning at the orthopedists. Katie has scoliosis – and has been wearing a back brace for almost 2 years. (She doesn’t like anyone to know – don’t tell her I told you!) Every four months we go to get x-rays to make sure that things are stabilized – and they are. Katie wore my favorite t-shirt today.

Do you know what today is?? It’s pi day and talk like a physicist day. I had no idea it was talk like a physicist day (in honor of Einstein’s birthday). My husband is going to practice his Stephen Hawking imitation – he says that will be easier than a German accent. There is even a website for the occasion. And t-shirts! Gotta love nerdy t-shirts.

Okay, okay…I am supposed to be telling you about our homeschool progress for the week. So here goes:

Math: Katie learned about ratios. She says “the easiness is killing me!”

History: Completed SOTW chapter 26 on the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler. Yesterday she read several articles in Cobblestone magazine about the depression and today she started a biography on Eleanor Roosevelt.

Physics: Katie continued with Noeo and studying about magnetism and electro magnets. This week she moved on to how magnets are used in microphones and in recordings.

Spelling and Grammar: She did a review chapter in Spelling workout and for grammar she worked on the different types of letters.

Writing: I finally finished “Animal Farm.” I really liked it. We did our “deconstructing” talk about it (hey…did you all see that Larry Goldstone posted on my blog? I am so important!) and delved into the meaning behind the story. After much discussion, Katie says that you have to stand up for what you believe is right, even if you are scared. We also discussed the similarities between “Animal Farm” and “The Wave” and how they relate to what was happening in Germany that allowed Hitler to have so much power. This is the reason that I love homeschooling. I love that it allows us to cross reference so to speak – that our lesson interrelate and build upon one another. Katie also started reading “Esperanza rising.”

Piano: Her teacher says that she is really challenging her with the pieces she is working on. She is practicing how to roll her wrists without moving her arms or shoulders. I am not sure that I understand the purpose of this exercise – but her teacher seems enthusiastic about the process!