Week in Review

Another week of ordinary. And I am quite happy with ordinary. Boring. Mundane. All those are good words here at casa Sunshine and Lemonade. Because they don’t involve drama. Now, we did start our week off with a little excitement.

Last Friday, Madalyn finally got to celebrate her birthday (because, you know, celebrating on a cruise ship is just not enough.) with her friends. With a slumber party. How is it possible for four little girls to be so loud? Or so messy? Is there a genetic advantage for the decibel level that girls can attain? They played. They ate pizza. They opened presents. They had cupcakes. There was a smidge of angst regarding missing mommies…and headaches about said decibel levels…but they were over it rather quickly. Somehow, they managed to tuck themselves into bed and fall asleep around midnight. And then on Saturday morning, we were ordered to wake up and fix them donuts. Ahhh…round two of sugar. And then we sent them home. And took a nap. Aren’t they cuties?

And here they are showing off their ability to make armpit farts. And the same noise with their legs. Let me now destroy the myth that only boys are fascinated with bodily functions. A mother's pride and joy.

This week was Teacher Appreciation week at Madalyn’s school. The room mom’s arranged for some pretty nice things. They did a fruit basket on Monday – every student was to bring in a piece of fruit for the basket. I wonder if they needed more than one. Then on Tuesday, Madalyn and I each wrote a note of thanks to her teacher. I got the cards at Target. They cost $500. I almost couldn’t fit the kids in the car after that trip. Yeah, don't ask. But, Mrs. Murphy, you are worth it! She also got a pen bouquet, lunch from her favorite restaurant…and then tonight a bunch of us moms made her dinner. I was in charge of dessert. And for some reason, I forgot to take pictures of making the éclair cake. I had to make two, you know. I would not win mother of the year if I didn’t have one for us as well. Not that I’ll even be considered for mother of the year. I might be my children’s favorite mother though if I make it again for my blog. For my readers. All three of you. Oh, the sacrifices.

Oh, yeah…the point of this? Our homeschool week in review:

Math: It was all review this week. Kind of a math holiday for mom. I didn’t have to remind myself on how to do math. And constantly remind myself that I am not smarter than a 5^th grader.

History: Katie finished Chapter 36 from last week. She read the Kids Discover Magazine on the Civil Rights movement and she read Cobblestone’s “Get on the Bus” issue. Then we did part of chapter 37 (yep, we skipped a section) on the Vietnam War. And then moved onto chapter 38 covering the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

Grammar: Katie is still in chapter 7, covering prepositional phrases, conjunctions, and interjections. She is still not a fan of grammar…but she obviously tries to have fun with it as evidenced by some of the sentences she creates. For example, one of her assignments gives her a base sentence and she is to add a prepositional phrase to give it more detail. For example: The boy raked leaves. When you add the phrase, it could read: The boy with brown hair raked leaves or The boy raked leaves into a pile. So…what did Katie create?

Base: Kerry and I sat. Katie’s addition: Kerry and I sat near your yak.

Base: Children play. Katie’s addition: Children play in a volcano.

Base: The street was filled. Katie’s addition: The street was filled with many ostriches.

Base: Birds fly. Katie’s addition: Birds fly to their death.

The mind of a ten year old.

Report writing workbook/Research project: Katie chose her first lady: Jacqueline Kennedy and has begun her research. We got a little waylaid as the books haven’t arrived at the library yet…so some things have been postponed until next week. (Ahhh…the disappointment) Katie learned how to make a bibliography, how to take notes using note cards…and did the first part of her research using the internet. In her search, she found this fun site (no help with the project…but fun) where you can dress paper dolls from history including Jackie O, Hillary Clinton, Mr. Darcy and even Alexander the Great (did you know he wore underwear?).

Piano—Again, I have no idea. I don’t play. I don’t sing. I don’t read music. So…I have to ask Katie what she did. And here is what she said: She is learning how to stop boinging. Is that the technical term? It means that she needs to stop playing staccato when she is supposed to play legato. Uh-huh. And to make it more difficult, she has a piece this week where she is supposed to boing. Okey dokey.

There you have it. I hope you all had a great week. Full of mundane and boring. Sans drama.