Week in Review: August 10-14

Well we started back school this week! It went really well and we accomplished so much that I forgot to take any pictures until after we were done on Friday! 

Monday was a bit slow as Grace has moved up into the Hearts for Him Through Time series from Heart of Dakota and Rose is working though a very different set of courses this year as she prepares for dual enrollment next year, Lord willing. 

 Here is a run down of most of our week. This week we will add spelling, grammar, and writing as last week I needed the extra time to help the girls adjust to a few new things.
*Confession: everything is posed because I really just forgot all about pictures!*

Rose is doing a combination of courses from Master Books and Schoolhouse Teachers to fill in a few gaps for classes before we move into a dual enrollment setting. So far she is really enjoying them! 

Beth is completing Revival to Revolution this year with Heart of Dakota. She was in the groove this week and finished first every day. She's one to get up early, even before me sometimes, and start on school right away so I'm not surprised. Her routine is also pretty much the same regarding school so no real learning curve for her. 

Grace is having the bigger learning curve of my three this year. Heart of Dakota is amazing and I particularly love the Hearts for Him Through Time series that she is just venturing into. She is totally soaring, but understanding all of the independent work is just taking some time.

We've schooled with Heart of Dakota from the beginning of our journey and I could not be more pleased. I know the Lord led us to this curriculum because I really didn't search around a lot. At the time we began with Rose, she was about 2 and a half. I just wanted something structured to tell me how to help her learn through play. Beth was just an infant, we had made a move, and I felt like I wasn't giving my little girl who soaked up learning everything that was best for her. I stumbled upon Heart of Dakota in a catalog as they sold through 3rd party companies back then. I read the description and immediately knew this was it! I even had several of the books that were recommended already. Now here we are, 13 years later and it is beautiful!

I would love to hear how your week went! 

Several weeks in review...

Life has been moving forward in a bit of a blur. We having been continuing school with Heart of Dakota and two of my girls finished up their guides at the end of the year. That hasn't happened in ages! The third has a few more units to go and then all three will begin afresh for the next year. 

In between all of that we have been occupying our time with outdoor play, teaching virtual piano lessons, a social distanced virtual piano recital, French, time with grandparents, online church recording, and more, although I can't remember much about what that more is right now. We watched the countdown to the space launch...twice. 

We are enjoying the beauty of the nature around us. We normally do, but even more so now.... 

bluebirds nesting...

a full moon...

 daisies blooming in all their glory...

I'm also tending my herb garden, harvesting, drying, and sharing some amazingly gorgeous herbs! 

As we enter into a much different summer than usual I'm reading more. I'm currently re-reading the Hangenheim series from Melanie Dickerson. These are some of my favorite stories. I'm also sketching some. 

I'm spending a fair amount of time working on editing family photos again. It's a long project, but something I'm passionate about.  

The girls have discovered a new way to play board games online with their cousins and friends. We also have 3 new games we are enjoying as a family: Patchwork Doodle, Lowdown Dice, and MadGab. We continue to play some of our favorites like 7 Wonders, Azul, and Lowdown (original cards). 

I'm also sharing my love for old movies with the girls. We are watching classics that I can find on our Roku. Some are on Amazon Prime and others on TCM. Some have been excellent, other flops. We also have several DVDs and currently are loving the Abbott and Costello films. 

Things we are missing: 
Clogging
This one is really tough
Hugs at church
Sigh...
In-person piano lessons
Virtual is a great blessing but I miss my students
Summer mornings at the pool
I really took this for granted in the past!
Trip to an amusment park
 The girls saved their own money for tickets

Having friends over
Our city hasn't yet lifted the SAH orders
Shopping
Grace is really the only one who misses this! 

Things are not so bad for us and I remind myself and my girls of this consistently. It doesn't mean we can't miss those blessings we are used to. It doesn't mean we can't lament the losses. We should however, keep things in perspective as we know others are sick and grieving in addition to the turmoil in our nation. 

Like many others I've been spending time in prayer for our country. I'm praying for spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. I'm praying all the events that seem to be overwhelming us in 2020 will lead to a new openness to the gospel and therefore revival. I'm praying to understand and hear truth in the midst of the noise of a constant news cycle which thrives off drama, intrigue, and demise. 

I'm also avoiding social media. I have some responsibilities on social media for groups I monitor for homeschooling and scrapbooking so I am not completely off. However, I am rather quiet and definitely not spending as much time as usual in those spaces. It's refreshing to say the least. 

I've encouraged our girls to journal these last few months. I'm documenting our life through photographs and will include it in our family scrapbook. Life is weird. We rarely know for certain what day it is. 

Yet...this too shall pass.

What are you doing with the time?
For me, staying busy helps my mind to focus on the good. 

Week in Review: March 23-27

Like much of the rest of the country our spring break turned out to be in quarantine. We do not mind at all as we recognize how serious the situation already is and knowing we can do something to help. Still, it's hard. Thankfully we already had plans for a new back-yard project and my husband went out to get the supplies before the quarantine order was announced. So we took our spring break last week and my husband and the girls started building an obstacle course! 

This is just the beginning. There will be 2 more sections that crate an L shape. I have some other ideas we may add in the future, but this is a great move for us. We had a sweet little swing set that was here when we moved in 12 years ago. Unfortunately the wood was rotting and they were mostly too big for it anyway. We bought disc swings that they can use to swing on if they want. 

Life in Review

Well, we are still around! Now that the world has slowed down I have time to get back to an update. As the girls are getting older we have more and more activities going on, which is a wonderful thing. We intentionally stayed away from too much busy when they were little. I'm so glad we did that. They love the activities they are involved in and passionately pursue them. 

These include: 

Science Classes

Basketball

Cross Country

Clogging (Traditional Appalachian Dance)

Piano
Ukulele
Hand Drumming

And more! All three aren't involved in everything on that list, but they do have a nice balance of activities each. 

Basketball season ended just as Clogging was getting started, but now everything is on a break. 

As our schedule has been abruptly disrupted I decided to do some things differently. Even though we homeschool, our routine has been altered dramatically just like everyone else. So we are doing "together" learning instead of individual studies like we usually do. We aren't doing all of this every day, but we are still getting our schooling in! 

(None of these are affiliate postings! Just the resources I use!)

1. History
Using American Girl movies as a jumping off point to study ares of American history. Not using any particular curriculum, just books I already have on my shelf!

2. Geography

Studying individual states

3. French - TalkBox!!!!

Seriously, if you've not looked into this program, do it now! They have a free activity you can do RIGHT NOW to try out their amazing immersion system! Below is a coupon you can use for your first purchase!

4. Math - Lego Month of Challenges

We are continuing on with our regular individual math studies and also challenging our minds with lego builds! We have enjoyed watching Lego Masters and this is an awesome in-home friendly version!

5. Fitness - Family Time Fitness

We haven't used this excellent program in a really long time. We did when the girls were younger, but it's been a while for sure! I'm excited to get back to this program again.

6. Bible - Virtue Training Bible
Again, this was an excellent resource I used a lot (along with the Child Training Bible) when the girls were younger, but as they got older it wasn't as much a part of our daily routines. It's exciting to get back to this at the moment. It is good to refocus on the Lord in the midst of unrest all around us.

7. Literature - Shakespeare

We are using Usborne's Complete Shakespeare book read aloud. The girls are also coloring the wonderful Shakespeare notebooking pages from Heart of Dakota!

I would love to hear what you are doing with your days at the moment! Are you keeping the routine the same? Changing things up? Comment below! 

Week in Review: November 11-15

Last week was the first time in a long time my husband went away without us. I'm so glad he had the opportunity because he, his brother, and our nephews helped his parents build a much-needed shed. So this is what he did all week...

Meanwhile our girls week consisted of: School, clogging, basketball, more clogging, and more basketball! It was a good week, but I sure did miss my man. He's a huge help around here with everything. Our schooling focused mostly on Heart of Dakota history and French. 

I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few things that happened...

Enchiladas with red sauce and white sauce (queso cheese) are one of our favorites these days! 

The girls worked together to create a Cutie Car Hotel for Grace! Their creativity is always a fun process to watch! My favorite part is the little gas pump on the bottom left corner. 

The girls danced at an assisted living center this time and had great fun! Dancing for these communities are some of our favorite events. 

Daddy is home now and things are a little more settled and back to normal. We of course survived his absence, but I'm glad it isn't a normal occurrence! 

Week in Review: November 4-8

Basketball season is in full swing and we are working hard at school and around the house too! 

In other news we spent this week decorating for Christmas and swapping out the summer clothes for winter. My husband will be away next week and the following week will have a minor procedure on his knee so I insisted we get these things done while he could still help! Notice Grace's gingerbread shirt. It has been passed through all three girls now and is one of our favorites! We love a good pun around here. 

I also have a new French Toast cook in the house! She offered to make both regular and gluten free and oh did we enjoy it ever so much! 

Rose's first home game was this Tuesday. We didn't get the outcome we would have liked, but I do love watching my girl play! 

She's number 4 with the ball in this shot. It's a young team for varsity but they hold their own are already improving. 

Things are gearing up to be pretty bust and we are all adjusting to the new schedule. It will probably take a few weeks, but I'm so grateful for the many opportunities my kids have in the community as homeschoolers. I know not everyone has these and we are truly blessed! 

Week in Review: August 26-30

We finished this week well! School is becoming routine again as are a few other habits like a daily and nightly pick up of our living areas. I've tried to make this more habitual so that our girls begin to build the habit for themselves. We have continued to work through literature, grammar, spelling, and mathematics. This week we also added in French again. 

We are squeezing in a few more summertime memories. We are all happy to see fall and routine return. In fact, these are some of my favorite days of summer. They are a bit calmer and as we savor them, I think more greatly appreciated. They are also slightly cooler and so we get what we can out of them.  

Our sweet Penny has had to get used to our new routine as well! She's happy the girls are available to cuddle during school hours, but is still trying to get comfortable with my piano students arriving each day! 

Week in Review: August 19-23

 We had a really eventful week! Beth ran in her first cross country meet. She came in 7th! I've been surprised at just how much she loves running. I'm not a runner. My husband is and has loved coaching her and her teammates this season. 

All three of the girls had the chance to dance at Shindig on the Green as well! This is a wonderful mountain folk festival our clogging team has participated in for many years. This is our second year participating (3rd year clogging) and we already can't wait until next year! One of the best parts was that my husband's sisters and her family as well as other good friends of ours were able to attend. 

In between these two events we have been working on literature, writing, grammar, spelling, and mathematics. I'm in the midst of starting back up piano lessons and getting ready for my English class beginning in early September as well as finishing up some writing projects due at the end of the month. I have found one of my favorite things to do in the midst of the busyness is to sit outside on our porch. We live in the suburbs and I long for sounds of nature, a reminder of God's presence in the midst of the hubub. Little reminders like the beauty of a humming bird in flight just as she prepares for a sip of nectar. This day I perched myself in the yard and a bit closer to the feeder. I snapped several pictures, but this one is my favorite. 

Peek at Our Week: August 12-16

Back to school more regularly this week! We focused heavily on mathematics, literature, grammar, and spelling. It's hard to just jump into everything, especially when we still have summer-time things happening. We will jump back into Heart of Dakota at the start of September. 

The end of the week was so much fun! We spent time at Kinetic Heights with our family. What an AMAZING experience! I highly recommend them if you are in the Charlotte, NC area. 

The ropes course was super fun and challenging! I'm a little afraid of heights, but persevered. I did not attempt the higher course, but Rose and her dad did. She loved it! 

After everyone had gone through the ropes course and moved on to other things Grace decided to give it a go again! She's my super brave kid and she had fun trying different paths and pushed herself to do some new things! 

Beth is the one climbing up the wall here. She's grown so very much over the last couple of years. She used to be terrified of a lot of things, one of them being heights and another falling and getting hurt. She flew through the ropes course like it was no big deal and she tried time after time to get up this wall. I don't have an exact count, but I would guess it took her over 25 tries. This gal has developed grit and determination that is beautiful to behold. She did not give up and pushed herself to the limit! I don't have a picture of the moment she made it up the wall...but you can see the video here!!! 

Since we were in the area we stayed overnight and had some fun at Carowinds. It was crazy hot, so we saw several of the shows we typically miss. Grace, my husband, and I thoroughly enjoyed Franklin's Dance Party! My other two opted to watch and giggle at us! 

Franklin is one of my all-time favorite characters in the Peanuts series! I love his sensibility in the midst of everyone else's overreactions. If you don't know the history behind Franklin's first appearance, check out this link. 

Of course Schroeder is right at the top too!

We've had a really busy few days. We're all nursing some sore muscles and are quite tired so Sunday was a welcome reprieve. After church and then lunch we watched an episode Green Acres together. I spent a little time outside enjoying our hummingbird friends as well. I am constantly in awe at the beauty around us and the intricacies of creation the Lord has given us to enjoy. Even in a suburban little neighborhood I still see evidence of His handiwork all around me.

This feeder sits just outside our schoolroom window so the girls can enjoy the view during lessons in the mornings. 

There was our busy week! We have another one coming up with school, our 1st cross country meet, and another clogging trip in the mountains!