The Homeschool Mother's Journal

I recently stumbled upon a new meme, The Homeschool Mother's Journal, that Sue runs each Friday. 

I thought it sounded like a fun way to summarize our week (I'll still do weekly wrap-ups on Sundays, at least most of the time . . . hee hee).

So, without further ado . . . 

In my life this week...

I've started making it a point to have morning Bible time again. While I've done pretty well at getting SOME Bible time all along, having a dedicated few minutes each morning just hasn't been possible since Little Bit was born. Even when she slept great overall, she still tended to nurse frequently in the early morning hours, and wake up if I wasn't in bed with her, so getting up ahead of her has never been an option, and trying to have Bible time first thing with an awake baby, just doesn't work for us. I would grab some time during her nap, or sometime. Thanks to the Bible app on my android (phone), more recently I've been reading a chapter or so in the morning WHILE she's nursing (while she's nursing during the night or early in the morning is also a great time to pray), BUT I still wanted to get back to having a set Bible time, not only for my own benefit, I "learn" better if I can underline things and make notes and such in a REAL Bible with a REAL notebook next to it, rather than just reading on my phone, I love having it as an option, but  . . .but also because I feel the children benefit greatly from seeing that Bible study is a priority for me! That whole "learn by example" thing . . . So,  in the last week (or so . . .but since it's my first time on this meme, we'll call it this week), I've started taking a few minutes to read the Bible when I first get up. Little Bit's older now, AND when we were getting ready to host Christmas I had dh carry a large ottoman up to our room to get it out of the living room while so many people were going to be here, turns out, it makes the perfect "step" that allows her to get on/off of our high bed by herself.  So, she can either sit with me (she often "reads" my prayer journal, while I read my Bible. I did bring a storybook Bible into our room and have it with my Bible study supplies so that she can "read the Bible" too, but so far, she prefers my prayer journal), or go find her sisters, or Daddy (he's generally home, but downstairs, so she'll go cuddle with him, or tell him "eat" "food" until he finds her some fruit or something).

In our homeschool this week...

We've had lots of "snow days". I figure we can "do school" anytime, but they might as well enjoy the snow as much as they can while it's here (and BOY is it here!). So, while we've done a few minutes of quick "school" each day to keep up with our review items, they've spent countless hours out building snow forts and snowmen and sledding and . . . who knows what all else they've found to do out in all that white stuff.

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

Sunday, we went to visit friends who moved nearby (comparatively speaking) recently.  As if visiting with friends, and eating pizza wasn't enough, we got to try yummy tea, and the girls even got to help Pastor Andy make it!! AND they had tiny little tea cups that Little Bit thought were just her size!! Wednesday we went and visited our neighbor/adopted Grandma. Snow can't keep us from that, we can walk.  Little Bit was cute, we were getting ready to go & she told me "back", meaning she wanted to ride on my back in the baby carrier. So I put her on my back. But then, when we got outside, she said "oooooh, snooow . . . walk!" and wiggled to get down and walk in all the whiteness. (I think, since the windows in this house aren't down on her level, she'd forgotten there was snow out there LOL). Since it was Wed. when we only had a few inches (instead of now, when it's almost to her waist), she got to walk.

My favorite thing this week was...

Seeing A begin to do required chores without reminders (they go in spurts, sometimes they're good about this, lately, they haven't been), AND seeing things that need to be done, and doing them without being asked, or asking "what can I do to help?".

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

My reluctant writer, A, really took to the idea of notebooking for history. I printed out notebooking pages and asked them to draw a picture and write "at least one sentence" about the topic. She filled the writing part of the page and asked for another page!!

L isn't as excited about the history notebooking, she does it, but no extra, BUT she is keeping a journal, and writes in it every night at bedtime. I don't know what it says, but it's a daily dose of writing practice with no prompting, much less nagging, from me. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

How do we balance "keeping the momentum going" on what we're studying &/or using review products to their full potential within the review period, with being relaxed enough to take snow days and visiting days and . . . all those "we're not tied to the books" things that are one of the reasons we homeschool?

A photo to share...