Homeschool Mother's Journal - April 8

In my life this week… I was blessed to have extra time with my husband, as we traveled with him. The travel time also provided me with reading time to get some books read that I'd been wanting to read for a long time. I was also blessed to spend a couple hours visiting with a long-time friend whom I hadn't seen for way too long, and finally, this week was our monthly date night, so nice to have a couple hours of uninterrupted couple time! 

In our homeschool this week… we had some extra "PE" otherwise known as taking full advantage of the hotel swimming pool, we started 2 new review products (a spelling program & a math program), and the girls are making sure I don't "forget" to include nature in our schooltime each day.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… we spent Saturday night through Monday morning at a hotel in Erie, PA. Lots of pool-time, made this a fun break from routine. Tuesday morning my husband was meeting with someone at the boarding school we both attended for high school. After his meeting was over, we took the girls on a tour of campus. They thought it was pretty cool, but once all the students flooded into the cafeteria as we were finishing up our lunch, they decided it was all abit overwhelming, hee hee.  So we left, and went over to visit a friend who lives nearby. her 5 children get along beautifully with my 3 (and the irony of the girls finding the noise of the cafeteria "too much" considering the chaos of Kim's house (to which my children were key contributors) just a few minutes later, is quite amusing).  

My favorite thing this week was… Little Bit in the pool. She LOVES it! And keeps asking "More swim? Foaties. . . wait . . ." (for those who don't follow Little Bit Speak, she's asking if we can swimming, and then saying that she will need her floaties, and that she will have to wait beside the pool while I put things down & put the floaties on her arms). She quickly reacquainted herself with the logistics of keeping her head above water with the arm floaties and from that point on, propelled herself all over the pool quite independently. Jumped off the side with me holding her hands, climbed up & down the steps 101 times (at least), and if I offered a hand to help her step back down, she emphatically stated "no! Self!" Yes ma'am! She also discovered the fun of jumping (without assistance) from one of the steps into the water.  The first time she did it, it splashed water on MiniMe and me, so I said "you splashed us" from then on, when she was getting ready to jump she would first tell me "splash. us."  Too cute!

What’s working/not working for us… Little Bit's not sleeping as long/much in the car as she was, that was a frustration with our travel this week, on the plus side, she's sleeping through the night most nights, and being in strange beds didn't seem to phase her as much this time, as it has in the past.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… I recently read Read for the Heart(watch for my review, coming next month), one thing that struck me was how completely we've neglected art appreciation (I tend to figure all the drawing and craft projects count as art, and they do, but not at the exclusion of learning about the greats), and poetry . . . I'm adding some of the recommended books to my wishlist to remedy that!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Visit The Homeschool Chick to see what other Homeschool Mothers are doing this week.