The Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 22-27

  In My Life This Week

  

Did you see?! Our chicks arrived over the weekend! Unfortunately 2 of our eggs were not fertile and 1 chick died, but we have one yellow, fuzzy, CHEEPING chick! And the kids are asking to do this ALL OVER AGAIN!

C Holding Cheeper at 3 Days Old

We had a Pizza and Movie Night. The kids LOVE making individual pizzas! We watched "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", "The Water horse" and "Megamind", all borrowed from the library.

I steam-cleaned the livingroom carpet, but I don't think my steamer is working well...And we got the yard tidied up and mowed.

Sun and fun on Thursday! We hit a high of 77 degrees! We headed to the state park, having our first picnic of the season! And the kids went swimming! Brrrr!

In Our Homeschool This Week

Our school year is complete! Portfolio reviews were on Sunday and everything went well. And now onto YEAR 8 and SUMMER VACATION! Not that ALL the learning ends! LOL

J and C continued to try out Timberdoodle's How to Draw the Life and Times of Grover Cleveland for our review. To see our final thoughts and drawings, click here.

We did a simple science experiment to test what white vinegar (acid) does to the calcite in limestone. We were supposed to get some cool looking "stalagmites" growing up from the rocks, but maybe our rocks (found in the neighbor's gravel driveway) weren't LIMESTONE...The vinegar IS doing something though as there is a chalky-white layer under the rocks now.

C and I made Fruit and Nut Granola Bars from The Cookbook for Kids: Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook. Yum! Want the recipe? Check out this post! And I read aloud Cook-a-doodle-doo! and J made Strawberry Shortcake from some of the last berries we picked last season.

We started our Master Boardgame Player competition this week for the summer. Currently, J and C are tied for the leader! And somehow I'm in last place! How did THAT happen? LOL

So Cute! S WAS Paying Attention! See the heart? Circle with Petal (Ovary)? Tube Where Eggs Form? The Chicken Reproductive System! And Nannie is to the Right, Pulling a Bell to get the Hen to Lay.

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing

C had a softball practice on Monday (and a Brownie meeting) and a game on Wednesday. S LOVES going to C's games because he gets to "hang out" with his new friend J!  J's friend T biked down for a quick visit on Wednesday. And then there was the lake on Thursday and PJ Storytime at the library that night. Activities are winding down here! We'll soon have more time to spend at the lake!

My Favorite Thing This Week Was

What can top seeing the kids enjoy their new little chick?! They're SO excited to have gone through the process of incubating, watching it hatch and seeing it grow over the week.

Cheeper - 4 Days Old

And C scored the winning hit at her softball game! She had a solid hit to 2nd base and even made it to first base. The winning run scored and the inning was over! Such a proud moment!

What's Working / Not Working for Us

Lack of a schedule, even one that's "loose", combined with MANY days of rainy weather has made for some difficult behavior due to boredom.  We'll be following a SUMMER SCHEDULE from here on out - meals scheduled, activities in the afternoons, a reading (QUIET) hour, daily walks or swims (when it FINALLY warms up), and chore time.

Quiet Time IS working! Most afternoons, sometime between mid-afternoon snack, activities and dinner, we've been having 30-60 minutes of Quiet Time. J and C read. J is currently reading In Enemy Hands by David Weber and C is reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. S works on his Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read with me for a 10-15 minutes, Handwriting Without Tears: Letter and Numbers for Me, and then quietly builds with Legos, Magnetix or wooden blocks. Everyone reads though, so I grab my book after that! ((contented sigh))

Homeschool Questions / Thoughts I Have

It's looking like we ALREADY have a VERY busy summer planned! What happened to the "lazy days of summer"? And time for camping? 

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share

I'm linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Hip Homeschool Hop and the Homeschool Mother's Journal this week. Check out other homeschool happenings by clicking on my sidebar buttons for these GREAT hops!