Friday, June 10, 2011

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: June 4 - 10


In My Life This Week
I played a lot of Yahtze with C. And Wii bowling. And although I'm struggling on the Master Player competition in boardgames, I'm the Wii Bowling Champion. LOL So far.
With S and A gone over the weekend, I had a Chore Challenge! After making an extensive chore list, the kids worked through the list, and whomever completed the most received $1.00. 28 chores were completed! C won the $1.00! But the best part was that NO ONE COMPLAINED!

I had a WHOLE afternoon off. By myself. What did I do? Well, I mowed the lawn, read Water the Elephants and took a short nap. LOL

And Cheeper the Chick got to go outside for the first time! Aren't chickens SUPPOSED to like grass, dirt and bugs?! LOL Once her feet hit the grass she would fly back onto the kids. 
In Our Homeschool This Week
J continued to work on improving his typing speed and accuracy. C reviewed her Spelling Rules and the More Words lists in All About Spelling through Step 18. I created an account at Spelling City, entered the More Word lists in groups of 25, and then C took tests and played games on words she missed as part of her review. And S finished up short U and started the final section on short E in Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read Level 1. I'm excited to move onto Level 2 and simple blends! 

Our limestone rocks weren't limestone. After 1 1/2 weeks of watching bubbles dissipate from the rocks in white vinegar with no stalagmites, we took the rocks out. Turns out we made "rock chalk"! 
We also dropped an egg into vinegar (acid) to see what would happen. This experiment worked better! The vinegar dissolved the shell (calcium) and left the inner membrane intact. The egg was "rubbery" looking and we could squeeze it just a little bit.
Vinegar Bubbles on the Side of the Egg
White Foam on Top
2 Days Later Shell-Free
"Rubber" Egg Does NOT Bounce...Ask S! LOL
Places We're Going and People We're Seeing
S and A went to Acadia National Park this weekend, camping with the Cub Scouts. S was SUPER excited and had a blast! And on the way back they stopped for Chinese with my family.

C crossed over to Junior Girl Scouts on Monday! We're SO fortunate to have incredibly motivated, organized and active leaders! C can't wait to see what activities they'll do next year! And she had softball practice on Monday and games on Tuesday and Thursday. Play-offs are next week!
 J had a Boy Scout meeting on Tuesday and is off on another camping adventure this weekend. He and his friend T went on a LONG walk to play baseball and then T stayed overnight.

C and J played with friends Sunday afternoon, playing video games and swimming in the lake.

We met up with our 4H group at the lake for swimming. The kids will be working on a poster for this year's theme, Outdoor Recreation and Education, over the summer months.

We joined up with about 175 other homeschoolers on the Songo River Queen II for a 2 1/2 hour boat ride. Check out my post about this field trip here!
Waiting to Board
The Gang
My Favorite Thing This Week 
Our leach field is working again! For those of you who have a leach field, you know it's a REALLY good idea to have a working one! The septic guys came out and did an aeration and we're up and draining well again! Phew! (And yes, it's a strange "favorite thing", but a HUGE worry gone for me.)

What's Working/Not Working For Us
Finding those "lazy days of summer". It seems that we're ALWAYS on the go! It's something I need to work on as I over-schedule us some most of the time. We NEED some unscheduled days of relaxation!

Questions/Thoughts I have
Kindle? Nook Color? What's easier to use? Which has more free books? What do you think?

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share 
A Reminder of a few Months Ago!
I'm linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Hip Homeschool Hop, Fun Tuesday Hope, and Forever, For Always, No Matter What. Check out what other homeschooling families are up to by clicking on the sidebar buttons!



24 comments:

  1. Love the Brownie and GS pics! I remember fondly my days as a Brownie and a Girl Scout. Looks like a great week.

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  2. What a week, huh? Would love to have joined you on your trip to Acadia Natl Park or on the riverboat! How fun! We were hoping to visit New England this fall but alas, football will change those plans. lol Have a great weekend! :)

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  3. Looks like a really busy and productive week! I love the chick! How wonderful to witness and birth and growth of animals at home.

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  4. I think my kids would love to try the egg in vinegar trick. I have never heard of such things. Interesting indeed! The pictures are great. I also remember my days as a Girl Scout...back many years ago.

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  5. Wow, that's definitely a reminder pic of a few months ago:) Welcome, Summer!! We enjoy the Wii around here too, but I'm the board game master. My kids enjoyed doing the egg experiment too. Slow down a little, and enjoy the summer:) Have a great weekend.

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  6. I have a Kindle and I love it. My kids really like reading off it too and I am thinking about getting another one for them to share. We have to try the egg in vinegar experiment, my kids would love it! This weekend are going to come up with a "Make Every Weekend Count" calendar. Our summers are so short we want to make every weekend special, I'm sure I'll post about it! Thanks for linking up and have a great weekend.

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  7. Love the egg experiment. My kids will love to try it out. I will have to find a way to work that in this next week.

    Chores ~ The grandparents ruined that for us. They dole out more money than we would pay for a chore at their house. My children now think that is the value of work and are not satisfied w/our paltry offers here (except the nine year old who knows that money added together can add up fast).

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  8. thanks for visiting my blog :)

    time off is nice isnt it :)

    went to see the movie of that book recently very neat :)

    my youngest became a real kea scout this week. Hes been going to keas for a month or so this week he got his scarf :) I really like the jackets that your scouts have :)

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  9. LOL! 'Rubber egg does NOT bounce!' I want to try that one for myself. :)

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  10. It's nice to have no one complain about chores! I love your cute little chick!! We are going to try the egg in the vinegar experiment.

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  11. Thank you so much for the encouragement on my blog post! I'm always glad to hear it IS possible! I'm a new follower, can't wait to hear more! P.S. My Side of the Mountain was one of my very favorite books in elementary school!

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  12. Wow! You are a super mom for playing the Wii and becoming a Champion. I still don't want to step on it and put in my weight. :) We went to Acadia National Park three summers ago and climb Cadillac Mountain??? It was so much fun. My dad has a house on Deer Isle and lives there half the year. You have a beautiful playground!!!!!

    Have a great weekend.

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  13. Such a cool experiment! I love all your pictures. And that chick is A-dorable. Thanks for stopping by...have a great week!

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  14. That is so cute about the baby chick. We need to try the experiment with egg and vinegar. I'm hoping to get to some things like that this summer.

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  15. We do that experiment in February, I think, during National Dental Month... or something like that. ;-) Supposedly, if you put toothpaste with fluoride on it on half, that half won't dissolve. We haven't gotten it to work, though. LOL I think we might try it with no toothpaste on the whole thing, that egg looked pretty cool!!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! :)

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  16. I fully understand about the overscheduling thing. Our school year was too crazy, so I'm making an effort to have an easier summer. I hope you are able to have some scheduled relaxment.

    Thanks for commenting on my blog :)
    http://our-homeschool-journey.blogspot.com/

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  17. I am so happy I met you on the blog hop. I LOVE what you're doing! After posting this comment I will be your newest follower. I look forward to reading more.

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  18. Stopped by from the "Fun Tuesday Hop" to follow...come by and see me~ we are having a blast over at my blog today ... check if out if you have a minute!

    What a great resource you've created here. Tell your daughter I noticed all those girl scout badges~nice job!

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  19. Wow that was a lot of awards on those vests!

    Great science activities.

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  20. so cute and beautiful girl's pic.
    Happy fathers day 2015.

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