Friday, July 8, 2011

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: July 2-8

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In My Life This Week
I recovered from my sinus and ear infections and have regained my equilibrium. Somewhat. (Can I still blame my lack of coordination on middle ear fluid? LOL) It's been a while since I've felt SO down-and-out! 
Our Flowering Elderberry
A constructed a new, bigger brooder for the chicks out of cardboard boxes. They now have more space and 2 roosting sticks. It was moved into the porch as a transition to the outside in a couple of weeks...And because they're kicking up A TON of dust from their bedding and food that covers a room! Ick! The lil' chicks also got to explore outside for the first time.

In the evenings we watched movies at home: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Ant Bully", and "Narnia: The Dawn Treader". 

I just picked up The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd from the library and am anxious to get start reading it...but I already have a book I need to finish first. (I just can't read more than one at a time! LOL)  Guess what I'm doing this afternoon?!

In Our Homeschool This Week
Books! J is TOTALLY into the Honor Harrington Sci Fi series by David Weber and has been reading for hours and hours...C has decided that she LOVES my Mom's Kindle and is reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain on it as well as a TRADITIONAL BOOK, Harry Potter at the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. And S continues to read his Hooked on Phonics books (a bit less enthusiastically than the others though). J has already met his library summer reading program goals!

Have you seen the picture book Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog by Adrienne Sylver?  What a GREAT book for learning about the history of the hot dog! We also watched a video on-line about this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest mentioned in the book. A woman won this year, eating 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes! It was NOT a pretty video to watch, but something a 6-year-old boy found hilarious! ;)  And of course after we read the book, we grilled dogs for dinner!
J and his buddy T learned about lawn care. They used the PUSH MOWER to "tame the grass" and a weed whacker around the garden beds and house. They should go into business! LOL
 What's Working/Not Working For Us 
Coming and going as we please! Accept for S and A's baseball game, we didn't HAVE to do anything all week...but of course we did! LOL

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing
  • C continued to visit with my family, picnicking, swimming, playing with her little cousin, and making homemade donuts
  • S and A went to a minor league baseball game on Saturday
  • J and S went to the Rec Center for gym games (like basketball and dodgeball), ate bagged lunches and put together puzzles Tuesday through Friday with old and new friends, and then most of us headed down to the public beach for swimming for an hour or so
  • J's friend C stayed overnight on Tuesday and T stayed over Thursday
  • J started volunteering at our library on Wednesday
My Favorite Things This Week Were
      • Having Cheeper follow me around outside, helping to "clean up" the veggie garden and lawn of bugs 
      • Eating our first batch of pea pods from the garden (and no we couldn't wait until there were big, juicy peas inside first LOL)
      • Seeing S's creativity and problem-solving skills while he made a homemade timer by poking a hole with a nail in the cap of a water bottle filled with sand and then taping a 2nd bottle to the top 
      • Reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Debby MacDonald to C over the phone before bed

        Questions/Thoughts I have
        Do we convert the old shed out back into a coop? Or do we buy an assembled coop?
         
        A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share
        Here's a short video of the little chicks with Cheeper going outside for the first time. They weren't as anxious as Cheeper was the first time, but then there ARE 9 of them, 10 with Cheeper, instead of just one! LOL



        I'm linking up to Forever, For Always, No Matter What, The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Science Sunday, Fun Tuesday Hop, No Ordinary Blog Hop, and Hip Homeschool Hop. Head over to read more homeschool happenings!

        17 comments:

        1. Sounds like a busy, fun week. Cheeper is so cute! And those peas look yummy!

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        2. Are you finding the Kindle worthwhile? I've been wondering and considering...tentatively.

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        3. Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting on the launch video :) The whole space thing facinates us too...my daughter is 15 and is really looking forward to studying Astronomy for her 11th grade science year after this. We hope to get back over to the Kennedy Space Center during that time. We just went this past April for the first time and I was so impressed - if you ever get a chance to come to Florida I highly recommend including it in your plans - it's well worth it!

          We also watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice recently...I liked it more than I thought I would...and looking forward to purchasing Voyage of the Dawn Treader at some point to add to our Narnia dvd collection :)

          Have a great weekend!

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        4. thanks for visiting my blog

          neat that you watched some great movies :)

          going to add that book to my list - it looks great

          hope J enjoys the volunteering - Ive gotten into volunteering this year and enjoy the opportunities that come up

          cool video

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        5. Fun chickens!!! Glad you had a nice week with nothing really to do!

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        6. Your pea pods are gorgeous!

          You must live where you can keep the chicks- we had to send ours back to my sil's farm when they got too old to have in the city. Do be careful- we had one of ours swiped by a hungry hawk. It was a very brazen hawk that came right up to where my son was standing and grabbed the bird. :(

          Hope the volunteering to goes well! Those types of things are the best learning opportunities.

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        7. Awww, how sweet that cheeper follows you around.

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        8. Thanks for stopping by and grabbing my hop button! Aren't allergies the worst?? Looking fwd to a link up from you, feel free to link up older posts as well! :D

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        9. So glad you are feeling better! I'm going to see if I can get that Hot Dog book from our library:)
          Blessings,
          Marcee

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        10. Enjoyed reading about your week. Glad you are starting to feel better! Stopping by from THMJ

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        11. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm writing this here because I wanted to make sure you saw my reply.

          If you think your garden is missing some nutrients, check on soil testing through your local 4H extension office. In NJ, they did them at cost, but now here in WV they do them for free.

          You'll pick up your soil kit from the extension office, take a shovel full from different parts of the garden, mix all the samples up in a bucket, and then use that for your soil sample. In a few weeks, you'll get the results of what your garden is lacking AND how to fix it. Do this in the fall/winter because they get really backed up in the spring and everyone is gone in the summer for break.

          Also, be aware, the results don't include nitrogen, because it's too volatile and they can't get an accurate read. But, ask at the extension office and they should be able to help.

          http://www.mountaineercountrywv.com

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        12. I think that you are really going to like Power of a Positive Mom!

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        13. It sounds like a busy week! I hope you do a review of the Power of a Positive Mom book when you're done as I'd love to hear how it is.

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        14. GFC follower through the blog hop

          http://40plussinglebbw.blogspot.com/

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        15. I really enjoyed reading about your week. Thank you for joining us at NOBH. I look forward to following your blog. =)

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        16. Hi! Glad you're feeling better! I'm a new follower from Fun Tuesday Hop! Please stop by http://aboutamom.com and say hi!

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        17. Other than the sinus infection, it sounds like you are having a great summer. Busy, but different than busy during the homeschool year.

          That hotdog eating contest is so gross!

          Those peas look delicious! :)

          Great to have you join our GIVEAWAY at waddleeahchaa.com

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