In Our Life
Out with the TV and video games! Well, mostly. The Saplings reverted back to their hours of TV-watching and video game-playing ways again. And I let them. ((sigh)) But when Sunday rolled around, the remotes and controllers DISAPPEARED. It's interesting how quickly the Saplings find creative ways to entertain themselves without a screen. Suddenly BICKERING is next to nil, and they sleep better at night since their minds and bodies are busier. Now, if only we can keep it this way!
We didn't COMPLETELY give up the screens though. We're back to watching a Netfix movie or documentary each night after dinner...with a few minutes for the boys to exercise their thumbs with the XBox controllers afterward. Moderation, right? I'm out-numbered! ((wink))
Looking for something about American History AND Nature? I would 100% recommended this Netflix movie, "Ken Burns: The National Parks: America's Best Idea". The scenes are BEAUTIFUL (and you just want to visit all our fabulous national parks) and the history is rich!
Looking for something about American History AND Nature? I would 100% recommended this Netflix movie, "Ken Burns: The National Parks: America's Best Idea". The scenes are BEAUTIFUL (and you just want to visit all our fabulous national parks) and the history is rich!
Anyway, with Balsam Fir and Blue Spruce off to Cub Scout camp this week, it's been STRANGELY quiet. With the LOUDEST, MOST ACTIVE Tree out-of-the-house, it's calm and slow around the mountain. Not that I would change Fir's zaniness or "wiggliness", but having time with the older Saplings is nice too. And then White Pine volunteered at camp Wednesday through today and Sugar Maple had Band Camp Tuesday through Thursday, leaving me HOURS alone. I think I've been a little lot bored...
So, I got some things crossed off the To Do List! Whoop! But I think I missed one. Again.
TO DO
Declutter, Tidy and Vacuum Bedrooms
Scrub Bathrooms
Organize and purge plastic containers
Find the Lazy Days of Summer
Replant Peas, Beans and Lettuce
Wash and Dry Sheets, Blankets and Towels
Scrub Lawn Furniture and Trash Cans
Print Out and Organize New Recipe Cards
Finish Planning for School
Clean Coop and Run
In Our Homeschool
TO DO
Find the Lazy Days of Summer
In Our Homeschool
Box Day! You homeschool Mamas know what I'm taking about, right? Although it wasn't an IMPRESSIVE Box Day (since I ordered some curriculum in the spring when I found deals), I was excited to see the UPS man on Monday! The Saplings? Not so much. After a cursory glance and a few mumbled words, they had more PRESSING THINGS to do (i.e. Legos,spinning in an office chair and reading). Perhaps they're saving their enthusiasm for September!
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| Our School Bookshelves are Getting Full |
Sugar Maple reached her library summer reading goal of 1440 minutes this week. That's 24 hours, folks! And double the minutes that the librarian set for MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. (No, she's only in 5th!) Go, girl!
White Pine and Sugar Maple worked on a writing review for TOS. I'm excited about this curriculum as it's SUPER easy to teach and it seems effective! What curriculum? You'll have to wait for my review next month! LOL
A Few of Our Favorite Things
♥ Reading with Sugar Maple on the library's covered porch, watching traffic go by and the boats on the lake, and talking here and there
♥ Seeing Balsam Fir's excitement over getting a bulls-eye with an arrow at camp
♥ Going grocery shopping with White Pine and just talking
♥ Seeing Balsam Fir's excitement over getting a bulls-eye with an arrow at camp
♥ Going grocery shopping with White Pine and just talking
Ponderings
Do you do an annual Not-Back-to-School blog post? Share in comments! I'd love to check out what your plans are! And I have my post up for this coming year! Check it out here!
Do you do an annual Not-Back-to-School blog post? Share in comments! I'd love to check out what your plans are! And I have my post up for this coming year! Check it out here!
Saying to Share
Hopping Along With
We recently did away with the TV as well. On Saturday and Sunday my daughter gets two shows each day. Good luck to you with that.
ReplyDeleteLove the quote and the sound of your week. I know how you feel. When my little guy was visiting the grandparents for a week i was a LOT bored too ;) It's amazing isn't it ? :) LOL I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that the Saplings had a great time at all their camps. Great job to your daughter on the reading too!!!
ReplyDeleteGood for you with unplugging the TV! I need to work more on that here, as well. Congrats to your daughter on her reading success! That's awesome! :-) You got much crossed off of your list. You have been very busy. I will have to think about putting together a "Not Back to School Post." Sounds like fun. Have a great weekend! :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope your children are indeed saving their enthusiasm for the start of the new school year! Like you, I LOVE box day! Makes me want to get started on all those exciting new books. :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy box day! Love the saying you shared - it's perfect. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how that screen time creeps back in just when you thought you were doing such a good job getting rid of it! I have the same problem over here. Glad you could get it back off. Love box day! We won't really be having one this year, but we bought school supplies. I want to watch that nature show now too.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jessy. We recently canceled cable because we watched it so little. We have no TV during the day and we watch Netflix at night also. We are watching "The Waltons" right now. We have the Ken Burns series on instant! Thanks for the thumbs up. I love the UPS truck too. YAY for Sugar Maple and her reading. Wow that is impressive!
ReplyDeleteWe'll be catching up on some of the Olympics online, but other than that...no tv for us! No regrets either...the girls find such creative ways to fill their time:) We do love and support our National parks though, so we may have to check out that Ken Burns video you mentioned:)
ReplyDeleteWow...love all that reading! Very impressive.
We do a not-back-to school post:) It's about that time again, isn't it?!
It took me a couple of minutes to figure out which kid Blue Spruce was. LOL Then duh! I finally figured it out.
ReplyDeleteSorry they weren't thrilled with box day. That is so weird to me because my kids go crazy over it. Mackenzie even hugs her new math book even though we all know she'll wind up crying about in a few months. lol
It's great to meet another homeschooling blogger from Maine! We also love Netflix documentaries and enjoy watching them with the kids. They may be too young to understand everything but we all learn from watching. Whenever we see ones about the national parks or other sites in the U.S. we get dreaming about taking our homeschool on the road in a big RV...maybe in February when it's below zero here, right?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog. Netflix is also one of our constant companions here around the homestead. We ditched cable a few years ago and haven't missed it at all.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Diane
Thank you for the movie suggestion on Netflix! Your daughter's reading goal that she achieved is most impressive. I do not tend to do a Not-Back-To-School blog post however I do a behind the scenes series. We started our new school year in July. We are venturing out into the year round homeschooling world this year to see if we can take more chunks of time off throughout the school year. Thanks for linking up this week to my Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop!
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