"Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is created in your life for something new to emerge" - Eckhart Tolle
Settling into our new NORMAL. Is there such a thing? I hesitate to share this with all of you, but it's such a HUGE part of my life now: I AM A NEWLY "SINGLE" MOM. Blue Spruce and I are living in separate "forests". But despite all the craziness of the past few weeks, my wonderful saplings and I are moving forward, just in unexpected and different ways.
Homeschool High School
Fun class, huh? White Pine added How Things Work from Coursera to his ever-expanding school schedule this week. Remember he started Computer Science 101 last week? (He decided to move on without me. Apparently I'm slowing him up? How can that be?) He's also still working towards his "core" curriculum goals! And he had Boy Scouts. Phew! It's no wonder he's crashing at night! But don't worry: he still found time for video games and planning to build a computer! ::wink::
Homeschool Elementary
Putting away Sugar Maple's Spectrum Writing workbook, letting her type up a story from her own creative mind, has worked out perfectly. NO, THE WRITING ISN'T PERFECT, BUT WHAT SHE'S LEARNED IS! With spelling such a challenge for her, Spell Check has helped her overcome a writing phobia. And she has 22 GREAT pages of story to prove it! Next? Illustrations!
She also spent an afternoon flipping through our Birds of Maine Guide Book, drawing birds. I think she's dreaming of spring! (I KNOW I AM!) But the cool thing is that we've seen an increase in our backyard birds in the last week: Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays and our lovely Mourning Doves are cooing from the woods again. When we see that first American Robin then we'll SPRING for joy! (Word play! Ha!)
Her drawings inspired Balsam Fir to write about birds in his journal, among other things.
Then they assembled and painted tiny wooden birdhouses from kits. They're too small and flimsy for the outside, but they're cute decorations for inside!
Balsam Fir's moving along with Math-U-See Beta. True, it's a bit easy for him right now, but eventually he'll hit some new stuff. He'll just have a solid foundation in place value, addition facts and sequence, right? THE KICKER IS THAT HE ENJOYS IT! The blocks have made ALL the difference!
We read about Mohammad, Muslims, the Five Pillars of Islam, and the Koran this week SOTW. I can't say as it held their interest much, but we'll be moving on soon. To break up the chapters on Islam, we watched "The Dark Ages" on Netflix. I wouldn't recommend it for the younger crowd, but it was a good VISUAL history over the Middle Ages that we're studying now.
And Sugar Maple finished her A Beka Health body systems: Respiratory, Skeletal, Digestive, and Circulatory. Balsam Fir wrapped up his file folder game on The Water Cycle and started Simple Machines. Now THIS file folder game he liked! Machines and tools? BF IS ALL OVER THAT! And it helps that I have Lego Simple Machines building sets. ::wink::
Putting away Sugar Maple's Spectrum Writing workbook, letting her type up a story from her own creative mind, has worked out perfectly. NO, THE WRITING ISN'T PERFECT, BUT WHAT SHE'S LEARNED IS! With spelling such a challenge for her, Spell Check has helped her overcome a writing phobia. And she has 22 GREAT pages of story to prove it! Next? Illustrations!
She also spent an afternoon flipping through our Birds of Maine Guide Book, drawing birds. I think she's dreaming of spring! (I KNOW I AM!) But the cool thing is that we've seen an increase in our backyard birds in the last week: Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays and our lovely Mourning Doves are cooing from the woods again. When we see that first American Robin then we'll SPRING for joy! (Word play! Ha!)
Her drawings inspired Balsam Fir to write about birds in his journal, among other things.
Then they assembled and painted tiny wooden birdhouses from kits. They're too small and flimsy for the outside, but they're cute decorations for inside!
Balsam Fir's moving along with Math-U-See Beta. True, it's a bit easy for him right now, but eventually he'll hit some new stuff. He'll just have a solid foundation in place value, addition facts and sequence, right? THE KICKER IS THAT HE ENJOYS IT! The blocks have made ALL the difference!
We read about Mohammad, Muslims, the Five Pillars of Islam, and the Koran this week SOTW. I can't say as it held their interest much, but we'll be moving on soon. To break up the chapters on Islam, we watched "The Dark Ages" on Netflix. I wouldn't recommend it for the younger crowd, but it was a good VISUAL history over the Middle Ages that we're studying now.
And Sugar Maple finished her A Beka Health body systems: Respiratory, Skeletal, Digestive, and Circulatory. Balsam Fir wrapped up his file folder game on The Water Cycle and started Simple Machines. Now THIS file folder game he liked! Machines and tools? BF IS ALL OVER THAT! And it helps that I have Lego Simple Machines building sets. ::wink::
He's also TOTALLY into Transformers so he created some pretty cool (and TRANSFORMING) Lego ones.
All that and we still did did our "core" work such as math, language arts and spelling too. (And I'm posting this on Thursday night because my sister and cousin Noodle are coming tonight and staying through tomorrow so we're taking Friday off.) Phew!
Places We Went, People We Saw
☆ Hanging with Friends, Playing Board Games (All) ☆ Blue and Gold Banquet (BF) ☆ Scouts (WP/BF) ☆ Movies at the Library: "Wreck It Ralph" (SM/BF) ☆ Clarinet/Band (SM) ☆ Sister 3 and Cousin Noodle ☆
Something to Share
I'm glad you popped in this week! I'm linking up to these WONDERFUL blog hops. Why not join up too?
I'm so happy to hear you are moving on with a smile. The kids look so happy with all they do in school. Fun stuff. Rebekah is doing the Math U See Epsilon, but I am finding now, she probably could have started with Division. She struggles a bit with it. I just work with her to make sure she understands it. I am thinking about getting her some flash cards to practice her basic facts.
ReplyDeleteTry Xtramath.org for math facts practice! It's free (of course), but it's a quick, thorough way of teaching kids those facts...and it's on the computer and can be a little more fun for some.
DeleteWe are still thinking of you an praying. I can believe it has been extremely challenging :-(
ReplyDeleteI love the 'birds of Maine' book!!! How wonderful. I have a student who struggles with writing also. I am so glad your daughter found encouragement with the spell check, woohoo!!
Jessy, I am so sorry to hear about your new circumstances. But you are right that you have wonderful kids and I am happy to see you all moving forward. I will be praying for you!
ReplyDeleteJessy, I was sorry to read about the changes in your life, and I'm sorry for the stress it causes you. I am glad you can move forward and see all the wonderful positives. It looks like you all have some great things going on!
ReplyDeleteThinking of you, my new blogging friend... If you need any additional support please let me know. I am glad to hear you have family coming to stay with you and that kids seem to find many continued moments of joy. I can only imagine the amount of stress you are under. You can do what needs to be done for you and your children. Whatever that is. I know you can. Please tell your daughter how beautiful I think her drawn birds are...
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you in your new trial. Have you ever tried anything besides Math-U-See? We used Alpha this year (my oldest is 6) and I liked it, as did he. It's very simple and definitely gets math facts covered, which is great. I'm just wondering about measurements, money, shapes, etc. I've had to supplement all of that. I love to learn from other homeschoolers!
ReplyDeleteWow.. such great studies!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about the changes in your life, but you have such a great attitude. The kids are lucky to have such a wonderful mom!
ReplyDeleteI love all the bird activities and those bird houses are adorable, no matter how small they are!
Have a great weekend!
We will have to watch that movie on Netflix. We are doing some learning about the Middle Ages, not real detailed. But Joey picks things up by watching them. Great pics!! And I need to find that Simple Machine LEGO kit.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of the changes in your life. We will keep you and your family in our prayers during this stressful time.
ReplyDeleteWe just finished simple machines. We had a set from K'nex that was great but I wish we knew about the Lego one as it looks like a lot of fun as well.
Praying for the best outcome, whatever that might be. You sound very strong and upbeat, which I'm sure is a complete blessing to your children. I LOVE the nature drawings, they are SO good!
ReplyDeleteLove the quote you shared...I say it all the time!
ReplyDeleteChange is hard and dealing with the new "normal" even harder.
Praying for you!!
Glad to see that your week was still full of smiles and the joy of discovery.
(((Hugs))) Still praying for you guys!!
ReplyDeleteC is such a talented artist!! Love her drawings. We are studying Islam right now too.
I am new to your blog, but sorry to hear you have separated. I'm praying with all my heart that you can work things out (God willing) and that you can continue homeshcooling.
ReplyDeleteAnd NO - there is no such thing as NORMAL. And even if there was I don't think I'd like it.
Love your blog.
Emily
Thanks for stopping by Emily! It's great "to meet" you!
DeleteI am sorry to hear of your separation. I hope all of you can find peace in this situation. I love all the sketches!! Really beautiful. I am always amazed at all you accomplish.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great week! :) Glad things are going "ok" for you. I'm here if you want to vent, chat.
ReplyDeleteDid you buy a lego simple machines kit? Monkey man wants to get into some of that, but most of the kits I have found, have been costly. On a good note though, he is able to join our Robotic's Team here at the local school this upcoming year. :)
I'm so ready for spring too!
We got the Lego Simple Machine's kits (all 3) several years ago from Amazon. I couldn't find them for this post so I don't know if they have them anymore. They ARE pretty expensive so they stay on the school shelves and are only used for school activities (for now). I certainly don't want to miss a piece! ::wink::
DeleteAlong with your other readers I am praying for you too. I love the fact that you have such a positive attitude. Your kids always do so many things. Isn't homeschooling the best for exploring anything?!! I love all the bird journaling and bird houses. Wonderful! Hugs to you Jessy. :)
ReplyDelete(((Hugs))) - so sorry to hear about your separation. My husband and I have done marriage ministry, if you'd like to find a mentoring couple, we can probably help you find one in your area - if you haven't already done this.. One ministry to check out is Family Builders (familybuilders.net), which used to be located in Maine (now in NH).
ReplyDeleteThose bird drawings are WONDERFUL!!!! God bless you and your family, In Jesus' name.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless you and keep you in this new normal. Our prayers are with you and your family.
ReplyDeleteJust scrolled through your blog as I could tell I missed something. I am so sorry to hear what you and your family are going through. I will keep you in my prayers.
ReplyDelete