It has pretty much been business as usual this week. The highlight of my week has been visiting with my grandmother and spending 3 hours just letting her talk. The kids discovered the boardgame LIFE while at my aunt's house (where my grandmother lives) so I will be on the lookout for that game to add to their small game collection which consists of only checkers and monopoly.

What I'm looking forward to:
The MACHE curriculum fair in Frederick, MD is 2 weeks away and I can hardly wait! I am most looking forward to getting MFW WHL to thumb through in preparation for DD13 9th grade year. I can't even believe she is that old. At the WTM forum so many people mention how hard it is to focus and finish out the current year as you are planning and preparing for the next year. I definitely fall into that category.

As I reflect on the current year I have definitely seen growth in DD13 personally and academically. I wish I could take the credit but the environment and discipline that has been part of the Classical Conversations program I believe has been the catalyst to her growth. The proof will be in the pudding when she comes back home to do high school next year. DD11 and DD9 I believe are still adjusting to the relaxed nature of homeschooling and the freedom they have to learn outside of the box. I know math at home has really been a blessing to DD11 who just wasn't getting the Math content at her public school. They both love the idea of not having to wait for other students to finish before they get to move on to something else. Some other comments they've made include the art instruction they are getting is fun. They said they only did arts n crafts in PS. They are now getting drawing instruction and they run off to do drawing every chance they get. Here are some of their masterpieces.





In our homeschool this week:
It was neat to read to them about Leonardo da Vinci from Leonardo da Vinci for kids this week as they were working on their artwork. I printed out a notebooking page from notebookingpages.com that we will complete when we are finished with this book.

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I know I need small snippets of the unexpected to keep me motivated and keep my attitude fresh. A few months ago I found a really great deal on MFW Exploration to 1850 so I snagged it and put it on the bookshelves. Earlier this week I grabbed one of the book reads from the curriculum to keep me occupied on an appointment. William Carey from the Heroes of Faith series was a page tuner for me. I couldn't put it down and finished the book within a few, albeit interrupted hours. I was so inspired I took a small detour in the curriculum to have my girls read it as well. I love how the unexpected ties in nicely with something that you've recently studied. The book makes many geography references, botany references, the English/French War (I don't think that's the exact name of the war but those were the fighting countries :), New World Exploration, and of course the importance of missionary work. Love it!

When we are all done with the book we will address an envelope to the fund being used to support the missions work of this family whose heart for God encourages me so much. Yeah!!!! Be sure to scroll down to her Wednesday, March 2, 2011 blog entry to know exactly what the mission work is all about. Some other highlights of our week:

Making an impromptu stop at the Lorton Workhouse Art Center, turned out to be a great way to spend the afternoon. I initially stopped because I knew they had great art classes and exhibits. I wanted to inspire my budding artist, DD13 and explore. I knew the center was formerly an area prison but I had no idea how historic this place really was. We were able to get a history lesson on the Women's suffrage movement during the Wilson administration to include a disturbing exhibit on the force feedings that took place at the prison during this time.





On a lighter note... great musicians like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra did concerts for the inmates here as well. Area artists rent out space at the center so we were able to see Artists busy at their craft - glass blowers, jewelry makers, and painters. One painting artist took the time to encourage DD13 to pursue her passion. He said "math and all that other stuff is important but take the time to work on your art everyday." It was very interesting to hear how in his lifetime he taught on the collegiate level and designed sets for movies, TV and the stage. Many of his designs were displayed in the studio. Why didn't I take pictures of that?? But here are some shots we did manage to get.





It is days like this day that I really appreciate the privilege of homeschooling.


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Okay... I've been missing for a few weeks. Just didn't have a whole lot to share. But after my husband and I attended our foster care training last night I couldn't sleep thinking about how my family is a gift. My marriage is a gift and each one of my kids is a gift. Homeschooling is a gift, my home is a gift . . . I could go on and on. What am I doing with these gifts God has given me? They have not been given to me to be put on a shelf but to share my gifts with others. My salvation is a gift, I'm I sharing that with others? I'm scared about a foster care/adoption journey but how can I not share what God has given me so that others might know the love that I have received at the hands of a loving God?

What have we been up to this week?

We have been helping DD13 memorize her catechism questions. We've focused on the bible verses first then we will move to the science questions.

Moving steadily through Math lessons in Saxon and Horizons. We've been really slack on Science since leaving the Botany lessons behind but this week we conducted an experiment on convection and ocean currents. I found some books at the library on different experiments so we will just keep using the Scientific Method while performing these experiments.

Took the Unit Test on Verbs in Easy Grammar .... next Nouns.

Steady as we go in Wordly Wise.

IEW fell by the way side this week and only one history lesson in SOTW.

I don't know what is going on in my schedule that I can't get 2 days of Science and 3 days of History. Maybe we need to get up earlier... hmmm.

Sorry no pics to share I've been slacking on that too. I have got to get it together next week to share a more exciting wrap up.

How was your week? Join the weekly wrap up by visiting the weird, unsocialized homeschoolers blog and sign up and see what other homeschooling families have been doing this week.