Weekly Wrap-Up: September 7

This was our first official week of "school".

Monday afternoon, the girls and my husband went for a bike ride.  I had things I needed to do around the house (like make sure we were prepared for starting our school year), so I stayed home.  They didn't get far when Turtlegirl spotted something that made her come to a dead stop.  "Dad!  Is that free?!"  Sure enough, there, on the side of the road, was Turtlegirl's holy grail: a backyard pond liner and pump - free for the taking.  She's been wanting one for years, but we told her they were too expensive, not to mention a lot of work.  She's been contenting herself with a wading pool in the backyard for the turtles to enjoy during the daytime hours of the warmer months.  So they called me and I drove the car over and brought it home.

When they got back from their bike ride, Turtlegirl and her dad started digging.

The turtles like it!

So Turtlegirl will be doing nature studies for her science this year.  She and Swimmah will be continuing to volunteer at the nature center through the school year, so that, plus the pond and tanks here, will give her plenty of hands-on work.

We decided to go with Math-U-See for pre-algebra.  She doesn't like watching a video lesson, so we just won't use the DVD, unless there is something that doesn't make sense from reading the book.

Swimmah is also using Math-U-See for geometry, continuing where she left off at the end of July.  She will also be continuing Marine Biology.  This is the first year that they are studying different things for science!  I'm a little nervous about keeping them both on track in different topics, but they are older and more independent now, so I think it will work out fine.

For history, I had planned to get The History of US by Joy Hakim from the library.  Apparently, someone else had the same idea, because when we went to the library to check it out, the first 3 were not there.  I hadn't bothered to put a hold on it because I figured that it's always been there before when I have looked in that area.  Oh well, I found a couple of other books on Native Americans to use instead of the first History of US book.  I did put a hold on the second book, however.

Both girls start an essay-writing class this afternoon, taught by an aspiring writer and teacher to a group of homeschooled teens in our area.  There was not much interest in a book discussion group this year, which my girls have always enjoyed in the past.  So we decided to have our own family book discussion group.  Our September selection is The Giver by Lois Lowry.  We'll have the discussion meeting the last weekend of the month (whichever day of the weekend my husband is not fishing!).

 I won't say that everything this week was perfect, but overall things went pretty well.  It's been a fairly quiet start to the year, with no writing homework, as class isn't until Friday afternoon, and no  nature center volunteering until next week, when someone will be available to train them on the morning routine. And swim team starts next week, so we'll really be into the full swing of things then!