Weekly Wrap-Up: September 14

We're still getting used to our new fall schedule here.  The weather has been obligingly September-like, with warm sunny days and cool nights.  And with such lovely weather, it can be hard to be strictly back-to-the-books.

Monday morning was spent at home studying, and after lunch, we met some friends for a hike at Burr Pond State Park.  It was very pretty and, at least on a weekday in September, very peaceful as well.  We all agreed that it would be a great place to kayak.

My husband decided to take the afternoon off to go fishing on the Block Island Sound on Wednesday, and invited Swimmah to join him and his friend.  Turtlegirl doesn't enjoy ocean fishing - she tends to get a little seasick and even aside from feeling sick, just doesn't enjoy the constant motion of the waves.  I'm with her.  Anyway, that meant that Swimmah and Turtlegirl had their first morning of volunteering at the nature center and then Swimmah was fishing all afternoon with Dad.  Turtlegirl and I took the kayaks to a local pond for a couple of hours.  So no formal lessons on Wednesday, but they're learning plenty at the nature center, and I'm sure on the water as well.  That's the beauty of homeschooling, isn't it?

Swimmah and her dad with a false albacore she caught.

Swimmah's piano lesson has been on Tuesday afternoons for the past few years, and has just been switched to Thursday mornings.  I think it's going to take a couple of weeks to get used to that!  I knew on Wednesday that she had a lesson the next morning, but Thursday morning I forgot about it until I was in the shower.  Luckily, there was still almost an hour before her teacher was due to arrive - plenty of time for us all to get dressed!

Swim team started up again this week, with a modified practice schedule - ostensibly, to ease the swimmers into the regular practice schedule, but I think it's actually to confuse the parents with all the different practice times!

And today, Friday, is my husband's and my 21st wedding anniversary!  He's a great husband and a great dad to our daughters.  I can't believe it's been 21 years already!

Enjoy the weekend!

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!

"Reluctant" Learners?

I recently discovered the website Project-Based Homeschooling.  Today I read a blog post there titled "The Myth of the Reluctant Learner".  An excerpt:

No child is reluctant to learn. Every child strives to learn as much as he can. There are only children who are strongly resistant to being told what to learn and how to learn it. There are children who are more stubborn about being forced to learn things that don’t interest them or don’t seem useful. There are children who are less able to tolerate boredom and children who are less able to tolerate sitting still for long periods of time trying to focus on something that has no importance or meaning to them.

Let's just say that I am familiar with some of these types of children.  I whole-heartedly agree with what she says and couldn't say it better myself.  Check it out.

Weekly Wrap-Up: August 24

We spent last week on an island off the coast of Maine, visiting family.  A few days we had beautiful weather, and a few days we had not-so beautiful weather, but overall it was a very enjoyable week.

But still beautiful in the fog, although maybe a little chilly for swimming.

Now this week, back at home, we've been gearing up for the school year, making (or trying to make) final decisions on math programs and science topics to study.  And how are we going to keep track of our schedule and assignments?  One girl likes a calendar on the computer, the other prefers an old-fashioned paper desk calendar.  I actually found a student planner at Michael's for $3.00 - perfect!  In case you're wondering, our start date for the year will be September 4.

I've also been spending a fair amount of time cleaning out our big storage closet in the basement.  I know some bloggers are really good about posting before and after pictures, but it just didn't occur to me to take a picture of my closet.  Sorry.  Anyway, my husband's sister has three daughters, her youngest just older than Swimmah.  They give us A LOT of hand-me-downs, really more than my girls could ever wear!  Sometimes I wonder if my nieces even wore some of these clothes more than once or twice...  So I've been sorting through boxes and boxes of clothes and bagging up anything that my girls have outgrown or just are not going to wear, because it's maybe just not their taste.  I now have 5 garbage bags full of clothes to donate to a charitable organization yet to be determined.  Plus another garbage bag full of hoodies and fleece pullovers, and 3 winter coats, 1 raincoat and 1 fleece coat to donate to the warm clothing/winter coat drive at my husband's place of work.  Now we just need to get them out of the house...

Swimmah has also been cleaning out her bedroom closet, a chore that has been long overdue.  Based on the fact that there was a stack of old Ladybug magazines in there, I'm guessing that it's been at least 8, if not closer to 10 years since we really gave it a good decluttering.  Better late than never, right?

Enjoy your weekend!

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Where We've Been...

Weekly Wrap-Up: August 10

There's a Shakespeare Festival every year in our area that we've been to the last few years.  There's just something so fun about sitting outside, maybe with a picnic dinner, with the actors a mere few feet from you. You almost feel like part of the action because they're so close and because they spread out and move around the audience, much more so outside than when they're on a stage.  This year the production was Twelfth Night, which I had never seen nor read before.  The girls and I met some friends there Saturday evening.  We had read a summary of it from Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare, and there was a scene-by-scene summary of the play in the program, anyway.  It was a beautiful warm, breezy evening and the performance was great!  I think this was the funniest Shakespearean play I have seen.

We had a fairly busy week getting together with friends.  Turtlegirl had a chance to go tubing on the river with some friends, another day some other friends invited the three of us to meet them at the pool they belong to, and Swimmah and Turtlegirl had a mutual friend over yet another day.  We also have some friends who are in town for a couple of weeks who are coming over for dinner Friday.  Hopefully we'll get to see them and their very cute 15-month old again before they have to head home.

Somewhere in there, I did get a chance to talk with Swimmah and Turtlegirl about the coming school year.  They need to decide if they want to go into more depth with marine biology and continue through the year, or if they want to move on to something else.  I did point out that if they want to pursue a career in biology in some way, they will need to also study chemistry and physics sometime before college.  They both still have time, though, as Swimmah would be in 10th grade if she were in school, and Turtlegirl would be in 8th.  I also suggested ecology, environmental science, zoology, geology, astronomy...  I told them we would discuss this again in a week or so.

We've been watching the Olympics still, but not quite as intensely as last week, now that swimming and gymnastics are done.  This week we've been enjoying diving, canoeing/kayaking, and open water swimming (interesting, but not nearly as exciting to watch as shorter distance swimming).  And we've also watched some synchronized swimming and rythmic gymnastics as well.  I have to admit that while we've watched some track and field, it's really not our favorite.  But what could be a better last name for a runner than Bolt?  And I kind of feel un-American admitting this, but beach volleyball?  That just seems to me like some Type A's couldn't let it go at it just being a friendly, relaxing game you play at the beach.  Sorry, beach volleyball fans.  Maybe I'm just still harboring ill feelings from having to play volleyball in high school gym class.  Anywho....

Oh, I promised a picture of Swimmah's completed mural:

Please ignore the reflection of the unmade bed.

Enjoy your weekend!

This post is linked to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers' Weekly Wrap-Up.

Weekly Wrap-Up: August 3

This week was one with lots of driving and lots of TV viewing - the Olympics, of course.

My husband had to have some work done on his car - a scheduled tune-up and an unscheduled trip by tow truck to the locksmith.  That meant I had to drive him to drop the car off (once) and pick it up (twice), drop him at the bus stop in the morning one day and pick him back up.  Then I've also been driving Swimmah to a lifeguard training class (she passed!) every morning and picking her up again, plus one evening during the week she met a couple of girls from her class at the pool to practice their lifesaving techniques.  All in addition to the usual driving around.  I don't anticipate any more car issues next week, and the lifeguard training class is over, so it will be back to the quiet life here next week.

We have been enjoying watching the Olympics, although I have had the results of various events spoiled by hearing who won the gold on the radio or in the newspaper.  We're also wondering when they're airing all the medal ceremonies.  They must be on after we go to bed - and I've stayed up past 11 most nights this week.  They're probably online; I just have to go looking for them.

Michael Phelps' final event is on tonight.  Hopefully, it will be on before 11:00 - I need to go to bed a little earlier tonight!