Quick Menu

Ok, I haven't done a menu in about a month. Shameful .. I know. But, here's a quick menu that I THINK I'll be using for about the next week or so...

Thursday - Chicken stir fry with rice
Friday - Baked white fish with cheesy mashed potatoes and corn
Saturday - BBQ chicken thighs, fried potatoes, and green beens
Sunday - Left over buffet
Monday - Bratwurst with buttered noodles and spinach
Tuesday - Baked chicken, rice and gravy
Wednesday - Turkey noodle soup with butter bread
Thursday - left over buffet
Friday - tuna noodle casserole

Joined up with Menu Plan Monday.

Back on Schedule

We spent the entire weekend pretty much outside! We broke record highs here in Michigan on Saturday and we took advantage of that with a walk to the park. We had BBQ for supper both Saturday and Sunday and visited with our neighbors who were also using their BBQ this weekend. The campers played with friends that they hadn't spent much time with due to the colder weather, they ran around the entire neighborhood, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We acted much like we always do when the first of the spring weather shows up. It's been a really mild winter around here this year and although we've enjoyed the weather having it be nearly 70 one day and 60+ the following day really got our juices flowing to be outside.


Instead of pulling all that energy back in and getting back to work first thing on Monday we just did our online lessons. ECJ handed me his grade sheets that were completed from the first half of the year that I hadn't collected from him as of yet. The girls did some extra reading and then pulled out both ECJ's tablet and Peanut's tablet to play a new game that they discovered last week. YCJ will be getting a tablet for her birthday this year (she already knows because she verified with Noni that that's what she was going to be getting from her) and she's antsy to have it now instead of in a couple of months from now. ECJ is being a good sport about letting her play with his tablet when he isn't using it. He spent most of his day working on his report for Misdsummer's Night's Dream. 


Tuesday we got back to our regular scheduled lessons. The spring weather chased all of our mid-February blues away and reminded us that we want to have plenty of free time this summer. We got our lessons done quickly, including the online lessons, and then the girls and I went for a walk even though it was lightly raining at the time. It's hard to pass up 60* weather! Daddy leaned on the railing on our deck that evening and almost went over the side when the railing gave out. So, we began the take down of the deck a little earlier than we'd planned, getting the railing off and the deck cleaned up during the evening while the campers played with the neighbor girl right before sunset.



On Wednesday, another wonderful weather day, we got our lessons done quickly as well while Daddy ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off. He had an appointment in the morning, had to go to the scrap yard to clear out the bed of the truck, stop at Grandma and Papa's house, and pick up all the wood for the deck from his friend. He was gone before I woke up the campers and didn't get home until mid afternoon. Before we started our lessons I threw sausage and sour kraut into the crock pot to cook for supper because since we had time, and the weather was so nice, we decided to go to the park before the local high school let out. Plus the girls had made plans with the neighbor girl for directly after the bus drops her off from school. It was a busy but fulfilling day. 

Thursday the girls and I did lessons, both online and in books, while ECJ and Daddy tore apart our old deck. ECJ did his lessons in the late afternoon and early evening after helping clean up the area. We found cement almost completely under the entire deck so we decided to make the deck smaller and keep a larger patio. Friday it was all hands on deck (hahaha) in getting the new smaller deck built. We managed to get it done just before the rain swept in! We didn't do book or online lessons in favor of getting the deck finished (other than putting the railings on) and so we'll be doing lessons tomorrow.

Posts you might have missed this week:
Promise Not to Tell - Book Review

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And Homeschool Highlights.

Promise Not to Tell - Book Review

Promise Not to Tell

By: Jennifer McMahon

Book Review

This is one of those books that you read the first couple of pages of and think about setting down. There's just not much in those first couple of pages that instantly grabs you ... especially if you have read the back of the book. Boom! Murder happened ... well, if you read the back of the book you knew it was going to and relatively quickly too. BUT ... I kept reading. Not because I was truly interested at this point but because it was a book I'd never even heard of before by an author that I wasn't familiar with.

I am so glad that I kept reading! After what I considered to be a nonstarter start of the book it really did pick up. With each new chapter another bit of the story came out. With each new chapter a new bit of what seemed to be paranormal evidence came to light. It truly was gripping. I read the first two chapters one day and the entire rest of the book the following evening. I simply couldn't put it down. And while there are some sexual overtures throughout the book that brought some questions to mind (part of the book is set in the 70s where there was a more relaxed view of sexuality and it shows in those sections of the book) they weren't to the point that it interrupted the story. Instead it lent a more real aspect to the entire book.

Even up to the very last two chapters where you're fairly certain that you know what is going to happen it keeps you guessing. While I wouldn't recommend this for a teenager or young reader ... murder, mystery, paranormal, sex ... I would recommend it for the average adult reader. There are parts of the book that I morally do not agree with but that my logical brain understands exist and simply add to the reality of the book.

If not for this book being an obvious work of fiction you could almost believe that it really was a true story. The plot twists will keep you coming back for more. 

You can purchase this book from Amazon here. No, I am not an affiliate of Amazon I just shop there a lot.

Carousels and Candy

Goldfish

Minion

This past week has literally just flown by. We did little over the weekend. Spending each day relaxing and working on the things that we enjoy. For ECJ this meant that he played games on his tablet, YCJ watched Netflix with Daddy when she wasn't researching (it's Chinchillas this week instead of guinea pigs), Peanut spent her weekend drawing and doing an awesome job, while I crocheted my days away. Each of us happy to be doing out own thing and equally happy to be doing out own thing with family. Peanut's skill at drawing is really improving and I thought I'd share a few photos of her work with you...

Rabbit

Squirrel

Monday we didn't do school lessons. Instead Daddy and I took Moragon to the vet for her two week check up after surgery and to get her staples out of her stomach. Then we ran two quick errands on our way home. We could have done lessons but having given the campers the choice of starting their week on Monday or Wednesday they opted for Wednesday which means we'll be doing lessons on Saturday as well this week (one of our four day weeks). 

Tuesday, Valentines Day, Noni came out to the house and we went to the nearest mall. We had lunch next to the carousel and then the girls took a couple turns riding around on it. This is their favorite winter thing to do (summer is meant for the beach) and they make sure we make it at least twice each winter so that they can ride the carousel. After lunch we walked around the mall for a bit and then made a quick stop at Walmart before heading back to the house where we hung out with Noni for a couple hours before she had to head back to her house. Each of the campers got a small box of chocolate from Daddy and I for Valentines Day after dinner. They usually get it in the morning so they thought that we'd actually forgotten to get them chocolate this year (would never happen). Daddy and I don't do anything special for Valentines Day, we never do. We get to spend every day together and show our love for each other in a million little ways all year long. 

Wednesday we began our school week. But, not in the way that we intended. Tuesday night Daddy grabbed two movies from RedBox: The Secret Life of Pets and Ghostbusters. So, Tuesday night we watched the first one together and Wednesday around noon we watched the other. Instead of lessons the campers asked to double up on Saturday and bargained for one more day off of book work. No skin off of my nose, I spent half the day crocheting and finished a sky blue baby blanket in crib size. I also made another newborn hat for donation.

So, Thursday (today) was supposed to be the true beginning of our school week (totally backwards I know) but both girls woke up with mild fevers and not feeling very well. So, instead I just cancelled lessons for the rest of the week. Next week in our area the local public and private schools are having a mid winter break ... we just took ours early. No big deal. YCJ helped Daddy make a crock pot full of chili for supper. Peanut and ECJ worked on a world in Minecraft pretty much all day long. Daddy and I relaxed with Netflix and my crochet with YCJ popping in and out of the room. 

It wasn't the way that we intended to spend the entire week and that's OK. Sometimes you seriously need a break even when you don't realize it. So, we had pretty much two weeks away from lessons, even though last week we did our online lessons just not our book lessons. Next week we'll be back to our regularly scheduled mayhem. For the rest of this week I'm going to bask in relaxing and pray that whatever illness is brewing in the girls doesn't spread and is over with quickly.

Posts you may have missed this week:
House of Night Series - Book Review

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Linking up this week with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap Up.

House of Night Series - Book Review

House of Night Series

Book Review

Burned and Awakened

By: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

I read these two books of this series, thinking to review them before I gave them to ECJ to read. They're about vampires, one of the topics that ECJ loves to read about. Well, although these books are marketed towards teens (as shown by the ages of the main characters) this is not a series that I want my teenage son to read. It's a good series, from the two books of it that I actually read, in that it engages the reader fully in the story. There are just some sexual content that I don't find appropriate for my teenager to read.

Both books were engaging. The idea of the mix of vampires, magic, the battle between good and evil (Light and Dark) ... all of it is done very well. It caught my imagination and kept me entertained through the reading of both books. To the point that I wouldn't mind reading the rest of the series ... I sort of jumped into them near the middle to end of the series. You can get the entire series on Amazon here for a pretty decent price. The mixture between how teenagers normally feel and the magic and mysticism of these books is a great blend. And the sexuality that is included in the books isn't very graphic so could be overlooked by a lot of people. As I said, I wouldn't mind reading the rest of the series but I don't find it appropriate for my teenager.

Even in just the two books from this series that I read you can get a good feel of the battle between Light and Dark, good and bad, and the struggle that the characters face trying to find a balance in their choices. There's major points earned when you realize that some of the characters choose darkness after following the light, some never stray from the light, and others choose light even though they've been touched by darkness. It shows a humanity normally not shown in vampire books. We all have to choose between right and wrong and these books show the characters facing these types of decisions.

Overall I think that it is a good series and perhaps I'll read more of them. I bought these two books at the thrift store so if I can find a good deal on the rest of the series I probably will read the rest of them. Perhaps, even save them for ECJ for when he's a bit older and not just newly turned 15 ... if his interest in vampires remains.

As We Begin February

So, I sat down Friday to figure out just how many weeks this month will be a four day week and how many are going to be five day weeks. We have 3 four day weeks and the rest is five day weeks. Ah, the freedom that homeschool provides! I didn't lesson plan for the entire month, I lesson plan for the following week each Thursday and it takes me about an hour or so to do each week total for all three kids. Honestly, I do the most simple way of just doing the next lesson in each book, assigning videos to go along with our science reading, and making sure that there's enough reading material in the house to fill in the gaps and the assigned reading each week. ECJ (15, 9th grade) is required to do an hour of reading each day on top of school lesson reading and his daily devotional reading, YCJ (11, 5th grade/6th grade math) is required a half hour of reading each day after lessons and including weekends, and Peanut (8, 2nd grade) practices reading each day with Starfall, or Teach Your Monster to Read or beginning readers. We picked up some new to us books from our friends at Living Life with 3 Sons on Friday and I've eagerly pawed through them looking at the awesomeness that is now ours. We've determined that having a set amount to read each day keeps us relaxed and ready to greet each new challenge school wise. The girls still get read a louds with me each night and part of every day during lessons. ECJ does most of his reading in the evening before bed, much like I do (when I can sneak the time to read other than in the tub lol). 


Saturday and Sunday we had a relaxed weekend going into another four day school week, but this time we didn't do any lessons over the weekend which gave the campers a three day weekend to relax and enjoy during. The girls surprised us by researching the pets they want (Peanut wants guppies and YCJ wants a guinea pig) and then writing us reports from their research. Both girls spent a couple hours on YouTube watching videos and taking notes and then writing their reports over both days of the weekend. We didn't suggest that they do this and were more than happy when they came up with the idea for themselves. I LOVE that they've decided to show such interest in learning about something that they truly want. We also had some spur of the moment cooking lessons with our Sunday supper of ham, beets, peas, and cheesy potatoes followed closely with the boiling of peas and ham bones for split pea soup. It will be a nice way to break up the amount of chicken that we'll be consuming this week as that's mainly what's in my freezer and I don't plan on going grocery shopping until Thursday.

Monday we of course had the beginning of this week's worth of lessons and I ran to the Secretary of State to renew my ID and to my doctor appointment. I do not drive, having given it up several years ago, so when my ID expired I didn't even notice until now. I've been going around with an expired ID for about three months now. Naughty naughty me. This week we've decided to do mainly online lessons and leave book lessons for next week as we have a lot planned for out of the house (Daddy and I) and the campers don't do so well if we move their lessons until evening. This decision was greeted with happy children when they were told in the morning not to expect book work this week.

Tuesday Daddy had a doctor appointment and then we had to run paperwork to the new community that we plan on moving our home to sometime in the next several weeks. All in all this didn't take a huge amount of time but the campers waited until we got back to do their online lessons. Mainly because my computer is acting funny and they didn't want to mess it up more without me being home. Of course they did no such messing up but I don't mind them waiting for me to be home to use my computer. I spent my afternoon researching new curriculum choices for next year. I probably won't change everything but you never know until I'm done planning. And, of course, Tuesday nights are catechism nights for the girls.


On Wednesday Daddy and I both had appointments in the next town so we left ECJ in charge of making sure each of the campers did their online lessons while we were out of the house. YCJ and Peanut are also still researching guppies and guinea pigs so they spent several hours this day online doing lessons and researching their future pets. Peanut says she might get a couple other fish besides guppies if we get her a big enough fish tank. When we got home, which was around supper time, we just heated up some split pea and ham soup we'd made earlier in the week and it made for a super simple meal. Thursday we again left ECJ in charge of online lessons while we went grocery shopping. I guess I got over them using my computer while I'm gone really quickly. But having them do their online lessons later in the day really doesn't work well for them. Mornings and midday are really the best times that they seem to learn and normally I don't schedule a week as heavy with out of the house appointments as I did this week.

Tomorrow, Friday, we have scheduled off of school this week. Moragon has a vet appointment to get the staples out of her belly and all of the kids want to go with us. Peanut is entertaining the thought of being a vet herself when she grows up so it's a good thing she likes visiting the vets every time we go. As for YCJ, she is entertaining the thought of becoming military police and then (after she leaves the service) becoming a k-9 officer, so the vet is a good trip for her to go on as well. ECJ hasn't much of a plan or clue about what he wants to go to college for. He knows he wants to go to college, he thinks he MIGHT go into the Air Force, and he's also fairly certain that he wants to do something with computers as his career. Hopefully we're able to get a plan in place for him before fall. Honestly the only thing that really interests him right now, besides girls, is video games. Perhaps he'll go into game design.

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Last Week of January 2017

Friday Daddy spent about an hour fixing the area right in front of the front door where the tile kept popping up. So now we have a small portion of laminate wood flooring right there instead of loose tiles. Saturday Moragon got to come home from the vet hospital. She'd needed an emergency hysterectomy to save her life. She still needs to return for a check up and again later to fix a torn ACL in her back leg if it doesn't repair itself (the vet thinks it will probably be another surgery). So, instead of doing the lessons that we skipped Wednesday and Friday due to our worry over Moragon we all just enjoyed her being back home. We did those two days worth of lessons after mass on Sunday. We took the morning off and then did our lessons starting around 11:30 AM and were finished just before two when the campers took a break for lunch. Everyone is still checking on Moragon in between lessons and other things that we are doing just to make sure she's doing OK. Mostly she is sleeping on the couch and being picky about her food since she was treated to wet dog food with real pieces of chicken added in while she was in the hospital. Our regular dried dog food isn't as interesting compared to that. 

I only planned for lessons Mon. - Thurs. for the campers this week as the third of the month falls on Friday and that's the day that we do all of our errand running and bill paying each month. We'll be stopping at our friend's house (Learning Life with 3 Sons) on Friday during the day to pick up some books they're giving us and we may stop at Grandma and Papa's house as well. Because we'll leave in the morning after breakfast and probably not get home until after supper time we just don't plan for lessons on the third of the month.

Monday I woke up early again for me and actually stayed up instead of cuddling back under the cozy blankets and going back to sleep. When the campers got up they did their chores and got ready for school after breakfast. Daddy had an appointment out of town again and so we quickly did our lessons while he was away. We were done before lunch time and Daddy was home just about the time we finished the lessons. The rest of the day was spent on Minecraft, 3DS games, reading, crocheting, and Netflix.

Actually there's 63
preemie hats here.

Tuesday we all woke up around 11 AM! Boy, did we sleep in! But, the same schedule as any other day was followed... breakfast, chores, and school. We finished up (even ECJ) in time for our usual lunch time of 2 PM. After lessons I made the last of this month's preemie hats (31 made in December and another 31 made in January), so now I have a total of 62 preemie hats for sizes 3lbs - 5lbs to donate. Next month I'm going to work on newborn size hats to donate as I'll be making the most of those and I'm a bit tired of the itty bitty hats. I've been working on Christmas gifts for next Christmas already as well, I have a goal of having them all done before the end of November and I have several neices and nephews to make for so I'll be rather busy. The campers worked each on their reading for awhile today. ECJ is reading The Way to Rainy Mountain, YCJ is working through the 4th grade readers that the library gave us, and Peanut is still working with Teach Your Monster to Read and we've added Starfall back in. She's reading the beginning books properly and with little help which means we're well on the way to being a fluent reader and I don't have to worry as much about whether she's getting it or not. Our afternoon was spent mainly relaxing as the temperatures were in the mid 20s and we'd gotten some snow overnight.

Wednesday the weather warmed up a bit and the campers were chomping on the bit to go outside and play. Lessons were done in record time and everyone got to go outside and play for about two hours before the public school kids got dropped off by the bus. Peanut colored her History page while sprawled out on the floor this day. Some days learning happens literally all over the house. When coloring sometimes it's just more fun to take up as much room on the floor as possible and grin when people have to walk around you. She hasn't done this in several months and I actually enjoy it when she does this because then I know that she's really getting into that lesson. YCJ was actually the first one done with her lessons today which is also a rarity around here. Usually Peanut is the first to get finished with everything that she's assigned and this has only happened once before in the entire time that we've been homeschooling. Once the campers came in to warm up from their outside play we spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching videos, and crafting.

That means it's time for Thursday, and we ended this week with the same high note we began it with! Lessons literally flew by! Some weeks you just get lucky and everyone is on the same page mentally so that things just go smooth and peaceful. I have to say that this is so awesome because we don't always have weeks like this one. Tomorrow we'll be running errands, attending to appointments, and stopping by friends and family to visit. Busy, busy, busy! But, we'll enjoy every minute of it!

Posts you may have missed this week:
Spanish for You - Review

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Spanish for You

Spanish for You

Curriculum Review

* I received a copy of this product for free to use with my family and review.

I have received nothing else for doing this review and the opinions 

within it are entirely my own. *

I received my copy of Spanish for You: Conversaciones in late September or early October and I had intended to begin using it right away. Unfortunately my printer was out of ink and with the holidays coming up I just couldn't purchase more ink right away. I used their free mini lessons (found here) since I had already printed out most of them before my printer ran dry. The girls (Peanut, age 8 and second grade ... YCJ, age 11 and fifth grade) seemed to enjoy these mini lessons and the Spanish videos that I could find on YouTube so I figured that the actual work for Spanish for You would be a big success as well!

I figured wrong.

Peanut working on
a worksheet.

But, before I get to that let me say a few things. This is a good product and would be awesome in the right hands to teach children with. We've only been working the lesson plans for about a month now (finally got ink in my printer) and everything is pretty neatly laid out for you so that you can do lessons without having to think about it. Go to that week's lessons, print off the worksheets you need for that week, make sure you have the flashcards ready and your audio ready and boom! You're in business.

I even got ECJ involved by having him color and cut out the entire packet of flashcards so that I wouldn't have to worry about not having them for the next lesson and so on. I spent the time before getting the ink for my printer going over and over the lesson plans and the text book thinking to myself that this was going to be awesome.

I was wrong.

YCJ working with
flashcards.

They're not enjoying it. They're really disliking doing it. As a matter of fact they're not even learning Spanish while using it! I don't know what I could be doing wrong but neither of them like this program whatsoever. It's the least favorite thing in lessons right now and they whine, complain, and pout every time we go to do anything involving it. This is not a good fit for my family. And I had so hoped that it would be. I have been drooling over this curriculum for a little over a year and a half and I am so disappointed that it's not going to work for us.

Ah well, back to the drawing board. YouTube and Duolingo (for Spanish) here we come! ECJ has been using Duolingo for most of the year to go along with the Spanish he's studying so I made YCJ an account as well for her to give it a try. Peanut's a bit young for it yet but that's ok. I'll find something that will work without the tears.

I'm sure this is a great program for some families. Just not mine.