The Ides of March

So we've reached the middle of March. I left off last Thursday (as I do most weeks because Fridays are usually a bit busy for us) with not knowing our exact plans for Friday. Our Friday turned out with just Daddy heading down to Grandma and Papa's house to help out and pick up several of our lamps that were still camping out in their basement, he also bought dinner for himself and them while he was there. The campers and I did lessons just after Daddy left around 11 AM and were done before two, including online lessons. YCJ's reading is going really well and she's continuing to work through the fourth grade level books that our library gave us several months ago. With Saint Patrick's Day coming up in just a week's time we did some coloring pages to decorate the girls window since it's at the front of the house and can be seen from the street. I also printed out a word search for the campers to do next Friday and a bit of copy work for them. After lessons and coloring I went off into the bedroom to crochet for a few hours and got the majority of one of the blankets finished for a Christmas gift. In between everything three loads of laundry was done, dishes were done, vacuuming was accomplished, and my bedding was stripped and the bed remade. After Daddy got home we straightened up the campers bedrooms with the intent to organize the whole house (well, pretty much) on Saturday.



I also found out that one of my friends will be sending me several packages of seeds for our garden! So many seeds that I've already asked two of my close friends if they'd like some and have plans for giving the rest of the extra away as well. I should have them towards the middle of the week! We won't be planting until next month because I refuse to transfer plants outside until the threat of frost is over ... But, we'll be posting pictures on Facebook (follow the link to go directly to Homeschool Campers Facebook page) the entire planting process and while we're building the raised beds outside!

Saturday we didn't end up organizing the house so much as running errands. The rest of the monthly grocery shopping had to be done (this month we came in $60 under budget which means we have a little wiggle room if we need extra of something) and a few other errands. We weren't home more than a few minutes when Daddy found a whole lot of free workbooks and teacher's books on Craigslist so we were off again. When I say a whole lot of them I mean two HUGE boxes! It took me over forty-five minutes to sort through them in the living room and to come to the conclusion that I have enough here with different grade levels to keep us in workbooks until Peanut finishes next school year ... PLUS I have enough science books that are K-8 that I won't have to buy any science curriculum until YCJ hits ninth grade in a few more years (she's only in 5th grade now). To say that I'm thrilled is an understatement y'all! I used the leftover taco meat from Thursday to make nachos this night so dinner literally took less than fifteen minutes to make start to finish and then Daddy and I chose to relax instead of organize the house.

On Sunday we went to church and Daddy went to his weekly appointment a few towns over. While he was gone we worked on the last bit of lessons scheduled for last week and got them done quickly without fuss. After he got home we had several projects to get started or work on. One was the girls room, getting it more organized and clean. We accomplished everything but going through their dressers. ECJ was in charge of getting his room actually clean and not just "teenager" clean, and although it took him most of the day he got that done. We were going to tackle working on the front bathroom but instead we relaxed during the late afternoon and evening when the snow started to trickle down.





Monday morning Daddy and I snuck out of the house after just ECJ had woken up to pick up our new bunny for the girls. Her name is Sugar Baby and her daddy bit off one of her ears when she was a baby. She's between three and four years old now and we got her with all of her goodies and her cage completely for free. (This is our week to find awesomeness it seems!) Sugar Baby is a complete hit with the girls and is now living in their room. The cat has yet to meet her but the dogs have (through the cage) and although they are curious they aren't aggressive towards her. Not that we'd let them in the same room when she's out of the cage because well ... dogs and bunnies do not normally mix on good terms. We did lessons after the girls met their new pet and flew through them without any complaint and with everyone doing very well on their work. We also began our Notgrass History America the Beautiful this day. We've decided to do one lesson a week to start out. Since I plan on using this same history next year while the girls are doing The Prairie Primer there is no need at this time to work on it at full pace. Peanut isn't even in the grade that America the Beautiful is recommended for (5-8) and YCJ is only in 5th grade this year. On top of that I plan on doing this same book again with Peanut when she hits about sixth grade. All in all it was a wonderful day with the rest of it spent playing with our new bunny, watching Netflix, crafting, and watching light snow fall without much accumulation to speak of. Winter really isn't over yet I guess.

Tuesday was a Noni day. So, we didn't have any lessons. Instead Noni came over and bought McDonald's for lunch and then we watched Trolls (you can buy it on Amazon here ... nope, I'm not an affiliate) which provided a lot of giggles and happy faces. Combine that with the candy we ate while watching it an we were all set! A couple hours after Noni left the girls had catechism class, like most Tuesday nights. On our way back from dropping them off we stopped and got our mail where I found that a friend of mine had sent me a bunch of seeds for planting! I'd been expecting some seeds but not nearly as much as she sent me! I simply cannot wait until spring!!! I'm so ready to start our little garden. And not to worry, I'll be spreading the love and giving seeds to some friends of mine as well. This really has been our week for free awesomeness! We are blessed! Daddy cooked this night so I didn't have to think about cooking anything at all and we ate about an hour after the girls got home from catechism. A long day and an early night kept us all well contented. 


Daddy had to go help Grandma and Papa out again on Wednesday so, even though we all woke up a little late, we did our lessons first thing after Daddy left and were done within two hours ... even including working on our new History notebooks. Afterward Peanut watched some cartoons on Netflix in the living room, ECJ worked on his Minecraft project that he hasn't shown me yet, and YCJ sat with me while we finished watching a show I enjoyed on Netflix in my bedroom while I worked on a cross stitch that I plan to send to my sister for my nephew. It's 5x7 and I plan to have it done no later than Saturday ... we shall see if I can succeed in that endeavor. Daddy didn't get home until it was the girls bedtime and they were so excited to see him and have good night snuggles before bed. We're planning on all going down on Friday to help Grandma and Papa some more and do our Friday lessons on Saturday or Sunday depending on what else we end up having to do this weekend. As an aside, Moragon pouted until Daddy got home. As you can see she kept staring at the door waiting for him to walk back in it.

Thursday morning Daddy had another appointment (he goes every Thursday and Sunday to this specific appointment) and we did lessons just as soon as he left because we know that we have time to get lessons done while he is gone and that means that we have the rest of the day to do what we each enjoy. ECJ worked on his Great Wall of China in Minecraft for about half an hour before graciously handing his tablet over to Peanut so that she could play Minecraft for a while and YCJ turned on Monster High on Netflix to continue watching the seasons in order. It's one of her favorite shows. ECJ kind of began messing with his guitar again but still hasn't broken out the DVD and book that I bought him a few weeks back. Once Daddy was home I retreated into the bedroom to work on a cross stitch that I'm making for my sister to hang on her wall all about my one year old nephew. I'll be working on it off and on for the majority of the day. We have a trip to the store to do this evening to have everything ready to take down to Grandma and Papa's house tomorrow (Friday) . I'll be making corned beef and cabbage while we're down there, straightening up the house, and getting one of the bedrooms ready for when my sister in law and her children come up for a couple days at the beginning of next month from Texas.

ECJ struggled with Algebra 1 this week and took to drinking coffee while working on it just because he claims that it helps. He's still writing a paragraph each day about his reading in Language Arts and History. YCJ has finally reached a point in her math book where it's becoming a challenge ... but she enjoys math the most right now basically because she knows that she's a grade ahead in math at this point. Peanut worked on present tense verbs and all their different forms this week, improved her reading, and did most of her math without my help! I'm so proud of these three campers!

Linking up this week with Weird Unsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap Up and Homeschool Highlights.