Quick Week

Friday Daddy worked again and the campers and I did lessons really quickly. Review for language arts with adverbs and verbs for the girls, ECJ wrote a poem based off of the one he read for his assignment (he really doesn't like doing poems), then fractions/shapes/and algebra for math, Peanut reviewed body parts for science and YCJ worked on her report about rabbits and the differences and similarities between the two. ECJ worked on his story that he's writing about Minecraft and his character's life. On Saturday Daddy got called into work (he was going to go in for about an hour or so to tape and sand the walls in one of the apartments) and ended up there for several hours. The campers and I did a language arts lesson to finish up all of the review work at the end of each chapter that the girls were on and ECJ worked on another poem and his story. After which we all just relaxed and did our normal weekend fun stuff like crochet, play inside and out, use electronics, etc.


Sunday we got up early and went to mass, then Daddy had an appointment in the next town over, followed by a visit to Grandma and Papa's. We took them some leftovers that we knew that they'd enjoy and ran and errand for them and then had a wonderful visit. After which we went to the park and went scrapping afterwards. We noticed when we got home that the tomatoes and some of the herbs have sprouted in their little pots!

On Monday we did our lessons right after Daddy left for work. Pumping some music through the house while we did Language Arts and Math. Dancing and singing while doing lessons can really get the day, and the week, off to the right kind of start. YCJ struggled a bit with fractions today ... she's not grasping that 8/8 (for example) = 1 and vice versa. We'll get there I'm sure in time. Peanut is still enjoying doing ABC Mouse each day and she looks forward to it as if it were just a game and not something that is teaching her to read better. ECJ helped today by doing some read a loud for YCJ in American History and helped with her math a bit as well to just give her a different person to growl at about fractions. We also did a retake of the bouncing egg experiment and did get it to bounce a bit before it accidentally got smashed right into YCJ's lap! After Daddy was done with work he and I went to the scrap yard and then stopped at the grocery store for some steaks. We'd smelled BBQ steak in nearly every neighborhood Sunday night and got a craving for some ourselves, so that's what was on the menu for supper Monday. And of course the day was ended with more scrapping and then Daddy driving his buddy to work before he and I went to bed.

Tuesday we got up in the morning and Daddy went to work. While the campers did their chores and ate breakfast I prepped supper and got it started in the crock pot. Then we did lessons on adjectives, nominative and objective use of I/we/me/us, algebra, poetry, shapes and separating other shapes out of bigger shapes, and fractions with a touch of converting cm into mm. What a quick day it was getting lessons done in less than an hour! Which was a good thing because Noni came over and we did a take out lunch and some movies from RedBox. The original plan had been to go to the park but we had that misty rain so we switched gears to movies. We watched Sing all together and also rented three other movies to watch during the evening: Fantastic Beasts, Pete's Dragon, and Patriots Day. The last of which we rented for just Daddy and I to watch during the evening after the campers go to bed. After Noni left the kids chose to watch Fantastic Beasts together while Daddy was still at work. The girls had their last catechism class for the year in the mid-afternoon where YCJ had a pizza party and Peanut got candy as a reward. Then the girls, Daddy, and I went scrapping for a bit before coming home and eating a late supper.




On Wednesday Daddy left for work before the rest of us were even awake. By 10 AM the rest of us were up for breakfast, chores, and coffee (well, I was up for coffee). By 10:30 we were doing lessons, including measuring the seedlings that have sprouted in the containers; the tomatoes grew 2 cm overnight! It's great to see the campers finding an interest in seeds again this year. I have the containers ready for our container garden but you can't plant anything outside here until after Mother's Day if you want to be fairly sure that the frost won't get them. Even though we're having a really warm spring I'm not going to chance it. Lessons were done, including the computer lessons, well before one in the afternoon. Peanut got introduced again to fractions of 1/2 and 1/4 and she flew through her math lesson because we talk about these fractions on almost a daily basis when we cut things to eat. As in do you want your sandwich cut in halves or fourths? After lessons I went to work on a second garter for my sister to wear at her wedding (I'm making two so she can wear one and keep it and have her new hubby toss the other one), I completed the first one on Monday. Working with thread to make things is a little tricky when you're used to working with much thicker yarn than the thread that is on your hook. After Daddy got home from work we ran to the scrap yard and then did a couple little things around the house. Followed by more scrapping and a stop at a playground that we found while we were out.

Thursday Daddy went to an appointment in the next town leaving ECJ to break down the scrap that needed to be broken down. ECJ applied himself to the task instead of doing lessons during the morning and made them up at night (he really can do his lessons any time of the day, usually he just does them while the girls do to have something to do). The girls and I did lessons really quickly and then Peanut took a quick bath to get her temporary tattoos off before doing her online lessons. I did next week's lesson plans while the computer was being used by the girls. When Daddy got home he finished taking apart the scrap and then we were all off to the scrap yard after lunch. After the scrap yard we came home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Netflix and crochet with lots of giggles was just what we needed for the night.

This week Peanut began learning about fractions: 1/2, 1/4, and 1/3 ... she also began the dreaded sentence diagramming (which all of my kids hate). YCJ worked hard at decimals and angles during math and did work with pronouns for review. ECJ flew through his algebra work this week and struggled still with writing poems. We finished lesson 5 in Notgrass: America the Beautiful this week and YCJ finished her other History text as well. We'll be leaving off doing history again until the beginning of next school year, touching on it through movies and cartoons off and on throughout the summer. We're also doing less for science now with Peanut  just working through her science workbook (this week was nutrition) and YCJ picking a topic each week to research and write a report about. ECJ still has several weeks worth of science to complete to get his credit. Our major science project for the rest of this school year and throughout the summer will be our veggie and herb garden.

We were so busy this week that the week just seemed to fly by. Everyone is on allergy medicine now and still struggling with allergies already due to the warmth we've been having. But, we're getting tons of hours outside thanks to it being so warm so it's a trade off.

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Posts you may have missed this week:
Notgrass: America the Beautiful review
The Privilege of Youth - book review

Linking up this week for the weekly wrap up and homeschool highlights. 

The Privilege of Youth Book Review

The Privilege of Youth

By: Dave Pelzer

Book Review

This is the third book that I've read by Dave Pelzer. The first was The Boy Called It and the second was The Lost Boy (follow the links to my reviews of both books). Of the three this book was the most dry and the least emotionally challenging. Of course it also covers a chunk of time that is relatively small and details exploits of youth that seem a bit radical (either that or I wasn't as wild a youth as I thought that I was lol).

It's a good read though. And taken with the other two books it goes chronologically through this young man's life from trauma to drama, from pain to love, and from isolation to inclusion. You can't help but pump a fist in the air as this young man gets stronger and stronger throughout his life and it's many challenges. 

It's a book I would not hesitate to read again and again, along with the two books that proceeded it. Although, due to some of the stunts he pulls in his youth, it IS a book that I might hesitate to hand my teenage son. Only because I cannot fathom allowing him to get these ideas of wild things to do because I handed him this book. In all other ways it's a perfectly good book for him to read, just not so much with all of his neurons not firing correctly and his choices to do reckless things to begin with. 

I really don't want to get too detailed with this book as it's specific to an age and time and each thing that happens will make you either gasp, laugh, or cringe. Check it out for yourself!

A Man Named Dave is the next book in this series and I do not own it so I will have to either purchase it or borrow it from the library. It is a book that I will make sure to read before the end of 2017 though.

Notgrass: America the Beautiful Review

So, a few months ago I contacted Notgrass about their America the Beautiful curriculum and if they'd be willing to give me a copy to review. They did! And I'm very excited to be giving you a review on this material! I did NOT receive any money to review this curriculum and this is my honest opinion of the materials and how we use them.


* This curriculum is meant to be done as a lesson a day and we've been doing a lesson a week as we plan on using this curriculum next school year. Come September we'll begin doing a lesson a day and using the curriculum as it is intended. *

Items I received to review:

• America the Beautiful Volume 1 and 2
• Timeline of America the Beautiful
• Maps of America the Beautiful
• We the People book
• Answer key
• One Student Workbook (I bought another one for under $12 for Peanut)
• Lesson Review book

I did not purchase, nor receive, the literature package that consists of ten assigned titles to read throughout the school year. To purchase those books through Notgrass the cost is around $60 and we may purchase those when Peanut goes through this curriculum again for her 6th grade year. This is a middle school level curriculum that I'm using for both girls who in September will be in 6th and 3rd grades. 

Map work.

At the end of each reading for the lessons in the main America the Beautiful books it will tell you what to do with that lesson. Which map section to do, what lesson in the workbook, any reading in the We the People book, any writing that can be done with the lesson, Bible lessons, etc. This curriculum on it's own can be used to cover not only History but also Bible and Language Arts. Currently we're just using it for History, but I can see easily how it can be used for all three subjects.

This curriculum is well laid out and easy to follow. Each week there is a family project to work on that is linked to that weeks lessons. So, you do five lessons and on that fifth lesson there's a project to work on (you can do the project any time during that week) so you may want to schedule a little extra time to work on the project one of the days a week.

ECJ helping Peanut with a word search in the Student Workbook.

My girls are absolutely loving this approach to History! They enjoy each reading, discuss all of the pictures in the book, haven't had issues completing the map work or student workbook assignments, and they're actually retaining the information that's coming at them! ECJ even listens in when I'm reading out loud to the girls and sometimes pipes up with a question or observation that the girls haven't come up with. Being that he's in 9th grade this year and still drawn in to each lesson I think that this material is really engaging.

We're just now reaching the first family project in the book because we've only been doing a lesson a week and the girls are looking forward to making an Iroquoian Longhouse. In the back of the main book you'll find each family activity and the supplies needed for each. From looking over several of the projects we've determined that it's rather easy to get the supplies and that it wouldn't cost much to do each project. You can always chose not to do the projects (or certain parts of each lesson like the language arts part or biblical part). 

I would definitely recommend this curriculum to anyone who was looking into a complete history curriculum for their children. The cost is rather high when you first look at it, but when you think that you can use these books over and over again, only have to re-purchase the student workbooks for around $12 for each child who goes through this curriculum, AND you can cover three subjects with just this group of books you really are coming out very well financially. In a family like ours where you have at least a couple children are going to go through the curriculum (either at the same time or separately) the cost is outweighed by the benefit of using this.

All in all I think that this is a great curriculum and I feel honored to be able to give it a review!

Easter Plus

*I typed this week's wrap up review a day at a time throughout the week to make it easier for me to remember what happened when because we're having a super busy week.*

Friday everyone was still getting over the crud. So, we relaxed all day while Daddy went scrapping and then I went to the scrap yard with them. Then the campers pretty much begged to go do something in the nice weather and we went walking by the bridge in Port Huron, then to two different parks for them to play. In the evening Daddy and I helped a neighbor move some of their belongings to their new house in the next town. 

Car being lifted at the scrap yard.

On Saturday everyone was feeling much better. Which was awesome because we had an 80* day in April! So, we all went outside and Daddy, ECJ, and I began cutting up the old decking wood and burning what we could even though it was very windy. The girls played with their neighborhood friends and later ECJ and I walked up to the store for vinegar because I couldn't find the one I bought on Tuesday last week. I got a bit of sunburn on my face for my efforts but it was fun to dye the Easter eggs and then BBQ bratwurst that evening.

Decorated eggs on Saturday

Easter Sunday I woke up to the Easter Bunny having hid all of the eggs and the baskets (thank you, Daddy). The campers did all of their normal Easter morning traditions: the egg hunt, the basket hunt, the traditional hard boiled egg breakfast, and then the process of getting dressed up. This year that included nylons for YCJ and a pair of low heels, my she is growing up too fast! Then we went to Easter mass and then it was off to Grandma and Papa's house for Easter brunch (a tradition that just started a few years ago previously it was Easter Dinner). And yes, after hanging with family and visiting for the day the campers all changed clothing and then we went scrapping. One must take advantage of being in a scrap heavy community when one can!

Monday we had a productive day. We kept lessons nonexistent because we had an appointment in the morning and then a lot of errand running and scrapping to do in the afternoon and evening. I saw the doctor first thing in the morning and got some blood work done, I will also be being called for a few tests to be ran, nothing too worrisome. Then Daddy and I came home and let the campers play outside while he took apart scrap for the scrap yard. A quick run to the scrap yard ($160 day!) and then off we went to buy the animals food, put gas in the truck, stop at Daddy's new job to pick up paperwork, go scrapping again, and pick up supper. I still haven't fit in grocery shopping yet this month but we'll probably get around to that later on this week some time. We found a lone drum for Peanut who's been so patient in waiting for her own drum, she's been using my coffee cans since she was three and it's been the only item that she's been asking for consistently for this whole time (she's going to be nine this year). We have lessons planned for the rest of the week with an extra language arts lesson scheduled for Saturday. So we spent the rest of the night relaxing, playing music, crocheting, whatever made each of us happy. The girls also got to camp out in the living room again this night because they wanted to fall asleep on the "nice comfy couches".


So, Tuesday rolled around and we had a bit of a busy day. Daddy and I ran to the scrap yard after a quick cup of coffee first thing in the morning, then went to pick up some more scrap, I had an appointment at noon, and Daddy started his first day of his new job at 1. Right after Daddy left for work I got the campers started on school lessons, started a load of laundry, and got us ready for two projects. After lessons we quickly walked up to the local grocery store to pick up some lunch stuff (I still haven't done the monthly grocery shopping yet) and then home. While the campers ate lunch I got the planting disks soaking so that we can use them on Wednesday to plant some herbs and tomatoes to start in the house and I walked them through the set up of the egg experiment to turn a regular egg into a rubberized version. You can find that experiment here on YouTube and you may have seen it floating around on Facebook. I even shared it on our Facebook page. After which we went up to collect the mail from the box and play at the playground for just a few minutes. Then I switched laundry loads, typed this up, and then folded a load of laundry while Peanut played on her new drums because we found a whole little set today (so now she has many things to bang). Once Daddy is home from work we'll be taking the girls to catechism (after they had a two week Easter break), picking up more scrap, and frozen pizzas for supper. And sometime this evening I plan to crochet.

Wednesday we started our day in pajamas doing science. We notebooked about the egg-speriment (LOL) and noticed the changes to the egg. Then planted the seeds that I had starter pots for and covered the tray and wrote out a chart to graph their growth on, just like we did last year. Then everyone got dressed, Daddy went to work after separating the scrap in the back of the truck, and we began lessons around 10 AM. By noon the campers were done with everything except for online classes (Peanut had just finished hers and then YCJ began them while ECJ worked on Algebra). After Daddy got home we reloaded the scrap into the truck and went to the scrap yard. After which we stopped in on Grandma and Papa to check on them and eat a dinner of chili dogs with them, visited with one of Daddy's friends for a few minutes, and then went scrapping in a great scrap area.

Parsley, basil, chives, and two types of tomatoes planted.

Thursday morning rolled around and we all slept in until about ten am because it was overcast and we were all sleepy. Daddy downed a quick cup of coffee and then ran to his appointment two towns over and then was off to work. I drank a cup of coffee and ate a banana for breakfast while the campers indulged in glasses of milk and warmed up bagels. This is the first day this week that we were not reviewing anything in language arts or math so the kids got introduced to new sections of their text books. YCJ was working on fractions and borrowing from a whole number to subtract and add those fractions, Peanut was learning about angles and shapes, ECJ jumped into his algebra with both feet and complained about the story problems that he had to figure out. Lessons were done relatively quickly in the morning and then in the afternoon we charted the growth of our seeds (nothing above the soil yet, obviously because we just planted them on Wednesday) and got our egg out of the vinegar bath to see if you could bounce it after I washed off the shell. Well, it was sort of a fail! We obviously didn't soak it long enough and after talking to a few people who've done this we decided to soak another one but this time do it for like a week. So, a new egg is in the jar and soaking and we'll see this time next week if it works. I'm only trying it one more time. To see the video of what happened as we tried it you'll have to go check out our Facebook page here. 

ECJ helping the girls with the word search activity
for today's assignment in their workbooks from
Notgrass: America the Beautiful.

Posts you may have missed
Planning and Thinking


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Planning and Thinking

So, we all spend several weeks to months planning for the next school year and what we're going to use for curriculum. I have spent the majority of this school year planning for next school year simply because I'm going to be using a more unit study approach next year than I've previously used.

So, here's the plan for now:

Sixth Grade (YCJ) - The Prairie Primer for literature, science, art, and touching on all other subjects. Saxon math 7/6 for math. And America the Beautiful from Notgrass for American History. 

Third Grade (Peanut) - The Prairie Primer for literature, science, art, and touching on all other subjects. Seton third grade math for mathematics. And America the Beautiful from Notgrass for American History, modified because this is a middle school level book and she'll be doing it again in sixth grade.

Tenth Grade (ECJ) - Algebra 2 through Abeka books and backing that up with Khan Academy and All In One High School. The Lord of the Rings curriculum guide and books for language arts plus British Literature  through All In One High School. World History with a textbook and All In One High School. Spanish 2 through All In One High School and Duolingo work. And some sort of Biology with lab. 

As you can tell I'm more solid about what's being used for the younger two campers because we're still deciding if we should allow ECJ to return to a brick and mortar public school like he wants to do or if we will keep him home another year. He does well with using both text books and tech so we'll certainly be doing a mix of both if he's staying at home next year. I'm well aware that what I've picked out for him for language arts seems like a lot when you break it down but The Lord of the Rings curriculum is meant more for middle school students than high school level and I think that he'd be best served with doing both it and British Literature.

I'm nervous because we've never really done a major, all year long, unit study approach. Small unit studies for science we've done all this year and I do have several science books that range from Kindergarten through eighth grade that we'll be digging into. Probably starting with the Physical Science books that I have. We also have several math and language arts workbooks through until seventh grade that we'll be implementing to get even more practice.

We'll see what the new year holds and in August I'll be posting a definite list of curriculum that we'll be using but this is probably what it's going to look like. 

Family Fun and Illness

Friday we were out of power at the house until around six pm. So, we helped Daddy take scrap back to the scrap yard (to warm up in the truck) and stopped by Grandma and Papa's house to visit with some family that is up visiting from Texas. They're only here for a few days so we snuck in the extra visit with them. We were only home for about an hour when the power came back on and I happily cooked supper and everyone immediately turned on the TVs with Netflix ... the campers thought they were going to die without electronics and it being chilly outside, though they had played for about two hours outside with their cousins at Grandma and Papa's house.

Saturday we all basically hung out around the house until the afternoon where we met up with friends from Learning Life with 3 Sons at the big park by our house. We spent a couple hours there and then the campers played outside when we got home as well. BBQ pork was what was on the menu for supper.

 On Sunday we did the lessons that we missed doing on Friday (since nobody wanted to do school in a chilly house with no heat and no electricity), went to mass, and then went to visit at Grandma and Papa's house again. The Texan cousins left on Monday so this was our last chance to see them until sometime this summer when they plan to be back for a visit. The campers and their cousins spent most of the time during the visit outside in Grandma and Papa's back yard, when we left we went to a park down the road (while Daddy picked up some more scrap metal) and played for about another hour because the weather was so very nice. 75* in April for Michigan is a rare treat! Peanut had woken up not feeling 100% and we chalked it up to allergies until later in the evening when she spiked a small fever. 


Monday we were supposed to do lessons first thing in the morning but Peanut had another fever and was feeling even worse. I called the doctor and set up an appointment for Tuesday morning which is the first they had available. Then I called school off for the day, went to the scrap yard with Daddy, picked up orange juice and over the counter medicines on the way home, and then we picked up YCJ for her follow up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon (to find out what the MRI said). As was suspected YCJ simply bruised her kneecap and it should heal on it's own. If it continues to hurt after four more weeks we'll look into physical therapy but that's all. This is a giant load off of my shoulders at the moment.

On Tuesday Peanut had her doctor appointment and Daddy and I took her to it, turns out she has a virus that is going around and it only lasts on average four days. Plus, we're supposedly over the worst of it so that's good. After the appointment Noni showed up and she and I went to see the Easter Bunny about some baskets and fillings. Plus I got my ear pierced (as part of my birthday present early since my birthday is next month). It's a daith piercing and is supposed to help those with migraines. I'm willing to try anything and I don't even feel it in my ear, plus unless you're looking for it or already know that it's there it isn't very noticeable because the ring is actually inside of my ear most of the time. We brought home lunch from Burger King and Noni visited for a little while before she had to leave. That night Daddy and I went scrapping and filled up the bed of the truck again.

Peanut working on
ABC Mouse

 So, on Wednesday Daddy broke down the scrap metal that we'd picked up and then we all took it to the scrap yard. While Daddy was breaking down the scrap Peanut got involved in working on ABC Mouse, which we have right now again for a little while but have decided that if she keeps working on it daily we'll pay the monthly subscription fee. She really does like the program. You're first month is free and they currently run from nursery through second grade, it's certainly a program worth checking out and you can even upload it to a phone or tablet. I decided that although we've already taken a spring break we'll be taking this entire week off of lessons as a sick week and I'm just going to shrug it off. We homeschool year round so really taking another week off at this point doesn't effect us what-so-ever.

Thursday all of the campers were down for the count with the crud. Peanut just basically still had the runny nose but the other two were feeling totally icky. The main part of the morning was spent with them watching Netflix and me crocheting. Daddy helped out one of his friends and then went to an appointment, after which he came home to break up some scrap and then he and I went to the scrap yard . I picked up some earrings while we were out because I did not have any and want to wear some for Easter. We BBQ'ed bratwurst for supper and had some fries as well. 

We'll be back to regular lessons next week come the crud or not!

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No Fools Day

April first has always been a day that I dreaded having come around because I have some natural jokers in my house. So, this year we decided that instead of it being April Fools Day it will be April NO Fools Day. All day long you must tell the absolute truth and cannot pull any jokes on anyone (since jokes and tricks are daily occurrences in our home). At first ECJ balked at this idea because April Fools Day happens to be one of his favorite holidays but he came around when I told him that I just need one day a year with no jokes or tricks. One serious day for this very serious mom.

Friday, the last day of March, we all woke up relatively early for us by choice. That's right! We had absolutely no reason to get up so early! Daddy and I enjoyed about two hours of absolute quiet in the house before the campers even woke up. This is such a rarity in our home that it was a decadent treat. Two whole hours to be a couple just spending quiet time together without kids walking in and out of our room asking a million and one questions was just awesome. After the campers got up and ate breakfast Daddy and I ran to the store for more rabbit food (this time we bought several pounds at once so maybe we won't be buying more next week but we probably will anyways) while the campers did their chores. Just like on a farm the first thing done after breakfast is taking care of all of the animals ... unlike farm life we don't have to get up early to do it. We began our lessons around noon and were done by 1:30 PM. This is also the day that Daddy cut his hair and beard and instead of doing two loads of laundry during the day I did just one in the evening after Daddy's shower. Being Friday we had fish and fries for supper, unlike usual Friday's I actually used store bought fries and smothered them with cheese! MM mm good!

Saturday, April No Fools Day, we didn't have lessons scheduled. And I didn't have a full load of laundry to do. So, other than taking care of animals there was literally nothing on the agenda to do! We played with the rabbit, watched movies and shows, worked on individual craft projects, and basically hung out together. No one pulled any tricks on anyone else and everyone was honest for the entire day! It was so peaceful ... just what I needed.

On Sunday we all got up relatively early just because and got ready for the day. While Daddy was getting ready for his appointment he noticed that some birds were trying to make a nest in the vent for the stove ... lovely. He scared off the birds and asked me to keep an eye out for them coming back then he left. We did lessons within an hour while he was gone and then YCJ jumped in the shower while Peanut got dressed for the day. Yup, we're those homeschoolers that you hear about that normally wear our pajamas all day long and don't worry about it, getting dressed only when leaving the house. Proud of it too because we work best when we're comfortable. ECJ jumped into the shower after his sister. And then we were all ready for when Daddy got home. We went to see Grandma and Papa this day just for the fun of it. Of course we helped out by running the vacuum and whatnot while we were there but mainly we were only there for a visit. After our visit we drove around for a while picking up scrap metal and then headed home for a late supper and bed.

Monday we got up and paid all of the bills that we can pay electronically while drinking our coffee. Then Daddy went outside to organize the scrap metal before taking it back to the scrap yard. We used to scrap on an almost daily basis but now only do it a couple of times a month when we are down by Grandma and Papa's house towards evening because where we live it takes a long time to gather enough scrap to make it worth taking back to the yard. Every penny counts in this house! We all went with Daddy to the scrap yard and then to complete our monthly errand running that we do every month on the third ... like the water bill and house payment. Daddy made BBQ chicken for dinner and we all watched a movie before bed. I had already scheduled off for this day of lessons because we're never home all day on the third of the month.

So, on Tuesday our day was basically flipped upside down. YCJ had her appointment for the MRI at 11:30 so we took care of that first thing. I even went into the room with her for the test. Call me an over protective mamma if you wish but I do try to go into almost every appointment that all of the campers have. The only time they are alone is during their pediatric dentist appointments, and that is after several visits to the dentist and the children now trusting where we go. The MRI went off without a hitch and then we came home. Daddy took ECJ out to pick up some scrap that he'd been called to pick up and I did lessons with the girls, mainly math (addition and subtraction for Peanut and fractions for YCJ) and a lesson in our Notgrass America the Beautiful history book. The girls and I are really enjoying this history work. So far their favorite thing is the map work. When Daddy and ECJ got home ECJ did his lessons for the day at the kitchen table. Unfortunately there wasn't any outside time to play today because for the second day in a row we had that misty not really rain rain falling. 

When I sat down on Thursday to update this post we lost power and it was out until 7 PM on Friday! So, instead of updating with the normal "we did lessons yadda, yadda, yadda" I'm just going to say that I am really happy that the electricity is now back on! I apologize for the lack of pictures but my phone and computer aren't talking today for some reason. Hopefully I can fix that by next week!

You may have missed this post this week:
The Lost Boy - Book Review


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The Lost Boy - Book Review

The Lost Boy

By - Dave Pelzer

Book Review

This is the second book in this series (check out my review on the first book here). This one is a much easier book to read emotionally. You find yourself pulling for the boy to do the right thing and chuckling a bit at some of his antics. You learn something about the foster care system and how well it can work even when it shows that there's still problems with the system.

Up and down in the world of a teenage boy. This book is amazing in that it never slows down. You can always tell just what mood you should be in and even when the boy is acting out you willingly relax and say to yourself, "He's just a kid." You find yourself amazed at some of the situations that he finds himself in ... wishing that you could do something to get him out of a couple of them. Noticing that his drive was strong even as a young man.

This is a book that I can recommend that everyone read, even if you haven't read the first book. It's an uplifting tale of overcoming adversity on a grand scale and a good read on top of that. I think that I'll be having ECJ check this book out after he's done with the one he's currently working on.