Going Through the Week

Last week I told you some plans about what we might do on Friday. Well, they didn't all happen. Daddy and I did go to the scrap yard first thing in the morning. After that Daddy went to work and the campers went outside to play for awhile until Daddy came home and he and I left again. We went to a quick lunch with just the two of us (a small date that we sometimes need and enjoy) and then went to a garage sale and grocery shopping. We picked up several large binders for a dollar each at the garage sales and I was able to pick up a three hole punch while at the grocery store. That means that I got my entire planner for next year all laid out and ready to use. I printed off some worksheets that I found online for some curriculum we'll be using next year for the girls (we'll be using the Prairie Primer) and I just looked for worksheets for the first book in the series. A little planning now will save me a lot of time next fall. I also printed off a few science things from The Good and The Beautiful curriculum page for use this summer so that we do some science during the summer other than just nature studies ...which really is enough to study, but I like more and more things sometimes. We had Taco Bell for supper as it just opened two days ago here in our town and I didn't really feel like cooking supper this night. The campers played outside until about eight when they came in to take their medicines and have quiet time reading before bed. We've recently reinstated quiet reading from 8:30 in the evening until bedtime, which has really been making a difference in how quickly that the campers fall asleep. Bedtime was at 9 this night as Daddy and I both wanted to be in bed by midnight and often times it takes the campers upwards of an hour and a half to fall asleep ... unless they've been outside or working for the majority of the day and then they fall asleep in what seems like five minutes!


Saturday started as every other day does around here. The campers woke up, did their chores, and then ate breakfast. Then it was time for Daddy and I to go and pick up just a few things we were missing in order to build our shed ... like screws (those are really important for putting things together). Then everyone was outside when we got back. The girls literally played with their friends from the neighborhood all day long while ECJ helped Daddy and I build the walls to the shed. We were outside from 11 am until 8 pm ... yup, nine whole hours in one day. We didn't use blueprints for building the shed, simply worked off plans that were in Daddy's head. We used entirely recycled and repurposed materials for the shed. As you can see it's made out of old deck wood (from a friend's deck that they took down) and old metal siding (that Daddy and I found while scrapping). It's about 6 foot by 8 foot and is definitely big enough to handle all of our outside storage needs, including three bikes and three scooters for the campers. I think we did a really awesome job and I'm just in love with my new shed. We also managed to pick up some "oops" paint and stain from our local hardware store (about $300 worth that we only paid $25 for total) and among the colors of paint there's one that will compliment the stain color so I'll be painting the metal and staining the wood after it's all built. I can't wait to begin using it so we put all of our supplies to finish it off inside the shed to store them.

On Sunday we were bad and skipped mass. We woke up later than planned and just didn't make it on time. So, Daddy and I went to the next town over to get roofing supplies for the shed and some more dirt for his work. But, instead of working on the shed we decided to let Daddy think and plan for the roof a bit more and spent our afternoon as a family doing fun stuff instead. The fun stuff included going to a cider mill about sixty miles from the house, taking a short walk (it was in the 90's y'all), and then going scrapping. We stopped halfway through for some play time at the park and some frozen drinks. Then we finished filling up all at one house where some kind gentlemen were getting rid of a TON of items. So many items in fact that we had to go back the next day to pick up the rest of them! We were done scrapping earlier than normal and got home in time for the campers to have a game of catch with the neighbor kids, well Peanut played Littlest Pet Shops with her friend from next door instead of playing catch. Then they came in and took showers and baths. Supper was a quick fix for them of spaghetti o's and a desert of vanilla ice cream, Daddy and I were too hot to be hungry.

Monday we got started early in the day to try to beat the heat. Daddy went off to work to spread dirt and grass seed. I transplanted the last two tomato plants (the ones we grew from seeds, since the store bought ones were already planted), got meatballs browned and put in gravy in the crock pot for summer, and caught up on this blog. The girls picked some fresh greens for Sugar Baby, their rabbit, and then Peanut picked our first ripe strawberry and ate it. Pronouncing it "super good!" The girls then continued to play outside and ECJ worked on taking apart the scrap that we'd collected from the night before. I washed dishes and folded a load of laundry. We try to keep as much as we can get done before noon on hot summer days as we do not have central air. Two window air conditioners are all that we use along with fans all summer long to keep cool and when the temperatures are in the 90's as they're supposed to be all week ... you simply don't want to move too much in the hottest part of the day. When Daddy got home from work he helped ECJ finish taking apart the scrap and then he and I went to the scrap yard. The campers ate lunch and played some video games while we were gone since it was close to the hottest point of the day when we left. After which Daddy and I went to pick up scrap from two houses (which filled our truck again) that we had scheduled for pick up this day ... one from yesterday and one from last week. After it began cooling off a bit outside the campers went back outside to play with the neighbor kids, everyone being very excited that Thursday is the last official day for public schools around here and that means lots of fun summer time fun with their friends all day long every day.

On Tuesday we all got up and did our regular morning routines. ECJ went out to break down scrap after his breakfast and chores were done, the girls and I did their Language Arts and Math lessons, and Daddy went off to work. The girls and I were finished inside of an hour which they were really happy about because the public school kids only have half days for the rest of this week! So they changed out of their pajamas and went out to play with their friends. ECJ promised to do his school work while Daddy and I went to the scrap yard so he got some fun time in too. After Daddy got home from work he and I loaded up the truck again, with the help of ECJ, and went to the scrap yard to return the metal that we'd found. After which we went to the store and bought a deep freeze for the house to replace the one that we sold two years ago. Yes, we've reached the point of needing a deep freeze again. Then it was home to bring in the deep freeze, quickly telling the campers what we needed them to do while we were gone (reminding ECJ of his school work still needing to be completed) and then we were off scrapping again. It took a little while to fill up the truck with a light load and then we picked up dinner and headed home. Pizza was a big hit as usual (we really are planning on eating more meals cooked at home again soon, we just keep being so very busy lately it seems like pizza is happening a lot). After supper it was bath time/shower time, medication time, reading time, and bedtime. Whew!

Wednesday morning we all got up very early. Daddy unloaded the truck because he needed it for work, there was only a little bit of scrap to be taken apart so ECJ did that really quickly. While the girls did chores and ate breakfast ECJ helped me carry an old dresser out to the curb ... we'd been using it for homeschool storage in the kitchen/dining area and that's where our new deep freeze is going to be living. After that ECJ ate a quick breakfast and then we worked on cleaning the house. We were going to do lessons this day but Daddy and I decided that instead of rushing to do every little thing that needed done we'd take the rest of this week off of lessons and just pick up again next week. The brilliance of homeschooling is that we can do just that, and the fact that we work through the summer means that I don't have to feel guilty when we do. The campers did each write a letter to their penpals which we counted as Language Arts today. I tried to get as much of the house back organized before Daddy came home as I could. When Daddy got home we loaded the truck back up and the campers and off we went to the scrap yard. After that Daddy, ECJ, and I started putting the roof on the shed ... we need some more materials so it's not finished yet. Then Daddy, the girls, and I went out scrapping for a long long time. We stopped for chili dogs and ice cream for dinner while we were out and stopped at a local park for the girls to play for a little while. ECJ cooked himself some soup and a sandwich for supper. When we were finished scrapping we came home late. After such a long and busy day the campers were quick to go to sleep once we got home and they had their medicine.

So, we come to Thursday and I'm typing this in the morning because we won't be home until late again today. Our plans for today include some baths/showers for the campers this morning since they were playing out in the dirt yesterday afternoon. We'll be returning some movies to the library later on today and also going to the scrap yard. After that Daddy and I will be picking up the campers to go to Grandma and Papa's house to help them clean up the house and yard, have some supper, and possibly go scrapping while we're down there (we might not scrap tonight, just depends on how Daddy is feeling). Daddy's at work right now and the campers are all eating breakfast and watching a Pokemon DVD while I type this. We have no set plans for the weekend other than helping Grandma and Papa each day until everything is spotless. Major spring cleaning y'all!

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Family and Fun

Peanut diagramming sentences.

Friday we did our lessons really quickly while Daddy was at work in the morning. Again he had to leave on this day before the rest of us even woke up, he stopped back into the house right around the time we were all waking up to pick up a couple of his tools. He's enjoying his new job which is only part time and gets him out of the house and keeps him busy. He's been very tired running around like a chicken with his head cut off since starting it but I can tell that he's happy. On Thursday night he'd installed a fan into our bedroom like he'd been planning on doing for over a year now and we picked up a ceiling fan for the girls room that will get installed sometime soon. The goal is not to have to use the window air conditioners very much this summer, but we'll see as it's already been unseasonably warm of late. After lessons we walked up to the store to pick up Daddy's medicine from the pharmacy and a gallon of milk since we used the last of it at breakfast. After coming home the campers spent most of the rest of the day outside enjoying the sunshine while I puttered around the house straightening it out. It's hard to really clean when most of the hallway and part of the living room is holding our new bathroom counters and sinks and the new kitchen counter tops that we'll be installing sometime soon. Just as soon as Daddy gets a day that he has nothing else that he needs to do. 

The seedlings at about
one week in.

On Saturday we spent most of the day relaxing. Peanut had her first reconciliation in the morning that Daddy and I took her to and then Daddy went to work for a little bit. But, for the most part we just hung out around the house and relaxed. Sunday one of the cousins had her first communion so we went down to attend their church and spend a good part of the day with family. We spent more than half the day with family and then went scrapping in the afternoon. Getting home early in the evening I cooked supper out of repurposed leftovers and then we settled in to listen to the rain on the roof. 

Monday we continued our lessons in fractions, decimals, and sentence diagramming. Lessons went rather quickly which was good because we were all restless because of the gray skies and the rain. YCJ began studying ferrets for her science topic this week, Peanut spent about an hour on ABC Mouse before calling it quits to play Minecraft, and ECJ tried to convince me that he really didn't need to know about graphing in algebra (he didn't manage it and spent a good chunk of his morning graphing and grumbling). In the afternoon Daddy and I went to the scrap yard to drop off the load that we'd picked up the night before. The rest of the day was rainy day laziness topped off with chili dogs and fried potatoes.

Now, normally I'd continue to go day by day and tell you what we've been up to each day. I'm sure that gets boring after a while. So, mainly our rest of the week went just like Monday. Lessons each day, scrapping each day except for Thursday, and lots of family time together. Peanut spent most of the week working on fractions and sentence diagramming and did very well. Both subjects are a little hard, especially when first learning them, and she's been breezing through them without much issue. YCJ worked with contractions in language arts (a total breeze fest for her) along with pronouns and worked with decimal usage and placement in math. ECJ wrote poems again this week, a chore for him since he absolutely hates poetry, and worked on his graphing in algebra. Science this week consisted of a workbook for Peanut, a report on ferrets for YCJ, and online work through Easy Peasy All In One Highschool for ECJ. And the only thing we did towards history this week was watch Liberty Kids DVDs ... this is because we're mainly done with history until fall, same with science, now we just enjoy the topics and dig deeper into the subjects that interest us. The only subjects that are done throughout the summer are language arts and mathematics, reading daily is also something that we do year round. Sometime this summer I'll break out some health books for the kids to go through and we'll get through health for this year as well.

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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.

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Our Pitiful Garden

So, this past spring the campers and I spent time planting seeds and watching them grow. A friend of the family had sent us pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. We planted half of that tray with pumpkin seeds and the other half with the sunflower seeds. Then covered the tray with plastic wrap and checked daily for growth. As they started to grow the campers charted how quickly they were growing, the temperature, if the plants were still inside or had been transplanted outside yet, and more.


This got the girls especially interested in the garden and if we could actually grow vegetables and flowers. They spent hour after hour, day after day, working in the little garden. Pulling weeds, propping the tomato plants up with sticks, even adding worms to the dirt!

They watched all summer long while tomato plants wilted and died out because I'd chosen too shady of a spot for the plants to grow properly but they did get one tomato! Those beautiful pumpkin plants wilted away too until we only have one that is still struggling to grow and has yet to do more than produce flowers. Our strawberries that we planted got eaten by the local deer population. And our sunflowers, though tall, have no flowers.

You would think with all of these setbacks that the campers would be upset. But, instead they're working on plans for next year's garden. Insisting that when we move the mobile home that we make sure we have a good spot with plenty of sunshine for their plants. I'm more than willing to accomidate them in this matter because I love to garden. I know that sometime this winter they'll be planning what we need to plant, how many of each thing, and come spring time they'll be plotting a new garden out with me. I'm looking forward to planning next year's garden with them and seeing if we can do better than we did this year!

Surviving tomato plant

Surviving pumpkin plant

Our little sunflower stalks