Another week already! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Saturday was spent with family and Sunday was quite lovely. My husband took the kids to buy me some Mother’s Day cards and gifts and Drama Queen wrote me a Mother’s Day song. She played it on guitar or us at our Saturday gathering. It was a nice weekend. =)

In my life this week…

This week has been full and busy! Not so much with running around, but there’s been a little bit of that, too… I’ve done some house cleaning, some uncleaning, some more cleaning (doesn’t it always work that way?) I’ve done a TON more work on the blog and some online stuff. Thursday brought a visit to the orthodontist for Princess, for which the other two tagged along. She’s had her braces for just over a year now! And the change is A-MAZ-ING. They don’t know how much longer exactly, but she won’t be wearing them for much longer. Maybe a few months? Maybe 6? Princess can’t wait!

In our homeschool this week…

This week has been weird. By weird I mean that each day didn’t FEEL like we had done much, but when I made a list of what we’d accomplished we’d done plenty! It finally occurred to me that was really happening was this: we were getting it done faster, with less whining. It didn’t feel like we were doing much because we were just casually sitting around and DOING it.

*THUMP*

That sound was me falling off my chair.

Now don’t get me wrong. I mean, there were moments. The one where Drama Queen asked if we could skip math, and the one where Little Prince didn’t want to finish his copywork, etc. But mostly school went pretty well. We didn’t do every subject every day we were supposed to, either. But then, we did a week’s worth of history on Thursday. So it all evened out. Instead we kind of “went where the interest led,” spent more time here and there on something interesting, unschooled a little bit if you will. And once Drama Queen surprised me by asking if she could do Times Talesand Little Prince asked to play Timez Attack Addition and Subtraction. I don’t plan on totally desconstructing and destructuring but I’ve been thinking lately that if we could knock bible, math & language arts out pretty quickly, the rest of the day until snack time can be labeled school “free time” to go where the interest leads. In addition, we’ve also been printing off and using some of our Notebooking Pages that I got with my Treasury Membership. (These are perfect for us.)

Anyway, this week has been full of bugs. No, this time I don’t mean glitches I mean REAL BUGS. It’s been all about caterpillars since the kids discovered a handful of Hackberry Emperor caterpillars on the “bush” by our front porch that turned out to be a small Hackberry tree.

We’ve held them.

Looked them up.

Found a Chrysalis.

Found one that looks like it will be making a chrysalis soon!

Notebooked about them.

All in the name of science!!

This week we also learned about Mt. St. Helens, one of our interest-led moments after the volcano was mentioned briefly in our bible lesson. We looked up the history, before and after pictures and watched this interesting youtube video. Speaking of volcanoes, Mt. St. Helens, and earthquakes — did you know that the ancient Chinese in the Han dynasty (about 200 AD to 200 BC) invented the first seismograph? We learned that in history, as well as embarking on a journey through the rise of the Roman Empire with Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. History is REALLY getting exciting now!!

My favorite thing this week was…

Not one that has happened yet.. Tonight I have a mother/daughter date with Princess – one I owe her for her birthday and which we’re just now working out the details of. I’m very much looking forward to this!

What’s working/not working for us…

Working: Paying more attention to learning opportunities of “the moment.” You know, those opportunities like when your daughter asks if you can plant and grow avocado seeds? “Why YES. Yes, you can!” We now have two avocado seeds in dirt outside and an avocado seed in a water glass in our window sill. Next to the chrysalis. =)

It’s also why I said “yes” when my son asked if we could have Hot Dog Octopi for lunch. 😉 He helped me make them, which didn’t involve a lot of learning, necessarily, but gave us a moment of fun cooking together. Who says I don’t know how to lighten up and have fun?? 😉

Questions/thoughts I have…

Thought for the week: I will never ever stop growing and learning! I learn new things all the time. I become a better homeschool teacher and mom with every passing day (as long as I apply myself to grow and learn that is.) There’s no “arriving” on this, only continual growth! And I do so learn enjoying along with my children! And I still have so much to learn.

Things I’m working on…

The blog. You knew that was coming, right?

I’m reading…

I’m now in Isaiah 13! A little bit behind my schedule but plugging along. I haven’t yet read the chapter for our ladies’ bible study since it was postponed this week, oops!!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

A little bit of linky love for you:

Homeschool Mother’s Journal is hosted by the iHomeschool Network, check it out!

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Amber

Hey, y’all! I’m Amber and I wear many hats. I drink a ton of coffee and I’m constantly sweeping crumbs off the floor. After 20+ years of homeschooling, we are starting over at preschool with our fourth, Lil Miss Mouse. She keeps us young and she’s the main reason for my excessive coffee consumption. Drink up!