Weekly Homeschool Highlights--MFW CtG wk 7 part 2 -wk 8

I do not have a lot of pictures of the last two weeks of school & I'm okay with that. ;)

Peanut Butter Princess read the Junie B. book, Boo... and I Mean It! the last week of October. This was a spur of the moment decision (the girls are allowed to read approved fluff or twaddle during their free time). I decided to let her read this because the weekly freebie (a couple of weeks ago) from the Currclick email newsletter was a Pockets of Time ebook for the above mentioned Junie B. BTW, if you haven't signed up for Currclick's weekly email newsletter, do so now. It's worth it just for the freebie of the week. I have received complete lapbooks and all sorts of great activities to use with the girls.

She liked the activity. I remember when I first tried Pockets of Time with our oldest. She didn't care for all of the coloring. But Peanut Butter Princess likes it, so we will probably use this type of product again. The price is good too.


We studied air during science. The girls had fun with the experiments. They learned that air takes up space. Peanut Butter Princess wadded up a scrap piece of paper & shoved it in the bottom of a cup. She then turned the cup upside down and dipped it in our kitchen sink which was filled with water. She saw how air takes up space & how the paper stayed dry.



Barlow Girl measured two balloons, equal in size & deflated. She then blew up a balloon & measured both balloons. She also learned that air takes up space as the inflated balloon weighed more.


Barlow Girl also made her very own Rosetta Stone. She first wrote a short story. Next she copied the story using real Egyptian hieroglyphics. Then she created her own version of hieroglyphics. She completed this assignment over the course of a couple of days as it took up a chunk of her time. We both love the end result.


We also visited our local fire hall. I totally forgot my camera. I really learned a lot from this field trip. I would have never thought to teach my kids to not be afraid of firefighters (during a fire or emergency) even though they look different and maybe even a little scary in all of their gear.

Barlow Girl took the week off from spelling while Peanut Butter Princess continued on in her book. Spelling is slow going for her(PBP), but I am seeing some improvements. She has a good attitude about and will even practice spelling random words orally on her own.

Peanut Butter Princess learned a new song on the violin. Inspired by the David Crowder Band, she wanted to learn I Saw the Light for our church's annual talent show. She was sooo disappointed when she learned this week that the annual event was postponed until February.

In karate last week, Barlow Girl earned her first strip on her green belt! She already has her eye on the next belt, which is blue. I'm so proud of her!

Thanks Lainie for hosting another edition of Weekly Homeschool Highlights!

Conversations with My First Born

Barlow Girl: "Momma, what time is it?"
Me: "Time for you to get up off of your butt & look at the clock."

That girl hates to tell time from an analog clock! I think we are going to cover up all of our digital clocks so she is not so dependent on them, lol!

Questions for the Homeschool Mommas...

1. Do your kiddos memorize poems and/or hymns?
2. If yes, paint me a picture of what this looks like in your home. I'm a visual person, lol!

Memorizing hymns is not a challenge. The girls can listen to a song once or twice & start singing along. But I guess I'm curious as to how we would memorize a poem on top of memorizing Bible verses for school and Sunday School.

After we finish LLATL (both girls), I'm thinking about switching to Primary & Intermediate Language Lessons. This is the LA curriculum that My Father's World suggests (we are using the Creation to Greek program published by MFW). I was looking through samples & I saw a couple of poems to memorize. Now obviously I can just skip that. But at the same time, I think it would be fun to memorize a poem. It's just that our days can be full so why add more?

Don't even get me started on dictation. Oldest wouldn't have a problem with dictation. I haven't tried it with the younger. I'm concerned that she would be easily frustrated as she isn't confident in her spelling skills. Decisions, Decisions...

I would LOVE your thoughts on the matter. :)

Cards from Africa

I'm changing how I shop for Christmas. More on that later, for now I wanted to share what I discovered online (thank you Land of a Thousands Hills Coffee!).

How fantastic are these cards?!? I'm definitely putting them on my giving list (if you order more than $10, the shipping is free). I LOVE this card and this card. There are several cards in the African category that would look lovely in a frame. The cards are crafted from Rwandan office waste, which is great for the environment & hopely means more profit for the young people making them. Direct quote from the Cards for Africa website:

"Cards from Africa employs young people in Rwanda who have been
orphaned by AIDS or the 1994 genocide. They are responsible
for the younger siblings in their families, and the money they
earn making these cards allows them to pay for food, shelter,
clothing, and education for their family. The cards themselves
are beautiful and they're even made out of handmade recycled

papers to be environmentally friendly!"

Grace & Jane Austen Quotes

• "There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense."
• "My good opinion once lost is lost forever."
• "I prefer to be unsociable and taciturn."

These quotes from Jane Austen's book, Pride & Prejudice, aptly describe my feelings for the present moment. In the context of her book, the quotes contribute to a fabulous plot surrounding two would be lovers. Taken out of context and applied to how I presently feel demonstrates my graceless, fleshly nature. Clinging to the One who provides unlimited grace when I least deserve it....

Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on No Greater Love

How can I ever begin to thank You
For all You’ve done for me
You emptied Yourself Lord
And You became poor
To lavish grace on me
And You have loved me Lord
With an everlasting love

So here at the throne of grace I stand
To exalt the great I AM
Where the blood of Jesus covers me
Here at the throne of grace I stand
Finding mercy at Your hand
And Your mighty power in time of need
Here at the throne of grace

In You is mercy and sweet forgiveness
And cleansing of my sins
In You is beauty all heaven’s glory
All holiness and strength
And You have loved me Lord
With an everlasting love

© 2001 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Weekly Homeschool Highlights--MFW CtG wk 7 part 1

I remember the stress I felt as we started our school week last week. School at home on Monday and Wednesday. Co-op on Tuesday. We claimed Fall Break on Thursday and Friday but the days were still jammed packed with obligations and birthday celebrations. I started a free mini-unit study on Christopher Columbus, but nixed it after the first reading. It just wasn’t the right time and my heart wasn’t in it.

We started week 7 in the Creation to Greeks program. At the beginning of last week, I decided to stretch the week into two.I have few pictures of our school week, but many pictures of Peanut Butter Princess’s birthday celebrations. :) After 3 attempts to upload what few pictures I have, I am cutting my losses. I'm sure it's a Blogger issue.

One thing I haven't blogged much about is English from the Roots Up. We learn a new root word each week while reviewing the previous words learned. This year we are learning the Greek root words while next year's studies cover the Latin root words. I like how easy it is to use and the short amount of time it takes each day to implement. For my girls, review is key to retention with these words.

Barlow Girl can now recite the books of the Old Testament. Yeah! Peanut Butter Princess is not far behind. The flash cards help with the daily review, but the Go Fish Guys video made the process more fun. At least once a day, one of the girls break out into the "Bible Book Bop" song.

We took a nature walk last week. Right now our walks consist of walking around the neighborhood and pointing out any changes in nature that we might see or observing some new critter or bug. In the future, I would love to include more identification or sketches of our observations. I really hate that the pictures didn't upload b/c we found this huge mushroom patch growing on a tree stump in our yard.

For Science we are growing crystals on a string. The goal is to observe the shape of the crystals. I should have more pics at the end of this week. I used to much water so it is taking forever to evaporate.

Well, that wraps up my week. Check out Lainie's blog to see what everyone else studied last week.

Weekly Homeschool Highlights--MFW CtG wk 6

Ahhhh.....week six.

For the last two years, week six was the week where I would realize whether or not a particular curriculum was a success or a bust. The first year of homeschool, the $$$ literature based curriculum with plenty of hands on activities was a complete failure. Last year, the not so $$$ literature based curriculum with plenty of hands on activities was great, but...we stopped using it. Based on my kids academic needs (not to mention my sanity), we focused on the three R's. And multiplication. Lots & lots of multiplication. Science and History came from library books and field trips.

I don't feel guilty for the second year curriculum purchase as I am now teaching from it in a co-op setting. Next year I'll teach from the same curriculum. Barlow Girl is a student in these classes, so it's not a complete waste of money.

What's the verdict for this year's curriculum choices?

So far, so good. The only thing I am truly questioning is my spelling choice for Peanut Butter Princess. This is her first year using a formal spelling curriculum and I went with what works with her sister. It might not work for her. I know veteran homeschool mommas are smiling right now. :) I'm going to give it a couple more weeks before making a decision to switch.

We still love My Father's World Curriculum. I don't need to tweak a whole lot, but I still haven't found my groove (very close though). I find that the only tweaking I need to do thus far is deciding which science experiments to complete. The scheduled art curriculum is God & the History of Art. I definitely like it for Barlow Girl but it's a bit much for Peanut Butter Princess. Sometimes I will assign the art to Barlow Girl & not her sis. I should point out that the age recommendation is ages 10 & up.

This really was a huge week emotionally with homeschooling as well. Let's just say that my daughters *traded* personalities. Barlow Girl is thriving & taking ownership of her education (largely due to the Workbox System). I can't say the same for PBB. I've seen a serious shift attention span. It's almost as if her head is in the clouds. I'm quite surprised, really. For the last two years she always sat at the table & completed her work. This year, her sister is almost always finished first.

What where other contributing factors to my emotionally charged homeschool week? Barlow Girl wrote a story in her journal titled, Love Monkeys. The title should have been my first clue to the content. It wasn't graphic or anything like that. The story even shows a vast improvement in her creative writing skills. Great introduction of characters, great sequencing of events, and the first (or maybe the second) chapter ended with a cliff hanger.

The problem? Well her characters are highschool sweethearts (awww....). In college, they started spending the night at each other's house. Um, yeah. Before marriage. The man & I had a great conversation with her about God's design for marriage. She totally wants to court, which btw, I might add is her own idea. She knows about courtship through previous dialogue, but not pressure, from me. I really need to end the story here. There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I could share, but I won't.

Sooo....combine most of a week's curriculum into 2 & 1/2 days, realize that youngest daughter seems to have her head in the clouds, mix in a LOT of heart to heart discussions with oldest dd concerning God's design for marriage & her ever-changing body, PLUS a frank discussion the physics of tampons (yep!) left me feeling like this:


Keeping it real, folks.
This is possibly the worst picture of me ever.

However, I do have better pics of the science experiment results from week 5. We buried various organic & inorganic items to see how they decompse. Two words: dirty & smelly.






This is the peeled pear. Notice the mold growing on it. We are pretty confident that the unpeeled pear met an untimely demise via a squirrel. No one really knows for sure.

You can read about other homeschool families here. I'm sure their week was more peaceful than mine. ;)