Weekly Wrap-Up: Is it Really Friday???

It's been a long week here.  But mostly good!  After I recooperated from the Homeschool Convention, and attempted to give my brain a rest from thinking about alternative writing programs, such as IEW (Institution for Excellence in Writing), I was able to accomplish some things.

I've already written about ditching The Children's Homer.  I can't even begin to express the sigh of relief expelled from Emily's mouth when I told her that I decided to chuck it!  The poor thing had suffered enough!  (I do apologize to those who enjoyed it. So sorry!)

We read about the first three kings of Isreal and about the Divided Kingdom.  It's interesting to me to see how all of that plays into our world today.  God is so awesome!  At the convention, I purchased a CD made by Home School in the Woods on the Old Testament.  It's an Activity-Pak that provides printable hands-on activities such as a newspaper project, 15 lapbooking projects, and some other stuff.  So far, I'm finding that the key to making things look nice and old, is by using appropriate colored papers.  For instance, you wouldn't want and old-looking newspaper to be printed on bright white paper!  So, I began printing the first three projects, on colored paper, and am organizing it.  When we begin to use it, I'll start posting pictures.  Since both of my girls are learning from the Old Testament, I'm hoping this will be a great addition to My Father's World.  I'm not sure how Katie will do with it, since she is younger and the CD is recommended for 3rd-8th grades.  And, Katie is not as much of a hands-on girl.  She's more of a "let's just get it done" kind of girl!

My Father's World First Grade is just enough for Katie.  She remembers most of the phonics rules, which is daunting if you ask me.  Sometimes I wonder why we even teach phonics!  It seems that there are more exceptions to the rules than there are rules!  I just know that the more she reads, the more she'll learn what is what.  We will have to review it over the summer - just by reading through her workbook and Bible reader.  And I'm seeing plenty of library trips during our summer!

I say this every year and it never sticks, but I'm going to say it again... I'm planning on continuing math this summer, with both girls.  Except for multiplication, Emily's math lessons are fairly easy for her.  And she thinks that multiplication is hard, but she always does great when she's timed.  I think she lets it intimidate her into thinking that she can't do it.  Silly girl.

Katie doesn't enjoy the manipulatives as much as Emily.  Emily loves the abacus, Katie, not so much.  But, if I pull out the Barbies and the four-legged animal toys, she's all over it!  We have a Complete Book of Math for her, which we both like because it's very colorful and came recommended by My Father's World.  So, I pull pages from it when they go with her RightStart lessons.

Monday and Tuesday were good days.  Wedneseday was rough.  Katie had a stuffy nose before she went to bed and had a hard time sleeping.  Then, around 3am, she woke me up with diarrhea and vomiting.  And not to gross anyone out, but it was the smelliest vomit ever!  As I disinfected, I kept my shirt over my mouth to keep from breathing in the fumes and germs.  After she threw up, she went back to bed and slept until the sun came up.  Hubs ended up working from home that day because I had a fundraiser lunch to do at one of the local elementary schools for Relay For Life.  I'm so thankful that he has the flexibility to do that when needed.

The fundraiser turned out great!  Texas Roadhouse donated and baked 40 potatoes for us and provided butter and sour cream.  I also took cheese, chives, and bacon.  The staff loved it and asked if we would do it again!  We made $169 from it, so I'd say it was a success!

We've had some beautiful days this week and when hubs was finished working on Wednesday, he and my dad set up the trampoline the kids got for Christmas.  Yes, a trampoline!  So now I have this giant thing in my backyard!  I got on it and after just 10 minutes, I was so out of breath I could hardly breath!  What great exercise.  It's so much fun to send the kids out for "recess" and watch them jump around, knowing that they are getting some gym time in without even knowing it! 

We skipped Bible study on Thursday because Katie was coughing so bad and said she didn't feel like going.  She never says that.  So we stayed home, which was for the best.  School went well and they even got to play outside again thanks to this nice warm weather we're having.

We did some schooling on the trampoline on Friday!  There is a circle painted on the center of it that served as the Red Sea.  How fun!

I've been trying to get my house in order.  The laundry piled up so much that I had six loads to do!  Dishes overflowed onto the counter, and I've emptied the vacuum canister many times from all the vacuuming!  I love Spring & Summer but it does require more discipline and work to keep up with the cleaning.

Even after my attempt at protecting myself, Katie still shared her germs with me and now I'm all sneezy and my head is congested.  I hope I feel well enough to shop for furniture tomorrow. :)

No pictures this week.  I'm such a slacker!

Oh, check out my newest poll to the right of my most recent post: "When I put dishes in the dishwasher, I..."


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