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Homeschool Journal Week 2

In my life this week…

Our big event this week was to go to Artwalk. It is a big art show of local artists. Its mostly painting but also some wonderful sculpture, photos and textile art. The kids always enjoy going. We talk about what they like and why they like it. There is a ballot for fan favorite and I get a ballot for each of the kids. It was funny at the end with my 3 year old very very carefully trying to write in a name. He manage to make a ‘B’ and then scribbled. After some talking and pointing I figured out what he want to write and filled it in for him.

In our homeschool this week…

I am trying to balance our day. I have a set schedule put it seem to be constantly slipping. I’m not worried about getting through all the material but we are behind in science and social studies. We are ahead in the other courses. I’m trying to make sure that those end up happening each day and I may do a day of just science or just social studies. I made a point of doing social studies today and he made good progress.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Allow kids to use Pinterest to gather research material for a project. (more below under what works)

My favorite thing this week was…

In reading through the blogs linked up last week on the “The Homeschooling Mother Journal” I came across Unexpected Homeschool’s post and they mentioned that National Novel Writing Month has free workbooks for kids. I downloaded and printed the Elementary age one for my son and he is working his way through it. I also download the High School version for myself.  It is preparation for November when the goal is supposed to be to write a novel. We are going to scale that back and each do a short story in the Science Fiction genre at about 7000 words.

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What’s working/not working for us…

Sometimes what isn’t working leads to answers you never would have thought of without the problem. For Social Studies we are looking at the various levels of government here in Canada. For the project I am having him research the Northern Gateway Pipeline. It would take oil from the Alberta Tar Sands to the BC Coast where tankers would take it wherever (Probably China). I showed him some websites and asked him to go through, read and print off the critical parts. Five minutes in the power goes off briefly and on turning the computer back on the printer wouldn’t work. Thinking quickly I set him up a board on Pinterest and had him pin everything he found. It worked great.

I’m reading…

I am still reading “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci”. I will eventually write a review on it.

Philip is currently reading “The Last Battle” from the Narnia Series. Its taken him 3 weeks to go through the whole series. He is really enjoying it. That the good thing about books, there is always more to read.

I’m cooking…

We started of with burgers on Friday. Its getting close to shutting down the BBQ time. With my wife having to work late and me being sick a lot of the rest of the meals were what my wife calls ‘Bachelor’ fare; Beans and Wieners, Grilled Cheese ect. We also had one “Fend for Yourself Night”

“Fend for Yourself Night” is when I declare that there is too many leftovers in the fridge and I’m too tired to cook. The kids get first dibs on what I drag out. If the kids want the same thing it gets divided up equally. They may add another selection at the end. My wife goes second and I get whatever is left. Works great and eliminates some leftovers. My son took some leftover Salsa Chicken. Toasted some bread. Spread sour cream on the bread and added some lettuce and the chicken cut up. Messy but apparently yummy sandwich.

Tomorrow I need to come up with something for our Church’s Fall Bazaar bake sale table. I am thinking of these I found on Pinterest.

I’m grateful for…

That this cold has not completely sidelined me this week.

I’m praying for…

For all my family to shake this cold and get better.

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4 thoughts on “Homeschool Journal Week 2”

  1. Some families do social studies in the first half of the year, and science in the second half. That might be something that could work for you guys.

    Feel Better!

  2. I try to do “fend for yourself night” on the weekends, but my family revolts against it. They are under the impression that they have to have a meal every night…lol

  3. Thank you

    Deb. I am thinking of doing something similar. I have 3 topics in each that I have to cover so I’m contemplating alternating them. A couple of weeks on one then a topic from the other set.

    Angela. My wife is on board with these nights so it makes it an easier sell. Plus my kids see it as an opportunity to get creative. My wife knows that the alternative maybe hot dog hash. She hates it but the kids love it.

  4. Oh I LOVE “fend for yourself night”!! We don’t have many leftovers around our house but when we do, leftover night is my FAVE night….NO COOKING! 🙂

    Feel better!!

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