Dec 9 weekly wrap-up

I enjoyed filling in the calendar page this afternoon, writing in everything that happened AFTER the event.  I know! It's supposed to be the opposite way around, so I remember what's coming up.  Ah well! :)

The year's winding up and I've had several music students finish up their lessons for the year.  Most of my afternoons are freeing up, and with no more dance lessons for the children, we're enjoying a more relaxed routine.

We're also winding up with our bookwork.  Only two more weeks to go and we'll have a break over summer!

In our homeschool ...

Mariposa has finished another Singapore Maths book.  Instead of starting the next book, we're enjoying reading Mathematicians Are People Too, and learnt about Thales.  She really enjoyed the story of the donkey who didn't want to carry a heavy load across the river, and how Thales trained it to change it's behaviour.

Maestro has moved to some early Physics concepts in Apologia's Physical Science.  It's the first time he's used these formulae, but he's enjoying the change in topic.

Both of the children have worked on their spelling and improving really well.  I'd been a little lax with Maestro's spelling, but have pulled him back in with Mariposa's lessons (ie: they both work on the same list) using IEW's Phonetic Zoo.  The word list is not at all 'babyish', but based on learning the phonetic rule and recognising base words with their suffixes. Even though he is a really good speller already, I want him to keep up the practice and stay familiar with the rules. I'm so impressed with the improvement Mariposa's made with her spelling over this year (she's had to struggle with reading problems).  She's really done well with All About Spelling, and now Phonetic Zoo is challenging her that little bit more.  Here's a sample of all the words she's now able spell correctly:

This sample is from the Teacher Notes sample

found in pdf HERE.

We're still working through the same read-alouds: Johnny Tremain and Iron Peacock.  I'm hoping we'll finish these during next week.

We've also been doing some great lessons with Papa about goal setting.  I'll have to write up a separate post about that, so be sure to check that out soon.

Socially speaking ...

We enjoyed a lovely visit with a friend on Monday; ALL of Monday. It was an early morning start to make lunch up to take with us, and then we didn't get home until dinner time.

Wednesday night was coffee out with the local homeschooling mums.  I ended up chatting a lot with a lady I didn't know too well, but who shares similar ideas of growing her own produce, teaching her children sewing, cooking, building ... a lovely night spent sharing stories and ideas. :)

Then on Friday afternoon, the children went to stay overnight with friends whilst Papa and I went out.  We were given some complimentary tickets to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

In the home ...

It's been about the cherries!  I worked my way through all of them very carefully, so they're all washed, picked and now bottled (if not yet eaten fresh!)  The cherry pie made during the week was such a success that I've had to promise to make it again soon. Seven jars of cherries are now cooling off as we speak, and I can hear the random 'click' of the seal taking hold in the lids.



Our tighter budget was a success with our grocery shopping.  During the week I came across a great blog called The Fun, Cheap or Free Queen.  She has a very simple, workable idea for tracking spending weekly.  It was most helpful, so I hope to make it a success through the rest of the month.

You will also notice, if you've visited here before, that I've been playing with my blog page (again!).  I want to fix the header up some more, but that'll be when I get some time to figure it all out.

Hoping you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Until next post,

Catherine

Read more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
and It's a Wrap at Hammock Tracks