Our Homeschool Journal: Halloween Fun & Lots of Socializing

In our homeschool this week…

We slipped back into nature study with tree poetry (and rescued a baby bird in the process).  We worked on our election lapbooks.  My daughter sewed the bonnet to go with her Laura Ingalls costume (sewing is a tremendous living math lesson).  I made the last-minute decision that we would not do our regular schoolwork on Halloween and instead we made caramel corn and homemade slime and carved pumpkins!

Places we went and people we saw…

We had a few normal events: Girl Scouts, Book Club and piano for my daughter, and Geography Club (Egypt this month) for both.  We had great Halloween fun at a friend’s house with games and lots of food.  I took the kids swimming at the pool.  My son is now old enough that I don’t have to get in the pool with him…sitting on the bench reading while they burned off loads of energy was great fun for all.  Today we’re meeting our fellow book club members for a Treasure Island play.  Saturday is a day of Scout activities for both kids.  (This is one of those weeks when people’s concerns about socialization make me giggle.  Or pull my hair out.)

My favorite thing this week was…

The yearly jumping-in-leaves ritual.  We had a big raking and jumping party since a storm was coming and those crunchy leaves would soon be a big soggy mess.   As I watch the kids laugh and jump slideshows play in my head of them doing this same thing together through the years.  So many giggles and my camera snapping away.  When will they be too old to jump in leaves?  Hopefully never!

My favorite resource this week…

My daughter and I started the next lesson in WriteShop Junior D and it was my favorite resource this week.  We are both really enjoying the structure of the whole program.  One of the brainstorming games this week was so fun that she and her little brother played it after school time.  I’d say that’s a winner!

What’s working for me…

One of the chapters in Jamie Martin’s ebook Mindset for Moms was “Only do six things today.”  I keep a to-do list going at all times, rewriting and transferring to a new list when needed.  I love lists, and when I feel overwhelmed it often calms me to make a list.  My to-do lists are a bit monstrous by necessity, but I also tend to put crazy things on there like “organize the garage” or “finally pack up all our tax paperwork from 2011–perhaps before 2013.”

I like getting things out of my brain and onto a list…the problem is the sheer size of the list and going about my day without actually crossing things off.  Jamie’s idea of “six things” made a lot of sense.  Now in addition to my loooong list where I can put things that I need to be working on (like planning a unit study or preparing for Girl Scouts or Sunday School) and things I would like to do when I have time, I have a list of six things that need to be done that day.

I make it the night before or in the morning, checking our schedule and my long list to prioritize.  It could be related to paperwork, housework or homeschool…do-able tasks that I will complete that day.  I feel more accomplished at the end of the day and the must-do’s aren’t getting lost in my long list of would-like-to-do’s.  I’m not sure Jamie meant have a super long slightly unrealistic list and then a six things list, but this seems to work for me.

We’re reading…

We are listening to the next audiobook in the Little House series: By the Shores of Silver Lake.  I have been reading American History Stories by Mara L. Pratt from Heritage History on the iPad.  (I was sent a CD of their Early America library to review–post coming soon.)  My daughter is reading Little House by Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley, Masterpiece by Elise Broach, So You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? by Jean Fritz, and also some Heritage History titles on her Kindle.

I’m grateful for…

I could probably say “our flexible schedule” every week, but I was reminded of it yet again.  As we get ready to head to a play together of a book we read together and even Daddy gets to go I was hit by the unusual amount of family time we enjoy because we homeschool.  My husband is a firefighter/paramedic with an irregular schedule and homeschooling allows us to catch his days off to be together.  Not to mention how many different directions we’d be heading in if the kids were at separate public schools.

I’m praying for…

All those affected by the hurricane.  I feel silly for complaining about my mini basement flood last week which was nothing compared to the devastation many have experienced this week.

A photo, video, link or quote to share…

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!