Weekly Wrap-Up: At Our Own Pace

This week was wonderful in that we had very few activity commitments and were able to complete our lessons at our own pace most days.  I can't tell you what a difference this has made.  It certainly fueled my desire to aim for a quieter lifestyle!

We carried on with our AO readings as per usual.  We wrapped up "Meeko the Mischief Maker" in Secrets of the Woods and learned about the spinning wheel in Great Inventors and Their Inventions.  This chapter on spinning has interested the girls far more than any others in this text thus far.  Funnily enough, they're not so gung ho on learning about the battery or the dynamo.

For history, I like to mix things up a bit.  This week we read more about the Reformation and the Counter Reformation -- the Council of Trent -- in The Story of the World.  We are all learning loads about Da Vinci from Diane Stanley's biography.  I knew he invented many things, but had no idea the extent of the workings of his mind.  Good thing there was no television during the Renaissance; Da Vinci may have succumbed to the call of that particular siren and not accomplished one quarter of what he actually did.

Borders bookstore has begun its Summer Reading Double Dog Dare for children 12 years old and under.  You can find the form here.  If your child reads 10 books of his or her own choosing, he or she will earn a free book.  Options include Ramona the Brave and Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary; Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen; Flat Stanley, by Jeff Brown; The River, by Gary Paulsen; and The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, among others.  If my girls and/or I don't like the looks of the offered selections (we've already read the Cleary options), I'll just buy them each another.

In Jasper news, the little fella hopped into our raised garden bed earlier this week and demolished some of our seedlings.  Tiny Girl was especially devastated.  By taking the opprtunity to thin out our plants, we salvaged and replanted in other rows some he had stomped on.  That evening, Himself and the girls put up a chicken wire fence around the garden.  So far, so good!  But I despair of my tomato seedlings.  They were minuscule and now look beyond saving. 

Today we took a break for Homeschool Day at Six Flags.  We had a blast.  Miss Priss and I had our fill of rollercoasters and we got soaked on a couple of rides as well.  People-watching brought home to me (again) how homeschoolers run the gamut.  There was a mix of beskirted females and "Jesus Freak" t-shirts, as well as the mohawked and multiple tattooed crowd and everyone in between.  Homeschool day at Six Flags is the perfect example of how homeschoolers represent a wide variety of the citizenry and are, you know, regular people.  Perhaps a tad more polite.  But I'm subjective.

We're also gearing up for a quick trip -- the girls' first -- to Savannah, Georgia, one of my favorite cities.  We'll really only have one day to explore, and I'm enjoying planning what we're going to do.  I'm looking forward to sharing those photos with you!

Happy Mother's Day!