Fleur de Lis Homeschool Blog: Oct 17, 2016

Monday, October 17, 2016

Sonlight Core H Week 1"C" Oct. 10-16, 2016

Sonlight Core H

Week 1"C"

Oct. 10-16, 2016

Hello Friends!

Another week of chores and winter prep as our priority over lessons....don't worry, soon we will be doing too much lessons and not enough other stuff! We had perfect temperatures for painting, and polyurethane-ing..(made up that word!)..drive way repairs, cleaning, and organizing.

Our specials for this week:

*Sandhill Cranes calling above in the skies, and leaves falling like crazy! This week the leaves were beautiful, as they began falling with each gust of wind.

From coats of wall paper, then lots of Spackle and sanding, then white Kilz to seal and prep it, and lastly two coats of this light blue gloss paint...a lot of work!

Monday: Painted basement bathroom--2 coats

Dd and I got the pool's thermal blanket dried, rolled up, put to the side, wrapped in white plastic, and hog-tied.

This hallway is difficult to get a good picture of...

Dd polyurethaned her stairwell to loft bedroom. Dd painted her be droom walls, and cleaned / organized her room.

Tuesday:
Sophie to Vet...hard day of waiting on test results.

Wednesday:
Music day and Picture Day at West Michigan Homeschool Fine Arts programs at the Home School Building in Wyoming, Michigan. After band we started shopping for Dh's birthday cake and gifts. Started Birthday Cards!

Back of card that Dd made for Dh

Front cover of the card Dd made for Dh

The inside of the card she made for Dh

Thursday:
Birthday Card painting and completion! Lots of cooking and prep work.

The Blackberry bush thrived, as did the asparagus, that we brought from our last home in Indiana; but the Sage died this year.

I worked in our garden, bringing in the last of the acorn squash's and pulling vines.

Our fall planting is going well, glad Dh put the Chicken Tractors in the garden b/c the chickens have eaten anything they can get to, and strip it clean.

Friday:

Friday: Dh off for the day. We found a nearby gravel pit that sold "Crushed Concrete" and drove our truck over--we were able to put 3 or 4 loads down on our back drive-way...still needs another 3, but this is enough to fill in all the groves the rain and snow made.

I helped with the first load, but then Dd and Dh did all of it without me.

I worked inside--sanding the basement stairwell and finding so many spots that I had to recover with our "stone" floor paint, and wait for it to dry, then cover again with polyurethane...I was at this job for hours on Saturday. But, I think this is last I'll be working at the stairs or floors for this year!

Agnes is loving all the plants coming in...she wants to taste each one, unfortunately...

Friday was Day Three of bringing in my favorite house plants, due to really chilly temps at night. I even dug up three of my Geranium plants/flowers that I had by the pool, as they are annuals and once they get bit by frost they are dead and gone forever! I was fortunate to remember to bring those in before they got frost-bit.

Sophie, our dog, got to go on the ride to pick up more crushed concrete---she was so happy to go!

Community road assistance; but there are still so many more holes to fill! I think this road could use a whole load itself!

On Saturday, Dh got 3 more loads of crushed concrete unloaded on our front driveway, and used the bit left over on our common road with our neighbors.

I wish I would have taken a "before" picture to show just how gutted this back driveway was...This is SO much better and now it is fairly smooth to drive on.

Dd was too busy working on her bedroom, so I helped Dh do all the gravel work on Saturday. I can't even imagine how many hours Dd spent on her bedroom this week....she tells me something like 2-3 hours per day, but she was working up there WAY more than that!

I'm glad she is finding what she likes and is doing it in her room. We have quite a few boxes of stuff out of her room that we now need to move to the attic.

I mowed the back yard one last time (the front yard needs it too...)

Something dug under this outer fence and got into that area two weeks ago. Luckily we have another fence to get through to get into the heart of the coop entrance, and that inner fencing is above and below sealed. That invasion showed me it was time to take it up another notch before someone got hurt.

Rocks:

I filled my wheel barrow up (repeatedly) with large rocks and brought them over to the chicken coop and covered the entire perimeter of the fencing with those rocks to prevent smaller critters from digging up under our fences to get to our chickens.

Now that it is getting chilly, I'm sure some animals are now looking at our chickens with a new sense of potential!

I got out the old blue tarp to put on top of our fancy new green pool cover; this way the acid rainwater won't be going into our pool during the fall, winter, or spring, and our pool water will be in better shape in the summer when it is warm enough to open it back up again.

Saturday Night Dd went to a homeschool Square Dance. This is the third one our friend has held, and it was great seeing how so many people remembered the steps. Dd invited a new friend from church, and paid her way to go with us. This friend, "H", is other girl that co-runs the Olympians 'game time' with my Dd, on Wednesday nights at church. Our old church use to run a program very similar to this, called, "Awana."

Vet on Tuesday, details: Sophie:

We had major trauma this week. Sophie went to the vet to have a "spot" looked at in the back of her throat. A BIG spot/tumor that looks like it will close off her throat soon if we don't do something quickly. The doctor says it might be Malignant Malinoma (which my dear father died from), or it could just be a tumor...either way it needs to be removed before it cuts off her breathing or eating ability.

Before we could okay the surgery, we need to make sure she wasn't riddled with cancer. Sophie had three x-rays, and then a lot of blood work done. All the test results were good, so she will have her surgery next Wednesday, Oct. 26th. I'm trying to fatten her up b/c I know she won't want to eat much after that oral surgery. She agrees that she should be eating more too! Prayers Appreciated.

Now for Dd's Lessons for the week, with no help from me:

Bible: 3:30 hours

Church, SS, and Olympians

Volunteering:1:30 hours

Olympians night, Games

Our Free-Range chickens are found all over...even around the pool (don't worry it's covered), they sure do get around.

Math: 5:15 hours

Khan Academy 5x this week

Zeus follows me around looking for pets...

Poetry: 1:00 hour
Painless Poetry:

pg 23-33

Foreign Language: 40 min.

Duolingo: German (2x this week)
Dd is really enjoying this free app.

Science: 1:00 hour

Apologia General Science

Test Module 16: COMPLETED!!!!

We are moving on to Apologia's: Physical Science next!

Art:

Painting: 7:00 hours

3 pictures and a birthday card

Language Arts: 1:30
Get Well Soon card to Giz (45 min)
letter to the "L family Kids" (LA: 45 min)

Sophie enjoyed watching us work hard on the roads!

Sonlight Reader/Read Aloud Audio's (3):

Audio #1: SL Reader: 4:00 hours

The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell : Completed

Audio #2: 2:00 hours

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew (in process)

I had listened to most of this on my own, as a pre-listen, and found it so very encouraging and uplifting that I've decided to go ahead and start this audio with Dd now, instead of waiting until the scheduled time. I really recommend this story, book or audio, as it is one of those rare books that gives example after example of God providing exactly what is needed, exactly when it is needed. This book reinforces the faith we should have, knowing that God will always meet our needs and care for us. There are a few times in the story that I actually got goose bumps hearing how well God took care of Brother Andrew! I know these types of stories always impact my Dd even more than me, and help her to get back on the right path--on those times when she might have drifted a little off where I like her to be (any mom's know what I mean? the times when the do what we ask of them, just not exactly in the time frames we hoped for...). I bought the book, and also found this book on audio on Audible--and found the narrator to be very engaging.

Fun Audio #3: 1:00 hour

Ranger's Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw: Book Six by John A. Flanagan: ongoing audio--

This is the back area that we are going to make into the chickens BIG run, then they won't be pooping on my front porch and door step! They literally come to the front door a few times a day looking for food handouts. I doubt we will get the fencing done this year to make it happen, but should be able to finish up next spring.

Reading: 11:45 hours total in Readers

Sonlight Reader: 3:30 hours

(suppose to be RA):

A Murder for her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner

in process (first 5 chapters completed)

This little area here is mostly sand, and the chickens love getting in it and half bury themselves getting covered in sand.

Fun Reading:

The Lost World by Michael Crichton: 1:15 min (in process, she just started this after completing Jurassic Park a week or so ago.)

Little Blog on The Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell: 6:00

Completed (she had read this before and enjoyed it)

Deception's Princess (Princess of Myth) by Esther Friesner

1:00 (in process)

We were so blessed with beautiful weather this week!

Home Economics: 18:30 hours

Grilled Cheese x 2 (Dh bought some great cheese at this local Amish cheese store)

Tuna Fish and Crackers

Baked Lemon, Lemon cake, with homemade glaze

Chicken dinner--the mayo & Parmesean cheese recipe

Bedroom Cleaning, Painting, Organizing, and de-cluttering, her bathroom-cleaned & re-organized, painted stairwell and landing with polyurethane...lots of work!