Sonlight Core G Week 29 June 27-July 3, 2016

Sonlight Core G 

Week 29 

June 27-July 3, 2016

89th week on this core

Hello Friends!

This was as close to a vacation as we will probably see this summer.  Dd plays the alto sax in the Northern Lights Homeschool Marching Band and this weeks parade was in the Canada Day parade in Ontario, Canada!! We traveled seven hours from Michigan to Ontario.   

We fit in some lessons early in the week while trying to tidy up the house for Giz and Grampy's arrival on Wednesday.  I had Dd take a nap on Wednesday since we had to wake up at 2 AM to get to the bus by 3 AM.  Dd rode on the "girl's bus" that the band had hired, while Dh and I drove in our own vehicle.  We *thought* we could just follow them up to our hotel, not foreseeing the delay our car would have going through customs; while the bus packed with so many kids would sail right through without any delay!  But, that pretty must foreshadowed how our trip was going to go!!

Chickens enjoying the traveling tractor!

Monday started off very well as we had been invited by my friend, Michele, to go on another hike with her and her 6 year old son.  She took Dd and I to the Ada Park for a lovely walk through their paths.  I really enjoyed how this park had placed markers below many of the trees to identify each species and what year that had been planted.  The unfortunate part of this hike was it coincided with a daycare bus of children!!!  They loved seeing what Dd and the 6 year old boy were finding and putting into their collection buckets.  Little 6 year old didn't see a bloom that he wanted to leave behind! He loved them all! Here are a few pictures of the park we visited ADA PARK:

Not a very woody/wild park; more of a city type park, but nice.

Giz and Grampy

We had another great visit with Dh's parents.  Grampy is over 80 now, but you'd never guess.  He comes and works so hard trying to help us get things fixed up and repaired while he is here.  He had Dh buy another part for the broken dishwasher to try to mend while he was here, and the new part ($80) did not fix the problem!  Oy!  That broken dishwasher has won the battle this time and Grampy has finally thrown in the towel.  

Grampy put up two towel racks, one bowed shower curtain rod, and one toilet paper holder in our master bath.  I guess it took him all day to get those put up the right way.  The towel rack that was here when we bought it couldn't hold up a wet towel without coming out of the wall; so Grampy used fancy wing-nut whatchamajingies that hold the bars in place permanently---so thankful for all the work he did in fixing up my bathroom!!!!  It was a pitiful sight to be honest!  It still needs to be painted, but it has been on the bottom rung of our priority list.  Grampy also weed-wack'd the fence around our yard/garden.  They had brought up a old lawn mower that our nephew had upgraded from, and we now have their old mower.  Giz decided to mow a little section of our yard to make sure it was running good---it was!  It is nice to have a back-up mower!

Giz painted our Rec Room with Kilz, and finished the last of that job--sealing those walls, so we could paint the room a comfy green color.  After we returned home, Giz and Grampy took Dd to the paint store and bought us two gallons of the green that Dd liked.  Then they started painting!  I was very happy to join in!

The Rec Room has two doors that go out to the pool--these wood doors and the 'jam' are beyond decaying and need replacing.  Grampy told Dh that we need to replace those two doors BEFORE we put in the flooring...ugh!  We were hoping to put in the floor soon!  We will do our best to start working on the Rec Room now that the chicken coop is winding down.   

Dh and Grampy made the roost and two ramps together.

After we returned from our trip, Grampy and Dh got right to work on the finishing touches of the chicken coop.  They build a ROOST and ramps for going up and out of the inside and another one to go from the outside back inside.  They did a lot of little steps like that---putting the door frame and door up that allows me to walk in to collect eggs (once they start laying!).  This door is inside the barn, to go inside the coop "room."  They worked hard for a few days getting all the little things done.

I'll put in the bits of lessons we accomplished this week here:

Bible:

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

(we are purposefully reading this slowly--highly recommend)

Sonlight Read Aloud:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: COMPLETED

We listened to this on audio a few years ago, Dd didn't remember, but I did.  I enjoyed reading it much better than the audio, on this one book, since I could reread the clues and gleen more from it this way.  Such a fun book!!!

Sonlight (SL) History:

The Kingfisher History Encylopedia

(last week I wrote down the wrong pages for Dd to read, so this week I had to give her twice the work...oops!)

SL History:

Story of the World: Middle Ages:

Ch. 28 & 29

SL History Reader:

Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska: In Process

The tripod set up Dd has been using to cook outside.

Music:

Violin Lesson with Mrs. Reed: 45 minutes

Violin practice: 2:05 hours this week

Alto & Baritone Sax: 4:15 hours this week

Piano Lesson with Mrs. March: 30 min.

Piano practice: 3:15 hours this week

Fun Reading:

All's Quiet on the Western Front: in process

A Whole New World, A Twisted Tale of Aladin by Liz Braswell

: in process

Niagara Falls Highlights for Dd:

• Performed in the Canada Day parade on July 1st, 2016
• Rode the "Great Lakes Tour Bus" to Ontario and back
• Watched The War Room movie on bus (third viewing!)
• Stayed at the Fallsview Hilton hotel for 2 days, one night
• "Hornblower" Niagara Cruise  https://www.niagaracruises.com/tour-options  
• "Journey Behind the Falls" Tour
• Skylon Tower Dinner--observation deck
• Ferris Wheel (think mini London Eye) ride over the city
• Aero Whirlpool Car / Cable Car ride/tour
• Whirlpool Boardwalk
• Swam in the pool at Fallsview Hilton
• Rode the "WeGo" bus around town
• and got to eat out a lot!

Dh and I didn't do most of those things, though we did do the Hornblower Cruise, Journey Behind the Falls, and WeGo bus.  It was very stressful trying to meet them places or missing them at other locations...  If we could do it over, I would have gone on the bus with them and not tried to follow behind.  There was not enough communication to know where they were going, when they were going....etc. It was frustrating, and our cell phones were very spotty there, usually not working.  Dd had a blast--so that was good, but Dh and I had to drive through the night the first night, and so decided to leave early the last day so we wouldn't have to drive through the night again.  She made lots of video's of her trip and enjoyed getting to know more of the girls in the band and color guard that she hadn't met before.  The parade was very interesting to see.  The town/city was extremely "tourist-y" and super, super expensive.  We had brought her to the New York / American side of Niagara Falls when she was a baby, so now, I think, we can check that attraction off our lists! I have a post behind this one, that I did a few days ago, that are some of the pictures that I took.  Dd took a lot more pictures than I did, but I just put up a few to share.

Garden Pictures:

Raised Bed #1:


Raised Bed #2:


Raised Bed #3:


Raised Bed #4:



Raised Bed #5:


Side Garden (asparagus, lettuce, blackberries, strawberries, various herbs, Lambs Ear, Coneflowers...)

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