SL Core H Week 17 May 1-7, 2017

SL Core H Week 17  

May 1-7, 2017 

Hello, Friends!

In Process of completion!!!

Zeus has improved so much after his horrific dog attack.  He is back to his old self again; doesn't he just look like trouble now?!!

I had scheduled our week thinking Dd would only have three Driver's Education classes, but at our first class, the teacher had us all schedule six more class times for driving purposes; which was double what I was expecting.  The forty minute drive, each way, had me driving two hours per day on most days.  The first class was for both the new student and parent(s), and I was really impressed with the organization.

CRAZY Driver's Education Training Begins!! Oi!

Monday, Dd had violin lessons from 2-2:30 followed by Driver's Ed 4-6 pm.  Tuesday we drove 40 minutes out another way to have her piano lesson with Mrs. March, at 2 pm.  Then back to Grand Rapids for Driver's Ed (DE) from 4-6.  Wednesday was my dentist day-- 2 1/2 hours in the chair (don't ask!!!!), followed by our volunteering at church for the Olympians group at night.  Thursday was back to DE from 4-6 pm, then our Strings Group in the evening.  Friday Dd had her first "DRIVE" with her teacher from 3-5 pm.  Dd drove for a full hour!  I thought that seemed like a long time for a first drive!  They scheduled her with another student, which turned out to be a good thing, as she could assess how he was driving and hear the teacher's comments too.  Saturday Dd had another drive from 10-12 pm.  Dh went with us to Grand Rapids, and while Dd was in class we got to go shop yard sales!!! FUN! FUN!  (Heather, I found two chairs you will love!) I found Dd a few Christmas gifts! Yay!  Only three more weeks of DE; hope we can maintain sanity!

Zeus's feathers are all coming in!  His feathers look black and dirty b/c I had used Bag Balm and Neosporin on his wounds and now he is back to his dirt baths, and that combination makes for a dirty looking rooster!  But, eventually the muck will be gone.  All his scabs and wounds are healed now, and new feathers come every day!

Chickens & Ducks:

All our critters are doing very well.  Zeus is doing really well!  The older hens are all molting; which means the number of eggs we are getting is getting fewer and fewer.  The hens are not looking as great as the usually do.

This is Aphrodite, our favorite chicken when she was little.  She was just so beautiful with her coloring.  You can tell by her enormous chest that she eats a good deal!!!

House:

I sanded down the Rec Room floor, after the second coat, and ended up scraping up 15 percent of the floor!  I think I was a tad too zealous about getting a smooth floor!!  I worked hard getting the third coat of paint down, as I didn't have much paint left and had to really roll it on thin, which was hard!  By the end of the week, I painted on the first coat of polyurethane, and at least two more coats will be needed.

Heather--look what we found at a yard sale! Two matching chairs!!! Brand new! Praise the Lord!  Come have tea soon, I've got our new tea sipping chairs! Below is the cross-stitch I also found this spring at a yard sale!

The little side garden area is the new potato section that will get higher and higher as the potatoes grow.

Garden: 

And the spring planting has begun!

After Dd's DRIVE, and our yard sale splurges, we worked on our garden.  Dh and I planted quite a few different things that can handle being planted in cold weather! 

 The weather here has been erratic, and we've been having frosty cold mornings.  This year's new thing is a potato stacking, growing thing that Dh saw on YouTube as a way to grow lots of potatoes!  We do love our potatoes!

Accomplishments:

It sure doesn't feel like we are accomplishing much this year.  I'm hoping next year won't be so busy, as Dd might hopefully pass her audition into Intermediate Orchestra and then we won't have to devote another spare day to driving to her violin tutor, and she can have both her band and orchestra classes completed on the same day.  She won't be taking Begining Band this year so the orchestra class will be at that same time slot.  She does want to continue taking piano lessons with Mrs. March, and I am hoping she can keep her slot to do that during that same day as band and orchestra, and get all that done on one day.  I'm hoping if we have a little less of our time focused on music perhaps we will have more time to devote to our other subjects.  

Agnes has a very unique way of rolling her paws up and in when she lays down.  I've never had a cat that did this before.

Don't buy your child a new Rick Riordan book when they are in the middle of an assigned Reader!

You know so many of the problems we come across are one's that are actually my mistake!  For example, I was asking Dd where she was in the Reader this week (Betsy and the Emperor) as she just didn't seem to be progressing.  Finally, she admitted that she has been reading the new Rick Riordan book.  Dd asked me to buy her this book and I did.  I should have, should have told her once she finishes the Reader I gave her THEN I would give her the new book.  So many times I get mad at how things go, and then I realize if I had figured it out before I could do better at this parenting and teaching thing!  The biggest problem is I am so busy and she has more time to plan how to approach things.  This is just like when she was a baby; I'd figure out how to parent a three-month-old, and she would grow and change, and I was always just figuring things out when she would change and I'm always a step behind!  I guess the teen years are similar in how I feel a step behind!  I need more organization and less distraction!  I wish I was a bit smarter in how I parent and plan.

Dd drew me this new drawing of a Phoebe this week, and used her new markers.

This is the form I make for Dd to use each week.  It is too time consuming I know, but with all our different things, and how often things change, this keeps us going.

Planning:

Before I had Dd I worked with mentally retarded people and one of the lessons I learned was how to plan ahead for positive situations.  A bribe is when, in the middle of chaos, you offer that person something they really want in order to stop the chaos.  For example, if they are putting up a fuss in the grocery store you let tell them they can pick out a candy bar to eat...if only they would stop fussing! 

A reward Dd got this week--a new Star Wars figure

 A REWARD is a preferred method of giving someone something they want without having to go through the fuss.  BEFORE you go into the store you set it up so that you explain that IF they can go to the store with you and have good behavior all the way through the store, THEN you will give them a reward (candy bar, hike, gum, pen....) afterward. And if they misbehave you stick to your guns and do not give them a reward, let the consequences happen so they can learn you mean what you say.  I need to improve my reward system planning.

a gift from my mother-in-law

Our lessons this week:

Bible:

Walking With Bilbo by Sarah Arthur 

Ch. 8-12

This is a very interesting book, themes from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are used to learn more about the bible. We are liking this devotional and all the bible verses they have us look up at the end of each chapter. Each chapter has a theme and a handful of bible verses connecting the two.  For example, I'll share some of our lessons from this week's reading:

Wish this was a video; you should see how crazy chickens get when it is dirt-bath time!

The Word on Seeking and Finding:

Proverbs 2:1-8, Isaiah 65:1, Jeremiah 29:12-13, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 13:44-46, Luke 15:3-10, Acts 17:22-27

One nice day when the chickens were outside eating grass Dd and I decided to see how the young chickens would like to explore the big chicken coop---here they are!  They seemed to like it, but were too afraid to walk down the plank into the inner coop.  Hopefully soon we can combine all our chickens together and reduce all the work I'm having to double.

The Word on Pity and Mercy:

Psalm 51:1-12, Psalm 103:8-18, Isaiah 55:6-7, Jonah 3:10-4:11, Matthew 18:21-35, Luke 18:9-14, 

James 2:12-13 and 4:11-12

Ephesians 2:4-7

(4 But3 God, being rrich in mercy, sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even twhen we were dead in our trespasses, umade us alive together with Christ—vby grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and wseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable xriches of his grace in ykindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The Word on Departing from the Truth:

Genesis 3:1-13, Psalm 32:1-5, Proverbs 12:17-20, Acts 5:1-11, Ephesians 4:14-15, 1 Peter 3:10

The Word on Hard Choices:

1 Kings 3:16-28, Daniel 6:1-16, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:1-8, John 11:47-53, Romans 8:35-39

The Word on Help Un-Looked For (the eagles):

Psalm 33:13-22, 61:1-4, 121:1-8, 124:1-8, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 24:43-44, 2 Corinthians 6:2

One quote from our reading this week:

"Other times He sends people our way at exactly the right moment, including those from whom we'd rather not accept help."

From Ch.2 on page 97

Psalm 46:1:

 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

We also read Psalm 60, 121, 124, 26, 32

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

2 

My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 

He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 

indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 

The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 

the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

8 

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

    both now and forevermore.

Live Like a Jesus Freak: Spend Today As If It Were Your Last by DC Talk
 Ch.1

The BBC Manuel: Turning Your Bedroom into a Bible College by Gregg Johnson

pg 82 & 83

(My bible study is Gideon by Pricilla Shirer and re-reading Peril and Peace: Chronicles of the Ancient Church (History Lives series) I recommend both!)

Church, Sunday School, Youth Program, Volunteering at Olympians, playing in church's Strings Group on Thursday nights.

Math:

We took the week off math.

Science:

Apologia Physical Science: Module 5: The Hydrosphere: Test passed,

Hummer, our Bantam Rooster with a huge heart..though he is tiny!

Driver's Training by Navigator:

Week One completed

Class time: 6 hours

Drive time: 2 hours

Watching drive, in car with another student: 2 hours

plus studying and reading the textbook at home

Language Arts:

I think I forgot to add that Dd has been writing all her Thank You letters.

Agnes admiring my favorite picture of Dd and Barclay

Poetry:

The Best Loved Poetry of Jacquline Kennedy Onassis: by Caroline Kennedy

Tableau by Countee Cullen

The Flowers by R.L. Stevenson

In Just-Spring by ee cummings

The Song of Wandering Aengus by Yeats

Art: 

Crocheted Cowl: Completed

Crocheted me a gift pillow!

Dd received these markers for her Easter gift, and she has been using them like crazy!  The gray is already about out!

Drawing lots

History:

Abraham Lincoln's World by Foster

ix-25

(Dd again told me how much she enjoys reading these Foster history books.  This is her third Foster history book and she really finds these books to be FAR superior to the current SL choice, which is The Kingfisher Encyclopedia.)

Sweet Hades- Bantam rooster

History Reader:

Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin

Ch. 1-3

She was scheduled to read up to chapter 8, but her Rick Riordan book took over...that Rick Riordan!!

History Reader:

In Search of Honor by Donna L. Hess: COMPLETED

She finished this book this week, the last five chapters

Read Alouds:

A Heart Strangely Warmed by Louise Vernon

Ch.1

John Wesley is a fiery preacher who is stirring up the people in London. One day, while peddling his father’s wares, Robert Upton meets Wesley and his life is changed forever. Robert and his father start going to Wesley’s meetings. Gradually, Robert begins to understand what Wesley’s preaching is all about. As he allows God to work in his life, Robert finds that his own heart, like Wesley’s, is strangely warmed. For 9-to-14-year-olds.

Vernon has written a lot of these short bible history books.  This book is 126 pages and an easy reader.  I appreciate these short biographies that help me to keep important people straight!  This was a Reader, but I didn't want to miss out on it so I made it a Reader! 

 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

SO excited to be reading this with Dd!!!  This week we read chapters 18-22.  I bought a guide to help me teach this book from Rainbow Resources--

Dickens Great Expectations (Christian Guides to the Classics) Item #: 056097

Plus, we are using the Sonlight vocabulary and questions with each chapter.  SL had scheduled us to read 2 chapters each day, but we did one chapter per day, which was taking about an hour to do.  

Henny Penny

Fun Reader:

 Trials of Apollo Bk 2 The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

Audio:

The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes Vol 1

(this is a 20-hour audio so it is going to take us a while!)

Physical Education:

Saturday Dd repeated last weeks good efforts at mowing the yards! 

Music:

Dd is still having her violin lessons (30 min) with Christie.

Dd is also still having her piano lessons with Wendy (30 min). 

We bought a new Alto Sax music book which gave Dd a bunch of new music to play!

We both enjoyed the Strings Group at church, Dd played the ukelele.

Besides the classes/groups, Dd practiced her piano, violin, and sax this week.

I had scheduled a lot more things to do this week that she do; I think next week I will try to lower my expectations while she is doing her driver's training.  I'm glad she is taking drivers education so seriously and doing well, and I'll make our academics next week easier to accomplish.

Have a blessed week!

........