SL Core H Week 24 B Aug 20-26, 2017

SL Core H Week 24 B 

Aug 20-26, 2017 

Solar Eclipse, Garden Pests, Sleep Over, & Strings Group

Hello Friends!

Some weeks I manage to find a somewhat balance between fitting in our lessons with everything else we try to juggle, but this week Dd had to do most of her lessons without me.  I know all the homeschooling books share how we are supposed to treat our homeschooling as my "full-time job," but sometimes our lessons, laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning, garden work, chicken work, church gatherings, paying bills, doctor appointments, ETC. get the better of me.  I do wonder if other homeschool mom's also have difficulty trying to 'fit it ALL in,' like I do?!  Some times people seem more willing to share their successes more than their difficulties---unfortunately!  We (I) certainly do struggle and feel like I have way too many balls in the air.  Perhaps more homeschooling fathers get home earlier or are able to do more to contribute than our particular situation, but my Dh has his hands beyond full with his job.  

The view finder box Dd made to watch the eclipse

Solar Eclipse:
Dd made herself a viewfinder box to see the eclipse.  We had a LOT of clouds, so it wasn't fantastic, but it was a fun experience!

Agnes, the ever-so-cute kitty that ate my camera cord, so I couldn't post pictures for 3 weeks!!!  I had to buy a new one, so we are back in business.  She looks cute and innocent!  But, boy is she a quiet ninja!

Church Picnic:

Sunday, after church and Sunday School was our annual church picnic at a pretty lake.  Normally you'd think a church picnic would be awesome, but when your GF (gluten free) it is not a food event anymore, but a social one.  I have to give up on getting a good meal and switch my focus to getting to chat with friends.  There is only one other woman in our church who has food issues, but she doesn't come to most social events.  It was really nice being outside and sharing good fellowship, and this year, unlike last year, we found the remote spot without too much difficulty!

Girl's Club Pool Party:

Dd went to another fun Girl's Party!  They swam, ate, and had a fun afternoon together!

Monarch Butterfly:

Remember the mass of caterpillars we found on the local Milkweed plants?  The brown moths have made their chrysalis's in the Milkweed leaves!  Then there were the two Monarch caterpillars we found in Indiana, on a hide with our friends the "L" family.  Their caterpillar went into a chrysalis and hatched days before ours did.  This week our  Monarch chrysalis hatched into a beautiful Monarch butterfly!  We fed her and let her go!  I'll never get tired of watching that cycle!

Fall Cleaning:

Dd had invited a few friends over to spend the night on Friday, but only one was actually able to attend.  We also have Giz and Grampy coming in a week, so I wanted to get some of my Fall Cleaning done.  The weather took a major dive this week, not even getting into the 70's some days, which actually was perfect cleaning weather!  Tuesday and Wednesday, Dd and I cleaned for most of the day.  She had a lot of tidying to do in her room and was able to find her floor again!!  

Garden: Broccoli Worms and Cabbage Worms

I guess last week, while I was being a lump mourning Sophie, some Broccoli & Cabbage worms got a foothold in my garden.  Boy, when I noticed them on Tuesday I had a mountain to climb in getting all those critters off before they killed my plants.  I spent hours picking hundreds of worms off all my plants, hidden in between and under the leaves.  The good part of this week, in the garden, was that all the Hook caterpillars that had been attacking our tomato plants seem to have been mostly taken down!  I spent hours in the garden trying to rescue what I could this week.  Even the Kale leaves had worms on them, I had to just pick some of the worse leaves off and give those to the chickens.  I think things are looking up for the garden now that I have killed all those worms, but boy that was a mess!  I also planted some fall lettuce and kale that should do well in this cooler weather.

Chickens & Ducks: 

Nothing major to share this week.  Clementine, one of my Amber White chickens, keeps getting out of their long run and 'free-ranging.'  I am worried about her.  It is only a matter of time before a predator finds her while she is out and something bad happens...remember my super sweet "Toes," well, she had the same habit of getting out of the coop at any opportunity and she just disappeared one day.  I'm trying to find out how she is doing it.  Zeus, our rooster, actually took M-Th off from trying to attack me, but then on Fri he thought about it and luckily decided against a full blown charge.  He has this weird 'jig' he does as he works his way closer to me -- it's really odd!

George Foreman Grills:

About three weeks ago, at a local thrift store, Dd found and bought a large George Foreman grill.  She has been loving making fish and sandwiches in it.  At the shop, she decided to get the larger of the two grills they had for sale and regretted not getting both of them at the time.  This week we went back to the shop and the small grill was still there!  Plus, she got it for .75 cents!  It was on sale!  She is doing so well on her cooking and baking.  She made special brownies for her friend coming over too.  I found some valance curtains that were made of a great fabric (all cotton) and a cool design for $1.00---I'm going to try to turn those into covers for my sofa sections that need to be replaced.  But, then the store accidentally charged me $3.00 for a paperback book that was supposed to be .50 cents; so they aren't a perfect shop!  Ouch!

Strings Group:

Thursday nights at church Strings Group met again this week.  We are practicing four new songs to do at church in a few weeks.  Dd and I aren't familiar with these old hymns, but we are learning!  Dd is really enjoying learning to play her ukulele better and has been practicing on it for fun.

Sleep Over:

We picked up Dd's friend on Friday.  They seemed to have a great time--if loud laughing was a signal of fun!  They watched High School Musical together.  The friend had never seen it and Dd wanted to introduce her to the series.  When Dd spent the night at her house, a few weeks ago, she watched a Barbie movie that she had never seen.  They are trying to expose the other to their favorite old movies.  



Canning Has Begun!
We canned the beets that we found for free at a yard sale.  These beets tasted really great, so pleased!!

Dd's academic advances for the week:

The bummer with canning beets was that it seemed like we were throwing out (to the chickens) half of the beet before they got into the jars!

Bible:

We are using my new "NIV Integrated Study Bible" A new chronological approach for exploring scripture" to compare each story with how it is told in each of the gospels---very interesting!


  
This week we read:

John 2:13-22, Matt. 21:12-15, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19: 45-46

John 2: 13-22, Matt 21: 12-15, John 2: 23-3:11

Mark 11: 15-19, Luke 19: 45-46, John 3:12-4:12, John 4:13-42

Church, Sunday School, Stings Group, and picnic

SL Bible:

Daring to Live On The Edge by Loreen Cunningham:

Ch. 1 & 2
Goodreads Summary:
"Loren Cunningham's dream began with a vision--waves of young people moving out across the continents announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Decades later, Loren's vision has grown into an interdenominational movement of Christians from around the world who are dedicated to presenting the gospel to this generation. Loren speaks and teaches internationally, and his missionary travels have taken him to every nation on earth. Loren Cunningham illustrates that trusting God in every area, including finances, is not just for those Christians called into "full-time" ministry. Every Christian, regardless of vocation, can enter into the adventure of living by faith by firmly committing to obey God's will. A Christian who has experienced God's provision will be spoiled for the ordinary.

Art:

Since Dd has been taking August mostly off from music, she has been doing LOTS of drawing and painting.  It would be a safe guess to say she's spent over 10 hours this week on her art.

Physical Education:

Swimming (pool party) 2 hours

DVD workout: 2 miles

Math:

UGH.

We spent another week on Lesson 16, Math U See, Geometry.  I've been breaking down what we need to learn and doing one formula per day.  The video showed how to do 2 Surface Area problems, but the Student Workbook asked her to know how to do 4-5 different shapes that Demme didn't show us how to do!!!!  So, I've been doing a lot of internet searches on each problem, trying to figure out the formula on our own.  Man, this is way too much work - the program should show us how to do the problems he asks her to do, right?!!!!

Khan Academy MATH:

Dd continues to do her KA math lessons: 4 x this week

KA is an excellent (free) source to fill in gaps in our education (I use it too!)

Go to KhanAcademy.org to see it for yourself!

Science:
Apologia Physical Science:

Module 9: An Into to the Physics of Motion: Completed

History:

BiblioPlan Early Modern Companion

Although we have already read this chapter, focusing on Church History, I've decided to re-read it again to help us remember these details better.

Pg's 200-210

We had to cut down a few trees to make way for the upcoming clothes-line poles!  Always fun to chain saw!

Abraham Lincoln's World by Foster

Pg's 278-306

SL Reader:

The Good Master by Kate Seredy

The Good Master, a Newbury Honor book written in 1935, is set in the Hungarian countryside in the early 1930s.  Jancsi is overjoyed to hear that his cousin from Budapest is coming to spend the summer on his father's ranch on the Hungarian plains. But their summer proves more adventurous than he had hoped when headstrong Kate arrives, as together they share horseback races across the plains, country fairs and festivals, and a dangerous run-in with the gypsies.

We are slowly growing a wall of green beans!

Add In Read Aloud:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Dd asked to make this our new RA--She has already read it once or twice, but I've never read it before. 
GoodReads Summary:
Introducing one of the most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean—the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread—Les Misérables ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it, Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them to the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose. Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thénardier, and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. Les Misérables gave Victor Hugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait that resulted is larger than life, epic in scope—an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart.

Poetry:

Dd is trying to memorize:
The Highwayman 

Our tomato plants have taken over!  They are just a huge, tall mass of green!

The Harp and  Laurel Leaf:

Rhythm of Poetry (Pg 288-291)

 Shakespeare read portions of Henry V (Pg 151) and

Macbeth (pg 153)

Washington on His Appt. as Commander In Chief (pg 130)

Latin:

Word Roots:

Pg's 84-86

Grammar:

Easy Grammar, Plus

Pg's 321, 333, 337, 341

Foreign Language:

DuoLingo: German

4 session of 30 minutes (2 hours)

Khan Academy SAT Prep:

2 sessions this week

Music:

Ukulele: 2:30 hours

Violin: 10 min

Viola: 30 min

I can't believe I found this book at a Goodwill in Indiana.  This is one of the last things my dad had bought for me, for a Christmas gift, back around 1978-1980.  SO happy to own it again!  What a gift!

Home Economics:

Chores, cooking, baking, cleaning

8:00 hours this week 

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SL Core H Week 24 "A" Aug.13-19, 2017

SL Core H Week 24 "A" 

Aug.13-19, 2017

Art Week!  Lots of drawing and painting

Hello Friends!

Our first week without Sophie was very hard; and quiet.  I'm sure you can relate to the daily reminders that pop up throughout the day that triggers your thoughts to your pet---the sound that you think is your dog scratching at the door to go in our out, the movement that catches your eye outside that you think might be your pet, the nightly 'last potty' before going to bed....so many countless things that we associate with our pets!  It was a hard week, I say it again because I felt it throughout each day.  How much love, affection, and smiles were absent from this week because Sophie wasn't with us.  I sure do miss her and appreciate how much love she added to our lives the past 8-9 years.  The most vocal mourner among us is Agnes, Dd's cat, who is very lonely without Sophie.  She is walking around meowing (loudly) day and night.  She has woken me up in the middle of the night with her sad calls for Sophie.

Lessons area moved to Basement:

Friday Dd and I moved our lessons stuff from the dining room down to the recently completed Rec Room in the basement.  Our piles of books, papers, art projects, and binders are all happily out of our main space! We worked hard and made a lot of progress into turning that space into a livable area.  We *finally* put up the drafting table that Dd has been wanting to use for making "her" art!  I won't tell her that I bought that for me, to make "my" art!!  I still don't have any time for me, so I'm happy she is wanting to make her own work!  Once the drafting table was up she was stuck to it like glue!  She spent hours and hours on Friday and Saturday making new paintings!  I hoped she would have worked with us outside, enjoying the lovely fall weather, but I'm sure making art is helping her deal with all her feelings.

Lessons:

Truthfully, I was not fully engaged in doing lessons this week.  Not only was I not fully interested, I didn't have the heart to push Dd when I know how much she is suffering too.  I decided to write up our goals for the week but not push Dd academically, but give her time and space to deal with her feelings.  We did end up making a few steps of progress and she did most of the work I scheduled without me. 

Chickens/Ducks:

All of our fowl lived through another week, though Zeus, our rooster, came mighty close to being expelled.  Tuesday when I went out in the morning to throw down chicken feed, Zeus attacked my leg and bit me...drew blood and everything.  Wed and Thur he tried the same thing, but I was prepared and blocked him from hurting me.  Friends, if he doesn't stop attacking me he will have to go.  He already attacks Dh and Dd and I was the only person he held in high regard--which meant I was the one to do all the chicken wrangling!  I just don't have it in my heart to be attacked in my own home.  I'm trying to work with him and get him back to being respectful, but from what I've heard about roosters they usually get more aggressive as each year goes by.  We will have to wait and see what happens next.

Garden:

Our garden is doing very well.  We had another massive attack from those tomato 'hook' caterpillars that just consume tomato plants in a few short days.  I probably found 10 huge caterpillars, or more, this week and fed them to my chickens.  BTW, chickens LOVE to eat them!  Good thing!  I'd been working hard to keep the Japanese Beetle numbers down, and this week was great, hardly any beetles around!  We also *finally* got some rain, which was so needed!

Clothes Poles and Line:

By the end of the project Dd had three lines up, in this picture only one line was up.

Dh and I finally got the new clothes poles and line up!  We only have one line up, as our local hardware store only had one 50 foot section available.  I'm SO happy to have another line to use as my primary one was placed where we built raised beds and it is hard-to-impossible to put clothes up due to our super tall tomato plants.  It will be even better when I have the other two lines installed!  Dh has been working on this project all summer, but other things kept getting in front of it.  

The Monarch Butterfly chrysalis, from the caterpillar we got with our friends, the "L" family!

Auto's:

I'm not sure if I mentioned Dh's car died--back when we were going to the little cabin near Traverse City about a month ago---well, it hasn't made it to the top of the 'to-do' list yet, so it is in the garage to be fixed.  Then this week Dh's truck made a seriously bad sound and it will need to be checked over again.  It had been out of commission most of the summer until Grampy came up and helped Dh fix something.  Well, that truck has been nothing but trouble ever since we bought it.  It has been broken more time than it has been running!  Truly.  I just hope it can get fixed before I run out of straw!

Les Miserables:

Since Dd has been on a summer fixation of Les Miserable and asked me to turn the book into our next Read Aloud, I decided to go with it.  We started it this week.  I always knew it was a movie that people told me not to watch because I cry at movies and this movie was so touching that I would be bawling!  But, I went ahead and watched it and did bawl, but was so touched at the Christian points interwoven in the storyline!  I'm glad that we are reading and discussing it together and that I can share in her interests.  It is fun how she always tries to do the music to the movies (scores) that she likes.  This summer she has been into the soundtrack of Les Miserables and La La Land and I can hear her playing that music.

Music:

Marching band is done for the year and we have another two weeks before band and orchestra classes start.  

Our lessons this week:

Bible:

We are using my new "Integrated Study Bible" to read the New Testament.  I'm doing the actual reading out of my normal bible and adding in some of Max Lucado's, "Life Lessons" with the reading.

The Return to Nazareth (Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus) last week we read Matt 2:19-23, this week we read:  Luke 2:39-40

The Boy Jesus at the Temple:

Luke 2:41-45 & Luke 2:46-52

John the Baptist Prepares the Way:
Matt 3:1-10 & Mark 1: 1-6 & Luke 3: 1-9 

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah and Baptism of Jesus:

 John 1:19-23 & Matt 3:11-17 & Mark 1: 7-11

The Baptism and Testing of Jesus:

Luke 3: 10-18, 21-23

The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus and John Testifies About Jesus: 

John 1:24-34

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness:

Matt 4:1-11 & Mark 1:12-13

Jesus Disciples Follow Jesus, Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael, and Jesus Changes Water into Wine:
John 1:35-2:12

It is very interesting to compare specific gospel events portrayed in each book, each author has a unique way of sharing each story.

Science:

Apologia Physical Science: Module 9: An Into to the Physics of Motion

In Process, week 1 of 2 completed

Khan Academy SAT Prep program:

3x this week: 1:20 hours

Foreign Language:

DuoLingo: German

2x this week: 40 min

Math: MUS: Geometry: 

Lesson 16--really difficult lesson, questions were on the homework pages that hadn't been explained on our old version of the DVD.  Not sure how we are going to figure it out--trying Khan Academy and YouTube for help.

Dd also did KA for math practices as we try to figure out the lesson.

Sonlight Reader:

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell: COMPLETED

This book has since been removed from the current SL Core H line-up, but I've seen it on so many lists for students to read I went ahead and included it in "our" Core H.  She liked it and said it was a very easy and quick read.  She easily completed it in one week.

Non-SL Read Aloud: I'm just fitting it in!

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: Ch's 1-6 completed

Dd read this a few months ago, then asked for us to read it together.

SL History:

Abraham Lincoln's World by G. Foster:

pg'a 252-278

This book (and George Washington's World) use to be in the older Core H lineup, they replaced these two books with Kingfisher Encyclopedia.  Dd is very tired of Kingfisher and prefers the written history to the picture history format.

Poetry:

Lois Bergy Poetry Book

(a poet from our church)

Latin:

Word Roots (Latin):

pg's 82-84

Grammar:

Easy Grammar Plus:

319-331

Physical Education:

Dd did a 2 mile DVD workout with me this week

Music:

viola and piano...maybe an hour this week

Fun Reading:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: Completed

I bought another hummingbird feeder, plus the two that Giz got me, and the hummingbirds are very active here now!  There is always three around.

Dd bought a mirror for her bedroom, painted the yucky white a new shiny black paint and made paper flowers to decorate the left side -- turned out great!

Art:

Painting and Drawing: BIG WEEK: 16 hours

I'm pretty happy with what she was able to complete during this hard week, hard emotionally that is.  I think we are all trying to adapt to life without our Sophie.

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