Weekly Wrap-Up: Ramblings

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Clearly I don't know how to write anymore. So indulge me by allowing me to ramble. And I include these ramblings in the Homeschool Weekly Wrap-Up carnival because, well, there's more to a homeschool week than just cracking open the books. A homeschool week in this house is, after all, Life.

**I'm watching the news right now. Well, listening to it. The story of how one of my state's illustrious school superintendents took 400K of the stimulus money to send some teachers and administrators to a California spa. Way to go. I'm so glad my tax dollars help fund things like this. Especially when I don't even use the public school system.

**This was a fairly productive week on the homeschooling front. We finished up Ancient Rome. If I wasn't so lazy, I would provide a picture of our finished lapbooks. We also finished up our read-aloud, The Bronze Bow. Very good, powerful book. A few frustrations still hang over our little academy--the boys, one in particular, still struggle with reading and math. I think it's more of an attitude thing, though, than an academic problem. He really, truly wants nothing to do with school. Never wants to read for pleasure. I'm open for ideas.

**The kids expressed quite a bit of interest in Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, so we added a little to our science curriculum this week and built our first volcano. It is not finished yet, though, and we have not yet erupted it. Pictures next week.

**I bought some sugary cereal for the kids for this morning. If we put junk cereal on the counter, they help themselves and don't bother us on a Saturday morning. Gotta love that.

**My little old lady friend with Jehovah's Witnesses turned up on my doorstep again this morning. I'm afraid I messed up, though. As you know, after she left the first time, I did some JW research and was all prepared to discuss such matters with her--or with any of her fellow JW's--the next time they showed up. However, this morning I met her at the door still clad in my PJs, and I lost my knowledge and words. When she observed my dress, she apologized for coming so early. Which was an absurd apology since it was 10:15. I've asked God to send her back here. And I'll be ready this time. I'll invite her in, and we'll chat over a cup of tea.

**We're trying another church tomorrow. We like the church we've been attending; however, our BFF's have begun attending one they really like. Since we have not made a friend yet at our new church, we thought we'd give it a try. The kids are excited to join their best buddies again. Alex, however, had already made some new friends at the new church, so, while she is very excited to be reunited with Grace, she hates the thought of leaving new friends. When we asked her how she would feel about visiting another church, she shrugged and said, "I don't care where we go as long as we are going to church." Which is code for, "Can't you people make up your minds and stay somewhere?" I'm not too worried about her. In the event that we were to choose this other church over our new church, she would see her new church friends at co-op anyway.

**I signed the boys up for Time4Learning because I thought it would help them with their reading and math, not to mention teach Michael some of the US History we haven't covered yet but that will be on this national test this year. I was also hoping it would be supplemental material they could learn independently. However, I discovered that so many of the activities require fairly heavy reading, I ended up doing it all with them. Twice over. Not fun for them. Not fun for me. So I canceled it.

**I have known about Time4Learning for quite some time but have been very reluctant to sign up for it or for any online program for that matter. The kids already spend as much time as we will allow in front of a screen. Why should I add to that with their schooling? However, I've been looking at curriculum for next year and am discovering that everything these days is online. I mean, I know that that is the direction of our technological world, but it's amazing how quickly the world wide web infiltrates every single aspect of life. I've even come across full curriculum for my preschooler online! Not going to sit her in front of a computer screen for hours! Don't get me wrong. I run my own online class. I'm considering Teaching Textbooks for Alex next year because math is slowing slipping from my not-fond-of-math hands. But I feel that a little one-on-one time with a human being for part of the school day can be a plus.