The Weekly Wrap-Up: Crickets, a Caterpillar and Co-op

Here we are wrapping up another full week! It's been a very productive one, too. We have been working on several projects around our house. Vince has been working on a deck expansion all summer and has finally finished it (I'll be blogging that soon!). He's also had a major landscaping project in our backyard and that is just about to shape up. We also tackled the garage this week. I haven't been able to park in there for about 6 or more months now, but things are looking better. The garage still has a long way to go though. That will be yet another upcoming blog. I love to blog about completed projects!

Inside the house I tackled some way-overdue filing (about 8 months overdue!) and made good headway with that. (I really hate paperwork and filing!). There was also some organizing and cleaning that happened--that's always good, right?

I even started on my lesson plans (finally!).

In the meantime, Mr. B captured a couple of crickets and created a little habitat for them in the house for a day or so.

Vince found a ginormous caterpillar on the disc golf course and brought it home to the kids. They immediately created yet another insect habitat for it (you wouldn't believe how much a caterpillar can poop!).

We released all of the bugs back into nature this morning--after a scare that they had died overnight. I was happy to release live bugs rather than have a bug funeral.

Speaking of funerals though, we did have one for "dead" words in our Creative Writing class at co-op. My friend Alicia teaches it and she has some great ideas! We took words such as "happy", "fun", "like", and "love" and found replacement words for them that were much more descriptive--then we "buried" the "dead" words (in boxes of sand). The kids loved it! And it led into a exhilarating writing exercise (how do you like that word for descriptive language? :)

The kids had a wonderful time showing their "grief" over the "dead" words;)

In other co-op news, there was much exercising in Muscle & Fitness, lessons on the Parable of the Sower in the Bible class, and continued learning about the Constitution and making their lapbooks in the US Constitution class.

After that we headed to the park with our lunches for some playtime with the rest of the group. Now I'm ready for a nap! Not gonna happen though ...it's time to get ready for an awesome weekend with my family!

I hope you have a great weekend, too! Enjoy it and make the most of it!

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...

my blessed life

Search This Blog