Wrapping Up the Week: the Mid-Year Slump and More

In my life this week...

I have felt some of that "mental winter fog" that I had back in January. I know it's just the mid-year slump, but it can be exhausting at times. Overall, it's been a good week though~I've had some fun with friends and family and am looking forward to more over the weekend.

In our homeschool this week...

It's been something of a struggle to get Mr. B back into school mode after having a few sick days with the flu. I feel like part of that is my fault. I need to try harder to be more creative with his learning. He doesn't do well sitting for long periods of time or doing a lot of writing. It's easy for me to be creative in some subjects, but not as much in others. Gotta work on that!

We have stayed the course fairly well this week though (up until today and I am just wiped out and have a huge list of things to do before tomorrow so I'm adjusting our course for the day...shhh...I have told the kiddos yet).

Some helpful homeschool advice...

Sometimes it's okay to take a break. You can learn in other ways, too. As in: today we will be having the occasional lesson in homemaking;)

Places we're going, people we're seeing...

On Monday The Princess had a friend over for the afternoon. They had SO much fun playing "Little House on the Prairie". These two play that every time they get together--or so it seems--and it's really cute.

On Thursday we enjoyed our homeschool group's Valentine's skating party. I'm not a big fan of the skating rink, but I had a good time fellowshiping with my homeschool mama peeps.

I'm grateful for...

My husband!! He is always such a blessing to me, but this week he has really taken it up a notch:) On Monday and Tuesday he came home to prepare me special lunches, on Wednesday he came home to stay with the kiddos while I got to go grab a bite in peace (with my Kindle) and do a little last-minute Valentine shopping, yesterday we enjoyed a lovely family day together, and tonight we have a hot date! He totally spoils me!

A photo from this week...

I loved the Valentine boxes the kiddos decided on this year. They always have so much fun making them with their daddy.

This post is linked to the Homeschool Mother's Journal and the Weekly Wrap-Up.

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 ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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