Weekly Wrap Up #5

Due to the creepy-crud taking over our house this last week, my wrap-up will consist of things we did and didn't get to do. You can head over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to.

First of all, we didn't get to participate in planned field trips to an aquarium, a Civil War days reenactment or a zoo trip with family. I did get to visit my doctor who prescribed some antibiotics, nasal spray and sinus medicine. Fun stuff.

I did decide to get serious about my weight loss and in just following a 7 day Biggest Loser menu from a magazine, I've lost 2 pounds since Monday. Just diet, no exercise, due to being under the weather. I've been considering starting a blog on this subject. Maybe it would keep me motivated.

I won the book Chop, Chop from an Ultimate Blog Party giveaway at Teen Lit Review. Their site reviews pre-teen and teen Christian literature.

We did flounder our way through school this week. I had to forgo any read-alouds, though, due to major coughing fits.

We had fun reading about Lewis Carroll, and his poem Jabberwocky.

For our artist study, we chose Mary Cassatt. We read a short bio about her and the kids watched a nice slide show of her paintings set to music. Our painting for this week was entitled "The Bath."

I found some coloring pages which depicted some of her paintings, so the kids worked on those also. Lulu's was done quite well.

Lulu has a very artistic spirit. She worked on her 4-h quilt this week, stuffing it with batting, and will start quilting it after her next meeting. I'll post pics when it's complete. She also pulled out her watercolors and tried some free hand painting.


Conman learned about the water cycle this week. We read The Cloud Book, The Water Cycle and A Rainy Day. These were not recommended in 106 Days of Creation, we just picked them up at the library. I had ordered some Moody science videos to supplement his science and he and his brother seemed to enjoy the one they watched this week-Water, Water Everywhere.

We did not get into our hymn or composer study. There's always next week.

Have a great weekend!

A New Addition to Our Family

This morning as I was attempting to not wake from a very deep sleep, I hear this little voice saying, "Mom, you have to boil more lettuce. I think the tadpoles are dead."

I think it was about 6:30 a.m.

Now, I've been suffering from this nasty cold/cough/sore throat thing for almost a week, so my sleep has been very important to me lately.

So I say, "They're not dead." And I roll back over.

"They're not moving, they need more lettuce."

No, I did not get up just then and boil lettuce for the apparently starving tadpoles. However, I checked up on them later and they were all still very much alive. Maybe a little hungry, but alive.

If you haven't already guessed, the newest addition to our little family is a mason jar full of tadpoles. Blakester brought them home after collecting them with a friend last week.

I really don't mind. I think it will be a great nature study opportunity for the kids. They'll get to view the life cycle of a frog. We've done butterflies and ants. We have Bob the lizard. The good thing about Bob is I just have to make a weekly run to the pet store for crickets. I actually have to cook for the tadpoles.

I Licked the Cat

I'll explain my title in a moment.

I've decided that trying to read blogs and work on the computer while my kiddos are flitting around is akin to taking all of them to the grocery store at one time-I usually come home not knowing what I bought.

I think that's why I'd like a laptop. Maybe I could hide in the bathroom to blog. It might allow me a few moments of peace. But then again, maybe not.

Ok-on to my explanation.

I shared this with my friends on Facebook, so I thought I'd share it with my blogging friends, also.

Conman, who is my "sizzler", really keeps me on my toes. Yesterday, he came into the kitchen saying, "Yuk." He also had his tongue sticking out. So, being the concerned mom that I am, I asked him, "What's the matter?" His reply was, "Mom, you know how the cat likes to lick my hair? Well, I tried licking hers."

Oh my. I don't think that's very sanitary.

The Simple Womans Daybook

FOR TODAY... April 13, 2010

Outside my window...overcast, dreary, little breeze.

I am thinking...that the only good thing about being sick is staying in my pj's and taking naps.

I am thankful....that I don't have to rise at the crack of dawn to get my kids ready for school!

I am wearing...pj pants, t-shirt, slipper socks & slippers. What a slug I am:)

I am remembering...not much. My minds pretty much full of mush right now.

I am going...to take it easy this week. Pay our taxes, which came back better than we'd expected.

Some plans for the rest of the week...not much. Rest, reading. Maybe a field trip on Friday to Civil War days, if the weather cooperates and everyone feels better.

I am currently reading... Laying Down the Rails by Sonya Shafer, The Bible, The Original Homeschooling Series, Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I really need to get through a couple of these.

I am hoping... that those fruits of the spirit will start growing.

On my mind...again, not much!

From the learning room....back to school, but taking it slow. Our new artist for the next six weeks is Mary Cassatt. Our poet is Lewis Carroll. I'm also adding in hymn study & composer study-Bach.

Noticing that...the roses were blooming prettily, and then the rain & wind kind of smashed them.
Pondering these words...a word fitly spoken....Prov. 25:11a

I am creating...nothing new this week. My goal is to complete a couple of those books 0n my list!

I am hearing...the crackle of the fire, Lulu coughing-poor girl, and cartoons on t.v.

From the kitchen...ah-for me, turkey burger, broccoli & cauliflower, mixed rice & spinach salad-from a Biggest Loser meal plan article in a magazine. For everyone else, probably chicken and potatoes w/the veggies & salad.

Around the house...the bathrooms need to be cleaned and some light bulbs need to be changed.

One of my favorite things...the back of a baby's neck.

From my picture journal... these are 8 of the ten cousins that were here last week. Aren't they adorable?



Have a wonderful day!

Words from the (almost) Wise

Conman has been frustrated with me lately. And I with him.

At some point last week I told him he needed to work more on paying attention, listening and being obedient. This has been my mantra with him.

His reply?

"Well, Mom, you need to work on your patience. And your self-control. Actually, you need to work on all the fruits of the spirit."

Did I mention he's only seven?

What do you say to that? I'm just glad he knows what the fruits of the spirit are.

Weekly Wrap Up #4

Here's our week in a nutshell. You can head over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to.

We were officially on Easter break this week and had company visiting from San Diego. We had a total of ten cousins (including my kids), ages 2-20 that spent all or part of their break here with us. The weather cooperated so nicely that the kids were able to spent a lot of time outside playing.

We visited the flea market, some thrift stores and the library's used bookstore. We took a drive back to the olive oil plant and stocked up on some goodies. We spent some time just sitting around and reading. We ate an awful lot. I came down with a sore throat and a cold. And it was all good!

We read a new (to us) Dr. Seuss book, Happy Birthday to You. That produced some giggles.

Blakester spent several hours creating an elaborate spaceship out of Legos.


Lulu spent an afternoon making a ton of strawberry freezer jam with Grandma and others.

I spent some time at the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 partying with other bloggers. That was a lot of fun!

I prepared our next couple weeks of schoolwork. We'll be back to the grindstone on Monday.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Blog Party is Here!!!!

Ok, it's here! The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

This is my first year participating and I am sooo excited to get to blog-hop over to the other party-goers blogs and check them out. What a neat way to get to know more of the blogging community. And there are some really wonderful bloggers out there to get to know!

Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Shannon, 37 (yes, I'll admit my age online), a Christian, homeschooling mom of three, from California. Laina (Lulu) is 13 and in 7th grade, Blake (Blakester) is 9 and in 4th grade, and Connor (Conman) is 7 and in 2nd grade. The other little girl in the pic is my 7 yr old niece Delaney who gets to hang out with us on her school breaks.

We are in our 3rd year of homeschooling and very glad we made the decision to do so. I use an eclectic, Charlotte Mason approach to teaching the kiddos. We really enjoy field trips and nature walks.

I've been married to my wonderful husband, Robert for almost 18 years. If you ask him what his role in our homeschool is, he will tell you, "I stay out of her way."

When I have free time, that is, not planning schoolwork, I absolutely love to read. I usually have about 3 or 4 books going at one time. A fiction novel, something biblical, something schoolish and something parenting or marriage related. I also enjoy reading aloud to the kids. My opinion is you can never read enough.

I scrapbook, and I am currently working on an album of our visits to Texas, where we also have a home. We are planning on making our move there this summer.

I don't watch a lot of t.v., but when I do, my favorites are The Biggest Loser, Hoarders, CSI and Supernanny.

Country and Christian music are my tunes of choice. Kenny Chesney and Chris Tomlin are my favorite artists. I like attending concerts and inspirational/motivational presentations, such as Women of Faith.

I tend to cook a lot of our food from scratch, as we try to follow the Feingold diet for Conman.

Disneyland is my favorite place to visit with my family. I'm not a big fan of leisure shopping, I enjoy White Chocolate Peppermint mocha's from Starbucks, and I have a huge sweet tooth.

All around, I'm an organizing, budgeting, blog-addicted, mom and wife, who follows the principles of Dave Ramsey and Flylady, who loves Christ and her family, and who does her best to make it through each day in this never dull household, usually by grace!

I hope you'll leave a comment and introduce yourself. I'd love to hear from you.

Cheap Finds of the Week

Some of my company and I decided to hit the flea market and a couple of thrift shops this week to see what we could find. Let me tell you, if you haven't ventured through a crowded flea market on a spring break day, herding six children, then you have not lived! It doesn't get much more exciting than that! I'm just kidding-the kids were wonderful and we did find some great deals-so here we go. Allow me to apologize in advance for the lack of photos this week.

Books I found for a quarter each:

• Marvelous Math-A Book of Poems
• Calico Bush
• Horton Hatches the Egg
• The Snowy Day

I also found Magic Math Multiplication and Subtraction/Addition learning aids. One was $2.00 and the other $1.50. I had actually looked at these for Conman at a school supply store, only they cost much more.

Blakester came away with a pair of Old Navy denim shorts for $2.00, and I found two shirts for $1.50 each. One for Lulu and one for myself.

The last item was a cute red platter with chickens along the rim for $1.00. It goes perfect with my kitchen. This one I should have taken a picture of to share with you.

Til tomorrow~

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 is Coming....

Just another quick note.

On my right sidebar I've placed a button that links to the 5 Minutes for Mom post that details the Ultimate Blog Party 2010. This will be my first time partying with them and it sounds like a lot of fun!

Don't wait-hop on over to her blog and find out how you can join us at the party. Posting starts on April 9.

Wednesday Nature Study

The weather was beautiful today, so the kids, some of the cousins and I journeyed out on a nature walk along the canal bank. It turned out to be very interesting.


The younger ones were searching for things to sell in their nature stores to earn a little money.

They came home with baggies full of pine cones, shells, sticks, rocks, flowers, leaves and even a bleached-out crawdad claw. They proceeded to sort them and post signs listing their asking prices:

Very enterprising, they are.

We spotted a couple of ducks that live along the canal, but before I could get a shot of them, the kids scared them off with too much noise. Oh, well.

We did find this fish along the way. The girls somehow managed to convince me to take a picture of it. All I can say is "Yuk."

These pretty little wind poppies were growing in bunches along the canal bank.

The highlight of the afternoon was when we returned home and the kids discovered Dallas playing with a gopher. This provided quite a few minutes of entertainment.

Here's a close-up of the little guy. Check out those teeth.

What a great way to spend an afternoon!

The Simple Womans Daybook

FOR TODAY... April 7, 2010

Outside my window...weather looks promising. Should be a beautiful day, no wind and lots of sunshine!

I am thinking...that August can't come soon enough!

I am thankful....that my children have lots of cousins they know and get to play with.

I am wearing...workout pants, t-shirt, tennies

I am remembering...past vacations.

I am going...to start watching my Simply Charlotte Mason all-day seminar DVD for some motivation-haven't done that yet, even though I posted I was going to start it a couple weeks ago. Also, I am planning for the next 6 week term.

Some plans for the rest of the week...we have company visiting, so lots of playtime for the kiddos. Tomorrow a trip back to the olive oil plant.

I am currently reading... Laying Down the Rails by Sonya Shafer, The Bible, The Original Homeschooling Series, Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont.

I am hoping... that my children will start getting along better.

On my mind...moving, moving, moving!

From the learning room....on vacation this week. Finishing up our John James Audubon bio and our California Gold Rush story this week.

Noticing that...life feels out of control lately.

Pondering these words...submission.

I am creating...nothing this week.

I am hearing...Handy Manny of tv for the littlest visitor, a couple of kids playing Guess Who and Conman running through the house calling me. I should mention we have 8 kids in the house currently with one more coming in a little while. All cousins!

From the kitchen...either leftovers or chicken and rice chowder and homemade biscuits. We'll see what I feel like later.

Around the house...some disorder. Toys out, bedding out. Kids having fun!

One of my favorite things...The Biggest Loser show. Did I list that already?

From my picture journal...another random photo I opened. This is, I believe, the Japanese Friendship Bell. Somewhere in Long Beach. It was taken in '07 and I've slept since then, so I'm not exactly sure.
Have a wonderful day!

Weekly Wrap Up #3

I'm back. At least for now. Here's our Weekly Wrap-Up. You can head over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to.


This was a slightly odd, short week. We completed some school along with some other activities thrown in.


I won't bore you with details of our mundane errands, such as dentist appointments, grocery shopping, etc.


I did get to attend our Spring Tea at the church on Tuesday. This year my daughter, being 13, was old enough to join us. It was a wonderful morning with some delicious food, hot tea and fellowship.


School wise, we finished up our six week artist study on John James Audubon. Our picture this week was the Wild Turkey.


We also finished our poet study on Robert Louis Stevenson. This week I'll be choosing new poets and artists using the Simply Charlotte Mason schedule, so we're prepared for after Easter break.


Blakester completed his Math-U-See Delta book this week. He'll be starting on Epsilon, which is their 5th grade book. So, I'll have a 4th grader doing on 5th grade math and 6th grade grammar. Hmm.


Thursday night, the husband and myself were able to go on a much needed date night. We attended the Rock and Worship Roadshow about an hour away from our house. Talk about an awesome night of music and worship!! We finished off the evening with a stop at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum!


We wrapped up the week on Friday with a few tests and I finished inputting grades into the Homeschool Tracker so I could print out report cards for this last term. The kids did really well.
Blakester ended up with a GPA of 3.92 and Lulu with 3.75. They both brought them up from last term.


For fun, the kids got together with some cousins and colored Easter eggs. They had a great time. Especially the little ones who thought the eggs would make good balls. Only a few were cracked.

The eggs, not the kids.

That was it for our week. We're getting ready to enjoy a relaxing Easter day tomorrow. Be sure to stop and give praise to our Creator and Saviour for the wonderful gift He gave to us!

I'm Still Here

I've been MIA for about a week. I apologize. We were busy getting ready for our yard sale last weekend, which, by the way, was a smashing success! My house is a little less cluttered, my garage is cleaned out and I have some additional funds to add to the debt jar.

I've also been catching up on some reading, some rest and just life in general.

I will be back, I promise!

Curriculum Excitement!

This morning Conman and I ventured back up to the closest homeschool supply store we have around here. After my major clean out last month I had left some boxes with the owner for her to go through and see if there was anything she was willing to give me credit for.

Well, there was!

After subtracting $10.00 for some books I had already brought home, I received about $80.00 credit from her to use in the store. Talk about exciting!

So, what did I come home with?

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 2-Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day-This is for Blakester. He only has a couple lessons left in his current book.

Queen Homeschool's Pictures in Cursive Book B-Again for Blakester. He's really enjoying his first book and asked to continue for more practice.

Queen Homeschool's Language Lessons for the Very Young-Book 2-This is for Conman. He'll finish up his book 1 in a few weeks, and we'll continue on with book 2.

I also came home with a new Geosafari card set. It's all about ocean creatures. I thought the kids would enjoy it as a supplement to their science.

It was a good morning, and I was very glad I had glanced at how far the kids were in some of their books so that I could prepare for future lessons!

What's Not in the Box Wednesday

A lot of bloggers who use workboxes will post a "What's in the Box Wednesday" on their blog. They show the contents of their workboxes and a short description of them. I enjoy seeing what others are using for their workbox system and gleaning ideas from them of what to put in our boxes.

Today I decided to let you know what was not in our boxes.

I did not put any copywork in the boxes. I did not put any math pages in the boxes. I did not put thinking skills workbooks in the boxes. I did not put grammar lessons in the boxes. I did put any science reading, notebooking or experiments in the boxes. I did not conduct group time and read our history or artist biography.

Here's what we did do today.

Lulu made pancakes for breakfast. (Measuring and cooking practice)

Conman and I had a long discussion over some behavioral issues. (Character building, bible)

The boys designed their own Lego creations on the computer using Lego Digital Designer. Conman designed a scene of the California gold rush. (Science, art, computer skills, history-narration)

Lulu swept and mopped the kitchen and vacuumed the house. (Homemaking skills)

The boys and I pulled weeds. While in the process, some spiders and bugs were discovered. (Science, Nature Study)

Lulu is working on some place cards for a spring tea at church next week. (Art, computer skills and language arts)

Conman made a sign for our upcoming yard sale. (Art, handwriting)

I'm also pretty sure some reading will get done today. Lulu has an orthodontist appointment and will most likely take a book along. Blakester and Conman will probably read before bed. They will also complete their daily bible study and Conman and I will read from Little Rebel Becomes a Saint for character building.

So, even though I declared today a no-school, get-housework-done day, learning was still accomplished. It's important to remember that it is not checking off the list and completing every workbook page that enables education to occur.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

The Simple Womans Daybook

FOR TODAY... March 22, 2010

Outside my window...it's sunny, but the wind is blowing. It doesn't feel like it will reach 70's today as promised.

I am thinking...that I missed posting my weekly wrap-up last week. Busy weekend.

I am thankful....that my kitty Dallas was found. Interesting story.

I am wearing...workout pants, t-shirt, tennies and a sweatshirt.

I am remembering...what it was like when my children couldn't yet talk.

I am going...to start watching my Simply Charlotte Mason all-day seminar DVD for some motivation.

Some plans for the rest of the week...Lulu has an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday. Thursday I'm going back to the used curriculum store to pick up any leftover items I had and get Blakester's next science book. Also, getting a haircut finally! Conducting our yard sale this weekend since we're supposed to have better weather.

I am currently reading... Laying Down the Rails by Sonya Shafer, The Bible, The Original Homeschooling Series, Kaleidoscope by Patsy Clairmont. And, yes, I did start another Jodi Picoult book-Change of Heart. I have no self-discipline!

I am hoping... to be able to take some trips for our California history studies.

On my mind...family.

From the learning room....started reading about the California gold rush. Working on the habit of attention, obedience and orderliness without nagging.

Noticing that...per our message at church this weekend, most of what we think are crises in our life are self-inflicted.

Pondering these words...prayer.

I am creating...more scrapbooking pages.

I am hearing...Blakester & Lulu goofing off at the table when they should be finishing lunch. Conman's gameboy music.

From the kitchen...Chicken with lemon & garlic, veggies-asparagus & tomatoes, and brown rice.

Around the house...things are somewhat in order. Still pulling items out from here and there for the yard sale. Still thinning things out for our upcoming (hopeful) move.

One of my favorite things...jeans.

From my picture journal... the results of our fabulous girls day out. Seven pairs of perfectly manicured toes.