Week 5 - the one before the break!

This was a busy week!  Classical Conversations started back in our community and Stephen and Sarah had a great day!

In my life this week… 

FULL schedule had mama worn out!  I am definitely at the life stage of being my kids personal assistants!  Now, I need one to help me keep up with their schedules, lol.  Jonathan and I are the only two left on our fast and we did give in for one meal but went right back to fasting.  It ends this Friday.

In our homeschool this week… 

High School (9th grade) - Jonathan is continuing to do well and independence is gradually increasing.  He finished up Week 5 of MFW AHL this week.  His biggest obstacle this week was getting through The Cat of Bubastes so I bought him the audio book to help him out a little.  He still says there is not a cat or Bubastes so he doesn't get the title, lol.  I told him to just keep reading.  All other areas are going well and we have been glad to have a break from the New Answers book too.  :)

One of his science experiments this week on oxygen.

Middle School (6th grade) - Stephen received his Memory Master certificate for last year's memory work when we met this week at CC.  He cannot wait to wear his t-shirt next week. His biggest struggle right now is  Spelling and it frustrates him that he cannot do as good as he wants to so I have to reassure him that it's okay.  He wants to excel at everything and sometimes that just is not the case and it's ok!!  He began reading the Hittite Warrior and loves it much better than Mara, Daughter of the Nile.  :)  He also had his first Science Club meeting this week where they set off mentos rockets.  His tied for 1st!  He choose a regular cola and mint Mentos.  Of course, many of the kids had a hard time getting all of their Mentos in the bottle and that affected some of the results.  Diet Coke with mint Mentos is suppose to be the best combination so I'm sure we will be testing that out for ourselves soon.  Soccer is back in full swing as well!

Wouldn't you know I would forget my camera so this is best picture I have of Stephen getting his Memory Master award.

Elementary School (4th grade) - Sarah is doing great too!  She surprised me as we sat in Stephen's Essentials class this week with what she remembered from last year's Jr IEW class.  First Language Lessons seems to be the best fit for her right now though.  We were using Writing Strands 3 and I decided we needed to go back to book 2 so that came in the mail this week and we will start on it after our break.  Here she is on her first day back at CC getting ready to do geography and presenting how to make a toothpick and marshmallow pyramid.

We continued our study of Ancient History and headed into Ancient Egypt where we built our own pyramids from toothpicks and marshmallows.  We made square and tetrahedron pyramids.

And then we tested the strength of building a pyramid compared to a cube.

And finally, The Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes!  Both had to take turns being the Pharaoh.  :)

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This week we have family coming in from Arizona so we are looking forward to spending a little time with them.  Sarah has girls club and our fast ends!

What’s working/not working for us… 

I'm still learning to be flexible and when something is just not working, we need to change it.  Such was the case with Writing Strands.  I really think the next change might be ordering the new version of Teaching Textbooks Algebra with automatic grading because it fits my theme of making it simple for me!  I love that Stephen and Sarah's grade automatically and it saves me time!  

I'm reading… 

We are still reading The Tanglewood's Secret and still loving it!  

Spoiler Alert:  

Actually, I cried my way through the reading this week.  They were happy and rejoicing tears as Ruth gave her precious heart to the Lord.  Children and their faith get me every time!

I'm linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, MFW Highlights, Homeschool High, and Collage Friday.  I love looking at other homeschoolers weeks!