The Week Before Homeschool Starts Back Up

Next Monday we begin our new homeschool year. It's bittersweet. I have a senior this year but at the same time I'm enjoying the glorious firsts with a 6 month old baby, with every age in between. Here is how this last week of summer break went:

Monday I spent some time preparing for the return of Cub Scouts. For those new to my blog I'm a Cubmaster for the pack chartered by our local church congregation and our pack meets from September - May. I also spent time looking at the actual lessons for each child for next week in homeschool, prereading them and reminding myself of what we will be studying. I made sure folders and files were cleaned out and ready to go.

I started the book A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley on Sunday and continued reading it today. It's interesting! The book is about learning and brain science, applied in many ways to learning math and science. It is aimed at a high school and adult audience. She has an extremely popular online course at Coursera, a Ted talk, and more. This week her book Learning How to Learn releases. This covers the same general material as A Mind for Numbers but is aimed at middle and high school ages. My copy of this new book arrived Monday evening. I plan to read it after A Mind for Numbers and then will assign one or the other of the books to Makayla, Joseph, and Emma this year to read.

Monday afternoon we had a water balloon and squirt gun battle in the back yard as a family. It was the perfect way to get outside in the 90F heat for a bit.

Tuesday started early when Rebekah decided 5:30am was morning. I don't mind, I'm an early bird by nature, but it did feel a bit unfair when she then drifted off for her first nap at 8:30am while my day was running at full throttle. The kids did chores in the morning and at snack time we listening to more of Island of the Blue Dolphins while I baked 48 muffins for lunch. Makayla had her first day at a new job today. We also had our piano teacher in for lessons.

By late Tuesday afternoon I was feeling sick. It got worse all evening and continued Wednesday. If I moved I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach hurt. I had chills and just wanted to crawl in a dark hole and not move. Of course mom life isn't very conducive to that option, especially when the oldest teen is working. The other big and middle kids pitched in to help and I did the bare minimum of movement. By Wednesday evening I could eat and move more, though the nausea was still present. We had fun planned for Thursday so I needed to get better quickly!

Thursday Grandma came over in the morning. She and I took the kids to COSI, a science center an hour away. COSI was celebrating Farm Days with booths, tractors, and giant farm equipment for kids to explore and climb in. It is truly amazing for my non-farming family to see up close these machines that have 6 or more steps/ladders to climb up to get in the cab. With Mason that meant Mommy climbed up too! There was a milk cow and a calf with their farmer and the kids got to pet them and ask questions of the farmer. We learned some neat things from him! After our time outside we went in the science center to visit some exhibits, including our three favorites: an Ancient Egypt exhibit with a real mummy and sarcophagus on display (on loan from the Brooklyn Museum), the ocean area (we like the Poseidon themed half, but the other half is neat with a submarine theme as well) and the Dinosaur Gallery (created by the American Museum of Natural History for COSI).

Also on Thursday we learned that my grandfather's health is declining. He had been in the hospital recently and was home just a short few days before things started getting worse. He is back in the hospital now with two hemorrhages in his brain. We are praying for him and waiting to see what happens next.

It is Friday morning right now and my kids have been watching our friendly window spider eat. We have a large spider with an even larger web outside our living room window. He's been there for a couple weeks and we've watched him weave and repair his web regularly. This morning we found our spider in the middle of his web on our side. We can see the beautiful patterns on his back and legs now and have been watching him work on his breakfast. The kids are enthralled.

I'm planning on finishing my summer reading of the Book of Mormon today. Originally my end date was September 3rd, but when we moved our school start date up to August I also moved up my reading schedule. I am still working my way through the New Testament at a slower pace too. I love reading the scriptures and peace I feel. I learn so much about God and his love for us, as well as how everyday people walked out their faith throughout history.

Happy End of Summer Break everyone! It's back to the books for us next week.