A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

These are the non-textbook books we read together in our two groups for school.  For the teens, we could add in their various texts--especially the American Lit book--but I choose to keep the list as-is with living books. I can say with complete honesty,  that I recommend every book on these lists.  If it wasn't worth our time, it didn't make these lists. With Teens The Scarlet Letter -- Nathaniel Hawthorne Macbeth -- William Shakespeare A Comedy of Errors --William Shakespeare The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave The Last of the Mohicans --James Fenimore Cooper The Old Man and the Sea -- Ernest Hemingway The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain Of Mice and Men --John Steinbeck To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee With Kids The Story Girl -- L.M. Montgomery  The Interrupted Tale -- Maryrose Wood Super -- Matthew Cody  Powerless -- Matthew Cody The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh -- A.A. ...

 In my still-new role as a counselor in the Primary Presidency of our local church ward, I inherited the assignment of doing decorations for our Primary Pinewood Derby. When I thought about it, I cried. For 5 weeks. Then the light came on, and suddenly I was happily engaging with Pinterest and my kids and ward members and my husband and Etsy I had a $40 budget and plenty of inspiration. Yes, we did normal things at home:  sending Little Princess off to FSY, Morning Meeting, evening scriptures, daily and bedtime read alouds, gardening apprenticeships, library day, youth church activities, grocery shopping, dance meetings, meal making, canning (strawberry top syrup, Mexican corn soup starter, and strawberry/rhubarb pie filling), and cleaning. But the whole week was really about getting ready for the derby. Lola's Yellow Dragon car Baymax's SWAT car With my family in tow, we hauled  the kids' cars, 16 old tires (I washed and dried them all on Friday), a whole bunch of homem...

 Life was mostly quiet this week. Reading --We're still reading The Mysterious Benedict Society . We went to the library, as we do every week. Play --It's hot, but we don't have access to a swimming pool, and the kids have outgrown wading pools and flooding the sand pit, so they've played a lot of card games and board games. And they watch videos with their older sisters. And sometimes they play with their sisters' phones. Chores --I'm working with Ladybug and Lola on cleaning out their room.  As in packing up their things as if we're moving so that we can really clean it.  We've made very little progress, but every bit counts! American Rhythm --We're at the point of having weekly meetings to sort costumes, plan dances, and work on administrative details. Gardening --Baymax and Beowulf worked for 2 hours with our neighbor.  This week they sharpened tools, weeded, and pruned a tree. CAP --Little Princess is having daily meetings as she prepares to be ...

 The kids were so excited for Monday evening because Dad was coming home from work to take them to the park for an evening of playing baseball.  They even got to pick up their favorite friends along the way.  We don't have any pictures because Sir Walter Scott forgot his phone, but that just means he was able to participate fully without stopping to frame a photo. Everyone came home sweaty, tired, hungry, and happy.   I had our usual Monday night huge pot of pasta ready and waiting for them as they walked in the door. Earlier in the day, our case manager made his weekly visit, but this time he had a nurse with him because she did some digging into files and found that we'd not had a nurse visit at any time in our history with this service, so she started fixing that lack with Brother.  He got weighed and measured in various ways, and we spent a good part of the afternoon answering questions about health habits and history.   I am delighted to repo...