Weekly Reflections - Week Six...

At Home 

The corn is harvested and the Maples are shedding.  It's hard to believe we're half way through our first term of the 2016-2017 school year.  Fall has settled in and we had another crazy week here on Drywood Creek.  Monday, I was appointed guardian of our elderly neighbor through the court system.  Tuesday, I took Riley and Levi to Sea Life Aquarium for Homeschool Week.  Ruben chose bonding time with dad instead.  Wednesday, brought appointments with our neighbor and Ruben had to work.  Thursday, Riley and Ruben had choir.  Friday, I ran a couple of errands, worked on laundry, got the oil changed, and the kids caught up on academics...UFFDA!

Speaking of academics, Riley is loving her Beautiful Feet Ancient History study!  I'll be posting a progress blog with notebook photos soon.  Winston Grammar is working well for Ruben.  I love the combination hands on/workbook approach.  Ruben studies grammar two days a week.  I typically teach the concept on Monday with the cards.  Then he completes the corresponding week's worksheet on Thursday.   He has not whined so far and actually seems to look forward to grammar.  The program moves fairly slowly and allows for plenty of review.  We began by covering articles and nouns.  This week we started learning about personal pronouns, which were a bit confusing for Ruben, but I'm confident with continued review, he'll get it.

Also this week, I tried a new recipe.  I first spotted Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet in a magazine ad and thought it looked good.  It seems I make a ton of potato or pasta dishes, but lately, I've been wanting to incorporate more rice dishes. Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet was a good addition.  It was quick and easy to prepare.  The Farmer, Riley and I thought it tasted great.  Unfortunately, the boys wouldn't even try it....and no, they didn't get a yummy piece of the warm apple crisp and cream that followed.  Even so, I've added Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet to our recipe collection and will make it again.

Around the Web

Truth be told, I haven't been online much this week with all the running we've done.  I've also been so busy listening to upcoming book club books on audio that I haven't listened to any podcasts.  But, I do know that Schole Sisters has been plugging away broadcasting some fabulous ones that I intend to savor in the upcoming months.

On My Shelf

Speaking of book clubs, I've been preparing for three coming up in the next week.  I would normally never schedule three groups in one week, but due to scheduling conflicts, it just so happens to be the way it fell this time around.

Sunday evening, my Schole Sisters group will meet to discuss the final chapters of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.  This book has been a bit controversial for the group so I look forward to a lively discussion.

Wednesday afternoon, I'll facilitate the first Middle School Socratic Book Club, where we'll discuss The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Finally Friday evening, our Charlotte Mason book study group will meet to discuss chapters 2 and 3 of Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass.

I must confess, my brain is a little overwhelmed with the amount of reading I've done over the past couple of weeks and yet, I'm so excited to have to opportunity to read and discuss such great books with friends, my kids, and other homeschool students.  I'm sure it will bring about some blog posts ;-)