Saturday, November 12, 2016

Weekly Reflections - Week Ten....


At Home

The weather is still unseasonably warm here in WI and I am thrilled.  One day a couple of weekends ago, I was able to sit out on the patio for a brief time, enjoying the sun, while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.  It was absolutely delightful!

This week was again crazy with several appointments, the election, my neighbor's birthday, a book sale, and our Charlotte Mason Study Group meeting.  Riley fell a bit behind in math so we are working on some today. We have one more week of school and then a break week so I'm not really worried about it since she has volunteered to continue math over the break.  On the other hand, I'm very grateful for her online math class because it's holding us accountable.  If it wasn't for that I may be tempted to slack off when the going gets tough, but knowing I'm paying for the class is motivation to keep going and besides, it really is in Riley's best interest. Ruben did fairly well keeping up through all the chaos. This week he worked independently on his science, which was huge!

Around the Web

I have experienced the points mentioned in Why Copywork Doesn't Always Work for Teaching Spelling.  However, I still have my kiddos complete copywork.  Because of  dyslexia, our kids need a more explicit phonics approach, like the Orton-Gillingham method for spelling but I still believe copywork to be beneficial for a variety of other reasons.  Some of which I explain in Charlotte Mason and Dyslexia.

Of course, In Praise of Used Bookstores caught my eye since I am a used book junkie.
I used to be a Barnes and Noble patron, having one conveniently located ten minutes from my home. But as the books were pushed further and further back in the store to make room for the shelves of chocolate, calendars, board games, and other plainly necessary accoutrements to the task of reading, I became uneasy, and on the day that I entered the bookstore to behold a temple to the Nook erected not five paces from the door, I knew I would need to look to elsewhere to suit my purist bibliophile sensibilities.
Last month, I was at a Barnes and Noble for the first time and I totally get what she's talking about.  New book stores are OK periodically, but I would much, much rather frequent a used bookstore.  You never know where that hidden treasure may lie.

By the way, you may have noticed the mention of a used book sale that I attended this week.  I found many gems there and hope to post an updated book sale list before the end of the month and may even run a Black Friday Sale in a couple of weeks so please stay tuned for that!

2 comments:

  1. The weather has been so interesting this fall! Here in Ohio we've officially moved into cooler weather I think. We're getting down in the 20s and 30s every night and the high is anywhere from 40s to 50s. I want it to stay like this for a few months and have just a very short winter but I don't think I'll get my wish.

    Accountability is so helpful in things we would rather not push through! For me this year it was art. I hate the mess with the 8 younger kids (the high schooler handles her art and messes on her own though). So I invited another family to come over every other week this school year for art projects. It's been lovely to keep me consistent and to get me trying new things instead of just drawing or paint. The kids have really enjoyed it too.

    I'll keep an eye out for your sale list update. A Black Friday Sale would be really fun too! You could just box me up a bunch of Beautiful feet books. ;) and any guides you may be done with...hehe.

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  2. Hey Tristan...it's great to hear from you!

    I outsource art as well with another local homeschool mom. I concur about the messes ;-)

    Sorry, I'm keeping all my guides for our little guy...but I do have books galore!

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