Week In Review::November 14-18

Monday-

Horse lessons. I mention this each week, but it is a large part of what makes our week fun. I confess that I am not super excited to leave the house at 8:15 and be gone all morning (yes, call me a spoiled homeschool mom!), but it is so worth it.

Mark and James took a leap in responsibility this week when their teacher asked them to finish cleaning the stall by themselves while she took Paul up for his lesson. This probably means nothing to any country folks out there, but to my city boys, it is big stuff.

Paul is also moving toward independence in caring for the horse he rides- he usually unsaddles her, grooms her, and does the care-taking (things like removing the shoes she wears and putting lotion on her hooves) at the end of his lesson on his own.

I am not sure where we are going with this, but it has been a wonderful experience for the boys.

Tuesday- 

Note to self- no doctor appts.in the a.m. when avoidable. Once I leave the house, it is difficult to get back in the groove when I get home. Fortunately, big sis was home this day so I could leave Mark and James to get some of their school done.

We did finish reading A Single Shard in the afternoon. (Spoiler Alert!) We were loving (I mean loving) this book and the turn of events in the last chapter when... wham... I sat there on the couch and couldn't read for a few minutes. Tears were streaming down my face... Mark and Paul asked if I should wait for dad to come home so he could finish reading it (that would not help- he would have been crying too). I pulled myself together and started reading... then James burst in to tears. I mean full slobbery running nose and tears! Anyway, we finished the book- not before a few more bursts of tears... some sad and some happy. Still, we were generally very satisfied with the ending and still love the book. Yet... perhaps we could change just a few things (?).

Also, we did some major cleaning in the afternoon! It is so nice to have big boys now who can really dig in on some of the dirty jobs.

Wednesday- 


Have you ever started you day kind of humming along thinking your doing great and then... crash! You realize that you double booked the morning. And, both things are pretty important. I am so lucky that we have an accommodating art teacher! Thank you, Mr. Green!

In support of my daughter (who is attending a salon school), and because my boys are in desperate need of haircuts, we had booked Erin's entire morning at the salon. You can see that it would not have looked good for us to cancel... anyway, three clean cut boys and one lunch out with sister/daughter, and we were on our way home.

We did not get much school done, but the boys brought some math and reading with them, and then picked up a few loose ends at home.

Thursday- 


This day was a bit of "real life" homeschool for our family. While juggling the normal demands of the day, we also had Paul watching his nephew so that Paul's sister could go to the doctor in the early morning.

We (younger boys and I) managed to get some basic seat work subjects done, some chores completed, eye glasses picked up, and run errands with dad.

On these errands, the boys (Mark and James) spotted this-

They were oddly impressed! And, they got little wiener whistles and stickers. It made their day!

When they got home from errands, even bigger news was waiting for them-

A new nephew (my grandson) arrived! He is so sweet!! :)

We picked up Paul and Nico (new little guy's big brother) and went to see the baby, and to let the family (mom, dad, baby, & Nico) spend a few minutes together.

Nico came home with us for our Korean dinner!

Now that is a day!

Friday- 


Another wonderfully wild day! As today was our last Spanish class (that we host) before Thanksgiving, we added in a few holiday themed treats and a project.

 James was up early to make these treats! Bugle cornucopias and... 

 cookie with peanut butter cup pilgrim hats! (first spotted here)

Mark and James set the table with crayons, markers, and pencils so that each student
could trace his/her hand(s) and write what he/she is thankful for in the hands.
This also served as place cards. Once a hand print was
traced, the seat was claimed! 

 The kids go to class in groups of three, so they worked on their 

thankful hands and snacked while their group was waiting. 

Our grandson was here for the festivities while his baby brother was 

getting ready to come home from the hospital. 

Younger siblings joined the fun too! 

 I apologize for so many pictures of the "thankful hands", but each of the
children did such a great job that I just can't stand to leave one out! 

Looking forward to a quiet weekend at home!

I am joining in at: 

And

NOBH