Homeschooling Mother's Journal

In my life this week...I've been thinking a bit too much on the recent deaths and diagnoses of a handful of friends.  It surely has me crying out for God's mercy for their families and for my own.  I cannot even imagine... life is so precious and short.

In our homeschool this week...In history, we're still traveling through Rome during the time of Christ and loving The Bronze Bow. 


In maths, I finally got to use with Ian my new book, Arithmetic for young children, being a series of exercises exemplifying the manner in which arithmetic should by taught to young children---I still cannot get over that title!!  It's all review right now, but it was so much fun that I found the other kids had stopped working just to watch Ian's math lesson.   Oh! and I downloaded a free New Zealand Italic font (click to download) I found through searching and searching and searching, and I love it!  The font package even came with a dotted Italic font so that I can create my own copywork for him, since the inexpensive (thank goodness!) one I purchased earlier this year was "updated to reflect current grammar usage," but poorly.

I knew I would regret not bookmarking that italic font website!  I did find another 'site that offers an entire set of handwriting fonts, although of Victorian Australia.  I think they're just as lovely!  ENJOY. :)

A "Lovin'-that" moment: overhearing my eldest daughter tell a friend, "Classical music is amazing!  Seriously, if you listen to it often, you will gain an appreciation for it.  It's the only music that moves me to tears."

Places we're going and people we're seeing...It's been raining and pouring here this week, to the ultimate sadness of my wee boy whose baseball games were cancelled.  To make up for it, we got together with friends we've been missing for some good ol'fashioned play for the wee ones and good conversation coupled with wayyy too much coffee for me.  I was stuck in hyper-drive the rest of the day, without accomplishing very much at all!  Boooo.

Coppelia is playing at the San Francisco Ballet!

My favorite thing this week was...Finding a dress second-hand, a replica of one my youngest daughter just loved and wore until it was in tatters and entirely too short, and having her jump into my arms with squeals of joy!  She's still wearing it.


What's working/not working for us...Our rooster disappeared several weeks ago, and since then the hens have become unruly, roosting wherever they wish and being taken out one by one, most likely by foxes.  We're now down to four and loathing the idea of having to purchase chicks, which are soooo messy and stinky and yuck (although cute).  Yes, it's not exactly homeschool related, but I didn't wanna keep saying, "Everything's working!" ;D

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...You'd think after nine years of formally home-educating my kids, I'd have finished wrestling with the question of balance, but I've not.  I still wonder how much is enough or too much.  More often I err on the side of too much, I think: there are just so many wonderful ideas and experiences to which I want them exposed in the short years during which they grace my home!  Do any of you wonder about this, too?  And hey, if you've figured it out, please let me know!


A photo, video, link, or quote to share...