Kathys Cluttered Mind: A week in the life of homeschoolers

What a week! It was filled with some stress and tears but we pulled through and the last couple of days have gone very well.

So here is our week in the life of homeschoolers update week 2!

Monday: The kids worked on their workboxes. The week before they were getting through their stuff so quickly so I added several more boxes this week, well that was not a good idea (you will find out why on Tuesday)! They completed their work but there were many tears during the day (and not just from them).

Here is what was in their files (aka workboxes):

Gwyn: Handwriting, Spelling, Puzzle, Reading, Math, Computer time, Horse Unit Study, Playdough, Science/Geography (skipped), Spanish and Music. Gwyn is learning several short A words like mat, sat, bat, etc which are covered in her handwriting, spelling and reading.
Rowyn: Puzzle, Handwriting (Letter A), Reading, Coloring, Computer, Letter A Activity, Horse Unit Study, Playdough, Science/Geography (skipped), Spanish and Music.

Gwyn was not enjoying her mat, sat, pat, bat, handwriting worksheet!

Rowyn completing his ABC matchup puzzles.

Our workbox system which is really a filing system due to limited space.

Rowyns files.

Gwyns files.

How I store my labels for the files.

Rowyn doing music the computer.

Tuesday: Well we started out the day by baking a cake for daddy who turned 35. After the baking fun was over it was onto workboxes. The boxes were set up very similar to the day before but with some different worksheets, books, puzzles, coloring pages, etc. Again tears, frustration, whining. Well this new homeschooling mom did not realize that the added workboxes were the cause until I consulted some of my virtual veteran homeschooling friends (boy do I love facebook and twitter moms). So after we did 6 boxes we called it a day and skipped the rest.

Measuring and Mixing!

Working on handwriting.

Making cards for daddy!

The finished cake complete with 35 candles!


And daddy loved the cake.

Wednesday: Well after two days of burnout for both the kids and I we decided to take advantage of the nice breeze and go on a nature walk field trip. We went to a local place that I found on the internet the night before. It is called Holy Family Campus and I found it on the Mountain Stewards website (click on mountain trails on the left, then Holy Family Church to view tail details). It is a a church property that is open to the public as a place for spiritual reflections, quiet solitude and enjoyment of nature. It is over 40 acres and includes: Nature and Historical Trails, two historical sites dated to the early 1800's and 1900's; the Labyrinth, the Fountain Garden, the Pavilion, the Memorial Garden lakes and more. Well it was just what we needed. We covered science, geography, science and art. Update: you can learn more about the church property here.

I love the timer setting on my camera!

We probably walked about 1.5-2 miles.

Pretty sure this was a deer hoof print.

Garden spider.

Can you see the camouflage bug? If you know what this leave me a comment.

Gwyn drawing the bug in her nature journal.

The kids exploring a mushroom.

Adding cool things to their nature bracelet (aka duck tape wrapped around their wrist).

Blue dragonfly, these guys are so quick I had a hard time getting a photo.

This was one of the historic sites. This is a Cherokee Indian Ball Ground. The Cherokees played a game similar to lacrosse here called Anetsa or Little Brother of War. An anthropologist from the late 1800's said the last game was held in 1834.

The Labryinth adopted by Christians as a means to walk a spiritual journey in a small amount of space.

Outdoor worship area and Memorial Garden which includes the Holy Family Columbarium.

The Fountain Garden the main entrance of the church in 2004. It now serves as a memorial to several members and as a place for quiet reflection.

One of the many butterflys we saw.

Some very pretty flowers.

The Griffeth Home Site. This is where the orginal land owners home was destroyed in a fire. The property was sold to the church in 1996. If you look closely you will see a well behind the trees.

Making fun projects with our nature finds.

Thursday: Well we sort of took the day off. Wednesday evening we realized that our cat somehow got fleas and well she gave them to the ferret so I needed to try to focus on flea remediation. So my plans for Thursday were to bath the animals and treat some areas of the apartment. Well we went out to the car to go to Walmart and the car wouldn't start. I had an emotional breakdown because we just bought this new (well used car) to replace my other car which had broken down. So after calming down I drove my husbands car (thank goodness I FINALLY learned to drive manual) to Walmart. And then I spent the rest of the day bathing and combing to very irritated pets. Later in the day the kids did do some art and get on the computer to do their Jump Start programs.

Friday: We started off the day by going to a consignment sale where we scored a couple of homeschool items and some clothing for Rowyn. Afterwards we went on another field trip. We helped a local homeschool organization called Homeschool Excursions create a bottle wall/bench in the garden vista at Sharptop Arts Association. The kids had a blast especially Rowyn because he loves building things and this was an opportunity to build with something besides mega blocks and wooden blocks. Gwyn found three snails which we are now living in a little terrarium so we can observe them for a few days.