Our Homeschool Journal - Creation to the Greeks, Week 29

Hello friends!  I am linking up this post with my friends at The Homeschool Mother's Journal, the Hip Homeschool Hop, and Homeschool Highlights in MFW.  Please check out some other great blogs by clicking these links! 


In my life this week...
We were disappointed by Butler's loss in the NCAA Championship game last Monday, but we are still proud of the Bulldogs and our alma mater!  Butler is more than basketball and the students on the basketball team seem to be top-notch students and leaders, not just athletes.  We had fun watching the game with friends.

B & I were showing our Butler team spirit!

On Friday, I actually got to go out with friends to a fun fondue restauraunt, The Melting Pot!  I had a great time with our Supper Club friends and I hope that next month my hubby can join us, too.  He had to work this time, but it was sweet of him to encourage me to go ahead with the group and enjoy the evening!  His work situation is in transition right now and he is really having to put in a lot of hours and making changes has added more stress. It is exhausting and I can't wait for this transition to be over for him!  Saturday I was able to take my niece and my daughter back to the art center so that they could glaze the pottery they made there a few weeks ago.  I also took my first "throw" on the potter's wheel and it was really fun!  I didn't get photos of the pieces that day, so I will show them later.

In our homeschool this week...

Wow, I can't believe we have completed Week 29 of Creation to the Greeks and now we only have 5 more weeks of studies in this curriculum! We are still working every day, but I can see how far we have come in math, reading, spelling, English, and history.  This week we were studying about the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Jeremiah.  On Friday, we didn't have a new Bible lesson scheduled, so I shared one of my favorite Bible verses - Jeremiah 29:11 and how those verses helped me through a hard time in my life.
We used clay to make bas-relief sculptures while we were learning about ancient Mesopotamia. I will wait to share photos of it when we have finished the painting them.  This was another history lesson in our Artistic Pursuits Book 1.  B was so enjoying her newest book Thea Stilton and the Mystery in Paris that she finished it in four days!  I am glad that she has found a series that interests her right now.  J is going to have a spring concert with his children's choir tomorrow that we are looking forward to attending.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We had our monthly 4H meeting on Friday at the park and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon!  After having our "pizza party" from being awarded a "blue ribbon club" status last year, we walked across the street to my grandmother's to do our community service project.  We all worked in her yard, picking up branches and limbs, raking leaves, pulling weeds, and hanging up her swing.  We filled the whole back of a pick-up truck with the debris and her yard looks 100 % better!  She was thrilled to have a group of young people who wanted to help her out and we all enjoyed doing it!   We will probably go back again.  It was great for the kids to see what we can accomplish as a team and learning to serve others is always an educational experience!

The Four Leaf Clovers and my grandmother, "Nenee"

My favorite thing this week was...

My highlight was probably doing the service project, but we were so excited to read the final chapters of The Children's Homer!  We were all very pleased with the ending to this epic tale of Odysseus. 

What's working/not working for us...

We had a pretty good week.  Being able to get outside to play and exercise makes a HUGE difference for all of us!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Does anyone have experience with using Winston Grammar or Linking Blocks Hands-On English with dyslexic students? They both look like color-coded, mutli-sensory methods for teaching grammar.  Have any of you who use the Barton Reading and Spelling System also worked with the Institute for Excellence in Writing Structure & Style writing program like Mrs. Barton recommends after Level 4?  Have any of your dyslexic students gone through Classical Conversations Foundations or Essentials classes?  We are considering some of these options for next year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
"Relationships often do not go the way we want them to go... Jesus taught that the Golden Rule must be applied not only when relationships are going right but also when they are going wrong."   Tom Holladay, The Relationship Principles of JESUS

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8