May is Here, At Last! THMJ

May is Here, At Last!

Written by Rachel, May 4, 2012
In my life this week…
It has warmed up again and the mid 80 degree weather feels great!  May is finally here!  Our boat is almost ready and we will probably get it out on the water this week.  We did get my brother-in-law's boat out and it felt so good to be on the water again - but not in the water, just yet!  It is still too cold for me.  I am starting to have some time to read a book - for fun, not school!  I am also making time to work out several days a week, doing around 30 minutes of the P90X videos that my husband is doing.  I can feel it!  I can't do the whole videos yet, but I can mentally tough it out for a half hour.

I am catching up here on my blog and I posted pictures from our Trip to Washington D.C. that we took in April! Check it out!

In our homeschool this week…
I think I am finally winding down our school year! We have reviewed Classical Conversations memory work each day, continued in math, spelling, our "new" grammar curriculum, and reading.  I switched gears for our Bible study and we went back to For Instructions in Righteousness to do some lessons on character development, currently studying what the Bible says about laziness and diligent, hard work.  We also began using our new unit study for Indiana history and it is a nice change.

The children have been working hard at their piano practice this semester and I was proud of how well they both performed in their recital last weekend!

Questions/thoughts I have…
Does anyone have any fun ways that they encourage their kids to do some school during the summer with some fun rewards?  The kids can't wait for "summer break" and all of our neighborhood friends that go to traditional schools have a long summer break from June until about the middle of August (we don't have year-round schools in our little, rural town yet.)  During our "summer break" we always continue with:  Bible study, library summer reading program, piano practice, and work on 4H projects.  The kids also like to participate in some camps or other summer activities.

However, both children need to keep up their math skills, finish their Math U See books, and J also needs to continue with his lessons in the Barton Reading and Spelling System.  I am thinking about how to have a "fun" summer and yet keep up some of our skills in these areas where they are lost so easily if we take a few weeks off.  Each summer I struggle with how long of a time we can really take off and how to motivate them, so that they don't feel like they are being punished by being required to  do this work.  I did notice this week that my son said that one of his best friends from CC uses a certain math curriculum in the summer and a different one during the school year, so maybe he is seeing that he is not the only kids who has to do math in the summer. Any motivational ideas would be appreciated!!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Last weekend we had to travel to Chicago for a funeral for my husband's aunt.  It was sad, but also a good time to visit with relatives from far away.  We enjoyed seeing D's brother and niece from Florida.  After we returned, the children both performed in their piano recital on Sunday and then J had a Voices of Spring children's choir concert that evening that was fantastic!  We also took a field trip with our friends from CC to the Indianapolis Art Museum and it was good to be with them again.

J, center, singing beautifully with his choir

Tutor, Dawna, pointing out some shapes in a piece by Georgia O'Keefe

What a great group for a field trip!

Isn't this stained glass window a true piece of artwork?

I am reading ...
I am thankful for the Stormie O'Martian books on prayer.  I have Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Parent and I am praying through them again.  I have seen God's power at work in our lives, not because of anything that I do, but I think that I pay more attention and I am inspired to pray for our family through these great books.  I am reading Karen Kingsbury's Longing from her Bailey Flanigan series. I need to catch up and read the book after that, too! 
  

My favorite thing this week was…

We were "flocked" with this group of fun, feathered, flamingo friends on Friday!  They are raising money for the American Cancer Society through the Relay for Life program.  My kids decided to add some fun things to a couple of the flamingos, as well.