Advent in Our Home ~ week 3

in the evening

 morning prayer

love this boy!

Advent in Our Home ~ week 2

My daughter and grandson decorating his stocking:

  Waiting for the glitter glue to dry:

Yesterday, my daughter and her friend made snowflake wreaths:

The rest of this week I intend to declutter and clean.  In particular, I will be clearing out a spot for our tree.

30 Days of Thanksgiving ~ 2015 ~ day 3

• my husband's job
• my job
• having enough money for food, shelter, electricity, gas, and so forth

30 Days of Thanksgiving ~ 2015 ~ day 2

• an unexpected day off
• our home
• the home i grew up in
• precious memories

30 Days of Thanksgiving ~ 2015

• A lovely All Saints Eve getting to know our neighbours, and the bonus of having my 19yo daughter with us
• Worship and fellowship this morning
• Brunch date
• 25yo daughter hanging out with us this afternoon
• Beautiful weather

This is the day which the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it!

My Grandson!

1*7*2015

Another Graduate

My 16-year-old daughter is now my fourth high school graduate!  I am so proud of her!  She will begin community college in the fall, working towards becoming a registered nurse.  She will be doing dual enrollment for the next two years, since she is only 16; even though she has already finished all of her requirements for high school, doing this will make 1/3 of her degree much more affordable.  So she is an unofficial official graduate.

This Week in the Olive Grove

Sunday~We had a nice morning at church; i came home and had a great nap, but then we got the sad news that a family member had died.  This was quite a shock as he was only 37.

Monday~My husband had the day off, but i had to work; so the kids got to spend the day having all kinds of daddy adventures.

Tuesday~We did our morning time, and then the kids worked on their History Quest homework.  I ordered First Form Latin!


Wednesday~We had a good morning time; i felt like we were settling well into our current routine.  I went to work in the afternoon, during which time i received a few phone calls from my 10yo son, who was excitedly working on his first ever report.  He read it to me later that evening when i got home, and i was impressed with his work!


Thursday~I was a grump during morning time (not sure why, probably because i had slept late.)  Anyway, we got through it, and i did ask for my children's forgiveness.  The afternoon was quite hectic, as my husband and four of the kids were packing up and leaving to go 250 miles away to attend the funeral of the family member who died on Sunday.

Friday~Took my 8yo daughter to Dunkin' Donuts for Special TeaTime.  She had a doughnut with orange frosting and fall sprinkles and a white hot chocolate; i had coffee and a pumpkin doughnut, yum!  Then the 10yo, 8yo, and i went to do my volunteer shift at the Christian Home Library.  Then it was on to MickyD's for a healthy cheap lunch, and they went to work with me.  I talked/texted with my hubby and kids after the funeral.  They decided to stay another night with my sister-in-law.  Friends came by and picked up son to spend the night, and daughter and i are having a movie night.

Saturday~I hope to get a lot of work done around the house.  We shall see:~P

This Week in the Olive Grove

Well, our formal academic studies are over for the year.

• We finished reading aloud The Struggle for Sea Power, Dr. Dolittle, and Just So Stories.


• The boys finished their assigned silent readings for literature, history, science, and nature.


• We got our last spelling words for the year into our notebooks.

After I finished reading the last history chapter I asked each of the younger three to share some things that they remembered learning this year.  I gave them each three spelling words bee-style, and three mental math problems.  Then I said, "Congratulations, you have just been promoted!"  This was followed by many high-fives until I made them stop, because they were hurting my hand!

J~Man has his first LEGO-Robotics competition tomorrow.

Now it is on to the boys' birthdays, Thanksgiving, Advent, our wedding anniversary, and Christmas.

Of course, the learning doesn't stop: there will be plenty of reading ~ aloud and silent, poetry, music, art and handicrafts that go with the season.

This Week in the Olive Grove

This Week:

• We finished memorizing our verses from Psalm 139.


• We finished reading Now We Are Six.


• Lulapalooza finished his Bible Reader.


• Toodles finished her Bible Reader and Flower Fairies of the Autumn.

  Next Week:

• We have 2 stories left in Just So Stories.


• We have 1 chapter to go in The Story of Dr. Dolittle.


• We have 8 more readings in The Struggle for Sea Power.


• J~Man has one more chapter to read in Men of Science; Men of God


• Lulapalooza will finish reading A Picnic on the Island for literature and Snakes and Stars for nature.


• They will each have one more spelling list.

Then we are finished with formal academics for the year.

The Extras:

• J~Man and his partner completed their robot for the upcoming LEGO-Robotics competition.


• Sgt. Elf bought a bunny.


• Toodles helped me prepare 20 boxes for Operation Christmas Child.


• Lulapalooza finalized plans for his birthday next week.
  

This Week in the Olive Grove

I am always amazed when God works things out ~ even though I shouldn't be!  October 5-9 was a planned academic break week, which worked out very well since we spent most of it in the hospital.  So this week we were back in the swing of things without having to play catch-up, and we had a great week.

• we started reading The Story of Dr. Dolittle and Just So Stories for literature
  


• Now We Are Six for poetry
  


• and The Struggle for Sea Power in our world history series


• we memorized the first four verses of Psalm 139


• I got my supplies organized enough that the kids could draw and play with modeling clay while I did our history and literature read alouds; they were quite excited about that.
  


• on Friday we did a little geography block with a story from Africa out of Folktales from Ecosystems Around the World, some songs from Africa from Wee Sing Around the World, and an African-inspired craft from Global Art.  The kids really enjoyed this ~ even the too cool 11yo boy!

I like the rhythm we have found to our autumn days, and the kids seem to as well.  They are playing together outside a lot, working on lots of creative projects inside, and even the 13yo manages to show up when we do read alouds (something from which she could not wait to be excused a year ago).