Our Family

Our Family

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Nature Seekers 4 H January Meeting

For our first meeting of the new year, I chose money as the topic.  I had found a really cute felt piggy craft on Pinterest that I thought would be something the children would enjoy doing and then went into the 4 H office to find out what kind of information they had to do a program about money.  They had a great program called Money on the Bookshelf that uses different children's books to teach children about using money wisely.  They also had a game.  All I needed was a snack idea and I was all set.

Originally I had planned on having the children sew the felt piggies because we have never done any sewing projects in our club and that was one request I had for a meeting from one of the little girls.  But, I couldn't find any plastic needles that had a point that could go through felt and I have some pretty young children in there that I didn't want to hand regular sewing needles over to.  So instead of sewing the piggies I decided we would hot glue them.  I had hoped the children would be able to trace and cut them themselves, but felt is pretty hard to cut through without very sharp scissors and after testing it on Lily and her getting very frustrated I decided against that and spent a Saturday afternoon tracing and cutting all the little piggies.



At the meeting we usually do the craft last but I decided to do it first because  we were decorating the piggies with glitter glue and I wanted it to have a chance to dry.





Next we sat down and talked about what exactly money is.  We talked about the different items that have been used as money over the years.  I had a bag of play money that we passed around and talked about the value of each bill.  We talked about debit cards too.  Then we read the book Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday.





Then we played a game.  We used felt with circles with different amounts of money on it.  The children threw 4 velcro balls trying to get as much money as they could in 4 throws.  There are no pictures of this because my photographers were slacking off ;)

Then we talked about the differences between needs and wants and did a worksheet circling different needs and wants.



Next we did coin rubbings.






Last was snack time.  Lily, Emmie, and I made cupcakes with green icing that we were going to arrange in the shape of a dollar sign.  But, since the door got unlocked late I didn't take the time to do that.  The children didn't mind.



Next month we will be learning about Waterfowl.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Encourage One Another

Have you seen that post floating around social media entitled A Homeschool Confrontation in the Grocery Store?  I have seen it around several places and it is a very well written post about how a homeschool mom handled a rude confrontation with a lot of grace.  Many of us as homeschoolers can relate to that.  I have had numerous confrontations with strangers in the grocery store, family members, and even people in my church. (I will say that on the flip side of that I have had several moments where I have braced myself for the confrontation that I was sure was coming and instead heard some very positive remarks.)  This isn't just an issue that homeschool parents face from those that are against homeschooling.  It's an issue that all parents face on a number of parenting issues.

Parenting Is Hard!

I know you are shocked by that comment :) Right from the very beginning we have to make choices for our children, constant decisions.  It starts out with things like:

What type of carseat, crib, stroller?
Breastfeed or bottle feed?
Give the baby a pacifier or not?
Co-sleep or put the baby in a crib?

Some issues that may seem a little bigger:

Epidural or natural child birth?
Vaccinate or don't vaccinate?
If it's a boy do we circumcise?
Stay at home or daycare?


The list goes on and on and your child hasn't even been born yet!


As the child grows the decisions do not end.

TV or no TV, what kind of shows are ok?
What types of foods are the best?
Sign up for social activities (dance, sports, etc..) or not?
Electronic devices which ones are ok?  How long is ok?

A bigger one:

What kind of schooling for my child?

I'd love to tell you it gets easier after that but we all know it doesn't.  As they grow and get older the decisions can get harder.  Friends, dating, driving, employment, college choices, and so many more. There are so many decisions to make!!!

As a parent, each of us only wants the absolute best for our children.  In the course of this decision making, we don't always know what is the best.  All we can do is what we think is best for our child at that point in time.  Different people determine that different ways: prayer, knowledge, seeking advice from others.  Often we second guess these decisions.  I know I do....often.  What we as parents don't need is someone else second guessing it for us.

What you think is best may not be what is best for someone else.

We get going in this parenting thing, make some decisions for our children that we think are great and sometimes we forget that what is great for us is not great for everyone.  Then we become like the woman in the grocery store, being so nasty to someone just because they made a different choice then we did.  It's not just non homeschoolers being less than nice to homeschoolers.  Homeschoolers can be that way to non homeschoolers, and even to other homeschoolers who have a different homeschooling philosophy!  The same situation can exist between working and stay at home moms, parents who choose to breastfeed and those that choose the bottle, ladies that go through natural child birth and those who get the epidural as soon as they walk through the door, parents who only feed their children organic food and those who eat ramen noodles, etc.., etc..etc.

I could write an endless post on all of the different sides of every issue that we face.  But, instead lets focus on one thing:

Spend time encouraging and building up other parents rather than discouraging and beating them down because their choices are not what YOU think is best.

It's ok to disagree with other parents.  It's ok for them to make different choices than you do.  We need to be respectful and build them up, not beat them down.  Instead of not wanting a child to attend a play group because the family doesn't homeschool, invite them.  Make them feel welcome.  Instead of turning your back on the mom who no longer homeschools, reach out.  Call and ask her how things are going (only if you can be kind if she is having trouble), find a way to include them in things.  Instead of kicking homeschoolers out of a FB group because they have a different homeschool philosophy, listen and learn from each other.


A bit of an aside: If a child comes to your house and there are things that they are not supposed to do, we need to be respectful of that.  Just because Scooby Doo is ok with you it may not be with somebody else.  Respect that parents choices and if you send your child off someplace and there is something that you don't want your child watching or eating, don't forget to mention it ahead of time so that they know rather than being upset later about something that happened that they didn't know :)

I know there are things that we are passionate about.  Two of mine (in the parenting aspect) are homeschooling and breast feeding.  I ALWAYS want to encourage people if I can.  If they are seeking encouragement or have an interest in looking for information.  I do NOT want to make people feel like these are the only "right" choices.  But, if you find yourself in a conversation about something that you have strong opinions about and it becomes more of a confrontation then conversation, change the subject.  If there are people in your life that are consistently discouraging about a particular topic, don't go to them when you need encouragement.  As much as we wish everyone will be encouraging, some just will not be and you do not need that.

We as parents second guess ourselves enough.  We don't need others to do it for us.  We are not going to make the right decision all of the time.  All we can do is the make the decisions we think are best at that time.  If a decision ends up not turning out the way you think it should, give yourself some grace and encouragement.  You are doing the best you can.

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

 Happy Homeschooling!
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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 19

January and February can be some of the hardest months to homeschool.  After Christmas fatigue, cold weather, sickness that is going around can cause burnout and turn what normally is a joy into a burden.  If you are feeling that "homeschool burnout" it will pass.  Changing your routine a bit going on a field trip, finding ways to get outside, or even something as simple as declaring a PJ and movie day can all help get through some of the mid year days.  I like this verse "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:2-3.

We had a great week in our homeschool this week!

Week 19 in our Homeschool

Bible: One wacky thing that happened is that for some reason my printer and computer decided to stop communicating so I had a terrible time printing out our Bible lessons.  I managed to get the younger ones taken care of but could not get the older ones, so for two days of the week, Nick and Alex did not have worksheets, they just listened in.  We completed lessons 85-88 in Bible Study Guide For All Ages.

History:

In Mystery of History Vol III we completed lessons 46-48 on Sir Walter Raleigh, England Defeats the Spanish Armada, and Michel de Montaigne and the Essays.  We completed the time line figures and memory cards to go along with the lessons.
I thought this was a great picture of Nick working on the time line and Emmie asking him who all the people were.

Science: In Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics we completed the reading for Chapter 11 on Thermal Energy.  It has been easier for me to do all of the reading in one week and then go back and do the journal assignments and experiments the next week instead of stopping reading every few paragraphs to do an experiment and then go back and do more reading.

Grammar/Writing/Literature: Christian's Lightning Lit assignments this week were based on Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  I had never read this book before.  My children were especially impressed with it because the main character is Alexander and his brothers are Anthony and Nicholas (the same names as my 3 oldest sons.)  They all really liked this book.  Anthony is reading Ramona and Her Father for his Lightning Literature and his workbook assignments have been on pronouns.  In the book, Ramona's dad brings home gummy bears for a special treat, so we bought a bag of gummy bears the other day.  Anthony was thrilled!  and the other children were happy too :)  Nick and Alex did lesson 16 of Fix It! Grammar and lesson 13 of IEW Medieval Writing.

Reading/Spelling: I completely forgot to do spelling with Alex this week because I spent a lot of time on Math with him.  Anthony and Christian started working on Lesson 5 of AAR Level 2.  I was so excited that my new readers arrived on Friday!

Math: Alex, Anthony, and Christian finished Lesson 18 of their Math books and Nick finished Lesson 19 of Pre-Algebra.

My Father's World Creation From A to Z

We finished the lesson on Water and the letter "w." We finished the experiment turning water from a liquid to a solid back to a liquid and then to a gas.  We finished making a chart on solid, liquids, and gases.

We also did an experiment on dissolving things into water.  We dissolved salt into one glass.

And then showed that oil would not dissolve into water.

She completed her word list page, blend ladder page, drawing page, and cut and paste page.  We read the book Make Way For the Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.  We also made Wiggly Worm Trail Mix.

Since we finished "W" on Wednesday we started the next Unit, Unit 11 on Insects on Thursday.  We used our lapbook that we made at Grandview to review some information on insects, worked on a picture card envelope for the letter "i" and completed our Bible lesson.  We had already gotten our ants for our ant farm a few weeks ago.



Other Activities This Week: Archery was cancelled on Monday because of the holiday.  It was postponed until Tuesday at the exact same time as gymnastics.  A friend that was going volunteered to take the boys and I could head out there after gymnastics was over.  I dropped the boys off to my friend, dropped Lily off to gymnastics and then ran to the 4 H office to turn in Record Books and get some things taken care of for my meeting this week.  We ran back to pick Lily up and headed to Grandview, and they got finished right as we got there.  The weather that day was beautiful by the way which figures that it would be pretty the day I wasn't standing out there!

Wednesday and Thursday we stayed home!!

Christian built this.  It's the  Eiffel Tower, the small one from Las Vegas. (line from Despicable Me)


Friday we had a play date with some friends at the house.  That night we enjoyed pizza and a movie.

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

Friday, January 23, 2015

ABC Snacks Eating Your Way Through the Alphabet: Wiggly Worm Trail Mix

*this post contains affiliate links


Last year, I shared about the new series  All About Reading had posted called ABC Snacks Eating Your Way Through the Alphabet to go along with their Pre Reading Program.  There is a snack to go along with each letter of the alphabet designed just for little hands to make.  After printing out all of the snacks, you can put together a cookbook just for your child.  There are also teaching tips, book suggestions and tips for Pre-Reading on each snack.  The girls LOVED this!  We did a few of the letters last year, but we had already finished All About Reading Pre 1 and after a few weeks, it was one of those things that kind of fell to the side with all of the other things we were doing.

But, the girls have been asking about it.  This year we are using My Father's World Creation from A to Z which teaches a new letter every 6 days along with a corresponding Bible and Science theme.  So, we are going to use this snack list to go along with each of our My Father's World letters.  Last week we made the Obvious Octopus Hotdog which the girls loved and have requested over and over again since then.

This week our letter is "W" so we made some Wiggly Worm Trail Mix.



We used

Goldfish
Teddy Grahams
Pretzels
M&M's
Gummy Worms


The girls put a half cup of each item in a bowl and mixed it up, adding the worms last.


The boys heard us in the dining room and came to investigate.  They decided they wanted to help.  Even the two oldest boys showed up, but somehow avoided the picture.

We gave a scoop to each person for our afternoon snack.  They even saved some for daddy when he got home.  This snack was a big hit!

Check out all of the other ABC Snacks!

*This post contains affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Review: A Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah E. Ladd


Book Description 

"Willowgrove Hall is full of secrets, but soon everything hidden is brought to light. Cecily Faire has a secret-and she intends to keep it. But when she arrives at Willowgrove Hall to serve as a lady's companion, she comes face-to-face with the only person who knows the truth about her past. As the steward of Willowgrove Hall, Nathaniel Stanton is dedicated to serving those around him. Nothing escapes his notice-including the beautiful new lady's companion. He is certain the lovely Miss Faire is hiding something, and he determines to uncover it. But Nathaniel has a secret of his own: he is the illegitimate son of Willowgrove's former master. Falling in love was not part of his plans . . . until he meets Cecily Faire. When Willowgrove's mistress dies, everything changes. Fear of exposure forces Cecily to leave under the cover of darkness, embarking on a journey to finally find her long-lost sister. When the will is read, Nathaniel's inheritance makes him question his future plans. Cecily and Nathaniel are forced to make decisions that will change the course of their lives. Is their love strong enough to survive?"

I had an opportunity to review The Heiress of Winterwood, the first book in this series and I was hoping that it would be a series because I really enjoyed it.  When I saw this book up for review, something sounded familiar and I discovered that this was book three and I had missed book 2.  So I went ahead and bought book two before reading book three so I could for a change read an entire series in order :).  Honestly though, you could read any of these books without reading the others and it would not be an issue.  Each book is about completely different characters and there is very little mention of the characters in the other books at all.  This honestly disappointed me.  I had hoped there would be more to Graham and Amelia's story that I so loved in the first book, but they were only briefly mentioned in book 2 and not at all in book 3.  Aside from my disappointment about that, A Lady at Willowgrove Hall was a wonderful story.  It was a great story about forgiveness, not just giving it but accepting it as well.  It also is a great story about your past not deciding your future.

I would recommend any or all of the books in the Whispers on the Moors series.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.


Sunday, January 18, 2015

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 18

Illness struck our house this week messing up our homeschool plans somewhat.  Alex started running fever and showing a few other symptoms that were "flu like" so I ran him to get checked out on Tuesday morning.  He did not have a flu test but he was prescribed Tamiflu along with the rest of the house.  Tamiflu is not cheap by the way and would've cost me over $300 for everyone, plus I question whether or not it is good to take it to try and prevent yourself from being sick  So I only filled it for Alex who was better by Wednesday evening and so far no one else in the house has come down with anything, but as we do not live in a bubble and are around people all of the time we could've been exposed numerous times since then.  I did cancel our Grandview day and art co-op that was supposed to be on Wednesday because even though Chelsea was home I didn't want to be gone all day expecially if Alex was feeling bad.  We continued with our regular work the whole week except for Tuesday and Alex was excused the whole week and quarantined to the couch.

Week 18 in Our Homeschool

Bible: We completed lessons 82, 83, and 84 in Bible Study Guide For All Ages.

History: In Mystery of History Vol III We did lessons 43-45 on Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, Sir Francis Drake, and William the Silent.  We also did the timeline figures and memory cards for this lesson.

Here is a photo of our timeline figures for Vol II and III.  We use the figures from Amy Pak from Home School in the Woods and place them on a tri fold board.


Science:  We finished reading Chapter 10 in Exploring Creation Through Chemistry and Physics on Light of the World.  We had an opportunity to do some experiments with light and completed the vocabulary and copywork assignments to go along with the chapter.




Grammar/Writing/Literature: Nick got a free pass this week since Alex wasn't feeling well and did not have to do writing or grammar.  I accidentally skipped ahead a chapter in Christian's Lightning Lit and we did Chapter 18 on Mother Goose Rhymes this week.  Next week I will go back to the chapter we missed :) Anthony started reading Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Clearly for his Lightning Literature this week.

Spelling/Reading: No spelling for Alex this week.  Anthony and Christian worked out Lesson 4 of AAR Level 2.  This was their first time to read a story and I did not know until we started the lesson that I had an out dated edition of the readers because I purchased them so long ago.  After an email to the company, I learned I could mail the old ones back and they would do an even exchange for the new ones!  They even emailed me the copy of the story I needed for this week :)  I wrote a post about why I started using AAR that you can find here. We also went over the corresponding spelling lesson.

Math: Anthony and Christian finished Lesson 17 of their Math U See levels and Nick finished Lesson 18 of Pre-Algebra.

My Father's World Creation From A to Z

This week's unit is on the letter "w" with water for the theme.  The Bible lesson is "Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink."  We have only done 3 days of the unit so far.  We have discussed water and it's three forms: solid, liquid, and gas and made a chart showing the three forms.  She also did an experiment turning liquid water into a solid and back to a liquid again.  She has also done worksheets writing the letter w,made a picture envelope for w, completed a sound discrimination page for w, worked on a math sheet on pennies, nickels, and dimes, and made a water badge.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday we had archery club.  I did not take a single picture because I was too COLD!  My double layers of clothing, hooded sweatshirt with a coat over top and gloves were not enough to keep me warm!  I had to stand out there in the cold too because I was filling in for the coach who was home sick.  Brrrrrrrrrrrr!  Thankfully the girls were able to sit in warm vehicle during practice and the boys could also when it wasn't their turn to shoot.

Tuesday Lily had gymnastics and I really need to get some new photos of her now that I have a new camera :)

Wednesday and Thursday were stay home days.

Friday the weather was much nicer than it had been .  We decided to have a picnic in the park with some homeschool friends.  It was warmer, but still a bit chilly.  We had been there almost an hour when 4 buses full of children pulled up.  We quickly started gathering our stuff and heading for the vehicle as children came pouring off the buses.  We had fun for the little while we were there and hopefully will have some more park play dates when the warmer weather is here to stay.  We also went to the library while we were in town since we had not been since before Christmas.





I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

Happy Homeschooling!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Why All About Reading?

*this post contains affiliate links




I started using All About Spelling several years ago when Alex was having trouble learning how to read.  I at first was unsure about spending what I thought at the time was a lot of money for a spelling program, until I realized I would not have to buy workbooks for my children to use the program, and honestly I was to the point that it could've been 3 times the cost and I would've found a way to buy it if it would work.  I was so impressed with the multi sensory approach to the program and was amazed that he started reading!  We have continued on with All About Spelling ever since.

At that time there was no All About Reading.  There were some readers to compliment Levels 1 and 2 of AAS, but no full All About Reading program.  I did buy the readers to go along with the Spelling program and loved the readers.  Shortly after that, they started to develop and entire reading program called All About Reading.  I had an opportunity to review Level One back in 2012 and loved it! They have since added a new level every year.  For Alex it was a bit too late since they were adding levels a year behind where he was, but he has continued on with All About Spelling. 

Now I have a 7 and 9 year old that I teach together when possible.  They went through Level one of All About Reading and Spelling last year.  This year I started them on Level 2 of AAR and since I had the readers from back when Alex used them decided I was just going to do the Spelling program and then read the corresponding stories. That would be enough right?

Wrong.

What I began to notice was that both boys did quite well during the spelling lessons.  They could spell the words as I dictated them with the tiles and then with a dry erase marker on the board.  They could write them in the brief sentences.  They could spell them aloud if asked.  But when it came time to read the stories in the readers.  They did not recognize those words!  They had to sound out EVERY SINGLE LETTER in EVERY SINGLE WORD.  

What they were lacking in was fluency.  They were not seeing those words often enough.  They were not getting enough practice with the words.  They were getting frustrated with reading which was making me back off with the amount that they were reading which caused them to see the words even less and made the fluency problem worse.

So I went ahead and purchased the components to All About Reading Level 2 , except for the readers. We have been working on one lesson per week and then going back and reviewing the spelling rules and words.  In the 4 weeks that we have started to use AAR Level 2 I can already see a huge improvement in their fluency and their reading.  The boys both enjoy the little games (although if you have an older child you can choose not to use them) and we break the fluency worksheets down so that it is not an overwhelming amount of reading at one time.  They are starting to recognize the words in more places than just their spelling lists!






I just have to mention too how impressed I am with All About Learning Press's customer service.  I mentioned that I had the readers before there was an AAR program.  What I didn't know when I bought the rest of AAR Level 2 was that they had made changes to the readers when they came out with the reading program and my edition did not match the current one.  When we went to read our first story in the reader, I emailed customer service asking about it.  I received a very fast response and I was told that when they made the changes to the readers they decided they would exchange the old editions for the new ones!  All I had to do was pay the shipping to ship the books out there and they would exchange them and pay the return shipping.  I was so glad I did not have to buy new readers!  And they even emailed me a PDF copy of the story we were supposed to be reading :)

If you have young children and are looking for a reading and/or spelling program, check out All About Learning.  Their materials are fantastic!

*Links in this post are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 17

This was our first week back to school after a 3 week break.  Our break went by entirely too fast, but sometimes it is so nice to get back to a regular routine.  We jumped right back to to our usual routine Monday morning and got a lot accomplished that day.  Then the children got a reprieve on Tuesday morning because I had a dentist appointment, but I did have them do their afternoon work. Wednesday and Thursday we were back on track again.

Week 17 In Our Homeschool

Bible:

We started back with Bible Study Guide For All Ages this week.  This curriculum has every age studying the same Bible lessons but the questions and activities get more challenging in the older levels.  It does not go through the Bible in order so it covers both Old and New Testaments in each pack.  We had reviewed this program last year and then purchased more but took a break with it to use Apologia's What On Earth Can I Do?  I was very impressed that my younger children remembered almost all of the time line cards.  As soon as they master the last few we will work on memorizing the books of the Bible.  This week we completed Lessons 79, 80, and 81.

History: We completed the last 3 lessons in the first semester of Mystery of History Vol III.  Lessons 40, 41 and 42 were on Mary Queen of Scots, Jeanne d'Albret, and the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre.  We completed the time line figures and memory cards and also did the Semester II test together.

Science: Since we missed Tuesday morning, we only had one day of Science this week.  We started reading through Chapter 10 in Apologia Exploring Creation Through Chemistry and Physics on Light.

Grammar/Writing/Literature: Nick and Alex started Lesson 12 of IEW Medieval Writing and Lesson 15 of Fix It! Grammar.  Christian read Ferdinand the Bull in Lightning Lit and wrote a paper about his favorite thing to do which was building LEGOS of course.  Anthony's Lightning Lit lesson was on Poetry this week.  He did not like it as well as some of the books we have read.  He wrote about his favorite poem we read this week called The Snowflake.

Spelling/Reading: Alex finished lesson 23 of AAS and Christian and Anthony finished Lesson 3 of Level 2 of All About Reading.  I can honestly say that I am already seeing an improvement in their fluency since we started AAR Level 2!

Math: Anthony and Christian finished Lesson 16 of their Math u See levels and Nick and Alex finished Lesson 17 of their Math U See levels.

My Father's World Creation From A to Z

This week we did the letter "o" and the theme was oceans and octopus.  Our Bible lesson theme was "Even the Octopus Praises the Lord."  Some of the activities Lily did this week included reading books on octopus and ocean, looking at pictures of octopus, making a hand print octopus, making an ocean picture, making an octopus badge, and an octopus hot dog for lunch (which by the way impressed both Lily and Emmie.)  I found a cute  no sew fleece Octopus craft on Pinterest and we had fun making those.  Lily also completed handwriting and math worksheets and added "o" pictures to her letter picture box.  We also worked on blending letters with the letter o.  Her reading is coming along nicely!



We ordered our ants for our ant farm and they arrived this week.  We have had an ant farm before nut it still is cool watching them make their tunnels.

Other Activities This Week:

Monday we had Archery Club.  It was supposed to be a bit chilly so we dressed for the occasion with multiple clothing layers and hats and gloves, but thankfully it was warmer than I thought it would be!




Tuesday was gymnastics.  It was also my birthday and my sweet girls made me a very nice birthday cake while I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned.

Wednesday and Thursday was very cold!  I thankfully did not have to leave the house, although the children did bundle up to play outside several times each day.

Friday we did have to venture out to go grocery shopping.  Very sad to find out that the Brookshires grocery store in our town is closing down.  That will leave only Walmart and Dollar General for us to shop at.

Saturday was another cold and yucky day.  I really try to spend Saturdays at home as much as possible anyway.  We did some baking, played some board games, and worked on 4 H Record Books.  They were calling for the possibility of freezing rain and ice Saturday night into Sunday morning, so we weren't sure if we would be able to attend church or not, but thankfully it did not get as cold as it could have so it didn't freeze and we were able to go this morning.

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

Happy Homeschooling!