Good Friday and Weird Weather

This week has been an interesting one. We didn't have Murphy's Law, or too many contradictions, or even such an odd week that nothing happened to work out wrong. It was just an interesting week.


Monday I woke up to a wonderful sight of the field being nearly all green, buds on the trees, and shining sun. I'm not usually one for sunshine before coffee, but it was nice to see after so much snow this winter. We did our lessons and got outside for awhile. The time spent outside on Monday added to our time from Sunday (8.75 hours) totaled up to 10.5 hours in two days!




But, Tuesday, I woke up to a completely different scene! The never ending winter had decided to return! OH the humanity of it! The furnace got turned back up, socks put back on feet barely having been bare for a few weeks, and not every curtain in the house was opened as we just couldn't bare to look at the snow again. So, we of course did our lessons and some crafting but didn't go outside. The campers were just too through with snow and highly disappointed that it was chilly again. Peanut started on a first grade math workbook simply because she wanted to, and I figured she'd just mess around with it but wasn't worried because we'd purchased it at the Dollar Tree. Instead she did the first three pages of it without flaw, only the concept of zero (which is so abstract sometimes) when it came to adding had to be visited more than once. I think she's going to do well in her early math studies.

We had doctor appointments on Wednesday. Daddy had his three month check in with his primary care doctor and ECJ had a check up with our pediatrician. Their offices are next door to each other so we had them scheduled for the same time. There was much reading that went on at both offices and some more appointment making. After which we did a little running and helped a neighbor out before returning home. Once home we decided that we were just taking the rest of the school day off of lessons and just concentrating on reading.

Thursday morning the temperature was back up a bit, the snow had all melted again, and Peanut was determined that we do our walk to the store before we did our lessons. By the time we returned from the store (2 hours later) the campers all wanted to play outside some more and Daddy was in the middle of repairing the door to our front bathroom. As soon as he'd finished, and the campers had come back inside, we painted the bathroom which was actually pretty scary before hand (don't ask me what the previous owner was thinking when she allowed her teenagers to do this).

Pictures of the before and after of said bathroom:

Before

After

So, now we've reached Friday. Where we had originally intended on more lessons. However, we spent some time in silence because it's Good Friday, we spoke of Jesus and the Resurrection, Daddy did a couple Bible lessons with the children, and we had a few hours of silent (or semi-silent considering Peanut has to be read to at this stage) reading. It was one of the best Good Friday's that we've had in awhile. Daddy and I of course made plans for next year's Good Friday (taking into consideration the ages of the campers and remembering how well Peanut did during the mass when Buddy had his Confirmation), so next year we'll be taking the day off of lessons and spending it at church or in prayer for most of the day.

The pictures to the right here have John 3:16 written in the hearts. Each picture (and again my camera does not do the colors justice) is colored to match one of the campers rooms. After we have the First Communion on May 3rd these will each be placed in a frame and hung in the campers bedrooms. Simple and with a wonderful reminder built in these pictures keep getting looked at by the campers every time they pass them in the hallway, they're very excited for the day to come when they are hung in their bedrooms.

Between lessons...

Outside time...

The 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge ...

And daily life, we've had a pretty interesting week! The 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, for me, will officially be over after tomorrow. I've managed to declutter 90% of the house (with some help from the rest of the family), we've cleaned like mad people, and Daddy stepped in and helped so very much with the renovations and redecorating!!! I'm so in love with that man, more every day that passes by. We have painting to do in the kitchen, dining, and living room. We're going to finish off our laundry room and redo the master bed and bath. But, most of these aren't taking place until the fall. Other than projects that simply must be done we're finished working on the house so that we can enjoy the outside of the house more during the lovely weather (we're hoping and praying) that will happen.

Something "random" to add: Some of you know that I volunteer my time with an animal rescue. Mainly I volunteer online or over the phone doing interviews and the like, however I'm also a foster. Currently the rescue I work with is in need of some more fosters and people looking to adopt. So, no matter if you're in Michigan or not, if you know you'd like to adopt a great dog, are seeking some advice, or anything else please look the rescue up! You can contact us through G+ by looking up Mastiff Ranch and Rescue, contact us through email at MastiffRanchandRescue@gmail.com, find us on Facebook here , or donate (if you're able and moved to so so) here . Who knows? You may just be the next forever home of a wonderful face such as this:

This is Geno a 3 year old who's in need of a foster and a forever home.

Posts you may have missed this week:    
We Topped 20!
Week of 4/14/14 - menu
When Order is Reversed - Day in the Life
Just a Few Simple Crafts (Easter)
How I Pick Our English Curriculum
As I Sit Here... reflections on what's NOT working

What to look for in the next 7 days:  
Tomorrow (4/19/14) there will be a post about our outside time and some Easter egg hunt fun. Easter Sunday there will be some special comments and pictures on our Facebook page . The next post in my "how I pick" series will be out next Wednesday (the 23rd). And much much more!

Who I'm linking up to this week:    
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Faithful Mom of 9
Homegrown Learners
and
Great Peace Academy

Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!

When the Order is Reversed

So, for 2014 I've been doing a post a month about a day in our lives. I like up each month with Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool to let you into a day of our lives unedited. I show the good, the bad, and even sometimes the ugly. 

Here are some of the previous posts so far:
Just Another Day (January)
One Day in February
Project Days (March)

Each one of those days has been slightly different. And this month's chosen day isn't the same as any of them either. Of course there are elements that are the same in each and every one of these "day in the life" posts, but that doesn't make them identical.

So, I invite you now to settle in with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of something cold and peak into how our day went on April 10, 2014.

It's hard to say when we started this day because Daddy and I never went to sleep on Wednesday night! The girls did and ECJ stayed up most of the night helping but Daddy and I didn't sleep at all! Daddy did take a nap from about 6:30 AM until about 9 AM but that's it. Why didn't we sleep? Well, we were laying carpeting and linoleum in our living and dining rooms along with the school area.

 Such a difference from subflooring and mix matched wood laminate! And so much more wonderful to walk on with bare feet!

From around 6:30 AM until 9:14 AM Mommy had the house pretty much to herself. A week's worth of laundry got almost caught up on, dishes were run through the dishwasher and put away, email was checked, and so was social media accounts. Of course it was YCJ who woke up first and she was extremely surprised to find that the rooms were finished!

She spent a quiet forty-five minutes with me before Peanut wandered out of her room to find us sitting in the newly carpeted living room. I quietly got up and woke ECJ up, figuring if he didn't get up at 10 AM he'd wouldn't be out of bed before noon.

The campers made their beds, straightened their rooms, brushed teeth and hair, got dressed, and ate waffles for breakfast. Mommy and Daddy ate a couple of waffles too, Mommy needed the small sugar boost as her energy was getting a little low and you can survive on coffee alone for only so long.

As soon as we'd finished our breakfasts and ECJ had finished his chores we headed off for a walk to the grocery store to pick up a few small things that we were lacking for supper. We stopped into two other stores in the same small complex just to peak at the new items and then leisurely walked home. Normally we save our outside time for after lessons, but they were calling for rain starting at 2 PM. 

We got back home around noon and headed right back outside to plant our three sprouted onions. For those of you that want to do this sprouted onions that you've purchased at the grocery store can be planted, they will not yield more onions however you can eat the tops! Leave about a quarter of the onion showing above the top soil and add enough water just to moisten, you do not want too much water or the onion bulbs will rot.

This gives us the beginnings of our container garden this year and it's something edible as well. The children enjoyed watching the onions perk up within an hour or so of being planted. I gave them a quick snack of yogurt to help them remove the taste of onion in their mouths.

We spent a few more minutes outside and then began our lessons for the day. Nothing spectacular mind you, review for everyone involved. ECJ did finish off his English book today though! This means he's free to concentrate on literature based learning and creative writing for his English through the rest of the school year!

A pop up card ECJ made for Peanut, unfortunately you can't make out the details in the picture.

After about an hour or so of lessons we had lunch and then went back to our lessons. Peanut had reviewed letters A and B by the time we were ready to eat and so she didn't go back to her lessons after lunch, instead she played by herself quietly (not a very common occurrence). But, I did coral her for a moment to do our Monday Mailboxes (yeah, we forgot all about them this week until today.). They each had a message from both siblings and Mommy which made them happy.

I called a halt to lessons around 3:30 PM, considering that normally we spend our mornings on lessons and our afternoons outside if the weather is nice this was a reversed order day if ever there was one. The children were day dreaming out the windows and dragging their feet to finish what had been assigned. They were getting frustrated and so was I. We called it quits without too much fuss and they headed back outside to play. I spent a little time finishing up the laundry and straightening up a bit before prepping for supper.

6:30 PM we ate supper
7:30 PM the campers got ready for bed
8:00 PM the campers went to bed
8:30 PM I jumped into the shower and was in bed and asleep by 9 PM

All in all it was a pretty "normal" day other than our order for it being reversed and Daddy and I working on very little if any sleep. We don't often stay up all night any more, it's not like we're youngsters that head out and go places at odd hours and feel like we'll miss something if we're sleeping. Three days later (Sunday) we were still recovering from the lack of sleep Wednesday night.

Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!

Our House is Now Our Home

It has been one heck of a week here at Homeschool Campers! My back is sore, Daddy's knees ache worse than ever, and my shoulder is acting up. However, it's all worth it because we've turned our house of one year into a home finally!! Each little camper has a room they are absolutely in love with now and our living areas are so much brighter and more comfortable.

Before

After

Last week's weekly wrap up I shared pictures of ECJ's new room, since he switched rooms with YCJ during the past week or so. Here's a refresher of what the before (her room) and after (his room) look like... We were given the Futon for free on Wednesday morning and ECJ decided he'd like that instead of having Daddy build him a bed.

I'd also mentioned that we began work on YCJ's new room (ECJ's old room) on Saturday. We didn't get even half finished because of some paint issues and our exhaustion. Sunday was one of the seldom seen campers Confirmation (Yay Buddy!), which involved a 5 hour round trip car ride and three hours of mass due to several parishes combining into the largest church for the event. We didn't get home until late so we didn't work on her room that night. We did get some wonderful outside time in somehow though and had a wonderful time seeing our Buddy being recognized by the Church as a young man.



Monday amidst some rain showers, outside time, a knee specialist appointment for Daddy (we got some hopeful news but I'll wait to share if it's good or not until we get the results of two more tests), visiting with Grandma and Papa, and two hours worth of driving we managed to get all of the painting finished in YCJ's room! Whew! Looking back on that day's schedule it's amazing we fit all that in to 24 hours and still got sleep! We had thought about laying her carpeting that night as well but figured it would be better to do so with a bit of sleep.


So, on Tuesday we went for a couple of walks, put the carpeting in YCJ's room, put all of her belongings (plus the china cabinet with school supplies) in her room, played in the rain, watched several episodes of Magic School Bus and Veggie Tales on Netflix, and laid carpeting in the hallway! ECJ helped a lot with the carpet on this day while the girls watched Netflix. On our walks I was able to hear about everything they had learned from Magic School Bus (everything from white cells fighting germs to Pluto being the 9th planet from the sun and having to explain that Pluto has been "downgraded" to Dwarf status) and listen to the morals they'd had reinforced by Veggie Tales. 

So here are some photos of YCJ's finished room and our hallway. As you can see not only is she ecstatic to have her room finished, but the dogs are enjoying the carpeting!!

Shadow is back there behind Moragon but you can barely see him!

YCJ enjoying the "squishy" carpet

With all that accomplished you'd think we'd have taken a day to rest. Nope! We were ready to be finished with all this carpet and linoleum laying, painting, rearranging, and things spread throughout the house. So, on Wednesday, all of us got into the act and finished carpeting the living room, placed linoleum by the sliding side door, and put linoleum down in the dining room. The campers did get to enjoy several hours outside after us parents went grocery shopping, picked up ECJ's new futon, and shoved everything from the living room and school area into the kitchen. After supper the girls went to bed and Daddy and I finished the rest of it with some help from ECJ. We finished at 6:22 AM Thursday morning!!

Sometimes you have to make a big mess
when "fixing" things...

Mommy cutting carpeting

Our living room carpeting finished!!

Dining room with linoleum

School area (rearranged and with carpet)

Daddy took a nap right after we finished and Mommy stayed up to try to catch up on a week's worth of laundry that I hadn't found time for during all this remodeling. The first camper woke up at 9:14 AM (they went to sleep late last night) and of course that was YCJ, I was about half finished with the laundry and the dishes from the night before had just finished in the dishwasher. 

OH! I'd forgotten to add that we'd laid down some carpeting in Peanut's room (over her nice new hardwood floors) so that she'd have something comfy to kneel on when she was playing too! She was so excited that for most of Wednesday evening she played with her small dolls and houses in a "village" she made all by herself! She even made a little reading room out of the play tent in the corner of her room!


The rest of the day (Thursday) you'll have to find out a little later as I'm going to be writing about it in one of the "day in the life posts". As for Friday Noni will be showing up around noon for us to go out to lunch and go shopping for our spring/summer clothing, and of course to visit! There's no telling how long she'll be here, but we're not planning on doing lessons on Friday. We will be stopping by the library at some point during Friday, but when and for how long I just couldn't tell you. 

It's been one heck of a week! We got so very much done and our house now really feels like a home! ECJ has moved his desk back into his room in an effort for more peaceful lessons for himself (I'm checking on him frequently so far). We do our devotionals, Bible readings, and rosaries each day all week long. Of course we're always taking advantage of every learning opportunity that we happen to come across. 

We've tossed out tons of bags of carpet scraps, linoleum scraps, paint odds and ends ... So our 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge is continuing just fine. There are a few odds and end spots that need to be organized around here but they'll get finished on time.
I've also lost five pounds in the past month!!!! That makes 7 total pounds lost since the beginning of the year and that many more close to my ultimate goal. I've been working on shedding this last weight for a few years now and to see some of it finally come off is making me very happy.

Random pictures of the week:    

This was smoke rising from some control fires over in Canada that we stopped and watched on the way home on Sunday. It looked so interesting for so long and had that clean wood burning smell to it. That little dot on that semi-thin ice is an ice fisherman waving to us!!

Posts you may have missed this week:   
*none this week, we were too busy working on the house for me to have the energy to post* I'll be back to my regular schedule for posting this upcoming week and plan to share the next part in the series on how I choose our curriculum, to read how I choose our math check out this post.

Who I'm linking up with this week:     
Squishable Baby
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Faithful Mom of 9
Homegrown Learners
and
Great Peace Academy

Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!