Weekly Wrap-Up

It's been such a long time since I last wrapped up our school week. We've had very little "normal" around here in the past month. We  visited New York City for three fabulous days (be sure to check out all 4 posts for trip planning!). That was an amazing trip and incredibly educational!

Our oldest came home for 4 days at Easter.  

We've been hiking and botanizing in the Great Smoky Mountains.

She had her first prom.

And mixed in with all of that, we've attempted to crack the books. The biggest change here is that Randy has taken over algebra with Laurel. She's still doing Teaching Textbooks, but he's her go-to guy for lesson correcting, assignments, and, most importantly, explanations. She's not getting as much math done on a weekly basis, so she'll be doing it until the end of June; however, I feel confident that she's understanding it much better under his tutelage.

And she keeps up with all her other work as well: science, art history, European history. Besides that, Laurel's been furiously reading for my British Lit class, reading Watership Down and working on her Jane Eyre research paper. This semester I assigned a research paper based on their choice of a British Lit novel. About half of the rough drafts have come in from my class. For most of the kids this is their first research paper, and I have been thrilled at their work. Of course now I'll have 20 papers to grade by the first week in May, so what was I thinking, exactly?

Duncan and I have been skipping around between Sonlight 5 (now Core F) and doing other things. We finished reading Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde and moved into The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Love both these books! But we also had to read Heidi for our literature circle class at co-op. And then I told Duncan about a book contest that our local Children's Hospital is sponsoring: write a book called East Tennessee A to Z and win an iPad. He is all about winning an iPad, so we've put aside nearly everything for the past week to work on this book. This is a huge learning experience for him! Not only is he taxing his brain to find rhyme and rhythm for each letter, but we are learning all kinds of historical and geographical facts about the 16 counties that make up East Tennessee. We're only halfway through, so next week will probably be devoted to that as well.

I am starting to see light at the end of the springtime tunnel. April is always a chaotic month, and the first week of May makes my head spin: 4 total dress rehearsals for two different productions, field day, last British Lit class, two productions to attend, Cub Scout crossover, last day of co-op, used curriculum fair, co-op spring program, and our American Heritage Girls end-of-the-year ceremony—all that within the first 10 days of May.

And then: done. Everything. No co-op classes, no plays, no Scouts or AHG. Just a month to finish quietly all of our school work. Duncan and I will finish up by May 25. Laurel will be done with everything except math and personal finance, and I'm also going to start a more rigorous German program with her. My plan is to do German at home with her over the next year, and then she'll hopefully do dual enrollment for it during her junior year.

In homeschooling-related writing, I've contributed Celebrating National Poetry Month with Hands-On Poetry Projects at the Homeschool Classroom and Top 25 Read-Alouds on Simple Homeschool.

There are two fantastic series going on right now. Check out the 10 Days of… posts from iHomeschool Network. You'll find hundreds of homeschooling activities and advice, recipes, parenting tips, and so much more! And over at Simple Homeschool, it's time for the annual Curriculum Fair. Be sure to check back every couple of days to see the newest post!

And now, it's time for a good Saturday morning housecleaning session. It's been a long time coming!

Linked up at the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers