Weekly Wrap-Up: A Week we Narrowly Survived

I’m so bad. Before we started school I was determined that I would faithfully link up to the Weekly Wrap-Up.  I had hoped that by announcing to the world all the really cool things we accomplished in our homeschool each week I could kind of hold myself accountable to actually getting things done. How funny is that?

Well I’m a bit late but I’m trying to get on the ball.

Monday we took advantage of the discounted prices at the Tennessee Aquarium for their Homeschool Day. We’d only visited a few months ago so I really wanted to go and take a behind the scenes tour which prices were also discounted. I was disappointed to learn that the tours had sold out early but we’re hoping to work something out next time we go.  You can see some of the pictures my daughter took while we were there on my Facebook page.         

Tuesday we had a great day and began making a replica of the Mayan temple we saw in Mexico. Apparently my kids are getting a bit old for this type of project because they certainly did not enjoy it as much as I thought they would.  They actually came around a bit when they realized that I wasn’t going to force them to use paper mache, but had actually bought rigid wrap for the occasion. We’ll work on finishing it next week. 

Wednesday was my daughter’s birthday. My baby is 14. Of course since it was her special day, she felt that she was entitled to a day off school work. I felt inclined to allow it. It’s not like the kids didn’t do anything- they all curled up with books and read ALL DAY. I’m not allowed to mention the struggles that we’ve had in reading (per my children’s request) but let’s just say that seeing my boys read and enjoy it is answered prayer and makes this mama very happy.

Thursday my daughter wanted to go to the nearby botanical garden and put her birthday present, a new camera, to use. Since I have two boys that are practicing their driver’s skills I figured it wouldn’t hurt to fit in a little drivers’ ed. Oh my, were we in for a wild ride! All was well until my son excited the freeway onto the service road and applied the brakes. Good so far, right? NO! The brakes failed. I was literally scanning the lanes of traffic ahead searching for somewhere to crash other than the massive truck it looked like we were going to slide under. Remember a few months ago when my son lamented the fact that he’d never been able to lay skid marks? Well, now he has and believe me, he’s not in a hurry to do so again. All I can say is that the Lord certainly answered our prayers because we stopped just in time. 

At home we continued our book work before finishing our read aloud,  Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise J. McGraw.  It was an excellent book and one we could hardly stand to put down each day. Finally we couldn’t stand it any longer and the read the remaining five chapters.

Friday I had a ton of errands to run that were totally out of the ordinary. In the old days, when the kids were younger, I would have had to pack them up with some books on tape and other car friendly learning tools, but now that they are older it’s nice to be able to allow them to stay home and work on their studies.  

After the brake fail fiasco, I’m so thankful we survived this week uninjured. Next week we’re looking forward to our first nature study/Charlotte Mason co-op and making some new friends and heading out of town for another fun field trip.  

Don’t forget to stop by Weird Unsocialized Unschoolers to read more Weekly Wrap-ups! Until next week ~ Happy Homeschooling!  

How was your week?