Week in Review

For those of you who don't know us, my family enjoys participating in our local theater. We are all currently working on the play The Hobbit. The kids and I have very minimal parts, but my husband has a larger one. We're getting closer to the actual play in mid April, and we've been busy with practices. This week was no exception.

On Friday we took a walk to the pond near our house. We found frog eggs. We collected a few in order to watch them grow from start to finish. This is what they looked like on Friday, March 19th. I'll post more pictures as they develop!



Saturday was spent working on our new garden. I'm trying something completely different this year called Square Foot Gardening. I'll let you know how it works out. I hope all of you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!!

Nesting Barn Owl Live Web Cam

Click here to see a live web cam of a wild barn owl in a nesting box located in California. She is sitting on 5 eggs which are due to hatch any day now. Her name is Molly, and her mate is McGee. He visits regularly and brings her dinner. I just can't wait until the babies hatch! This same site also has links to lots of other live web cams located all around the country. There are even a few from Africa, Canada & Europe. Sure to be a HUGE hit with the kids!

Choose & Cruise Sweepstakes

Choose & Cruise Sweepstakes: Your chance to choose and WIN a Disney Cruise vacation for 4 at http://bit.ly/9ngT81 - NO PURCHASE/PAYMENT NEEDED. Register today!

Book Review

Last night I stayed up late finishing The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I am a huge fan of most all of his books, and this one was no exception. I haven't cried that hard in months! What I wouldn't do for even an ounce of his writing ability. This story is a coming of age story with all that entails. First love, families, faith, life and ultimately death. I won't go into the story so as not to spoil it for you if you want to read it. This one has also been made into a movie, so you can bet I'll be going to see it when it's released! It gets an A+++++++ in my book.

Spring Fever

Is it just me or are you suffering from Spring fever as well? Maybe its the warmer weather we've been having, or maybe its just knowing that the end of the school year is in sight. I have been having the hardest time staying focused and on track! I think it has alot to do with the fact that we spend so much time indoors over the long cold winter, that I'm just dieing to find new ideas and things to do outdoors.

I've been doing some planning for next school year, looking at products and purchasing some things that we'll need. Yeah...aren't tax refunds wonderful! I'm hoping the arrival of new materials will give me the boost I need to rejuvenate our days. I just love finding new materials to teach with. How about you?

Scheduling

In our family, scheduling is always a challenge. As the kids have gotten older, we've added more and more activities. This can make keeping to a schedule VERY challenging. As a rule, we try to get started each day by 10:00. That allows us to enjoy breakfast together, get some chores done, and then settle in for school. We always start out the day with our core subjects such as math, grammar, phonics & spelling. We finish up with as much as possible before breaking for lunch around 12:30 or 1:00. After lunch we'll get in history, science & any extra subjects such as art, music or Spanish. In the afternoon, the kids will read, play online educational games, watch a video that corresponds with what we're learning, and then head outside for free time. Evenings are spent reading out loud, Bible stories & prayers before bed. This is the ideal schedule, but it can be tough to get everything in. What's your schedule like?

Pizza Hut Book It Signup

Its that time again! This year Pizaa Hut is signing up individual homeschool families, rather than homeschool groups. In order to sign up, you need to go to their website. The deadline for signing up is June 30, 2010.