Weekly Wrap-Up: The One With Some Early Mornings AND a Reading Milestone
Friday, December 3, 2010 at 7:28AM
Mary Prather

Our week was good.... Christmas decorations are up, children have learned a lot, and we're not behind the 8 ball this weekend. Ever since we started homeschooling (over a year ago now, which is hard to believe) my workouts have gone by the wayside. I had high hopes of the kids working out with me at the YMCA, but for some reason that just didn't materialize. SO, my husband has started adjusting his morning schedule and going to work a bit later a couple mornings a week so I can work out first thing. This morning and Wednesday morning my alarm went off at 5:15 a.m (ouch) and I was working out by 6:00 and home by 7:15. While I don't love getting up at that hour, it does feel so good to get the exercise, and I feel like I'm exploring a new world that early in the morning. My husband has really inspired me because he's lost some weight and is feeling stronger. He has always played racquetball and worked out, but recently he got SERIOUS about it.

I've been mostly walking on the treadmill, but once I get a little more in shape I'd love to get back to swimming laps. Throughout my childhood I swam competitively. I have such wonderful memories of those days, and I love watching the high school students at our YMCA in the morning at their swim team practices, too. I did swim last weekend for about 30 minutes, and my arms were very sore. When the kids and I go to the YMCA we usually swim, so then I can get in a few minutes swimming here and there. I'm hoping all of this physical activity will become a habit going forward.

Let's see -- schoolwork. Math, Grammar, Keyboarding, Burgess Animal Reading and Reading continued as usual for both kids. A highlight of our week was finishing clay pottery. We are so fortunate to have a studio nearby that offers homeschool art classes. The teacher is wonderful.... two weeks ago she taught the children how to make several different things from a piece of clay. Miss B made a huge mug, and GMan made a shaker. This week they painted and glazed and we will pick up the finished product next week.



Reading was huge in the house this week! Congratulations to GMan, who voluntarily sat down and read an entire Magic Treehouse book by himself this week. We pulled out his sister's collection and he has them in a stack on his table and wants to read them all. Hooray!

Miss B finished a cute Christmas book by Cornelia Funke ( we love her books!), When Santa Fell to Earth.
She had nothing but high praise for the book and it was a quick read, so we recommend this one.

For read-alouds this week we started The House at Pooh Corner for both children. GMan is loving Winnie the Pooh, and Miss B remarked, "The books are so silly that they are funny." Even a nine year old loves this "bear of very little brain".

Getting to the end of this Sonlight Core, Miss B and I also started Calico Bush this week. We are only 50 pages into the book, but I can tell it is going to be
wonderful. Yesterday morning we put a log in the fireplace and just laid on the sofa and read. It was one of those mornings that I just thanked God for the opportunity to homeschool my children.

We are looking forward to working on our Jesse Tree in the coming week and also doing some baking, crafting, and lots of reading. The tub of holiday books was pulled out of the attic yesterday and we will make our way through that a little each day. It is such a wonderful time of the year!

How was your week? Stop by and see what other homeschoolers are up to this week at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

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