Friday, August 28, 2015

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Saxon, Tinker and Guitar

It has been a good week. Everyone is back to good health, and we accomplished most of what we set out to do.

Co-Op Classes Started this Week ~ Dean (13) is taking a guitar class and a writing class this year. He liked both classes and was excited about all of the kids in the writing class. It looks like it will be a class with a good amount of collaboration. That is my way of saying that Dean will get to talk in class (much to his delight). The guitar class only had two students, which was exciting to me. There can be eight in the class so two is almost like private lessons for a drastically reduced cost. He likes the teacher and has been diligent about practicing at home so far.


Learning to Budget One's Wardrobe ~ Anne had the opportunity to shop for her winter clothes recently. We told her that we would provide undergarments, winter boots, a good pair of sneakers, winter coat and two outfits. The rest was up to her to purchase within her budget. We set  her budget at $100 for this fall and winter. We went to a huge children's consignment sale. She did an awesome job and still has $27 left to purchase leggings and tights. I think she was most excited about the glitter sneakers she bought. She is a bit of a shoe girl.



Celebrating Mother Teresa ~ We are learning about some of the important leaders of India this year. We will be reading biographies and celebrating their birthdays during their birthday week. Mother Teresa's birthday was this week. We made and ate food from India, read Who Was Mother Teresa, and made a cake for her. In her honor, we also bought some basic staples at the store and donated them to the food bank. We also listened to all of the information that our Intelliglobe had to offer.


Our Latest Tinker Crate ~ We loved our latest Tinker Crate (monthly subscription box). It was soda science. I put a post up here all about it.



Saxon Math ~ This is our 17th year of homeschooling and I have never used Saxon Math before. I never planned to, either. I hated math as a child and methodically avoided textbooks in the hopes my kids would like math. For the most part, they have liked math and done well. However, Anne is burned out on Teaching Textbooks (computer program) and wanted a change for 6th grade. We had a Saxon Math book that was laying around from a free book haul I got recently. It is very old and falling part. I had planned to put it in the Goodwill bag, but Anne got to it first. It happens to be a 6th grade book and Anne loves it. She says math is fun again. Go figure!! I am letting her write in the book since it was basically ready for the recycling bin anyway. So, everyone is happy and we are now a Saxon, Teaching Textbooks, Life of Fred family.


Blessings, Dawn


7 comments:

  1. I will be interested to hear your impressions about Saxon, Dawn.

    I also LOVE how you let your daughter budget her wardrobe. I am going to take a page from your book on that one, I think. We just opened a checking account for Anna and I buy her basics, but if she wants anything fancy or extra, she has money in her account (from babysitting) and can buy it! It's amazing how frugal she has become! ;-) Have a great weekend!

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  2. I'm amazed that you've gone 17 years without Saxon! That cracks me up that your daughter ended up loving it. We have used it several times throughout our 15 years but inevitably toss it aside for something else.

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  3. I looked at Saxon back when we were first starting, and rejected it because it was too cumbersome. I think it's great that Anne found it on her own though - that will make it, and the math it contains, so much more hers.

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  4. We just stopped using Saxon, but even though we left it we still liked it. I'm not good at teaching Amber to budget, because I don't use a budget either. I just spend reasonably, most days. Thankfully, she understands the concepts and shows some restraint. I really should think about teaching her budgeting some time soon.

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  5. Love that clothes budgeting idea! I might try that out on my oldest.

    Also love seeing your photos of your Mother Teresa focus. Such a great idea, plus that Who Was... ? series is so good!

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  6. Hello there! Just catching up on all my blog reading. I've been so busy with Shakespeare everything else has gone by the wayside.
    It's great to read what you have been up to. I love your budgeting idea. We do something similar, although our guys need to budget for everything for £10 per month. It's amazing what they consider essential now compared to when we paid for everything!

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  7. We use teaching textbooks for the big kids and Saxon for the littles. I just don't have time to teach all the subjects to all five. I can't believe next year, I'll be down one child. wow.

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