Saturday, August 27, 2016

Weekly Wrap-Up 4 ~ Bears, Books and Banter

We had a fine week. Nothing really stands out as especially stellar educationally. However, we had a solid week of book and real life learning. I continued to hold steady on my goals to let the children have larger control of their education and embrace letting go of things immediately that are not working. With that said, Anne's writing program was set aside this week which she had been avoiding and loathing. She immediately started writing a short chapter book. Now she is happily writing away and I am happy to see her making progress.

Bears ~ The saga of bears visiting our yard continues practically every day. We reviewed black bear safety this week and acted out what to do if one encounters a bear. We look  around real carefully before leaving the house nowadays, since the bears especially like our carport.
A baby bear in our tree
A New Adventure ~ A mother and daughter we have known for some time have decided to embark on the homeschooling journey. They asked if we might want to do a trade off. I agreed and I will be teaching science for a few hours once a week, and she will be teaching art once a week. The kids are all within a year of each other and go to the same dance studio. Hopefully, it will be a delightful experience for everyone.

Books, Books, Books! ~ Another homeschool mom blessed me with four boxes of books. She knows I sell on eBay to supplement my kids' dance classes. Some of them will be donated to the various Little Free Library boxes located around town, but some of them had value and are already making me money on Ebay. I feel very blessed. 

Mean Words vs. Banter ~  I have been hearing an increase in insults between Anne and Dean. So we did an exercise this week in choosing words carefully. I gave them a tube of toothpaste and told them to squeeze it all out onto a plate. They did so with delight. 
Then I told them to put it back in the tube. They were unable to do so. I told them that the toothpaste tube was their mouth and the toothpaste was their words. You can never take back your words. You can and should apologize, but it will always be messy and broken.

The moral to this is to always choose our words carefully and try only to speak kindness -- a challenge even to an adult to be sure. 

Dean Made a 3D Viewer ~ Those who hang around my blog know that Dean loves his monthly subscription box, Tinker Crate. He had a fantastic time with the latest offering. 


Anne's New Space ~ Anne is loving using my antique desk for her alone time schooling. She keeps it neat and sweet (although you can't tell from all of the crumbs on the desk in the picture).

Blessings, Dawn

8 comments:

  1. It is so much fun to hear about your Homeschooling. Your kids, like mine, are growing up and it is interesting to see the changes as they mature. It is so cool to have bears that close. I know it is probably less cool for you because of the dangers, but I long to live in an area with more wildlife.

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  2. It is so much fun to hear about your Homeschooling. Your kids, like mine, are growing up and it is interesting to see the changes as they mature. It is so cool to have bears that close. I know it is probably less cool for you because of the dangers, but I long to live in an area with more wildlife.

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  3. I like that toothpaste lesson. I may use it at our house soon. :)

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  4. The toothpaste lesson is on our calendar for this month too! Great to reconnect with you through blogs. :)

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  5. Oh my! Bears?? We have been lucky enough to only hear stories of bears but we've never seen any in real life... other than the zoo. I love the toothpaste lesson too! That's awesome.

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  6. I'm not sure I'd know entirely what to do if I found a bear outside in my yard. I hope you all stay safe.

    The kids are growing up so much. Anne looks to be enjoying her space.

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  7. Bears, oh my! I think it would be exciting to see but ever so scary being that close knowing that a protective mama bear is probably looming nearby.

    Great lesson with the toothpaste! I'm putting that on our shopping list to embrace that lesson.

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  8. I love the toothpaste idea!
    Wow, bears! We don't have bears in the UK so that sounds a bit close for comfort :)

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