Weekly wrap up -- April 3

This time of year I think I actually enjoy homeschooling even more. The weather gives us more time outside, I have some excitement as we begin to think about fresh plans for next year (and our summer plans), you can really see how far we have come this school year on so many fronts. And, the kids have been amazingly productive lately, so we have had extra time to have lots of fun!


This week my sister and her son had Spring Break, so we enjoyed visiting a local science museum with them, along with half the population of the city! They had so many fun little exhibits for the kids to get their hands into.

Brooke trying to work a wrench with massive rubber gloves on.

Of course, the obligatory bubble station, which the kids always love no matter how many times they have seen it:

A fun TV station control room allows kids to perform their own newscast in front of a blue screen while someone else runs the controls:
Nathan just liked that he found buttons to push and levers to move.

And, this exhibit has always fascinated me as it seems magical. The spinning wheel causes you to spin on the stool. Lots of fun!

They had lots of great reinforcement of what we have studied on various scientists as well including the Archimedes screw, fiberoptics, prisms, levers, etc. After four hours we had seen most of it, but they could have stayed all night!


The rest of the week trucked along through school work with various highlights.

Favorite moments of the week:

- Lots of together time. We have spent a lot of time together lately working, playing, reading, growing. I love that!

- Hide the kid. We played a new game we invented for family game night. We broke into two teams and each team hid one of the little kids for the other team to find. We split the house into two sections and rotated in each part. It was kind of like an advanced version of hide and seek. We all had a great time and it satisfied my older son's request for a more active game.

- Growing moments. We took a break from our study of the Fruits of the Spirit to talk about a growing grumbling in the house. It was amazingly productive and set the stage for lots of fruitful conversations throughout the week. It is such a treasure to see kids begin to grasp Biblical concepts and apply them.

Challenges faced:

- Another rare week of few challenges to note. They will still come, but this week went wonderfully smooth.

Favorite passages in our books :

Some or all of us are reading so much great stuff right now (Around the World in 80 Days, The Long Winter, The Little Town on the Prairie, Galileo and the Magic Numbers, Never Give In, Robin Hood, Abigail Adams, Amy Carmichael's biography, etc.) This is hard to narrow down.

- Galileo -- an amazingly inventive mind. To realize all that he accomplished, going against the flow. Before the day of reliable clocks he figured out how to use his pulse to time happenings and the created the first mechanism to take your pulse. Hard to imagine a time when some of our simple modern tools did not exist.

- Amy Carmichael -- such incredible trust in God's leading! God prepared her for her work in so many ways and through so many experiences. Makes me wonder what God is preparing my children for right now. I pray that they have a solid foundation in Him that whatever they face in life (marriage, parenthood, mission work, schooling, careers, responsibilities, etc.) they will follow Him first and foremost without wavering. Listening to His voice above all others.


More weekly wrap up here.