Week in Review #1

Every Friday I think about writing some kind of homeschool weekly report, and every Friday I decide not to, but I would like to keep some sort of log to look back on in future.    

This will just be random notes about the week -- whatever happens that seems memorable.

So here's this week's version:

Sunday 

Thanksgiving Weekend almost over (sigh).  The grown boys are on the Greyhound bus returning to their home station in Oregon (sigh again).

Before the boys left, we watched Spirited Away and Man of Steel.     The first was a homework assignment for a college Mythology class Brendan is taking (actually, his term ends next week).  I recommend it if you like anime fairy tales, which I do.   The second was just because the majority of us had not yet seen it.  

Here is a weirdly-edited Thanksgiving picture of the three youngest boys at their grandma's house.  It turned out like a 50's magazine picture or board game cover, don't you think?  The photo itself was a dark IPhone photo, so this improves it a little, believe it or not.

Monday

Paddy and I are both taking piano lessons.  My goal is to stretch my comfort zone and hopefully get good enough to fill in when our station-church organist needs a sub.     This time,  Paddy focused on the pieces for his upcoming recital and I worked on getting back up to speed after month-long sick leave.

Tuesday

Aidan discovered his Kumon dot-to-dots and worked hard for a long time completing the book while Paddy and I worked on modified school.

Wednesday

Paddy's birthday!

And first real snow.  We are supposed to get a lot more this coming weekend.  

Thursday

I started Aidan on reading "real books" this week.   I tried earlier this year with some Dr Seuss books which he likes to look at.  But he was embarrassed.    The Catholic National Reader wasn't very interesting to him either.  But this one was a hit.    It's a Bible story book for little ones, but the repetitive language makes it a good early fluency-building reader, as well.

Friday

Kevin has gotten the wood stove partially working.  The fan isn't in operation yet, but the grate is restored, so we can have a fire in there and get some warmth in the center of the house at least.  Makes a big difference to heating bill AND to household ambience, as well.  

Serious snow supposed to start falling tomorrow here in the Sierras  -- even our boys up in Oregon are getting snow -- Brendan's last day of classes was cancelled.  

We spent quite a bit of time outside getting logs stacked and otherwise preparing for a blizzard.

All in all, a very light week of homeschooling -- typical for the week after Thanksgiving, especially when there is a birthday involved. ... and heavy weather.

Happy St Nicholas Day everyone!