This Week

I see that I haven't posted for almost a week. Hmm . . . what did happen this last week? Obviously nothing too exciting, and frankly, that's a good thing. That means Anna did not break anything or cause too big of a mess. Also, she did not injure herself, another good thing.

And yet I did not have time to post, so that must mean we were just busy. Oh yes, Bob was busy working on a paper for his class the first few evenings, so my computer time was limited.

We did do an entire week of school, something that hasn't happened for a little while. I think we're getting into a good routine there.

We are also on a major campaign to eat down the freezer so that I can defrost it. Then I will be able to go to the commissary just with Nathan while my parents are here next week to restock. (My parents should get here next Monday, and they are coming because my brother Dan and his wife Melinda and their daughter Emily are supposed to come next Thursday!!!!) This means that we have been eating lots of good, healthful things that were lurking in the back of the freezer--things like meatballs, chicken fingers, fish sticks, and pierogies. Also there have been freezer pops every day, so you know this campaign has been well-supported by the troops.

On Thursday, we got the boys' Stanford Achievement Test scores in the mail. The boys did great--whew! That's always such a relief! Then of course my perfectionistic tendencies take over, and I obsess about the categories where they missed any questions at all, LOL. Shockingly, they both did fine in spelling! (I think Nathan is a good guesser, LOL.) Actually, the section they both did worst in was "Word Study Skills", and they got almost identical scores. I'm not totally sure what the questions were like, exactly, but it was phonetic analysis of vowels that seemed to be the issue. It was just funny that they both had problems with that, since they have such different styles of learning, reading, etc. I would have expected one to do good, and not the other, or something. Interesting.

Bob took Friday off, and I was able to go to the Northern Virginia Home Education Convention for a few hours in the afternoon. I only went to shop, and I did buy a few things that I knew I needed and knew I wouldn't be able to find at the used book sale that was Saturday. I bought a copybook for Nathan from Memoria Press, since he still has terrible handwriting, and I bought Story of the World 4 from Peace Hill Press. In fact, Susan Wise Bauer herself was at the PHP booth, and I got to talk to her!! She answered my questions personally! A red-letter day for me, LOL--a brush with celebrity in the homeschool world!

I went back to the convention on Saturday to go to the used book sale, and I was very happy with what I came home with. I got a Daily Grams book for Grammar review, as well as some little workbooks that work on paragraph writing and outlining, which I want Nathan to start working on. I got a Kingfisher History of the World, as well as a neat book called Words That Built a Nation--A Young Person's Collection of Historic American Documents. I got A Case of Red Herrings, which is a critical thinking book, and a Mindbenders book, which has those great puzzles that you have to use a grid to solve. Nathan is going into the Logic stage, and these sorts of books are what SWB recommends to develop critical thinking skills before starting formal logic in 7th grade. The Mindbenders book has already been a big hit. Actually, before the convention I had gotten out my Critical Thinking press catalog to peruse so I would be familiar with what to look for, and Nathan and Luke started solving the puzzles in the catalog! That was helpful because it gave me an idea of what level book I should buy (and I was thrilled to find one used!). Bob is a great problem solver, and I've always enjoyed those logic problems as well, so it seems reasonable that the boys should also be good at them!

I also got a bunch of fiction books--books I've wanted the boys to read, but that our library doesn't carry, like Rolf and the Viking Bow, The Children's Homer, and By the Great Horn Spoon. I just LOVE buying books at used book sales! They can be so cheap! I also won the hearts of the boys because I found 4 Star Wars books for $ .25 each. Oh well, the dessert along with the meaty stuff, LOL. I came home with my pull-along bag stuffed to the gills. A successful shopping day!

So there you have it--highlights of the week. And now it's time to head off to evening church.