The Homeschool Mother's Journal April 2012

In My Life This Week...


My younger daughter and I drove to Memphis to attend the MidSouth Homeschool Convention this past weekend, and we had a great time!  I've never driven that far without my hubby, and I was really pretty nervous about it!  I took my GPS, though, and went anyway.  I'm so glad I did!  Mary Grace had lots of fun doing the children's activities, and I absolutely loved meeting lots of new folks, visiting the many vendor booths that were there, and buying a few books that I've been wanting to read.  I didn't buy any of next year's curriculum yet because I haven't totally decided yet exactly what I'm planning to do yet.  But that's a whole different post.....


My favorite thing this week was....


Mary Grace and I had a great time at the Memphis Zoo!  After the convention was over on Saturday, we spent the night in Memphis so we wouldn't be driving home really late at night.  (It's a 5-hour drive.)  We had planned to get up on Sunday and drive home, but Mary Grace saw some signs for the Memphis Zoo and decided she wanted to go there.  I was fine with that since it's supposed to be a really good zoo, and we probably won't ever drive that far just to go to the zoo.  So I figured we might as well visit while we were so close.  


I was really glad we decided to go!  It was lots of fun!  And Mary Grace totally enjoyed being the "only kid" for the day.  She got to choose which animals she wanted to see and in what order.  She decided when to stop for a snack or drink.  She got to pretty much be "princess for the day," and she totally enjoyed it!  I was a little concerned about making the 5-hour drive too late in the day because we were both tired from the convention.  We left the zoo at 3:00 p.m., though, and were home by 8 p.m., so it wasn't too bad.  I was awfully tired those last couple of hours, but I managed to stay awake!


Things I'm Working On...


I'm trying to force myself to make the final decision on what materials we will use for school next year.  I've got it narrowed down, and I've even made some definite choices, but I'm not quite finished.  Usually by this time of the year I'm already ordering next year's materials.  For the past couple of years, though, it's ended up not getting done in April.  


I'm also working on giving up sweets.  That's an especially hard one for me because I love sweets!  I'm not sure if I'll try to absolutely totally give them up, but I'm definitely trying to cut was down on them.  We'll see how it goes!


I'm Reading...


Right now I'm reading several books.  One of them is Titanic:  The Ship of Dreams.  I love just about anything related to the Titanic.  I really don't know why, but I do.  I love to watch documentaries about the Titanic and other sunken ships as well.  I love to get an underwater look at how everything looks now after it's all been under water for so long.  I haven't finished the book yet, but I am enjoying what I've read so far.


I'm also reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Noah had to read it for his Omnibus III online class.  I never had to read it when I was in school, so I decided to read it now that he's finished.


I'm also reading 1984.  This is another book that Noah has to read for Omnibus.  This time, I'm reading it before Noah reads it so I can discuss it with him.  (Since there are some parts of the book that I think we will need to discuss because of its controversial nature and topics.)  It's actually very interesting!


I'm reading Little Women:  Book 2 out loud to my younger daughter.  Each day we read a chapter or two.  I hadn't even known that there was a sequel to Little Women until Mary Grace asked me to check to see if there was one.  We already read Little Women and Little Men.  Mary Grace begged me to look and see if there were any more books (like a series) because she was so disappointed when the other two books ended!  


I'm reading Freddy the Cowboy out loud to all of my children each morning.  We love the Freddy books!  They are a little bit hard to find, though.  My whole family (from two teens to a 9-year-old and even my husband and I) loves these books, and the kids frequently ask me to read Freddy to them--even if we have to go back and re-read the ones we've already read!


I'm Cooking...


Tonight, dinner was a family affair!  My hubby grilled chicken and sausage on the grill, Mary Grace made homemade French fries and potato chips (Yum-O), and I took care of the baked beans and garlic toast.  It was all delicious!!


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