I spent a good deal of time organizing and cleaning this week. From cleaning out and wiping down the food cabinets to organizing and purging the craft and school storage closets. I've purged most of our school papers from the year. Straightened the paper cabinet. Organized the school supplies, since everyone seems to just throw pencils in the same drawer with scissors. How could they?
The older kids still need to go through their school shelves and binders to get ready for next year.
Next on my summer list of things-to-do: Clean out the refrigerator and freezer. Go through a big box of bills/papers to file and purge.
My planning has slowed down a bit. I finally finished reading Of Plymouth Plantation and I'm in the first half of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and just a little bit into The Life and Diary of Rev. David Brainerd. I've also finished reading The Autobiography of Davy Crockett, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Wow, that seems like I've accomplished a lot more than I thought. Tera and I have decided American literature seems a bit more on the depressing side.
I finally decided to go with my Plan B for American history. I'm working on getting together assignments and grading for that course.
Tera will be taking her first dual enrollment in the fall---College Algebra. I'm relaxing a little bit more about Chemistry (for both) and Algebra 2 (for Daniel), since I'm planning on using Virtual Home school Group for the lecture part of those.
New activities for the next school year are being discussed. I'm thinking I'll need to buckle up tight for this upcoming ride!
Michael finishes up a month of Tues./Thurs. swim lessons next Tuesday. The instructor has been really impressed with his ability and I attribute that to the foundation he received from my great friend, Tanya and her college students! We think he will take another session in the future just to sure up his strokes. But he's definitely a swimmer!
As I'm typing this, my teens, a couple of their friends and Michael are finishing up lunch while talking up a storm behind me. It's been a long time since we've seen them. Drawing and listening to Adventures in Odyssey is on the agenda today. So, I will get a bit of silence in the middle of this day.
Since Tera will not be done until mid-December with her DE class, we are taking a longer summer. We won't start back until July 11th, but I still feel like I'm on our old schedule. It feels like the summer is flying away.
VBS for Michael every night next week except Tuesday. That's when I actually get a lot of things done school planning wise. 2.5 hours every night, just me, my books and VBS music in the background.
Allergies are kicking up, but according to my "See Your Memories" on facebook, this happens to us around this time every year.
On Tuesday night, JP took Tera and Daniel to an open bout session at another fencing club in the nearby "big city". Because this club has electrical capabilities, Tera was able to test out her new electrical equipment. We definitely LOVE our local club, so this is not a change for us...only to supplement and get an opportunity to fence different people. The coach there was surprised that Tera had never competed in a tournament and encouraged her to do that. Since that is her goal, it was very encouraging and affirming to her! The coach also fences the same style as Daniel, so he had a great time fencing a pro. (I've learned there are three different types of fencing that match which sword you use: foil, epee and saber.)
Well, my ramblings are done for now...have a great weekend!