Of Seeing Eyes, Hearing Ears, and Scrubbing Hands {Weekly Wrap-Up 11/16/2012}

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

(I'm part of this week's Weekly Wrap-Up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers! Click over to check out all the other posts, full of tips and tidbits that work in real life.)

 

Well, I’m still working towards the “weekly” aspect of the wrap-up, but I figure if I get something posted as regularly as I can it’s at least a start. :) The last several weeks have been incredibly discouraging. The “extra” things I’d like to do have been mostly out of the question, and many of the regular gotta-do’s have been put off as time has been spent putting out circumstantial fires. Those fires seemingly smoldering, I’ve spent this week playing catch-up again. Lord willing, we’ll have a few normal days ahead and a relaxing Thanksgiving break. Maybe we’ll even sneak in some of the “extras”, like making Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark with Bo or going antiquing with Rooster or having another photography outing with Bird… *crosses fingers*

That said, a lot of what we’ve done during the school day has been just plain normal school. The boys are moving along in math, surviving writing assignments, and enjoying their reading. School’s been pretty basic and routine around here.

seeing eyes & hearing ears…

- We’ve really been enjoying the Body of Evidence DVD series by Dr. Menton. I was skeptical when I saw that the DVDs simply show Dr. Menton teaching a lesson to a couple students in a classroom-ish setting, but I have found the lessons to be very engaging. In addition, he teaches from a biblical worldview, bringing to life the wonder of God’s hand in creation. Not only that, but he presents the information in ways that all three boys hear, understand, become excited about, and retain! The boys have correctly informed and explained to me why Relative X has hearing damage from being around loud noises without hearing protection, and why Relative Z has specific vision problems that relate directly to contact lens care. Bo has been able to see the physiological causes of his own hearing loss, and is coming to better understand what’s happening in his own body and why the ENT can only consider certain solutions. Love seeing that application! This series is a great supplement to our science studies.

 "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them." ~ Proverbs 20:12 ~

scrubbing hands…

- I’ve spent a lot of my time catching up on housework. Yippee. Not exciting, but, hey, it’s part of the wrap-up of my week. And, really, in a way it is exciting because it’s been a looming cloud over my head. Watching housework compound around you while you deal with urgent stuff is not fun. Catching up the housework isn’t fun - but seeing it get caught up does give you a sense of accomplishment. That’s a great feeling!

digression…

- In case anyone was wondering, I am still loving the CMOrganizer by Simply Charlotte Mason. I’ve been printing our work summary at the end of each month to put in our school portfolios, and for the first time I feel like I’m successfully keeping decent records. The only drawback is that the tracker is wholly online, and we live in a wooded area prone to power outages, so there are days I’ve not been able to check off our boxes. Also, by nature of the program and how it flows with the Charlotte Mason style of schooling, it doesn’t allow you to go back and enter work done in the past. It’s just something you have to be aware of and extra motivation to check your boxes every day. The benefits far, far, far outweigh those two drawbacks, in my opinion. No other computer-based tracker I’ve found flows with our fluctuating schedule and schooling methods like CMOrganizer. It’s a wonderful tool for the Charlotte Mason homeschool.