This Week

This week the workers got the permanent beams in place downstairs and took this big beam out.  I don't even want to think about the horrible wind we had for three days straight.  I'm just glad it is over. 

My boy was so dirty each day. 

So was my girl.

We had a touch of rain in the night and the air feels moist today.  There is a a cloud cover.  I don't care for cloudy days but have to admit it beats last week's wind.

The guys came today and are working as I type.  Last week they got the rest of the old concrete floor out of the basement, spread it with sand, and tamped it down.  I haven't asked but I assume they will pour the concrete floor some time this week.  They still have parts of the walls/foundation to finish, the filling in on the outside of the walls, and mess to clean up.  I will be relieved to have this phase of remodeling done as this is the sixth week of it.

  We did take a break from school one day, along with several other local home school families, to help a friend pick her gourds.  C. raises pumpkins and gourds, sells them locally, then donates her profits for mission work.  She told us she had made $15,000 this year that she donated.  I'm happy that we could be a little part of that.

Our eight week of MFW RtR went well.  I like being in our routine as it seems to make things go smoother.  Daniel continues to learn a new verse in Romans each week.  One day he practices his cursive, writing that verse.  The next day I dictate the verse to him when he practices cursive and spelling.  I continue his handwriting practice the rest of the week using A Reason for Writing.  Cursive is coming more natural for him now. 

Daniel has read through his Bible about the birth and childhood of Jesus.  Parallel to this time period he reads in the Caesar Augustus' World book.  I continue the read aloud book The Bronze Bow before bedtime which is historical fiction set in the same time period.  In history Daniel also reads from two Usborne books, The Roman Empire and The Ancient World.  He seems to like these books.  I know I do.

In math he is multiplying fractions, then simplifying the answers.  He finds this easy which is a big relief for me.

He still struggles in spelling, doesn't like any writing assignment, and doesn't retain much of what he reads. 

On a brighter note he loves science and is remembering what he learns and passing along some of that information to others.  I guess you learn what interests you better than something that doesn't.

We went to the movie Dolphin Tail last night.  The boy in the movie reminded me of Daniel as he struggled with some of the same things Daniel does.  It was a very good movie, by the way.  We all enjoyed it.

Leah does well and is happy to be able to start her Bible reader and notebook.  She could easily do more work than she does but I appreciate that her days are short.  She is starting at the beginning, going through the days of creation now.  She does well in spelling.  Her one struggle has been math but with daily games and practice she is learning her addition facts.  This week she learned about waves in science.  Other than the reading we don't always do her science as she participates in Daniel's.  Since it was a fun easy experiment about waves we did it.

This is one of my main work days.  I have lots of laundry to do, have some bread dough rising, and need to clean the school and bedrooms so I had best get to that.