• Bible:  Explorer's Bible Study Lessons
• Math:  Saxon 65 through lesson 45  We skipped a bunch of lessons.  Now we are working on Singapore 4A since I finally bought the books.
• Grammar/Writing:  Alternating weeks of Writing Tales 1 with Rod and Staff.  We do a lot orally, so we can move faster through the easy stuff and then we won't feel behind when the tough stuff hits.  I am debating letting her have her own blog for her final drafts of her Writing Tales projects.
  
• Spelling:  Spelling Power plugging along with level C.
  
• Reading:  The Story of Martin Luther from Google Books
  
• History:  Story of the World Lessons
• Science:  Started Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry 1.  I love chemistry.  The Crafter has therefore decided that she hates chemistry and will whine incessantly while doing chemistry.  Nice.  I'm not sure about this curriculum, but then again I am very picky.  This seems like too much too soon.  We'll see.  She's finished chapter 1 and is almost done with chapter 2.  Maybe the marshmallows for the next experiment will help.

It's hot here in NC.  We have had 100+ temperatures with high humidity since Saturday.  It's typical weather for late July, not early June.  My children are cranky and bored.  They are constantly fighting among themselves.  I would throw them out, but they are not very heat tolerant.  They have red, sweaty faces after a few minutes outside.  The mosquitoes are also horrible in our yard this year.  I have to coat them in Off before I can let them out or they come in covered in bites.

I had intended for us to take a real break from school until July, but that's not going to happen.  We need to do something.  We are continuing on with history and a bit of math for the Crafter.  I'm working on getting a bee unit study together for everyone.  I have a Hands of a Child lapbook from a free download that I hope to use.  It will be our first lapbook.

Yesterday, I tried to keep the kids happy by letting them play on the Slip and Slide for a while.  I can't let them use it everyday because I don't want a huge water bill.  They played  peacefully for about 30 minutes, then I had to turn the water off.  I told them to come in for baths.  I had started running a tub when I heard screaming.  Wild Thing came in with his face covered in blood.  I put my screaming child in the tub and started looking for the source.  He had a half inch cut right in the center of his forehead.   After a few minutes of direct pressure, it stopped bleeding, but the tears didn't.  It took him a while to calm down.  Wild Thing was pretty scraped up.  He was running away after antagonizing his sisters when he tripped in the gravel driveway and face planted on the rocks.  Thank God he wasn't hurt worse.  He's fine now.  It's amazing what a couple of Band Aids can do.

     I have decreed that third grade is over.  We have completed 180 days plus of "instruction".  No, we did not finish all of the books.  That's OK.  I don't recall ever finishing a book when I was in public school.  Grammar and science were finished weeks ago, but I was holding out hope for finishing math. 

     The Crafter finished Singapore Primary Math 3A and 3B and Extra Practice 3.  I wanted her to work through Singapore's Challenging Word Problems 3.  Well when they say challenging, they mean it.  She hit a wall and I couldn't help.  You would think that having a math degree would fully equip me for anything third grade math could throw out, but NO.  Oh, I can solve the problems quite easily--if I use algebra.  Somehow, I don't think third graders should need to use systems of equations.  It's time for the Crafter to put the Challenging Word Problems away, but I will conquer them.  It's personal.

     Homeschool Achievement Day was last Saturday at our church. I signed the Crafter up for her first piano performance and to present an astronomy project from Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I thought we had taken more pictures, but we ended up with only a few. So stupid me thought we should type up her narrations from each lesson. Then we couldn't find them, so the Crafter and I spent 2 solid days reconstructing narrations from all 14 lessons. This was our first experience with a project deadline. Thank God we homeschool. The Historian did not like us working so hard on it. He kept telling us that we should have started earlier. I don't think this family could survive regular school.

     To make matters more complicated, my parents and grandmother and the Historian's father were all coming too. So there was all of the emergency house cleaning to do. The Crafter and I worked frantically to finish the project, vacuum, dust, clean the kitchen, hang out laundry, and clean the bathrooms while the Historian kept up with Wild Thing and Sweetie.  We had Chinese take-out for lunch which simplified things greatly.

     All in all the visit went well. I drove the van with the children.  My parents and grandmother followed me and the Historian and his dad went in the truck.  When we got to church, I was informed that my brake lights weren't working.  We couldn't do anything about it on a Saturday afternoon, so we went in and set up the astronomy project.   The Crafter played her pieces very well during the music recitals.  Everything was nice until intermission when Sweetie wet her pants. Fortunately, God told me to pick up a pair of extra shorts before we left. That's the only reason I had them. When Achievement Day was over, we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The Historian took Wild Thing and the Crafter roller skating. I went home with Sweetie in the van with no brake lights. We made it home safely, but the van saga was just beginning...

Here are some pictures from the Crafter's project:

   This is the solar system model.  Jupiter is a watermelon.

  Lava on Venus.

  Preparing for the erruption of Olympus Mons.

    Hurricane tube from the Jupiter lesson.

I'm usually good at rolling with the punches, but right now I am close to burning out.  I feel as if all of my energy and creativity are gone.  I haven't had taken time to plan out the rest of this year much less think about next year.  I have been in “do the next thing” mode for several weeks now.  We haven't done any projects or experiments or any of the fun stuff lately.  The Crafter is cooperative, but bored.  I think she needs a break too.

Anyway this week we have the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  Another mom asked me if I was going to count the testing days as “school days” since we weren't doing any “instruction”.  You've got to be kidding.  Of course I'm counting them!  Don't public schools count their standardized testing days?  Why shouldn't we?

That got me thinking, why not take the rest of the week off?  We finished up a test prep book on Monday, and we've been reading the latest stack of library books.  That was enough for one day, right?  Tuesday and Wednesday are test days.  Thursdays are tough on homeschooling because I'm not at home from 8:30-12:30.  We generally don't get much done on Thursday anyway.  Friday's the only day left.  Who wants to start working on Friday?  Not me!

A couple of days off so sounds like a good plan.  We could plant the garden.  We could spend some time reading aloud together.  We can watch something noneducational on TV.  We can just rest.

There was a play that she disparately wanted to attend.  It was at night.  The Historian works at night.  Wild Thing and Sweetie do not do well being out past their bedtime.  The Crafter's best friend's mother graciously invited her to attend the play with them and to spend the night afterward.  We gratefully accepted the offer on the condition that the Crafter diligently complete her work for the week.  I even got organized and made a color coded spread sheet listing each assignment for each day.

Everything was going well.  The Crafter completed her work on Monday in only 3 hours—including piano practice.  The Historian and I strongly encouraged her to work ahead a bit.  Thursdays and Fridays are difficult school days because I teach at the college.  She didn't want to work ahead; she wanted to have extra play time.  Tuesday and Wednesday passed in a similar fashion.

Thursday was not good.  I wasn't here to stay on top of her work.  The Historian was busy with Wild Thing and Sweetie and couldn't help as much as he would have liked.  I arrived home and saw what was happening.  We gently reminded the Crafter that going to the play depended on getting her work done. She said she understood, but the diligence of earlier in the week was gone.  She messed around and spent two hours on math instead of the 30 minutes it should have taken.  She didn't finish Thursday's list. There was still time though.  Her Friday list was short with only math, reading, piano, and a spelling test. She could manage the undone items from Thursday and do Friday's work with time to spare.

If only she had asked for help with her math.  I arrived home to the Historian looking at some math problems or rather some correct answers to some rather involved math problems with no supporting work.  We knew some mischief was afoot.  We asked her to redo the problems and show her work this time. Thirty minutes passed with no math.  I point blank asked her if she had copied the answers from the answer key.  She said no.  After another thirty minutes, she began to cry.  The Historian finally got her to confess to copying the answers and then lying about it.

Daddy handled the discipline.  There would be no play, no spending the night with her friend, and she would have to apologize to her friend and tell her why their plans changed.  The Crafter shed many tears.  I believe that the toughest part of the punishment was when she actually had to confess her sin to her friend.   I pray that we handled this appropriately.  The answer keys are now in a less accessible area.  I hope this doesn't happen again.