Weekly Wrap-up: January 16-20

Second week back at school and I'm still tweaking our schedule. I tend to try to pack our days too full with learning and that, quite honestly, kills the joy of learning. It's still a process for me to hit that sweet spot - creativity, just enough book work to balance out hands on activity.. ugh. I hope one day I'll get there!

So, having said all that... we started our week with a break from school as Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day! We had Chris home with us which was a special treat! I got to work on my own homework assignment: art for our newly painted bedroom.

Here it is (sorry! I didn't take pictures of each step to show how I made it. That's probably better, though, because in getting the paint chips on the board, I was THIS close (pinching two fingers together) to throwing the whole thing away!).

Here the last coat of Modge Podge is drying. It already has two coats on it and Dark Walnut stain spread over and wiped off of it. The stain gives it the vintage, old look to it.

Here is the finished product (just needing the hanging material on the back). Can you believe it?!? Here is my $5 art project!!! Made from PAINT CHIPS! I love it! Had you asked me when I started gluing on the squares (spray adhesive, mind you), I would have told you all that I can't stand about it (crooked squares, a line left over from painter's tape that the stain picked up, etc.). Luckily, I took a few deep breaths, talked myself into continuing on and I'm so glad I did! Of course, I picked spray adhesive off of my hands for DAYS! (think: Chevy Chase in Christmas vacation and having tree sap on his hands - yep! That was me!).

My other "homework" project was to re-do our family picture wall. As you can see, I still need to add a couple of pictures to some frames but I think it's done!

The metal words "Lord Bless This House" was a Christmas present that I added to the display along with a letter "J". My dear hubby cut the wood for me to create the "The Joyce Family" signage (got my family info. vinyl from ). I painted the wood black, then white and then distressed it with sand paper. Monday was a productive day for me!

The boys enjoyed documenting this icicle they found coming out of our porch awning gutter. Icicles are RARE in Sacramento, so this was a big deal to the boys!

This is a BIG deal!

Speaking of recording weather and nature, both boys got this book for Christmas and we LOVE it!! I kind of wish I had gotten one for me too! Luckily for us, the weather in Sacramento this week has been different than what we are used to. We've had SUPER cold (to us, anyway) days this week and then a windy, rainy day today. This gave the boys lots to record in this handy book. They have recorded their daily observations of our weather and nature outside as they become Naturalists.

LOVE. THIS. WORKBOOK! It is a MUST for any kiddo even remotely interested in nature or the outdoors!

Jake started reading "The Ballad of Lucy Whipple" as part of his California History curriculum I've selected for him. I happened to find a great workbook for this book through Moving Beyond The Page I am really enjoying this company's creative approach to learning (so is Jake). This week, we were scheduled to make a mock apple pie as the gold rush miners were apt to do. But this mama didn't make the pie crust and forgot to pick some up at the store. So, we'll post pictures of that next week!


We memorized the Classification system order and the importance of it in Science, worked further on math facts and memorized the first 17 books of the Bible (thanks to Jake's Sunday school teacher who gives homework! We were impressed with that!).

Jake, cutting out a picture of the state bird of Vermont, the Hermit Thrush. He moved on to the state of Vermont this week. We'll finish that up next week.

Josh wrapped up his lesson on the world and moved to his first continent - North America - in The Trail Guide to World Geography.


We also are working on a virtue each week (from the We Choose Virtue curriculum. See link in sidebar). Last week and this week, we focused on Diligent. "I am Diligent. I start fast, work hard and finish strong." This has been so helpful in reminding us all of the character God wants each of us to have!

We wrapped up our week with spending Friday with our wonderful co-op friends! The rain couldn't dampen our fun! We went bowling and then hit up a local pizza parlor! It was awesome to see our friends that we've missed terribly over our co-op break!

I hope your week was productive and filled with joy!

I've joined up with the weekly wrap-up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers -