The One with the Solar Eclipse – Homeschool and Life Happenings

The big excitement of the week – the solar eclipse!! While we weren’t in the direct path of the full eclipse, it was still pretty amazing to watch. We didn’t find the last of the glasses we needed until Saturday (phew), but the kids kept coming up periodically to check it out. 

We had a few friends over to check it out with us and tried to take some pictures, but they were 100% unsuccessful. 

The day after Laurianna returned home from the beach, we took a trip to look at a used car with her. Ever since she took Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance she has been carefully setting aside money for her own car – and she drove home in it that day! We were able to get tags for her this week and Tuesday she drove herself to the community college to start her first two concurrent enrollment classes (essentially dual enrollment, but since we aren’t public school, we can’t call it that). 

I have to say that this day brought a mixture of emotions for me. First, my heart is busting for this girl. She is so excited (and also nervous). I’m proud, but on the other hand realizing how close this brings us to her going to college! She’s growing up and it’s put me on an emotional roller coaster the last few days for sure. 

One thing we decided to add in to our morning with whatever kiddos happen to be home that day – a ten minute news summary. We’re using CNN 10 for this. It has a bit of current events, some “fun” pieces too, and definitely provides some added conversation with the boys.

When I mentioned this on Facebook a few people asked about concern for media bias. One thing that I’ll say is this – personally I try to read from several different news sources to see opposing points of view. Yes, we are typically more conservative in our views, but that doesn’t mean I need to block it all out (sorry if I’m stepping on any toes). Watching this together has given us a great chance to talk about the stories and any other “sides” there might be to a story – and I love that we have that opportunity to let our kids think and dig a little deeper. 

In other news, this is the typical view with our pup pretty much every day. :) The kids are definitely enjoying our Cordaroys bean bag, but it cracks us up that Addie makes herself comfy whenever we aren’t in it (and even when we are!). 

We added in a few more subjects this week with the boys & McKenna: history and science. Both boys are working through their own science program, but it’s fun since they tie in together at the moment. McKenna also started her biology co-op with a friend. 

Zachary had his first science lab this week, so we modified a lab Kaleb had to go along with Zachary’s. His sample ended up molding even though we refrigerated it as soon as it arrived, but it still ended up being pretty cool. 

We have two different microscopes on hand here – one that’s a very basic model and then a higher quality one we purchased a few years ago for our high school biology class. It was a little hard getting a picture of our view, but kind of neat with the small view we could get. 

On a completely unrelated note to anything, it’s not often that I splurge and buy myself a pair of shoes (especially if they are over $15). But OH MY GOODNESS!! I haven’t worn anything other than my new (and only pair) of these Chacos this week. They are super comfy and cute. A little like a flip flop – but versatile enough to wear with something semi-dressy. HUGE win for me!!

That’s it for this week. :) Next week we are adding in a little bit more curriculum wise (reading and writing and Bible) so we will be at about a full load with all of the kids. Easing in is great!

What have you been up to?