Monday Musings

***Outside my window...It is finally spring! I cannot begin to say how relieved I am. The weather looks great all week and it just so nice out compared to last week. Perfect. We still have tiny pockets of snow here and there, but they are fading fast.

 ***Things I'm thinking about...Homeschool planning, just like last week. I have what we will do for Core A/first grade pretty well planned out and am now working on fourth grade plans. I like to go youngest to oldest in my plans. I don't need to report to the school district until June, but I like to get started early so I don't have to stress (too much).

***Barn & garden happenings...Two-ish gallons of maple syrup and a big pan of maple candy, and we are calling the season done! Now on to the garden. We planted four apple trees over the weekend and I have some lettuce seedlings that need to go out into the cold frame. We have one chicken with a prolapsed vent that we have been treating. Hopefully she will recover okay-fingers crossed!

***In our kitchen... Our Vietnamese meal last week was a huge hit. We got a few take-out dishes and supplemented with two we made at home. I have decided that Monday is going to be "Kids Cook" night. Grace cooked last Monday- pasta with tomato-basil cream sauce. The boys are cooking this week, though I expect I will have to help them out here and there.They are very excited about cooking for everyone, and I am hoping this excitement lasts!

  *** In our homeschool...James and I are scheduled to read A Little Princess this week from our older version of Core C (I think they have dropped it from the newer version). However, I do not think he is going to enjoy this book at all (bit of an anti-princess/girly story thing going on right now) so I am thinking we will skip it.  It's getting to be that time of year when I just feel like wrapping things up and not arguing!

***Creating...Not too much. The kids have been doing art pretty consistently every Friday and I actually think they are getting burnt out on art projects. I think the next two weeks we may do an Easter craft or two instead.

  ***Reading and watching... Rose and I have been reading a fairy tale or two a night from A First Book of Fairy Tales. I am still plugging away at The Goldfinch. We have watched two episodes of Cosmos and all of our HHMI documentaries and should finish up Wild China this week. Then I need to look for something we can watch about India!

***A few plans for the week ahead... Our extracurricular load is increasing after a relatively quiet winter. This week we are adding archery and riding lessons back into the calendar. I hope to be able to find time here and there to plant some stuff-maybe peas?

***And here's our latest John Audobuon print for our picture study...ruby-throated hummingbirds. I look forward to seeing these little guys at our sugar water feeder soon. We saw our first butterflies of the season today-so hummingbirds can't be too far behind.

Have a wonderful week!