The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 9

In my life this week...

We planted the spring garden! I am so excited about our garden this year. We planted carrots, spinach, Asian greens, lettuce, rutabaga, swiss chard, and peas.

In our homeschool this week...

We finished off our Cajun unit study. Originally, I thought that we were going to read a book on Mardi Gras, make a mask, and a king cake. Instead we ended up doing a unit study on Cajun people. This is our first year homeschooling. I call this our test year since my son is still in preschool and we don’t have to be strict on homeschooling. I wanted to experiment and see what worked for us.  I found that I really like unit studies. I like to have themes where everything works together. I like to coordinate the art projects with the books we read and the food we eat.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We didn’t go anywhere special this week except outside because it was finally nice outside! Our backyard is a little muddy still, but that is not a big deal.

My favorite thing this week was...

I really enjoyed planting my garden. I love being outside.

What's working/not working for us...

I started having Little BBQ do silent reading by himself on top of reading out loud daily. I give him the library book bin and let him choose what to read. He has been reading for twice a day by himself for 15 minutes apiece.  He sits on the rocking chair to read. Sometimes I can tell that he is reading the book to himself and sometimes I can tell he is just flipping through the books to the look at the pictures. Either way I am happy.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am beginning to plan our homeschooling for next year which would be pre-kindergarten. I think I want to do unit studies, but I am not sure how long I should plan for each unit. A week? A month? I think we are going to study the different states in the US. We are going to learn the geography, the history, and the culture of each state.  I think I was going to break the US up into regions for each unit.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

This is a link to a recipe for pork saltimbocca from my cooking blog. It is an easy and delicious weeknight meals since you can’t have too many of those lying around. Also, a link to a homeschooling freebie a day.