Weekly Wrap Up: Focus on Blending/New Book List

Reading with the highlighter

Wow!  This week has been full of activity from school work to running/biking and even a birthday party!  We really had an amazing week. :) 

I've been concentrating a lot on blending with Graham, using the clear/green reading highlighter.  I have been finding that has worked well with him, as he is not tracking ahead anymore.  I was given a copy of The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.  I have found it to be very complete in terms of blending and letter pairing.  We did cover blending but I am thinking it could be that developmentally he wasn't ready for the blending earlier so we're revisiting it.  I am pleased to report that he is making significant strides. :)  YAY!

We finished a couple of read a louds this week.  Including The Bridge by Jeri Massi.  The kids loved this book.  They literally begged me to read it to them.  It was a great story, complete with knights, castles, a princess, escape, courage, self sacrifice and of course a bridge! :)

We are doing a book club starting in July with a few local homeschoolers.  It's not a huge group, just nice and comfortable until we can see how this will all work out.  We'll be meeting once a month to discuss the books.  There is an a Senior and Junior Group.  I'll be running the Junior Group and a good friend of mine will run the older one.  We've picked out the books for the next several months.  We used Educating the Wholehearted Child to help us pick out the selection of books we decided on.  In case you are interested, here are the selections:

1. Jim Elliot (Christian Heroes Then and Now) by Janet and Geoff Benge
2. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth Spear
3. Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
4. The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
5. Jason's Gold by Will Hobbs
6. Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World by Deb Brammer & Grace Kim
7. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
8. Scientists of Faith by Dan Graves
9. The Sliver Chair by C.S. Lewis

We are pretty happy with the selections as they represent various genre's including:  historical fiction, fiction, science, missionary stories, Non-fiction, and Shakespeare (we're hoping to take in a production of Much Ado About Nothing playing in our area).

Heather and I have kept to our running schedule (From couch to 5K), only changing the time of day we run.  We have been up bright and early (6:30am) every other day to get our run in as it has been unbearably hot and humid these past several days.  We have been enjoying the time together, chatting and encouraging one another.  It's solid Mother/Daughter time for us and a great way to stay fit as well.  This morning I had a surprise for her.  I had signed us up last night for a 5K that is run in our area in October (you have the choice to run a 5K, half or full marathon for this race).  She was SO excited when I told her I had signed us up.  :)  She also gets to see a friend she hasn't seen in years at this run.  We have a good amount of time to work on our 12 minute mile, we are both highly motivated, encouraged and excited to do this together!

On a personal note this week has found me in good communion with the Lord.  I have felt greatly encouraged in my Bible reading and by a Bible/book study I am doing with some ladies called The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson.  We are also going through a series on Parenting at our Church that really has me thinking about how I will pass on my faith to my children.  I wrote a blog post about this called:  A Woman of Destiny: Building the Faith.  It has impacted me so much to think about how I need to do this with my children as my relationship with Jesus is the most precious treasure I will pass on to my children, to those around me, and to the generation coming up beneath me.   My prayers and my thought process have been in that direction this week.

I also got a beautiful gift this week from a friend of mine.  Several times now, I have heard the passage of Scripture in Hebrews 6:16-20, in particular vs 19 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast."  My friend found this gorgeous picture on a plaque of a boat, with an anchor on the water; Hebrews 6:16 was written on it.  She knew she had to get it for me because it was a passage of scripture that has been given to me now 7 times now.   I have it on my fireplace and am amazed that the Lord used her to bless me with His word and such a special gift.  This impacted the kids as well.  They thought it was amazing how it worked out.


I hope you have had a good week!  This post is linked back to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap Up.