A long, rambling post

It has been a "chitty" week. I don't swear on my blog, I do swear in comments on others' blogs, and I do swear in real life. So just change that word in quotes. (There, Thomas, I don't owe you a dime for cussing this time.)

This house seems to be a sick house. If it's not one thing, it's another. I ended up at the doctor's office on Monday and now have three new prescriptions and a renewal of my beloved Ambien. So at least I'm sleeping well. I am starting to feel better, too.

Homeschool this week has pretty much been a bust. We had a pretty good day on Monday, but Tuesday I had so much scout stuff to do in preparation for the den meeting, that school was dismal. Thomas did start reading Caddie Woodlawn. So far he likes it but not nearly as well as Laura. We're digging around to find some good boy series like these.

We set up a card table in our living room and are working on a puzzle. At a garage sale this summer, I came across a 3-D castle puzzle for a mere $2. They lady insisted all the pieces were in it. I'm sure they are, but the puzzle maker included a form to send of for missing pieces just in case. We've been pecking away at the puzzle and really enjoying it. My husband has even sat at the table and worked on it a bit. We've all decided we like 3-D puzzles better than regular puzzles. I still prefer online puzzles at Jigzone and work a few of those daily.

I found a website one night and had quite a bit of delirious bored-housewife fun there. I thought it smelled (in a good way) of homeschooling, and had that confirmed when I read the entire site. Thomas had a great deal of fun the next day at the site. He now wants to build his very own Lego castle. If you're studying middle ages and castles, check the site out. Sure to please if your kids love Legos! Thomas learned a lot there.

I found that site through this site, which I found on a google search. It is a great history links site which is now bookmarked in my favorites.

Last week Thomas and I decided that Story of the World was not meaty enough. He is, after all, in the 5th grade now, so I was reminded. So I broke down and ordered History Odyssey Middle Ages 2. That has not arrived yet, but our new Kingfisher Encyclopedia and The Story of Mankind arrived in today's mail. I was a little mad at Amazon because Mankind arrived with the ends of the book torn, scrunched and in poor, ugly condition. After closer inspection, the glue was off inside the book and the first several pages were -- well, icky, so it was probably the publisher. It would be more of a hassle to return it, though, so I'll just be ticked every time I see it instead. lol

I like Kingfisher. I never ordered it before because we have a similar book by McGraw Hill. I decided to order Kingfisher because I wanted to be in sync with HO instead of having to find the correct page in my McG Hill book. I was amazed when Thomas actually sat down and looked at it with me for a good 20 minutes this afternoon. It piqued his interest, probably because the pictures were better than our book. lol

Thomas has nearly completed his Nonfiction Reading book. This is by far his favorite school subject. Now he reads fine and with the discussion we do after reading, it really wasn't necessary that I get him a book like this. However, my child is like me, and he likes nonfiction. I knew he'd love it so I bought it for him. He has devoured the book. I need to order the 6th grade book and soon! This is the one thing that he will do on his own. I even caught him reading it on a weekend once.

We're heading out tomorrow to visit the cowboy for a few days. We'll be listening to Story of the World in the car, at Thomas's request, and I still need to find another book at audible. I have 11 credits left there to use up! I'm not looking forward to a nine-hour drive each way, though. Yuck. I need some flu powder.

Next week for school, because it will only be two days, we are working on scout stuff. Thomas has three badges left to complete. He's one of two boys in my den that will complete and earn all the badges. He's also going to work on his few remaining belt loops and pins from the Sports and Academics program.


That's about all that's happened at my kitchen table this week.