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Earlier this week a couple of the boys had dental appointments to get small cavities filled. It’s nice for us to be able to schedule appointments during the day when most other children are at school. We can get appointments more quickly and offices are usually just less busy. It doesn’t take long for the office staff to get to know our family and know that we homeschool.

Generally we don’t get many negative comments about homeschooling. Most often when I tell someone we homeschool, I get the raised eyebrow and the “oh”. I don’t usually offer more information unless someone asks or makes a further comment.

At this particular appointment the dental hygienist made a point to “quiz” my 7-year-old.

My husband was out of ear shot at that point (he took them to the appointment). I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I suspect that the hygienist would not have quizzed a public school child and she definitely wouldn’t have done it if my husband or myself would have been standing there!

Now some kids are “performers” and like to spout off information, my 7 year old is not. At all. He is generally pretty shy around strangers and wouldn’t have answered the questions even if he did know the answers.

Apparently she whispered an unkind comment to the other hygienist. Something along the lines of “shouldn’t a 7 year old know that?!” THAT was overheard by my 11 year old. Perhaps she needs a refresher course in manners, or customer service, or both.

I’m not sure why she feels responsible for my child’s education!

It was a good reminder for me that I need to talk to my kids again about why we homeschool.

Now, on to the rest of our week!

Paths of Progress

Several weeks ago I shared that we were switching from Tapestry of Grace to Paths of Progress. So far so good with our move. The copywork and dictation have been great for the kids and the middle school supplement has been an excellent challenge for my 8th grader.

We love the books and everyday the kids ask to read more. THIS is exactly what we had been missing with Tapestry of Grace.

I’m not thrilled with the science component of Paths of Progress, but its been okay as we are more than happy with our Nancy Larson Science program. Right now I’m just trying to figure out where to fit it into our new schedule. Some of the topics that we see in Paths of Progress science are topics that we have already covered so we can do a quick little review.

I do like the music component of Paths of Progress. It’s easy to do and we really like the book The Story of the Orchestra. We have also been using volume 1 of SQUILT which also covers the Baroque Period. Music can be an easy subject to leave out. Both of these resources make it easy to fit it into our week.

Recently, after we watch CNN Student News, we have been watching the short videos The Compass Classroom – Word Up! The Vocab Show.

This week our Paths of Progress vocabulary word study lined up perfectly with an episode of The Vocab Show. Love it when that happens!

Around the House

Last week we got started on our master bathroom remodel. And by “we” I mean skilled workers, not me and my husband!

It has been interesting having other people in our home throughout the day. I’m sure they are used to working in a little bit quieter conditions. The work should only take a couple of more weeks, we had a leaking shower that needed to be repaired.

It’s hard to visualize how all the pieces will come together, but we like it so far.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

We are spending Thanksgiving day with our next door neighbors. We opted not to go to Michigan and my parents are heading to Vermont to visit my sister for the week. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend.

Did you see the Thanksgiving Activity Pack and link-up? Also, our favorite Thanksgiving book Cranberry Thanksgiving, plus some go-along activity ideas.

On the Blog this Week

Homeschooling a Special Needs Child in a Large Family – A Challenging but worthwhile endeavor. I’m also heading the FPEA Special Needs Struggling Learner Homeschool Conference this weekend.

Homeschool and Life Command Center

 

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking up with Mary @ Homegrown Learners