Habsburgs, All About Reading, and a Homeschool Convention

I'm late to getting my weekend update up because I was busy filling my head with encouragement and teaching ideas at a homeschool convention!  I'm back at home now, so I'm going to write about our week, and then spend some time sifting through my bag full of goodies from the convention.  Squeee!

Here's what we did this week:

Monday:

 Mooo, Gale Woods Farm!  I can't remember what the girls learned about this week, but I know they made cookies.  The hallway smelled so good.  Another thing I can't wait for them to make me once they get their packet of recipes on the last day of class :)  Prior to leaving for class, the girls did their school work.  Millie is trying really hard to master adding, subtracting, multiplying, and diving fractions, working on her spelling words, and reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  Elise has been working on her reading.

Tuesday:

Today we got up early for piano lessons.  In fact, we got up so early, that Elise and Bud were still sleeping when we left.  :)  Millie had a great lesson.  Afterwards, we came home for a quick snack and then left to meet up with our playgroup at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the Habsburgs exhibit.  It was so amazing!  It was so cool to see actual suits of armor, jousting outfits, artwork, sleighs, carriages and clothing from that family.  I need to learn more about them, now.  After that, the girls and I went to Snuffs Malt Shop for lunch and...you guessed it...malts.  :)  Fun day!

In the evening, the girls had play practice, so Bud and I snuck away to Stillwater to have dinner together at a little pizza place.  We had a loaded baked potato pizza.  Mmmmmmm!  That was the first time we had been on a date together in months and months.  

Wednesday:

A stay at home day!  Today we didn't leave the house at all.  My car actually sat in its parking spot for over 24 hours without moving.  It's a record!  ;)  The girls worked on their school work, of course.  Elise finally passed All About Reading Level 1!!  She said "I feel so proud of myself."  She should!  She started out the year saying, "the one thing I DON'T want to do this year, is learn to read."  What do you know?  She's turning into a pretty good little reader :)  I'm so proud of her!!  While Millie worked on her school work, Elise took it upon herself to make a raft out of craft sticks, fill the tub, and test the flotation of her raft when it had different plastic animals on it.  Then, she made a new doll for the dollhouse.  I love that she will keep herself so busy!



Thursday:

Today we did school work, ran some errands, and got ready for Friday.  Knowing that Friday would be a BIG day, we took it easy most of the day.

Friday:



The BIG day!!  The girls spent the day at their grandmas house.  Around 4, Bud went to get them, and took them to their Share the Fun competition through 4-H.  It was a looooong competition.  They didn't get home until 11 PM!  Their play didn't win, but they had a lot of fun practicing together.

I got to go to a homeschool convention!  It was so fabulous!  Here are some highlights from my experience:













We stayed at a swanky hotel that looked like a castle inside.  We each got our own bedroom, that had super comfy beds, and down comforters.  Each room had a huge flat screen TV (for a total of 3), and we had a super yummy breakfast in the morning (a make-your-own waffle bar!).  It was so fun!

I must say that I discovered a few really great things at the convention that I am madly in love with; Nest of Lydia: A Home Economics Curriculum, Circle C books, and above all, Classical Conversations.

Find out what other homeschool families did this week, here.