Weekly Wrap-Up: Two Weeks Off Edition

We had the opportunity to visit some friends out of state last week and this week we had various activities that made it seem sort of pointless to have our regular school schedule. My 12th grader had his afternoon welding class this week but other than that we took a break from our plans.

That is the beauty of homeschooling.

The break did not mean that we did not do any learning at all...of course not.



We listened to a book on tape on the long drive to Nevada. This book is definitely for teens and above because of language, reference to adult themes, and the sort of complex connections to Nazi Germany. We loved the art references used in this book and we learned a lot about "degenerate art" which included many artists we have studied over the years like Picasso, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Klee to name a few. If you have high school age children you might like to read The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg (author of the From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler). We are still talking about so many things from this book which to me is what growing through the teen years is all about.



The friends we were visiting in Nevada work at an assay company. They take rock core samples from gold mines and pulverize them in order to determine quantity and quality of gold. They use heat and chemicals to finish the process and since the boys are studying chemistry it was a perfect practical application to show how chemistry is used today in a real job. Very awesome experience. The above photo was taken up in the mountains looking down at a huge open gold mine. You can see it in the far distance of the photo.

These were the same friends that introduced us to Google Sky Map as we star gazed from their plot of land in the middle of the high desert. We learned about scorpions from them too and how we needed to kick every rock over before picking it up.


There is a lot to learn out there that is different from our part of the world. We were out on a 4-wheel drive road one afternoon and a herd of sheep were sleeping in the way. My friend said not to worry that the herder would soon come to have them move and sure enough within a minute or two the herder came and the sheep scattered to let us through. Amazing....




We are continuing our remodeling of our front yard, removing the grass and replacing it with less water thirsty plants. My husband's friend let us borrow his Bobcat and he has taken the opportunity to teach our boys how to operate it. Yes, that is my 16 year old digging a hole! The boys were in heaven....dirt AND heavy machinery. I am happy because my front yard is much closer to being finished now that they have made the retaining wall and leveled the terrace. My dogwood tree gets planted tomorrow.



My youngest son made the next pastry on his list and they were delicious. Apple turnovers are a favorite around here and now we know he can make some delicious ones! They were perfect.


We visited a nature center in Nevada and learned a little about the habitat there around Reno. Even though it is the driest part of their year, we still found some green plants and flowers to enjoy.


The river was running fast and just the sound of it cooled us off.

So, although not a typical week for us we still had lots to do and lots to learn in an unschooling sort of way. Back to regular plans on Tuesday for us....

Barb-Harmony Art Mom