Weekly wrap UP 5/27/22 -- Graduation and Closing on our old home

We have officially closed on our house in the St Louis area as of this morning and tonight our youngest child graduates from high school.  Our new house is completed and we leave this Sunday to begin a new adventure in a new state!  

We have a beautiful RED door on our new home!  We are so excited to move to the new state and to our new home!

We took some pictures of MarioFan in his Cap and Gown at the local park a few weeks ago.  I won't have pictures of the ceremony as it is tonight, and my computer is packed away and on the moving truck.  

For his quote on his announcement card he choose the following:

 "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did....Explore, Dream, Discover"--Mark Twain

I can't believe my homeschooling days are over.  MarioFan has plans to study cyber security, IT or GIS.  He will be attending community college this fall.  

I have no idea what my days will be filled with after the moving and unpacking is completed! While you are reading this we are driving east to close on our new home in just a couple days

Weekly Wrap Up 5/20/22-- The End of 12th grade

It is official we are done today with all of school and my son's high school years have come to a close. 

The last few weeks we have been working on the following topics.  Graduation ceremony is next Friday

For Human Geography we read the following book and discuss world geopolitical maps around the world. My husband has taken over teaching this part of human geography since this is his area of expertise.  We are also using videos from the site History Matters which are short animated history lessons that helps to explain some of the geopolitical difficulties in the world 

In Social Justice we read the following book and also wrapped up our lesson plans 

we are also reading a few chapters in this book

The last book for Literature class completed and his last paper was completed 

His online Spanish class ended last week and he earned an A-.  Physics class ended this week and I am still awaiting his grade.

MarioFan is excited to start college in the fall and has already registered for classes and will be completing his online orientation this week.  Right now we are in the midst of a crazy pack out of the house.  Movers arrive next week.

Firedrake returned home from college and had a good year away.  So much growth shown since she has been away at college.  While I am super excited to see the kids spread their wings I am in a bit of a quandary of what to do now that this homeschooling ride is over.  I won't  have much time to dwell on it 

until we are settled in our new home!  

Weekly Wrap Up 5/ 13/22-- Meals in a box

I have been going to the gym for almost 9 months now.  I am still waiting for the time when I crave exercise that everyone says will happen, any day now.  So far I am still dragging myself out of bed and going, I am still not an exercise junkie.  Anyhoo a few of the gym people have been raving about Hello Fresh dinners and posting their meals online and I got curious.  One of the ladies offered me a free 2 meal box coupon (for a family of 4)  and I decided to give it a try.  I must say I was impressed!

The first meal we tried was Italian Chicken sandwich with potato wedges and a garlic mayo sauce

It comes with a picture and recipe card on very nice card stock.  

Each meal was packaged nicely in a bag and put in a box with large ice pack to keep it cool.  

I was very impressed with the quality of the vegetables and chicken.  All spices were individually wrapped -- only thing I added was a red pepper (that was not on the recipe) 

For this meal  I had to chopped everything up and cook in one pan according to directions.  Took about 20 minutes.  The potato were cooked in the oven and super easy to do!

We loved it.  I had so much extra that I made it an open sandwich. We had enough potatoes for a second meal (mainly because my son refused to eat potatoes)  I will definitely be making this again.

The second meal we tried this week was a Mediterranean dish.  This one had me a tad nervous as I had never cooked with Chick Peas before.  

nice card stock recipe card -- it was a vegetarian meal but the recipe card did come with an option to add chicken (which I did) but it was not included in the meal prep bag 

Again everything was well packaged 

Quality of veggies were great

This one was slightly more involved as I had to cut up and baked  the veggies in the oven

then do a little cooking on the stove top

It was delicious!  Another recipe to add to my repertoire.
 

This is a great service for those busy nights when you want someone else to plan your meals and not have to think about what is in your pantry.  We will definitely be using this service again!  I love that the recipe card included is sturdy card stock and includes all measurements so that I can recreate this meal on my own!

Weekly Wrap Up 5/6/22-- Final weeks of 12th grade

 We are wrapping up the final year of homeschooling for my son!  His graduation ceremony is set for May 27th which is the day we close on our house and the last weekend we will be in this state before moving.  Things are at a very hectic pace around here with the packing, schooling and picking up our oldest from college!  

Luckily MarioFan is just about done with all of his school subjects!  His online classes (Spanish and Physics) end in two weeks!  I haven't been around to see many of his online classes this year due to other things going on at home but he is doing well.  I regret not seeing the physics labs and getting pictures!

For Literature  we read a play. I always try to have him read at least one play a year and this one my oldest highly recommended as it was one she read in AP literature class.  I have never read it or seen the movie so it was one MarioFan and I could read together.  We watch the movie after reading the book and discuss the haze laws and why the movie ending was changed. 

we have been reading along and listening to this audio book on you tube.  the voice actors are very good.  

Social Justice we just finished a unit on Disability Inclusion/Justice.  The boys finished reading the  following book on this topic. 

For one of the lessons we had the boys do activities as if they had some impairments.  While researching for ideas we discovered that this type of lesson may upset those in the disabled community. I remember doing this type of activity while in college getting my OT degree.  I had to spend a day in a wheelchair roaming around campus to get a feel for how difficult things are for those who are disabled.  We did discuss not doing this activity as we are teaching Social Justice for this class but in the end we felt it was worthwhile so long as we explained why it might be upsetting to some in the disability community.  

using scissors on the non dominant hand

 

trying to tie shoe laces for those who might experience sensory deficits.

button a shirt 

exercising with a straw to simulate someone who might have breathing issues 

using a blind fold to figure out a room

MarioFan had his last piano lesson last week.  We have been going to the same piano teacher for many years.  It was hard to say goodbye.  I am hoping he will keep up with his piano while in college but since his sibling didn't I am prepared for him to stop playing.  While both kids are very good pianist neither one had the passion for it as I had hoped.  Maybe one day they will return to the piano :) and thank me for insisting the practice every day for 30 minutes.  

Firedrake is finishing up college.  It is finals next week and then she comes home!  Next few weeks will be busy as we are packing out the house and finalizing our move.