This week, we learned about Eli Whitney and his cotton gin. Not surprisingly, Turkey loved learning about this invention. Show him a picture of a machine, and he’ll pour over it, looking at all the details and trying to figure out exactly how it works. When he finishes his observations, he then moves on to drawing his own picture of the machine, and this pattern certainly held true for this week’s lessons. After we read and learned about Mr. Whitney, Turkey and Bunny were given the task of writing a notebook page to go along with what they had learned, including adding their own picture to illustrate their paragraph. Bunny focused on Eli Whitney’s whole life in her writing, and drew a picture of him wearing cotton clothes. Turkey, on the other hand, focused his writing on the cotton gin, and how it worked, and then drew a picture of it. I love observing their different learning styles, as well as how they filter information and choose what is important to them!

We’re really moving along with fractions in math. I’ve been teaching them how to reduce fractions, as well as how to write a mixed number and improper fraction. This is a little hard for me, because improper fractions only make sense to me if I put them in the framework of money. I don’t know why I have that mental block–you’d think I’d be able to take the technique from working with money and apply it to any improper fraction. And I’m working on it. In the meantime, though, I’m just hoping Turkey and Bunny don’t ask me any questions that I can’t answer!

I will confess to having taken a “teacher in-service day” on Monday. I really am trying to get as much school in as possible before Chickadee’s arrival, but I had so many errands I needed to do on Monday, and I was so worn out, that something had to give. As “something” usually isn’t school, I figured that was OK for once. And I did get a lot accomplished, even if most of it had nothing to do with school. And I certainly didn’t feel rested after I finished everything I needed to do, but I did have a great sense of accomplishment, so I’m counting it as a successful day!

The coming weeks are going to get more complicated, as I have even more doctor’s appointments and other pre-natal visits coming up. I’m grateful that there is a lot of workbook work and reading that Turkey and Bunny can get done when I’m out, and that the appointments generally don’t take up too much of my day, so I have time for the one-on-one work that some subjects, (especially Latin and History), require, as well as time for our read-aloud, (still working on Farmer Boy, but it’s almost time to move on to On the Banks of Plum Creek), even if that often gets shifted to the evening. I do love the flexibility of homeschooling, though–I’m finding it easier to schedule appointments around our school schedule than it is to schedule around Moose’s public school schedule!