Thoughts, Adventures, & Daily Life of a Home-Schooled High-Schooler

  Hey all! Welcome back for part 2; mainly touching on the big events the world experienced in the last year. While some of the events are rather gloomy, its necessary to mention them prior to part 3. Come back in a few days for part 3!   The year started as most New Year's with the typical new years eve parties, staying up much past our bedtimes to see 2020 in. January was the same bleak winter month. The days were longer than December, but we were all eager for the warmer weather. February brought wind of an impending virus from East Asia. Coronavirus. What a strange word. A deadly respiratory illness that was killing thousands. The numbers grew; were they exaggerated? Maybe. We had no way of knowing. It crept into Europe; hospitals reported that they were overwhelmed.  March found the US citizens hoarding toilet paper and other paper supplies.  Then the US reported the first cases in Washington state. Like wildfire it spread Eastward. Soon NYC facilities were at their max

  Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! (simply because I haven't posted since October😉) Yes, you read the title correctly. Its part 1 of at least 3 parts. This first post is excerpts from our family Christmas letter. If you have received the letter, you probably won't learn anything new!  Don't count on it, but I'm hoping to post part 2 either tomorrow or Tuesday. Greetings Friends! This year has definitely held a large number of different events and happenings. As I thought back over the last 12 months, I realized that our family did a lot of different things - considering how 2020 went! I hope you enjoy a glimpse into our life, ~Kaylene, for the Weaver Family January ~ The older children once again participated in Bible Quizzing. During the year they memorized and quizzed on nearly 300 verses from Matthew. Judy coached the Jr. High team. ~ Trenton celebrated his 13 th birthday . This makes for 3 teenagers in our family! ~We had numerous shop eve

 Several weeks ago I was asked to do a presentation on basic First Aid during our annual homeschool Fire Prevention event.      I complied and gave some basic tips on First Aid. Managing a bleed, giving support for a broken limb, and, because it  was  fire prevention: how to treat a burn. One of the moms snapped this photo and later sent it to me.      Many children were fascinated by all the tools I have on my uniform. I explained that my stethoscope is used on every call to take blood pressures or listen to lung sounds. On my belt, I have my trauma shears and pager. The battery on my pager will last about 3 days before I need to put it on the charger. Once on the charger, it will reach fully charged in less than 20min.       My wristwatch is also used to take vitals; counting a pulse and how many breaths a patient is taking in a minute.       In my calf pocket I have several pens, a flashlight, and disposable trauma shears. This set of shears is what I will hand to any of the other c

 When I started my blog in Jan. of 2019, I had big ideas about blogging once or twice a week. I've since realized this is not going to happen. But since its been awhile, here's a glimpse into my past week. Last Saturday was really busy in the shop. After supper and a short power nap, Brian and I decided to go shoot 3D.  Took an EMS call Sunday afternoon - a startling way to wake up for a nap! I played violin for awhile in the afternoon after we got back. Some of us went outside and shot bow in the evening.  Cut out a dress for Mom on Monday morning. Oh yeah, and I helped somebody with flashcards while I was cutting it out. No photos from Tuesday. 😄 On Wednesday we had our first quiz practice. Definitely feels strange to be acting as a coach instead of a quizzer. No photos from Thursday or Friday either:) 😉 Saturday wasn't quite as busy in the shop as I was expecting. Perhaps the holiday helped out with that. In the evening I took the younger ones outside so Mom could get

Martina keeps telling me that I really must write another blog post. I offered all kinds of other ideas, including telling  her write a guest post, but she quickly squashed that idea. "Blog about your car", she then suggested.  So here you have it.  For anyone who wants the specifics, its a 2005 Honda Civic LX.       Learning how to drive a manual transmission has been pretty interesting (terrifying, as one younger sibling remarked).  But I really like the gas mileage. Its currently getting around 32 miles to the gallon. 

Around 6am Saturday morning, Dad pulled out of the truck stop. Most of us were still sleeping. Breakfast was eaten while we drove, so the only stops we made were for fuel.  We entered Pennsylvania at 11:30. The afternoon was spent driving with a short stop for lunch. Pulled into our driveway and 3:32 and Dad turned off the engine. After unloading, it again refused to start, and has taken temporary residence just outside our garage. We are waiting on a repair man to see what the problem really is.

The Wal-Mart didn't open until 7:30am. Mom & I made a list of food items we needed, while dad and the older boys tackled the starter problem. To their dismay, they realized that the wrong size part had been purchased the night before and they needed to bike to O'Reilly's and make the exchange. Meanwhile, Martina & Elissa accompanied me on our grocery shopping expedition. Its a strange feeling to only buy enough food for a few meals. I'm used to buying 3 or 4 gallons of milk at a time - not a half gallon. Yogurt? Only enough for breakfast 'cuz more than that won't fit in the fridge! We finished our shopping and trekked out to the far end of the Wal-Mart parking lot where our motorhome was parked. Dad and the boys were back.  Under the motorhome they were trying to replace the faulty starter. Mom & I got breakfast for the little children and cleaned up all the bedding. Finally the starter was changed, but the problem wasn't fixed. The stubborn beas

Wednesday morning Dad had a hard time getting the Motorhome to start. This was becoming a trademark of our trip - turn off the engine for more than 30min, have lots of fun trying to get it to start! A google search revealed an O'Reilly's in Rapid City, about 45 minutes away. Off to Rapid City we went - hoping to buy something to fix our ailing method of transport. The clerk came out with a nifty little machine, hooked it up to some random places in the engine, and told Dad he thought it would require a new battery. Dad purchased a new battery and he and the boys installed it in the parking lot while mom took several smaller children on a walk. Hoping our RV problems were over we continued to Mount Rushmore. After viewing the monuments and battling the crowds of other tourists, we decided to ride a coaster which was similar to an Alpine Slide. We spent 4 hours at this mini amusement park. That was an enjoyable afternoon.  Hoping to see some buffalo, antelope, and maybe some mule

* All these posts were written from my phone and I've been slowly uploading them now that we are home. I'm sure you will find many grammar and spelling errors. I will edit these posts as I am alerted to errors* Tuesday morning Dad & Mom made breakfast over our little propane range. After breakfast, we walked around and looked at the different displays until the visitors center opened. We decided to take a covered wagon ride around the property. Several of us got to try driving the team that was pulling our wagon. At the school, our tour guide have us a history lesson, and then took us to church. When the wagon ride was over, several wanted to go on the pony-cart ride, while the rest of us went back to the motorhome and packed up a few last-minute items. The motorhome had to be given much encouragement to start. Finally the engine submitted, and we were on our way. Just after leaving the Ingalls Homestead, we stopped at Loftus Store in De Smet. Because of the name, I was kin