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The Time Change Might Kill Us

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 The time change alone might not have knocked us out as badly as it did if we hadn't been so sick the week before. 10 convalescing kids + time change = survival mode These are the seasons that make me question homeschooling . . . even after 20+ years. Monday I adjusted our morning meeting to allow everyone to sleep a little later, and I did history with the teens. We tried to read The Scarlet Letter , but kids' behaviors were too hard, and I spent several hours dealing with those.  I also was caught in several unsatisfying phone calls trying to communicate with the psychiatrist, our case manager, the pharmacy, and our pharmacy insurance. At one point I crossed the kitchen and noticed this sweet party happening. I stopped to appreciate the moment in an otherwise very difficult day. Tuesday Still adjusting to the dark mornings. Last week I gave Mister Man permission to request some books from the library.  His siblings caught wind of what he was up to, and he requested several do

Sick!

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 The illness started Saturday night. By Sunday morning, a couple of kids were down. By Monday afternoon, all 8 of my kids were lethargic and feverish. By Thursday morning, our daycare kidlets had it, too, so that made 10. We never saw a doctor or took a test, so it could be any of a number of viruses. But we did self-quarantine. Our whole week looked like this: Ladybug read aloud for over two hours on Monday morning.  Then she developed symptoms later on. One day was completely devoted to Star Wars cartoons.  Another couple of days included documentaries.  One day we watched The Secret of NIMH and compared it to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH . When Mister Man felt a bit better, he read aloud to the sickest ones. Brother doesn't admit to feeling sick.  But he was running a 102.5° fever while he did this math lesson. Nature Angel did so much "for fun" reading.  This book reduced her to tears as she read it and then again as she told the story to Little Princess. Then ki

Different Seasons Require Different Days

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 I'm sitting in my nightgown on the couch looking at two needy kids.   Beowulf, lying in the oversized armchair, doesn't feel well.  He's got no appetite; he's lethargic; he says his head hurts and that he's dizzy. The last two are actually less concerning than the first two for this endlessly hungry, endlessly energetic boy of mine. He's got no fever, but he says he's cold. And he just looks . . . ill. Mister Man lies stretched out on the couch with his foot propped up.   It might be broken. He certainly can't walk on it. It's just about 24 hours since he fell off the fallen tree in our backyard.  We thought it was just scrapes and bruises and treated his injuries accordingly.  Since then, he's been achy, throbby, sore, and swollen.  We've used ibuprofen, ice, and elevation, but he hasn't improved. We found an orthopedic urgent care that opens in an hour and a half or so.  Sir Walter Scott will take him there. I will stay home with Beowu

It's an Early Spring

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 My teens turned in their thesis paragraphs for their "History of Anything" essays.  They both write so well.  I helped with an edit or two for each of them, and then I began pondering how on earth my kids write as well as they do.   Several of them need help with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but their ideas and their expression are so good. Then I remembered that we're a reading family.  Even the ones that refuse to read much on their own are read to every day.  They're exposed to the best written language possible, and it has influenced how their minds have developed. I love it. Anyway, Nature Angel and Little Princess both have solid thesis paragraphs to work with, and this week they are developing their outlines. We have fewer than 2 dozen lessons in this volume of The Mystery of History, and I am looking around for what we will work on next.   Perhaps some more Shakespeare. Little Princess is over halfway through Algebra I, and she's made really good

The Week the Chiefs Won

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 It was a house divided here on Superbowl Sunday .   There were our devoted Chiefs fans. There was our devoted 49ers fan. There were those of us who didn't care one way or another. So it was the best of times and the worst of times almost constantly for the whole evening. But there was popcorn. So that was good. The shooting at the parade (which we did not attend) was bad, though. It's been a bit of work around here to process it. We had a good, solid school day on Monday .  Nothing special.  Nothing awful.  I always appreciate a good non-descript day. Lola helped cut potatoes for dinner. Everyone was wired on Tuesday .  I don't know why! However, it was a beautiful day, and I decided that rather than try to wrangle the younger 6 into schoolwork that they were clearly incapable of, we went to the park. A few kids took kites. It was beautiful and breezy and just warm enough. We stayed until people needed to eat. I was going to do school after lunch, but then Brother boiled o