A Week, Briefly (#13)
Monday
We began a literature unit this week--we're studying fairy tales for style, structure, themes and. Lesson 1 covered The Princess and the Pea. The older 4 girls are assigned to write their own fairy tale this week.
We also began chemistry lessons with God's Design for Chemistry: Properties of Matter. It is excellent. Lesson 1 was easy and fun for everyone from preschool to high school.
The littles and I danced to the 1812 Overture. It was terribly exciting. Parts of it were so exciting that they actually stressed Brother and Little Brother, so we'll dance to less stimulating music next week.
Tuesday
Another lit lesson. Another chemistry lesson. We began reading The Disappearing Spoon. I'm intrigued.
The littles and I worked on lesson 5 out of Behold Your Little Ones. We can now sign letters A-F, and we practiced the sign for "family."
The older girls found rides to the church for youth activities because Sir Walter Scott had to work, and I had sick littles--fevers abound.
Wednesday
More fevers, more snot, more coughing. We powered through lesson 3 in literature and chemistry, both. As I read aloud from The Disappearing Spoon, I found bored faces on every kid except Belle--she was bright-eyed and sucking in every word. I think we might have a chemistry-lover on our hands. :)
For preschool we did a lot of fingerplays and reviewed past lessons about how Jesus loves everyone, how to show love to others, and the Articles of Faith. We're working on number 3.
Thursday
It is hard to remember, sometimes, the difference between doing what I need to do versus what I want to do. I wanted to have a literature lesson with the kids, and I'd spent over an hour creatively preparing for it, but Little Sister was still struggling to breathe, not eating, vomiting, and having diarrhea, so I called and got her an appointment with the doctor.
I left most of the kids at home watching a National Geographic documentary about ocean life, packed up the babies, and took Pixie with me as my helper.
It's good we went. The doctor got RT to come suction Little Sister out, and she was like a new person after that. She drank tons of Pedialyte, smiled for the first time in 3 days, and played with blocks for half an hour in the evening. She also slept soundly for hours at at time--giving her time to recover.
After the appointment ended, we raced to dance practice--arriving 45 minutes late. I'd spent half an hour in the morning finding PODs for the kids (Parents On Duty), so I dropped off the older 6 and took the younger 5 (Ladybug was at school) to the grocery store for some emergency shopping.
That's 5 kids under 4.
I'm counting my blessings that there was a cart with a two-seat/two-steering wheel car attached to it, so Brother and Little Brother sat there while Mister Man walked, Baymax sat in the cart, and I carried Little Sister.
I'm also counting my blessings that they were very well-behaved.
After dance Rose Red needed to work on her next communications speech, so she sat down to watch Supersize Me (she's writing a persuasive speech about eating fast food). Most of the other kids sat to watch, too.
So it was a documentary school day.
No preschool. No creative play. No mom lesson. No schedule keeping. No writing . . . nope, that's wrong! The older 4 are working on their fairy tales!
Even though our evening reading was much interrupted by small, sick people, we did do some reading.
So I was where I needed to be.
And that is what is important (says the mom who's still learning).
Friday
Another day of needing to go with the flow--Little Sister had to go back to the doctor's office to be suctioned again. The good news was that we successfully got her hydrated overnight. The other good news was that Sir Walter Scott was home to take her, so I didn't need to spend another day away from home.
Making banana bread was on the list for the preschoolers, but they got so busy outfitting themselves for cooler-than-expected weather that I left them to their work. It took them all nearly an hour to find gear and bundle up, and then they had a fine time outside. I made the banana bread, and had a warm snack ready for them when they came in.
The fairy tales I assigned the older girls to write were due today. 3 of them made it, but Pixie got so into her project that she simply couldn't get her story finished. I extended her deadline. :)
Rose Red angled to have school be reading the fairy tales aloud. I intended to have a proper lesson. Rose Red got her way by offering to read her story while we had a snack break. We got so engrossed in the stories that before we knew it over an hour had passed and we'd had an informal writer's workshop.
I was good with that.
In the afternoon Rose Red wrote her speech for her communications class, and I made play-dough for the littles. They had a fine time hiding and finding faux gems in the dough.
I gave Rose Red her final lesson from Math-U-See Epsilon. On to Zeta next week!
We began a literature unit this week--we're studying fairy tales for style, structure, themes and. Lesson 1 covered The Princess and the Pea. The older 4 girls are assigned to write their own fairy tale this week.
We also began chemistry lessons with God's Design for Chemistry: Properties of Matter. It is excellent. Lesson 1 was easy and fun for everyone from preschool to high school.
The littles and I danced to the 1812 Overture. It was terribly exciting. Parts of it were so exciting that they actually stressed Brother and Little Brother, so we'll dance to less stimulating music next week.
Tuesday
Another lit lesson. Another chemistry lesson. We began reading The Disappearing Spoon. I'm intrigued.
 |
| This experiment--measuring which sweetener feeds yeast best--was simply a vehicle for practicing the scientific method. |
 |
| Waiting, waiting, waiting . . . it turns out that honey causes the fastest and longest lasting reaction, but sugar causes the largest reaction over time. Molasses was a clear loser. |
The older girls found rides to the church for youth activities because Sir Walter Scott had to work, and I had sick littles--fevers abound.
Wednesday
More fevers, more snot, more coughing. We powered through lesson 3 in literature and chemistry, both. As I read aloud from The Disappearing Spoon, I found bored faces on every kid except Belle--she was bright-eyed and sucking in every word. I think we might have a chemistry-lover on our hands. :)
 |
| We studied The Fisherman and His Wife, and then we "fished" for that which brings lasting happiness. |
Thursday
It is hard to remember, sometimes, the difference between doing what I need to do versus what I want to do. I wanted to have a literature lesson with the kids, and I'd spent over an hour creatively preparing for it, but Little Sister was still struggling to breathe, not eating, vomiting, and having diarrhea, so I called and got her an appointment with the doctor.
I left most of the kids at home watching a National Geographic documentary about ocean life, packed up the babies, and took Pixie with me as my helper.
It's good we went. The doctor got RT to come suction Little Sister out, and she was like a new person after that. She drank tons of Pedialyte, smiled for the first time in 3 days, and played with blocks for half an hour in the evening. She also slept soundly for hours at at time--giving her time to recover.
After the appointment ended, we raced to dance practice--arriving 45 minutes late. I'd spent half an hour in the morning finding PODs for the kids (Parents On Duty), so I dropped off the older 6 and took the younger 5 (Ladybug was at school) to the grocery store for some emergency shopping.
That's 5 kids under 4.
I'm counting my blessings that there was a cart with a two-seat/two-steering wheel car attached to it, so Brother and Little Brother sat there while Mister Man walked, Baymax sat in the cart, and I carried Little Sister.
I'm also counting my blessings that they were very well-behaved.
After dance Rose Red needed to work on her next communications speech, so she sat down to watch Supersize Me (she's writing a persuasive speech about eating fast food). Most of the other kids sat to watch, too.
So it was a documentary school day.
No preschool. No creative play. No mom lesson. No schedule keeping. No writing . . . nope, that's wrong! The older 4 are working on their fairy tales!
Even though our evening reading was much interrupted by small, sick people, we did do some reading.
So I was where I needed to be.
And that is what is important (says the mom who's still learning).
Friday
Another day of needing to go with the flow--Little Sister had to go back to the doctor's office to be suctioned again. The good news was that we successfully got her hydrated overnight. The other good news was that Sir Walter Scott was home to take her, so I didn't need to spend another day away from home.
Making banana bread was on the list for the preschoolers, but they got so busy outfitting themselves for cooler-than-expected weather that I left them to their work. It took them all nearly an hour to find gear and bundle up, and then they had a fine time outside. I made the banana bread, and had a warm snack ready for them when they came in.
The fairy tales I assigned the older girls to write were due today. 3 of them made it, but Pixie got so into her project that she simply couldn't get her story finished. I extended her deadline. :)
Rose Red angled to have school be reading the fairy tales aloud. I intended to have a proper lesson. Rose Red got her way by offering to read her story while we had a snack break. We got so engrossed in the stories that before we knew it over an hour had passed and we'd had an informal writer's workshop.
I was good with that.
In the afternoon Rose Red wrote her speech for her communications class, and I made play-dough for the littles. They had a fine time hiding and finding faux gems in the dough.
I gave Rose Red her final lesson from Math-U-See Epsilon. On to Zeta next week!
Wish I could read/hear the fairy tales! Prayers for Little Sister.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good week! Those lessons of doing what we need to are sometimes hard to remember.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to pop in and let you know baby arrived! I ended up being induced Friday the 7th. It was my shortest labor ever at 10.5 hours and my biggest baby ever with Tobias Keegan weighing in at 9 lbs 5 oz. We came home today after staying an extra day watching his jaundice. It's heavenly to be home. I'm feeling good and trying to remember not to overdo.
Oh, and Tobias is another redhead! So 6 of the 9 kids are red heads. Crazy.