A Week, Briefly (#17)
Monday was a typical day for us, therapy for Brother in the morning, school for the rest of us.
Blanket time was dancing to The Nutcracker Suite, but Ladybug was grouchy, Brother and Little Brother were hyper, and Mister Man tripped and fell over Baymax, so we called it quits early.
PreK was enjoyable as we watched videos about the letter F and its sound. Ladybug has beautiful handwriting for a 5 year old! We sorted pictures with /f/ and /t/ sounds, practiced writing, and learned about "the" as a sight word.
Family school was about the Babylonian captivity of the Jews--specifically focusing on Daniel and his ability to stay the course in spite of troubles in the world around him.
In Chemistry we discussed the concept of density. We examined a couple of toy balls--one was a ball pit kind of ball and the other was the same size but made for bouncing. In our comparison of the two balls we were able to learn the formula for finding density.
Sir Walter Scott and I had our first PCIT (Parent Child Interaction Therapy) lesson with Ladybug's therapy team. They were both kind and encouraging. We dropped a bunch of our kids off at the park across the street from the school so they could play while we were in class. Rose Red watched sleeping littles at home. Win-win-win.
We have daily homework for this class--5 minutes each of "special time" per day with Ladybug to practice the skills presented in class.
Tuesday
For preschool we finished learning Picture a Christmas and finally put Baby Jesus in the manger in the nativity scenes we made. The kids were very proud to hang their work on the wall as a Christmas decoration for the season.
For PreK we focused a lot on the sight word "the." The kids completed a "the" word search and poke page. We also used our Ff coloring books and a set of word strips to form the phrases in the coloring book. They were quite proud of their ability to find the words and pictures and read them.
For our family school we studied Cyrus the great and debated what it is that makes a good leader. We also got to see how many versions of one man's life can be written--each one considered historical "fact"--each one completely different from another. We examined the purposes behind the stories for what might be the truth in history because the fact were too contradictory.
In chemistry we discussed and played around a bit with the concept of buoyancy. The girls were especially fascinated to watch rubbing alcohol first penetrate a layer of oil to mix with a layer of water then rise one drop at a time through the oil to float above it.
In the afternoon our parent educator came over to see the completed "invisible" string activity she'd left for us to do the last time she'd been over. It was a couple of larger hearts (Mom and Dad) sewn together with strings and attached to 12 smaller hearts (the kids) with their strings. On each child's heart we wrote something they feel they are good at and then copied them to both Dad's heart and Mom's heart to show how each child is not only attached to us by love but written in our hearts forever. The parent educator loved it. She told us she has a team building activity she'd like to conduct with the whole family when she comes in January. Her next December visit will just be to check in and talk.
In the evening we saw our 4 oldest off to the teen homeschool holiday party, and I took Nature Angel to the church to make pine cone ornaments for Activity Day. It was more than a small challenge to care for the 7 littles 6-and-under that I was left alone with that night.
Wednesday morning began with Little Sister sneezing great quantities of gross snot out of her nose--another cold. :( I also took Brother to a doctor's appointment because he's tired all of the time. It turns out he has a history of low iron (no one told us this!). He's been prescribed a multivitamin with iron. He also had blood drawn for further tests; we'll know more next week.
I also asked the doctor about his cognitive development, and she asked him a few questions that he answered perfectly. She looked at me and told me he is fine. I didn't argue because Brother was right in the room with us, but her questions didn't even begin to address his issues which I'm beginning to wonder how to get someone to believe me he has. He tests great, but there's something not right with our boy that I can't put my finger on.
We had to adjust our day a little bit, but as we had no other appointments on the calendar, we were able to finish a full day of school.
The preschoolers made apple turnovers out of canned biscuit dough and apples that I'd cut and lightly sweetened. It was quite a challenge for them to flatten the dough without making holes in it--good manual dexterity practice. It was quite a treat for them to see them come out of the oven and share them with the whole family!
I had planned to let the PreK duo make letters out of playdough, but it was such a lovely day (more like October than December) that I got out the sidewalk chalk and we made Fs and pictures of words that start with F until I had to go back inside to take care of babies.
Our family school lesson was about the Greek Gods. My Percy Jackson loving older girls enjoyed this lesson, and Nature Angel and Little Princess were entranced because it was quite new to them. Nature Angel found our Usborne Greek Mythology book and spent time reading on her own.
Chemistry lesson 10 was a worksheet lesson on the physical vs. chemical properties of matter.
In the evening, after dinner and before Dad left for work, we had our annual Christmas lighting ceremony. We popped popcorn, made hot chocolate, put on hoodies (last year we were in boots, coats, hats and mittens), and counted down the turning on of the lights. It was quite fun, and the littles were captivated. We sang and danced and munched until we could sing, dance and munch no more. Rose Red even played Christmas carols on the piano for us which we could hear outside because it was warm enough to leave the front door open.
Thursday we raced through school because we had our adoption license quarterly review in the early afternoon.
The preschoolers played with peppermint playdough that I'd made early in the morning in both white and red colors.
The PreK set watched various videos on Starfall and Youtube about the letter P. Then I handed them P and p outlines and a set of watercolor paints each so they could paint.
We reviewed Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations for our Family school.
We skipped chemistry.
We passed our review.
Rose Red had communications class that night, so she feverishly worked on her final speech. Then we raced together to pick up her new glasses and get her to class. I nearly cried with relief when a friend offered to give Rose Red a ride home. I'm so thankful for her kind service.
We finished our read-aloud Betsy-Tacy (for the 4th time as a family--it just has perfect appeal for each of my little girls when they reach 5 or 6, and the older girls can't help listening in).
Friday we headed out into the wide, wonderful world for our outing day. We arrived at the Hoofed Native Animal Enclosure only to find that the predicted temps of 60+ degrees were not in effect at 10:30 am. We looked at the elk for about 37 seconds then climbed back in the van. Fortunately a 1.5 mile hiking trail was 200 yards down the road, so we stopped and took a nature walk. It was sheltered in the woods, so we actually got quite warm and enjoyed our morning very much. The true highlight was reaching the lake and finding shells to collect and admire.
In the afternoon I ran errands while the kids alternated between quiet play and outdoor play once the temperature reached its promised high.
Ladybug hates change. Even our weekly routine of 4 days of school with one outing day bothers her. She was surly and withdrawn and finally threw a monster tantrum in the evening. I won't just do school every single day, skipping outings to make her happy, so we had a little talk--actually I talked--about having to do what we don't want to do sometimes. I don't know how much good it did. At least we ended in a hug.
Baymax is starting to walk! Just a few steps here and there, but it's really happening!
Blanket time was dancing to The Nutcracker Suite, but Ladybug was grouchy, Brother and Little Brother were hyper, and Mister Man tripped and fell over Baymax, so we called it quits early.
PreK was enjoyable as we watched videos about the letter F and its sound. Ladybug has beautiful handwriting for a 5 year old! We sorted pictures with /f/ and /t/ sounds, practiced writing, and learned about "the" as a sight word.
Family school was about the Babylonian captivity of the Jews--specifically focusing on Daniel and his ability to stay the course in spite of troubles in the world around him.
In Chemistry we discussed the concept of density. We examined a couple of toy balls--one was a ball pit kind of ball and the other was the same size but made for bouncing. In our comparison of the two balls we were able to learn the formula for finding density.
Sir Walter Scott and I had our first PCIT (Parent Child Interaction Therapy) lesson with Ladybug's therapy team. They were both kind and encouraging. We dropped a bunch of our kids off at the park across the street from the school so they could play while we were in class. Rose Red watched sleeping littles at home. Win-win-win.
We have daily homework for this class--5 minutes each of "special time" per day with Ladybug to practice the skills presented in class.
Tuesday
For preschool we finished learning Picture a Christmas and finally put Baby Jesus in the manger in the nativity scenes we made. The kids were very proud to hang their work on the wall as a Christmas decoration for the season.
For PreK we focused a lot on the sight word "the." The kids completed a "the" word search and poke page. We also used our Ff coloring books and a set of word strips to form the phrases in the coloring book. They were quite proud of their ability to find the words and pictures and read them.
For our family school we studied Cyrus the great and debated what it is that makes a good leader. We also got to see how many versions of one man's life can be written--each one considered historical "fact"--each one completely different from another. We examined the purposes behind the stories for what might be the truth in history because the fact were too contradictory.
In chemistry we discussed and played around a bit with the concept of buoyancy. The girls were especially fascinated to watch rubbing alcohol first penetrate a layer of oil to mix with a layer of water then rise one drop at a time through the oil to float above it.
In the afternoon our parent educator came over to see the completed "invisible" string activity she'd left for us to do the last time she'd been over. It was a couple of larger hearts (Mom and Dad) sewn together with strings and attached to 12 smaller hearts (the kids) with their strings. On each child's heart we wrote something they feel they are good at and then copied them to both Dad's heart and Mom's heart to show how each child is not only attached to us by love but written in our hearts forever. The parent educator loved it. She told us she has a team building activity she'd like to conduct with the whole family when she comes in January. Her next December visit will just be to check in and talk.
In the evening we saw our 4 oldest off to the teen homeschool holiday party, and I took Nature Angel to the church to make pine cone ornaments for Activity Day. It was more than a small challenge to care for the 7 littles 6-and-under that I was left alone with that night.
Wednesday morning began with Little Sister sneezing great quantities of gross snot out of her nose--another cold. :( I also took Brother to a doctor's appointment because he's tired all of the time. It turns out he has a history of low iron (no one told us this!). He's been prescribed a multivitamin with iron. He also had blood drawn for further tests; we'll know more next week.
I also asked the doctor about his cognitive development, and she asked him a few questions that he answered perfectly. She looked at me and told me he is fine. I didn't argue because Brother was right in the room with us, but her questions didn't even begin to address his issues which I'm beginning to wonder how to get someone to believe me he has. He tests great, but there's something not right with our boy that I can't put my finger on.
We had to adjust our day a little bit, but as we had no other appointments on the calendar, we were able to finish a full day of school.
The preschoolers made apple turnovers out of canned biscuit dough and apples that I'd cut and lightly sweetened. It was quite a challenge for them to flatten the dough without making holes in it--good manual dexterity practice. It was quite a treat for them to see them come out of the oven and share them with the whole family!
I had planned to let the PreK duo make letters out of playdough, but it was such a lovely day (more like October than December) that I got out the sidewalk chalk and we made Fs and pictures of words that start with F until I had to go back inside to take care of babies.
Our family school lesson was about the Greek Gods. My Percy Jackson loving older girls enjoyed this lesson, and Nature Angel and Little Princess were entranced because it was quite new to them. Nature Angel found our Usborne Greek Mythology book and spent time reading on her own.
Chemistry lesson 10 was a worksheet lesson on the physical vs. chemical properties of matter.
In the evening, after dinner and before Dad left for work, we had our annual Christmas lighting ceremony. We popped popcorn, made hot chocolate, put on hoodies (last year we were in boots, coats, hats and mittens), and counted down the turning on of the lights. It was quite fun, and the littles were captivated. We sang and danced and munched until we could sing, dance and munch no more. Rose Red even played Christmas carols on the piano for us which we could hear outside because it was warm enough to leave the front door open.
Thursday we raced through school because we had our adoption license quarterly review in the early afternoon.
The preschoolers played with peppermint playdough that I'd made early in the morning in both white and red colors.
The PreK set watched various videos on Starfall and Youtube about the letter P. Then I handed them P and p outlines and a set of watercolor paints each so they could paint.
We reviewed Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations for our Family school.
We skipped chemistry.
We passed our review.
Rose Red had communications class that night, so she feverishly worked on her final speech. Then we raced together to pick up her new glasses and get her to class. I nearly cried with relief when a friend offered to give Rose Red a ride home. I'm so thankful for her kind service.
We finished our read-aloud Betsy-Tacy (for the 4th time as a family--it just has perfect appeal for each of my little girls when they reach 5 or 6, and the older girls can't help listening in).
Friday we headed out into the wide, wonderful world for our outing day. We arrived at the Hoofed Native Animal Enclosure only to find that the predicted temps of 60+ degrees were not in effect at 10:30 am. We looked at the elk for about 37 seconds then climbed back in the van. Fortunately a 1.5 mile hiking trail was 200 yards down the road, so we stopped and took a nature walk. It was sheltered in the woods, so we actually got quite warm and enjoyed our morning very much. The true highlight was reaching the lake and finding shells to collect and admire.
In the afternoon I ran errands while the kids alternated between quiet play and outdoor play once the temperature reached its promised high.
Ladybug hates change. Even our weekly routine of 4 days of school with one outing day bothers her. She was surly and withdrawn and finally threw a monster tantrum in the evening. I won't just do school every single day, skipping outings to make her happy, so we had a little talk--actually I talked--about having to do what we don't want to do sometimes. I don't know how much good it did. At least we ended in a hug.
Baymax is starting to walk! Just a few steps here and there, but it's really happening!
Love RR's glasses! How'd her final speech turn out? Baymax walking! (oh please, life, just slow down a LITTLE...) Thanks for sharing all this with pictures and words; it means so much to me.
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