A Week, Briefly (#21)
Today is Friday.
It snowed all day yesterday, so we're taking a snow day. Temperatures are low, but we have literally dozens of coats, hats, snow pants, boots, and other winter wear in our mudroom. The kids will have a grand day.
And then Sir Walter Scott and I are going to the temple in the late afternoon. The kids will stay home with popcorn and a movie.
This week SuperStar completed her Saxon 5/4 math book and started 6/5. She's really happy to be completing math work . . . albeit remedial work . . . successfully. She alternates between joyful expressions of triumph and worried questions about "ever catching up."
She works so hard at math! I'm not worried about the "catching up" part. I just want her to see that she can learn and that she is learning.
I just say, "Look at what you've done. Look at what you can do."
SuperStar also checked out a bunch of learn-to-play-the-guitar books from the library. With the help of a YouTube video she tuned Sir Walter Scott's old guitar and has learned 3 chords. Her hands hurt, but she's really learning! What fun it will be to do sing-alongs with her accompaniment!
Rose Red finished All About Spelling book 2 and is well into book 3 this week. We had to return her chemistry book to the library, but we'll get it back next week. She says she'll finish her history book next week. I don't know how she feels, but I'm excited by all of this progress!
I'm working on turning all of Rose Red's art and music work into a high school fine arts credit. I told her that between my instruction, her personal study, various field trips, and the time she spends sketching and playing the piano she has more than enough hours for a full credit. However, I informed her, I want her to perform in public. She was aghast, but I stood firm. (I don't know if that's good or bad--only time will tell.) I finally got her consent to sign her up for the homeschool talent show next month. She'll play a song on the piano. She picks out melodies by ear and then creates her own accompaniment, so she'll be playing a song written by someone else but arranged by her. I love to listen to her play. I hope a little public applause will fuel her fire.
Pixie spent the week immersed in Rick Riordan's latest release. When she wasn't reading she was learning about natural hair/skin care. She mixed up a homemade hair mask that made her hair very sleek and gorgeous. It was messy, though, and she says the results weren't worth the work. She'll try a different one next week. After the treatment, she had me trim 5 inches off her hair to clean up split ends. It still reaches her waist, but it feels short to her. :)
She also did Belle's hair one afternoon and did a photo shoot with her. Here are a few of the many pictures she took:
Belle's week was disappointing. She was all set to attend the temple for the first time as a youth, but weather conditions being what they were, the trip was cancelled. She grieved quietly but deeply. The next trip isn't scheduled until May, so we're trying to figure out how to get her there with just a Dad-and-daughters date.
For her independent study, she's working her way through The Chronicles of Narnia. She wasn't hip to start, but I think she's enjoying the stories now . . . at least that's what she says. What she's really waiting for is for Pixie to finish the Rick Riordan book, so she can have a turn.
Nature Angel and Little Princess both worked with me out of The Good and Beautiful curriculum. Nature Angel got to do some geography and picture studies. She was also introduced to floor plans, and those are exciting to her. Completing her own floor plan for her "dream school" was a long, satisfying project. Little Princess has discovered that worksheets are fun! She claps her hands with delight whenever there's a worksheet available.
Funny girl! :)
Little Princess's crowning moment of the week was being needed by Pixie during the hair mask event. "Mom! I need to help! [Pixie] needs me right now!" she crowed when I called her that afternoon.
Big sisters rock.
Ladybug is having fun playing with a free trial of an online pre-reading tutorial. I don't love it, and I won't continue it when the trial is over, but she likes it, and I don't see any harm in using it while we've got it. All of the littles gather around to watch her on the computer, so actually I think there's a whole lot of trickle-down learning going on.
Mister Man finished the Alphabetti books this week. He's excited to move on to the phonics books produced by the same site.
Brother has learned how to pick up a book and sit quietly looking at it on his own. He's been able to do that for a while if I tell him to do so, but this week he's begun to choose this activity himself. I've watched him work on learning to turn pages without hurting the book, and he's been asking in the past day or two which part of the book is the start. It hurts my heart that a 4 year old boy has had so little experience with books that he has to ask these questions, but at least he's asking them. I am heartened by these small-but-huge steps he's making toward healing and learning.
Little Brother is learning to use words instead of animal-ish grunts, squeals, and shrieks. His speech is considered normal, but he rarely uses it unless prompted. I'm prompting, prompting, prompting these days, and he's trying to remember. He was especially proud of himself one day when I wiped his face after eating and he didn't squeal and push me away. "I not hit," he said with a big smile. I couldn't help but smile back.
The babies are into EVERYTHING!
Powdered sugar in the cupboard? Not anymore!
Computer charger on the table? Not anymore!
Dirty diapers in the trash? Not anymore!
Water in a cup? Not anymore!
Books in a basket? Not anymore!
Rubber bands in a drawer? Not anymore!
Shoes in the closet? Not anymore!
They are roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble lovable right now.
Two 1-year olds!
Such a busy, joyful, crazy time.
For our Family School we focused on Greek and Roman art. Our main project of the week was making mosaics.
What's funny is that as we completed our mosaics the kids found a bag of Melty Beads that had been given to us by a friend some months ago. They were the highlight of the next 2 days!
And we completed (or will complete in a couple of hours) 5 days of Morning Meeting again. We added 1 new component of that meeting time--playing scripture mastery memorization games for the Old Testament. First scripture? Moses 1:39 (which isn't actually from the Old Testament, but complements Old Testament study).
No C25K this week--ice and snow were constant companions, so the roads were not safe!
Tomorrow night is the big homeschool Winter Family Dance. The theme is Welcome to the Castle. I think our van will be chock full of princesses and knights tomorrow night.
Next week has so many activities, we may have to call it a vacation week--babysitting cousins while their dad has his big cancer surgery, therapy sessions, mediation with the "new" kids' dad to see if he can avoid going to trial, dance practice start up, church activities, homeschool teen activities, doctor's appointments--and that's just the stuff on the calendar!
We'll see how the days play out one by one.
It snowed all day yesterday, so we're taking a snow day. Temperatures are low, but we have literally dozens of coats, hats, snow pants, boots, and other winter wear in our mudroom. The kids will have a grand day.
And then Sir Walter Scott and I are going to the temple in the late afternoon. The kids will stay home with popcorn and a movie.
This week SuperStar completed her Saxon 5/4 math book and started 6/5. She's really happy to be completing math work . . . albeit remedial work . . . successfully. She alternates between joyful expressions of triumph and worried questions about "ever catching up."
She works so hard at math! I'm not worried about the "catching up" part. I just want her to see that she can learn and that she is learning.
I just say, "Look at what you've done. Look at what you can do."
SuperStar also checked out a bunch of learn-to-play-the-guitar books from the library. With the help of a YouTube video she tuned Sir Walter Scott's old guitar and has learned 3 chords. Her hands hurt, but she's really learning! What fun it will be to do sing-alongs with her accompaniment!
Rose Red finished All About Spelling book 2 and is well into book 3 this week. We had to return her chemistry book to the library, but we'll get it back next week. She says she'll finish her history book next week. I don't know how she feels, but I'm excited by all of this progress!
I'm working on turning all of Rose Red's art and music work into a high school fine arts credit. I told her that between my instruction, her personal study, various field trips, and the time she spends sketching and playing the piano she has more than enough hours for a full credit. However, I informed her, I want her to perform in public. She was aghast, but I stood firm. (I don't know if that's good or bad--only time will tell.) I finally got her consent to sign her up for the homeschool talent show next month. She'll play a song on the piano. She picks out melodies by ear and then creates her own accompaniment, so she'll be playing a song written by someone else but arranged by her. I love to listen to her play. I hope a little public applause will fuel her fire.
Pixie spent the week immersed in Rick Riordan's latest release. When she wasn't reading she was learning about natural hair/skin care. She mixed up a homemade hair mask that made her hair very sleek and gorgeous. It was messy, though, and she says the results weren't worth the work. She'll try a different one next week. After the treatment, she had me trim 5 inches off her hair to clean up split ends. It still reaches her waist, but it feels short to her. :)
 |
| The ingredients |
 |
| Wrapping the mask up so it can soak in. |
 |
| Getting ready to shower |
 |
| After the mask . . . before the trim |
Belle's week was disappointing. She was all set to attend the temple for the first time as a youth, but weather conditions being what they were, the trip was cancelled. She grieved quietly but deeply. The next trip isn't scheduled until May, so we're trying to figure out how to get her there with just a Dad-and-daughters date.
For her independent study, she's working her way through The Chronicles of Narnia. She wasn't hip to start, but I think she's enjoying the stories now . . . at least that's what she says. What she's really waiting for is for Pixie to finish the Rick Riordan book, so she can have a turn.
Nature Angel and Little Princess both worked with me out of The Good and Beautiful curriculum. Nature Angel got to do some geography and picture studies. She was also introduced to floor plans, and those are exciting to her. Completing her own floor plan for her "dream school" was a long, satisfying project. Little Princess has discovered that worksheets are fun! She claps her hands with delight whenever there's a worksheet available.
Funny girl! :)
Little Princess's crowning moment of the week was being needed by Pixie during the hair mask event. "Mom! I need to help! [Pixie] needs me right now!" she crowed when I called her that afternoon.
Big sisters rock.
Ladybug is having fun playing with a free trial of an online pre-reading tutorial. I don't love it, and I won't continue it when the trial is over, but she likes it, and I don't see any harm in using it while we've got it. All of the littles gather around to watch her on the computer, so actually I think there's a whole lot of trickle-down learning going on.
Mister Man finished the Alphabetti books this week. He's excited to move on to the phonics books produced by the same site.
Brother has learned how to pick up a book and sit quietly looking at it on his own. He's been able to do that for a while if I tell him to do so, but this week he's begun to choose this activity himself. I've watched him work on learning to turn pages without hurting the book, and he's been asking in the past day or two which part of the book is the start. It hurts my heart that a 4 year old boy has had so little experience with books that he has to ask these questions, but at least he's asking them. I am heartened by these small-but-huge steps he's making toward healing and learning.
Little Brother is learning to use words instead of animal-ish grunts, squeals, and shrieks. His speech is considered normal, but he rarely uses it unless prompted. I'm prompting, prompting, prompting these days, and he's trying to remember. He was especially proud of himself one day when I wiped his face after eating and he didn't squeal and push me away. "I not hit," he said with a big smile. I couldn't help but smile back.
The babies are into EVERYTHING!
Powdered sugar in the cupboard? Not anymore!
Computer charger on the table? Not anymore!
Dirty diapers in the trash? Not anymore!
Water in a cup? Not anymore!
Books in a basket? Not anymore!
Rubber bands in a drawer? Not anymore!
Shoes in the closet? Not anymore!
They are roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble lovable right now.
Two 1-year olds!
Such a busy, joyful, crazy time.
For our Family School we focused on Greek and Roman art. Our main project of the week was making mosaics.
 |
| Super Star made a wave. |
 |
| Belle's |
 |
| Rose Red's |
 |
| Pixie's boat. |
 |
| Nature Angel sat in on this project. She said she started trying to make a sunset, but there weren't pink or orange tiles, so she just filled in with what made her happy. |
And we completed (or will complete in a couple of hours) 5 days of Morning Meeting again. We added 1 new component of that meeting time--playing scripture mastery memorization games for the Old Testament. First scripture? Moses 1:39 (which isn't actually from the Old Testament, but complements Old Testament study).
No C25K this week--ice and snow were constant companions, so the roads were not safe!
Tomorrow night is the big homeschool Winter Family Dance. The theme is Welcome to the Castle. I think our van will be chock full of princesses and knights tomorrow night.
Next week has so many activities, we may have to call it a vacation week--babysitting cousins while their dad has his big cancer surgery, therapy sessions, mediation with the "new" kids' dad to see if he can avoid going to trial, dance practice start up, church activities, homeschool teen activities, doctor's appointments--and that's just the stuff on the calendar!
We'll see how the days play out one by one.
Lots of steps forward. Good luck to your brother-in-law and his surgery. I'll keep him in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteI just love the pictures so much! Such talented girls, and so much progress with the littles! Belle's hair is beyond gorgeous--takes my breath away. And I love Rose Red's studious profile picture!
ReplyDeleteMy children wanted it to snow so much, but it didn't. We haven't had any this winter at all. I loved the mosaics. We have had those melts beads before and they had hours of fun! Have a great week!
ReplyDelete