A Week, Briefly (#32)
Monday
The first day of school in a new month mean we changed our opening song and scripture for Morning Meeting; now we're memorizing Joseph Smith--History 1:17 and Praise to the Man. We're still studying Mosiah; we worked our way through chapters 24-part of 26 this week.
This was our first day of doing double math lessons. No one loves it, but no one is dying from it either. The end of our school year is in sight!
On the flip side we started a math book for Mister Man and Ladybug. Belle is math teacher to them both. In a complete reversal from my usual approach to math, I felt prompted to start them both in a Kindergarten math program, and I felt particularly guided to Horizons. I showed Belle the teacher's guide at our homeschool convention a couple of weeks ago, and she fell in love with the idea of becoming a math teacher. So, just as the older girls are ending math, 2 of the littles are starting.
And they LOVE it.
Belle is a patient, wonderful teacher. She works with each child one-on-one. I couldn't ask for more.
Pixie continues to do OT with Brother. This week she helped him use scissors, practice tracing his name (I printed his name in light gray in really large font, and Pixie helps him hold triangular crayons that are teaching him a correct pencil grip. He's learning his name and developing fine motor skill--a terrific two-fer!), and we found this great site that is teaching us all a lot about OT for littles. The exercises are very hard, but Pixie is sweet and patient, and Brother is a willing pupil.
We learned that a friend from church was looking to hire some yard help, so Super Star mowed her ginormous lawn. She ended up not getting paid for it!!! However, we decided that her service earned her enough credit for us to pay for her admission to the homeschool formal dance this Saturday night. Rose Red and Pixie will also attend the dance, paying their own way.
In addition we also accomplished on Monday:
*Working on two more color pages in our color books for preschool
*Reading lessons for Ladybug and Mister Man
*Geography, spelling, writing for Nature Angel
*Grammar and creative writing for Little Princess
*I printed 3 Hands of a Child activity packs--one each for Belle (Veterinary Science), Nature Angel (Butterflies), and Little Princess (Nocturnal Animals).
In harder news, Ladybug is still recovering from last week's visit, and she had two horrible tantrums and a peeing-on-herself incident. Lola got sick and threw up all over me more than once because she was so full of mucus. Little Brother had a passel of violent tantrums.
Evening reading was short that night, but we're now reading The Indian in the Cupboard, so it was fun! The older kids keep saying, "I forgot how funny/good this book is!"
Tuesday
In Morning Meeting we realized we had Isaiah 5:20 memorized, so we exchanged working on that one for Psalms 24:3-4.
We continued double math assignments for the older girls, OT for Brother, math for Mister Man and Ladybug, individual school lessons for Nature Angel, Little Princess, Ladybug and Mister Man.
Rose Red finished her vocabulary book!!
The preschoolers finished their color books.
We got Ladybug and Brother to their therapy appointments and I attended the follow up meeting for Little Brother at the ACEs clinic. He's a lot like Brother; however, he has some extra needs such as AFOs for his ankles because he walks on his toes, and the speech therapist wants a follow up visit in 6 months to assess his vocal cords because he has a raspy voice.
My new phone arrived (I lost my other one!), and I had to spend time learning how to use it.
In the evening, the 4 oldest girls headed off to the church for an etiquette dinner.
I've noticed that ideas are starting to come together for next year's school plan.
Wednesday
With both babies sick--Lola really in the thick of it, and Baymax recovering--the day was long and hard. School took the whole day to complete, and it wasn't a whole lot of fun.
I put out colored rice and letter rocks in dishpans for a sensory/literacy activity for the preschoolers, but it was a bust in the end as they started throwing rice around the room.
The weather got truly lovely, though, and Pixie watched the kids outside while I made dinner inside. It was good for us all.
Thursday
After morning meeting we gathered to work on our family number, Sisters, for the upcoming dance performances. We've adapted the number to include all 12 children, and it is pretty cute!
(They sing, " . . . Eight different faces . . ." and the 4 little boys run on at the end and jump into the girls' arms at the end.)
We squeezed in a bit of school for some of the littles, a single math lesson for the older girls, and OT for Brother before heading out the door for a 3 hr dance practice.
In the evening Mister Man and Ladybug each had a reading lesson before bed.
And Lola showed us that she's almost ready to go on stage:
Friday
This was a way better day than Wednesday was. Lola and Baymax were feeling better, and we got all of our school done before lunch. And that was with adding our "Sisters" rehearsal to our day.
I forgave the preschoolers for their unpleasant behavior on Wednesday, and I pulled out the supplies for making a cloud in a jar for preschool.
In the afternoon I took Pixie shopping for some fabric to turn her strapless dress into something modest and appropriate to wear, and we knocked off some grocery shopping as well. We closed the week with pizza for dinner and seeing Rose Red off to the church prom with her date.
Saturday
We ran another 5K--this one put on by our church to benefit local food banks. It was hard work pushing the strollers along the hilly course, but we did it!
That afternoon the 3 oldest girls got ready for the homeschool formal. (Poor Belle was 6 months too young to attend--she was stuck helping me at home. I must do something nice for her!)
Pixie gave herself an awesome manicure:
I heard she gave manicures to her sisters as well.
In the end Rose Red, Pixie and Super Star were gorgeous!
I've begun to dream of a Saturday at home without a thousand commitments so that we can do chores. :)
(Linking here. )
The first day of school in a new month mean we changed our opening song and scripture for Morning Meeting; now we're memorizing Joseph Smith--History 1:17 and Praise to the Man. We're still studying Mosiah; we worked our way through chapters 24-part of 26 this week.
This was our first day of doing double math lessons. No one loves it, but no one is dying from it either. The end of our school year is in sight!
On the flip side we started a math book for Mister Man and Ladybug. Belle is math teacher to them both. In a complete reversal from my usual approach to math, I felt prompted to start them both in a Kindergarten math program, and I felt particularly guided to Horizons. I showed Belle the teacher's guide at our homeschool convention a couple of weeks ago, and she fell in love with the idea of becoming a math teacher. So, just as the older girls are ending math, 2 of the littles are starting.
And they LOVE it.
Belle is a patient, wonderful teacher. She works with each child one-on-one. I couldn't ask for more.
Pixie continues to do OT with Brother. This week she helped him use scissors, practice tracing his name (I printed his name in light gray in really large font, and Pixie helps him hold triangular crayons that are teaching him a correct pencil grip. He's learning his name and developing fine motor skill--a terrific two-fer!), and we found this great site that is teaching us all a lot about OT for littles. The exercises are very hard, but Pixie is sweet and patient, and Brother is a willing pupil.
We learned that a friend from church was looking to hire some yard help, so Super Star mowed her ginormous lawn. She ended up not getting paid for it!!! However, we decided that her service earned her enough credit for us to pay for her admission to the homeschool formal dance this Saturday night. Rose Red and Pixie will also attend the dance, paying their own way.
In addition we also accomplished on Monday:
*Working on two more color pages in our color books for preschool
*Reading lessons for Ladybug and Mister Man
*Geography, spelling, writing for Nature Angel
*Grammar and creative writing for Little Princess
*I printed 3 Hands of a Child activity packs--one each for Belle (Veterinary Science), Nature Angel (Butterflies), and Little Princess (Nocturnal Animals).
In harder news, Ladybug is still recovering from last week's visit, and she had two horrible tantrums and a peeing-on-herself incident. Lola got sick and threw up all over me more than once because she was so full of mucus. Little Brother had a passel of violent tantrums.
Evening reading was short that night, but we're now reading The Indian in the Cupboard, so it was fun! The older kids keep saying, "I forgot how funny/good this book is!"
Tuesday
In Morning Meeting we realized we had Isaiah 5:20 memorized, so we exchanged working on that one for Psalms 24:3-4.
We continued double math assignments for the older girls, OT for Brother, math for Mister Man and Ladybug, individual school lessons for Nature Angel, Little Princess, Ladybug and Mister Man.
Rose Red finished her vocabulary book!!
The preschoolers finished their color books.
We got Ladybug and Brother to their therapy appointments and I attended the follow up meeting for Little Brother at the ACEs clinic. He's a lot like Brother; however, he has some extra needs such as AFOs for his ankles because he walks on his toes, and the speech therapist wants a follow up visit in 6 months to assess his vocal cords because he has a raspy voice.
My new phone arrived (I lost my other one!), and I had to spend time learning how to use it.
In the evening, the 4 oldest girls headed off to the church for an etiquette dinner.
I've noticed that ideas are starting to come together for next year's school plan.
Wednesday
With both babies sick--Lola really in the thick of it, and Baymax recovering--the day was long and hard. School took the whole day to complete, and it wasn't a whole lot of fun.
I put out colored rice and letter rocks in dishpans for a sensory/literacy activity for the preschoolers, but it was a bust in the end as they started throwing rice around the room.
 |
| They were looking for rocks with the letters of their names and then matching the letters to a name sheet I made for each of them. It was good while it lasted. |
The weather got truly lovely, though, and Pixie watched the kids outside while I made dinner inside. It was good for us all.
Thursday
After morning meeting we gathered to work on our family number, Sisters, for the upcoming dance performances. We've adapted the number to include all 12 children, and it is pretty cute!
(They sing, " . . . Eight different faces . . ." and the 4 little boys run on at the end and jump into the girls' arms at the end.)
We squeezed in a bit of school for some of the littles, a single math lesson for the older girls, and OT for Brother before heading out the door for a 3 hr dance practice.
In the evening Mister Man and Ladybug each had a reading lesson before bed.
And Lola showed us that she's almost ready to go on stage:
Friday
This was a way better day than Wednesday was. Lola and Baymax were feeling better, and we got all of our school done before lunch. And that was with adding our "Sisters" rehearsal to our day.
I forgave the preschoolers for their unpleasant behavior on Wednesday, and I pulled out the supplies for making a cloud in a jar for preschool.
In the afternoon I took Pixie shopping for some fabric to turn her strapless dress into something modest and appropriate to wear, and we knocked off some grocery shopping as well. We closed the week with pizza for dinner and seeing Rose Red off to the church prom with her date.
Saturday
We ran another 5K--this one put on by our church to benefit local food banks. It was hard work pushing the strollers along the hilly course, but we did it!
That afternoon the 3 oldest girls got ready for the homeschool formal. (Poor Belle was 6 months too young to attend--she was stuck helping me at home. I must do something nice for her!)
Pixie gave herself an awesome manicure:
I heard she gave manicures to her sisters as well.
In the end Rose Red, Pixie and Super Star were gorgeous!
I've begun to dream of a Saturday at home without a thousand commitments so that we can do chores. :)
(Linking here. )
You have a lovely family! Rice trays are a big hit around our house, too. Surprisingly, my 9 year old spills more rice than my 5 year old, lol.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteAnd I guess some kids are just inclined to spill more than others? :)
The last time I did an activity with rice they ended up dumping it everywhere! I was thankful for the tile floors but never braved it again. I loved the cloud in a jar activity and your girls looked beautiful! It is wonderful that you have a homeschool formal. I wish we had more homeschoolers around here and more activities for the older children.
ReplyDeleteI really do count our blessings for social activities for our homeschoolers. We have our pick of a lot of events. This dance turned out to be really, really fun for all of the kids, and serendipitously that night there was a fireworks show visible from the windows of the dance hall. Made for a magic night.
DeleteWow! Rose Red and Super Star are beautiful in red. Their hair was amazing too. Was that Pixie? And Pixie was beautiful in blue. You did a great job altering her dress. So pretty. Your helpers are so great with the littles. Just reading your blog, I can see so much growth. The bumps along the way are not fun, but the growth is astounding.
ReplyDeleteRose Red did her own hair . . . I think. Pixie did her own hair (it was far prettier than shows in this picture) and Super Star's. Rose Red did all of the tucks in Super Star's dress to make it so princess-y. It was too long (Super Star is still 3 months away from high heels) as it was. Pixie and I worked together on the sewing to alter her dress. It DID come out rather nicely, didn't it?!
Deletewhat a fun busy week! I can not even imagine prom right now -- but the girls look beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to figure out how it's possible for Lola to take backwards steps while dancing!--Amazing! Beautiful grown-up girls, and such fun learning experiences for the littles!
ReplyDelete