A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Just this morning Pixie said, "This has been such a good week!  First Christmas, then visiting cousins, then ice skating and lunch with the S---- boys (favorite friends since preschool days), then dance, then going to a movie, the dance tonight, and the party tomorrow.  I can't wait for 2018!!" My week was quieter than that, but the teens truly did whirl their way through the last week of 2017. Nature Angel got started pressing flowers with her Christmas gift flower press. The Elementary 8 and I had Academy 5 straight days, and we had One-on-One school for 3 of those days.  It suited us well. Little Princess got to work on her Christmas gift journaling/activity book. On Friday we counted up our Christmas money from Grammie and Grampa and found we had enough to buy a family zoo pass--the really good one that includes all of the rides.  As it was the only day to reach higher than freezing in the whole week (and for the week ahead), it was a great day to...

Mister Man is vomiting again. Rats! I let our diet go for Christmas and the last of the December birthdays, and he's having a rough morning. But I have to admit that even when he was holding his food, he'd get a distended abdomen--sometimes he looked normal, and sometimes he looked like one of those photos of starving kids in third world countries--all skinny with a bloated belly. And his eczema is back. Through all of these weeks (now turning into months), he's been whiny and prone to tantrums because he just doesn't feel well.   I've been researching a lot, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that following the GAPS protocol is a good idea for my family.  I can't get the teens to follow it (when they feel tempted to cheat, they do because they have their own money and access to junk food), but they need it, too, and I can cook this way at home and model what they need. I don't believe that "all disease begins in the gut...

No, we are not on a break from school . . . at least for the 10-and-under set . . . and even some of the teens are still working away, catching up on one subject here or another subject there. It isn't because we're work-aholics. It's because in the anticipation of Christmas, my littles need an anchor, and school-time is that anchor. On Wednesday we had Morning Meeting (of course--that's a given!) but skipped Academy when I'd been thwarted in my grocery shopping plans one too many days, and I needed to keep my promise to small people to have a gift-wapping help session with them. Even though we kept all other routines in place--meals, outdoor play, language video, outdoor play, baths, evening reading . . . everything--the afternoon and evening were difficult . . . if I'm honest, every evening is difficult, but Wednesday was more difficult than usual. It's birthday season at our house, too, and we got these extremely cool building toys.  Every m...

Last week, the teens and I sat down with pencil and paper and journals galore to add up their school hours to see what credits they earned and address any gaps.  It was eye-opening for everyone. :) Rose Red My girl is struggling. She has infinite potential. Really, she just shines when she's on!! But she's been off the whole semester. She looked at me ruefully and said, "I've wasted the semester." And she's right. She did finish a full year of working at Freddies and then applied for and was hired at Old Navy. And she earned 1 high school credit.  She earned that credit mostly in literature--participating in our classics book club, reading on her own, listening to our family read alouds, and journaling about what she read.  At the very least, I am glad she's reading really good books--mind-expanding, heart-filling, thought-provoking books. Only 2 credits left to graduate. We've mapped out a plan. I'll help her the best...

We've crossed off all of our Christmas bucket list items.  All that is left is to wait for Christmas Eve for the traditions that belong to that particular day.  Our Christmas Eve and Day will be one day earlier than it will be for most folks because it is Sir Walter Scott's turn to work . . . people are critically ill even on Christmas. We do "Santa" at our house, and the littles are all relieved to find out that he's a flexible fellow. We made graham cracker gingerbread houses on Sunday . We toured Christmas lights on Monday .  And the teens and I had great end-of-semester mentor meetings.  I'll have to write about them before I lose my notes. We drew pictures of Mary and Joseph and an angel on Tuesday . We took Mister Man to the doctor on Wednesday .  He's been vomiting intermittently for 7 weeks now, and when there was blood one day, I decided enough was enough.  I've done extensive research myself, and I have a firm o...

I finally caught the stomach bug that has been working its way slowly through our home.  I've managed thus far to keep it together enough to drive two of the teens to seminary.  (I'm hoping we make it home without incident).  But I feel dreadful. So today, Friday, will probably be a day off school while I pass kidwatching and meal responsibilities off on the teens. Perhaps the $20 cash I have in my wallet will be enough for Rose Red to run to the grocery store for something quick and easy for lunch because I have homemade vegetable soup on the menu, and even though the teens are perfectly capable of cooking, the thought of walking them through the prep is too much right now. We have a documentary about Pandas borrowed from the library. It's 19 degrees outside. I think we have a plan. Yesterday I got to take 5 of my girls and one cute friend (Rose Red opted to go to work) to The Nutcracker.  It was marvelous!  So many clever and funny little details...

I've not journaled this week at all. Instead I've been applying for a work-at-home job as a teacher of English to children in Beijing.  I'm not sure it is a good idea. But I'm not sure it is not a good idea either. Sir Walter Scott and I have been discussing it, and I've been praying with fierce sincerity to know if this is wisdom in the Lord. Or not. I've passed all of the interviews and tests.  I've uploaded my legal documents.  All that is left wanting is for me to sign the contract. I can't quite do it yet.  But we are having the nicest Advent season we've ever had. Lola pretending to be Little Princess's shoulder angel . :) I've pulled ideas from here and there around the internet, and I'm using Pam Barnhill's Advent Morning Time Plans as the base schedule from which we are personalizing the activities to suit our family. I'm head over heels in love with the Jesus Storybook Bible .  I have cried whi...

Thanksgiving was an exhausting but blessed day.  We had my sister's family over--that made 22 of us for dinner, and we cooked enough for double that. :) I'm grateful for what we have, grateful for how we celebrated, grateful for people to love and care for, and I'm glad the big day is over. Pixie said, "I love Thanksgiving dinner, but I think I like leftovers even better." I answered, "I know I like leftovers better!" Little Princess This is my first extremely interpersonal/social learner.  She will read and study, but she cannot be quiet about it.  She absolutely must talk to someone about what's on her mind. So she often follows me about the house as I take care of what needs taking care of, talking endlessly to my back or my shoulder or (when she's lucky) my face.  I listen to the plots of all of her magic fairy/abandoned puppy/detective mermaid stories;  I listen to math problems;  I listen to grammar sentences;  I listen to scie...

Whatever bug we have, it's not nice.  I'm almost a week into this thing, and while the death grip it has on me may be looser, it's still gripping. And it's spreading.  (Of course!) We've taken to cleaning everything in the house with disposable disinfectant wipes . . . probably a pointless and landfill-filling gesture, but no one has the energy to keep up with the laundry required to keep us stocked in clean washcloths and dishtowels. We just might be celebrating Thanksgiving on our own this year.  We'll see what my sister says, but even though I'll miss her, I'll still be encouraging her to keep her family away from our germ-infested household. We're still limping through Morning Meetings, some reading, and as much one-on-one time as we can handle without crying from exhaustion. But mostly, we're trying to get well again with a little sunshine, herbal teas, fresh garlic, rest, a movie or two, card games, and soup. Baymax says, "...

Typically, I'd keep up our homeschooling pattern into December and then do some sort of mid-year evaluation for the kids over the Christmas holiday. But I'm not feeling that this year. I'm mentally ready to end our current pattern after this week, celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, and then move the Elementary 8 into a season of Advent. (The teens have their own agendas.  I'll surely be inviting them to put their studies aside and join us, but I can already hear their answers . . . and I'm sure they'll be pushing themselves through their regular work.) For the past two years, our most recently adopted crew have spiraled into frenzied states of misery at the holiday season, and they've whirled us into their personal storms.  I'm fairly desperate to keep that from happening again.  Prayerfully, I've been researching ways to lovingly replace their panic with peace. It may not happen all at once, but I hope the season ahead can at least be mor...

I woke up with sinus pressure and a nasty tickle at the back of my throat.  My bones felt too heavy for my body, and my muscles ached. I knew I was getting a cold. But it was my turn to get the girls to seminary, so I put on clean clothes and headed out the door. The sun came out for the first time in 20 straight days, and I wanted to rejoice in it with my kids.  I contemplated hiking, using a freebie zoo coupon, heading to a newly renovated local park . . . and then I coughed and sneezed and felt my muscles yell at me. Thursday was to be our final dance day of the semester--a full-costume, full-energy show for a local nursing home. The energy required to get through Thursday made an at-home day absolutely mandatory on Wednesday, so I put joy in my voice and sold the kids on an awesome morning of bike-riding in the driveway while I took turns calling them in for one-on-one school. While I worked with Pixie on confusing Algebra 2 equations, the kids got themselves out...