A Week, Briefly (In Which the Easter Bunny Arrives)
We have early church on Sunday, and Sir Walter Scott works on Saturday, so we requested an early visit from the Easter Bunny.
I like having of the secular, goofy stuff out of the way, so that Sunday can be truly about Christ and worship.
And the kids aren't complaining at all about a day off school.
I didn't do any day-by-day journaling because I was crazy busy finishing and posting reviews this week and completing the Relief Society lesson about Christ it is my privilege to teach this Sunday.
That means I have only the haziest of memories about what happened each day.
I do remember Monday being so sunny and pleasant that we did some of our schoolwork outside. Brother has about 10 phonemes under his belt, and our 4 day a week practice has got him sounding out CVC words and remembering some of them by sight, too.
Ladybug has begun CVC-E words. They're very, very hard for her, but she's persistent. At the homeschool convention last week, I picked up Explode the Code A, B, and C for review of what she already has learned and reinforcement of what's coming. She really likes the workbooks, and for a treat, I let her color the pictures.
We've continued with our daily tradition of half an hour of Signing Time each day after lunch. The kids are signing more and more.
The older kids and I spent the week reviewing Spanish vocabulary, studying Andy Goldsworthy (artist), and reading about the Khans and Marco Polo.
In addition they did scads of independent work. Pixie got her first graphing calculator! It took a long time to work through the instruction manual to get it to graph the equations as assigned in her math book. But we got it!
Only 5 math lessons left for Pixie and only 6 for Belle, and they'll be done with math for the school year.
They're quite happy about it.
Super Star started Saxon 8/7 a couple of weeks ago, and she plans to work on it off and on through the summer so that she can continue to "catch up"/make progress in math.
Nature Angel finished reading/narrating Archimedes and the Door of Science. She says that Archimedes is one of her favorite scientists. Her narrations include diagrams, drawing, and graphs to illustrate what she learned--all computer designed. She uses our old desktop computer for her narrations, so I haven't got images to include in this post, but I just love her ability to incorporate art into whatever she's studying.
A couple of days this week, she did double math lessons--on her own.
Nature Angel and Little Princess did tons of art this week with ArtAchieve lessons.
One morning I heard Baymax stirring, but Rose Red beat me to it. Instead of getting him up, she joined him in my bed.
She's only got a year or so left at home, so I'm treasuring up these sweet moments of my oldest and youngest together.
And then there are the youngest two . . . one evening Pixie plunked them into Lola's crib to contain them after their baths but before she got jammies on them.
They had such a grand time!
Thursday was one of those days I spent in the van all day--putting more than 100 miles on it in 5 different directions.
The first errand was taking Super Star to see the doctor. She's been dizzy, lethargic, moody, and weepy for too long and too severely to chalk it up to teen girl hormones. The doc listened carefully, asked wise questions, examined her well and found out that she has orthostatic hypotension (her blood pressure falls when she stands or moves). Doc ordered labs that showed us she also has hypothyroidism.
Hooray for answers!
(And hooray that those answers don't include the severe depression I was afraid of.)
1 pill a day to encourage her thyroid to do its job, and our girl will feel so much better than she does now!
The final drive of the evening was taking Little Princess to the wedding reception of her former primary teacher, a darling young man who invited his whole class to help him celebrate. He and his bride were sweetly welcoming, even making sure they got a photo with Little Princess. She just glowed with pleasure the whole evening long.
And we managed to do a goodly amount of individual school, to boot.
Today is rainy and quiet. The kids have consumed their treats (minimal candy this year) and are now playing (mostly) quietly with the new magnetic building toys we added to our collection.
Nature Angel used them to make herself a pair of glasses.
Tonight is supposed to be a church social--a BBQ at a park. I'm not sure that will happen, and even if it does, I'm not sure how many of us will attend.
But we have options.
And I've worn my pajamas long enough into the day (a treat to myself--usually I'm dressed early). I'm going to get dressed, fix the kids some eggs, check on the progress the older girls are making on cleaning up the basement (they're having a party tomorrow night), and decide how we'll spend the rest of the day.
I rejoice in Christ this Easter season . . . and in all seasons.
Happy Easter!!!
(linking here)
I like having of the secular, goofy stuff out of the way, so that Sunday can be truly about Christ and worship.
And the kids aren't complaining at all about a day off school.
I didn't do any day-by-day journaling because I was crazy busy finishing and posting reviews this week and completing the Relief Society lesson about Christ it is my privilege to teach this Sunday.
That means I have only the haziest of memories about what happened each day.
I do remember Monday being so sunny and pleasant that we did some of our schoolwork outside. Brother has about 10 phonemes under his belt, and our 4 day a week practice has got him sounding out CVC words and remembering some of them by sight, too.
Ladybug has begun CVC-E words. They're very, very hard for her, but she's persistent. At the homeschool convention last week, I picked up Explode the Code A, B, and C for review of what she already has learned and reinforcement of what's coming. She really likes the workbooks, and for a treat, I let her color the pictures.
We've continued with our daily tradition of half an hour of Signing Time each day after lunch. The kids are signing more and more.
The older kids and I spent the week reviewing Spanish vocabulary, studying Andy Goldsworthy (artist), and reading about the Khans and Marco Polo.
In addition they did scads of independent work. Pixie got her first graphing calculator! It took a long time to work through the instruction manual to get it to graph the equations as assigned in her math book. But we got it!
Only 5 math lessons left for Pixie and only 6 for Belle, and they'll be done with math for the school year.
They're quite happy about it.
Super Star started Saxon 8/7 a couple of weeks ago, and she plans to work on it off and on through the summer so that she can continue to "catch up"/make progress in math.
Nature Angel finished reading/narrating Archimedes and the Door of Science. She says that Archimedes is one of her favorite scientists. Her narrations include diagrams, drawing, and graphs to illustrate what she learned--all computer designed. She uses our old desktop computer for her narrations, so I haven't got images to include in this post, but I just love her ability to incorporate art into whatever she's studying.
A couple of days this week, she did double math lessons--on her own.
Nature Angel and Little Princess did tons of art this week with ArtAchieve lessons.
One morning I heard Baymax stirring, but Rose Red beat me to it. Instead of getting him up, she joined him in my bed.
She's only got a year or so left at home, so I'm treasuring up these sweet moments of my oldest and youngest together.
And then there are the youngest two . . . one evening Pixie plunked them into Lola's crib to contain them after their baths but before she got jammies on them.
They had such a grand time!
Thursday was one of those days I spent in the van all day--putting more than 100 miles on it in 5 different directions.
The first errand was taking Super Star to see the doctor. She's been dizzy, lethargic, moody, and weepy for too long and too severely to chalk it up to teen girl hormones. The doc listened carefully, asked wise questions, examined her well and found out that she has orthostatic hypotension (her blood pressure falls when she stands or moves). Doc ordered labs that showed us she also has hypothyroidism.
Hooray for answers!
(And hooray that those answers don't include the severe depression I was afraid of.)
1 pill a day to encourage her thyroid to do its job, and our girl will feel so much better than she does now!
The final drive of the evening was taking Little Princess to the wedding reception of her former primary teacher, a darling young man who invited his whole class to help him celebrate. He and his bride were sweetly welcoming, even making sure they got a photo with Little Princess. She just glowed with pleasure the whole evening long.
And we managed to do a goodly amount of individual school, to boot.
Today is rainy and quiet. The kids have consumed their treats (minimal candy this year) and are now playing (mostly) quietly with the new magnetic building toys we added to our collection.
Nature Angel used them to make herself a pair of glasses.
Tonight is supposed to be a church social--a BBQ at a park. I'm not sure that will happen, and even if it does, I'm not sure how many of us will attend.
But we have options.
And I've worn my pajamas long enough into the day (a treat to myself--usually I'm dressed early). I'm going to get dressed, fix the kids some eggs, check on the progress the older girls are making on cleaning up the basement (they're having a party tomorrow night), and decide how we'll spend the rest of the day.
I rejoice in Christ this Easter season . . . and in all seasons.
Happy Easter!!!
(linking here)
So glad to hear there were some medical answers! I'm hypothyroid - the medication will give her a bit of a roller coaster for the first few weeks as her body kicks into gear with more hormones BUT once that settles it will be SO MUCH BETTER.
ReplyDeleteI figured there'd be rather a roller coaster while we get things settled, and then figuring that she's still an adolescent and hormones are kind of crazy there anyway . . . well, I'm kind of worried about the settling in phase, but I'm just really glad for the answers. :)
DeleteThanks for sharing this sweet review of your week... and the pictures. Wish I could hear your lesson!
ReplyDeleteHope Super Star feels better soon - and that there isn't too much of a roller coaster while the meds do their thing. Love Lola's smile. Its so infectious that I can't help grinning everytime I see it!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, you are raising artists. Their work is fabulous. Love the picture of Baymax and Lola climbing out of the crib. What a relief to have answers for Super Star. My husband and older sister are both on thyroid medication. She'll feel so much better having energy again. Good luck with your lesson. Wish I could hear it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter! What a blessed week and thank goodness for answers.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
I have used the Explode the Code series all the way through book eight with my children. I have found great success in their phonics and overall reading comprehension and reading confidence. It has been a great tool to use with my struggling readers. The 1/2 books are nice when someone special isn't quite ready to advance up to the next book. The 1/2 books make it possible to repeat skills without having to repeat books which is awfully hard on confidence levels.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter! I know what you mean about getting things out of the way before the holiday. My two-year-old was in constant meltdown mode all weekend with all the sugar and excitement. But it was still a good day.
ReplyDeleteYour kids' art is amazing! I am always very impressed with art because I have no skills in that area.