A Week, Briefly (9/25/17)

I'm starting to thinking that "briefly" isn't such a good description of my weekly posts. We'll see if I can shorten them up in the weeks to come . . . or not!
 

Monday
We had our best Monday morning yet.  I am so happy that our Mondays are smoothing out!!

The teens each had individual meetings with me during which we reviewed their schoolwork from last week, had writing conferences (about their Shane essays), and set some goals for the week ahead.

The Elementary 8 and I had an impromptu art lesson based on our reading of How's Inky? and the deer we saw on our hike last week.  We used an illustration from the book as inspiration for a how-to-draw-a-deer lesson.

I cannot believe how well it went!

Ladybug and Brother have a very hard time making their hands do what their eyes see--and I mean very, very hard.  Both of them can look at a ball and end up with a triangle on their paper.  And Beowulf actually can't hold a pencil without help, so when we try to do nature sketches, it is an exercise in futility.  I figured a few how-to lessons might help them translate what they see with their eyes onto paper a little more successfully . . . and success breeds success.  

The crew sets eagerly to work after my initial instruction.

My sketches for instructing the kids . . . please don't laugh!

Beowulf's drawing.  I can see a body, some legs, a head, ears, a tail, and antlers!  Regardless of their location, that's serious progress for him.  He was so proud!  I wish I'd gotten a picture of him grinning.

Nature Angel is waaaay beyond any instruction I can offer.  She asked for the illustration, so she could work at her own level.

Mister Man's deer.

Baymax again . . . Lola had run off to ride a scooter.

Little Princess wanted her deer to be a doe instead of a buck.

I shot this picture upside down and at a funny angle, so it is kind of squished, but Mister Man wanted to draw a picture of Rascal--a naughty raccoon from How's Inky?

Ladybug's deer. 

Nature Angel's final product.

Brother's deer.  He went to work coloring the whole thing with his pencil.  Personally, I like his antlers.

The best part was answering Ladybug's never ending questions of, "Did I do it right?  Do you like it?" with, "What do you think?  Did you do it right?  Do you like what you drew?"  Then she'd look at her work and assess whether she liked what she'd drawn.  Often she didn't like it, and she'd erase and re-draw . . . but it was her own internal assessment of her own work instead of an outside assessment.

In the end she beamed at what she was able to do.

She still really wanted me to give her my stamp of approval, and of course I did approve of her work, but I held back any evaluation of what she drew and simply said, "I'm proud of you for doing your best!"

The teens and I managed to squeeze in a brief Symposium consisting of 1 puzzle from A Case of Red Herrings, a bit of Spanish review, and 2 lessons from The Mystery of History.

At some point in the afternoon, Mister Man caught a frog all by himself!

Then I went to the dentist for 2 more fillings.

It was kind of brutal and left me wiped out.
 
Still we managed to do our evening reading.

Tuesday
It was a long, hard night because Baymax woke up with a croupy cough.  A week or so ago, Nature Angel had the same problem--this attack that came out of nowhere.  The stridor was soothed to a just-tolerable level by sitting in the steamy bathroom and then sitting out in the cooler night air. 

In addition, our house alarm went off at 3:00 am, rousting both Sir Walter Scott and me out of bed in a complete panic.  The house was secure, and the kids were all safe, but it was unsettling.

So Tuesday started limpingly.

And it never got better . . . as far as school went.

Rose Red and Pixie went to work.

Super Star and Belle did independent school--after I took Super Star's phone away from her.

Nature Angel started a new set of Bible study worksheets that we received for review purposes, and she did a math lesson.  She also looked up DIY American Girl doll products, and then she spent the afternoon making no-sew outfits for her doll.

Everything this doll is wearing was created by Nature Angel--headband, tank top, infinity scarf, and skirt!

Little Princess came with me to drop the older girls off at work, and she used her birthday money to get a new doll.  She joined Nature Angel in crafting all afternoon.

The littles played.

I spent the whole day driving people places--work, doctor visits, prescription pick ups, library, grocery shopping, other essential errands . . . seriously, I didn't spend more than half an hour at home at any given time.  Just come and go, come and go, come and go.

We did have Morning Meeting.

And when I accidentally called the Elementary 8 in too early for dinner (timing!), we read about Bach and listened to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring from Stories of the Great Composers.

How grateful I am for our Academy box!  To have a ready supply of interesting materials for opportune moments saved my sense of the day.

Wednesday
I'd bought new bait, hooks, sinkers, and bobbers over the weekend, so we were ready to go fishing again.

And as I took our packed snack/lunch out to the van, it started raining.

Go?  Stay?  Go?  Stay?

Wondering if we should stay or go . . . how blessed are we to have Pixie as our photographer who can make kids standing in a garage look like this!?!?!

We hunted down a dozen raincoats (or at least 8 and a few waterproofish hoodies) and a dozen pairs of boots and a pop-up sun shelter to use as a rain shelter, and we went anyway.

Oh!  How glad I am we did!  It wasn't raining at the lake--it was just cloudy and cool and breezy.

We hiked a short mile and Pixie took pictures.

We still didn't catch any fish.

(!!!)

But we practiced patience and perseverance and creative thinking as we brainstormed reasons for our continued failure and ways to change our failure to success.

The kids walked along calling, "Oak.  Maple.  Goldenrod.  Pinkweed.  Honey Locust.  Osage Orange.  Queen Anne's Lace.  Clover.  Morning Glory.  Blue Orchid (this one is actually called Slender Dayflower).  Feverfew.  Sunflower.  Walnut."

And more!

They are really, really, really learning the trees and wildflowers of our area!

We have so many still to learn, but we're doing well, and they are starting to really look and see the glory of God's creation instead of just screaming and running through it.

That sense of success fills my heart with joy.

We don't know what kind of spider this is, but we're looking.

Nature Angel scooped up some duckweed and let the younger kids touch it and smell it.

Thistle seeds.  We threw them into the air and watched them waft away on the breeze.

After the photo shoot, Pixie settled into a math lesson.

We took a second walk down another path, and the girls wanted their picture taken next to these pretty blue asters.

"Look at this leaf!  It's so weird!  What kind of leaf is it?" asked Mister Man.

Then we found some "regular" maple leaves, and he realized the first leaf must have been eaten or worn away.

We got this close to a Great Blue Heron!

When it flew away a bit, we tried to stalk it.

But it flew away for good.  Oh!  The joy of the hunt, though!!!!

In addition, I've been pondering why I feel compelled to school this way right now.  Why do I work so hard to pack up anywhere from half a dozen to a full dozen kids in the car and spend the mornings outside when we could just sit at the kitchen table and be fiercely productive in academics?

(Can you tell I recently read a blog post about productivity in homeschooling?)

The answer is slowly coming.

Tentatively I can say that I like my children best outside.  I am happier for the time out-of-doors, and so are they.  If I can start our day liking them and feeding my spirit on the sun and wind and water and green, then I am more likely to be loving later in the day.

I think we are learning to love deeply this year.

I think we are cultivating and fine-tuning our family bonds--our family culture.

I'm short of words that adequately express what's on my mind, but I'm following the promptings that are leading us to the greatest happiness.

The rest of the day passed in piano lessons, math lessons, housework, outdoor play, and in driving all over town for Rose Red's most recent set of job interviews.  She's still working at Freddy's but she's really, really hoping to leave that for a job at Old Navy.

The anticipation is making her nuts . . . let's hope she hears soon.

Thursday
The Elementary 8 and I went to Cave Spring to hide our painted rocks.  The teens stayed home to work independently. 

Not a rock we painted, but finding new rocks was just as much fun as hiding our own.

One of Nature Angel's rocks "hidden" on this little fungus shelf on a tree on the little island.  The kids were tickled pink by the perfection of the location.

They found a rock all by themselves!  (Lola's hair looks white because it was heavily conditioned that morning; the conditioner was all absorbed within the hour.)

Cool mushroom!

That's a raccoon!  He was ambling along the path when Little Princess practically stumbled over him.  He ran off to hide in the creek rocks.  We were within 50 feet of him.  He peered out at us for a while.  We were as still as we could be!

Eventually he decided we were the kind of threat he could hide from best by napping.  Eventually we hiked around to the top of the waterfall and spied on him from that vantage point.  After some minutes he sat up and went to work searching the water for a snack, but then Beowulf stumbled a little and grabbed Lola, and she screamed.  Mir. Raccoon curled right back up into a ball, and we left him in peace.

We found these glowing circles all over the park.  They are the centers of spider webs.  We identified the spider, but now I've forgotten the name again.  The way they glowed in the sunlight was just magic!

Two hours flew by, and we came home for an early lunch and dance.

I gave piano lessons in the late afternoon.

Pixie danced the night away, but the rest of us read at home, and the day was done.

Friday
The teens opted to stay home and do book work, but the Elementary 8 and I headed out on a hike.

We took turns using the compass to get to know our directions.

"T!  Mom!  T!"  yelled Beowulf as he walked past these roots.  We also found some sticks that worked for teaching "S" and /s/.  Gotta love the combination of  a little phonics practice and hiking. :)

 

"I'm going to tlime dis twee!"  Lola announced.  (This is as high as she got.)

This is the area where the flood damage is the worst.  The trail is utterly overcome, and we had to make our way through this tangle of fallen branches and trees.  That's Nature Angel and Ladybug under the arrow.  They were the forward vanguard while I kept to the rear helping stragglers.

Hail the conquering heroes!

We may not be able to catch fish, but we can watch them in clear pools. :)

Mister Man bent down to pick up a discarded old cup left near the trail and found a surprise inside.  When we opened the cup to look at him, he tried to get away, but he was surrounded, so he backed as close to his home as he could and hoped we'd go away . . . which we did.

Watching a train go by on a trestle in the distance.  This is an urban park we're visiting.

We manged about 2 miles--that's an awful lot for my two toddlers, and it was chock full of climbing, plant identification, orienteering, an impromptu geology lesson (sedimentary rocks), frog finding, fish watching, trash-picking-up, and picnicking with a history read aloud and a challenge to study goldenrod more closely (from The Handbook of Nature Study).

And the kids took the challenge!

"Mom!  Mom!" they called.  "Look at this!  We found the fruit.  Like the book said!  It's here!  Look!"

We looked.

And then we hiked on.

I'd been given some coupons for free Chipotle meals for the family, and we tried to use them for lunch.  It was a total debacle.  Chipotle used to be a favorite place, but no longer!  Thank goodness for an absolutely outstanding employee who went well beyond the call of duty to try to make up for her ogre of a manager and family unfriendly policies.

We eventually got to eat.

Now it is late Friday afternoon.

Most of the kids are having quiet time, but the teens and I are watching E.T. for the Movies as Literature class.  It's bringing back many, many childhood memories for me. :)

This weekend is all about General Conference!!!

(This hilarious video shows just how excited we are around here.)




(linking here)