A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

It is late Saturday afternoon.  We are home from our final dance performance of the 2017-18 school year.  (Many thanks to our director who manages to both direct and take pictures at the same time!!!!) Mamma Mia When Johnny Comes Marching Home Ready for Let's Twist Again Fifty Nifty United States High Horse Ready for Jailhouse Rock and Rockin' Robin Mississippi Mud Little Bitty Pretty One Soul Man She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain Dance to the Music Jailhouse Rock My Stripes!  Ready for Old Dan Tucker 9 to 5 Oh, Susanna Swingin' on a Star The new season begins again on August 2nd with a mom's meeting, and rehearsals to start on August 23rd. It will be good to start again. For now, it will be good to rest. We are tired . . . but content. I was tempted to just tuck everyone right in bed, but the sun is shining brightly, and I know some unstructured outdoor pl...

"Mama, I got flowers for you," said Baymax, and he held his hands over mine to depost one dandelion head and three tiny dog violets . . . mostly squished. I cried. It has been such a hard week. Do I ever type anything different? How boring. I am far more blessed than I realize, and sometimes I receive the blessing of having my eyes opened for a moment or two. Before I realize it is time to feed everyone again or someone has a tantrum. And the 4 mostly squished flowerheads in Baymax's pudgy, dirty, beautiful little hands are the best way of having my eyes opened that I can imagine. 10 minutes earlier, Little Princess brought me a similar minature bouquet; hers was lovely--stems intact, wrapped in lavender embroidery floss, and tied with a note that said, "I love you." Baymax saw it and immediately said, "I want one, too!" So did Lola and Beowulf. Odds are both Lola and Beowulf have been distracted and no more bouquets will find the...

We've kind of had a spring break . . . and kind of not. Symposium--5 days Academy--3 days Co-op--1 day This is Nature Angel's canvas. Individual School--hit and miss, but probably only 1 time per kid Dance-- 1, our final community service show of the year for our biggest audience, numbering over 80! Grandma and Grandpa--1 afternoon/evening visit New winter beanies--6, all of them handmade by Grandma Outside time--a lot!  It crossed 80 degrees this week, but it is now back in the 30s, and snow is expected overnight. College/Career interviews--1 for Pixie (just with me); 2 for Rose Red (1 at Concorde Career College, and 1 at the local community college) FAFSA forms filled out--1.5  (Rose Red's is done; Pixie's is the half.) Calls from Doodle for Google--0  And that is disappointing because Nature Angel really, really, really thought her drawing was a potential winner.   Chicks--no more losses; 14 alive and thriving hours spent working...

Easter was lovely . . . if a bit overwhelming what with the outpouring of revelatory changes in General Conference . photo credit:  Little Princess Monday's weather was perfectly acceptable for January. It was a slap in the face on April 2nd. photo credit:  Pixie But Sir Walter Scott and I took off for the temple first thing in the morning and had quite a lovely time volunteering for the weekly cleaning.  We dusted, mopped, polished, and washed. It's such a different experience cleaning the temple than cleaning my own house. After that, we went out for lunch and talked about the kids for 2+ hours.  There was and is much for us to counsel about together. The teens took good care of everyone all day, and I cannot remember what we did with the rest of the afternoon . . . except for my chiropractic appointment. Then we had a couple of regular-ish school days--minus Symposium. And I had a long, long counsel with Pixie over her plans for...