A Week, Briefly (10/22/18)

I'm not sure that we did much school this week.

I am sure that we handled behavior emergencies; found, shopped for, altered, and mended Halloween costumes; dropped off, picked up, had a roadside emergency, dropped off, and picked up again the teen car from the shop; dealt with the actual flu (Rose Red); dealt with fevers and flu-like symptoms by taking enough garlic to keep an Italian restaurant in business for a week (Mister Man and Little Princess had fevers--the rest of us took it prophylactically); took Lola to urgent care for yet another case of nursemaid's elbow; took Beowulf to his second round of developmental/behavioral testing; sent teens to parties; celebrated Halloween; cleaned the garage (thank you, Sir Walter Scott!); almost finished the dance props; purchased new white dress shirts for the boys; got to an almost-final level of organization for the upcoming dance performances; went to the dentist (Lola and Baymax); cancelled MOCSA due to too many commitments at the same time on the same day; fixed the chicken coop latch (thank you again, Sir Walter Scott!); cleaned up waaaaaaay too many urine puddles, and tried to pick up the pieces of one sorely broken heart (Pixie).

Baymax as airplane pilot

Lola as ladybug

Beowulf as owl

Brother as Woody

Ladybug as Dorothy--we could find neither ruby nor silver slippers

Mister Man as Waldo

Super Star put on some cat make up for the church party--for the first dance, she really decked herself out as a black cat, and for the second dance, she went as Disgust from Inside Out.  I have no pictures from either of the other events.

Little Princess as a fairy

Make up by Pixie

Nature Angel as a doll--wearing the costume Pixie made last year or the year before that.

Group shot at the trunk or treat.  Pixie is just wearing her cat sleeper here, but she did amazing skeleton face make up for the other dances that I wouldn't let her wear to a family event.  I hated it, but I have to admit she did an incredible job!

We had three sessions of Symposium during which we started Unit 4 of language arts, worked on various uses of tener for Spanish and did several paragraphs of translation, and finished week 10 in history.

We managed 2 sessions of Academy during which we finished I Walked to Zion (an 8 1/2 week project), watched our bean seeds sprout, studied the rotation and revolution of the earth, wrote about Draco and Cleisthenes of ancient Greece, read poetry and fairy tales, and enjoyed learning about Abraham Lincoln via the book by the D'Aulaires.

Morning Meeting happens 6 days a week without fail, and this week was no exception.  We're very nearly done with our Bible storybook--we'll probably finish it next week--and we've been memorizing scriptures from the Doctrine and Covenants (82:10 this week and next).  Belle requested that we review The Living Christ, and doing so has been a lovely experience.  We'll keep it up next week, too, as we found we were rusty in a couple of spots.  Our practice of daily reciting the primary theme and scripture for each month is still intact as is our habit of singing an Article of Faith.  In the past couple of weeks, we've added in a review of "Turtle Steps" as taught by MOCSA for helping us to stop and think and choose wisely our course of action in critical moments.

Some co-op photos:

Ladybug's early morning school continues to be a success for her.  She struggles mightily with math, and we're moving oh-so-slowly through the Shiller lesson book--sometimes spending several days on a single lesson even though the program is designed for several lessons a day.  But slow-and-steady seems to be the right course of action.

The little boys' school sessions are still hit-and-miss, but we're starting to hit more than we're missing--even during a week as full as this one.

Brother seems increasingly autistic to me, and I long for confirmation and direction regarding his behaviors and struggles.

Baymax and Lola ask daily for "school."  The free printable booklets I've been making have lost their luster, and I've been wondering how to fill their hearts and minds.  I know they don't want to truly be organized--they just want their mommy to look at and listen to them.  How will I carve out the space they need?

Nature Angel continues to work with dedication.

Little Princess's books are not filling her needs at all.  They were gathered free off our shelves, and they are age/grade/skill appropriate, but they still don't fit her as a unique individual.  She hates them, and I hate fighting her into doing her work.  I'm going to have to make some changes for her.

Pixie took the ACT for the second time this weekend.  Her practice improved her score by 5 full points, which is entirely adequate for college admission.  If she scores as she did in practice, I won't make her do it again.

I'm bringing back Saturday chores . . . the small hour that Nature Angel, Little Princess, Mister Man and I worked together brought significant peace to my heart.