A Week, Briefly (3/11/19)
The time change has knocked our socks off, but at least a bit of warmer weather and occasional sunshine are lightening our hearts. :)
We hit the park for Family Night on Sunday evening as we faced the first day's challenge of adjusted clocks, non-adjusted sleep schedules, and daylight past bedtime.
The kids organized themselves into a hilarious game of hide-and-seek with almost no places to hide. The same places were used again and again as the kids learned how to disappear in plain sight. The teens all complained of sore muscles the next morning from contorting and holding themselves in strange positions under, above, and around playground equipment.
It was a joyful Family Night.
The week was chock full of activities and events that interrupted our usual school schedule.
First on the list was Ladybug's psych intake.
The intake was awesome! The psychiatrist is NOT going to make us wait 6 or 8 months for a full assessment before starting her on ADHD meds. He's only waiting for an EKG to be sure her heart is functioning properly, and we have our med appointment on March 25th!
Pending the results of his assessment (we get them March 18th), Brother's med appointment is March 20th, so we might have both of them improving by the end of the month!
I keep trying to remind myself of the truth of the challenges we have ahead of finding the right meds and dosages, and the new challenges of dealing with side effects . . .but the thought of even a 10% or 20% improvement in their behaviors and the emotional energy of our home is so exciting that I actually have butterflies in my stomach when I think of it.
And Ladybug had her MOCSA graduation on Wednesday afternoon.
Her behaviors as she mourns that loss are not fun, but I keep reminding her that we have new therapies and new experiences ahead. I have, however, had to tighten her boundaries even closer than they were because she's been mentally/emotionally harming Lola when my back was turned.
How grateful I am that Lola has enough words to report what happens to her!
We are also grateful that the teen car was simply out of coolant when it erupted in billowing clouds of smoke as the girls reached the high school to pick up their friend to go to the free prom boutique. The best we can figure is that when the mechanic put the engine back in place and hooked up everything that had come unhooked, he didn't check the fluid levels. It was something of a challenge to get it taken care of on that busy day, but it got the girls through the rest of the week . . . but now the car is back in the shop because something seems to be wrong with the front axle.
We'll see.
Smoking car notwithstanding, the teens each got lovely formal dresses at the prom boutique.
Dance practice was very long (an extra hour), but we accomplished much toward getting ready for our final show of the year which is in less than a month.
The teens and I finished Romeo and Juliet. We watched the 1996 Claire Danes/Leonardo DiCaprio version, and Pixie and Belle simply fell in love with it. Super Star was more reserved, but she liked it more than she thought she would. I realized that I like it just as much as I did when I first saw it over 20 years ago.
Later in the week, Super Star said, "You know, Henry V is free on Amazon Prime."
I think the rest of us screamed in delight, and we watched the first half that very evening.
Are there words to express the delight of sharing Shakespeare with one's children?
Our Romeo and Juliet book club meeting was on Friday. None of the other kids in the club liked the play as much as my girls and I did, and discussion fell a little flat compared to past discussions, but we enjoyed watching the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version, and as the girls' friends weren't interested in talking any further about the productions, we had a happy half our drive home dissecting them ourselves and promising to finish Henry V at the first opportunity.
While we were busy at book club, Sir Walter Scott took the kids to the zoo where they got to see a reptile demonstration and pet a bearded dragon lizard.
Youth night at church included a rousing game of indoor kickball.
The damage the kids and dog have done to our yard and the incredibly wet winter we've had have turned our yard into a mud field . . . and as we're on a hill, we're actually losing the mud to erosion in rapid order. This is making outdoor play challenging.
On Tuesday afternoon, I swept the 8 younger ones into the van for a trip to a lake for some outdoor time. On the way there and back we listened to ever more of the final Incorrigibles book. (It is taking us forever to finish this one, but after a very slow start, interesting things are finally starting to happen!)
Then on Wednesday as Sir Walter Scott dealt with the smoking teen car, I took the kids to the park, and we stayed until dark.
And I think that's it for outside events and activities.
We had 6 Morning Meetings, and a couple of those mornings included gospel discussions that the teens themselves initiated.
We had 4 Symposiums. The teens finished Unit 8 of their language arts curriculum, turned in their art assignments, and took their unit exams--all did very well.
I passed out Unit 9 so they could get started on the art project, and they all groaned--it's another sketching assignment of another face . . . these sketches are hard work for my girls, and they do not love them.
We only have 4 lessons left in our history book!
Pixie and Belle finished their third Spanish translation project, and I gave them their fourth (and probably final) project of the school year. They watched a number of videos in Spanish, and I forced them into a little bit of reading/pronunciation practice.
We had 5 Academy meetings.
We finished reading a book of poetry by Langston Hughes. I was not the only one crying through many of them, and I'm determined to have the kids memorize 2 of them next school year. That book marked the end of a serendipitous study of various great artist of Harlem in the 1920s/30s--all from books I got for $.25 each at a fund-raising book sale last spring.
Honestly, I'm eager for more.
We finished reading a biography of Daniel Boone, who lived well before actual time period in American History we've been studying, but who was an example of the spirit of Westward Expansion. Sir Walter Scott and I are now trying to organize a field trip to Defiance, Missouri to visit his home/museum there.
We'll see.
In world history, we finished reading about the Age of Exploration and got started on the Renaissance.
And we're a good third of the way into The Little Prince.
Individual studies are going really well for some kids and less well for others.
Brother had only a medium-hard week, but it interrupted his ability to read and do math.
Ladybug hit walls in math, and continues to struggle with spelling, but I administered several reading assessments, and she's made over a year's worth of progress in less than a year. That's exciting!!!
Mister Man finished his third quarter of Prima Latina, and he is racing to the end of Rod and Staff grade 1 arithmetic. Several weeks ago even he hit walls in Shiller Math, and he graciously agreed to do the repetitive math drills in Rod and Staff . . . for lack of a better substitute this year.
As promised, I pulled out supplies to do one of the parent-assisted science activities in the science book he finished by himself, and it was good to revisit the lesson--together this time--and teach the vocabulary and keep the fire of learning alive.
The preschoolers worked on /s/ and /t/.
Beowulf and I never got together for reading lessons--he simply has not been able to focus long enough to even play sight word matching games--but we did do an "at" and "an" family reading game on Starfall.com one day, and he sounded out the title to a book one evening as he put on his pajamas.
It's going to be important for us to get his preliminary ADHD diagnosis made official and get him started on meds this summer . . . our behavior modification efforts have gone as far as they can toward helping him focus, but I don't have it in me to teach him how to read while he's in perpetual motion or knocking things off the table and falling out of his chair.
That said, I'm going to keep trying. :)
Pixie was on spring break from dance and college. It was fun to have her around a little bit more than usual this week.
The week ahead is spring break from seminary, and I've promised the teens it will be a break from Symposium and their individual home studies. Pixie does have to go back to her college classes--including a much dreaded mid-term--and dance starts again.
As for the rest of us, I'm watching for a forecast of sunny skies and comfortable temperatures before we take a break.
Could be next week . . .
Or later!
 |
| That's Nature Angel studying in the tree. |
We hit the park for Family Night on Sunday evening as we faced the first day's challenge of adjusted clocks, non-adjusted sleep schedules, and daylight past bedtime.
The kids organized themselves into a hilarious game of hide-and-seek with almost no places to hide. The same places were used again and again as the kids learned how to disappear in plain sight. The teens all complained of sore muscles the next morning from contorting and holding themselves in strange positions under, above, and around playground equipment.
It was a joyful Family Night.
The week was chock full of activities and events that interrupted our usual school schedule.
First on the list was Ladybug's psych intake.
The intake was awesome! The psychiatrist is NOT going to make us wait 6 or 8 months for a full assessment before starting her on ADHD meds. He's only waiting for an EKG to be sure her heart is functioning properly, and we have our med appointment on March 25th!
Pending the results of his assessment (we get them March 18th), Brother's med appointment is March 20th, so we might have both of them improving by the end of the month!
I keep trying to remind myself of the truth of the challenges we have ahead of finding the right meds and dosages, and the new challenges of dealing with side effects . . .but the thought of even a 10% or 20% improvement in their behaviors and the emotional energy of our home is so exciting that I actually have butterflies in my stomach when I think of it.
And Ladybug had her MOCSA graduation on Wednesday afternoon.
Her behaviors as she mourns that loss are not fun, but I keep reminding her that we have new therapies and new experiences ahead. I have, however, had to tighten her boundaries even closer than they were because she's been mentally/emotionally harming Lola when my back was turned.
How grateful I am that Lola has enough words to report what happens to her!
We are also grateful that the teen car was simply out of coolant when it erupted in billowing clouds of smoke as the girls reached the high school to pick up their friend to go to the free prom boutique. The best we can figure is that when the mechanic put the engine back in place and hooked up everything that had come unhooked, he didn't check the fluid levels. It was something of a challenge to get it taken care of on that busy day, but it got the girls through the rest of the week . . . but now the car is back in the shop because something seems to be wrong with the front axle.
We'll see.
Smoking car notwithstanding, the teens each got lovely formal dresses at the prom boutique.
Dance practice was very long (an extra hour), but we accomplished much toward getting ready for our final show of the year which is in less than a month.
The teens and I finished Romeo and Juliet. We watched the 1996 Claire Danes/Leonardo DiCaprio version, and Pixie and Belle simply fell in love with it. Super Star was more reserved, but she liked it more than she thought she would. I realized that I like it just as much as I did when I first saw it over 20 years ago.
Later in the week, Super Star said, "You know, Henry V is free on Amazon Prime."
I think the rest of us screamed in delight, and we watched the first half that very evening.
Are there words to express the delight of sharing Shakespeare with one's children?
Our Romeo and Juliet book club meeting was on Friday. None of the other kids in the club liked the play as much as my girls and I did, and discussion fell a little flat compared to past discussions, but we enjoyed watching the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version, and as the girls' friends weren't interested in talking any further about the productions, we had a happy half our drive home dissecting them ourselves and promising to finish Henry V at the first opportunity.
While we were busy at book club, Sir Walter Scott took the kids to the zoo where they got to see a reptile demonstration and pet a bearded dragon lizard.
Youth night at church included a rousing game of indoor kickball.
The damage the kids and dog have done to our yard and the incredibly wet winter we've had have turned our yard into a mud field . . . and as we're on a hill, we're actually losing the mud to erosion in rapid order. This is making outdoor play challenging.
On Tuesday afternoon, I swept the 8 younger ones into the van for a trip to a lake for some outdoor time. On the way there and back we listened to ever more of the final Incorrigibles book. (It is taking us forever to finish this one, but after a very slow start, interesting things are finally starting to happen!)
 |
| Ladybug and Mister Man |
 |
| Fossils! |
Then on Wednesday as Sir Walter Scott dealt with the smoking teen car, I took the kids to the park, and we stayed until dark.
 |
| Baymax worked hard on developing enough courage and balance to do a little bit of climbing. |
 |
| And then there's Lola . . . to whom climbing comes completely naturally. :) |
And I think that's it for outside events and activities.
We had 6 Morning Meetings, and a couple of those mornings included gospel discussions that the teens themselves initiated.
We had 4 Symposiums. The teens finished Unit 8 of their language arts curriculum, turned in their art assignments, and took their unit exams--all did very well.
 |
| Belle's |
 |
| Pixie's |
 |
| Super Star's |
I passed out Unit 9 so they could get started on the art project, and they all groaned--it's another sketching assignment of another face . . . these sketches are hard work for my girls, and they do not love them.
We only have 4 lessons left in our history book!
Pixie and Belle finished their third Spanish translation project, and I gave them their fourth (and probably final) project of the school year. They watched a number of videos in Spanish, and I forced them into a little bit of reading/pronunciation practice.
 |
| Belle finished Second Form Latin, and Third Form is organized in her school crate and ready to start after spring break. |
We had 5 Academy meetings.
We finished reading a book of poetry by Langston Hughes. I was not the only one crying through many of them, and I'm determined to have the kids memorize 2 of them next school year. That book marked the end of a serendipitous study of various great artist of Harlem in the 1920s/30s--all from books I got for $.25 each at a fund-raising book sale last spring.
Honestly, I'm eager for more.
We finished reading a biography of Daniel Boone, who lived well before actual time period in American History we've been studying, but who was an example of the spirit of Westward Expansion. Sir Walter Scott and I are now trying to organize a field trip to Defiance, Missouri to visit his home/museum there.
We'll see.
In world history, we finished reading about the Age of Exploration and got started on the Renaissance.
And we're a good third of the way into The Little Prince.
Individual studies are going really well for some kids and less well for others.
Brother had only a medium-hard week, but it interrupted his ability to read and do math.
Ladybug hit walls in math, and continues to struggle with spelling, but I administered several reading assessments, and she's made over a year's worth of progress in less than a year. That's exciting!!!
 |
| She finished her first cursive penmanship book! |
Mister Man finished his third quarter of Prima Latina, and he is racing to the end of Rod and Staff grade 1 arithmetic. Several weeks ago even he hit walls in Shiller Math, and he graciously agreed to do the repetitive math drills in Rod and Staff . . . for lack of a better substitute this year.
As promised, I pulled out supplies to do one of the parent-assisted science activities in the science book he finished by himself, and it was good to revisit the lesson--together this time--and teach the vocabulary and keep the fire of learning alive.
 |
| This is an animal cell model--cell membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus were the vocabulary we cemented with this activity. Then he made a plant cell model, adding green grapes to represent chloroplasts. |
 |
| This is one of the human anatomy activities he did himself a week or so ago that I didn't know about! Where was I? I checked his work against the assignment in the text, and he had everything perfectly done. I like his leg bones. :) |
The preschoolers worked on /s/ and /t/.
Beowulf and I never got together for reading lessons--he simply has not been able to focus long enough to even play sight word matching games--but we did do an "at" and "an" family reading game on Starfall.com one day, and he sounded out the title to a book one evening as he put on his pajamas.
It's going to be important for us to get his preliminary ADHD diagnosis made official and get him started on meds this summer . . . our behavior modification efforts have gone as far as they can toward helping him focus, but I don't have it in me to teach him how to read while he's in perpetual motion or knocking things off the table and falling out of his chair.
That said, I'm going to keep trying. :)
Pixie was on spring break from dance and college. It was fun to have her around a little bit more than usual this week.
The week ahead is spring break from seminary, and I've promised the teens it will be a break from Symposium and their individual home studies. Pixie does have to go back to her college classes--including a much dreaded mid-term--and dance starts again.
As for the rest of us, I'm watching for a forecast of sunny skies and comfortable temperatures before we take a break.
Could be next week . . .
Or later!
Looks like you've got some real artists coming up--in more ways than one!
ReplyDeleteSo much good stuff going on. I am so happy that you do not have to wait for the med help. I hope that makes huge improvements. Dean doesn't use meds...just lots of supplements. However, Katie has always been on lots of medications for her and our basic survival. I love all of the outside time you all manage. I hope spring comes your way soon. We all need it. I just realized the other day that although we have done tons of Shakespeare, my kids have never seen Romeo and Juliet. I really need to fix that soon. We are on a Bronte Sister kick right now.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
You would never know that the sketches are hard work for your girls, they are gorgeous! I hope the medical appointments go well and that the medicines make a big difference. We have had so much rain this year that most of our yard has been full of mud and our animal pens have been constantly flooding. No rain is in the forecast for the next 4 days so maybe it will dry up at least a little. Have a great week!
ReplyDelete