A Week, Briefly (5/20/19)

Some sun.

A lot of rain.

We're still balancing on the line between the school year and summer.

The local schools are not out yet, even though they usually would be, and most of the graduation ceremonies are over.  There were too many snow days this winter, and many of our friends are still getting on and off buses every morning and afternoon.

And even though the pools and spray parks are supposed to open this weekend, the 10-day forecast has 7 days of rain predicted (it might not happen that way--but, then again, it might).

We're just plodding along, watching and waiting for the chance to do summery things . . . our wish list is long. :)

A clean mudroom was my gift from Nature Angel for my combined Mother's Day/birthday weekends.  Seriously, I think it is my favorite gift . . . and it had to compete with the book that Pixie organized the kids into creating for me.

The book defies description--it is too personally meaningful to our family--but here's a peek at the introductory page. :)

We've had several miracles around here in the form of specific answers to specific prayers.  I'm not recording the stories here in our homeschool journal, but a new-to-us dishwasher was one of the miracles, and the kids spent a happy day watching Sir Walter Scott learn how to remove our old one (it was harder than it should have been due to the fact that our counter tops are damaged) and install the new one.  I'm grateful for them to get to watch him learn and try and work through obstacles and eventually succeed at doing new things.

Brother read and did copywork from this book until he finished it.

I took the kids on a picnic and nature walk one afternoon.  It was so cold!  Our sweaters were not warm enough!  We found painted rocks and hid them again for other finders, and we did an alphabet scavenger hunt during which we found items for 24 letters--X and Z were our only empty spots on the list.

After our walk we came home to identify the Stalked Scarlet Cup Mushroom and the Yellow Flag Iris--both of which we found along the way.

Pixie found a whole bunch of family names on FamilySearch.org, and she took Nature Angel with her to the temple to do baptisms.

Baymax finished preschool!

Mister Man finished this Latin book (I cannot express how sweet it is to hear him recite the Lord's Prayer in Latin--the memorizing of scriptures, songs, and prayers is my favorite part of his studies).  He has no assigned school left for this school year!

Brother read/wrote his way through another book!

Little Princess finished all of her assigned school, too.  This spelling book was an old one from years ago, and though it was well beneath her ability, it was a fun review of some basic spelling principles (she did 1-2 weeks' work each day), and it forced her to work on her penmanship.  Once she got over the insult of being handed a "remedial" book, she threw herself into it heart and soul, and had a blast firming up her skills.

She also crocheted and beaded a headband for herself.

Mister Man was introduced to basketball last weekend.  He is not gifted with athletic grace or ability, but the allure of the ball and the hoop is strong for him.  He threw himself into learning to shoot--working every non-rainy hour of the day.  He went from making 4/100 shots the first day to making 220/1000 shots by the end of the week.  (Yes, he counted!)

Nature Angel learned how to crochet rosettes (via YouTube), and she made several before attaching a few to crocheted headbands (she inspired Little Princess's work above).  We've talked about opening an Etsy shop for her, but we've decided to wait until she is more independent and can handle shipping/billing/internet work on her own. :)

Non-photographed educational pursuits continue to develop in our home as well.

Rose Red is beginning to learn some of the hard life lessons that she refused to learn without hands-on experience.  She's been home more, talking through some of the hurts, trying to figure out what she's learning, and seeming to have a sincere desire to make some positive choices.  Menard's has been hiring so hard and fast that they cut off hiring until they get their current new hires fully oriented and working independently, but that means Rose Red was frozen out just a day before she would have been called back and scheduled for orientation.  She's upped her efforts at finding full-time employment.

Pixie worked all week on a trial basis as a receptionist/billing clerk for our mechanic.  She went into it will a good will, but hated the work in the extreme--not because it was hard--it was not a good fit for her (for too many reasons to enumerate).  We encouraged her to keep trying, and she did.  She also prayed and sought counsel from other trusted adults/friends.  In the end, she told the mechanic that she could not take the job, and he tried to keep her by offering her an AMAZING salary.  She stayed true to what she felt in her heart, and refused the job.  She came home with a light in her eyes and a spring in her step which comforted me that she chose rightly for herself.

Rose Red visited the mechanic with her resume in hand about 2 hours later!

(I hope he'll give her a chance.)

Pixie has a job interview this afternoon, and she's filling out applications all over town.

Sir Walter Scott also showed me an email informing us that Pixie won another college scholarship!  It's substantial (for us).  We've got some work to do to learn how it will impact the financial package the school has already offered, but we're really excited about this award!

A lot of time is going into filling out forms and jumping through college hoops.

Super Star started her new job at Freddy's.  She's working about 30 hours in the week to come, and she's very happy.

Therapies, psychiatric appointments, and a dentist appointment were squeezed in between other activities.

The youngest half dozen and I continue to enjoy and learn from Myself and Others each day at lunch time, and the teens and I had a meeting during which we decided that even though seminary is now over (!!) and they long to sleep in, they will still get up for Morning Meeting because that is when we do our Come, Follow Me studies.

We couldn't come up with another workable idea.

I've been filling storage boxes with completed school work--I filled box #3, and I've got a 4th box ready and waiting.

We wrapped up our week by attending a cousin's homeschool graduation ceremony on Friday night.

My mom took this picture of her graduating grandkids and the moms. :)

Pixie's graduation is only 2 weeks away!