A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Our teens are an amazing team. Sir Walter Scott and I just got home from a 3 1/2 day trip away from home during which we read books, relaxed in a hammock, watched movies, ate too much, and took long naps. We stayed in this treehouse. I fought tears for the whole drive away from home, and I texted the kids during our dinner out, but somewhere along the way, I got into the groove of relaxing, and it was hard to tear myself away this morning. I could have enjoyed a full week. But it's good to be home. :) And I came home to a very, very clean house (even the game closet was tidied up!), happy children, and satisfied teens. After that first night, they didn't reach out to us once. They just took care of things. They prepared meals, administered meds, took kids on picnics, dropped kids off at parties, picked them back up again (driving safely), watched movies, gave baths, combed hair, read stories, meted out discipline (whooooo, Ladybug was a challenge!), played ...

Ladybug finished reading and narrating New Testament Stories. We went swimming. We played at the park. We played in the sand and water in our own yard. Super Star got her driver's license. Belle got hired by the amusement park, and in order to do so she HAD to have a state issued ID, so she got her permit . . . But she's not allowed to practice driving until she finishes her Personal Progress (which is what the older 3 had to complete to get their permits)! It was a week of quite a lot of peace. Enough peace that I began to think that the previous chaos had been all my fault. That it the anguish was mending because I was mending. Then Saturday arrived. We've been in a state of emergency ever since. Turns out the chaos wasn't all my fault.

The week started hard. But it got better. Monday I spent the whole day taking care of medical and psychiatric issues: 1.  Dr appt for me-- a depression screening revealed severe depression--as in "Are you sure you don't need to be hospitalized?  What support do you have to convince me to let you walk out of here?"  I showed him that I did have enough of a support network to go safely home.  I have started a med regimen and will continue seeing a therapist. 2.  Psychiatric appt for Ladybug--she's got a new supervising psychiatrist who believes Ladybug's ADHD symptoms might be PTSD in disguise, and that's why we're at 4 trials and 4 fails for medications.  Ladybug is now on an anti-depressant, but the ineffective (IMO) ADHD med is not to be stopped because the attending psychiatrist feels that both meds are going to be required to make a difference.  That makes 3 meds every day (counting the melatonin she takes for sleep).  In addition, she i...

We stayed home most of the time. Brother built a fort during quiet time one day. Sand and water held their attention all week It was a better week for the young ones . . . except Ladybug.  Her behaviors are rocketing out of control. She did successfully complete another week's worth of spelling and another 3 math lessons. Mister Man's quiet time construction Little kids in the sand pit gave the tweens opportunity to take over the wading pools. The teenagers worked a lot. Lola stalked a butterfly . . . the butterfly got safely away. Nature Angel and Mister man created a whirlpool and then put toy trucks in it so the trucks looked like they were driving madly in circles around and around the jar. Sir Walter Scott took the teens, Nature Angel, and Little Princess to a fireworks party on the night of the 3rd.  I kept the young ones home. Nature Angel helped make dinner before the party.  Then I took the younger 8 to the park ear...

Just clearing the side bar for a new year ahead.  Our state starts a new school year every July 1, and though I'm not required to follow that academic year, I've found it helpful for when to start and end my reading list each year. Mostly we love the books we share together.  I've made a few notes about some real fails that we will not come back to again, though. Teen Read Alouds (Includes books from our Classics Book Club and our English program this year) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Just David by Eleanor H. Porter The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington The Story of John Greenleaf Whittier by Francis E. Cook Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Patterns on the Wall by Elizabeth Yates Dracula by Bram Stoker Elementary Read Alouds (Nature Angel, Little Princess, and Mister Man) The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smi...

She's done! With homeschooling, that is. Her education from this point forward will look quite different from what it has looked like so far, but it's going to be great for her!  Her schedule this fall looks something like this:      M                  T                   W               Th                F Dance          Dance           Dance          Dance         Religion English        Math           ...

Super Star is still finishing up the last bit of her 10th grade year.  She's still writing the battle/climax scene of her One Year Adventure Novel , and when that's done, she has to write the final denouement chapter.  The computer that she likes to use died this year, and that has left her scrambling for computer time with either the family computer or Sir Walter Scott's. That's rather challenging. Plus, she started working this summer, and she's putting in nearly 40 hours each week.  Good for her pocketbook and her mental health, not so good for her writing. Symposium = 2.5 credits    1 credit--English         The Good and the Beautiful High School 1               1 credit--History         The Mystery of History Volume 4       .5 credit--Art, Sketching and Watercolor      ...