A Week, Briefly (8-10-20)

 

Nature Angel painted this card and finger knitted this chunky blanket for her friend whose father died.  The viewing and funeral were this weekend.

 

Monday

We unpacked the sorting boxes and packed up Nature Angel's and Little Princess' school crates with their textbooks and supplies.

Everything is ready but a lens for the camera to replace the one that was dropped one too many times and won't focus anymore.

We had summer school and quiet time.

I helped Mister Man sort through his treasure drawers.  They were overflowing--we couldn't close them.  We recycled/threw away what he could bear to part with.

"Mom, did you know that sometimes when I get rid of things, I feel sick afterwards?" he said.

"That's because you're just like your Mom and Dad!  We all think we need things to be happy, but too many things become a problem.  It's important for us all to learn the difference between keeping a few special treasures and just keeping stuff."

He smiled.

In addition to space for special books, Lego sets, and nature collections, we also set aside space for what I called, "small, junky things that make you smile."

Oh, how he loved that phrase!  He would look at something I handed him and say with a grin, "This is a small, junky thing that makes me smile!" and he'd put it happily in his drawer.

When it was all over he said, "Oh, Mom!  Thank you!  I couldn't have done this alone!  I needed you!  You helped me so much!"

Oh, my heart!  I love this tall, small boy!

Tuesday

A hard day . . . for no tangible reason.

I just felt defeated and listless.

Maybe hormones?

The kids played joyfully outside for the entire morning while I enjoyed personal study time.  I've been taking free, online mini-classes from Hillsdale College as well as learning a bit of Hebrew on Duolingo.

It's pretty fun.

I forgot to log into the library virtual storytime presentation I meant to show to the kids.

We had a successful school session followed by a mostly peaceful quiet time.

We were gearing up to go to a spray park when Brother had a meltdown.

2 hours later, we managed to go anyway.

No one was there, and the water was off.

We wondered if we'd missed some city announcement, but Nature Angel jumped out to see if pressing the activation button would work.

It did!

We had a private spray park for about half an hour!

Then others arrived, and we happily shared.

At one point Lola and Beowulf ran to the backside of one of the park fences.  Instead of going around to the gate to come back in, they climbed over.   

Lola climbed up and over the top of the metal railing in such a way that she was literally upside down, hanging by her knees, then not hanging because she was crawling down the rails like an insect  . . . or monkey . . . or squirrel!  

Not two minutes later I saw Mister Man fall from the top of the climbing apparatus.  I was too far away to do anything, but I think my heart stopped beating.

He caught himself by one arm.

He felt around underneath him with his feet, found purchase, and pulled himself to safety.

He has a big rope burn down the back of one thigh.

I'm just grateful it isn't a broken leg!

Wednesday

In the wee hours, I woke up Nature Angel and Little Princess to head up to the field to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower.  The city lights were to the north, so we couldn't see very much.  

 

Then clouds rolled in.

We watched as the stars were completely covered.  Then we went back to bed.

Later in the morning, we packed up and had breakfast at the park.

Beowulf almost didn't get to go because he wouldn't do his chores for love nor money.  I'd already gotten Belle up to babysit him, and the rest of the kids and I were in the running van when he raced out of the house with shoelaces untied yelling that he was done and begging to come with us.

I was torn.

But I relented, and he came, and it was good.

 

I knitted a blanket I've been working on for a friend for over a year, and then I put it away to read/study a book called Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education.  I think it was recommended during a presentation in one of the Memoria Press free virtual conferences I watched this summer.

As I read, I was filled with a profound and otherworldly joy--a gratitude that lifted me out of myself.  All I could do was pause to pray my gratitude for the gift of reading and writing and sharing of knowledge.

I borrowed my copy from the library, but I itch to own a copy for myself.  I want to highlight, underline, and make notes in the margins.  

I read the following:

"The pure gaze of innocence is one that does not secretly look for what can be got out of something or someone.  It sees things as they are in their own right.  The energy behind the gaze is not diverted by a variety of other passions.  When a baby wants something, it wants that thing completely, as anyone who has witnessed a tantrum must see." (p. 11)

Suddenly, I saw Brother.  

Not literally, but in my mind's eye.

I saw all of his tantrums in this light, and they made perfect sense.

Brother "wants that thing completely" almost constantly.

He acts just like an infant who doesn't get what he wants.

He's a bright and active 8-year-old in many, many ways.  But he's at an infant's development as far as wanting attention, order, food, clothing, everything.

I'm trying to teach him to want at an 8-year-old's level, but he's not there.  He's at an infant's level . . . or maybe a toddler's level.

Our problem is not solved, but new understanding gives me an astonishing hope and joy.

School was really rough as Brother was agitated over needing to sit where his ABA therapist could watch him from the computer video feed (see above).  Halfway through I had to send him to rest in his room, and he pushed over the vacuum, slammed one door, and threw another one to the floor (he ripped it off the hinges some weeks ago).  

I let quiet time run extra long . . . Brother fell asleep.

I think we're all better for it.

In the afternoon, Nature Angel worked in the garden for a while--clearing out old plants and weeding around the productive ones.  

Other kids played.

I laughed at Super Star (who worked a 15 hour day on Tuesday) when she came outside to say she was bored and had picked up another shift!  She's a hard worker!!

Thursday

Sir Walter Scott got up in the even wee-er hours than I had the day before, and drove the girls out to the country to watch the meteor shower.

"It was awesome!" they said.

The stars in the sky couldn't have been any brighter than the stars in their eyes.

The kids had a very peaceful morning.  

The little guys spent half an hour at least singing to their reflections in our van bumper.

It was hilarious.

Then followed hours of sand play.

 

Older kids read and/or went to work.

Lunch.

Summer school.

Quiet time.

Brother took a nap again.

In the afternoon, the littles flooded the sandpit to see what it would do.

I did some baking in preparation for the school week ahead.

Nature Angel sorted through clothes and cleaned her room a bit.

I also finished refinishing a dresser for Ladybug.

Brother had two meltdown . . . I wonder if our season of peace is ending . . . I wonder if a return to regular school will help.

Friday

Sir Walter Scott and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this weekend . . . by doing home improvement projects.

We were in and out while various teens/tweens helped me keep the household running.  

I did, however, break to have lunch and our final session of Summer School.  We finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and each child completed a final picture or narration.  

I'm including a sample picture of each child's work here, as there are several hundred pages of actual work completed.

One of Brother's best entries--a good school day!

by Nature Angel

by Little Princess (I accidentally cut off her written info when I snapped the pic)

I did teach the kids that Daniel Boone was friendly with the Native Americans when he could be, but I guess the times that they were fighting caught Mister Man's boy imagination.

by Beowulf

Lola's narration of a lunch time read aloud.  She and Brother often draw green-faced people.

by Baymax--the writing is copywork

by Ladybug--she read a book about ponds

 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we did the tiniest fraction of what I hoped we would do to get to know our home state this summer, but I'm satisfied that we made a good start and learned some habits that will hopefully follow us into the new school year.

Our new school year starts on Monday!

So does the teens' home/virtual/in-person hybrid church camp!