A Week, Briefly (9/21/20)

We have a toddler in the house again . . . and it is SO FUN!

Nature Angel looked at me with The Munchkin (that's what I'm going to call him here) and said, "Oh, Mom!  I knew we missed having a baby around, but I didn't know how much!"

He is busy and sweet and funny and interested and all of the things that toddlers are.  We may be providing a service to his parents by providing childcare, but they are filling our hearts by sharing their darling boy with us.

On Thursday he arrived in time to join us for our daily walk.  Seriously, his joy in every little thing added to our joy in every little thing!

 

Hike #32 of 52 Hikes:  Morning walks

65.66 miles + 2.1 = 67.76 miles

 

One day as The Munchkin did everything he could to keep us giggling when we were trying to get some school done, I looked at Little Princess and Nature Angel and said, "Can you even believe we used to do school with 2 kids this age!?!?!?"

Truth, is we can't really remember it.

Thank goodness for photos and blog posts!

Other than getting used to having The Munchkin share our days, it was a pretty traditional week.

We finished our unit on China with several more pick-a-picture-and-watch-a-youtube-video sessions as well as an art project and a final set of narration pages.

 

The kids are eager to start reading about Japan in the week ahead.

 

I've fallen back on using Muzzy online for our Spanish often this week.  We have free access to it through our library.  The kids love it, I get to make lunch without interruptions, and the kids remember what they hear and see, so it's a win all the way around.

Belle and I finally finished The Last Days of Socrates!!!  We've started Livy's The Early History of Rome.  And we're still slogging through Plutarch's Lives.

It feels like we've been reading about Titus Flamininus forever.  (But just try saying Flamininus . . . it's hilarious . . . like little kids trying to say cinnamon or banana and getting stuck!)

Colloquium is progressing well.  I've edited heavily as I've read excerpts from Narrative of the Life of a Slave by Frederick Douglass, but the experience has been good, and the girls have had a lot to say.  They're working on essays about the benefits of a society in which men are masters of themselves.

 

Brother had an episode that Mr. S-- got to be a part of.  It started before he arrived, but I consider it a blessing that it continued while he was present.  Mr. S-- and I had lots of good discussions about handling his episodes in ways that will help Brother learn.  It was so eye-opening for Brother to have Mr. S-- help him through an episode that he hasn't had one since.

 

We'll see how the week ahead goes. :)

The weather was so perfect all week that I had the kids outside for hours every day.

On Friday, I realized that we had neither a working stroller nor a hiking backpack, so I quickly sent out a Facebook request to borrow a stroller for the morning and headed into the historic district of our city where we found a park we've never been to that had completely paved walking trails. 

We indulged in far too many pictures:

Giving credit where it is due:  Nature Angel took most of the pictures.  

I don't know where the awesome ones with the ducks and fish went.  But they were very tame ducks and fish, and we are going back with stale bread as soon as we can!

I've promised.

Hike #33 of 52:  Loose Park Walking Trail

67.76 miles + 1.2  = 68.96 miles

Lola finished her Kindergarten phonics book.

 

We got a book from the library about Greek myths by Rick Riordan--told in Percy Jackson's voice.  The kids have pored over it almost constantly, comparing it to the D'Aulaire book we own, discussing the differences, laughing over the stories, drawing pictures, and having amicable arguments over which god is best.

In addition, Mister Man has flown through books 1-4 of Fablehaven, and he's inspired Ladybug to read them, too! (Book #5 hasn't arrived even though it's been on our hold list for a month.)

And Little Princess is now finished with the entire Harry Potter series.  I don't allow my kids to read them until their 11th birthdays, and Little Princess has celebrated thoroughly.  She sort of gave Belle and Nature Angel heart attacks when she started #7 without reading #6.  

 

It was an accident.

But it was still a crime in this house.

Her sisters set her straight!

She's already begun reading the first Percy Jackson series.

I'm more ready for the week ahead than I was for last week because I have some new bibs for The Munchkin and a visual timer for morning chores.

I hope these purchases work!