A Week, Briefly (10/26/20)

We started the week with snow!

In October!

 

Our morning walks were slow and fun as the kids rolled snowballs, packed them, then launched them as high in the air as they could to watch them explode on the ground.

 

 

It was gone by Wednesday, and sunny and clear by Friday.  

We celebrated Halloween outdoors without jackets on a perfect autumn afternoon.

"I don't want my picture taken!!!"

We went to a party hosted by a long-time friend.  There were games, treats, a chili cook-off, a campfire, and lots of conversation.

We came home sated with treats and satisfied with good company.

In between the snow and Halloween, we had a lot of school, and some big schedule changes!  

I evaluated our hours and realized that the littles have gotten too much of my time, and the older ones have been sadly neglected.  This means that I am cutting our Academy time down and increasing my efforts to hold Colloquium and check on Belle.

But then that caused problems with our ABA schedule, so I changed Brother's individual school schedule.  Now he does reading and language arts with me first thing, then takes a break.  When Mr. S-- arrives, he does his math and phonics, so that Mr. S-- is present to work on behavioral skills while Brother is doing something that is likely to cause stress.

The babies' schedules still do most of the ruling of our days, but we're slowly finding our way into meeting the needs of all.

One need that has proved paramount, even though I want badly for it not to matter, is mine.  I must have a small rest in the mid-to-late afternoon.  I feel very frustrated that I need that break, because it seems that I could be so much more productive, but I need it or the evening is a complete bust.

So, no matter what schooling happens or doesn't happen, I have to have my own quiet time when the kids do.

Really, everyone is better for it.

Ladybug finished some schoolbooks!

She'll begin Book 4 1/2 on Monday to review the skills introduced in this book.

And this is book 5 of 5 books in Grade 2 Arithmetic!!!  It's been a two year climb of epic proportions, but Ladybug did it!!!!!  She began the Grade 3 book on Friday, and while it is presenting quite a challenge because it introduces copying problems from a text instead of working right from a workbook, she is so proud, that it is all joy.  I'm crazy proud of her for pushing through the hard stuff and finishing such a massive challenge!

Nature Angel and Little Princess continue to balance babies, school work, and chores every day.  

That's Little Mister Frog sticking Post-It notes between Nature Angel's toes.

One afternoon I finished Colloquium earlier than expected, so I offered to have Academy--one of our choose-a-topic-to-learn-more-about sessions.  Beowulf pointed to the picture of a motorcycle on the map, and I found a 20 minute Youtube video of a Honda motorcycle assembly line in Japan.  My boys were glued!

Another child pointed to a picture of the bullet train, and we found a video that not only taught us about the train, but had animated drawings of the working machinery of the train. 

 

I think "Whoa!" was yelled almost constantly during that video.

 

Rose Red came home to do Nature Angel's "alien" make up for the church youth party on Tuesday night.  I don't have a picture of the finished make up, but I sure enjoyed seeing Rose Red love on her little sister.

 

One day I took 1 minute and snapped pictures of various kids doing school. (Some kids were beyond my line of sight at the moment.)

Table Time for The Munchkin

Phonics

Language Arts

Reading Comprehension

Math

Seminary with British History next in line . . . and look!  Belle herself in a photo!

Returning to Halloween, I have only this one photo of Belle and Super Star with their friends . . . at night.

Belle is Eeyore, and Super Star is a Lego.  They're standing next to each other to the right of the second sheep.

And Pixie sent me a picture of her with her darling boyfriend as 1940s Captain American and Peggy.

My all-time favorite homeschool moment this week was when Beowulf learned that "psalm" means "song."  He was supposed to read the 23rd Psalm from his Bible reader, but he decided to sing it instead.

He made up a tune as he went along, and I was so charmed, I think I smiled all day long.

But a close runner-up was listening to Baymax practice word families one day.

Snow, rain, or sunshine, we took a neighborhood walk every day.

That's a Wooly Bear Caterpillar.  We learned by trial and error that trying to help him across the street was pointless.  In the end, we simply pointed him in the right direction and watched him make his own way to trees and grass.

Hike #40 of 52 Hikes:  daily walks

83.56 miles + 4.4 miles = 87.96 miles

Between orthodontic and psychiatric appointments, voting, and gorgeous autumn weather, I anticipate not doing much traditional school next week.  I'm hoping for a lot of hiking and a lot of life skill development.