A Week, Briefly (1/18/21)

 It was a strange week--filled with milestones both joyful and aching.

 

In addition, I'm struggling to feel that book work school matters very much right now.

 

It does!

 

Even though a few of my kids are good at unschooling, many of my kids need explicit teaching in reading, writing, and arithmetic in order to progress in their abilities to function in the world.

 

Plus, there's that whole legal obligation to follow state homeschooling laws!

 

Sugar Bear came over one day, and we reveled in baby care.  Nature Angel reported that even with an extra baby in the house, she was able to get all of her independent work done.

We practiced a lot of compassion for this sweet boy, whose mommy came home from the hospital after many days, and then turned around and went right back when her situation turned life-threatening again!  Poor Little Mister Frog doesn't know which end is up, and we've worked to pour extra love into him to make up for this separation.

I think I just want all of the blessings of quarantine without the restrictions.  My kids are handling less structure and more flexibility quite well right now, and I want to run with it--go hiking, visit a museum, build stuff, have picnics--instead of marching forward in our (previously) life-saving routine.

But we're tied to therapies and regulations and other commitments that are blessings by keeping us accountable and providing income and allowing for the brief social time we do get.

So, time to put on my big girls pants and just do what needs to be done!

We succeeded in several homeschool fronts this week:

   Morning Meeting

   Book work

   Geography (more Thailand and the beginnings of India)

   Nature Study (microorganisms, owls, snow)

Baymax finished this phonics book.  By the end, it was working him on skills that are beyond his ability to retain right now, so we're putting workbooks away and focusing on practicing real reading.

Ladybug finished this literature study--the 3rd of 5 for this school year.

We were quite weak on the read-aloud front.  On a couple of days, I allowed other activities to get in the way, and on a couple of other days, life events crowded reading time out in spite of my best efforts.

And we only walked once!!

16.3 + 1.9 = 18.2 miles

Once is better than none though!

We stopped to do service for our neighbors several times--picking up spilled recycling buckets that were waiting for pick up.  (The trucks don't pick up spilled buckets.)

Along the way The Munchkin found a snail shell.  He was so proud of it!  We tried and tried to get a good picture of him holding it or being proud, but our best efforts were in vain.  What we do have is a blurry picture of Nature Angel holding The Munchkin's tiny finger in place when he was willing to point to it.

On Wednesday this week, we had a good independent work session.  Quiet classical music played, kids worked without arguing, and it was generally lovely and peaceful.  I snapped a few shots of kids working.

 

Friday was a big day in many ways, not the least of which was that Daddy was home for the first time in many days!!!  He'd helped Pixie move to Idaho and then had dived right back into work.  The kids were drawn to his presence.

And look who is completely finished with 2nd grade math!!!!!  He gets to start his 3rd grade books on Monday, and he so proud he could burst!

I'm still working on updating our dining room/school room, and I was quite covered in dust after an hour of sanding.

Baymax and Lola were happy to help clean me up. :)

 

My parents came to visit for the first time since before Thanksgiving (covid!), and they brought a gift--a book that my aunt wrote about our ancestors that came from Europe to America in the 1600s.  We have lots of Mayflower ancestors, but there are many who traveled on other ships as well.  It says "volume 1" on the cover, so I'm looking forward to more volumes!

It's full of timelines, gealogy charts, and stories.  I'm going to read it aloud to everyone!

 

To-do list:

   1.  Get Lola assessed for ADHD (this could take months!).

   2.  Help Belle find her passion--something to wake her up and motivate her to work toward a goal.   

        The goals she says she has are worthy goals, but she won't do anything to get to them, and I'm at a 

        loss.  It may be time to put the books away for a season . . . (this could take years!).

   3.  Take more than one walk this week.

   4.  Return the teacher's edition math book we received instead of the student edition that I ordered.

Oh!  And Nature Angel whipped up this new Iron Man doll . . . in a day!