A Week, Briefly (September 12, 2022)
We just had an exceedingly busy weekend . . . and Beowulf broke down completely.
This experience reinforces why I work so hard to keep routine, order, and white space.
My hope is for the week ahead to be positively dull!
General updates by kid:
Nature Angel--
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| She's really a hard worker! Early morning seminary, the babies, and her school work just exhaust her! |
She finished reading the adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, and when I asked whether she planned to continue working on the original or move on to poetry, she informed me that the original held zero power over her, and she'd be delighted to move on to poetry.
No problem. :)
She's making lots of progress on her checkered sweater, and while she waits for an opportunity to buy more yarn, she's working on another sweater--a gorgeous crocheted cable pattern this time.
I see her working on the second half of Algebra I and Biology most days. She's really determined to finish those books.
Little Princess--
I need to figure out how to entice her into reading her next piece of quality literature.
Ladybug--
She's having a tremendous struggle with her behaviors. We're dealing with a lot of that which violates the rights of others, and I'm having to reel her back in from freedoms that she worked hard to earn.
Mister Man--
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| He talked a blue streak to me while I sat rocking a toddler, and he helped me with Sweet Peach. |
He's pretty happy to be free from formal math as well. He's reading a lot of that which I call brain candy, i.e. Star Wars and Pokemon, but he's also building dramatic make-believe games and taking lots of notes and narrating to me, or anyone who will listen, about what he's learning about the characters and their qualities.
He loves, loves, loves the Norse Mythology and Scandinavian Tales we're reading as a family.
He's also thrown himself wholeheartedly into our solar system as a whole--making drawings and playdough reproductions of it that include planets, dwarf planets, asteroid belts, and just about anything else that might be found in outer space.
Brother--
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| Teaching Stretch to dribble--and he was a little bit successful! |
Brother keeps busy practicing basketball skills in his free time. "Mom, can you move the van?" is a daily question. (The van blocks the hoop in our driveway.)
He's struggling with focus during activities he doesn't want to do. Daily chores are taking an unreasonable amount of time to get done; he's interfering a lot with other kids' chores and tattling almost constantly. He needs to be redirected to his work almost constantly during Independent Study time.
But, he's totally devoted to his gardening apprenticeship, and the new Gears! Gears! Gears! pieces I recently added to our previously dying collection have provided him with joyful opportunity to further develop his hands-on engineering skills.
Beowulf--
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| "Mom! Look at my tunnel!" |
Other than this weekend's nightmare breakdown, he's been quite good at coming to me for tight hugs when he feels himself getting out of control. I squish his body as hard as I can for 10 or so seconds, and then he can (mostly) keep his temper or go back to playing without trashing anything.
He loves the stories we're reading, and he hates Independent Study time. I think it is just a little bit too free for him, even though he chafes at too much direction. We're still finding a balance that allows him to learn to be self-directed in his education without feeling out of control.
When he can focus, he's a good reader!
Lola--
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| This is a picture of Lola pushing the stroller! |
She asked, during Independent Study, if she could do a lesson in her math book from last year.
"Yes!" I said.
She happily settled down into the familiar lesson format and completed a lesson in a matter of minutes.
What a lovely change from the daily power struggles we had last school year!
She hates reading and narrating, but if she chooses to do math lessons instead, I have absolutely zero problems with that!!
Baymax--
He resists all activities until he engages with them, and then he's gung-ho. For Independent Study, he's found a book with a 2-page spread about each planet in our solar system. He draws and narrates about one planet a day. His narrations are full of enthusiastic wonder!
I do not know what will happen when he reaches the end of the book!
The Babies--
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| Cloud dough made for a couple of days of sensory play |
The babies keep us busy and happy and in a state of exhaustion at all times. At the moment they are 3.5, 2.5, 2.5, 2, 2, 1, 1, and almost 2 months. We keep them on a flexible schedule that makes them happy and keeps us (mostly) sane. We're in a stage where every one of them loves arriving at our house, and the happy smiles and baby hugs that we get charge us up for each new day.
General updates:
We walked every day.
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| One of the neighbors trimmed her trees, and my kids collected several of the trimmings for their own fun! |
We finished Toby Tyler, and it had a surprise trauma in the second-to-last chapter! It was so shocking that I laughed because I couldn't get my mind around what had just happened, but several of the kids were devastated and cried for a long time. I had to edit several pages worth of heart-wrenching description that was just too traumatic to read aloud to my crew.
I imagine it is a book none of us will ever pick up to read again!
We also finished Beowulf. The kids loved, loved, loved the dragon chapters, and they accurately predicted how the book would end!
We drew dragon pictures with Art Hub for Kids one day.
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| Ladybug's finished dragon! |
We had a successful library run.
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| Hee hee! |
Dance rehearsals are going well. Nature Angel is teaching her group the number she choreographed this year. She asked me for teaching tips, but she's a natural teacher, and the kids love her and love the dance.
After reading two different books about the Tomten, we made Tomtens of our own. These are Lolas--the rest of the kids put theirs away before I could get pictures.
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| Tomtens are gentle creatures, but I love the wild-eyed one above! |
The church youth activity for girls this week was volunteering at a local thrift shop that needed help sorting and tidying its clothing racks.
And the girls' primary activity was a game night!
Super Star finished painting her bedroom (Rose Red's old one), and she officially moved into it this week. Now she just has to go back and finish cleaning up the old one she shared with her sisters because Belle is living in Super Star's mess!
Pixie finished her first week of school, and she made the Collegiate Dance Team again! She also had the chance to go on an amazing day trip to Yellowstone for her Physical Geography class.
I'm officially late for starting breakfast, so I'm off!
Sorry to hear about the breakdown. Hoping for an absolutely boring and safe week this week.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive dragons! I've been hesitant to try dinosaur drawings in the library--I guess because I feel like if *I* can't draw a dino, the kids surely won't be able to either, and the activity will flop. Maybe I need to give them more credit and just go for it.
Love the updates. Sitting in my empty house, with only the cats, it makes me nostalgic. I still miss small fries. I keep thinking it will go away, but it hasn't yet. I'm going to have to make a trip to see the grandkids to get a baby fix.
My Elijah is so much like Beowulf from a sensory standpoint. Even at 20 he still needs bear hugs almost everyday and sometimes after work I just sit on him for a few minutes while I talk to him about his day. It really helps him decompress.
ReplyDeleteYou all are taking care of so many babies. I feel very spoiled to only have one.
Blessings, Dawn