A Week, Briefly (Feb 27, 2023)

 Hurrah for being healthy!

I got up grateful every morning, and I went to bed grateful every evening, and I was just plain grateful all day to feel capable of being present.

Monday

Random shot of Little Princess working on research.  She changed her essay focus from The Wright Brothers to History of Aviation

It was clear and sunny and cool enough for coats, but also perfect for playing outside (It would normally have been teen school time, but Nature Angel was really sick.). 

 At first, I tried to keep the babies away from the two puddles in our driveway, but then I gave up and directed it a little by encouraging them to throw pebbles into the puddles.  I figured they'd love throwing rocks, the pebbles would raise the puddles so they'd drain, and it didn't require sitting in the water.

They did love it.

And they sat in the water.

I love how patient my kids can be as they teach the babies how to do stuff!

The younger kids and I couldn't do our usual school because watching all 6 babies is too much for Little Princess alone.  We read what we could during naptime, but we mostly focused on just living.

The Munchkin and Sugar Bear's dad had to work pretty late, and it was a good night for viewing Jupiter and Venus.

So Little Princess got out the telescope.

I love, love, love that The Munchkin is looking in the wrong end!

We took lots of turns looking through the telescope, and Little Princess held an impromptu astronomy class for us all.  She showed us constellations, pointed out Mars, and taught us about the Winter Hexagon.

Tuesday

With Nature Angel up and functional, we had a regular school day with Morning Meeting (honestly, we ALWAYS have Morning Meeting), a walk, teen school (I'm trying to train myself to call it Symposium again, but it's feeling strange on my tongue), and then an activity for the younger 6.  

We walked up to the pioneer wagon swales and settled in for some math, some meditation, some exploration, and then a rollicking game of tag.

"Mom!  Mom!  Mom! Mom!  Look!  There's green things under here!  Signs of spring!"

I assigned each kid to find items with which to create a pattern.  Based on skill level, I made the assignment either easy, medium, or hard.

Baymax did a simple set of 3 repeating items.

So did Lola.  (Her face!!!!)

Beowulf had to have a pattern set of 4 with one repeat item.  He chose to have 2 mud balls in each set.

I gave Ladybug the same assignment I gave Beowulf, and it was so hard for her!  I knew a simple repeat wouldn't challenge her at all, but it took lots of deep breaths (from us both), lots of effort to keep trying (her), and lots of attempts to explain (me) for it to work.   But she got it in the end!

Brother and Mister Man both had to have a pattern of 7 with any sort of "complication" they wanted to make the pattern hard to find.  Brother actually made his a pattern of 12 with a mirror image repeat.

Mister Man ended up doing the same.

Beowulf's in the picture, but it was Mister Man who found this little insect case on the baby tree.  We're going to come back every week to look at it and see if we can find out what it is . . . or maybe even see whatever is inside come out!

The tag game was going to be just kids, but they got kind of stuck discussing details, so I smacked one of them on the arm, yelled, "Frozen!" and ran off.

They were stunned.  :)

I never really play anymore. :(

I repeated my actions with another kid, and suddenly there were 6 kids hollering and laughing.

Lola said, "I didn't know you were this fast, Mom!"

Mister Man said, "It's fun when you play, Mom!"

And it was fun.

It was definitely an important connecting time for us all.

We finished reading this:

And we started this:

We needed something light and joyful after 2 difficult books in a row.

I know we've owned this book for years, and I've read it aloud before, but there's something totally new and fresh about it for this reading.  We are so in love with both the dog and the little hen!!  We've just gobbled it up so that we're almost done with it!

And while I'm at it, we also finished this:

We're still reading this:

There are two books included in this volume, and we've been reading the first 250+ page book since January.  There's something very endearing about the characters, and my kids are eating it up.

We read all of this book:

And started these two:

These Book of Delights are filled with poems, short little biographies of authors and artists, and art work.

All of this reading did not happen this week alone, but I felt so yucky last week that I didn't record much of this stuff at the time.

In addition, we added this book to our afternoon reading:

Wednesday

Congratulations, Nature Angel!!!!  She stayed up until midnight on Tuesday night, determined to reach her goal of finishing her Algebra book by the end of February!

She did it!!!!

I've said it before, but . . . I love our morning walks.

It was such a "usual" day that I didn't take any more pictures all day.  

Read. Talk. Play.

It was all good.

But I will pause to explain that we've dropped video time after our walks, and we're "Dividing Babies" instead.  I've created teams of 2 kids to watch sibling sets of 2 babies in different rooms of the house.

And the kids rotate both rooms and sibling sets to keep it fresh.

It's working AMAZINGLY well.

In order to keep my kids inspired, I asked them what they did with their babies, and then I showed how the babies learned while they played.  The pride on my kids' faces is priceless, and they have bent over backward to provide the babies with open-ended play opportunities.

Thursday

I woke up to the news that dance was canceled due to a death in the director's family.  I'd already scheduled my chiropractic appointment for first thing in the morning so that it wouldn't conflict with dance, so our day was a little bit wonky, but we made good use of the time for school.

Here's an example of the "Dividing Babies" playtime.

Sir Walter Scott joined me in taking all 14 kids to the library. 

Everyone but me headed out for the evening.  I was all set to be productive by tackling a to-do list, but just before they all left, my left ankle rolled out from under me while I was carrying Nugget out to the car for his grandma.  

He and I hit the sidewalk hard.

He was in a big winter coat, and I did my best to hold him.  He was screaming, and I was crying, but we didn't find any injuries on him anywhere.  His grandma (and later, his mama) were both completely forgiving and highly solicitous (can you tell I'm reading Jane Austen lately?) of my well-being.

I got out of it with a skinned knee, an achy ankle, and an anxiety attack over whether I'd hurt Nugget in some way that would show up later.

(Ugh!  It still makes me want to cry.)

I spent the evening in bed with ice and ibuprofen.

Little Princess had leadership training at CAP.

Nature Angel and Ladybug had a family history activity at church.

Mister Man and Brother played a baseball-ish sort of game in the church gym.

Beowulf worked on building a spaghetti bridge.

Baymax made invisible ink and played games.

Lola helped clean and disinfect nursery toys so that the babies at church would have nice, clean toys.

Friday

We've braved the rain and the cold to walk, but there was something about this morning's rain and cold that defeated me . . .

so I got out a found bag of paper streamer remnants, and I let the kid go to town.

Set-up was a good exercise in creativity and problem-solving.

Playing was a good exercise in patience (because the babies kept breaking everything).

Clean-up was just plain fun!

After Symposium and snack, I worked on skip counting and mental math with the kids using our 100 sheet.

Ladybug came to me quietly afterward and said, "Mom, I don't really like doing math in front of the other kids.  They know so much, and I don't, and I don't like doing math with them."

I've been noticing her struggle, too.  

I only offer skill-appropriate questions, but she doesn't like having to do easy questions when her little brothers are doing harder stuff.  

Also, they kind of show off.

I'm very grateful for this year of not doing formal math with texts and workbooks.  We needed a break in order to recharge.

However, it is clear to me that without formal, structured math, every day, Ladybug loses the skills she has worked so hard to gain. (Even to the point that she's struggled to add and subtract)

I don't know what this means for her in the long run--as an adult when she finishes formal schooling--but I do know it means I'm going to do what I can to help her make sense of her world and hold on to enough math to help her hold a job and function in day-to-day living.

I'm not going to just jump in and start her, though; I'm going to think and study and form a plan.  

Boys, reading

Brother came to me with the first volume of Keeper of the Lost Cities book.  He's been reading it, and he set the goal of finishing it by the end of March.  He and I worked together to do the math required to figure out how many pages he needs to read each day in order to reach that goal.

I've seen him a few times, stretched out on the floor, working on his goal.

Makes me smile.

In General

I've been in an acquiring state of mind.

I don't know that it's necessary, given how many books and resources we already own, but I find myself looking longingly through websites and catalogs and struggling to resist impulse purchases.

(Why is everything a subscription these days?!?!?)

I did subscribe to Wild + Free magazine because the pictures and articles feed my homeschooling soul.

And books make their way into my Amazon and Thriftbooks carts almost of their own volition.

But I still feel a little bit flat . . . a little bit hungry.

Even though we're doing good things.

And I'm finding beautiful resources that trick me into thinking I need them to make my homeschool beautiful, too.

It's probably just the season--I think I always get a bit curriculum-loopy as winter drags to an end.

Rose Red thinks she's found a roommate and an apartment . . . maybe she's headed for a milestone.

Pixie has meds and a therapist, and she's thriving in Uganda.

Kids and teachers after football

Belle applied for a passport, found a few proofs of immunization, made calls for further immunizations, and has been shopping for quality shoes that will last 18 months of hard use.

Super Star . . . well, I'm required to wait until further notice about her milestones.  I hope I get permission soon.  :)