A Week, Briefly (June 5, 2023)

 I feel the need for change.

It's been a good year.  A quiet, easy school year, in which we worked to avoid putting pressure on ourselves to accomplish much and to still notice all of the learning we were capable of doing.

That's still the mode we're in, but I can feel the nudges to organize our school efforts a little bit more intentionally for the year ahead.

And it's time for me to start writing yearly assessments.

I've begun making a no-limits-anything-goes brainstorm list of all of the things I wish we could do.  It contains enough stuff to fill a school year many times over.  Soon it will be time to stop adding and start paring it down to what is really doable.

In the meantime, we're doing what we can when we can because summer schedules for everyone are filled with special activities that are simultaneously interruptions and blessings.

The teens and I are almost done with The Mystery of History volume 2.  All we have left to do is one lesson, the final review, and the semester exam.

At that time, we will take a break from Symposium because the girls have so many camps and activities that there's no consistent time to do it until the final week of July.

Nature Angel is only a final exam away from finishing Apologia Biology, too.

The kids and I dove a little bit deeper into our construction unit study.  We started this family read-aloud. . . that I'm not super fond of.  I'm continuing to read it because we're invested in Lucinda's tiny house, but I'm doing quite a bit of editing on the fly because of rude slang or casual treatment of bodies and relationships that I'm not feeling like introducing to my kids.

One day when I was looking for drawing activities (I don't like the art section in our unit study), the kids saw an Art for Kids Hub lesson on how to draw a tie fighter (Star Wars).  

"Can we do that?" they yelled.

So I turned it on.

Little Princess had the privilege of going on a CAP field trip to a Cessna plant and the Witchita State University Aerospace Education Labs.

She took about a thousand pictures, and she came home shining with delight about what she experienced.  I included only one of her pictures--of a student's final project.  The students in their final year have to produce a working model aircraft.  Most times they only take a day or so to assemble, but the research and programming take all year to complete.

We studied simple machines one day.  We haven't done activities with that lesson yet, but I introduced the names and concepts to the kids, and I found a list of household items that are simple machines, and the kids told me which machine each item was.

Nature Angel's toe has finally begun to heal.  She can't wear any shoes but sandals yet, but she did rehearse a whole bunch of clogging numbers for the show she was in on Saturday.

From the kitchen window, I was watching her dance with Brother.  Of course, as soon as I pulled my camera out, she switched to a dance Brother didn't know, but he's learning simply by watching, and he's got a fun style!

We have a Monarch on our milkweed!!!

One day was a little bit extra hard, and I let the kids fry eggs and make toast for lunch.  They've mostly mastered this skill, and I'm getting a kick out of watching them move capably around the kitchen.

(See my new range!!!)

After reading about the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, we watched about half a dozen videos about them and general ancient Egyptian civilization.

And then we drew the pyramids at Giza via and Art for Kids Hub lesson.

Hee hee!  Look at how they managed to share the word search book that is suddenly everyone's favorite!

And The Munchkin is learning how to play board games.  The other toddlers are intrigued by the cards, and we often have to retrieve them in order to finish the game!

I guess it's the heat that is driving everyone back indoors.  This picture was taken on Thursday evening when I played with the youngest 3 while the older kids were at activities.  But Monopoly has been out and in use every day this week.

Something about this picture speaks to me.  Nature Angel took it late Thursday night when Little Princess was exhausted after a CAP meeting.

We met friends at the park on Friday.  The main purpose was to get Ladybug together with another girl from her YW class so they could prepare a lesson together.  But the other mom invited a whole bunch of families from church, so it was practically a party.

Nature Angel took some of the young ones over to the little pond to look at frogs.

That evening, after the younger kids were in bed, I stayed up with Nature Angel and Little Princess to watch Kenneth Branaugh's Henry V.

(The picture is just to remind me we watched the movie.)

We covered Henry V and the battle of Agincourt in The Mystery of History, and I couldn't pass up the chance to watch one of my absolute favorites of Shakespeare.

I've got a list of awesome history movies to watch this summer . . . and a lot of Shakespeare because Little Princess has been asking.

This picture is taken to remember how the kids have been really into codes and decoding secret messages.  This is a Star Wars book full of exciting secrets about the force and Jedis.

The kids and I finished The Clara Dillingham Pierson Nature Reader I.  We also finished Stories of Robin Hood.

I swear the room was silent as I read of his cousin's perfidy and Robin's death.  We all knew how the story ended, but this reading was powerful for my kids.

We've finished book I of In Search of the Castaways, and we've started book II.  We're really getting to know the characters, and Nature Angel is finding the writing hilarious.  I'm amused, too, and having someone else get the funny parts with me makes my enjoyment that much greater.  Overall, the adventures have the same level of ridiculousness as The Swiss Family Robinson--you know it's just silly, but it's so endearing, you have to keep reading.

And the science lessons we're having as we look up some of Verne's fantastical claims are great!

We did a few lessons in Life of Fred: Butterflies.

I looked up permit laws (our city is crazy strict!) and plans for building a small shed--as a real-life construction project--but I think our hilly property is too much for me to face.

I also found plans for a birdhouse built out of a single piece of 1x6 lumber, and I think $40 for 6 pieces of lumber and some nails is a much better plan.  We've got plenty of trees for 6 little birdhouses!

(The question is, do I really want to build birdhouses with 6 kids?)

My favorite moment of the week was when Lola brought a library summer reading record and asked me for a timer so she could read for 20 minutes and mark off a day.  I offered to listen to her read aloud to me, and she accepted!!!!

She read the first chapter of The Fire Cat and was surprised when she finished and I told her she'd completed 25 minutes of reading.

I'm half-hoping we'll do this several times and help her over the hump from assisted to independent reading.

Nature Angel was finally able to put on Little Princess' clogging shoes (more room in the toes), and she performed for a sweet little group of about 30 people with a friend from American Rhythm.  At this location, they put out a tip jar for performers, and the audience was very generous!!  

You can't see their footwork in this video, but I think they move well together, and I hope they get to do this again!

Belle is now in Curaçao!  She was able to call to tell us of her safe arrival, and we'll hear from her again on Monday because that will be her new Preparation Day.

Pixie has a second job this summer as a caregiver in a nursing home near school.  She seems really happy with it, and it sounds like the residents are really happy with her.

No new wedding news for Super Star yet.

Rose Red has been searching for and found her birth father.  He looks like he is doing well, and I'm happy that she's filling holes that have been in her heart.