A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 I am grateful to report that we had no problems beyond the typical large-family-homeschooling kind of problems that are just part of life. Oh!  Except that Beowulf was made soooooo sleepy by his new med! His prescribed dose is less than half of what Brother takes, and Brother is not even a tiny bit sleepy, but it sure affects Beowulf! I cut his morning dose in half (his psychiatrist always gives me permission to adjust doses based on effects), and he's a little bit drowsy, but not so sleepy that he falls asleep with his head on the mini-trampoline, his arms on the floor, and his body up on the ottoman (which he actually did this week). If he continues to even be drowsy on this half dose, I'll take him off that completely, and adjust his evening dose so that he's still getting the prescribed amount every 24 hours.  The med is helping him control his moods (when he's awake!), and I have hope that we'll find the right way to administer it to him. The teens and I read ...

 On Saturday of last week, Sir Walter Scott had his last vacation day of the week Pixie left for college (we weren't certain how she was going to go back or if she was going to go back, so he took the week off to cover all eventualities).   He took 5 of the kids on an 8 mile bike ride! Lola is our only little one who can't ride a 2-wheeler, so she stayed home with me and a couple of bigger kids, and helped make dinner--even getting to flip the pancakes herself.   She was so very proud! In my mind is the picture Sir Walter Scott painted of little Baymax plugging along on his little red bike for 8 whole miles. The kids came home, ate ravenously, and slept hard that night. The new week was full of activity. We had park dates on Monday and Tuesday, which meant adjusting our schedule to make room for friends.   We returned to our regular morning walks on Wednesday and Thursday.  The cool part of bending over to pick up trash is that our faces get right clo...

Nature Angel built this little playhouse last Saturday.  The cute little fairy with the watering can is our friend that we babysit. I canceled school this week . . . mostly. We had Morning Meeting and evening reading each day. The teens and tweens were accountable for 3 days of independent study, and Mister Man was assigned to finish his Prairie School literature study. Which he did. And this is how he did it. Ladybug also completed 2 math lessons, and she got up each morning to do her personal scripture reading/narrating. Nature Angel and Little Princess are still loving Duolingo .  And I'm getting a kick out of the progress reports that are emailed to me. Nature Angel's report Little Princess's report Nature Angel and I had to find an online Greek keyboard that she can use to type her answers and then cut and paste them into the blanks on the Duolingo site.  That was a little confusing, but now that the problem is solved, all is well...

We started the week Monday morning by attending the Memorial Day tribute and pancake breakfast put on by our church congregation.  There was a beautiful barbershop quartet performance of The Star Spangled Banner , and then one of the Vietnam veterans spoke about his experiences in war and in standing up for gospel truths.  The breakfast part was horrendous--too many people in one space (I fed my kids ahead of time, so the breakfast was really a snack for them)--but once that was over with, my kids had a grand time playing with their friends, and I had a lovely visit with friends of my own. Sir Walter Scott and Super Star were at work. Pixie and Belle went to a swim party with friends. And on Tuesday morning most of the kids headed out to play while I administered the NWEA MAP Growth reading test to Ladybug and Brother. Standardized testing is not required of homeschoolers in our state, and I've never felt the need to do it before, but over and over again came the tho...

General Conference was amazing!!  While we watched, I finished sewing Mister Man's doll.  I've been sewing all of the kids little wool/cotton dolls starting from the youngest and working my way up.  Mister Man and Brother were delighted to have their dolls play together when the last session ended. Monday Poop. That dominated the day. Lots and lots of poop. On bodies On clothing In carpet In trash cans In hidden locations that would not be discovered for a day or so It was a very poopy day. But the teens and I had productive meetings; I was able to commiserate with a mother who is trying to adopt via foster care and is hitting all of the same challenges we did; This week the apple tree is a pirate ship.  Here's Mister Man in the crow's nest, looking for other ships. The Elementary 8 and I finished chapter 3 of How's Inky? and we did a little writing/drawing assignment about our individual gifts and talents and how we can bless others in...