A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

I watch and think about Brother a lot. He has too much going on in his mind and body for one small 4-year old. He makes me crazy. He makes the whole family crazy. But when we stop to really look and listen, we realize that he's hurt, and his actions aren't designed to make us crazy, they're simply what he does because he's hurt. I've been trying to pay close attention to him so that I can tell (and so that I can receive inspiration about) what's going on in his mind and body. We are six months into our journey together.  It took very little time to suspect that something was not right in his brain, but I have watched and waited to see if he just needed room to be healthy and safe and heal. However, I am slowly coming to the conclusion that he will need a special sort of education.  He can learn.  But he's not going to pick things up the way other kids do.  He will learn what he is taught carefully, in a focused way, and what he is taught over a...

Monday was full of all of the busy-ness of getting back into the swing of things.  Our morning meetings are such a blessing!  To the homeschool moms who brought up the idea and to the Father in Heaven who whispered that we needed these meetings now, I am so very thankful. We changed our opening song and main scripture memorization to those listed for February in the Primary sharing time outline.  The kids and I were delighted to find that the scripture of the month was one we were already learning!  We also added a new seminary scripture mastery to our list to memorize (Isaiah 1:18).  We're getting quite good at paragraph 2 of The Family Proclamation , so I'm already thinking about moving on to #3, but perhaps we'll just stick with this one for a bit longer, as we like it so much. We're getting back in the saddle, again! As it was the first of the month, we calendared any special events and made sure that Sir Walter Scott and I have a temple visit schedu...

Monday The cousins arrived at 5:00 am.  Their daddy's surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, and we live only 20 minutes from the surgery center.  It was a good day as the surgery went well; the cousins all had fun playing; cousin K14 attended early morning seminary with Rose Red and then came back to our house to be more helpful than any 14 year old boy as a right to be!  Even baby M1 was sweet, sweet, sweet all day long. We rearranged the dining room to hold 20 of us for meals, we included the cousins in our usual morning meeting, and we made it to the library--just me and 3 of the older girls.  We also learned about an amazing summer camp for teen girls that Rose Red had just enough time to apply for if we worked our tails off and found "teachers" to write recommendations for her.  We did it!  Even if she doesn't get in, it was a wonderful experience for her in filling out applications and essay writing. My sister came back to our house after d...

Today is Friday. It snowed all day yesterday, so we're taking a snow day.  Temperatures are low, but we have literally dozens of coats, hats, snow pants, boots, and other winter wear in our mudroom.  The kids will have a grand day. And then Sir Walter Scott and I are going to the temple in the late afternoon.  The kids will stay home with popcorn and a movie. This week SuperStar completed her Saxon 5/4 math book and started 6/5.  She's really happy to be completing math work . . . albeit remedial work . . . successfully.  She alternates between joyful expressions of triumph and worried questions about "ever catching up." She works so hard at math!  I'm not worried about the "catching up" part.  I just want her to see that she can learn and that she is learning. I just say, "Look at what you've done.  Look at what you can do." SuperStar also checked out a bunch of learn-to-play-the-guitar books from the library.  With the help...

This was a solidly productive week for us with many organizational improvements for my mental health. Morning Meeting: We completed 5 out of 5 this week!  I feel a grateful sense of accomplishment.  The littles memorized Baa Baa Black Sheep and recited it at our Poetry and Pie event on Wednesday.  The rest of our songs and memorization work are the same as last week and will remain the same for the rest of January.  I'm glad to report that everyone over the age of 5 has memorized the first part of The Family Proclamation ; the littles are still working on it. :) Bedtime Math is a fun addition to our day.  We've touched on everything from simple counting for the littles to advanced algebra for the bigs. PreK: We didn't do much formal work, but we did watch a few letter "D" videos and a D is for doghouse craft.  The weather was too pretty on Thursday to stay inside (it's bitter cold now), so I sent everyone outside to play and play and play while we ...