A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

The attorney counted us--not just our family, but all of our invited attendees--as we filed out of the courtroom.  He said to my dad that we were the largest group he's ever seen at an adoption. And he's completed nearly 3,000 adoptions. That's family.  That's friends.  That's community.   Us, with the commissioner who approved our adoption.   I'm counting my blessings right now. I'm so blessed to have community. And 4 new children. Officially. We had a simple luncheon back at our house. Then we went to the park for milk and cookies with more of our favorite friends. Brother enjoys a cookie Sir Walter Scott's brother flew out as a surprise for us!  Pixie kept the secret for over 2 weeks!!! My dad forgot his sun hat, and all we had in the van was this beanie.  He wore it well. :)  I didn't get any other pictures because I was busy visiting, and the park was so crowded I didn't even know where any of my k...

The focus of the week was Rose Red's Sweet 16 party.  We spent hours cleaning, crafting, sorting, decorating, shopping, and soothing worries. Super Star helps wash the mason jars that we eventually filled with flowers and/or candles and hung all over the yard. Dad spent 2 hours stringing fairy lights all around the deck.  They were so, so, so pretty! In spite of thunder, lightning, wind, rain, and hail, the party was a smashing success!  And the storm passed quickly, so the party-goers got to go out and enjoy the night in the end. While they were stuck indoors, Rose Red opened her gifts. Along the way we still: *Held Morning Meeting--we're on paragraph 5 of The Family Proclamation, and I forgot to mention that we finished The Book of Mormon stories and we're back to Bible stories with this book .  We're also doing daily scripture reading and journaling with these pages .  *Did some Math--at least Pixie, Super Star, and Belle did their work ...

Spring is here. The sun shines; the rain falls; the kids grow; the flowers bloom; we have big, exciting plans looming. And I feel just dead inside. One foot in front of the other is how I'm doing it. I tried to take the week off, but then I realized that all I would hear all week was, "Will you read with me? Will you do _______ with me? When will we do ________? What are you doing? Can I help? What are we doing next?" The very thought of so many questions makes my heart race and my hands shake. Then I tried sticking to our usual school routine. For the sake of survival. But even that didn't work. Monday The older girls and I began a music history/appreciation unit. Unsatisfied with the fact that the unit began with the Baroque period, the girls asked enough questions that I googled music history and read some articles about the earliest, earliest musical artifacts. We also listened to some Gregorian chants, some medieval pipes, and some Italian...