A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

  This is what the living room looked like all week long. Really. I did have the kids clean up before lunch and before dinner, but this is what it looked like for all the rest of the daylight hours. Sometimes it was even more fort-filled than even here. Big kids and little kids read books, played games, and pretended to be dragons all week long. I had to take deep breaths sometimes because the forts filled so much space that I started to feel trapped. And by Saturday, I said the forts had to move out-of-doors for my own sanity. I was pleased that I lasted all week. But I killed the fort building. They keep asking me, "How are we supposed to build forts outside?" Never mind the fact that there are several sheets and tarps available for outside use. Never mind the fact that there are at least 2 partially built forts in the yard. Never mind the fact that the kids have hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of wood to use for building. Never mind the fact that the kids have access

I'm not getting done what I wish I were. I am having to be satisfied with what I am getting done. That is a challenge. But I'm determined to rise to it. The teens and I finished The Mystery of History vol 3 !! And we're making lovely progress through The Scarlet Letter.   I've found a quote that I want to use as a writing prompt when we're ready to wrap up our reading and discussion.  Little Princess asked if we can do another Shakespeare play to take the place of history in our morning studies together. Ummmmmmm, that would be yes! Nature Angel finished her health text. The younger kids and I are reading 4 books for school during the day: *Story of the World vol 1 *Archimedes and the Door of Science *The Bible Smuggler *The Lilac Fairy Book We're doing well with these books.  I have the kids do some verbal narration after at least two of the books each day, and for Archimedes and The Bible Smuggler,  they will write history/biography narration pages when we fi