A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

We've jumped in with both feet into NaNoWriMo .  I've heard about if for a few years, but thought it was for older kids.  Then a friend in our homeschool group posted a link to the NaNoWriMo workbooks, and I realized it was for all ages! Yesterday [I should have done it earlier] I introduced the program to the girls and reviewed the elements of plot and assigned them to develop their main characters.  We opened up their NaNoWriMo accounts and tried to figure out an appropriate word count goal [we're opting for a very conservative 10,000 words each]. E12 is quite nervous.  She says she's only doing this because she has to.  My reply:  "You don't realize what a good writer you are.  You have a marvelous voice and sense of rhythm.  This will stretch you and perhaps open your eyes to your own talent."  She huffed and walked away, but she has complained rather less since then. M10, S10, and J8 are thrilled.  They spent their free time filling out their wo

My first four children learned to read at the same time.  E12 was late to reading--her mind and body moved too quickly for the quiet work required when learning to read.  Though we worked on it in fits and starts [because I had a hard time trusting that waiting was okay], school was more often than not a nature walk and long stories read to her at bedtime while she fiddled with small toys in her hands. M10 and S10 read "right on time"--whatever that means.  They were both about 5 or 6 years old and suddenly they were reading.  I'm not sure how. J8 was an early reader--just like her mama.  I guess she just absorbed what she heard around her . . . or she taught herself.  Whatever the case, she was wowing people with her reading skills from before she was four years old. With all four of these "big" girls I did not have a whole lot of fun as they learned to read; it was either a terror-filled game of waiting, watching, and researching possible learning disa

Friday was going to be a regular day of school.  I've been fiercely protective of our school time, and it has paid off with some solid learning and accomplishing of goals for our family. But then we learned that an elderly sister in our ward [congregation] needed help moving. So we canceled academics in favor of service. The whole family loaded up in the van and headed over to Sister W.'s house.  Daddy jumped out and joined Sister W.'s son-in-law in moving bookshelves, bed frames, couches, and tables.  J8 carried pillows and boxes of craft items.  E12 helped me carry out canning jars.  M10 and S10 put extra coats on the little guys and fed them graham crackers. It quickly became evident that it was too cold for the little guys to play outside, so I took them home along with M10 and J8 who were excited to babysit.  S10 was rather mad at being left to carry boxes, but I knew that the lure of the DVD player would be far too strong for her to babysit effectively. I re

Life has been more hectic than usual; between chicken pox, fleas, and lice, I've felt rather as if I should be best friends with Moses. We don't have lice.  But our neighbor's daughter does, and my kids played with her the day before my neighbor found the lice.  We've been acting as if we have lice--washing, washing, washing, and treating kids' heads with vinegar and olive oil. We do have fleas.  They are gross.  I have been washing, washing, washing every single day.  I vacuum 2-3 times a day.  I put down pesticide every night.  When I find a flea on my baby I am so horrified that I wash, vacuum, and spray with even greater urgency. We do have chicken pox.  3 out of 7.  I keep waiting for the other 4. But today we took a vacation.  I left the laundry and the vacuum and the pesticides and the schoolwork behind, and we took a family hike.  Little I.10 giggled from his backpack perch almost the whole time.  Kids ran and yelled and jumped and climbed, and I fel

My kids are good kids. Yesterday the flea issue got bad enough that I had to face it head on instead of piddling around as I've been doing for too many days. And we have chicken pox. I did 13 loads of laundry yesterday, and I'm well on my way to doing that many loads today, too as I try to clean up bedding and curtains and stuffed animals and throw pillows and blankets--I don't want fleas!  I've also been vacuuming at every opportunity.  This is in addition to doing our regular school routine and making our meals. The kids offered to help buy pizza, but with sick children, I wanted good food in their bodies! I set the big girls up for family scripture study and asked them to take turns reading just like they would if I were in the room, and then I ran off to move some laundry. They did it! They cooperated. They took turns reading.  They wrote coherent summaries.  They tried to apply the doctrine to their own lives. And they did it again today. I