A Week, Briefly (#27)
We had a fabulous reading/discussion session Saturday night about Galileo and how our solar system moves through the Milky Way galaxy--complete with Google searches, ooohs, ahhhs, and tons of questions from curious kids and teens.
Seriously, this science book by Joy Hakim?
Priceless.
Monday dawned cloudy but warm, and we had the littles out playing on the deck before breakfast.
Morning Meeting brought lots of giggles at Dad's expense. He does his best, but the kids laughed because he doesn't know the words/tunes to the songs we sing as well as we do. It's really not his fault that he misses most Morning Meetings because he goes to work to support our lifestyle!
The older girls and I limped our way through an examination of literary stylistic techniques found in The Comedy of Errors as we simultaneously dealt with interruptions-on-top-of-interruptions by babies and littles. Super Star was banned from the school room altogether for sharing her bad attitude with us one too many times.
It was rather a relief when we finally finished our studies, got Act 3 read, and packed up our books and papers for another day.
The littles and I took colored craft sticks and made triangles, squares, and pentagons. Brother cried and said, "I can't do it!" over and over again. I worked with him carefully and slowly, and eventually he did it. I wish I'd caught a picture of the smile on his face when he was finally successful.
Priceless.
After lunch we went outside to wait for Jaybird to arrive for his weekly visit. While we waited we practiced our throwing-a-ball-though-a-hoop skills, drew with sidewalk chalk, and rode bikes.
Jaybird never showed up.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with Ladybug at the doctor's office. While we were gone, I attached some burlap to a large embroidery hoop, threaded some cotton yarn onto a blunt-nosed needle and showed her how to "embroider."
Oh! How she loved it!
The older girls were supposed to get their math and other independent work done while I was gone. Some of them did; some of them . . . didn't.
Time for some lectures on responsibility.
In the evening we got stories read to the littles, and then read/talked about the laws of motion. Super Star was working overtime to make up for the incidents of the morning, and she was looking at the book over my shoulder as I read. "This book has awesome diagrams!" she exclaimed.
She's right.
We're also reading The King of Men. Monday night's chapter was a rather gruesome (but thought-provoking) study of ancient ritual sacrifice. I'm thinking it was a mistake to let Little Princess stay up to listen.
On Tuesday we were settling into our day when the phone rang.
Our adoption is set for March 28th!
I scrambled around making arrangements; we went to our various therapy appointments; we had our cousins visit in the afternoon.
Oh, what a full month we have ahead!!!!
Wednesday was productive and difficult--babies fussing, preschoolers tantruming, little kids unfocused and demanding, big kids irritable, and me feeling frustrated with it all. I kept trying to decide whether to chuck our plans and go to the park or keep putting one foot in front of the other, and the fact that the septic system guy was coming over and all of the phone calls I had to field all day kept us home and plodding along.
The big girls: Did an up close examination of the meaning and theme of Balthazar's speech in Act 3; read Act 4 aloud (between interruptions); did their math and other independent study activities--including some nature observations and piano practicing.
Nature Angel: Read and discussed a couple of poems with me; completed a grammar worksheet on coordinating conjunctions; practiced shooting hoops; worked on her backbends--amazing!
Little Princess: She was here, there, and everywhere, but other than Morning Meeting and Evening Read-Aloud time I can't remember a single academic activity for her--even though I tried.
Ladybug: Participated in preschool activities; embroidered; read a Dick and Jane story.
Mister Man: Participated in preschool activities; read several Dick and Jane stories.
Preschool: Spooning marbles into a water bottle; weaving; geometry with craft sticks.
Melty beads kept the medium-sized kids happy for the hour before dinner.
The babies are teething, and my sanity was saved when Baymax took a long late-afternoon nap.
We are scheduled to have our family sealed in the temple the day after the adoption is final.
We are running into too many difficulties in trying to have an adoption celebration.
The same is true for Rose Red's Sweet 16 party.
I think it is time for a Spring Break and Spring Cleaning.
Soon.
As Soon As Possible.
Thursday was so beautiful weather-wise that I was irritated we had to go to dance practice.
The older girls and I discussed how setting can contribute to plot and theme. Then we finished reading A Comedy of Errors. We laughed out loud more than once.
The little boys spooned marbles into a water bottle again. I extended that activity by sitting and counting with them; Brother can count correctly into the teens, Little Brother counts accurately to 2. They liked handling the shiny marbles, so it was fun to practice counting higher and higher. I also assigned Brother the task of sorting the marbles into piles. He didn't understand what sorting meant at first, but once I showed him, he really got into it. It was interesting to pay attention and listen to his criteria for assigning certain marble to certain groups.
The medium-ish kids made melty-bead projects.
Ladybug wants to read so very, very badly. She cannot put sounds together to create words, but she can memorize what they look like, so she's working on the simplest of Dick and Jane stories. She feels very proud of herself.
We danced.
Then we spent 2 1/2 hours outside.
I pulled weeds from the cracks in the driveway.
Nature Angel shot hoops.
Ladybug taught herself how to ride a two-wheeler!
When the contractor finished studying our yard and got answers to his questions about how much water we used, I learned just how much it will cost us to replace our broken septic system!!!
Our evening reading was about the invention of the telescope. The kids were rather disgusted with the Aristotelians of the 17th century who refused to see what was before their faces. It makes me wonder about what we refuse to see.
I don't think we're going to be able to have an adoption party. I can't find my way around the road blocks.
On Friday morning the older girls watched a BBC production of The Comedy of Errors. They were aghast at the fact that it wasn't a blockbuster-modern-movie type movie. After the initial shock wore off, they got into the play itself, and even after I had to leave the room to take care of needy babies, I could hear their squeals and laughter.
Mister Man and Ladybug both had turns reading from Dick and Jane. I'd really like to stop Ladybug--she's doing it to compete with Mister Man, and she's forming all kinds of bad habits as she memorizes the stories and guesses what word comes next--but she's so sure she's reading, and she's so proud of herself, and we're spending time together doing something that she wants to do, so that I can't break her heart.
The Dick and Jane book is due at the library on Tuesday . . . perhaps that will bring a natural end to this chapter, and we can focus on developing real skills instead of playing the lottery. If not, I'm going to have to get thinking about how to help her learn this way.
I soaked water beads as a sensory experience for Brother and Little Brother. We had multiple attempts at play, but the first one was a bust because the boys dropped beads on the floor where I caught Baymax trying to eat them, and the second was disappointing because the boys kept breaking the beads. I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but I have a particular issue with kids breaking stuff, so the play session ended badly.
Nature Angel, Little Princess, Ladybug, and Mister Man all had turns to play with the left over water beads. While it lasted, the kids loved them, but I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm willing to try again.
Nature Angel read some more poetry and did another worksheet on coordinating conjunctions.
Rose Red had a job interview and was offered a job keeping the salad bar stocked at a local restaurant. Orientation is this Tuesday. I'm not thrilled because the restaurant is not local enough for me, and I am unwilling to drive her there and back (the round trip drive would be an hour). She has two friends who work there, so part of the deal is that she has to coordinate her shifts with her friends, get rides with them, and chip in for gas. The other part of the deal is that she has to now make up reading on her own for all of the time she'll not be part of our evening reading (I did the math and it is about 200 hours/year that she'll lose), and she has to get her school work completed and checked by me before she's allowed to report to work each day.
I hope she succeeds.
Super Star had some marvelous spiritual experiences working on her Personal Progress. We had a long talk and cried together. I'm quite proud of my girl.
Ladybug now can do 3 loops of the driveway riding a two-wheeler on her own!
Evening reading was a cliff-hanger (for some of us) because the final chapter about Galileo's contributions to science challenged us to find a biography of Galileo to find out what happened between him and the church! I'm reserving a book at the library now, and I'll bet there will be arguments over who gets it first when we pick the book up. :)
Today is Saturday. I was going to take the littles to a park to play after dropping the older 4 off at a special youth devotional, but I woke up to rain. After chores are done, we'll have to get creative indoors.
Seriously, this science book by Joy Hakim?
Priceless.
 | |||
| Thought this picture of our van full of groceries for a week was kind of funny. |
Morning Meeting brought lots of giggles at Dad's expense. He does his best, but the kids laughed because he doesn't know the words/tunes to the songs we sing as well as we do. It's really not his fault that he misses most Morning Meetings because he goes to work to support our lifestyle!
The older girls and I limped our way through an examination of literary stylistic techniques found in The Comedy of Errors as we simultaneously dealt with interruptions-on-top-of-interruptions by babies and littles. Super Star was banned from the school room altogether for sharing her bad attitude with us one too many times.
It was rather a relief when we finally finished our studies, got Act 3 read, and packed up our books and papers for another day.
The littles and I took colored craft sticks and made triangles, squares, and pentagons. Brother cried and said, "I can't do it!" over and over again. I worked with him carefully and slowly, and eventually he did it. I wish I'd caught a picture of the smile on his face when he was finally successful.
Priceless.
 |
| This is Little Brother studying a triangle I made. |
Jaybird never showed up.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with Ladybug at the doctor's office. While we were gone, I attached some burlap to a large embroidery hoop, threaded some cotton yarn onto a blunt-nosed needle and showed her how to "embroider."
Oh! How she loved it!
The older girls were supposed to get their math and other independent work done while I was gone. Some of them did; some of them . . . didn't.
Time for some lectures on responsibility.
In the evening we got stories read to the littles, and then read/talked about the laws of motion. Super Star was working overtime to make up for the incidents of the morning, and she was looking at the book over my shoulder as I read. "This book has awesome diagrams!" she exclaimed.
She's right.
We're also reading The King of Men. Monday night's chapter was a rather gruesome (but thought-provoking) study of ancient ritual sacrifice. I'm thinking it was a mistake to let Little Princess stay up to listen.
On Tuesday we were settling into our day when the phone rang.
Our adoption is set for March 28th!
I scrambled around making arrangements; we went to our various therapy appointments; we had our cousins visit in the afternoon.
Oh, what a full month we have ahead!!!!
Wednesday was productive and difficult--babies fussing, preschoolers tantruming, little kids unfocused and demanding, big kids irritable, and me feeling frustrated with it all. I kept trying to decide whether to chuck our plans and go to the park or keep putting one foot in front of the other, and the fact that the septic system guy was coming over and all of the phone calls I had to field all day kept us home and plodding along.
The big girls: Did an up close examination of the meaning and theme of Balthazar's speech in Act 3; read Act 4 aloud (between interruptions); did their math and other independent study activities--including some nature observations and piano practicing.
Nature Angel: Read and discussed a couple of poems with me; completed a grammar worksheet on coordinating conjunctions; practiced shooting hoops; worked on her backbends--amazing!
Little Princess: She was here, there, and everywhere, but other than Morning Meeting and Evening Read-Aloud time I can't remember a single academic activity for her--even though I tried.
Ladybug: Participated in preschool activities; embroidered; read a Dick and Jane story.
Mister Man: Participated in preschool activities; read several Dick and Jane stories.
Preschool: Spooning marbles into a water bottle; weaving; geometry with craft sticks.
 |
| Brother did a science experiment with wind all on his own! |
Melty beads kept the medium-sized kids happy for the hour before dinner.
The babies are teething, and my sanity was saved when Baymax took a long late-afternoon nap.
We are scheduled to have our family sealed in the temple the day after the adoption is final.
We are running into too many difficulties in trying to have an adoption celebration.
The same is true for Rose Red's Sweet 16 party.
I think it is time for a Spring Break and Spring Cleaning.
Soon.
As Soon As Possible.
Thursday was so beautiful weather-wise that I was irritated we had to go to dance practice.
The older girls and I discussed how setting can contribute to plot and theme. Then we finished reading A Comedy of Errors. We laughed out loud more than once.
The little boys spooned marbles into a water bottle again. I extended that activity by sitting and counting with them; Brother can count correctly into the teens, Little Brother counts accurately to 2. They liked handling the shiny marbles, so it was fun to practice counting higher and higher. I also assigned Brother the task of sorting the marbles into piles. He didn't understand what sorting meant at first, but once I showed him, he really got into it. It was interesting to pay attention and listen to his criteria for assigning certain marble to certain groups.
The medium-ish kids made melty-bead projects.
Ladybug wants to read so very, very badly. She cannot put sounds together to create words, but she can memorize what they look like, so she's working on the simplest of Dick and Jane stories. She feels very proud of herself.
We danced.
Then we spent 2 1/2 hours outside.
I pulled weeds from the cracks in the driveway.
Nature Angel shot hoops.
Ladybug taught herself how to ride a two-wheeler!
When the contractor finished studying our yard and got answers to his questions about how much water we used, I learned just how much it will cost us to replace our broken septic system!!!
Our evening reading was about the invention of the telescope. The kids were rather disgusted with the Aristotelians of the 17th century who refused to see what was before their faces. It makes me wonder about what we refuse to see.
I don't think we're going to be able to have an adoption party. I can't find my way around the road blocks.
On Friday morning the older girls watched a BBC production of The Comedy of Errors. They were aghast at the fact that it wasn't a blockbuster-modern-movie type movie. After the initial shock wore off, they got into the play itself, and even after I had to leave the room to take care of needy babies, I could hear their squeals and laughter.
Mister Man and Ladybug both had turns reading from Dick and Jane. I'd really like to stop Ladybug--she's doing it to compete with Mister Man, and she's forming all kinds of bad habits as she memorizes the stories and guesses what word comes next--but she's so sure she's reading, and she's so proud of herself, and we're spending time together doing something that she wants to do, so that I can't break her heart.
The Dick and Jane book is due at the library on Tuesday . . . perhaps that will bring a natural end to this chapter, and we can focus on developing real skills instead of playing the lottery. If not, I'm going to have to get thinking about how to help her learn this way.
I soaked water beads as a sensory experience for Brother and Little Brother. We had multiple attempts at play, but the first one was a bust because the boys dropped beads on the floor where I caught Baymax trying to eat them, and the second was disappointing because the boys kept breaking the beads. I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but I have a particular issue with kids breaking stuff, so the play session ended badly.
Nature Angel read some more poetry and did another worksheet on coordinating conjunctions.
Rose Red had a job interview and was offered a job keeping the salad bar stocked at a local restaurant. Orientation is this Tuesday. I'm not thrilled because the restaurant is not local enough for me, and I am unwilling to drive her there and back (the round trip drive would be an hour). She has two friends who work there, so part of the deal is that she has to coordinate her shifts with her friends, get rides with them, and chip in for gas. The other part of the deal is that she has to now make up reading on her own for all of the time she'll not be part of our evening reading (I did the math and it is about 200 hours/year that she'll lose), and she has to get her school work completed and checked by me before she's allowed to report to work each day.
 |
| (Selfie) |
Super Star had some marvelous spiritual experiences working on her Personal Progress. We had a long talk and cried together. I'm quite proud of my girl.
Ladybug now can do 3 loops of the driveway riding a two-wheeler on her own!
Evening reading was a cliff-hanger (for some of us) because the final chapter about Galileo's contributions to science challenged us to find a biography of Galileo to find out what happened between him and the church! I'm reserving a book at the library now, and I'll bet there will be arguments over who gets it first when we pick the book up. :)
Today is Saturday. I was going to take the littles to a park to play after dropping the older 4 off at a special youth devotional, but I woke up to rain. After chores are done, we'll have to get creative indoors.
Wow! I thought our weeks sound busy. But it sounds like a lot of good times.
ReplyDeleteA lovely full week. I'm so excited for your adoption day and even more excited for your temple day! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteTons of great stuff going on at your house. Congrats on the adoptions.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Love love love hearing about all you do! Good luck to Rose Red--big step! Uncle Steve Palmer has some good suggestions on how to succeed at your first job--his list is posted on Alex's bedroom wall...
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the upcoming adoption! I hope everything works out with your daughter's first job!
ReplyDeleteI am undecided if we are taking a spring break. I could use one! There are a ton of cleaning/organizing tasks that need to get done. But sometimes the days are harder if we aren't in our usual routine and the oldest two boys do not find enough productive things to do.