A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

We celebrated Halloween this week because our church trunk or treat was on Thursday night. As far as my under 10s are concerned, that was Halloween. :) My older kids are already finding more Halloween fun, and, as it's wholesome fun they're finding, I'm okay with that. But I'm done.  My rule for costumes this year was this:  If you have your own money, you're welcome to spend it; the rest of you are dependent on what we have in the house. I think the rule worked. Thursday night was cold .  Everyone has jammies and extra clothes on under their costumes.  Many of the kids have extra hats, bibbies, and/or winter boots. Here's the crew: Nature Angel as scarecrow (she accidentally covered her straw-filled pockets) Little Princess as Heidi--she helped Grandma make her cute top Brother as a knight--he accidentally covered his helmet with his hat Beowulf as Woody Lola as "a worker birdie"--bird costume, hard hat, boots.  S...

Talking to big sister Pixie on Sunday evening. Diving right in . . . Super Star and Belle had a moderately productive week.  We had to modify our expectations due to psych appointments and family crises (we reduced required math and science lessons to 3 days each instead of 4 or 5), but they worked hard and made some academic progress. Super Star and I had a good math tutoring session during the week.  I marvel at her progress in successfully manipulating fractions, exponents, and algebraic equations.  Her ability to work through basic math skills has not improved in a full decade, so her success in algebra is partially due to the fact that she uses a calculator for the basic stuff. I spent time trying to find a clinical psychologist who both tests for learning disabilities and takes our insurance; I was not actually successful.  As Super Star needs to take a college placement exam by next summer, we need to get her suspected dyscalculia confirmed (or ...

Saturday General Conference! Three whole sessions' worth on Saturday!  Normally, Sir Walter Scott would have kept the littlest ones at home while I took the girls 8-and-up to the church to watch the General Women's Broadcast, but he'd forgotten to request the day off, so we stayed home.  I offered the little guys the choice between being tucked in first or staying up to watch the third session of the day. They all chose to stay up. But only Baymax actually stayed awake for the whole session. Sunday Waving "Good Morning" to Pixie After a huge treat of a breakfast, two more sessions of General Conference kept us busy all day, and we celebrated the end of it with a family campfire. Waving to Pixie again. :) Super Star had been waiting for an opportunity to burn Saxon Math 8/7--the year math was her especial nemesis.  Our book was purchased 3rd or 4th hand, and we gave it enough use ourselves so that it was too broken to keep.  I bought ...