A Week, Briefly (8/16/21)

Little Princess took these flower close-ups on a walk one day this week.

 

Sir Walter Scott and I "celebrated" 23 years of marriage last weekend.  Little Princess made a lovely tray of lemon bars for a treat that we ate while we had an impromptu wedding trivia game with the kids.  Then Sir Walter Scott and I walked the dogs without the kids.  We were too tired and overwhelmed to do anything more.

 

We are, however, grateful for each other and for our family.  Seasons come and go, and this especially exhausting season will not last forever. 

 

It is hard, now, to know what to write.

We're doing our best to establish a school routine, and we're doing reasonably well.

It took only 2 days to see that Beowulf would not be able to do 3rd grade math with Rod and Staff. 

The required copying is simply too, too much for him.  I hopped online and ordered him a simple workbook that covers 3rd grade skills.  It is pictured above.  It's less of a teaching tool and more of a skill drill book, but he's quite quick at picking up math concepts, and I'm perfectly able to explain the concepts on each page.  His sense of accomplishment skyrocketed this week, and I am very happy to see him working successfully.

The older girls had to take over meals and kid care while I dealt with one raging child or another several times this week.  

Beowulf jumped in to protect me when Brother was trying to hit me with a stool.  I almost laughed as my frightened-but-brave 8-year-old boy yelled, "I got this, Mom!  Get back!" as I was trying to calmly say the same thing to him.

Between us, we got the stool from Brother without too much damage to ourselves, and, to make a long story short, Belle drove the kids to their first dance rehearsal of the season (first one since March 2020), while I stayed home with Brother and the babies and a neighbor who kindly came over to be another set of hands in case we needed them. (We didn't.)

The kids came home with stars in their eyes, telling us all about the fun new dances and songs for the year ahead.  Sweet, forgiving brothers and sisters told Brother which dances he will be part of and helped him learn some of the steps.

 

 

At this point, the nursing homes have all shut their doors to visitors again, but we are preparing just in case they open back up.  If they stay closed for the year, we will at least have a Friends and Family show next spring.  

 

Sir Walter Scott took Belle, Nature Angel, and Little Princess out for another attempt to watch the Perseid meteor shower.  They were successful even though it was no longer peak viewing time.

Chess has made a comeback in popularity at our house lately.

We're already starting to finish books around here . . . but there will be a lot of that as many kids are doing homemade literature/reading studies, so I need to document their books as they finish them instead of relying on a predesigned curriculum plan.

Baymax finished Little Bear's Visit.  We're still taking turns reading every other page.  After he reads, he narrates a sentence that I write in colored pencil, and he traces it.  (The black eye was accidentally delivered by Lola when she threw her head back in a tantrum into Baymax's face.)

Ladybug completed all of the exercises and all of the quizzes for MLFLE 2.  She could not complete the final quiz without almost constant support, so I cannot say that she has mastered the concepts.  I've already ordered and received Level 3 of this program, but I am planning to hold it just a little longer while I have her work through grade 2 concepts (especially carrying, borrowing, counting money, and solving word problems) another time or two.

Nature Angel is setting and achieving goals with vision boards.  I love her sense of beauty, and she radiates peace into my heart.

Chemistry studies together. :)

Mister Man got to spend 2 nights with Grandma and Grandpa this week.  He was so excited that this is how he finished up the school work I required before a 2 day vacation.

I've decided that Thursday mornings (dance days) are going to be for special activities.  On this first rehearsal Thursday we went to the park.

Toby still has a long way to go to be a "civilized" pet (i.e. housetrained and knows what to chew and what not to chew), but he's fast become an essential part of the family.  We hoped he would be soothing for Brother, and he is, but he does shy away from Brother's anger and attach himself to the kids who are more fearful.  I am not disappointed by this behavior . . . it actually makes a lot of sense  . . . it's just different from what I expected.  The twice daily walks are probably the most helpful for Brother.

We got through all 11 dentist appointments, and I finally got my permanent bridge to take the place of my broken crown and tooth.  What a blessing to find that only 2 kids need fillings, and even I only need one other crown replaced after nearly 2 years without seeing a dentist (we weren't allowed in for a long time because Sir Walter Scott works with covid patients)!

Our sick chicken died, and we had a kind-of-sort-of funeral for her.

Little Princess captured these pictures of the luna moth we found one morning on a walk.

7 days x 1.6 miles = 11.2 miles walked.

26.2 miles + 11.2 miles = 37.4 miles

Not everyone walks every walk but Brother. :)  However, most of us are walking most of the walks (even I only missed 1), so I am calculating the collective.

In Academy we're reading Viking Tales, more picture books about Mexico (no pic this week as I didn't get one taken before books had to go back to the library), and working on our dinosaur study.  

I am fighting a serious sense of hopelessness . . . even as I count my blessings and write that these hard days won't last forever.  There is so much beauty all around, and it is so hard for me to feel it.