A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 We started 2 Mondays ago with the Fibonacci Sequence.  My goal was to watch a couple of videos just to catch the kids' attention.  But those two videos led to 3 more videos , and suddenly Beowulf was yelling, "I want to do that!"  The other kids joined in, and before I knew it, everyone had graph paper and markers and was drawing golden rectangles and golden spirals. It was an AWESOME afternoon of mom-inspired, self-directed learning. That evening, Nature Angel showed me the purse she'd invented and crocheted. On Tuesday, we went to the library. That evening, Ladybug and Little Princess were able to go to the temple with some of their youth group. The next night there was a big youth carnival combined with another ward (congregation), and the kids all played crazy games both indoors and out, then had popsicles.  In spite of the intense heat, they had a grand time. She's all ready to have cheese puffs thrown at her head!! The days were honestly so hot that we only

  Belle doesn't take pictures, and she's never in them, either!  I'm going to have to get some done of her ASAP.  Our friend volunteered to give Belle a free photography session (and she's very good), so it will be fun to have some gorgeous portraits of my darling girl. Belle has been transitioning out from under my homeschool supervision.  She took 2 classes at the community college--1 each semester for dual enrollment credit. Fall semester:  Communications 100:  A:  1 high school credit Winter semester:  College Algebra:  A:  1 high school credit With her prior 22.75 credits, these two put her at 24.75 --a perfectly acceptable college preparatory level of high school work.  Indeed, she was accepted to SVU for admission Fall 2022! Belle has decided to defer her college enrollment to serve a full-time mission for our church.  She's had her first meeting with the bishop (the leader of our local congregation), and she's filling out paperwork now.  We've decide

Nature Angel has completed her 9th-grade year.  As with Little Princess, it seemed that she was doing less than she actually did, but she did so. much. good. work! Language Arts:   0.5 credit English 9, The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts High School 1 , 5 out of 10 units completed Math:   0.75 credit Algebra 1 with Geometry, Saxon, 90 out of 120 lessons completed Science:   0.5 credit Biology 1, Apologia Exploring Creation with Biology, 9 out of 16 modules completed History:       Ancient World History--Creation to Christ , custom-created course with literature, 1.0 credit          The Old Testament          The Three Brothers of Ur          Gilgamesh the Hero          Shepherd, Potter, Spy, and the Star Namer          Tirzah          Tales from Ancient Egypt (most of it)          Landmark's Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt (3 chapters)          The Golden Goblet          The Cat of Bubastes          Bulfinch's Mythology (most of it)          Black Ships Before Troy       

  Little Princess turned 12 years old at the start of our school year.  She needed a lot of support that she didn't get, and between the two of us, we could be crushed under guilt for how the school year went. We started the year with high hopes after having worked for hours together to find books and create plans that she would feel invested in.  We were both so excited. Life happened. I couldn't give her support. She thought she should be functioning on her own--able to solve all of the problems herself. She couldn't. If she did dare to ask for help, she felt guilty, and if I didn't explain things exactly right the first time, she'd get angry at herself for taking up my time, and she'd take it out on me, and we'd both have to walk away to calm down with no problems solved. I know I tried to reach out, but she stuffed her feelings down because she didn't want to be a burden. I'd be frustrated because she wouldn't talk. She wouldn't talk beca

  Ladybug had a big year--turning 11, getting braces, diving into fantasy novel series and becoming a die-hard reader, crocheting lots of toys and things as gifts for siblings, starting the youth program at church, and gaining lots of childcare skills. She is not by any means free of the ghosts of her past that affect her daily behaviors, but she has made so much progress, and she's really learned a lot about accepting her mistakes with grace and moving on. That was probably the biggest theme of her homeschool year--acknowledging mistakes gracefully.  It's a hard thing to be a perfectionist; it's an even harder thing to be intellectually disabled and a perfectionist!  Every single mistake would drive her into yelling, screaming, crying, and sulking.  It made school really, really hard.  (understatement) Many of her acting-out sessions would turn into several-hour marathons during which I would have to put her in a safe place and just wait them out.  When she finished, I wou

 As with all of the other kids, we started the year with big plans and had to simplify.  When things got rough, we put Latin, typing, language arts, journaling, and Book of Mormon on the shelf.  All Mister Man had to do each day was a math lesson and a handwriting lesson. When he finished his cursive practice book, we added language arts back in.  When he finished his math book, I asked him to do double language arts, but he asked if he could do Book of Mormon , and I said yes. At the end of the school year, he'd completed HWT cursive practice and Saxon Math 5/4.  He was most of the way through Lightning Literature grade 4, and he made good progress in his Book of Mormon journal.   Mister Man is a prolific reader.  Thank goodness he's willing to re-read books or I couldn't keep him satisfied.  He read hundreds of books--both quality and fluff--and he's well on his way to completing the Mensa grades 4-6 reading list. The trauma of the early part of the year left its

  When our school year began, Brother's behaviors were in a hard and fast decline.  He was having multiple breakdowns per day, several of which were so dangerous that he was approved by the state for residential care in a behavioral facility.  Though I had a delightful academic plan for him, that plan had to take a back seat to mental and physical survival. In the long run, even though we found a bed for him at a terrific facility, it was denied him by a stranger in the higher echelons of the state foster/adopt system.  Just as we were in our deepest despair, we were able to see a psychiatrist who prescribed the medication cocktail that is still working today for our boy.   God came through in the 11th hour--not as we expected, but as we needed! We lived (and in many ways, are still living) on tenterhooks, but as we settled down to a degree of safety previously unknown, I introduced a couple of school subjects for Brother to work on--math and spelling.  Both because they are straig

 It's still hot and calm around here. I haven't done another math activity yet.  I'm not sure why I keep forgetting . . . It's been long enough since I prepared that I need to prepare again!  But we did go to the library. We got the piano tuned!! We played with the babies.  Nature Angel is tossing Cheerios into Lil K's mouth! The littler ones are hoping for misses.  😂 We went to the park. Pokemon is serious stuff for these two! We had a grand tea party with Amish friendship bread, hard boiled eggs, cherries, strawberries, and cheesy puffs.  We read some more Mother Goose and Eugene Fields poems. Ladybug got to help make the bread. Nature Angel completed one of her museum sketches.  Her phone shows the statue she copied. Our 3-minute music appreciation session went well.  We listened to one portion of Divertimento in B-flat major by Mozart.  It's getting to be time for me to pull out art supplies and challenge the kids to draw what they heard.  They're getti