A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Well, I can say for sure that I am tired of being sick and useless. Sick with a stomach bug for part of last week and the weekend, followed by profound pain from hurting my neck (did I damage it when vomiting?!?!?!) and daily chiropractic visits to undo the damage, followed by a cold with a dreadful sore throat that I'm still dealing with today. I am ready to be healthy and able-bodied! I'm pretty sure Sir Walter Scott and the older girls are ready for me to be healthy and able-bodied, too!!! *We had Morning Meetings every day. *We read every day. *The kids had a lot of free time to read and write and draw on their own. *Little Princess turned in her essay on Irena Sendler--I got chills and cried a little as I read about her work. *Little Princess started research for another essay on the Wright brothers. *Our internet went down for a full day, and the teens commented, "I didn't realize how dependent I am on working wi-fi." *We watched several movies--Disney's

 I'm still recuperating from a stomach bug. Several of the kids got it, and Sir Walter Scott just started now. It made for a short school week, and while I'm recovered enough that I can get up and get going for a few hours,  I'm exhausted and foggy for the rest of the day. Exhausted and foggy is where I am now. I honestly remember very little about the week, and I'm only going on pictures now. Sunday We celebrated Valentine's Day early so that we could be mostly together. We had our traditional treasure hunt. The older kids are very tired of it, but I made them play along because their older sisters had to play along for them, and they still have younger siblings who think it is all fun. Then we exchanged valentines. The oldest 3 girls weren't present, nor did they have valentines prepared, but the rest of us exchanged away, and this is where it all becomes worthwhile.   The sweetest spirit of love and family settles over us as we do this every year. We watched

 Between snow and illness, we had a kind of quiet week here.  I thought I killed another batch of baby cabbage seedlings, but they hung in there! I have no excuse for forgetting them.  It was a perfectly peaceful day, and I should have remembered to bring them inside before the sun went down.  The morning temperature was 29, and I was ready to cry for the loss.  Now I'm all happy and hopeful for a real spring this year.  We've gone straight from winter to summer for the past couple of years. And temperatures are swinging wildly.  Forecasts are changing almost as wildly.  I'm practically obsessive about checking the forecast every day, and I still didn't know we were getting snow until I woke up to see it outside the windows! The teens and I finished the first unit (6 chapters) of The Landmark History of the American People .  I assigned them to write an informative essay--essentially a narration--about the 6 different types of colonists described.   They both missed the