In Search of Peace Amidst the Chaos of Real Life

 In my last post, I whined about how our schedule is never-endingly being interrupted.

I said I wanted to get serious about defending our school time.

But I'm looking at our calendar, and there's not much end in sight.  The interruptions are already in place, and some are still arriving without my permission (via other people in the family), so I'm trying to embrace this attitude:

A local homeschooling friend recently told me that she has 12 medical appointments for her family this week!

That was the trigger that got me re-thinking my attitude about what is and what isn't within my sphere of control.

So, I cannot change psych and dentist appointments because they depend on too many variables beyond my control.

I cannot change Nature Angel's work schedule when she accidentally picked up a shift that she thought was outside of school hours but turned out to be during school hours.

I cannot change when The Munchkin's bus is late.

I cannot change when my kids have bad days, psych episodes, or need extra emotional support. (Though I can do my best to provide an atmosphere conducive to self-regulation.)

I cannot change the fact that our Azure Standard delivery (usually scheduled in the late afternoon) is suddenly happening at 10 am on Monday.

I can ask for afternoon appointments.

I can read a little longer some days and a little shorter others.

I can embrace what is being learned that is not in my curriculum plan.

And so on and so forth.

It's funny how much there is to learn even 20+ years into this homeschooling journey.

The kids and I finished our first unit of The Peaceful Press Playful Pioneers 2 this week.

*We memorized 6 states and capitals.

*We read the following books:

     The Landing of the Pilgrims--James Daugherty

     Moby Dick--adapted by Geraldine McCaughrean

     The Boy Who Fell off the Mayflower--P.J. Lynch

     Squanto's Journey--Joseph Brucac

     The Witch of Blackbird Pond--Elizabeth George Speare

     The Sign of the Beaver--Elizabeth George Speare

     Hiawatha and the Peacemaker--Robbie Robertson

     Seabird--H.C. Holling

*We read portions of the following books:

     Magnets--Rocco V. Ferravolo

     The 50 States--Gabrielle Balkan

     The Story of Science: Newton in the Middle--Joy Hakim

*We wrote narrations.

*We drew pictures.

*We began a timeline.

*We did copywork.

*We read poems by Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley.

*We read The Mayflower Compact and The Pilgrim-Wampanoag Treaty.

*We looked up words we didn't know, concepts we didn't understand, and stuff we wanted to know more about.

Everyone did math (some more than others--I'm going to need to be more proactive about monitoring a couple of the kids).

Brother and Beowulf participated in a presidency meeting for the boys' youth group.

Brother mowed a lawn (and got paid).

Beowulf and Mister Man did landscaping with our neighbor for one of her paying clients (and were both paid).

We attended soccer practice #2 of 5.

Poor Lola had oral surgery to remove 2 baby teeth that refused to come out on their own.  The adult teeth were growing in at wonky angles because of it, and our dentist finally realized that the baby teeth weren't "going to come out soon on their own."

Post-surgical Lola

While we're on the theme of sleeping kids, here's Baymax and Sugar Bear after American Rhythm, a park trip, and an exhausting 75 straight minutes in the car trying to pick up The Munchkin from his bus stop after school.  (His bus broke down, and I don't have the bus app!)

But the time we spent at the park was well worth the exhaustion.

We played with iron filings and magnets finding magnetic lines of force.

The high schoolers and I completed the unit on Edgar Allen Poe and read 4 more chapters of The Last of the Mohicans for American Lit.  They each worked hard on their independent subjects, and I enjoy when they have questions for me because that helps me participate in what they're learning.  I'm no help at all with Little Princess' Mandarin, but I enjoy remembering Geometry and Algebra II, pondering my own financial literacy, and reviewing essays with them.

Little Princess submitted her letter of application for Cadet Commander for CAP.

This is a photo of her flight doing a leadership game she facilitated.

Nature Angel attended an arts festival in the city that she said was "AMAZING!"

And both girls joined a friend for some indoor climbing.

And this is a drawing Nature Angel worked on this week.

In the week ahead, we have a lot of stuff to work around.

But it's also going to be gloriously perfect weather that should not be ignored, so we might just focus on our outdoor eduction!