A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 We've entered the season of finishing. Baymax finished math. Brother, Ladybug, Beowulf, and Lola have finished various math/language arts worktexts , and they're down to only 2 worktexts to go to finish for the year. Little Princess finished American Government. The kids and I have memorized all 47 US Presidents in order.  We're now trying to memorize some interesting facts about each president and develop a sense of each president's season of influence. We finished Little Britches and Great Expectations .  Both books inspired so much discussion!  (In totally different ways, of course!) I do have to comment that I knew a sad ending was coming in Little Britches , but the kids were taken off guard--kind of blindsided.  It was rough to watch them react, and I have a hunch this is going to be a book they're not willing to revisit any time soon. We picked up Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher as our next bedtime read aloud--it's a spin off of 1001 Arabian Nights ....

 I'm not doing well. I have built habits and routines that are keeping us up and running, though. Morning Meeting and morning meds Cleaning/Meal Prep  High School literature/geography Snack Elementary/Middle school subjects Lunch Independent schoolwork Cleaning/Correcting independent schoolwork Meal Prep Dinner/Scripture reading/Family Prayer Showers/Bedtime reading or Evening activities/get ready for bed Evening meds If anything interrupts us, I flail about, lost. Several times in the past few weeks, Sir Walter Scott has found me standing in the living room unable to move or think clearly.   Then I remember where I am, and I do what I can. I've taken kids to keep medical/psych appointments. In the pulmonary function lab I've kept everyone fed. We've gone to dance performances and practices. In the circle before our show, our little friend loved on Mister Man--one of her favorite humans. They've attended church activities. This activity was interrupted by tornado wa...

That's Belle in line with friends to listen to a devotional by President Dallin H. Oaks at BYU-Provo I hate to whine too much. I count my blessings every single day. I do! It has been a rough few weeks, though. For me. Nothing huge has happened. But I feel defeated anyway. And I don't think I should pretend otherwise. I'm old enough and experienced enough to know that seasons like this will pass.  I will feel light shining through me again, and I will see more clearly the good that I am doing. Acknowledging the hard will, perhaps, make the joy all the sweeter. Our habits and routines keep us grounded. Morning Meeting continues to be our daily anchor.  We're reading, discussing, singing, and memorizing our way through scripture. High School Studies have been simpler lately because between post-surgical healing and a cold, I haven't been up to putting notes up on the white board for history/geography.  We've focused instead on reading and narrating.  We finished...

 We had our annual lighting ceremony on Monday night. And by sewing madly in the late afternoon, I managed to finish 24 gift bags (20 of them were made in previous years) for our Christmas book advent. We've been faithfully opening one a day, and I love, love, love how the kids still gather around and get excited over seeing what book is in what bag and then settle happily down near the fire for read aloud time. This week we opened Dasher, Santa's Twin, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and The Night Tree.   We're just reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever a chapter at a time, so it's fun to double up and read a picture book and a chapter book. We're also trucking along rather well with regular school. We did add The Jesus Storybook Bible to our Morning Meeting. We read The Big Wave , and we're almost through with The Master Puppeteer . The Big Wave is the single best book about grieving I...