A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 I write "Curriculum Plans" with absolute sincerity. They are plans . Not commitments. We will use these plans as long as they are a good fit for us. We will change when we need to, if we need to. That said, here's what we're hoping to enjoy! Morning Meeting (Devotional) This will continue the way we have done for 20 years.  We'll have a scripture of the month, a scripture of the week, a hymn, some Bible reading, some Book of Mormon reading, some reading/discussion/lessons on whatever our church-wide curriculum is (Book of Mormon for '24, Doctrine and Covenants for '25).  I'll hang up the weekly art "poster" in each Come, Follow Me lesson for our consideration and appreciation.  We'll open and close with prayer, and we'll continue to practice Thankful Thursdays every week. Math Teaching Textbooks for all 8 kids:   Nature Angel completed Algebra 2 last year, and she asked for Geometry this year.  Little Princess is on to Algebra 2, bu...

 I know this list is not all-inclusive!  For example, it does not include any of our Christmas read-alouds. It also does not include most of the powerful picture books we read aloud together for history and science lessons. I just feel missing books as I read the list over, but this is the list I kept, so this is the list I must publish. In Search of the Castaways--Jules Verne Mustaches for Maddie--Chad Morris  The Elephant's Girl--Celesta Rimington My Side of the Mountain--Jean Craighead George The Mysterious Howling--Maryrose Wood The Hidden Gallery--Maryrose Wood The Trumpet of the Swan--E.B. White Charlotte's Web--E.B. White Florence Nightingale--Ruth Fox Hume Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross--Augusta Stevenson Island of the Blue Dolphins--Scott O'Dell The Phantom Tollbooth--Norton Juster My Side of the Mountain--Jean Craighead George  Danny, Champion of the World--Roald Dahl The Little White Horse -- Elizabeth Goudge Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIM...

  Hurrah for being healthy! I got up grateful every morning, and I went to bed grateful every evening, and I was just plain grateful all day to feel capable of being present. Monday Random shot of Little Princess working on research.  She changed her essay focus from The Wright Brothers to History of Aviation It was clear and sunny and cool enough for coats, but also perfect for playing outside (It would normally have been teen school time, but Nature Angel was really sick.).   At first, I tried to keep the babies away from the two puddles in our driveway, but then I gave up and directed it a little by encouraging them to throw pebbles into the puddles.  I figured they'd love throwing rocks, the pebbles would raise the puddles so they'd drain, and it didn't require sitting in the water. They did love it. And they sat in the water. I love how patient my kids can be as they teach the babies how to do stuff! The younger kids and I couldn't do our usual school becau...

 It was a challenging week. Little Princess was sick with a cold all week long . . . as was I.  Nature Angel had symptoms for a few days, but she was better able to fight it off.  The younger kids each had stuffy/runny noses for a day or so, but they ran around and played with energy that belied any sense of feeling ill. Little Princess didn't feel well enough to go to youth activities at church, but the other girls did, and they got to play glow-in-the-dark volleyball! After much internal debate about whether to prepare the kids in advance or keep it a secret, I told the younger kids about Sir Walter Scott's and my weekend date coming soon.  The older kids offered several months ago to take over for a full weekend, and we accepted!  We will be staying at a little Airbnb house just minutes from our own home so that we can come home immediately in case of emergency.  I chose to tell them because they were already overhearing conversations with the older kids...

 Puzzles are the current kid craze.  Little Princess started it, and the younger kids have eagerly searched the game closet for interesting puzzles.  (Even though we clean that closet out at least once every year, somehow half of the puzzles have missing pieces every time!)   She was doing one 100 piece puzzle over and over and over again.  When I went shopping I picked up a $5 puzzle that was new to her and a bit more of a challenge.  The weather has continued to swing precariously between single digits with storms and 60s with sun.  One day we can take the babies out to play half of the day, and the next we have to keep them indoors because the wind chill makes it dangerous.  On cold days, they stand at the windows pointing to the deck pleading, "Ou'si'e?  Ou'si'e?"  We do our best to distract them with dancing and playdough and stories. It looks like another cold is going through the ranks.  A couple of the babies went home sick ...

 Temperatures swung from 60+ degrees and sunny to single digits and 8 inches of snow this week.  In the coming week we're swinging back up again with 20 degree temperature climbs per day. The kids are out in it all.  I don't have photographic documentation of their outdoor play this year the way I have in years past, but they are still outside in all weathers.  This week they spent most of their time on bikes and skates, but when the creek froze, they spent almost 2 full days on the ice. The ice and snow caused schools to close and travel advisories in our area, so we had a day with no babies at all and then another day with only 2 babies.  It was so quiet around here!  We missed our babies, but we put our time to good use to get lots of school and organizing done. We celebrated Valentine's Day on Sunday instead of Monday because of school and work and babies.  We had our treasure hunt which was actually pretty challenging this year, and even though ou...