A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 I had to use this video of Beowulf! Each of the circles on the windows in the museum has a direction to act like an animal in the display.  He's reading them and trying to do what they say without making any noise in the museum.   Nature Angel filmed him. This video is just so perfect for describing my boy! He's willing to give anything a try.   He's good-natured. He's silly. He's creative and funny and awkward and all of the good things there are to be when you're an 11-year-old boy. He has a lot of mental health struggles--some as severe as Brother's--but Beowulf is somehow just a tad more optimistic and easy to comfort than Brother is. He's huge. Probably not as huge as you're imagining. He outweighs both of his older brothers, even though he's shorter than both of them.  He's not one bit fat though.  He's just big and strong. (My three older boys wear the same size clothing!) He's totally unable to control his body in space. (I...

Books we read this week.   The Frog Book was outstanding.  The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden made all of us cry.  It's about dealing with grief, and it is perfect.   Monday . . . Gloom Tuesday . . . Gloom Wednesday . . . Gloom Thursday . . . Gloom Friday . . . Sun!  And I came back to life. Seasonal Affective Disorder . . . it's real. Crocus photo by Little Princess Today is the last forecasted day of sun before 10 more days of rain and gloom.  I've soaked up as much sun as I've been able to this weekend, and I'll do my best today. But the truth is, I'm scared of the gloom that is coming back.  I saw my doctor this week for my annual depression screening and follow up, and we can see that my med is working, and I'm managing my symptoms.   Went on a little walk with just a few of the kids to collect tires for our pond structure.  Walking helps.   But a lack of sunshine is a real problem, and I don't want to feel half dead and ...

 This post is dated for the Monday of our homeschool week, but I'm starting with Sunday because it was Valentine's day.   It was snowy, intensely cold, and Sir Walter Scott was still in the hospital.     Our usual church broadcast was cancelled so that the people who run the broadcast could stay home, so we had a cuddly testimony meeting in our pajamas snuggled into blankets because our heater couldn't keep up with the cold outside (even with a roaring fire in the wood-burning stove), and I couldn't bear to force anyone to change clothes. We had our traditional treasure hunt and valentine exchange, but first we decorated cookies provided to us by some dear, dear friends from church. From Lola to Mister Man--the beetle sticker on the bear's forehead is my favorite part.   Then the snow cleared just enough for me to safely drive to the hospital to see Sir Walter Scott and deliver his valentines. It is now warming up, but we were gripped by the cold--to the point t...

 We did nothing exciting in our homeschool this week.   Actually, we did do one exciting thing--the youngest ones (minus Lola who simply could not stay focused) illustrated their Owlets haiku books.  We all wrote the same poems together, and I printed a copy for each child.  Then they illustrated their individual booklets.   Beowulf's pages.  I didn't think to include his front cover!  :( Mister Man's booklet This one is by Baymax Ladybug's--such a cute nest full of babies! Brother's   Other than this cool project, all of my exciting energy was put into getting our dining room/school room walls mended, prepped, and painted and putting up the new interior window trim.     We moved along with Morning Meeting every day, book work time every day, read aloud time every day, and lots and lots and lots of free time.    . . . or Advanced Mathematics . . . that's almost as good as free time, right?   The weather was kind of forbid...