A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Hurrah for 16! Hurrah for independence! Hurrah for Little Princess! She even took her driving test in the rain!   Even though Sir Walter Scott took her to take the test and then get her license, her absence dominated Tuesday.  We skipped literature and Eastern Hemisphere that day, but the rest of the kids and I had a whopper of a good school day, and then everyone had church activities that night that were somewhat educational in nature--crafts, cooking, sports, scripture trivia, and speech/debate were the variety that were offered. Also, on Tuesday, we got permission from the neurologist to take Ladybug off her anti-seizure med!   She was undergoing a complete personality change--a dangerous one. Her neurologist seems to be a good one.  As we talked over her situation, I feel that he listened and made thoughtful judgments.  The plan he presented makes sense to me and feels right.   She's on no meds at the moment.   And I am very gr...

 Really, it's my own fault that I'm drowning in dance costumes. But making them is so much more affordable than buying them, and we're doing a theme this year that we've never done before, so we need a lot of new stuff. I've completed 4 4T bandana skirts and 2 women's small peasant dresses--both to supplement our current costume stash. (I also made a pair of upcycled fuzzy pajama pants for Lola, but that has nothing to do with dance!) Nature Angel is responsible for a can-can number for the older girls.  Have you seen can-can costumes!?!?!?  They're fancy. We've let go of almost all of our wishes to settle on circle skirts with petticoats under them.   We already own a couple dozen petticoats. But we don't have enough matching circle skirts, nor do we have any tops to go with the skirts.   So . . . I volunteered to make 14 modified peasant dresses, but as tops, like this: (not my photo, but what the blouses will ultimately look like) It's a very ...

Chalk drawing by Little Princess assigned by The Good and the Beautiful   Temperatures dropped, soared, and dropped again.  We wore everything from shorts and sandals to coats and snow pants . . . sometimes even on the same day. At any rate, it only added another variable to the many we're dealing with in our homeschool. The babies' schedules have been changing--drop-off/pick-up time of day, which days of the week, etc..  We're doing our best to roll with it, but it's something to adjust to. Playing Patty-Cake with Little Mister Frog in the last minutes before his Mom picked him up.  Clapping is an exciting new skill!   Beowulf's psychiatric appointment has been moved a week closer--what a blessing!  But we're still dealing with the challenges of trying to get him through each day with severe ADHD and DMDD and no working meds.  The initial success we had with our visual timer has worn off with the novelty, and it can take him 2 hours or more to do wha...

The focus of this week has been Ladybug's baptism.  We know she is truly not ready to make and keep the covenant of baptism; she is mostly keeping a social/cultural form.  However, we have pondered, prayed, and counseled with our bishop about this, and all accountable adults involved feel that allowing her to go ahead and be baptized at this time will open the door to further progress for Ladybug. So today, Saturday, is the big day.  She'll be baptized with two of her friends from her primary class, and we will have a big family lunch back at our house afterward. My mom and dad saved the family lunch. Here's how: This week Sir Walter Scott got a flu shot.  As a nurse he gets one every year, and they usually don't bother him, but this one threw him for a loop.  He felt terrible all week, but as he'd already taken a day off last week because of Rose Red's non-emergency, he didn't feel he could take another one so quickly (they get points for every time...

Monday While all of the public schools took the day off, we dove into our first "formal" day of school. It was both a success and a mess. The success part was having mom/teen interviews.  It was really good to connect with each of my teens individually over their schoolwork--to soothe fears and issue challenges.  It will be a good way to start each week. The mess was Academy--school with my 10 and unders.  Everything seemed great through all of our activities, but just at the end Beowulf had a total meltdown which was followed by a tantrum by Brother--both of which involved destruction of other people's property, sweat, drool, and throwing things.  I totally lost my cool and afterward had to pace around until I could apologize and offer hugs and model appropriate behavior.  Then Ladybug was a mess for the rest of the day, talking back, throwing things, stomping her feet, and urinating all over the place. All three of them spent a good portion of the day...