A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 The kids were so excited for Monday evening because Dad was coming home from work to take them to the park for an evening of playing baseball.  They even got to pick up their favorite friends along the way.  We don't have any pictures because Sir Walter Scott forgot his phone, but that just means he was able to participate fully without stopping to frame a photo. Everyone came home sweaty, tired, hungry, and happy.   I had our usual Monday night huge pot of pasta ready and waiting for them as they walked in the door. Earlier in the day, our case manager made his weekly visit, but this time he had a nurse with him because she did some digging into files and found that we'd not had a nurse visit at any time in our history with this service, so she started fixing that lack with Brother.  He got weighed and measured in various ways, and we spent a good part of the afternoon answering questions about health habits and history.   I am delighted to repo...

 I am an organized person. I run our household on good, solid routines that allow for flexibility and keep us in order. But I'm feeling slightly insane at the number of interruptions to our homeschool days lately!! It's not the kids' behaviors that are the problem right now; it's other people (like dentists and friends) who keep demanding our time. I'm going to have to get tough about defending our homeschool hours. Tougher than I usually am! Of course, we still did good stuff.  Our Morning Meetings were particularly good this week.  Kids had solid questions and participated in discovering and discussing answers. The teens and I read the Thoreau chapter in our American Lit. book.  There's so much to think about when reading Thoreau!!  We also continued The Last of the Mohicans . Nature Angel was able to have an introductory class in welding via her church activity group. She LOVED it!   I think more welding is in her future. :) Little Princess passed h...

 We hid from the heat all summer. My kids forgot how to play outside. I've tried sending them out.  It's mildly effective, but mostly, they check in to see how soon they can come back inside. So, it's time for a refresher course, led by Mom. We attempted to have a couple of normal school days at the start of the week, but they were yucky. They just felt all wrong (part of it was due to Brother's uptick in violent outbursts). While we listened to a Haydn symphony, these two got into the preschool play bin. When Brother works, I am so charmed by his focus. I love this colander-and-pipe-cleaner sculpture. We watched a few more Crash Course Anatomy and Physiology videos. And then I decided to lead by example. We don't need any strollers when we walk anymore. This tree turns bright red just a few leaves at a time.  In person, the contrast between the scarlet and green was breathtaking. Leaf lips! Beowulf wanted me to take a picture of this osage orange.  I'm not sur...