A Winter Homeschool Week

Monday - How did I get a child old enough to study for her driving permit? Makayla picked up her book today at the BMV to study. Ack! I'm not ready for this.

New math lessons abounded today. We're moving right along in their books, everyone is on either lesson 13, 14, or 15. That means they will all finish up their book by late April or early May.

I have two pages of journaling prompts my 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and Kindergartener are choosing from this week. Joseph and Caleb chose to write and draw about their favorite animal. Daniel wrote how he would spend $100. Oliver shared 3 wishes he would make if he had a genie. Emma wrote about things that make her angry and why. Hers was hilarious!

Makayla is finishing module 13 in Biology today and tomorrow, then she's got 3 modules left (about 6 weeks of work). She's down to the last 2 weeks of her Veterinary Medicine I course with Landry Academy and has learned a lot from it.

Tuesday morning stands out to me because most of the kids needed help with math at the same time. It is always good exercise for my brain to jump between ages. Tuesday was a cold and rainy day so we took our time doing lessons, taking breaks, listening to Little Women, drinking hot chocolate, and just learning together. I love days like this!

Wednesday was the busy day of the week. We had driving to and from Seminary (5:40am and 6:50am. Everyone got dressed, fed, and did their chores. Our friends came over for Art class from 9am-12:15pm. This was tons of fun as always. By 12:30pm Mason and I were doing his daily medical care in the bathroom for 75 minutes. At the same time I had to bake a batch of egg-free sugar cookies unexpectedly for Joseph to use at Mutual (youth group)that night. 2pm had me loading equipment in the van because Mason and I had to leave for Physical Therapy at 2:30pm. We got home from PT at 4:00pm. Dinner was pizza. Yep, used $28 of the leftover grocery budget for 5 pizzas at Little Caesars. It was delicious. At 6:45pm I headed out the door with the oldest 4 children for activities: Mutual for Makayla and Joseph, Activity Day Girls for Emma, and Cub Scouts for Daniel. Thankfully all are at the church so it's just one stop and all happen at pretty much the same time. I dropped everyone off and ran home so my husband could get some more school work done while I got the younger 5 boys ready for bed. (He's doing college while also working full time and being daddy to 9 kids). Then it was back to the church to pick up the older 4 kids, home for family prayer, and bedtime at last.

Thursday felt positively relaxed after Wednesday. We did school. We laughed. We talked about books. It was an easy day. We moved our bird feeder to a new spot and were able to enjoy watching many birds stop in for food. Daddy was home early in the afternoon and the only out of the house appointment was Speech Therapy for Samuel in late afternoon. Dinner was crockpot chili and egg-free cornbread. Yum!

Makayla and I ran to the library this evening to attend the teen art reception. She enters the teen art show every year, with one or more pieces. This year she entered two pencil drawings. The one above is Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with Pickett on his shoulder and a Niffler escaping from his bag. And yes, that is my beautiful daughter, who is growing up all together too quickly.

This second one is a Steampunk Boa Constrictor. It has a lot of fun details when you get a close look at it!

Friday the only real school goal was to get math done before Grandma came to visit and do another Christmas ornament. We got that done and spent the morning playing games, making ornaments, and just enjoying one another. It's been snowing today. Yuck. I don't like the cold. Now we are just counting down to Daddy's return home because it's the beginning of his 10 day vacation. We don't have plans to go anywhere but will hopefully have a Grandma from out of state flying in to visit for part of the time. The kids are already talking about their tradition of baking chocolate chip cookies with her and asking me if we have enough chocolate chips ready for that. I told them it depends on how many batches of cookies they want to make. "Lots," was their reply.

That's all for this week! I'm going to spend a few minutes calling the local music store to check their hours. I need to stop in and order piano books for 4 kids. Lessons are starting soon...

(Linking here.)