Homeschool Notes Week 35

We started the week off on Monday with homeschool, a dentist appointment, a doctor appointment, lunch, and surprising the kids with a trip to the zoo in the afternoon for Family Home Evening. It turned out to be a bit rainy but we had fun and saw a lot of animals in the hour and a half we were there. A short list of animals we saw:

•  sheep
• goats
• pigs
• chickens
• miniature horse
• swans
• elephants
• rhinos
• langur monkeys
• sloth bear
• python
• two kinds of bats
• water monitor
• all the fish and sharks in the aquarium
• manatees
• pelicans
• sting rays
• the reptile house full of frogs, turtles, lizards, and snakes
• alligator
• flamingoes

Tuesday dawned with pouring rain and stayed gray and chilly all day. We read the last of Esperanza Rising aloud today. It was a good book, but not a happy one all the way through. We had a lot of things we could talk about during this read.

The kids were thrilled to see that our caterpillars were all beginning to hang upside down and make their chrysalises. In the afternoon was piano lessons. Evening had my sister and her kids coming for dinner (Taco Tuesday!) and visiting.

Wednesday held homeschool in the morning. I made a couple yarn dolls as examples for our Book Club craft this Friday. In the evening I went bowling with my Cub Scout pack. Those boys are a riot!

Thursday I was out of sorts and overwhelmed. I just woke up feeling off and it lasted all day. Let's face it, sometimes that is just life. I'm almost 3 months postpartum and hormones are still shifting as cycles come back. Add in mothering a large family with diverse ages and needs and some days are overwhelming.

Mason and I had a challenging day at physical therapy (hard work for both of us, in a good way) and he's got some things going on that are going to lead to another surgery. We see his full team of doctors and surgeons next month but probably won't schedule surgery until September so he can enjoy the summer without a cast.

Friday my hormones were on a more even keel. We spent the morning preparing for Homeschool Book Club. Two families came over which put us at 20 kids ranging from teens to almost 3 month old Rebekah. We talked about Esperanza Rising, a good book that not everyone liked, but that gave us lots to talk about. Then we had two activities. Kids could make yarn dolls, which played a role in the book. They also had two fleece blankets to cut and tie, that will be donated to Project Linus. As the crafting finished everyone ate together and visited for a while.

It is now Friday afternoon and I have a partial grocery list in front of me, I've made a few necessary phone calls, and have a few more to make. It's also time to check in with each child and see where they are in their year's school work and choose our last day of school. Over the summer the only 'school' we do is simple:

 

1. Keep reading great books as individuals and for Book Club. Our next title is The Happy Hollisters. 

2. Do math 2 days a week. This is really just to keep everyone from forgetting what they've worked on all year.

That's it for our week! Happy Friday everyone!