Friday evening advent activity: playing a game together as a family. We played Dos, from the creators of Uno. It was an interesting card game and fairly easy to pick up. I still think Uno works better for younger children because it includes color matching, but Dos is doable.
Saturday Jason had a driver's meeting at work in the morning. While he was gone the kids played their weekly half hour of video game time. Then Joseph, Emma, and I ran out to get the last things they wanted for their 50s outfits for the upcoming dance. In the afternoon we did some projects and then headed to church for a Christmas dinner. We came home a bit early and watched as Rebekah slowly started looking less well. She threw up in bed at 11:15pm and then was awake until 1:30am. A couple of the little boys were coughing on and off all night.
Sunday morning my husband stayed home with the youngest 3 sickies and I handled church and two meetings plus choir (with a quick drive home to drop off kids not needed at any of those). After all that, we retreated to home and rested, until 7pm that evening, when two kids needed to be back at church for the yearly youth activity planning meeting. I sat in the quiet of the church doing some scripture study and planning while I waited for them. It was peaceful.
Monday of the last week of school before winter break dawned cloudy with a fresh snowfall overnight. I took 10 minutes to plan meals for the week and submit a grocery pickup order to WalMart. We had a slow start to the workday and a little bit of grumping, but we settled in and got our work done. I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with three different government agencies trying to get them to fix their mistake - being passed off to one agency and another until I left a message instead of continue sitting on hold. Ugh. It wasn't my favorite way to spend 2.5 hours. Thankfully, my husband is home on Mondays and was able to help kids with school work in the few short times I was actually speaking with a live person at one of those agencies.
We had lunch and then I headed to WalMart for our grocery pick up order. I love the convenience! We spent the rest of the afternoon doing small projects around the house - replacing a faucet/sprayer, cleaning under the furniture, building a bed frame for Makayla's visit, etc. Our advent activity was a reading about Christ in the Book of Mormon.
Tuesday the kids started out making cards for their piano teacher. She is taking a break fromteaching and we're going to miss lessons so much. However, we get to see her each week at church, so we don't have to miss HER, which is wonderful. After card making we did school work. Joseph and Emma are on the study guide for Module 7 in Biology, which we use as a test over what they have learned (the test is set up pretty much the same way as the study guide, so we do one instead of both). This is the last biology they will do until we return from winter break. They are nearly at the halfway point in the course (finishing module 8 is halfway), which is solid progress for their first attempt at a textbook and lab science course.
The kids are at various chapters in their math books, most halfway or more than halfway. In language arts the older kids (Daniel on up) are a smidge over the halfway mark. Oliver and Mason, who are going at a slower pace for their first year with The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts, are not far behind the halfway mark. I have no intention of speeding them through. We will take it at their pace.
One big exciting point - Caleb has basically graduated from All About Reading. He's reading pretty fluently and tackling real books willingly. We will probably still finish using the readers for level 3 and 4, but he's admitted to himself that he really can read, which makes my heart happy.
Wednesday seems to have disappeared, as I have no notes. I do know the older 5 kids had church activities in the evening. And I fed people. We did school too. That's all I've got.
Thursday I surprised the kids and announced the beginning of Winter Break. They were excited, though one child asked, "Can I still read my literature book? I want to see what happens next." Makayla flew in from college this evening. All my chicks home in the nest again feels so good.
Friday dawned cold again and has simply been a quiet day at home. It's wonderful.
HOMESCHOOLING LARGE FAMILY STYLE
Friday, December 20, 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
December Notes
My weekend has no notes. I remember family time, advent activities, and Christmas-y fun. Then we rolled into a rainy Monday morning. We waded through new math lessons together, read books, and made different cardboard wheels to try on a box we turned into a small car for science. We also chatted about engines and gears, which brought us to the end of our mechanical engineering portion of our unit. Next up: Aerospace Engineers.
In the evening they painted pine trees or wreaths as part one of an art project. These were left to dry and be completed on another day.
Tuesday the temperature dropped slowly all day. We worked through the morning. In the afternoon the kids had piano lessons. In the evening everyone played games.
Wednesday we got to work pretty early on school because mid-morning we knew we would be interrupted by an appointment. After that we finished up school with lots of science. Today for the elementary group that meant discussing aerodynamics, flight, how a heavy airplane can fly through the air, and jet engines. We made paper airplanes in different styles and tested their speed, glide time, and distance in flight. We used a balloon, straw, and rubber band to see how airstreams move.
In the afternoon it started to snow.
For advent we finished our painted trees. Some kids chose to use stickers for ornaments, others used chalk pastels, and a few even cut scrapbook paper into ornaments. We hung them up around the house.
In the evening the youth had various activities, including caroling and family history work.
Thursday we had a slow and steady morning of learning. One fun thing was that Joseph and Emma were assigned a recipe in their language arts curriculum to bake today. It was damper bread, and went along with one of the stories they have been reading. They decided to make the bread in the evening to go along with soup for dinner. It was different than yeast bread, a heavy soda bread that almost tasted like biscuits.
Mason had his last physical therapy appointment for a few months. We are taking a winter break because until he has the next leg surgeries a lot of what we were going to physical therapy for cannot be done. His bones are not ready for that surgery and won't be checked again for 6 months. Instead of using up all the PT visits covered by insurance, we will continue PT at home working on core strength, and save the PT visits for after his next round of bone surgeries. Or until we find something we need help with before then.
Our advent activity was a simple reading.
At 9pm I started listening to a new book - Atomic Habits by James Clear. I headed to bed an hour later and then picked the audio book back up at 5am Friday morning when I got up for the day. It's a fascinating and enjoyable book, and a great way to prepare for Winter Break.
During Winter Break I spend time evaluating how the first half of the homeschool year has gone. I prepare lessons for the rest of the year, making any course corrections individuals need. Break also holds the beginning of a new year and I am a fan of setting goals to act on for the new year.
The school day went smoothly. Around the usual subjects we also had interesting discussions on the Olympics, presidential elections, underwater explosives, honeybees, and house sparrows/bird migration habits. It is now afternoon. Rebekah is napping, kids are playing, and I'm going to check on the pizza ingredients in the house and decide if we need to make dough or if we have something in the freezer (English muffins) to use as the base for homemade pizzas tonight. Today is also Emma's birthday, so we may bake something for dessert, as her party was earlier this month.
Happy Friday!
In the evening they painted pine trees or wreaths as part one of an art project. These were left to dry and be completed on another day.
Tuesday the temperature dropped slowly all day. We worked through the morning. In the afternoon the kids had piano lessons. In the evening everyone played games.
Wednesday we got to work pretty early on school because mid-morning we knew we would be interrupted by an appointment. After that we finished up school with lots of science. Today for the elementary group that meant discussing aerodynamics, flight, how a heavy airplane can fly through the air, and jet engines. We made paper airplanes in different styles and tested their speed, glide time, and distance in flight. We used a balloon, straw, and rubber band to see how airstreams move.
In the afternoon it started to snow.
For advent we finished our painted trees. Some kids chose to use stickers for ornaments, others used chalk pastels, and a few even cut scrapbook paper into ornaments. We hung them up around the house.
In the evening the youth had various activities, including caroling and family history work.
Thursday we had a slow and steady morning of learning. One fun thing was that Joseph and Emma were assigned a recipe in their language arts curriculum to bake today. It was damper bread, and went along with one of the stories they have been reading. They decided to make the bread in the evening to go along with soup for dinner. It was different than yeast bread, a heavy soda bread that almost tasted like biscuits.
Mason had his last physical therapy appointment for a few months. We are taking a winter break because until he has the next leg surgeries a lot of what we were going to physical therapy for cannot be done. His bones are not ready for that surgery and won't be checked again for 6 months. Instead of using up all the PT visits covered by insurance, we will continue PT at home working on core strength, and save the PT visits for after his next round of bone surgeries. Or until we find something we need help with before then.
Our advent activity was a simple reading.
At 9pm I started listening to a new book - Atomic Habits by James Clear. I headed to bed an hour later and then picked the audio book back up at 5am Friday morning when I got up for the day. It's a fascinating and enjoyable book, and a great way to prepare for Winter Break.
During Winter Break I spend time evaluating how the first half of the homeschool year has gone. I prepare lessons for the rest of the year, making any course corrections individuals need. Break also holds the beginning of a new year and I am a fan of setting goals to act on for the new year.
The school day went smoothly. Around the usual subjects we also had interesting discussions on the Olympics, presidential elections, underwater explosives, honeybees, and house sparrows/bird migration habits. It is now afternoon. Rebekah is napping, kids are playing, and I'm going to check on the pizza ingredients in the house and decide if we need to make dough or if we have something in the freezer (English muffins) to use as the base for homemade pizzas tonight. Today is also Emma's birthday, so we may bake something for dessert, as her party was earlier this month.
Happy Friday!
Friday, December 6, 2019
December is Here
I left off last week before Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful day with family, feasting, and laughter. We host, so my house was full, with extra folding tables beyond our table that seats 12. Then on Friday we spent the day playing and waiting for Daddy to return from work. That night we decorated our Christmas tree together and took a picture of the kids. Of course, you can't really see the tree around 10 children - ha!
Saturday morning was our long drive to return Makayla to college. My mom and I made the drive again and Jason and kids had a fun day together at home. Other than a lot of rain, it was a good drive that ended with singing Christmas carols because that was all the radio station was playing.
Sunday was the first day of December. The end of the year always feels like it is moving quickly, and this year is no exception. We started our very loose Advent plans. Basically, each day we will do something Christmas related together. It is not all planned out, though I have a list of ideas, because I like to be able to flex with real life each day. Here are examples of things on the idea list:
Saturday morning was our long drive to return Makayla to college. My mom and I made the drive again and Jason and kids had a fun day together at home. Other than a lot of rain, it was a good drive that ended with singing Christmas carols because that was all the radio station was playing.
Sunday was the first day of December. The end of the year always feels like it is moving quickly, and this year is no exception. We started our very loose Advent plans. Basically, each day we will do something Christmas related together. It is not all planned out, though I have a list of ideas, because I like to be able to flex with real life each day. Here are examples of things on the idea list:
- Read Luke 2 and act it out.
- Sing Christmas songs together.
- Serve others.
- Act out the nativity.
- Make paper bag luminaries with glow sticks.
- Read stories from Christmas with the Prophets.
- Read a Christmas story from the Friend, New Era, or Ensign magazines.
- Watch the new Nativity video that was just released.
- Watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional online Dec. 8th.
- Read the Christmas story from the Nephite's perspective in the Book of Mormon in Helaman 16 and 3 Nephi 1:5-21.
- Bake treats and share with a friend.
Today our activity was playing "Wise Up!", a fun Christmas game from this month's New Era magazine. We were teams of wise men gathering our gifts for the Christ child, visiting Herod, and finding the young child Jesus. Along the way there were questions to answer and active games to do.
We also celebrated Emma's birthday with family today. Her 14th birthday is later this month, but today worked well for everyone to get together.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The One with a Long Drive
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| Christmas Light Show at the Zoo |
Notes? Who needs notes?
Oh, that's right, I do, and I didn't take any last week. The things I remember are lots of cleaning, laundry, school, and runny noses. We had piano lessons and youth activities. Joseph got his braces off on Thursday - and was thrilled to eat an apple without having to slice it first. Caleb officially turned 9 this week (his party happened earlier this month). We built new shelving and a chair, then realized the chair, and the other 3 like it, will need the legs cut down so they fit our needs (tall enough to forego booster seats at the table and still be a good height for doing school work and writing for my younger learners, but short enough kids legs actually fit under the table). That project is being done this week. We played board games and watched 101 Dalmatians.
I also spent a ridiculous amount of time on the phone this week with various doctors and specialists setting appointments, getting test results, and so on. It's just a fact of large family life with medical needs thrown in.
I forgot to hit publish on this tiny post last Friday because I was too excited for Saturday. My mom and I loaded up in the car and drove 14 hours round trip to Virginia and back. It was rainy and long, but worth it, because I got to hug Makayla and bring her home for Thanksgiving week.
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Picture during our Zoo day.
Yes, someone always makes a
face or closes their eyes.
We just roll with it.
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Since then it has been family time, doctor appointments, a trip to the zoo to see animals and their Christmas lights and music shows, and playing games together. We've got Thanksgiving on the horizon and then we will decorate our Christmas tree as a family on Friday before making the 14 hour round trip drive again on Saturday to take Makayla back to college.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
A November Week's Notes
Saturday we had our monthly family birthday party to celebrate birthdays for November. Tobias turned 4 last week, Caleb turns 9 later this month, and we also had a cousin and aunt with birthdays we celebrated. We did some projects around the house today as well.
Sunday was a special sacrament meeting where the primary children (ages 3-11) share their testimonies through song and word with the congregation. It is always sweet to listen to the children singing and speaking. Once home we had lunch and our usual afternoon medical care for Mason. Then I took a nap. It was so nice. We had an odd experience with a woman who tried stealing some of our children's shoes from our enclosed porch, which led to us clearing all the shoes from the porch for now. In the evening we had a ham dinner and lots of talking together around the table. I love seeing the crazy silly discussions that happen around the table at meal times.
Monday was Veteran's Day, but we chose to have school and take Wednesday off instead. It fit our schedule better with a several hour doctor's appointment on the calendar. The morning began with new Math U See lessons for everyone:
- Algebra 1 - Solving simultaneous equations with graphing - Joseph and Emma
- PreAlgebra - Solve for an unknown with Multiplicative Inverse - Daniel
- Epsilon - Reducing fractions using prime factorization - Oliver
- Gamma - Skip count by 6, equivalent fractions - Caleb
- Beta - Skip count by 10, Dimes, Pennies - Mason
- Alpha - Adding Doubles, Mental Math - Samuel
Other lessons today included:
- Reading independently or aloud to me depending on age/reading ability.
- Handwriting (print or cursive)
- Biology - Cellular biology, aerobic respiration cycles including Krebs cycle.
- History - The Aztec civilization - we learned about their history, engineering feats such as floating farms and building a city in the middle of a lake, religion, calendar stone, and interactions and conquering by Spain. We watched a short video as part of this lesson as well.
- Language Arts - depending on the child assignments today ranged from sentence dictation to sentence diagramming, reading a chapter in Little Lord Fauntleroy, narration, brainstorming story starters for man versus nature, man versus man or society, and man versus self, grammar cards, poetry memorization, geography cards, and spelling.
After our usual afternoon medical care I pulled out a new game for the kids. I found a free printable online for a game called 'Shut the Box'. It is a fun way to practice addition without it feeling like work. You can get the free printables from this post at Teaching with Jillian Starr. Basically, a child rolls a pair of dice. They add the dice and then can use any mix of numbers that make up that amount and cross them off their game board. For example if a child rolls 8 they could choose to cross of 8. Or 7 and 1. Or 6 and 2. Or 5 and 3. Or 1, 2, and 5. Or 1, 3, and 4. There are so many possibilities, and the older they get the more they will see. Today I had kids from age 6 to 12 playing together using two player boards in dry erase sleeves.
After dinner we rotated the toys from the living room with toys stored in the attic. I'm now watching the five youngest kids playing with dinosaurs and mega blocks. Two older kids are writing (both are working on books/fanfiction for fun), and two kids are playing together in the boys' bedroom. That means I have a few minutes to jot these notes and check my email.
Tuesday was a relaxed morning of school. Caleb was fascinated with learning about the Inca civilization. We decided it would be hard to be an Incan messenger because they didn't have a written language, so all messages had to be memorized and then runners passed it from station to station along the Inca Trail.
Wednesday Mason had several xrays and an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon in the morning. In the end, he still needs to wait for his body to have some growth and finish correcting the bones in his right leg before we remove the plate, and the left leg doesn't have to get a plate in just yet. His scoliosis is stable, improved a few degrees. Grandma watched the rest of the kids while Mason and I were at his appointments. In the afternoon Tobias started getting sick. He's my 4 year old tornado, usually running, playing, and busy. On this afternoon he curled up in a blanket and just laid on the couch for hours with a fever. Poor guy didn't feel like eating at all. In the evening my youth had church activities.
Thursday school was the first thing on the agenda as usual. Tobias woke up and felt better as the day went on. In history we learned about some of the Spanish conquistadors. It was an interesting discussion that there are always two or more sides to historical events as we tried to imagine things from both the Spaniard's and the native tribes' perspectives. The older kids had a bit of discussion about motivations for different explorers/conquistadors, human sacrifice in some religions (Aztec in particular), how tribes surrounding the Aztecs banded together with Cortez to help defeat the Aztecs, and issues that were unexpected like how diseases from the Europeans were devastating to some of the native populations of the Americas who did not have the same immunities. At physical therapy today we reported on the surgeon appointment and started working on a new plan because of the things we can't do until surgeries happen (like using standing braces and a walker). For dinner Caleb and Mason helped me make homemade pizzas. Evening was family time and a video chat with Makayla. I rarely remember to mention these, but we video chat at least once a week, often twice. We are all counting down to seeing her for Thanksgiving!
Friday kicked off with school work as usual. Most of us took turns playing the piano and singing together. Joseph and Emma saw an invitation to join the church Christmas choir and so they'll be doing that for the next 5 weeks. I haven't decided if I'll be joining them or just providing rides to and from practice. We had some fun discussions about goal setting and are all looking forward to a broadcast for children and youth this coming Sunday about the changes coming in January to the church activity programs for ages 8-18.
In all, it was a peaceful week of learning and family time. Does it ever get boring reading that? I think it might, but that is our reality. We are blessed beyond measure to spend more than the average amount of time together, thanks to homeschooling.
After dinner we rotated the toys from the living room with toys stored in the attic. I'm now watching the five youngest kids playing with dinosaurs and mega blocks. Two older kids are writing (both are working on books/fanfiction for fun), and two kids are playing together in the boys' bedroom. That means I have a few minutes to jot these notes and check my email.
Tuesday was a relaxed morning of school. Caleb was fascinated with learning about the Inca civilization. We decided it would be hard to be an Incan messenger because they didn't have a written language, so all messages had to be memorized and then runners passed it from station to station along the Inca Trail.
Wednesday Mason had several xrays and an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon in the morning. In the end, he still needs to wait for his body to have some growth and finish correcting the bones in his right leg before we remove the plate, and the left leg doesn't have to get a plate in just yet. His scoliosis is stable, improved a few degrees. Grandma watched the rest of the kids while Mason and I were at his appointments. In the afternoon Tobias started getting sick. He's my 4 year old tornado, usually running, playing, and busy. On this afternoon he curled up in a blanket and just laid on the couch for hours with a fever. Poor guy didn't feel like eating at all. In the evening my youth had church activities.
Thursday school was the first thing on the agenda as usual. Tobias woke up and felt better as the day went on. In history we learned about some of the Spanish conquistadors. It was an interesting discussion that there are always two or more sides to historical events as we tried to imagine things from both the Spaniard's and the native tribes' perspectives. The older kids had a bit of discussion about motivations for different explorers/conquistadors, human sacrifice in some religions (Aztec in particular), how tribes surrounding the Aztecs banded together with Cortez to help defeat the Aztecs, and issues that were unexpected like how diseases from the Europeans were devastating to some of the native populations of the Americas who did not have the same immunities. At physical therapy today we reported on the surgeon appointment and started working on a new plan because of the things we can't do until surgeries happen (like using standing braces and a walker). For dinner Caleb and Mason helped me make homemade pizzas. Evening was family time and a video chat with Makayla. I rarely remember to mention these, but we video chat at least once a week, often twice. We are all counting down to seeing her for Thanksgiving!
Friday kicked off with school work as usual. Most of us took turns playing the piano and singing together. Joseph and Emma saw an invitation to join the church Christmas choir and so they'll be doing that for the next 5 weeks. I haven't decided if I'll be joining them or just providing rides to and from practice. We had some fun discussions about goal setting and are all looking forward to a broadcast for children and youth this coming Sunday about the changes coming in January to the church activity programs for ages 8-18.
In all, it was a peaceful week of learning and family time. Does it ever get boring reading that? I think it might, but that is our reality. We are blessed beyond measure to spend more than the average amount of time together, thanks to homeschooling.
Friday, November 8, 2019
Two Weeks, the Conservatory, and Glassblowing
Sunday was a day of rest. We all needed it. We had a lovely day at church together, then spent the rest of the day quietly at home. There was coloring, reading books, and discussing some of the coming week's Come Follow Me lesson in the New Testament (we're up to 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon). We made plans for an outing to a new place on Monday. We are trying to take advantage of the cool but not yet frozen weather to do a fair amount of field trips, as summer field trips are complicated with one child who can't sweat and overheats easily.
Monday the kids dove into school work early because they didn't want to have any left to do this afternoon when we returned from out adventure. At 9:15am we were out the door and on the road to the Franklin Park Conservatory. None of us had ever been there, which means I had done a fair amount of research ahead of time on accessibility for Mason, but you never really know until you get there just what it will be like. It turns out that it is semi-accessible, but less than they were making it out to be.
The Conservatory has several parts, a few of which we visited today. Once inside the front doors and checked in we took the elevator up to the second floor, where the biomes in various greenhouses begin. There was an accessible path through each biome. However there were also a lot of areas in each biome that could only be reached by stairs. It ended up being a lot more lifting and carrying Mason than we expected, to see the different plants.
The Conservatory also has Chihuly glass installations throughout all the biomes, gardens, and an exhibition hall of his glass works as well. Outside there is a children's garden which is a large area of paths, play spaces, and activity areas. It was more accessible than the inside, with a large majority of areas reachable on the ground and up high in the treetops by wheelchair.
Tuesday was not a fun day. Joseph woke up for Seminary and started blacking out repeatedly, had a high fever, chills, and sweating. He rehydrated, napped a lot, and we hunkered down for a quiet day at home.
Wednesday I love how the morning unfolded. This term we adjusted our school start time from 8am to 9am. All this means is that until 9am kids can play, sleep, eat, and if they choose, work on school. But at 9am we have an alarm that calls anyone not already working to the table to begin. Some of my kids get working well before 9am, while others wait for that morning bell. Today the oldest 4 kids pulled out school work around 7:45am at the table and got to work. I was able to sit at the table and answer questions, give quizzes, listen to readings, and focus on them with much fewer interruptions while the younger 5 kids played in other parts of the house. By 9am the older 4 had made great progress on their hardest subjects and were on to easier things, freeing me up to focus on the younger kids.
In the afternoon Joseph made a double batch of no-bake cookies. Part of it went with him to youth activities and part stayed home for the family to enjoy.
Thursday's notes simply say: It was a long day. Physical therapy was hard work. Kids were energetic and it rained all day long. School happened.
Friday was the first day of November. I hit up the local WalMart at 6am after dropping Joseph off at seminary and grabbed some clearance candy. They also had boxes of Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal on clearance so I grabbed a few of those. Back at home the kids refreshed our read aloud bin full of candy with some new treats and everyone got to work, ready to reach read aloud portions of our lessons so they could enjoy the new candy. In the group history we learned about some explorers, including John Cabot, Sebastian Cabot, and Balboa. Joseph's history was about physicists who began exploring neutrinos (sub-atomic particles) and quarks. We also put together a package for Makayla and dropped it off at the post office to wing its way to Virginia.
Saturday we decided to catch a glass-blowing demonstration at The Works, which is part science center, part art displays, and part local history museum. The kids all enjoyed it and the gaffer was amazing at doing her job while inviting the kids to ask questions, answering them, and including them. The kids surprised me with some really good questions and all were delighted to learn that they can try out one on one glass blowing classes beginning at age 9. Some are already asking for a class for Christmas.
After the glass blowing demonstration we basically took over the science center floor of The Works. Some kids wandered through different activity stations including programming a robot, building with snap circuits, exploring an anatomy model and putting it together, taking apart electronics in the lab, the little kids enjoyed their play section, building on the Lego wall, and producing electricity by hand crank to power various lights.
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| Playing in the outdoor bird nest at the conservatory. |
Sunday was a peaceful day with church, family time, and rest.
Monday's school week began with math, math, and more math. There were writing projects and in history we began studying pre-Columbia America. We have several cultures ahead, including the Aztec, Inca, and Mayan.
Tuesday was school and piano. With rain. Again. The kids enjoyed pulling out games to play after school was complete.
Wednesday was technically Tobias' birthday, but we'll celebrate at a party this coming Saturday. The kids pulled out lots of card games after school today. The rain keeps dripping.
Thursday we had our first bit of snow, not even enough to stick. It was mixed with rain. Brr. I smiled a lot today because some of the kids have started working on Christmas music on the piano. I love Christmas music!
I also did a bit of Christmas and birthday shopping online. I love being able to shop online instead of trek through store after store.
It is now Friday morning before 7am and a couple kids are awake. Our day looks peacefully normal - school, play, and family time ahead. There are bananas ripe and ready to bake into something delicious. We have stacks of books from the library to give one last read through before we return them. I'm going to go sneak in a few minutes with my own book before anyone needs me!
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Pumpkin Patch, Date Night, and Nature Study
Saturday morning we woke to a frosty world. We decided our trip to Pigeon Roost Farm would be best in the afternoon after things warmed up a little. That meant a relaxing morning at home doing a few chores, playing games, and eating leftover 'Thanksgiving' food for lunch from yesterday's mini-Thanksgiving dinner.
Pigeon Roost Farm is a pumpkin farm with a giant area of activities, games, animals, corn maze, and play. We only go once every few years. The kids all had a great time and Daddy and I got a great workout in helping the little ones and Mason with different things. Mason loved the Ninja warrior course, and could do about half of it on his own, but needed help with the rest.
Sunday we had church, tithing settlement with the bishop, and a broadcast. The rest of the day was family time.
Monday was the first day back to school after break. It was a bit of a rough re-entry with a few grumpy children who didn't want to do certain subjects. We made it through it eventually and moved on with the rest of our day. We switched out some of the books on our shelves for ones in the attic. It was time to put away books on ancient Greece and Vikings and pull out books on explorers, native Americans, pilgrims, and Thanksgiving. Some of our chapter books were put away to make room for new chapter books we ordered from The Good and the Beautiful.
In the late afternoon Jason and I went on a date while Grandma played with the kids, which was great. When we came home we decided it was the perfect night to introduce the kids to the 2010 movie The Karate Kid. There were lots of laughs, lots of questions, and lots of discussions.
Tuesday was a cool, breezy day with rain in the morning and sun and clouds later on. The kids enjoyed cloudwatching. In homeschool today most of the kids worked on making a notebooking page for their science notebook. They each chose some aspect of yesterday's science lesson (natural resources, non-renewable resources, reduce/reuse/recycle), except Mason. He wanted to draw and write about Earth, so that is what he did.
My favorite thing about Wednesday was history. I love reading the stories of people and times past. Some of my kids love it too, while others prefer science. My least favorite thing about Wednesday was that our second refrigerator stopped working. It had been given to us when someone we knew upgraded their fridge a couple years ago. We don't plan to spend money to replace this right now. We can make one fridge fit food for the 11 of us, sort of. Or we will just have to grocery shop a bit more often to restock what will fit.
Thursday's day had school, lots of reading, singing, play, an orthodontist appointment, birdwatching, clothes shopping for a boy who outgrew all his pants, and family time.
Friday the kids were most excited about our nature study plans. After a morning of school we headed to the arboretum. On this trip we had several goals:
- Joseph was working on his photography elective.
- We were checking out the fall changes compared to our last trip - trees are glorious colors right now!
- The kids decided it was time to visit the swamp.
All these pictures are mine. I'll try to share some of Joseph's photography in a post soon. For now I need to go do haircuts on 6 of the boys.
Friday, October 18, 2019
Fall Break Week 2019
Monday of our fall break week we headed to the zoo. The weather was sunny and 50F when we arrived and stayed cool all day. The zoo was uncrowded and we were able to spend time in the exhibits we visited just observing the animals. Everyone had favorites and we only visited part of the zoo today. We saw a variety of apes, Australian animals, reptiles, fish, penguins, flamingoes, and more.
In the evening we rented Toy Story 4 with a free Fandango Now ticket we got during our summer trip to New York and had a family movie night. There were tears by the end of the movie from several people.
Tuesday was laundry day. The kids had an epic hour long nerf war all over the house to start the day. I mostly dodged bullets while sorting through school papers to pull out items for each child's yearly portfolio. I made it through three kids' work.
Wednesday while the kids did yet another nerf war I did some online classes as part of my own continuing education/teacher improvement. Continuing my own education and learning is important to me. I try to consistently make time for reading and learning for myself.
Also, typing that reminds me I forgot to share a fun class several of my kids and I took a few weeks ago. Emma is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes (books, classic British tv show, more modern tv series, spoofs like Sherlock Gnomes, pretty much all of it). Pam Barnhill did a class on the mind palace memory technique (also know as memory palace, method of loci - first described in ancient Greek and Roman treatises). Using the technique, we worked on memorizing a poem we had never heard before, in less than 20 minutes. We had a lot of fun!
Wednesday afternoon a couple kids pulled out our sculpey clay. They created and baked the creations. That evening had the usual youth activities for the older 5 kids.
Thursday there was no early morning seminary for Joseph. It was wonderful to sleep in until 7am! When I made it down stairs about half the kids were already awake for the day, reading together. I worked on a few more homeschool portfolios today. Only two left to do tomorrow!
In the afternoon Mason and I went to physical therapy. Then it was home to make dinner, and out the door to visit some friends and drop off a few things with the oldest daughter of our friends, who is driving down south to visit Makayla this weekend at Southern Virginia University.
Friday was another no seminary day. We started the morning with baking four loaves of banana bread and a pan of magic cookie bars. At 9am I had a grocery pick up. At 11am Emma and I got a turkey into the oven because we're doing a mini-Thanksgiving-ish dinner tonight just because we can. A lot of the kids were busy with playdough kits this morning, or nerf guns. Rebekah loved playdough and didn't try to eat it, which is always good!
It is Friday afternoon and I need to get through the last two portfolios while Rebekah is napping. That's what I'm going to do next! Then it is time to prep school for the next 5 weeks.
Happy Friday!
In the evening we rented Toy Story 4 with a free Fandango Now ticket we got during our summer trip to New York and had a family movie night. There were tears by the end of the movie from several people.
Tuesday was laundry day. The kids had an epic hour long nerf war all over the house to start the day. I mostly dodged bullets while sorting through school papers to pull out items for each child's yearly portfolio. I made it through three kids' work.
Wednesday while the kids did yet another nerf war I did some online classes as part of my own continuing education/teacher improvement. Continuing my own education and learning is important to me. I try to consistently make time for reading and learning for myself.
Also, typing that reminds me I forgot to share a fun class several of my kids and I took a few weeks ago. Emma is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes (books, classic British tv show, more modern tv series, spoofs like Sherlock Gnomes, pretty much all of it). Pam Barnhill did a class on the mind palace memory technique (also know as memory palace, method of loci - first described in ancient Greek and Roman treatises). Using the technique, we worked on memorizing a poem we had never heard before, in less than 20 minutes. We had a lot of fun!
Wednesday afternoon a couple kids pulled out our sculpey clay. They created and baked the creations. That evening had the usual youth activities for the older 5 kids.
Thursday there was no early morning seminary for Joseph. It was wonderful to sleep in until 7am! When I made it down stairs about half the kids were already awake for the day, reading together. I worked on a few more homeschool portfolios today. Only two left to do tomorrow!
In the afternoon Mason and I went to physical therapy. Then it was home to make dinner, and out the door to visit some friends and drop off a few things with the oldest daughter of our friends, who is driving down south to visit Makayla this weekend at Southern Virginia University.
Friday was another no seminary day. We started the morning with baking four loaves of banana bread and a pan of magic cookie bars. At 9am I had a grocery pick up. At 11am Emma and I got a turkey into the oven because we're doing a mini-Thanksgiving-ish dinner tonight just because we can. A lot of the kids were busy with playdough kits this morning, or nerf guns. Rebekah loved playdough and didn't try to eat it, which is always good!
It is Friday afternoon and I need to get through the last two portfolios while Rebekah is napping. That's what I'm going to do next! Then it is time to prep school for the next 5 weeks.
Happy Friday!
Friday, October 11, 2019
The Three Weeks crossing September into October
Saturday we headed to COSI, the big science center in the city, for some fun. We checked out the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exhibit, pet real turtles, explored the Ocean and Life exhibits, and found the WOSU broadcast studio tucked away at the end of a hall. The kids had fun filming themselves, using green screen, and more.
Sunday started off with church. Tobias was wild and crazy leading up to the service, but settled down as the opening hymn was sung. After church was a quiet afternoon at home as a family. After dinner we headed to the cousins' house for a double birthday party and some jumping on the trampoline.
Monday around school I played chauffer for my mom and step-dad for eye surgeries. We will do that again next Monday too, for their second eye each. Daddy was home and working on his own school work, as well as doing a repair project in the bathroom upstairs, then visiting a surgeon of his own. He's got some testing coming up and then it looks like he may be having more surgeries. We don't know how long he will need to be off work, and to be honest, after 5 months off at the beginning of the year, we are hoping for short recovery times. We shall see!
Tuesday around school Mason and I headed to physical therapy to evaluate the new braces that were made. Unfortunately, they don't work well. Mason has some bone, tendon, and muscle issues in his legs and we are pretty sure that until the next round of surgeries is done bracing isn't going to work. We've decided to get back to physical therapy and focus on core and upper body work, no walking, until his x-rays and surgery plan appointment in 5 weeks. We will wait to try more adjustments on the braces until after surgeries/recovery, unless the surgeon's schedule is packed and we have to wait into 2020 for surgery.
We had a very laid back afternoon. Kids were busy building with legos, reading books, and playing games. I read, cooked, and read some more. It was a rare day with few kid arguments.
Wednesday we dove into all things Vikings. The kids had varying levels of familiarity with the topic, so it was fun to hear older ones sharing things they knew with younger ones, and everyone learning new things together. Caleb was fascinated with the idea of building boats, and his lego creations reflect that.
My middle boys have been very into coloring in the evening while listening to their audiobook. Sometimes they like to draw, but more often they want coloring pages. Today I took some time to print out a stack of new coloring pages for them.
Older kids also had the usual Wednesday night activities at church.
Thursday we had nothing on the calendar. These are my favorite days. No hurrying to get school work done before appointments, piano lessons, errands, or field trips. Just letting the morning work unfold at it's own pace for each child.
Friday we ended up with one sick teen. Stomach illness is never a good thing in a large family. Will they share it? How long will it last passing from person to person? Will we drown in laundry along the way?
********************************************************
It is now a week since I last took any notes. Life has simply been the happy and full life of a large family. We did not end up having the plague sweep through the house, which I was very thankful for. There was the usual steady pace of homeschooling, physical therapy, chores, church, youth activities, library trips, grocery shopping, piano lessons, doctors appointments, and medical care. This past weekend was General Conference, 10 hours of encouraging talks from leaders of our church broken up over several sessions. We are able to stream these live from home and our kids love it. Yummy food, drawing, coloring, note taking, music, and time together makes for a refreshing weekend. The kids also did a couple art projects, including watercolor trees or pumpkins, as well as painting actual pumpkins we were given.
This week was supposed to be the first week long school break of the 2019-2020 school year. Before the school year began I tentatively marked out our break weeks, with flexibility to adjust when we want to. As everyone is still working willingly, and we have several appointments and interruptions to our week next week, as well as two birthdays, we decided to move our break week to next week.
Monday this week we made a nature study trip after school was finished. We observed chipmunks, a variety of birds, a beehive, turtles, a variety of nature materials in a nature center, and then a rainy drive through the arboretum to see the beginnings of fall changes to our area. We visit this arboretum several times each season, sometimes hiking the trails, sometimes driving the auto trails. It makes for a wonderful way to watch the changes of each season unfold.
Tuesday there was nature journaling about yesterday's trip for the 6th grade and under kids. The nature journals varied, with drawings and writing, but several of the kids wrote about the turtles we saw and the things they learned about them. Math this week is pretty much the two ends of the spectrum - easy or hard - according to the kids. There was also language arts, geography, reading, and so on. Emma and Oliver mixed up a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins and put them in bread pans instead of muffin pans. It was a delicious lunch
Wednesday the kids woke up, ate breakfast, and settled into the school work routine. I asked some children to do a less favorite subject earlier in the day instead of putting it off to last, just to see if the subject went better while they were fresh. It went better for some of them, and one it went about the same.
History today was studying Marco Polo and putting him in our mental timeline in relation to other people we are familiar with.
There was also a lot of cupcake baking going on. Emma made 2 dozen blue cupcakes yesterday evening for a cupcake decorating class today. She made 4 dozen purple cupcakes today and iced them for everyone at home to enjoy.
Thursday if you asked my elementary science group what their favorite subject was, they would all say science. Today we took a few of our sunflowers and pulled them apart to harvest the seeds. It was fun and messy. The kids decided to put the sunflower seeds outside in the backyard where we often see birds and squirrels. Now they wander back to the windows to check for visiting animals.
Friday everyone woke excited to get school work done because after weeks of cancelling due to various families' illnesses, we were having Homeschool Book Club. In history we started talking about reasons for explorers to travel. We learned about a few different explorers and their discoveries, challenges, and how they influenced the explorers who came after them.
Our friends arrived midmorning to much rejoicing. Conversations, games, discussion of Archimedes and the Door of Science, and snacks filled our time together.
It is now Friday afternoon. Kids are playing games on their Kindles or watching an episode of Doctor Who. I am getting ready for an afternoon of phone calls and we are officially on our fall break. Yay!
Tuesday around school Mason and I headed to physical therapy to evaluate the new braces that were made. Unfortunately, they don't work well. Mason has some bone, tendon, and muscle issues in his legs and we are pretty sure that until the next round of surgeries is done bracing isn't going to work. We've decided to get back to physical therapy and focus on core and upper body work, no walking, until his x-rays and surgery plan appointment in 5 weeks. We will wait to try more adjustments on the braces until after surgeries/recovery, unless the surgeon's schedule is packed and we have to wait into 2020 for surgery.
We had a very laid back afternoon. Kids were busy building with legos, reading books, and playing games. I read, cooked, and read some more. It was a rare day with few kid arguments.
Wednesday we dove into all things Vikings. The kids had varying levels of familiarity with the topic, so it was fun to hear older ones sharing things they knew with younger ones, and everyone learning new things together. Caleb was fascinated with the idea of building boats, and his lego creations reflect that.
My middle boys have been very into coloring in the evening while listening to their audiobook. Sometimes they like to draw, but more often they want coloring pages. Today I took some time to print out a stack of new coloring pages for them.
Older kids also had the usual Wednesday night activities at church.
Thursday we had nothing on the calendar. These are my favorite days. No hurrying to get school work done before appointments, piano lessons, errands, or field trips. Just letting the morning work unfold at it's own pace for each child.
Friday we ended up with one sick teen. Stomach illness is never a good thing in a large family. Will they share it? How long will it last passing from person to person? Will we drown in laundry along the way?
********************************************************
It is now a week since I last took any notes. Life has simply been the happy and full life of a large family. We did not end up having the plague sweep through the house, which I was very thankful for. There was the usual steady pace of homeschooling, physical therapy, chores, church, youth activities, library trips, grocery shopping, piano lessons, doctors appointments, and medical care. This past weekend was General Conference, 10 hours of encouraging talks from leaders of our church broken up over several sessions. We are able to stream these live from home and our kids love it. Yummy food, drawing, coloring, note taking, music, and time together makes for a refreshing weekend. The kids also did a couple art projects, including watercolor trees or pumpkins, as well as painting actual pumpkins we were given.
This week was supposed to be the first week long school break of the 2019-2020 school year. Before the school year began I tentatively marked out our break weeks, with flexibility to adjust when we want to. As everyone is still working willingly, and we have several appointments and interruptions to our week next week, as well as two birthdays, we decided to move our break week to next week.
Monday this week we made a nature study trip after school was finished. We observed chipmunks, a variety of birds, a beehive, turtles, a variety of nature materials in a nature center, and then a rainy drive through the arboretum to see the beginnings of fall changes to our area. We visit this arboretum several times each season, sometimes hiking the trails, sometimes driving the auto trails. It makes for a wonderful way to watch the changes of each season unfold.
Tuesday there was nature journaling about yesterday's trip for the 6th grade and under kids. The nature journals varied, with drawings and writing, but several of the kids wrote about the turtles we saw and the things they learned about them. Math this week is pretty much the two ends of the spectrum - easy or hard - according to the kids. There was also language arts, geography, reading, and so on. Emma and Oliver mixed up a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins and put them in bread pans instead of muffin pans. It was a delicious lunch
Wednesday the kids woke up, ate breakfast, and settled into the school work routine. I asked some children to do a less favorite subject earlier in the day instead of putting it off to last, just to see if the subject went better while they were fresh. It went better for some of them, and one it went about the same.
History today was studying Marco Polo and putting him in our mental timeline in relation to other people we are familiar with.
There was also a lot of cupcake baking going on. Emma made 2 dozen blue cupcakes yesterday evening for a cupcake decorating class today. She made 4 dozen purple cupcakes today and iced them for everyone at home to enjoy.
Thursday if you asked my elementary science group what their favorite subject was, they would all say science. Today we took a few of our sunflowers and pulled them apart to harvest the seeds. It was fun and messy. The kids decided to put the sunflower seeds outside in the backyard where we often see birds and squirrels. Now they wander back to the windows to check for visiting animals.
Friday everyone woke excited to get school work done because after weeks of cancelling due to various families' illnesses, we were having Homeschool Book Club. In history we started talking about reasons for explorers to travel. We learned about a few different explorers and their discoveries, challenges, and how they influenced the explorers who came after them.
Our friends arrived midmorning to much rejoicing. Conversations, games, discussion of Archimedes and the Door of Science, and snacks filled our time together.
It is now Friday afternoon. Kids are playing games on their Kindles or watching an episode of Doctor Who. I am getting ready for an afternoon of phone calls and we are officially on our fall break. Yay!
Friday, September 20, 2019
Food Chains and Microscope Views
I shared our Monday notes in my last post, so let's pick up with Tuesday. The day started out a bit different because after dropping Joseph off for seminary at 5:55am I headed to the hospital for lab work. Eight vials of blood later I headed home and we got our morning started with breakfast, chores, getting dressed, and then school work.
Caleb reached the point in his Handwriting Without Tears book where cursive is introduced. He is so excited. We pulled out the chalkboard and got to work. He liked the flow of one letter into another.
Various kids completed reading, language arts, math, and so on. Daniel wrote a poem today while Joseph and Emma wrote about a book they recently finished reading. Elementary group science today was on food chains and webs. The boys lined up and started choosing a role in the chain. In one chain we had the sun, grass, a grasshopper, a snake, and a hawk. Then we started creating several chains that all linked together, such as orange tree-caterpillar-bird, orange tree-caterpillar-frog-bird, orange tree-squirrel-cat, orange tree-deer-bear. The boys had a blast being different predators and prey, deciding what kind of consumers each animal was, etc.
I baked chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and blueberry muffins. Over an early lunch we listened to more of Little Men, followed by our usual afternoon medical care. At 1:00pm we sat down to watch the live stream of a devotional with President Russel M. Nelson, then it was on to piano lessons and enjoying the rest of our day.
Wednesday I had one very grumpy child for the entire school day. It made for a rough morning but I practiced being impervious: "Unable to be affected by something". We made it through. I wonder if they are getting sick, because they went to their room and napped, something they haven't done in years.
Wednesday afternoon I got most of my bloodwork results from my endocrinologist. My thyroid numbers are good so no change to my medication dose. I am anemic (low iron), which I suspected, and my vitamin D levels are low, among other things. That means I've got some new supplements to take and have to split things up over 3 different times of day so they don't affect the absorption of each other. For the anemia I'm starting by taking vitamin C and dessicated liver pills. I don't like the side effects of iron pills, so we'll try this for a couple months to see if it helps enough. I've done this in the past and it has worked well. Liver pills are pretty smelly and taste about like you would expect liver to taste - yuck! For the vitamin D I'm supplementing and trying to increase my time outside in the sun. I will repeat bloodwork in a few months to see what is improving and what needs a new approach.
In the evening five kids headed off to the church for youth and scout activities. I loaded up the younger four to pick them up when it was over and we did a little stargazing when we got home, then bedtime.
Thursday the older two had some microscopic specimens to look at under the microscope. They are doing Apologia's Biology course together this year and the current module is about microscopic life forms.
I tried to get a few pictures of what they could see using my phone.
It was a lot harder than I thought it would be!
Some kids started research on places to visit on the Isle of the Skye in Scotland. My elementary science kids drew food chains. There were books read. Snacks eaten. Math work completed. It was a solid, normal day. In the evening Joseph, Emma, and Daniel headed to the temple with grandparents.
Friday we had to postpone book club for a week because of illness in one of the families. We had a typical school morning, then settled in to listen to Little Men over lunch, as usual. We are enjoying the book.
In mom learning this week I started reading The Smartest Kids in the World - and how they got that way by Amanda Ripley. It's been on my to read list for a while and I finally got a copy through the library. It is interesting so far - a reporter follows U.S. exchange students as they spend a year in top ranking countries, interviews researchers in education and testing internationally, and uses narrative to explore the state of education around the world.
I am also almost halfway through The Book of Mormon, and two-thirds of the way through the New Testament in the Bible.
I'm reading some 'just for fun' books as well.
I've learned that I like to have reading going in several categories. Then I can pick up the book that fits my mood at the moment. I also try to make sure at least one is an ebook, so it is on my phone and easy to work on waiting in line, in doctor's offices, etc.
Caleb reached the point in his Handwriting Without Tears book where cursive is introduced. He is so excited. We pulled out the chalkboard and got to work. He liked the flow of one letter into another.
Various kids completed reading, language arts, math, and so on. Daniel wrote a poem today while Joseph and Emma wrote about a book they recently finished reading. Elementary group science today was on food chains and webs. The boys lined up and started choosing a role in the chain. In one chain we had the sun, grass, a grasshopper, a snake, and a hawk. Then we started creating several chains that all linked together, such as orange tree-caterpillar-bird, orange tree-caterpillar-frog-bird, orange tree-squirrel-cat, orange tree-deer-bear. The boys had a blast being different predators and prey, deciding what kind of consumers each animal was, etc.
I baked chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and blueberry muffins. Over an early lunch we listened to more of Little Men, followed by our usual afternoon medical care. At 1:00pm we sat down to watch the live stream of a devotional with President Russel M. Nelson, then it was on to piano lessons and enjoying the rest of our day.
Wednesday I had one very grumpy child for the entire school day. It made for a rough morning but I practiced being impervious: "Unable to be affected by something". We made it through. I wonder if they are getting sick, because they went to their room and napped, something they haven't done in years.
Wednesday afternoon I got most of my bloodwork results from my endocrinologist. My thyroid numbers are good so no change to my medication dose. I am anemic (low iron), which I suspected, and my vitamin D levels are low, among other things. That means I've got some new supplements to take and have to split things up over 3 different times of day so they don't affect the absorption of each other. For the anemia I'm starting by taking vitamin C and dessicated liver pills. I don't like the side effects of iron pills, so we'll try this for a couple months to see if it helps enough. I've done this in the past and it has worked well. Liver pills are pretty smelly and taste about like you would expect liver to taste - yuck! For the vitamin D I'm supplementing and trying to increase my time outside in the sun. I will repeat bloodwork in a few months to see what is improving and what needs a new approach.
In the evening five kids headed off to the church for youth and scout activities. I loaded up the younger four to pick them up when it was over and we did a little stargazing when we got home, then bedtime.
Thursday the older two had some microscopic specimens to look at under the microscope. They are doing Apologia's Biology course together this year and the current module is about microscopic life forms.
I tried to get a few pictures of what they could see using my phone.
It was a lot harder than I thought it would be!
Some kids started research on places to visit on the Isle of the Skye in Scotland. My elementary science kids drew food chains. There were books read. Snacks eaten. Math work completed. It was a solid, normal day. In the evening Joseph, Emma, and Daniel headed to the temple with grandparents.
Friday we had to postpone book club for a week because of illness in one of the families. We had a typical school morning, then settled in to listen to Little Men over lunch, as usual. We are enjoying the book.
In mom learning this week I started reading The Smartest Kids in the World - and how they got that way by Amanda Ripley. It's been on my to read list for a while and I finally got a copy through the library. It is interesting so far - a reporter follows U.S. exchange students as they spend a year in top ranking countries, interviews researchers in education and testing internationally, and uses narrative to explore the state of education around the world.
I am also almost halfway through The Book of Mormon, and two-thirds of the way through the New Testament in the Bible.
I'm reading some 'just for fun' books as well.
I've learned that I like to have reading going in several categories. Then I can pick up the book that fits my mood at the moment. I also try to make sure at least one is an ebook, so it is on my phone and easy to work on waiting in line, in doctor's offices, etc.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Two Weeks of September
 |
| Cedar Point, middle of the day of fun. |
Saturday was a fun and exhausting day. Daniel had asked last Christmas for tickets to Cedar Point, an amusement park. He's never really ridden on roller coasters, other than a small one at the zoo, so I wasn't sure how this would go. It ended up being a blast! One on one time for him and I, tons of fun, and the longest line we stood in was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Sunday was a peaceful day with church, video chatting with Makayla, and family time.
 |
Rebekah loves to put on an apron and help me
in the kitchen.
|
Monday was Labor Day and we decided this was going to be just a regular school week for us. One of the perks of homeschooling is deciding when we want our time off to be. Nobody felt the need for a day off, so school work was done in the morning. In the afternoon I did grocery shopping that hadn't been done Saturday, prepared a package to mail to Makayla, and worked on a brainstorm list of materials to go in our playdough bin.
Tuesday I snuck over to the post office to mail a package to Makayla. Then it was back home to oversee homeschool work along with Daddy. He got an extra day off this week and we were thrilled. Mid-morning as I was gathering the elementary boys for science we made a fun discovery. Outside our front window we have a bunch of sunflowers the kids grew. Today several Monarch butterflies were visiting the sunflowers, as well as a hummingbird. It was so neat to watch!
We did finish the last of the 5 senses in science today. It was the sense of hearing, which of course calls for a good game of telephone. The kids were thrilled to have piano lessons after an impromptu August break.
Wednesday was a slow and steady day. Everyone worked on their assignments in a pretty steady way. One child has been especially chatty/distracting this week, so we will probably be working on a solution for that next week. In the past he has worn noise cancelling headphones like you wear at a gun range, so that is the first thing we'll try.
Mason Funny Moment: Out of the blue while labeling a map of North America he asked, "Mom, I wonder what a king would do with an executed person's head? And why would people want to watch a person be executed? That would be really bloody!"
After checking in with my elementary age boys, I've decided the next while our science group will focus on natural science (nature study). They were asking for things that pretty much all fit in this umbrella - ants, bees, when will the leaves change colors, why do they change colors, wanting to know more about bats and echolocation, asking questions about the plants they see. I've got an archive of Outdoor Hour Challenge materials from 2010-2017. I went through the files and printed a few challenge grids for September. These are a fun way to give us some activities when outside doing nature study. One, for example, focuses on insects, and has these boxes:
Sunday our morning began with church. Once home Caleb decided it was the perfect day to make yarn dolls. Most of the middle and younger boys made yarn dolls. They thought Rebekah should have one too, so we made one for her while she napped.
She loves it!
Right now it is Monday afternoon. We've done school work. The elementary science group started learning about ecosystems, producers, consumers, and decomposers today. We'll study food chains, webs, and take a nature walk this week.
We will meet at the end of this week for Homeschool Book Club. This past month we've read Archimedes and the Door of Science. Because we've finished the book, we decided to start listening to our next book club title today over lunch - Little Men by Louisa May Alcott. This is one of my favorite books. We read this in Book Club in 2011 when I only had 6 children instead of 10: Makayla, Joseph, Emma, Daniel, Oliver, and Caleb. They were ages 10, 7, 6, 4, 2, and 1. Makayla is off to college and none of the other kids remember this book. We decided it was time to revisit this classic.
Fun Fact: Our first homeschool book club meeting was held on March 3, 2010. I have records of most of the books we've read in book club since that first meeting.
I had an appointment with a new endocrinologist (I have hypothyroidism) and have a host of bloodwork and tests to do this week to evaluate some things. My husband Jason has enjoyed his 7 week summer break and started a new college class today online - Hot Spot: Pakistan. It's one of 3 classes he needs to finish his general associate's degree.
September is slipping by quickly and I am just trying to soak up and enjoy every moment with my family. I love being a mom!
Tuesday I snuck over to the post office to mail a package to Makayla. Then it was back home to oversee homeschool work along with Daddy. He got an extra day off this week and we were thrilled. Mid-morning as I was gathering the elementary boys for science we made a fun discovery. Outside our front window we have a bunch of sunflowers the kids grew. Today several Monarch butterflies were visiting the sunflowers, as well as a hummingbird. It was so neat to watch!
We did finish the last of the 5 senses in science today. It was the sense of hearing, which of course calls for a good game of telephone. The kids were thrilled to have piano lessons after an impromptu August break.
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| Pirate Treasure playdough |
Wednesday was a slow and steady day. Everyone worked on their assignments in a pretty steady way. One child has been especially chatty/distracting this week, so we will probably be working on a solution for that next week. In the past he has worn noise cancelling headphones like you wear at a gun range, so that is the first thing we'll try.
Mason Funny Moment: Out of the blue while labeling a map of North America he asked, "Mom, I wonder what a king would do with an executed person's head? And why would people want to watch a person be executed? That would be really bloody!"
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| Brothers playing together. |
After checking in with my elementary age boys, I've decided the next while our science group will focus on natural science (nature study). They were asking for things that pretty much all fit in this umbrella - ants, bees, when will the leaves change colors, why do they change colors, wanting to know more about bats and echolocation, asking questions about the plants they see. I've got an archive of Outdoor Hour Challenge materials from 2010-2017. I went through the files and printed a few challenge grids for September. These are a fun way to give us some activities when outside doing nature study. One, for example, focuses on insects, and has these boxes:
- Turn over a log or rock and look for insects.
- Observe an insect with a magnifying lens and count its legs.
- Visit a pond or creek and look for insects.
- Watch a bee and then eat some honey.
- Find three insects of different colors.
- Observe an ant. Is it carrying something?
- Draw an insect in your nature journal and label its parts.
- Observe an insect and note its means of camouflage.
- bumblebees - watched one gathering nectar from flowers and observed the pollen all over it's hind legs as it flew from flower to flower.
- praying mantis - it was resting on one of our windows.
- worms - squirming and digging in the dirt.
- ants - climbing on our trees, the fence, and the ground.
- spiders - sitting still on their webs.
The rest of school was straightforward as always. I'll be honest, our homeschool is a mix of organized curriculum and free form learning. We accomplish our organized learning before lunch. There are math lessons, history lessons, language arts, reading, handwriting, and so on. It doesn't take the entire day, and for the younger elementary kids it doesn't take much more than 60-90 minutes. The rest of the day children are free to engage in their interests. Piano practice, art creation, watching a favorite show, reading books, writing fan fiction, playing with toys, building with different materials, crafting, cooking, baking, making tents and forts, using science materials, researching the answer to questions, and so on. This is educational freedom. My goal is to give them a solid foundation in the basics and then let them explore whatever captures their interest.
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| The first round of playdough kits we made. |
Friday Joseph didn't have early morning Seminary (scripture study class with other high school teens he goes to from 6am-6:50am Monday through Friday) because his teacher was sick. My body, however, is used to waking up early to take him to class, so I was up shortly after 5am. I decided it was the perfect time to put together some playdough/kinetic sand activity kits I had been gathering items for. Basically, the items in each kit can be used while playing with playdough or kinetic sand. I've seen kits similar to these selling for $30 online. (Look at Doughsiedough on Instagram for great examples of how kids use these kind of kits). I spent $18 on some materials at the dollar store and craft store a few days ago in preparation for making kits. Daniel and Mason woke up early and helped me with the kit making. In this first round of work we made the following kits:
The kids have loved them. Every single day, several times a day, they get out playdough and dive into their imaginary worlds.
School was school. Today was a history day. Joseph studied Marie Curie. The rest of the kids do The Good and the Beautiful History 2 with me. Today we learned about some of the dynasties of ancient China and added them to our timeline. We explored calligraphy, the terra cotta army of Emperor Qin, the Great Wall of China, and the Chinese calendar system that was lunar with a solar component to reset it each year.
Saturday I had a lot of errands to do. We also moved Rebekah into the girl bedroom with Emma, now that Makayla is at college. It is so nice to have no crib in our bedroom anymore.
Sunday was a quiet day. We took advantage of some cooler weather to go walking at a Japanese garden. The kids enjoyed exploring the pond. They found snails and fish enjoying their watery habitat. In the evening I made a couple double batches of playdough in colors we didn't have. I made green, red, and black and added glitter and essential oils to each one for scented dough.
Monday is a day for beginnings. We began another school week in a very uneventful way - math lessons. The kids worked steadily through each subject. Daddy helped teach a few lessons. Writing assignments today were making a notebook entry into nature journals (we do these on loose-leaf paper instead of in bound journals). In the afternoon Mason and I loaded up to go for a brace fitting. Four hours and 15 minutes later we arrived home. It was a long appointment, lots of adjustments to brand new braces, and I am sure there will be more adjustments ahead. We will try using these braces in physical therapy for a bit and see what needs changed.
We also put together a few more playdough kits - Space, Wild West, and Under the Sea.
Tuesday is our piano lesson day. We do all our school in the morning, working steadily. Rebekah and Tobias play nearby, or sit at the table with an activity to do. Today they used a magnetic dress up doll from Melissa and Doug, looked at books, and used crayons at the table. Mid-morning Emma baked magic cookie bars so they could cool for a treat later in the day. Here is the 'recipe' that we change up every single time we make these:
Wednesday we explored life in Ancient China for history, saw a live opossum in our trash can for some nature study, and enjoyed individual studies as well. Joseph, Emma, and Daniel participated in a talent show at our church youth group. Joseph shared art work, Emma sang Tightrope from The Greatest Showman, and Daniel did some magic tricks. They all came home enthusiastic about a fun evening with their friends.
Thursday's science study for the elementary group was them teaching me all they know about the moon. We will be making a Harvest Moon night walk tomorrow for the full moon, so I was interested to see what all they knew or could teach each other about the moon. Their information was fascinating!
We pulled out the dress up bin from the attic and the kids enjoyed that.
I also did a quick grocery pick up order today in an effort to free up some of our weekend time to work on some around the house projects.
Friday we studied three religions of Ancient China as part of history. We learned about how each began, core beliefs, and important figures in each. There was a lot of reading and talking about books today. Everyone was also counting down to our night walk with the harvest moon. After bedtime, once the moon had risen enough, we grabbed all the kids out of their beds and headed outside. It was fun, but very buggy.
Saturday was ruled by an alarm that went off every 70 minutes and reminded us to switch the washer and dryer loads. Eight loads later all the bedding for 11 beds was washed, dried, and put back on beds. Phew! That didn't include our regular daily load of laundry.
I did make a quick drive through run to our library to return and pick up books. I love that our library has a drive through lane!
- Robot parts 1 and 2
- Rainbow
- Army Men 1 and 2
- Spooky Fun
- Pirate Treasure
- Bugs
- Farm
- Dinosaurs
- Fall Harvest
- Arctic Days
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| Playdough robots |
The kids have loved them. Every single day, several times a day, they get out playdough and dive into their imaginary worlds.
School was school. Today was a history day. Joseph studied Marie Curie. The rest of the kids do The Good and the Beautiful History 2 with me. Today we learned about some of the dynasties of ancient China and added them to our timeline. We explored calligraphy, the terra cotta army of Emperor Qin, the Great Wall of China, and the Chinese calendar system that was lunar with a solar component to reset it each year.
Saturday I had a lot of errands to do. We also moved Rebekah into the girl bedroom with Emma, now that Makayla is at college. It is so nice to have no crib in our bedroom anymore.
 |
| Setting up an army battle with playdough. |
Sunday was a quiet day. We took advantage of some cooler weather to go walking at a Japanese garden. The kids enjoyed exploring the pond. They found snails and fish enjoying their watery habitat. In the evening I made a couple double batches of playdough in colors we didn't have. I made green, red, and black and added glitter and essential oils to each one for scented dough.
 |
| The rainbow playdough kit. |
Monday is a day for beginnings. We began another school week in a very uneventful way - math lessons. The kids worked steadily through each subject. Daddy helped teach a few lessons. Writing assignments today were making a notebook entry into nature journals (we do these on loose-leaf paper instead of in bound journals). In the afternoon Mason and I loaded up to go for a brace fitting. Four hours and 15 minutes later we arrived home. It was a long appointment, lots of adjustments to brand new braces, and I am sure there will be more adjustments ahead. We will try using these braces in physical therapy for a bit and see what needs changed.
 |
| Tobias enjoying the arctic playdough kit. |
We also put together a few more playdough kits - Space, Wild West, and Under the Sea.
Tuesday is our piano lesson day. We do all our school in the morning, working steadily. Rebekah and Tobias play nearby, or sit at the table with an activity to do. Today they used a magnetic dress up doll from Melissa and Doug, looked at books, and used crayons at the table. Mid-morning Emma baked magic cookie bars so they could cool for a treat later in the day. Here is the 'recipe' that we change up every single time we make these:
- 1 bag chocolate chips
- 1 bag other flavor chips (butterscotch, mint, peanut butter, etc)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 4 cups crumbs for crust (graham cracker, cookie, pretzel, etc)
- 1 stick melted butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix butter, crumbs, and sugar in a bowl. Spread 3/4 of this mix into the bottom of a 13x9 pan for crust. Spread bags of chips over crust. Sprinkle remaining crust mix over chips. Pour sweetened condensed milk over top of it all. Bake for 25 minutes then cool completely.
Sometimes we change the chip flavors, or the crumbs for the crust, or add coconut or mini marshmallows. Today Emma used chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham cracker crumbs, and pretzel crumbs.
 |
| The opossum relaxing in our trash can. |
Wednesday we explored life in Ancient China for history, saw a live opossum in our trash can for some nature study, and enjoyed individual studies as well. Joseph, Emma, and Daniel participated in a talent show at our church youth group. Joseph shared art work, Emma sang Tightrope from The Greatest Showman, and Daniel did some magic tricks. They all came home enthusiastic about a fun evening with their friends.
Thursday's science study for the elementary group was them teaching me all they know about the moon. We will be making a Harvest Moon night walk tomorrow for the full moon, so I was interested to see what all they knew or could teach each other about the moon. Their information was fascinating!
 |
Caleb added frog eyes to this hulk costume to be
a super strong frog that can jump
really high.
|
We pulled out the dress up bin from the attic and the kids enjoyed that.
 |
| Army man Mason. |
I also did a quick grocery pick up order today in an effort to free up some of our weekend time to work on some around the house projects.
 |
| The Harvest Moon rising. |
Friday we studied three religions of Ancient China as part of history. We learned about how each began, core beliefs, and important figures in each. There was a lot of reading and talking about books today. Everyone was also counting down to our night walk with the harvest moon. After bedtime, once the moon had risen enough, we grabbed all the kids out of their beds and headed outside. It was fun, but very buggy.
Saturday was ruled by an alarm that went off every 70 minutes and reminded us to switch the washer and dryer loads. Eight loads later all the bedding for 11 beds was washed, dried, and put back on beds. Phew! That didn't include our regular daily load of laundry.
I did make a quick drive through run to our library to return and pick up books. I love that our library has a drive through lane!
 |
| Yarn Doll |
Sunday our morning began with church. Once home Caleb decided it was the perfect day to make yarn dolls. Most of the middle and younger boys made yarn dolls. They thought Rebekah should have one too, so we made one for her while she napped.
 |
| Rebekah loves her yarn doll! |
She loves it!
Right now it is Monday afternoon. We've done school work. The elementary science group started learning about ecosystems, producers, consumers, and decomposers today. We'll study food chains, webs, and take a nature walk this week.
We will meet at the end of this week for Homeschool Book Club. This past month we've read Archimedes and the Door of Science. Because we've finished the book, we decided to start listening to our next book club title today over lunch - Little Men by Louisa May Alcott. This is one of my favorite books. We read this in Book Club in 2011 when I only had 6 children instead of 10: Makayla, Joseph, Emma, Daniel, Oliver, and Caleb. They were ages 10, 7, 6, 4, 2, and 1. Makayla is off to college and none of the other kids remember this book. We decided it was time to revisit this classic.
Fun Fact: Our first homeschool book club meeting was held on March 3, 2010. I have records of most of the books we've read in book club since that first meeting.
I had an appointment with a new endocrinologist (I have hypothyroidism) and have a host of bloodwork and tests to do this week to evaluate some things. My husband Jason has enjoyed his 7 week summer break and started a new college class today online - Hot Spot: Pakistan. It's one of 3 classes he needs to finish his general associate's degree.
September is slipping by quickly and I am just trying to soak up and enjoy every moment with my family. I love being a mom!
Friday, August 30, 2019
Pizza, Sunflowers, and everything in between
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Rebekah helped herself to some cake this week.
She is quite the climber.
|
Another week has slipped by at our house. Sunday was peaceful. We enjoyed church as a family and spent the day together after that. I love our peaceful Sabbath evenings together.
Monday was full of homeschool lessons. We read great books. Art created. Group science was on the sense of smell, with lots of spices and essential oils to smell and identify. Math lessons went smoothly. It was just a normal, full morning. Then we played Ticket to Ride at the request of the 14 year old boy.
By late afternoon we were going through bins of clothing in the attic, seeing what fall/winter clothing we have for each child and what things we need. I made a list with sizes, details of what they have and need, and finished the process with 7 of the kids.
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| Joseph has been using chalk pastels regularly this week. |
Tuesday school random notes:
- Reading about lighthouses, Greek scientist Archimedes, levers, a circus, the sense of smell, microscopes, an elf in the mountains, microbiology. Reading poetry and discussing it.
- Microscope exploration for the biology students, learning parts and how to use the different objective lenses and focus.
- Math topics included adding and subtracting fractions, multiplication and negative numbers, skip counts, adding to make 10, simplifying and solving algebraic equations.
- Language Arts included sentence diagramming, commas in a series, changing silent e words to -ing words and back, rhyme scheme and stanzas in poetry, homonyms, spelling, sentence dictation, challenging words (vocab), etc.
- Handwriting. Lots of handwriting.
In the afternoon we got through the last two kids clothing bins. Rebekah napped. We made homemade pizzas for dinner.
One of the kids used a free coupon to rent Secret Life of Pets 2 and we watched it as a family after dinner.
The rest of the morning was spent doing school. Today's The Good and the Beautiful history lesson was about several famous Greeks. We read about them, placed them on our timeline, compared when they lived with other peoples and events we are familiar with, and talked about their contributions to the world. We only have one more lesson set in Ancient Greece before moving to Ancient China. If I get terribly energetic we may do an Ancient Greece themed art project.
I thought it would be fun to share a peek at the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. One thing that I love about TGTB is that their language arts courses rotate your student through so many subjects. It is not just reading and writing. They integrate things so well. For example the geography/map work is related to the stories you are reading or the people who wrote the poetry/created the art/wrote the stories you are studying. Here are notes about what was covered today in the various levels my kids are in:
- Spelling practice.
- Sentence dictation.
- Grammar definition card review.
- Geography cards reviewed.
- States/Capitals Ladder reviews.
- Poetry memorization practice.
- Reading aloud (elocution) in a variety of forms: poetry, story, vocabulary and definitions, factual information relating to geography, an artist's experience as a POW in WWI, and an author.
- Personal reading of stories set in several time periods and places, depending on the level.
- Reading challenging words.
- Grammar/punctuation practice with focus on apostrophes, commas, dependent clauses, independent clauses.
- Beginning to write a 'How To' Essay.
- Learning about protagonists, writing about the protagonist in a story, creating a list of possible protagonists and their descriptions for a future writing project.
- Mapping European countries (related to an artist whose work would be studied).
- Observing a painting and then oral discussion of the painting.
In biology Joseph and Emma are finishing up the first module. We were reviewing some of the concepts in the chapter by doing the study guide questions. It is fascinating to see the difference between these two students. They approach, absorb, and interact with the information differently.
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The kids planted sunflowers this year.
They are growing and blooming so the
kids brought a few in this week to enjoy.
|
Thursday's school was peacefully uneventful. We followed our routines and the day went easily. In the late afternoon I loaded everyone up to take Joseph and Emma to the orthodontist for regular adjustments. I sit in the van with my car full of kids and we listen to an audio book while we wait. Joseph only has 2 appointments left before he gets his braces off, which he was excited about.
Friday is here and the afternoon is in progress. Kids are pursuing their own interests. Rebekah is napping. It is the end of the school week and it is wonderful!
Friday is here and the afternoon is in progress. Kids are pursuing their own interests. Rebekah is napping. It is the end of the school week and it is wonderful!
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