Two Weeks, the Conservatory, and Glassblowing

Saturday I did the majority of the fall/winter clothes shopping for the kids at Once Upon a Child, with my mom as helper. It was fun to have some uninterrupted time to talk, my mom is one of my favorite people! We also stopped at Half Price Books and found a few treasures for the kids to read. In the evening I spent an hour cutting six of the boys' hair on the enclosed front porch because it just kept raining all day. They're so handsome with their hair freshly cut!

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.

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!