Monday's seminary lesson focused on temples. After that it was breakfast with the kids, then all sorts of math lessons. From radicals in Algebra 2 and angles in Geometry to mental math with a focus on different strategies to do two digit subtraction problems in your head, to equivalent fractions, we covered a lot of math. The kids all agree their favorite subject today was science. The younger boys experimented with mirrors and illusions. The older kids built working wooden cranes with several pulley options.
Another thing we have been doing every day is watching some of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. We loved the Olympics, and for our family the Paralympics are every bit as interesting. There have been so many discussions about ability, skill, talent, hard work, and disabilities. Mason, my 9 year old who uses a wheelchair, is especially enthralled by the wheelchair races, both sprint and distance. He has decided wheelchair rugby looked way too rough, but that wheelchair basketball was pretty cool.
Tuesday was a fun school morning because Tobias was so enthusiastic about doing school. We've been using a couple different resources for him loosely. First is The Good and the Beautiful PreK course. We have the older edition, and a new one released on Monday, which I've ordered. In the older edition they do a mix of things, from learning uppercase and lowercase letters, letter sounds, a dash of handwriting, counting, shapes, colors, etc. There are a fair amount of hands on activities. For example, today I hid a mouse behind one of 9 houses. Each house has an uppercase or lowercase letter he's working on learning. He would choose a house, tell me what that letter says, and then check to see if that house had the mouse. Tobias also uses The Good and the Beautiful Math K, the older edition. We do not plan to change to the new edition of math because we love this one. It has an entire box full of manipulatives and games, lots of stories, and all the math-y fun. Today's math lesson covered counting, days of the week, months of the year, ordinal numbers, patterning, and mental math using a mix of games, manipulatives, songs (with videos), coloring, drawing, etc. This week I also decided to add in All About Reading 1 for Tobias. While TGTB will teach him to read as he goes through the levels, I really love the solid phonics instruction of All About Reading, and the hands on activities woven throughout. Tobias is all about playing games right now, so he's happy to have one more source for games. The jury is still out on how ready he is for blending sounds, but we're going to play around with it and see.
For geography this week we're finishing up our study of the Middle East. The older 3 learned about Turkey today, Gallipoli, and other interesting things. The rest of the kids learned about Muslim beliefs and how that is reflected for many in their clothing choices. We had a great discussion about how our beliefs can and should be reflected in how we live our life: the things we do, the way we speak to others, and so on. One sweet book we read today was The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Olympic medalist. Muhammad is a fencer, and the first Muslim American in hijab to compete for the United States in the Olympic Games. (She won bronze in her event in the 2016 Olympics.)
This week I had no energy for planning fun extras. Wednesday the kids decided that fun must be had, as it was September 1st, Hogwarts Day. In the Harry Potter books Sept. 1 is the day the students all take the train back to school. The kids did a little planning, placed a quick grocery delivery order for ingredients they were missing, and in the afternoon we watched the very first Harry Potter movie with the snacks they had made: butterbeer, chocolate dipped wands (pretzel rods), and as they had plenty of chocolate they also dipped strawberries and apple slices. In the evening seven of the 9 kids at home headed to the church for youth activities.
Thursday School was slow. We are loving the chilly weather in the mornings!
Friday I tried to take the van to get some things looked at, but the shop is closed until next Tuesday for the Labor Day weekend. Oh well! Came home and got through the homeschooling, spent lots of time playing games together, and had long discussions about favorite characters in books.
Saturday I made a Costco trip, a WalMart trip, and even took a short nap. The kids and Daddy did some house chores, played games together, and worked on a few projects together.
Sunday was rest and church. Kids also each picked a recipe to cook in the next two weeks.
Monday was Labor Day. Caleb was the first up for cooking and he made yakisoba noodles for lunch.
Well, as things sometimes go, this month I stopped taking notes. In general, it was a good month. We had a lot of happy moments. The kids all took turns cooking several times each this month. We also have one teen dealing with pneumonia, that has hung around all month. There have been extended family get togethers for fun Fridays and for birthdays. My husband is transitioning to a new position at work, one that he is excited about. I have struggled to get through to medical providers and medical suppliers for Mason, which is frustrating. Emma auditioned for a play at the local high school and got the part she hope for, so she is now doing drama practices regularly. School has gone great for everyone. The kids are all learning and making progress in their courses. We have been enjoying all things space for science this month, and all things Africa in world geography. More books have been read than I could possibly keep track of, by kids and on my own. I have also studied all the talks from the last General Conference again, because tomorrow it is already time for General Conference again!
I'm sorry it's such a chore trying to get Mason's appointments scheduled. Here in VA it's ridiculous trying to get appointments too.
ReplyDeleteHow cool that you guys talked about Muslim culture and hijab, and then in General Conference Sister Eubank talked about members sewing headcovers for refugees!
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your traditional school progress, but I know you're making that progress by determination and hard work each day. I'm truly considering public school for mine because we have so much hard stuff happening that we cannot do much in the way of traditional schoolwork. Thank goodness for library books and kids that read to one another, though! That's what's keeping me from running out and enrolling the kids tomorrow--that and how much we need healing and support from one another at home.
We're struggling with obtaining medical/psychiatric services, so I understand your frustration. Here's hoping for helpful people who get you what you need!!