Author: Christa

The plan for last week was to stay home as much as possible and try to get  a full week’s worth of assignments done. We mostly managed that. And then we had a busy weekend of preparation for the next several weeks, which are going to be insanely busy. But some seasons are like that, and we can work with it for a short time.

We did some serious grocery shopping and made 25 meals and put them in the freezer using a meal plan from iamthatlady.com. The boys caught up on the yard work, and we caught up on the laundry. We did some cleaning. I did some school planning, and I set up the memory work notebooks for September.

And then we intentionally took a day off to be together and not work. Because it was Labor Day, and Jon was home for the day, and we needed to play. There was baseball and Jungle Book and nachos and cake.

And today, there was a new month, a new week, a new chance.

We had a busy week. Micah has completed most of his Challenge 1 work for the week, and the younger boys finished a weeks’ worth of math and spelling and reading.  We had a few unusual happenings this week, like a morning spent at the car dealer and an afternoon that we spent having lunch with Mimi and doing a bit of shopping with her. We also had the usual happenings, like programming and electronics classes, violin, golf, and tae kwon do. I taught three Latin classes. And, we celebrated a birthday.

The younger boys will have the first meeting of their Foundations and Essentials classes on Monday, and then they will have a full week’s work next week. I am sort of grateful. They need more to do, and it is easier to get them to write when they are going to take their work to class and read it to their friends.

I am going to plan to write a weekly update once a week on what we did as we educate ourselves over here. And I’ll make a goal of getting one other post written each week about one aspect of what we do in our homeschool that might be informative to someone else.

I am not sure what happened to day 3.  We spent the morning doing the administration tasks for my husband’s JavaScript, Electronics, and Calculus for homeschoolers in our area. Then we did a couple of errands, and it seemed like the day was over before we ever got home. I fell asleep while reading something aloud, and the younger boys made a huge mess in the twenty minutes I was napping. When I woke up, I tripped on the way into their bedroom to get something, and I turned into OgreMom. I left them to clean it up, and I went and fixed dinner. Then I apologized and asked forgiveness.

We did basic schoolwork on day 3, but that was it. On Day 4, Micah worked hard, playing catchup for choices made earlier in the week. We did memory work together, and we read a bit about Beethoven and some poetry form Rossetti. The current bedtime read aloud is Treasure Island, which I have never read before, but we are all enjoying. The younger boys and I worked on their math and spelling and did some cleaning and had a little free time. Once my husband got here, I left for a meeting about the younger boys classes that start in a week and a half. I’m excited about that. I am ready to get back to our full routine and figure out how to make it work.

On Day 1, Micah went to class, I tutored a little Latin, and then I hung out with the younger boys (since they say I can’t call them little anymore) and their buddy and my mom. We did a little grocery-shopping and got the leaky tire fixed.

On Day 2, I got up early. My world flows better that way. I had a few moments of quiet, made some doughnut dough and then I met my neighbor for a morning walk. I had promised the boys doughnuts, but the truth is that I have been having a craving for a REAL, fried, doughnut since I took them to Krispy Kreme to use the coupons they got from the summer reading program. Since I am allergic to both corn and gluten, I have to fry them myself if I want to eat them. They came out yummy. (That is the only picture from our day today, and Gideon snapped it.)

Micah was sick with a nasty cold and low grade fever that kept him horizontal most of the day. He accomplished about half of what he expected of the school he scheduled for today… just Latin flashcards and an algebra lesson. He laid around and listened to all of The Call of the Wild and started in on Johnny Tremain. Josiah and Gideon and I got their math, spelling, and typing done.

During our morning meeting, we read a little from Rossetti’s poems, Trial and Triumph, The World of Capt. John Smith, and this evening, we started in on Treasure Island. This morning, we went through the memory work binder, and we looked at Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Nicolaes Tulp. We were all happy to stay home all day long.

About half a ream of paper was folded into many differently designed paper airplanes. I took care of some household tasks that needing doing, consulted on a paper, did a little work for BP Learning, and read.  Mid-afternoon, we watched an episode of Iron Chef.  Nobody likes for anyone to feel miserable, but a nice, slow day was appreciated around here.

We had a reasonably good day, all things considered. We started late because the boys needed to do the yard work before it got too hot. So, we made a deal that I would take them to get a doughnut and a sausage roll if they just tied on their shoes and got it done.  So, they picked up the sticks and pinecones, mowed the yard, and swept up. They also discovered that the new weed-eater can’t plug in to any extension cord we own. We have to go back to Lowe’s before the job can be finished. But they cleaned up, we grabbed some doughnuts, and we were back on the couch ready to start school by 11am.

We did memory work and read Exodus 3o, a few poems by Rossetti, and the Polycarp chapter from Trial and Triumph. We added Polycarp, Rossetti, and Beethoven to our timelines. Micah went on with his assignments for algebra and physical science. Josiah, Gideon, and I went on with their math, spelling, and typing.

The boy who wasn’t working with me on math read a beautiful picture book, Across a Dark and Wild Sea, about St. Columba and the beginning of monastic life and academics in Great Britain. This was the first time I’ve said, “Hey, you, read THIS book.” in a while, and there was some grumbling because the first boy in line wanted to read the ninth Ranger’s Apprentice book instead. He got reminded that he has many hours available to read what he wants, and that I’d asked him to read this short book in this particular ten minutes. He acquiesced. (He had plenty of time to read Ranger later in the day.) That was our only bump in the road during school time today.

Well,…. there were some other bumps that have to do with issues of post-summer-itis and poor decisions that go with a student re-learning to manage time well and to put forth best effort the first time. Those issues require us parents to find ways to encourage good work and discourage poor choices. We’re working on it. At least they are very common struggles for freshmen everywhere.

I think we actually got through the day with no meltdowns.  Not even from me.

I think my insistence that the younger boys clean their room before they got into bed last night might have really helped out morning. There was no conversation about how their bedroom became a pigsty overnight because they awoke to the same tidy room they put in order before they went to bed. And nothing was spilled because no one got tangled up in his covers on his way out of bed.

We had breakfast and worked through Memory Work, some beautiful readings, and math without incident

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Micah moved on to Latin, and Josiah and Gideon traded off between a typing tutor game online and spelling with me. (Do you have a favorite typing program? It has to teach touch typing and be fun. Not just one or the other.)

These two put together a mosaic from pattern blocks, made a ton of paper airplanes, had a Nerf battle outside, and made mayhem in general. I graded Latin and algebra. We made lunch. Micah is going to skip an activity tomorrow because he needs more time to get work done. (That goes on our family’s list of failures for the day, but I’ll respect his privacy and tell you nothing more.)

My mom came over to give haircuts, and we ran a couple of errands before returning home so Micah could get some more done. My husband and the boys all went to Taekwondo and to have a guys’ pizza night with some friends.

I stayed home and ate grilled cheese and answered questions for a friend about my memory work notebook and Latin flashcards. Then I introverted – played the piano and read and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet.