Compromise

We've been struck with a virus in our home. Last week, Half-Pint & Little Brown Braid were hit. Fever then cough. We had to take the week off from doing any work so they could get better.

This week, as I was planning out our week I was all set to get caught up and stay on schedule.

Then, last night, Farmer Boy was hit with the fever. Ugh. And this morning, Half-Pint decided to have a bad attitude for a couple of hours. Let's just say that I was ready to throw in the towel. I've already been discouraged about our weeks, thinking that we're not getting enough done. This is what happens when I start comparing. I am realizing everyday that my kids' needs are not the same as other kids'. I also need to realize that life JUST HAPPENS and I need to go with it, otherwise, I'll just keep fighting and things will seem to take forever.

When I found HP reading to FB today, I thought, "Ok. This is good. This is better than school." Then, HP decided to draw a picture of a Dorking Chicken. Isn't it great?

In other news, for the past few months, I've been re-thinking our Math curriculum. sheesh. I've been researching on and off. We'll see where this takes us.

Weekly Wrap-up, 10/11- 10/15

Nature Journal: pumpkin in our backyard

Language Lessons...

Cursive

We had a pretty busy week. I was feeling pretty under the weather, run-down, etc. We got through the week and I think it went smoothly. The first 2 days, I let Half-Pint pick what she wanted to work on. The "picking" was an issue. While I know that this works for some children, it certainly doesn't work for HP. She needs structure at this point and likes to go by a "list". I still limited her time, so she wouldn't get bored on each subject. If she didn't finish her work in the allotted time, I let her finish it off later in the afternoon. School just seemed more enjoyable by the end of the week.

As I posted before, I've been reading Pocketful of Pinecones, and I just adore it. I've been more convicted about the kids' outside time. While I do see the importance of free time out of doors, I wanted them to be more intentional about looking around them as they are outside. There were a few days where I had to force them to stay outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. I wanted to lock the backdoor, but figured that'd be wrong... it would've been wrong, RIGHT?!?!?! ;) Either way, they spent some time out there and even sketched a little bit for their nature journals. :D!!

Half-Pint is moving along nicely with her work. She enjoys her Language Lessons from Queen's Homeschool Supplies. The lessons are long enough to keep the child engaged, and short enough that they won't get bored or frustrated with the work. HP also LOVES her cursive book and so do I. Although, with Farmer Boy, I may use Cursive first to go along with SWR, but we'll see. I still have a few years for that!

We just finished reading about Pocahontas, Jamestown, and Captain John Smith. I now love history. I hated it when I was in school... but wow... it's just so fun!

Sarcasm warning: THANK YOU, Disney... for completely screwing up the Pocahontas story! hahahaha

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Nature for Today, and maybe I need to buy a book...

We found this beautiful moth just outside our front door on a sunny morning. Half-Pint recieved a "bug magnifier" for her birthday, so we were able to observe it for a few minutes before letting it go. I completely forgot to have her sketch it off the pictures we took, maybe we can do that on another day.

After talking to a friend and reading a bit from Pocketful of Pinecones, I am thinking about purchasing Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study. I checked it out from the library once and thought, "eeesh... this is too huge. What woud I do with that?!" Well... now I know. The kids ask me about spiders, trees, and these other beautiful insects, and I have no clue of what their names are! ;)

So, I'll be checking out used copies of this book.

We're over a month into school and I am ALREADY thinking of buying more books for school.

Please tell me that I am NOT the only one!