Our last week of “school” has finally arrived- for real! And a new-to-us car (okay, SUV) has also finally arrived today! This past couple of weeks have been the longest days of our lives. Imagine living in a 12-person household without going grocery shopping for 10 days. 😦 Trust me, it wasn’t pretty.
Although we’ve been without transportation for most of the week, we’ve been very busy. Tomorrow morning our homeschool evaluator will be calling us for our evaluation interview, so this week has been much about the kids and I working together to choose which work samples to send to her. While it’s a lot of work, especially since I have 6 kids needing evaluations this year, it really was fun to take a look back at our year.
The Littles:
I’ve been continuing math practice with Luke (7) since his new workbook is pretty advanced for the coming year. Ireland (6) does not, technically, need the practice since she just finished Kindergarten, but this child is highly motivated and has astonished me in so many ways this week.
The other morning I drew a number line for Luke because he still needs to practice some of the more difficult addition facts. During his math time, Ireland asked me to make her a number line. I explained to her that I couldn’t help her right then because I was working with Luke, but she asked for it anyway. Then she asked me to write down some “hard” addition problems. Since I don’t like pushing kids too early, up until this point I had only worked with her on addition problems that add up to 0-5.
She sat on the floor diligently working on these problems, and I didn’t expect much because I had never shown her how a number line works. At one point I asked Luke what 7+8 was, and while he was calculating in his head, Ireland called out “15!” I asked her how she knew that. She casually replied, “The number line.” I walked over and checked her paper, and out of 20 problems, she only got 2 wrong! I was astonished.
The next day, she taught herself how to ride a bike. Again, we’ve never helped her with this. She hadn’t really been interested in it until this week when she simply got on a bike and started practicing over and over again until she could do it. Ireland is honestly the perfect example of how well children learn if they are left to figure things out for themselves. John Holt would’ve been proud. 🙂
The Big Kids:
Caollin, London, and Bailey have all also been continuing math. With everything going on, we haven’t done it everyday, but we get to it when we can.
Caollin’s been spending a lot of time at the creek with Dillon. This week they found a snapping turtle and a huge bullfrog. Thankfully, they did not bring them home and left them there. 🙂
London spent most of the week at my mother’s house and just came home today for her evaluation tomorrow. She had such a good time with her grandma and my uncle when she went out to eat with them and Jack Sparrow and Tinkerbell showed up. Afterwards, they went outside of the restaurant and saw a bunch of geese. London approached a goose to pet it, and it immediately fluffed up its wings and started chasing her. London was terrified, but I wish I’d have seen it. I would have been a bad mom and cracked up laughing! Later they did see why the goose was so belligerent- her babies were right up on the hill. She was just protecting them.
Tonight Bailey went to an event at the elementary school with a neighbor. He was so excited because he got two free books there.
(This post contains affiliate links.)
The Teens:
The teens are so happy to be finishing up their week. Devin has been busy preparing for three trips back-to-back-to-back. On Sunday, she’ll be leaving to go with a friend to the Special Olympics at Penn State. Her friend’s brother participates in the track event. They’ll be camping at a nearby campground for a few days there, after which she’ll be coming home for a day, and then setting off for an anime convention in Atlantic City. After being there for the weekend, she’ll come home for a few weeks and then head back to New Jersey for a Japanese Christian event with another friend whose mother is from Japan. Devin is a busy, busy girl!
Dillon has been another busy one! On Saturday he went to the roller rink with some friends, and practically every other day this week he’s been at the creek, which has meant no book work for him. I truly feel he’s learning more there because he’s actually interested in it. He’s still taking photographs of the wildlife and surrounding habitat. I think he may finally have found his niche!
Arianna has still been in homebody mode, although she did help our oldest son clean up my mom’s backyard this week. She found her Apples to Apples game this week, and we’ve played it several nights now. If you’ve never played this game, I highly encourage you to try it. It can be so hilarious if you’re playing with goofy kids like mine. 😉
Compared to last week, this week started out just as difficult but has ended on a high note. God is good all the time, isn’t He? Here’s to hoping you have a blessed and fun weekend!
There’s No Place Like Home is now on Facebook and Pinterest!
There's No Place Like Home 