A Day in the Life ~ Schooling Around the Edges

Welcome to my October edition of A Day in the Life of our homeschool.  Our Fridays are very busy with an 3 hour doctor appointment taking up much of the morning.  Three of our children, including our adult son, receive neurofeedback treatments for a variety of issues, including developmental delays, learning challenges, PTSD, processing issues, and sleep issues.  Every other Friday is also our biggest grocery trip in the 2 week period during which we hit several stores. Also, this week our theme has been art, and we have been studying Edgar Degas.

7:30 am ~ We were really low on food that could be prepared quickly, so I decided to treat the kids to breakfast out.  As soon as everyone was dressed and ready, we headed to our local health food store that has a very nice breakfast bar.  Breakfast consisted of sausage, bacon, grapes and roasted potatoes (all organic).  We then did our first shopping trip of the day at the same grocery store.

I expect that all of the food you see here will be eaten in this next week.  I typically buy meat every week unless there is a great sale on something.  The grain-free pizza and soda are treats for Halloween night.  The kids can not dip into the Halloween candy bowl we will have for trick or treaters this year (due to food allergies), so we will have a pizza and soda for treats that night.

9 am ~ We went home and walked the dog and put away the groceries.  Then we headed to our neurofeedback appointment.  Basically, the kids and I have 30 minutes or so of family therapy with the doctor and discuss what has worked and not worked in the last week and any updates/issues that need to be processed.  Then the kids all take turns going back to receive their treatments.  I homeschool the children that are with me at any given time in the waiting room.

 In the waiting room, the kids did language arts, math,
and heard another book about Edgar Degas (art).
Tom Sawyer likes to do his school work in a little fort, as you see here.

Tom Sawyer really has to work on relaxing to make the neurofeedback video work.

12:15 pm ~ We ate lunch at Hardees.  Eating at fast food restaurants or even anywhere but home is actually not typical for us.  Tom Sawyer had a thickburger without bread.  It only had onions, lettuce and mustard, which seems to agree with him. We then did our second grocery trip at the "dent and scratch" store in our town.  Fortunately, it carries lots of organic food.

 Shall I tell you why the toilet paper packages are ripped open? 
We were completely out, so the kids were really anxious to use it when we got home. LOL!

1:30 ~ We dropped Timothy and the food at home.  The rest of us went on to our favorite bakery which is right around the corner from our home.  I love living in the city with so much right in our neighborhood.  I wasn't more than 3 miles from home the entire day. The bakery is celebrating the coming Day of the Dead by selling sugar skulls.  We bought two and decorated them at the nice decorating station provided (art).  We will be learning about the Day of the Dead at the homeschool library program next week.

 

2 pm ~ We came home and my kids had some movie time.  I talked to my Mom while sorting laundry.

3 pm ~ We roasted pumpkin seeds.  This is a favorite autumn treat around here.  The kids love cooking and this counts for home economics.

Do you see that doggie snout?  He is just hoping something will fall!

He already ate the first 2 tablespoons of butter we had set on the counter for the pumpkin seeds.

3:30 pm ~ We headed out to do our week's laundry at the laundromat.  We have been without a washer since July.  So many things have gone wrong with the mini-van this year that there has not been money to fix the washer.  However, we have finally saved up the money and are buying a new water pump for our washer this weekend.  Woo Hoo!  We have met so many interesting people at the laundromat from all walks of life.  I could write a blog just about them.  The kids like the elderly, widowed men the best.  The men are always ready to listen to the kids' stories and jokes. 

 The girls had their reading lessons while we waited for the clothes (language arts).

On the way home, we stopped at the last grocery store and bought the last of our groceries for the next week or so.

4:45 pm ~ The kids finished their Degas pastels by outlining them before I sprayed them with a fixative.  We used the Meet the Masters program to do this project.  My children had to draw the picture upside down to trick the right side of their brain.  They were not thrilled with this project but liked the results, and so did I. (art)

5:30 pm ~ Dad is home!  We ate dinner of mashed potatoes mixed with ham and with raw carrots on the side.  Then we played Hedbanz, a fun guessing game.

 

We finished the evening off with some of the children making potholders (art) and others reading Zoo Books (science) with Dad.

What a busy day!  The trick to getting school done on a day like this is doing it around the edges.  I just think, as I am going through the day, "How can I make this a teachable moment?"  Oh, the kids also listened to Beethoven's Wig whenever we were in the car (music).

Blessings,

Dawn