Week 13 ~ Homeschooling Through Our Busy Season

I started feeling that crazy busy season coming on a week or so ago and it is here full force now. The November calendar is full to busting with 51 commitments written down. One of those commitments is a 36 hour quick round trip to Duke for our oldest son's pacemaker appointment. Then there are all of those Nutcracker rehearsals.... Yep, I am one busy Mama! So, I am all about priorities. You might think that my priorities would be the 3 R's. Those are important to me and totally on my radar screen, but they are not my top goals. My priorities this month are calm children, calm parents, joy and laughter, a reasonably clean house and living frugally...which means eating our meals at home. Here is a look at our week staying calm in a very busy world.

Monday ~ Goldilocks is now the proud owner of her second pair of braces. She went through round one when she was nine. Her adult teeth were sideways up in the gum line; her little mouth was so crowded. Now the orthodontist is trying to turn several teeth around and stretch one side of her jaw to allow more teeth to work their way into their proper position. I am so grateful that Goldilocks is a brave medical trooper. There were no tears on Monday, despite the orthodontist working on her mouth for 2 hours.

We also managed to do the 3 R's, go to the library and take two kids to dance classes.

Tuesday ~ We went on a field trip to the Arboretum to see a Lego exhibit by the artist, Sean Kenney. It was amazing. We all really enjoyed learning more about Sean Kenney, who proclaims himself to be a professional kid. Now there is a job title my kids could get into!

We also made it to math tutoring and our special needs family support group. The support group was huge this time and our family split up into our different age groups. Everyone did projects and talked about gratitude. This was a nice blessing for me to think about all that I am grateful. The list is so long.

Wednesday ~ We were home in the morning and enjoyed 3 hours of uninterrupted lessons. We even managed to do our poetry tea with Casey at Bat. Then it was off to occupational therapy for two kids and 3 hours of dance for Little Red Riding Hood. We even managed to make an impact on the laundry.

Thursday ~ Our Goldilocks had a psychological intake this morning. We are hoping to find her a female therapist who can work with low IQ teenagers and understands all of her emotional issues. The intake worker felt strongly that she needed an updated psychological evaluation, a new therapist and perhaps a medicine review with a psychiatrist. I am so relieved that we are getting some well needed support. She has really had a rough time the last year (it has been rough since the day we got her, but rougher the last year than in recent years). All of this should start falling into place over the next few weeks...which means...more appointments!

Grandma came over to babysit Tom Sawyer and Little Red Riding Hood. She did a 2 hour tree study and made such nice books with them. Then she did the project all over again when Goldilocks got home from her appointment.

Lastly, we went to the first extra rehearsal of the Nutcracker. Little Red Riding Hood is a guard who must capture baby mice in one of her three dances. The mice were all 4 to 6 years old and so cute.

Friday and the Weekend ~ So here we are on Friday. Three kids have doctor/OT appointments today. We also have a "surprise" visit this afternoon from Grandpa who is traveling through on his way to Florida. He will spend a few hours with us, eat dinner and get some sleep before heading on down the road. The rest of the weekend is loaded up with a birthday party, gymnastics, church and cheerleading.

So what happened to schooling? ~ Well, this is where the unschooler in me pushes to the surface just a little. Just looking at the events of the week we can count ~ science, art, writing, lots of social time, P.E., math, and music. If we had done nothing else but the events in the week, it would have been enough. However, the Charlotte Mason literature/history-based follower that I am needed to fill some of the kids' spare time with language arts, history and literature. Thanks to workbooks, audio books in the car and educational videos on the computer, we squeezed in all of our lessons for the week.

Blessings, Dawn