Week 7 ~ When Learning Doesn't Include Books

What a busy week we had. When I looked at all that was on the schedule for this week, I knew it was going to be a tough week and that we were going to have to adapt and tweak our usual style of schooling to make it through. Obviously, we were going to have to rely heavily on the workbooks! While workbooks are not my favorite style of learning, they do work when life gets in the way of my Charlotte Mason unit study approach.

Long Weekend ~ We enjoyed an extra day with Daddy home this week, thanks to Labor Day. We managed to pull out and try on all of the out of season clothes. Tom Sawyer fit into about three items. He is just growing like crazy right now. He skipped a whole size! All the clothes that didn't fit him were organized and taken to the consignment shop or put on Ebay. I am really into reducing our belongings even more than usual. We also enjoyed apple picking with Dad. The kids shared the first caramel apple they have had since Tom Sawyer was diagnosed with so many food allergies. He did have some reactions but not as bad as in the past.

Our School This Week ~ We did lots of workbook pages this week for language arts and math. We also were able to finish listening to The Cricket in Times Square. We still have a few activities to do before we are done with our unit study on The Cricket in Times Square which we will get to next week. We also managed to complete three more chapters from the book, Paddle to the Sea, and the map work for those chapters. That is about all that we accomplished this week when it comes to book learning.

Real Life ~ Our lessons came more from real life this week. We attended psychotherapy, physical therapy, and dentist and doctor appointments. All of these appointments took lots of time but each had a lesson to be learned. We learned more about how to properly stretch Tom Sawyer, better ways to floss the dreadful hinge in Tom Sawyer's mouth and that Tim was having a terrible reaction to his asthma medications. The medications were making him emotionally distraught. His doctor removed him from all asthma medications. He has been on asthma medications for most of his life on a daily basis. We knew that they made him very uncomfortable and jittery. However, we did not know that other side effects are irritability and anxiety. Timothy is feeling much better. The last few days have been almost like having our old son back. We are hoping that he continues to feel better emotionally over the next few days as the medications leave his system completely. Now we must learn more natural ways of protecting him without medications. We also attended the special needs support group this week. We always learn something at these meetings. Lastly, Tom Sawyer attended his writing class and Little Red Riding Hood attended her first day of dance for this school year. Many lessons don't come from books but from living a very full (bursting at the seams) and active life.

The State Fair ~ We attended our state fair. It is always free for students on the first day. We went with some friends and had a lovely time. As always, the animals and vegetables were a real hit. Tom Sawyer loves to examine all of the winning vegetables. The kids also were able to choose one ride. They all picked the bumper cars. We completed our fun with a wood turning class. They were each allowed to make a spinning top, honey stick, or a bottle topper with cork. My kids each picked the spinning top. The volunteers that helped them use the lathe were great. There was no end to hands-on learning at the fair.

Blessings, Dawn