Friday Wrap-Up ~ A Lovely Week

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving. We had a calm one with plenty of food. Although the week was shorter than usual, it was jam-packed with goodness. We are all struggling with a family cold so this post will be a bit short. We completed week 14 and are taking it easy for a few days. 

Art ~ Dean is doing great in his art class. The class held a mini art show for the parents this week. The students each depicted in a tuna can a scene of a happy memory. He based his on our trip to Ocean City, Maryland this summer. He did a great job capturing the light. They are starting self-portraits next.

Charity of the Week ~ We collected food for the food bank tree at the mall. The kids have been donating to this tree every year since they were old enough to hold a box or can in their hands. We were so busy this week that only Anne was with me when we were able to drop off our donation. 

A Fun Photo Shoot ~ As soon as Anne saw the lovely holiday lights downtown, she wanted to do a photo shoot. So we did one on Thanksgiving evening. We had lots of fun. Here are just a few shots. She likes the silhouette one the best.

Today, we are limping through Friday doing chores, sterilizing the house before company comes next week and watching some science shows on Netflix. It is the best we can do! We often get sick right around Thanksgiving. I think that it is a blessing, really. There is a break of about five days between dance classes and Nutcracker week. It is a blessing that we generally get sick during this time of rest when we really can stop to take the time to recover. We have several fun things on the schedule for the weekend. I am not sure how many of them are going to happen.

Blessings, Dawn

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ A Hands-on Week

We are just one more week out from a well-deserved break. We have been going strong for 13 weeks now, and I can see that all of our brains are getting tired and need a short break. We will take the week off after Thanksgiving. It will be Nutcracker week and we will have relatives in town, so it is a perfect time to rest and kick off Advent. This week was heavy on hands-on learning and lighter on book learning, but we got lots done. They did do the three R's each day.

Our Weekly Charity ~ We started our holiday weekly charity challenge. This week we made shoe boxes for Meals on Wheels. My kids love making shoe boxes for the elderly and housebound. We are even thinking about taking on a small route once a week next school year. It would only take 1.5 hours a week and could be a wonderful opportunity for the kids.

Home Economics ~ It is that time of year where I feel like sorting and organizing. We did lots of that this week. Anne also polished all of the silver in the house. It took her three hours over a few days. We inherited all this silver and do not use it. However, in case the children want it some day, we try to maintain it. We only polish our silver once a year, and it is a job Anne really enjoys. 

Math Games ~ We received two new math games in the mail this week. The kids immediately took to Equate. They ask to play it every day. We haven't completed a game yet because we keep running out of time. It apparently takes our family more than an hour to play a full game, but we very much enjoy playing it.

A Wonderful Production ~ We met up with some friends and went to the production of All Great Books performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. It was an awesome show that presented an important fact or two about 89 classic books. It was fast, hilarious and surprisingly educational. The production did my Homeschool Mom heart proud, because my kids kept saying over and over to each other, "I remember this one" and "We just read that one."

Dean was in attendance but didn't want his photo taken. 

A New Adventure ~ Dean started an internship with a family friend this week. He will be training as a volunteer at a local art gallery. He will learn how to hang paintings, create a wall of art, pack and ship artwork, maintain the artwork, keep the space clean and help shoppers find what they are looking for. Dean came home feeling positive about his first day. I am so thankful for that.

Blessings, Dawn

Week 12 ~ Calmer than Expected

I feel like this week was the calm before the storm. I also took very few photos this week. That is just the way of it sometimes. Life takes off and I forget to record it in pictures. The highlight of the week was having Anne's best friend Josephine over for the day. They kicked the day off with a Pringles challenge. They found it harder than expected to figure out the different flavors while blindfolded. The rules of the game state that if one guesses incorrectly, she or he is supposed to be slapped; but they were very gentle with each other. The afternoon was spent playing in autumn leaves. I am so glad they aren't too cool to have good, old-fashioned fun.

The remainder of this past week was about progressing in subjects that were behind, holding steady with subjects that were on schedule, and wrapping up projects that were in the way and creating messes. Here is what we accomplished:

• We played lots of board games this week ~ 10 days in Asia, 10 days in the USA, Scattergories, Stratego, Quizmo Geometry, and chess. 
• Anne learned and performed for credit three more songs in American Sign Language.
• Both kids covered five more hours of biology. They read about bacteria, grew bacteria in 10 more petri dishes and watched several episodes of Life on Netflix.
• They each accomplished four math lessons.
• Anne finished painting her night stand and put it into her room. She has just one more piece of furniture to paint. 
• Dean participated in two hours of boffing.
• We started reading The Brothers Grimm Vol.2 as a family.
• Anne attended 16 hours of dance classes, including a two hour private lesson in Cecchetti because no one but her showed up on that day. She also has six hours of rehearsal this weekend.
• We wrapped up our study of Sherlock Holmes and moved on to Jane Austin's Emma. We are watching the movie tonight. 
• Dean practiced guitar and ukulele every day and attended his guitar lesson.
• Dean finished up his art project for his art class.
• They watched CNN-10 news each day. 
• Anne finished a 1,000 piece puzzle of Mt. Rushmore that has been laying around for weeks. We lost one piece. 

It seems like more happened than that. Since I record lessons in the lesson planners as they are finished and not by the week we are in, I may be missing something. 

Anne also started decorating her room for Christmas. She is determined to enjoy the season for as long as possible this year. We love Christmas around here, but historically it has been a stressful time of the year. When our mentally ill daughter Goldilocks lived with us, she started really acting up around Thanksgiving and would be unbearable to deal with until mid-January every year. Her behaviors were extreme and dangerous. This is common for kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder and even worse because her birthday is just a few days after Christmas. Birthdays tend to be very hard on some foster/adopted children and this is true for her. Some years I wanted to skip the Christmas season completely. Then we added in The Nutcracker performances eight years ago and that made our lives incredibly busy and stressful. It feels different this year. Everyone in our household is in a good emotional place, and we are veterans of The Nutcracker. It really doesn't feel overwhelming so far. I hope the joy of the season sticks!

Last but not least ~ A photo of my handsome son, otherwise known as stick boy. HaHa.

Blessings, Dawn

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Here We Come, November!

Can it truly be November already? Could it really be that we have already received the Nutcracker schedule and that rehearsals are already in full swing? Dear Daughter will be doing Saturday and Sunday rehearsals from here on in. Unfortunately due to some things out of my control, November is already turning into a super busy month, even without The Nutcracker. 

This week's major interruption was my colonoscopy. I have a disturbing family history when it comes to precancerous polyps, so it is something I have to keep a watch on. I did the colonoscopy without sedation. I hate being sedated and this way I didn't lose a whole day being groggy and not being able to drive, etc. It really wasn't that bad without sedation. Happily, I had a clean scan and I don't need to go back for 10 years!!! You can imagine my happy dance!

Halloween School ~ We did some fun science and math for Halloween School this year. We reviewed mass, circumference, conversions using the metric system and estimation for math. The kids estimated the seeds and then counted them. They counted over 400 seeds in the pumpkin. We also made slides with our pumpkin guts and looked at them with our compound microscope. Lastly, we studied the seeds with our dissection microscope.

We also watched the 1931 version of Frankenstein.

Halloween ~ I deemed the kids to be too old for trick or treating this year, much to their dismay. After all, many of their teen friends were still trick or treating. However, there has to be an end to everything. We enjoyed dressing up and walking around downtown with some friends. The kids got soda and ice cream.

Dear Husband was the headless horseman

A Fall Walk ~ We took a nice morning walk in the woods this week. The leaves are changing very quickly, so it was lovely. Life will be very hectic for the next two months. I want to make sure that we have moments like this pleasant walk to sustain us.

We are plugging along in all subjects and staying on target. We saw two movies this week. We really enjoyed October Sky with our Literature Movie Club. Our family also watched Dead Poets Society. It was a bit too intense and emotional for Dean, but the rest of us enjoyed it.

Thoughts for November ~ I want to enjoy November because it is one of my favorite months. However, there is a very crazy schedule to get through. So here are my plans to thrive in November instead of just surviving. Thankfully we are starting off ahead in about half of our subjects.

• Concentrate on staying healthy. 
• Let the kids sleep in when possible and keep our diet healthy.
• Enjoy the season.
• Keep the house clean for my own sake, even if it means setting aside a lesson here and there. 
• REMEMBER that life is filled with learning, even when there isn't as much time for books. The learning is often better without the books, anyway.

We will be doing school seven days a week for the next few weeks. That is partially because all of Anne's rehearsals count for her performing arts credit and partially because fun school like literature-based movies and hands-on building projects are worthy school projects that will help us navigate this very busy season.

Blessings, Dawn