This was one of those weeks that I never quite got a handle on. There was only a single day this week when we didn’t have something going on beyond our regular schedule. And while that’s not a bad thing, necessarily, the extra goings-on combined with a Rockford work trip meant we didn’t get everything on the school schedules done. Not even once. Not even the day when we didn’t have extra stuff.
And also I forgot to move the towels from the washer to the dryer on Wednesday night, so yesterday morning I had to use a beach towel.
That said, it wasn’t a bad week at all. Just a little chaotic. Here’s a bit of what we did:
Monday
Monday was our last day of co-op for this semester.[ref](Huzzah!)[/ref] Poppy read a chapter of “Harriet the Spy” and started on this week’s accompanying literature study in the morning, and we listened to a chapter of “Story of the World” (about King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell) on the way to co-op. But that was pretty well the extent of our schoolwork for Monday.
I think the kids in my astronomy / “Star Wars” co-op class had fun, but it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped it would. There were only five kids, but the youngest was just barely 5 and the oldest was 8 when we started, and that is a really wide age range. I didn’t do a great job finding things that would appeal to and/or be feasible for all of them, and it made the class more stressful than it needed to be. I’d planned to spend the last day of class finishing up the kids’ solar systems, but I decided against sending them home with balls of wet paint and so we watched the first half of “Star Wars: A New Hope” and I sent them home with unfinished kits — there were only a few planets to go! — instead. The kids had been petitioning for it all semester, so they were pretty pleased with the decision. (I’ll tell you more about what we did over the course of the semester next week.)
A friend and her daughter came over to hang out after co-op, and we had a fun afternoon but didn’t get any schoolwork done.
Tuesday
Pete had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, and one of Poppy’s public-school-going friends wanted to celebrate her day off by inviting Poppy over to play. Pete got most of his work done after we got back from his appointment, but Poppy didn’t get home until noon and only had a few hours to work on school before tae kwon do.
Normally Poppy would do any unfinished schoolwork after tae kwon do, but she’d been asking to do the “tae kwon do marathon” for a few weeks and I’d already told her that she could on Tuesday. So instead of coming home after the homeschool class, she stayed to:
She slept very well Tuesday night.
Wednesday
Wednesday was the only day that we were on a regular schedule. The kids had what may have been their last tennis lesson until spring — we’re deciding on a week-to-week basis, based on the weather — followed by art class. What with three hours of the day devoted to extracurricular activities, Wednesday is the day that we normally don’t get all of the schoolwork done. And so it was this week.
We did finish “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” over dinner, and the kids were anxious to hear more. I didn’t know until yesterday that there was a sequel. “Racso and the Rats of NIMH” was written by “Mrs. Frisby” author Robert C. O’Brien’s daughter. I’ll need to read it before I read it to the kids, though.
Thursday
Poppy had yet another playdate on Thursday. This one was Pokemon-focused. It was in the late afternoon, and she got most of her schoolwork done beforehand. Pete finished nearly everything on his list, and then he spent the afternoon walking around the house wearing headphones and carrying his iPod in his pocket like a real cool dude. A real cool dude who was listening to “The Hobbit.”
Friday
We have a co-op council meeting this afternoon, so the kids need to get their work done before lunch. They have a lot to do, too, seeing as we neglected to do math yesterday and history all week long. I foresee more talk of Oliver Cromwell on Monday and beyond.
How was your week?
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What a busy week!! & a Pokemon playdate sounds awesome to me!
Fun to find you here. We are in our second year of homeschooling. I have three girls, 4, 7, 8. It is an extremely rare day we get all that I think we will accomplish. I spend tons of time wondering if I am being too lax..we don’t school on co-op day. Today I had an appointment and I let the girls sleep late. We did mostly independent work. I love hearing from other schoolers.
I’m just going to take in the feeling of not being a terrible mother because sometimes my week looks like this with the girls….As in the part of not getting everything done. I Will admit that you definitely seem to have this home school thing together way more than I do. I wish I could find a co-op for the girls but no luck. I had thought I was super cool and was doing unschooling but apparently I can’t do that right either since we do use a curriculum. Chervonne will be in 9th grade next year and she is still terrible at spelling even though she has always been incredible at comprehension and reading….it’s very frustrating. Btw..she did five years of public school so it’s not all my fault. Do you have any suggestions? I have had her tested for dyslexia and taken her to the Dr. and they say it’s nothing…One of the reasons I pulled her out of school.