Week 27: Hodgepodge

It's hard to say exactly what this week was...It was sort of a hodgepodge of things that needed to be wrapped up on the one hand, and started (or resumed) on the other. I'll post photos as we go...We started out the week recovering sleep and unpacking from our weekend trip to our annual church family retreat. It was a lovely, relaxing weekend. We got to spend time with friends that we have known since the very beginning of our time here, and it reminded me how important our church family is to us. Molly hung out with the guys that she's known since infancy, and Matty hung out with his best friend whom he has known since we moved here. We've lived here for almost 6 years (July), and when you are only 5 1/2 and 9 respectively, 5 1/2 years is a long time! These are the people they have grown up with and will continue to grow with for the foreseeable future. These are the people we love, choose to get to know, bear with in love and companionship, and offer ourselves to, like it or not. They are family.

Molly, Luke and Levi...about two months' age difference. Molly is the oldest.

"Old" friends are the best...

Molly and her Daddy

Excited to climb the rock wall!

Up there, but scared to death! Maybe next year, girlie!

After cleaning up the house, which was left a mess and was worse upon our return, we made a valiant attempt at returning to our school routine. We finished book 2 of All About Spelling, and Matty is seeing dramatic improvements in his spelling by going through this. We are pretty much just whipping through as fast as we can go, with him memorizing all the key cards and phonograms. The words are not difficult for him, but as he says, just knowing the facts of "why" is helping him to spell better. It is definitely building his confidence. We also forged ahead with Phonics Road for Molly, and I have to say that this program is worth it, just for the illustrations she makes for the stories. They are priceless. I could not have found a program that was a better fit for my girl. Matty began to build a few exercises of Khan Academy into his routine, as well. I want him to go through all of the exercises up to what we have covered so far, and because it is on the computer, he just doesn't mind so much. He is getting a thorough review of addition right through fractions, and gives me confidence that he is getting enough time on math each day.

This week we began the first of a five week inductive Bible study for the kids. We invited our friends from Classical Conversations to join us, and we have a group of about 12 children who will be working through the study Lord, Teach Me to Pray for kids by Kay Arthur. I took a picture today of the group as they were delving into their first observation worksheet and learning how to answer overview questions. I actually felt emotional at the time because everyone seemed to be enjoying it so thoroughly, and there is nothing I would rather have my children enjoy than the study of God's Word!

Moms and kids working together at Bible study!

After Bible study I headed over to our CC campus to work on setting up for our year-end celebration. It was the last chance for the whole campus to be together and celebrate the accomplishments of the school year. Matty was recognized for Memory Master and Molly received her certificate of participation. Our campus had a total of 19 Memory Masters, which is no small feat! It was fun to get together and celebrate the year's hard work.

Matty stands with others from who achieved Memory Master

Molly received her certificate, too!

It was a delightful week. The flu has left us, some semblance of routine has returned, we've taken some new turns in thinking about the future of our schooling (more on that later), the kids were busy at play and studies. What follows are some pictures of the block city that Matty and Molly built in their playtime. They had a rather well-developed story that went along with this creation, but I include it only as a whimsical token. No matter how big they are growing, and how fast they are maturing, they still have time for each other, and they still go back to their simple toys and play make-believe. I want to cherish that for all it is worth.