Week 17 - Walking Zombies and Origami

Week 17 of the school term has been a good one. Completely different than any other week we've had before, but good. My poor son has been suffering from a rather difficult case of insomnia for a couple of weeks. We are unsure why, except that perhaps his growing, changing body, and a series of interruptions to his bio-rhythms combined with increasing exhaustion was causing a vicious cycle in which he was unable to sleep. This being the case, it has been difficult to school a walking zombie with a volatile attitude. So finally this week we took the bull by the horns and canceled our one evening activity, had both kids in bed by 8:30, enforced "the routine" down to as close to clockwork as possible, eliminated any gaming after dinner, etc. These combined with some extra exercise (running a half a mile after dinner, once food is settled) and a small dose of melatonin seems to have done the trick, and I have my boy back. His face is pink, his smile is back, and he is cheerful and  energetic. That is what two nights of 11 hours of sleep will do for you. Tonight it will be my turn.

That having been the case this week, we spent a lot of time reading aloud. This is the one area that he really could focus, so I obliged and we began listening to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens together and I read Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. He continued to read his TOG assignments for the week, but math, language and other things were eclipsed by exhaustion and a story too good to put down. If you are looking for an excellent book for your family read-aloud time, you will not be sorry if you choose Moccasin Trail. I read out loud, without food or drinks for anyone for an average of 3-4 hours a week this since Tuesday! The book was supposed to be stretched out over 4 weeks, but, oh well! While I read, it was amazing at just how quiet the two of my usually noisy children were. They either sat and listened, bounced on their exercise balls or worked on origami figures.

Next week we will wrap up Unit 2 of TOG year 3. It is hard to believe that we are half way through this school year, and so I will hopefully take some time this weekend to look ahead into the next two units and plan out the rest of the school year.