Week 4: More than School

This week was a very nicely-paced week of school. Once again, my kids delighted me with their attitudes toward school. They seem to finally understand that every day that we get up and have breakfast on Monday through Friday, we are going to do school. You might be thinking "well, duh," but in all sincerity, there have been seasons in which there was a sort of disbelieving "What? We have to do school today?" reaction from them, as if it was some sort of new thing I was springing on them at random times. Perhaps they are finally grasping the concept of time and routine? Maybe? It may also be that on Monday and Wednesday mornings I roll them out of bed and take them to swim for an hour from 7:30 - 8:30. Perhaps while they are swimming their 800 meters they have time for it to sink in that they are going to do school when they get home. Whatever it is, I am grateful for the change.

This week Molly began reading The Wind in the Willows (Great Illustrated Classics edition). She is reading very well, but does not choose this as a leisure activity yet. She reads to me willingly out loud, but does not seem to enjoy silent reading as a personal pastime. On the other hand, she loves to listen to audiobooks and will choose wonderful stories to listen to on her own time. I am hoping that with a required time of 20 minutes of silent reading she will begin to enjoy reading to herself more often.

Gotta love school at home...still in pajamas, snuggled under a blanket.

Matty began reading about WWI for TOG. This immediately translated into miniature armies being set up for reenactments of trench warfare over No Man's Land. The kids had worked out rules for determining who got killed by rolling some dice, and played the game for several days. Nothing like applying what you are learning!

In science we began chapter 2 which covers bones. Both kids continue to be fascinated by the material. I am enjoying that we can cover the same science topic together--perhaps for the last time before Matty has to move on to a more advanced program.

Molly is adding pictures of healthy and unhealthy bones to her notebook

In addition to our book-learnin', the past few weekends have been spent immersed in a DIY project that turned out to be, well, just like most DIY home-improvement projects--long, drawn-out and fraught with set-backs. My husband and son rose to the occasion to build a patio just outside the basement back-door, leading to the back yard. I have wanted this for the seven years we have lived here. They did the research on how to do it, made a thousand trips to Lowe's and Home Depot, and we all worked together to get that thing laid. I am going to cut this blog post short and simply say that this project turned out to be one of those things where life teaches you more than any book ever could. I will post photos and the story in my next post.