Life has kicked back into gear this week around here.
Here are a few things that we have been up to:
1- WINTER BREAK is OVER.
We (umm, by that I mean mostly me) have been a bit sluggish transitioning out of the winter holiday season and back into school. The school room was moved upstairs last fall, which was great when our temps were hovering abnormally in the 50's and 60's with lots of sun. After spending the holidays downstairs where it is toasty warm we (errr, I) have not been so thrilled to either move upstairs where it is colder nor have I wanted to carry in the amount of wood necessary to heat the upstairs AND the downstairs.... so I was dragging my feet.
The last few weeks we have been reading through books about Vikings in a very relaxed manner while I would pull out an informal math or reading lesson now and then.
This week I tossed up my hands, brought a vertical storage drawer unit (aka: Workboxes) downstairs. I filled each drawer with the materials that we need for our school and it is (kind of) hiding in my laundry room.
We have hit the books strong and fast this week and I have been THRILLED to find Otto doing so well. He is reading like a champ needing only a few prompts from me. We are cruising in math (see below). We are still working on Vikings (tomorrow we begin our lapbook) and have managed spelling, grammar and have stumbled upon some science too. Abram has done great at a few reading lessons and over all the young kids have been happy playing near by.
2- Attitudes Have Been A Ton Better
Otto has been amazing this week so far. He has not sassed for his siblings to shush much. He has not looked at our reading lesson and rolled his eyes. He announced that the timed math tests we did today were "his favorite."
The youngers have been content NOT doing their morning group time which this fall had been SO TIME CONSUMING and which I was not convinced about how *educational* it had been. They have been "doing art" while I have been teaching Otto. This means they pull out their Art Boxes from Christmas and scribble on paper and then pull out the play dough for a bit until they get bored and run off to play in the other room. This is working SO WELL (for the moment).
My hormones-emotions have been somewhat decent this week as well. I must be in the 10 day stretch of the month where I am not hormonally forced into deep sadness, great irritation or intense rage.
3- I Have Decided to Go Ahead (slowly) With
Vintage Remedies 8 Weeks to Real Foods.
I will be transitioning into this plan MUCH slower than 8 weeks, but every time I think it is worth a shot. Lately, every time I read about my hormonal issues, my emotional swings or hear about nutrition it seems that all the sources I am exposed to lately are saying the SAME THING. So, goodbye processed foods (not that we eat many anyway), goodbye white sugar, goodbye bad fats, etc.
You can click HERE to learn more about these weekly emails from Vintage Remedies.
4- OTTO IS NOW IN 3RD GRADE MATH.
We finished up Saxon 2 on Tuesday.
Wednesday and Thursday we will be doing a bit of review.
Friday we will dig into the new Saxon 3 books..... I think we will start with lesson 10 (which is new material) and then skip again to lesson 20!
5- Our Weather Has Decided To Actually FEEL like Winter.
It is currently a super warm 19 with a wind chill that makes it feel like 5 above. Tonight our low with wind chill is NEGATIVE 25. Tomorrow our HIGH is 1 degree above zero (not counting wind chill which knocks it down to NEGATIVE 20-30).
6- Excalibur!
I have purchased tickets for the boys and I to go watch a production of Excalibur! Hubby is home and will be keeping Gracie at home with him. I look forward to taking the boys to such a fun play WITHOUT the little girl wiggling all over!
What is going on in your world?
What are you studying?
How are you managing Winter?
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