1. Up, up, up!
On Saturday, we took the kids to a tree-climbing competition, which was really neat: click here for more.
2. Regular School Resumes
On Monday, we got back to a regular school routine after two weeks of 'wonkiness' and two weeks of holiday. You can view our updated school routine, if you'd like, by clicking here.
The bookshelf wall (and they are anchored) and the baby gate to block Thomas from invading the school room are just a joke.
He moves other furniture or toys get high enough to spy and laugh on us, and then he climbs right over. Or he just opens the baby gate. All the deterrents do is slow him down briefly.
3. Math Drill Aids
Speaking of school, this week I compiled a list of math drill aids we have liked using: click here.
4. Dolch Sight Words Debunked
This week I stumbled across an informative, three-minute video put out by All About Learning Press explaining how the Dolch Sight Words List is, in short, a load of nonsense. These 220 words were made into a list by Mr. Dolch, who was an advocate of the disastrous whole-reading method. In truth, only about 21 of the words on the Dolch List do not follow English phonetic rules, rules which are taught easily and effectively by the All About Reading and All About Spelling programs, which we've used for six years now and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
When I watched this fun little video (click here), I fell in love with AAR/AAS all over again!
5. Field Trip to Historic Brattonsville
Click here to read about our field trip to Historic Brattonsville.
6. Miscellaneous Moments
Margaret (6) is now at the age where she sews little projects without my help (or without notifying me or cleaning up supplies very well). This week, she sewed a pair of "overalls" for her baby doll, and then a blanket monogrammed with the letter J for Joseph's beloved stuffed tiger, Pearly.
Josey fell asleep clutching his new blanket.
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| Making rosemary olive oil bread by himself |
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| Margaret lost her first tooth |
7. I Made Plans . . . and God Laughed
After launching my week with my fabulous, color-coded charts of our daily school routine, God quickly rolled a bowling ball right into my pins, knocking them all askew when our eight-year-old Mary broke her wrist in two places: read all about it here.
I spent Thursday and Friday milling about aimlessly as I, apparently and with humiliation, realize how little I can run our normal routine without Mary's dynamo support. I randomly baked muffins so that I could accomplish something . . . although, even then, the toddler kept throwing muffins on the floor and generally messing it all up.
Mary is rising to the occasion and I bet things will smooth out quickly. I plan this weekend to look at our school schedule and re-do everything for the next 3-6 weeks. In the meanwhile, Mary's piano teacher has said she will just start learning next year's songs now with the left hand first (when typically the right hand is learned first), and her violin teacher has said she should continue daily practice using only her left hand to maintain muscle memory. Mary has shown me that she can do her math left-handed, so we'll soon discover what housework and other schoolwork she can do as a southpaw.
For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.
So your right arm...hurt her right arm? :) That's quite the cast! Prayers that the bones heal well.
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