Questions, Questions, Questions

So the question has come up:  what now?  What now that we've finished our school year?  Am I still going to write?  Are there any conclusions to the dribble you've been reading for the past 9 months?

I'll answer a few of those questions now.  And in reverse order because I'm weird like that.

Here's your conclusion, Becky.  We're gonna let the great experiment called homeschooling continue.  We determined that, since nobody killed each other over the past year, and the kids actually learned a few things, we would like to continue.  We still have kinks to work out (namely the recurring bad attitude of one of my students), but a little light has been shed on that particular issue.  We may be working towards a resolution.  It's too early to tell yet, but I think we may have hit upon the problem (frustration and overwhelm at the amount of work to do in certain subjects).

Am I still going to write?  Hmmm.  Now that is a good question.  I'd like to continue writing.  But the question that I have then is... what do I write about?  Continue to write about the shenanigans of my family?  The crazy antics of my kids?  Homeschooling?  How thick the callouses on my feet are?  (Note to self:  it's time for a pedi) 

So I'd love your input, Becky, since you may be the only one reading this.

That Week That Was Our Last {week 30}

That week that was our last?  Did I really type that as my title?!?

"Last" is kind of a misnomer, though.  It's slightly misleading.  Most of our school work is going to conclude this week.  But some things, like Jack's grammar and Cade's math, will continue until we finish those books.

I had started Cade in the wrong book at the beginning of the school year; it was probably November when I switched him to a higher level in math.  And so he's "behind" a little.  Which means that he'll just have to go into the summer to finish his math.  No biggie.  Plus, that will help him retain what he's learned instead of letting it all fall out of his ears over the summer break, right?  Let's hope so.

Monday  Monday started out OK.  But for whatever reason, I was struggling.  The kids were normal; it was me.  Everything, even little things, felt like they took inordinate amounts of energy to accomplish.  So by noon, I was, for all intents and purposes, in tears.  And done.  I gave myself a time-out (read:  I locked myself in my room) and took a nap.  I felt oodles better when I woke up.  Not sure what that was about.  But glad it passed.

Tuesday  This day was much better than the previous day.  Thank goodness.  Jack & Claire were done by 10:30.  Cade drug his feet on his math and made it last until the afternoon.  Not because the math was hard.  But because he didn't want to do it.

Wednesday  Wednesday was a good day. We were all finished by 10:30.  Which was great since I have two projects I'm now working on.  One is this:

I'm going to try my hand at reupholstering these two babies.  I got 'em for $40 total off of Craigslist (a real steal if you ask me).  I found some fabric, and on Wednesday, after studying YouTube and some blog posts, started taking fabric off of one of the chairs.  It's a pretty tedious process taking out each staple one at a time.  But I'm excited to try this (and very nervous!).

Thursday  Thursday started out nice.  We started on time.  Although I had to pull Jack away from reading his new Bible that Scott got the boys.  It's a graphic novel adaptation of the Bible and the boys just love it.  It's difficult to say, "Stop reading the Bible, Jack!"

Friday  We didn't do school on Friday because I went to the homeschool book fair.  I didn't really need to go this year, but it's always fun to go and get your hands on books and talk to book reps.  Plus the people watching is fabulous.  ;)

That Week We Went to the Museum (AGAIN) {week 29}

Monday  By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was seriously hacking and coughing.  So Scott made me go to the doctor's office.  And respiratory infection it is!  Which I guess is better than bronchitis or pneumonia.  But I spent most of the morning going to the doctor and running a few errands.  Thankfully, Scott had threatened the kids into doing some of their work while I was gone.  And they actually did it!  So there was just a little bit of work to do after lunch.


Tuesday  We decided to take Tuesday off and go the Dallas Museum of Art with my mom..  Since the museum doesn't open until 11am, we decided to trek over to the Perot Museum and play outside there for a little bit.

There are large xylophones you can play (which the kids would play on for hours if I let them) outside the Perot.

We also had fun looking around the gift shop at the Perot Museum.  There are lots of cool toys, books, and other nicknacks in the shop.

By the time we left the Perot and headed back to the DMA, it was already lunch time.  So we grabbed some food from the food trucks that line up at Klyde Warren Park.  We topped lunch off with some delicious ice cream, also from a food truck.  Claire, if you can't tell from the picture below, had a very chocolately ice cream.  Which she proceeded to get all over her face.

And by golly, I try and get a normal picture with my kids.  And this is what I end up with.

After stuffing ourselves silly at the park, we finally headed to the DMA around 1PM.  I didn't take any pictures inside (I kind of forgot to).  But we looked at African art (including Egyptian art, which was Jack's request).  We also looked at some contemporary art and a little bit of European impressionism.  By 3PM, the kids (specifically Jack) were very ready to go.  So we left, not having seen half (or more) of the art.  But that's OK.  Admission to the museum is free (you just have to pay out the whazoo for parking) so we can go back another day.

We all agreed that having a field trip like that was TONS better than doing school.

Wednesday  We had an OK day on Wednesday.  There was some crying, fussing, and whining (none of which was done by me) but we got that straightened out and carried on with our day.  Cade didn't finish until really late in the afternoon.  But he finally finished. 


Thursday  I headed upstairs Thursday morning a little before 8 to get set up.  When I got upstairs, I saw that the kids had already started working on their assignments.  They had all finished at least one assignment each and Cade had already completed several assignments.  The word "shocked" does not begin to describe how I felt.  The kids killed it on Thursday.  Cade was done by 8:45, and we were all done by snack time.  AMAZING!

I wish every day could be like Thursday.

Friday  This was a good day.  Claire finished the last lesson in her math book.  And most of the kids got done by lunch time.


General Thoughts We are in the home stretch of the school year. Almost done with our first homeschooling year!