Eclectic Homeschooling: Week 3 of 2023

Already this week has started off much better than how last weeks ended. I still have a little bit of a cold, but it didn't interfere with chores and motivation. I was supposed to start working on skirts...but Pinterest got me again! I found the cutest leaf garland, so guess what I am working on, haha? The thing I will try to keep in mind this week is that I have so many Autumn inspired books and activities, it is not necessary to get them all in this week. After all, Autumn will be going until December! No need to stress! 

Monday: I felt much better today, and so today just felt better all around. We started our Autumn unit study. I love the hand rhyme and song. We didn't really do any Autumn or seasons related activities, but we talked about it a lot. The boys are excited about the upcoming season and the holidays associated with it. I can't wait for our house to be filled with Autumn-y things. 

Matthew called me shortly after he left for work and asked if I would be willing to make a prop for the show he is in. The show opens this Friday, so it needed to be done as soon as possible. I spent probably a hour on it all together. This is the only project I have done that the boys were interested in. 

Every time I walked by my room it would freak me out, haha. Matthew is in Arsenic and Old Lace, and needed a dead body. The boys kept talking to it like it was real. The best part was when they told my mom about it when we dropped her off at the train station. They informed her that we "made a dead body today". Out of context, that sounds so creepy, and like we are a house of morbid people!

Asa was able to start his math book today. He is doing Saxon 2. He loved it so much he wanted to do another lesson. I hope he keeps enjoying math. He also started Explode the Code today. Same thing, he wanted to do more pages. I am glad Summer Bridge is over for him. Although it is useful for me to see where he might have gaps I don't notice, I don't really like it when I have to help him with something he doesn't know. I teach him, and then too much time goes by before he has to do it again, so he has forgotten. He (and I!) would get so frustrated! I remember hating repetition in Saxon Math and Shurley English, but the important thing is I remembered things. I think it is totally worth the boredom. 

Ean and I were able to do all of his schoolwork today. He was so happy. He seems to be warming to doing school every day. The only thing I am worried about is letter recognition. Not so much that he doesn't know them. He is only 4. But that maybe the activities we do are a waste of time? Ira and Asa taught themselves the alphabet. I have no idea how to teach the alphabet, or how long it takes. This is definitely new territory. He is picking up on sounds, though. He just told me today that "people" starts with "P", and "Owen" starts with "O". That's something, right? 

Tuesday: We had a very good day today! Everything was typical. I got in a lot of Ean's read alouds while we were waiting for breakfast to bake. I made sourdough cinnamon rolls with cut up plums in them. I reduce the amount of butter and sugar so that they aren't quite a dessert. The boys love them! 

Our Spanish lesson went amazing! Ira and Asa always get super excited every time they remember something. Today I made some posters to help us remember the verbs in between lessons. 

I do better with visuals and audio, and I think Ira and Asa will too. Although, it is super cute to hear Owen try to say the words too. He doesn't understand what he is saying, but he is trying!

 It also helped that I finally bought the audio clips that go with each lesson last week. Finally I can hear someone else say the right words instead of trying to fumble through it myself. How to pronounce things was really getting me into trouble. 

Ean really got into letter sounds today. He would let me know what sound a word started with, and I would show and tell him what letter made that sound. I am so excited he is excited to learn. He can point out to me the first letter he learned this year, "F", when he sees it printed places, but can't ever remember the name. Someday he will get it. 

I finished the leaf garland I started. It was a much simpler project than I had anticipated! 

I was going over unfinished projects that I need to work on next, and I am not excited about any of them. 🙁 But I really, really, really need to finish these projects that I have had for years so I can just be done. I started another set of toy mice 2 years ago. I pulled those out and will be working on them for the next little bit. Ean loves the ones we already have. I adjusted the pattern so these ones sit better. I hope he loves them. 

Wednesday: The boys were awesome and did their work fast and early, because I had a doctor's appointment this morning. 

When I say it is time for school, Owen always runs and grabs the Beginner's Bible we have. We have had this book for a year, and it is so well loved I have had to tape plenty of the pages, and it ripped from the binding. I should probably get a new one.

Of course after the appointment my whole day seemed thrown off. That happens a lot when I have morning appointments. We went to the library after lunch, grabbed a bunch of new Autumn books, and then they watched a TV show while I made dinner. They definitely got way too much screen time. 

Thursday: Thursdays are probably the hardest day of the week because of Ira's therapy session at the clinic, and it is our weekly shopping trip. But today was wonderful because Ira was thrilled to be done with Summer Bridge! He has never been this cooperative when it comes to school. He is eager to begin math and Explode the Code next week!

The highlight of our day was seeing Matthew's dress rehearsal of Arsenic and Old Lace. Asa and Ira were focused the entire play. Ean fell asleep within 45 minutes. And Owen surprisingly stayed awake the whole time, but spent most of it wondering why he couldn't go up to see daddy. 😂 Obviously he hasn't been to a play in a while. 

Friday: We were only going to do read-alouds, since we are a little behind schedule, but all 3 boys wanted to do a full day. So I said sure! 

I love that they love to learn! I printed off a Autumn themed learning pack, and they enjoyed doing some of the pages. Ean is getting better at letter recognition, and seemed to have fun stamping the letters with dot markers we never use. 

A kids clothes second hand shop had a sale today, so I took the 3 oldest boys to get some clothes and shoes for the winter season. I was ecstatic to find everything we needed except a pair of casual shoes for Ean, and snow boots for Ira and Ean. I even found some baby girl clothes, so our baby won't be without some warm pajamas when November and December arrive. 

My biggest regret this week is not getting outside near as much as we have been. I can tell it is taking its toll on the boys.

The biggest challenge I have been facing since Wednesday is Asa has started to use the Lord's name in vain. I made sure to give him a quick correction once I realized I heard him correctly the second time he used it. But now he says it anytime he is playing a game, board or Minecraft. A part of me is mortified that my 6 year old has picked up that sort of language somehow, and school can't be to blame. The other part of me has thrown myself into studying what is the 3rd commandment, and why must we live it, so I can teach him more competently. We get to work on the habit of attentiveness by paying attention to our words more closely. I get to be an example of this as well. I don't swear, but I have gotten lazy in how I speak. I use simple words. I know I can do better, so I will just so he and I can work together on this.