A Week in the Life of Eclectic Homeschoolers: Week 5 of 2025

We are going to have a pretty chill week. No appointments or extra events, except Matthew having the last week of performances for the play he is in. But that doesn't make life that different for the rest of us. These are my favorite kind of weeks. If I could just stay home all day, every day, I would be so happy. 

Monday- Had a good morning today! We are having chickpea curry, and no one likes it without some sourdough naan bread, so had to get that started. We were done with everything, including art, by lunchtime. This week they had to draw an animal, using Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings of animals to go by. Not one person squawked about how hard it was. They just dove in. It is so cool to watch how they are changing and growing in confidence. No budding artists yet, haha, but I hope they are learning that it can be fun to do things we aren't good at.

Tuesday- I hope I am not the only one who gets a bit lazy because I am so close to finishing a craft, and I kind of want to forget life so I can focus on it. 😅 Ira had therapy in the morning today, which happens once a month, so our whole day just seemed off. Everyone but Ira has to find things to do for 3 hours, which we usually can fill pretty easily. I let the boys play on the Xbox for 1 hour while I cross-stitched...which turned into 3 hours of Xbox when I realized just how close I am to being done. 

I have been eyeing a few things I would like to make for Chirstmas presents. But then I feel guilty about starting new things when I am still working on other projects. But since I kind of need to get started now if I want to make presents, I don't feel TOO guilty about them getting that much video game time. I took a break from sewing to make lunch and do school since we couldn't do it in the morning, and then jumped into sewing. I have just the border and backstitching to do! Most likely it will take me all week to finish, since for the rest of this week I will be fitting in time here and there amongst their activities. 

Quick note about school today- Something finally clicked for Ira with addition and subtraction word problems!!! What I have been telling him since last week he told me today like it was the most genius idea he has ever had. And the proceeded to do the problems correctly. I told him that if he could do word problems without my help a few more times and get them right, then we would move on and he could go back to doing regular lessons. I am so excited for him! 

Ean, Owen and I played games while Ira and Asa were at piano lessons. First Ean and I played Junior Monopoly, then we played games that were easier for Owen to play, and it was a lot of fun.

Wednesday- Some days there seem to be set backs, and that can be disappointing. Ira had a bad day with word problems. And Ean seemed to forget every word and sound he has ever learned. I am trying to remind myself that this is a part of learning. It would be easier if we all could just pick skills up without effort, that is not how life works. One day, when Ira applies word problems in real life without thinking about it, and Ean reads everything he can get his hands on effortlessly, I can remind myself that the effort at the beginning was worth it.

They all made sure to practice playing recorder notes without squeaking (even I practiced, and moved on to the next note they will be learning, which they all helpfully observed I mostly squeak while playing, haha), and we tried our hand at knitting again. I don't know how some schools can teach a whole class full of kids how to knit. It is overwhelming trying to help 3 at a time. Ira and Ean are back to finger knitting because they need more practice handling yarn, but Asa is moving on with traditional knitting, and is really getting the hang of it. I am definitely excited when we get past this first stage.

It has been eye-opening for me to go back to using straight needles. My hands get tired trying to knit the way I do now to go faster. I think I knit the continental way now, and it really works better with circular needles, not with needles with long ends that feel heavy. At least that is my experience. 

I finally tackled decluttering my craft supply closet. I have been putting it off for a few days because I knew it would be hard. I finally decided to throw away half a garage bag of fabric scraps... and I still have a whole box full that I am keeping! I kept all my fabric scraps in an effort to not be wasteful, but they have been sitting in my closet for years and I add to them every so often. Maybe if I was more resourceful, creative, or productive, I could find a use for them (right as I was typing this sentence I thought of a way I could use them), but I am determined to be realistic. I most likely won't find the time to make use of them, so out they go. I guess I will have to bury my guilt deep that I am killing the earth in the process. I also am giving away some big cuts of fabric and other project items that I have decided I am most likely just not going to do, no matter how much I like them. It is painful, but I just am unwilling to make time for them right now, so I am not going to give them space in my house anymore. 

Thursday- We had a good shopping day. It was long as usual, but it was smooth. I finished my cross-stitch late Wednesday night, so I stopped by the thrift store to find a frame for it, and found one! Still can't find any 5x7 frames that I like, so I get to still look for those. Now I am working on a gauge swatch before I start on a sock pattern. 

We ended the day by going to see Matthew's show. The boys have been wanting to go back, so glad we could one more time before the show closes.