Educating Oaks

It wasn’t the week that I planned, but it ended very well. About the time I hit publish on last week’s post about Lion King, both Micah and Gideon woke up from their necessary naps with fevers. They joined the ranks of their friends with the Post-Show-Week flu. It lasted five days.

We missed our community day on Monday. (I left them here napping and watching a movie and ran over to teach a little Latin, but that was it.)  On Tuesday, they watched another movie while I went to Costco to buy produce and chicken. I came back and made an Instant pot of chicken broth, which became much appreciated chicken and noodles. On Wednesday, I left long enough to host the National Latin Exam (which Micah missed, but he wasn’t too disappointed.) On Thursday, we all laid around and rested and read. On Friday, they were back to normal, so we saw some of our people at debate prep. We had missed them.

Saturday was our campus’s Protocol Event (Where I caught Micah and his buddies dressed in suits and looking so grown up. We took the Challenge 1 and 2 students to dinner at a local restaurant, and then we went to hear the Tulsa Signature Symphony perform Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. It was a beautiful piece. We looked up the lyrics online and followed along with the Latin. Even the students who are behind the pace of their Challenge guide had no trouble understanding the lyrics because Mr. Henle includes a good bit of church vocabulary a long with the never-ending slaughtering of the Gauls.

Rejoice: I had a major goal this week of staying well, so I gave up my morning hour and slept a little longer. I didn’t go to the Y at all. But since the boys were low-energy, I still had a little Bible study and reading time with my coffee.

Relate: I did a lot of reading aloud and some movie watching, made many small amounts of comforting foods, and conquered the kitchen chores and the laundry. I yelled at one boy for not putting his Kleenexes in the trash can. That started a giggle fest because the trash can was literally right next to him, and he was still piling them on the couch.

Remember: We did no singing this week, and therefore we did no memory work. We did still listen to stories at meals, and the younger boys did some Foundations memory work with the app on their iPads.

Reason: We did no math or Latin or English Grammar this week. Unfortunately, that means that our sick week became our Spring Break. That’s a bummer.

Read: I think I did more reading than anyone, but I didn’t actually finish anything. We did start reading Kate Seredy’s The Good Master (aff. link) as a read aloud, thanks to a suggest from Dawn. The younger boys read a stack of picture books while they were lounging around under blankets. Micah listened to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and to a module of Exploring Creation through Physical Science thanks to Audible.

Record: I recorded a little in my journal and Bible, but that was about it.

Restore: We are thrilled that only two of us got really sick and that all of us are healthy again. But our spring break is gone. We’ll see if we can finish up things in time to have a little one next weekend.

 

Last week, the boys participated in Courtyard Theater’s version of Disney’s Lion King, Jr. It was excellently done. As much as possible, the work of the production was done by students. Make-up, masks, props, lighting, sound, costuming… they did it all with guidance and hard work.  Micah worked on lighting, and Gideon was a wildebeest. It was a fantastic week.

We were completely out of our routine, and all that happened last week was the production and some reading. We finished King of the Wind, which was a fabulous read. No one did any math or Foundations or Essentials or Challenge work. We’ll be working this week and next, though I am canceling some assignments because we also have a few projects to do that require a spring break.

I’m working on the next six weeks of Morning Meeting posts. I don’t know if they help any other families get a good variety in their morning, but those posts guarantee that I get the things done that I want for my family easily.

 

It is amazing how fast habits get ignored when life’s routines are broken. We’ve spent most of the last two week re-establishing habits that were broken during my 96 hours in Denver with my mom. It took us a full week to put our routine back together, and most of break week was eaten up doing schoolwork that should have been done the week before. This coming week is show week for Lion King Jr, and I am working on what to delete from the schedule to accommodate the added responsibilities outside of the house. Also, there is a birthday in our house this week. We might skip Morning Meetings entirely, but they will be back next week. Perhaps I can get ahead in compiling a few week’s worth of ideas again

Rejoice: I was quite tired and slept in more mornings that I should have. I’m working to get back to getting up an hour before the boys because I need the morning quiet and prayer time that I have been missing. I need the rest, and I need exercise, and I need prayer. Getting all of that in before the boys get up is hard.

Relate: Jon spent a good chunk of his week working towards the Alternatives to Methodological Naturalism Conference that he hosted on Saturday. The boys and I spent quite a bit of time hanging out together while he took care of that. I went to a large annual local book fair and brought home some treasures. We finished Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and started on Marguerite Henry’s King of the Wind (aff. links).

Remember: We had three successful Morning Meetings and one in which we all walked away before we finished after an argument at the table. Bad days happen. We moved on into the day, talked about it later, and did the work the following morning.

Reason: Math, English Grammar, Latin all done. We missed Chess Club because of a commitment, but the boys are looking forward to returning to it.

Read: There was a lot of reading. Josiah and Gideon realized that they are now behind in their Million Word Reading Challenge because they re-read a bunch of stuff that they had already read instead of starting something new. They enjoyed themselves, but now Josiah is halfway through Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Gideon is reading Pyle’s Men of Iron (aff. link).

Record: Both Josiah and Gideon finished a longer writing project (the Knights essay from IEW Medievals). Micah worked on a short story, a 1AC about the electoral college, and a research paper about police dogs (all long term projects). I wrote nothing, hence the lack of blog posts. But I did generate a short list of things I’d like to write here. It just might have to wait until the semester is over.

Restore: We resumed our habit of reading at bedtime, and Jon and I have still been ending the day with a half hour or so of Netflix. I have not given myself the brain space and journaling time that I crave, but that’s a work in progress.

Margin Report: We prepared for this week of having more hours dedicated outside of our home by staying home more than usual. Micah and I both wanted more time at home that wasn’t dedicated to work, but Josiah and Gideon need to be out with people more than Micah does.  This is a constant balance to strive for in our house. We are three introverts (who love our people but need some alone time to recharge) and two extroverts (who need more people to recharge). Sometimes the little extroverts have to make do with just each other. And sometimes those of us who would rather put on our headphones and hide from the world have to put on our big kid pants and deal with people away. Constantly, some of us are stretching and growing.

This will be short and sweet because I am typing it on my phone while laying on a hotel bed in Lakewood, CO. 

We had a good but abbreviated school week. My mom and I ran up to Denver for the weekend on Thursday for my nephew’s birthday. And we are going to zip home tomorrow. 

Monday was our usual crazy. I worked with the boys on Tuesday, and it wasn’t fabulous. There was a mutiny. I wound up eating chocolate in my closet. There was a little school work done, and chores assigned for wasting my time with whining. Eh. Some days are like that. 

We worked together on Wednesday with more success. They worked hard with their father on Thursday so that they could spend Friday at a friend’s farm doing meaningful labor. 

And I had a lovely weekend with my mom and brother and his family. I am going to puzzle out assignments for my Caesar and Cicero classes on the way home tomorrow.

 

Rejoice: I managed my quiet coffee and moment alone five mornings this week. The other two I had crashed the night before, and I needed to sleep in. I didn’t make it to the Y at all this week, and I only hit my step goal twice, though I was close two other times. But, I do feel a little more rested. I missed my morning quiet this morning because I slept for ten hours. I really have to work on this whole sleeping business.

Relate: I didn’t do so well in this area this week. I was tired and feeling very overdone. (Introverts who homeschool hit this wall every once in a while.) Micah was also at his max for interaction with people, and he didn’t have the greatest week either. I did manage to read aloud to and snuggle with Josiah and Gideon nearly every evening. We were generally nice to each other, but it was a week to draw in and recover in the quiet moments instead of constantly reaching outward.

Remember: We had our Morning Meeting two days this week. The schoolwork was done in general. The day that we missed Morning Meeting was because I fell asleep during a read aloud and napped for two hours. I didn’t mean to. I was just so tired.

Reason: Math, check. Science, check. Latin, check. Grammar, check.

Read: The boys read a few more chapters of Robinson Crusoe. We read aloud a few more chapters of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. We also read from or listened to the Bible, Age of Fable, This Country of Ours, and Trial and Triumph. I have a pile of reading material to conquer that is taller than me, but I did very little reading. That was bad since I am supposed to have A Tale of Two Cities finished by 6pm tomorrow night. I’m on page 100, and I have a pile of grading and planning to do before I can read. Sorry, book club friends. I won’t be done when I arrive.

Record: The younger boys each wrote started an IEW paper about Knights. Micah started an essay about Born Again. I wrote very little. I read very little. It wasn’t my greatest week.

Restore: So, the week was crazy, and I drowned in it. I watched a little television with Jon each night. I didn’t do a good job with planned self-care. It was rough. We did decide that I will go with my mom to my nephew’s birthday party in Denver next weekend. She needs a travel buddy, and I am pretty desperate for a break from the norm.

Margin Report: This week, there was no margin. There were extra classes to teach and a talent show to take part in and acts to polish and laundry to wash. I am not exactly sure where things went wrong, but I drowned in it all.  Next week will be better.

Rejoice: I managed my quiet coffee and moment alone five mornings this week. The other two I had crashed the night before, and I needed to sleep in. I didn’t make it to the Y at all this week, and I only hit my step goal once. But, I do feel a little more rested.

Relate: We spent time together flipping through scrapbooks. The boys spent a day helping a friend with a chicken project. There was a birthday dinner. We just hung out together one evening.

Remember: We had our Morning Meeting three days this week. The schoolwork was done.

Reason: Math, check. Science, check. Latin, check. Grammar, check.

Read: The boys read a few more chapters of Robinson Crusoe. We read aloud a few more chapters of Mr. Lemoncello. We also read from or listened to the Bible, Age of Fable, This Country of Ours, and Trial and Triumph. I have a pile of reading material to conquer that is taller than me, but I only finished a novel that I didn’t love but didn’t hate. It was The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald, which was decent (aff. link).

Record: The younger boys each wrote an IEW paper about Cathedrals. Micah wrote an essay about To Kill A Mockingbird. I wrote very little. I read very little. It wasn’t my greatest week.

Restore:

Margin Report: This week, I did allow for margin. We had no plans Thursday evening or Friday afternoon. I planned to just hang out at home. Those hours were occupied with visitation and a memorial service for a precious girl who made the world better with her smile. When our oldest son Danny was alive, she was his best friend. We were honored to stand by as her family said “see you later.”