Unschooling Moments of the Week - 11/19/10

Becky enjoyed playing with some pipe cleaners this week.  This is a muscle man on the beach with a girl in a bathing suit feeling his biceps (Don't know where she got this concept but I had to shut myself in the bathroom to cover up my guffaws for a while after she explained it to me!!).  The muscle man has a dog on a leash.  And unbeknownst to the girl there is a little mouse by her feet.  So what do you think will happen when the dog spies the mouse????

This is a man on a flying trapeze with a handy dandy pipe cleaner net beneath him!

This is a mountain climber scaling our dog's pen!

This week had a lot of ups and downs.  Sean, Becky and Will all came down with nasty colds AGAIN!  I keep pushing zinc and echinacea at them but it doesn't seem to be helping.  We've been fighting and trading colds for weeks, it seems. I am about fed up!!!  Here's a picture of Sean playing with the accordion app on his dad's ipad.  It is very cool.  Sean longs to learn accordion.

So poor Sean came down with a fever over the weekend.  Becky was still okay so we attended our 4H sewing project which was very cool.

Monday, though, Becky wasn't feeling so well, so we kind of laid low.  We missed Art class Tuesday morning.  However, we did make it to the 4H business meeting Tuesday evening.  Wednesday we went to our support group's monthly meeting where Becky showed off a monkey she had hand sewn.  The kids put on a show and tell every month.

She gave it to Sean as a present.

Thursday. . . . I have no idea what happened yesterday.  My back was really hurting me.  I spent a lot of time driving the older kids to and fro for things and limping in and out of grocery stores and banks, etc

As for the high schooler:  He went to a football game with his dad on Monday night.  He rode the subway solo for the first time down to his dad's office.  They then went to the game.  The traffic was awful and they got there late.  It was cold and rainy and their team lost in a really humiliating way.  He didn't get home until almost 1 a.m.  We had to get up and to Latin class where he could hardly keep his eyes open.   Next he went to Biology.  He came home and had to do some math homework as well.  High school is tough!

He did not get the history and literature stuff we had planned to do this week (partly my fault; I'm being lazy and behind too!).  He did get all his math done for his tutor.  But he had another Biology test this Friday which he had not even begun to prepare for.  He's having trouble with Biology even though he really likes the subject.  It is a tough class.  He got an 87 on the last test.  What brought him down was his essay.  He really needs to work on his essay writing skills.  So anyway he crammed for this test.  This time he focused really hard on the essay by writing out an essay beforehand (she'd given them the general topic).  He was supposed to describe the digestive system, making sure to use all the vocabulary words.  He worked really hard on this and he thinks he got full marks on it or close to full marks.  However, on the multiple choice/fill in the blank section he only got a 78.  (The teacher had quickly checked it before he left class.).  I do think he's learning a lot about how he works (he's slow and methodical and needs to allow a lot of time for things) and he is learning that he needs to plot out a schedule for each week and STICK to it.  That's the hardest part!  (For me too!).

Anyway, this weekend he gets to go on retreat with his teen group from church, so I think he'll have fun with that.

Friday morning - I did finally get some penmanship, math and Latin done with Sean and Becky.  Becky started reading My Father's Dragon on her own initiative.  Sean is reading Li Lun, Lad of Courage.  I suggested it.  He seems okay with it.  He's also read a couple of chapter of St. Patrick's Summer Catechism.

So much more went on but I can't think of it right now.  I need a nap!