So....the past two weeks have been rather interesting. Dave had a lovely four day weekend around the 4th of July, and we were all so excited about it. I had visions of catching up around the house, getting ready for the start of our new school year, and helping the kids finish their 4H projects that were due the following weekend. Instead, Scarlett became very sick, very suddenly on the 3rd, and on the 4th was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. She and I were there for three days, while Dave and the kids managed at home, and shuttled back and forth to the hospital to help us through our most unexpected stay.
Needless to say, we were absolutely not ready to open the books the following Monday, when I had hoped to do so. Nor had we made any progress on the 4H projects, much less finished them. So last week was devoted entirely to getting those projects done (and not to getting the house in shape, so it was quite the disaster all week). Funny, though - I say we couldn't "start school,:" but actually we did more structured activity all week, finishing those projects with their detailed requirements, than we would have done with other subjects, so I daresay that "counts" as a school week. At any rate, even though Scarlett was still recovering, the house was in such a state that we couldn't eat at any table all week, and Dave had to go to Toronto unexpectedly towards the end of the week, we got the projects done! Saturday morning the kids were interviewed about their projects - Aimee for Creative Writing and Archery, and Drew for Trapping Muskrats (really!) - and everything went well. I doubt we did everything by the book, but I think it was a good experience for everyone (it would have been much better, of course, without the last minute scrambling, but anyway...), and after it was over, we were all able to bask in the feeling of accomplishment.
(Drew being interviewed about his project)
And
then... to get ready to start school-ish endeavors again. Oh, I know it's July, and it's been crazy around here, so we don't
have to start up, and it seems unfair to the kids, etc etc. In the first place, we hardly follow a strenuous schedule, so by "school" I don't at all mean the kids will be chained to desks from 8-3. They will still be able to do whatever summer activities they like. The only difference is that in some of the empty spaces of time, we'll fit in a math lesson or some such structured lesson here and there. And it's just time for that. I know, because the kids have been getting rather to nasty to each other and the household in general hasn't been a very pleasant place. They've been saturated in all the free time they can stand, which means all I've had all I can stand. Pleasant, right? Time to bring out the math books when the kids start throwing punches. Pretty much sums up our philosophy.
Okay, okay - that's only part of it! It's not all negative. As I said in my last post, we don't really think of our school year as having a definite start and stop - it's a bit more fluid than that, and it just feels right to include some structured learning in our days and weeks again. So on Monday, everyone did some math, and then we went to a park with friends, where the kids played - and played and played and played - in a creek much of the afternoon. Yesterday we went to the Creation Museum with long-time friends, followed by a brief excursion to a Tree Tower in a local park. There's no lesson plan for today, but we'll do
something. And then I think we'll go to the pool. It
is still summer - and with the heat index passing 100 degrees each day, especially so this week!
(Creation Museum with friends)
No comments:
Post a Comment